'There you are.' Caroline beamed as Leah came down the back stairs into the cosy, homey kitchen where Brandon and his dad were digging into the huge plate of chocolate cake Caroline must've just finished icing. 'I thought maybe you decided to take a little nap up there.'
'Oh, no ... I was just looking at all of Brandon's memorabilia.' That wasn't an outright lie. She had looked.
Caroline chuckled and poured Brandon a glass of milk, which he took without a second glance from her. 'Nobody would blame you if you took a little nap, Leah. I know you can't be getting much of a good night's sleep.'
Leah, who'd been easing towards the lure of chocolate cake, looked up. Oh, no. Oh, gross. Caroline didn't mean what Leah thought she meant, did she? Brandons mom did not just reference their sex life . . . did she?
'I keep telling Caroline we need a better bed down there for guests, rather than that old pull-out. Or heck, finally get rid of all Bingo's junk up there and make that room a real guest room. Now that it looks like we'll need it,' Bill said with a grin that locked Leah's smile tight to her mouth, frozen. 'But then again, I guess you kids might like your privacy, huh?'
Oh, God, no. No. Not him too.
'Dad,' Brandon said, and Leah was sure he was going to tell his parents to lay off the innuendo. 'Pass more cake.'
Her appetite for it had fled, which surely meant the Apocalypse was coming. But, faced with the three smiling faces, she found herself unable to tell them she was leaving. Cowardice tasted a helluva lot worse than gooey chocolate cake, but she couldn't have forced herself to eat even a bite.
'You know what?' she said faintly. 'I am tired. I hope you don't mind if I really do take a nap.'
'Of course not. You go right ahead. But don't sleep too long,' Caroline said. "We'll be having dinner soon.'
Dinner. Leah's hands went automatically to her belly, still full from lunch. The Longs ate constantly. 'Great.'
'And don't forget the Monopoly tournament later,' Bill added, snagging another piece of cake for himself. 'It's my turn to kick all of your butts.'
Brandon snorted. Big talk, old man. But we'll see.' Leah fled.
It wasn't that she didn't like board games, or cake, or even dinner for fuck's sake . . . she did. And she liked Brandon's family. She really did. But it was all so foreign to her, this constant living in each other's pockets, the fond inside jokes, the casual acceptance of her as one of them. More than just acceptance, the full-on immersion of Leah into their family, as if she'd always been a part of it.
Leah couldn't remember when she figured out that she hadn't exactly been considered a bundle of joy, but she felt like she'd always known. Not that her parents didn't care for her, or protect her. Not that they didn't love her. But they were older when she was born, not a miracle baby but a mistake created by false menopause and too much wine. Her parents were as old as some of her friends' grandparents by the time she was in high school. They'd always loved her, and she loved them, but there was no denying that when she'd gone off to college and her parents had finally started to do all the travelling her childhood had prevented that Leah's parents much preferred not having to be responsible for her any longer. Her father always sounded faintly surprised when she called to check up on how they were doing, or to fill them in on her life. Her mother never forgot Leah's birthday but always sent the same gift - a card and a gift certificate to the bookstore. An appropriate and often-times generous gift because of the amount, but not very personal. In their eighties now, Leah's parents were still in good health and still travelling. This Christmas they'd gone to spend the week with friends in London. The one before they'd gone on a cruise. Leah hadn't spent a holiday with her family in at least five years, and the last had been when her parents stopped at her house in Harrisburg for one night on their way to New York City, where they were flying out of JFK to go to Scotland. She loved her parents, but they weren't anything like close.
In the basement she pressed her face into the stack of fabric-softener-scented clothes and shut her eyes, taking deep breaths. The ring in its velvet box wasn't big enough to make a lump beneath the pile in the drawer, but she felt it anyway like it was sharp and poked her in the eye.
It was more than the differences in their families. It was the differences in him. The Brandon at home and the one here. They hadn't talked about downplaying the way things were between them, though she'd wondered what his parents might think if they knew how much time he spent on his knees for her. Seeing his father with his mother, though, she understood they might not have found it as strange as some. On the surface, they couldn't have been more different, Bill the sole provider and head of the house, Caroline a stay-home mother who baked cookies and made all their Halloween costumes from scratch. Yet watching Bill with her, the adoration in his eyes, the way he treated her like a queen, Leah understood a lot of where Brandon had learnt how to serve her.
Nevertheless, he was different here. The laundry for example. At home he'd have washed, dried and folded the clothes. He'd have put them away, taking the time to tuck her panties into the drawer and hang her blouses and skirts on hangers in coordinated rows in her closet. He did it that way because she'd told him it pleased her to have everything done just so, and because it pleased him to do what she wanted. It worked out well for both of them, and she couldn't count how many times she'd come home from work to the scent of dinner in the oven and gone upstairs to run her fingers along the row of clothes, then turned to find him in the doorway with that eminently fuckable grin on his face.
How many times had he gone to his knees for her right there, his big hands sliding up her skirt, finding the bare spots above her stockings? She shivered now, thinking of it. Of the warmth of his breath gusting over her skin when he eased her panties down and worshipped her with his mouth, making her come while she sank her fingers into the thick, dark lushness of his hair.
Her cunt pulsed at the memory. Her breath quickened. And somehow, when she turned to see him in the doorway behind her, Leah wasn't surprised.
'My mom sent me down here to make sure you were all right.' Brandon closed the door behind him.
Then, with the smile he knew never failed to get her wet, he moved towards her. His hand slid down her side to anchor at her hip. His other pulled her close, his mouth finding the sensitive flesh of her neck. Leah's nipples tightened and she bit back the low moan his touch urged from her.
There wasn't anything she wanted more than to push him back on the bed, straddle him, yank his cock free and ride it. She always wanted that with him. Every day she thought maybe the passion would fade, that he would begin to annoy her. And every day she woke up wanting him just as much as she ever had. Fuck, no. Wanting him more.
But this time, when his hand moved beneath her skirt to stroke her, Leah handcuffed his wrist with her fingers. He stopped at once, familiar with her need to be in control. His cock pushed against her through the front of his sweatpants. She could smell him, sweat from the game mingled with the cologne she'd chosen for him, and she had to swallow against another low moan. He looked at her, his head tilted. His smile faded; she could only guess from the look on her face.
'Leah?'
'I'm sorry,' she said, very carefully not saying his name even though it wanted to tumble off her tongue. 'But I have to leave.'
Chapter 5
'Dix, can I speak with you, please?' She breezed past Pickles and went up the stairs to their bedroom. He followed her, closing the door before joining her on the bed. 'Everything OK with Leah?' Best to just get it over with. 'I have to leave.' He froze and then turned those predator eyes on her. 'What?'
'Not forever. Just for a few days. Leah needs to be away for a bit and so do I. I cannot, cannot spend four more days with Pickles here. I'm sorry, I can't. I loathe her. I can't be trapped here, fake smiling at her, pretending I don't hate her to spare the girls. It's ruined my fucking vacation. There's another confrontation brewing and I don't want it to be now.'
'Then we'll both leave.
'
She smiled and kissed his neck. 'You're a good man, Charles Dixon. But you have this time with your daughters. This is probably the last time you'll all be here like this for a while anyway. Graduations, going off to college, all that stuff. Just spend the time here and we'll see each other when I get back.'
'How very casual you sound just now. When you get back. Are you planning on telling me where you're going?'
She hated when he put on his nonchalant asshole facade. 'Stop it right now. Look here, buster, your fucking ex-wife shows up here uninvited, she's a total bitch to me, she uses your children to try to drive a wedge between you and I, and what have I been? Totally understanding. I have not taken it out on your children. I have been kind to their mother even though I find her repugnant. I have respected your decisions and your need to put your children first. Don't you dare make me feel guilty for not wanting extra helpings of that fucking baby-voiced bitch and her manipulations. I'm not throwing a fit about it, but I don't have to tolerate it either. I don't want to play happy family with her. I love you and I love that you want to show your daughters what a real parent is. But I'm an outsider here. Your kids shouldn't have to choose and it's just a few days. Don't do this to me, you're not being fair. I, on the other hand, have been more than fair under the circumstances.'
'Just when I'm good and pissed at you.' He pushed her back on the bed. 'I don't want you to go.'
'Pfft. So I should what? Hang out up here? Just pine for you? Or, oh I know, go on sleigh rides with Pickles and the girls. I can giggle a lot, bump into walls. Pretend lots of things are really hard.' She pouted theatrically. 'She's totally stupid and I hate her. But she's the mother of your daughters and so will be a part of your life forever. Which, I gotta tell you, sucks. But, as you're so good in bed and all, I'm willing to tolerate. In small doses. So just keep your hands offa that dried-up old skank and I'll see you in a few days.'
'You're vicious.'
'Totally. And I am hotter. Smarter. And, I might add, a thousand times sexier.' He buried his face between her breasts. 'Oh, God yes.'
With those magic hands of his, he tore off her jeans and panties as she got her sweater and bra. By the time she looked up again, he was naked and looming above her.
'On your hands and knees. I want you from behind.
She rolled, looking back at him over her shoulder. Her body thrummed with excitement at his dominance. His raised brow and the way he handled her as he arranged her ass just so told her he knew the effect he had.
She gripped the blankets as his fingers traced the furls of her cunt. 'Head down, ass up. So wet already, Katherine.' He pressed two fingers into her. 'Ready for a fucking you'll not forget? I wouldn't want to send you off to some mystery locale with your BFF without satisfying you.'
Kate laughed. 'Shut up and fuck me already!'
She planned to tell him she'd be in Vegas, but not the exact hotel. She loved Charles Dixon beyond distraction but he was a bigger control freak than she was and, if he knew, he'd show up and try to manage things. As it was, she wasn't sure just yet herself. She'd made a few calls after she'd hung up with Leah so hopefully they wouldn't have to stay at the stinky bedsheet inn five miles off the strip or anything.
Dix looked down at her, at the way her hair had fallen free of the pony tail she'd had it captured with just minutes before. Her skin was flushed, her breathing had shallowed and she thrust back at his fingers, clearly wanting him as much as he did her.
He hated the idea of her leaving. It felt as if they were giving in to Eve and her emotional blackmail, but he understood why Kate wanted to. Still, it made him cranky. Made him want to mark her.
He gave in to that temptation, leaning down to bite and suck hard on a super-sensitive spot on her hip. She'd see it each time she got dressed, know who gave it to her. Primal, yes. Caveman even. But he felt better and her little breathy moan told him she was just fine with it too.
Just a few months earlier, he'd have been worried she'd take off for good, but he knew she'd be back to him. He knew she was his and so that part wasn't a concern. But he just didn't want her to go.
I want to tie you to this bed and keep you here. I should feel like an asshole for saying it but I don't.' He removed his fingers from her cunt and replaced them with his cock, slowly working into her heat.
He loved fucking her this way, loved watching the retreat of his cock, wet with her juices and then the press back in, the stretch of her cunt around him. It beguiled him, the way she fitted around him so perfectly.
She pressed back again, impatient for more and a slow smile crept across his face. He took his time, keeping her just on this side of climax. Because he wanted to. Because he felt petulant and needy and because he could and he knew, in the end, it would be even better when she finally came.
'I know what you're doing,' she gasped out, slightly muffled by the blankets beneath her.
'Fucking you?' he teased. 'Darling Kate, you're brilliant.' Oh, well, that was a bit more sarcastic than he'd intended. She levered up and he felt the tug around him signalling that she'd begun to play with her clit. 'Impatient? Can't wait to be out the door?'
You're such a dick. I don't want to fuck you angry.' She pulled forwards, moving free of the cock he'd had inside her. He grabbed her ankle and flipped her, covering her with his body. 'Don't be an asshole,' she said in an angry growl.
'I can't help it, Kate. I am an asshole. I don't like that you're leaving even though I understand why you're doing it. Give me a break. I'm not used to being told no. You're the only one who ever does. It's good for me. Everyone says so.' He gave her his best boyish grin and she rolled her eyes.
You can't just charm yourself out of everything. I'm not your mother or Pickles. And I know how to masturbate so I don't need you to fuck me if the price is you being a prick.'
She writhed against him and, God help him, he wanted her even more. 'I know. But you love me, flaws and all.' He chanced a quick kiss and she didn't bite him so he kept on. 'You're wet, I can feel it against my cock and belly. Let me.' He grabbed a nipple between his teeth and she moaned. He kissed down her belly, across her hips and down between her thighs.
Spreading her labia wide, he took a long lick. Juicy, salty-sweet, her taste seduced him nearly as much as her surrender did. He dove in, loving her softness, the slick furls of her pussy, loving the way she thrust her cunt against him, demanding what she wanted. He didn't waste time or draw it out; he knew he had to work his way back from his fit of pique earlier. That was Eve's fault too, damn it.
He ate Kate's cunt like there was no tomorrow, grinning against that slick flesh as she cried out her climax. He'd make her yell a bit more before she left too.
Muscles still jumping, she still felt his cock slide back into her cunt as he settled in on top of her. God, he was so good at this, he knew her so well, knew her body and her heart, knew how much she was charmed by him, even when he was being an absolute shit.
He thrust slow and very deep, grinding himself just right. She opened her eyes and found his face so very close to hers. Sighing, she gave in and smiled.
'Thank you,' he murmured, dropping down to kiss her. She drew her tongue over the seam of his lips, tasting herself, loving the way he groaned, knowing it turned him on. You should thank me,' she said back, teasing.
'I should, I agree.' He meant it, she could see it in his eyes and it shot through her. Their connection had ceased to frighten her, instead it brought a depth of satiation she'd never experienced before. He held on, but not so tight she couldn't move or breathe. But this little demonstration of his masculinity, his dominance, the mark he'd left on her, even the little fit of temper, it turned her on to know she could bring such emotion from a man as cool and collected as Charles Dixon.
He sped his pace, bringing her knees up to his hips, changing his angle of entry just so. He pinned her to the bed with his body and brought an intensity of pleasure as the tightness of her cunt drew around her clit, bringing pleasure
so intensely sweet she had to close her eyes to fall into it.
'I want to hear it,' he demanded, his mouth close to her ear.
'You want her to hear it,' she said back, gasping as the tendrils of climax took hold in her gut.
'I want it, it's mine. And yes, I want her to know it's you I'm here deep inside. Always. Even when you're not here, I want her to remember the way you sound because you're mine.'
I'm such a freak for being turned on by that,' she mumbled and he laughed. 'My favourite kind.'
No one else was there except Pickles so why the fuck not?
Orgasm rolled through her then and she let it, grabbed it and opened herself up to it fully. Kate was pretty sure she was loud enough for the neighbours half a mile away to hear but she didn't care. At that moment, he asked it of her and she wanted to give it to him.
He'd sulked the entire time she packed. It hadn't taken her very long, she was used to being portable from the weekends spent at his house anyway. But she knew the minute he left the house, she'd have to have a talk with Pickles.
When Dix had gone out to load her stuff in his truck Eve had smirked one time too many and followed it up with, Td appreciate it if you'd take more care when screaming when my husband is fucking you. My daughters don't need to be exposed to a porn movie every time you visit.'
Katherine had taken a very hands-off approach to the woman up until then. Mainly she didn't care enough to engage but it was also about trying very hard to respect the mother of Dix's kids. But they weren't there and the time had come to make things very clear to Pickles.
She turned very slowly and took a deep breath to keep from throttling Eve. 'Fuck you, Eve. Your daughters aren't here and he's not yours, he's mine. He hasn't been yours for a very long time. He's. Not. Your. Husband. Nine years now you've been divorced. Stop pretending like I'm the one who's threatened here. I'm not. You're no competition for me. He didn't want you then and he doesn't want you now. If I scream the rafters down while he's fucking me, it's none of your business as long as your children aren't here. And we both know how good he is in bed.' Kate smirked and grabbed her coat.