Broken and Beautiful

by Ryan, Kendall

  "This way, we can conserve water."

  “Seriously, Cole?” I laughed. “I take back what I said about you being convincing in the courtroom.”

  "I can't believe I hired someone to take care of CJ who cares so little about the environment." His look of mock disgust sent me over the edge, and I burst out laughing.

  Cole stood with me still in his arms and carried me to the bathroom. "It's still nighttime, so we're safe." He kissed me.

  "You're really milking this, aren't you?" I smiled at him as he set me down on my feet in the large tiled stall.

  "I'm trying." He turned on the water, and we were pelted with the hot spray.

  Cole sat on the tiled bench and pulled me towards him until I was standing between his legs. He leaned forward and sucked one of my nipples into his mouth.

  "How am I gonna keep my hands off of you after tomorrow?"

  “I don't know.” I shrugged. “But we have a few hours to figure it out.” I pulled him to his feet.

  We soaped up washcloths and cleaned each other. My skin buzzed with electricity as he slowly dragged the washcloth over the skin of my shoulders, back and thighs.

  I was surprised to find that Cole and I used the same shampoo.

  “You use Patrice shampoo too.”

  "I use Patrice everything." He laughed. "She's my aunt."

  My attempts to hide my incredulous look came too late because Cole chuckled.

  "She's my mom's best friend. My siblings and I have always called her Aunt Patrice."

  “Isn't she a billionaire?”

  "No, her company is worth a billion dollars, but she is loaded." He squirted shampoo into his palm and began to massage my scalp.

  “Mmmm, that feels good.”

  “Feel free to come into my shower anytime…for the free luxury shampoo.”

  “I don't think nannies do that.”

  He rinsed my hair and pulled me into his lap, and captured my mouth with his. I turned in his arms and straddled him, tangling my fingers in his wet hair, pulling our mouths closer together. His hands roamed my body. Cole pressed his fingertips into the globes of my ass cheeks. He traced his index finger down the seam before coming to the tight wrinkled pucker, where he circled his fingers, gently applying pressure.

  "Is this okay?" he whispered with his lips millimeters from mine. I nodded and kissed him again. He added pressure, and I felt the tip of his finger disappear into me. A small gasp escaped my lips.

  “Are you sure this is okay, Lisa?”

  I pulled away and looked at him.

  "Yes, I'm sure." I leaned forward to kiss him again, but he tilted his head away.

  “I’d be more inclined to believe that if you relaxed.” He gave me a little smile.

  "I've done this before." I paused, and my face flushed with heat. "But I've never enjoyed it." I bit my lip and looked up at him. "I feel like I would enjoy it…with you…if you wanted to…"

  Cole was still looking at me but didn't say a word, and I felt my eyes sting with tears of embarrassment.

  "I'm sorry. I ruined the mood, didn't I?" I gripped his shoulders and pressed the balls of my feet into the tiled floor to stand. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me into him, covering my mouth in a hot, hungry kiss. After a few moments, he pulled away with my bottom lip tucked between his teeth before releasing it. Cole stood with me in his arms, turned and deposited me on the bench where he'd been sitting.

  "Where are you going?" I asked. He reached out and turned off the water.

  “I want to do this right. Stay here, gorgeous.”

  He exited the shower in a puff of steam, leaving me alone, soaking wet and wondering what the hell I was doing. We hadn't spent the last few hours having sex to get it out of our systems or relieve stress. We were making love, or at least I was.

  Cole's silly jokes and his lopsided grin were irresistible. I craved his touch and attention. I was falling for Cole…hard. The smart thing to do would be to get out of this shower, get dressed, and tell him to find another nanny for CJ, but I knew I wasn't strong enough to do that.

  “Still with me, beautiful?” Cole opened the door to the shower and stepped inside. I smiled and nodded. He grinned at me, dissipating whatever resolve I had left. “Are you cold? I can turn the shower back on.”

  I shook my head and reached up to pull him down into a kiss. He picked me up and retook his seat on the bench, with me straddling him, still attached to his face.

  "You ready?" He opened his fist to show me a condom packet and tube of lubricant. I nodded and took the condom from his hand and rolled it on to his cock, stroking it a few times. Cole pushed my hips up until I was hovering over him on my tiptoes. He then dragged the tip of his cock over and around my clit before entering my slick core. My hips lowered until my feet were planted on the tiled floor.

  “Cole,” I whispered, “I thought—”

  He silenced me with a kiss.

  “I’m not in a hurry. We’ll get there.”

  “What are you doing with that?” I noticed Cole had tucked the tube under his thigh.

  “I’m warming it up.” He smiled at me as I began to slowly rock back and forth on his thighs.

  "That's very thoughtful," I said in a breathy whisper.

  “I’m always thinking about you,” he replied. I grabbed his cheeks and pulled him into another kiss. I pushed my tongue into Cole’s mouth partly because kissing him felt so good, but mostly I wanted him to stop saying things that would make our situation more complicated than it already was.

  The top of the lube clicked open with a loud pop, and I felt Cole squirt the warm liquid down my lower back. He traced his finger down the cleft of my behind until I felt him circling the entrance with his finger before gently pressing into me again. I let out a small whimper.

  "Relax." He looked into my eyes. "I would never hurt you. You tell me what you need, and I'll do it."

  "It feels good." I let out a sigh and tucked my bottom lip between my teeth. "It feels good," I repeated. I didn't know why I was so surprised; overwhelmed was probably a better descriptor. I wasn't doing Cole a favor. This wasn't a chore or something I had to endure for the sake of a relationship. This moment was for me. It was all for me, and it felt better than good. It felt amazing. "Keep going."

  Cole pressed his finger in me up to the knuckle, then withdrew, adding more lube and entering me again. He checked with me before adding a second finger, and I could only nod because the power of speech had abandoned me as Cole continued to fill me as I rocked my body between his cock and his twisting fingers.

  “More,” I whispered in his ear before sucking the lobe in between my teeth and biting down.

  "Another finger?" he asked. I shook my head and kissed him. One half of his mouth twisted in a sexy smile, and he lifted me off of him, slid his thick crown over the delicate patch of skin, and positioned himself at the hole his fingers were just occupying. I took a deep breath. Cole added more lubricant to himself and my backside.

  “You’re in control.” He laced his fingers behind his head and leaned back. “No touching, unless you tell me to.” He winked.

  I reached between us and slowly guided him into me as I lowered myself onto his thighs. Cole was a lot bigger than two fingers—and my ex. I clenched at first, but I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, relaxing as my hips descended. It stung at first, but once his crown made it through the first ring, pleasure replaced pain, and I gripped Cole's shoulders until he was fully seated.

  “Fuck, that feels good.” Cole let out a long slow breath as I raised and lowered myself on his length. “How does that feel, Lisa? Are you okay?”

  Nodding was the only answer I could give him. It felt incredible, different, and beautiful. I slid my hands across his shoulders and over his biceps, wrapping his arms around my waist as I ground my clit into the junction of our hips, bringing me closer to another climax. Cole's fist tightened in my wet hair as I began to clench and shudder around him. He tugged, forc
ing my chin up and exposing my throat before dragging his tongue over my neck and collarbone, nibbling, then soothing the bites with gentle kisses.

  Just as my orgasm began to ebb, Cole tightened his arm around me and grunted, pressing his face into my shoulder. The sensation of his cock pulsating inside me sent me over the edge to a place where I didn’t know orgasms existed. I moaned in shock and ecstasy while digging my nails into Cole’s shoulders, gripping him like my life depended on it. His arms tightened around my waist and he caressed my back. I felt him plant soothing kisses on my neck and shoulders as my latest climax subsided.

  We sat in that position for a few moments. I was catching my breath as I felt Cole soften inside me. My arms were still wrapped around his neck, his head was still resting on my shoulder, and his fingers still gripped my waist.

  “We need another shower,” I whispered.

  "Thank God we're in the right place." He stood with me in his arms, and I felt him slide out of me with a twinge of pain. Cole turned on the spray before pressing me into the corner of the tiled walls and kissing me as we were pelted again with hot water, filling the shower stall with steam.

  16

  cole

  “Good morning, neighbor.”

  I came downstairs to find Lisa in the kitchen, still wearing my shirt. The edge of a giant red hickey peeked out from under the collar, and I knew she had a matching set on the inside of her thighs.

  "I don't know if you can still call me that." She poured me a mug of coffee and slid it across the island. I almost refused it because I always buy coffee on the way to the office, but I picked up the mug and sipped. It was delicious.

  “How are you feeling?” I dropped into one of the bar stools and leaned close to her. “I hope you aren’t too sore from last night.” I took another sip. “And this morning.”

  After we put CJ to bed, Lisa and I spent the rest of the night and the wee hours of the morning having sex like we were going off to war. We left no corner of my bedroom and bathroom unchristened, and no square inch of our bodies unexplored. She quickly surpassed her four orgasms, and I came so many times, I was sure I was shooting dust by the time we collapsed in my bed. Lisa fell asleep first, naked and sweaty in my arms. I pressed my nose into her hair, inhaling the scent of my shampoo mingled with sweat and the aroma of our lovemaking. I listened to her snore for as long as my worn-out body would let me, and I drifted off to sleep with a smile on my face.

  “Those questions are inappropriate for an employer to ask an employee.” She smirked and grabbed a dish towel and started to wipe the countertop.

  "So, an employer can't be concerned about an employee's welfare?"

  "Is that why you're asking?" She looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

  "That's mostly why I'm asking." I hoped I was being charming, but the look on Lisa's face told me that wasn’t the case.

  "I'll be fine. Please change the subject,” Lisa deadpanned.

  I didn’t expect that to hurt as much as it did. “Hey, last night was perfect—not just the sex—but dinner, hanging out just the three of us, dancing in the nursery…”

  “What are you saying, Cole?”

  “I don’t know. What if there’s a chance—”

  "There isn't, and you know why." She cut me off and picked up the dishcloth again. "We've discussed this. We agreed. We had an awesome night of sex, and CJ is the best, but if great sex and adorable kids were enough to sustain a relationship, the divorce rate wouldn't be so high.”

  She was right, but I wished she wasn't right while standing in my kitchen, wrapping her small hands around one of my coffee mugs with sex-mussed hair and wearing my shirt.

  “So, what are your big plans for your first day on the job?”

  “I don’t know.” She shrugged and visibly relaxed. “I’m gonna let the boss sleep in because he had an off day yesterday, then, I’m not sure.”

  “What do you usually do on Fridays?”

  “Work on music, read, go for a run…I’m actually low on groceries, so maybe CJ and I will take a field trip to the grocery store.”

  “You can still do all that stuff.”

  “Maybe, except the running.”

  “Why not? Just put him in the stroller.”

  “That’s not a stroller for running.”

  “There’s a difference?”

  “Big difference.” She smiled. “Can I ask you a question?”

  “Shoot.”

  “Is the code to your front door really your first name?”

  It was embarrassing, but it was true. I took the old adage "work hard, play harder" to heart while studying for the bar, and my first few months at HC. When I wasn't wasted and trying to get into Kimmy's house by mistake, I was forgetting the code and getting locked out of mine. One day, I'd just had enough and changed it to something I would remember, no matter how out of it I was.

  “Easy to remember.” I shrugged and rose from the table. “I gotta get going. I’ll show you the apartment when I get home tonight and help you move on Sunday. That work?”

  She nodded. “Hey, we should also talk about my schedule, hours, days off, vacation time…”

  “Yeah, definitely.” I turned to leave again.

  "Wait," she called, and I turned around to see Lisa walking toward me with a travel mug after filling it with coffee. She twisted on the lid and handed it to me. "One for the road."

  * * *

  "Hey, Cole." Judy perked up when she saw me step off of the elevator holding a Starbucks tray. I wasn't the only one negatively affected by my part-time schedule. "I didn't expect to see you here today. How's my favorite guy? Did you find a new daycare?"

  “I’m fine. Thanks for asking.” I winked. “Oh, you meant CJ? He’s great too. I actually found a nanny to watch him at home. So it worked out.”

  "That's nice… Is that a thermos?" she asked, pointing to my travel mug. I immediately thought of Lisa and nodded, smiling. "Good for you, making coffee at home, but don't get any ideas." She held up her latte.

  “I wouldn’t dream of it.” I grinned at her.

  “Oh, Susan Charing left a message for you to call her.”

  My head tilted in confusion. “Susan Charing’s office or Susan Charing?”

  “Susan herself. She gets in around nine. I wouldn’t keep her waiting.”

  Susan Charing was the firm's best attorney specializing in adoptions. She worked on one of my adoption cases, but that was over a decade ago, and she's a lot busier—and presumably more expensive—now. She won a landmark adoption case that earned her a partnership and was the subject of a movie where her character was played by Jessica Chastain.

  I sent her a message asking if she could recommend someone for CJ's adoption hearing, but I didn't expect her to want to handle the case herself.

  I left her a message when I got to my desk and started working. About an hour went by before I got distracted, opened Google, and began searching for jogging strollers. I was up to my ass in Amazon reviews when I gave up and decided to text Kimmy.

  Me: Hey. What do you know about jogging strollers?

  She responded with a video of a teacher in an African classroom loudly spelling the word “GOOGLE” while pointing to each letter on a chalkboard.

  Me: I did, asshole. There are like a hundred of them. I found one that was $2k & it moves by itself & there was one for 80 bucks & that seemed way too cheap. Also, every one of these fucking things has both 5-star & 1-star reviews. How the hell do you pick one?

  Stringbean: Why do you need a jogging stroller? You work out at home, and Adam's been inviting you to go running for months.

  Me: It’s not for me. It’s so Lisa can take CJ with her when she goes jogging.

  My phone rang precisely five seconds later.

  “Excuse me, sir?” Kimmy asked. “So, who can take who else when she does what now?”

  “Hey, Stringbean,” I said, ignoring her question. “How’s work?”

  “Cole!”

  I drew in
a deep breath and explained how, in the last twenty-four hours, Lisa went from being my neighbor who was kind of avoiding me to being my tenant and nanny. I left out the part about the quickie we had in her house and the hours of Animal Kingdom sex later on that night.

  "You took my tenant?" She laughed, and I was relieved she wasn't upset. Proper sibling protocol would have required me to run it past her first, but when I found out Lisa had lost her job because of CJ and me, it just slipped out. "That's why you were asking all of those questions about the apartment?"

  “Yeah,” I sighed. “So, you’re not mad?”

  "Of course not. I'd rather have Lisa watching CJ than that other chick you hired. Have you heard from her?"

  “Nope.” When Kimberly first told me what Theresa did, I was furious, but given the events she set in motion with her reckless behavior, I couldn’t be too mad at her.

  "Anyway, it kind of works out. I'm making a lot more money than I did when she first moved in, and Adam is officially in Barbados for who knows how long. He's still paying rent on his apartment. So, it just makes sense for him to move his stuff into the brownstone."

  “Have you talked to him about this?”

  “Considering the fact that you just told me that Lisa’s moving out, no.”

  “Have you talked to him about moving his stuff to your place?”

  "I tried, but he still feels weird about it. I'm trying to be an understanding fiancée. We're planning to spend our lives together, and he's throwing away thousands of dollars a month on an empty apartment over some macho bullshit."

  “Listen, Kimmy—”

  "Cole, I'm gonna have to let you go. Vittoria's in labor, and I'm at the hospital."

  “Why are you at the hospital?”

  “Her husband is stuck in Dubai.”

  “What the hell is he doing in Dubai?”

  “Probably wishing he didn’t go to Dubai when his wife was due to give birth at any second. Listen, I really have to go, but when we vote for the family vacation, you have to pick Barbados. You stole my tenant. You owe me. Love you, bye.”

  The call ended.