I laugh. “Okay, slugger, but I think we’re good here.” I draw her back down to my side, and she snuggles close. This is the life.
“Can we talk now?” she asks quietly after a moment of silence.
“Sure.”
“I don’t have a rich person’s background.” She pauses, as if that is a sore point.
“We put on our pants the same as anyone.”
“No, you really don’t. Like Lucas has a valet who dresses him.”
“Lucas is an anomaly. I know for a fact that Michael dressed himself, and his baby spoon was 14K gold.”
“Yes, that’s true, but not only did I not come from money, but I ran away from home. Michael and I met when I was living at a shelter. I pretty much ran the daycare there. He donated money there, and one day he came by while I was working and asked if I would come and be his live-in nanny.”
Her story is starting to explain everything. “Go on,” I encourage.
“He had met a woman and I guess wanted to see what it was like to be with someone. It didn’t pan out for him because he wasn’t interested in her that way, but she got pregnant. She didn’t want the baby, but Michael did.”
“So he paid her off and then hired you.”
“Yes, and our arrangement was great until he found out he had stage four pancreatic cancer. It was too late for him to get treatment, and he said he couldn’t trust his family to raise Asher, so he asked me to marry him. I loved him, but…”
I can hear the guilt in her voice. “But it was a sisterly love, and you didn’t know if you could tie yourself to him for the rest of your life. Was I a test of that?”
“No. You were…the future I once dreamed of, but I’d bound myself to Michael, and I couldn’t abandon him. That would have been just as wrong. I told him I kissed you, and he didn’t care, so I packed those dreams away and made a life with Michael. I don’t regret it. I don’t.” She starts to cry.
I gather her in my arms and let her weep. She needed to let go of her guilt, her grief, and me? I need to learn to forgive.
14
SERA
“Jericho.” I moan, dropping my head back as I ride his cock.
“Give me those eyes.” He smacks the side of my ass. I give him what he demands, dropping my head forward. I can’t be mad at a man who wants to look at my face when he’s inside of me. Jericho always wants my eyes on him. “That’s my girl.”
His hands slip up to my hips, and he takes over. I might be the one riding him, but he’s always in control. I’ve always wondered what kind of lover he’d be. In my dreams, he was a bit of everything, and I was right.
At times he’s slow and sweet while others are hurried and filled with need. I’m never quite sure what I’ll get when it comes to this man, but I want it all. Since I told him all of my truths about Michael and Asher, we feel more settled. Jericho is not so on edge. He doesn’t say it, but sometimes I get the feeling that he thinks I’m going to slip through his fingers.
He always wants me closer, and if I’m gone too long, even if it’s only in another room, that's when our lovemaking turns needy and fast. While he doesn’t seem angry anymore, he does seem more intense and protective when it comes to me. He has this need to be in control at all times. Oddly, I find it comforting. It’s helped a ton with my anxiety.
“Sera.” He releases my hips long enough to give me another small smack. “Stay out of that head of yours.”
“I’m here,” I moan, trying to come already. He woke me with his mouth. That was my first orgasm. Then he slipped inside of me and rolled us over so I was on top. It’s a new position for me. We’ve been going at it like crazy since we lost all control for a while, but he likes control, and while he might have it at the moment, it’s not as dominant as some of the other positions.
“Whose cock are you riding?”
“Yours.”
“Who’s going to come in this tight pussy that I can’t seem to break in no matter how hard I try?” With those words, I’m done. His filthy mouth sends me over the edge. I cry out his name, digging my nails into his chest as I ride out the pleasure.
He flips us and thrusts into me hard two more times before burying himself to the hilt inside of me. His cock unloads inside of me, his warm release spilling into me once again. My mind drifts to what that means. It always does, but I push it away quickly. Or I try to, at least. It’s getting harder lately.