by Jane Price
Dante grabbed onto her shoulders and kept her upright. She fought to keep her eyes on his until the dizziness subsided.
“Don’t like blood, huh?”
“It’s not my favorite.” She said, no longer meeting his eyes. Her voice was barely audible. “You should go.”
He studied her through his thick lashes, eventually nodding. “I should.”
He backed away from the counter and helped her down before heading to the door. Jacqueline struggled to keep up to his long stride and when they had almost reached the door he stopped and turned around to her so abruptly that she nearly bumped into his chest.
She gasped as he caught her by the elbows and pushed her against the wall. He lowered his face down to hers and when he spoke his voice was low, kind. “You gotta let go, Jac. If you don’t do it you’ll crash when you least expect it. Stop trying to be strong for everyone. She’s gone. Let go.”
“I don’t know how.” She whispered, eyes searching his for the answer.
His rough features softened, hands running up the back of her arms. She repressed a shiver as he moved in closer. Grabbing onto the back of her arms, Dante pulled her in to a rough kiss. Heat and desire mixed as his tongue nudged her lips apart. She hesitated, only for a second, before she kissed him frantically, putting all the repressed stress and fear from the past days, years, into it.
His hand slipped to the back of her head, long fingers tangling in her hair, cushioning her head from the wall as he pushed her into it. Jacqueline’s hands tore at his belt, his zipper. Fingers desperate for his touch, for any sensation that made her forget. He seemed to recognize her urgency, working his free hand up under the bottom of her shirt. The touch of his hand on her skin sent surges of need through her body.
It had been a long time since she let anyone get this close to her. It scared her and it excited her. Wet heat pooled between her legs as his fingers crept up to cup her breast. Experienced fingers rolled her nipple between his finger and thumb. She arched into his touch, savoring his rough touch.
She was so close to him that she could feel his growing erection pressing into her. She liked knowing that he was as turned on as she was. She pressed herself into him, craving the feel of him against her, the distraction he could prove to be. Dante growled against her lips and moved his hand down until it was working its way up her black skirt. He was direct, aggressive, everything she needed right now.
Jacqueline tried to repress a moan when he slipped a finger past her folds and into her center.
“Don’t hold back, baby. Let it go.” He said. His eyes on her made her nervous, but when his thumb stroked her clit, Jacqueline couldn’t hold back anymore and let out a cry of pleasure. Dante smiled down at her and captured her lips once again.
She resumed her efforts to undo his pants, trying to focus while his fingers delved further into her. He was bringing her the brink of pleasure and Jacqueline was worried that she would fall off the other side too quickly. She never wanted this feeling to end.
Finally freeing him from his jeans, she pulled out his cock and stroked it between their bodies. At her touch, Dante untangled himself from her mass of hair and his hand receded from her aching center. She stopped, afraid that she did something wrong, only to have Dante reach down and pull her skirt down her legs. Moving back to her, he deftly picked her up, using the wall to support her back and his arms under her. She could feel his cock rubbing against her clit and she couldn’t help pushing into it, hoping the warm flesh would staunch the ache but it only proved to intensify it.
Dante’s eyes were dark with desire now and she felt empowered to know that she had put that look there. He gripped his cock and with deliberate strokes, Dante flicked the head against her clit. She wriggled against the sensation. She hadn’t been with many men, and none of them had been this direct. This experienced. Trepidation crept in and her heart raced as she remembered why she didn’t do this very often. Clearly he had more experience with this than her. She didn’t want to disappoint him. Her eyes desperately searched his.
“It’s been a long time.” She said, a nervous tone creeping into her voice.
“Yeah? How long?” His rough voice rumbled as he pushed into her, his cock stretching her, her body accepting him.
She inhaled a sharp breath, overwhelmed by the flood of sensation pulsating from her center. “Too long.” She said on a long exhale.
Dante gripped her hips tighter and brought her down on him, burying himself in her tight sheath. She watched the muscles in his arms tighten and relax as he pumped her into his body. Pinned against the wall with Dante holding her in place she could do little. So she melted into his movements and handed herself over to him.
She closed her eyes and let her head tip back against the wall, experiencing each sensation with absolute clarity. A delicious tension spiraled out from her core and she clenched tight, intensifying the sensation. Dante grunted and she looked at him through hooded eyes. His eyes were watching her body, her pleasure, with an appreciation she couldn’t comprehend. The carnal desire in his eyes on her dissolved any feeling of self-consciousness that she felt earlier. Just the opposite, it spurred her on. She brought her hands up to run through his hair like she had imagined earlier.
Dante pounded her against him, a bead of sweat breaking against his forehead. Jacqueline could feel her body tightening in bliss, frozen in a state of ecstasy, with each pummel of his cock. Her hands clenched in his hair at the first tremors of her orgasm. Lost in her release, Dante’s groan of his own pleasure radiated through her.
When their shudders subsided Dante rested his head on her chest, breathing rough. Her fingers relaxed, releasing his hair from her grasp, which she only vaguely remembered doing.
“Sorry if that hurt.” She said, embarrassed at how out of character she acted.
He lifted his head to look at her, incredulous. “You couldn’t hurt me if you tried, baby.”
Her stomach fluttered, excited and nervous to be on such unfamiliar territory. Pulling away from the wall, Dante carried her into the living room and sat on the couch, Jacqueline on his lap.
“I’m glad I got to see you relax, even if it was for just a couple minutes.” He said, urging her against his shoulder. She laid against him, letting him run his hands over her back. She listened to his heart beating and thought about his words. Maybe he was right, she was always on pins waiting for Whitney to show up or waiting to run and bail her out of whatever trouble she had got herself into. Maybe she could relax now for the first time in a long time.
She had never had a one night stand before and the rules for how to proceed afterwards were foreign to her. She knew he had to leave before Penny woke up in the morning, though.
“You should probably go.” She mumbled against his chest, sleepy.
“Yeah. I should.” He said, though he made no motion to leave and the soft pull of his fingers stroking her hair felt too good for her to worry about propriety.
“I don’t know what happens next.” She said with a yawn and even she wasn’t sure if she was talking about just for now or for her future.
“Just lay down and be happy for a minute. You worry too much.” He shifted his hips until they were laying on their sides, still facing one another, cuddled on the narrow couch.
Jacqueline lay her head back on his stretched out arm. The tips of her fingers lightly traced the lines of his tattoos until her eyes felt heavy and the sleep she had been chasing for days finally caught up to her. Through the haze of sleep she vaguely felt Dante getting up. He pulled a blanket over her and pressed a kiss to her cheek. She snuggled down into the blanket before she drifted back into sleep, the heavy sound of his boots across the hardwood was the last things she heard.
******
The next few days went by in a blur. There were less visitors as each day passed, and that left more time for just her and Penny. When Jacqueline looked at her niece she saw so much of Whitney in her and it scared her. If she hadn’t been able to
stop her sister from making the choices she had what were the chances she could do that for Penny? It was like she had been given a do-over, but she was too scared of screwing it up again.
She took small hope in the little things Penny did that were nothing like her mother. When Whit was little she could never sit still. She would always drag Jacqueline around behind her in another one of her imaginative schemes. She was such a live wire. But for as active as a 7 year old can be, Penny could sit and color for an hour at a time, or read for ages.
Jacqueline looked at her now, sitting on the couch drawing in her notebook. She looked so sweet, so sad. Jacqueline grabbed a magazine and settled down beside her little niece, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. They sat quietly together until the phone got her up again. She went into the kitchen to answer it.
“Ms. Gibson?”
“Yes”
“I’m calling from Mr. Dougson’s office.”
“Yes?” Jacqueline said, curious why her attorney’s secretary was calling.
“Mr. Dougson wanted me to arrange a time for you to come in to discuss some details pertaining to your custody of Miss Jacobs.”
Jacqueline stilled at the mention of Penelope. “What details?”
“Someone has stepped forward to challenge your custody.”
“Who?” Her mind raced to think of the possibilities, but she came up empty.
“He is claiming to be Miss Jacobs’ father.”
Jacqueline couldn’t keep the surprise from her voice. There had never been a father in Penny’s life. When Whitney got pregnant she said she didn’t know who the father was and that she didn’t care to find out. No one ever came around looking for a baby, which wasn’t surprising because Jacqueline had grown accustomed to Whitney never coming around with the same man twice.
She looked into the next room at Penny. She had been through so much, not just this past week but her whole life. It hurt to know that even now she wasn’t being given the chance at stability. Jacqueline wanted to hang up the phone, move away, and pretend she never heard any of this. But she didn’t. She made an appointment with Mr. Dougson for the end of the week.
******
Jacqueline sat in the waiting room of the lawyer’s office. She straightened the strap of her purse on her lap for the tenth time since arriving. Her eyes were drawn up to the clock on the wall, watching the second hand tick by slowly. When she arrived Connie, Mr. Dougson’s secretary told her that he was in meeting with Penny’s father and his attorney and they wouldn’t need her just yet. So she sat. Waiting.
When finally the door opened Jacqueline jumped to her feet and met the lawyer just outside his door. He smiled kindly to her before ushering her into his office. Jacqueline took a moment to survey the other people in the room, to lay her eyes on the person claiming to be Penny’s father. She looked to the other end of the conference table to the man sitting beside a grey haired lawyer. Jacqueline couldn’t quite believe that she was seeing things properly. Beside the lawyer was Dante.
She looked up at Mr. Dougson, who merely urged her to sit. Standing across from Dante she could see he looked just as perplexed as she was. She turned to Mr. Dougson.
“Please tell me this is just a hoax?” She lamented.
“I’m sorry Jackie, but Mr. McKenna has a pretty legitimate claim to Penelope.” His professional voice gave nothing away.
“How legitimate?”
“He has a paternity test dated around the time she was born.”
“But she’s never met him before. If he knew this whole time why does he want her now?”
From across the table Dante stood up.
“What is she doing here?” His voice boomed at her.
“I’m sorry Mr. McKenna. It seems we jumped right past introductions. This is Ms. Gibson. She is to whom Ms. Jacobs left custody of Penelope Jacobs. And Jackie this is Mr. McKenna and Mr. Jeffers who represents him.”
“You’re Penelope’s guardian?”
“I am. I’m the only family Penny knows.”
“The two of you have met?” Mr. Dougson asked.
“We have, but I didn’t know her last name at the time.” His eyes raked over her body and she felt her cheeks warm. This situation was bad enough, she didn’t need to throw feeling ashamed of her first ever one night stand in the mix.
“Well why don’t we all sit and talk about the case that Mr. McKenna is bringing forward.” Mr. Dougson said, pulling her chair out. She held Dante’s stare until he relented and sat down, then she sat too.
While the lawyers traded their jargon, Jacqueline watched Dante. He was dressed just as poorly as he was the night she met him, the scruff on his face was gone, though, revealing his striking cheekbones. Jacqueline gave herself a mental shake, reminding herself that he was the enemy. She tuned back into what Mr. Dougson was saying at the mention of her name.
“Well Ms. Gibson was legally named as the guardian, and there is the question of his absence in the girl’s life up until this point.”
“Mr. McKenna is the biological father of the girl and he has the means and desire to support her.”
“That’s true, but if we can’t come to some kind of amicable agreement things will have to be settled with the help of a mediator.”
It all started to sound too overwhelming. Jacqueline had been there for Penny every chance she was given. She took her to buy new shoes or a jacket every time Whitney brought her around. She taught her how to tie her shoes. She loved her. And in an instant Penny was going to be taken away from her and put with some travelling rock star. How in the world could she save her from following the same path as her mother now?
“I just want what’s best for Penny.” She said, interrupting the lawyers back and forth.
“So do I.” The challenging stare Dante gave her intimidated her, but she wouldn’t let him know it. This had to do with more than her weaknesses. This was about Penny. Jacqueline would do anything for her family.
“Perhaps both sides should take some time to review all the factors and see if a compromise could be reached. I think I speak for both sides when I say no one wants to go to court for this. I can’t imagine it would be in the child’s best interest.”
Jacqueline nodded numbly. She didn’t think of having to go to court. The men moved around her, shaking hands and scheduling times to meet, but Jacqueline was oblivious to it all. All she could think of was Penny. Having this issued dragged out in court would be one more trauma that Penny just did not need. She had to work this out with Dante.
Looking around frantically, she saw Mr. Dougson standing at Connie’s desk and the other two men making their way to the elevator. Jacqueline rushed out of the office after Dante, catching up with him at the elevator.
“We need to talk, Dante.”
“Mr. McKenna is under no obligation to talk to you Ms. Gibson.”
“Take a break Gerry.” He said patting his lawyer on the back. Stepping forward he took her by the elbow a few paces from the elevator. “What’s up, Jac?”
“I can’t let this go through the courts. We need to figure this out.” He looked at her, thinking. Brooding eyes not giving anything away. “Please. Penny has been through enough.”
He finally nodded. “Sure. But not right now. I have a few things to finish up with Gerry. What if I swing by your place this afternoon?”
She nodded, trying not to let the smell of his cologne affect her. The elevator dinged behind them and Dante turned from her and headed to the elevator. She watched his retreating back and hoped that she could make him see that moving Penny around again was just not a good idea.
******
The hours seemed to pass slowly while Jacqueline waited for him. She had been able to enroll Penny in school even though it was so late in the year and she was thankful that it was a school day so she wouldn’t be here to witness what was about to unfold between her and Dante.
Pacing the house one more time Jacqueline couldn’t help but feel nervous and she wished
that it was just about Penny’s custody. She knew that part of it was thanks to her thoughtless decision to sleep with Dante. She never had sex with someone she just met, and the one time she does it comes back to bite her.
Even so she couldn’t think of it was a regret per se. That night with Dante had been the most relief she’d experienced in longer than she could remember. He had a way of taking control of things with ease, and Jacqueline was so tired of being the responsible one. She had slept peacefully that night, not haunted by thoughts that something bad could happen at any moment. And every night since she had fallen asleep thinking of those stolen moments and it had been the best week of sleep she had gotten in ages.
Jacqueline sighed and paced back to the living room. She would have to push those thoughts out of her head today, though. He was the enemy now.