by Polly Carter
“Well, it’s done now, Hal,” Arian said firmly. “I’m just glad I did come back. I could have lost you both forever.”
And, as if to reassure himself that he hadn’t lost her and she was real, he crushed her to him, seeking out her mouth and kissing her again and again until she was breathless.
“It’s even more important that we marry as soon as possible now, Hal,” he said at last looking gently into her eyes. “I promise I am going to do everything humanly possible to stop this stupid trial going ahead but, just in case, I need to make sure I am Lyddia’s legal guardian. I don’t suppose I’m on the birth certificate.”
Harley dropped her eyes and shook her head. What had seemed such a good idea at the time in her anger at him now didn’t seem like one at all.
“Never mind. It won’t be difficult to establish paternity. I can sort that out, and we can look at the legalities of guardianship and whatever. But right now, I want you to help me fill in the Notice of Intended Marriage form. I have to lodge it tomorrow so we can still use the slot I booked at the Registry Office.”
“But…” Harley tried to speak but Arian stopped her.
“We have to do this, for Lyddia’s sake. If worst comes to worst, at least you’ll know she’s with her dad while we work to get you out on appeal. I’ll take good care of her, if I have to. I swear on my life, Hal. I would even if she were your daughter and not mine, but she is mine, my baby girl, our baby girl.”
While he was talking, he led Harley to the dining table where the form and a pen were waiting. He fetched their beers and then sat with her while they completed the form that would give them legal permission to marry before Harley’s trial. When it was done, they popped around to his landlord’s apartment as Geoff was able to act as a witness to their signatures. Once the form was signed, they returned to Arian’s apartment.
“Here’s to our future together, Hal,” he said, taking Harley into his arms. “You, me and Lyddia. Our little family. And I promise I will never leave you or Lyddia alone again. Okay? I promise.”
Harley looked into Arian’s eyes and knew he was speaking the truth. Her heart filled to overflowing at the thought of the three of them as a family. If only it could be so, but it seemed more likely that Arian and Lyddia would be the family while she would be locked up on her own. As painful a thought as that was, though, she felt she could take heart knowing that Lyddia was with her dad.
“Stay with me tonight, Hal?” Arian said suddenly, interrupting her thoughts.
“But I have to get home. I have to get Lyddia ready for kindy in the morning. And I’ve got no pyjamas, no toothbrush…”
Arian grinned wickedly. “No pyjamas seems like a good thing to me. I have a spare toothbrush, and I can get you up early and into a car to be home in plenty of time to be there when Lyddia gets up. Honest. Just stay. I want to sleep holding my bride-to-be, the mother of my child, the woman I love in my arms. One night, alone together. Please, Hal.”
Instead of answering, she got up from her chair and went to him, sitting on his lap facing him, her legs straddling his. She put her arms around his neck and kissed him, and it was the sweetest kiss they’d ever shared. Together they had made a precious little girl, and in a month they would marry. After that… well, after that, time would tell. For now, they had this night together.
He ended the kiss and stood up, picking her up and carrying her to the bedroom.
Setting her down, he fetched a clean T-shirt and handed it to her. “You can use the bathroom to change, if you want. You’ll find an unopened toothbrush in the second drawer of the vanity and a clean towel in the cupboard. I’ll wait for you here.”
“Okay,” Harley said, smiling shyly up at him from under her eyebrows as she sat on the edge of the bed to remove her boots and socks. “I might have a shower. Wanna join me?”
“Sure,” Arian said happily, pulling his shoes and socks off. “It’s a long time since you last washed me. I must be caked on by now. You might need to do quite a bit of scrubbing and rubbing.” He winked at her, and she laughed as they went into the bathroom together.
Standing next to the shower recess, he undressed her slowly, kissing and caressing each freshly revealed piece of her. Removing her bra, he gazed silently at her breasts, then raised a hand to slowly enclose one. He felt its weight and size, then his thumb gently rubbed her nipple until it filled to capacity. He looked up at her.
“Did you breast feed Lyddia?”
“Yes. Until she was two and a half.”
He nodded and dropped his gaze to his hand around her breast. “I think they are a bit bigger now.” He bent and kissed it. “You know, Hal,” he said, looking up at her again, “I’ve always loved your breasts, but to know they fed our daughter just makes them more beautiful and magical than ever.” He kissed her lovingly and tenderly. “But I don’t want you getting cold.” He quickly removed the rest of her clothes and then stood back slightly to study her naked body. “Your body is rounder and more womanly, more perfect than ever.”
Harley giggled, starting to feel like a specimen under scrutiny. “Well, let’s get your clothes off and see if you’re any rounder considering how close you’re getting to middle age.”
“Cheeky,” he said, pulling her to him and tucking her face down under his left arm. His right hand came down quickly, smack, smack, smack, smack onto her cool naked bottom, instantly giving her cheeks a pink hue.
“Ow!” she cried, laughing happily.
“I’ve been telling you ever since I bumped into you in town that you were in need of a good spanking.” He picked her up and threw her easily over his shoulder, carrying her back to the bed. Plonking her down, he sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her over his knee.
“No, Arian,” she squealed, wriggling furiously. “What are you spanking me for? I thought we were going to have a shower. Ow. Ow.”
“Because I want to, of course,” he laughed, peppering her squirming bottom.
“You’re horrible,” she protested, reaching back and pinching him hard on his leg.
“Ow, you little minx!” he yelped grabbing both her hands and holding them pinned behind her back while he rained another half-a-dozen slaps on her bottom. Then he quickly pulled her up, pulled the bed covers back, and sat her in the bed. “Stay there,” he growled. “Unless you’d like me to take a slipper to your bottom.”
“Where are you going?” Harley called after him as he disappeared into the bathroom. She shivered and pulled her knees and the covers up to her neck, relaxing again only when he returned to her, naked except for a condom covering his erection.
“Do you mind, Hal?” he asked gently.
She shook her head, smiled, and opened the covers as she lay back and parted her legs. He leapt into bed with her, pulling her hungrily into his arms, pinning her to the bed with his kisses.
“Oh my God, Hal. I’ve missed you so much. You’ll never know,” he muttered between kisses. “I need you. It was like losing a part of me when you went. God, Hal, I need you so much right now. I can’t wait. This won’t be pretty, but I’ll have a lifetime to make it up to you,” he chuckled as he rolled on top of her. He guided his penis to her wet, waiting entrance, then paused. “You okay?” he asked gently, searching her eyes.
“Yes, my love,” she whispered. “I love you too, Arian. There’s never been anyone else but you. Not since we met.”
“You mean?” he asked, scrunching his face.
She nodded.
“All the time we’ve been apart?”
“Uh huh. This will be the first time since Lyddia was born, so I hope everything still works.” She said it lightly, but a slight frown clouded her forehead.
“You were perfect before you had my child, and I think you are even more perfect now,” Arian said gruffly as he pushed forward. Harley relaxed to allow him an entry made easier by her juices flowing in anticipation of welcoming him back.
“Oh my God, that’s so good,” Arian moaned. “Me too by the w
ay,” he mumbled.
“No!” Harley gasped, partly in surprise and partly in response to his presence and the way he was rocking gently inside her. “Are you serious? But you said… you know, about not being a monk.”
“I am deadly serious,” he murmured against her as he slowly moved inside her. “I told you, my darling. Every other woman is fatally flawed by not being you. It was like I was chained to you even across such a distance. My un-monk-like behaviour was confined to me, my hand and my mind. But, by crikey I was getting horny. I really had to come find you.”
Harley giggled happily as she drew her hips back and then thrust them forward, loving how it made him groan and shudder.
“Be careful,” he said, his voice cracking. “I warned you I’m fit to bust.”
“Oh, Arian. I love you so much,” she cried, wrapping her legs around him. “Bust away, my darling.”
“Just keep as still as you can for the moment and I’ll try to make it last,” he whispered, gently sliding in and out, pushing hard in and pausing as waves of pleasure surged up through her, and then slowly drawing back before pushing slowly in as hard and deep as he could. Relaxing as much as she was able and keeping as still as was possible, Harley focused totally on the sensation he was creating inside her. She felt the warmth growing in the centre of her being, growing a little stronger and spreading a little further with each thrust. Her head began to roll from side to side and she moaned with desire as the tension filled her body.
Sensing her increasing need for release, Arian quickened his movements. No longer able to resist, she joined his rhythm as he took hold of her and pushed her to her limit. As the tension broke deep within, she cried out as pleasure swamped her, her hot contractions squeezed Arian, destroying the last of his self-control. His own need for release now his only goal, he raised himself and thrust hard and sharp and fast, plundering her heat and wetness as she bucked beneath him until his body stopped thrusting and shuddered and he tipped his head back and gave a loud cry.
Harley wrapped her legs back around him, holding him in tight as his body spent itself in a paroxysm of pleasure and eventually relaxed down onto her. He lay still as his body slowly came to rest and his breathing quietened. Harley gently stroked his back and turned to press her lips against his face. He raised himself off her, taking his weight on one elbow as he smiled into her eyes and kissed her lips.
“You probably don’t believe this, but that was completely unplanned.”
“You’re right,” Harley said with a laugh. “I don’t believe you for a minute.”
“Would you like another spanking?” he grumbled against her hair.
“No, but I think that shower we were going to have is probably more necessary now than it was before.”
“True,” he agreed without making a move to let her up.
She poked him in the ribs. “Come on, then, stinky. You’ll have to let me up if you want me to give you that good scrubbing you were talking about.”
Arian drew back further, lowering his mouth to suck and nip her nipple on the way, then slowly drawing completely out of her, he stood up and stripped off the condom. “I guess I didn’t really need this after all,” he said as he wrapped it in a tissue.
“No,” Harley agreed, hopping off the bed and following him into the bathroom where he threw the tissue in the bin. “Other than for birth control. I’m not on the pill at the moment.”
Arian turned on the shower. “Maybe you shouldn’t.”
“Shouldn’t what? Go on the pill?”
Arian stepped into the recess and waited for her to join him. “Well, don’t you think it would be nice for Lyddia to have a brother or sister?”
“Yes,” Harley gasped. “But I can’t get pregnant now. What if… well, what if I wind up in prison. I don’t want to have a baby in prison!”
Taking the soap and frothing it over his hands, he rubbed his hands on her breasts. “I said I’m not going to let that happen, but don’t worry, we can wait until they drop the charges or, at worst, the case is thrown out of court. Now, here. Take the soap. Start scrubbing, woman.”
Chapter 11
“Hey, chickie, what’s the time?” Jessamy called. “Do I have to get dressed yet?”
Wearing a very small wet bikini, she was sprawled on a banana lounge by the pool. After an unseasonably hot start to autumn, the weather had begun to cool but still threw up the occasional day hot enough to swim, and today being such a day Jessamy was taking full advantage of both the temperature and the pool. A still-damp Toby, chewing his ball, looked up at her as she spoke. Agreeing it was hot enough to get into the water, he had chased his ball about and splashed happily with her until she got out, then he’d followed, shaken himself violently and lay down near her to warm and dry himself in the sun.
“Arian will be here soon,” Harley called back from her chair on the verandah where she was scrolling through her phone.
“Okay, I’m coming then.” Jessamy stood up and pulled on a very short denim skirt with a raggedy hem. “Do I need a T-shirt, do you think?” she called out again.
“Suit yourself,” was the unhelpful reply.
“I think I better. I don’t want my artwork distracting anyone,” Jessamy said looking down at the myriad of colourful tattoos that adorned her body. Not that her small T-shirt and tiny skirt covered much of them anyway. “Come on, Toby, let’s go in.” But he was way ahead of her, standing by the pool gate, ball in mouth, waiting to charge ahead.
“Coming in?” she said as she passed Harley on the verandah and let herself into the house.
“Sure. Hey, chuck us your towel and I’ll rub Toby down first. Toby, come back out here.”
Ten minutes later, the two women and a drier dog were sitting in the kitchen when the car pulled into the drive.
Harley and Toby jumped up and went to greet the visitors. Arian collected a box of beers off the back seat.
“Hey, Hal,” he said, giving her a tender smile and quick ‘hello’ kiss. “Hey, Toby.” He turned to the man who had followed him out of the car and added, “This is Detective Zain Dessouky.”
“Hi, Zain,” Harley said, colouring slightly at the presence of the other man, and by what a presence he was! She’d always thought Arian was a big, muscular man, but this man almost made him look small. It was a good thing he was wearing a sleeveless T-shirt, because those massive, ornately decorated biceps probably wouldn’t fit into sleeves. If anyone wanted to know why the type of shirt he was wearing was called a ‘muscle Tee’, Zain Dessouky was a walking explanation. It wasn’t only his arms that were big either, the scrap of cloth stretched tight over his chest and abdomen did more to display his rippling muscles than it did to cover them.
Harley timidly held out her hand and was not surprised when it disappeared inside his enormous one. “Come in,” she said, leading the way and then waiting to close the door behind them.
“Lyddia out?” Arian asked as he passed Harley in the doorway and handed her the box with a dozen small bottles of beer, almost tripping over Toby who was milling around in the doorway as everyone entered.
“Yeah. Mum took Lyddia to the shopping centre to give us some time without interruption. They’ll be back in a couple of hours.”
“Okay,” Arian nodded as he led his companion and Toby to the lounge room leaving Harley to close the front door behind them.
“Hi, Jessamy,” she heard him say.
“Hey, Big Boy,” Jessamy replied stepping forward to hug Arian, but stopping dead in her tracks when she saw the man behind. “Uh oh! I take that back. Not really the big boy now, are you?”
Coming into the lounge room at the moment Jessamy and Zain’s eyes met, Harley felt the sharp crackle that passed between them, and although Zain didn’t move, Harley clearly saw his body tense so the muscles in his thighs and arms bulged even more. The man was a colossus.
“Jess, this is Detective Zain Dessouky. Zain, Jessamy Lushpin.” Arian was either ignoring or oblivious to the sudden
tension in the room, but looking at her friend, Harley suppressed a grin thinking this is what women in the olden days must have looked like immediately prior to having an attack of the vapours. Jessamy nodded politely, but shakily, to Zain and then held out her arms to Arian.
“Don’t I get a hug?” she said.
“Of course,” Arian replied wrapping his arms around her and squeezing so she squealed. “How’ve you been, Jess? It’s been ages. You’ve got some new ink since last I saw you by the looks of it. Harley says you’re working in security these days.”
“Yes, to everything,” Jessamy replied. “And it’s about time you came back. Look what happens to our girl when she’s left on her own!”
“That was hardly my fault,” Harley spluttered. “But you should have been here anyway, shouldn’t you?”
“Aw, sweetcakes, I’m here now,” Arian said tenderly, giving her a kiss and a pat on the bottom. As he did so, Zain and Jessamy’s eyes found each other again and the tiny hairs on Harley’s arms and neck rose to take a peek as they sensed another silent crackle. She shivered.
“Does everyone want a beer?” she asked to break the tension. “Please, won’t you sit down, Zain. Beer?” Zain nodded. Harley handed him a bottle from the box, gave another one each to Arian and Jessamy and took the rest into the kitchen. Jessamy followed her.
“Lawky, lawky, lawky. Never mind the front door,” Jessamy whispered loudly to Harley as she fanned her face with her free hand once they were out of sight. “Shut every door in the house. Do not, I repeat, do not let that man out of here.”
Harley burst out laughing, trying to keep it quiet so the men around the corner in the next room wouldn’t hear. “He is quite a hunk, eh? I reckon you might have met your match there. I saw the way he was looking at you. I thought you guys were about to get down and dirty right in front of us.”
“Oh no,” Jessamy shook her head and ran her alternate black and white fingernails across the stubble of her black and blonde hair. “This,” and she dramatically lowered her hands down the length of her body outlining her curves as she went, “is sacred territory. If that man wishes to plant his flag in it, he is going to have to prove himself worthy beforehand.” She put her arm around Harley’s shoulder and exaggeratedly crossed her fingers in front of them. “And should he prove himself worthy, my fingers aren’t the only thing I’ll be uncrossing.”