Lips On My Heart

by M J Marino

  “No, Maceo. You’re right when you say you don’t need their approval to marry me,” she firmly defends me.

  But I’m not sure anymore. I don’t only want Josephine. I want everything that comes with her too, crazy ass family and all.

  “No, it’s important. Abuelita Lucia was very traditional. She would have demanded this. I mean, what if we have a kid someday? I would want their partner to ask me for my blessing and not whisk them away right out from under our noses,” I say, gnawing on the inside of my cheek.

  My mind is made up—I’m going to have to correct this. I’ve still got all of Josephine’s contacts in my phone. Maybe I should call her parents later.

  Wait, Josephine hasn’t spoken to them in a year. If I call them out of the blue and they have no clue who I am, it could set the two sides into another fight. Fuck!

  Josephine snaps her fingers in my face. “Maceo, focus! My dad called me and I have no idea why.”

  I shelve my trepidation for the moment. “Did he leave a message?”

  She shakes her head. “No.”

  “Maybe he butt-dialed you?” I suggest, scratching my five o’clock shadow.

  Her phone vibrates in her hands with her dad’s number. “Fucking hell!” Josephine whimpers.

  “Okay, um, answer it?” I ask, unsure. “Maybe it’s important.”

  Josephine gulps and answers the phone. I quickly take it and put it on speaker. I’m a nosy bastard who wants to be involved in all things Josephine.

  “Hi, dad,” she says with a tremble in her voice.

  “Jo?” her father asks with disbelief.

  “Yep. It’s me. Um, what do you need?” she asks, trying to keep her voice neutral.

  Her dad shutters a sigh on the other end of the line. “I’m sorry. I’m a little shocked you answered.”

  “Makes two of us,” she admits.

  He laughs nervously. “It’s good to finally hear your voice.”

  Josephine blinks away tears and swallows. “It’s good to hear yours too. Is everything okay at home? Are mom and you good? How’s Simone?” she asks in rapid succession.

  “All is good here. Simone’s still traveling a lot for her job. Your mom is keeping busy at the school. I’ve been tinkering around the house. Put a new tile floor in the bathroom and kitchen, making your mom happy.”

  “Oh, I bet she is. She always hated that yellow porcelain,” Josephine says, growing more comfortable.

  Her dad snorts. “Oh, yeah, she sure did. Got sick of her complaining about it. I decided to finally do something. I’m retired and bored out of my mind. She wanted this fancy tile, all flowery and black and white, looks busy as hell on the floor, but she’s happy. Could have used your help installing it, seeing as you know all about this kind of stuff.”

  Josephine looks at the ground with a tight mouth. I know she’s thinking she would’ve loved to have helped her old man and make her mom happy. She probably feels robbed of the chance.

  “I’m sure you did a fine job. I learned how to work from you after all,” she says instead of what she’s feeling.

  Her dad sniffs on the other end of the line. Crying perhaps? “It still would have been nice to have you home.”

  Josephine lifts her face to the sky, forcing her tears to stay in. I can tell already she’s a lot like her old man. Both of them down-playing their emotions. Both of them stubborn as hell. Neither one brave enough to come out and say they miss the other one.

  My crew is getting a little rowdy in the background, and her father catches their laughter. “You at a party or something?” he asks.

  “Yes, actually. It’s sort of my—” I stop her from saying engagement party, shaking my head. Breaking the ice tonight is enough. Let’s not drop that bomb on him yet. “It’s a party my friends are throwing,” she settles on.

  “Ah. I won’t keep you long. I was wondering if everything was okay. Your mom and sister noticed you unfriended them or something on Facebook,” he says.

  “I didn’t unfriend anyone. I deleted my social media accounts,” she corrects.

  “Oh. Why? Your mom was pretty upset. She thought maybe whoever this new guy you’re dating was making you isolate yourself or something.”

  Oh, hell no! I look down at my pixie and she’s fuming. This is bad, really bad.

  “And how would mom know if I’m dating anyone?” she snaps into the phone.

  “Well, she saw the comments Jacob was posting, how hurt he was that you weren’t giving him another chance. She felt bad and reached out to him. He told her you’re trapped with some dangerous biker who controls everything you do, and you’re too proud to ask for help. He’s worried about you. And now we’re worried too.”

  I swear lighting strikes are going off behind my pixie’s blue eyes. She’s reached her fill and all hell is going to break loose.

  “If mom was fucking worried about me, maybe she shouldn’t be reaching out to the ex-asshole who broke my heart in the first fucking place. If she reached out to me, then she’d have a fucking clue Jacob’s a whiny little shit who fucking can’t take the hint and move on. I fucking quit social media to avoid his toxic, stalking behavior. Do you actually want me to be with a man who calls me a ‘whore’ because he’s pissed off I’m in a relationship with someone else? How fucking messed up is that shit?!”

  “Jo, I didn’t mean to offend—” he tries to explain himself, but Josephine cuts him off.

  “Maybe if mom called me, she’d learn how fucking successful I am with my own design company, or how I landed my first multimillion-dollar project. Maybe if either of you fucking said you were sorry for driving me away, you’d find out I’m doing great and engaged to the man of my dreams who—yes, is a president of a biker club, a retired decorated Navy SEAL, and has his own personal security company, and then you’d fucking understand how I struck gold by landing his sweet ass.

  “We didn’t know—” her dad tries again.

  “Do me a favor, next time you get the itch to call me, fucking don’t. I’ve got a new family who loves me, would do anything to keep me safe, and doesn’t tell me my dreams are shit. Feel free to adopt Jacob’s sorry ass. I’m out!” she shouts into the phone before hitting the ‘end’ button.

  Holy fuck! I’m speechless.

  Josephine is trying hard to calm herself down, but it’s clear that it’s going to take more than just counting to ten in her head.

  It’s dead silent behind us. I turn to look at my crew. They’re all staring at Josephine with their mouths hanging open. Josephine must sense the silence too, because she turns to face the party. She stares at all of them and they stare back at her.

  The air crackles between them as all my men start smiling. Smiling turns to laughing. Laughing turns to clapping. Clapping turns to cheering and whistling. My woman showed everyone she fucking owns the title of First Lady.

  Gauge starts applauding. “That was fucking awesome!”

  Eagle laughs with disbelief. “Did you say all that shit to your pop?”

  Ebony giggles. “And I thought I had daddy issues.”

  Punk comes running up and bear hugs Josephine. “I always wanted a sister with a filthy mouth.”

  Chase breaks out the Pappy and pours a tumbler, handing it off to Josephine and toasts her. “To the fucking Queen of Bitching. That was epic.”

  Everyone is super proud of her, myself included, but Josephine is far from happy. She throws back her drink and smiles politely at everyone, but her heart is in pieces. She puts on a brave face and pretends she’s unaffected by what went down, but there’s no way anyone would react the way she did on the phone if it didn’t affect them.

  Her parents may be wrong, but things will never change if Josephine never gives them the time of day. I foresee a road trip in my near future by myself to Los Angeles. She’s going to be one angry hellcat when she finds out, but this is something I can do for her and them. If her family is truly toxic, I’ll back off, but coming from someone who lost all his family, I
can say family means everything.

  Pulling my woman close to me, I shower her with kisses, but she seems unresponsive. She looks at me with unreadable eyes. “I need to see you out back,” she says before walking to the backyard.

  I rub the back of my neck, watching her slender form retreat. For once, I’m not exactly sure how to read my pixie. I set my beer down and follow her.

  I ‘round the corner of the back of the house where it’s completely secluded except for us. If there was a time for my girl to talk undisturbed, this would be it.

  I reach for my fiancée to comfort her, but the little vixen grabs me by waistband of my jeans, spinning me against the house using all of her weight. My back hits the house with a thud, and her tiny hands work to undo my pants.

  Hot damn! How could I not read this on her?

  My woman is in need of angry, get-my-fuck-on, wild sex. Right here, right now, in the fucking wide open, where any of my brothers could come walking by any second. The idea both thrills and petrifies me. Her hands are already working my cock to full mast, making my mind up for me.

  I spin her ‘till her back hits the house, and move us into the shadows where the moonlight doesn’t touch us. My fingers hike up her skirt, sliding her panties to the side.

  Normally, I like to take my time with Josephine, savoring everything, but my nerves are on high alert. I don’t want any of my men watching me ravish her. She’s mine and I treat her with respect. Having anyone witness us fucking would be giving away a piece of her, and I can’t allow that. All of her belongs to me and me alone.

  Eager to please, I yank her up to my waist. She wraps her toned legs around me and I take her hard, impaling her on my long, thick cock already leaking with precome. She cries out but I swallow it with my mouth over hers. I thrust my tongue into her sweet little mouth the way I thrust my cock into her tight little pussy. My thighs are smacking against the backs of hers and my balls are flying up, flicking her in the ass from the force of my thrusts.

  She whimpers and moans as quietly as she can, but when my tongue can’t silence her, I clamp my hand over her mouth. Something about this is turning me on more, but also unnerves me.

  I realize I’ve taken away her verbal communication. “Smack me in the face if you want me to stop.” My hips pick up speed and my thrusting becomes more violent. My girl wanted an angry fuck and I’m going to deliver. I will rut her for all it’s worth.

  Josephine’s fingers dig into my shoulders, and her legs begin to quiver the closer she gets to her climax. My own balls begin to tighten and I feel her wetness drip down my sack, making wet whacking noises when they slap against her beautiful ass. It sends my hips into overdrive.

  When her pussy clamps down like a fucking vise grip, I detonate like a bomb, shooting my come like shrapnel all the way up into her womb. That fucking IUD is going to have its work cut out for it tonight.

  I don’t pull out of her. I keep her perched on my cock against the house, leaning my forehead against hers. I remove my hand from her mouth, kissing her swollen lips.

  “My God, baby, you’re fucking incredible. I love how you take what you want, when you want,” I whisper.

  “Mmm. I want more,” she says, licking at my bottom lip.

  I groan from the stimulation. This woman fills all my wildest dreams.

  Just then I hear two of my men walking toward the backyard. I look over my shoulder and see Reaper and Brass shooting the shit, making their way to the fence line to piss.

  Slowly, I lift her off me and pull down her skirt. Come drips down her thigh and I wipe it away with my hand. I push my flaccid cock back into my pants and zip up.

  Walking us out of the shadows, I hold her to me and kiss her. Yeah, I’m a guy who likes fucking pillow talk and cuddle time with my fiancée.

  Barking interrupts our make-out session. We see Reaper and Brass running full tilt towards us. Hades must have scared them mid-piss because Reaper’s junk is still hanging out when they run back to the safety of the house.

  “Call off Cujo! Call off Cujo!” Reaper hollers, Hades hot on their heels.

  I’m fucking dying and Josephine—my better half—runs after Hades to get him to calm down. Brass laughs too once he sees Josephine has got Hades under control.

  “Aw, fuck!” Reaper fumes, shaking his head in disgust. “I pissed all over myself!”

  Brass and I double over on the ground. Hades crawls all over us, licking at our faces.

  Josephine only looks skyward. “Reaper, would you mind tucking your goods away?”

  I slap at the side of his leg, avoiding the piss, thankfully. “Put your shit away.”

  “Afraid she may like what I got more?” he teases, tucking his dick back into his pants.

  “Not a chance. I’ve got a good two inches on you, man,” I joke back.

  “Nu-uh, no way. Fucking pull it out and we’ll do a side by side comparison,” Reaper challenges.

  Calling his bluff, I start to undo my pants. “Do you want us to judge when we’re soft, hard, or both?”

  “Eww!” Josephine shakes her head. “Brass, will you please take me back to the party and away from this sausage competition?”

  Brass throws his head back laughing, giving Josephine his arm, and escorting her back to the front yard.

  Reaper and I follow behind laughing. “It was a joke, Jo,” Reaper tries to defend, grabbing at his side, in stitches.

  I run up behind Josephine and grab her by the waist, flipping her over my shoulder. I waltz back out to the group with her giggling. “Let’s get this party started!” I roar.

  “HOOYAH!” everyone shouts.

  Monday morning would have been awful if Josephine hadn’t cut me off as early as she did. I always used to grimace at any man whose woman told him enough was enough, but with Josephine, I get it. She’s like my little hangover preventer.

  Needing to touch her, I roll over in our shared twin mattress and pull her against me. Suddenly, I’m being licked aggressively in the face.

  “Aw, Hades!” I sputter, pushing him away and sitting up in bed. I run a hand through my wild hair and find Josephine standing in her bra and panties, pulling her work clothes out for the day.

  The thing about Josephine that’s refreshing is she’s not afraid to get her hands dirty. She doesn’t go in suits to the build site. No, she puts on the same clothes as all the rest of the construction workers, regardless of the fact she’s the engineer and boss.

  When push comes to shove, she will throw on the hard hat and safety glasses and jump in to help out. She would never ask one of her workers to do a job she herself wouldn’t do, like I would never ask one of my men to take a job I wouldn’t do. It’s one of many things I admire about her—another thing we have in common.

  “Mmm. Bring your sexy ass over here,” I whisper to her, not wanting to wake the others.

  Her megawatt smile takes over her lovely face. “Not a chance in hell. I love your brothers but not enough to give them a show. Plus, I need to get to the site. I have a crap load of deliveries coming in today and I want to be there early to oversee everything. I want to run later this evening when it’s cooler, if you don’t mind.”

  “I don’t mind at all.” Seeing as she’s in a decent mood, I decide to ask her about last night. “How are you feeling after talking with your dad yesterday?”

  Josephine grimaces. “I’m not ready to talk about it.”

  My jaw ticks. I don’t want to push her before she’s ready to talk, but I also get the feeling she won’t talk about it if I don’t bring it up—she internalizes too much.

  “I understand. It’s still fresh. But I’m here if you want to talk about your parents. You have every right to be upset with them, but I feel like they’re only reacting this way because they’re only hearing one half of the conversation. Maybe if you tried talking to them again—”

  “Maceo, please, I know you mean well, but I can’t deal with them right now. Last night was about us, and my dad put a huge damp
er on it with that bullshit about Jacob. I’m not shutting you out, I’m not trying to bury it, I just want to focus on the positives in our lives,” Josephine says, tears brewing in her costal eyes.

  Wanting to comfort her, I get up and wrap her up in my arms, kissing her head. “Okay, I’m sorry. I’m only trying to help.”

  She leans into my chest. “I know, thank you. You could help me with something else. Do you have a chain?” She backs away to finish dressing.

  “What kinda chain?” I ask, confused as I let my eyes continue to roam over her gorgeous goods.

  My pixie pulls off her engagement band. “I can’t work with this on my finger. One, it’s a safety hazard. And two, I don’t want to damage or lose it. I want a chain to wear it around my neck,” she explains.

  Ah! I get it now. I walk to my dresser where I keep a spare chain for my dog tags and hand it to her. She slips the ring on it and pulls the chain over her neck. It’s long and nestles between her delectable cleavage, next to her heart.

  I scratch my head, not happy she’s not wearing her band. I understand her reasoning, but I want people to fucking see she’s mine when I’m not around. Her engagement band was one way to show others she’s taken. I look down at my ring tattoo and can see why Josephine wanted the same thing, but I don’t want her skin stained.

  Grinding my teeth, an idea comes to me and I grab my phone. I look up silicone ring bands for women and order a multicolored pack of them for her. My woman will wear a ring to represent me.

  Satisfied, I quickly throw on some clothes and join Josephine in the bathroom to brush my teeth and comb back my hair. I watch in the mirror as Josephine makes quick work with a loose braid. I like how she knows many different hairdos. If we have a little girl someday, Josephine will be able to help her do her hair all cute.

  I’ve been thinking about kids a lot. Well, maybe it’s not a lot, I don’t know. I do know it’s a shit ton more than I thought before.

  I’m thirty years old and I’m not getting any younger. Now that I finally have the woman of my dreams I never knew I wanted, I want to add kids into the mix and I don’t want to be an old man when I have them.