Breakfast was a noisy affair, and I relaxed once it was clear the kids were having a good time. I tried to take it all in but my nerves were all over the place. The man had practically kidnapped us, taken me to his bed where he just held me all night and didn’t even try to make a move. Now he was having breakfast with my kids and acting like it was same old same old.
“So, how did you guys sleep?” I decided to take the bull by the horns since neither of them were asking the obvious questions. “I like my bed, it’s soft and uncle Kevin said we can get pink sheets with ponies next.” Tiana stuffed a forkful of pancake in her mouth and grinned at her new friend.
Dylan was his usual reserved self. “It was fine mom. I like it better than the other place.” He hadn’t called me mom in days, not since we moved to the motel. In fact today was the first in a long time that we hadn’t started the day with an argument and him screaming that he wanted his dad.
“I have to leave soon but I’ll be back later to take you guys to get some stuff. I didn’t see any toys…”
“They have toys.” I said defensively. But his raised brow had me sitting back in my chair.
“Yeah mom but we had to leave a lot of them behind. I didn’t even get all my games.”
I swallowed the piece of bacon in my mouth and reached for my coffee cup. It was going to be a long time before I could afford to buy any of the expensive games Robert used to buy him to keep him out of his hair.
“Not to worry squirt, we’ll get you what you need.” He got up from the table and took his dish to the sink. I felt the burn and looked up to see him staring at me. He might have been Mr. Congenial with the kids but that look did not bode well for me. The lump in my throat was too big for me to swallow.
“You kids behave yourselves and listen to your mom.” His words were directed at the kids but his eyes never left mine. And with that he was gone. I waited for the fighting to start but surprise-surprise they got up from the table and placed their dishes in the sink.
“Can we go out and play? Uncle Kevin said there’s a swing out back.” They both rushed to the backdoor before I could consent. “Wait kids let me see what it looks like out there before you go.” There I go being over protective again, but it was hard not to be.
I’d lived in fear everyday that Robert would turn his venom on one or both of them. It had made me hypersensitive I guess and I’d never been able to let them out of my sight or without trusted supervision.
Outside there was indeed a pretty spectacular swing set complete with slide and a sand pit. I checked it over to make sure it was okay and eyeballed the fence that surrounded the backyard. Everything looked safe enough and the kids were off and running once I gave them the okay.
I sipped my coffee and tried to make sense of my life and the last twelve hours or so. It didn’t escape my notice that Kevin hadn’t said too much to me this morning, and other than that look he’d given me I had no idea what was on his mind. I knew enough to know this wasn’t his home. Sandy had mentioned where that was and I knew it was closer to my parents than this place was.
I guess he had done well for himself if he could afford a place out there. Last time I checked those homes went for half a mil and up. I’d tried not to ask too many questions because I didn’t want to give away too much to my best friend, but maybe I should’ve.
The kids ran around until they were tired and we went in to get cleaned up. Not long after I heard the key in the door and tensed up. He came in with his arms filled with grocery sacks and the kids ran to meet him. Were they that starved for male attention that a complete stranger could exact that kind of reaction from them?
I followed the three of them with my eyes into the kitchen, which I could see from my place in the living room. The house was built in the open-air style with minimal walls and lots of sunlight from the windows that wrapped around. I watched him unpack the groceries as he kept up a running conversation with the kids.
I was able to study him now without being detected. He’d changed, a lot, but all for the better as far as I could tell. He was more built than I remembered, his handsome face more chiseled. There were tattoos on his arm and neck and I was pretty sure under the close fitting tee he was ripped as the saying goes.
“Come here Julia.” He hadn’t even lifted his head, how did he know I was watching him? I got up and went into the kitchen to join them.
“Help us put this stuff away.” He was still treating me like a fifth wheel but at least he hadn’t started yelling yet. And there was still that promise-threat or whatever you want to call it.
I reached up to put a box of cereal in the cupboard and felt him at my back. “Two days!” Just like that my heart picked up speed and other places south started to tingle. I still didn’t know what he meant by the daily countdown, but I knew what my body wanted it to mean.
I finished doing what I was and acted like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. My kids were standing right there for Pete sake, and I was thinking of jumping into bed with him.
“Let’s go.” Huh? Go where? I was about to ask but the look he shot me said don’t even think about it. The kids hooped and hollered as they made their way towards the door. I opened my mouth to say maybe I’ll stay behind and clean up a little but he beat me to it.
He pointed a finger towards the door and that was enough to get me moving. I was so confused at my own behavior as, like an obedient little girl, I went out after the kids and got in his truck. I made sure the kids were belted in before settling back in my seat.
I watched him lock up before jogging down the steps to the truck and getting in. “You kids all buckled in?” He looked back at the kids who chorused ‘yes uncle Kevin’ together their little voices full of excitement. He threw me a look before pulling out and I fidgeted in my seat.
I studied him out the side of my eye and my breathing stalled for a second. His arms looked strong and masculine as he grabbed the wheel. I studied his fingers remembering the feel of them as they slid in and out of me and barely squelched a moan.
My eyes involuntarily went to his lap and…have mercy. I looked away quickly before I was caught ogling his package. My face heated up when he chose that moment to look at me again. I dropped my eyes in fear that he might see what I was thinking, feeling.
He drove to the little mall on the other side of town. By the time we pulled in I was ready to get as far away from him as possible. Being that close to him even for such a short space of time was almost more than I could bear. I pretended a great interest in fixing the kids’ clothes so I could avoid his gaze before we headed to the toy store.
“Grab what you need.”
“Kevin I don’t think…”
“Quiet. I don’t want you to think about anything but what I’m going to do to you in two days.” With that he walked away following the kids down the aisles.
9
Julie
That night in bed I was a nervous wreck. My body was wound so tight my limbs were about to cramp. I heard the shower turn off and held my breath in anticipation. Squeezing my eyes shut I tried to even out my breathing as if I were already asleep. I’ve never felt so exposed in my life as I did lying there with the sheet pulled up to my chin.
When the bed depressed from his weight I rolled onto his side before I could straighten myself out. I tried moving back to my place but he hauled me back into his chest. My body immediately went up in flames and that throbbing between my thighs picked up speed.
My heart knocked against my ribcage as his big heavy hand rested on my hip, before moving up to hold me around the waist. When he pulled me back into his body I felt his hardness pushing into my ass through the sleep shirt I wore.
His hand felt warm and comforting as he spread it open on my tummy and I wanted to whimper at the rush of heat that went through me. I needed to rub my thighs together to ease the ache but if I moved he’d know I was awake and who knows where that would lead.
His length felt warm and heavy against my
ass but he didn’t seem to notice. What kind of man was he? Was he really not going to try anything? I found myself wanting him to just lift up the stupid shirt, remove my panties and just…Oh good grief.
I gritted my teeth and willed myself not to press back against him any harder. I was already wet and my ass of its own accord kept inching back against him trying to get his cock to rub against my slit right where I needed him.
Tonight had been my last night of training. After the shopping expedition where he’d let the kids get anything their little hearts desired, he’d taken us to lunch. “I can make something for us at the house. It doesn’t make sense; you just bought all those groceries…”
Again he stopped my flow of words with a look. Had he always done that? I don’t recall. The affect was instantaneous and I found myself closing my lips and following his orders. He kept his hand in the small of my back as we walked to the restaurant behind my kids who were laughing and talking with each other as my son held his sister’s hand.
In the restaurant he crowded me, even when we sat in a booth with eyes following our every move because of course he’d chosen a restaurant smack dab in the middle of my old stomping ground. I saw a few old familiar people, some of them with questioning looks on their faces, and it wasn’t long before the whispers behind the hands started.
We shared a menu and he was the one who asked the kids what they wanted. He was so easy with them it was hard to believe he didn’t have any of his own. The thought brought me up short. Since I’d avoided all talk of him since my return I really didn’t know that much about him. Sandy hadn’t mentioned anything but…
“You’re very good with them. Do you have…?” I trailed off at the fire in his eyes when he looked at me. I’m going to choke on my own spit if I hang around him much longer. I swallowed around the lump in my throat and looked down feeling chastised.
Did he really mean for us not to say anything to each other for the next twenty-four hours? Apparently so since he turned back to the kids without answering. Maybe he thought it was none of my business, which was the case.
His arm came around my shoulders and I felt warm and tingly inside. I was sure to the many eyes on us right now we looked like the perfect little family out on a lunch date. If only they knew what a nervous wreck I was sitting there with my panties wet, squirming my ass around on the seat.
Things only got harder for me when his finger traced a pattern on my arm as we sat waiting for our orders to be brought out, while listening to the kids prattle on excitedly about their new toys.
I had goose bumps all over my body from his absentminded stroking and places south were coming awake. “I can smell you.” Oh heavens. He whispered those incendiary words in my ear and just the touch of his lips against my sensitive skin had me twitching in my seat.
I grabbed my water and drank down half of it before my throat stopped feeling like it was on fire, but there was no getting rid of the heat in my cheeks or the hardness in my nipples. When I dared a look up at him, he was studying me. It was the look in his eyes, fierce, hungry, determined, that made me squeak. He looked at the kids to make sure they were preoccupied before imparting his last zinger.
“Don’t be scared legs, you’ve taken my cock before remember?” He moved his hand and turned his attention to the kids leaving me with hot cheeks, wet panties and renewed apprehension in my chest.
Of course I remember. I remember that he was so huge he barely fit. I remember being sore for days after, even on my honeymoon. It was almost as if I could feel that fullness now, between my legs. I ached in a way I hadn’t in a long time. It had taken me ages to get over that feeling of emptiness inside. No one had ever been able to fill it and I knew without a doubt that no one else ever will.
Why was this all coming back to me now? I thought I’d put it away long ago, buried it with everything else I’d had to give up so I didn’t go crazy. To me it was just a fond memory that I use to take out and relive when things got to be too much in the real world. I didn’t know if to be nervous, scared or excited at this turn of events; or if I should run for the hills.
I could feel the heat from his thigh where it barely brushed against mine, and it made me jumpy. My eyes followed his hands as he talked to the kids animatedly, those big strong work rough hands, long tapered fingers. I felt a shiver rush through me.
I remember the feel of them over my soft skin. The way his calluses had scraped over my hard nipples and what that had done to the heat between my legs. I must’ve made a sound because his eyes flew to mine just then.
The kids were talking to each other about the games he’d allowed them to bring in with them so had missed it. I saw something come into his eyes. Something dark and heated but just as quickly as it came it was gone.
He let his eyes travel down my body, landing on my chest before making their way lower and back to my eyes. With my luck there was no way he’d missed the way my nipples hardened under my shirt and bra, or the inconspicuous way I writhed on the seat.
The waitress came over with our meals and broke the spell but I could still feel the warmth from that look. I squirmed on the chair my mind in disarray. My nipples were hard and achy, while between my legs I grew wetter. I had no control over a body that had decided to come alive, to once again join the ranks of the living. I couldn’t deny it any longer. I wanted to feel his hands on me. Just one more time to feel, what I had only ever experienced in his bed.
My skin burned and that place deep inside me that no one else had been able to reach since him, throbbed and ached. I was going out of my mind even as a little voice whispered that this is what I’d wanted all along. That he was the reason I’d come back with my tail between my legs. I might as well accept it, as I’d learned to accept long ago that I never should’ve left.
I was beginning to feel sorry for myself as I sat in silence, picking at my food, while the three of them chatted away like long lost friends. He was so easy with the kids, so open and honest. He handled them like what they were, the products of a broken home. His manner soft and easy going in direct contrast to the way he treated their mother.
I felt so lost sitting there as I finally realized that he didn’t want me. Other than that ‘two days’ threat, and sleeping next to me the night before, there was no real contact between us. He hadn’t even smiled at me, and when I do catch his eyes on me there’s always a sense of danger in his look.
Funny, but the more he ignored me the more time I spent looking at him. It was almost as if I were starved for his attention. His scent, that clean manly outdoorsy type that makes women think of wild sex on a hot summer’s day, teased my senses and made me wish...
He shifted in his seat and I made the mistake of letting my eyes fall to his lap. I had to swallow the drool that pooled in my mouth. His cock pressed against his zipper and my neck grew hot until that heat crept into my face. I closed my eyes against the sight and the memories that flooded my mind. Kevin leaning over me with his arms outstretched so he wouldn’t crush me beneath his weight.
Kevin rubbing his cock, back and forth over my wet slit where his mouth had just been. And best of all Kevin sliding in and out of me so slowly, so sweetly that it had brought tears to my eyes. What kind of lover would he be now, ten years later? It was obvious he had grown, changed, in many ways.
Was he an even better lover now too? It was hard to imagine that he could be any better. But this hard man sitting next to me didn’t look like he would do slow and sweet. He looked more like the type to leave a woman wilted and thoroughly fucked, sore. Yes and you Julie want him anyway you can.
My hands started to shake so hard I dropped my fork. They all turned to look at me, but only he knew what was wrong. His eyes went right to my nipples that were still pressed hard against my shirt through the soft material of my bra.
He’d given me that knowing look like he could see right into me. He’d carried on eating and talking to the kids while his hand had dropped to my thigh. For the rest of th
e meal he’d tormented me by running his fingers up and down my inner thigh through my jeans.
When his hand reached the top of my thigh he’d rubbed the backs of his fingers up and down in my crotch and it was all I could do not to whimper out loud as I sat there trying my best not to spread my legs open wider so I could feel more of him.
It was the longest damn lunch in creation and when it was over I walked out of there just knowing that everyone could hear the squish in my underwear as I walked by. He’d given me one of his patented looks that did nothing to ease the ache and I just knew that he could still read my body, even after all these years.
If that wasn’t bad enough, after the sitter had shown up and I’d gone off to work, I was still twitchy. Kevin had dropped us off after lunch with a goodbye to the kids and just another smoldering look that I couldn’t read for me. I couldn’t tell if he wanted to fuck me or strangle me from the way he looked at me.
The restaurant was easier than the first two days, since I was getting the hang of it. I did notice that the men treated me a little different, almost with reverence. The teasing was still there but the tone had changed.
Tyson was more attentive too. I saw him having private talks with one or two bikers who’d been a bit too forceful in trying to get my attention. After that it was as if someone had put out a sign that said I was off limits. I knew something was up by the way Natalie stomped around and sulked, but no one had come right out and said anything to me. Whatever it was I knew Kevin had a hand in it.
By mid shift I was counting down the hours and feeling a bit grouchy because Kevin wasn’t here. Each time the door opened I looked with heart racing expecting to see his handsome face coming through the door, only to be disappointed by someone else coming in.
I was still semi aroused from this afternoon and with no relief in sight I knew it was going to be a long night. It was as if my body was preparing itself for something. Those two days were almost up. It’s all I’ve been able to think about all evening as I went from table to table serving drinks and food and avoiding the pawing hands of a few over zealous admirers.
Starting Over (Sugar Creek Romance ) Page 5