Now and Forever: A BOX SET OF STANDALONE NOVELS

by Ann, Pamela

  I should’ve guessed. I had forgotten how she and Peter used to do this as their bonding activity when she had been younger.

  When I quietly approached her hunched form, she didn’t realize I was there until my arms wrapped around her torso before kissing her soft cheek. “Why are you out here alone, kitten?”

  “Baby!” she shrieked as she spun around and solely focused on me, bringing her luscious mouth against mine then wrapping her arms and legs around my body. “You’re home.”

  I was…I definitely, irrefutably was home.

  “You didn’t invite the girls?” Cupping and gripping her ample arse cheeks, I beamed at my blushing woman.

  She snickered. “They’re out partying at some party somewhere.”

  I groaned as I bit her lip, quite grateful my wife didn’t decide to join her pretty, reliable but oh so crazy best friends. “What about Ginny. She seemed the type to like this sort of geeky fun?”

  “Are you saying I’m a geek?” She arched her brow as she shifted her groin to rub against the emboldened hardness stuck in between her thighs.

  “I’ll say whatever the hell you want me to say,” I sighed as I tried not to surrender to my body’s wishes. “All day…all I could think about was having you in the headquarters, working alongside me…so I could indulge in all the wicked things I want to do with you. I don’t have to wait to bury myself inside this body. I can bend you over any time, any place, any way I want…”

  “Uh-uh…It’s a nice thought, but your wicked fantasies have to wait until summer or when I’m ready to take on extra work on top of my already-stacked schoolwork and projects.”

  My hand smacked her round, supple cheek. “I’m a patient man…I can wait however long a time you need.”

  She cackled, showing me her cute dimple. “Not only are you gorgeous, but you’re also delusional. Patience is not in your DNA, babe.” She teasingly patted my cheek before kissing my lips then beginning to unlatch her luscious body off mine. “I hope you’re hungry. Quentin kind of overdid himself preparing tonight.”

  “I’m famished. I’m sure I can manage,” I mumbled as I popped a buttered baby potato into my mouth.

  “Well, go feed the tummy while I wait for the eclipse. It should be happening very soon…” She winked at me before she continued, sitting with her legs crossed as her focus zeroed in on the lens. She was wearing one of my shirts and minuscule silk shorts, her hair tied haphazardly atop her head like a blonde crown.

  I grinned, studying her careless free spirit. Although she took time and effort to look good, she also had these blasé moments. I liked this side of her better.

  Pouring the wine, I slipped off my shoes as I comfortably relaxed against the bed before I placed one of the silver platters filled with barbeque ribs, baby potatoes, and grilled zucchinis next to me. Peering at the night sky, I carefully sipped on my wine before poking her butt with my big toe. “I missed you…”

  “I’ve missed you back,” she quipped back without peeling her eyes away from the lens.

  “Gisele?”

  “Hm…”

  “I think…” I paused, needing a moment to gather my thoughts, quite heady at the thought of what I was about to say next. “Well, I believe—I’m almost sure…that I’m falling in love with you, kitten.”

  This time, she pulled away but didn’t immediately turn around to face me. She took her time before letting out a haggard breath, as if trying to comprehend the weight of my confession. Ever so casually, she crawled towards me. She sat on her heels as she gazed down, reaching out to cup my face. The intensity in her gray eyes took my breath away. “I love you, but you have to understand there’s no need to butter me up after what happened yesterday, Jared. We’re past it. I’m fine. You don’t have to say these things—”

  My forefinger pressed against her succulent lips, hushing her completely. Deeply boring my eyes into hers, I took hold of her hand before bringing it to my lips, kissing it softly, lovingly. “I’m telling you how I feel. No more secrets, remember?”

  “I don’t know what to say…” she nervously said before grimacing. “I mean, it might not be true. You’re not fully sure, so your feelings might change later on.”

  Her pessimism held no comfort. “You silly girl! Why must you ruin a good moment?” But instead of entertaining her rotten thoughts, I lovingly squeezed her cheek before playfully nipping the tip of her nose. “Do you have any idea how much it took for me to even utter those words at all?” After shifting her body so I could situate mine atop hers, I nipped her neck as she squirmed underneath me.

  “Baby, no! I’m going to miss the eclipse!” she squealed, huffing and giggling as if she didn’t know which was far more superior to bestow her attention to. Well, lucky me, I had the means necessary to trap her attentions.

  Need I mention how famished I was? Well, I was quite ready for my first course. Gisele-à-la-carte sounded perfectly divine.

  Chapter 31

  Gisele

  “Hey, I’m not one to call and complain, but where the hell are you? I’ve been waiting for half an hour now! Anyway, call me as soon as you can.” Ending my rant on Ginny’s voicemail, I paced around the kitchen as I anxiously placed my phone down on the polished white breakfast nook table.

  She had gone on a weekend trip with Kevin (Sir Lancelot). But our research paper was due in a few days, and we had barely even begun. Ginny normally updated me, but I hadn’t heard from her all morning. We had agreed that she would swing by my house after her shift at three. It was already half past, and it only took half the time to get from school to my house.

  Pouring myself a half a glass of chocolate milk, I was about to take a sip when my phone shrilled with Ginny’s name flashing on the screen.

  “About time you call. Where the heck are you! We’re so going to fail if you don’t get here in the next hour, Ginny!”

  There was a lengthy pause before she made a tiny gut-wrenching sound. “I don’t think I can make it. I don’t know anymore…”

  Screw the project—okay, maybe not, but I couldn’t care less about it now when my friend was obviously upset about something. “Ginny, talk to me…What’s happened? Did you and Kevin fight or something?”

  “I,” she croaked out, sobbing. “I can’t talk about it.”

  “I’m here. You can tell me anything. You know I’m your friend. I’m here for you.” I’d never met anyone as guarded as Ginny was. Whatever had happened, it had to be quite awful. She wasn’t one to invest in tears; she said as much before. Therefore, hearing her in such a distraught state, it distressed me because I didn’t know what to do or how to solve it for her. “Where are you? Can I come see you at least? I’ll bring some hot cocoa and warm hugs.”

  “I’m sorry, but I want to be alone. I left a folder at the shop. Everything’s there. Again, I’m sorry…I have to go,” she hurriedly said before the line went dead.

  Baffled, I sat there, frowning at the phone for a few seconds before expelling a longwinded sigh, standing up, and making my way towards the garage.

  Once I got to the coffee shop, just as she had promised, I found Ginny had left a folder with paperwork attached with a USB drive. Lucky thing I brought in my laptop with me.

  Cradling a scalding cup of coffee, I chose my favorite spot with the girls and situated myself on the tattered leather before beginning to browse through Ginny’s notes. Funny how she couldn’t drop it off at my house. I knew she was upset, but why was she avoiding me? Did I do something wrong?

  Too preoccupied with the work before, I didn’t realize the shadow hovering close behind up until someone cleared their throat.

  “May I have a word with you? Gisele, isn’t it?”

  I paused before looking up, astounded as the words got stuck in my throat, wondering why I was staring at a woman who closely resembled Paige, Jared’s departed wife.

  Chapter 32

  Jared

  Seeing that it was the end of the month, I normally tried to head hom
e around seven in the evening, much later if there was a faulty, unresolved project. I was beginning to appreciate why Peter brought some of his work home, and I supposed I’d end up doing the same.

  After the Thanksgiving dinner, I hadn’t had the chance to properly speak to Anahl about the vault in the basement. I’d been bombarded with work and personal obstacles, one after the other. It had rather taken a toll on me. I admitted, Gisele’s new role in my life was a blessing, but it’d also proved to be challenging. But even though I was stretching myself at both ends, I’d never been happier, and at the end of the day, it was what counted the most.

  It was thirty before midnight when I dragged myself into the house, exhaustion seeping through me with each step. My neck and shoulders were tremendously throbbing, and I hoped Gisele would take pity on me and offer to rub it away.

  The bedroom was dark upon entering. Treading carefully, I strode towards the bed area, double checking if she was asleep, and she was. My heart swelled at the sight of her sleeping figure before I retreated into the bathroom then turned the dial to shower.

  Once finished, I dried off and didn’t even bother to don any form of sleepwear since I was most comfortable snoozing in the nude. Upon reaching the bed, I gently slipped under the sheets before pulling Gisele’s body against my own. Burrowing my nose into the base of her neck, I breathed her in as my hand tightened around her abdomen, pulling her lower body closer to my groin.

  “Kitten?” I whispered as my hand glided around her bottom, parting it softly as I lodged my length in between the crack, guiding my mushroom head to her slit as I began to nudge her cunt lips to open for me. She merely needed her clit to be rubbed a good minute or so until her body properly lubricated her passage.

  The tip of my shaft precisely slid up and down her button. I let out an ardent growl as the first burst of wetness trickled out of her opening. My lips nipping her skin around her neck and shoulders, my hand sought her bosom, massaging it gently before my fingers tightened around her pebbled bud. Then I began to lightly pull at it. My dick’s measured movements continued until her cunt was drenched.

  Shifting my pelvis to a certain angle, I continued until the head pierced into her hole. The instant sensation of her muscle ring constricting around the tip sent a pleasure current running all over me. It didn’t matter if I ravaged her pussy every single day; it never failed to revert to its snug state once her body got a reprieve. Though it still felt like fucking into a well-fit glove, her passage could manage to accommodate me unlike before.

  “Kitten…wake up…” My cock slithered in and out in furious thrusts. “Gisele,” I uttered. While my manhood was still buried within, I shifted my body so she was on her back and I was on top of her. Gripping her arse, my strokes deepened as I pushed farther into her depths, shoving past her barrier and into her womb.

  “Jared.” Gisele let out a strangled groan, a mixture of pain and pleasure, as she slowly awakened.

  My lips meshed with hers. It took her a bit of time until she kissed me back just as fervently while my cock began to fuck her in short, precise, deep thrusts.

  “Hell, I can’t get enough of you and your snug cunt.” My length drove a relentless series of furious fucks, sawing in and out of her in a frenzy. Her moans grew in volume. My torrential pounding amplified. The telltale sign of orgasm gripped my scrotum before a heady rush of tingling ricocheted through my body. It went all the way down my spine, traveling lower in heightened pulses, before it momentarily throbbed in my balls, amplifying my thrusts into her body as my girth expanded into her tight tunnel then bursting out of my cock, drenching and bathing her womb with ropes upon ropes of my seed.

  My mind-numbing release annihilated me, so much so that I had a momentary throb in the back of my brain before my lungs began to function once again as I heaved air into them. Her body never failed to gift me with such earth-shattering pleasure.

  “My love,” I panted out, kissing her, intoxicated, drunk off my obliterating addiction to her body and the very woman herself.

  “Do you like my pussy, baby?” Her hot breath brushed against my ear, hardening my half-mast state still stuck in her hole.

  Stroking her gently, I readily said, “Yes. I love it. I can’t get enough of it.”

  “I’m happy that you do. Remember how it feels because tonight’s going to be the last night you’re going to fuck me.” Her harsh voice made me halt as my troubled eyes linked with hers.

  All the elation and sexual haze lifted off my fogged mind as I acutely bore into the eyes of my lover. “I don’t understand. I thought you said we were past it. Saturday night, I even came home to you. Am I missing something here, Gisele?”

  “I will tell you, but first, you have to pull out,” she gritted out as she hastily tried to unsheathe her cunt, but my hips pinned her back down, confining her to where she belonged—with me.

  “It’s either you speak or I’ll fuck it out of you. Take your pick, wife.” The nasty side of me was out. She was threatening to leave me again, and I wasn’t having it.

  Bunched up hands tried to push me off, but I remained unmoving. “You selfish bastard! Even your mighty cock can’t solve this for you. The moment I wake up, those papers will be filed, and there’s nothing you can do about it!”

  “Spare me the bloody suspense and fucking say why, damn you!” I snarled into her face, hating the idea of how hard I was and, at the same time, wondering what I’d done wrong this time.

  “I find it funny how your dear Rose looks like Paige.” She pinned me with scathing eyes. “Funny how you also didn’t mention you bought her a house and how you fucking moved her out here so you could conveniently see her whenever you felt the urge to fuck. And, oh! How can I forget? She was rather sweet to inform me, too, that you two were in the middle of trying for a baby before you left for Japan, so before you roar your head off, claiming all sorts of bullshit, I’m saving us both by releasing you.” She instantly looked away, hiding her tears from me. “I spent most of the afternoon driving around, wondering what I’d do or if I was even overreacting again, but the truth is, no matter how I try to convince myself that I love you too much to let you go…I don’t trust you. Having you in my life has caused me so much unnecessary pain, and if I don’t save myself now, you’re going to drown me. GOD!” she choked out. “You were planning to have a family together! How do you think I felt when she screamed in the entire café, labeling me a homewrecker, huh?”

  Why had Rose left the facility, and why had no one informed me? Rose probably begged them not to. God knows what she had spewed into her caretaker’s ears to set her free.

  How did I get myself out of this? Would she believe me if I tried to reason with her? She had already made her decision. She had the ball rolling, and based on her stubborn expression, she wasn’t going to be deterred.

  Set her free…

  How?

  My chest tightened to the point where breathing became a difficult task. Not knowing what to do, I burrowed my face into her neck, memorizing her smell. Her chest quaked against mine as she silently cried.

  “Since you’ve already made up your mind, I can’t force you to stay with me. I’ve held you down, fought you every time just so I could keep you. But this isn’t what I envisioned my future with you to be like, Gisele. You’ve had one foot out the door, biding for the right moment to eject me for good. We both know you’ve been trying to get away from me for quite some time now, and as much as my heart, my mind, and body repels the thought of losing you, I have to do the right thing this time.

  “You are your own woman, and if I can’t make you happy, then there’s nothing I could do to alleviate the problem. But I do want to clarify some things. Yes, I gifted her a home. Since I had informed you about her, moving her closer to me made perfect sense because my punishing schedule prevented me from seeing her as often as I liked. And you’re right, I was drawn to her partially because she reminded me so much of Paige. Somehow, I had felt back then that I was actually
trying to revive the same feelings as well, but it never happened. It didn’t take long until I realized why.

  “The baby—her mad idea came about while we were having sex. After leaving you, I would see her sloshed and out of my mind drunk, and as harsh and unfeeling as this may seem to you, I just wanted a body to fuck. It didn’t matter what I agreed on so long as she let me into her body. I’d wake up the next day and squash the idea, but the same thing happened during night time. I drank myself into a stupor so I could drown you out of my thoughts, and it also helped to stop me from driving back to you, past caring if Rinaldi was enjoying your body, a body that should’ve been mine. You promised was mine. Everything shifted for me that night.

  “I’m not making excuses for my past actions. They are what they are. I’m not perfect. I’ve made countless mistakes where you are concerned. To be quite frank, I honestly had no clue how to deal with my riotous feelings for you, and I admit I’m not proud of how poorly I handled it. I’m sorry for all the grief I’ve caused you.” The heavy-laden weight in my chest delved deeply into my soul. The despair and senselessness were almost unbearable. It felt as though death itself was breathing down on me, slowly suffocating me. “Whatever you need, whatever you wish, just say the word and it’ll be yours. My lawyers will grant you everything.” Slowly, gently, I lifted my face off her neck before my lower body withdrew from hers, retreating, then strictly staying to my side of the bed.

  Gisele remained mum. I supposed she had said her piece, and there was nothing left for her to say. Drilling holes into the ceiling, I was left paralyzed as I listened to her soft sobs. For a grave hour, I endured the eviscerating agony of drowning in her cries, and the second it died down, I died along with it.