Justus (In Safe Hands Book 3)

by S. M. Shade

  A small growl escapes him as I palm his growing cock through his jeans, giving his finger one last hard suck. “I’m blowing you tonight.”

  “Let’s go,” he says, pretending to drag me away.

  Laughing, I slap his chest. “After everyone’s in bed!”

  His silent gaze makes me aware of my every movement as I slide the cake pans into the oven. “I don’t want to stop seeing you when we get back home,” he blurts, looking as surprised at his admission as I am.

  Freezing in place, I avoid his gaze. If I’m being honest with myself, I’ve been thinking the same thing, fantasizing in my head what it would be like to date him. I’m not a jealous person and I don’t have trust issues, but with his job and everything, I’m not sure I could trust him. I need some time to think.

  “We’ll talk about it later, okay?”

  Turning me to face him, he drops the lightest of kisses on my lips. “Tonight.”

  “Tonight,” I sigh.

  “Right now we have to team up and beat your family at Dirty Riddles.”

  “Would you mind grabbing her gift while I clean this up?” I gesture to the mixer and chocolate covered beaters. “It’s on the dresser in my room.”

  “Sure, I got her something too.”

  Surprised, I grin at him. “You did? What?”

  “You’ll see.”

  This guy never fails to surprise me.

  Ten minutes later, we’re gathered in the living room watching my mom open her gifts. She oohs and aahs over the ceramic dolphins from Doug. She’s collected them for as long as I can remember. Her face lights up at the new e-reader I got her, stuffed to the brim with all her favorite books. She spends so much time in bed or resting now, I know she’ll get a lot of use out of it.

  Justus hands her a small white box and I can’t help but grin at the shy look that crosses his face. It’s so different from that cocky smirk he always wears. Before Mom can say anything, he hands me an identical box. “And this one is for you.”

  He bought me something? I’m half afraid to open it in front of my family. Knowing him it’s a sex toy or something, but the box is too small to be anything too nefarious. “You didn’t have to get me anything.”

  “Ohh,” Mom sighs, pulling out a pendant dangling from a silver chain. “It’s beautiful.”

  I find an identical necklace in my box, but the pendants differ. Mom’s has an engraving of a dandelion seed head with a seed breaking away. The pendant on mine is smaller and shows the solitary seed floating in the air.

  “I saw them and they seemed perfect for you two,” Justus says, shrugging with uncharacteristic doubt. “Sadie is strong and independent, not afraid to fly on her own, but she embraces who and where she comes from.”

  Tears fill my mother’s eyes as she looks between us, and I’m almost overcome as well. “I love it,” I cry, throwing myself into his lap. Without a care for who is watching, I kiss him and hug him tight. “Thank you.”

  It’s the most thoughtful gift anyone has given me in my whole life. I’m not sure how to feel about the look Mom gives Justus though. It has son-in-law written all over it, and for the first time I really feel guilty for tricking her. Justus and I may end up dating for real, but we’ve led her to believe it’s much more serious. She’s thrilled and it’s too late now to come clean. I wouldn’t erase the joy in her eyes for anything.

  After we compose ourselves and grab a glass of wine, Doug gets out the Dirty Riddle cards and the game is on.

  Mom laughs and covers her face as Doug reads off a card.

  You find me in a guy’s pants. I’m about six inches long, I have a head, and some women love to blow me. What am I?

  “I know this one!” I cry.

  “You majored in this one,” Doug scoffs, and I throw a handful of popcorn at him.

  “Um…my only guess is a lollipop,” Mom says.

  “Who blows a lollipop?” Doug laughs, and the rest of us follow.

  Flashing Justus a look, I lick my lips and the corner of his mouth quirks up. I love teasing him.

  “All right, Sweets, what is it?”

  “A dollar bill!”

  As usual, the answer becomes obvious to everyone once it’s spoken. It’s getting your mind out of the gutter enough to see the answer that’s difficult.

  “Your turn,” Doug tells me, and I read the riddle. What gets longer if pulled, fits snugly between breasts, slides neatly into a hole, chokes people when used incorrectly, and works well when jerked?

  Everyone falls silent, thinking it through, until Justus says, “Well, the obvious answer can’t be the right one. Choking doesn’t necessarily mean it’s being used incorrectly.”

  “Oh my god, Justus!” I get to my feet, trying to restrain my laughter. “I’ve got to check on the cake.” Leaving them all laughing and talking about a possible answer, I remove my cake layers from the oven and set them aside to cool.

  I sense him behind me before I feel the heat of his chest on my back. “I was serious about what I said, Sadist. I like you. I don’t want to stop seeing each other when we get home.”

  With a sigh, I lay my head back on his shoulder. “I like you too, but I don’t share. I’m not going to be one of the sluts that comes and goes from your place.”

  “No. No other women. Just you. And there will be no other men for you either,” he demands.

  “Justus, we’ve only spent a few days together. You barely know me. You’ll get sick of me and move on, like you usually do.”

  Spinning me around, I’m pinned by the fierce look in his eyes. “It’s you who doesn’t know me, Sade, but that’s going to change. The only thing I’m guilty of is giving those women what they wanted, my body, but I want more with you. I want your time.”

  “Just my time?” I rest my arms on his shoulders, letting my fingers thread into the curls on the nape of his neck.

  “Your time, your smart mouth, and sexy body. I’ll also be needing your complete devotion and adoration. Maybe build a shrine to me or sculpt my likeness from marble. Or clay, I suppose, as long as you fire it. It needs to be permanent.”

  Giggling, I press a kiss to his lips. “Our friends are going to flip out.”

  “Does that mean you don’t want me to be your dirty little secret after all?”

  “Nah, it’d be too hard to keep all those other bitches away from you.”

  I must be out of my mind. Maybe I’m just falling for the same bullshit he uses to lure every other woman, but it doesn’t feel that way. The way he’s been there for me and my mom this week, that’s not something he had to fake. And the necklaces. If that was just to charm me or my mother, he succeeded. We may be lying about being in a long term relationship, but I can’t believe the way he’s acting is fake. He cares.

  “So, what’s the answer to the riddle?” Doug asks as we return to the living room.

  “A seatbelt,” I reply.

  “This game sucks,” he groans.

  “No, you suck at this game.”

  We spend the next few hours playing games and eating cake, until Mom excuses herself to go to bed. Justus and I retire to my room, and he grins when I climb into bed still wearing the dandelion seed necklace.

  “You realize my mom is totally in love with you now, right?” I tell him, snuggling up to his warm body.

  “Sorry. It happens with all women. It’s a curse.”

  “You should probably work out more. You’ll need bigger muscles to carry around that ego.”

  “Ah!” He feigns offense, rolling over on top of me. Those emerald eyes dance with amusement as they stare into mine. “I’m a chiseled masterpiece and you know it.”

  “Okay, I know you’re pretty and good in bed—

  “Magnificent in bed,” he interrupts.

  Ignoring him, I continue, “But how good can you cook on a grill? I thought I’d invite a few of Mom’s friends over tomorrow evening to barbecue, since she didn’t get to go out today.”

  “Sweets, I can grill wha
tever you give me. It’s another of my skills. Now, I believe there was a promise made earlier…something about a blowjob?”

  Giggling, I roll us over and proceed to show him one of my skills.

  * * * *

  It’s a beautiful day to grill out, warm and sunny with a light breeze. Three of Mom’s friends were able to come and now everyone is lounging around her small, kidney shaped swimming pool.

  Three sets of female eyes devour Justus as he mans the grill. I can hardly blame them. Dressed in only a pair of board shorts, a thin sheen of sweat covering his chest and back, no woman of any age could resist.

  “Charlene!” Mom hisses as her friend takes his picture.

  “What? I want to show my daughter. You should see the losers she brings home. Maybe if she sees who Sadie is dating…”

  “So, any wedding bells in your future?” her friend Janet asks me with a grin.

  “Oh, think of how beautiful their babies will be!” Georgia exclaims, and all three of them sigh.

  “Yeah, I’m going to take a dip in the pool,” I announce.

  “Don’t wait too long! Those ovaries won’t work forever, you know,” Janet calls, and I just want to dunk beneath the water and stay there.

  Her words don’t fail to reach Justus’s ears, and he gives me that panty dissolving grin of his. I roll my eyes at him before diving into the pool. I barely have time to wipe the water from my eyes before I hear him yell, “Cannonball!”

  A wave of water washes over me as he plunges into the water inches away. Mom and her friends crack up when he surfaces, and I splash water in his face. “How old are you again?” I laugh.

  “Apparently, not as old as your ovaries.”

  His body glistens in the sun, droplets falling from his curls, and suddenly, I want nothing more than to feel his mouth on mine. The small groan he lets out when I wrap my legs around him and press my lips to his tells me he feels the same way. His lips are cool from the water, but his mouth is warm and inviting.

  “We have an audience,” he murmurs, when we break apart.

  “I thought you were into that. Or do they need to be screaming for you to take off your clothes?”

  I yelp as he pinches my ass. “Always with that smart mouth.”

  Wrapping my arms loosely around his neck, I smile at him. “You like it.”

  “And you like it when I take off my clothes.”

  “Hmm…does that mean you’ll dance for me later?”

  His eyebrows shoot up. “You want to watch me dance?”

  “Maybe.”

  “You’ll have to dance with me. I know you dance with Ayda at the studio. Wait, didn’t Ayda tell me Lisa is your sister? Why isn’t she here?”

  “I’m not a great dancer like Ayda. I took lessons when I was younger, and it wasn’t until I met Lisa, that I started dancing again.”

  Confusion wrinkles his brow. “Met her? So you aren’t sisters?”

  “Not by blood. We were best friends through high school and college, and since neither of us had the sister we always wanted, we decided to choose our own. Weird, I know.”

  His expression softens. “No, it’s not weird at all. I’ll find my sister someday, but the guys are my family. We’re not stuck only with the blood ties given by nature. We can choose.”

  The conversation is getting a little deep considering we’re being ogled by four women. “I promise to dance with you, if you hurry up those steaks. I’m starving.”

  “You got it.”

  The food is amazing and everyone has a good time. It’s good to see Mom laughing and talking with her friends. It reminds me of all the days we spent in this backyard when I was a kid, Mom and her friends drinking cocktails while all the kids played in the pool. Those were such good times.

  After dinner, I take a quick shower to wash off the chlorine, and join my mom and her friends on the back patio. They have lit a fire in the portable fire pit now that the temperature has dropped. Justus excuses himself to get cleaned up, and I take the opportunity to sneak away and check in with Ayda.

  “Hey girl,” I greet, when she answers her phone.

  “I was just wondering about you. How’s your mom?” she asks.

  “About the same. We just had a little cookout for her birthday.”

  “And the whole fake boyfriend? How’s that going?”

  “Um…better than I expected.”

  Ayda must be able to hear the guilt in my voice. “Holy shit. You fucked him!”

  “Is it that obvious?”

  Laughing, she replies, “Girl, look at him. It was bound to happen.”

  “He’s actually been really great. Mom loves him.”

  “That’s fantastic,” she says, clearly not interested. “Now, tell me how it was. Any man that can dance the way he does has to be good in bed.”

  There’s a commotion in the background and Ayda says, “Shut up, Dare! I didn’t say I wanted him!” Giggling, she returns to the phone. “So, is he as good as he thinks he is?”

  “Better,” I admit with a sigh.

  “Well, ride him like you stole him. It’s about damn time.”

  “Ayda!”

  “Please, you two have been dancing around each other for months. I’ve never seen him try so hard to get a woman’s attention. Are you going to keep seeing him or is this a one time deal?”

  “I’ll have to get back to you on that. I have to go. I’ll talk to you later. Tell Dare I said stop fucking laughing at me.” I can’t hear him, but I know he is.

  “You know him too well,” she laughs.

  Apparently, I don’t know Justus well at all. As soon as I hang up the phone, he appears dressed in a dark suit, a mysterious smile on his face. “Is that my brother’s suit?”

  “I had to make do.”

  “For what?”

  “For this.” In the middle of the patio, with the light of the flames dancing on his handsome face, he drops to one knee and holds up a small velvet box. My heart jumps into my throat. What the hell is he doing? He can’t be serious.

  He is. Opening the box, he displays the stunning diamond ring inside. “Sadie Belmont, I can’t imagine spending another day without you. Will you marry me?”

  Mom shrieks, and her friends gather around her, all of them staring with bated breath, awaiting my answer. I’m going to kill him. I know this is fake, that he’s doing it for her benefit, so why do I feel like my heart is trying to climb out of my chest?

  The hope and joy on my mom’s face shreds me. Who knows how much longer she has? This is her dream for me, and I can’t bear to see her disappointment if I refuse. Letting her think Justus and I are together is one thing, but faking an engagement is another. My mind races as he smiles up at me. Fuck. What do I do?

  “Yes,” I murmur, finally, unable to see a way out without breaking my mother’s heart.

  Justus puts the ring on my finger and sweeps me into his arms. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I hiss into his ear.

  We’re surrounded by Mom and her friends, hugging and congratulating us. When I get free, I grab Justus’s hand and drag him toward the house. “Excuse us for a moment,” I call, and Mom waves us away.

  Anger rages through me as I stomp up the stairs and into my bedroom with Justus right on my tail. He shuts the door behind us and stands there with a wide, goofy smile like he didn’t just do something completely insane.

  “What. The. Fuck?”

  “Did you see your mother’s face? It was perfect. Now, about my bachelor party.”

  “We’re not getting married, you lunatic!” I pace the floor. “Why did you do that? And where did you get the ring? What kind of shit are you trying to pull? Are you trying to push me into telling her the truth? Because you didn’t have to go along with this in the first place!”

  “Whoa.” He holds up his hands. “Slow down. I’m not trying to sabotage your plan, I’m improving it.”

  “Improving it? So now what are we supposed to do? Pretend to be engaged? Lie abo
ut living together? She’s going to want to start planning a wedding.”

  Justus runs his teeth across his bottom lip. “We can just say we want a long engagement.” Some of the confidence has drained from his voice, and his unspoken words hang thick in the air.

  A long engagement. Because she won’t survive long enough to know we lied.

  It all hits me at once. My mother is dying. And soon. It’s not some niggling fear of a loss in the future anymore. It’s right on top of me. A sob escapes before I can stop it, and I lean against the wall, covering my face.

  I hear Justus curse before he wraps his arms around me. “I’m sorry, Sade. I should have asked you. After I saw how bad your mom was and she was telling me how her dream was to see you happily married before she died…I just…didn’t think.”

  “She put you up to it?” I ask, burying my face in his neck.

  “No, she didn’t know. She just told me how important you are to her and that she wanted to know you had someone who loves you when she’s gone.”

  My sobs increase at his words, and he leads me to the bed, sitting beside me and holding me tighter.

  “I can’t tell you everything will be all right, because we both know that’s probably not true. But I swear I’ll do whatever we need to do. Whatever you want me to do to keep her happy for the time she has left.”

  “Why? Why would you do any of this? You barely know her. You barely know me.”

  “You keep saying that, Sade, but it isn’t true. We’ve spent plenty of time together over the last year. Granted, I spent a lot of it being turned down and trying to nurse my wounded heart, but…”

  A giggle escapes me and I smack his chest. “Your disappointed cock, you mean.” Peeking up at him, I have to ask. “Why did you really agree to come with me? I know you make more in one night at the club than the measly thousand I gave you.”

  His fingers run soothingly through my hair, and he sighs. “A couple of reasons. You were talking about hiring an escort, and I couldn’t stand the thought of you taking off with some creep or pervert. And I really needed to get away for a while, from the club and my job with In Safe Hands.”

  “I guess chasing pedophiles and online predators gets depressing, huh?”