“Fuck.”
I gritted my teeth and pressed my body against the wall next to the door. Everything in me told me to leave. To pretend like that had never happened. That I hadn't heard a goddamn thing. I couldn't just sit there and listen to that. I just couldn't.
I didn't move though. My eyes were closed, as if somehow, I could make myself disappear as Ember continued masturbating, groaning and calling out my name. Did she realize how loud she was? Did she care? Was this intentional?
No, she had no way of knowing I was in there. She had no way of knowing I could hear her.
“Fuck me, Jude,” she whimpered.
I closed my eyes and listened to her, imagining she was right there in front of me. I pictured her wiggling her tight ass toward me, begging me to enter her.
My knees weakened, and my breathing grew ragged. My balls began to ache with pressure building up within them. My body moved, seemingly of its own volition, and before I knew what I was doing, my hand slipped down into my pants. I took hold of my member, gripping it firmly. Each groan from Ember made my cock pulse as I stroked it. I tried to imagine anything but Ember – she was my stepdaughter and it didn't feel right. But, when she called my name, I had no way of driving the thoughts and image of her from my mind.
I spat on my hand, wetting it a bit, and thinking about how wet she'd feel when I slipped my stiff prick into her. Oh God, I bet she was tight and oh so warm. I bet I'd fill her up and stretch her open. Make her cry out in pleasure.
“Come for me baby,” I muttered, biting into my arm to stop my own sounds from carrying. “Come for me, Ember.”
Even as I said those words, I felt insanely guilty for having such fantasies running through my head. Yet, as if acting on command, Ember's moans grew louder, and she let out a scream of pure and unbridled bliss, my name rolling off her tongue over and over again.
I tightened my grip on my cock, imagining her pussy clenching my thick shaft as she came, and it was over. My balls curled up into my body and streams of cum shot straight out of my dick. I bit my arm even harder, making myself wince with the pain. I struggled to not make the same mistake Ember had and cry out too loudly as the orgasm washed over me. I couldn't let her hear me.
Her moans stopped just as every last ounce of semen slid down the door, pooling along the baseboard.
I cursed under my breath, angry at myself for allowing that to happen. I rushed to my desk, grabbed some napkins and cleaned things up the best I could. I wiped down the door, and as I was doing that, I realized I knew what I had to do.
I had to end things with Lydia. Not because I had the hots for her daughter, but because I really didn't want to be married in the first place. She'd called the tune and I had very uncharacteristically, danced to it. It had all happened so fast, she played to my fears so well, and offered me what I wanted – a family. Now, as my head grew clearer, I could see that it had all been a sham from the start.
Lydia didn't love me, and I most certainly didn't love her.
***
I was waiting for Lydia at the dining room table. Not that she'd stopped to talk to me. No, she'd come home, and without a word, rushed upstairs to shower. She didn't have to get that close though, for me to smell the men's cologne on her. The scent was thick and heavy, and reinforced everything Ember had told me ea
rlier.
With a clear head, I knew I was doing the right thing. Sitting there, in my dining room, waiting for my wife to join me for a chat, I put together what I was going to say in my head. I'd told her to meet me down there as soon as she could, and I already had the paperwork printed out for the annulment, thanks to Dominic. Having a lawyer as a business partner came in handy sometimes – even more so when he was also your best friend. Things tended to get done a lot quicker that way.
My back straightened as I heard footsteps coming down the hallway. This was it. She could either take the terms I set forth for her, or we'd go to court and things could get ugly. Would get ugly. I braced myself for a fight, but it wasn't Lydia who popped into the dining room, catching me completely off guard.
It was Ember.
She walked straight through to the kitchen in a pair of pink short-shorts and a white, almost see-through, off-the-shoulder top, her auburn hair pulled back in a high ponytail that trailed down her back. She smiled at me, and it wasn't the awkward smile of someone who knew they'd been caught masturbating. No, she seemed like her normal self. As if she didn't have the first clue I'd heard her in the shower. Maybe she didn't.
Her ass shimmied in her tiny little shorts, and she was walking back toward me with an apple in her hand when she saw the papers lying out in front of me. She stopped and I saw her eyes widen slightly.
She sighed and took a seat next to me. “I see you've taken my words to heart,” she said.
“I appreciate your honesty, Ember,” I said. “The situation sucks, but it is what it is.”
I was sitting stiffly and staring straight ahead – careful not to look at the beautiful, and scantily clad, redhead with the emerald green eyes sitting beside me.
“So this probably means my mom and I are going back to the penthouse, huh?”
Her voice dropped a little, and I side-eyed her. She looked disappointed – or maybe I was just feeling hopeful.
“I've come up with terms that'll take care of the both of you,” I said.
Ember didn't have a chance to say anything else before Lydia strode in. She took one look at her daughter, then one at me and the paperwork and she frowned, deep lines spreading across her brow. For the first time, she actually looked her age. Not to mention, a little more than uncertain.