Faith spared me one backward glance and ran into the house, Cindy fast on her heels.
“Get out, Sophia. Go home.”
She must have known I’d reached the end of my patience with her. With a smirk that made my stomach turn, she waved and walked off toward the driveway. “See you later—Daddy.”
“Escort service? Daddy?” Marge stood to my left, a satisfied smile on her face. “I knew there was more to you dating Faith. How rich. She paid for you!”
Faith must not have gone too far into the house, because she came marching right back out after Marge spoke her overly loud comments. I’d never seen her so angry. She strode right over to her sister and slapped her face. “Enough! I’m sick of you and the others always putting me down. Joe dates me because he loves me. Period. We may have met a bit unconventionally, but you need to deal with it—or not! I don’t care.”
My heart flipped in relief, but it was short-lived. She looked over at me with uncertainty in her eyes and walked back into the house, leaving Marge sputtering while she held her red cheek in shock.
I wasn’t sure what to do at that point. Dale was standing on my right, and I turned to him, having no idea what he’d say.
“Just go after her, son. I’ve preached to her all her life about people deserving a second chance. I’m not going to change my mind now.”
“Thank you, sir.”
After gently pushing Cindy out of the room, Faith and I talked for hours.
“What are you going to do about the baby?”
She’d finally allowed me to hold her, and we were sitting together on the bed, she on my lap. “I really don’t know. If it’s true, and that’s a huge if, then I’ll take care of the baby. I wouldn’t turn my back on a child, but I don’t see how it’s possible. The condom breaking? I guess it’s possible, but I just don’t believe her.”
“I think we need to take a break. I think you need to find out what your responsibilities are before you can concentrate on us.”
“No. Please don’t let her do this to us.” It was so unfair. She was my life now. The only thing I truly wanted. I ran my hands up her arms, trying to evoke some sort of physical reaction to me. It was what I was best at—what I was fucking trained to do, I guess.
“No. None of that.”
“But I love you. That’s one truth I’m sure of. Very sure of.”
“I know.”
“Then let me love you. I need to love you.”
We didn’t make love, but she let me hold her through a restless night, and I drove us home the following morning. I have to assume that Dale threatened the rest of the family to ensure their silence, as not one word was spoken of the Sophia incident—or about Faith slapping Marge.
We had both skipped dinner the night before, but Faith didn’t want anything at breakfast. “Come on, sweetheart, eat something.”
“I’m not hungry, Joe. Okay? Just leave it alone.” She got up and hugged her father. “I’ll wait for you on the porch. Bye, Daddy.”
“I’m sorry. This is all part of my baggage. I’m so sorry, Faith.” She nodded and made her way out of the kitchen. What else could I do? I didn’t know what my next step was.
I said my good-byes to a handful of people, and then I took Faith home, feeling hopeless. Everything was my fault. We could have had a great week together.
When we reached her house, I took her bags in for her and left. Shortly before nine that night, she called me and asked me to come back. I knew she wasn’t sure what she should do with me, but hell, I didn’t know either. But when I got there, she met me at the door. I could tell immediately she’d been crying, and if possible, I felt even worse. With a barely mumbled “Hi” and a short pat on the head for Heidi, she led me back to the bedroom. Silently, she stripped and climbed into bed, where she promptly fell asleep. I climbed in after her directly.
Without even thinking about it, my hands roamed over Faith’s body, and her answering moans alerted me to the fact that she wasn’t entirely asleep yet. We didn’t fuck fast and furious like usual. Instead, I lifted her leg, slid into her delicious, warm heat from behind, and pumped my hips steady and slow until she climaxed around me, drawing my own orgasm into her.
Through a heavy sigh, she said, “I love you, Joe.” The sweetest words I’ve ever heard, and I was so glad she still felt that way.
“I love you too, and I’m so sorry about yesterday. I promise you that I’ll figure it out.”
Chapter 29
Faith
The situation with Sophia still weighed heavily on my mind a couple of days later. Joe assured me that no matter what the outcome was, everything would work out, but I couldn’t imagine having Sophia in my life—and if Joe really was the father of her child, she’d be in my life as long as I had him.
We were sitting in the living room watching a movie, listening to his phone buzz every five minutes or so. “Why don’t you just answer it?”
“Because it’s Sophia.” He put his head in his hands and sighed. “Fuck. I don’t know what to do. We can’t even find out if the baby’s really mine until after it’s born. And if by some bizarre twist of fate it is mine, I’ll feel like shit if I didn’t make sure Sophia was okay during her pregnancy. But dammit, I don’t want anything to do with her. What do I do, Faith?”
“Oh no. I can’t tell you what to do about this, Joe. It’s hard enough for me to think about her being pregnant with your child. God.”
I felt for him. I really did, but I wanted to be left out of the whole thing even though that’s probably not a realistic plan since he was such a part of my life now. The whole thing just plain sucked.
His phone buzzed yet again, and he answered it, sounding weary. “Hello?”
“Hi, Joe. I wanted to know if we could get together. You know, to discuss what we might do.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary right now, do you? What do we need to discuss?”
It was quiet on Joe’s end of the discussion, and he finally agreed to meet her. “Okay. Meet me at the coffee shop in a half an hour.” More silence. “No, Sophia. I’m not coming to your place.”
He hung up the phone and looked at me with fear in his eyes. “I guess you heard. I’m going to go meet her to talk. She said she’s feeling scared and—aw, hell, I don’t know. I feel sorry for her. I’m a fool, aren’t I?”
I grabbed his hand, throwing him a lifeline. “No, Joe. As hard as this is for both of us, you’re not a fool.”
His thumb rubbed my palm in slow back and forth motions. “I don’t suppose you’d go with me, would you?”
A sarcastic laugh flew out of my mouth. “I’m doing my best to deal with all this, but hell no. I’m not going to go see her with you. I will ride with you, though, and do some grocery shopping while you’re talking.”
“Okay. Let’s go.”
Little did I know, we were about to get another big surprise. What a roller coaster of a week!
Joe
I parked in the grocery store parking lot and gave Faith the keys while I walked a block farther to the coffee shop. Sophia was already there, smiling and waving to me as I walked through the door.
“Thanks for meeting with me, Joe.”
I didn’t say anything as I took the seat across from her at a high table by the window. She immediately grabbed my hands, and I just as quickly snatched them back. “What did you need to talk to me about?”
Her eyes widened as she sat up straighter in her chair. I didn’t take it as a good sign. “The least you could do is ask me how I’m feeling. I am carrying your child after all.”
“What makes you think it’s mine?”
Her face turned red at my question. “Because I know it is. The timing’s right.”
I still had my doubts. “How far along are you? What is your due date?”
“I don’t have an actual date yet. It’s been about three months since I got my last period.” As my brows drew together in thought, she glanced away, biting her cheek. None of thi
s was adding up. She looked back at me after a few seconds. “No, no it’s more like two months, I think.”
“You think? You’re not sure? Sophia, if you’re not sure how long it’s been, can you really be sure who the father is? You’re not the most chaste woman I’ve ever met.”
That did it. She threw her coffee in my face. I’m very lucky it was an iced coffee.
She was furious, and more than a little off balance. Her eyes darted around the room, not focusing on anything. Just when I thought she was going to scream at me, she shook her head as if trying to clear it and sat down again, watching me mop up the coffee as well as I could. “Oh God. I’m sorry, Joe.” She sounded like she had control of herself again, but I kept my guard up.
“Listen. I don’t know what’s going on with you or what you’re trying to accomplish, but I don’t believe you’re pregnant with my child. I’m not even sure I believe that you’re pregnant. What are you doing, Sophia?”
Her shoulders slumped with defeat. “Okay, fine. I’m not pregnant.”
I closed my eyes as my own body sagged with relief. “Jesus, Sophia. Why are you doing this?”
“Because I want you, and I always get what I want. It doesn’t make any sense that you’d prefer that woman over me anyway. I’m not going to give up on this.”
I tried replaying our times together over in my mind to figure out what it was about me that she was so obsessed with. I came up blank. “You’re going to have to give up on this. I’m sorry, but our dates were just my job. If I had known that you’d take the sex to heart, I’d never have allowed it. You have my apology, but you need to leave me alone now.”
She gave me a condescending smile as she rose out of her seat. “Well, we’ll see what the future brings. For now, you take care of yourself.”
The way she ran so hot and cold was bothersome, but before I could assure her she would not be in my future, she patted my cheek and went out the door. I could only hope it was the last I’d see of her.
I walked back to the car feeling relieved but cautious. Time would tell whether Sophia would surface again, but for now, I was a happy non-father-to-be. Faith walked out of the grocery store with a few bags in her hand, and I took them from her to stow them in the backseat.
“You’re smiling. Can I assume your talk went well?”
“You can. She lied. She’s not pregnant.”
“Are you serious? That’s awful! I mean it’s great, but why would she lie about that?”
“She told me she always gets what she wants and that she wants me. I honestly think it’s as simple as that. The spoiled rich girl was told no. I’m hopeful I’ve seen the last of her.”
“So you think that’s it, then? It’s all over?”
“God, I hope so. I told her not to contact me again. She patted me on the cheek and left. I think it’s all I can do for now.” I kissed her long enough to cause her to lean into me. “Let’s go home so I can take your mind off all this.”
“Okay.”
Faith
Since I’d already taken the week off, Joe and I spent just about every minute together. Instead of it being too much, I loved it. As a matter of fact, I was ready to tell him that he could move in with me when he had to leave his condo. Heidi already loved it here. The backyard was like her own personal domain. She thoroughly enjoyed having some grass to run around.
It was nearing the end of the week, and things were running smoothly with no Sophia drama to ruin it. “What are you thinking about?” Joe’s legs surrounded mine as we sat in one lounge chair together, my back to his chest, his arms enclosing me in his embrace. “I can actually hear you thinking, Faith.”
He knew me well. I rested my head on his shoulder as we spoke, turning my head slightly toward him. “A couple of things, actually. First, I was thinking of having Thanksgiving dinner here. I need a break from my family. I’m not hiding from them, but I don’t want to share our first holiday together with them if there’s a chance of my sisters or mother being rude to you.” And for the first time in too long, I meant that. I wasn’t hiding from them. Being with Joe showed me how worthy I was. He showed me every day how I should be treated, and I’m not going to forget that. I’m also not going to let my sisters or my mother forget that. What an epiphany. My hand still tingles with pleasure when I think about slapping Marge. Maybe it wasn’t my finest moment, but damn it felt good. “I’m not going to let them ruin it. So how about we just invite your family, and maybe Essie too?”
“Are you sure, sweetheart? What about your father?”
“He’ll understand. He always does. I’m happier than I’ve ever been right now, and I don’t want my relatives to mar that. It’ll be fun. You can help me cook.” I’d never hosted a Thanksgiving dinner, but I was a good cook and I wanted to do it.
“My mom would love that. I’ll go call her.” He shimmied out from behind me to grab the phone as I reflected back to the first time I’d met her.
A few days ago, we were supposed to meet Joe’s mother and her husband at a small mom-and-pop Italian place she loved in the Hills. Joe and I got there a little early and were messing around in his truck. Honestly, we had a hard time keeping our hands off each other.
Well, the windows were plenty fogged up, and I had just wrapped my hand around Joe’s cock when we heard a tap on the window.
“Ignore it,” Joe said around a mouthful of my breast.
“Okay,” I panted, stroking him again. His fingers were inside my pussy, making my hips undulate in a most decidedly perfect rhythm. I kept rocking my hips and moaning his name, stroking him harder and faster until I felt his release coat my hand. Just the feel of his cum on me caused me to burst with a loud exclamation.
The banging on the window grew louder and we heard, “Uh, we’ll just meet you at home, Joseph.”
Neither of us said a word as we cleaned ourselves up the best we could with Dunkin Donuts napkins I had pulled out of the glove box. After a minute or so, Joe busted out laughing. “That was my mom. Oh my God.”
“Oh, she’s going to love me. God, Joe. She’s going to think I’m a slut! What were we thinking?”
“We have to go over there.”
“No way! We can’t go like this. Joe—we smell like sex. Hot, sweaty sex.” The look in his eyes told me he wanted more. “Let’s go home and get cleaned up first.”
“Okay.”
It took us a bit longer than expected, since we got cleaned up together. In the shower. Another orgasm later, and we were on our way over to his mom’s house. She never even gave me a nasty glance. The minute I walked through the door, she’d enveloped me in her sweet arms and welcomed me into her family. It was a moment I knew I’d never have with my own mother.
Chapter 30
Joe
Mornings were my favorite time of day now. Since I’d moved in with Faith, she was the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes. I loved that.
When I opened my eyes this particular morning, there was no Faith to see. Our bed was empty. Not even Heidi was with me. But I smelled something wonderful. It was Thanksgiving Day, and Faith was in the kitchen, making the house smell incredible.
I stumbled from the bed and followed my nose. Faith stood at the oven, just slipping the turkey in as she pulled out a pumpkin pie.
“Now that’s a look I could get used to.” I guess I really am a caveman, because I loved seeing my woman wearing an apron, busy in the kitchen.
“The apron? You like that?” She walked past me and gave me a quick kiss. “I’ll be right back.”
I grabbed a cup of coffee and was reaching for the box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch when Faith walked back in, clearing her throat.
“Holy shit. Yes, I like that better.” She was still wearing the apron, but that’s all I could see. Just the apron. It made me wonder if there was anything beneath it.
“And look what else I have.” She reached into the pockets and pulled out the furry cuffs she had told me about all those weeks ago. We never had put
them to use. “What do you say? In the mood to be at my mercy?”
“Fuck yes. Give me five minutes.” I ran into the shower to clean myself and jerk off. She knew I was doing it. She knew I was useless with her the first time. Just the knowledge of her knowing what I was doing got me off. It wasn’t something I was particularly proud of, but I couldn’t hold back as long as I wanted to unless I jerked off first. Then I was good to go.
I walked into the bedroom to see Faith, ass up, knees on the bed, reaching over to secure one of the cuffs to the headboard. “What a fucking sight.” I leaned over, slipped her thong to the side, and ran my tongue down the seam of her ass to her pussy. “Delicious.”
She turned toward me and pushed me back. “Uh-uh. You do what I say today. Get on the bed and lie on your back.”
I happily did as instructed, but slapped and squeezed her ass until she had both of my hands secured. Without a word, she left the room and came back carrying a bottle of chocolate syrup. My dick did a happy dance.
“Where oh where should I start?”
“How about you start by taking off that apron?”
“Now, didn’t I tell you? This is my show.” She did, however, drop the apron. Oh yeah. My dick was jumping again.
“Very, very nice.” She was wearing a black strapless bra that pushed her tits up so high I could see the top half of her pink areolas. Fucking fantastic. The matching panties were about my undoing. They rode up high with a white bow at the center. I’d already seen and approved of the back. The only thing holding those panties together was the tiniest piece of lace, bisecting her heavenly ass. “You’re going to make me beg, aren’t you?”
“Would you?” She popped the top open on the chocolate. “Would you beg for me?”
“Fuck yes, I’d beg for you.”
She put the open chocolate bottle down on the bedside table and straddled me, her gorgeous pussy just inches from my mouth. My tongue darted out, but all I got was a lick of her panties. “Come closer, Faith. Now.” She laughed at me and scooted backward. That quickly, I was beginning to hate the bonds that prevented me from pulling her back to my waiting lips.
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