by Claire Adams
I looked back at my dining room table and sighed. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to look at it the same way ever again.
Chapter Nineteen
Drew
As I sat in my office on Monday morning, I realized I’d been wrong. I’d been wrong about a lot of things in my life, but this was one of the few times I’d been so wrong about how sex would affect me. There were few things that I knew better than how my cock and body would react after I slept with a woman.
So much for my earlier theory that a little sex would help me get Cat out of my system. I’d been convinced that most of my obsession with her was just about me not having gotten laid in a long while. It’s not that I wasn’t ridiculously attracted to her, but I figured it was being amplified by my recent sexual dry stretch.
We’d fucked on Saturday, and even though it was now Monday morning, I still couldn’t get her out of my mind. Every time I tried to answer an email or read through a report, I could see only her in my mind, her face flushed as she panted.
I could remember how her nipples and her pussy tasted, the feeling of her slick juices around my fingers, and the taste of her mouth as we kissed.
Closing my eyes, I could feel her tight walls around my cock. I grunted as my dick strained against my clothes.
Yeah. Having sex with her hadn’t cured my obsession. It had made it ten times worse.
The only real improvement I could see was that I wasn’t dreaming about her at night. Maybe after experiencing the whole thing, even my mind got that a dream was a pale imitation, though I still needed her to go down on me for the full effect.
I grew rock hard at the image of her wrapping those pouty little lips around my cock and running her tongue along my shaft. I could imagine the sounds as my dick slipped in and out of her mouth. Maybe she’d take me down her throat.
I groaned and reached down to adjust myself. If this kept up, I’d have to go the executive bathroom and take care of myself.
Had I ever felt this way about a woman? I thought back. I was no stranger to women and no stranger to one-night stands, but I had a hard time thinking of any time that I’d craved a woman so much as I craved Cat, both before and after we’d slept together.
I didn’t know what it meant. So far it was mostly lust, but I could already feel the stirrings of something more permanent rising in me. The truth was, I did like Cat, not just her body and face, but also her personality, her loyalty, her fierceness. She was a good woman, and I wanted to continue to get to know her better. I was glad that I’d helped her out with her son’s medical bills. I didn’t want her to bear that worry.
A laugh escaped my mouth. Yeah, we’d done this backward. I’d slept with her, and now I wanted to get to know her. Well, no one could accuse me of being a bastard who only wanted somewhere to dip his dick.
Still, I ached to be inside her again, but I also wasn’t even sure how I felt about our little bit of dining room sex.
I’d gone there for an apology, and she’d given me that, and then we’d fucked like rabbits. I’d initiated it, but she clearly wanted it, and I was running out of reasons why it was a bad idea for us to be together.
It made sense to avoid her when we both had to concentrate on our work, but now, if anything, she needed a strong shoulder to support her. Even if she’d been a bitch at the hospital, I could understand her frustration.
Cat was a widow and had been for a while. Sure, she had family, but they could only go so far. She’d gotten used to having to take care of things herself. I could imagine how hard it was for her to realize she needed help, especially about something so important.
For that matter, her son was still in the hospital. If I hadn’t made my donation, the medical bills might have destroyed her.
Cat had been wrong about me. I shook my head. I’d spent most of my adult life relying on no one but myself, and not responsible for anyone but myself. It didn’t matter if I’d driven around and met a lot of people and worked a lot of jobs.
The truth was, you didn’t really know who you were as a person until you had real responsibilities, both work and family. I’d taken to my work responsibilities, but I didn’t know what it was like to have to worry about a kid and their health.
Unlike me, Cat had to balance every decision against how it might affect her son. Yeah, I ran a billion-dollar company, but I wasn’t sure that really compared.
My door opened, and I looked up. Daniella entered and closed the door behind her, a faint frown on her face. She marched over to the front of my desk and crossed her arms.
I grunted. Daniella looked pissed off, and that meant there was probably some problem in operations that I needed to worry about. Things had smoothed out a bit, but we’d been dealing with a lot of delays thanks to parts issues, including with the stunt bikes we needed for the movies.
“Tell me the damage,” I said. “And give me your best idea of how we can deal with it.”
“You slept with her,” she said flatly. “And I’m thinking about maybe slapping you.”
I almost jumped out of my chair. How the hell did my baby sister know? Did Cat tell her?
“Um, what are you talking about?” I said. It wasn’t a lie. I was just asking a question and trying to misdirect her. Maybe I could get her to move on and focus on business instead.
“Oh please. Seriously?” Daniella rolled her eyes. “You know what your problem is, Drew?”
“I got a lot of problems, so you’ll have to be a little more specific.”
“Okay,” she smirked. “You spent too many years hanging around lunkhead bikers. You know, guys with all the subtlety of a cannon.” She pointed to herself. “I, on the other hand, besides being a clever woman, have been swimming around with corporate sharks for most of my adult life.”
“Yeah. So?”
“It means I’m a lot more used to people trying to push past shady shit.” She narrowed her eyes. “And so it’s pretty hard for you to put one over on me. So, I’ll ask you directly—did you sleep with Cat?”
I scrubbed my face with my hand. “Okay, okay. You got me. So we slept together.” I sighed. “How did you find out? Cat doesn’t seem like the kiss-and-tell type.”
Daniella uncrossed her arms. “I went to visit her and Jack at the hospital yesterday. We were just chatting about some stuff, including the company and the ad campaign.” She smiled, “By the way, that’s all turning out well.”
“Glad to hear some good news for one. Did Simon have anything else to say?”
“Yes, tons, but we’re not talking about that right now.”
“But you brought it up!”
Daniella grinned. “But now I’m bringing up Cat again, just like I brought you up on Saturday.”
“I see. And what happened when you brought me up?”
“She suddenly turned beet red and tried to change the subject. I tried to ask her a couple times later and got the same basic reaction.” She shook a finger. “It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes and days of careful observation to figure out what happened between you two.”
I shrugged. That didn’t seem so bad. I didn’t get why Daniella had come here acting like she might be looking for a fight.
“So what?’” I said. “Yeah, we slept together, but we’re both adults, and we’ve both been attracted to each other for a while. It’s only surprising it didn’t happen earlier.” I shrugged.
Daniella sighed. “Look, I knew from the beginning you liked her, and normally I would have told you to go for it, or whatever, but doing it last weekend was a bad move, Drew. I’m actually surprised you’d do something so stupid.”
I stared at her, now totally confused. “What are you talking about?”
“Look, Cat seemed embarrassed,” Daniella said. “And I don’t just think it was about sleeping with you and me finding out. I think she might regret it. And that’s the last thing you want from a woman.”
Bile rose in my throat. Regret?
“You think so?” I said. “Are you
sure?”
My sister shrugged. “Not one-hundred percent, but it’d be my first guess, and it fits with the reaction I got from her.”
“But—” I groaned. The last thing I wanted to do was discuss my sex life with my little sister, even if she was a grown woman. “It was pretty clear she enjoyed it. Why would she regret it a day later?”
Daniella rolled her eyes. “She also was emotionally vulnerable and terrified over her sick child who is in the hospital. She wasn’t in her right mind and just a little desperate. So, yeah, maybe she enjoyed it, but then changed her mind later and regretted falling into bed with you when she was so emotionally raw.”
I grimaced. Desperate? I’d not ever thought about it that way. Did Cat think I took advantage of her?
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
My stomach knotted. My sister was right. I was a piece of shit. I’d let my cock take over and kissed a woman who’d been so exhausted before she’d tried to pick a fight with me out of the blue. She could easily say that she wasn’t in her right mind while her son was still in the hospital.
I was a son of a bitch.
“This doesn’t have to be the end of the world,” Daniella said and sighed. “Does Cat know that you paid the bill? Maybe she might regret it less if she knew you helped her out.”
“I told her on Saturday.” I looked down at my hands. “Do you really think she regrets it? I mean, I was so convinced this was all mutual and had been for a while. Hell, she ever said she’d wanted me for a while.”
“Yes, I do think she regrets it.” My sister pointed at me. “But I think it’s just because of the timing. I’m not saying she was lying about whatever she said.”
“Then what do you think I should do?”
“You need to go talk to her tonight. Don’t do it via text or over the phone. You need to talk to her face-to-face and smooth things over. Even if the weekend was a mistake, I think you two have a chance, as long as you deal with this right away, and yeah, it’s obvious that you two have chemistry.”
I held up my hands. “Okay, okay. I’ll talk to her, but I wanted to double-check with John, as he told me the other day he was having some trouble with the stunt bikes, and there’s a few other things I have to take care of today.”
“Okay,” Daniella said, waving. “Just make sure you get it done if you want any chance with her.” She marched to the door, opened it, and headed out.
I rubbed the back of my neck. I had a busy day ahead of me before I could go and try to make things right with Cat.
Chapter Twenty
Catherine
I watched Jack. He lay in bed watching cartoons on the television and eating Jell-O. He looked happy enough, if pale, though there was a little more color in his cheeks than there was yesterday.
He had to be so sick of the hospital; I know I was, though I could tell he wasn’t saying anything to me because he didn’t want me to worry. That made me love my boy all the more, but it also broke my heart.
He was a five-year-old boy. He shouldn’t ever have to worry about his mother, and the fact that he did worry so much made me wonder if I’d done enough to protect him from the harsh reality of the world. It’s not like we had a bad life, or we lived in a bad neighborhood. My husband’s insurance payout had made sure of that.
But still, Jack knew he was growing up without a dad, and as he got older, he was wondering about his dad more and asking more questions. He deserved to know, but I didn’t want to spend too much time dwelling on how his dad died instead of how he lived.
None of that helped now, though. He just needed to get better so I could take him home. He had months until he started school, so it didn’t matter if he needed more time to get better, once he was past being stuck in this sterile prison.
Just because Jack had toys, cartoons, and more freedom to pick his meals, it didn’t make this place any less a hospital. It’s not even like he even got out of bed much except to go to the bathroom.
Things seemed like they got a little worse on Sunday night, but now he seemed much better, and according to the doctors, his test results were looking better, too. I didn’t understand all the numbers and terms, but the gist seemed to be that he was showing lower signs of infection.
Jack might not be going home the next day, but we’d be getting him out of the hospital sooner than later, and that would give us both some sort of hope of going back to our normal, happy life. I’d been gone all the time during the modeling gig, and then he’d gotten sick. It seemed like forever since we had just hung out together at home having a good time.
“I want spaghetti for dinner,” Jack said.
“We’ll have to see if that’s one of the options,” I said. “At least of the choices they had for your room. I think it was chicken, a burger, or macaroni and cheese.”
“But I want spaghetti,” he said. “Please, Mommy. I really want it.”
I didn’t feel like he was whining. It seemed more like he wanted some small slice of comfort after a miserable time. Between emergency surgery and his infection, my little boy had suffered a lot, and if a little spaghetti would make him feel better, then by God I was going to get it for him.
Nibbling on my lip, I considered my options. It’s the small things that could make staying in a place like the hospital bearable. “I’ll go check in the cafeteria to see if they’ll have it. They might have it down there even if they don’t normally send it to the rooms.” I smiled at my son. “Are you going to be okay here for a few minutes by yourself?”
He nodded, “Yes, Mommy.”
“If you feel sick or something, you can press the button for a nurse.”
I grabbed my purse and stepped into the hallway with a sigh. I prayed they would have spaghetti in the cafeteria so I could pamper my boy. I closed the door behind me and turned, smacking right into a solid wall of muscle.
“Oof,” I muttered into someone’s chest. Strong hands steadied me.
I looked up to see Drew looking down at me with concern. The feel of his strong arms on me brought back memories of the other day. I could remember the cool feel of my dining room table on my back, as I lay there, my legs spread, as his body slammed into me over and over. I remembered his attention with his tongue and hands.
Hard as I tried otherwise, I couldn’t help it. I craved him. I wanted him to make me moan and cry out again. There were so many different positions we could try, or we could just try out having sex in an actual bed.
I swallowed, my throat dry. My insides twitched with need, and my center grew slick.
Heat assaulted my cheeks. If my cheeks were as red as they felt, Drew could probably tell exactly what I was thinking.
“Shit,” Drew said, backing away and dropping his arms. “Sorry. I should have been looking where I was going.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “So, uh, yeah, hi.”
I stared at my feet, not wanting to look him in the eye. I couldn’t help but wonder what he thought of me. Sure, he’d started everything on Sunday, but I’d let him fuck me on my dining room table, and that was after almost two weeks of lusting after him. Even though I’d yelled at him before that, it was hard to say I was playing all that hard to get.
It might be that he was just a horny guy who took an opportunity when he saw it. I didn’t have to sleep with him. I didn’t have to kiss him back. I could have easily pushed him away or slapped him. I could have told him I didn’t want him, even if it was a lie.
But I didn’t do any of that. Instead, I kissed him back and got naked for table sex. I couldn’t help but think maybe he’d lost all respect for me when he realized how easy it was to get me into bed. Well, on a table, anyway. He’d gotten what he wanted, so what use did he have for me now?
A faint light of hope lit in me. If that were all true, then why was he here at the hospital? It wasn’t like he had some great love of the place, and there would be no reason to stop by if he wasn’t interested in me anymore. Right?
I took a deep breath. A little explanation and apol
ogy might go a long way. I almost wanted to laugh. It seemed like all I was doing anymore was apologizing to Drew.
Drew pulled up my chin with a finger, concern in his eyes. I wasn’t sure if I could trust it. My heart thundered in my chest.
“Um, yeah,” I began, shuffling my feet. “About the other day. I—wanted to talk about that.”
“I came to apologize for the other day,” I said. “I—shouldn’t have done that. I know you’re going through a rough time right now, and I don’t take back anything I said about how attracted I am to you, but I get it and understand if you think I took advantage of you in a moment of weakness.” He furrowed his brow. “That’s not how I was thinking about it. I just thought after a couple of weeks of us eye-fucking each other, we finally took it to the next level, but maybe that was all in my head. So, I’m sorry, Cat. I really am.”
I blinked. Huh? He was worried that he took advantage of me. Where did he get that idea? If anything, I felt the opposite.
Grimacing, I flashed back to when Daniella had stopped by. She kept asking about her brother, and I was too embarrassed to talk to her about having sex with him. I realized she must have misinterpreted what had gone on when I avoided answering her questions. Oh crap.
“And now—I guess I just screwed up everything even more,” Drew said. “Too many years on the road rather than trying to lay down roots. I fuck stuff up at times, especially when it comes to people and relationships.”
“Stop talking.”
He blinked but stopped talking. He watched me carefully.
I took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “Look, you have nothing to apologize for. I don’t know what you think about the other day, but I—I liked it.” I let out a nervous chuckle. “Look, it might not have been smart. Hell, it definitely wasn’t that smart given how little we actually do know each other, but it’s also not something you should apologize for.”
Drew stared at me now, open confusion on his face.