by Aubrey Irons
Water runs and stops, and he comes back out, groaning as he moves between my legs again. His hand comes down to my chin, nudging it up until our eyes lock and we grin. He leans down to kiss me, letting those lips sear across mine before he moves away again reaching for his clothes.
I take a deep breath, letting my pulse slow before I slide off the wreck of his desk and start to try and rearrange my clothes as best as I can.
“Shit.”
I look up sharply. “Everything okay?”
He swears under his breath again as he glances at his watch. “Yeah, I just- fuck. I’m late.” He looks up at me as he fastens his belt and picks his dress shirt off the ground. “I’m going to be late grabbing Emily from school.”
“Oh, yeah, of course,” I nod quickly as I finish buttoning my blouse back up. “Yeah, go ahead.”
He holds my eyes for a second, a shadow of a grin dancing across his face as “You were saying something about an idea for the sponsor commercial earlier, right?”
I shrug as I smooth my skirt down. “Yeah, but it can wait.”
“Feel like taking a drive?”
I freeze, my eyes darting to his as I bite my lip.
Slowly, I nod.
“Yeah, sure.”
He smiles.
In the car later, I can still feel the throb of him between my legs. The delicious soreness, the sweet ache of him. I’m still flushed red, and trying to fix my hair in the car mirror as we drive, and still thinking about what just happened.
The way he took me. The way he demanded the orgasm from me.
The way I lost myself again with him.
The man sitting behind the wheel of the car next to me is a man I met for the first time as a clear and decidedly one-night stand. Now we work together. Now we’ve slept together three times.
So much for rules.
But I know what this is, despite the way we keep breaking them. This is just release. This is stress management.
Just sex.
“So what’s this big commercial idea?”
I glance up, blinking away the flush on my face.
“Oh, yeah. So, you know how Rocky Mountain Soap just had that huge national ad campaign about empowering girls?”
Landon nods. “Right, the ‘love the body you’re in’ thing, right?”
“Yeah, exactly. Well, this is a football organization, which isn’t always the most woman-friendly place.”
He frowns. “Hey-”
“No, c’mon, you know what I mean. I grew up in it, remember? It’s super macho, hyper-masculine, and believe it or not, it’s not always the most welcoming environment for girls.”
“Fair enough. So what’s the idea for our spot?”
“Has Emily ever acted?”
Landon shakes his head, his brow furrowing as he pulls into the school parking lot and parks alongside the curb. A bell rings inside the big building, and the front doors suddenly open as teachers and kids start pouring out for the waiting cars and busses.
And suddenly, I’m acutely aware of how, well, maybe inappropriate it is for me to be here. Me being here while Landon picks his daughter up from school suddenly seems really….
Girlfriend-y.
It seems relationship-y, and perhaps a tad more serious than the whole “casual it’s just sex” thing we’ve been building up.
A familiar face breaks away from a gaggle of other kids and beams at our car.
Emily.
She seems to spot me as her grin widens. She turns to a teacher and waves before running down the sidewalk towards the car.
I shake my head as I turn back to Landon. “Look, you know what, I can fill you in tomorrow.” I start to open the door. “’I’ll just grab an Uber or something from here. I should let you-”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
I glance back to see him roll his eyes. “Look, do you…” He frowns. “I think it might just make Emily’s month if you came and had dinner with us.”
I can feel my heart beat a quicker tempo as I swallow.
“You’ve sort of made an impression.”
I grin before biting my lip worriedly. “Look, seriously, if this is too…”
“Non casual?”
“Well, yeah.”
“You like tacos?”
“I’m from Texas, remember?”
Landon chuckles. “Believe me, tacos with this animal are as casual as it gets.” He opens the door and starts to step out before he turns back. “Come have dinner with us.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Landon
“The trick is, you have to use two different kinds of cheese,” Emily says with all the authority of an eight-year-old taco aficionado. “My friend Alicia’s mom makes tacos sometimes, but she only uses one kind of cheese.”
My daughter makes a face conveying just how sacrilegious Alicia’s mom’s cheese choice faux-pas is. Serena nods seriously.
“I totally know what you mean. Who only uses one cheese?”
Emily’s brows shoot up. “You use two also?”
“Oh, totally. It’s the only way to have tacos.”
My daughter beams at her.
“So what else are we putting on these?”
I watch from my amused spectator seat leaning against the fridge with a beer in my hand as Emily half climbs over the kitchen island to grab the supplies.
“Cheese, duh.”
“Well, duh,” Serena shrugs.
“Aaaaand tomatoes, and the hamburger, and the lettuce, and the sour cream.”
“How about some guacamole?”
Emily’s face sours as she shakes her head. She’s decided long ago that avocados are entirely too close to a green vegetable for her to touch. Honestly, lettuce is a damn battle.
“Eww, no way.”
Serena laughs at the look on her face. “Really? Have you ever tried it?”
Emily shakes her head.
“Oh, it’s delicious. People eat it all the time down in Texas.”
My daughter’s ears prick up. “They do?”
Serena nods. “Oh yeah, it’s the best.”
“Do you eat it?”
“Oh my God, I love guacamole.”
Emily taps her chin like she’s thinking it over before she glances at me and then Serena. “Okay, I want guac then.”
No fucking way.
My brow shoots up in surprise as Serena glances at me.
“Dad, do we have any guacamole?”
I chuckle as I shake my head. “No, because you refuse to eat it, remember? I thought you hated guac?”
Emily shoots me a look. “No, I love guacamole, Dad.”
Serena grins at me over my daughter’s head. “I can make some if you’ve got some avocados?”
Ten minutes later, Emily’s kneeling on a stool, shoulder-to-shoulder with Serena and unable to keep her hands out of the bowl as Serena mashes avocados and lime juice and onions together. I still haven’t moved from my spot against the fridge, watching this whole thing with bemused amusement as I sip my beer.
Well this is interesting. I have never once introduced a woman I was sleeping with to Emily. Not once. In my head, they’ve always been separate lives that I love concurrently, but with the edges never remotely touching or blurring.
There’s my dating life - my sex life. And then there’s my home life, away from all that. I’ve never even been remotely tempted to introduce my daughter to a woman I was seeing, or sleeping with, because it’d just be confusing. Hell, none of them were going to stick around - I made sure of that, and it’d just be jarring to her when they left just as quickly as she met them.
And then there’s the other reason - the one I almost can’t even admit to myself. Emily was barely a toddler when I lost Sarah, and I don’t know how people actually remember from when they were two - I sure don’t remember much - but I want whatever she does remember about her mom to stick. I don’t want it watered down with anyone new. I don’t want those memories to be diluted with some ra
ndom girl I’m going to take out, fuck once, and never see again.
So, suffice it to say, this is new.
This is unexplored territory.
And this would be terrifying if it wasn’t so damn easy to watch, the two of them clicking like two peas in a pod. I watch my daughter giggling away with Serena, helping to add ingredients, and even taking a turn at mashing, always looking eagerly up at Serena for approval.
“Like this?”
“Just like that. Oh man, this is going to be the best guac ever.”
Emily’s smile could not actually get bigger as she turns and beams at me.
Another fifteen minutes of guac-perfecting later, we’re sitting at the table shoving tacos in our mouths and cracking up. And I’m still the third wheel here, just watching with the same bemusement from earlier as Emily chatters non-stop to Serena about something her teacher said at school, and then something gross one of the other kids did at lunch.
Serena occasionally glances up and winks at me as she catches my eye, but besides that, it’s just the two of them, with me just chuckling as the onlooker.
And it’s kind of amazing to watch. It’s easy, and it’s familiar despite how new this is for both Emily and myself.
I shake my head as I watch the two of them try and see who can fit more olives in their mouths, grinning at the way Serena just knows how to interact with her. How she instinctively helps her spoon hamburger meat onto her plate, how she laughs and grabs a napkin to wipe sour cream off her nose.
My mind flashes to her admission from the other night, about her inability to have kids and her shitbag of an ex’s decision about not adopting with her.
Moron.
I shake the thought away as I watch Emily giggling up a storm as Serena’s taco explodes in her hands, sending hot sauce and guac down her chin and hands.
Her idea for the commercial spot is pretty damn good, too - something she filled me in on while we were setting up for dinner prepping. She’s got this whole thing in her head about girls and sports for the spot, and something tells me Emily is going to freak out about being on TV - especially if her new best friend Serena is involved.
Emily dissolves into giggles again as Serena gives her a goofy cross-eyed look, and I can’t help but laugh and shake my head, watching the two of them.
This is pretty damn near perfect.
My phone suddenly buzzes in my pocket, and I slip it out enough to be able to frown at the number.
It’s Kyle, my investigative guy.
“Dad! No phones at dinner!”
“I know, I know,” I stand. “It’s work, I’ll be right back.”
I duck out into the living room before I answer.
“Hey, what’s up, man?”
“Dude, this is getting a little weird,” Kyle says, his voice sounding tired.
I look up, grinning through the doorway into the kitchen at Emily and Serena before I clear my throat. “What do you mean?”
“Those accounts you gave us access to? There are holes, man. Lots of holes.”
I frown. “How so?”
I’ve given Kyle and Silas access to as many corporate and personal accounts of Sam’s as I can, given that I’m in charge of his estate for the time being - all in hopes of finding something that points to how he possible knew Serena.
Kyle sighs heavily “Big, regular withdrawals. Extremely regular.”
I glance up at Serena and my daughter again through the doorway. “What kind of withdrawals? Gambling?”
“Could be, except for…” Kyle trails off. “Except for one thing, Landon.” His voice sounds tight, like he’s holding something back, and I scowl.
“Kyle, if you’ve got something, just get to the point.”
“They’re all going to the same place, Landon.”
“Tell me.”
There’s a frozen moment before he sighs heavily again. “They’re all going to an account opened in one woman’s name twenty-seven years ago.” Kyle clears his throat. “One Celia Roth.”
The floor starts to drop out under my feet as what my buddy is saying slowly starts to sink in. I look up, my eyes locking on the woman sitting in my kitchen with my daughter.
“Wait, what?”
“Celia Roth, Landon. Otherwise known as Serena Roth’s mother.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Landon
Serena helps me put Emily to bed later, and I’m trying the whole time to ignore what I know about her now.
It was wrong to investigate her like this, and it feels like I’ve peeped behind a curtain I never should have.
I don’t know what it means yet that Sam was sending her mom cash every month, but even thinking about it now feels invasive.
Whatever protective shit I felt before about Sam’s legacy just feels like being a prying douchebag now that I had people look into her connection to him.
That’s not my job. My job is to make this team work, and to make sure the board keeps their heads enough to keep things even.
Except she was never part of that plan.
She was never part of the agenda, was never in on my calendar.
She wasn’t part of my rules.
We step out of Emily’s room and close the door. Serena starts to turn to head back to the kitchen.
“I should go.”
I stop her with a hand on her wrist.
“You could stay.”
Fuck the rules.
Fuck the agenda, and fuck the plan.
She meets my eyes, her lip catching between her teeth.
“If you wanted, I mean.”
She wets her lips. “Is that a good idea?”
I pull her against me, loving the way she just fits against me. Her hands go to my chest, her eyes dragging up to mine as my arms circle her. My hand moves to the small of her back, the other moving to her cheek.
“Probably not,” I mutter.
She grins, her eyes flashing as she moves against me there in the hallway.
She nods.
It’s wordless as I turn, taking her hand and pulling her down the hall towards my bedroom. I pull her inside, pulling her against me as I shut the door behind her. It’s still wordless as we stand there face to face in the moonlight and the darkness of the room, eyes flashing at each other.
I reach for her shirt, pulling it out of her skirt and dragging it up her body. She raises her arms, letting me pull it off of her - her hair catching and falling back across her shoulders like a silken ribbon. She reaches back and unclips her bra, shrugging her shoulders and letting it fall to the floor before her hands move to my shirt. She looks up at me, my eyes locked onto hers as she starts to undo my shirt, one button at a time.
I groan as my hands pull her against me, my eyes dropping to those perfect, full breasts, capped by those rosy nipples. My shirt falls open, her skin rubs against mine, her nipples dragging over my skin as she sighs.
I lean in, and then I’m kissing her, deeply, hard, with more than I’m used to giving in a kiss. Her hands drop to my belt as I tug at the zipper on the side of her skirt.
It pools at her feet as my pants drop. I take her hand again as I pull away from the kiss and pull her towards the bed. I spin her around and push her onto it, grinning as she shrieks quietly.
I crawl after her, slipping my briefs off and crawling between her legs. Her panties skim down her legs, catching at her ankles before I toss them across the room. My hands push her legs wide as I move in.
Her breath catches as I drag my tongue through her glistening honey. Hands slide into my hair as I grab her ass and pull her against my mouth. My tongue delves deep, tasting her and not able to get enough of it before I move up to her clit. My tongue swirls over it as she moans quietly and bucks her hips against me. I glance up, groaning at the way she’s biting her hand to keep quiet as I tease her further and further towards that sweet release.
My tongue moves faster and faster, her hips bucking harder and harder against me before suddenly, her whole bod
y goes rigid. Thighs clamp around my head, hands tighten in my hair, and her whole body arches off the bed in a silent scream. Her sweetness floods my lips and my tongue before she’s pulling me away, panting and gasping for air.
Yeah, no, fuck the rules.
I move up the bed, grinning as she pushes me over onto my back and looks at me with this wicked glint in her eyes. It’s primal, and raw.
And sexy as fucking hell.
She crawls up me until she’s straddling my hips. Her fingers reach down and curl around my cock, making me groan as she strokes me before pulling me against her lips. I reach for the bedside drawer, but she takes the condom from my hand, tearing the wrapper open and rolling it down my length in a slow, sensual movement.
She lifts up, centering me against her opening, and sighs as she starts to sink down. I groan, throwing my head back as her heat slowly envelopes every single inch of me until I can feel my balls resting against her ass. Her hands drop to my chest as her eyes meet mine - hungry, eager.
She starts to move up and down, slowly riding me as her eyes close and the moans hang on her lips. My hands move to her thighs, teasing her skin as she rides up and down my cock, her brow furrowing with pleasure as her fingers drag across my chest.
I sit up, my mouth going to her neck and my hands move to grab her ass. Serena moans louder now, her arms going around my neck and her head lolling back as she starts to bounce up and down on my shaft faster and faster, taking me deep with every thrust of her hips. My fingers dig into her ass, the pure need for her building up inside until I know there’s no way to stop this train.
She moves faster, her hips grinding against mine, her ass rising and falling in my hands and her nipples dragging over my chest. I can feel her clenching me tight inside, her hands clawing at my back and slipping into my hair as she clings to me.
Muscles tense, breaths catch, light flashes, and the whole thing explodes around us.
Serena clamps her lips to mine, pouring her release into my kiss as her body shatters in orgasm. I groan into her, feeling my cock throb and pulse deep inside of her as my own release thunders through me.