by Stella Rhys
So when it came time to sell Stanton Family Seafood, it seemed obvious that buying the company was my chance at finally and fully winning his heart.
And while there was an initial excitement, it eventually waned – especially when I opened my restaurant. Especially when it started doing well. Gaining press. Earning glowing reviews. He’d said the restaurant was pointless – a waste of money – but then orders started piling back into the warehouse.
And instead of being proud, or happy to be proven wrong, Dad was bitter.
“He’s not proud,” I muttered as Emmett held me against his chest. “He’s just embarrassed that his daughter did what he couldn’t. And I think he hates me for it.”
“He doesn’t hate you,” Emmett whispered, tucking a lock of hair behind my ear.
“I don’t know,” I said tiredly, staring out the rearview window. “He definitely doesn’t love me. I don’t know if he ever did.”
“Well, I do,” Emmett said easily, drawing my wet eyes to him fast. He smiled at my look of surprise. “Loving you is the oldest memory I have,” he said as I stared through my tears at him. “You were a part of my life for as long as I can remember. All my best memories were with you. I know I messed with you a lot, but in the end, I always loved you, and I don’t think I really knew it till that day I found you after school,” he said softly, the lights from outside moving over his features. “And trust me, I’ll never regret what I did that day, but I’ll always regret the fact that I lost you after. I missed you so fucking much, Aly. I had no idea what you meant to me until you were gone.”
I took a moment to soak in his words. To revel in them, really. I didn’t know I could feel this high right after feeling so low.
Actually, I didn’t know I could feel this high at all.
“Well, you’ve got twelve years on me,” I murmured in return. “Because I don’t think I knew what you meant to me until I came back.”
I felt bad saying it, but Emmett hit me with that classic grin of his, so I couldn’t help but smile with him.
“Hey, I’ll take it,” he said, leaning in to brush his lips against mine. “As long as we both know it now.”
18
ALY
I woke up probably an hour after I’d drifted to sleep.
That was pretty much par for the course, but what wasn’t was the fact that I’d woken alone in Emmett’s bed, his TV still on the same channel we’d left it.
The blue glow lit the room as I sat up and remembered the fact that I’d cried a bit longer after we’d gotten into the house. Nothing crazy. Just leftovers of the tears I’d started in the car. I needed to get the rest out of me, so sitting on the steps in Evie’s nicest dress and shoes, I let it all out.
And as I did, Emmett sat beside me, draping my legs over his lap and every so often pulling my forehead to his lips for a kiss.
It was so sweet I couldn’t believe it was real. I could finally admit to myself now that as a kid, I’d seen Emmett as the highest prize – something completely unattainable. I couldn’t be as good as him. I definitely couldn’t have him. He was the ultimate jock reserved for the prettiest girls.
So I told myself I didn’t want him.
It was a defense mechanism, but honestly, what teenage girl didn’t want a boy who put Abercrombie models to shame?
I wanted him then. Badly. I just hated myself for it. I wouldn’t even let myself fully enjoy the times that he and I laughed together on the weekends, because on Monday, we’d always wind up back at school, and he’d always wind up mobbed by pretty girls and teammates while I sat alone in some corner.
Alone in the flickering blue light of his room, I laughed at myself.
Now that all my skeletons were out of the closet, I had the capacity to think about silly things – like the fact that I was in the bed of the prom king from my high school.
I wish I could’ve told you that you’d somehow wind up here, I thought, talking to my sixteen-year-old self just as I heard Emmett’s voice at the door.
“Hey.”
I looked up to find him standing there, holding a glass of water from the kitchen. The light of the TV draped over his pecs and his abs, emphasizing his athletic build as he walked slowly over to me.
“You’re awake,” he said.
“And you’re naked,” I countered.
He looked down at himself and laughed.
“I’m wearing boxers,” he said, his stare groggy as he dragged it all over my body.
I was still wearing Evie’s dress, but it was twisted askew from being asleep, and stretched so low on my breasts that my right nipple was actually halfway out. I saw the exact second Emmett noticed because his eyebrows went up and his cock noticeably twitched under his blue boxer briefs.
Biting my lip, I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.
“Do you want to take them off?” I asked. He blinked himself a bit more awake.
“My boxers?”
“Mm-hm.”
A grin spread his lips as he stood at the end of the bed.
“You first.” His murmur was husky as he palmed the length of his cock, and his gaze was heavy as he watched me get on my knees. “Show me your pussy,” he said, exhaling a groan when I pulled my skirt up to flash my white lace thong. “Pull your panties aside. Let me see you play with your clit,” he said, reaching into his boxers and pulling out his fully hard cock.
He jerked it as I fulfilled his requests, holding my thong aside and gently stroking my clit. It was like a flood in my panties as Emmett pinned that intense stare on me, watching me so intently I couldn’t help but feel beautiful. Sexy. I bit my grin as the sleep in his eyes flickered into a familiar lust. It grew bigger, hungrier as I picked up the pace, so aroused I could actually hear my own wetness.
“So fucking sexy,” Emmett muttered under his breath. “Get naked for me,” he said, his wolfish gaze glued to me as I peeled the stretchy dress the rest of the way off my body.
By the time I was down to just panties, he was on top of me, catching my jaw and gazing between my lips.
“You made me watch you kiss Drew tonight,” he muttered, his eyes pinned on me as he yanked my panties down. Heat throbbed between my legs when his cock fell heavily between my thighs, resting inches from my naked pussy. Yes. Please. Now. I reached down between us to touch him but he caught my hand, making me moan with anticipation. I wanted him inside me this instant, but he was making me work for it. “Show me those lips are mine,” Emmett murmured, his eyes on my mouth as he nudged my thighs apart, spreading my legs to tease my wet pussy with the naked head of his dick. It glided smoothly up the length of my sex, pulling a moan from my lips every time it rubbed against my clit.
“Again,” I begged.
“Show me first,” he countered.
I didn’t think twice. Pulling his face to mine, I kissed Emmett deeply, tasting him like a forbidden fruit. A groan rumbled in his throat as our tongues swept furiously against each other, breaking down the last of the flimsy wall I’d put up to resist him.
I was officially done for.
Even if I wanted to curb all desire for him, there was no chance of it now. His lips fit too perfectly against mine, and he tasted so damned good I refused to break contact even as I moaned from the pleasure of his cock parting my folds. It teased slowly along my pussy, his smooth tip rubbing my clit every couple of seconds, then more and more till he was massaging it, stroking circles around it till my stomach was clenching.
He didn’t stop kissing me when I came. All he did was release the root of his cock and dip his fingers into my wetness.
“Holy shit,” he murmured, his mouth curving against mine as our lips stayed locked.
“I think I’m wet enough to fit you now,” I giggled, my words finally breaking our kiss. Pulling away, Emmett stared at me for a second. Then he shook his head.
“My fucking dream girl,” he muttered under his breath before kissing me again and reaching over our heads to grab a condom from the nightstand.
EMMETT
Fuck, she was so sweet.
She was everything I had fantasized about for twelve years and more. Every arch of her back. Every moan from her lips. Everything she did, every little sound she made reminded me of how bad I’d missed and wanted her for so fucking long. I had never let myself think about it much. I never once talked about it out loud. It wasn’t worth it when I wasn’t sure I’d see her ever again, but now that she was here – now that she was fucking kissing me with those sweet lips as she rolled the condom over my cock – I could let myself feel it all again.
“Easy,” I murmured as she pulled away from my kiss to watch as she lowered herself onto my cock. Christ. I could practically feel the fucking stars in my eyes as I stared at her. She just looked so damned cute biting her lip and straddling me as I sat up in bed, leaning back on the headboard. She’d picked the position and I’d wholeheartedly approved because it gave me access to every part of her body. It let me kiss her mouth, her tits. It let me look into her big eyes as I grabbed handfuls of her ass and watched her sink her pussy slowly down the length of my shaft.
“Oh my God…” Aly dug her nails into my shoulders, breathing out hard as she relaxed all the way to the base of my cock.
My eyes briefly rolled into the back of my head. Holy shit. I tightened my grip on her as a groan tore out from deep in my chest because fucking hell, she felt good. She was so wet and so warm – so incredibly fucking tight I could’ve come right then and there.
“Christ, Aly,” I exhaled. “You’re incredible.”
It was a massive fucking understatement but it was all I had. I felt too good to think. The fact that I could speak was nothing short of a miracle because for fuck’s sake, I had Aly Stanton naked in my bed, giving me the sweetest little moans as she swiveled her hips around me.
“Good girl,” I murmured, watching those parted lips of hers curve into a tiny but fucking irresistible grin. Her tits were bouncing the way I couldn’t resist but I couldn’t even look. I couldn’t tear my eyes off of her beautiful face as she found a rhythm, making herself at home on my cock.
Once I knew she felt good, I helped myself to her body. I circled my arms around her and dipped her backwards, hugging her little waist to my chest as I pushed her full tits into my mouth. I was fucking fixated on them. That much was for sure. I’d always been an ass man but Aly’s tits were my weakness. I couldn’t get enough. I didn’t bother being quiet as I licked them all over and sucked her nipples between my lips.
“Emmett,” Aly gasped as I repositioned her, laying her on her back without releasing her from my mouth or slipping an inch from her pussy. She shuddered underneath me, wrapping her legs around my back and grabbing fistfuls of the sheets as I took over the top. “You don’t have to hold back,” she panted breathlessly. “I can take more.”
Fuck, that alone was enough to make my dick twitch in her pussy. From my rolling pace, I went to pumping faster inside her.
“More,” Aly murmured, digging her fingers into my ass and pulling me deeper into her pussy.
Holy fucking hell.
She was so small and delicate underneath me, her pussy wrapped so tight around my cock. It felt like I could break her yet here she was, urging me to fuck her harder.
“Tell me how that feels,” I rasped against her neck as I felt her pussy clenching tight around me. “Does that feel good, baby?”
“Yes… I think I…” She cut herself off with a breathless moan that made my dick jerk inside her.
“Do it. Come for me, baby.”
Gripping her hips, I plunged deep inside her, filling her with every inch of my cock. Her heels dug into my lower back as I grinded tight against her clit, letting myself drown in all the breathy, sexy, fucking addicting sounds of her pleasure. I knew already I was hooked on them. I wanted to collect every little one of them.
Though I knew the three words she gasped next would always be by far my favorite.
“I’m coming, Emmett.”
The muscles in my glutes burned as I pounded inside her, bringing us both to the edge. Her pussy clenched like a vise around me, and I could’ve sworn right there that I’d never felt so damned good in my life.
But then my name poured from her lips as she came all over my cock.
And just like that, I had a new standard for what it meant to feel good.
19
EMMETT
I was pretty sure I hadn’t dreamt holding Aly against my chest while sleeping last night.
But I couldn’t be sure because by the time I woke up, she was gone. My bedroom door was slightly open and clearly, Ozzy had come in sometime this morning because now he chewing on a tennis ball in his bed next to the window.
“Dammit,” I muttered to myself when I looked at the clock. It was a quarter past ten, which meant Aly had left for work more than four hours ago.
Flopping on my back again, I thrust my hands in my hair, groaning out something that was half-frustration, half-leftover bliss. I wished that I’d woken up in time to catch Aly – but I also wasn’t going to complain about anything this morning.
Not when I’d had the best night of my life last night.
The only giveaway that it wasn’t a dream was the fact that the T-shirt I’d given Aly to sleep in last night still smelled like her. I couldn’t help bringing it with me to the bathroom, briefly holding it to my lips and breathing in her sweet scent.
It was fucking intoxicating. It made me want to drop everything, hop in my truck and drive right to where she was. I was still so drunk off of her that I wouldn’t think twice about walking in her restaurant, bending her over the counter and fucking another screaming orgasm out of those beautiful lips. I needed to taste her skin. I needed to hear those sweet fucking sounds again.
Of course, doing all that in front of everyone at work would probably break at least a couple laws, so I reined in my urges and jacked it in the shower.
The pressure built up faster than ever as I relived last night. Remembering her moans made my balls churn hard, and one thought of what she said about fitting my cock in her pussy and I was down for the count. My palm pulsed against wet tile and my head fell back as I pumped out two thick jets of cum I could easily picture glistening on Aly’s stomach.
Fuck. Jacking off was supposed to help me control my urges but apparently, when it came to Aly, it just started me up again.
I was ready to go for round two. I definitely had more than enough hot memories to work off of, but I could hear my phone ringing off the hook on my nightstand so finishing up in the shower, I turned off the faucet and forced myself to hop out.
When I got back to my room, I found three missed calls on my phone.
One from Britt. Two from Mom. I called Mom back first.
“Emmett. You’ve been ignoring my calls,” Mom greeted me after one ring. As usual, I could barely say hi before she went into whatever speech she had saved up for me. “You know, I’ll give you some credit for texting me to let me know that you are in New York this summer, but at some point, I’d expect you to call and explain why you lied about being away. To your own mother. Who loves you.”
I laughed, rubbing the back of my neck as I stood in front of my window and stared out at the street.
“I don’t know, Ma. I think it might’ve been the two-page list of friends’ daughters that you emailed me. Gotta say, that was a bit of a buzzkill.”
“I wasn’t telling you to show all of them around, I just thought you’d pick one or two to meet if the dates of their visits matched up with your availability. What’s so hard about that?”
“Nothing. Everything. I don’t know.” I ran my hand through my hair as I turned away from the window. “The real question is why you even believed that I’d be gone that long. I’ve never just upped and done that.”
Mom was quiet for a second.
“I don’t know, Emmett. I just assumed that maybe you’d finally gotten tired of everything and just… run off.” Something in
my chest twisted as I heard her sigh. “Honestly, a part of me hoped that you were really leaving for that long, because Lord knows you deserve it.”
“Stop.”
“I do mean it though, Emmett. As your mother, it would make me happy if I knew you could spend even a few weeks away. Just so you can get a breather. You could go to a resort or maybe some – ”
“Ma,” I interrupted. “New subject.”
She sighed again. “Fine, moving on,” she said, though it took her a second to think of something new to say. “How’s Aly? Are you two getting along okay?”
I snorted at her question. It made me feel like a kid again because it was always what she asked every week or so, after she figured Aly and I had enough time to “cool off” from our last fight. Not that we ever had real fights.
At least not till the big one junior year.
I honestly never thought we’d get to talk about that again, let alone make peace about it. But last night was miraculous – in more ways than one – and somehow, Aly and I were finally over our hurdle.
“She and I are getting along just fine,” I answered Mom, smirking at my own massive understatement.
“I feel bad that I promised her the house to herself and now you two are spending the summer under the same roof. Especially since you had that little falling out. I know it’s never quite been the same between you since.”
That “little” falling out. Yeah.
My parents obviously knew about what happened to cause Aly and my fight. The entire school knew. But years after all that shit went down, I lied to my mom and said that Aly had finally responded to my messages and we’d buried the hatchet. I kept the lie up by saying that we talked here and there, that I’d met her once or twice for lunch, but that we were no longer close.
It was for Aly’s sake more than mine. My mom had been in the hospital the day Aly was born – she loved her like a daughter, but she was also fiercely protective of me in a way that she wasn’t with even Julian. Maybe it was because I was the younger one. Maybe it was the fact that I was the one who was around during her darkest times. Whatever it was, it meant that there was no doubt in my mind that she’d take it personally and lash out at Aly for ignoring my attempts at contact.