The DILF: Experience Counts: A May-December Romance (Temperance Falls Book 2)

by London Hale

  “C’mon, baby.” I was dying to go deeper, so I pulled her legs up a little higher to get a better angle. Gen dropped her head back, her mouth open in a silent scream as she hit that point of no return. “Fuck, yeah. Come, baby. Give it to me, let me feel you milk my cock.”

  A little more, just a few extra strokes, and I came with a growl that left my head spinning. This girl, this fucking girl, had ruined me. There was no one else, no one better, nothing I wanted more. And as I emptied inside her, as I shook and thrust and clung to her, I knew this was it for me. She was it for me. I just had to find a way to keep her.

  “We made a mess,” Gen said when we’d both calmed down enough to speak. Well, mostly. I was still older than her. My calm-down period was a bit longer.

  I pressed my forehead to her chest while I caught my breath. Still shivering from the strongest orgasm of my life. “Yeah, we did. Thank fuck for that.”

  Gen wiggled under me, so I pulled back to give her room. My cock slid out of her pussy as she moved, and I grimaced at how cold it was. We needed to leave or else I’d be fucking her again as soon as I was able to. Maybe on the couch in the corner, or up against the windows looking out over the lake.

  I tucked myself back into my pants, thinking over the possibilities on the way home to stop for a little outside action. I was a man obsessed, and happily so. “Give me a minute to clean up, and we can go home.”

  “I thought you needed to work.”

  “I was getting ready to leave when you showed up. Besides, I’m not done with this outfit yet.” I grabbed a few tissues from the dispenser on my desk and helped her clean up, kissing her shoulder as I did. “I can’t wait to figure out how to get it off of you.”

  “I might not make it easy on you.”

  “I’m willing to work for it.”

  She smiled at me over her shoulder. That look, that happiness, gutted me. I wanted to tell her my plans right then. Wanted to tell her I loved her and hoped she’d stay with me. Wanted to put a fucking ring on her finger and show the world she was mine. I wanted the motherfucking fairy tale with her at the center of it, but the ogre ruined the moment.

  “Brandon, old boy. I didn’t expect—” Clark froze in the doorway, looking from me to Gen and back again. Gen tugged her sweatshirt down, making sure to cover herself, but the scene was pretty damning. Papers scattered and on the floor, Gen standing too close to me, both of us disheveled. He knew. He had to know.

  I was screwed. “Clark. What are you doing here on a Saturday?”

  “I think I should be asking you the same question.”

  “I was catching up on the McIntyre Steel paperwork. This is—” I froze, unable to think of the word to use. I wanted something more than girlfriend, something meaningful that explained the gravity and seriousness of our relationship, but I hadn’t even told her how I felt yet. Hadn’t asked her if she’d be my girlfriend. Hell, I didn’t know if people still asked such things. I was at a loss, so I stumbled. “This is Evie’s friend.”

  I knew I’d fucked up the second the words left my lips. Evie’s friend? Gen was more than that, so much more. She was my new world, my future, my love. She was everything to me, and by the set of her shoulders, I’d just hurt her. I hadn’t even said her damn name. Fuck.

  “Hello again, Mr. Wilkinson. We met briefly at Evie’s graduation party. I know your son from school.”

  Clark’s eyebrows practically jumped off his forehead. “You’re in high school?”

  “No, not anymore. I graduated with Evie and Brock.”

  “I see.” Clark looked us over again, frowning. “Well, I guess I can leave you two to it. Brandon, I want you in my office first thing on Monday.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “And perhaps you should clean up this mess so you can get back to going over contracts like you’re paid to do.” He eyed Genesis in a way that made the blood boil in my veins. “Too many distractions from work won’t get you to that forty-eight percent ownership stake you’ve been wanting.”

  Distractions. Fuck, as if Genesis was something so trivial, so small. Work had become my distraction from her, and it was something I knew I’d need to deal with. But not yet—I wasn’t ready. Unfortunately, Clark had just shoved me into oncoming traffic without any idea of how to get back to safety.

  As soon as he walked out of the office, I reached for Genesis, trying to come up with something to say to fix things between us. Knowing nothing I said would work. “I’m sorry—”

  Gen shoved my hands away, backing up until she was on the other side of the desk. “Sorry about what? The fact that you basically treated me like a whore you were ashamed of being caught with? Jesus, Brandon. I wasn’t expecting a declaration, but you couldn’t even use my name?”

  Her distance sent ice through my veins. “Gen, please. It was a mistake. I wasn’t thinking when he walked in, and I didn’t know how to handle the situation.”

  “I’m not a situation to be handled. I’m a person. And you are an asshole.”

  She spun toward the door, and my heart dropped. There was no way I could let her go, no fucking way I could let her walk out the door without knowing how I felt about her.

  “Gen, stop. Please. I know you’re a person. Don’t you think I know that?” I hurried after her, keeping distance between us because it seemed to be what she wanted even though I was dying to touch her. Grab her. Hold her to me. “Please believe me when I say I’m sorry. You’re…you’re everything to me.”

  “According to you, I’m just your daughter’s friend.” She walked out the door without looking back.

  I followed her, unable not to. “Gen, stop. Come back and talk to me.”

  “You just lost every right you ever had to even attempt to tell me what to do. I thought I meant more to you than that. I thought what we had—” Her voice cracked, and her shoulders shook as she took a deep breath before turning once more to face me. “I thought I was more than just a piece of ass to you.”

  The look on her face, the pain. It rocked me. Sent my heart and mind reeling in ways nothing else ever had. Not finding out I was going to be a father at just nineteen, not Evie’s mom walking out of our lives a few short years later, not even learning my daughter and my best friend were together. Nothing in my life had prepared me for the level of hurt I’d caused Genesis.

  “You are.” I reached for her, unable not to. “You’re so much more to me. I swear if you’d just give me time—”

  She waved me off before turning her back on me once more. “Give you time? We’ve been here before, haven’t we? Everything about us is new, and yet you’ve managed to let me down over and over again. I’m done.”

  The door to the parking lot slammed behind her, the sound sharp and final. That was it. One slip, one stupid mistake on my part, and I’d lost the most important thing in my life. I’d failed Gen, and I had no idea how to fix that.

  Or if I ever could.

  I swiped at the tears as they fell on my drive ho— I cut off my thoughts before the word could even finish going through my mind and internally cursed myself for having started to think of Brandon’s place as home. After mere weeks, I’d already begun to think of it as mine. Ours.

  Turned out it had all been one-sided.

  The beautiful neighborhood he lived in blurred past as I sped down the street. Bet they didn’t see a lot of screeching, fifteen-year-old Hondas in these parts. I hoped I left tire marks on his pristine driveway, just a little reminder of how he’d burned me.

  It took me three tries before I could fit the key into the lock, then push the front door open. The peaceful feeling I’d been getting for the past week as I’d walked into the house was still there, echoing in my heart, and I hated it. I hated it.

  I hated that he’d made me feel safe and happy and wanted and…loved. That bastard had made me feel loved, all the while thinking I was nothing more than just a pussy to fuck.

  Well, fuck him and this perfect house and this perfect life that I didn’t n
eed. That I’d never thought I wanted. That I’d never fit into.

  I tore through the house like a windstorm, picking up discarded pieces of myself everywhere I turned. A throw blanket I’d brought over from my apartment, the bags of goodies from Sin that Harper had been sending home with me left and right. The fresh flowers I’d picked up at the farmer’s market got plucked from the too-fancy vase and tossed in the trash.

  The worst part of the house would be Brandon’s room, but there was no avoiding it. I told myself not to look around as I walked inside, hoping if I didn’t look, I wouldn’t be reminded of everything. Of course, that hope was in vain. Even with my eyes closed, I could remember every second of the past two weeks—God, had it really only been weeks?—we’d spent in there. When we’d lain in bed, watching a marathon of Gilmore Girls just because he knew it made me happy. When we’d sat on the floor, sharing a pizza and playing a silly game of Truth or Dare. When I’d fallen asleep before he’d gotten home, and he’d woken me up with kisses along the length of my spine…

  With tears in my eyes, I snatched my pillow off the bed and tucked it to my chest, hating that it still smelled like him. I straightened my spine and went into his attached bathroom, grabbing my disposable toothbrush and chucking it in the trash can. Stupid, maybe, but I’d be damned if I was going to leave even a trace of myself in this house once I walked out.

  Thank God Evie didn’t live here anymore. I had no idea what I’d do if I had to walk into this place to see her.

  Just the thought of my best friend made me pause in the act of stuffing my bag full of clothes. Thankfully, she’d been otherwise occupied these past weeks, too engrossed in her new relationship with Nate to pay me much mind. She had noticed something different, though, but I’d been avoiding her prodding questions. Brandon and I had talked about when would be a good time to tell her, and he’d thought it’d be a better idea to wait just a bit.

  Apparently, he had no interest at all in telling her—or anyone—and instead was content to let me be a dirty secret he was ashamed of.

  Once my bag was packed to the brim with clothes and toiletries, I hauled everything downstairs, intent on getting out of there as soon as fucking possible. No doubt my mom would be worried I was staying at the apartment by myself, but she’d just have to deal. She was getting stronger every day, her recovery proceeding much faster than the doctors had anticipated, so she’d be home in no time. But even if her progress hadn’t been going in that direction, there was no way I’d be able to stay in this house another day, whether it was my mom’s wishes or not.

  I thought it’d been different with Brandon, but it turned out he was just like every other guy. All he saw in me was a pair of tits and a nice ass. He couldn’t even bother to give my name when he’d introduced me. Like I was nothing to him—a nobody. I was simply an extension of his daughter.

  The tears came again, burning my eyes as I jogged down the stairs, which pissed me off. And the anger roaring through my veins only served to make me cry harder. I put myself in this position, and as much as I wanted to point the finger at Brandon for being a total and complete ass, I really only had myself to blame. The hole in my chest, the ache in my stomach—those things were exactly why I’d always bailed before sex got too deep. If I ran first, that meant I didn’t give them the chance to do it to me.

  I was nearly at the bottom of the stairs, just steps from the front door, when it swung open, causing me to freeze in my descent while praying it was anyone but the aforementioned ass.

  “Dad?” Evie called as she poked her head in, her gaze sweeping the entryway as she shut the door behind her. When she looked in my direction, she startled, her eyes going wide. And then she took in my disheveled appearance, the tear tracks down my face, and her lips turned down in a frown. “Gen? What’s wrong? Is your mom all right?”

  “Mom’s fine,” I croaked, my voice hoarse from withheld—and not so withheld—tears.

  “Then what’s—”

  The door flew open behind her, making both of us jump, a squeak leaving my lips. Brandon came rushing in, his face stricken and panicked as he surveyed the entryway. “Genesis!”

  “What the—” Evie started, dividing a look between her father and me.

  Not able to stand there another minute, and certainly not able to stay in the presence of the man who’d just stomped all over my heart, I climbed down the rest of the stairs with the intention of heading straight out the still-open front door.

  “Evie, I’ll call you later, okay?” I said as I passed her.

  “Umm…Dad?”

  “Not now.” Brandon hardly gave Evie a passing glance as he rushed past until he stood in front of me. “Gen, please. Give me a chance to apologize.”

  “Not interested. Your words have already done enough damage today. And I think I’ve had all of your sorries I can stomach.”

  He reached toward me, but something in my stiff as fuck body language must have alerted him now wasn’t a time to touch, and he let his hand drop to his side. “Gen, please. Listen to me. I’m sorry. I am so fucking sorry for not introducing you as my—”

  “Wait a second,” Evie said, her gaze narrowed as she pointed a finger between her dad and me. “What’s happening here?”

  “What’s happening here is your dad is an asshole.” I turned my attention to Brandon. “Go ahead, Brandon. Fill your daughter in if you’re so keen on me listening to your apology.”

  Brandon didn’t take his eyes off me as he said, “What’s happening here is that I fucked up completely by not shouting from the rooftops how lucky I am to have Gen be mine. What’s happening here is the woman I’ve fallen completely, utterly in love with didn’t know how much she meant to me. That’s my fault. I screwed up. But I want to make it right. I want to do better. I want you, Gen. I’ll do anything if you’ll just give me a second chance.”

  I wanted to believe him. God, did I want to. The sincerity of his words and the way he looked at me were enough to cause me pause. His stare was weighted, like he was trying to soak in every inch in case I actually walked away.

  But all I could think about was that sinking feeling in my gut when he’d introduced me as Evie’s friend. When he’d brushed our relationship—brushed me—under the rug in the face of public scrutiny. Not to mention all of his broken promises.

  “I keep remembering how you made me feel in your office. You made me feel replaceable. Worse—you made me feel like I’d never had a place with you at all.”

  “I know, and if I could go back to that moment, I’d tell Clark exactly who you are to me.”

  “And what happens when he finds out? I heard every word he didn’t say… Are you willing to gamble your job for this?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s it? Yes? After how hard you worked for everything, you expect me to believe you’d give it up just for—”

  “For everything I have ever wanted.” He reached for me again, this time not stopping until my hand was in his, his thumb rubbing circles along the back. “I would gladly give up anything for you because nothing—not my job, my money, my house—nothing means more to me right now than you do. I know I haven’t shown you that, and I know I’ve got a lot of ground to make up with you, but I’ll do it. I’ll work every day to make sure you know exactly what you mean to me and how important you are in my life. Just…give me the chance to fix this.”

  “Holy shit,” Evie said.

  Her words barely registered because I couldn’t tear my attention away from Brandon, wanting so desperately to believe every word he said. “Do you mean it?”

  “Every word. I’ll call Clark right now and tell him about us. Shit, I’ll call him and tell him to buy me out instead. Let Brock have my half of the company—I’m done working my life away. And then I’ll take you to Nonno Pino’s for that dinner I promised you that I missed, and I’ll kiss you in front of the dining room so everyone knows you’re mine. Hell, I’ll buy out the billboard by the ferry dock so the whole damn town kno
ws. Anything for you.” With a tug, he pulled me closer and ran a finger down the length of my cheek before tracing the seam of my lips. “You are my everything, Genesis.”

  I leaned into his touch, unable to help myself. Despite his words in the office, I still felt this overwhelming pull toward him. And even though all my past experience was warning me away, my heart was begging me to stay. To accept his words for what I knew they were—the truth. “If you ever make me feel like that again, I’ll cut off your dick and feed it to you.”

  “Won’t happen, and not just because of your threat, though that’s pretty motivational.”

  “Yeah,” Evie said, bringing my attention away from Brandon, “you lost me at any discussion of my dad’s dick.” She stepped up to me, engulfing me in her arms. I tried to reciprocate, but Brandon held steadfast to my hand, only allowing me to give her a one-armed hug. Pulling back, she gripped me by the shoulders. “Call me later. I’m going to need the details, minus anything to do with my dad’s dick.” She cringed even as the words came out of her mouth.

  “I’ll call you,” I promised, knowing I had weeks of emotions and buildup to fill her in on.

  “And you,” Evie turned to her dad, pushing a pointed finger into his chest. “I expect an explanation of what’s going on here.”

  Brandon shrugged and smiled, looking more relaxed than I’d ever seen him. “I’m in love with your best friend, and I’m quitting my job to show her how much.”

  “Oh.” Evie glanced between the two of us, and then understanding came over her face as she gave me a small smile before turning her attention to her dad. “Well then. Try not to fuck it up.”

  “I’ll do my best.”

  The door closed and I assumed she left, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Brandon. Couldn’t believe he’d said those words. And not just to me, but in front of his daughter. Instead of telling him how much that meant to me, how much I loved him back, all that came out was, “I can’t believe you told her that before you told me.”