He's Mine Not Hers

by Gianni Holmes

  “Good luck!” the cab driver wished me, his eyes trailing over my body. There was no way he could know I was naked beneath the coat, but the way he was looking at me, he knew.

  Impossible. Everything was neatly covered. I double-checked, and yup, no one could possibly know. Although they could speculate.

  Nervous with excitement, I hurried to the front door and rang the doorbell. I fiddled with my hair, finger-combing the portion that fell over my forehead. I quickly dropped my hand when the door opened and Lucas loomed in the doorway.

  “Jason?”

  “Surprise!” I cried, latching my arms around his neck. He released the door and placed his arms around me. My heart melted. I had so been tripping. Of course he still wanted me, which was all the more reason I had for showing up here today.

  I kissed him, and despite him being startled at first, his grip on me tightened. He easily took over the kiss, his deep, guttural groan of satisfaction setting off the butterflies in my stomach. He grabbed me under the ass, hoisted me up into his arms. One of my heels flew off as he slammed the door shut and backed me up against it.

  So far when we made love it was always sweet with a hint of urgency like he couldn’t get enough of me. Being in my current position sent thrills off-kilter inside my body. His lips trailed over the expanse of my neck across my shoulder, teeth nipping at my flesh.

  In our fumbling, my coat fell open as his hand encountered naked flesh. Lucas paused, pulling back to stare at me.

  “So this is why you came?” he asked, squeezing my ass.

  “There’s no shame in admitting that,” I quipped. “I love the way you make me feel when you’re inside me, Daddy Luke.”

  “You like being a naughty boy, don’t you?”

  “For you, yes,” I answered on a chuckle. “Is it naughty that I rode in a cab in nothing but this trench coat so I can convince you that you’re not ready to be tired of me yet?”

  He narrowed his eyes on me. “What are you talking about?”

  My cheeks burned. I’d had no intention of revealing my thoughts to him. “Oh nothing. Can we go back to kissing now? I really want you to bang me against this door. It makes me feel like a super naughty boy, and that’s exciting.”

  Lucas groaned, and instead of banging me against the door like I wanted, he lowered me to the ground. “She didn’t tell you, did she?”

  “She who? And tell me what?” Of course “she” could only be referring to Becca.

  “I’ve been keeping my distance until she explained to you,” he replied, running his hand over his face. “I guess I’ll have to do it myself.”

  “You’re not making sense, Daddy Luke. What’s going on?”

  “I need a drink. Come with me to the kitchen.” His eyes heated as it passed over my exposed chest and groin. “And cover up or I’ll never be able to get through this.”

  I was almost tempted not to cover up because I didn’t want serious conversation right now. I wanted to be nailed to the door, dammit. And afterward, I wanted to curl up in my favorite corner of the sofa, trying to watch TV while thinking about how prissy Miss Puss had gotten while living with Lucas.

  Lucas walked away, and I had no choice but to go after him. I hopped along on one foot of my heels until I kicked it off, grabbed the other shoe, and puttered barefooted after him. He had poured himself a drink and already had the glass to his lips when I entered the kitchen.

  “Don’t I get one?” I teased him. I preferred fruity liquor to the hard-core stuff he was drinking, judging by the bottle.

  “No, you need a level head.”

  Now he was freaking me out. I hopped up onto a stool and dropped my shoes to the floor. I crossed my legs, and the two flaps that pulled the coat together fell open at the bottom, showing off my freshly waxed legs. His eyes fell to my exposed skin, and the hunger there made me feel better. Whatever he was about to say couldn’t be that bad if he still wanted me.

  “How many are you going to have before you tell me what you have to?” I asked when he poured himself another glass.

  “Enough,” he said, his voice gruff.

  I waited until he finished his glass, then returned the bottle to the cupboard where he kept his liquor. He returned to the island but stayed at the opposite end to me, and I eyed him suspiciously.

  “Becca told me you lost your job,” he started.

  My shoulders slumped. “Becca talks too much. What did she do? Get on the phone with you after she made me pass out from drinking?”

  He frowned at me. “I don’t like you drinking that much. You’ve got to stop doing that, baby boy.”

  Ooh, I got a baby boy out of him. I was already feeling better about whatever news he had to break to me.

  “It’s not often,” I answered with a shrug. “Yesterday was kind of an off day for me. I got fired, and-and I kept thinking you were trying to end our relationship or something.”

  Now please tell me it isn’t so. I need to breathe, dammit.

  “It will be your decision.”

  I sighed. “Okay, mystery man. Lay it on me quickly so you can take me upstairs and put it on me.”

  He scowled at me. “This isn’t a joke, Jason.”

  “How would I know? You’re not exactly saying anything.”

  “I’m trying to find the words, but every time I think of something, it just doesn’t sound right.”

  “Just say it already. Please.”

  He combed his fingers through his hair. “Okay, what’s the one thing I really care about in this world?”

  “Uh, me?”

  He gave me a blank stare. “Not people. Thing.”

  “I don’t know,” I said before backtracking. “Oh, I do know. You being a chef. That means a lot to you.”

  “Exactly, but my career as a chef is as good as over.”

  “Don’t say that. You don’t know for sure.”

  “Oh, I know.”

  He knew more about these things than I did, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt that he had a good reason to believe that. “So, what are you saying?”

  “I’m saying that after pondering about this, Jace, I can’t find my way out of this without a little help.”

  I nodded. “All right, what do you need me to do? Should I rob a bank for you or something?”

  He chuckled, but his voice cracked. “Not quite, but I’m going to need something more horrifying than that?”

  My mouth fell open in mock horror. “Why, Daddy Luke, I don’t know if I could hold the president for ransom. That might be tricky.”

  His lips twitched. “God, I love your sense of humor. I’m going to need it more than ever.”

  Okay, sense of humor, check. Whatever he has to tell me, I’ll laugh it off. It will make him feel better.

  “Shoot. What do you need from me?”

  “Jace, I need the permission of your mother’s hand in marriage.”

  I did laugh. How could I not? It didn’t even take much hardship because really, what else was I supposed to do?

  “Come on, Daddy, stop playing around and just tell me already.”

  He moved around the island and came to a stop in front of me. “Listen, I’ve found myself between a rock and a hard place. You don’t have a job. I don’t have a job, and all my savings are being used to repay the restaurant. I’ve my car, but I don’t even own this house alone. Half of it belongs to my father, and he will force me to sell if I can’t buy out his half.”

  I curled my hands up into balls as I listened to the desperation in his voice. I didn’t fully understand everything he was saying, but at the heart of it was the thought that he wasn’t joking. He had asked me permission to marry my mother. What in the ever-loving hell was going on?

  “Your mother—we thought of a way to get out of all this, and it will require sacrifice on all our parts, but in the end, I feel it could be the resolution.”

  “You want to marry Becca?” I asked softly, feeling light-headed.

  “Only on paper,” he
replied. “Not in the traditional sense. You see, my father has this ultimatum that if I get married and have kids, he’ll pay off the debt to the restaurant. He’ll hand over the other half of the house to me, and I’ve got a job working as a chef in a new restaurant.”

  “You want to marry Becca?” I repeated.

  “Just to appease my father and so Becca can get the money she wants to move you two to a different location when your lease is up next month. She didn’t explain to you that they’re not renewing your lease?”

  I pulled my hands out of his. “Just answer the question, Luke. Are you going to marry Becca?”

  “Yes—no—I don’t know, Jason. What else am I supposed to do?”

  I pushed off the stool. “How about not marry my mom? Oh my God, she knows this, and she didn’t say anything to me about it? We had girls’ night last night, and she didn’t once mention it?”

  “I’ve run out of solutions, Jace.”

  “So you’re going to marry my mother?” I cried, hands clenched at my sides. “How could you even think I’ll be okay with that?”

  “I didn’t think you’d be. Becca said you would be, but I knew it would be hard for you.”

  “Oh, you think? It’s not every day you hear that the man who’s screwing you wants to marry your mother.”

  “Jesus, Jace, don’t debase what we have going on.”

  “And you don’t think marrying my mother is debasing it?”

  “Would you rather it be someone else?” he demanded. “Because I can choose someone else, but I didn’t want to risk them not understanding this was just a business arrangement. I’m not looking for attachments and romance with anyone else. I don’t want to lose you, baby. We’ve just really started getting to know each other on a physical level, but I’m running out of ideas how to help us all get through this.”

  “I get that, but I don’t see how marrying my mom is going to help any of this. What am I supposed to do?”

  He took me by the shoulders, and I stiffened. For the first time, I didn’t relish his touch and wished he would let me go. At the same time, I wanted him to hold me and reassure me this was all a sick joke.

  “I don’t want to give you up,” he replied, his voice firm. “I have every intention of our relationship growing throughout everything. This is just a way for me to get back into the game so I can take care of you.”

  “I can take care of myself. I’m an adult,” I argued.

  “Jason, you don’t have a job.”

  “Well, neither do you!” I snapped, pulling away from him, hurt and confused. What the hell did he hope to achieve by this scheme he was engaging in with Becca? I was so mad knowing she didn’t tell me all of this last night. Now it made sense she hadn’t wanted me to see Lucas before we had a “talk.”

  “You think I don’t know that?” he asked, sounding as frustrated as I felt, and I hated that. “You think I want to marry Becca, Jason? I just told you I wanted to see where our relationship can go. This whole marriage is just a scheme so I can be in a better position to take care of you. What kind of daddy can I be to you, broke, homeless, and with no prospect of a job outside of flipping burgers at a fast-food joint?”

  I hated that he sounded so torn about the whole thing. Dammit, I was the one being affected by this marriage. I would be forced to watch him get married to the woman who’d given birth to me.

  “So you expect me to be your side piece for sex when you’re married to Becca?” I demanded.

  He winced. “Don’t make it out to be like that, Jason.”

  Tears sprang to my eyes. “Then how am I supposed to make it out because I don’t know why this is happening. I can’t do this. I need to go.”

  He sighed. “Let me get the car keys, and I’ll drive you home.”

  “No, I’ll call a cab.”

  “Jason, you’re not wearing anything under that trench coat.”

  I laughed, the sound hysterical. “Yeah, I know. Dumb idea. You marrying my mother and all.”

  “In name only.”

  “Who gives a fuck? You’re still marrying her.”

  I bent to swoop my shoes from beneath the chair and hit my head into the counter while straightening up.

  “Fuck!” I will not cry. I will not cry.

  “Jesus, are you okay?”

  “What do you care?” I flung at him and marched out of the kitchen.

  “Jason, please. Let’s talk it out. I don’t know what you want me to do.”

  “I can’t tell you what to do. When you figure out a way to do this without marrying somebody else, then we can talk.”

  I felt his presence behind me as I walked out of his house, but I ignored him to call for an Uber, feeling miserable that I had to listen to him for approximately fifteen minutes until the cab arrived. I stood outside his house, my hands deep in the trench coat, trying hard not to cry.

  “Jason,” he said, coming up behind me, his hands going around my waist. I struggled for him to let me go, but he tucked my head beneath his chin and refused to release me. “Stop struggling. I just want to hold you a bit and hope this isn’t the last time I’ll get to do it. Can’t you see my hands are tied? What else am I supposed to do? If you have another solution, I’ll gladly listen.”

  I didn’t have any other solution. I’d started a vlog channel with zero followers. There was no telling how long it would take before I gained traction. If I gained any traction at all. I felt partly miserable that he would get to do what he loved again, but how could I support him marrying Becca? And she had another think coming if she thought I’d go into this without kicking up a fuss.

  I allowed him to hold me in silence. I was terrified that this idea of his would come between us. How could it not? Married to the mother and sleeping with the son? That had to be the worst premise ever for a bad soap opera. That didn’t exactly make a rerun of a modern Brady Bunch.

  My Uber drove up, and Lucas reluctantly released me. “Do you have enough for fare?” he asked me.

  I nodded and headed for the car without another word to him. He grabbed me by the arm and reeled me into him. I tilted on my heels, but I didn’t have to worry. He caught me with ease, gathering me to his chest. His lips slammed into mine, his kiss reeking of desperation. I wanted to pull away, to deny him even a bit of pleasure, but I couldn’t. Weak-kneed, I kissed him back, pouring my heart into the kiss and begging him not to do this to us. He’d barely given in to the passion between us. One week with him was not enough.

  When he released me, his eyes were as misty as mine. “I can’t lose you. I’ve fought to stay away from you all this time, Jason, and now you’ve broken down all my walls, I can’t give you up.”

  I didn’t reply. I stepped away from him, and with shaky legs that had nothing to do with my heels, I slipped into the car.

  I kept my eyes on Lucas. He looked forlorn standing there watching after the car, and my heart broke for him. For us. Was I being inconsiderate for not allowing him to get back his dream job? Lucas was a proud man, and to lose everything would devastate him. No wonder he was willing to go to these lengths to regain his footing.

  But I couldn’t accept him marrying Becca. And what the hell did she mean to accept such an offer from him? No, that didn’t sound right at all. Becca was the one who came up with all the schemes. Somehow this had to be her idea, but what the hell did she have to gain from this? I’d find out soon enough.

  “Hey!”

  I snapped out of my thoughts to find the Uber driver watching me from the rearview mirror.

  “Sorry, I was thinking,” I replied. “Is something wrong?”

  “No, but I think something can go very right,” he replied. “You look sad, but I know a way to cheer you up.”

  I frowned at the back of his head, a second away from telling him to keep his eyes on the road and let me enjoy the journey in silence.

  “I’m fine,” I bit out, turning my head to stare through the window.

  “I can see that,” he answer
ed, and the way he said it left a shiver running down my spine. Not in the way it happened with Lucas either. Creepy.

  “Excuse me?”

  “You’ve a fine piece of ass on you,” the guy remarked, and I was shocked at how outspoken he was since he was on the job. “I bet you could bounce it real nice on my cock too. So what do you say? A free ride both ways? I’ll make you forget about your man friend back there.”

  “Stop the car!” I yelled at his head, furious at him for ruining what could have been a thoughtful drive home. I couldn’t deal with his sexual remarks right now while I was trying to figure out what to do about Lucas and me. I didn’t want to lose him any more than he wanted to lose me, but he hadn’t really made me any promises or talked about his feelings in the week we’d been sleeping together.

  “Not here,” he replied. “I can find us a quiet little spot.”

  “I’m not having sex with you, you idiot!” I snapped at him. “Let me out. Now! I’d rather walk than continue this drive with you.”

  He braked at the side of the road so hard my body jerked forward. I clutched the seat in front of me and glared at him.

  “All right then, get the fuck out,” he said and threw a card at me. “That’s my number. If you get lonely and change your mind, I’d love those legs wrapped around my waist, baby.”

  “Keep dreaming, you pervert!” I struggled out of the vehicle. “And I hope you know I’m going to report you.”

  “Go right ahead.” He smirked at me. “It’s my last day on the job anyway.”

  Before I could close the car door, he pulled it shut. I gasped when the hem of the coat got caught in the door.

  “Wait!” I called out to him. “I’m stuck.”

  I couldn’t say if he heard me or not, but the car slowly drove off, and I found myself running alongside it awkwardly in my heels. Oh no no no no.

  “Hey!” I slammed my palm into the window to get his attention, but then he accelerated the car.

  I had two choices, and one wasn’t even a choice at all. It was either be dragged down the street because there was no way I would be able to keep pace, or ditch the trench coat.

  Chapter Twenty-One