The Boy on the Bridge

by Sam Mariano

  I grab my top off the ground and look back at him. “It might be that easy for you, but not for me. It wouldn’t affect you as much as it would me. You can have as little involvement as you want. It would derail my whole life.”

  “Having a baby would not derail your whole life,” he says like I’m overreacting. “Your mom had you when she was our age, right?”

  I collect my panties off the floor and shoot him a look of disbelief. “Yeah, and it wasn’t easy. She didn’t get to do a lot of things she wanted to do. She didn’t get to go to college or travel, she didn’t get to be young and unattached. She had to grow up and be responsible. She missed out on a whole stage of her life because she had to raise me, Hunter. It’s not all cute little booties and big baby grins. Having a baby is a huge responsibility, and one that I would likely get stuck with.”

  He doesn’t say anything for a moment while I collect my skirt and try to find my shoes. I’m on my knees grabbing one from under his bed when he peeks over and looks down at me. “You really think I’d just abandon you to take care of my kid on your own?”

  I sigh, getting to my feet. “No, of course I don’t think that, but we’re young. We don’t know where life will take us. Especially you. I don’t have photo shoots on Italian beaches to show up for, but I do want to go to college. I’d like to travel and see some sights.”

  “You’ll do all of that, baby or no baby.”

  “My mom didn’t.”

  “Your mom had to do it alone. You have me. And, I’m not sure if it’s slipped your mind somehow, but I have money. You’d never struggle like your mom did. If you want to go to college, great, you’ll go wherever you want to go. Want to travel? My dad has a private jet; I can take you anywhere.”

  I blink at him. “Your dad has a private jet?”

  He nods. “Where do you want to go to college?”

  “Boston.”

  “That’s not far. We could live here or get a place in the city. We’ll hire a nanny to take care of our kid while we’re in classes. If we travel, she can go with us.” His eyes widen with eagerness, like he just got a good idea. “Hey, your mom can be the nanny. She doesn’t love her job, right? I’ll pay her better and she can hang out with her grandkid all day. Let’s see if she still hates me then.”

  I shake my head at him. “You’re crazy. She’d still hate you for impregnating her teenage daughter.”

  Hunter reaches out and grabs me, toppling me back on the bed and pulling me on top of him.

  “Hey,” I say, clutching my clothes in one hand and looking up at him with a playfully narrowed gaze.

  “Tell me it’s not a good plan,” he challenges.

  I sigh. “Fine. It’s better than the horror story it looked like in my head. But I still think you’re looking at it through rose-colored glasses. I know your family has money, but I doubt they want to buy us a place in Boston and pay to take care of our baby.”

  Hunter shakes his head. “Don’t need them to. I’d need to borrow the jet from my dad, the rest I could do myself.” His grip on me tightens. “I don’t plan to pursue it any further, but I do have a modeling contract with my dad’s company. I have income from that. And it turns out my dad set up a pretty generous trust fund for me even though he never planned to be in my life. The first ¼ unlocked when I turned 18, another ¼ unlocks when I’m 21, and the rest of it becomes available when I turn 25. Either way, we’re all set. And that’s just what I have going on right now. I haven’t even started college yet. My dad is very pro-business, so while I was living with him, he already got me thinking about the future. We’d never struggle, Riley, not financially. I could put a dozen babies in you and we’d still be fine.”

  “Whoa, buddy. I’m not having a dozen babies.”

  “I’m just saying, we could if we wanted to.”

  “We don’t want to,” I assure him.

  He looks down at me. “You do want kids, though, right?”

  I nod. “One or two. Definitely not 12. You?”

  He nods, pulling me closer to him on the bed.

  I give up getting dressed for the moment and throw my leg over his again so I can cuddle up close to him.

  “I’m not really trying to do it all right now. I mean, we can if it comes up, but…” He begins to absently rub the thigh I have thrown over him. “Yeah, I want to have kids someday and actually be around for them. I can’t imagine doing it with anyone but you,” he says, glancing over at me as he caresses my leg. “Not kidding about that part, either.”

  I sigh, laying my head against his shoulder and wrapping my arms around him.

  “I wish I could stay here and laze around with you all day.”

  “I mean, you could,” he tells me.

  I shake my head faintly. “I have a job now.”

  “You can quit. I’ll give you money.”

  “Stop trying to buy me, mister. I’m not for sale.”

  “Not for sale, for rent,” he teases, giving me a playful squeeze. “I’ll pay for your time.”

  I smile. “I’m not a courtesan.”

  “You would use the word courtesan instead of hooker.”

  I nod. “It’s classier.”

  “Think about it from an academic perspective. I’m offering you the chance to walk a mile in shoes you’ve never walked in before.”

  I can’t suppress a smile at his playful argument. “Life as a sex worker? My, how you aspire to broaden my horizons.” I press a hand to my chest and bat my eyelashes at him. “I may swoon.”

  Hunter smiles. “You wouldn’t be a sex worker. Guys with money have professional girlfriends all the time. There’s nothing inherently wrong with it. If it works for them, who cares?”

  “Professional girlfriends?”

  He nods, giving me a little squeeze. “You can be my professional girlfriend. How about it?”

  I pretend to consider it. “Hm. What’s the job description like?”

  “You let me fuck you and call you my girlfriend, I give you whatever you want.”

  My laugh is smothered against his chest. “Sounds like a sweet gig.”

  “It is. You should snap it up before someone else does.”

  I cock an eyebrow. “Is the position open?”

  “To anyone named—what’s your middle name?”

  “Anne.”

  “To anyone named Riley Anne Bishop.”

  I smile. “That’s pretty specific.”

  “I’m a man who knows what he wants.”

  “Well, I appreciate that and the very generous offer, but no. I am perfectly capable of working.”

  He kisses my neck. “So are professional girlfriends, they just have better things to do with their time.”

  I smile helplessly, sighing as his lips find a particularly sensitive spot. “Like you?”

  I feel him grin against my skin, hear the note of amusement in his voice. “Exactly.”

  “As tempting as that offer is, I’m afraid I must decline.”

  “You sure?” He shifts our bodies so that I’m cradled against him with his arm secured around my back. His large hand cups my breast. As he kneads it, he brings his face close and hovers his perfect lips mere inches from mine.

  He got over the “I can’t kiss you” thing last night during round two, so I don’t hesitate to lean in now and kiss him.

  His eyes close as he kisses me back.

  He pushes me back on the bed, still squeezing and caressing my breast. My nipple has hardened, so he runs his fingertip over the sensitive nub and I gasp against his mouth.

  Hunter breaks away from my lips, moving lower and making his way down my neck. I shiver every time he kisses me there.

  I still have my leg thrown over his. Between his lips on my neck and his hand on my breast, he’s making me squirm. I use the leg hooked around him to pull my body closer to his.

  He kisses his way across my collarbone, then lower. When his mouth gets to where his hand is, he replaces his teasing finger with his hot tongue.


  I gasp and arch against him and he circles the tip of his tongue around my sensitive nipple. He licks harder and my eyes close. I moan softly, sliding my fingers through his hair.

  He lavishes attention on my bare breasts, teasing and tasting my responsive nipples, kissing and caressing the soft mounds. As he works, he shifts me more and more until he has me flat on my back. He climbs on top of me, pinning me beneath his weight and feasting on my breasts.

  “I could kiss your tits all day long,” he murmurs roughly, a beautiful contrast with his gentle lips pressed against my sensitive flesh.

  “Mm, you’re making that professional girlfriend gig sound really tempting.”

  He looks up and flashes me a charming smile. “Hey, it’s got to be better than waiting tables.”

  “And you have seven showers. We can christen at least six of them.”

  He sucks on my nipple and takes my breath away, then pops off long enough to say, “An ambitious task. It would take us all day to accomplish.”

  I laugh a little. “Just one day?”

  “Hey, you’ve been holding out on me for a long time. I have a lot of pent up stamina to spend.”

  “Hm, this job sounds pretty demanding.”

  “Very demanding,” he agrees, tenderly kissing my chest again. “Very rewarding, too.”

  “What’s the retirement plan like?” I tease.

  “Oh, I think you’ll be quite pleased with it.” He squeezes my left breast, then gives it another kiss. “As long as my mom doesn’t have another kid, I’m set to inherit her entire fortune. My dad obviously has other obligations, but I’m sure he’ll set something aside for me. One of his houses, maybe. We haven’t really talked about it, but if I never saw a penny from him, I’d still have more money than we’ll ever need, and that’s before I start making more money of my own.”

  “A house, he says. How many houses does the man have?”

  “I don’t know, at least four.”

  I sigh as he starts to kiss his way toward my abdomen. “We never did get to have Italy pillow talk.”

  “Even more reason for you to call off and stay here with me.”

  I suck in a breath as he kisses my stomach. “You are a terrible influence, Hunter Maxwell.”

  “Your mom tried to warn you,” he teases.

  He tries to tempt me even more, kissing lower and lower, his lips venturing below my belly button. It gets harder to breathe when he kisses my hipbone, then moves his face between my thighs.

  “Hunter,” I say, trying to squeeze my legs closed even though he’s between them.

  “Yes, Riley?” He looks up at me, so devilishly handsome, I must be out of my mind to stop him.

  But I have to.

  “If you do that, you’re going to fuck me again.”

  “I fail to see the problem.”

  “Your day pass has expired,” I tell him.

  “Nah,” he says dismissively. “I checked the fine print while you were sleeping. It’s good for 24. I’ve still got a good 12 hours left.”

  I smile faintly. “I have to go home. I close tonight, and my mom is working late, so she won’t be home until long after I’m in bed. We have to talk before I leave for work, and I need time in case this gets to be a long, messy conversation.”

  His amusement dissipates. Realizing I’m serious, he sighs. “I guess I should probably let you leave, then, huh?”

  I nod my head, but I don’t really want to go either.

  “Let me at least make you breakfast first,” he says. “Eggs. It’ll be quick. You’ve gotta eat, right? Might as well eat with me.”

  He makes a good point. I do have to eat…

  “Fine. We’ll have breakfast first, but then I really have to go.”

  Suddenly energized, he rolls out of bed. I take advantage of the opportunity to admire his beautiful body, but doing so only makes me regret making him get out of bed.

  Chapter Forty Two

  Riley

  The front door creaks so loudly as I try to ease it open, it seems almost spiteful.

  What did I ever do to you, door?

  I shoot it a narrowed look as I close it more quickly than I opened it, then look around as I step carefully into the next room.

  The house is quiet. Somber, even. Anxiety gathers in my chest as I enter the living room and look around for Mom.

  It’s terrible not knowing how mad she’s going to be at me. It’s like a mystery bag of awfulness—you never know what you’re going to get.

  At least she doesn’t know I was with Hunter yet, but that’s almost worse. I told her last night I barely knew Sherlock, and now she probably thinks I stayed out all night with him. I can only imagine her opinion of that decision.

  Telling her it wasn’t some guy I barely knew, but Hunter instead… it seems like it should be a marked improvement, but given her opinion of him, I’m not so sure.

  When I step into the kitchen, I finally find her.

  My stomach twists with anxiety. She must have noticed me come into the room, but she doesn’t look up.

  She sits at the table, her hands wrapped around a mug of coffee. She’s wearing a pair of sweats and a sky blue shirt, her dark hair gathered in a low pony tail, flowing down her back.

  “Hey,” I say, to break the ice.

  Finally, she looks up at me. She attempts a smile, but it’s a shoddy attempt. “Hey, party girl.”

  She’s trying to make light, but I still flinch a little. “Sorry about last night,” I say vaguely, an all-encompassing reference to what she surely views as a screw-up.

  “I shouldn’t have let you borrow the skirt,” she says with forced lightness. “I’m gonna have to burn it now.”

  “It’s not the skirt’s fault,” I assure her, braving my way to take a seat at the kitchen table across from her. “It was the boy.”

  She presses her lips together in a thin, grim line. “I guess you liked him.”

  I look down at the table. “I wasn’t with Sherlock. The party we went to was at Hunter’s house.”

  Mom sighs. “Ah. Good ol’ Hunter Maxwell.”

  I nod wordlessly, not knowing what to say.

  “So… wow. I don’t really know how to have this conversation. You spent the night. Were you drinking?”

  I shake my head. “No.”

  She nods grimly.

  It seems like that would be the right answer, but maybe she would prefer if I had been drinking. Getting drunk and crashing at his house could have still been responsible. It could have been sexless.

  To save us both time and get it over with, I say, “I need to get on some form of birth control.”

  She sucks in a breath, then lets it out, nodding more forcefully. “Okay,” she says, sounding like she’s holding her breath. “We can do that. I trust you were safe this time?”

  I hesitate, tempted to tell a white lie to set her mind at ease, but… I don’t want to lie. “No,” I say softly, apologetically.

  “No?”

  I look up at her, a remorseful glint in my eye. “I’m sorry. I tried. I—”

  I stop just short of telling her I brought a condom with me just in case. If I tell her that, she’ll blame Hunter for not using it, and she already blames him for enough.

  Reframing the truth, I look down and say, “We got caught up in the moment. It was really stupid. I knew better, but it just… I messed up.”

  With some effort, she keeps her mouth shut, but I can hear her breathing purposefully, trying to keep her cool. “Wow, I should’ve made this an Irish coffee.”

  “I’m sorry,” I tell her again.

  “It’s okay. Please don’t ever do it again, but… it’s done now. We’ll just hope nothing comes of it.” She tries to leave it at that, I can see her trying, but the words burst out of her despite her valiant attempt. “Do you understand why he bothers me? You’re the most responsible kid in the world, there is no way you would ever have unprotected sex and risk throwing away your whole future for a few minutes of
fun, and then you get in a room with him, and poof! Common sense and self-control fly out the window, somehow you let him talk you into doing things you would never do otherwise.”

  “I get it, Mom. It’s not all his fault. I was there, too. I made a mistake.”

  “A big one,” she says, looking at me like I’m already pregnant.

  “It won’t happen again,” I tell her. “That’s why I’m telling you I need birth control. To make sure it never happens again.”

  “It could be too late, Riley.”

  “Let’s not stress about it right now,” I tell her, since I already put myself through that last time.

  “You know better,” she tells me.

  “I love him,” I blurt.

  Her eyes go wide. Her mouth falls open.

  I deflate, a little shocked at myself.

  There’s so much she doesn’t know, that probably doesn’t even make any sense to her. She probably thinks it’s too soon, that I’m swept up. She probably doesn’t trust those words. Maybe saying them before she feels they’re justified even makes her trust me a little less.

  I know I’m not exactly demonstrating excellent judgment skills right now, and I know that she foists every bit of that blame off on Hunter because she always has.

  “I know your opinion of him, and I know he has made some mistakes, but I care about him very much. And I care about you very much. And I want the people I love to like each other.”

  Mom looks at me like I’ve just given her grave news.

  “I’m not saying it will even necessarily come up—maybe it never will. Maybe you’ll never even have to see him, but if it does, and especially if this doesn’t go the way we hope it will and… there’s a baby, I’m begging you to have an open mind and give him a chance. He isn’t a bad person. I really think you’d like him if you got to know him.”

  I can see her trying to hold a brave face, but her eyes look so sad.

  I swallow. “Everything’s fine right now. I doubt I got pregnant from one stupid mistake, so, let’s not get all upset over nothing. Nothing has changed. People have unsafe sex all the time and think nothing of it. I think you and I are just more aware of it because… well, because of our life. It seems like the end of the world, but it’s probably not. And I’ve already yelled at Hunter for not remembering to use a condom. He has been duly chastised,” I promise.