Free A Beautiful Wedding by Jamie McGuire

ready to argue that I hadn’t seen my ex, Travis began again.
    “On the floor. I saw you, Pidge.”
    My stomach sank. He’d seen me crying. How would I possibly explain that away? I couldn’t. The only way was to create a diversion.
    I pushed my head back into the pillow, looking straight into the eyes. “Why do you call me Pigeon? I mean
really
?”
    My question seemed to take him off guard. I waited, hoping he would forget all about the previous topic. I didn’t want to lie to his face, or admit what I’d done. Not tonight. Not
ever.
    His choice to allow me to change the subject was clear in his eyes. He knew what I was doing, and he was going to let me do it. “You know what a pigeon is?”
    I shook my head in a tiny movement.
    “It’s a dove. They’re really fucking smart. They’re loyal, and they mate for life. That first time I saw you, in the Circle, I knew what you were. Under the buttoned-up
cardigan and the blood, you weren’t going to fall for my shit. You were going to make me earn it. You would require a reason to trust me. I saw it in your eyes, and I couldn’t shake it
until I saw you that day in the cafeteria. Even though I tried to ignore it, I knew it even then. Every fuckup, every bad choice, were bread crumbs, so that we found our way to each other. So that
we found our way to this moment.”
    My breath faltered. “I am so in love with you.”
    His body was lying between my open legs, and I could feel him against my thighs, only a couple of inches from where I wanted him to be.
    “You’re my wife.” When he said the words, a peace filled his eyes. It reminded me of the night he won the bet for me to stay at his apartment.
    “Yes. You’re stuck with me, now.”
    He kissed my chin. “Finally.”
    He took his time as he gently slid inside of me, closing his eyes for only a second before gazing into mine again. He rocked against me slowly, rhythmically, kissing my mouth intermittently.
Even though Travis had always been careful and gentle with me, the first few moments were a little uncomfortable. He must have known that I was new to this, even though I’d never mentioned
it. The whole campus knew about Travis’s conquests, but my experiences with him were never the wild romps everyone talked about. Travis was always soft and tender with me; patient. Tonight
was no exception. Maybe even more so.
    Once I relaxed, and moved back against him, Travis reached down. He hooked his hand behind my knee and pulled up gently, stopping at his hip. He slid into me again, this time deeper. I sighed,
and lifted my hip to him. There were much worse things in life than promising to feel Travis Maddox’s naked body against and inside of mine for the rest of my life. Much, much worse.
    He kissed me, and tasted me, and hummed against my mouth. Rocking against me, craving me, pulling at my skin as he lifted my other leg and pushed my knees against my chest so he could press
himself into me even deeper. I moaned and shifted, unable to keep quiet while he positioned himself so he was entering me at different angles, working his hips until my nails were digging into the
skin of his back. My fingertips were buried deep into his sweaty skin, but I could still feel his muscles bulging and sliding beneath them.
    Travis’s thighs were rubbing and bumping against my backside. He held himself up on one elbow, and then sat up, pulling my legs with him until my ankles were resting on his shoulders. He
made love to me harder, then, and even though it was a little painful, that pain shot sparks of adrenaline all over my body. It took every bit of pleasure I was already feeling to a new level.
    “Oh, God . . . Travis,” I said, breathing his name. I needed to say something, anything to let go of the intensity building up inside me.
    My words made his body tense, and the rhythm of his movements became faster, more rigid, until beads of sweat formed on our skin, making it easier to slide against each other.
    He