The Truth

Her eyes pop wide open, her mouth turns into an ‘O’ of surprise, and I feel the response of her pussy around my cock.

I grind up into her, pulling her hips down against me. “Seems you like that.” One more grind for us both, and then I still. “You need to rest. I meant to go easy on you, be gentle after everything.”

She reaches to cup my face. “I’ll let you know if I need gentle. Or if I need rough. I promise to always tell you the truth.”

She’s not only talking about our lovemaking but about so much more. She’s vowing to let me in, even when she wants to be the strong person who can solve all the world’s problems. She’ll let me help in her moments of need and take care of her.

“The truth is . . . I love you, Tiffany Stryker.”

“Ooh!” she squeals in excitement, wiggling against me. “You have no idea how long I’ve dreamed of this. If I’m asleep or still unconscious, I will murder the person who wakes me up. Go stabby, stabby on them and then toss them in the river at the park.”

"That's oddly specific. Should I be concerned?” I tease.

“Not if you don’t wake me up from this dream,” she says, settling in with her head on my shoulder.

We stay like that, not sleeping but not awake, just enjoying each other.

After a while, a question comes to my mind. “What made you take a pregnancy test? Were you having symptoms?” I’m thinking now about her cracker eating and her telling her mom that her stomach was upset.

Tiffany doesn’t lift her head but starts rubbing my chest. “You’re not going to believe this, but I didn’t figure it out at all. Ricky and Billy told me before I even took a test.”

“No shit?” I ask, and she nods. “Those guys don’t miss anything.”

“You have no idea. I think you might have to give them a raise.”

Chapter 31

Tiffany

“You ready?” Daniel asks, and I swallow my fear, giving him a confident smile. We are going to cross this particular road together.

Half to send a message and half because dammit, I want to, I kiss him. I mean for it to be a simple peck right outside the door, but when he pulls me in tighter, I go to him. Before I know what’s happening, his hand is in my hair while I pull on the lapels of his jacket, and we’re putting on quite the show.

I don’t know how long we’re there, but when the doors open and we step inside, it’s pretty damn clear that our message was sent and received. The lobby, which at this time of the morning is usually filled with people heading in or stopping to chat with friends who work in other departments, is nearly silent as Daniel walks with me to the front desk.

Megan and Stephanie are both looking at us in utter surprise. Megan is holding a pen limply in her fingers, and Stephanie looks like she’s about to shimmy herself right out of her chair and is only waiting for the right opportunity to pepper me with a million questions. They knew in a vague way about Daniel and me, but this is different. This is more… public proclamation.

Conversation starts up again, maybe a bit too loud as people try to cover up for their staring, but I do what I told Daniel I’ll do. I put my shoulders back, look fabulous, and remind myself that if they don’t like it, fuck ’em.

“You good?” Daniel asks me, and I nod. “Okay, I’ll see you tonight?” He’s not yelling it, but with the acoustics in here, there’s no doubt that everyone heard him.

“You read my mind.”

We give each other secret smiles despite everyone watching, having a bit of fun with the whole thing. I mean, love is beautiful and everyone should be happy for us.

“I don’t get it,” a voice says, and I look over to see Shaun coming closer. As the lone survivor of the TRE massacre, he’s still getting the shaft a little bit since the contract was ditched and he’s basically out months of work on the bonus . . . but at least he still has his job and has been reassigned to another acquisitions project.

“Did you have something you wanted to say, Shaun?” Daniel asks the man directly, subtly placing me behind him protectively. Ricky and Billy are crossing the lobby but holding steadfast.

“Well, Mark and Brandon get fired for who they’re dating, but you can screw around with the secretaries?” Shaun looks me up and down like I’m a piece of meat. “At least you’ve got good taste, not that I’d expect you to totally slum it.”

The lobby is moving now, but everything stops at Shaun’s comments. Nobody moves, nobody says a word. Stephanie looks like she’s about to kill in my defense, while sweet Megan looks like she might actually help Stephanie bury the body afterward.