by Lila Bella
“Damn, baby,” he said, as he pulled a paper towel off the roll on the counter. He came back over and wiped himself off of me.
“Mmm, indeed, baby.” I turned around after he moved away and threw the paper towel in the trash. I watched him put his thick shaft back in his pants and zip them up.
He came over to me and pulled my panties up, followed by my jeans, kissing me lightly on my lips as he did. I brushed my fingertips across the stubble on his chin.
Maybe things weren’t as bad as I had thought they were after all.
“I needed that.” He let the words out like a breath he’d been holding too long and smiled at me.
“Apparently I did, too.” I kissed him again. This time, our lips lingered together a little longer, pressing together a little harder.
“I’m sorry things have been strange.”
“Don’t,” I told him, grinning and putting a finger against his lips. He had more than made up for the strange emotions I’d been feeling.
4 - Jude
“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” I told Hollie.
“You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this,” she said, as she smiled and kissed me lightly on the lips.
“Alright, then, let’s do it.”
I pulled the sliding glass door to the patio open and led her into the backyard where everyone was hanging out. I’d decided to put the failure of that last deal at work behind me, and I was hosting a barbecue at the house that weekend.
I invited everyone who had worked on that deal as well as my secretary and the boys. I walked Hollie up to where the guys were standing around the grill, each one holding a beer. Pittman, of course, had moved behind the grill in my absence.
“Hollie, these are the boys. Jay, Lane, and Pittman there behind the grill.”
Jay and Lane both raised their beers to her and nodded. Pittman looked over the grill, unlit cigar hanging out of his mouth, as always. He gave her his stupid smile and held up the tongs.
“It’s a pleasure to meet all of you.” She looked at each one of them as she spoke, holding Kaylee on her hip.
“You, too,” Pittman called from around his cigar, still behind the grill. He’d gone back to the food, no longer looking over the grill.
“Is this Kaylee?” Lane looked at me in amazement as he stepped over to Hollie to look at the baby.
“Yep. Can you say hey to Uncle Lane?” Hollie turned, bringing her closer to Lane.
“Ha! Uncle Lane. I love it. Hey there, cutie. You’re going to knock ‘em dead when you’re older, aren’t you?” He nudged her shoulder, and she laughed. Then, he looked over at me. “You got a cute kid, Jude. Way to go.”
“Thanks. Are you guys okay here? I’m going to take Hollie around to meet everyone else.” I pointed my beer at each one for a response.
Jay nodded and Lane shrugged. Pittman waved a dismissive hand at me. Hollie walked back over by my side moved off with me, still holding Kaylee on her hip.
She didn’t seem bothered to carry her that way, and the baby seemed to enjoy being out of her various seats and carriers.
“Why didn’t you bring her out here in the stroller?” I had to ask. It didn’t seem like Hollie to be so hands-on with her.
“I think she likes it like this better. We’ve been trying to connect more lately. Besides, she doesn’t need to be cooped up all the time.”
Her answer surprised me. At first, she’d treated Kaylee like she was only the subject of the job she was doing. Now she was treating her like a baby. It was nice to see her putting in the extra effort.
Something about watching her take a little pride in the child she was caring for made me want her even more than I already did.
“Here, Hollie, I want to introduce you to Janet, my secretary. Janet has been asking me about Kaylee since she knew I was going to have a kid, and she’s been asking about you since I told her you were being hired for the job.”
We made it to Janet as I finished telling Hollie about her. She turned around at the sound of my voice, and her face broke into a wide, joyous smile. She hugged both of them and kissed both of their cheeks.
“You must be Hollie. You probably don’t remember me from the day you came in, but I’m glad you got the job.” She wrinkled her nose as she talked.
“Thanks, I guess.” Hollie smiled nervously, not realizing Janet was the kind of person who probably would have said that to anyone who landed the job, not only to her.
“And you must be Kaylee.” She turned her attention to my daughter, giving her a kiss on the cheek. “Can I hold her?” she asked Hollie.
“You’ll have to ask him,” she said, nodding her head towards me.
“Yeah, of course.” I nodded to both of them and watched as Hollie turned the baby over to Janet.
“Hey, cutie. Aren’t you just adorable?”
I laughed as I watched Janet turn to mush in my daughter’s presence. Hollie looked anxious, like she was uncertain about letting a stranger hold Kaylee. Janet wasn’t a stranger, though.
She’d worked for me for a while, so I knew her pretty well. She was okay, and I wanted Hollie to know that, so I stepped over and put a calming hand on her shoulder. I could feel her relax under my touch almost immediately.
“Do you mind if I hold her for a bit? That way you two don’t have to worry about her for a few minutes so you can grab a bite to eat or mingle or something.”
I glanced at Hollie, who was also shooting me a sidelong glance. I smirked at her, knowing full well what I’d like to do with a few free minutes.
“I think that will be okay. Don’t you, Hollie?”
“As long as you’re okay with it, I am,” she said.
“Thanks. Now, you two run along and enjoy be adults for a little while.” She talked to us like we were both Kaylee’s parents, or like we were a couple.
I wondered if she knew, if she could tell that there was something going on between us.
“Come on.” I grabbed Hollie’s hand and pulled her along with me.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.” I pulled her back into the house, through the living room and kitchen, into the family room, closing and locking the door as I pushed her up against it.
My lips were on hers in an instant. At first, her body was tense, unsure of what we were doing. She pulled back from the kiss and put her hands on my chest.
“I want you so fucking much right now.” My words came out breathlessly, my lust for her stealing the very breath from my lungs.
“Are you sure this is okay?”
I could feel her struggling against her desire. While she pulled her face back from mine and pushed against my chest, she was grinding her hips against me.
She clenched my shirt in her fists, pulling me against her even as she kept her face back from me.
“Who cares if it is? Kaylee’s in good hands. You don’t have to worry about her.”
“Then, fuck me,” she hissed, kissing me passionately with her tender, juicy lips.
I pulled her away from the door and tossed her down on the couch in front of the TV. She immediately started pulling her pants down, lifting her legs as she threw her jeans and panties on the floor, exposing her beautiful bare lips to me, so delicate and pink.
I ran a finger up between them, sliding it along her slit until I felt her clitoris.
She grabbed my arm and arched her back as I flicked my finger back and forth across the little nub of pleasure tucked between her sweet, wet folds. She moaned and rocked her hips.
She was so responsive to me, and it made me even harder to watch her writhe in pleasure under my touch. I slid my finger back down, wetting it as it crossed her entrance before sliding it backup and working her clit some more.
“Please. I want you inside me,” she said between panting breaths, letting go of my arm and running her hands up and down along her body.
“Not yet,” I taunted her with a grin on my face. I continued to work
her with the tip of my finger as my other hand slid my pants down, grabbing a condom from my pocket at the same time.
Her body suddenly, violently jerked, and she cried out. She rocked her hips frantically against my hand, panting harder, faster, and whimpering as if the pleasure she felt was too intense for her body to hold it all in.
I pulled my hand back, watching her slide her fingers into place to finish herself off as I opened the packet and rolled the condom down my shaft.
I parted her legs and climbed on top of her, sliding myself into her warm, wet sex. She looked up at me through eyelids heavy with ecstasy as her body rocked against mine.
It didn’t take me long. I was already almost there after watching her cum on my couch. She grabbed my waist and guided me into her and back, helping me move exactly the way she needed me to.
Her breath came in short, sharp gasps as her body continued to jerk beneath me. I pressed myself all the way inside her, letting her rolling hips ride my cock.
“You’re so tight,” I said, as I felt her clenching muscles start to work my orgasm up from the base of my shaft.
I put an arm around behind her neck, across her shoulders. I held her steady as I thrust myself into her, moving faster, thrusting harder as I neared my own orgasm. I finally shoved myself deep inside her, and she arched her back, moaning, holding her body still against mine.
“I’m cumming,” I told her. “Fuck, I’m cumming.”
I erupted inside her, filling the condom with my warmth. I started thrusting against her, grunting, working every last drop of me out of my cock, emptying myself.
She moaned beneath me, panting as her body began to come down from our shared ecstasy. I slowed down again as I finished, and she opened her eyes as I pulled out of her.
“Holy shit,” she exclaimed.
I chuckled as I tossed the full condom into the trash can in the corner of the room. I wiped myself off with a tissue from the box on the table and started to put my clothes back on.
I watched as she sat up and grabbed her panties from the floor. She pulled them up to her knees and stood to pull them the rest of the way up.
“You are amazing,” I told her. “Absolutely amazing.”
I walked over and kissed her before she could grab her jeans. She put her soft hands on either side of my face and held me close as our lips and tongues worked together. The kiss was both tender and passionate, both loving and lustful.
When we broke the kiss, she bent down and pulled her jeans up, zipping and buttoning them before walking out of the room with me.
At the door, she stopped me and gave me a hug, resting her head against my chest for a moment. I stroked her hair, and kissed the top of her head.
“We need to get back out there,” I urged her.
“Yeah, I need to grab Kaylee. I’m sure your secretary didn’t plan on holding her all day. That’s my job,” she chuckled. “Among other things, apparently.”
I laughed with her as we walked together to the back door. I let her out ahead of me, and while she went to collect the baby, I walked back over to where the guys were starting to pull food from the grill.
“Looks like someone had a private party inside,” Lane remarked when I walked up.
“I guess we know how she got the job,” Pittman added.
“Was it good at least?” Jay took a swig of his beer.
“Guys, come on. Show some respect.”
“Oh yeah, like you show her by taking her in the back room and emptying your sack before bringing her back out to show her off some more. Yeah, that seems legit.”
“Lane!”
While Lane took a victory sip of beer, the other two cackled with laughter, their eyes wide with hysterical delight. But they weren’t looking at me.
I turned around to see where they were looking, and I saw Hollie standing with Kaylee in her arms. The look on her face turned my stomach into a pit of ice.
“Hollie,” I called as she turned toward the house. “Hollie, come on.”
“Don’t worry about her, man. She’s just the nanny,” Pittman said.
“You guys are jerks. You know that? You’re going to ruin this barbecue acting like that.”
“Whatever, man, like you care. We watched you take her inside just to bang her one good time. I mean, I get it. It’s hot seeing a girl take care of your kid like it’s her own.”
Lane took another sip of his beer. I couldn’t tell if he was serious, kidding, or simply drunk.
“I would’ve nailed it,” Jay added.
“Hell yeah, man. I’d have to tap that every time she bent over.” Pittman even pulled his cigar out of his mouth for that one.
I shook my head and turned away, looking at the house. The cook-out was supposed to be a good thing. I’d wanted Hollie to meet everyone and have a good time. She wasn’t just the nanny.
She was really doing everything she could to make the house feel like a home, making sure we ate meals together when we could, trying to bring all three of us together as much as possible instead of letting us get separated from each other in that house, in this life.
5 - Hollie
“How’d the rest of the party go?”
I didn’t look up from the book I was reading on my tablet when he walked into the family room. The room still smelled like sex, but it was the only room in the house that felt homely.
Everything else reminded me of his friends and coworkers, of their humor and their cliques.
“It would have been better if you could have been there.” He plopped down on the other chair and kicked the legs out, leaning back in it.
“Yeah, I thought it would have been nice to meet your friends and some people from work, but it was pretty obvious I was seen as the help.” I still didn’t look up.
“I’m really sorry about that, Hollie. I wish things could have been different, but they don’t know you. They don’t see the person I do.”
“They won’t ever know me if they act like that.” I looked up then, meeting his stare with my eyes.
“Janet seemed to like you. She treated you like a person. Hell, she talked like we were a couple.”
He sounded like he was pleading with me, trying to get me to believe that all of his friends and coworkers weren’t jerks.
“Yeah, she talked like that in front of you. She wanted you to hear those words. When I went back to get your daughter, she handed her over to me the way she would have handed a drink off to a bus boy.”
I set my tablet aside. If we were going to have this talk right now, then I wanted to be all in.
“I don’t know what to say, Hollie. I’m sorry.”
He was exasperated and tired. I could hear it in his voice and see it in his eyes, but I couldn’t tell if he was mad at me for being upset or if he was mad at everyone else for putting us in this situation. He lay back and put an arm across his face, covering his eyes.
“I brought some of the food in if you want any. There are a couple of pieces of chicken, a couple of burger patties, and a few hotdogs left. I didn’t see you get anything to eat, so I made sure to grab some for you before they ate it all.”
He spoke in a flat, monotone voice, like he didn’t expect a response from me at all anymore.
“Thanks, but I’m not hungry. I ate earlier.”
That was a lie. I hadn’t eaten. I hadn’t been able to eat. I was so distraught over the way his friends acted towards and about me that I’d lost my appetite.
Nothing sounded appealing, least of all anything that they had cooked on the grill for everyone else. I certainly didn’t want leftovers, not from that crowd.
“It’s in there if you get hungry later then,” he added, not making the effort to continue to apologize or to try to fight about it. I was grateful for that.
“Well, I’m going to bed now. Are you going to be up for a while?” I stood up and grabbed my tablet so I could put it on the charger upstairs.
“I think so. I need some time to relax.”
“Okay. I’ll go to sleep in my room then. I don’t want to be disturbed when you come to bed.” I started toward the door.
The thing was, I wasn’t as angry as I sounded. By the time he had come into the room, I would say I was more numb than anything else.
I’d spent the entire afternoon and evening stewing in my anger and revulsion, in my hurt. I didn’t feel anything anymore. I was just tired and wanted the day to end so I could stop thinking about how I’d been treated.
“Hollie, don’t be like that. I don’t want you going to bed angry or upset with me.”
I stopped with my hand on the doorknob and turned back to look at him. He’d gotten up from the recliner and stared at me with his tired eyes. If anyone needed to go to bed, it was him.
He looked completely worn out from spending the afternoon outside with everyone. He looked like he felt the same way I did, but he seemed to see what happened a little differently.
“I’m not angry or upset, Jude. I’m tired. Today was rough, and I’d like to get some sleep to put it behind us, okay? I know you’re not to blame for the way your friends dismissed me as an easy lay and just another hand around the house. That’s on them, and I really don’t want to take it out on you, okay?”
My voice felt heavy in my throat. I didn’t even want to talk at all.
“I’m really sorry about all of that. I didn’t know the guys were going to act like that, but you didn’t have to disappear. I think they saw that as a kind of victory over you.”
“A victory over me? That doesn’t make any sense, Jude.” I put a hand on my hip. I was taking the bait, and I knew I was, but he was still trying to put it all on me somehow.
“I think they were jealous. Same with Janet.”
“Your friends and your secretary are jealous of me? What do they think we’re doing here, Jude? Do they think we’re dating?”
I saw an opportunity to get him to admit how he really felt about me, how he really saw me, I wasn’t about to pass it up. I pressed on.
“I don’t know what they think, Hollie. I mean, you have to realize, before Kaylee came along, I went out with the guys every single night after work. We’re all professionals. We all have high-paying, high-stress jobs, and we grew up together, so it’s like old times for a couple of hours after work. Who am I kidding? Even after Kaylee was born, I was still hitting the bar every other night or so. It wasn’t until Marie left us that I stopped. And they got it; they understood that.”