by Hope Ford
My life is in chaos. There’s so much going on, but I don’t have the will to say no to him. I can’t, and I don’t want to.
He kicks open the door with his shoe just as the doorbell rings. We both freeze, staring back at one another, and then he sighs. “That’s probably the guy with the alarm or the locksmith.”
I struggle in his arms until he puts me on my feet. I try to walk past him, but he stops me. “I know you didn’t sleep well last night. You should have called me then. Let me take care of all this. You lie down and take a nap.”
I hesitate briefly, but the thought of a nap feels good, and I don’t even try to hold back a yawn. I nod my head, and he starts to walk out of the bedroom, but I stop him. “Are you coming back?”
“Hell, yeah I am, honey. Once they’re gone I’m hoping we can pick up where we left off.”
A shiver goes through my body at his possessive tone. I slide under the covers and watch him as he smiles once more and pulls the door closed behind him.
12
Bart
Two hours have passed, and the people are almost done with setting the alarms and locks. I watched them as they worked, and then even made sure to do the window in Chrissy’s room myself since she was still sleeping. She didn’t even move while I was in there, telling me just how tired she really is.
When I finally usher the guys out of the house, I almost run to the bedroom, only slowing down once I get outside of her closed bedroom door. I know she’s vulnerable. I know I should go out to the couch and wait for her to wake up, but I physically can’t. I want and need to be near her.
Plus I have every right to kiss her. She knows I’m looking into David now; it doesn’t matter that I was already looking into him.
I push open the door, and she lifts her head from the pillow, rubbing her eyes. “Oh my gosh, Bart, that was the best sleep I’ve had in forever.”
I lean against the open door and take her in. The covers are tangled around her legs. Her shirt raised while she was sleeping, and I can see a little of her bare skin at her waist. The need to dive onto the bed and press my lips to her is almost too hard to resist.
“I’m glad you slept well. You even slept through me putting the alarm on the window.”
She looks at the window and then back at me before starting to get up. “Oh my gosh, I didn’t even think. I need to pay them.”
“I took care of it.”
She starts to argue, but I hold my hands up. “It’s okay. I wanted to. If you’re uncomfortable with it, you can pay me back. But I was fine doing it. I wouldn’t have slept tonight if there wasn’t something in place.”
“Thank you, Bart. We’ll figure it out. Uh, so should I get up or are you coming over here?” Her eyes are wide and innocent, her face flushed.
Yeah, there’s no fuckin’ way I could resist her. Right or wrong, I’m going to have her.
I walk to the edge of the bed and pull my shirt over my head on the way. I sit down next to her and kiss her again. Tentative kisses turn into something more.
She arches against me, and I can’t keep my hands to myself.
I tug at her shirt and pull it over her head. She’s not shy; her gaze is trained on me, and I know she’s wondering if I like what I see.
But how could I not? She’s beautiful and perfect. My hands mold to her breasts. The silky material of her bra is thin, and her nipples peak under my touch. I reach behind her and unsnap her bra, pulling it off her shoulders until she’s bare. I stop breathing for just a second. Her chest rises and falls with every breath she takes, and I know I need to do something, but I’m so overcome right now that I reach for her with shaking hands. I lightly run the tip of my finger across her nipple, and her whole body jerks at my touch. The smile that forms on my face is instant, knowing how she reacts to me. She pushes me forward, and I lean in, taking her nipple into my mouth. Her hands go to my hair, and she holds me against her. As if I will move. Nothing is going to take me away from her at this point.
I suckle her until she’s muttering, and her tiny whimpers begging me for more stop me. I pull away long enough to finish undressing her and lay her back on the bed.
“Fuck, Chrissy, I’ve wanted you for what seems like a lifetime,” I tell her, looking up and down her sweet, curvy body. She’s more than I ever could have imagined. She brings out a fierce, possessive urge inside me, and I make a promise to myself that I’m never going to let her get hurt again.
I want to devour her, but I don’t know where to start. Before I can, she grabs my shoulders and pushes me to the bed next to her. Her hands go to the button of my pants, and she makes quick work of unzipping me and then pulling them down my legs. I lift up to help her, but she doesn’t seem to need much. She’s a woman on a mission.
Her eyes flick to mine before she puts her hands in the top of my boxers and then pulls them down my legs. My cock is hard, standing to attention between us, and she’s no longer looking at me. Her gaze is solid on my hard length.
She doesn’t waste any time. Her hand grips on to my manhood and then her tongue strokes the length of my cock. I can feel myself swelling in her hand as she tightens her grip, but she doesn’t stop. She takes big licks of my cock before she opens wide and takes me deep into her warm mouth. My hips flex off the bed, and I know it won’t take much for me to come, just like this.
Chrissy
He’s hard, and the size of his length is alarming. My hand stretched doesn’t even reach around him. With my tongue on him, I look up at him, and he’s staring back at me under hooded lids. He looks relaxed enough, but I know what I’m doing to him. I feel the same thing, and he’s not even touching me. Not yet.
“Go on, baby. I need your mouth on me.” He grunts.
So I open wide again and take him deep until he’s hitting the back of my throat. Wanting to please him, I relax my throat, taking him deeper. His hand tangles in my hair, and he pulls on it, forcing me off him.
Tears come to my eyes from my gag reflex, but I can’t focus on that. He’s still holding me. “Come up here.”
He leads me up his body, and I straddle his waist, his hard cock settled at the crease of my ass. Instinctively, I roll my hips back and forth, wanting to feel him there, a place that has always been forbidden, I thought, until now. I will take Bart any way I can have him.
His hand slides between us. “Are you wet for me?”
I nod my head, because I know I’m soaked right now. Every dream I’ve ever had that included Bart and me is about to come true. I know I’m primed and ready for this.
His fingers stroke through my swollen slit, and because I can’t fight it, I start to ride his hand. He’s pinching my clit, and damn, I’m about to come. I put my hands on his waist and push my hips back out of his reach. “I want to come together. Both of us, at the same time.”
He grips his cock, stroking it up and down. “Sounds good to me.”
I lift up and position myself over top of him. Slowly, I slide down his length, and he’s filling me up until I’m completely full. I tighten around him, and he groans. “Yes.”
He lifts one hand and caresses my breast as I move my hips over him. Up and down, we reach a steady pace until I can feel my movements getting jerky. I lift until he’s just at my entrance and then I slam down again. Over and over, he fills me until I’m clenching onto his cock as my orgasm crests to the top. I buck on top of him, his hands tight on my waist as we both find our release, and my climax seems to go on forever.
Breathless, I fall down to his chest, but he doesn’t let me rest there long. He pulls me up until we’re face to face, and he plants kisses all across my nose, my cheeks, my forehead, and finally my mouth. There’s so much in that kiss it causes my heart to race and thump erratically in my chest.
I know I should get up. I know that I shouldn’t get used to being in his arms, but I can’t make myself move. I lie against him, relishing in his kiss.
I pull away reluctantly and lay my head back down on his chest
. I can feel the steady thump, thump, thump of his heart under my cheek.
“You okay?” he asks, his voice raw.
I won’t lie to him. I can’t. Not about this. “I’m better than I have been in a long time. At least right now I am. In this moment.”
His hands go up and down my back soothingly, and I know I should move to the side and get my weight off of him, but I don’t want to. I’m just going to stay here a few more minutes, I tell myself. And then back to reality.
13
Chrissy
My alarm on my phone goes off, reminding me that I need to go pick up Katie from preschool. I pull it off the nightstand and turn it off. Bart, who was dozing next to me, pulls me back into his arms and wraps himself around me. In shock, I realize that I just had sex in the middle of the day with Carrie’s older brother.
What was I thinking? I’m in no place to be jumping into bed with anyone. And I can’t help it, but my mind flashes back to David calling me a whore just two days ago. With everything going on, I know I need to do what’s right for Katie. And sleeping with a man that just came back into my life and has no plans on staying is definitely not the right thing to do.
I untangle my arms and legs from Bart and roll out of the bed, sliding my T-shirt over my head as I go. “I’m sorry I got carried away. You’ve always been—well, ya’ know, and I shouldn’t have jumped you like that. It was a mistake.” I keep rambling on as I keep putting on clothes and don’t give him time to say much. “Thank you so much for your help today. I mean with the alarm and locks. I have to go and pick up Katie, but what do you say we pretend this never happened?”
He climbs out of bed, and I try to look away as he dresses but it’s impossible. My eyes are drawn to his muscled abs and chest before he covers it with his shirt. “I’m not going to act like this didn’t happen.”
Speechless, I stare up at him helplessly. I don’t know what to say to that.
He pulls up his pants and walks over to me. “I know your head must be spinning with so much going on. And I’m not going to push you, Chrissy. But I promise you, once you take a few minutes you’ll realize that what’s between us is more than can be smashed into a single afternoon together.”
I keep putting on my shoes and try not to think about what he’s saying. It’s too tempting to let his words sink in, and then I’ll get hopeful. I can’t get hopeful right now. I need to remain steadfast. “I’ve gotta pick up Katie.”
He wants to say more, I know he does, but he just nods his head and we both leave my house. He walks me to my car, and I almost bring up paying him back, but decide that conversation can be saved for another day. Everything is too raw right now, and I just need to go.
“I’ll see you later, Chrissy. This isn’t over.”
I merely nod my head before I drive off.
I’ve barely gotten myself together when I’m given more bad news at the preschool. While I’m there, I’m delivered paperwork about required visitation rights while the child custody is in litigation.
Man, he wasn’t kidding about his bigtime lawyer. This man is jumping down my throat!
In the paperwork it says that David will get to have Katie for 24 hours. David will be picking her up from preschool the next day.
I’m going to fall apart. I know I am. If there’s ever a person that needs to be with her friends right now, it’s me. I want to call up Olivia, Lacy, Carrie, and Rose and have them all meet me at Patty Cakes so I can hash all this out. They’re the best friends a woman could have, but I know I don’t have time right now. I have to figure this out. How in the world am I supposed to let my little girl go with him? I don’t know how I can do it.
I put on a brave face for Katie. “How was your day at school?”
“It was so good, Momma. Did you ask Bart if he’ll show me how to do the magic trick? Huh, Momma, did you?”
I can’t help but smile. At least I did something right. “I did. He said he would show you so you can do it for your friends.”
“Yes!” she says excitedly.
“So what do you think about going to Patty Cakes for a treat?” I ask her. She agrees excitedly and starts to ramble on about her day. I’m in a daze the whole way to Patty Cakes.
“Well, this is a nice surprise!” Carrie says, seeing us as we walk in. She must notice my ashen face because she focuses completely on Katie, bringing her hot chocolate and a cinnamon roll. They laugh and have a good time while I sit and watch. When she occupies Katie with crayons and a coloring pad, she finally turns to me. “What’s wrong?”
“Can you keep an eye on Katie while I go outside to call my attorney?”
“Of course, but what’s wrong?”
I can’t even say it. I hand her the papers that will tell her visitation is being enforced, and David gets twenty-fours of unsupervised visitation with Katie starting the next day.
“It’s not ideal, but he wouldn’t hurt Katie. Right?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know, Carrie. He’s different. There’s something going on with him. He’s pulled a knife on me and well, I just don’t think I can let her go with him.”
Carrie’s gasp is loud, and even Katie lifts her head to look at us. We both smile at her until she goes back to coloring.
Carrie grabs my hand. “We have to do something.”
“I’m going to call my attorney.”
She nods her head and watches me worriedly. Taking a deep breath, I go out to the sidewalk to make the call.
Bart
The rest of the afternoon has been filled with work. Now, more than ever, I want to catch David. The sooner that’s taken care of, the sooner Chrissy can relax and see exactly what we have together.
The talk with David’s friend that just got out on parole proved fruitful. He told me about a storage locker in town where David kept all his stolen goods. After going to the storage lot, I find the locker with the purple and green lock on it. The friend didn’t know the number, but he was able to describe where it was and the color of the locks.
I go back to the courthouse to get another search warrant, but Leah’s not as easy to deal with this time. I’m sure she’s heard already that I’m spending time with Chrissy. That’s how fast news travels in a small town like Forest Grove. I had to get Scott on the phone to help me, and finally, Leah said she’d get it to me by the next day. I can’t argue with her. It’s almost closing time, so I thank her and leave.
Leaving the courthouse, I see Chrissy outside of Patty Cakes. She is gorgeous and sexy, so I keep watching. I see she’s on the phone and getting upset.
I stride toward her and see the tears she tries to quickly wipe away. I pull her into my arms and hold her. “What’s wrong? I’m here for you, everything is going to be okay.”
Like a dam letting loose, she sobs into my shoulder. I hold on to her, waiting for her to get her bearings. With her arms around my waist and her head on my chest, I could stand here all night. But I hate seeing her in pain like this. It makes me want to kill David for what he’s doing to her.
She sniffs a few times. She tells me about David’s attorney and how her own attorney said there’s nothing legally they can do to stop visitation right now. “I’m so scared, Bart.”
“It’s all right. We’ll figure this out,” I promise.
She takes a few deep breaths and pulls from my arms. I don’t let her go far. My hands stay on her shoulders, and I don’t know if it’s to soothe her or me. She wipes at her face. “Okay?” she asks.
I know she’s asking me about her tearstained face. “Beautiful,” I tell her honestly.
Her lips lift in the corners, and I would give anything to kiss her right now. Instead, I reach for her hand. I need her to know that she’s not alone in this. I’m going to be here for her, no matter what.
We go into Patty Cakes, and we barely get through the door and I have to release my hold on Chrissy to catch a flying Katie as she jumps into my arms. “Wow! That’s a great hello,” I say as Katie bounces in my
arms.
“Katie!” Chrissy exclaims, but I shake her off, letting her know it’s okay.
“What’s up, Katie?”
Her arms go around my neck, and she’s smiling ear to ear. “Mom said you’d show me how to do the magic trick. Maggie said I can’t do it and I’m going to show her!”
I laugh and promise her, “You’ll be a pro by tonight. That is, if it’s okay with your mother.”
We both look at Chrissy, and she’s nodding her head yes which brings out another squeal from Katie.
I catch my sister looking at us, and I know exactly what she’s thinking. I don’t care though. I don’t care if the world knows. Because right now, I feel like I have everything I could ever want with Chrissy by my side and her daughter in my arms.
“Hey sis!” I nod at her.
“Hey, big brother. Well, now that I see Chrissy and Katie are in good hands, I better get back to work.”
She gives us all a knowing smile before heading behind the counter. Chrissy tells her she’ll talk to her soon, and we walk out of the bakery hand in hand.
14
Chrissy
Bart is amazing with Katie.
And it’s obvious that she’s getting attached to him.
Even though I don’t know how he could possibly stop what is coming the next day, his being here makes me feel better, safer.
Bart and Katie play board games while I make dinner. He’s shown her how to do the magic trick, and she’s so excited to go to school tomorrow to show her friends. She handled the whole situation of her dad picking her up better than I thought she would. And even though a part of me wants to believe that David would never hurt her, I’m still torn to pieces about it.