Dream On (Stories of Serendipity #2)

by Anne Conley

  Kissing, licking, and tasting his entire member, while being careful with her teeth, Alyssa could hear Dalton’s ragged breathing. She put one hand on the base of him, and the other around his hips to squeeze his rear. She was managing to turn herself on and was enjoying every minute of it. She could feel her insides getting warm and tight, as she finally put the entire member in her mouth and sucked. Hard.

  Dalton’s voice came out in a cracked moan, as he moved his hips to the rhythm of her head, still holding onto her hair. She pulled her mouth off and flicked the silver curved bar on his tip, before putting it all back in again. She moved her head up and down, while sucking, and moving her tongue to the rhythms of Dalton’s hisses and groans.

  “Oh God, Alyssa...Stop.” She couldn’t stop. All she could think about was the other night, where Dalton had brought her to such heights of pleasure with his tongue. She came up for air.

  “Quid Pro Quo, Dalton. Don’t give if you can’t receive.” She went back to her ministrations.

  “I didn’t...Oh God...Holy Fuck!!” He pushed her head back and turned his back to her abruptly, bending over slightly, his arm moving rapidly twice before his body shuddered, and he exhaled deeply, leaning on the barn wall.

  She was feeling proud of herself. She could bring a fraction of the satisfaction she had felt to him, but when he turned to face her, she found herself backing up, her pride dissipating.

  “Dalton? What’s wrong?”

  “Why did you do that? Alyssa?” His eyes glowered at her, steely gray that had almost turned black.

  “I wanted to make you feel good.” She said quietly. “Didn’t you like it?”

  “Yes, I liked it. Who wouldn’t?” He growled. She was taken aback.

  “Then...why are you mad?”

  “Because I...I just didn’t expect it from you.” His shoulders lost a little tension, but his eyes were still molten. “That’s all.” He must have noticed her face, because the next thing he said was, “I’m not mad. Are you okay?”

  “Yes, Dalton. I’m okay.”

  “Good.” In two steps, he was on her, pushing her backward towards the stack of hay bales, kissing her feverishly, ripping her shirt untucked.

  “Dalton, what are you doing?”

  “Quid Pro Quo, Alyssa. What do you think?” He growled at her.

  “But...”

  “I’m not keeping a fucking tally. If I want to make you come, I will, dammit.” He ripped her jeans open and started tugging them down her legs. When he got to her knees, he froze, as children’s laughter pealed like a bell from outside the barn.

  Pulling them back up, roughly, he smoothed his hair with his hands. “Later, of course. Not around your kids. Although, I’m not sure how my mother is any different from the kids.”

  Alyssa’s breath was as ragged as Dalton’s, so they just sat on the bales of hay, while she tried to compose herself. Tucking her shirt in, she asked, “Dalton? What do you mean, you didn’t expect it from me? Why not?”

  His eyes on hers were like little gray magnets, that she was unable to pull away from. “Because I didn’t think you were into that kind of thing, that’s all.”

  “You did it to me two nights ago.” She laughed.

  “Yeah, but you weren’t exactly willing at first. Remember?”

  “Well, I wanted to do something for you.”

  “Well, you did something all right.” He looked at her, pulled her to him by the back of her neck, and kissed her softly. “You do a lot of things for me.”

  “So...was that...okay? I mean was it...as good as... others?”

  He laughed, “Yeah. It was. Why are you nervous about how it was?”

  “Well, I’ve never done that before.”

  His eyes grew large, as he ran his hand through his just smoothed hair. “Never?”

  “No.”

  “But...but you were married.” He looked appalled at the idea.

  Alyssa sighed. “Our marriage was a farce. Steven was very “Christian," as in, sex is for procreation, not fun. We didn’t do much of it, and when we did, it wasn’t fun.”

  “He must have thought it was a little fun, to be with Stephanie.”

  “Hence, my self esteem issues for the last three years.”

  He pulled her into his arms and held her close to him. “You’re beautiful, Alyssa, don’t let him make you think otherwise. And you’re sexy as hell. You were great at that, especially for your first time.” They sat in silence.

  Still holding her, he asked into her hair, “What’s your top five?”

  “Top five what?”

  “Favorite things.”

  She closed her eyes and thought for a minute, “Hearing my kids laugh, watching them sleep, the smell of fresh cut grass, dancing in my kitchen, and the first warm day after winter. What about you?”

  “The smell of your hair.” He breathed deeply in illustration. “Riding my motorcycle, the peace that comes with watching the herd in the morning, hanging out with Kelly,” he lowered his voice to a whisper, “you.”

  “You can be serious. I wasn’t fishing, Dalton. ”

  “I’m not biting, Alyssa. I’m serious. Unless of course, you want me to.” His voice lowered to a growl, and he dipped his head to nibble on her ear.

  Alyssa giggled and pushed him away, playfully, trying to ignore the shiver of delight running through her body.

  “Dalton! Mom! Are you in here?” Cayden’s voice preceded him to the barn. “Miss Mary said we could go fishing. Can we? Please?” His eyes were round and pleading.

  Dalton looked at Alyssa, “Are we fishing now?”

  “Sure.”

  As Dalton led the way back to the house for the fishing gear Mary had already stacked on the porch, he thought about what Alyssa had just done and his reaction to it. It had felt amazing, but it was totally unexpected. When he had first started dreaming of her, Alyssa was a mouse of a woman, who couldn’t even touch herself. Now, she was not only taking initiative with him, but she was damn good at it. He was hard again, just thinking about it. Tomorrow night, when the kids had gone to Steven’s house, he would show up at her place and show her just what she had been missing. He would take this to the next level. He was tired of being careful with her.

  In the truck, Alyssa squeezed in between Mary and Dalton, and the kids were in the back with the fishing gear. Dalton was surprised at the feeling of contentment overpowering him. He could feel Alyssa’s body squeezed next to his, and instead of the lusty craving he was expecting, he felt nothing but warmth for her. Her scent overwhelmed him and made Dalton want to hold her tight and never let go.

  Interrupting his reverie, Mary said, “Have your kids fished much, Alyssa?”

  “Not much, no. I think their father took them once, but nobody caught anything.”

  “Well, today should be fun, then. We have a tank on the property that Dalton’s dad kept stocked with Crappie and Catfish. It’s pretty easy pickin’s.” She patted Alyssa’s knee affectionately

  “We’re here," he said, parking the truck under a stand of huge pine trees, and escaped the truck.

  Mary grabbed the fishing gear, while Dalton got the chairs and the cooler with the drinks Mary had packed, and Alyssa helped the kids out of the truck. They scrambled to the shore of the small lake, chattering the entire way about the turtles they saw, and the fish they would catch. Dalton smiled at their eagerness. He could remember being excited like that when his dad had brought him out here. A sharp pang of regret knotted his stomach.

  As he walked to one of the benches his dad had built and set up on the side of the tank, Alyssa came up and sat down next to him.

  “You’re mom is so refreshing.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She’s so...” She paused. “Mobile.”

  Dalton was confused. He looked at Alyssa questioningly.

  “My mother is handicapped and doesn’t get around well at all. I have to help her a lot. She’s very independent and doesn’t really want pe
ople to see how little she can do, physically. So I have to go to her house to help her.” She sighed. “I feel guilty about it, but it’s hard to take care of myself, my kids, and her, too. Mentally, she’s sharp as a tack, and she knows exactly what she wants. She just can’t do everything on her own.”

  He put his hand on her shoulder massaging the tension that had appeared when she started talking about her mom. “You do a great job, Alyssa. I wish my mom was as strong emotionally as she is physically. This whole thing with Dad getting sick has really taken its toll on her. I’m afraid her physical strength will fade as her emotional strength has.”

  “She seems fine right now.” Alyssa was looking at the woman, who was laughing at the kids, while she baited the cane fishing poles for them.

  She leaned back against the bench, and Dalton watched her long body stretch out. “You want me to bait a pole for you?”

  “No, I’m just enjoying the scenery.” She looked him up and down, making a rare flush crawl up his cheeks. He baited a pole for himself, and tossed it out onto the water, then stretched out next to Alyssa.

  The afternoon passed, children’s laughter ringing through the air. Alyssa and Dalton cheered when they caught fish, and Mary continued to play with them and bait their hooks with the worms she and Cayden dug up.

  “How is your sister handling your dad’s death? Is she doing okay?”

  Dalton sighed. “I don’t know. She keeps things pretty close to her chest. She seems to be okay, and I won’t know any different until she has a complete break down. Then she’ll let me know.”

  “Is she divorced?”

  “Widowed. Kelly’s dad died when she was a baby. Drunk driving accident.”

  “Oh.” Alyssa relaxed back against Dalton, and he ran his fingers through her hair as he listened to the wind rustle through the grass and watched the grasshoppers fly through the air.

  Too soon it was dusk and time to go. As they rode back to the house in comfortable silence, Dalton’s thoughts continued to play around the woman sitting next to him. She did so much for other people, and he really wanted to do something for her. Something meaningful, but he couldn’t think of what.

  When they got back to the house, Dalton walked her and the kids to the car after Mary had said her goodbyes. Once the children were buckled in, Dalton hugged Alyssa close to him and whispered in her ear, “I can’t wait for tomorrow night. I want to finish what we started today.”

  She looked up at him, the desire plain in her eyes, making his groin tighten. “Me too, Dalton.” She said it huskily, with a promise that made his stomach flutter. Geez...What had gotten into him?

  Chapter 20

  In a distracted haze, Alyssa spent the next day trying to get the kids ready for the week with their dad. She couldn’t stop thinking about Dalton’s final words last night, though, and the deliciously inviting images they conjured.

  She was at the sink, finishing dishes from lunch, picturing entwined limbs and pulsating bodies when a knock at the front door announced Steven’s arrival. Wiping her hand on a dishtowel, she answered the door.

  “I’m seeing my lawyer tomorrow. I called him yesterday, and I’ve got a case against you and that man.” He said after she invited him inside.

  “What?” Alyssa gaped at him, not sure she heard him correctly.

  “You two and your ungodly sex are warping my children.”

  “Steven, you’re wrong. We haven’t...” She really didn’t want to tell him about her sex life, but he was talking about taking away her kids.

  “It doesn’t matter what you say to me, Alyssa. I’ve seen the way he looks at you, like you’re something to eat. I don’t want my children exposed to that. My lawyer is taking care of the technicalities tomorrow, and a judge will sign off on it with no problem.”

  “You can’t do that, Steven. We have to have a trial to change the custody stuff.” She hoped so, anyway. He couldn’t just take her kids away from her.

  “Oh, I can get a temporary injunction against your rights, as they are compromising my children. I’ll call CPS if I have to.”

  “No...” CPS was a threat she couldn’t fathom. Calling CPS meant the burden of proof would be on her. The children would be interviewed, prodded, and emotionally tampered with. If her parenting skills were called into question, her career would suffer. CPS would start investigating her at school, too.

  “You can’t keep seeing that guy, Alyssa. He’s bad news, and I won’t have him around my children.”

  “So, I can’t date, Steven? Is that what you’re saying?” She was almost in tears, and she hated it. She hated that Steven could bring her to tears so quickly.

  “You can’t date him, Alyssa.” With that, he had the children out the door slamming it behind him, leaving Alyssa sobbing in his wake.

  Dalton was on cloud nine, driving to Alyssa’s house. He had been looking forward to tonight all day. Hell, he’d been looking forward to it since his first dream about this intriguing woman. He planned to ravish her. He knew how to take her to heights of pleasure she had never imagined, and he planned to use every one of his tricks to make it happen. He knew he was being arrogant, but he also knew what he was good at, and pleasuring women was one of his talents. He hadn’t slept last night. He’d been too busy torturing himself with images of her coming undone underneath his body.

  Knocking on her door, he went over his plan. Hiding the roses behind his back, he pasted a sexy grin on his face, in anticipation of her opening the door.

  What he hadn’t expected to see was her red, swollen eyes over tear-streaked cheeks.

  “What happened, Alyssa? Is it the kids?” Flowers forgotten, he had her in his arms in a heartbeat.

  She pushed him away. “No. Dalton, we need to talk.”

  Oh no...Never good. He followed her into the house, dread sending his heart plummeting to his stomach. She perched herself in the chair across from the couch, forcing him to sit apart from her.

  “Steven’s threatening to take my children away, permanently, if I keep seeing you.”

  “He can’t do that, Alyssa.” Disappointment was replaced with rage in a heartbeat.

  “I’m not so sure, Dalton. I think he can, and more importantly, he thinks he can. His lawyer has the paperwork ready for a judge to sign tomorrow, if I don’t call it off. I can’t risk it.” Tears spilled down her cheeks again, while Dalton’s heart broke into a million pieces.

  “I have a buddy who’s a lawyer downtown. He can fix this, Alyssa.” Dalton was trying to sound reassuring, but his stomach clenched painfully.

  Her shoulders slumped with the tension Dalton knew she was feeling. He longed to rub thm. “I’m tired of fighting him, Dalton. I can’t do this to my kids. Please understand.” Her eyes, when they looked at him, brimmed with tears, and tore a hole in his heart.

  “So that’s it? Your ex doesn’t like me and we’re done? Please tell me that’s not how it is.” Dalton could easily kill Steven if he saw the man right now.

  “Dalton, my children are my first priority. They have to come first. I told you that in the beginning.”

  “Your kids are important to me, too Alyssa. I would never hurt them.” A desperation he was unaccustomed to feeling crept into his voice.

  “Then, please leave us alone. I’m sorry.”

  “I can’t.” Panic was turning to resignation.

  “Yes, you can. And you will. Please leave.”

  Slowly, Dalton rose to leave, still clutching the roses he had brought for her. Awkwardly, he held them out to her. “I got these for you. I guess you don’t want them, you can toss them, if you want. Take them, and think about what you’re throwing away here.” Fighting back tears of his own, he left. He would give her time to think about it. To think about them. If she felt half of what he felt, she couldn’t throw it away. Could she?

  As he started his car, he realized he had just been dumped by Alyssa Fuller.

  Chapter 21

  When the flowers were delivered to Alyssa
’s school’s front office, for all the student and teacher population to see, a teacher’s aide came to her classroom.

  “Dr. Cahan told me to come watch your class. He wants you to come down to his office, now.” The aide had a slightly haughty tone to her voice, and Alyssa was a bit confused.

  “Okay.” She turned and made sure her students were reading quietly before going to see Dr. Cahan.

  She knocked politely on his doorframe before entering. His head was in his hands, and he was doing that nervous thing with his fingertips. She couldn’t tell if he was upset or thinking deeply.

  “You needed to see me, Sir?” She sat in the chair opposite him at the desk. Noticing the giant bouquet of flowers, she said, “The flowers are lovely, Sir. From your wife?”

  Not opening his eyes, he replied, “No, Ms. Fuller. They’re yours.”

  “Oh.” She sat back in her chair, knowing who they were from, but afraid to read the card in front of her boss. Alyssa decided to wait until Dr. Cahan finished gathering whatever thoughts were going through his head before speaking. It took a while.

  Finally, Dr. Cahan spoke. Not looking at her, he pushed a large white envelope across his desk to Alyssa. “This came to the Superintendent’s office this morning, and he sent them to me. A school board member delivered them to him. Now everybody knows about this relationship, Ms. Fuller.”

  A haze of uncertainty gripped her, as she reached over for the envelope. Opening it, she looked at everything inside, her heart pounding.

  They were pictures. There was a picture of Dalton kissing her thoroughly and completely inappropriately in front of the Crisis Center Booth at the Hot Pepper Festival. There were pictures of his car, license plate clearly shown in front of the nightclub in Dallas, The Church, which people walked out of dressed in skimpy goth attire. There was a blurb about the club, depicting it as a hangout for druggies and prostitution. There were pictures of Dalton’s motorcycle parked in front of Alyssa’s house at night. The kicker, though was a letter written to the school board from a concerned parent.