Thread by @itsmzladybird

Baby’s first Arranged Marriage AU for #ReyloSpiritWeek 🤍

CW // NSFW, jealousy; man-handling; dirty talk; unprotected s/ex; mean Ben is mean to everyone but his lil wife 🥺

“She knew she’d messed up when he loosened his tie.” (Read below!)

1. It started as a dare.

“Seriously, go talk to him!”

Rey’s nose wrinkled. “Bridger? Why?”

“Because he’s been staring at you all afternoon,” Rose stacked her plate with macaroons. She shot a surreptitious glance across the room. “And I’m not the only one who’s noticed.”

2. Rey turned to where Rose was looking. The banquet hall was packed, but Rey spotted him immediately. It wasn’t hard. He stood a full head over the rest of the crowd.

Benjamin Solo.

Chief Operating Officer of First Order Industries.

Senator’s son.

/Husband/.

3. As if he could feel her gaze, Ben looked up. Those hard eyes gave Rey goosebumps, stealing her breath. Ben frowned and turned back to the men clustered around him.

Rey smothered her disappointment.

4. “This gala blows,” Rose grumbled. Rey nodded, smiling politely at one of her husband’s associates. “If we’re going to be stuck here, we might as well have some fun, right?”

Rey arched a brow. “I’ve no interest in Bridger.”

5. “You’re missing the point, babe.”

“Enlighten me, then.”

Rose saddled closer, waving cheerfully at someone a few tables away. Resting against the buffet table, she whispered.

“Ezra Bridger is bait.”

6. Rey recoiled. “Excuse me?”

“You wanna land the big fish? Make him think you’re testing fresh waters.”

“First, that is a terrible metaphor. Second,” Rey raised her left hand, “I’m pretty sure I’ve already landed him.”

7. Rose looked at the massive rock on Rey’s ring finger. “Have you, though?”

Rey dropped her hand and looked away.

Benjamin Solo, COO, married Rey Palpatine, heiress to Empire Electric, on a private beach in Crete. It was a small ceremony; only immediate family were invited.

8. It was also a total shame.

9. Well, not totally. The marriage license was real. As was the prenup. Rey’s monster rock was most definitely legit. But that’s where the line was drawn.

Because Ben and Rey hadn’t married for love. Up until two weeks before the wedding, they’d never even met.

10. To be clear, Rey had known since she was 15 that she would marry Benjamin Solo. She’d seen him in pictures, had followed his career closely over the years. On the eve of her 23rd birthday, Rey’s grandfather handed Rey an invitation to her own wedding.

11. Rey didn’t bat a lash. She thought she was ready.

And then she met Ben, and everything changed.

12. Brilliant. Commanding. Tall and wide as a bloody brick house. Rey knew Benjamin Solo was handsome, but none of the pictures captured how /intense/ he was.

13. Son of longtime US senator Leia Organa, Ben had risen within the corporate ranks under the guidance of tycoon Anthony Snoke to become one of the most successful businessmen to date.

14. It had been Snoke who reached out to Rey’s grandfather, plying Sheev with promises of consolidating their shared monopoly on renewable energy. It was a match made in financial heaven.

Too bad Ben wanted /nothing/ to do with Rey.

15. Rey scanned the hall, pointedly ignoring her husband. It didn’t take long for her gaze to land of Ezra Bridger. The young congressman instantly smiled.

Rey downed the rest of her champagne and walked over.

16. Bridger was kind, and generally good looking, if not a bit bland. He did most of the talking, asking Rey how she liked living in New York and if she missed London. Rey smiled and nodded and laughed at the right moments.

17. She might not want Bridger, but after two months of living in an empty penthouse apartment with a husband she only saw at public events, Rey basked in the congressman’s undivided attention.

Something hot burned against Rey’s cheek.

18. She looked up and immediately locked eyes with Ben. He was standing in the middle of a group of men, all of them laughing and clapping each other’s backs over something one of them had said.

But Ben wasn’t laughing.

19. Under normal circumstances, that hard glare would have made Rey cower. But she’d had three glasses of champagne and nothing to eat since breakfast. She was tired, and lonely, and desperate to /feel/ something.

Rey turned back to Bridger with a wide smile and saddled closer.

20. And so the dance began. Rey grew bolder, and Ben ran hotter. She giggled into the back of her hand at something Bridger said. Ben downed his whiskey and ordered another. Rey gasped and grabbed Bridger’s arm in mock surprise. Ben excused himself from the other men.

21. Rey was nearly hanging on Bridger’s shoulder when Ben stalked across the ballroom floor. She sucked in a sharp breath as he caught her none-too-gently around the elbow.

“Oh!” Bridger grinned, “Benjamin! Good to see you, and congratulations on the new solar contract with—”

22. “Yes, thank you,” Ben looked down at Rey, then back to Bridger. “Ezra, I hope you don’t mind, but I have to have a little /talk/ with my wife.”

Ben didn’t wait for a reply. Rey startled as he dragged her away.

23. “Ben, Ben wait — ”

Curious eyes followed them as Ben marched Rey out of the banquet hall. She tried to keep up with his long strides. Cutting down a narrow corridor, Ben yanked open a random door and threw Rey inside.

24. “Oh!”

Rey stumbled, the stiletto of her heel catching on the hem of her cream evening gown. She whipped around just as Ben was locking the door.

“What the /hell/?” Rey’s eyes pinged along the walls of the small sitting room.

25. Ben wheeled on her, eyes blazing. He held up a finger. “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?!”

“Don’t pretend.”

Rey spluttered. “I’m not—”

“Two more minutes and you would have been rolling that needy little c/unt all over Bridger’s thigh. You wanted my attention? You fucking have it.”

26. Rey saw red. Baring her teeth, she stepped forward with claws flexed, ready to draw blood…

But then Benjamin shucked his jacket and tossed it across the room. Rey froze, brows pinching.

“Uhhhh…”

“Seems I’ve miscalculated, but I’m an adaptable man. On the couch.”

27. Rey cast a helpless glance at the settee sitting in the middle of the room. Swallowing, she turned back to Ben.

She knew she’d messed up when he loosened his tie.

“The couch, Rey.”

He started advancing. Rey staggered backward.

28. Ben tugged the tie, let it fall to the floor. The back of Rey’s knees hit the settee.

“W-what are you doing?”

Ben was on her now, and she could see it. Something hot and urgent burning behind his eyes. His hands closed around her upper arms.

“I’m fucking my /wife/.”

29. And then he kissed her.

30. It took Rey’s brain a moment to catch up with what was happening. Her body, however, suffered no lag. Rey’s lips parted instantly, tongue curling like her fingers in his hair. Ben’s hands dropped from her arms to her waist, pulling Rey flush against him. He was already hard.

31. Rey arched, gasping, and the sound was like a starting gun. Ben snarled into their kiss. The race was on.

32. Rey couldn’t keep track of whose hands moved faster, whose clothes fell first. By the time she broke away from Ben’s mouth, gasping for air and shivering all over, he had her on her back with her legs over his shoulders. Ben shot Rey a wicked grin and crawled down her body.

33. “There she is,” Ben breathed as he pulled down Rey’s lacy thong. He brushed his thumb along one wet lip. “The poor thing that started all of this.”

34. Rey wanted to snap that /he/ was the one at fault. He’d been ignoring her for two months. But then Ben bent down and sealed his mouth over her, and Rey saw stars.

35. Ben ate her like a fine dessert—slow and savoring. Rey smothered her moans against the back of her hand, biting her knuckles as she peaked. It was mind-numbing, bone-melting, and yet when Ben reared up and wiped his mouth on his forearm, Rey’s need doubled.

36. He must have seen it. Ben fisted his c/ock with heavy lids and purred, “Show me how much you want it.”

37. It should have shamed her. But Rey was still buzzing from the champagne and her orgasm. Lifting her foot to rest her heel on the back of the settee, Rey let her legs fall wide. “Fucking give it to me, /husband/.”

38. Ben was ruthless, and Rey was insatiable. He rode her with focus, each thrust long and deep and delicious. Rey raked her nails down his broad back, relishing the way he groaned into her neck and picked up pace. Neither of them let up, battling for dominance to the very end.

39. And when they came, they came together. Ben clapped a hand over Rey’s mouth. She sunk her teeth into the meat of his palm, and Ben muffled his pleasure against the swell of her breast. They lay there for an interminable moment, panting softly.

40. “I can’t tell you how long I’ve wanted to do that.”

Rey frowned, looking down at Ben. “Truly?”

He nodded, which only confused her more. “But…you hate me.”

Ben pushed up onto his hands, holding himself above her. He brushed back Rey’s hair and shook his head.

41. “Yes, you do,” Rey huffed. “The night of our honeymoon, you left me in that suite with a rose and a note about some meeting in Manhattan. You’re never home and when you are, you ignore me. You—“

42. “I didn’t want you to feel pressured, and I know…” Ben sighed, jaw clicking. “I was 24 when Snoke and your grandfather made arrangements, but you were still so young. I didn’t want…”

43. Ben looked away, and the furrow between his brows tugged at something in Rey’s chest. She reached up and smoothed the line with her thumb. “You didn’t want what, Ben?”

“…I didn’t want you to feel like you had no choice. Not with me.”

44. Rey stared up at Ben. Slowly, she brought her hands to his cheeks. She pulled him down, until their lips were a breath apart. This close, she could see the gold in his dark eyes.

“And if I choose you?”

Ben’s lids fluttered. “Then you already have me.”

45. Of all the ways Rey imagined the day going when she woke up in an empty bed—

Of all fantasies she’d played out in her mind under cold covers—

Of all her secret desires, her hopes for a first touch, a first /kiss/—

Rey smiled. “On one condition.”

46. Ben arched a brow. “Oh?”

Rey pushed up, bringing her lips to Ben’s ear. “You have to do that thing with your tongue at least once a day.”

47. Ben smiled, and it was glorious. But then his eyes darkened, and that was /better/.

“…only once?”

💍 The End 💍

Thank you @bb_kate_ and @feralsandgremln for hosting this AMAZING event!