by Emma Quinn
10
Dylan
W
aking the morning after with Emily in my arms, and both of us still naked, was quite possibly the best morning after I had ever experienced. She had been all that I had imagined in the bedroom; all that and more, really. She quite literally took my breath away.
And, it didn’t hurt my ego one little bit that she achieved quite strong orgasms three times. I will never forget that first night with her. Not ever. As I watched her sleeping, curled toward me and with her head on my chest, I was taken again by her beauty, which seemed to have multiplied since the day before.
My heart ached with love for her. Naturally, I wouldn’t tell her that. Not so soon after making love to her. She would likely think that I was only saying it because we had sex. The sex only compounded the feeling and drove it into my heart with every beat.
The sheet lay against her naked body. The swell of her hip, the dip of her waist, the swell of her breasts…I traced her body over and over with my eyes, getting more aroused by the second. When I let my fingers slide down her body, her eyelids fluttered open. I was certain I saw my feelings mirrored there in those dark brown eyes.
It wasn’t long before we were making love again. It was every bit as good as the night before. I coaxed her into taking up position on top of me so I could fully enjoy her beauty while I was inside her.
Instead of exhaustion afterward, we were both invigorated. I believe it had more to do with our budding love than anything else. I never wanted to be away from her, and when she said it was time for her to go home, it tore at me. She had her studies to get back to, though.
“Will you come back tonight?” I asked hopefully. A man just can’t get enough of that kind of love.
“I shouldn’t. I really have to study. You know I have a big exam coming up next week.” She kissed me and rolled to her side of the bed.
I watched her dress, already feeling the stirrings in my crotch again. “I know. You’re right. Well, can we get something to eat before work tomorrow, then?”
“Sure.” She finished dressing and flopped back onto the bed and propped on her elbow facing me. Her fingers traced hot little circles on my chest. “Or, we could meet here before work.” She grinned mischievously and flicked her tongue over my nipple playfully.
“Mmm. You keep that up and you can forget studying tonight.” I pulled her hand to my hardening crotch.
After a moment of caressing, she groaned and gave me a little kiss. “In that case, I have to stop.” She pushed away from me and got off the bed. “Save that for tomorrow, and I’ll gladly take care of it for you.” She winked.
“Sounds like a date to me.” I rolled to my side of the bed and stood up, quickly pulling on my pants.
“Does it?”
I turned to her, confused. “Does it, what?”
“Sound like a date?” She moved to my side of the bed and looked up at me with those enchanting doe eyes. “Is that what we’re doing? Dating?” Her smile was small.
I thought for a second. “Yeah. That’s exactly what we’re doing. Does that bother you?” For a moment, I thought she was going to tell me that it did bother her and that we weren’t dating.
Then she shook her head, her smile broadening. “Not a bit. I just wanted to make sure what this was before…” her voice trailed off.
I hugged her and we kissed again. “Before what, Em?”
Shaking her head, she backed away. “Nothing. So, I’ll come back tomorrow, say around noon again?”
I followed her to the door. “Sounds perfect. I’ll be right here waiting.”
I watched her go to her car and get in. I kept wondering, Before what?
The next day, she came over, and we had another round of amazing, mind-bending sex. We both showered at my place and got ready for work.
“So, you want to ride to work with me?” I waggled my eyebrows at her and grinned.
She laughed. “No, I think we should each take our own car.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she put on her shoes. “Actually, I think it might be best if we…” She finished with her shoes and looked up at me.
“If we, what?” I was hoping she would say that it would be best if we hopped back in the bed and called out of work. I couldn’t get enough of her. I was like a druggie looking for a fix when it came to having her naked in my arms.
She sighed and stood. “I think it might be best if we, you know, keep this hush-hush for now.”
Taken aback, I stared at her silently. It took a moment for it to register what she meant. Then I took the meaning and thought about it.
Rushing on, she said, “You know, just for now. For a while. I don’t want our relationship to cause any…any…” She cast about for more words, seeming flustered.
“Any grief at work?” I finished for her.
“Yes. With your father or with my father.” She picked up her purse and waited for me to reply.
I had been so busy falling in love with her and enjoying her company that I had failed to think about how our relationship might cause us trouble at work. My father wouldn’t be happy about it maybe. He might think I was playing, as I had always done, and that it would eventually blow up in my face, as it always did. He would be afraid of dealing with lawsuits and the like. He would definitely lecture about the relationship.
I nodded. “Yeah, I hadn’t thought about it until just now, but our fathers might not be thrilled at the prospect, huh?”
Shaking her head, she smiled wanly. “Especially yours. I mean, he knows my dad pretty well on a professional level, but he doesn’t know me at all. Employees fraternizing would probably raise all sorts of red flags—especially when one of them is his only son and heir to the throne, so to speak. He surely wouldn’t want anything like this to mar your name.”
I laughed. “You’re worried about our ‘fraternizing’ marring my name? I think I’ve done quite enough of that all on my own. You could only help straighten out my name.” I pulled her into a big hug and kissed her on the tip of her cute little button nose.
Giggling, she wriggled free of my embrace and I chased her, pinching at her backside as she squealed and ran out the door.
At her car, I pinned her and kissed her pouty lips. “Tell you what. I’ll keep the secret for a while, if…”
“If what?” She chuckled.
“If you promise to…” I kissed her again. “…come back tonight.”
“That’s not a hard promise to keep.” She poked me in the ribs, and I stood back, letting her get into her car.
“It’s harder than you think.” I winked and shut her door.
She blew me a kiss, and I caught it. The silly games you play when you’re newly in love, huh?
At work, I kept it strictly business until we were on lunch. I sat across from her, to keep up appearances, you understand, and started flirting with her, teasing her about the activities I had planned for after work.
She laughed and blushed but didn’t tell me to stop. Her blush was beautiful, and her nervousness at my words was delicious. It was like a game of Cloak and Dagger.
Leaning forward, I whispered, “I see why you wanted to keep the secret. It’s the intrigue, the constant threat of someone finding out, or overhearing our conversation.” I winked and made a circle with my thumb and forefinger as I nodded. “Is much fun, Fraulein Shandon.”
My attempt at a German accent must have hit a funny bone because she burst out laughing. I cleared my throat as I saw her father come to the door, but she didn’t pay attention and was still guffawing when he peeked around the open door.
“Everything all right in here?” He grinned.
Emily jumped nearly out of her seat, swallowing her laughter. She turned to him with big eyes and he looked questioningly at me. I made my expression completely neutral and shrugged as if to say I had no idea what was wrong with her.
“Ahem. Yes, Daddy. Everything is fine. Dylan’s just being stupid.” She couldn’t hold a straight face
and burst out laughing again.
I kept up the charade with my innocent expression. “Now, that hurts my feelings.” I continued to eat my sandwich as she regained her composure.
She kicked my foot hard, and I nearly choked. Then we were both laughing. Her father looked confused, shook his head and smiled a little as he turned away.
“You know your dad is assessing the cost of therapy for you even as he walks away, right? He sinks your mind eez fubar, Fraulein.”
“Stop! Your accent is so…” She laughed again, “…terrible. It’s not even how Germans talk in the movies—those terrible accents for German villains are even better than yours.” She swiped at her face and eyes, straightening up before returning to work.
“Really? I knew it was bad, but, really?” I shook my head as if sad, and we walked out of the breakroom.
“No, actually, I was being nice. It’s worse than that.” She snorted laughter again and walked away to her station, leaving me at mine.
Like I said, the silly games we play…
11
Emily
I
didn’t let up on Dylan about getting in contact with his mother. I thought it was a real shame that they both had given up on each other. Of course, I didn’t know all the circumstances, one outside the relationship never can, but I still thought there was hope for mother and son to reconcile and nurture a healthy relationship.
He had promised he would consider it, but he had done more. He called and left messages at his mother’s. When she didn’t call back after a week, he wrote her a letter. In this age of technology, text messages, direct messages via social media, and the like, Dylan Rochester took the time to sit down and write and honest to god letter with a pen and paper. I was so proud of him.
Another week passed and he called one last time. “If she doesn’t answer, or call me back by the end of this week, I don’t know, Emily. Maybe it is a waste of time. Maybe she really hates me. I couldn’t blame her if she did.”
“Oh my god, Dylan. Don’t talk like that. She doesn’t hate you. How could a mother hate her only son?” I walked to him and wrapped my arms around his waist, resting my head on his chest. I had grown to love him so much and so quickly that it scared me sometimes. I hadn’t told him yet. That, like sex, will come naturally in a relationship, or not at all.
He kissed the top of my head and wrapped his big strong arms around me. “You just don’t know how badly I talked to her, Emily. It makes me sick to think I could do something like that to her now.”
“It’ll all be okay.” I looked up at him. It was in his eyes that he was really worried about it. “Promise. It’s going to work out fine. You will figure it out. You’re a brilliant man with excellent powers of persuasion.”
“Oh, you think?” He grinned, some of the worry leaving his face.
“I know. Just look at what you’ve done to me.”
“I seem to remember that you weren’t complaining about any of it.” He kissed me softly.
“Nope. Not a bit.” I melted against him, allowing our bodies to meld together in the perfect matchup. We seemed made for each other. Physically and mentally, we were like two puzzle pieces that fit together perfectly.
Another few days went by, and the Dylan came to me. He was excited. I could see it on his face before he ever got into the house.
“I need you to help me, Emily. Will you?” He wiggled his phone at me.
“Well, yeah. You know I will. What do you need?” I looked from him to his cellphone.
“It’s my mom. She called me back. She wants me to come see her.” His voice sounded breathy and his excitement spilled into his words.
“That’s great! When are you going?” I was immediately excited for him. Finally, he and his mother could work things out!
His face dropped. “That’s just it. If I go, and I very much want to, Father will be furious. You have no idea how bad they hate each other.”
He had told me some of the tensions between him and Mr. Rochester, and how his father held control of all his money. I knew he was afraid of angering his father any more than he already had. He felt bad for all the waste and frivolous ways he had blown that money to date. But he had never really spoken of how his mother and father were toward each other after the divorce. I always assumed there were bitter feelings, that’s just typical for a divorced couple.
Wanting to do all I could to help him mend his broken relationship, I asked, “What can I do to help?”
“Ugh, I hate asking it like this; it sounds so bad. I’m a grown man, but you heard what my father told yours about keeping strict tabs on me at work. If I screw up in any way, even minor infractions, your dad is supposed to report it immediately.”
“Yes, I know. But you’re doing fine on your job, Dylan. There’s nothing to worry about there.” I laughed, still confused.
He ran his hand through his hair. It was a sign of stress, I had learned.
“If I’m going to go see my mother, I need to take a few days off from work. Father has already said that I am absolutely not getting any days off until he knows for sure that I’ve learned my lesson.” He flopped into a kitchen chair, elbows on the table, phone twirling between his fingers.
“He won’t let you off to see your mother?” I was incredulous.
“Nope. He can’t stand the thought of me going anywhere near her, so I know he won’t.”
“Well, can’t he see how much you’ve changed in the last few months? Even Daddy comments on it.” I joined him, sitting across from him.
“No, he hasn’t. And, he likely won’t for a while yet. Maybe until a year is up. I can’t risk him finding out that I’m going to her, though. There would definitely be hell to pay, and I’m just not ready to deal with it.” He laid his phone down.
I couldn’t believe how strict his father was being, but it was none of my business. Not really. That was between father and son. But to keep him from seeing his own mother, I thought was terrible.
“Name it. I’ll do it.” I was resolute. I wouldn’t stand by idly and let what might be their only chance to reunite, slip away.
“Thank you, Emily. I’ll repay you somehow.” He stood and leaned over the table to kiss me. “I need a few days off to go see Mother and reconnect with her. I’ve got a lot of shit to make up for. If you could talk to your dad and ask him not to tell my father of my absence, it would be a life saver for me.”
I thought it over for a moment. I knew I could talk my father into almost anything; I had learned that when I was little. Not finding any harm in Dylan’s request, I smiled and nodded. “I can do that. I can’t promise anything, but I’m pretty sure I can get you Wednesday through Friday off. You’ll have the weekend, too, and then return to work Monday like normal.” I was already thinking of how to phrase the conversation opener with Daddy.
“I was actually thinking more like all week. Father just gave me a schedule change this morning. He said I am to start working two days a week in the offices; eight-hour shifts. That means I will only be working at the warehouse three nights a week. I’ll tell him that you are very busy at the warehouse and that I want to work there all week to ensure you don’t fall behind, and that I won’t be able to work the mornings at the office because I might have to work some overtime at the warehouse.” He looked at me hopefully.
His plan sounded solid, if his father would take the bait, he would be all set to go see his mother. “All right. It sounds plausible. I don’t think there are any glaring holes in the story.”
I went to Daddy’s house and talked the plan over with him. It wasn’t as easy as I had thought to get him to agree, but the backstory about Dylan and his mother finally won him over.
“Emily, I hope this doesn’t blow up in our faces. I love you more than anything in the world, and I trust your judgement about Dylan. I understand you’re willing to do this for him to get him and his mother back on speaking terms, but I worry. If Mr. Rochester finds out…”
He let his
voice trail off as he looked out the kitchen window and rubbed his cheek with one hand. He was worried. Maybe rightly so, but I couldn’t let it go.
“He won’t, Daddy. Dylan is talking to him right now. He’ll think Dylan’s at the warehouse all week and won’t come all the way out there just to check, I’m sure of it. Please, Daddy. Just do this one thing for me. For Dylan. I miss Mama terribly, and I would hate for Dylan’s mother to pass away without them ever having the chance to have a wonderful relationship like me and Mama had.” I sighed, unsure of how to continue. “It’s just too sad to think about. He’s a good man. He just needs us to help him so he can find his way. A broken family is sad enough. Don’t punish him even more than he’s punishing himself. Please?” I laid my hand on Daddy’s arm.
He turned to me. His eyes were sad at the memories of Mama, I’m sure. He put his hand over mine and patted it. A smile replaced the sadness.
“I respect your wishes, Em. You’ve got a big heart. Your mother would be so proud of the sweet woman you’ve grown into.” He pulled me into a hug.
“So, you’ll do it?” I smiled at him hopefully.
“Yes.” He chuckled and kissed my forehead the way he used to when I was a little girl.
I hugged him again, tighter. “Thank you, Daddy! You won’t regret it. I promise!”
Dylan
W
hile Emily went to speak with her father about my request, I went to see my own father in the office. With sweaty palms, I entered his office and waited for him to offer me a seat.
“What’s on your mind, son?” He laid his pen down and closed the laptop to scrutinize me.
I felt like a bug under a microscope. “I wanted to talk to you about this week at the warehouse. They’re pretty hectic over there right now.”
He nodded and tapped the laptop. “Yes, I can see that from here.”