by Rayne, Piper
“Just a little payback for last night.”
I lick up his length with my eyes locked on him. He takes the ponytail holder out of my hair, and the dark strands cascade down either side of my face. “You never have to pay me back. Having my face between your legs is always a pleasure.”
For me too. I can still feel the scratch of his beard between my thighs.
Holding his dick by the base, I lick the tip. “Okay then, let’s just say that I’d love to suck your cock.” His hips jut up and we both laugh. His chuckle turns into a moan when I stroke him. “I think someone likes when I talk dirty.”
His fingers thread through my hair, pushing it away from my face. “I fucking love it when you talk about my cock, period. Especially when you have it in your hands.”
“Mmm.” I lick my lips before wrapping my mouth over the head. His fingers tighten on my strands, and I run the tip of him along the roof of my mouth.
“Shit, Phoenix.”
We’ve been having a lot of sex over the past week. After Maverick goes to bed, while he’s at school, but this is the first blow job I’ve given Griffin and I really want to make a lasting impression. I’m hoping I achieve a spot in his brain that no other woman will ever meet.
Continuing to stroke him, I suck him and twirl my tongue around the crown while he grows stiffer in my mouth. When his hips pump as if he can’t get far enough down my throat, I speed up my pace.
The only sounds in the kitchen are his pants and moans and the sound of me working his hard length.
“I’m gonna come,” he says.
I glance up to see his back is still on the floor and he’s no longer staring at me while I work him over. A string of warm liquid hits the back of my throat, and his hips jut up into my mouth a few times. After I swallow and lick him clean, I tuck him back into his track pants and stand.
“Where are you going?” He slides all the way out from under the sink.
“Back to where I was.” I hop up on the counter.
He stands and his hands slide to the back of my neck, pulling me into a kiss. “Thank you. Just another thing you’re amazing at.”
I giggle, happy to hear the compliment.
His large palms slide up my inner thighs, spreading my legs apart for him. “But did you really think I’d just go back to working on the sink?”
“You do have to finish it. What round are we on now?”
He presses a kiss to the hollow of my neck. “I’d rather count our rounds.” Picking me up, he swings me over his shoulder. “I’ve got two hours to ravage your body. What position haven’t we tried yet?”
He carries me upstairs and tosses me onto his bed, then pulls off his track pants and tears his T-shirt over his head.
“Strip, girl.”
“How about a please?”
He crawls up the bed and my heart rate speeds up the closer he gets. “Please, baby, let me see your gorgeous body. I promise to touch you in all the right places.”
“How can a woman deny that request?” I tear off my shirt and hook my hands into my yoga pants. Griffin helps with my undergarments, throwing them across the room.
For the next two hours, he keeps his promise, leaving me spent. After we get out of the shower—so I don’t smell like sex when I pick up Maverick—my legs are wobbly. I sit on the bed to watch him pull on a pair of jeans.
Oh, how nice it would be if he was really mine for the long term. I mentally chastise myself, knowing that’s not likely how our story will end. We agreed to take things as they came and that’s what I’ll do. I don’t even know how that thought ever got in my head.
* * *
Grandma Dori wants to see us, so after we pick up Maverick, we head to Northern Lights Retirement Center.
“What does she want?” Maverick asks from the back seat.
I shrug and look back at him. “I’ll apologize now if she oversteps. She doesn’t have a filter.”
Griffin laughs and his hand moves to grab my thigh but diverts back to the steering wheel at the last second.
That’s the only thing we have no idea how to handle. Do we tell Maverick or not? Griffin said he’ll have to talk to Maggie first because they have an agreement that any new boyfriends or girlfriends will be discussed before introducing them to Maverick, but I’m not even sure we’re classified as boyfriend/girlfriend.
“It’s fine. If it wasn’t for her, I might’ve bypassed you as Maverick’s nanny. I owe her one.” Griffin parks the truck, and Maverick opens up the back door and hops out. We stare at one another as his hand slides to my thigh and squeezes. “I’m calling Maggie tonight. We’ll tell Maverick tomorrow evening.”
I smile, liking the sound of being able to be public, but unsure of what it means in the long run for us.
We walk into the retirement center, and before we can get to Grandma Dori’s hallway, we’re flagged down by Ethel, who’s watching TV in the common area. There are about ten elderly people crowded around watching Temptation Island.
“You guys watch this?” I ask.
Maverick sits down, but Griffin covers his eyes when a girl and guy are in a bed, making out.
“Dad!” he whines, wiggling to get out of his dad’s hold, but Griffin is strong.
“It’s a great show,” some guy on the couch chirps.
“Grandma in her apartment?” I ask.
Ethel nods. “Yeah. She’s in her room.”
I chat with Ethel for a minute then leave them to their show, and the three of us head down the hall. When I reach Grandma Dori’s apartment, I knock once, and she yells for us to come in. Maverick steps inside first.
“Brave man,” Griffin jokes and I laugh.
Grandma Dori is sitting on her couch with her phone in her hands. “There you are. Help, Mav, I’m stuck.”
“It’s Maverick,” he says with an eye roll reminiscent of a tween.
Griffin tugs on my shirt, and we share a quizzical look.
“Stuck on what?” I ask.
Maverick sits next to Grandma Dori. “Oh yeah, you need to get more accessories.”
“I already have…”
The two of them talk a language I’m not familiar with, and the fact that Griffin looks as lost as me says he doesn’t understand either.
“Is this what you called us over for?” I sit in the chair.
Grandma looks up briefly before her thumbs move on the screen again. “My arthritis slows me down.”
“Here.” Maverick holds out his hands, and Grandma passes him her phone.
“Why don’t you two go to dinner? Maverick is going to teach me all about this RPG game.”
“You’re using the lingo now?” I raise an eyebrow.
“Come on, Phoenix, everyone knows RPG.” She leans across to watch what Maverick is doing with her phone.
“You okay, Maverick?” Griffin asks and Maverick ignores him.
“We’ll order pizza. You pick the toppings.” Grandma nudges him, and Maverick tears his eyes away from his phone.
“I’m good,” he says, then hands Grandma Dori back her phone, pulling his own from his pocket. “We can play against one another.”
I stand from the chair and Griffin discreetly touches my fingers.
“Okay, we’re going then,” I say.
They don’t look up as we step back.
“We won’t be long. He has school in the morning,” I say.
Still nothing.
“Just go. They don’t care about us,” Griffin says.
We walk out of Grandma’s apartment and shut the door.
“So?” I ask Griffin, who slides his hand in mine and walks us down the hall and out of the retirement center.
“I’m finally taking you on a date.”
He opens his truck door and I climb in, waiting for him to round the hood and join me.
“You didn’t plan this, did you?” I ask.
He winks. “Please. I never would imagine Maverick’s playmate would be your grandma. Who could predict that?
” He starts the truck and we drive out of the parking lot.
I’m not convinced he didn’t have something to do with it, but like we agreed, I decide to take it as it comes for as long as I can.
Twenty-Eight
Griffin
I press Maggie’s name in my phone, and I calculate the time difference in my head. It’s eight o’clock at night there and she’s been saying how she’s had late call times because they’re shooting some night scenes, so she should be in the trailer by now.
“Griffin.” She says my name as if I harass her or something.
“Hey, Maggie. How’s shooting going?”
“Let’s not do the small talk. Why are you calling me? I talked to Maverick last week. For some reason, he sounds happy in that no-man’s-land you took him to. Did something happen?”
I inhale the deep breath I’ll need to get through this conversation without an argument. She won’t make it easy on me. I’ve never talked to her about anyone special. She hasn’t either, and since we don’t ask permission to sleep with someone, she doesn’t need to call me once a day to fill me in. She has the libido of a sixteen-year-old. Sadly though, not when she was with me. I think monogamy kills her sex drive.
“He’s still happy. When are you returning again?”
“Another three weeks. Are you gonna fly him down to LA?”
“Why don’t you come up here? You can see his new life. I’m sure he wants to show you around. There’s this donut place—”
She huffs. “Why are you calling me?”
There are voices in the background, and I know I’ll only have her attention for so long, so I’d better spit it out. “I’m seeing someone, and I’ll be informing Maverick tomorrow about the relationship. I’m only telling you because we agreed we would.”
“Seeing someone?”
Suddenly all the voices in the background grow quiet. She’s silenced them.
“Yeah.”
“Who?” she asks. “One of Santa’s helpers?”
“Yes, because we live at the North Pole.”
I can picture her rolling her eyes, but her question was ridiculous.
“Who’s the lucky woman?”
“That’s not part of the stipulation, but just so there are no surprises, she’s the woman I hired as Maverick’s nanny.”
Her manic laughter is like nails on a chalkboard. I have no idea how I stayed married to her as long as I did. Love for my son and drowning myself in work are my excuses.
“Seriously? I thought you decided to leave the LA lifestyle behind?” She laughs some more. “And you’re telling me this why?”
“Because we said if anyone serious came into our lives, we’d tell each other before telling Maverick. I’m holding up my end of the bargain.” I pace the bedroom, unable to stay seated. I knew she’d have something to say about the fact that Phoenix is Maverick’s nanny.
“This is temporary, and you know it. Do you really think you’re gonna marry the nanny?”
My fist clenches. It’s tormenting to hate the woman who gave life to the person you love the most. “I like her, and I plan on pursuing a relationship with her.”
“There’s the romantic I know. The man who actually believes all the lyrics in a love song. I’ve told you how many times that love songs are for giving people false hope. They aren’t reality.”
“Maybe for some people. And having faith that you’re meant for someone isn’t such an absurd thought.” Why am I even bothering to debate with her? Like I give a shit what she thinks.
“I give it a month.”
“I don’t give a flying fuck what you give it. It’s none of your business. You’ve been told. Let me know when you actually want to see your son.” I pull the phone from my ear and press the red button.
The phone vibrates in my hand. As quickly as her assistant can dial me up, I’m sure.
“What?”
“I’m sorry. Jeez, you’re protective,” Maggie says.
I was protective of us once upon a time, when my mom stared at me in the kitchen and asked what I was doing with a woman like Maggie Cooperton. At first, I’d thought she meant how did I get a movie star to fall in love with me, but it was clear from my mom’s sour look that she meant it differently. I stuck up for us. I stuck up for her.
Years later, if my mom was less than spectacular, she could’ve said I told you so. Instead she came out to help me for two months after the split. Moms are the best, and that’s why I hate that Maverick’s mom breezes in and out of his life.
“Why did you call back?” I ask, squeezing the bridge of my nose.
“I don’t want things to be weird. Tell me about her.”
“Don’t you need to get on set?”
“I always have time for my family.”
Ugh. Let me throw up my dinner now. “She’s Maverick’s nanny. She’s from this town, and I like her. That’s all you really need to know.”
“What does she do?”
“I just told you, she’s a nanny.”
“Yes, but what will she do after you start a relationship with her?”
Frustration swims through my body until all my muscles are as tense as a stretched elastic band. “It’s really none of your business.”
She laughs again. Her fake one. I’m not sure I’ve heard her genuine laugh since Maverick was a baby and peed on me while I was changing his diaper. “Fine. Well, enjoy her for however long you can stay interested.”
“You were the one who couldn’t stay interested.”
She huffs. “Just because I strayed doesn’t mean I was the one who lost interest first. See you in a few weeks.”
The line dies and I throw my phone on the bed.
Pressing my palms to my eyelids, I sit on the edge of the mattress. I didn’t want Phoenix and me to be a secret. Mostly because once we step foot in LA, pictures will be taken and it’ll all be out anyway. Tabloids will report. Word will get back to Maggie. Her ex-husband showing up with someone more than a decade younger than her? She’ll be compared to Phoenix. It’s just another part of the industry I hate.
Eventually I’ll have to tell Phoenix that a future with me won’t look like what she expects. She naively thinks she can have it all right now. Me and her stardom. But what she’ll find out is that it’s never that easy. Maybe her star will rocket to the top as soon as her first single hits the radio, or maybe it’ll be a slower climb that builds and builds until the inevitable happens. Either way, she’s going to be a star and out of my reach at some point. I plan on enjoying whatever time we can have together until I have to let her go to pursue her dream.
A soft knock lands on my door, interrupting my line of thinking.
“Come in,” I say.
Phoenix slides in and shuts the door. She’s wearing a pair of boxer shorts and a tight white tank top. Like a fucking wet dream. Even her long dark hair is pulled high in a ponytail, revealing one of my favorite parts of her body—her neck. Definitely the spot I love to kiss. I open my arms and she tiptoes across the floor.
“He’s been asleep for two hours. I think you’re good,” I say with a smile.
“I heard you on the phone,” she whispers, finding her spot between my legs.
I place my hands on her thighs, running my palms up and down the smooth skin. When I lower my head to rest on her stomach, she runs her hands through my hair.
“How did we get here?” I ask, because I feel as though we’ve gone from zero to sixty in the blink of an eye. One day she was my nanny, then I fired her, and now I want her with me all the damn time.
“Um… how do you want me to answer that?”
I shrug, pulling her closer. Needing her close to not allow the questions and doubts to fill my mind. Resting my chin on her stomach, I stare up at her. “She gives us a month.”
Phoenix raises her eyebrows. “And you think she’s right?”
“No.” I cling to her harder.
Maggie is cynical, much like most of LA. Relationships only work f
or so long, and if Phoenix’s dream was to stay in Lake Starlight, I’d say screw Maggie, she doesn’t know. But it’s not. Phoenix has to be in LA in order to fulfill her dream.
“Then who cares what she thinks?” Her fingers thread through my hair, scratching my scalp in the best possible way.
“You’re right.”
The only one whose opinion matters is Maverick and I’m not telling him. Not because I don’t want to but because I’ve arranged for a long weekend in LA for Phoenix to meet with some record labels, and my gut tells me she’ll be leaving us soon after.
She sits on my leg and wraps her arms around my neck. “I better get to bed.” She kisses my cheek and stands to leave.
“Where do you think you’re going? Get in my bed.” I pull her back down and slide my thigh between her legs.
“Such a caveman. I like this side of you.”
I swallow her laughter with a kiss, pushing all the bullshit out of my head.
Twenty-Nine
Phoenix
We land in LA, and right away I pick up on the fact that this is a different Griffin than I’m used to. All of his actions and words toward Maverick and I feel cold and calculated. So Maverick and I stick together, walking behind Griffin as if I actually am just his nanny.
A car waits for us once the luggage is taken off the private plane, and Griffin ushers us inside as if we’re Kardashians.
Maverick’s been on his phone the entire time, his thumbs moving a mile a minute, and he seems unfazed by all this. Griffin has said nothing to him about it, and because I’m still in that weird zone between nanny and daddy’s girlfriend, disciplining Maverick when Griffin is around feels odd, so I let it slide.
“Maverick, you’re going on a playdate with Harrison,” Griffin says once the car is driving away from the airport.
“Harrison? Why him?”
“Phoenix and I have a few appointments this morning. Harrison’s mom agreed to watch you.”
“Why didn’t I just stay in Lake Starlight?” He peeks up from his phone.