"Dad … are you okay?" Clarise finally says, raising her voice so that she can make herself heard over Earl’s desperate cries.
"No, Clarise… I’m not okay. But I will be, eventually. I might've lost a son today, but I’ve gained another," he says, forcing himself to smile as he looks toward me. "I know this isn’t exactly the best moment to say it, Connor, but welcome to the family. Or whatever’s left of the family, anyway."
I stare at him for a long moment, not knowing what to say, and then I just bow my head.
"Thank you," I reply.
"We did it," Clarise tells me, closing the distance between us and wrapping her arms around me.
"We did it," I repeat after her.
36
Connor
"I’ll leave the two of you alone for a little bit," Jonathan says solemnly, going up to his feet and walking toward the door. "But don’t be late for the board meeting; I want the two of you there."
"Got it," I reply with a nod, and then turn my attention back toward Clarise as I hear the door closing.
&nb
sp; "Please, tell me this isn’t a dream," she whispers, both her hands on my chest as she looks up into my eyes.
"This isn’t a dream," I tell her with a smile, feeling more happy than I’ve ever felt. Who knew that love could be this good? Despite how hard it was to get to this point, it was all well worth it.
"You’re staying now, aren’t you?" she asks me, biting down on her lip as she anticipates my answer.
"What do you think? Nothing in the world will ever make me walk away from you, Clarise. I won’t let that happen, not again." I press my forehead against hers and pause for a moment, just savoring the closeness of her body.
Running my fingers through her hair, I make her throw her head back and then I brush my lips against hers, that strawberry taste of hers driving me completely insane.
"When’s that meeting going to start?"
"In ten minutes," she laughs, tucking a lock of hair over one ear. "I don’t think we’ve got any time to take care of this bad boy," she continues, taking one hand to my crotch and squeezing my already hard cock.
"That’s a pity. I already miss how it feels to be inside of you…"
"Oh, the holy man seems to have developed a taste for women," she laughs again, the sound of her voice so bright that I just want to pull her into me and hold her tight.
"Not for women, Clarise… I’ve developed a taste for you," holding her close, my hands on her waist, I smile. "And I’m very proud of you."
"Proud? Of what?"
"Of the way you rose to the challenge… Earl really had us against the wall, you know? But you pulled through. You proved yourself, Clarise, and I think that your father saw that."
"Ah, my father…" she sighs. "He’s devastated. He really thought the world of Earl… I guess that he thought so highly of my brother that he was blind to his faults. In a sense, even I was… I mean, drug cartels? What the hell was going on inside our own house?"
"Just let it go… I know it’s hard, but there’s nothing like time to heal wounds like these. Look on the bright side; I’m here… I’m here with you."
"You are." She cracks a slight smile, looking into my eyes, and kisses me again. "Just promise me that you’ll never leave. I want to hear you promise it."
"I promise you. It doesn’t matter what happens in the future, I’ll never leave. Why would I? You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me."
"That makes two of us."
Pulling her close to me, she surrenders to my embrace. We remain like that for a long while, standing in silence in the middle of Jonathan’s office. When we finally break away from each other, I walk toward the floor-to-ceiling windows that line the outer wall of the office. I look out into the city, the New York skyscrapers rising high, and I place one arm against the window.
"I can’t believe I considered leaving."