Cherry Popper

by River Laurent

  “It’s over.” Mia leaned up against me, pressing her head against my shoulder. “It’s done, Jesse. He’s buried.”

  “I can’t believe it,” I muttered. “After all this time, and that’s all it took?”

  “Don’t blame yourself. There’s a lot tied up in this for you. I get why you didn’t do anything sooner.”

  “I didn’t have any reason to,” I remarked, sliding an arm around her shoulders as I watched them begin to fill in the grave. I did have a reason to now. Mia was the reason.

  “You get to start over now,” she urged. “Just like you always wanted. For good.”

  “With you,” I finished and planted a kiss on her temple. Then I turned to leave. “Come on, let’s get out of here. I’m done.”

  And with that, I led her out of the graveyard and into the bright sunshine of the street beyond.

  I was ready to leave this town behind. Forever.

  Epilogue

  Mia

  Two years later.

  “Hey, honey,” I called out as he made his way through the door.

  He came straight over to me and planted a kiss on my cheek. He lifted Elliot from my arms and hugged our son close. “And hello to you too, Tiger.”

  “Daddy! Daddy!” Elliot wound his chubby little arms around his father’s neck.

  I stepped back to just watch them, a big-ass smile spreading out over my face. My life was so unbelievably perfect. Sometimes I had to pinch myself to make sure it wasn’t all just a dream. “Here, let me take him and you can go get washed up for dinner,” I suggested, plucking our son out of his arms and pointing toward the bathroom. “You’re covered in oil.”

  “Just bringing home the bacon for my little family,” he said with a grin.

  I grinned as I watched him leave. I don’t know why he felt he had to work at the garage while we were on vacation even though he was earning big bucks now. Still, I was glad we came out here. I had enjoyed bonding with some of the people I’d been to high school with again. Even Julie, despite the fact I had bailed on her wedding and married someone she disapproved of, she had come around eventually. When both of us became pregnant at about the same time, her competitive streak kicked in again, but quite frankly, she could be as competitive as she wanted to be. Yeah, sure her nursery was better than mine, but so what?

  My parents nearly had a heart attack when they’d found out I was pregnant when we weren’t even married. It had been a shock to us too, but we had made it down the aisle before Elliot had turned up… just. That had been just over a year ago, when the two of us had headed out of town to get married in secret, knowing that we didn’t want a huge to-do.

  Cheap, simple, quick and just the two of us. I wore a white summer dress and he had on a shirt, tie, and jeans. I had a picture of the two of us next to the altar, beaming so hard our faces hurt.

  Having a grandson was the excuse Mom needed to come down and visit me. Things were a bit awkward to start with, but there was nothing like a baby to bring people together. Mom was amazing with him, so good in fact, it took me by surprise. I think we’d become better friends. I kind of understand why she was so mother-hen protective when I was growing up. I want to wrap Elliot in cotton wool and pop him somewhere safe so he never has to break a limb, or suffer any harm. I could only hope I didn’t become like my mother.

  Even Dad was learning the ropes after avoiding childcare the whole time I was growing up. And they had both come around on Jesse as well, even if it had taken some time. Dad said as long as Jesse was taking care of me, he was family to him. Well, I considered that as a great step on a long road.

  Wayne had been the one who had come through the hardest for us since the baby came along, which surprised me. Jesse had told me enough about the shit he was involved in to make me initially very skeptical about having him around, but he seemed to be a man of great depth. He never spoke much and hardly smiled, but when Elliot was put into his arms, he seemed to melt. I felt bad for him. It was clear that just like Jesse, he’d had a bad childhood and he suffered inside. I wished he had a good woman. He visited a few times and sat sharing a beer with Jesse out on the porch. There was still a whole lot going on between them that much was clear, but they were working through it as best they could, and I wasn’t going to question it.

  Jesse emerged from the shower as I was setting the table for dinner, and I let my gaze linger on my husband for a second. He had lost a little weight recently, because he had been overworking to finish a project before our vacation, and his muscles were even more pronounced than normal as he pulled a shirt on over his torso.

  “What’s for dinner?” he asked, taking a seat.

  “You, preferably,” I teased.

  He grinned as he picked up Elliot’s little plastic spoon and started to feed him. “I told you before, baby. Don’t start what you can’t finish.”

  “Promises,” I mocked.

  He cocked an eyebrow. “You never learn do you?”

  A thrill of excitement went through me as we went about the rest of the evening in a flurry. Jesse took over the childcare while I washed up. I listened to them playing together in the next room while I got everything done, and wondered how my life would have turned out if I had not caught Mark cheating on me that day. I would have married him. I shivered with revulsion. Dad always said, every dark cloud had a silver lining and he was right.

  Jesse put Elliot to bed just as I put away the last plate. I yawned and stretched just as he caught my hands and pulled me to him. I giggled as he tugged me against his chest.

  “I’m hungry,” he said playfully, brushing his nose against mine.

  “You just had dinner,” I replied, pretending I didn’t know what he meant.

  “Yeah, but I haven’t had any desert.”

  “Do you know I’ve been wet all night?”

  “God, Mia,” he groaned.

  With a secret smile, I slipped my arms around him and kissed him softly. Ever since we dealt with what had happened with his father, he seemed so much lighter, more playful than before. He scooped me off my feet.

  I giggled into his mouth as he carried me to the bedroom and laid me down on the big double bed where, not counting what we did in the car, we had our first proper sex session.

  “I’ve been thinking about you all day,” he breathed into my ear as he peeled off my pants, along with my underwear, and tossed them aside.

  “Me too,” I confessed, as he worked his way down my neck and began to strip me bare. I loved that he was still so vocal about wanting me, loved that he found even my post-baby body sexy. Loved that he loved me… That I loved him.

  He slid down on top of me when we were both stripped bare, and kissed me deeply as we pushed against one another. Even now, he had the ability to make me feel like a teenager. As if the two of us were back in high school and just couldn’t get enough of one another.

  He ran his hands over my legs and I let my nails rake down his back, drawing a little moan out of him. I grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled him back so I could kiss him on the mouth. I was craving him, craving all of him.

  “Let’s make another baby,” he murmured in my ear.

  I remembered with a shock of excitement that we had agreed to give it another try now that Elliot was old enough to hold his head up. It meant no condoms, which I was all there for, and it meant that we had to go at it all the time, every chance we got. And it meant, of course, that we would soon be expanding our little family, extending the love to a whole new person. “Yes, let’s make another baby,” I cried eagerly.

  His eyes shone with excitement as he tugged my hips back, pushed my legs up, and slid into me.

  “Oh,” I gasped.

  He covered my mouth and planted a kiss on my forehead as he began to thrust inside me. “Shhhh,” he said. “Elliot’s sleeping.”

  “Then stop making it feel so good,” I teased as he began to move inside me, to really move.

  He pressed his forehead to mine as he thrust
deep into my pussy, filling me, going all the way in. I hooked my ankles around his neck and drew him deep inside me. The connection that ran between us was so intense it almost pushed me over the edge right there and then. There was something so deeply profound about sharing this with him, about knowing that the two of us were making another child together. Sexy in the strangest way, an intimacy I had never shared with anyone else and never would with anyone but Jesse.

  “I love you,” he breathed into my ear, as though reading my thoughts.

  “I love you too,” I whispered. After that, I lost myself to the lovemaking, holding him as close as I could, rocking back against him, over and over again, until I felt the pleasure rising inside me, cresting like the top of an erotic wave. His body was warm and gentle against my own as he guided me sweetly to an edge where I plunged over.

  I moaned as I came, my pussy clenching around his cock as the pleasure spread out through my body like the warmth of a fire. He plunged into me a couple more times before he reached his own release, and I felt him come inside me. Maybe it was just wishful thinking, but I had a good feeling about this time. I had a feeling it could be that we’d made our second baby together.

  Slowly, he slid out of me and lay back on the bed.

  I put my legs in the air.

  “What on earth are you doing?”

  “Keeping your cum in,” I replied with a grin.

  He raised his head from the pillow. “Oh, don’t worry about that, baby. I’m going to be filling you with a whole lot more cum in a few more minutes.”

  “I can’t believe we’re doing this again,” I murmured, with a little laugh.

  He stroked my hair back from my face and slid an arm around me. “I can,” he murmured, kissing my collarbone. “There’s nothing I want more than having a football team sized family.”

  I laughed. “Excuse me, you don’t have to push that football team out of your dick.”

  He winced.

  I laughed. “God, how I love you, Jesse Cooper,” I repeated for the millionth time.

  He smiled widely, as if he’d won the lottery by hearing those words come out of my mouth. He lay his head back on the pillow and just looked at me, like I was something impossibly precious, impossibly rare that he didn’t want to take his eyes off of for even a moment.

  “I love you too, Mia Cooper.”

  THE END

  Sweet Revenge

  A curvy girl romance

  Synopsis

  Great! My boyfriend of two years dumps me for another woman on the eve of New Year’s Eve because she weighs less than me. Thanks, James. Really. Thanks.

  But, I’m not sitting at home crying for your sorry ass.

  I’m going to re-build the confidence you systematically destroyed.

  And then I go and meet Ace!

  Whoa! And it is sweet revenge all the way.

  Chapter 1

  Dawn

  “Wait. What? Are you…dumping me?” I gasp in disbelief, as I lean back against the cupboard to steady myself.

  “I guess so,” he mutters, his shifty eyes sliding away.

  “I guess so? What the hell does that mean? Are you, or aren’t you?” I demand incredulously.

  His sullen face swings back to me. His fists are clenched by his sides as though he’s forcing himself to sit there and not bolt out of the front door. “All right, yes. Yes, I am.”

  “That’s it? It’s over between us,” I say in wonder, just in case there is any doubt. It’s always good to be completely clear about these things. When someone says all right yes. It’s kind of a grudging agreement. It could mean no too.

  He rolls his eyes. I hate when he does that. It makes him look like a dork. “That would be a safe assumption to make,” he says, with a little snigger. He’s loving this. This position of power. He told me that he’s never been the one doing the dumping before. Every woman he’s been with was smart enough to leave him first.

  I shake my head as my brain tries to make sense of the thoughts flying through my head.

  James and I have been together for two years. In fact, only two months ago he told me he was so grateful he had found me. We were perfectly matched and there would never be anyone else for him. However, our anniversary last week was kind of a mess. I somehow, convinced myself he was going to propose. Well, what would you think if you saw a bridal magazine stuffed under his pillow in his apartment?

  When he didn’t pop the question, and came up with the lame suggestion we get chicken take-out and just hang out at my apartment for the evening, I was pretty gutted. But I’m not one to give up at the drop of a hat and I decided to somehow salvage the night. I slipped into some expensive lingerie and swayed towards the bed in what he used to call my sexy walk, but he turned out the lights and fucked me for five minutes. It could have been longer, but it felt like less.

  Not exactly the romantic night of my dreams. I had half a mind to flip on my vibrator and masturbate right there in front of him, but he started snoring next to me. Since I wasn’t turned on anyway, there seemed to be no real point.

  I stare at him now. “But it’s New Year’s Eve tomorrow.”

  He has the grace to look shamefaced.

  “Why?” I whisper.

  “Does it matter?” he snaps, flying upright and crossing his arms. Like a child who has been naughty and doesn’t want to be told off. I’m so used to dealing with his tantrums and moods that I automatically reach out to comfort him, to make it all better even though he’s a grown-ass man, and I’m the injured party here.

  He evades my touch as if it is a branch of poison ivy and moves out of reach. My hand falls back heavily against my thigh. The slapping sound reverberates inside my skull. Wow! He can’t even bear my touch. Okkkkkay. I take a deep breath and measure out my words slowly, clearly. “Yes, it does matter. I’d really like to know.”

  He snorts. “What difference does it make?”

  I swallow the pure rage stuck in my throat. This asshole thinks he can walk in here and break up with me after he’s wasted two whole years of my time, and not even give me a reason. I don’t know what gave him that impression because I’m absolutely determined to find out why. Heck, I’ll sit on his spineless back and squeeze it out of him if I have to. I straighten away from the cupboard. “Since it makes no difference to you, and as you don’t have anything to lose,” I point out through gritted teeth, “perhaps you will be kind enough to tell me what the fuck is going on here.”

  He turns back to me slowly, looking me dead in the eye, a nasty expression in his eyes.

  Suddenly, I know what this is about. When he arrived early this evening, I think I already knew what was coming my way. Especially, when he sat on the edge of the couch without taking his shoes or coat off. He had no intention of hanging around too long. He wanted to get in and out. Some confident part of me wishes that I could back out of hearing him say it. I would love to airily walk him to the front door, while telling him to keep his pathetic reasons and fuck off out of my life, I’m just not interested to know.

  But I can’t do that.

  I’m someone who needs to know. I need closure. If I don’t get it out of him now I’ll be calling him in a month or six months and asking him why then. So I’ll be damned if I don’t get him to spit it now. I square my shoulders. I’m a big girl. I can take it. Besides, I refuse to give him the satisfaction of thinking he crushed me like a bug under his shoe. After two years that’s not how I’m going to let this end. Me splattered under his clumsy big left foot. Actually, for a man with such big feet he has a very small dick.

  “You really want to know?” There’s that ugly look again.

  I nod.

  He tosses his hands in the air in exasperation. “Just remember you wanted to go down this road.”

  “Just, spit it out, James,” I growl.

  “I met someone else, all right.”

  Chapter 2

  Dawn

  I was expecting it, but my stomach still drops. I look dow
n at the ground in front of me. Yeah, I knew in my gut he’d been pulling away from me. I even briefly wondered if it had something to do with the new girl at his work he kept talking about. The girl with the lap-dancer name, but of course, I convinced myself that he was not that type of guy. He was faithful. He was in love with me.

  “The slut at work?”

  He flushes a deep red. “There is no need to get judgmental.”

  “Is it?” I demand, my anger boiling over.

  “As a matter of fact, yes. Her name is Candy and she’s not a slut. She’s a great gal. She has a really lovely personality. She’s always helping everyone.”

  My eyes widen. What is this fool doing now? He’ll be telling me she’s great in bed next.

  “The first time we had sex,” he confesses enthusiastically. “She went down on me an…fuck, Dawn, she blew my mind. It was so much hotter than anything we ever had together.”

  I feel as though I am going to throw up. I press my lips together determined not to show myself up. Anyway, vomit is murder to get out of cream carpets. He notices the horror in my face and resolves to rub it in, for reasons that I can’t quite figure out.

  “I guess it’s because she’s hotter than you,” he continues, getting into it now, apparently reveling in the power he has over me, the power to devastate me. “She’s at least fifty pounds lighter than you…”

  I can’t help wincing as those words come out of his mouth. I can’t believe he would say that to me. He knows how self-conscious I am about the way I look, and yet he can’t resist twisting the knife deep into the most painful of my insecurities. This is starting to feel like revenge. He doesn’t love me. He hates me. An image of this woman pops into my head. She’s slim and tiny and cute, and next to her I am a great heaving mound of flesh. And he wants to have sex with her…with the lights on. For more than five minutes.