by T L Osborn
“After sex,” he murmurs against my neck as he stops in the door frame to lean me against it.
Removing my bra and palming my breasts, I know this sex is going to be fast and furious, not like the movies either. He lowers me to the floor and kneels in front of me to remove my shorts, tugging my panties down with them.
It’s rough and raw as he shifts up my body to kiss me again. His mouth is hot against mine as his fingers dance their way between my thighs.
“Fuck! You’re already wet,” he states, ripping his mouth away from mine.
He pulls me off the door frame and into the room. James pushes me gently onto the bed. “Open wide for me, baby, I’m going to drive you crazy.” He licks his lips, then me; up and down, devouring me like I’m his last meal. I tip my head back, closing my eyes, allowing him to have his way with me. He kisses up my body, stopping at my breasts to give them some attention.
“Babe, please. Can we just do it?” I beg.
He grins as he looks up at me. “Sure thing, sweetheart.” He lifts himself up and opens a drawer, revealing several boxes of condoms.
“How many of those do you think we’re going to use?” I ask, pointing at them.
“As many as it takes to make you mine.” He rolls one onto his cock. “Get up on your knees and point that gorgeous ass at me.”
I do as I’m told and he moves in behind me, giving my ass a light slap. I jiggle it and giggle as I do. I turn my head to look over my shoulder and find him trying to stay in control. He rubs himself against my pussy before pushing inside with one hard thrust, making me moan loudly.
Gripping my hips, he begins to fuck me; softly at first, then rougher. One slap to my ass after another makes me melt against him as our skin smacks together.
“No…no…no!” I beg as he pulls out only to find him thrusting back inside me harder, taking me, owning me, and doing exactly what he said—making me his.
My orgasm rocks through me and I push back against him, gripping the pillows as he pounds into me once, twice, then follows with a deep throaty moan. I feel his cock thicken right as he comes on a loud shout. We rock as one for a few moments before he pulls out and I lay down, watching him remove the condom.
He looks at me, a grin washing over his face. “You like what you see?”
“I love what I see. I hope you’re not finished.”
He opens another condom, rolls it down his cock, and climbs onto the bed, kissing me deeply. “I’m not finished making you see who you belong to.” He lays me against the pillows and kisses me soft and slow as he slides himself inside my heat once more. I wrap my legs around his waist, my arms around his neck.
“You… I belong to you,” I whisper in his ear as he moves his hips.
“Fuck, yeah, you do.” He crashes his mouth to mine, tongues playing tonsil hockey as we get lost in each other.
I know one thing is certain, I’m definitely falling in love with this man. I won’t tell him yet, it’s too soon, but my feelings are growing stronger every day with every sweet thing he does for me and with me.
James
“All right mister, you owe me,” Riley says, rolling over into my arms and snuggling against me.
“You’re not going to give up, are you?” I chuckle, sliding one hand up and down her back.
She shakes her head. “I’ll get one of your ties and tie you to the headboard until you talk.”
“You’d have to catch me first.”
With a light, gentle tap to my bicep she laughs, and says, “Tag: you’re it.” She attempts to roll away from me only to get tangled in the sheets. I reach out and pin her beneath me, then begin to lay kisses and blow raspberries across her skin until she can’t breathe because of the amount of laughing she’s doing.
“Do you want to hear my story, or play games because I’ve got a good game we can play,” I say, throwing her a grin.
“Tell me the story.”
“Stop distracting me, lay here in my arms and listen.” Laying down, straightening the sheets around us, I pull her against me. “I’ll start from the beginning.” She nods. “I met Ashley fresh out of university. I’d graduated with a business degree in finance and was flying high. I had a full-time job lined up with my uncle’s firm and was looking forward to working. I’d been working for my uncle all the way through my degree, but with this promotion came perks like my own office and secretary. Anyway, I’d gone out to celebrate with some friends and I met Ashley who was a barmaid. I didn’t get her number that first night, but I returned to the bar the following week and the week after that. We struck up a friendship first and then, things naturally progressed until we started dating,” I pause, taking a breath and look at Riley who’s patiently waiting for me to finish my tale.
“Anyway, we moved in together. We’d been living together for about a year before I proposed and she accepted. Life was great. About a month after our engagement she suggested we start trying for a baby. I agreed. Life couldn’t get any better. We were getting married anyway, so what was the harm, right? After a few months, things started to change between us. I’m not going to sit here and tell you it’s all Ashley’s fault because it wasn’t. She was busy with university, finishing her nursing degree and I was tied up at work a lot. There were more late nights than normal as I was getting ready to go after another promotion within the company, which would give us more income for when our baby eventually arrived. When I boarded a plane to Sydney, I was determined that when I got home, I would put the romance back into our relationship.”
Riley sits up. “Let me guess, you came home and found her cheating on you?”
“Bingo, but not with another man… A damn woman. Her best friend of all people. God, I was such a damn fool not to see how much time she was spending alone with that woman. I just thought her having a best friend to vent to was a good thing, right? You girls like to talk things through, right?”
“After you split, all the small things which you thought were odd all start to make sense,” Riley says, filling in the next bit of my tale for me.
“Yup. I take it you noticed the same when you split from your ex.”
“Yeah, like I wasn’t allowed to contact him during the week. Ever. Or the fact he would only see me from Friday night to Sunday night. Odd things.”
“Ashley would say stuff like, ‘oh, I’m just popping to Tiffany’s for a coffee’, but she’d be gone for hours. Then she'd tell me they went shopping and yet, she hadn’t bought a single thing. It was weird, but it didn’t make sense until we splitt. I tried my hardest to be the man she needed. I’d buy her things, surprising her with flowers and wine. In the last six months after our engagement, I know I slipped a bit because I didn’t do those things as often as I should have; and honestly, it makes me wonder if that was the reason she turned to someone else.”
“Babe, what she did to you was wrong. The ultimate betrayal. You didn’t deserve that and it certainly wasn’t your fault. You tried your hardest. She didn’t deserve you.”
I smile and squeeze her tightly. “Locking my heart away, I decided no woman was worth it. I shut myself off from love. She wasn’t my first girlfriend, but she was the first who shattered my heart so completely by cheating on me. The only women I let love me are my mother, sister, and niece. You’re breaking down my walls, Riley. Piece by piece, they’re crumbling and I–”
“You’re scared, I get it. You’re terrified of opening up by letting love in and being hurt again.”
“You’re getting so good at filling in my words, it’s a little scary.”
She smiles. “I’ve been through it and I’m still going through it.”
“You’ll have to be patient with me and our relationship, though, I am incredibly sorry I ruined your night. Yes, I thought you were lying to me and there was more to your friendship, and in fact, I still think it. I know it’s my issue, not yours. I need to deal with it and not put this on you. It’s hard; you’re the first woman I’ve not only let into my home, but in m
y bed, my sanctuary, the one place no woman has been for ten years and now here you are.”
“I’ll be patient with you, so long as you keep rocking my world like that, because that made me hungry.” She laughs.
“Now, that I can definitely keep doing,” I reply, and inhale. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have come in and ruined your night, but I couldn’t help myself. I saw you hugging Courtney and I instantly saw red. It was a split-second reaction, there was little I could do about it at the time.”
“I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have gotten so mad and not let you speak last night.”
“You have nothing to apologise for, I was a caveman.”
“Well, not totally. You weren’t dragging your knuckles, nor carrying a club.” She laughs, snuggling in closer. I bury my nose in her hair while gently rubbing her back.
A pit of guilt forms within my throat, a tight knot in my stomach. I haven’t told Riley everything, I’ve only told her the basics and nothing about the baby. A baby I so desperately wanted and one dream that may never happen for me. I close my eyes, trying to hold back the anguish. Losing that baby was the hardest thing I’ve gone through in my life.
Riley
“What’s your favourite food?” I ask James as I draw lightly upon his chest with my finger.
“What?” he asks.
“What’s your favourite food? I want to know, that way if I decide to cook something for my man, I’m going to cook you something you’ll actually eat.”
He smiles. “Pizza. Can’t go wrong with pizza.”
“Any particular flavour?”
“Nah, so long as it’s pizza, I’ll eat it.”
“Favourite thing do aside from work?” I ask.
“Wait a minute… What’s with all the questions? I’m already at boyfriend level.”
I lean up on my elbow. “Wow, you’re putting a label on it?”
“I sure am. I told you that you’re mine and I want to make it official. That means change your Facebook status, or whatever you want. I want people to know we’re dating.”
“You’ll need to meet my family first,” I reply as I pull the sheets off me.
“Done. Name the time and place and I’ll be there.” He chuckles as he stands and pulls his pants on. “Would you like a glass of wine while I cook dinner?” he asks.
“Yes, please. Oh, I have something to show you too.”
“What is it?”
“Book four is complete; cover and all.”
“Well then, we are definitely going to have a wine together because this calls for a celebration.” We walk out to the lounge and I pick up my Kindle off the table. I flick through, and find my book, and head into the kitchen to show James who stops pouring wine to look. “Damn, I look good.”
I look up at him. “Yes, you do. My readers have gone crazy for this book so, I’m seriously thinking about changing the covers of the first three.”
He chuckles. “Glad I could help you.” I pick up a glass of wine and he follows suit. “Cheers and congratulations on the book release.”
“Cheers.” We clink our glasses together and each take a sip.
“I just noticed something.”
“What?”
“You don’t write under the name Riley Fields.”
“No, I write under my middle name Eva.”
“I now know how to find your books because I’m intrigued by what you write.”
“You might never want to see me again after you read them,” I reply as I hear my phone buzz on the coffee table. I open it and see a message from my sister.
Torrie: Dinner at our place next weekend. Bring your new man. Mum is desperate to meet him.
“You okay?” James asks.
“Yeah. My sister wants to have family dinner and my family wants to meet you.”
“When?”
“Next weekend, probably Friday or Saturday night.”
“Do I need to bring anything?” he asks, sipping from his glass.
“I usually take a bottle of wine and something for dessert.”
“I’ll make my famous apple crumble.”
“You don’t have to, I’ll just buy something.”
“Sweetheart, I want to make an impression on your family, not leave them thinking I’m not looking after you.” He chuckles. “I’ll make apple crumble and that’s final.”
I don’t argue with him and sit down to begin plotting out book five. James isn’t the only one who’s changing. He’s sparked a new passion inside me; one I absolutely love.
Chapter Sixteen
James
“Is Charlotte’s birthday today?” Riley asks as she slides a set of earrings in her ears while she walks out of the bedroom.
“No, it’s actually Wednesday. Her party is tomorrow at ten in the morning. Simon wants to set up today, so they’re not doing it tomorrow morning,” I reply as I pull on a jacket. “I can’t believe she’s going to be six. It feels like only yesterday she was born.”
“Do you ever think about having kids of your own?” Riley asks as she grabs her jacket from the back of the couch.
“Honestly, I always thought I’d have a tribe of kids running around by now,” I reply as I slide my arms around her waist.
“How do you know you don’t? I mean you were a playboy. Is there going to be a few kids who turn up in the next few years, saying ‘I think you’re my dad’?” She laughs, sliding her arms around my neck.
“I doubt it, baby. I have and always have been careful.”
“I’m not against being a step-parent, but to find out like that would be a shock.”
“For you and me both. How about you? Do you want kids?” I ask.
“Yeah, one day, but I’m not sure I want a tribe of kids.” She laughs.
“So, you’ll start with one and see what happens, huh?”
“Yeah. I just don’t know what kind of mother I’m going to be, so one is a good place to start.”
“For the record, I think you’ll make a terrific mum.”
“You’ll make a great daddy too.” She leans up, giving me a light kiss and I feel more of my walls crumbling for her.
Daddy.
I’ve not honestly thought about being a dad since I split with Ashley, but thinking and talking about kids with Riley makes me wonder if I’m ready to move on and let Riley into my heart completely, giving her the love she deserves and letting her love me completely in return. Though I know she’s already in love with me—she’s whispered it in her sleep over the last few nights—I’ve not mentioned it to her, as I don’t think she even realises she’s saying it. I feel like the wind gets knocked out of me, stealing my breath away every time I hear her utter those three big words.
“Are you ready to go?” she asks, snapping me back to reality.
“Yup, I’ll just grab the dessert from the fridge. I’m pretty sure Simon won’t mind us putting it in his fridge until we go to your sister’s,” I reply as I grab the dessert out of the fridge and Riley gathers Poppy up with all her things.
We head out the front door to my car and make our way to Simon’s. Riley has a surprise for Aria and it’s one I’m sure Aria is going to love. Riley has graciously signed a few copies of her books for her. When they had a conversation about books and reading, Riley learned that her pen name happens to be Aria’s favourite author.
I park the car outside Simon’s home and recognise my sister’s car immediately, parked in front of us. Riley grabs Poppy from her crate and takes her inside on her lead while I carry the stuff we brought with us. I open the front door and the lounge is a hive of activity. Aria’s in the kitchen baking Charlotte’s cake, Mel and Lara are blowing up balloons and Simon is sorting things on the dining room table while looking a little lost.
“Hey,” I call.
Simon turns to look at me. “Oh, good, you’re here. Can you give me a hand?”
“How?” I ask as Riley and I step into the lounge.
“You get to stuff the piñata.”
>
Charlotte comes over and asks to take Poppy outside, so Riley lets her off the lead and watches as the two race out the ranch slider doors. Simon places a rainbow coloured donkey piñata in front of me, followed by some items that obviously need to be stuffed inside.
“Are you telling me I have to shove this stuff up the donkey’s butt?” I ask, throwing my brother a strange look. “Why can’t I get a nice job like blowing up the happy birthday sign?”
“Because I want to see the look on your face as you shove balls and nail polishes up a donkey’s butt.”
I begin stuffing the things into the donkey while Riley gets to work helping Simon with the happy birthday sign. “This is so degrading and why is it a donkey anyway? Couldn’t you get a star, a unicorn, or princess castle?” I ask, but continue on with the job under sufferance.
“Charlotte wanted a horse-themed birthday and it was the closest animal to a horse I could find,” Simon replies. “Now just stuff the donkey until it’s full.”
“Okay, okay, but I don’t like it.”
“How can I help Simon?” Riley asks.
“I’d be grateful if you helped stuff the loot bags please.” He instructs. She walks over to the table and begins helping sort them out,
The front door opens and is quickly followed by Mother saying as she enters the lounge, “Have you seen what your brother’s been up to?”
“I haven’t done anything,” Simon says.
“It’s not you this time, but James.” She flashes a book around the room. “You’re on this book cover; a trashy romance book and you’ve let yourself be put on the cover. It’s disgraceful.”
“Looks pretty great to me,” I reply as Riley sits beside me.
Mel takes the book from our mother. “Yeah, you made the book look good.” She flips it over and reads the back of it. “Aria, this may interest you,” Mel says.
“You read this romance trash?” my mother says, rounding on my sister-in-law.
“I do, Suzanne, and I love it.”
