Sweet Sunshine

by Jessica Prince

  “Need you to come,” he panted, his hazel eyes a shade darker than normal as he stared down at me.

  “I’m close,” I gasped. “So fucking close.”

  “Get there, baby.”

  “Almost,” I whimpered.

  “Get there,” he pulled almost all the way out before slamming back, “now!”

  That was all it took. I fell over, yelling his name as the most intense, most powerful, most consuming orgasm I’d ever experienced washed over me. It seemed to last forever. My back arched, my eyes screwed shut, and all I could do was hold on as pleasure rocked through my entire body, clamping my walls down on his cock so hard I was sure it had to have hurt.

  “Holy shit,” he groaned, his hips pumping one last time before he buried himself deep and emptied inside me. “Fuck fuck fuck! Unh. Oh God!”

  Every twitch, every jerk of his erection sent tremors through me until we both collapsed in a panting, sweaty heap onto the mattress.

  I had no clue how long we lay there in silence, nothing but the sounds of our short, choppy breathes filling the room, but it wasn’t until we’d managed to slow both our heart rates down that he pushed up on his forearms and looked down at me, his eyes warm with something unfamiliar, something I’d never seen in them before as he smiled.

  “Next weekend I have Eliza, I want you here with us,” he stated matter-of-factly.

  My eyes went wide for a moment before I laughed. “Derrick, I think sex might have melted your brain.”

  He stared in silence for several seconds, just long enough to make me squirm with discomfort, which only brought attention to the fact that he was still inside me. “Derrick?” I asked, uncertainty shrouding me voice.

  “I want her to know about us,” he said softly.

  “You’re serious?”

  “Dead serious, sunshine.” He leaned down and ran his nose along mine. “I told you, this is real. We’re real. I want her to know you’re in my life as something other than just a friend.”

  “You don’t…” I swallowed audibly against the emotion building in my throat. “You don’t think it’s too soon?”

  God, his smile was going to be the death of me. No man should be allowed to have that brilliant of a smile. “Not at all. Besides, she’ll be fucking beside herself with excitement.”

  I giggled. “Yeah. She does kind of like me, doesn’t she?”

  “I think it’s safe to say she more than likes you, sunshine.”

  “I more than like her too,” I whispered. My chest squeezed as the words I so desperately wanted to say fought to be released. I knew it was too soon, I knew it would more than likely freak him out, but I couldn’t hold them in. I needed him to know how I felt.

  “I more than like you too.” Okay, so maybe it wasn’t the most eloquent way to tell a man you loved him, but I’d kind-of-sort-of chickened out last minute.

  He laughed before releasing a sarcastic breath. “Well thank God for that, because I’d hate to tell you I love you and not have you say it back.”

  I froze and I swear to God, my brain malfunctioned just then. “What?”

  His lips brushed against mine softly. “I,” brush, “love,” brush, “you.”

  “Like a… friend?” I dragged out, desperately needing confirmation that I hadn’t stumbled into some sort of alternate reality where down was up, left was right, and love meant something totally different.

  “No…” One of his brows quirked up. “Like the woman I want to move into my house sometime in the near future so I never have to sleep without her next to me again.” I gasped, but he kept going. “Like the woman I see eventually wearing my ring, carrying my last name, and if she’s willing, hopefully someday my babies.”

  “Babies?” I asked on a sniffle as tears broke free and began making tracks into my hair. “Like more than one?”

  “Well how many are you thinking you want, sunshine? I mean, I already have one. Are we talking a football team’s worth here? Because I don’t know if I have that kind of strength.”

  I laughed through the tears and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him to me. “I was thinking three,” I whispered in his ear. “But like you said, we already have one, so I’d be happy with two more.”

  His head shot up, hazel eyes intense as he stared at me. “We?”

  I wasn’t sure if I was stepping over the boundaries, but he had to know the full truth. “I love your little girl, Derrick. I know I’m not her mother, and I’d never want to try and replace Layla if that wasn’t what Eliza wanted. But she’s special to me. I want to give her what she needs. I want to be there for her just like I would any child I gave birth to.”

  “God, you’re amazing,” he breathed.

  “Now, that being said,” I continued. “I hate Layla with a fiery passion and even though I hope she gets her shit together for Eliza’s sake, I’ll still want to throat-punch her on a regular basis. But for you and Eliza’s sake, I’ll refrain.”

  “Big of you,” he laughed.”

  I shrugged with a smile. “I thought so.”

  He kissed me hard, every ounce of his love for me pouring through that one kiss until he finally pulled back, leaving me breathless as he began to grow hard inside me.

  “Again?” I asked with wide eyes.

  “Depends?”

  “On what?”

  “Well,” he moved forward just an inch, and it was enough to make me hot all over again. “You haven’t technically said you love me back.”

  “I haven’t?” I groaned, lifting my hips to try and get some friction going.

  He pulled out. “Nope.”

  “Silly me. Derrick?”

  “Yeah, sunshine?”

  “I’ve been in love with you since you moved to Pembrooke, and I never stopped.”

  Another breathtaking smile. “That’ll work.”

  Oh yes it would.

  Chloe

  AS I PACED the length of Derrick’s living room for about the thousandth time, nervously chewing on my thumbnail while I waited, I thought back to the conversation we’d had earlier that morning over breakfast.

  “Baby,” Derrick’s voice shook me out of my thoughts, pulling me back into the present. “You have to relax. You’re gonna give yourself an ulcer if you keep worrying so much.”

  “I can’t help it!” I cried, throwing my hands in the air before letting them fall back onto the counter. “I’m freaking out! What if she hates the idea of us being together? What if she thinks I’m trying to take you away from her or something, and she ends up hating me?”

  He chuckled and I kind of wanted to punch him. “That’s not gonna happen, sunshine.”

  “But what if it does?!”

  “It won’t,” he replied adamantly.

  It did nothing to sooth my frayed nerves. “I think we should wait,” I spit out quickly.

  He stared at me, a blank expression on his face before going back to the pancakes I’d made us. He shoveled a bite into his mouth, chewed, then swallowed and stated plainly, “No.”

  “No? What do you mean, no?”

  “I mean no. We aren’t waiting. We’re telling her today once I get her home, and you’re going to see all this worrying was for nothing. And I, being the gentleman that I am, won’t say ‘I told you so.’”

  “Ugh!” I shouted. “You’re being unreasonable!”

  He stood from his stool at the island and carried his plate to the sink, actually taking the time to rinse it and put it in the dishwasher. That almost made me hot enough to forget what I was stressing about and jump him right there in his kitchen.

  He leaned against the counter, thick arms crossed over his wide chest, and regarded me with a somewhat bored look on his face. “Okay, I can see there’s no talking you off this ledge you’ve put yourself on, so I’ll do you a favor.” I actually breathed a sigh of relief, thinking he’d come around to seeing my side of things. That was, until he spoke again. “I’ll tell her myself on the way here. That way, when we get back,
it’ll all be done and you’ll see how great she takes the news.”

  “That’s not a favor!” I stomped my foot. I found myself doing a lot of that over the nearly two weeks we’d been dating. God, that man could frustrate the hell out of me. Good thing for him he was so good looking.

  He pushed off the counter and headed my way. “Well, that’s the best I got baby.” He planted a kiss on my forehead and grabbed his keys. “Now, I gotta go get my little girl. We’ll be back in about an hour, think you can get a hold of yourself by then?”

  My answer was to flip him off. He laughed and gave me a peck on the lips before moving away, calling, “Love you too, sunshine,” over his shoulder just before the front door closed.

  The sound of Derrick’s truck rumbling up the drive yanked me back to reality. It was do-or-die time. And don’t ask me why I was approaching the situation like a fighter about to climb into the cage, there was nothing about my thought process at that moment that was rational.

  Sucking in a deep breath, I forced my feet to move toward the front door. I stepped out into the front stoop and crossed my arms over my chest, giving the truck and its occupants a tiny, unsure smile. Seconds later, the passenger door was thrown open and Eliza jumped out and barreled toward me.

  “Miss Chloe!” she shrieked, only coming to a stop once she’s plowed into me, nearly taking me off my feet, and wrapped her arms around my waist. “Daddy told me you’re his girlfriend!” she exclaimed, leaning her head back to look up at me with happy, shining hazel eyes. “Does that mean you’re gonna get married? Oh! Can I be your junior bridesmaid?! I’m too big to be a flower girl, and Lilly said she was a junior bridesmaid in her cousins wedding and it was so cool! She got to wear a dress kinda like the rest of the bridesmaids and got to stand up there with the rest of them and everything! When you and Daddy get married I want to do that! Can I, pleeeeease?”

  I lifted my head, eyes wide as I glanced at a smirking Derrick as he carried Eliza’s bag to the house.

  I looked back down at Eliza and finally returned her hug. “Uh, sure…” I answered hesitantly. “If we ever get married, you can totally be a junior bridesmaid.”

  She squealed in delight and pulled away to do a little happy dance that made me laugh. “So you’re happy about it?”

  “Totally!” she yelled. “You’re the coolest, and you make Daddy smile like, all the time. And now I’ll have someone who I can do stuff with like, give pedicures and watch all those movies Dad complains about because he says they’re too girly. And you can teach me how to bake!”

  Yep, I was pretty sure my heart just exploded. I blinked rapidly, unwilling to turn into one of those weepy women who cried every single time they felt happy about something.

  “We’ll do all those things,” I said in a soft voice, pulling her in for another hug. “And just for the record, I totally think you’re the coolest, too.”

  She pulled back and graced me with a smile that made me love her even more. “I know. I’m just like my dad.” With a wink, she ran into the house.

  “Don’t say it,” I warned to Derrick who’d stood there, watching our entire interaction with one hand casually in his pocket.

  He shrugged innocently. “Didn’t say anything, sunshine.”

  “You said you wouldn’t say it.”

  “And I haven’t.” His smirk turned into a full blown grin, and I knew he was fighting to hold it back.

  “It’s written all over your face, Derrick, you want to say it.”

  “I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

  “Oh please! Your eyes are totally screaming, ‘I told you so.’”

  “Yeah, well, that doesn’t count.”

  “Does too!”

  Pulling his hand out of his pocket he wrapped it around me and pulled me in for a quick kiss. “Are we really standing here arguing over stupid bullshit? My daughter is psyched and thinks you’re the coolest. Let’s celebrate that.”

  I melted into him. “You’re right.”

  Another kiss, then he smirked. “Told you so.”

  “Asshole!”

  THE WEEKEND HAD been great so far. Eliza and I had painted each other’s nails. I taught her how to French braid. We went to Ethan’s football game Friday night, and took her over to meet Lucy during the day on Saturday. Other than Noah’s surprised choke of laughter, there hadn’t been any awkwardness when she looked up at the little bundle she’d been holding and asked when Derrick and I would give her a little sister.

  We watched a ton of girly movies and gave Derrick shit whenever he started to complain. He wasn’t used to being outnumbered so it was fun to mess with him whenever we got the chance.

  I’d been in the best mood when I woke Sunday morning, only somewhat dimmed by the fact that Eliza would be going back to her mother’s later that day. But I was determined to make the most out of every single second I had with her.

  “Chloe?” That was another thing that had changed. Since announcing that her dad and I were dating, she’d taken to calling me just Chloe, dropping the Miss all together. I loved that she was comfortable enough with me that there was no need for the formality any longer.

  “Yeah?” I looked over to where she stood by the kitchen island, face a mask of concentration as she worked to pipe frosting onto the marble swirl cupcakes we’d baked together.

  “Thank you for doing all this stuff with me this weekend.”

  I put down my own piping bag and turned full toward her. Derrick had been called in to the station unexpectedly earlier that morning, giving Eliza and me a chance for some solid girl time. The kitchen counters were lined with all kinds of sweets that he’d undoubtedly enjoy once he got home.

  “Of course, honey. I had a blast with you. I always do.”

  She moved on to the next cupcake, but I could tell there was something weighing heavily on her mind. When she spoke again, my heart broke into a million pieces.

  “I’ve never had anything like this before. My mom…” she trailed off and swallowed so hard I could see her throat bob up and down. “She doesn’t really do this stuff with me. She says she’s always too busy.”

  “Oh, sweetheart,” I said in the most soothing voice I could muster, while inside, my blood boiled, “I’m sure she’d love to paint your nails and stuff if she had the time.”

  Eliza shrugged, refusing to meet my eyes. “I guess. She’s always going out with her friends. Before her and Harold broke up she was always leaving me with my Aunt Lilith or calling Dad to watch me so they could take trips together and stuff. I didn’t really like Harold…” another shrug, “…I don’t really like Aunt Lilith either. She’s always mean to me and doesn’t let me come out of my room when I have to stay over there.”

  My stomach bottomed out and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. “Eliza… does your aunt… does she ever hit you?”

  “No.” My shoulders slumped on a heavy sigh of relief. I don’t know what I would have done had she said yes. I’d have told Derrick, most definitely, but murder wasn’t totally out of the question, either. “She’s just mean. And her and Mom are always saying nasty things about Dad. I don’t like it.”

  I didn’t know what to say. There was nothing I could tell her that would make her feel any better about her own mother’s neglect, so I did the only thing I could think of. I closed the distance between us and hugged her tightly, holding my breath until her little arms wrapped around me in return.

  “It’ll be okay, honey,” I whispered, praying to God I wasn’t lying.

  She pulled back and I caught her wiping a tear from her cheek. It killed. I felt my own eyes welling up as I watched her. “Do you think — can you talk to my dad about me living here with him? I want to stay here. I don’t want to have to go back. Will you talk to him for me, Chloe? Please?”

  At the desperation in her tone, the wide, solemn look in her eyes, I lost the battle to keep my emotions in check. Tears began pouring down my cheeks, unchecked as I dropped to my knees an
d pulled her to me. I don’t know how long we stood there, just holding each other, but I refused to move until she was all cried out, her little body trembling as she cried into my shirt.

  “I know your dad wants you here with him, sweetie, and I know he’s doing everything in his power to make that happen. But it won’t happen overnight. We just need you to be brave for a little while longer, okay? Can you do that for me?”

  She nodded against my neck and I never wanted to let her go.

  “Just a little while longer,” I whispered, but I wasn’t sure who I was trying to convince: her or me.

  Trying to take her mind off the heavy burden she was carrying, I placed my hands on her upper arms and pushed her back so she could see my face. “Hey, I have an idea. Why don’t we pack some of these sweets up and go surprise your dad at work? We can even stop and get him lunch too. I bet he’d love that. What do you think?”

  She only nodded, but she did it with a grin. That had to count for something.

  Right?

  Derrick

  AS I PULLED my ringing phone from the pocket of my work pants and looked at the screen, the first thought that crossed my mind was I am not dealing with this shit. It was bad enough I was at work on a Sunday. A Sunday when I had my daughter, but I’d be damned if I was going to be put in a bad mood on top of that.

  It had been two weeks of bliss with Chloe. She’d had a meeting with her employees and was now only going in before sunup three days a week, splitting the days with her other pastry chef. That meant extra hours where I kept her in my bed and under my body.

  Pure Heaven.

  She eased some of the worry I carried over Eliza. She made me laugh more than I had in years, and she turned me on like no woman ever had before. Being with her was like a balm for my soul. And my daughter was absolutely in love with her and the idea of us being together.

  So seeing that particular name flashing on the screen of my phone was a very unwanted interruption to the bubble I’d been living in.

  “What do you want, Layla?” I said in place of a typical hello. I leaned back in my chair and propped my feet on the desk in front of me. “I’m at work and I don’t have time to deal with your shit, so if you’re calling to start drama do yourself a favor and hang up now.”