by Amy Brent
His eyes probe me for an answer, but I’m too busy scanning them to give him one. Is he serious?
Clayton reaches up and strokes my lip, and it’s then that I realize I’m smiling.
“Don’t you dare ask me if I’m kidding you,” he warns. My smile only grows.
“Is that a yes?” he asks.
I throw my arms around him and deliver him a big smacking kiss.
Around us, the plane erupts into raucous applause as an attendant marches up.
“Sir,” she informs Clayton’s dopey, grinning face, “I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
“What a coincidence,” Clayton says, his hand slipping into mine. “We were just leaving.”
Chapter 9: Stevie - Happily Ever After, 1 Year Later
Could today get any better?
I lay on the super soft bed, waiting for Clayton to get out of the shower. It’s only been three days of our horse ranch vacation with Winston, but already it feels like I’ve been here forever, as if I’ve known the sweet, graceful horses we ride from noon to dusk since I was little. Clayton surprised me with this gift one night at a nice dinner, and so far, we all have been having the time of our lives—even Winston, who’s taken a special liking to a particular palomino pony in the ranch’s Little Riders program.
“It’s so you can have intel on what to expect for your own venture,” Clayton said easily when he presented the gift to me.
I only smiled and kissed him, but right now I’m really giving it some thought. Would opening my own ranch be such a crazy idea? After finally coming up with his own innovation—giant animals kids can ride in malls—Clayton has been pestering me to get on with my dream and stop testing out different university courses, none of which have seemed like the right fit.
In contrast, when I’m on a horse, breathing in the fresh country air, it’s just right.
Clayton has been nothing short of a dream himself. When he made his crazy last-ditch effort to stop me from going to Australia, I never thought it would lead to this. We were both uncertain about what the future might hold when I agreed that George and I would join him in Australia on his jet, but it turned out to be my best trip yet. We all had a fun time, Winston most of all. He became almost as enchanted with George as he was with me. And Clayton and I had a few choice nights to ourselves. We swam under the stars in the hotel’s lush pool and ate a candlelit dinner. George and I got some shopping in too, of course.
And now?
“Finished,” Clayton says, walking over casually, as if his whole glistening form isn’t gloriously naked.
I lick my lips. That is now.
Clayton shoots me a puzzled look.
“Why are your clothes still on?”
“You should’ve had a little bell to ring when you were finished so I could know when to start undressing,” I say with a smirk.
“No matter,” Clayton says, pinning me to the bed. “I’ll help you with that.”
Our lips press together as he undoes my pajama bottoms. His hand slips down to my ass and gives it an approving squeeze.
“No panties, just how I like it. Good girl.”
His lips seek out my neck and begin to nibble, his hands wandering over me. When they reach my pajama top, he lets out a little groan. He guides my hand to his already raging boner.
“What you do to me…”
“Sorry, you’re right,” I say unsympathetically. “Here, let me just help you with that.”
I scurry away to the opposite side of the bed. Clayton scrambles after me and pounces, pinning me on the bed.
“Oh no you don’t.”
He shoves his face in mine, and our tongues tangle. They go over and under and around. He sweeps his finger in between my legs for the finale. Then his lips slurp their way down to join his finger on a new mission.
A heated moan spills out of me.
Clayton’s taking his sweet time. As he fingers me, he tugs and kneads my pussy lips and strokes my upper thigh with his other hand. Meanwhile, his kisses dip lower, and lower, and lower.
My body is riddled with tremors. Every part of me is quaking in anticipation.
“Fuck, please Clayton,” I beg.
Flicking his head up, Clayton delivers a saucy, full-lipped smile. Then he dips down and gets to work.
His fingers were only playing with me before compared to the stroking they’re doing now. Not to mention his lips have locked around my swollen nub.
“So hot. So horny,” Clayton declares as he pauses.
Then he starts anew. There’s more finger-fucking, more clit sucking, more tongue lapping. My body sinks into the silken sheets deliriously.
The edge is in trembling sight.
Somehow, Clayton’s building his pace based on my heartbeat. Right now, it’s ricocheting rhythm is matched by his merciless thrusts. In unison, his finger and tongue sink in, urging me on. Everything is blackening, ridged with red and yellow. Sensations are colors that choke me. White hot. I’m almost there.
Thoughts are for suckers, and I’m having every thought sucked out of me.
My whole body clenches at the oncoming monster of an orgasm. I’m blind, deaf, and dumb. All I can feel, all I can experience, all I know is this feeling, this total nirvana of a feeling.
I’m suffocated by it, completely taken by it, and, when Clayton’s hand slaps my side, released from it. The feeling rockets through me, and I’m screaming. I’m screaming and clapping a hand over my mouth. Clayton rips my hand away so he can hear my scream. It’s music to his ears.
Then everything is quiet. Everything is over.
Clayton and I lay in each other’s arms forever after that. Or maybe not quite forever. Clayton’s eyes graze over me adoringly, as if we’ve known each other our whole lives, as if I’m the first female body he ever got to see.
“I’ve got something to tell you,” he says at some point.
Our eyes lock.
“That line hasn’t boded well for us in the past,” I point out.
He chuckles ruefully.
“I think I’ll take my chances this time.”
He gets something out a drawer and walks over to the side of the bed I’m on. Then, as I eye him quizzically, he gets down on one knee.
“What would you say if I were to ask you to marry me?”
He says it was such forced casualness that I eye him uneasily. “Don’t be a dick.”
His frown deepens. “Can you just answer the question?”
“Don’t get my hopes up like that,” I say.
During one of our sporadic midnight conversations, I learned that Clayton’s never seen himself as someone who wants to get married. And now, when he knows I’m the type of person who always has seen themselves getting married, he’s throwing it in my face?
He snaps open the felt box I didn’t notice until just now, and I gasp. My gaze softens and settles on his pale, rigid face.
“Is that your way of asking me?” I tease.
“Yes,” Clayton says simply. “Every day on this trip, I’ve been weighed down by this damn thing, and if I spend another sleepless night agonizing over if you’re going to say yes—”
“Yes,” I say simply.
Clayton’s harried gaze snaps to mine.
“What?”
I hold up my finger. “Yes, and yes, and yes.”
Clayton looks at my outstretched hand. Removing the ring from the box, he slips it on my finger, his gaze swooping up to meet mine.
“Can I just ask you one thing?”
I nod, tears pricking my eyes.
He gets up and kisses me sweetly. “Can we please not have a horse wedding? I love the things, but—”
Giggling, I throw my arms around him and give him a big smacking kiss on the cheek. “I make no promises.”
“Guess that calls for a celebration then,” Clayton says.
He reaches over to his messenger bag beside the bed and comes out with confetti. He throws it up and it sprinkles down on us, showering u
s with pink sparkles.
If I didn’t know any better, I would say our hearts were shedding their last defenses and spraying tears of joy.
***The End***
Turn the page to read another top 50 Amazon bestseller – First Love.
Second chances are so real at times. Come, fall in love!
Flip the page to read.
First Love
Chapter 1
Melissa
“Come on, Sarah! We’re going to be late.”
I saw my little girl running around the corner with her black curls bouncing around her face. She ran with her arms outstretched to me, and I swept her up into my arms. I spun her around, listening to her giggles as she held on tightly to me, and I breathed in the deep scent of her hair as I held her close.
This was the only time I seemed to experience happiness anymore. My nights were long and sleepless. I tossed and turned, fighting off a drone that kept going on inside my head. I didn’t recognize the sound. The only sound I was familiar with these days were the sounds of my tears soaking my pillow. My body ached and my shoulders creaked. My knees cracked and my back would pop. I’d look at my daughter sometimes, and I’d miss the joy in her eyes because I knew she was studying me.
But moments like this, where she was happy and carefree despite how I looked, were the times I longed for in her life. They reminded me I wasn’t a terrible mother and that we would be just fine without my happiness.
Without Carl.
Without her grandparents.
“Mommy? Go school, please?”
“Yes, sweetheart,” I said as I sniffled. “We’re going to get you to school.”
Sarah loved going to daycare. I always tried to time our arrivals to when Ava showed up with her son, Logan. Logan was the same age as Sarah and was also growing up without a father, though the circumstances were a bit different. I met Ava when I was hired as the accountant for the tech company we both work for, and we bonded over our mutual titles as single working mothers. She was the main desk receptionist and single-handedly kept all of our lives and schedules intact. She was the epitome of the strength I wished to possess. She talked about the day Logan’s father left them as if it was nothing, and yet I could hardly talk about Carl’s death without losing my eyeballs to the burning tears.
My husband perishing in a car accident before Sarah turned one was difficult enough, but every single day I looked at her, she seemed to look more and more like him. Sure, she had my dark hair, eyes, and skin, but her facial expressions were all him. Every time she smiled. Every time she ran. Every time she got upset or cried or laughed, he was etched upon her. In the creases of her eyes and the wrinkles on her hands. Even her little tush I still had to wipe was shaped like his.
“Mommy late,” Sarah said.
“Come on. Want to go see Logan?” I asked breathlessly.
“Logan!” she shrieked.
I piled her into the car and buzzed through town to get her to daycare. Ava was walking in with Logan as we pulled up, and Sarah started kicking the back of my seat.
“Mommy, Logan! Look, look, look!”
“I see them, sweetheart. Just be patient.”
“Logan here today!”
I climbed out of the car and called out to Ava. She turned around and waved just before Logan broke into a run across the parking lot. I called out for him, running toward him so he wouldn't get hit by any cars before I scooped him up. Ava came running in her heels, fear and anger etched on her face as she scolded him.
“What did I tell you about the street?”
“Don’t cross no Mommy,” he said.
“Yes. Don’t cross ever without Mommy. You hear me?”
“And good morning to you, too,” I said as I gave Logan back to Ava.
“It’s been one of those days already, and it’s only eight thirty,” she said, sighing. “Let’s get these kiddos dropped off, and maybe we can chance getting some decent coffee before we head to work.”
“Not me. I have a doctor’s appointment at three. I have to get to work and knock some things out before I leave early.”
“You all right, Mel?” she asked.
“Yeah, yeah. Just having some aches and pains that I don’t think are related to my sleeplessness.”
“The dreams of Carl coming back?” she asked.
“Mel, they’re always there,” I said, sighing.
We took the kids in and dropped them off. I watched Logan and Sarah scurry off hand in hand, and it brought tears to my eyes. The happiness and joy she found in this world made me both happy and jealous. I was so glad she didn’t seem to have my tendencies to be sad or down for no reason, but part of me wanted to experience the happiness she experienced. I wanted to experience the joy of simply holding hands with a friend like Mel was doing with me now. Even as the comfort from the warmth of her hand drifted up my arm, I still felt lifeless.
Empty.
Sad.
“I hope it’s nothing serious,” Ava said as we turned to head for the door.
“I’m sure it’s not. Just precautionary. Plus, if I’m lucky, I’ll get something to help me sleep. That’ll help with things.”
“Don’t I know it. I take a half a pill every night just to help me get there. Working single mothers don’t have it easy,” she said.
“You can say that again,” I said, giggling.
“I love that sound. You don’t do it enough,” she said.
“I know, I know.”
“You gotta let me know how it goes, all right? Call. Text. Email. Do something. I want to know before I eat dinner tonight,” she said.
“You’ve got my solemn promise.”
I hugged her neck tight and felt like crying. I tried to hold back my tears as I hugged her waist tightly, and for a moment, the world faded away. Ava had always been a very comforting person for me. She’d held my hand while I’d planned Carl’s funeral. She was there when I ranted about my parents and their lack of involvement in my life. She was there when I couldn’t sleep at two in the morning and wanted someone to talk to.
And she was here now, holding me in a parking lot as I cried on her shoulder.
“Did something happen with your parents again?” she asked.
“No.”
“And it’s not the dreams?” she asked.
“No.”
“Mel, have you considered the fact that you might be depressed?” she asked.
“I don’t fucking know anymore,” I said, sniffling.
“I hope you consider it. Be honest with the doctor. I’ve slowly watched you deteriorate over the past two years. You’ve lost weight. You’re forgetting things. Your smile has dwindled. I’m sure these aches and pains aren’t just popping up out of nowhere. Just be honest and open to whatever the doctor says, all right?”
“I will. I promise.”
I gave her one more hug before I hopped into the car. These were the moments when I wished I had my mother to talk with, moments when I wished my father was there to support me. They’d disowned me when I left home at eighteen to attend a regular university. Why? Because they wanted me to go to a community college and stay at home.
All my life, I’d been sheltered. I couldn’t watch television because it would mold my mind in unhealthy ways. I couldn’t eat specific foods because they would mold my body in unappealing ways. Things like dating and sex and emotions were never discussed, treated as if they didn’t exist, and if I didn’t come straight home from school, there was punishment to be had. Even when I started showing an interest in boys, my mother simply sat me down and told me there was only one thing on their minds, and that one thing had the ability to forever alter my body and change the course of my life forever.
And that was the only time we addressed it.
I pulled into the parking lot of the tech company and quickly made my way up to my office. I started knocking out things and calculating balances, going over budgets and preparing things for meetings. I gathered up all the materials I
’d need in order to hand them over to my boss, and by the time I caught a break to check the time, I had to leave for my appointment.
“Excuse me, sir?” I asked.
“Melissa! My favorite accountant. Come on in. What’s up?”
“I just wanted to remind you that I need to slip out for my doctor’s appointment,” I said.
“Yes, yes. You’re fine. Thank you for getting these budgets and final figures to me on time. How are we looking for the company holiday bonuses this year?” he asked.
“We can afford as much as fifteen percent of everyone’s annual salary,” I said.
“Fifteen percent? Wow. We must’ve had a good year,” he said, grinning.
“We did, sir.”
“Get on to that doctor’s appointment. Let me know if you’re all right. If you need time off, take it. You never do that and you should, you know. Especially with Sarah being the age she is.”
“If I need the time, I’ll let you know,” I said.