A Lot Like Love

by Jennifer Snow

  “Are you kidding me?” he asked, moving his fingers in and out and massaging his thumb over her clit. “Damn, Sarah…you have no idea what you do to me.”

  He kissed her neck again as his fingers moved quicker in and out of her body. He felt her tighten, and he desperately wanted to feel her body clenching around his cock.

  “The coding can wait,” she said, setting the laptop aside and turning her full attention to him.

  “I’m sorry,” he said with a grin. “Should I stop and let you work?”

  “Not a chance.” She unzipped his shorts and slid her hand through the opening of his underwear to grip his penis in her hand. It was already rock-hard, and the throbbing sensation at her touch was almost painful. She was incredible; the way she made him feel was incredible.

  She started to stroke him up and down, rolling her thumb over the tip of him, then coating the length of him with his precum.

  He put another finger inside, and she sucked in a breath as her grip tightened on him. “Does this hurt?” he whispered in her ear.

  “Only in a good way,” she said, her voice strained. “Faster, please,” she begged, picking up her own pace on his cock.

  He plunged in and out, deep into her body as her legs trembled and he felt her orgasm erupt. Her body convulsed, and she closed her eyes and suppressed a deep, satisfying moan on a kiss.

  He grinned as he slowly slid his fingers out of her body. “Better than working?”

  She nodded. “Much better,” she said, removing her hand from his body and getting up off the couch. He watched as she knelt on the floor in front of him and pushed his knees apart.

  Oh, Jesus.

  She wiggled in between his legs and, gripping his penis with one hand, she lowered her head to his lap.

  Wes’s head fell back against the sofa as Sarah’s mouth wrapped around him. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a blow job. The feel of Sarah’s wet, warm mouth sucking and licking him was torture. Sweet, delicious torture.

  He closed his eyes as her tongue slid the length of him and circled the top… Her hand at the base of his cock massaged his balls, and he stifled a moan as the pleasurable sensations flowed through him.

  She sucked harder, and he was dangerously close to the edge. “Sarah…” His voice held a note of warning, but she didn’t stop. A moment later, he gripped the fabric of the sofa cushions and threw his head back as he came, the overwhelming sensations stealing his breath.

  She slowly removed her mouth from him and, getting up off the floor, she sat on his lap. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her hard. “You’re so incredible,” he said, brushing her dark hair away from her face.

  “You’re not too bad yourself,” she said. She smiled and kissed him again, but then her gaze lowered. Her expression darkened slightly and she bit her lip.

  “Hey, everything okay?” he asked, placing a finger under her chin and tipping her face up to look at him.

  “Yeah.” She paused and shook her head. “Actually, not really.”

  His heart thundered in his chest. First Marissa, now Sarah. “What’s going on?”

  “The pitch meeting with SmartTech Kids was moved up…to this Friday,” she said, looking disappointed.

  “Okay…”

  “The same day as parents’ day at camp,” she said.

  His chest tightened. “Oh.”

  “I’m so sorry, Wes,” she said quickly. “I’m still going to try to make it. My meeting is at nine thirty, so as long as it doesn’t go longer than an hour, I can get back here in time.”

  “Hey, if not, it’s okay,” he said reassuringly. They’d just started getting serious; it would be unfair to expect Sarah to choose a camp day over a big pitch meeting she’d been working hard on for months. Her promotion was riding on it.

  “No, it’s not. Marissa will be disappointed if I’m not there,” she said. “I promised her.”

  Wes kissed her forehead. She looked truly pained by the conflicting schedule, and her concern made him fall that much harder for her. “She will understand,” he said.

  Sarah still looked worried. “I really want to be there.”

  He nodded. “I know.” He really wanted her to be there, too. “But if you can’t, that’s okay.”

  Sarah sighed as she snuggled into his chest. “I’m going to try my best.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  The L.A. boardroom was already set up for the meeting that Friday morning when Sarah arrived at the office. SmartTech products sat in the center of the table, and the large flatscreen at the front of the room had Sarah’s presentation slides ready to go. Coffee and a dessert tray were laid out, and Sarah paced the room, flipping through her presentation notes.

  She checked her watch. It was just after nine.

  Camp parents’ day was scheduled to start at noon. Her meeting started in ten minutes… How fast could she talk? Could she get through this pitch in an hour, then hit the road? It normally took two hours to get to Blue Moon Bay…if there was no traffic. If she drove really fast, she might be able to make it and only be a few minutes late.

  She took a deep breath.

  She’d never had to juggle her commitments before. She’d only ever had to think about herself. Her own future goals. What she wanted, and it hadn’t affected anyone else if she worked long hours, weekends, pulled all-nighters, and poured all her attention and energy into work.

  Now there were others to think about.

  The relationship with Wes was new, but she already knew she was in love with him. In love with them. Her life was already different after the last few weeks, the last few days especially. She felt different.

  This was the first real challenge of how they could make a long-distance relationship work. It was a test of sorts for her.

  Wes had reassured her again that morning when she’d been reluctant to leave that this was fine. He understood. Marissa would understand if she couldn’t make it. But Sarah was suddenly struggling with what she could only assume other parents faced every day—the internal battle of choosing family over career. Of balancing two desires, lifestyles, to try to make things work.

  So far in her career, the only way she’d succeeded was by giving it 100 percent. Could she give it 50 and still achieve her goals? It wouldn’t be fair to Wes and Marissa if she tried to maintain her workaholic pace, putting them last on her priority list. They certainly weren’t there in her heart.

  She sighed, then tried to appear completely focused as her boss entered the room.

  Donning her usual black power dress—square neck, cinched at the waist, just below the knee—and four-inch red heels, her short white hair slicked back and airbrushed makeup on her thin face, Gail was success personified. For so many years, Sarah had looked up to her mentor. She’d wanted to be just like Gail.

  Suddenly, her own suit and heels felt confining. She longed to change into the sundress and sandals in her car.

  “You ready?” her boss asked as she checked the monitor cables on the table.

  “Absolutely,” Sarah said. This was what she wanted. This was the setting she was comfortable in. This was what she was good at. She needed to push everything else aside and show Gail that she deserved the promotion. Maybe if she was working on her own projects and not having to jump whenever Gail called, she’d have more time for the other things she now knew she wanted in her life.

  “Great. Let’s run through it,” Gail said, sitting at the head of the boardroom table. She crossed one leg over the other and folded French-manicured hands on her lap.

  Sarah frowned, checking the time. “I don’t think we have time.” The executives from SmartTech Kids would be arriving any minute, and she didn’t want to be in mid-presentation when they arrived. That wouldn’t exactly look professional.

  Gail waved a hand. “The meeting’s not until noon. We c
an run through this a few times to make sure we nail it.”

  Heat rose on Sarah’s neck. Noon? Her boss had told her nine thirty. She’d told Wes she would be back as soon as possible to try to salvage part of parents’ day if she could. She hadn’t promised him and he wasn’t expecting her. But she’d been planning on trying her best to be there for at least part of the day. Now that wouldn’t be possible.

  “Why did you tell me nine thirty?”

  Gail looked surprised that it should even matter. “Because I wanted to make sure you were here on time.”

  When had she ever let her boss down? Sure, in recent weeks she’d been divided in her focus and not as available as usual, but her work hadn’t suffered at all for it. In fact, Gail herself had admitted that the time away had helped.

  “Is there a problem?” Gail asked when she continued to stand there.

  “Um…no,” Sarah said, squaring her shoulders and taking a breath. It didn’t matter. She was there now. There was nothing she could do. And her boss was right—a few run-throughs made sense. She hadn’t really had time to do much prep work herself…

  She reached for the television remote and stood at the front of the room. She smiled and scanned the empty room as she would later that day when the seats were filled with the executives. “Welcome, SmartTech Kids. I’m Sarah Lewis and this is… This is…” She stopped, glancing down at her note cards; then she shook her head. “This is not where I need to be,” she said, letting her hands fall to her sides as her gaze met Gail’s confused one.

  “What’s going on?”

  Sarah blew out a breath, then said, “I thought the meeting was this morning. I actually have something else…something important I need to do this afternoon.” And if she left now, she’d make it in time for the entire parents’ day event. Marissa wouldn’t have to be disappointed. For the first time, she’d have a “mom” present for the mom and daughter scavenger hunt. And all of a sudden, finding hidden items using a compass she had no idea how to use was the only thing that mattered. She wanted to be that person Marissa could depend on and trust. She could be that mom the little girl was missing. Her heart nearly burst at the thought.

  “What are you talking about?” Gail was clearly not impressed.

  “I have to get back to Blue Moon Bay.”

  “This is about that old inn?”

  Sarah shook her head. “Not exactly.” She wouldn’t try explaining it to Gail. There was no point. Her boss had given up the idea of having a family years before, choosing her career. It worked for her. It made her happy.

  Gail’s life wasn’t the life Sarah wanted.

  She packed up her things, and Gail stood. “You’re leaving?”

  “Yes.”

  “What about the presentation?”

  “Here are my notes. Everything is on the slides,” she said. Her boss had everything she needed to handle this without her.

  “Sarah, this isn’t funny.”

  “I’m not kidding.” She grabbed her purse. “I’m sorry, Gail. But I think I’m finally realizing that I’m never going to have the flexibility working here that I need to do the things I want to do…to have other opportunities that will make me happy.”

  Gail scoffed. “Happy? Life is not about being happy, Sarah. It’s about working hard, building something meaningful…” She gestured at the office around her.

  Sarah smiled as she moved past her boss, out of the boardroom. “That’s what I’m hoping to do.” With the inn. With her own business. With Wes and Marissa.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Wes paced outside the Camp Crowley gates just before noon. He’d told Sarah that her not being here was okay and he meant it, but now he was really hoping she did. At least for a little while. When Marissa saw just him there that day, she would be so disappointed. But this would be the way it would be if they all moved forward in a relationship…as a family.

  Sarah’s life was in the city. She’d never said she would move back to Blue Moon Bay, and with his new lease space and office plans hopefully coming together, he had no intentions of moving to the city.

  But couples made long-distance relationships work all the time. They’d figure it out.

  He scanned the cars driving up the dirt road. Still not hers.

  Hearing a chime, he reached for his cell. But it wasn’t her. It wasn’t even his phone. Another chime. He frowned.

  Must be Marissa’s cell phone. He retrieved it from his pocket and stared at the lock screen. He knew her password. That was a condition of having the phone, but he’d never used it before. Trusting her, not wanting to violate her privacy. But another chime had his heart racing. Who was sending multiple messages to his nine-year-old? Most of her friends were at camp with her without their phones right now.

  He punched in her access code, and a picture of the two of them appeared on the screen. It was one taken their day out on the boardwalk when they bought the glass bulb for Sarah. He scrolled to her messages and saw ten new ones.

  He hesitated, hating to violate her privacy, but someone was desperate to contact her and if it was innocent enough, then it wouldn’t matter if he read the messages first.

  He was playing the parent card on this one.

  He opened the text messages and frowned, seeing the unknown number. Maybe it was some telemarketing thing or an election text service or something. He clicked on the number and images started to load. He squinted to see a man’s chest…stomach…the next photo had his face immediately blazing with heat.

  Who the hell was this? He winced as he filtered through the messages until he reached the last one sent. CyberStud480 downloaded your app and wants to chat.

  CyberStud480 was going to die.

  Enraged, Wes struggled to calm his breathing. His hands clenched at his sides; he’d never wanted to tear someone apart so badly in his life. Not even in his football days had he felt this rage out on the field. But this was so different. This was his daughter. And some middle-aged creep was sending her inappropriate messages and pictures? Some of the messages were from Monday, when she’d left for camp. This must be what had been bothering her. She’d been receiving these disturbing messages but had been too worried to tell him.

  He paced in front of the gate, his shoes kicking up the dirt at a breakneck pace. What did he do? Did he respond to the guy? Block the number, obviously. Was there a way to block any incoming messages? Right now, he was tempted to destroy the phone. This creep had found Marissa’s contact information on her app. Her personal information was out there. To be exploited by assholes like this one.

  He swallowed hard, but his heart was still in his throat. If she’d had her phone that day and had seen these images…

  Seeing Sarah’s car approach, his anger dissipated slightly. She’d made it. Good, someone to talk this through with. Calm him down before he threatened to find this guy and beat the life out of him. But then his anger returned. Unfortunately, she was also to blame for these messages on his daughter’s phone. She’d helped Marissa get this app online in the first place, when Wes had always been against his daughter being active on the internet.

  She climbed out of the car and rushed toward him, pulling on her sandals as she went. “I made it!” she said, stumbling over the gravel. “I think I may have a few photo radar tickets in my future, but I’m here!” Her wide smile faded, seeing his expression. “Hi?”

  He forced a breath, but it caught in his chest, not making it to his lungs. “Hey…I, um…” How did he even start this conversation? What exactly did he say? He cleared his throat. “So, Marissa’s been getting these.” He handed her the phone. It wasn’t pleasant to look at, but if Marissa had had to endure them, Sarah should see them, too. See the danger she’d opened his daughter up to.

  Sarah frowned as she took the phone; then her hand covered her mouth as she saw the images. “Oh my God.”

 
He nodded, his arms folded across his chest. He was practically vibrating out of his skin right now. If the guy were standing in front of him, he couldn’t be held accountable for his actions. For the first time in his life, he understood the insanity plea.

  “This person is disgusting. How did he even get her number?”

  His voice was tight as he fought to control his anger. “The app you created for her. It has her contact info.”

  Sarah shook her head, but then her eyes widened. “Shit, it must have gotten hacked. Her info was only on the secure seller’s page.”

  “Obviously it wasn’t very secure.”

  “Unfortunately, there’s only so much you can do when things are online,” Sarah said, sounding remorseful but as though this couldn’t have been prevented.

  He stared at her. “That’s why I didn’t want her online.”

  Sarah’s gaze registered his anger, and she seemed to retreat slightly. “Right, but this hardly ever happens…”

  “It happens often enough,” he said, his voice cold. “This is exactly the kind of thing I was trying to protect her from.”

  Sarah scoffed, but her voice was gentle when she said, “Wes, technology is part of the world now. It’s everywhere. You can’t shield her from it.”

  She was arguing with him? “I can shield her from it. It’s my job as a parent to protect her from this shit as long as possible. She’s nine…” His voice rose, and he lowered his head. Getting upset with Sarah wasn’t his intent. This was his fault. He’d allowed it to happen.

  Sarah sighed. “I’m sorry, Wes. You’re right. I guess I wasn’t thinking about the dangers of her information being in there.”

  “No, you weren’t. And it’s not your fault. You’re not a parent. You don’t get it.”

  The moment he said the words, he wanted to pull them back. But he couldn’t, and ultimately, it was true. He didn’t expect Sarah to know how to be a parent when he was still struggling with it himself, and he was doing it full-time.