Again, thank you for registering and best regards,
Amber
He blinked rapidly, his eyes burning. “Wow,” he said, when he had recovered his breath. “Wow.”
“It’s a lot to take in, isn’t it?”
He realized, vaguely, that they had switched roles, with Lucy becoming calm and collected while his emotions careened out of control. “Yeah.”
“I will write back and let her know you’re coming to Durham today. Maybe we can get together with her tonight.”
His mind buzzed, his feelings too strong to even understand. He listened to her efficient typing thinking vaguely this would be the benefit of marriage. One partner buoying the other, coaxing each other into the things they most wanted. The things that terrified them. Each bringing their strengths to the relationship and blending to make an indivisible whole.
“Lucy,” he choked.
She looked up inquisitively.
“I love you.”
She went soft on him, leaning across to nuzzle her head against his chest, though she didn’t reply.
He wondered if she felt the same way. Perhaps they weren’t ready to be engaged. Things had gone too fast, after all, and he wouldn’t have broached it yet, it except for the interview. Maybe he should put his job search on hold for at least another year, to give them time to decide whether their relationship could work long-term.
Todd turned mostly silent for the rest of the trip to the airport, and getting checked in. She understood the shock of finding his daughter weighed on him, and he must be worried about how the encounter would go, if it happened.
She still didn’t know whether he’d been serious about proposing or not. It seemed not, since he took the ring back without comment. He must have realized it was not something you played at. But even so, she was sorry she had spoiled it. She definitely would have taken it—bad proposal and all.
They boarded the plane to Chicago and they took their seats. Todd showed a sweet attentiveness, putting her bags overhead, maintaining light contact with a hand on her back or her knee, but he still said little. She took out her laptop and got to work making notes on her research. She was set to begin as soon as they received a shipment of mice cells and Todd had given her permission to use his lab, so long as she was careful not to cross-contaminate.
They had a quick meal in the Chicago airport and boarded their second plane for Raleigh/Durham. When the fasten seatbelt light went off, Todd excused himself to go to the restroom and she closed her eyes. She never napped on planes, as the stress of travel wound her too tightly, but she could at least rest.
The flight attendant came on, droning about something. “...and now we have a special announcement to make.”
The sound of Todd’s voice over the intercom, made her sit up tall and lean out to peer down the aisle.
“Hi, Lucy. I’m here, just down the aisle from you.”
She caught sight of him at the head of the cabin, where he waved, looking nervous.
“So...I know I bungled proposing to you earlier today, but I thought I’d give it another shot, and actually ask this time instead of assume.”
The crowd twittered. She covered her mouth in shock.
“I want to be your husband, Lucy. I want to be the guy who carries your bag, and holds your hand and sits next to you on planes. I want to be the one who supports you in your career and in your life. The man who loves you through thick and thin. And I’m hoping you’ll say yes to being my wife.”
A collective sigh went through the plane.
“So...ah, I know this aisle is pretty narrow and the plane is a little bumpy, but if your answer is yes, will you walk down it and take this ring?”
She unbuckled her seatbelt, her hands shaking. Standing up, she became the object of everyone’s attention and her face flushed. People began to clap as she made her way up the aisle, giggling. She threw herself at him, burying her head in his chest, not bothering to take the ring he held out to her.
“Look at me,” he said until she lifted her head. He pressed the ring into her hand and cradled her face. “Will you marry me?”
She nodded.
He bent and kissed her and the crowd cheered.
“And now I’m going to have to ask you to take your seats, lovebirds, because we have a rule against people gathering in front of the cockpit,” the flight attendant announced over the intercom, earning yet another laugh from the passengers.
Todd turned her around and guided her back to their seats and people smiled and clapped when they passed. Her face burned from the attention, but it was a happy kind of embarrassment, like she’d just been named Homecoming Queen or something. She slid into her seat, still clutching the ring box and pretending not to notice the curious looks of everyone around them.
“I can’t believe you did that,” she said under her breath.
Todd sat beside her and lifted her chin with a finger. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you or put you on the spot. I just wanted you to believe I am serious.”
She giggled. “You went from worst proposal ever to best proposal ever.”
He smiled. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. Thank you.” She opened the box and took out the ring, slipping it on her finger. “I love it. How did you know I didn’t want a solitaire?”
He shrugged. “You just didn’t seem like the type.”
She grabbed his shirt and brought him in for a kiss. “I love you, Professor Daniels.”
He smiled against her lips. “Good,” he said when he sat back and picked up her hand, intertwining his fingers with hers.
She laughed and leaned her head on his broad shoulder, closing her eyes and trying to contain her fluttering thoughts.
When they arrived in Durham, Todd powered on his phone and checked the messages. “She called,” he said.
She smiled encouragingly. “Great. Does she want to meet?”
He nodded. “Yeah. She wants me to call her back.”
She could tell the thought of calling her made him uncomfortable. “Do you want me to?”
He smiled ruefully. “Yes. But I’m not that big of a chicken. I’ll do it. I just want to wait until we get somewhere more quiet.”
“What’s the worst thing that could happen with meeting her?”
He frowned, his eyebrows drawing together in a deep furrow. “She might hate me for being absent for the last twenty years.”
She nodded. “What else?”
“She might be a lunatic. Or want to bleed me dry of money.”
“Right. Okay. What else?”
He didn’t speak for a long time. “I’m not really afraid of any of those things. It’s more like...how bad will I feel for missing out on her life? What if she’s amazing and it kills me to know I’m not the man she calls Dad? What if seeing her brings up all the feelings I had after she was conceived—the powerlessness or the loss? What if I screw this up and she never wants to see me again?”
She tried to hide her sympathetic horror for him, understanding the full complexity of the situation. She squeezed his hand. “Okay...how about best case? What would you like to happen?”
He took a breath and exhaled. “I’d love for this to be a beginning. I mean, I don’t expect her to open her arms wide and invite me into her life, but I want to see her again.” He shrugged. “I want to send her presents on her birthday and get invited to her graduation. That’s probably too much to hope for, isn’t it?”
She shook her head, her eyes smarting with tears. “No,” she said softly. “I think it could happen if you set your intent.”
The line to exit the plane began to move, and they filed into the aisle and walked off. Todd put the bags down and pulled out his phone. “Okay, I’m calling,” he said.
Two hours later they pulled up in front of Amber’s dorm building and a tall young woman with long auburn hair walked out to the car.
He got out. “Amber?”
She smiled. She looked like her mother, but it was his smile. He
held out a hand and she shook it, but he changed his mind and hugged her.
“I’ve been waiting twenty years to meet you,” he said by way of explanation.
She gave a nervous laugh, returning the hug. “Yeah. I know.”
He turned, sensing Lucy had stepped out of the rental car as well. “This is my fiancée, Lucy,” he said.
If Amber was surprised to see a woman not much older than herself, she didn’t show it. Instead, she shook hands with Lucy and got in the back seat of the car, giving him directions to a nearby cafe.
“I can’t believe you are interviewing at Duke. This is just so crazy! I mean, what are the chances?”
“I have to admit, I was nervous to meet you,” he said to ease the awkwardness. “It’s not a situation I have in my playbook.”
“I know what you mean,” she said. “I had a shot of tequila before you picked me up.”
A protective instinct made him want to talk to her about the dangers of using alcohol to lower inhibitions, but he reined himself in. He wasn’t in a fatherly role. They were complete strangers, in fact.
They sat down at a busy restaurant and ordered. And then, as she had requested, he told her the circumstances of her birth. Amber listened with rapt attention while Lucy traced circles on his knee under the table, signaling her support.
Amber told him about her life as an only child, adopted by older parents who had doted on her. “So it’s been a good life,” she said, summing it up. ‘I have no hard feelings or regrets. I just wanted to know you, that’s all.”
His heart tightened. “I wanted to know you, too.”
“Well, I hope you get the job here, so we can spend some time together,” she said.
He looked at Lucy, somehow feeling her pep talk had something to do with the success of the meeting. “I would really like that.”
“Maybe I could show you both around campus tomorrow? Before or after your interview?”
“Yeah, that would be great,” he said, warmth filling his chest.
They drove her back to her dorm room and he stopped and put the car in park. “I’m sorry it took me so long to register,” he said. “I want you to know that it’s not because I didn’t think about you, because I did. I always felt something missing in my life because I didn’t know what had happened to you.”
She gave him a forgiving smile. “And now you do. No worries—I only started looking a couple years ago.” She leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek. “Nice to meet you. You seem like a really cool guy.”
She got out and slammed the door, waving as she walked away.
He looked over at Lucy and exhaled. “Thank you for this. You made this happen.”
She squeezed his hand. “I’m so glad it went well for you.”
He drove to the hotel, where he collapsed in a chair and pulled Lucy onto his lap. “What a momentous day.”
She nuzzled his neck, softening to fit against his body.
“I got engaged to the woman of my dreams and I found my daughter, who I never hoped to meet.”
She sat up and held his face to kiss him. “Are we really engaged?”
“Yes,” he said, stroking her cheek with his thumb. “I want this. I want you. Forever.”
“Me too,” she said, settling back against him.
Chapter Ten
Lucy stood in Todd’s bedroom, unpacking her things from the boxes they had moved from her place. After their trip to Durham, he had insisted she move in completely.
The interviews had gone well, and they were treated as if they already had the positions, with the faculty and department head treating them like visiting royalty.
When they left, Dr. Ruefield had shaken Todd’s hand. “Expect a formal offer by next week, but we want you,” he said. “Both of you,” he added, holding out his hand to her.
They had received the offer that afternoon, and had celebrated by going out to dinner. Now, she just needed to get some order in the bedroom so they could sleep.
“A ha,” Todd said, pulling the ping pong ball set out of one of her boxes. “I never did punish you for this.”
“Yes you did. You punished me like three times already.”
“And I planned on punishing you five. One for each day of bratty cock-teasing. Let’s see...I remember the panty restriction, the hairbrush consequences, and the changing in my office, so that leaves…ah yes, there was a belt, too. Where is it?”
She had begun to get giggly in the “little girl who wants to shriek and be chased” way. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, trying to snatch the ping pong paddle from him as he spun it in his fingertips.
He took the hint and lunged, picking her up and carrying her kicking to the bed, where he promptly began to paddle her backside. She shook with laughter over his thighs, enjoying the attention.
“Hmm, these don’t hurt much at all, do they?” he asked, whacking harder. She kicked in response, but couldn’t lie—it didn’t hurt at all, especially with her jeans on. “I have an idea,” he said, pushing her to stand. He took her hand. “Come with me, young lady.”
He led her into the bathroom, where he pushed her over the counter, reaching around the front, to unbutton her jeans and shimmy them down, over her hips. The panties followed. “You see, the problem here is this rubber coating softens the blows,” he said, smacking her several times.
“Ouch. No, I think it was the jeans. It works fine now!”
“What I’m thinking,” he said, ignoring her, “is that wet rubber might have more of an effect.” He turned on the faucet, slicing the paddle under the stream.
This time when he spanked her, she screamed, the water adding a significant sting.
“Ah, yes. Far more effective, isn’t it?” He began to spank rapidly, right in the center of her lower buttocks and thighs. Right over her pussy.
She squealed and tried to list away to dodge the blows, but he caught her around the waist and held her in place for her spanking.
He smacked away until she panted from the pain.
“Okay! Okay! I give! Mercy!”
“Say, ‘I will never tease my professor again’,” he instructed.
“I will never, ever tease my professor again!”
He released her waist and she stood up, clutching her panties. “Leave those down. Bring me the belt.”
She froze. “Uh...I don’t think I have that belt anymore,” she lied.
He chuckled. “All right,” he said, and for one disappointing moment she thought he’d left her off the hook, but he unbuckled his own belt, sliding it from the loops. “That’s one spanking for the shenanigans with the belt, and one for lying.”
She covered her bottom with her hands. “Eek! No!” she said, trying to dodge past him.
He caught her easily and spun her around. “Hands on the bathtub.”
She leaned over, putting her hands on the edge of the tub, as instructed. The first slap of leather made her catch her breath, the pain a shock, even after the warm up with the ping pong paddle. She gasped as he laid stroke after stroke across her quivering cheeks. “Todd,” she cried. “I’m sorry!”
When he didn’t answer, she became momentarily confused, thinking he might be truly angry with her for lying. Plummeting into the role of shamed and sorry, she began to plead and he whipped her, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. Please…”
“Shh,” he said, his hand on her back. He pulled her pants the rest of the way off her legs and helped her step out of them. “Stand up and turn around,” he said gently. When she did, he folded her into his arms, cupping her welted bottom in his hands. He kissed her face and neck. “Shh, baby. You’re okay. You’re my good girl now.”
She looped her arms around his neck, lifting her face for his kisses.
He met her lips with his, licking into her mouth with a passion that made her stand on her tiptoes for more. He grasped her thighs, lifting her to straddle him and carrying her into the bedroom where he laid her on the bed.
&nbs
p; “Sweet girl,” he murmured, covering her body with his own. “You always take your spankings so well.”
She arched up at him, wanting to be ravished in every possible way. He pulled off his clothes in record time and ripped open a condom. She spread her thighs to welcome him while he rolled the thin rubber over his beautiful cock.
“Will you have my babies, some day, Lucy?” he asked as he lowered over her and pushed in.
She clawed his shoulders, her head dropping back. “Yes,” she breathed. “I’d have them now if you asked me to.”
He smiled, propping his weight on his hands and pumping into her. “Ph.D. first, little girl. Then children.”
She lifted her knees in the air, rolling her pelvis up to take him deeper inside her. “Oh, God, Todd.” She loved the way he took care of her—honoring her career as much as his own. Every time he said things like that, she learned to trust in him and their future more. She wrapped her legs around his back and used them to pull him in harder.
Todd transformed from lover to dominant in the blink of an eye, his expression changing to icy fire. “Someone wants to get fucked hard,” he said, pushing himself up to his knees. He slapped her breast, shocking her with the unexpected assault, though it did not hurt much.
Her pussy gushed in response and he slapped her breast again. He pulled out. “Turn over and get on your knees.”
She scrambled up, flipping over onto her hands and knees.
“On your forearms, not your hands. In supplication.”
“Yes, sir,” she murmured, lowering her torso.
He grasped her hips and shoved into her, bracing her as he banged her hard from behind. She turned to jelly, loving the feeling of objectification or maybe it was servitude. She moaned, needing it deeper, harder, faster.
He delivered, bringing them both to a smashing climax, their cries of ecstasy mingling and echoing off his walls. She lowered to her belly and he followed, still buried inside her, draping his large frame over her small one, cocooning her with his love.
“Professor Todd...”
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