A Man Who Knows What He Wants Box Set 5

by Flora Ferrari

  I continue coming but so does he and he’s more powerful.

  I feel his juices enter and fill me. Their warmth inside me and it makes me feel even warmer all over…warmer than I already am.

  And then suddenly he falls forward not even catching himself because he can’t. Because he’s spent.

  Luckily his face finds the same oversized pillow that I’m on as his body crashes into mine.

  The momentum and weight carry us down together as I feel the sweat from his body and mine mix and then the bed catches us like a boomerang and sends us back upwards again.

  He’s breathing hard and I might be breathing even harder.

  “Are you okay? I’m sorry I didn’t mean to fall on you. It’s just—“

  This time I’m the one who gets to bring a finger to his lips.

  “It’s perfect,” I say. “I love the way your body feels on mine. To feel your weight and strength on top of me is sexy, beautiful, and perfect at the same time.”

  “And I’ll have more ‘strength’ in just a second. I just need to catch my breath after what you just did to me.”

  “And what you did to me,” I say.

  His arms wrap around me and his lips wrap around mine.

  We kiss and out of nowhere I feel one last twitch of his cock inside me and know he’s still not done.

  No, he’s not done at all. As a matter of fact we’re just getting started.

  This is what I waited for all these years. ‘To get started.’ And that’s exactly what just happened.

  Together with him. And now that we’ve started I know more than anything I don’t ever want to stop.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Jacob

  We wake up as late as Mia allows the next morning and take turns getting ready.

  I’m so lucky that she’s such an amazing baby and can sleep through the night.

  I couldn’t even count the number of times we blew each other’s minds last night and into the morning, nor would I want to.

  There’s no score to keep and nothing to compare to what I feel. This is next level. A level I never could have reached in this lifetime alone. And it’s a level she’s constantly taking me to only to take me even higher.

  This is truly what life’s all about.

  I push the stroller through the park marveling at how incredible family life really can be.

  But that’s it exactly. This is family life. Before it was just some old dude trying unsuccessfully to figure out how to raise a baby girl on his own.

  Family time is way better when it’s actually family time.

  And there’s no family time without her. Everything starts and ends with her.

  I hear the special ringtone on my phone signifying it’s a top client and the reality that it’s a weekday hits me.

  “Can you push the stroller for a second? I have to take this.”

  “Absolutely,” she says.

  I give her a quick kiss and then step aside so I’m not loud around Mia. That and I don’t want to disturb the peace in the park by having a business call on the path.

  I get things sorted out and am back to my woman in a flash.

  “Everything okay?”

  “Great actually. Remember the guy I said you’d meet next week?”

  “Yep.”

  “He’s in town early so you’ll get to meet him tonight. I told him about you just now and he says to say hello and that he can’t wait to meet you.”

  “That’s nice,” he says.

  “It’s perfect. I can’t wait to introduce you to everyone I know. And by introduce you I mean introduce you as my woman.”

  “Your girlfriend?”

  “That word’s not strong enough for me, but we can use it if it makes you more comfortable.”

  “You make me comfortable,” she says as she leans into me. “You can say it however you like, just as long as I’m by your side when you do.”

  “Always. You’ll always be by my side from now on. That’s why we have to work on this girlfriend terminology thing. I need to get that figured out…fast.”

  And I do.

  I hate waiting especially when I know exactly what I want.

  And I know what I want and I know she does to.

  Time to make this happen.

  Pronto.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Jacob

  “Mike! What’s up, buddy?” I say as my best friend pulls up to the gate.

  “Long time no see,” he replies.

  “Way too long. We gotta catch up.”

  “And you have to catch me up on this lovely lady you were telling me about.”

  “Most definitely. You’re going to meet her at dinner. She’s upstairs with the baby right now. Let’s get inside,” I say.

  Mike’s Uber pulls away from the curb and we head up the drive.

  “So you’ve got her handling international deals already? You put her on the call with the Belgians?”

  “Yep. Sure did.”

  “Wow, I know you and that is no small thing. Those international deals are complicated and tricky. They require really good people skills.”

  “Well, lucky for me she’s got the best. She’s just as good with Mia as she is with a man like me. Perfect in fact.”

  “Wow. The man who thought he would never find the right woman finally has. What is this world coming to.”

  “I don’t know, but I’m glad the world finally came to its senses and sent her my way. I’m thanking my lucky stars every second of every day.”

  I’ve known Mike forever so I can get away talking like this with him. I’d never open up so fully to anyone else in the world, except for Mina and Mia. But I’m pretty sure baby Mia never processed anything of what I said when I used to stand over her crib and tell her things were going to be alright.

  But I was right. I got lucky. I got Mina.

  And sharing my joy of finding her with Mike feels really good. That’s what she’s taught me and really reinforced in me. Life is worth living when there are others there to share it with.

  And Mike certainly qualifies as one of those others who I’d do anything for and share anything with…except anything related to the sanctity of the relationship I have with my woman.

  A minute or two later we step inside my home and I call out her name, “Honey! Mike’s here.”

  Nothing.

  “She must still be putting Mia to bed. She’ll be down in a minute or so.”

  “Mia sleeps through the night?”

  “Yeah, I can’t believe it either.”

  “Wow, man. You’re really lucky in more ways than you know.”

  “Tell me about it. And I’m lucky you came all this way.”

  I wrap my arm around Mike’s shoulder as we make our way to the dining room.

  “Whoa. She is beautiful. I’m Mike. Nice to meet you.”

  The chef in the entryway to the dining room looks at him, blushes a bit and then offers her hand to meet his handshake.

  “That’s not her,” I whisper playfully at Mike.

  “Oh,” he says.

  All three of us share a laugh.

  “But you are beautiful young lady,” he says.

  “Thank you,” she replies.

  I appreciate Mike’s kindness, but to me there is only one beautiful woman in this world and she is mine.

  “Hey you,” comes from behind us and I recognize the voice immediately.

  “There she is!” I say.

  I spin around on the ball of my foot and see Mike do the same out of the corner of my eye. We’ve known each other so long even our movements are the same, regardless if we don’t see much of each other these days.

  But what I do see is Mina’s jaw hit the ground as she literally gasps at the sight of Mike.

  “What the…!” Mike says. Then suddenly he bursts out laughing. “Oh, you two are funny. You got me. Damn, Jacob. You’re good. I didn’t know you even knew her name.”

  “Huh?”

  “Nice
one.”

  My eyes move from Mina to Mike and back to Mina. She still looks shocked staring at Mike. Then she looks back at me and suddenly I see her face turn bright, bright red.

  “That explains why you weren’t at your apartment when I stopped by before I came over here. Now come over here and give your old man a hug?”

  Your old man?

  I would swear he’s talking about himself, but is this some new sort of humor and he’s referring to me.

  Mina timidly walks towards Mike, but keeps her eyes on me.

  Finally at the last second she looks at him and then leans in at the waist to hug him almost like strangers would hug…in a way that tries to avoid as much contact as possible.

  “Come on! You can do better than that. You act like the guy who used to blow your nose when you were sick is the one with the cooties now.”

  She hugs him a little more, but barely.

  And little would currently be way more than what’s going on right now that I’m comprehending.

  “Am I missing something here?” I say.

  “Very funny, dude. I already told you…you two got me.”

  “You know each other?” I look back and forth between Mina and Mike. I’m completely confused.

  Mina has a very nervous expression on her face.

  “Come on, now,” Mike says. Then he looks at Mina and for the first time he’s also starting to wonder what’s going on.

  He looks back at me and my confused look.

  Then to Mina and her anxiety level which is building like smoke at the base of a spaceship before one of those rocket launches.

  And I’m starting to put the puzzle pieces together all of the sudden and realize a rocket launch is about the perfect way to describe what’s about to happen.

  A lot of smoke, fire, and some high speed objects…like his fist if I don’t get this under control real quick.

  “Wait a second. You two know each other?” he says.

  Too late.

  “Oh hell no!”

  Mike releases Mina and cocks back and here comes his fist headed straight for my jaw.

  I duck wrapping him up around the waist and throw him over my shoulder. He’s a big guy, and the punches he’s now burying into my back doesn’t feel good at all, but I’ve got him.

  I walk him over to the couch and toss him down before he does any real damage to me.

  “What the fuck? What the fuck is wrong with you, Jacob? What the hell are you two doing?”

  “I didn’t know,” I say. It’s not that it makes much difference at this point, but I have to do something to try and calm him down. Good luck with that.

  “What do you mean you didn’t know? You’ve seen pictures of her! Don’t tell me your forgot you liar.”

  Then it all suddenly makes sense. That’s why I couldn’t place her at the office when I looked at the company picture. It’s like all the information I need to solve a mystery suddenly fills my brain now that I have the missing clue that I needed all along.

  Mike was married long ago, but before the woman gave birth she separated and took off across country with Mike’s best friend without saying a word. She had a baby, but thinking back to what Mike told me all those years ago she didn’t tell him the name and all he was able to figure out through private investigator searches on his own last name was that she must have given the baby her last name, or worse yet, possibly her new boyfriend.

  Well when Mike’s daughter was about ten the Internet was working pretty well by that time and Google was getting better and better with their searches. She tracked him down and came to live with him when Mike’s ex split from Mina just like she’s split from Mike. It wasn’t a nice family story, or friendship story thanks to Mike’s best friend stabbing him in the back, so he rarely spoke about it.

  But he did have that picture in his house which is why I could recognize her face, even though it had changed since she was a kid.

  “First my wife cheats on me with my best friend and now my best friend ever since stabs me in the back by searching out my daughter and having a…whatever the hell this sick thing is that I won’t even call a relationship, with her! This is bullshit! I’m outta here!”

  Mike jumps up off the couch and storms for the door.

  “Mike! It’s not like that. I honestly didn’t—”

  “No, you can stop right there. It is like that. It’s exactly like that. And you know what it’s going to be like from now on.” He pauses and I swear you could hear a pin drop. “You hear that? Huh? That’s the sound of nothing. Get used to it because that’s what it’s going to be like between us and that’s exactly what you are to me now. No-thing!”

  His hand grabs the door hard and barely a second later he’s slamming it from the other side.

  I call the gate guard and tell him to open the gate and get a cab here immediately. No way Mike’s taking a ride that I offer, but if a cab “unexpectedly” happens to drive by at that time he’ll take it. He’ll be too worked up not to. Not to mention he won’t know it was me.

  I turn back and look at Mina who’s now on the couch exactly where Mike just was.

  But when Mike was there his face was filled with anger and rage. Mina’s is filled with tears and sadness.

  Not three minutes ago I was on the top of the world with my two favorite people in the world.

  Now here I am feeling like I let both of them down.

  And down is exactly where I find myself now.

  Down in the dumps watching my dream of the absolute perfect life go down the drain with it.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Jacob

  “He cancelled all his business with us,” Janice says.

  “How can he do that? First of all he needs our services and second of all we have contracts.”

  “He exercised the thirty day out clauses on all of them, well technically his lawyer did. And his lawyer said not to call him or try in any way to speak or get in touch with him or they’ll consider it harassment and they will press charges.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me?”

  Janice purses her lips and shakes her head side to side. “I’m really sorry, boss.”

  I breathe in and hold it for a five count before letting it out.

  “Okay. Let’s not get sad or angry let’s do what we always do. Let’s think of solutions.”

  “Sir, if I may?”

  “Please do.”

  “Those were business problems we’ve been solving all these years. This one runs much, much deeper and if I’m honest I’m not sure you’re going to be able to think your way out of this with a solution…especially not a quick one.”

  “You might be right, but I’m going to try. You know that I’m not going down without a fight, and that’s if I go down at all, which I won’t. Where there’s a will there’s always a way.”

  Janice looks at me like I’m crazy, and I may very well be. But I’m going to right this ship and make this work.

  It’s not a matter of how or if or maybe or hope.

  It’s a matter of must and need.

  I must do this. It needs to be done.

  And I’m the man to do it.

  No way I’m losing my best friend and even more importantly no way is my woman losing her one and only father, and me losing her in the process.

  Not. Gonna. Happen.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Mike

  The next week

  I tip back the Corona and watch the baseball game from my couch. I can’t remember the last time I had a drink of alcohol.

  Oh wait. Yes, I can. It was when my daughter’s mother ran off with my best friend. I pounded the bottle hard for a month and then finally I told myself enough is enough and pulled my pants up and got back to work.

  And in doing so I built my company into what it’s become today. A titan of industry…a titan on the ropes without Jacob’s company’s help.

  Why did it have to end this way? We were friends in life first then we took t
hat friendship and both made big successful businesses out of it.

  And the reality is that I know without my business his business will be down well over fifty percent and on it’s own path to destruction.

  All because of the destruction he caused.

  And now I won’t even call my daughter by her name anymore, just like her mother. They don’t deserve it. Neither of them, not after what they did to me.

  I blink my eyes and focus on the TV screen. Wow, it’s the fourth inning already. An hour or more must have gone by since I turned this darn thing on and I haven’t seen a single minute of the game. My mind is just off in la-la land while my mouth is wrapped around this bottle.

  I look at the table next to the couch and realize it’s more like the fifth bottle. And the one in my hand is beyond warm, and I don’t even seem to mind.

  I’m forty-two now. I’m five years older than Jacob and less likely to get back on my feet if my company goes to hell in a handbasket. Who hires forty-two year olds with a gigantic failure on their record? One that will play out in the news and all the other forms of media until it squeezes the last bit of life out of me and I become a complete mess.

  At least Jacob’s got a woman to be there with him when his company falters. A woman?

  When did she go and grow up so quickly?

  Wow, how time flies.

  I can’t help but smile remembering when I found out that my baby had been born and I had a daughter. I was twenty when she was born, but didn’t even hear about it until years later. Before Google life was a real bear. Not only that, but sometimes I’d sit up at night and wonder if trying to track her down was even the right thing. Maybe if I showed up it would just complicate things even more, and the last thing a child needs is complications…especially a little girl.

  For all I knew her mother probably told her the new guy was her father, and the thought of that made my blood boil. If I ever did find them I sure would put a hurting on that man if I found out that was the case. And he better be treating her right.