by Randa Lynn
I gently place her on her feet, and bring my face down to kiss that spot on her neck that is so perfectly overpowered by that sweet coconut scent. She tilts her head to give me better access, and I scatter kisses along her neck as I reach behind to unzip her skirt.
She quickly reaches behind and grabs my wrist before I’m able to move the zipper. “No, sir. You sit and watch.”
Damn, woman.
I smirk, unable to help myself. She reaches behind her and slowly unzips her skirt, shimmying it down her legs and kicks it to the side, then slowly unbuttons her shirt. She watches me with every button she undoes. Her gaze is locked on me, but, fuck, I can’t take my eyes off of her boobs that are on full display. She slides the shirt off her arms and it falls to the floor. She reaches behind her and undoes her bra, slowly letting it drop to the floor.
My God. She is killing me with this little show. She hasn’t taken those heels off, either. Dammit, she’s fucking hot.
She glides her little black thong down her legs and flings it to the side before slowly stalking towards me, without removing the heels.
“Oh, fuck.”
This woman, this woman was made for me.
Chapter 17
LENNI
Amazing. That’s the only word I know how to describe Wes Taylor. He drove all the way to Atlanta just to surprise me. The gifts he and Ellison gave me caused my heart to explode from adoration.
Every barrier I’ve built around my heart suddenly crumbled into a pile of ash. Every fear I’ve had has vanished into nothingness. All that remains is contentment, happiness, peace, and love.
The bruised and broken pieces of my heart have done nothing but slowly mend since the day fate brought Wes and me together. Today, the last piece fell right back into place. My heart is healed. My soul is no longer crushed by the memories of the past.
I woke up this morning hoping and praying that the feelings I felt for him were being reciprocated. I never expected him to show up here mere hours later and answer all the questions that had been playing over and over in my mind.
The one decision I haven’t wavered on is that I am hopelessly and irrevocably falling for Wes Taylor.
I know what I’m doing now. I know what I have to do. It’s all or nothing, and I’ve been living for nothing for far too long.
Now, I just need to talk to my father. But I am absolutely terrified.
I walk into my father’s office, a ball of nervous energy. The last thing I ever want to do is hurt or disappoint him. But this is my life, and I’m the only one who has to live with the decisions I make. I can’t burden myself any longer with how other’s view my choices.
My father is sitting at his desk looking over paperwork when he finally senses my presence. “Hey, Lenni Girl.” Removing his reading glasses from his face, he stands up and situates his suit. He looks worn down and tired, but to me he’s still the strongest man I know. His hair is now more salt and pepper than brown. His face is wrinkled with years of wisdom and hard work. His bright hazel eyes are dull now, age getting the better of them. “What do I owe the pleasure, my beautiful daughter?”
“Hey, Daddy.” I reply giving him a warm hug. The smell of peppermint invades my senses. It’s the same smell that’s brought me comfort my whole life. The smell that soothed my six year old self when I fell and scraped my knee, the same smell that soothed me with my first broken heart at sixteen.
The memories flood me, causing my breathing to falter. God, I’m terrified.
Releasing him, I look around his office anxiously. “You busy? If you’re busy I can just come back later.”
I’m stalling.
My heart is screaming, “Please, don’t be busy” while my head is screaming, “Please, please be too busy.” For once, it would be nice if my head and heart were on the same page.
With a warm smile he answers me. “Never too busy for my daughter.” He motions for me to sit on the leather chairs in front of his desk. “Have a seat. I’m going to run and grab a glass of water. Would you like some?” I politely decline and he leaves me alone in his office.
His walls are dark walnut, with bookshelves lining the wall behind his desk. To the right of his desk is a line of floor to ceiling windows with golden drapes covering them. It’s outdated, and should have been updated years ago, but my father has never been one for change.
That’s why I’m scared.
He walks back into his office and takes a seat on the other leather chair rather than sitting at his desk chair. “What’s on your mind, Lenni Girl?” he asks, crinkling his brow.
I am terrified to begin this conversation, terrified of his reaction. I take a deep breath, and hope for the best. “I’ve got something I need to run by you. But before I start, I want you to know I love you. I appreciate everything you’ve ever done for me. That doesn’t go unnoticed by me, I promise.”
Concern rolls across his face. I grab his hand to try to ease his worry. “Okay,” he replies apprehensively.
“Daddy… I think I need to leave the firm.”
Concern turns to anger. “What are you saying, Lenni?”
My confidence shrivels into oblivion. “Please, don’t be mad, Daddy. I just…I need to do this. I love being a lawyer. I just can’t do it here.” Tears start to sting my eyes, and no amount of blinking will stop their flow.
I’ve let him down. I can feel it in the deepest core of my soul. I can see it in the hollowness of his eyes. My heart sinks with the realization that the man who’s always been there for me is none too happy.
He pinches the bridge of his nose and takes a deep breath. “I’ve spent my entire adult life building up this firm in hopes that you would one day take over. This,” he spreads his arm around showing his office, “is our family legacy. You are the sole heir to it all. You cannot leave this firm, Lenora!” He looks away from me. Anger bellows from his face.
I’ve disappointed him one other time in my life. That was the day I left Ryan and showed up to my parents’ house with a suitcase full of my belongings.
Before I was able to insert my key into the lock, the front door swung open. Daddy stood there, stoic.
“Ryan called me.” His eyes burned with disapproval.
Not knowing what to say, I dropped my head in shame. I knew what Ryan had done, making it seem like I was the one to blame for our broken engagement. “Can I come in?”
Dad opened the door wider and gestured for me to come in, not saying a single word. I could see the frustration written all over his face as his jaws clenched and his mouth stayed in a firm straight line.
I walked into the house. Everything looked so much bigger, or maybe I just felt smaller. I looked around at the happy family pictures and choked up as I saw the smiles on our faces. Things change so quickly. I took my things up to my childhood bedroom, and I wept for everything that had gone wrong in my life
So many promises were made, yet every single one of them was broken. But I was left feeling like I was the one to blame for it all.
A light knock on the door brought me out of my musing. “Come in.”
My mother walked in carrying a glass of tea in one hand and medicine in the other. “Here, sweetie. I’m sure you have a headache after all the crying you’ve been doing. Take this.” She handed me the medicine and I gladly accept.
“I’m sorry, Mama,” I choked out.
She sat down on the bed beside me and brought me into a hug, “Don’t apologize, dear. I’m not here to make judgments for your decision, and I’m not here to ask why. I’m just here…for you.”
I took comfort in my mother’s sincere touch. It had been too long since we’d been able to have a moment to just sit and visit. I just hate that it took ending things with Ryan for it to happen.
“Daddy hates me. I tried to make it work, I really tried.” My tears fell harder.
My bedroom door swung open, and my very red faced father stormed in.
“Care to explain why my future son-in-law had to inform me tha
t you ended things with him? Do you understand what this means? It’s more than just you that this effects, Lenora!”
I cowered, once again, too afraid to speak my piece. I wanted so badly to tell my parents what had truly happened over the past four years, but I couldn’t will myself to do it, still afraid that Ryan would somehow hurt me.
It seems like yesterday my father was so angry with me. It hasn’t been very long since that day, but we’ve come such a long way since then. He’s accepted that Ryan and I will never be again. He’s accepted my decision to end the relationship. Even though he doesn’t agree, he doesn’t press the issue. I’m thankful for that.
They still work together, since my father is a lawyer for Ryan’s company. But other than business, my father and I have strayed from all other conversation regarding Ryan. I still have not told my parents what the force was behind my leaving Ryan, but now I think it’s time to shed some light on the situation. Maybe Daddy will understand why I need to do this for myself.
“I know you’re upset. Trust me, Daddy, that’s the last thing I ever want. But I’ve got something else I need to tell you, and this is why I need to do this.” I take a deep breath to calm the nerves roaring in my stomach. I look down, watching my hands fiddle with nerves. “I didn’t just leave Ryan because I wasn’t happy anymore. It was so much more than even you or Mom know.” I’ve held on to this secret for too long. It’s been a black cloud looming over my head, and it’s past time I let it rain down before it suffocates me. “He hurt me, Daddy.” I pause, trying to calm my shaky breath as tears pour from my eyes. My father’s brows furrow. “The week before I left him... he, he threw me against the banister and busted my head open. This scar,” I point to the scar above my eyebrow, “isn’t from tripping over his dog.”
I watch as my father’s face turns to utter confusion. “No, there’s no way Ryan would do that—“
“It is, Daddy. I lived with it for four years and I had had enough. I’ve lived with the pain, the guilt, and the lies. I did, because as much as he hurt me, I didn’t want to make him look like a bad person. But he was. And he is. He doesn’t deserve for me to keep quiet any longer,” I interrupt.
I continue with all the ugly details. The longer I talk, the more broken my strong, put-together father becomes. His hurt towards me shifts to fury at Ryan the further I go on with the awful truth. But behind the fury is pain. Pain that he couldn’t read the truths amongst the years of lies.
“Lenni Girl, I’m…I am…oh my God. How could I not know? How could I not see?” Tears form in his eyes.
He stands up, and I do the same. He engulfs me in a hug, silently apologizing with every second that passes. I wish he knew just how much this simple gesture means to me. I’ve lived with the guilt of keeping this from him for so long. The weight of a thousand lies releases from my chest in a single instant.
I look my daddy in the eyes, his hazel eyes mirroring my own. “Daddy, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I’m sorry I disappointed you. But I want you to know that I’m okay now. It took me a while to get to this place, but I am okay.”
A small crooked-smile peeks out of the corner of his mouth. “Don’t apologize to me, Len. I’m sorry for not knowing. Not helping you. I’m sorry for ever giving you grief over ending it. But don’t for a second think he’s going to get away with this. He will pay one way or another. I promise you, Lenni Girl.”
I give a light laugh. “Wes said the same thing.”
I slap my hand over my mouth, instantly regretting and wanting to erase what had just fallen from my mouth. I wasn’t expecting to bring Wes or Ellison up to my father. But now that’s shot to shit.
“Oh crud. Forget I said that, would you?”
An impish chuckle escapes him. “Now, now. You know I can’t do that. By the pink shade on your cheeks, I’d say it’s quite a story to tell.” He gestures to the chair and I sit back down. “I believe I owe you a lot more than a few minutes of my time, but hopefully this can be a start. Now, who is this Wes?”
I tell him all about Wes and Ellison, spilling my excitement all over his office. Amazingly enough, he never batted an eyelash when I told him Wes is a coal miner and a single father. If anything, he seemed to respect the fact he’s taken on the sole responsibility of raising a daughter on his own.
“I know first-hand raising a little girl is tough work,” he told me, “and any man who is doing it on his own is a tougher man than me.” When I told him my future plans and what I wanted to do, where I wanted to move, he hesitantly gave me his blessing. I know how difficult it was and for that I will forever be grateful.
It’s taken me years to find myself, and years to even begin to know which direction I wanted to go with my life. Knowing I have his support means the world to me.
The thought makes me smile. That meeting was nothing like I expected and was everything I could have hoped for.
●●●●●
I walk into my bedroom to see Wes sprawled across my tiny double-sized bed. His boots are sitting at the foot of the bed. His arms are above his head, leaving the bottom part of his stomach showing, the “V” lines peeking at me, causing me to salivate from amazement. His hat is laid over his head to shadow the evening sun that peers through the blinds.
He picks his hat up just enough to peek under the bill. “Hey, gorgeous.” His voice is gravely from sleep, and it’s a beautiful sound.
“Hi.” I take off my heels and walk over to my closet, throwing them on the closet floor. Wes scoots over to one side of the bed, giving me room to cuddle in next to him. I lie down and sink into his arms. I throw my free arm over his chest, feeling the steady rise and fall with each breath he takes.
We lie in silence for a while. Neither of us talking, but neither of us needing to. Right here in his arms is where I belong, in my life is where he belongs. I know I’m opening myself up for heartache, but what’s life if you don’t take a gamble every now and then? Especially when that gamble is Wes and Ellison Taylor.
I watch the fan spin, around and ‘round it goes. Funny enough, the fan is a direct reflection of what my life has become. Up until this point I’ve spent it merely going in circles, getting absolutely nowhere in the process.
I close my eyes and inhale a deep breath of air. All the weight that has been bearing down on my chest over the past few months has released since I talked to my father. I knew he wasn’t going to take the news well, and it broke my heart having to relive the pain through his eyes. I don’t want him to feel like he’s failed me, and I hope that he realizes that the only person who failed anyone was Ryan. He’s the one who made promises he never intended on keeping. He’s the one who asked to spend the rest of his life loving and honoring me, then did the complete opposite.
“How’d it go?” Wes asks, breaking the silence.
I tilt my head up to look at him. He’s peering down at me with those big, brown eyes. “It went okay. Better than I expected, actually.”
He reaches his hand up and gently brushes the stray hair out of my eyes. His lips find my forehead, gently feathering kisses on it. I am completely captivated by his tenderness, entranced by his kindness. I don’t know what I did to deserve a man as incredible as Wes Taylor.
He whispers against my forehead. “What happened?”
I nestle into him further, letting the warmth of his body envelope me. “I told my father everything. Up until today he never knew Ryan hurt me.” I pause, scared to see Wes’s reaction to what I have to say next. “And, and I also told him I needed to leave the firm.”
He pulls away from me a bit, and I instantly feel the coldness from his absence. I hesitantly look up into his eyes. They’re wide with shock. “You did? What’s that mean for you? What about a job?”
I sit up in the bed, and pull the covers over me, shielding myself, from what I’m not sure. I just need something to hold on to if this all falls apart before it ever begins. One part of my mind is screaming for me to not say anything, to stay here in Atlanta, but a
greater part is telling me to stop listening to the fear.
I chose to ignore the fear. “I told him I needed to get out of Atlanta, out of a place that was full of pity-fueled glares. I need to get away from all the awful memories that have to do with Ryan. I was thinking, maybe, I’d move into the lake house in Fredricks and open up my own law office around there somewhere.” I shake my head. “But, I don’t know.”
He leans in closer, brushing the hair off my shoulder. “Why don’t you know? I kinda like that idea.”
Tears sting my eyes involuntarily. He sits up and pulls me into him. I want to dance around this subject, because I already know that my worries are ignorant, but I can’t. I’m terrified to ever be hurt again. I’m terrified for promises to be broken, and trust to be shattered. “Because, I’m so scared you’re not going to want me after a while. I’m scared of putting my heart on the line, only for the line to be cut, leaving me freefalling to an inevitable heartbreak.” The tears begin to fall. I’m so mad that these thoughts have to even cross my mind. I’m mad because Ryan ruined my ability to just make a decision with ease. But most of all, I’m mad because I don’t really care about the heartbreak; I only care about the loneliness it brings.
“Look at me,” Wes whispers. I wipe the tears from my cheeks and slowly lean my head up to meet his gaze. His golden brown eyes pierce through me. He takes his hat off and sets it on the pillow beside him before taking his free hand and running it through his hair, leaving it a beautiful mess. “I’m not Ryan, and I damn sure won’t ever lay a hand on you in anger. I can’t promise you what’s going to happen in the future, but what I can promise is that I want to see what the future holds. You’ve changed everything, Lenni. I don’t know what it is, I don’t know when it happened, but I want you. All of you. Every day. I don’t want this distance separating us.”
My heart bursts into an explosion of happiness. He not only says all the things I need to hear, but I can feel the conviction when he says them. Wes doesn’t speak empty words. His words are full of truth and complete sincerity. It puts all my worries at bay.