It took Elaine a few seconds to understand why and she chuckled before she could hide it. “Really? In a restaurant that’s being remodeled, on the new booths?” she whispered as she leaned over the scale and scanner.
“Shh, quiet!” Haley mock whispered as she looked around. They hadn’t seen a customer yet, and it had been a few hours.
“Are you afraid the can of peas over here are going to start talking?” Elaine asked as she held them up. “Did you hear what Haley did with her boyfriend last night?” she asked them as she giggled. It was lame and it was pretty girly, but it felt good. “Seriously, though. Let me know which booth so I know not to sit at that table.”
“I don’t know. They’re not installed yet. They’re just sitting in the middle of the dining area.”
“Oh, jeez!” Elaine made a face that was between mock horror and disgust.
“Still, it’s not as bad as what I heard you and Ethan Mack did last week,” Haley said as she studied her nails. Elaine didn’t say a word as she mulled over those words. Had someone seen them, or was Haley fishing for information? “Jody has a big mouth,” Haley finished with a shrug.
They talked about the weather after that because Elaine wasn’t going to tell anyone what she had done with Ethan the previous week. She hadn’t told anyone but her mother about the date that night, but she was sure talk would reverberate through the town the next morning. Someone was sure to see them, and she wasn’t afraid of a tiny rumor started by a petty woman.
When Elaine walked through the front door, she was assaulted with the smell of sugar cookies and ultra-sweet icing. She had trusted her mother to look after Thomas that morning and afternoon, and she knew exactly how they had spent it. After all, her mother had been her mother before she had been Thomas’ grandmother.
“I hope you didn’t let him eat too many cookies!” Elaine called out as she hung up her purse on the hall hook. Her mother peeked around the kitchen opening with a hand full of purple icing and smiled sweetly.
“Why don’t you go upstairs and change? I’m going to do a reading for you real quick,” her mother told her before she disappeared. The sound of childish giggles erupted from the kitchen and Elaine smiled at the sound. Things had changed since her mother had talked candidly with her in the park.
Elaine didn’t know what to wear and it showed as she threw shirt after shirt on her bed. When she finally settled on a deep, crimson top that showed a generous bit of cleavage and a pair of tailored jeans that fit her well, she headed down the stairs to tell her mother she wasn’t interested in a reading. But she was already sitting on the couch with her cards in front of her and Thomas playing idly with some oversized Legos.
When her mother patted the spot beside her, Elaine found that she was sitting down. She usually scoffed at her mother’s readings, but this time her mother seemed serious as she held out the cards to Elaine.
“Hold them a few minutes,” she said quietly. Neither woman looked at each other as Elaine held the cards.
Then she proceeded to lay them out in the simple spread her mother had taught her when she was a child. Three cards in a row.
“Now flip them,” her mother whispered, but Elaine knew what to do. She flipped over the first card, the second, and the third.
The first card, the past, was the lovers. Elaine narrowed her eyes as she stared at it. She knew the card for lovers could mean a relationship between two actual lovers or a relationship between relatives, but she understood it most likely represented her relationship with her husband. Without the flame of love, it was failing, and she knew that.
The second card, the present, was the hanged man. He symbolized a sacrifice for the greater good or the ability to let something go in order to move forward. Sometimes a person had to let go of what they thought was right in order to find what was right. Did it symbolize that she should move forward with Ethan or was she forcing it and should let go?
The third card, death, didn’t frighten her as it did when she was a child. The death card was not about someone actually dying, but about new beginnings. Out of death came life, and that was her future. Elaine felt her chest constrict as she tried to figure out what they meant, but maybe that’s what the middle card was trying to tell her? She had to stop trying to figure everything out?
“This is just too frustrating,” she told her mother as she stood. “It’s why I never got into this.”
“The cards only tell you what you already know,” her mother stated quietly as she scooped them back up. Elaine was about to argue, but she heard the doorbell ring and took a deep breath. “Have fun on your date, honey. What will come will come.”
“You’re so cryptic,” Elaine mumbled as she leaned down and kissed her son on the forehead. “You be good for grandma and make sure she doesn’t eat too many cookies, okay?”
“Okay,” Thomas told her as he returned her kiss with a sloppy one on her cheek.
Chapter Seven
“You look really nice tonight,” Ethan told her as he escorted her down the front steps. Elaine allowed the tension from the reading leave her as she let him wrap his arm around her waist. He was as familiar with her as he’d been a week ago, and she found she sort of missed his voice.
She had dreamed about it often enough.
“Thank you,” she told him as he helped her into his car. “So where are we going?”
Ethan slid in behind the wheel and pressed the button to turn on the car. “It’s a surprise.”
“How did I know you were going to say that?” she said as she allowed him to take her hand while he drove with one. “We’re going to eat, right?”
“You said you ate on Friday nights, so I figured we could do that.” Ethan turned on his turn signal and she sucked in a deep breath. Tonight was the night she would tell him that she didn’t want him around her son just yet. She had thought about it and made up her mind. She didn’t know him well enough to have him making silly promises to a child, and she didn’t want Thomas to grow attached.
“You okay?” Ethan asked as he glanced at her.
“I’m fine, sure.” Elaine gave him a reassuring smile and squeezed his hand. They pulled up in front of a restaurant not that far from her home and she grinned genuinely this time. “So do you mean to wine and dine me in style tonight?”
Ethan shrugged one of his broad shoulders and turned off the car. “I figured it would be a lot better than where I found you.”
“You’ve got that right,” she responded as she helped herself out of the car. It was nice that Ethan was going to open the door for her, but she didn’t want him to feel like she was a damsel in distress or helpless.
They walked through the doors of the small bistro and Ethan led her to one of the tables that was further from the other guests. There was a low din as the other diners talked and somehow the atmosphere felt cozy, comfortable even.
“So you have something on your mind,” Ethan prompted. Elaine was about to respond when their waitress showed up out of nowhere and placed two wine glasses in front of them.
“Can I interest you in the Pinot Noir tonight?” she asked innocently with a wide smile. She looked to be around college-aged with short, black hair and olive-toned skin.
“I’ll have a root beer,” Ethan told her kindly. Elaine wondered if he didn’t want to pay for the wine and then realized he was doing the same thing he’d done the week before. He wasn’t going to drink because he was driving.
“I’ll have the same,” Elaine told the girl kindly.
“You can have a glass of wine if you want. I just don’t drink when I’m driving.” The girl disappeared before she could get caught in the middle of a verbal altercation, but her assumption was wrong.
“I know, and I don’t want to be tipsy when we talk about what this is,” she told him plainly. She took a piece of bread that had been left on the table and began to slather butter on it.
“So what is this, exactly?” Ethan asked her as he took a piece of bread and followe
d her lead.
“I think it’s a date, but I could be wrong. Maybe you’re a government spy sent here to distract me while someone else steals my mother so that she can give the president a tarot reading.” Elaine tried to deflect with a joke, and Ethan smiled at her, but he wasn’t buying it.
“I know you’re uncomfortable with me around your son, and I respect that. As I said, I don’t push women beyond what they’re comfortable with.” He raised his eyebrows as if he was daring her to contradict him, but she wouldn’t.
“So we’re in agreement that this is to be kept between the two of us, then?”
“For as long as you’d like,” he told her before he took a bite of his bread. For the remainder of the meal, Elaine told him about her discussion with Haley that day at work and Ethan told her about the dinner they were having the next weekend at the fire hall. When he invited her, she accepted without thinking about it.
They were smiling as the two of them walked from the bistro and slid into their respective seats in the car. Ethan’s dark eyes raked over her front and she felt a blush creep up her neck, but she enjoyed his attention. “Would you like to come over for a few hours, to my place?” he asked her as he raised his eyebrows suggestively.
Elaine felt the butterflies return with a vengeance and flashes of seeing the top of his head as he nibbled at her nether regions the last time they had been together made her damp. “I’d like to come over,” she whispered.
They didn’t speak as he drove back to his place. It turned out to be a quaint home on the outskirts of the small town she lived in, and she was surprised when he opened the door and there was a dog waiting for him. The black lab had woofed once before it stepped off to the side, only to come back and give Elaine’s jeans a thorough sniffing.
“Benjie, knock it off,” Ethan chastised as he closed the door and pulled the lab away and into the living room. The dog tried again, but one look at his owner had him sitting down and wagging his tail as if he was a child caught taking a cookie from the cookie jar.
“He’s very pretty,” Elaine said as she reached down to give the dog a pat on the head. She’d wanted a dog for years, but between having Thomas, and then her husband dying, she hadn’t had the time.
“He’s much better than he was two years ago. At least he’s out of the chewing stage,” Ethan said as he moved from his spacious living room decorated with leather furniture to a kitchen with stainless steel appliances and checkerboard patterned stools at a breakfast bar.
“Your place is nice,” Elaine commented as she sat down at the breakfast bar. Ethan pulled out a wine cooler and handed her one before he popped the top off his. She had a split second to wonder if he planned on her staying the night before she popped off the top of her wine cooler and took a sip. It was refreshing and made her feel a little warm, but she knew it’d take many more before she was sloppy drunk.
“You want to watch something on television?” Ethan asked her as he held out his hand. Elaine knew that they wouldn’t be watching television very long that night, if at all. She was tired of fooling around with conversation. He had made it clear he was okay if they were just friends with benefits for the time being, and she couldn’t forget about how their previous night had ended.
She took his hand and let him lead her out to the couch, but when he picked up the remote to turn on the television, she gently took it from his fingers and laid it on the coffee table. A smoldering began in Ethan’s eyes and he smiled with that crooked grin that made her heart stutter. They looked into each other’s eyes a moment before they kissed.
Elaine could feel his tongue sweeping over her lips and opened them so that he could have more of her. Her nipples perked and the sensitive flesh rubbed against the dark red bra she had worn to match her shirt. She reached around to his back and ran her hands over the strong, sinewy muscle just beneath his dress shirt. He’d worn a button up shirt on their date, and she had to admit he looked very handsome in it.
“Elaine,” he breathed as his fingers brushed against the warm flesh of her hips. She raised her arms in the air as he pulled off her shirt and didn’t hesitate in removing her bra.
Her breasts fell free from their confines and her hard nipples begged to be touched. Ethan bent his head down to take one her nipples into his mouth and used his fingers on the other. When she leaned back and began to unbutton her jeans, he chuckled at her and shook his head. His voice was deep and husky as he said, “Not yet, my angel.”
“Ethan, please,” she begged him, wanting him inside of her and needing to feel his throbbing, veiny member pulsing. The thought of it made her groan aloud.
“Not yet,” he told her firmly as he helped her from her jeans. Then he gently removed her panties and tossed them to the side. Elaine had a worried second to wonder if the dog was going to chew on them before she felt his fingers exploring her outer lips. He ran the pads of his fingers across her nub and gently massaged her nether region.
“I want you to come first,” he told her as he smiled down at her.
She was about to respond when he dove two of his fingers into her already wet pussy and stroked up. His other hand snaked up her bucking hips and caught one of her taught nipples between his fingers, but it wasn’t enough. Elaine reached down with one hand and up with the other. She stroked her clit eagerly and teased the free nipple with her other hand, helping him make her come.
Warmth flooded her and her lips parted as she sucked in a deep breath. The movement of her lungs pushed her breasts up and she could hear Ethan’s breathing grow ragged. “That’s so fucking hot,” he whispered to her just as she came around his fingers. Her entire body grew rigid and her hips bucked wantonly as his fingers eagerly stroked her. Elaine made a strangled, wanton noise as she felt her walls pulsing and growing sensitive while he stroked. When he removed his fingers, they were moist with her excitement.
Once he’d made her come, he unzipped his jeans and pulled off his pants in one fluid motion. He had slipped on a condom before he hovered over top of her. She could feel the tip of his penis at her opening and wanted it bad, but she remained still. “I don’t want to come too fast and you’re too hot,” he whispered, nibbling at her earlobe.
Elaine hissed when he reached up his still damp fingers and began to knead her sensitive breasts. He pushed into her, slow inch by slow inch, and when he was hilt deep she moved her hips around in circles. She could feel the stubble from his last shave down there against her clit and groaned as she came around his hard, throbbing cock.
“Please,” she whispered to him as she shuddered with the aftershocks of her second orgasm. Ethan didn’t need to be told twice. He pulled out of her quickly and thrust back into her. With each thrust of his hard member deep inside of her, she thrust her hips up to meet him and relished in the pleasure of feeling him deep inside her.
Her pussy tightened around him and he groaned as he reached beneath her pulled her hips up at a better angle. Once he had her positioned, he thrust into her deeply and hard with a steady rhythm until she cried out his name over and over, her eyes closed tight as she threw her head back. Elaine felt her third climax rip through her in waves and forgot about keeping quiet.
She felt his hot come even through the condom and bathed in the delight it brought her that she had made him climax so quickly. When he pulled off the used condom and replaced it with a new one, she knew she was in for a long night.
We’ll make it work, she thought as she felt him thrust into her again. Somehow, they’d keep seeing each other because she was positive that she didn’t want to stop.
THE END
LOVED BY THE HERO
Alpha Male Romance
Chapter One
“It’s been four months. Don’t you think if you’ve been dating a man for four months, your mother ought to have seen and talked to him?” The porch swing eased back and forth with care and Thomas chattered idly as he showed one of the neighborhood kids his new sled. It had snowed about three inches, but it wa
s a heavy, wet snow and they’d get in a few good runs before they had to switch to another sloped area in the yard.
Elaine wouldn’t pull her eyes off her son as she sipped a mug of hot chocolate laced with some whiskey. Jacob never made it any other way. “She’s already seen and talked to him,” she responded, chancing a glance at her swing companion. His white hair was pulled back and his rheumy eyes were studying her with a mix of amusement and exasperation.
“You know what I mean, darling. Introduce him as your boyfriend, and not just some man that shows up in a dark car on dark nights and whisks you away to another world for a few hours. I get it. You’re a single mother who needs some fun time,” Elaine’s cheeks grew red and she averted her gaze back to her son fully. “I’m not dead, Elaine. I’m just old.”
“Oh, Jacob, I know that. It’s just that you’re so much like a grandfather to Thomas, and-” She paused, a little embarrassed about what she was going to say.
“I’ll never replace your father or a grandfather for Thomas, but I love you both just the same. It still doesn’t make me dead, so I get it. But you can’t just lead this man around forever, Elaine. You’re going to have to introduce him to the family you have. I’ll be waiting by the front door with my shot-gun when you’re ready.” It tickled her from the inside out and she chuckled as she thought about old Jacob sitting by his door with a shotgun in hand. If he’d fire that thing, he’d be blown to Tim-buck-two.
“I don’t think that’s necessary. He might get the wrong idea,” she said sarcastically. Thomas waved to her and she waved back at the same time that Jacob waved. They sat in silence and sipped their whisky-laced hot cocoa. It was just enough to make her feel warm, but not enough to make her feel that she was being a bad mother.
ROMANCE: THREESOME : Billionaire Brothers' Party (MFM Menage Romance) (New Adult Contemporary Threesome Short Stories) Page 40
