by Emerson Rose
He drops his briefcase on the couch and loosens his tie all the while making his way to me. “Nothing you ever do or say and especially cook could ever disappoint me.” When he’s toe to toe with me, he pushes a stray curl behind my ear and trails his finger lightly down my mostly-healed nose and brushes it over the spot on my cheek where he stitched me up in the ER. “This looks perfect.”
“Well, I had an awesome plastic surgeon. The best in the world some might say.”
“Really? Wow, he must be something else.”
“Yep, something else about sums him up.” I smile, and he chuckles and wraps his arms around my waist sliding a hand inside my bikini bottoms.
I look up at him thinking he probably has a fist full of sand right about now. “Sandy enough for ya?” He grabs a chunk of my cheek.
“I love this ass, even when it’s sandy and best when it’s bare.”
“Well, let me cook you some dinner, and later you can take my bare ass to bed.” He relaxes his grip and slides his hand out swatting me on the ass and kissing me long and hard and deep leaving me breathless.
When he pulls away, he leaves me standing in the kitchen panting and gripping the counter with one hand. He has a habit of getting me all hot and bothered and walking away. Sometimes it’s hot, and sometimes it’s downright frustrating—this time is the latter.
“That wasn’t nice,” I say to his back as he crosses the room to the stairs.
“Really? I thought it was very nice. Later on, I’ll make sure it’s out-of-this-world nice. It’ll be the best dream ever.”
I roll my eyes at no one. Ever since the first time we made love, he’s referred to it as dreaming. It’s his code word for sex in front of Victoria.
Hey, do you think we’ll have time for a great dream tonight? What did you think of that dream you had this afternoon? I’ll bet I can make you scream in your dreams.
I’m going to miss that. I’m going to miss a lot of things. So much so that I have no idea how I’m going to survive without this little family I’ve become a part of. I wish there were some way to make Enrique stop so we could be together.
He hasn’t made a move in weeks, and that has me on edge. It’s only a matter of time before he crawls out from under his rock and starts making my life a living hell again.
I cook dinner, and our ragbag family enjoys another meal together. Afterward, exhausted and stuffed, we retire to our rooms making it an early night. I shower and flop down into bed on my stomach to wait for Xander who is in his office finishing up a virtually simulated consultation for a patient who wants a new nose and cheek implants. I snuck a peek at her before pictures, and I can’t figure out why she wants to change her already pretty face. Xander says she’s had five plastic surgeries trying to make her boyfriend like her more. He also says if she keeps going, she’ll end up looking like a cat.
I struggle to stay awake after a long day of fighting ocean waves. I know Xander won’t be long, he never works for more than an hour in the evenings, but I can’t make it.
In a dream where Victoria and I are tubing a giant wave together on the same board, I feel something warm on my calf. I look down at my leg and see a dolphin with arms stroking my skin. He’s smiling and friendly, but he’s going to ruin our run. I’m just about to kick him in the head when I hear a voice say my name. It’s close and familiar and very sexy—it’s Xander—he’s giving me butterfly zings.
I open my eyes, and the ocean and Victoria and the dolphin are gone replaced by Xander who is sitting on the bed dressed only in black boxers and sliding his hand up my thigh to my ass. I’m still on my stomach hugging a pillow wearing a pair of red lace panties and a t-shirt with one leg hitched up.
“I know you’re tired, but when a man enters his bedroom and finds his woman looking like this…” he says as his hand reaches my ass, and he squeezes a cheek. “… he’s going to wake you up with no guilt.” He trails kisses following where his hand just scorched a trail up my leg and ends with a gentle bite of my ass.
“I was dreaming about the ocean,” I murmur against the pillow smiling.
“Mmm, close your eyes, and I’ll make an ocean between your legs that’s much better than the one in your dream.” He crawls onto the bed over me and slides my panties off following them down my legs with another trail of kisses. This man’s mouth has touched every single centimeter of my skin. He has effectively worshiped every spot on my body inside and out.
Kissing the small of my back with his hands on my bare hips, he murmurs against my skin. “Butterfly zings?”
“Oh yeah, millions.” I want to tell him my butterfly zings are so powerful they could provide power for the entire state of California, but his mouth on my skin is short-circuiting my brain.
There are no more words, just his hands on my hips and my back and my shoulders, his thick erection against my back when he presses his weight against me, and the chill of the air when he moves away. I’m about to protest when he slides his hands around my waist and pulls me up onto my knees, my back against his front.
His powerful hands cup my hyper-sensitive breasts, and I drop my head against his shoulder granting his mouth easy access to my neck. I hold my breath as his fingers feather down my belly and between my legs.
Working me into a frenzy, he circles my clit and kisses me until I’m aching. I’m on the verge of begging him to take me when he bends me at the waist and pushes into me from behind.
Relief and exhilaration explode as he starts a steady rhythm that quickly accelerates like a freight train barreling down the tracks to its destination. I bury my face in the pillow and grip the sheets taking every inch of him until my orgasm takes hold ripping through my body.
I scream and moan into the pillow as I ride out the final moments of my climax feeling Xander following close behind with a final determined thrust.
Sometimes the best days end with even better sex.
22
Xander
It’s Saturday in sunny California. Sasha is still asleep next to me. I should have been out of bed hours ago, but I couldn’t pull myself away from her. She’s so beautiful with her long, black hair spread over the pillow and her peaceful, relaxed face.
The past few days I’ve sensed something going on with her. I asked about it, but she tells me I’m imagining things. I’m not.
I’ve decided to take our little tribe on a vacation. I want Sasha to relax and stop worrying about Enrique’s next move, if there even is going to be one. I’m starting to think this guy is a whack job full of empty threats.
“You’re staring at me,” she murmurs against her pillow without opening her eyes.
I reach out and smooth her eyebrow. “How do you know that?”
“I can feel it.”
“Oh, yeah?” I scoot closer and roll her onto her side pressing my morning erection against her. “How about that? Do you feel that?” I kiss her nose and then her eyelids, her forehead, and finally her lips.
She moans and threads her fingers of her free hand through my hair. “Yes, I do, but there’s a certain little someone who will be charging in here any moment, so I’m sorry I won’t be able to make that particular dream come true. What time is it anyway?”
“Eight.”
Her eyes fly open. “Eight? Oh my God, Victoria never sleeps this late, is she okay?” She starts to get out of bed, but I hold her in place.
“I was up about thirty minutes ago to check on her. She’s fine.”
“She’s still worn out from surfing. She worked hard yesterday. I’m so proud of her progress.”
“You’re a great teacher, ever think of doing that part-time?” Her brow furrows in an adorable tiny letter M.
“No, I don’t have the patience to teach.”
“Yes you do, you have unlimited patience with Tori.”
“That’s because I love her.”
“Is that why you’re patient with me, too?” I ask with the ulterior motive of hearing her say she loves me.
Her face relaxes, and she looks into my eyes. “I don’t think I’m particularly patient or impatient with you, but yes, I do love you.”
The corners of my mouth lift in a small satisfied smile. “I love you, too.”
We’ve said this before, but I can’t seem to get enough of it. I know now that I’ve never loved a woman before Sasha because I’ve never felt the way I feel now. It’s so much more than I’d ever imagined. She’s like a life aphrodisiac. She makes me want to get out of bed in the morning and squeeze every ounce of positive energy from every minute of the day. Everything I do, I do with the two women in my life in mind.
I kiss her nose again, and she nuzzles into the crook of my neck. “I have a proposition,” I say.
“I already told you, Victoria…”
“No, not sex, something else.”
“Oh, okay what is it?”
“I want to go on vacation for a couple of weeks.”
“Oh, okay, where are you going?”
“Where are we going, you mean, and I was thinking Rome or Paris or London. Wherever you want to go as long as it’s across the ocean far from your worries here at home.”
“You want to take me to Rome?” Her voice is high-pitched and her tone incredulous.
“Yes, is that so hard to believe?”
“I, I’ve never been outside the country other than Mexico, and that doesn’t count because it’s attached.”
“Good, then your first time will be with me.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“That’s easy. Say, yes, when do we leave?”
“You know his reach is far and wide. I wouldn’t put it past Enrique to follow us.”
I shake my head and sigh. “He hasn’t done anything other than make a few text threats and watch you from the beach. I’m beginning to think he’s all bark and no bite.”
She sucks in her full bottom lip and holds it between her teeth. Her eyes dart back and forth between mine as if she’s trying to find something there.
“That’s what he wants you to think. This is how he works. It’s a game to him, a sick game. When he hit me with his car, he had been playing cat and mouse with me for six weeks. Calling and hanging up at all times of the day and night, and then suddenly, for weeks he would be quiet trying to make me think he was finished harassing me. Just when I would start to feel safe again, he would show up with some freaky-ass gift asking to take me skiing in Colorado or hiking in the mountains.”
“Then what happened?”
“When I told him no? He would get agitated or furious… it depended on where he was in his mania. At the beginning of an upswing in his mood, he would be agitated and upset asking what he did wrong, but if he were full-on manic, he would attack me.”
“Attack as in physically assault you?”
“Yes.”
“How many times did that happen?”
She shrugs. “A lot, I can’t remember.”
“So, he was full-on manic when he hit you in his car?”
“Oh, yeah, for sure.”
“How long do the stages last?”
“It’s never the same way twice. There were times he would go from deeply depressed to crazy manic in a matter of one week. Other times, it was much longer… weeks of staying in bed and then more weeks running around like he was in a race.”
“So there’s no telling how he’s feeling right now.”
“Nope.”
“I still think a vacation will do us all some good. If he follows us, we will have Tito and Matt and Mark. He can’t do anything.”
“Famous last words.”
“Ye of little faith. I’ll book a flight to leave as soon as possible.”
“What about the clinic? You can’t just up and leave.”
“I already talked to Mickey about it. We cover each other’s vacations. It’s no problem.”
“I don’t have a passport.”
“We can get you one today if we hurry.”
“Hurry where?” Tori says coming into the bedroom dragging her pink princess blanket behind her. I sit up in bed, and Sasha turns over so she can see Tori.
“The post office to get Sasha a passport. We’re going on vacation.”
Her sleepy eyes snap to attention. “Vacation? Can we go to Disney World? I love Disney World, Daddy.”
“No, bug, we’re going all the way across the ocean to Europe. You don’t remember, but you went to Paris with Daddy when you were two years old.”
“Why?” she asks not able to remember a thing about that trip. It’s obvious she’s disappointed we aren’t going to Disney World when the spark in her eyes dims.
“I had a conference, and I brought you and Zion with me.”
“Oh,” she says crawling up into bed with us nuzzling in to snuggle with Sasha and not me. I can’t blame her, though. If I were her, I’d prefer Sasha’s soft curves to my hard, muscular body any day. “Daddy, why are we hiding?”
Dammit, I knew she was going to catch on eventually. I hoped she would just accept that things were going to be different for a while and not question the bodyguards and heightened security.
I look at Sasha. She opens her eyes wide and shrugs.
“We aren’t hiding, princess. We’re being cautious and careful.”
“But why?”
Good question. Enrique’s lack of interest has me wondering the same thing. “Daddy just wants to be sure no one bothers you or Sasha or Zion.”
“The shadow man on the beach?”
“Well, yes, but I don’t think he’s coming back.”
“Is Tito gonna live with us forever?”
“I don’t know.”
“Is he coming with us on vacation?”
“Yes, so are Mark and Matt and Zion. It’ll be fun.”
“I wanna go to Disney World with just you and Sasha.” She burrows into the curve of Sasha’s body, and she wraps her arms around my little girl.
“What about Zion?” I ask, curious as to why she isn’t including her.
“Zion doesn’t like Disney World. She’s old.”
“That’s not nice, Tori. She might still want to go.”
She twists in Sasha’s arms to face me. “So we’re going to Disney World?” she asks excitedly.
“No, I mean if we were going, she might want to go.”
“Huh?” She’s still confused.
“I think Disney World sounds fun. I’ve never been,” Sasha says looking sheepish. “Sorry.”
“You’d rather go to Florida than Europe?”
“Yeah!” the two of them cheer in unison. I scrub my hand up and down my face. This wasn’t what I had in mind. I wanted to be as far away from California as possible, not a quick flight across the country. But I can’t very well say anything in front of Tori, or she’ll know the real reason behind our vacation.
“Okay then, I guess we don’t have to worry about a passport. And I can probably get us a flight out tonight, and we can go to Disney World tomorrow.”
Tori pops up jumping up and down on the bed yelling, “Hurray! We’re going to Disney World!”
“Yay,” I say less than enthusiastically, but happy that my girls are happy. Sasha stands up and takes Tori’s hands so they can jump and celebrate together.
“When you’re done here, you need to get packing,” I tell the squealing pair. “I’ll go tell Zion and the guys and book a flight.”
“Okay!” Sasha says giggling with Tori.
On my way down the hall, I knock on Tito’s door. He opens it immediately and follows me into my office where I fill him in on what’s going on. Then I get online and book seven first-class tickets to Orlando leaving at 6:00 p.m. this evening.
I don’t have to tell Zion about our trip. Tori’s been racing around the house like a maniac yelling, “We’re going to Disney, we’re going to Disney!” for an hour straight. If the house weren’t soundproof, I’d worry that the neighbors and anyone within two miles up and down the beach would know we are going on
vacation.
I walk into my bedroom and find Sasha making little piles of clothes to pack. “I’ll get you a suitcase.”
“Thanks. I might have to run home and get some more clothes. I’m sure you’ve noticed I only have a couple of outfits here. I’m usually in a swimsuit, and we don’t go anywhere, so I haven’t needed much.”
“Pack what you have, and I’ll take you shopping when we get there. I don’t want you going back to that apartment.” I don’t like that she still refers to it as home. I know it’s irrational, but I want her to think of this as home.
“That’s silly, Tito can come with me. You don’t need to spend a bunch of money on new clothes.”
“I have more money than I know what to do with, Sasha. You’re not going back there, and that’s final.”
She straightens up from her folding and places her hands on her hips. “Oh really?” she quips.
“Yes. Really. I’m going downstairs to get the suitcases, I’ll be right back.”
She makes a little harrumph sound and continues to stare at me as I leave the room. I don’t care if she thinks I’m being stubborn. Her safety comes first, and if her ex is as unstable as she says, there’s no way in hell I’m letting her go back to her apartment.
A few hours later, the seven of us are boarding a plane to the land of Mickey Mouse and overpriced everything. Flying isn’t my favorite thing to do. It doesn’t seem right that something so enormous can be airborne. When I fly alone, I medicate, but I have to have my wits about me when I’m traveling with Tori.
“You okay there, big guy?” Sasha says threading her fingers through mine.
“I’m fine, I just don’t care for flying.”
“Aw, that’s cute.”
I give her a side glare, and she giggles. “I’ve only flown three times, but I love it.”
Tori hears Sasha’s comment and leans around Zion to look at us. Tori is in the window seat across the aisle with Zion. Sasha has our window seat and I’m on the aisle so I can get up if I get panicky.
“Me, too, flying is fun!” She stands up in her seat to say hello to Tito who is sitting behind her. “Hi Tito, isn’t this fun?” Tito looks at me with raised eyebrows.
