by Sophia Gray
I was trying to figure out how to explain that to Jessie when I thought of something. Why was Jessie here?
“What are you even doing here? You’re supposed to be watching Cody.” And now that I’d thought of my son, my world took a dive. “Jesus, is he okay?”
Jessie waved off my worries. “He’s with my friend at my apartment, clearing out my stash of gummy worms at poker because he can’t sleep. I’m here to pick up his teddy. Didn’t you get my text?”
I made a face, squishing my nose up and pulling my lips together, squinting my eyes almost completely closed. I had gotten the text. Right before Todd pulled a gun on us and started shooting. “Shit. I’m sorry. I completely forgot about that. Things got…crazy tonight.”
I briefly considered telling her about the dead bodies, but quickly rethought that train wreck. The less Jessie knew about what had happened tonight, the safer she was. And the less likely she was to insist I go to the cops this time, corrupt or not.
“Because of this?” she demanded, waving a hand at the wall to indicate the living room and Ethan still on my couch.
I was about to tell her that hadn’t been it, but then I realized that was the perfect excuse. And if I were honest with myself, it was also partially true. Ethan had made tonight pretty nuts, dead bodies or no. “Well, yes. He really cares about me, Jessie.”
She let out a bitter laugh, very clearly not agreeing with me on this point. “Are you serious? Do you even hear yourself?”
“Jessie—” I began, but she quickly interrupted.
“No, this is bullshit. He blackmailed you and coerced you. Not only did he do this so that he could store drugs in your perfectly legal store, but so he could put his thing in your thing and do the dirty between the sheets! And that doesn’t even cover the fact that he burned down your store!”
“Half,” I corrected automatically. “He burned down half the store. And now he’s paying for repairs.”
“Because he’s storing drugs there!”
I rubbed the bridge of my nose, feeling a headache begin there. I could see her point. From the outside, this whole thing was preposterous. No one falls for the man who used and manipulated her. And, yet, I did. Or was in the process of doing so. “Jessie, I know how this looks, okay? But things between us have…changed. We’re on the same page now.”
“You’re being insane right now, Diana. Seriously insane. I mean, like, Stockholming it to the max.”
“He didn’t kidnap me for Christ’s sake,” I reminded her in irritation.
“That’s about all he didn’t do!”
I took a deep, slow breath, and tried again to explain. “I have feelings for him.”
Her expression softened slightly as her shoulders slumped, though I would be stupid to assume that this fight was over. “Seriously? Please tell me you’re not one of those women who think they can change a bad boy. Like, he’s just this poor, wounded soul that needs a little TLC and you’re just the saint to give it to him.”
I rolled my eyes. “Of course not. Ethan’s an ass. He’ll always be an ass. But he’s also a fair man. And he sees us as partners. That’s more than any man has seen me as before. I know he’s not perfect, but he’s not the devil either.”
She raised an eyebrow at me, suggesting she disagreed with that last part, but she didn’t say anything about it. “What about Cody? Are you seriously going to expose him to this kind of life?”
A frown tugged at the corners of my mouth because Jessie had finally hit the nail on the head. Whether I wanted to take a walk on the wild side or not, did I really have any right to drag my son into that? And yet…“I’m not going to.”
Jessie’s eyebrows shot up into her hairline. “You’re not? So you’re going to end it with Ethan?”
I shook my head. “No. I’m not. But I’m going to set up some ground rules, the first and most important one being that Cody never knows. Not now, not twenty years from now.”
“You really think you can keep him out of this when you’re eyeball deep?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Maybe. I don’t know. But I know being a good girl hasn’t done shit for me. It’s gotten me in trouble and left me struggling to pay the bills. This gives me a chance to really do something with my life and I’ve got to take it.”
Jessie still didn’t look happy, but I could tell that I’d worn her down some. She glanced towards the doorway that led to the living room. She pursed her lips together for a moment, then let out a sigh. “Is there anything I can say that will make you come to your senses?”
I smiled a little, then shook my head. “Not in the way you’re thinking.”
“Fine. But for the record, I don’t like it and he’s a creep.”
“But you’ll support me?”
“I guess. I won’t bitch about it anyway.” She paused, then gave me a half smile. “Well, not too much.”
I laughed, then went to her. I gave her a hug and after a moment, she returned it. “You’re a good friend.”
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.”
Finished with our conversation, we headed out of the hall and into the living room. Jessie gave Ethan—who was now shirtless, but otherwise in the exact position I’d left him in—a frosty glare. “I don’t like you.”
He smiled amiably. “Feeling’s mutual.”
She cursed quiet enough that I barely caught it. “Bastard.” To Ethan, she said, “Just treat her right. She deserves better than the likes of you.”
“I’ll do more for her than any other man ever will.”
Jessie rolled her eyes, not as confident in his words as he was, then turned to me. “I’m going to go and—shit, the teddy.” She winced and headed back into the hall, presumably to Cody’s room to grab the stuffed bear.
I looked towards Ethan, my gaze moving on its own down his muscled torso. He really was built like a god and I appreciated that now more than ever. I swallowed thickly and when my eyes met his again, he was watching me, grinning wickedly.
“Like what you see?” he teased.
I folded my arms across my chest, reminded that I wasn’t wearing a bra. “Maybe.”
“Good. Because I definitely do. Though I think you’re a little overdressed.”
“Oh? Should I take something off?”
He lifted a shoulder like it wasn’t important to him, but I saw his eyes darken with desire. “I took my shirt off. Fair is fair.”
I laughed at him. “I think it’s a little different for you to take your shirt off than it is for me to take mine off.”
“Not based on the way you were just devouring me with your eyes,” he pointed out.
I flushed and couldn’t help but grin a little in embarrassment. He was sexy and I had been ogling him. “So you’re saying I should let you devour me with your eyes?”
“Yes,” he said in a low, husky voice.
My eyes darted down again and this time didn’t stay on his chest. They trailed over his abs to his crotch which was straining against the zipper of his jeans. “Maybe we’re both a little overdressed.”
Instantly, his hand moved to his jeans and he undid the button. He was pulling down the zipper when Jessie came back. “Oh, god, please. I already saw way too much of you guys earlier. You’ve got great tits, Diana, but I really didn’t need to see them.”
“Sorry,” I mumbled in embarrassment, but Ethan just laughed.
“You say that, but maybe you’re just trying to hide the fact that you were turned on.” He winked at me. “Maybe you really want to stay and watch.”
Jessie’s eyes got huge like teacup saucers and she abruptly jerked away from Ethan to look at me. I resisted the urge to grin at her discomfort and tried to ignore that a part of me was turned on by Ethan’s suggestion. It wasn’t like Louis watching, however, and I wasn’t ready to jeopardize things between us any more than I already had tonight.
“I’ll pick Cody up in the morning, okay?” I told Jessie, putting a hand on her shoulder and escorting her to the door.
>
She nodded. “Yeah, Jesus. Was he serious?”
I lifted a shoulder in a half shrug. “Don’t worry about it. Just go home. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She nodded again and cast one last wary glance at Ethan. I thought I heard her whisper “Jesus” once more as she headed down the walk towards her car. I grinned, then closed the door after her. When I turned around, Ethan was standing, shoving his pants down to expose his hard, thick cock.
“Impatient?” I said, trying to be teasing and ending up sounding needy.
He grinned wickedly. “Yes. Now get over here so I can do bad things to you.”
I swallowed thickly, heat pooling low in my belly. I headed towards him as he sat back down on the couch, his hand gripping his length tightly. He stroked himself once, twice, his eyes focused on me. “Take your shirt off,” he ordered me. “Now.”
I grabbed it by the hem and obeyed, revealing bare breasts and already hardened nipples.
“That’s it. Your pants next.” He stroked himself again.
I undid my pants, kicking off my shoes before beginning to shove the denim down my legs. When all I had left were my panties, I reached for them, too, but he stopped me.
“No. I want to rip those off your body,” he growled at me.
I shivered, turned on by his words and the lingering memory of my dream from a couple of months ago.
He grinned at me. “You’d love that, wouldn’t you? You’re such a naughty mom.”
I was on fire by the time I stopped in front of him. His length looked like it was practically pulsing with the need to be inside me. His eyes raked over his body, and he let his gaze linger at the apex of my thighs.
His hands reached for me. Fingers snaked beneath my panties. A second later, he fisted them and jerked. The fabric ripped from me, exposing me to him.
“Oh,” I groaned.
“Fucking sexy.” His hand reached for me again and this time he let his fingers slide over my folds. “You’re soaked. Looks like momma needs a little attention.” He slipped a finger inside then and I practically whimpered. “Don’t worry. You’ll get yours. I love making you come, showing you just how much you want this. But tonight, you’re going to do me first.”
I managed to focus on him through my haze of lust. “What do you mean?”
He grinned at me wickedly. “Get on your knees.”
I swallowed thickly, but did as I was told, even when he pulled his finger from my core. I got to my knees, settled between his legs. His length was poised right in front of me and it didn’t take a genius to know what he wanted. I licked my lips.
“Use your mouth.”
I did. I popped the head of his cock into my mouth. He tasted salty and savory as I slid him farther into my mouth, letting my tongue cushion his length. I felt his hands tangle themselves into my hair, curling a fist around it. He added pressure to the back of my head, urging me to go down farther, but it wasn’t enough to choke me. I got all but the last inch or so before I had to pull back.
“Damnit, you know what you’re doing,” he murmured as I swirled my tongue around his head before taking him into my mouth again.
I swallowed as much of him as I dared, then pulled out again. As I got braver, my movements became quicker. I started to increase my pace, bobbing my head up and down in his lap. He groaned and I felt his legs flex and tremble. He was tensing, his muscles straining against the pleasure my mouth offered him.
I thought I would please him like that until he came, in my mouth or on my body, but he abruptly jerked me off him by the hair. I gasped, panting.
He reached down and helped me up by grabbing my shoulders. I got to my feet only to tumble onto Ethan’s lap as he sat back down on the couch. I ended up straddling him, a leg on either side like earlier, but this time we were bare. I could feel his hardness pressing against my core.
Gripping my hips tightly, he positioned me above him, then he pulled me down. I let out a loud cry as rammed into me.
“Fuck!”
My hands went to his shoulders as we began to move. Half of it was me, bouncing up and down on his lap, but the other half was him. His strong arms lifted me up and shoved me back down, his hands gripping my hips so tight it was right at the point of pain. But I didn’t care. I loved the way he filled me, made me feel as though this was what was missing from my life.
We went like this for a while until I was covered in sweat, panting above him, and he was flushed red. I gripped his shoulders and he held my hips tightly. I felt him tense beneath me, his hands tightening, and then his release.
He pulled me against his chest, my head resting on his shoulder, as we both panted. He had to catch his breath before returning his attention to me. “Your turn,” he said simply.
It took him moments to bring me to orgasm and then, exhausted and spent, we curled up on the couch where we slept.
Epilogue
It had been almost a year since Ethan waltzed into my shop like he owned the place. Things had changed a lot since then. The shop had expanded, now twice its original size thanks to the renovations on what had been the convenience store. Ethan had funded the whole thing, insisting that expansion was the only way to make a business work these days. I thought he just wanted walls that weren’t painted moss green. That side of the shop was the blue he’d liked so much in the first place.
“It’s a man’s area,” he’d argued with me when I said I wanted it all the same color. “It should be blue, a manly color.”
I’d raised an eyebrow at him and said, “It’s baby blue.”
He waved me off like my point was irrelevant and I just accepted that half my store was going to be blue. We even made a theme of it, painting a new register half blue and half green. It was a little corner, but I felt it was symbolic of our partnership.
The bell over the door, which hadn’t changed a bit since the day I opened, rang as an older man with his son came in. “Hello there. What can we do for you?” I asked from a chair set aside for me so I could look over some paperwork.
“I’m here to make sure my grandson understands the importance of a good haircut,” the older man informed me.
The kid beside him rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything. I held back a smile. “Oh, well, in that case, we’d better get you set up. Paul?”
“Yes, Diana?” asked a young man of dark complexion and hair colored to look almost like honey. He’d been working here a couple of months now and came from some hot shot salon in New York. I’d had to hire him and a few others after the expansion and I found he was one of my favorites.
“Would you help these fine gentlemen today?”
He nodded. “You bet. I’m a little slow today anyway.”
The older man thanked me and escorted his son to barber side of the shop. I went back to my numbers. Now that I had more help—and business in general—I spent less time cutting hair and more time doing the business side of things. I still had a few customers that asked for me specifically, but other than those few I kept myself otherwise occupied.
The bell rang again and I glanced up to see Ethan. Since we’d decided to have a relationship, both business and personal, we agreed it was unrealistic to expect us to keep it under cover. Between Louis stopping here with shipments and me going to see Ethan, it was impossible to keep everyone from saying anything. So we embraced it.
“Hey,” I greeted with a smile, standing to meet him.
He smirked at me and gave me a quick kiss. “How’s it looking?” he asked, motioning towards the clipboard. He wasn’t just referring to the salon, but also the secondary business.
“Let’s talk in my office,” I told him and led the way towards the back. We’d put it in after Jessie had walked in on us entwined intimately in one of the chairs. She’d accused us of being sex-crazed teenagers then told us to get a room. Ethan took the suggestion to heart.
As I passed Jessie who was working on an older woman’s hair, trying to talk her into a more exciting color than bro
wn, I put my hand on her shoulder. “We’re going to be in the back for a minute. Call me if you need help.”
She rolled her eyes a little, but offered a smile and nodded anyway. To Ethan she gave a quick glare, then went back to her customer.
“She’s just never going to come around is she?” Ethan asked quietly as he followed me to the office.
I opened the door and stepped inside. It was fairly small given that there wasn’t a lot of space to expand from the back rather than the side, but it did the trick. A desk, two chairs, and a filing cabinet. I had a laptop set up, too. “No, probably not.”