by Katy Kaylee
I had not expected the morning rush to be as crazy as it had been, but luckily I managed to get Willow to school in time. She was pointing out all the things I didn't do the same as Malia did, and it was a bit of an eye-opener as to how much Malia actually did around here. She was completely and utterly devoted to Willow, which was a good thing.
I definitely needed her to come back as soon as possible, but I didn't want to seem pushy. I gave her two days off, and that was exactly what I was going to give her. I had to leave work early to fetch her at school, but luckily I managed to finish most of the contracts. They were ready to be sent off to our investors and I called my secretary, Michelle, to have it couriered to them.
A few minutes later, the petite redhead entered my office and I glanced at her. She was a beautiful young woman, a little naive at times, but she worked hard. Sometimes I didn’t know how she managed to put up with my shit for so long, but I admired her dedication to the company. She went out of her way to make sure that I was happy and I appreciated that. She collected all the contracts with her mail trolley, which she used more often than most secretaries would and quietly left my office.
I was ready to leave when Bill Payton, Head of Human Resources appeared in the doorway and I glanced at him.
“Hey, Bill.”
“Do you have a minute?” he asked.
“Not really. I have to pick Willow up from school.”
“Don’t you have someone to do that? That blonde, right?” Bill asked with a frown.
“Usually yes, but she’s taking a few days off,” I answered.
“That’s so typical of young people these days. They take days off for nothing.”
I frowned and cleared my throat as I took my keys from the top drawer. “Actually, I gave her a few days off. She’s been working really hard and deserved to relax for a few days.”
“Oh, sorry,” he said and raised his hands in the air. “So defensive.”
“I’m not defensive. I am just in a hurry.”
“Don’t forget about the board meeting tomorrow afternoon,” Bill said as I walked past him.
“I have a reminder on my phone,” I said with a nod. “See you tomorrow.”
I left my office, Bill following me, and I closed and locked the door. I never left my office door unlocked, since there was a lot of company documents inside that I didn't want anyone to have access to except me. It wasn't because I didn't trust the people who worked for me, but there had been a few incidents where corporate espionage had occurred within the company and I was simply preventing it from happening again. Luckily, in both cases where it happened, the culprit was eliminated before any secrets could get out, but still.
And by eliminated, I didn't mean they were killed. It was just a formal term I used to let everyone know that things were taken care of, which still sounded like I was a mafia boss or something.
I drove to Willow’s school and waited in the parking lot for her. I was a little early, so I checked my emails on my phone. An unexpected text from Malia came through, reminding me that she and Willow would stop for ice cream every Wednesday afternoon, and a small smile formed on my lips. Even though she was supposed to enjoy her two days off, she as still worried about how badly I mess up their perfect schedule. Instead of being offended, I took it as a chance spend time with Willow. I had been working too much and didn't want Willow to think that work was more important than she was. I thanked Malia and asked where did they usually go. She texted back with the name of a small ice cream parlor at the pier ten minutes from our house.
After the school bell rang, kids poured from the open doors of the school building and I noticed Willow in her bright green dress approach the car. She pouted her lips as she opened the door and climbed inside.
“Hey, honey.”
“Hey, Daddy,” she said, leaning in and kissing me one the cheek. “Is Malia still not back?”
“Nope, it’s just you and me for a few days.”
“Okay,” she shrugged.
“Wednesday is ice cream day at the pier, right?
Her eyes lit up and nodded. “How did you know?”
“Malai told me. She didn’t want me to forget,” I answered.
“She’s the best,” Willow smiled.
Yes, she was.
We drove to the pier and ordered our ice creams. I had to admit, it was delicious, and I made a mental note to go there more often, even if it was by myself. I glanced at Willow, who stared out at the ocean horizon, quietly eating her ice cream. “You miss her, don’t you?”
“I do, but it’s been nice to spend more time with you, Daddy.”
I smiled at her and put my arm around her shoulders. “I know I’ve been working a lot, but I don’t want you to ever think that you’re not important to me, okay?”
“I know, Daddy. Your job is important, and you’re an important man at work too,” Willow said. “I’m not upset if you work late, Daddy. I know you love me, and you’ll never stop.”
“I won’t ever stop loving you, no matter what,” I whispered, feeling the lump form in my throat.
“Could we call Malia tonight?”
“If you want to,” I said.
“I do. I have to tell her about my day. I always do. Maybe when she’s back, we all could come here and have ice cream together. Doesn’t that sound fun?” Willow asked.
“We could ask her tonight.”
Willow smiled and leaned her head against my chest as we gazed out at the ocean.
I dialed Malia’s number and watched as Willow’s eyes lit up as I put the call onto speakerphone. It rang a few times before Malia answered it.
“Hello.”
“Hey, Malia!” Willow exclaimed.
“Hey, honey! What a surprise!”
“I asked Daddy if we could call you tonight. Right, Daddy?” she asked.
“Absolutely,” I answered, “Hey, Malia.”
“Hey, Mr. Marsh. How are you guys doing?”
“Malia had the best day at school. Kelly and I got an A on our spelling test and we got to stand in front of the class and got gold stars. I felt like a princess,” Willow said excitedly.
“I knew you could do it. I am so proud of you.”
“Thank you for helping me with it,” Willow said.
“It’s always a pleasure, Will.”
I sat back on the sofa and listened to their conversation and smiled slightly. The mere expression on Willow’s face while talking happily to Malia was wonderful and heartwarming to watch, and I hoped that Malia heard how much it meant to Willow to speak to her. They carried on talking for a while until Willow glanced at me. “Daddy?”
Clearly I missed something and I raised my eyebrows. “Did you say something?”
“I asked whether you wanted to say something else to Malia?”
I took this as an opportunity to speak with her in private and nodded. “Yeah, but do you mind if I spoke to Malia alone?”
“Not at all, Daddy,” she smiled and handed me the phone. “Good night, Malia. I miss you!”
“I miss you too,” Malia said, before I took the phone off loudspeaker.
“Hey, it’s just me,” I said as I made my way down the long hallway to the dining room.
“How are things?”
“It’s okay. This morning was crazy, but I think I pulled it off pretty well,” I said.
“You sound exhausted.”
“I forgot what it was like not to have you here.”
“Dillon…”
“I know what you’re going to say, so you don’t have to. I didn't call to pressure you into making a choice. Willow just missed you and wanted to tell you about her day, because she always does,” I said.
“Yeah, she does. Is she okay though? I haven’t been away from her for this long for since I started working for you,” she said.
“She’s okay. She tried to braid my hair a bit earlier, but it was way too short, and I had no clue how to do it with her hair.”
“It’
s not as easy as it looks, is it?”
“Braiding hair?”
“Just everything.”
“Tell me about it,” I said as I raked my free hand through my hair. “How is the apartment?”
“It’s so quiet. I can actually hear myself think.”
“That’s a good thing, I suppose.”
“Yeah, if you have things to think about,” she said. “Well, I better go and let you get back to her. Just remind her to drink her allergy medication before she brushes her teeth, otherwise it tastes awful.”
“Right, I’ll do that. Have a good night.”
“You too, Dillon.”
I was relieved to hear her say my name but felt a little sad as I heard the call disconnect. She didn’t give me any kind of indication when exactly she’ll be back, or whether she had thought about what we talked about in my study, but I didn't want to pressure her.
Having sex with her in the pool house ruffled every feather of mine and I made me think how sexually incompatible Jade and I were. We never had sex like that, not even when we first met, or on our honeymoon. It was bland and boring and sometimes I just got the feeling that she wanted it to be over as soon as possible. Of course so did I, since I wasn’t as experienced as I was now. Look, I wasn’t a stud or consider myself to be one, but through the years, I learnt a few things. I figured out what worked and what didn’t, not just with women, but with myself as well. I changed over the years, and my desires and needs were different to what they were before I got married, or before I became a dad.
Having Willow didn’t make me immune against wanting to have sex, and it didn’t make me a terrible father if I had sex with other women. I have urges and needs and sometimes they just need to be fulfilled.
But sex with Malia; that was a completely different thing. I just looked at her, smelled her perfume, tasted her lips and I was practically coming all over myself. She lit a fire that I now found myself burning in, slowly wanting to burst into a million fragments of sexual energy.
She exuded sex appeal that no woman I had ever know had, and she had me completely under her spell. Being with her, inside her was a new kind of his for me; a high from where I never wanted to come down from.
This was exactly the reason why I wanted to carry on having sex with her. Was I in love with her? No. Did I find her company comforting and appealing? Absolutely. Did I want to have a relationship with her? I had no idea. Did I want to have sex with her until I passed out from pleasure and exhaustion? Fuck yes.
I wanted her, but I also wanted her to want me in return. Not my heart, but my body. For now it was all I was willing to give.
Malia
I walked into Marsh mansion and it was as quiet as can be. Eerily quiet to be honest, but it felt good to be back home. I didn’t tell Dillon, or Willow, that I’d be home today, but I missed them too much. The quiet of the apartment was slowly driving me insane and I couldn’t take it anymore. Sure, it gave me time to think, but I could only think for that long before I started to overthink everything, and that wasn’t what I wanted to do. That was partly the reason why I came back to the house.
The other reason was quite obvious.
I went upstairs, unpacked my stuff and as I stood in front of melange windows, overlooking the river, it felt good to be home.
I glanced at my clock and noticed that Willow would be home in an hour, so I decided to surprise her with her favorite lunch. It didn’t take me very long to prepare crunchy chicken burgers with chunky fries, and as I set the plates out on the kitchen counter, along with homemade strawberry and banana milkshakes, her favorite, I heard the garage door open.
I closed the dishwasher, loaded it up with a detergent tablet, and pressed the start button just as the front door opened. Willow came running to me and I knelt down on the tiles, scooping her up in my arms.
“You’re back! You’re really back!”
“I’m back, honey,” I said with a smile and notice Dillon approaching us, carrying Willow’s schoolbag, a happy and content smile on his face. His eyes were fixed on mine and a shiver ran down my spine.
Willow slipped from my embrace and looked at me. “I’m so glad that you’re back home.”
“Im glad too,” I smiled at her and tucked a strand of dark brown hair behind her ear. “I made us all a special lunch, just because I missed you so much.”
Needless to say, Willow was attached to my hip for the rest of the day, never letting me out of her sight. I noticed Dillon’s slight agitation because I knew that he was dying to talk to me alone, but I just relished in the fact that Willow wanted to spend every waking moment of the day with me.
Whatever I had to say to Dillon could wait, and he knew that.
A few hours after Dillon retreated into his bedroom while I put Willow to sleep, promising her that I wouldn’t disappear on her again, I sat outside on the deck, my feet dangling in the water. The blue lights of the pool created a mystical feel, especially with the full moon above me in the sky. The soft sound and gentle motions caused by the pool cleaner at the bottom of the pool created a soothing beat that made the tension in my shoulders fade away slowly.
Movement inside the kitchen made me glance up, and I noticed Dillon approaching the slightly ajar sliding door.
He looked totally hot dressed in a casual t-shirt and a pair of short which came down to his knees, his hair sticking up into all directions, which made my stomach turn in the best way possible. If I were a guy, I’d totally have a full-on erection.
“Hey,” he said as he walked up to me. “Can I join you?”
“Of course.”
He sat beside me and after a few moments of complete silence, he said, “Thank you for coming back sooner.”
I shrugged and said, “I figured that you weren’t used to being by yourself, doing everything.”
“It was weird, and overwhelming, but also nice, if that makes any sense,” he sighed.
“It does make sense,” I said and looked at him. “You still look tired.”
“A different kind of tired,” he sighed.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
He glanced at me with those eyes and shivers ran down my spine.
“I got a call from Jade’s lawyer while you were with Willow,” he said and glared down into the water. “She’s trying to fight me for custody of Willow again.”
“She can’t do that, can she?” I asked.
“She can, but this isn’t the first time. Luckily, my team of lawyers are really good at what they do and they always find a hole in her story. They’ve been able to ward her off for a long time,” he said.
“She won’t actually get custody of Willow, will she?”
“Not if there is still breath in my lungs,” he said quietly.
“You never talk about her,” I pointed out. “What happened with you and her?”
Dillon sighed beside me and I glanced at him.
“She cheated on me with someone I trusted and it just broke me. Willow was about five and even though I knew it would be hard raising her by myself, I didn’t want Jade to have any part of her life. She cheated on us both.”
“Is that why she wants custody of Willow?” I asked.
“No, she only wants custody because she wants to hit me where it hurts the most. She knows how much Willow means to me and she’ll do anything to take her away from me,” he explained.
“What a selfish bitch,” I blurted out.
He scoffed and looked at me. “People do stupid things at least once in their lives.”
“What stupid things have you done lately?” I asked and cocked my head at him.
“You’re doing it again,” he said in a low tone, his eyes glowing in the moonlight.
“Doing what?”
“Being coy and innocent and sexy,” he answered.
“Am I?” I asked and bit my bottom lip intentionally.
Dillon said up straight and shook his head. “You have no idea what you’re starting.”
“Maybe I do,” I answered and shrugged my shoulders. “Maybe I’m just waiting for you to do something about it.”
“Don’t play with me,” he warned.
“Oh, I would never do that,” I said, batting my eyelids, “but wasn't that what you proposed to me in your study?”
I noticed his bottom lip quiver and I knew I had just pushed him over the edge. He took a deep breath and leaned in closer to me. “You better find somewhere secluded so that I can rip that little white dress off you and lick every inch of your body until you can’t breath.”
My chest tightened and I let out a soft gasp. I had been waiting for him to say something like that to me for over a week and I was definitely not going to keep him waiting. I lifted my feet out of the water, pushed myself up from the deck and glanced around me briefly. I didn't want to go to the pool house again, since I wanted to try something different, and walked to the door which led to the spa and sauna, Dillon following behind me. He didn't say a word as I opened the sauna door and stepped inside. He pressed a few buttons on the panel, not taking his eyes off me for a second and stepped inside as well. The door closed behind him and the room started to fill up with a light steam. He motioned me over to him with his finger, but I shook my head and slowly slipped the straps of my dress off my shoulders. My white summer dress dropped down onto the floor and I poured my lips.
Dillon quickly, and rather effortlessly took off his t-shirt and it landed in a bundle on the floor. He slowly approached me with an alluring look in his eyes and pulled me closer to him, against him. Our lips were inches apart for an elongated moment, which was torturous to me. I had wanted to kiss him for over a week, but I never had the opportunity to do so. My hands reached up to his shoulders, and the ripples of his muscles under my touch made me want him even more. Our lips pressed against each other in an urgent and passionate manner, and his hands rested on my lower back, just above my ass. His touch set me on fire and I never wanted this to end. I pressed myself up against him, feeling the effect I was having on him in full effect. He was rock hard against my thigh and it made me even more ready for him.
