“Tennessee?” he asks.
I keep waiting for him to call me Tenny, but he doesn’t, and now I’m so used to my full name from him, I think that it would bother me if he called me anything else. Tilting my head back, I smile up at him.
Leaning forward, I don’t speak. Instead I press my lips together and kiss the tip of his beautiful cock. Then I lick the underside, tasting his clean-from-the-shower skin. Landry grunts, his lids lowering as he watches me.
Opening my mouth, I take him down my throat as far as I can. I bob my head several times, sucking and licking him, moaning around his length as I listen to the way his breathing picks up. When he lifts his hand, wrapping his fist in the back of my hair, gripping my strands, I know that I’m doing exactly what he wants.
“Stay still, I’m going to fuck your pretty little mouth, honey,” he rasps.
I can’t wait.
I. Cannot. Wait.
He does just that too. Exactly that. I watch him the entire time, my eyes never leaving his as he fucks my mouth in shallow strokes, careful not to drive himself down my throat too deep, but fully enjoying having control, something that I know he loves and craves.
He’s close. He pants, his fingers grip the back of my head harder and just when I think that he’s going to come down my throat, he tugs my head back and pauses. His lips are parted, heavy breaths fill the space around us, then his lips curve into a grin.
“Bed.”
The word is simple. A singular one, but it’s a demand. A sexy, exciting demand. Biting the corner of my lip, I slowly rise to my feet. Reaching for the tie at the side of my wrap dress, I tug it open, then let it fall to the floor.
In nothing but my bra and panties, I walk toward the side of the bed. I feel sexy and bold when I’m alone with Landry. A sensation that I’ve never felt before and I can’t deny that I absolutely love the way that he makes me feel.
I start to lift my foot to take my high heels off, but Landry clears his throat. “Keep them on. Panties and bra off,” he says, his voice deep and husky.
My lips curve up into a smile and my belly clenches. I can feel my body heat with desire. I want his touch everywhere, but I’m enjoying the way he’s watching me right now.
“Heels. You need more of them. A whole truckload.”
I laugh softly, my thighs trembling as I press them together to not only aid me in standing, but also to relieve the ache between my legs. Thankfully, he approaches me, but even when I can feel the heat from his body at my back, he still doesn’t touch any part of me.
“I shouldn’t want you,” he murmurs, his breath fanning my shoulder. “I shouldn’t want to keep you forever.”
Pressing my lips together, I hum in an attempt to keep myself from begging for him to keep me like the idiot girl that I am. Finally, his fingertips glide down the center of my spine from the base of my neck to the small of my back, just above my ass.
“Spread your legs,” he demands.
I do. Not only because he’s demanded it, but because I want his touch—everywhere.
“Bend, palms flat on the bed.”
My body bends forward, my ass high in the air, my arms straight and my palms flat. This doesn’t help my trembling leg situation at all, but I can’t deny that it’s fun, even if I’m on the edge of agony.
I hear him moving behind me, then I feel something warm, wet and delicious slide between my legs. Tipping my head down, I gasp in surprise at the sight of him.
Landry’s face is between my legs, his eyes looking up at me, his hand wraps around the back of my thighs and he moans as his tongue flicks my clit. He shifts his face, his lips curving up into a smile.
“Ride my face,” he orders.
Shaking my head, my eyes widen as I look down at him. “I don’t think…”
One of his hands lifts from the back of my thigh and he taps my ass with a quick slap. “Ride my face, honey.”
Without letting me say another word, he shifts back between my legs and my eyes roll in the back of my head when he sucks on my clit, then flicks it. Sliding my fingers through his hair, I grip the strands and I do exactly what he wants.
I ride his face.
I ride his face until I come standing up, against his mouth, his tongue, and his perfect beard.
LANDRY
Gorgeous.
There is no other way to describe her in general, then when she comes all of that beauty is even more elevated. I watch her throw her head back, arch her spine and feel her grind her sweet pussy against my face right as she comes—hard.
Only when her body has relaxed and I’ve licked all of the evidence of her orgasm from between her legs, do I shift out from beneath her body. Standing, I reach for her hand and gently guide her over to the bed.
My cock is so fucking hard that it aches, it hurts and if I’m not inside of her soon, I’m afraid that my control will completely snap. I don’t go far, laying her across the bed as I climb between her shaky thighs.
Placing my elbows next to her head, I use my forearms to keep my body above hers. Her eyelids are lowered as she looks at me through her lashes. Her lips parted slightly and her cheeks flush as she watches me.
Rolling my hips, I glide my cock through her wet center. Wrapping her legs around my waist, she lifts her hips, needing what I crave—more.
Adjusting myself, I align my cock with her warm entrance. Letting out a breath, I continue to look into her eyes as I slowly sink inside of her body. Her breath hitches at the same time she lifts her legs even more, pressing her shins against my ribs.
Sinking farther into her heat, I can’t take my eyes off of her as I slowly move in and out of her body. I’m under no illusion of what this moment is. The first time in our new home.
Finally, we’re a couple and although my children don’t necessarily love the idea of me with someone forty years younger than I am, they mostly accept it.
Next we just need to tell her mother and Susan. Although I’m debating even telling Susan, I think she can just find out whenever she finds out.
I continue to make love to Tennessee, because that is exactly what is happening here, my hips roll as I move inside of her, my gaze never leaving hers as I watch her lips parted in awe.
My thrusts start to speed up, moving harder and faster, my pelvis grinding against her clit with every stroke. Her breath hitches and I feel her pussy flutter around me, her eyes fluttering closed and a moan escaping her lips.
It doesn’t take long. She grabs ahold of my biceps, her nails digging into my skin as a light sheen of sweat breaks out over my entire body. I can feel my back tingle and my balls draw up right before her cunt tightens.
She milks my orgasm from me, my control completely lost. I thrust into her wildly several times before I bury myself deep inside of her and come, hard. I don’t move, staying deep inside of her while I attempt to catch my breath.
Dipping my chin, I touch my mouth to hers, sliding my tongue along the seam of her lips. My arms are shaking, but I don’t fucking care, because right here is exactly where I belong. I’ve never felt this at home in my entire life and that’s exactly where I am—home.
Eventually, I roll onto my back when it looks like Tennessee needs to breathe and I can’t hold myself up for another second longer. Gathering her in my arms, I pull her against my side. Closing my eyes, I touch my mouth to the top of her head as she hitches one of her legs over my thigh.
Tennessee lifts her head, her green eyes finding mine as her chin rests against my chest. “Before this goes any further,” she begins. “I need to tell you something.”
My heart stops in my chest, it stops fucking beating. She’s going to tell me something and judging by the look in her eyes, it’s not good.
Just when I thought that maybe, just maybe, this was going to be something so beautiful that it made everything else pale in comparison, she has this look on her face and she appears almost sick.
I jerk my chin in a single nod, not ready or willing to say anythin
g. She has something on her mind and she’s going to say it, whatever it is, and honestly, I’d rather have it now than five years from now.
“Holden was a product of rape,” she admits.
My eyes widen and my lips part in shock. “What?” I breathe.
She shrugs a shoulder. “I went to a party in college, I took a drink from someone I shouldn’t have. Someone I didn’t know. I went upstairs with him and a few months later I found out that I was pregnant. Holden couldn’t be anyone else’s, I hadn’t been with anyone in a long time. I wasn’t a promiscuous teenager or anything. I had a few boyfriends, but not many. I remember being in that room, feeling off, and then feeling almost paralyzed.”
“Did you file a report?” I ask, my blood immediately boiling in my veins from her words.
I try to hold back my temper, to keep from blowing up in her face because at the end of the day, it isn’t her fault. He took advantage of her, whoever he is.
She shakes her head a couple of times. “No. I was young and embarrassed. I didn’t even know his name, nothing at all about him. I didn’t even think about the repercussions of that night. Not until it was all too late.”
My arms tighten around her and I hold her closer. “It doesn’t matter though,” she whispers softly. “I wouldn’t trade Holden for anything in the world, and without that experience, I wouldn’t be who I am today,” she says, pausing, then her eyes find mine. “I wouldn’t be here with you.”
My lips turn up into a sad smile as I watch her. “You would have ended up here, eventually,” I rasp. “My brave Tennessee, we were meant to be, no matter what, we would have found one another.”
Tears fill her eyes from my words, but they don’t fall. She blinks a couple of times and I watch the unshed tears vanish. Her lips curve into a smile and she curls closer to me, as if she’s trying to meld into my body. Flexing my muscles, I accept it, and pull her even closer.
We stay that way in silence for a long time. I’m sure I should be saying reassuring things to her, that I should be telling her that I had already suspected that situation, but that hearing it was sobering. I should say a million things, but I don’t, and neither does she. Instead, we drift off to sleep, holding one another close.
Chapter Twenty-Six
TENNESSEE
I thought that telling Landry about Holden’s biological sperm donor would be a lot more emotionally draining than it actually was. He didn’t seem fazed by the information at all. He seemed sad and upset, but he wasn’t angry and I’m glad. I don’t know how I would feel if he had been mad about my past.
Rolling over in bed, I reach out for him, but find that his side of the bed is cold. Throwing my legs over the side, I stand shakily and make my way to the bathroom.
Once I’ve taken care of business, washed my hands, and splashed some water on my face, I go in search of a pair of panties, a tank top, and the long open cardigan that I have decided to use as a robe. Slipping my cell phone in the pocket of the cardigan, I can’t help but smile at this life of mine.
Walking down the hall to Holden’s room, I’m not surprised to see that it’s empty. I take a good long look around his room again and sigh. It’s so perfect for him.
I know that Landry didn’t design every aspect of the space, but just the fact that he wanted a place for Holden, a comfortable place in his new home, that means more than anything in the whole world to me.
My whole body jerks when my phone starts to ring in my pocket. Looking at the caller ID, I grimace at the sight. It’s my mom. I have been really short with her and super, super, vague. I wasn’t sure if I should tell her about Landry, so it’s been really hard to keep the secret, which is why I’ve kind of been avoiding her as much as possible lately.
“Okay, missy. I’m ready to talk. You’re going to tell me what is going on, and I’m not taking no for an answer. If you don’t tell me, I’m going to get in my car and drive down there,” she snaps before I can even greet her with a hello.
Climbing over the baby gate, I make my way downstairs in search of my men. “Something has been going on,” I admit.
“I know it has. I just don’t know what, care to elaborate?”
My mom is good and pissed off. She’s used to knowing everything about my life, at least for the past three years she has. I’m okay with that because at the end of the day, my mom is my best friend. She helped me through a time in my life where I’m not sure we would have survived without her.
Walking into the kitchen, a smile instantly curves on my face at the sight in front of me. Landry and Holden are sitting at the breakfast table and there is a big pink box of donuts in the middle along with two paper cups of coffee and a small square paper milk container.
“You hungry, honey?” Landry calls out.
“Tenny,” my mom practically shrieks. I open my eyes wide and hiss.
Landry looks to the phone at my ear, then to my face, then his lips curve up into a shit-eating grin, a look that he tends to wear often around me.
“I met someone,” I mutter.
My mom is quiet for a moment. Then she clears her throat. “I heard. Care to tell me who he is.”
“You’re probably not going to like it much,” I say, admitting something aloud that I haven’t even admitted to myself yet.
The fact is, Landry is older than she is and I don’t think she’s going to easily accept it. Not by a long shot. I’ve been far too nervous to even attempt to explain it to her, but it needs to happen. I need to tell her the truth. If I don’t, it will eat at me. If she finds out from anyone other than me, she might drive down here and kill me herself.
“I probably won’t, but you’re going to tell me,” she snaps.
Clearing my throat, I watch as Landry holds his hand out for me. My feet carry me over to him immediately. Sinking down on his thigh, I let out a sigh and I decide to tell her quickly. Like ripping a Band-Aid off.
“You remember Landry Astor?” I ask.
Landry lets out a rumble behind me.
“Tenny,” my mom snaps.
“I’m moving in with Landry. We’re together and he’s really great. I’m falling in love with him and he treats me and Holden so great.”
Landry’s body shakes beneath me. Turning my head, I look over my shoulder at him. He is smiling beneath his beard, his teeth white and gleaming as he watches me. My mother is silent on the other end, and just when I think that she’s possibly hung up on me, she speaks.
“You must be joking, Tennessee,” she says, her voice low.
She’s angry, really angry. I can’t remember the last time that she used my entire name before. Pressing my lips together, I look down at my bare legs and suck in a breath.
“I’m not, Mom.”
“He’s older than your father,” she whispers. “He’s too old for you and even if he wasn’t. He’s married.”
“They’re divorcing.”
“Because of my daughter, the homewrecker,” she snaps.
It’s then that I know Landry has overheard, because he rips the phone from my grasp and puts it up to his ear. “Helen, It’s Landry.” There is a moment of pause, he grunts, then continues. “I had the divorce paperwork drawn up months before I ever met Tennessee. We’ve been living apart for years. Please know that I care for her very much and will always treat her with respect, but Tennessee is not the reason my marriage fell apart.”
He hands the phone back to me, and I place it against my ear, so curious as to what my mom is going to say next. “Hello?” I whisper.
“I am going to go on record saying that I think this is a really bad decision. Just the age difference alone is a reason not to get into a relationship with one another. You don’t have anything in common, you won’t be able to grow old together, you have zero future ahead of yourselves.”
She ends the call. My heart cracks from her words and I set the phone down on the table. I shouldn’t be upset, but I am. I knew that this would happen, but part of me still wanted my mom to be e
xcited that I found someone.
Landry’s arms wrap around me and he pulls me against his body, holding me close. A few moments later Holden climbs up onto my lap and the three of us just hug. It’s perfect. It’s exactly what I need and after a couple of calming breaths, I shake off the bad vibes.
“How about some coffee and donuts?” I ask.
Holden cries out a yes, and scrambles down before he runs back to his seat. I start to stand, but Landry hugs me one more time, his muscles flexing. His lips touch my temple and he inhales a deep breath through his nose.
When he lifts his head, his hand slides up my back and his fingers grip my hair. He turns my head to face him. His eyes search mine for a moment and I can tell that he’s trying to gauge my reaction to my mother’s call.
“Don’t stress, honey. People don’t think that we’re going to make it, but we are and we will. Give them time, all of them. It’s a shock.”
Nodding my head, I lick my lips and give him a shaky smile. “Yeah,” I exhale.
“Donuts and coffee,” he says with a grin.
“Donuts and coffee,” I agree.
He releases me, and I sit at the small table with him and Holden. It’s just a little card table and chairs, but right now, it’s perfect. This is exactly what I need, right here. My baby and this man who is everything I never thought I needed.
LANDRY
I had planned on checking out a couple buildings that are for sale for my new office, but I decide after last night, Tennessee’s confession and the way her mother reacted this morning, that I’m going to spend the day with her and Holden.
“How about we go furniture shopping?” I suggest.
Tennessee wrinkles her nose, her gaze flicking up to meet mine from over the top of her coffee cup. My lips twitch into a small smile. I watch her for a moment, then lick my bottom lip and shake my head once.
“Do you not want to buy the furniture for this place?”
She looks around, then shifts her gaze to meet mine. “I’m intimidated.”
Hypocritically Yours: A Standalone Age-Gap Romance Page 18