by T. L Smith
I mean, it sounded like a good plan in my head.
Plastering on a fake smile, I turn to face him and his companion, who’s smiling up at me.
“I’m in a rush. Sorry.”
“Noah isn’t here yet. Why don’t you have a seat and wait? I’m having dinner with him after you two finish anyway.”
“Is that why you’re here?” I ask. My eyes can’t help themselves, and they fall to the woman. She’s beautiful, very much so. Dark mahogany hair falls down over her breasts as she sits there, legs crossed. And her red lipstick begs for someone to pay attention to her lips.
I look down at my own outfit, and it’s then I realize perhaps I should have changed.
I’m still in my work clothes, but I didn’t have time to change into something else. I got home from work, cooked Oliver’s dinner for when he comes home, then slipped on my shoes and left again.
Beckham pulls out the seat next to him and nods for me to sit.
“I really shouldn’t be interrupting your evening. I’m happy to go and wait for him over there.” I nod to a spare table.
“It’s no bother. Sit,” he commands.
So, I do.
“Hi, I’m Amy.” She offers me her hand, and I take it.
“Lovely to meet you. I’m Jacinta … I work with Beckham.”
“Nice.”
“And we used to fuck,” Beckham says, then turns to face me. “Isn’t that right?”
I narrow my eyes at him and then purse my lips. “I’m sure your date here does not want to hear about your conquests,” I snap.
“Amy isn’t my date. She owns this place, and I can assure you she doesn’t care who I date because she prefers to fuck Shandy.”
Oh.
I smile when I turn to face her. “Shandy and I are good friends,” I tell her.
“Nice to know. How about I let you two talk?” She stands and saunters off, leaving me sitting with Beckham. He picks up his drink and sips it before he swirls it in the glass, the rocks clattering around and his eyes firmly on me.
“How’s your week been?” I ask, trying to make some sort of conversation.
“Small talk? Is this what you have come to? You don’t want to know how I’ve been sleeping? Who I’ve been fucking?”
“You’ve been fucking someone?” I ask, surprised.
Then instantly, I shake my head.
Beckham smirks as if he expected that answer.
Asshole.
“I can fuck you if that’s what you want?”
The chair next to me is pulled out. “Sorry, I won’t keep you long, Jacinta. Can you please sign these, and you can be on your way.” Noah hands me the forms, and I pull my eyes away from Beckham’s blazing stare and reach for the pen.
As soon as I’m finished, I stand. “Goodnight,” I say to them both.
Noah tells me the same.
Beckham just stares after me as I leave.
Chapter 24
Beckham
“Why don’t you tell her?” Noah asks as I watch Jacinta walk out the door.
“Tell her what?”
“That you love her.”
Placing my glass on the table, I wave for Amy to come over. “Because I don’t.”
“You do,” Noah replies, smiling. “It’s fun to deny until you get to that place where you have denied it for so long that she also no longer wants to believe you.”
“We aren’t the same,” I tell him. Yes, he lost his first love, but we aren’t the same. Noah is a good man. He is kind to my sister, and she needs that because Rhianna is the spitfire of the family, and she can always stand her ground. Even against a lawyer.
“No, you’re an asshole, and I’m not,” Noah says with a grin as Amy comes over to take our orders. “So, you met Jacinta. What did you think?” Noah asks.
“I think someone has a crush.” And we both know who she means. She’s talking about me, and I scoff at her words.
“Shouldn’t you be making me a drink?”
“Shouldn’t you be chasing after the pretty little brunette?” she bites back and turns to leave.
“You should, you know. Go after her, I mean.”
“She made it clear we aren’t going to work.”
“She also had an eventful day that day, or did you forget that fact?”
I turn to face him. “How is Oliver?”
“I haven’t seen him, but the girls talk every day, and Rylee told Rhianna that he’s fine. Jacinta was more a mess about the situation.” Noah picks at the breadstick in front of us.
My eyebrows pinch together, and I stand to leave.
Noah smiles, knowing full well where I’m going.
Like a fucking stalker, I sit out the front of Jacinta’s house because that seems to be what I have become.
A stalker.
It’s been two hours since she left the restaurant. I drove around before I finally pulled onto her street and then in front of her house.
I watch as she opens her front door, stands there, and stares at me.
Getting out of the car, I make my way to her. She stands taller once I reach her. She’s dressed in a lace nighty, and her hair is up in a messy bun.
She looks tired.
But so unbelievably hot.
“Beckham—”
“Is Oliver asleep?” I ask, cutting her off.
She nods, and that’s all the permission I need before I step up to her and kick the door shut behind me. My hands circle her waist and lift her up. She comes easily, her legs wrapping around me before I walk backward to her room. When I enter, I shut the door quietly, holding her up with my other hand so as not to wake Oliver before I lay her carefully on the bed.
Her hair falls from the bun and cascades all around her before I grasp her nighty and lift it over her head.
“Why are you here, Beckham?” she asks when I kick off my shoes, then undo my shirt.
“I thought that’s obvious,” I reply, looking down at the hard-on in my pants. I remove them, and her eyes fall to my cock before they return to mine.
“Is it just sex?” she asks on almost a whisper.
“No. But you know that already,” I reply.
Lying down, covering the top of her, I brush her hair back.
“You despise me,” she says.
I kiss her neck.
“Beckham!”
I look into her eyes, and I can see the flicker of gold in them. How did I not notice that before? “Hmm,” I hum, not wanting to talk right now. My body wants other things. Moving between her legs, I feel her entrance, and she spreads her legs wider, giving me as much access as I want.
“I’m your employee,” she says through heavy breaths.
“That you are. But right now, you are anything but my employee, wouldn’t you say?” I ask as I reach my hand between us.
She gasps. “Yes. Yes … I very much would.”
My mouth falls to her tit, and I take her nipple between my teeth. As I pull on it, she moves her body up, pushing me even closer until she wraps her legs around me.
“Tell me what you want?” I ask, moving to her entrance but not pushing in.
“You.”
“How do you want me?” I tease as I move to her other breast.
“In me. Now.”
“So demanding,” I answer, pushing in slightly.
“So annoying,” she grumbles, putting her heels on my ass and pushing me farther into her.
And down the rabbit hole, I go.
Literally.
Hers.
And I will gladly go there time and time again to get lost in a sea of hazel and soft smiles paired with tender kisses.
Fuck.
I’m there.
Chapter 25
Jacinta
I wake to Beckham lying next to me. His breathing is heavy as he sleeps on his stomach, one hand cast over my waist, pinning me to the bed. Which I might add, we aren’t even sleeping on the right way. I turn my head and check the time. It’s still early. I mu
st have gotten only a few hours’ sleep, but I have to rise because Anderson’s dad is taking Oliver to the circus today to give me a chance to do Mom things while he’s gone for a few hours.
Cleaning. Groceries. You name it.
Slowly, I try to remove Beckham’s hand, careful not to wake him as I climb out of bed. I only get so far before his hand catches and pulls me back down. His face goes to my chest, and he holds me to him.
“I need to get up to get Oliver ready.”
“Grrr …” There are more words, but I can’t figure out what he says. After he’s finished speaking, his arm loosens, and he lets me go. I pull away and look down. His eyes are half-closed from sleep, but he is watching me.
“You look hot.”
“Not gorgeous? Not delectable? Just hot?” I scoff, reaching for a dress and throwing it over my head.
“No, you look fucking fantastic. So fucking good, I have to stay on my stomach because my cock has other ideas, and those ideas involve you. But because you have to tend to your son, I will keep my words to letting you know you’re hot, at least until we’re alone and I can ravish your body with my tongue and cock. That any better?” he asks, brow raised, the other one half covered by the pillow. “I suggest you answer and leave before I decide to lock you in here with me and have my way with you again and again.”
“You better go back to sleep.”
I step out the door and close it behind me. Leaning my body on it, I take a few deep breaths as my hand lays on my beating heart.
I think …
… I love him.
I’ve never felt this way for a man. Ever. I would never allow one to come into my house and sleep under the same roof as me if I didn’t trust him.
And I do trust him.
And I don’t trust many men.
Managing to move, I get Oliver’s breakfast ready before he comes into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes and going straight to the table where his bowl sits.
“Is Beckham coming out for breakfast?” Oliver asks, looking up from his iPad.
My eyes go wide at his words, and then I blink a few times. My words are caught in my throat.
“Sure am. What you cooking me?” Beckham asks, stepping out fully dressed.
How did he do that so fast?
Beckham sits next to Oliver and grins at my shocked expression. He leans over and scruffs the top of Oliver’s head. “Oliver here ran into the room this morning, so I put him back to bed,” Beckham explains.
I look at Oliver. “What was wrong?”
“He needed water,” Beckham answers for him. “Easy fix.”
Oliver looks back down to his iPad as I place another bowl of cereal in front of Beckham. He smiles as he takes it, then leans over to watch whatever Oliver is doing. I head to my bathroom, pausing to glance back at them—both their heads in sync as they stare at the screen.
After fixing my face and hair, I go back out to find Beckham cleaning the kitchen as Oliver is getting ready.
“You don’t have to do that,” I say as Beckham pauses and peers at me over his shoulder.
“I used it … I can most certainly wash it.” He doesn’t understand what that small gesture does to me. I’m so used to being alone that having someone choose to help me warms my heart.
“Did you love him?” Beckham asks, not looking my way.
“Who?”
“August. Did you love him?” His dark eyes find mine, and his hands remain in the sink as he washes the last dish. He’s waiting patiently for me to answer.
I didn’t think he would ask me that, actually. I didn’t think Beckham would ask me much about my life at all. I didn’t think he would care enough to ask such questions.
“Yes,” I say.
His chest rises and falls at my words. He turns back to the dishes and continues.
“But not in the way he loves Rylee,” I finally say. “I’m starting to see that I loved him, yes, but I was never really in love with him. Probably because his heart always belonged to her, and I was just a fixture in waiting until she came back.”
“I’m pretty sure I love you.”
My heart stops at his words.
My eyes go wide.
I can’t move.
How do you respond to someone who says that, who has never given you anything but their body before? Never given you one ounce of anything but anguish.
I open my mouth and shut it.
He isn’t facing me, but I know he’s waiting for my response.
The doorbell rings, and I make no move to answer it until it rings again. Then I walk past him to the front door, opening it to Leo, who’s standing there. He smiles at me as Oliver runs over. I don’t like to bring up Anderson and his mother around Oliver, so I keep my mouth shut in regard to what’s happening with them or if he’s heard from them. Leo steps into the house to grab Oliver’s bag and flinches when he sees Beckham wiping his hands on a dishtowel.
“Beckham …” he pauses. “Nice to see you.”
Beckham nods and goes back to cleaning.
Cleaning? Who is this man, and what has he done with the man who barks orders at me?
“We should be back tonight. The circus is a little later in the day, then I am going to take him to the park to run around a bit. Then I will feed him before we come back if that’s okay with you?”
“That will be lovely,” I say, smiling. I bend down to kiss Oliver, and he hugs me, then runs over to Beckham and cuddles him as well. Beckham pauses as Oliver wraps his arms around him from behind and taps his hand with a smile on his face.
“Have a good day, kid.” I shut the door when they leave, and when I turn, he’s right there in front of me.
Beckham’s lip curls and I’m reminded of what a cruel man he can be.
But he isn’t that way with me right now.
No, he looks as if he’s planning all the ways he could eat me.
“I’m sure you have plans today,” I say, my hands flat against the door.
He steps up closer until I can feel his breath on my face. “I’m sure I do.”
“Hmm …”
“And you can accompany me. Like in one hour, I’m meant to be at my mother’s house for lunch. And you’re coming.”
“I don’t think that’s a smart idea,” I say breathlessly.
He doesn’t seem to care though as he leans in and grips my chin softly, lifting it up so I have to look straight into his eyes. “It is. I’m going to introduce you as my girl.”
I suck in a quick, shallow breath. “That’s for sure not a smart idea.”
“Why? Do you plan to fuck other men?”
I shake my head.
“Do you plan to date other men?”
I shake my head again.
“Well, I think it’s a splendid idea then.” Beckham leans in close, his lips ghosting on mine. “Now, I think …” he looks down at his watch, “… we have an hour to kill. What do you say we shower?”
“I’m already clean.”
He licks my neck, and I’m so shocked by it that no words leave me.
“I disagree. Now, come, let me clean you.” Beckham turns, gripping my hand, and pulls me with him.
I can’t help the giggle that leaves my mouth.
How did I manage to bag this man?
Beckham is literally unlike any other man I have ever met.
As soon as we reach the shower, he turns to me and pulls my dress off in one fell swoop, then he takes a step back, his eyes roaming my body. A part of me wants to cover up, but with the way his eyes are devouring me, I know he wouldn't like it.
“I think you are the most beautiful woman I have ever met.”
The way he says it leaves no room for argument. Beckham removes his shirt and jeans, then he turns on the faucet in my small shower. I wonder how we’re both going to fit in there. But as he steps in over the lip of the bathtub and stands there, he offers me his hand, and I gladly take it and step in after him.
The water washes over him, and he
moves the showerhead so it falls between us, then he grips my hips pulling my body closer.
“What if we don’t work?” I utter in a whisper, almost talking to myself.
“But what if we do?” he replies a lot louder, hands sliding down to my ass and lifting me until I wrap my hands around his neck and my legs around his body. “I think I’m going to fire you anyway.”
“What? Why?” I ask, shocked.
He chuckles and kisses my neck. “Rylee can give you another position. Having you outside of my office, knowing I can call you in and bend you over my desk anytime I want, is far too tempting. It’s best I remove that temptation.”
I push on his chest, which is hard considering he has me held up against the wall. “If you fire me, you will not get a piece of this ass ever again. You hear me?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He nods, then moves me, so I’m in the perfect spot for him.
“I’ve met your mother already. Do I have to come? I have so much I need to do.”
“Yes, I know, but you haven’t met her with me. And I want to introduce you as my girlfriend. And what do you have to do?” he asks, making my eyes shut as I slide down on him.
I completely forget what he said.
Until he snaps at me, that is.
“Jacinta.” My eyes snap open, and Beckham is nibbling on his bottom lip. It pops out before he speaks again. “What do you have to do?”
“I need to clean and get groceries.”
“I’ll handle it. We can do groceries on the way home.”
I go to speak, but he shakes his head. “Now shut up, so I can fuck you.”
And that’s exactly what he does.
Makes me scream.
Smacks my ass.
Tries to make me call him ‘daddy.’
And then brings me to that land of pure fucking pleasure.
Beckham has a marvelous cock, no doubt about that.
Chapter 26
Beckham
Jacinta’s fidgeting. I smack her hand away, and she laughs.
“You look beautiful.”
“Did you really call your cleaner?” she asks, her laugh gone now as we walk up the steps of my parents’ house, where she’s never been before.
