by Iris Parker
And she was right. I was a fool to pause for even one second, to look when I could touch and taste. What I needed from Jessie went so much deeper than that. I wanted her crazy with desire, mindless and driven to the brink of insanity with lust.
Jessie bit her lower lip with abandon, and I could feel her hands brushing against the imprint of my cock. Seconds later her fingers were inside my pants, slipping past the underwear and grasping the hardness herself. I groaned, my body full of aching tension and an unstoppable need to bury myself as deeply inside of her as I could.
Now.
Right now.
“Fuck,” I gasped as she stroked up and down my cock. I grabbed her wrist, forcing her to stop before the excitement ended early. I’d never had problems with controlling myself like that before, but everything about Jessie was a first for me, and I had a feeling that this would be no exception. I was already so close, my body trembling from it, but there was absolutely no way I’d be satisfied with anything less than burying myself deep inside of her.
She released her grasp and gave me a seductive smile, one that would’ve been enough to send me over the edge with the barest hint of a touch. With her hands now free she reached for my jeans again, this time working to free me from them entirely. Within seconds it was done, my cock jutting out in Jessie’s direction.
I reached between her thighs and my fingers came away slick—she was as ready for me as I was for her. Feeling more animal than man, I grabbed Jessie by the hips, once again pulling her body straight up against mine. This time there was nothing between us except my cock, pinned outside of her entrance and resting vertically along her lips. Jessie moaned and shivered as I teased her, sliding myself up and down across her most sensitive place. As much as I wanted to see and listen to her like this for hours, I didn’t think I could hold off for much longer.
I took a step back, quickly repositioning myself so I could push into Jessie’s inner folds. She gasped as she felt the tip of my penis begin to penetrate her, babbling and begging me to keep going. I pushed in deeper, my entire body pulsing in rhythm with my cock.
Jessie arched her back and I bent down to meet her halfway, taking her by surprise with a deep kiss straight on the lips. Our eyes locked and our arms wrapped around each other’s bodies, the kiss unbroken as we embraced tightly and explored each other’s bodies in full.
Thrusting harder inside of Jessie, I could feel her responding to every inch. Her body clenched, massaging me as I slid in and out of her, my rhythm matching her insistent groans of pleasure. She felt perfect around me, and I knew I wouldn’t last long.
But neither could she.
Reaching between us, I grazed her clit with the tip of my finger. It didn’t take much before she tensed up in my arms, throwing her head back with a ragged gasp. She started thrashing around wildly, her fingers buried deep in the flesh of my shoulders as pleasure took her. She came with a flurry of tight spasms and moans, delight washing over her face. Her entire body tightened, driving herself against me until I was all the way inside of her.
The power of it sent me over the edge, and within seconds I was gone too. I was consumed by my desire for Jessie. It swallowed me whole in a whirlwind of pleasure. Delirious with lust and adoration, my climax was incredible.
And so was the woman in my arms.
Jessie
This isn’t my bed, I realized, my first thoughts of the morning waking me up with a jolt of adrenaline. I tried to sit up, but the large bump in my belly came in the way, forcing me to roll sideways first.
That’s when I saw him, sitting in an armchair with a gentle smile on his face.
“Good morning, sweetie,” Alton said, his calm voice a sharp contrast to my own erratic and rapid heartbeat. I finished sitting up and pulled at the sheet, using it to cover my naked chest.
“I need to—” I paused, unable to think straight as the memories from last night all came flooding back to me. The feel of Alton’s demanding lips as he ravaged my neck with them, the way his shoulders tensed up while he strained on top of me. His grunts of pleasure that echoed my own, the scratch of stubble against my cheeks as I kissed him back.
My cheeks turned hot with embarrassment and it felt as if the world was spinning around me. Just what the hell had I gotten myself into?
“Hey….” A concerned frown flashed on Alton’s face as he looked at me. He stood up and walked over to the bed, and for just a second I allowed myself to stare. He looked amazing like this, with his body glowing beneath beams of morning sun that streamed in through the window.
I swallowed hard, trying to remind myself that playing with fire was not a good idea. Clearly I’d already been burned once, and no matter how happy and safe he’d made me feel last night, there was nothing truly safe about any of this. The entire situation was one big house of cards, ready to collapse at the first stray breeze.
“Where’s Ezra?” I asked with a shiver. I had no idea what time it was, but it was obviously past breakfast judging by how bright it was outside. I shuddered with disgust at myself, recognizing that I’d failed to feed my son thanks to another ill-conceived tryst with Alton.
Alton didn’t answer, except to grab his phone and tap the screen a few times before handing it to me. I looked at him, my hands a little shaky as my concern grew over his silence.
“Read,” he ordered.
Pete took Ezra to the lake to fish with Erik.
They shouldn't be back before 5.
I'm at the cottage.
Have a good day with your lady ;)
-Nanette
“I don’t understand,” I said slowly, my mind blanking as I silently berated myself. “Nanette?”
“I know I’m good in bed and all,” Alton started with a cocky smile that made me blush all the way to the roots of my hair. “But I don't think sex with me can make you forget stuff like that, sadly,” he went on with a small chuckle. “You do remember Nanette and Pete, right?”
Alton’s good mood threatened to become infectious, and for a moment I wished I could joke along with him and be as carefree as he was. But that was far too dangerous, and I needed to focus on extracting myself from this…situation.
“Pete took Ezra to go fishing? When did all this happen?” I asked, hoping that maybe if I just didn’t mention the fact that I was naked and we’d had amazing sex all night long, things could still somehow work themselves out and go back to normal.
“Well, when I got up earlier to make breakfast for Ezra, Nanette had already beaten me to the punch. Not just for breakfast, but for everything. She mentioned that she’d noticed your bedroom door was open this morning, and she handled the rest from there…you know, whatever it is I’m paying her, I don’t think it’s enough,” Alton laughed. “Anyway, we have the place all to ourselves.”
“She did all that?” I asked, sputtering. My cheeks, already hot from how much I was blushing, suddenly felt like they were next to a fire. The fact that I’d slept with Alton again was bad enough, but the idea that someone else had found out made it even more real.
And then there was the fact that it was Mrs. Hamilton, of all people, and that her reaction had been to clear our schedules for—presumably—a day of nonstop sex.
“With a huge grin and a wink, yes,” Alton joked, and I could’ve sworn he was getting a kick out of my embarrassment.
I grunted, pulling the sheet up a little higher.
“Hey, it’s okay,” he went on, his voice quickly shifting to a soft, reassuring tone. “She seemed pretty pleased with the whole situation, you know. Not just amused, but actually happy for us.”
“Who says there’s an us?” I retorted, flustered and edging closer to a genuine freak out. Once again I felt as if I was struggling to keep my head above water, except this time Alton wasn’t going to keep me afloat. “There’s no place for me here. Besides, this is the worst time for me to start some kind of…fling,” I babbled, clutching the sheets so hard that my knuckles turned almost as white as the fabr
ic.
“The farm is big enough for you, and who said anything about a fling?”
“Whatever you call it, this is a terrible time for it,” I answered as my voice started to crack. But it was true. What exactly did he have in mind, if not a fling? If anything, something short-lived like that was probably the best we could hope for—at least then I’d know going into it that it was temporary, and it had other advantages.
Like letting me relive the wonder of last night.
Despite my protests, I recalled Alton’s naked body sprawled out all over me and I felt an immediate jolt of arousal. I groaned and shook my head, annoyed at my own body’s response. The idea of some short-lived affair was sounding better by the second, but I knew I just couldn’t do that. I’d never had a relationship like that in my life, and the end of my second pregnancy wasn’t the time to start.
No matter how good the sex was.
Or how happy I felt when I was around him.
Or how he—
“You’re wrong,” Alton interrupted cryptically, his expression giving no indication about what he meant.
Did he think I was wrong about the timing, or about the relationship inevitably being short-lived? I leaned my head back against the pillow and stared up at the ceiling. Alton wasn’t budging, and both of us stayed still for a while. Silence filled the space between us as I wondered what he could’ve meant, until eventually Alton came to sit on the bed next to me.
“What did you mean, the timing is terrible?” Alton asked. “Ezra is doing great, and the doctors have all been very optimistic. This is the most free you’ve been in many years, isn’t it?”
“Since college,” I agreed, hugging myself. “But that’s not the point. Just because I’m more free doesn’t mean I’m actually free. Ezra is growing up, but he still relies on me, not to mention the baby. My years of flying by the seat of my pants are gone for good. Being a single mom changed everything.”
“So…you need to stay single because it’s too hard to be a single mom?” Alton asked. “You do realize how that sounds, right?”
“Relationships are messy and hard. I can’t expect anyone else to raise my kids for me.”
“They’re my kids too, you know,” Alton pointed out, placing a hand on my knee through the sheets.
“Not by your choice,” I explained, wincing at the still-painful memory. “You didn’t sign on for that. But I did.”
“How we got here doesn’t matter. I’m still their dad.”
“It’s not the same,” I said, trying hard to maintain my composure. Tears started to well up behind my eyes, my hormones playing tricks on me yet again. “You’ve been amazing, but you haven’t gone through even a small part of what I have.”
“Is that what’s bothering you? You’re afraid I’ll snap under the pressure of fatherhood?”
“Yes,” I agreed. “No. Maybe. I don’t know. Does it matter? I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, and the end result is the same. We’re doomed. Starting something now will only drive us apart and ruin what we have.”
Alton brought his hand to my face and gently stroked my cheek. It felt comforting, and I never wanted it to end. But it had to.
I raised my own hand and placed it on his, intending to stop him. Instead, I weighed down on the back of his hand with mine, entwining my fingers with his.
“I used to think things like that, too, you know. It wasn’t until I met you that I realized I was wrong,” he whispered, leaning closer to me as if to bridge the divide between us. “I just needed to allow myself to take a chance.”
I shrugged desperately, not trusting myself to speak.
“This isn’t just about the baby, is it?” Alton asked softly. I shook my head and looked up at his dark eyes. He seemed so perfect, so understanding and caring. The tears started to fall more, and part of me recognized that I should just jump into his arms and go with the flow.
But I couldn’t, and he needed to understand why.
“I already took a chance,” I whispered, staring off into the distance as I spoke. I couldn’t bear to look at Alton, not for this. “There was this guy I met when I was in college, Stephen. Everything with him was great at first.”
“It didn’t work out, I take it?”
“We got married,” I answered, hugging myself with my free arm. “He proposed just before graduation. I accepted, and we moved to Washington, D.C. together. And that was good, too, but we wanted more. After a few years, we decided it was time to start a real family together. But after trying to get pregnant for months, it wasn’t happening.”
“Stephen was infertile?” Alton asked.
"He was," I nodded, remembering how awful the news had seemed at the time.
“I’m sorry,” Alton said breathlessly, his hand still holding mine steadfastly.
“We talked about it a lot, you know—where to go from there, what to do. Stephen wanted a family so badly, and losing that chance was devastating to him. He was willing to do anything to fix it, and I was willing to do anything to make him happy. Because I loved him, and because I trusted him.”
“Fairview Fertility Clinic,” Alton whispered.
“Yes. We wanted a family, and we refused to let anything get in our way,” I explained, my free palm curving into a tight fist. Even after all these years, the memory was still bitter. Alton kept his fingers over my hand and slowly squeezed my knuckles.
“What happened?”
“Cancer,” I said, barely managing to say the word. I squeezed my eyes shut as hard as I could, reeling. I hated the memory, hated the word, and hated how it had hurt the people I loved. Twice, by pure random coincidence.
I thought about Ezra, too, and couldn’t stop the tears from falling.
“I got pregnant, but Stephen never got the family he wanted. Before the end of my first trimester, Stephen’s health had deteriorated,” I said, my voice hollow and grave. “Pancreatic cancer. By the time he was diagnosed, it was already too late.” Full of painful memories, I looked down at my belly, unable to say the words for a long time. “By the time I was this far along with Ezra, I was already a widow.”
Alton didn’t say a word, but his hold on me grew even tighter.
“I gave birth just a few weeks after Stephen died. It was grim, I was alone, and so I ran all the way back to Boston to be with my mom. I don’t regret having Ezra, but it hasn’t been easy. I let Stephen convince me it was going to be okay, and it wasn’t.” I looked up at Alton. “Love sucks.”
“Love doesn’t suck, you were just dealt a very bad hand.”
“You can’t be dealt a bad hand if you refuse to play the game,” I shrugged.
“Come here,” Alton said as he leaned back against the pillows and raised his arm above his head, offering the comfort of his chest.
I knew I shouldn’t accept it. I’d just been very clear about why I shouldn’t. Love sucked, and love made life harder than it needed to be. Love made you selfish and blind, it made you willing to do anything in its name.
But I was tired, emotionally and physically. And Alton’s reassuring presence, the feeling of peace and stability I got when I touched him—it was just too appealing. Promising myself it would only be for a second, I placed my head on his chest.
And he wrapped his arm around my back.
And it was good.
Despite my best intentions, we stayed like that for what seemed an eternity. Alton silently reassured me, his fingers trailing softly over my skin. It was a moment I never wanted to end, even though part of me knew it had to.
“It’s okay. You can relax,” Alton whispered in my ear, sending shivers down my spine.
“No, I can’t,” I said. Then, so quiet even I could barely hear it, I added to it. “Please help me relax,” I begged.
Somehow he heard, and somehow he understood.
His touch became more sensual, and I let out a long breath. Sex was comforting, it was the first thing we’d really shared together and something we could still explo
re after all. Despite our radically different lives, it was an area where we still clicked.
“I need this,” I whispered. “But I haven’t changed my mind. Love sucks.”
“I need it, too,” Alton replied. “And no it doesn’t.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but Alton was too fast. In an instant his head was next to mine, my lips covered by his in a passionate kiss. It felt good, offering comfort that I still desperately needed.
Okay.
Maybe I could relax, just for a little while.
Maybe I could accept this for what it was, and admire its beauty while it lasted.
Maybe this was a good time to start a fling.
The only thing I knew for sure is that Alton was here now, and I wasn’t going to let him go.
Not until I had to.
Alton
“I fell back asleep,” Jessie’s drowsy voice called from the door to the kitchen. I took a moment to flip the pancake I’d been heating before I turned to face her.
There she was, still dressed in that unbelievably sexy nightgown I’d caught her wearing late last night. I took a second to admire the view, my eyes trailing across her perfect body before finally catching the shy, sleepy smile on her face.
“Eventually,” I grinned, recalling how Jessie’s heartfelt confession had somehow ended with the gentlest, most tender sex I’d ever experienced. Even after we’d finished, we couldn't get enough of each other—I lost track of how long I’d just held her in my arms, watching over her as she slowly nodded off. Sharing her pain with me like that had clearly taken a lot out of her, but it had only strengthened the bond between us. Her sleep had been fitful and uneasy at first, full of tossing and turning, but slowly she settled down as I snuggled her up closer to me.
“You’re making breakfast?” Jessie asked.
“I thought the smell of pancakes would be a nice way of waking you,” I explained. Her face was warm and genuine, and my heart did a little somersault. Seeing her so happy was a nice change.