My eyes meet James’ and he smiles, but it’s not a happy one.
I want to go to him, to hold him and kiss him but a subtle shake of his head signals me no.
Not yet.
There’s so much noise, applause, and general loudness from the PA and the hyped-up MC who keeps encouraging everyone to cheer and clap some more, but eventually, Mayor Silverthorn takes control of proceedings, making his first speech as Mayor of Woods End.
The first thing he does is thank my dad, Mayor Newland. Reminding everyone who seems to have forgotten just what a great job he’s done for so many years.
There’s an awkward applause, and I can pick up on James’ mood better than anyone.
He’s not happy at all about winning and it shows.
I catch his eye again, and I mouth the words I love you, which seems to lift his spirits.
He even smiles and collects his thoughts before continuing.
Thanking all the other candidates, the voters, and lastly me, he also makes his first announcement to pass a motion with the council as Mayor.
Not usually something dad would do while giving his victory speech, but maybe James doesn’t understand how that stuff works.
“My first job as your Mayor,” he says with some suspense, “Is to pass a motion with the council… That in my absence, for any reason… the office, duties and all salaries and entitlements as Mayor should pass to a deputy of my choosing.”
A hush comes over the crowd, people start to scratch their heads.
What are you doing, James?
“I’ll ask the council, who are all here today. All those in favor of the motion?” he asks, looking from one to the next as they all shrug, a couple even chuckling.
“Aye… Aye… Aye…” And so it goes, with each member favoring their newly elected Mayor’s motion.
James beams with pride, and a relieved smile it is too.
“That’s settled then, because as of today, this hour, in fact, I’m on vacation. And I nominate former Mayor, Bob Newland as my appointed deputy, to fill every role of the office and receive all benefits and entitlements I would normally receive, in my absence which will last for exactly one year from today.”
There’s an instant hush over the crowd.
You could hear a pin drop.
James looks around, totally satisfied, and then looking at me, he makes his way down from the podium, grabs both my hands and hurries us both out the nearest exit.
“Wha- James? What are you doing?” I ask him, laughing nervously as he breaks into a jog to his car before the crowd catches on he’s actually leaving.
“We’re going to see your dad,” he says, his eyes shining with delight.
“I’ve got some great news for him. And I need to ask him something, kind of a favor,” he adds with extra mischief in his voice.
I try and get him to tell me all the way to the hospital, but he won’t say another word about it, only smiles like a lunatic every time he looks over at me.
Only telling me how much he loves me and not saying anything else, no matter how much I bug him about it.
The nurse at the hospital repeats what she told me on the phone. “Mr. Newland is very tired. He’s not to be disturbed,” she says firmly.
“Oh, I think he’ll want to see his daughter,” James says innocently. “Just for a minute?” he asks, flashing one of those winning smiles of his and making her blush.
“Well, I could ask,” she murmurs, and in a few moments we’re both sitting by my dad’s bedside, his face turned away as he huffs in anger.
“Dad, did you see James’ speech just now?” I ask, and he snorts, pretending to sleep as he closes his eyes.
I feel James’ hand on my arm, signaling he’ll take it from here.
“My first action as Mayor was to appoint a deputy,” he says in his best business voice.
“Someone who’ll act on my behalf, every duty, every job the position calls for with full salary and entitlements, just like the Mayor would,” he adds.
I watch my dad’s face as he rolls over in his bed, wincing a little from pain, but looking just as confused as everyone at the town hall.
“What have you done?” he asks, his face falling.
“I’ve passed it with the council, Bob. I’ve nominated you as my deputy, Mayor in title and deed really, because as of today and for the next whole year… We’re on holiday.
“We?” My dad asks, yelping when he sits up, but the color returning to his face, his eyes wide with excitement.
“Krystal and me, maybe not so much holiday as… a honeymoon?”
Dad’s eyes narrow and he starts to turn a shade of purple, but James is quick to remind him of something.
Me? I’m still wondering if I just heard him right.
Did he just say honeymoon?
“You said Bob; that if I brought Krystal back to you, then all would be forgiven. That you’d owe me one. Remember?”
Dad’s shoulders shrink and he groans, nodding.
“I knew it,” he mumbles, then looking over to me, “I knew you were lying to me, Krystal,” he says mournfully.
That hurts a bit because I never lied to my dad. Not really.
“Krystal never lied, Bob. And I only ever omitted one or two things, we wanted to wait until after the election, to avoid any scandal,” James says matter of fact.
Dad grunts. “Scandal! Then what would you call this?”
But all I can do is ask James, “Did you just say honeymoon?”
“I did,” he assures me, and taking my dad’s hand under his he asks him properly.
“Mayor Newland, Bob. I love your daughter and I want to marry her. I want to give her a home and a family, I want to make her the happiest woman in the world. But I want your blessing, I want a place at our table with you in it. I want you to be a part of our family…”
“Honeymoon,” I hear myself say again like I’ve lost my mind.
My dad’s quiet for a long time and James waits patiently for him to speak.
“I knew I’d lost her, long before she ran off to that cabin,” he muses quietly to himself.
“All I’ve ever had is her and being Mayor.” It looks like dad’s about to tell James where he can stick his deputy Mayor and his proposal, but he suddenly looks up at us both, smiling.
“I guess with your deal, Mr. Silverthorn, I get to keep my job and my daughter, is that right? Just not in the way I might have imagined it say, yesterday?” he asks, suddenly looking more cheerful.
“Exactly!” James agrees. “You’ll still be Mayor, provisionally. And you’ll still have your daughter, only you’ll also be gaining a son,” he beams, sounding more like a used car salesman than a self-made millionaire businessman.
“Well, go ahead and ask her,” my dad cries out. “Don’t ask me, I’m not the one you’re trying to put a ring on!”
I’m sure I’m still mouthing the word honeymoon as James kneels down in front of me, producing a small velvet box that makes me gasp, and suddenly come right back down to earth.
“Krystal? It’s only been a few days, but I can’t have another day go by without knowing, without asking if you’ll be mine every day from now on. Not just as my friend, my lover, or the mother of my children. But as my wife. As my equal. Krystal Newland, will you do me the honor of being my wife?”
Lifting the lid on the box, I hear my dad curse and then yelp in pain again as he strains to lean over and see.
“I do,” I hear myself tell James. “I mean… yes. Yes!”
“Of course she does,” my dad barks. “Now get me up out of this damned bed, I’ve got a town to run.”
“Yes,” I tell James again softly as he slides the ring onto my finger, kissing me tenderly.
I’ve never seen a real diamond before, but something about the way this one’s light dances in his eyes tells me I’d better get used to seeing a whole lot more of them from now on.
EPILOGUE
SIX MONTHS LATER
J
ames
“Well, you voted on it counselor. I suggest you take it up with the deputy Mayor… Nope. Can’t do it, on vacation,” I tell him before hanging up.
Krystal laughs, suggesting I switch off my phone for the rest of the day.
“That’s two calls already, one from your business manager and one from your Town counselor. That’s plenty of work for one day,” she reasons.
And she’s right.
I put my phone on mute and ask what she’d like for lunch as I get up from the lounge by the pool.
Turning my head back I have to prompt her again. “Food Krystal, what would you like for food lunch, not my ass lunch,” I tease her, watching her bite a straw as she looks over her sunglasses at my rear end.
Something I know she never gets tired of, and I only wear these skimpy speedos because I insist on watching her ass every minute of the day, every chance I get too.
“I’ll leave it up to you then,” she sighs, pretending to go back to her magazine, but I can feel her eyes on me as I walk around the pool to the hotel phone for room service.
I wasn’t kidding when I said we’re on vacation, honeymoon, whatever you want to call it.
Once I popped the question, Bob Newland was only in agreement if he could marry us that week. His first civic duty as deputy Mayor after leaving the hospital.
In six months it’ll be election time again, and everyone will vote him in properly, just like they should.
But this is our life now. Krystal and me.
Just us and a whole lot of not much else going on unless Krystal really wants to be somewhere, do something or see someplace else.
We traveled for the first few months, but it seemed to tire Krystal out after a while, especially lately, so we’ve stopped here for a while.
I’ve tried it before when I was by myself. Travel that is, doing nothing all day. Drove me nuts. Nothing but money in the bank and time on my hands, I nearly went mad.
But with Krystal, with a willing accomplice to the life I know we both enjoy together, it makes it special.
“Surprise us, Marco,” I tell the chef, hanging up to the sounds of his enthusiasm bubbling over.
“Be thirty minutes,” I tell Krystal, blocking her sun as I stand over her, feeling my speedo starting to bulge as my eyes follow the curves of her legs, right up to her thick thighs.
“Move your shirt,” I tell her, and she makes a face.
“Move your shirt, show me what I want,” I demand gently.
“I’m getting too fat, James. Don’t make me strip outside, you know it’s embarrassing.”
I straddle her banana lounge, feeling my own arousal stretching over the top of my swimwear, making her take a sharp breath in as she spots it.
Unable to resist, her hands reach out as mine busies themselves unbuttoning her shirt.
“Half an hour, huh?” she shivers, circling the tip of my leaking cock with her forefinger before tasting it.
“Twenty-nine and a half minutes” I counter, and her purr of delight is all the encouragement I need.
I lift her up and carry her over to the lounge, lifting one of her legs and resting it on the back of the lounge as I peel her swimsuit to one side.
I know we won’t be disturbed.
Penthouse suite, rooftop pool, no building even high enough for anyone to see us.
But something’s not the same with my Krystal today.
She’s up for our regular lovemaking, but she seems… preoccupied.
“What is it, baby?” I ask her, noticing her tense up when I ask.
That word, I call her baby all the time, just lately she freezes every time I say it.
“What?” I ask, chuckling softly, walking my fingers up the inside of her thigh.
She nods, looking shy all of a sudden.
“You said you like my belly didn’t you?” she asks, sounding unsure again. “You said you liked it when there’s more of me to grab a hold of too?”
“Of course I do,” I agree, moving my hands up to hold her. Liking where this conversation is going. The more I look, feel, and talk about her body, the harder I always get.
“Krystal, what’s wrong?” I ask, suddenly concerned myself. This isn’t like her at all.
Her lower lip trembles and I draw her close, holding her tight. “Baby, what’s the matter, what’s gotten into you?” I ask her, stroking her hair and rubbing her back.
Her sobs quietly, eventually turning into a sort of cry-laughing that I can’t understand.
“Baby is right, James,” she sniffs, moving back and taking my face in her hands before guiding my hands down to her belly where she holds them.
“We’re gonna have a baby. I got three tests in three days. All positive.”
It’s a shock, but it’s the best kind of shock. Feeling like we have everything and now being given this.
“Oh, baby!” I exclaim, hugging her again, tight until I remember not to squash her and our little one.
“You mean, I’m gonna be a daddy?” I ask, feeling my heart swell with pride as she nods feverishly, tears of joy streaming down both cheeks now.
“And I’m gonna be a mommy. The best mommy anyone’s ever had.”
“But… How?” I hear myself asking, watching her face become a question.
“I mean, how did I not notice?” I ask her, crouching down to put my hand on her belly again, pressing my cheek and then my ear to her, wanting to know everything all at once.
“You do know how babies are made, right?” she asks, and I readily agree, “We’ve been doing plenty of that,” I admit.
“I’m surprised it’s just the one then,” I add.
“What I mean is… D’you think it was from our first time?” I ask her.
“I felt something, something really special that morning in the cabin, Krystal. I wonder if?”
Her hands guide me back up to her lips, and she kisses me tenderly.
“I know it was,” she whispers, kissing me again and stroking my face.
“I love you… Babies,” I tell her. “I love you both so much.”
“And we love you, James. We love you more.”
EXTENDED EPILOGUE
TWO YEARS LATER
Krystal
After little Zoe came into the world, James watched me like a hawk, he still does.
Watching my mood, how I’m feeling, but mostly watching my curves with that satisfied grin of his.
At the slightest sign he finds me complaining about my size or telling him my clothes won’t fit, he promptly books a doctor’s appointment and eagerly awaits the news I know makes him so proud.
Proud of me as well as his babies.
Almost nine months to the day after I was cleared from Zoe, Zak and Zara were born our precious twins.
“I figure if we start with the Z’s, we can work our way backward through the alphabet,” he jokes as we change the twins together, Zoe already big enough to zoom around our feet in her walker.
“Maybe you can carry the next one? I know someplace you can gestate a fetus,” I hear myself say sharply, losing my patience and stabbing my thumb with a safety pin.
My eyes narrow on James. That stupid grin of his making me madder by the second.
But it passes as quickly as it leaves my mouth.
I’m just tired, I know that. And I haven’t forgotten my promise to myself about not getting mad at James or even my dad, even after all this time.
The worst thing out of my mouth is usually gone in a second, but James’ curiosity is piqued.
And I know what that means.
“You feeling alright, baby?” he coos, holding a palm to my forehead, giving me a concerned look.
That paternal look.
“I’m fine, honey. Sorry,” I tell him, craning up to peck his chin.
“Just tired is all,” I admit aloud, sucking my finger until he inspects it, kissing it all better.
“Tired huh?” he says, cocking his brow and making me laugh.
He a
lways makes me laugh when he doesn’t even try. Those goofy faces he pulls when he thinks he’s being serious or cute.
“You’re a rascal, James Silverthorn, you know that?” I chuckle and finish changing Zara and hand her to her daddy so he can feed them both in his big easy chair.
I’ve given up trying to feed them every single time, even when I think he’s asleep James will hear me in the night and get up to feed them with me, ordering me back to bed if he thinks I need more sleep.
But usually, we all end up in the bed together, little Zoe in between us so she never misses out.
One big happy family.
And I know that’s how it’s gonna stay, for now at least.
James thinks he’s smart. Thinks he knows the signs. But I’ve already had my tests and I know I’m not carrying.
“I was thinking,” I start to say, folding some nappies and lower my voice when I see how quick the twins are falling to sleep during their feed.
“Hmmm?” James asks softly, still giving me that look.
I ham it up a little, even rubbing my belly and making it like my back hurts, watching his eyes come to life with that look I’ve seen at least twice so far.
“Maybe we could go dress shopping sometime? I know it’s boring, but you could take the kids and do something while I try stuff on.
“Sure,” James smiles, almost purring as he eyes me up and down.
“Just want a change, or…?” he starts to say but I can’t keep a straight face.
I can’t do it.
“I’m not pregnant, silly! I’m just blowing your horn,” I laugh, a little too loudly. Snorting which always makes James laugh too, and in a second the twins are wide awake, screaming.
We take one each and start to do our little ‘shoosh baby’ dance, with Zoe zooming in to join us after her laps of the hallway.
Zoe scoots in between mommy and daddy’s feet. Looking up at us both as we hum a little tune for her, then a little more for the twins.
She lifts her arms up and James bends down, lifting her out of her walker and kissing her as he rests her in his spare arm, Zak on the other.
“We can go dress shopping,” he says after a while, totally unfazed.
Electing For her Curves: An Instalove Possessive Age Gap Romance Page 12
