by Natalie Ann
He caught her gasp, then it did it again. Her legs wrapped around his back, giving him better access and momentum, and he showed her what he’d really had built up inside of him for her as he emptied everything he had.
***
Kristen was trying to catch her breath.
Nothing like teetering on the edge and thinking she was going to blissfully fall with Landon’s mouth on her, only to be left out in the bitter cold clinging to the orgasm he was promising her.
He hadn’t left her there long though. Nope, he filled her up as no one else had before.
And holding her hands captive above her head. Yeah, that was nice. That was sweet. And that was giving her ideas for the future she’d have to bring up to him.
He’d gotten up to go to the bathroom just now and she tried to get her heart back under control.
It was so hard to keep everything locked up.
That conversation they were having earlier had hurt her.
Just when she thought maybe she’d found someone, he had to remind her that she really wasn’t first in his mind. That maybe she wasn’t enough even though she was trying so hard.
It was selfish on her part to feel that way. Even if she knew Chloe was his priority and she agreed with it.
But how many times in her life had she wanted something so badly and it never surfaced? It never fell her way.
From her parents’ marriage, to the career she wanted, to the men she dated.
No matter what she did or who she fell for, she seemed to be destined to be second if not third to someone.
The question was—would it be enough for her? Or should she stop hoping for something that maybe would never exist?
The Sky Was the Limit
They’d gotten through Jennifer’s birthday without too much hassle and Landon was feeling pretty good about things.
It’d been almost five months at this point since Chloe came to live with him and though he knew they still had a long way to go, they were making ground.
She wasn’t as timid around him as she used to be.
She thought of his house as her home now, not always asking if she could have something before she took it.
She didn’t even fight him too much on the cost of things, though she still didn’t ask for anything that wasn’t already in the house.
Today they were celebrating her birthday. It was Friday night and once Kristen was out of work and picked her mother up, he and Chloe were going to meet them at a pizza place. He’d asked Chloe what she wanted to do for her birthday and all she said was she wanted pizza.
He realized that they hadn’t actually eaten at a pizza place and this one was open enough that she’d get to see the tossing around of the dough and making their dinner. He’d figured she’d get a kick out of it.
“Are you ready to go?” he asked Chloe when he saw she was waiting for him by the front door of Gabby’s. That was a first too.
“Yes. When are we meeting Kristen and Mary?”
“I just want to run home and change and then we’ll meet them there. Are you excited?”
“I am. I like Mary. She’s funny.”
He hadn’t seen Kristen’s mother again since that one night when Mary watched Chloe so Kristen and he could have a night to themselves. Their first night together. Though Kristen had said Mary offered to do it again.
He was thinking it was time to take Mary up on it. That he and Kristen had been in a relationship for close to four months now and hadn’t had much time alone. Most of their interactions had to do with Chloe or a quick stolen lunch.
It was time to change that too.
Not that she’d complained about it at all, but there was part of him that wondered if she was feeling a little bit like a second fiddle in a one man band.
“She is a piece of work.”
He looked over as Chloe climbed into his SUV, her now shorter hair looking much tamer as it rested just past her shoulders with a blue headband in it. It seemed like everyday Chloe had something new in her hair and he had Kristen to thank for that. The child that once dressed plain and more like a boy was turning into a little girl.
All he knew was no one had asked him to braid anything and he hoped he wouldn’t have to. His hands were too big and uncoordinated for hair.
“Uncle Landon?” Chloe said.
“Yes?” She very rarely addressed him by his name.
Her head dipped down and he was wondering what was going on. “Do I get my birthday gift today too?”
He grinned. Her birthday was Monday, three days away, but tonight was the best night to do her dinner for everyone.
“Do you want it tonight?” he asked. He’d actually planned on giving it to her because he knew they’d need the weekend to figure everything out.
“I kind of do but understand if I have to wait.”
“I wouldn’t make you do that,” he said. “But you won’t get it until after dinner at the house. The restaurant isn’t the place for it.”
She hadn’t asked him for anything. He’d really struggled and Kristen laughed at him. Told him when a kid doesn’t ask for anything and you knew they didn’t have much, the sky was the limit then.
That was the problem though. He wanted to buy everything he saw and hoped she’d like it. He did go a little overboard and then decided to put some away for Christmas and found he was counting down the days for that too.
He didn’t think he’d been this excited over a holiday since he was a kid himself. Even then he wasn’t all that thrilled over them since no one got along in his house.
If he spent the holiday with his father, then his mother bitched and trashed everything that was planned. His father wasn’t as bad as his mother, but he’d had a new wife and stepkids that lived with him, so Landon felt like the third wheel on a unicycle.
At his mom’s house, it wasn’t much different. Jennifer was the daughter of the house and though his mother and Jennifer fought all the time, in those early years it wasn’t like that. Not before Jennifer started to rebel.
“I’ll like anything I get,” she said.
He turned his head to look at the smile on her face. “I think you’ll be surprised. I hope you like it.”
Really what he hoped was that he didn’t make a colossal mistake.
***
Kristen pulled into the parking lot with her mother a few minutes after five on Friday. Landon’s SUV was already there but was empty so she figured he was inside with Chloe.
“Are we bringing our gifts in?” her mother asked.
Kristen had rolled her eyes when she picked her mother up and saw she wore some tacky neon yellow sweatshirt with rainbow letters that read “Happy Birthday” on it with a pair of white jeans. White jeans in November. The palm slap to the forehead almost happened, but she held back.
“We’ll do gifts at Landon’s after dinner. I’ve got to stop home and get the cake and Chloe’s surprise and her gifts from me.”
“What surprise is that?” her mother asked.
“I can’t tell you. You’ll see it when we get to my place. Not to mention I don’t trust you to keep a secret. If you don’t know, you can’t slip and say anything.”
“I wouldn’t spoil her day,” her mother argued.
“You wouldn’t mean to, but you wouldn’t be able to help yourself either. Just like you had to put that shirt on.”
“I bought it just for today.”
“You mean that’s new?” she asked. She hoped her mother didn’t spend more than a few dollars on it. It looked like a kindergarten project.
“You only wish you could pull off clothing like I do,” her mother said winking, then walking into the restaurant.
“Yeah, that’s it, Mom. I wish I could,” she said sarcastically.
Once they were in the door, she saw Landon and Chloe sitting in the back by the kitchen, Chloe’s eyes trained at the dough flipping through the air, so they made their way back.
“That looks like fun, doesn’t it?” her mot
her asked as she slid in the booth next to Chloe, leaving Kristen to sit next to Landon.
“It does. I wonder how hard it is,” Chloe said.
“It looks easier than it is,” Kristen said. “Right, Mom? Remember when you tried to do that once years ago?”
Her mother started to laugh. “Yeah. I think there is still some dough on the ceiling to this day.”
Chloe giggled. “You didn’t hit the ceiling, did you?”
“Three times,” her mother said. “The first time it only grazed it and I just kept going. The second it bumped it and folded the dough over.”
“The third time it stuck,” Kristen said. “Mom had to get on a chair to pull it all down.”
“Don’t ask me to make pizza like that,” Landon said. “I’m happy with the few meals I manage to do as it is.”
“You cook good, Uncle Landon,” Chloe said.
Kristen watched the look pass between Chloe and Landon and felt something tug in her heart she’d never thought possible. It wasn’t just Landon she was falling for, not even just Chloe. But it was them together and how they seemed to be finding their way.
An hour later, her mother and she were pulling into Landon’s with a cake and ice cream and part of Chloe’s gift from Landon in the backseat next to hers and her mother’s gifts.
“I can’t believe you talked Landon into that,” her mother said.
“I didn’t. It was his idea. You should have seen him second-guessing himself for the past week. I hope he knows what he’s doing.”
“It will be fine. I think it’s really sweet too. You’ve got it bad for him, don’t you?” her mother asked.
“It seems I do.” She stopped before she got out of the car. “Do you think I’m crazy to get this attached to him? He’s got other priorities and responsibilities.”
“He does, but it doesn’t look to me like he has any issues mixing you in with them. Or is that the problem? You want to be the center of attention?”
Shame hit her and threatened to pull her under like a riptide on the beach when her mother phrased it that way.
“Not really. Not like I used to before with other men. It’s different with Landon, but at the same time, we don’t get to spend much time together alone either.”
“I offered to take Chloe again for you guys. Just tell Landon.”
“I did. I can’t force it. Chloe isn’t my kid and if I pushed it, it might push him away. He might think I don’t want Chloe around and that isn’t the case.”
“I don’t think he’d believe that. But maybe I’ll mention something when we go in about having a sleepover with Chloe.”
She cringed and wished this topic hadn’t come up. “Don’t do that, Mom. I don’t want him to think he was manipulated.”
She’d had enough men in her life that told her she did that to get her way. She was trying to be different this time around.
“Don’t worry about it. Now let’s get everything in the house. I think we might need a few trips.”
“Here comes Landon to help anyway.” She climbed out of her car and went to the back and opened the door. “I’ll grab the cake, Mom, you get our gifts for Chloe, and Landon can get his.”
“Thanks for doing this,” he said, leaning down to kiss her again. “Here goes nothing.”
“You are worrying for no reason. Chloe is going to be over the moon with this gift. She probably won’t even want to open the other stuff that she was given.”
“So I hold off giving her this then?” he asked, looking down at the box that was moving around in his hands.
“No. I think it’s going to give itself away the minute we walk in the door.”
The three of them made their way into the house and to the kitchen where Chloe was sitting at the table. “Oh my, look at all those gifts,” she said, her eyes popping out of her head. Kristen didn’t think there was all that much. Her mother had a few bags in her hand and Landon just one box in his.
Then Kristen looked around and saw a few more things on the table already. Other things Landon picked up for her Chloe.
“It’s your birthday,” her mother said. “You’re supposed to have a lot of gifts.”
“But I’ve never had this many before. I don’t know what to open first.” Chloe was sitting in the chair on her knees bouncing around, her eyes darting over everything.
“I’m going to put the ice cream in the freezer,” Kristen said. “I think Chloe should open her gifts first.”
“What’s that, Uncle Landon?” she asked when the box shifted in his hand.
“It’s for you. Why don’t you open this one first?”
Chloe reached forward when Landon set it on the table. “It has holes in the top,” she said.
“That’s for air,” Landon said. “Lift the top off. It’s not taped down.”
Chloe lifted it up and squealed almost as loudly as the little gray kitten staring back at her. Yeah, now she knew why Landon was worried. He wasn’t getting any sleep tonight.
A Nice Balance
The next afternoon Kristen and Landon were on their way to East Rutherford, New Jersey. A buddy of his had two tickets to the New York Giants and Atlanta Falcons game for Sunday and he couldn’t go. Since Landon brought it up at dinner last night, she jumped on it asking her mother if she’d take Chloe while they went away.
The squeals from Chloe matched that when she opened up the box containing her new kitten and Landon laughed, then said he was trying not to get insulted that Chloe wanted a night away from him.
“You’re sure you are okay with going to the game?” he asked Kristen once they were thirty minutes into the three-hour drive.
“Of course. And Chloe was so excited to spend the time with my mother. You saw her.”
“I did. I wonder if I’m that hard to live with or not?”
“Not at all and you know it. She just likes being around women more. I’m sure you figured that out.”
“I did. I can’t thank you both enough. I feel bad sending Chloe there with the kitten.”
She reached over and patted his leg. “My mother loves cats. We had them when I was growing up. I’m actually surprised she doesn’t have at least four of them by now. Did you get any sleep last night?”
“Actually, I did. Ace slept with Chloe all night. They seem to be a match made in heaven.”
“That’s a good thing.”
“So do you like sports at all?” he asked her. “We never really talk about it. It seems like all we talk about is Chloe and less about you. I’m sorry about that.”
“I don’t mind sports. I think it’s split in my mind. I don’t love or hate them. I’m good with watching them now and again, but I don’t live and die for them.”
Not like some of her exes. Especially Steve and his racing. Second, third, and fourth fiddle felt like shit. Especially when you were last before cars!
But she and Landon seemed to have a nice balance and that was what it was all about.
“So you don’t live and die for them like you do shopping?” he asked.
She laughed. “Shopping is a sport and I’m happy you can recognize that.”
“Again, glad you enjoy that and can take it off my shoulders with Chloe. Have you noticed that she is turning into a little girl now? Not so much just jeans and T-shirts, but brighter colors and accessories and doing her nails.”
She wasn’t sure what to make of that comment, but pushed it aside as just conversation, not that he was thinking of the future or long term. She wasn’t letting her mind go there no matter how much it had wanted to recently.
And she hoped he wasn’t annoyed Chloe was becoming more like her in terms of appearance. It didn’t seem it by the grin he was sporting.
“So did you decide what you are doing for Monday for her birthday and school?”
“I asked her earlier before you guys got to the restaurant yesterday. She said she wanted to bring donuts. That other kids did that and it was a big hit.”
“That’s nic
e and easy for you then,” she said.
“I figured we could run to the donut shop before school. I’m going to bring her to school since I don’t want her to be carrying all that food on the bus and have any incidents with it.”
“Smart move. And speaking of smart moves. Make sure you only get one or two kinds of donuts.”
“What?” he asked, turning to look at her. “Why?”
“If you get too big of a variety there will be fighting. That is the last thing I’m sure the teacher wants to deal with and it might upset Chloe too.”
“Why don’t I ever think of these things? Maybe I should just go to the grocery store and buy a few boxes in the bakery that are all the same.”
“You could do that and I’m sure if you brought it up to Chloe, she’d be fine with it.”
“Of course she would. She never says no or argues about anything.”
“Some parents would love that,” she said, laughing.
“I want her to be a normal kid though. Most kids fight back at times.”
“Bite your tongue on the fighting back,” she said, remembering all the times she caused grief for her mother and father when she was going from house to house as a kid.
“Yeah, I know. I guess I’ll just mention it to her, what you said. Find out what happened when the other kids brought them in and go from there.”
“See, good negotiating skills. Bet you got them from all your years in law enforcement.”
“Something like that,” he said and it wasn’t the first time she’d gotten the impression that he had to talk his way out of things. Maybe it had to do with his upbringing and how much fighting he’d lived with.
They talked about more things in general in the car on the way. He was driving her car over his SUV and she found it sweet that he asked if they could since it’d be easier to navigate. She was going to offer anyway and tossed him the keys. Then he looked shocked over that. She’d never been one that needed to drive even if it was her car.
They pulled into the hotel parking lot, grabbed their bags, and walked to the registration desk. This was better than having the night to themselves at one of their homes and she was thrilled that the opportunity came up and it worked out.