And Then Came the Honeymoon

This is my entry for the 2021 April Fools Day Contest. It's a stand-alone piece involving characters introduced in my earlier stories, "Always a Bridesmaid" and "And Never a Bride". I invite you to read those as well. Enjoy!

*****

My phone buzzed, and I saw it was my boyfriend, Marcus. My mouth twitched in a smile seeing his name pop up, but I felt a quick stab of concern, because he rarely called from work.

"Marcus," I said. "Hi baby...is everything okay?"

"I just heard from my lawyer," he said. "The divorce is final. It's over, Kiki."

"Oh, thank god," I sighed.

Just a sigh? He was finally free from his short but bitter marriage, and free to get on with his life. After all he'd been through -- after all I'd been through with him -- I should have been weeping tears of joy or screaming with delight. No doubt those emotions would come later, but now all I could manage was relief.

"Oh, baby," I said. "Kimberly is finally out of your life. You're free, I'm so happy for you!"

"I'm so happy for us," he said.

"There's plenty of time for us," I told him. "Let's just give this a few days, or a few weeks, to sink in."

"Of course. Can we celebrate a little tonight? Just a quiet dinner? I already made reservations. Falacci's, 8:00."

"Okay, baby. See you then."

*****

A few hours later, I was rushing up to the restaurant, 15 minutes late because I got caught in traffic. I had tried to call and let him know I was running late, but it went straight to voicemail. As I entered the reception area, I scanned the tables, assuming he'd already be seated, but...no sign of him.

"Can I help you?' asked the pretty Asian hostess.

"I'm supposed to meet my boyfriend here. I don't see him..."

"What name were the reservations under?" she asked.

"Tyler," I replied. "Marcus Tyler." The hostess suddenly broke out into a beaming smile, which seemed a bit odd, but it stopped short of setting off any alarm bells.

"Right this way," she said, her professional expression back in place. She led me through the main dining room, toward the back of the restaurant where I knew there were private rooms. She stopped at an entrance to one of them, then opened the door and gestured me in...

...into a large room where a nervous-looking Marcus stood, and fifty of our closest friends and relatives stood behind him, with idiot joyous grins similar to what the hostess had flashed me. And then it hit me, even before he dropped to one knee in front of me, and my eyes filled with tears, so I never saw the little box, never saw the ring, just felt it sliding onto my finger.

Oh my god. Oh my god.

"Kiki," Marcus boomed in his deep, powerful voice, "will you marry me?"

"Let me get back to you on that," I replied, and for just an instant he looked crushed, so I grabbed his hand, dragged him to his feet and screamed.

"YESSSSS!!!"

at the top of my lungs, and I was in his arms kissing him, and our friends surged into us, and we shared a joyous group hug that seemed to last forever, and the hors d'oeuvres hadn't even arrived yet.

*****

Our large party of fifty or so exited the restaurant into the chilly evening, creating a logistical challenge for the understaffed valet station at a restaurant well known for long waits in the car retrieval queue. This was going to take a while, but everyone was in a good mood, so we took it in stride.

Over the course of the dinner, Marcus and I had actually spent very little time together, as each of us had been surrounded by well-wishers. Now that we were standing together, the smell of alcohol was noticeable on his breath, and he was red-faced with kind of an idiotic grin on his face. I remembered seeing him drinking quite a few toasts during the evening.

"Sweetie," I said as his car pulled up, "are you okay to drive? Should we get you a Lyft?"

"Huh?" He looked at me in tipsy confusion. "Thought we were goin' back to your place."

"Don't you have to get up early for work?" I asked.

"Nope. Takin' the day off. Figured we'd be up all night cere...cerbelating...celebraning." His leering grin was cheesy but adorable.

"Okay, stud," I giggled. "But you aint driving."

"I got this," said Marcus's cousin Alyssa, as she grabbed the valet claim ticket from his fingers. "You lovebirds go have fun, I'll get his car back to his place."

"Thanks, babe," I said. "I owe you one."

"Buy me lunch tomorrow and we're square. The Grill at noon?"

"You got it." I gave her a hug, then took my drunken boyfriend by the hand and dragged him toward my car.

*****

He slept during the twenty-minute drive to my house and awoke refreshed and eager. He tried to make out with me in the underground parking lot at my apartment complex, but I pushed him away. He tried again in the elevator, in front of an elderly couple I knew, and I held him off again.

"Sorry Mr. and Mrs. Carruthers," I said, then held up my hand to show off the ring. "We just got engaged." Their mildly disapproving frowns turned into smiles and congratulations.

Marcus was on me again in the hallway outside my door, as I dug through my purse for the keys.

"Stop it," I giggled, but I let his hands run free for a delightful moment before pushing him away.

At last, we were inside my place, and when he pushed me into the wall and kissed me savagely and began roughly undressing me, I didn't push him away.

"Can we skip the foreplay?" he growled as my dress fell away.

"Just fucking take me," I growled back.

We left a trail of clothes, some partially torn, on the way to the bedroom. On the bed, I ended up on top, and I straddled him and sat down hard on his rigid, angry hardon. I wasn't quite wet enough for a balls-deep freefall, so we ended up with him lodged three-fourths of the way in, with hot delicious pain radiating through my body as he stretched me to my limits.

I brought his hands to my full, heaving breasts (yes, they were actually heaving at that moment), and he knew what to do. He started gently tweaking and rolling my nipples, and I moaned at the warm pleasure that filled me. My body relaxed and he slowly slid a little further inside me but hung up again. We rocked gently like that for a moment...

...and then he sharply twisted and tugged my nipples, sending twin lightning bolts of pain arcing from my breasts to my groin...

"Oh FUCK!" I gasped. My body tensed, then relaxed, and a small flood of liquid flowed down from deep inside me where some part of me was melting...

...and then he was fully inside me, every inch of him filling every inch of me. Then he moved, rolling me under him while staying deep inside, and now he was above me, looming, dominating, his weight pressing him yet deeper into me.

We held that position for a long time, luxuriating in the feeling of that deep, intense, intimate connection that was unlike anything else in the world. At last, he drew back slowly, sensually, hesitated for a couple of heartbeats...and then slammed into me with all of his considerable size and strength.

"Oh god, Marcus!" I screamed, as he withdrew and plunged down hard again. He fucked me, hard and deep and wet and bare. He fucked me with power and with emotion...I felt wet drops on my chest and face that I knew were his tears. He was releasing the pain and anger and sorrow and guilt that had built up inside him during his horrible, bitter divorce. And I was happy to take that pounding from him, to absorb that unleashed emotion, because I loved him, and he loved me.

"I'm gonna go off the pill, baby," I whispered in his ear as he slammed into me. The thumps of our colliding bodies had become slaps, and the slaps were becoming splashes as my liquid pleasure flowed freely.

"Oh god, Kiki," he moaned.

"Going off the pill," I breathed. "From now on, we fuck for real, Marcus..."

"Jesus, Kiki, oh fuck..."

"You're gonna fuck me every night and fill me with your seed, baby..."

"Oh..."

"Fuck me and breed me and knock me up..."

"Ohhh..."

"Make me your hot sexy little baby mama..."

"OH FUCK! KIKI!!!"

He exploded inside me, and I quivered and convulsed and came with him. Warm jets of pleasure splashed against my inner walls. My pussy clenched so hard on his bare shaft that it was locked inside me for several heartbeats. We gasped for breath, recovered, and at last lay still.

"I love you," we both said at the exact same instant.

The emotion and the alcohol and the hard sex took its toll on him, and a few minutes later he was flat on his back, snoring heavily. He slept, but I stayed awake for a bit, basking in the afterglow, and cherishing his warmth that I could still feel deep inside me. I smiled, my tears flowed, my own emotions began to untangle and release. I had loved Marcus for over a year, but he had been married almost that entire time. Now, for the first time, the man I loved was truly mine.

*****

Alyssa was already seated at our table when I arrived for the lunch date. She stood when she saw me, but instead of waiting for me, she rushed halfway across the restaurant and took me in her arms for a heartfelt hug. Well, it was more than her heart I felt. Her breasts pressed into mine, our bodies came together, and our lips touched...held...then moved apart. I saw her blush and felt heat in my own cheeks.

Alyssa was Marcus's cousin and had become my best friend over the year that I'd known her. In a different universe, we might've become more than that...one night, we crashed a bachelor party, stripped naked next to a hot tub, and playfully made out while a small audience of appreciative men looked on, and we both felt...something...

But it was later that same night that Marcus and I became a couple and decided we would stick together in the face of his divorce process and any other obstacles that came our way. From that point on, Marcus had been my only lover, and the mutual attraction between Alyssa and me had been pushed to the back burner. But the unrequited mutual attraction somehow made our friendship much more intense.

And here we were, standing in the middle of a restaurant dominated by male diners in business suits. They smiled indulgently if not a bit wolfishly at the two beautiful young brunettes locked in an emotional embrace.

"So happy for you," she said. "For both of you." She took my hand and guided me to our table. I watched her admiringly. She was a fitness freak, and she was a bit thicker and more muscular than my own more delicately curved body. My breasts were bigger than hers and never failed to attract attention, while Alyssa had that spectacular bubble butt that every woman wanted to have, and every man wanted to touch.

"Let me see the ring," she said after we sat, and I held out my hand to her.

"Isn't it beautiful?" I said. "It looks so...vintage. I worry that he must have spent way too much on it."

"Kiki," she said, and then paused. She looked me in the eye and chewed her lip, and I could tell she was wrestling with something she wanted to tell me. At last she spoke.

"It's not vintage, it's antique," she said. "And it's priceless, but you don't need to worry about the cost."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "How do you..."

"It was our grandmother's ring," Alyssa said. "Marcus was the oldest of our generation, and she gave it to him before she passed, to give to the woman he loved when he was ready for marriage."

"Oh my god." I blinked back tears. "How on earth did he get it back from Kimberly?"

"He never gave it to her," she said. "He felt like she'd want something newer and flashier, and I'm sure he was right."

"Wow," I said. "I'm...speechless...thank you for telling me."

"I probably shouldn't have said anything," she said. "But I just couldn't help it. Marcus will tell you in his own way sometime, just try to act surprised, okay?"

"Okay," I said, taking both her hands in mine. "I'm lucky to have a friend like you."

"No, I'm the lucky one. Not just having you as a friend, but having Marcus back in my life."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Kimberly was very possessive. Marcus and I used to be really close, and she was very jealous and didn't like having me around. She kept him away from me, from the time they started dating up until a few months ago when he filed for divorce. Two years, Kiki. Two fucking years." There were tears in her eyes.

"Oh, baby," I said. "I'm so sorry."

"And you're so different...so free and open and kind...and you've given him back to me."

"I love you both. I wouldn't dream of keeping you apart."

"Oh, Kiki," she said. "I have to tell you something that might make you feel differently...but I can't hold it back anymore. Not now."

"What is it, Aly?" I said. "You know you can tell me anything."

"Marcus and I..." she began. "There was a time, about four years ago. He had just gotten out of the Air Force, and I had just transferred colleges to Arizona State. We were both kind of at loose ends...we hung out a lot...we were friends, but there was more..."

"Was it sexual?" I asked.

"Not really," she replied. "We were physical sometimes, kissing, and...more...but we never had sex. I would have...I wanted to...but he wouldn't. He felt like it was wrong, and he knew it would cause trouble in the family. So he never let it go that far."

"So what happened?"

"We knew there was no future, so we saw other people. I met a guy, and we were pretty serious for a while. He had a couple of short-term girlfriends, then he met Kimberly. He and I are still close, and I have to be honest, I'm still very attracted to him, but we've both moved on."

"I understand."

"I hope you do, Kiki. I hope you know I love both of you and I would never do anything to hurt you. I hope you still trust me and want me in your life."

"Thank you for telling me," I said, but I paused before saying more. I felt like I was okay with everything, but it was worth taking a moment to process it. But my hesitation made Alyssa uneasy.

"Please talk to me, Kiki," she said. "Tell me what you're thinking."

"What I'm thinking," I said at last, "is that I really want you to be my Maid of Honor."

She let out a screech which drew the attention of everyone in the restaurant, and with all eyes on us, she threw herself once again into my arms, and a couple of dozen businessmen discreetly adjusted themselves under their tables as I hugged it out with my gorgeous best friend.

*****

"And do you, Marcus, take Kiki to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

"Ummm...let me think about it..."

"MARCUS!"

"Haha, yes, I DO!!!"

"You may kiss the bride."

We had considered a big, grandiose wedding, but we didn't want to wait. A bigger wedding would take longer to plan.

Aside from that, we also felt it might seem inappropriate to do something big and showy too soon after the divorce. Not that either of us felt much sympathy for Kimberly or her family and friends, but it seemed like a bad idea to rub salt in the wound. So we opted for something smaller, more intimate and tasteful, and we did it on March 30, just six weeks after the divorce was final.

The highlight of the wedding, other than the vows themselves, came early in the ceremony when Marcus and I knelt in prayer. This exposed the bottom of his shoes to the audience, and the front few rows erupted in giggles, titters, and guffaws when they saw that someone had used whiteout to paint BABY on his left sole and DADA on his right.

The reception was relatively short. The highlight came when I overshot the garter toss, sending the garter sailing over the women in the room into the hands of Bix, one of Marcus's groomsmen. Some of the ladies grumbled, but Bix's girlfriend Vickie was delighted.

After that we dodged rice and flashing camera phones as we dashed to our limo, bound for a hotel whose location was such a closely guarded secret that only Marcus and I -- and one other person, it turned out -- knew it. It had to be that way because some of our friends were dastardly pranksters.

And when we finally arrived at our hotel (in a rental car, because the limo had clandestinely dropped us off a few blocks from the reception and then led pursuers on a wild goose chase), we were exhausted and did what I'm told many newlyweds do on their wedding night. We went straight to sleep.

*****

"Marcus..."

"Mmff."

"Marcus, sweetie...I have a spa appointment with Samantha at 10:00 am. I have to go, okay?"

"Mffm."

"And I have lunch with Vickie at 12:30, so I'll back at like 2:00, okay baby?"

"Mmm."

"Okay honey, you sleep. See you in a little while."

"Ffmm."

*****

At around 2:30 pm I returned to our honeymoon suite. The second I entered, I knew something was off. I thought I caught movement in my right-side peripheral vision. My head swiveled and I saw that the powder room door was closed for no particular reason. Had it just closed or was I imagining it?

Before I could go check, something else caught my attention. Something black, draped over the back of the living room sofa. I picked it up...and held a black leather corset, unlaced. It was not mine.

Moving toward the closed bedroom door, I saw a crumpled item on the floor: it was a black fishnet thigh-high stocking. Also not mine.

"In here, baby," called Marcus from behind the closed doors of the bedroom. As I open the door, my fingers brushed a lacy black g-string hanging from the doorknob. You guessed it, not mine. And inside the bedroom...

There was a little table just inside the door. On the table were a bottle of champagne and two glasses, one smeared with red lipstick, as well as a tiny key. On the bed were some...sex toys, apparently. A tickler, a flogger...a strapon?

Also on the bed was Marcus. He was naked. His face was smeared with same shade of lipstick that was on the champagne glass. There were red streaky welts on his chest and abs, apparently from the flogger.

He was handcuffed to the rails of the headboard.

"Baby, thank god you're here," he said. "Can you get me out of these handcuffs? That's the key, on the table."

I stared at him for a long time. What else could I do? He had a frightened, shit-eating smile on his face.

"Kiki, I can explain all this," he said, a hint of rising panic in his voice. "It's not what you think."

Powerful emotions began to surge inside me. Boiling, swirling, rushing to the surface, ready to explode. My body began to quiver, I knew my face was turning red, I bit my lip to keep control. His eyes widened in fear as he saw the emotions rising in me.

"Baby --"

And then I could hold the explosion back no longer...

"BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

"Ummm..." his panic gave way to confusion.

"Hahahahahaha!" I doubled over, gasping for breath, my laughter heaving inside me so hard that I thought I might pee in my panties.

"April Fools," he mumbled. "But I guess you already knew that..."

I was still laughing, and then I felt a hand on my shoulder, and there was Alyssa. She was laughing so hard she snorted, and we fell into each other and we might have both lost our balance and fallen over if we hadn't been holding each other up. It took a while, but eventually I could breathe again.

"Those welts on his chest," I gasped. "I think that's taking realism too far."

"It's makeup, babe," said Alyssa. "But the flogger is real, if you two wanna get freaky later."

"And...a strapon? Hahaha! What the hell Aly!"

"Hey, I just grabbed what was in my closet," she giggled.

"So...you two were in on this together," said Marcus, trying to manage a pout. "I would have thought you'd be loyal to family, Alyssa."

"She's family now," said Alyssa. "Welcome to the family, cuz."

Then she kissed me. On the lips, hard, wet with a hint on tongue. Her body was pressed into mine...