by Shandi Boyes
When Hugo pulls his sinful lips away from mine, my head is dizzy, stuck in a crazy blur of lust and devotion. His eyes dart between mine before his kiss-swollen lips curve high in the corners. He runs his index finger over my tingling mouth before he stands from the dental chair and paces to the middle of the room. I watch him, more stunned than ever, shocked he can function so normally after a mind-hazing kiss. I can barely breathe, let alone walk.
“You coming?” he asks, grasping the handle of the door separating my office from the treatment area.
Nodding, I slip off the stool and pace toward him. The shake of my knees increases with every stride I take, as does the grin on Hugo’s face. Once I'm standing in front of him, he runs the back of his fingers down my cheeks before swinging open the door. My heart leaps out of my chest and tears prick my eyes when the splendor of the scene unfolds before me. Joel is standing in the doorway, swamped by a giant bunch of red long- stemmed roses in his hands. His usually unmanageable hair has been wrangled into glossy curls, and he's wearing a pair of dark blue trousers and a buttoned-up shirt. He looks adorably cute and grownup all at the same time. The rest of my office has vase upon vase of long-stemmed roses in every color you could imagine. Pink, blue, yellow, white. It is like a rainbow of color, and it smells divine, overpowering the ghastly dentist smell I hate.
The tears welling in my eyes escape when Hugo kneels down on one knee in front of me and gently grasps my left hand. The glistening of moisture in his eyes gathers my attention, but the admiration beaming out of them secures my utter devotion.
“The biggest mistake I ever made was letting you walk away the first time, but the past cannot be changed, forgotten, edited or erased, it can only be accepted. I’ve learned from my mistakes, and I’m not going to let them happen again. I never want to be away from you again. Not a second, not a minute, not a single day. This ring is a symbol of my promise to you. A vow that I'll always be there, standing by your side, supporting you, loving you, and cherishing every single inch of you until the end of time. I can’t change the past, but I can shape my future. I want to shape it with you, Ava. My very existence begins and ends with you. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?” He cracks open a red heart-shaped box to showcase the beautiful dusty pink diamond ring nestled inside.
I run my hands over my tear-drenched cheeks before nodding. I don’t need time to formulate a response or an objection, or to evaluate his proposal. All I need is him. Hugo places the ring on my finger and stands from his crouched position as Belinda captures the entire precious moment with her phone. Joel squeals excitedly before dumping the roses onto the ground and encircling his arms around mine and Hugo’s thighs. His elated cheers dull into a hum when Hugo seals his plump lips over mine, finalizing the most romantic proposal of all time with an even more heartfelt kiss.
Twenty-Four
Ava
“Thank you so much for watching Joel,” I say, wrapping my arms around Belinda’s shoulders.
After Hugo proposed, he took Belinda, Joel, and me to a fancy restaurant in the middle of New York City. I’m not going to lie, when I saw the price they were charging for a regular glass of wine, I choked on my glass of water. Then panic set in. If a standard glass of wine cost hundreds of dollars, how much was a sparkling glass of water going to set me back? It was only when Hugo assured me we would be paying wholesale prices as he knew the owner did my flipping stomach settle down and excitement took over. As we exited the elegant restaurant, I spotted two limousines at the curb. Hugo explained that one was to take Belinda and Joel home and the other was for us.
“Our night of celebrating is only just beginning,” Hugo said after bidding farewell to Belinda and Joel.
Memories of our first night we went out dancing at the club flooded my mind when Hugo gathered me under the nook of his arm and dashed to the black stretch limousine. Those memories turned into real-life flashbacks when the limousine pulled onto the curb at the exact club he originally took me to. Even though it was over five years ago, the vibe at the club was just as exciting as it was the first time we visited it. It was a wild mix of sex and seduction, but even more intoxicating than the thumping club was the boyish grin on Hugo’s face. It never once waned, not even with us being bumped and elbowed as we danced for hours. Tonight was the most carefree I’ve been in the past five years. My clipped wings grew back and I was once again free to fly. It was perfect.
“You’re welcome, Sweetie,” Belinda replies, returning my embrace. “I’m just sorry I didn’t get Joel settled for you so you could enjoy the rest of your night in peace.” Her lips purse as a heavy set of lines indent her forehead. “I think I’ll adhere to your advice about lowering his sugar intake after dinner. That boys goes a little bit crazy when the clock strikes eight.”
I laugh while pacing to my front door to open it for Belinda. Crazy is an understatement for Joel’s antics when he stays up too late. Instead of his tiredness wearing him down, it seems to heighten his excitement.
“I’ll see you Monday?”
Belinda nods before slipping out the door. “Have fun.”
After ensuring Belinda has entered her car and exited my driveway safely, I amble down the hall. My brisk strides slow when I hear Hugo’s deep voice quietly whispering. When I reach Joel’s room, I lean against the wall and prick my ears.
“So, if you hear Mommy calling out, don’t worry, I’ve got her covered,” Hugo whispers, his tone self-assured with a dash of cheekiness.
Interested in what their conversation is about, I sneakily peer into Joel’s room. His brows are furrowed together tightly as he looks at Hugo with confusion in his eyes. After a beat, he cautiously nods.
“Do we have a deal?” Hugo peers into Joel’s anxious eyes.
“Yep,” Joel replies, his words muffled by a big yawn.
“Alright, let’s go over it one more time, just to make sure you have the details right.”
Joel nods. “If I stay in my bed all night, I get five dollars.”
My brows arch high at the same time a dash of euphoria pumps into my veins.
“Uh huh,” Hugo mutters softly.
I lean deeper into the hallway when Hugo slants his head to the side and glances out Joel’s door, no doubt checking that the coast is clear. Once Hugo’s focus returns to Joel, I peer back around the door.
“And?”
Joel rubs his droopy eyes. “And if I ask Mommy to make pancakes in the morning, I get ten dollars,” he confirms, resting his head on his pillow.
“That’s right,” Hugo praises before standing from Joel’s bed to tuck him in. “That’s called a bonus. An incentive for a job well done.”
“I like a boganus,” Joel replies, his lips quirking.
I laugh quietly over his mispronunciation of the word.
Once Joel is tucked in tight, Hugo places a kiss on his forehead, switches on his nightlight, and ambles toward the door. I spin on my heels and sprint down the hallway, vainly pretending I wasn’t eavesdropping on their private conversation.
When Hugo spots my contemptuous face, his long strides down the hall slow. His head angles to the side and his brow curves high. “You heard that, didn’t you?”
“No.” I overdramatize the short word while nodding. I’ve never been good at deceit.
Hugo cockily winks, not the slightest bit concerned I heard him bribing our son to stay in his room. I’m not shocked that he devised a tactic for us to have uninterrupted adult time, I’m just astonished I didn’t think of it first. It would have been helpful when I was attempting to seduce Hugo last week. At times, my vigorous ploys seemed to be working, until we were interrupted by the patter of little feet.
With a crass grin on his face, Hugo continues on his original journey.
I quirk my lips. “Sounded like someone was planning on sleeping over?” I try to keep the excitement out of my voice. My attempts are fruitless.
“No,” he replies, shaking his head.
My bottom lip d
rops into a shameful pout at the same time a pathetic whimper ripples through my lips.
My heart beats double time when Hugo says, “Neither of us are going to get any sleep, so I can’t really call it a sleepover.”
My eyes drift between the beast of a man prowling toward me and my dowdy work attire-covered body. Hugo is dressed in a well-fitted black suit with a light gray pinstriped dress shirt. His jacket has been removed and slung over the rock-hard couch he slept on weeks ago, and the sleeves of his shirt have been rolled up to the elbows. Even with every inch of his alluring torso covered, I can’t miss the mouth-watering ridges of his chiseled abs and pecs as he prowls toward me, like a lion on the hunt. My brows furrow as I take in my clothing selection. I’m wearing a black pleated pencil skirt with sheer black stockings, and a white blouse with decorative cuffs. My waist-length jacket has been hung on the coatrack in the entranceway, along with my heavy wool coat.
I’ll be the first to admit, I’m panicked. I didn’t thoroughly evaluate all avenues when I attempted to seduce Hugo last week. My brain was too overwhelmed with unbridled horniness to think rationally. Now, while watching the muscles in Hugo’s thigh flex as he struts toward me, I realize I should have given it a little more thought. In both good and bad ways, I’m not the Ava Westcott Hugo remembers from five years ago. I’ve changed. Some things have improved, like the strength of my backbone and my sense of self-worth. Others, mainly my body… not so much.
“I’ve changed,” I warn, slowing Hugo’s fast pace. “My body is no longer that tight twenty-four-year old body you’re used to seeing.”
I straighten my slumped posture when Hugo’s eyes run the entire length of my figure, from the tips of my toes to the top of my head, studying every inch in great depth. When his eyes return to my face, my breath hitches. His gaze is uninhibited and brimming with lust, causing my pulse to quicken.
“My boobs hang a little lower, and my stomach isn’t as flat as it used to be,” I notify him, wanting to ensure he fully comprehends my warning. I’ve given birth; no woman’s body bounces back to its original perkiness after that.
Arching his brow, Hugo glares into my eyes. “Insult yourself one more time, Ava, and your ass will be as colorful as my tattoos by the time I’m done with you.”
My breathing pattern quickens as my lady garden throbs. I stand still, openmouthed and frozen in excitement.
A beguiling grin etches on Hugo’s sinful lips. “I need to devise a new punishment for you. You like spanking a little too much for it to be classed as a reprimand.”
Blood surges to my pussy when he bands his arm around my waist and pulls me in close to his body, allowing me to feel what his avid inspection of my figure has done to him. He's thick, hard, and rip-roaring ready to go.
“Your body incited that fully clothed.” He rocks his hips so the crown of his cock rubs my throbbing pussy. “Imagine what seeing you naked will instigate.”
Leaning in, he presses a kiss to the side of my mouth before moving his dedication to my neck. His teeth sink into the sensitive skin above my collarbone before the lash of his tongue soothes the sting. I slant my head to the side, giving him full access to my neck. Soft, provocative moans spill from my lips with every gentle nib and suck he does.
He grips the back of my thighs, encouraging my legs to wrap around his waist. A breathless pant erupts my lips when the thickness of his cock brushes against my sensitive clit. After sealing his lips over mine, he paces toward my bedroom at the end of the hall. By the time we make it down the corridor, fumbling with each other’s clothes on the way, any doubts festering my mind have vanished. If the look of desire in his eyes isn’t enough to assure me he’s attracted to me, the thickness of his cock is a sure-fire indication.
When he places me down onto my feet, a grunt of air leaves his parted lips. On the short walk, he managed to nimbly undo all the buttons on my blouse, exposing my Carmina black and red push-up bra. Growling, he lowers his head, tugs down my bra and sucks the peaked bud of my nipple into his mouth. A surge of desire floods my nether regions when his teeth graze over the sensitive bud. My hands shoot up to grasp his hair so I can run my hand through his thick mane while also securing his wicked mouth to my breast that has been aching for his attention for nearly five years.
Keeping my nipple in his mouth, he wraps one arm around my waist and steps me backwards until the fluffiness of the duvet quilt on my bed brushes against my stocking-covered legs. His stealthy movements cause my blouse to slip off my shoulders and plunge to the floor around our feet. Releasing my nipple from his mouth with a pop, he stares at me with a heavy-lidded gaze. With a cheeky smirk, he pushes my shoulder, sending me toppling onto the bed. My hair fluffs out wildly as a breathy huff escapes my lips. Any laughter preparing to spill from my mouth entombs in my throat when Hugo removes his dress shirt before fisting the scruff of his undershirt and yanking it over his head. I don’t know what it is, but there's nothing sexier than the way men remove their shirts.
I take that back. There's nothing sexier than Hugo biting on the corner of his lip as his eyes rake over my half-dressed body. His gaze is predatory and sets my pulse racing. My eyes assess him with just as much vigor as he is instilling me as he undoes the belt of his trousers and lowers the zipper. Even covered by an immense amount of colorful tattoos, I can’t miss his chiseled abs, rock-hard pecs, and drool worthy V muscle. Every inch of him is hard. And by every inch, I mean every goddamn rock-hard inch.
Raising my eyes from his thick, glorious cock he’s just freed from his trousers, I lick my lips and lock my eyes with his. My knees curve inward, battling to settle the mad throb between my legs from the panty-wetting visual in front of me. Hugo’s seductive grin enlarges as he places his knee between my thighs, denying me the ability to ease the tingle that may have me falling into ecstasy before he’s even touched me.
He stares into my wild eyes while undoing the fastener at the side of my skirt. His eyes absorb my thrusting chest as he pulls the zipper on my skirt down. He drinks in every inch of my body as he slowly slips my skirt down my waist and hips. His lusty gaze compels a peppering of goosebumps to form on my skin and wetness to saturate the area between my legs.
“Beautiful Ava, every inch of you is perfect,” he praises, his words deep and tempting.
A rush of heat forms on my cheeks nearly as quickly as an inane smile stretches across my face. A hiss of air escapes Hugo’s mouth when my skirt glides down past the matching garter and lace-topped stockings I'm wearing.
“Fuckin’ hell,” he mutters under his breath.
When his eyes rocket to mine, I bite my lower lip. His gaze is full of desire, sending my libido to an all-time high.
“I wanted to be prepared for your return,” I inform him, my tone a low purr, shamefully exposing my pleasure at the approving look beaming from his eyes. “Since I didn’t know when that was going to be, I brought a weeks’ worth of supplies. This is day one of my seven day lingerie selection I prepared for you.”
The surge of desire pumping into my veins thickens my blood when a seductive growls emits from his lips. “If I’d known you were wearing these the entire time we were dancing, we wouldn’t have made it past the club’s storeroom.”
I throw my head back and gasp when he flicks the suspender, slapping my skin with a pleasurable jolt of pain. The pounding of my clit nearly matches the hammering of my excited heart rate from his playful tease.
“Nothing’s changed,” Hugo murmurs in a low, deep tone. “Not a single fucking thing.”
Lowering his head, he slips my panties to the side and runs his tongue along my pussy in one slow, tantalizing motion. Although shocked he hasn’t removed my panties, I’m also happy. He did the exact thing the first time we slept together – the night we conceived Joel.
I fist the duvet on my bed and arch my back when his tongue delves inside my quivering labia. He tongue fucks me with just as much eagerness as his cock usually instills. The battle to keep my excited sque
als to a bare minimum ramps up when he devours my pussy like a man who’s never been fed. It’s a mind-hazing blur of licks, sucks, and bites that have my orgasm building at a rapid pace. When he slides his index finger into my throbbing womb, adding another mind-blurring element to the already overstimulating mix, my teeth gnaw on the side of my palm, battling to hold in my cries of pleasure.
Before I have the chance to warn Hugo of its arrival, a climax shreds through my body, hard and fast. An ear-piercing scream erupts from my lips as my whole body quakes. My pussy tightens, trembling around his finger before my cries switch to a low, long moan as I ride the intense wave that feels like it is never going to end.
“Please. Oh god. Please. I.”
Constructing a full sentence is above my caliber at the moment. I can barely breathe, let alone formulate a response to the flood of excitement coursing through my veins, overheating my body with feverish heat. Hugo continues to devour me in a torrent of greedy lashes and gentle nips, not the slightest bit impeded by the sudden arrival of my orgasm. His holds down my hips bucking against him as the intensity of my climax becomes too much for me to bear. Too overwhelming.
“I want every drop, Ava,” he mutters against my trembling lips, sparking even more ardor to surge through my body. “Every sweet drop of your cum belongs to me.”
Like it could get any stronger, my climax gains momentum. I snag the pillow at my side and throw it over my head, attempting to suffocate the erotic screams shredding from my mouth as a second climax claims my body. I’ve never experienced an orgasm with this much intensity, let alone two so close together. Not once. Not ever.
I’ve only just returned from the clouds when Hugo places one last lash on my clit before rising from his kneeling position at the end of the bed. When the room falls into silence, I flutter open my eyes and remove the pillow from my flushed face. My excited breathing lowers to a pant when I catch sight of Hugo’s hard, thick cock fisted in his hand. Keeping his eyes arrested on my shimmering bare mound, he runs his hand down his engorged length to the very tip before gliding it back to the base. His cock is thick, hard, and undoubtedly beautiful, and I can’t wait to be claimed by it.
