The Imperfections: A Forbidden Romance

by Sam Mariano

  I look down for a beat, trying to think how to wrangle my own muddled thoughts and feelings into a response that will satisfy her.

  After a few seconds, I tell her, “When we started getting to know one another, it was different from anything I’d ever experienced before. You’re different from anything I’ve ever experienced before. There’s not just one way to love. Different people view love and express it different ways, but you? You do it like no one I’ve ever met before. I didn’t know what to make of it at first—it felt too easy and it made me suspicious. I tried to pick it apart and make sense of it, but only because I hadn’t encountered it before. I won’t claim to entirely understand you yet, but I understand you better now than I did then. Love is a verb for you. When you love someone, you open up and give all of yourself. You’re loyal and supportive and you give. You’re a solid partner. Some people are different. Love is a noun for some people—not something they do, just something they have. There are people who treat love like a game, like a competition, and they always have to have the upper hand. Love is a battle, and sometimes they hurt the other person just to prove they’re the winner.”

  “There shouldn’t be winners and losers in love,” she says simply. “You should both be winners. You shouldn’t want the person you love to lose.”

  Cracking a smile, I pull her close. “And that’s why I’m gonna marry you.”

  Amusement dances in her eyes. “I thought it was because I’m pregnant.”

  “That, too. There are a lot of reasons to marry you—I can’t keep ’em all straight. Anyway, you don’t weaponize love. You don’t fight me like I’m the opponent you like beating best, so you don’t have to worry about it. You and I are never going to encounter the same problems I might’ve had with someone else.”

  She mulls that over, debating whether or not to let it go, then she peeks up at me and says, “I’m not trying to insult you since obviously you don’t like that opponent type of love, but I do feel the need to point out you weaponized my affection for you just a little bit ago. I’d just spilled the beans and was very reasonably afraid to be alone with you, and you used my feelings for you to bend me to your will.”

  I frown at first, but then my brow clears as I realize she’s not entirely wrong. “I might have picked up some not so great habits from being on the other side of that experience before. After you go through the sort of relationship I had with Nicole, it changes something inside you. You want to make it so that can never happen to you again.”

  Alyssa nods like she understands then rises up on her tiptoes and wraps her arms around my neck, giving me a warm, supportive hug. “I’m sorry.”

  Absently rubbing her back, I tell her, “Nothing for you to be sorry about.”

  “Someone made you feel so unsafe in love you’re afraid to give your heart away again,” she states. “How could I not be sorry for that?”

  My arms tighten around her and I hug her a little closer, closing my eyes and just breathing her in. “I have a hunch before all is said and done, you’ll end up with custody of my heart.”

  I feel a little burst of warm breath against my skin as she chuckles. “I better. If I’m gonna be your wife, I demand full custody.”

  “Now, wait a minute,” I start to tease.

  “All of it,” she insists. “Every inch.”

  I keep one arm locked around her but let the other drop down between us so I can touch her stomach. “I think the baby might at least want a corner of it.”

  She pulls back just enough to look up at me, her eyes swimming with too many emotions to name. “How mad are you that I made you a father like that?”

  I capture her hand in mine, lifting it closer to my lips so I can kiss her knuckles. “I don’t want to be mad about that now. It’s done, there’s no point.”

  “I don’t want you to ever resent the baby because I’m a jerk.”

  “You are not a jerk,” I state, rolling my eyes dismissively. “We are going to have to do some damage control though, to get everyone on the same page. How many people know Theo’s the father of your baby? I assume your sister. Your mom? Who else?”

  Shaking her head vigorously, Alyssa says, “They don’t know. Only you and Theo know that. I hadn’t figured out how to explain it, so I just… hadn’t, yet.”

  My eyebrows rise in pleasant surprise. “No one knows?”

  She shakes her head again. “I got knocked up by a married man, Brant. Wasn’t really the sort of thing I wanted to flaunt.”

  “Well, that makes this a hell of a lot easier. Now we just have to figure out how we could’ve met.”

  “I already have a story,” she tells me, pulling out of my arms and walking naked to the bedside table. She starts tugging her pigtails loose to let her long blonde hair fall freely down her back.

  “Let’s hear it,” I say, following her lead and walking around to my own side of the bed. I fall back and hit the light real quick, then I climb into bed. Alyssa pulls back her side of the messy bedding and climbs in next to me.

  “You stopped over to visit the boys one day while I was babysitting, not realizing Bri was at work. Since I was there, we got to talking, you thought I was cute, I dug your gruff, rugged charm—boom, connection made. Before you left, we exchanged numbers, and we started hanging out after that.”

  “Hanging out,” I echo, shaking my head. “It’s a little harder to sell that I’m hooking up with a teenager just for the hell of it.”

  “Well, you can always say you thought I was older when we first started seeing each other. Say you thought I was in college, not high school. I said I was a senior, and you assumed I meant the 21-year-old variety.”

  I mull that over for a minute. “Still a little young, but more workable. Other problem is I don’t date, so I’m not sure how believable it will be to Bri that I would’ve asked for your number.”

  “Maybe I asked for yours,” she says lightly, letting her eyes rake over me with exaggerated interest.

  I smile, reaching my arm out and pulling her against my side. “I would’ve laughed at you, not given you my number.”

  “Did I forget to mention I was wearing a bikini?” she teases, taking my free hand and placing it over her bare breast. On instinct, I squeeze it. Her hard nipple presses against my palm and a jolt of interest travels straight to my cock. “I worked real hard for it,” she adds, playfully. “Leaned past you to grab something off the table and shoved my boobs in your face. Bent over in front of you and adjusted the scanty fabric covering my ass. Of course you didn’t seek me out, but I thought you were so sexy, I wanted to seduce you, and you couldn’t say no.”

  “That might check out,” I murmur, tilting my head to kiss the breast I just got done squeezing as my hand moves to the other one.

  “That’s how you got me pregnant when normally you’d never be so careless. I teased you mercilessly, and by the time I spread my legs for you, you couldn’t wait another second longer to get inside my pussy.”

  My cock throbs, hearing her pretty mouth say that dirty word.

  She’s quickly making her revisionist history a very accurate portrayal of the present. Even though I know we still have a lot to work out, for the moment, I can’t resist the pretty little temptress in my bed.

  And I guess since she’s mine now, for better or worse, I don’t have to.

  16

  Brant

  There’s an extra kick in my step the next day when I mosey into work.

  I spent the whole night fucking Alyssa, sleeping peacefully, and fucking Alyssa again. After a great night’s sleep, I woke up this morning to a hard-on and my devoted new fiancée’s lips wrapped around my cock. Then, after my good morning blow job, she hauled her pretty little ass downstairs and made me breakfast.

  Life is good today.

  So good, in fact, it escapes my notice that I had Dirk scheduled to open until he comes sauntering in. The sight of him brings back Alyssa’s words from last night and dulls my good mood right away.
>
  He’s my age, he’s single, he’s funny, he’s attractive. Tell me what is so awful about him, because I sure don’t see it.

  He looks the part of a no-good asshole who casually breaks any heart that’s handed to him, and I don’t like knowing Alyssa was attracted to him. Good thing I’m marrying her little ass, because she honestly has worse taste in guys than any woman I’ve ever met, and my sister married Theo, so that’s saying something.

  Like just about anyone working a job like this, Dirk doesn’t look thrilled to be here. Back of the house guys don’t have too strict a dress code, so he’s wearing a pair of well-worn jeans and a plain white T-shirt.

  “Hey, Dirk!”

  He passes a hand through his hair, offering a silent nod of acknowledgment at the perky waitress who greets him. I don’t remember if he slept with that one, haven’t paid enough attention to him before now.

  When his gaze catches mine, though, a hint of unpleasantness passes between us.

  Nodding a touch mockingly, he says, “Boss.”

  My eyes narrow on him as he walks by, but I don’t offer back a return greeting.

  Smug little shit.

  I’m the one who took her home, so I shouldn’t let it bother me, but something about him just rubs me wrong. Maybe Alyssa’s right—maybe I just don’t like anybody.

  Nah, it’s him. He’s an asshole.

  I stay up front for a while, making sure the place is ready to open, but it’s not like anyone’s waiting outside to get in the second the door’s unlocked. One of our regular daytime drinkers wanders in after about twenty minutes. Somewhere around twenty five, Dirk comes up to fill a cup and get himself some Sprite.

  I watch as he heads to the back, then on a whim, I decide to follow him. When I walk through the doors, I see him already standing over by the sink, getting ready to clean up the few dishes there are from the morning’s prep work. He’s been back here long enough that he should’ve done that by now, but I don’t mention it. Mornings always start a little slow, I only want to pick at the little bastard today because I can’t shake the mental image of him with his arms wrapped around Alyssa.

  My movement must catch his eye as I walk toward him because he glances in my direction, then does a double take and stands a little straighter.

  As I slow to a stop by the sink, I reach into my back pocket and draw out my wallet. Wordlessly, I extract a twenty and hold it out to him.

  Dirk frowns at the money in confusion then looks up at me. “What’s that for?”

  “Reimbursement for the carnival food you bought Alyssa last night. Doesn’t seem right you should have to pay for it.”

  Understanding dawns and smug amusement transforms his face. Shaking his head, he ignores the money and instead grabs the sprayer over the sink, squeezing it and going back to work. “Nah, I’m good.”

  “I don’t feel right about it,” I insist. “Just take the money.”

  “Nope.” He continues to spray out a large bowl before turning it over and dumping out all the water.

  I watch, my annoyance growing as he releases the sprayer and grabs a scrubber off the sink, getting to work on the bowl like I’m not even standing here. “Why not?” I demand, a little more grumpily than I intend.

  As he cleans it, he looks over at me with a deceptively blank face. “I don’t mind buying Alyssa food. She’s a nice girl, good date. I’d buy her food again. Probably will.”

  At that, I can’t help smiling. “I don’t think so.”

  “You think I care that she left with you, Brant?” Dirk asks point-blank. “I don’t. So I stumbled across her when she’s going through her older man phase.” To express how few fucks he gives, he shrugs and raises his eyebrows in a deliberately annoying gesture. “When she gets over it and realizes she needs someone who can actually keep up with her, I’ll still be around. Probably have a few more notches in my belt by then, but around, still.” Just to annoy me some more, he points at me as if he’s just had an idea and says, “Hey, if it’s not too weird, maybe we’ll come here for our second date, bring you some business.”

  I can only stare at this ballsy little fucker, sorely tempted to fire him on the spot just for being such a pain in the ass. I mentally go over his work record to see if I could get away with it. I’m pretty sure I could, but then I think it through a bit further.

  Alyssa said he’s her neighbor, and since he’s such a fucking irritant, I wouldn’t put it past him to casually tell Alyssa I fired him after their carnival date to stir her sympathies. Knowing Alyssa, it’d work, and the last thing I want is her yelling at me over this insignificant little prick.

  I don’t especially like letting him think he won this round, but I know better. I know I’ll be the one going home to Alyssa tonight; mine will be the arms wrapped around her, it’ll be my cock she rides, my ring she wears… I’ve already won, I don’t need him to know that.

  Smiling faintly, I tuck my money back into my wallet. “All right, then,” I say simply before turning and heading back up front.

  As I roll up the dark driveway toward my house, my phone starts vibrating on the seat beside me. I flick a glance at it and see it’s Bri again. She shouldn’t even be awake at this hour. That she is tells me she must be really worried. Not for the first time today, I consider answering it, but then I don’t. The phone finally settles when it puts her through to voice-mail, and I sigh, the weight on my shoulders just a few ounces heavier.

  I’ve been ignoring Bri’s phone calls all damn day, and I feel guilty as hell about it. Haven’t decided what to say to her. I know she’s worried over nothing and I could ease her mind, but I also know if I tell her Alyssa is okay and everything is fine, she’ll definitely tell Theo if she hasn’t already.

  I don’t know why I’m so reluctant for him to find out Alyssa’s still alive. I know it’s inevitable, but I don’t like it. All I can picture is him coming back around now that Alyssa’s “family” and he has a cover, and there’s just no way that ends well for any of us.

  I tell myself it’s my instincts responsible for making me want to put off that asshole finding out Alyssa is alive and well, but it might just be insecurity. For all that Alyssa swears she’s into me now and over him, she crossed that line with him once. How confident am I, really, that she never would again?

  Goddammit, I hate even letting thoughts like that float through my head.

  I hate letting the rest of the world in on our relationship, and now that’s inevitable.

  I took tomorrow off so I can take Alyssa out. I need to buy her a ring and meet her family. I texted a little bit ago to let her know so she could set something up, but I haven’t heard back.

  Makes me wonder if she’s dragging her feet about introducing me to her family. I’d understand it, but I can’t say I’d like it.

  Even with a few important things up in the air, I feel good about coming home tonight. It’s knowing Alyssa’s here that makes all the difference.

  Given how late it is, I’m not even sure she’ll be awake, but when I get closer to the house, I see lights are on upstairs. Scout doesn’t bother to greet me at the door like he usually does when he’s home alone, so I figure he must be upstairs with her.

  Sure enough, when I step into my well-lit bedroom, I see him curled up asleep on his dog bed in the corner. Alyssa’s lying on the bed in a pair of black lacey panties and a white tank top with no bra, so much of her bare body on display that my cock starts to harden immediately. She’s scrolling mindlessly on her phone when I walk in, but her attention jumps to me and she smiles.

  “Hey, handsome. How was your day?”

  I cock an eyebrow and take an extra few seconds to look over her long, shapely legs, completely bare on top of neatly tucked bedding. “You sure know how to greet a man after a long day of work,” I tell her.

  “I’m practicing my wife game,” she says lightly. “Glad to hear you approve. I’d have even made you dinner if you got home at a normal hour.”

  Yeah
, now that I’ve got a woman and a baby on the way, I’m gonna have to do something about my hours. Working all the time kept me busy when it was just me, but it’s not the right kind of schedule for having a family at home.

  Easing the door shut behind me, I walk over and set my cell phone on the bedside table. I scowl at the bed, unaccustomed to it being made, then start to pull it all back so I can climb underneath. I get it halfway off, but I give up since I’m not undressed for bed anyway and sit on top.

  Alyssa looks up from her phone just as I climb on top of her. Then she puts it down and grins up at me. “Do I get a kiss?”

  “You get as many as you want,” I tell her, tilting my head to claim her lips.

  Alyssa wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me back for a few minutes before I pull away.

  “I need a shower,” I tell her.

  “Want some company?”

  “If I ever turn that down, shoot me.”

  Alyssa grins. “I could never shoot you.”

  “It’d be a mercy. Just put me out of my misery.”

  She shakes her head and kisses me again, then pushes me off her so she can move off the bed.

  “Did you talk to your family about dinner tomorrow?” I ask as I climb off as well and follow her to the bathroom.

  Immediately, she becomes more evasive. “Um, yeah. I’m not sure tomorrow will work for dinner, but we could stop over at some point. My mom probably won’t be there, but you could meet Amber and the kids, and of course Pappy would be there.”

  “Kinda defeats the purpose if your mom’s not there, doesn’t it? I imagine you’d want to tell her first.”

  “She can find out after. It doesn’t really matter,” Alyssa tells me as she tugs her tank top off and drops it in the laundry basket.

  “She’s your mother, Alyssa.”

  “She’s busy with her own life,” she tosses back, bending to push down her panties.

  I am suitably distracted from the topic of her mother at the sight of Alyssa’s entirely bare body, and she knows it, too. A playful little smile tugging at her lips, she catches her breasts in her palms and caresses them.