by Sasha Gold
Beneath my touch, she shivers and turns to me as she loops her arm around my shoulders.
I lower, pausing a fraction of an inch from her lips. “You’re gorgeous, even when you’re sleeping.”
“I’m sorry I fell asleep,” she says, sounding shy.
“I don’t mind. You’re awake now.”
I kiss her, gently at first. I’ve noticed that she loves a soft touch but doesn’t pull away if I get a little rougher. I keep the kiss gentle, but grip her with a firm hold, pressing my fingers into the curve of her hip. I stroke my tongue across the seam of her lips. She parts them and submits to my kiss. I press her back to the bed and thread my fingers through her hair. Everywhere I touch her body, I feel softness. Satin. Silk. She’s soft everywhere. Her skin, her hair, her sweet lips.
The night air is cool. Her skin tightens with goosebumps. I trail kisses down her neck to her breast and slowly, leisurely suck her nipple. I pull away and blow, drawing a giggle from her. Cupping her breast, I growl softly.
“I’m not going to suck your tits and make you come.”
She draws a sharp breath. The moonlight shines across her features, her wide eyes and open mouth. She’s a little surprised, a little outraged, but mostly she’s got a soft look of arousal on her face and it makes my need burn hot.
“Not now.”
I back up a bit so I can spread her legs. My cock feels huge and I have to check. I put my hand around my shaft and I can feel veins coursing. Jesus, I hope I don’t hurt her. I don’t think my dick has ever felt this hard, and she’s a virgin. Nothing can keep me from fucking her now, though. I’ll make it work, somehow.
“You’re going to come on my cock.”
A gasp comes from her mouth. She covers my lips with her fingers. “Nasty beast,” she murmurs in a soft, chiding tone.
“You have no idea.” I shift my weight, rising up on my hands so that I’m crouching over her, my hips settling between her silken thighs.
My cock presses against her core. She’s so wet, even wetter than when I devoured her sweet pussy. I grit my teeth. It takes everything I have to take it slow. I lower my body to hers, framing her face with my hands. I ease my hips forward, sinking into her a little more with each gentle thrust. Her cooing goes higher, her nails start to dig into my chest. She’s tight. Hot. I press against her barrier. Her eyes widen.
“I love you, Lilly.” I whisper the words. I push deeper, claiming her virginity, marking her as mine. She flinches and cries out softly, but even that is sexy.
I’m certain my cock is too big for her. I wait for her to recover, hoping she needs and wants to go crazy as much as I do. Her breath is soft, and her fingers relax, her nails pulling back from the marks she surely made on my chest. I want to ask her if she’s okay, but before I can she opens her eyes and looks me directly in the eye.
“I love you too,” she whispers.
“You’d better,” I growl the words.
She laughs softly. “Fuck me. Professor.”
I draw a sharp, hissing breath between my teeth. I lower and kiss her, our tongues deep, feeling my cock throb inside her tight pussy. I push my arm under her head and pull my knees forward, enough so I can drive back and forth in her, my full length. I pull back from our kiss.
“Wrap your legs around me, Miss Wharton.”
She smiles and obliges. I know, I am the luckiest guy in the world.
I’m holding her with my forearm now, lifting her head very slightly. She can’t go anywhere. I pull back until my tip is near her clit, and then I push forward again, waiting to see if it’s too much for her. She’s good, her sounds are sultry and sexy. She not using words, but her legs are pulling me in, her fingers digging into me, her moans and tones, all pleading, begging me to come on her, or inside her, or anywhere really. That’s how it seems to the animal that’s been unleashed in my mind. I want to fuck her hard to show her the wild animal side.
But I won’t. Not today. I’ll fuck her like that soon, but not her first time.
I can still taste her juices on my lips. I can smell her arousal too. Her wet heat is tight. I have to pace myself and hold back. I’m determined to make this good for her and make her come. She closes her eyes. Soft noises, feminine sounds that travel straight to my cock, fill the night air. I fucking love the way she sounds. Love that I’m giving her pleasure for the first time.
I can feel her climax coming as she writhes and arches beneath me. A gasp tears from her mouth followed by a cry, and as she shudders, it’s my whispered name on her lips.
My release follows. The sound of her orgasm wrecks me and I growl, a deep feral sound that comes from the depths of my chest.
I collapse next to her and gather her close, holding her in my arms as both our releases fade. With her head on my shoulder, she’s limp and I wonder if she’s going to fall asleep again. I like to hold her while she sleeps, but that’s not going to happen, or at least not right away. She shifts her weight to look me in the eye. A smile tugs at the corner of her mouth.
“You’re kind of bossy,” she murmurs.
“You’re mine now, sweetheart,” I whisper.
Epilogue Part One
Two years later
Ryker
Unsnapping the buckle of the car seat, I give my one-year-old son a knowing look. “A little harmless subterfuge never hurt anyone.”
He gazes up at me with big, curious eyes. I’m struck by his expression, a thoughtful look that sometimes reminds me of Lilly. I’ll never forget the first time I saw my son. The nurse put him in my arms a few moments after he was born. He’d been hollering like a banshee with a toothache, as my mother likes to say, but the moment I held him in my arms, he got all quiet, and thoughtful, just like now. I can picture it in my mind’s eye. He gazed up at me with a look that rocked my world. Most of my adult life, I’ve traveled, chasing this thrill or that adventure. Not any of it compared to looking into the eyes of my son.
His attention shifts to a spot over my shoulder and his face lights with happiness.
“There’s my sweet Liam. My favorite nephew in the whole world.” My sister, Deena, leans into the back of the truck. She doesn’t bother saying hello to me. She’s all about my boy, especially in the last month. He’s warming up to her and even seems to enjoy being dropped off at her house for a few hours.
I lift him out of his seat and hand him off to his Aunt Deena. He glances back at me, a frown furrowing his brow. He loves her, but he always prefers his mama and da. He might sense that I’m planning a little something this evening, something that starts with him staying with his aunt for a little while.
Deena closes her eyes and hugs him. “My gosh, he smells good. I’m sure the girls never smelled this good.”
Her girls, three of them, are all in college, so Deena and her husband are empty nesters. She misses them but claims that spending time with Liam makes the ache a little more tolerable. She has a dreamy look on her face as she holds him. She opens one eye and gives me an accusing look. “What were you talking about? Subterfuge? That seems like a nefarious subject for a toddler.”
I get out of the truck. “I’m planning a date night with my wife. Of course, I’ve got something nefarious in the works.”
She chuckles good naturedly and smiles at Liam. “Sometime soon, Liam might want to spend the night with Aunt Deena. Then his rascally father can plan something even more nefarious. Maybe a little weekend getaway.”
This time it’s me who’s smiling because, for a long, long time, Deena and the rest of my family tried to get me to come back to the ranch. After Lilly and I got married, we built a house overlooking the river and broad valley. Since then, we’ve become homebodies for the most part. We’re not too keen on getaways, even if they’re for just a weekend.
We do travel some, though. I took Lilly to Europe to see the museums she’d read so much about when she studied art history. We’ve gone on a few other trips, but we prefer to stay on the ranch. I help my father in the mornings, wo
rking the livestock, and do some consulting in the afternoons. If a client wants to hire me, they must accept I work from my office. Period.
I like being home with my wife and close to my family. And Lilly likes having a home to call her own. She loves taking care of me and Liam, cooking, baking, being a wife and mom. She says she’s turned into a homebody because she grew up moving all the time. I know she also grew up with a mother she couldn’t count on, but Lilly’s a wonderful wife and mother. She’s naturally good at it. I like to think it’s her gift, rather than a response to growing up without.
I grab his diaper bag and follow Deena up the stone path to her ranch house. She grumbles about my potential subterfuge, dropping hints about what my plans might include. As if I’d tell her. Not happening. Some plans are too good to share. Besides, she might think the whole idea was TMI.
The dogs, a couple of Catahoula Leopard Dogs, lift their heads and gaze down the drive. They thump their tails. Deena turns to look at what caught their attention.
A little dog trots down the driveway, a tuft of bushy hair at the top of his head, his pink tongue lolling out to the side.
Liam babbles as he points at the approaching dog. “Tuh, tuh, tuh.”
“Look,” Deena exclaims. “Buddy’s come to visit too.” She turns to me with a puzzled look. “Why does he call the dog, tuh?”
“I have a terrible feeling he’s trying to say “Taffy”,” I mutter, shaking my head.
Deena snorts. “Please. Who would call a dog Taffy?”
“That was his name, at first. I changed it to Buddy, but Lilly still calls him Taffy every so often.”
“Poor dog. Buddy suits him much better.” She jiggles Liam. “He’s your little buddy, always just a few steps behind you.”
It’s true. The dog likes Lilly and me well enough, but he’s very attached to our boy. Ever since we brought Liam home from the hospital, Buddy’s taken on the job of baby bodyguard. He sleeps outside his door, or by the crib. He follows him around the house. It was a little easier when Liam was just crawling, but Buddy shifted gears when Liam did. I should have invited him into the truck but forgot. Buddy didn’t. He just followed us here, trotting the mile and a half like the distance was nothing in the face of undying devotion. He might be a small dog, but he’s all heart.
Buddy trots up the path, ascends the steps and goes inside with Deena.
I follow Deena into the house. “Smells great.” I set the diaper bag down on a chair.
“I’m making spaghetti for Liam. His favorite. It’ll be ready just as soon as I cook the noodles. And then Uncle Roger will be home and we’ll all eat together.”
“Spaghetti sounds good.”
She snickers. “I’m sure it’s not up to Lilly’s cooking standards, but Liam seems to like it.”
Deena’s comment is said in a gently teasing way. Lilly loves trying new recipes, especially if they came from generations past. Her hobby is collecting antique cookbooks. She’s started a blog and talks about creating a cookbook inspired from the region’s homesteaders of the 1800’s. She’s gotten a reputation for making amazing dishes from scratch.
“And after dinner,” Deena says. “We’ll have c-a-k-e for dessert and visit the kittens in the barn.”
“You’re going to be his favorite aunt, for sure.”
She looks aghast. “Of course. I will. No competition.”
It’s true. My two sisters are into having a baby around, but Deena seems especially fond of him. My mom and dad both love the grandparent gig. I can tell they’re waiting for him to get a little older before they keep him for long stretches of time. Dad doesn’t know what to do with a kid if he can’t saddle a horse, and my mother’s too busy trying to get my dad to relax. She doesn’t have time to chase after a toddler most days. Sunday is our day to see Gran and Gramps. We all meet at their house for an early dinner.
It’s Deena who needs to get her “Liam-fix” a few times a week and who is more than happy to watch him. We never forget how lucky we are to have family.
Lilly has even made peace with her mother. She’s come around a couple of times, never with her sleezy husband, though. I made sure of that. She’s made it clear that she’ll be up for babysitting when we have a girl that’s old enough not to embarrass her at Neiman’s.
“Tell me what you have planned for Lilly,” Deena insists. “Earlier, you said it was something romantic. Flowers? Poetry?”
I sigh, wondering how I’m going to get away without telling Deena about my plan. This morning, I told her I had planned a special evening. Then she overheard me talking about subterfuge. The wheels in my sister’s head are probably spinning so fast, they’re throwing sparks. “I’ll tell you soon enough.”
“Are you going somewhere?” She speaks in a low, conspiratorial voice. “A fancy restaurant?”
“Nope.”
She rolls her eyes. “Do you a have a gift?”
I nod. “I do. Now if you don’t mind, I need to get back home so I can surprise my wife. Quit being a busybody.”
“I will if you quit being a turd.”
Liam laughs and begins babbling. “Tuh, tuh…”
“And don’t teach my kids anymore bad words,” I mutter as I head back to the front door.
Just when I think I’m free to leave and get home to my sweetheart, Deena starts asking me all sorts of questions about her computer. I end up spending another fifteen minutes explaining stuff I’m sure I’ve gone over a hundred times before. I think she’s getting a kick out of upsetting my plans. I should have told her that I had reservations in town. That might have helped me get out the door a little quicker.
I say good-bye and head out.
Deena stands on the porch, Liam on her hip, and waves as I get in my truck and pull away. I wave back. Liam pops his thumb in his mouth and watches with his usual, pensive expression. Hopefully, he won’t have a meltdown as it registers that I’m leaving. It’s been a while since that’s happened, but it would spoil what I have planned in a New York minute.
Halfway home, I pull Lilly’s gift from my pocket. I managed to remember to hang onto the pregnancy test box. Even better, I managed to wrap it and tie it with a pretty ribbon. Normally, for something this important, I’d ask one of my sisters to wrap it nicely, but not today. In the years to come, hopefully Lilly won’t remember that the box was wrapped in Christmas paper. I might have planned this project perfectly but not the gift wrapping.
I set the plan in motion last night when I turned off the water line coming into the house. In the night, Lilly had gotten up to, as my father likes to say, talk to someone about a horse. Or, as my gran used to say, make my bladder gladder. I guess my family likes some pretty lowbrow jokes. What can I say, we’re ranchers. Which might explain why I had no problem carrying out a pregnancy test on Lilly’s behalf.
Even before I saw the little pink line, I knew the answer. I’d suspected she was pregnant for a week or more. She’d been extra tired. Extra hungry or not hungry at all, and I could tell visually too. Her breasts looked and felt fuller which made me recall the last time they felt that way.
My sweet bride’s in the family way. Again. Tiny Miracle 2.0.
I couldn’t be happier.
With the sun settling in the west, I drive a little faster than I usually do on the rough ranch roads and turn for home. In the distance, I see our home perched on the side of the hill, the early evening sunlight casting a golden hue across the limestone walls. I picture my Lilly inside waiting for me and can’t help the wave of anticipation. I’ll take her hand, look deep into her eyes and give her my small, gift-wrapped box of subterfuge.
Epilogue Part Two
Lilly
“I tried to keep him as long as I could, girl,” Deena says breathlessly in the phone.
I can hear her husband singing Old MacDonald in the background. The notes are mixed in with Liam’s laughter. Roger’s got a terrible voice, but my boy thinks his croaky rendition of the song is the best.
&n
bsp; “It’s fine,” I assure her. “I’ve got dinner squared away and I’m getting dressed now.”
“I’ll just bet you look pretty,” she says sweetly.
“Mm… thank you. It’s just a little something I picked out for dinner.”
I’m not telling her another word. My lips are sealed on the topic of my evening attire.
I have her on speaker so I can adjust the bodice on my baby doll nightie. It seems like the fabric is stretched extra snug across my boobs. Dang, it’s almost obscene how tight this little get-up is. The girls are about to spill right out of the top. I’m sure Ryker’s not going to complain, but it almost seems like the nightie shrank in the wash.
“You two have a nice evening, Lilly,” Deena says with a happy sigh. “And thanks for letting me get my Liam-fix.”
We talk a minute or two more. She explains that Buddy’s over there too and then we say goodbye. I love both of Ryker’s sisters with all my heart. Deena and Molly both welcomed me with open arms and made me feel like part of the family from the first time we met. They were a little taken aback that he was my professor, but I explained that he only taught my class for a short time.
I like to tell them that he was the handsome fella next door before he was my professor. Not too terribly long, but I leave that part out. Ryker likes to explain to his family that he had to ask me to marry him so we could provide a good home for Buddy.
I fluff my hair and grimace at the wild disaster. It looks windblown, even though I’ve been inside all afternoon, cooking dinner. If only I’d had a little more time, I could have done something special. It can’t be helped though. I’m lucky I got a chance to grab a quick shower, paint my nails and put on this little number. Thank goodness the water’s working again.
Ryker’s truck rumbles up the driveway. I hurry to the foyer to wait for him. He eases his frame out of the truck and comes up the walkway. His jeans and faded t-shirt show off his powerful build. His cowboy boots are dusted with a light grit from the driveway. His hat is pulled low, but I can still see the way his mouth curves into a sexy smile.