Executive - The Complete Series Box Set (A Single Dad Romance)

by Claire Adams

  “Didn’t she see what was going on with your parents?” Brian asked.

  “Of course she did,” I replied. “That’s why she spent so much time with me. She knew I was lost and lonely, and that I had no idea why my parents ignored me.”

  “But couldn’t she have said something to your father?” he asked.

  “Oh, she did,” I said as I shook my head, recalling all the times my grandmother had confronted my father about his neglectful parenting. “She was merciless in her critique of his failure as a parent.”

  Brian nodded as if he understood what I was explaining. I told him about the frequent fights between my father and my grandmother, and the way in which she berated him and made him seem small and weak. I was never sure if he knew I’d heard the abuse, but I was fairly certain she’d known that I had often been lurking outside the sitting room where they had their conversations. She was cruel and spiteful, and she said some incredibly awful things to him and about him.

  “I never quite understood why,” I said, remembering the last time they’d fought. “My grandmother was so incredibly kind to me and she had the biggest heart in the world. It always seemed so odd that she could love me so much and hate my father with such intensity. Or at least I thought she hated him, but then, I was 14, what did I know?”

  “Yeah, it’s hard to understand that stuff when you have no frame of reference or history,” he agreed. I stopped and looked at him carefully. He knew something. What that something was, I didn’t know, but I was going to find out.

  “The last fight they’d ever had was right before my grandmother was to take me to Europe,” I recalled. “My father showed up to bring my passport and be supportive, I think. My grandmother lit into him before they’d even closed the door. She dressed him down for being inattentive, and then scolded him for not bringing my mother with him to wish me a good trip. She knew that my mother wasn’t well and that she’d been hospitalized yet again, but she couldn’t help but poke at my father’s wound.”

  I explained how my father tried to defend himself by explaining what had happened to my mother, but my grandmother had coldly cut him off with a, “You’re just like your father; good for nothing,” and then stormed out of the drawing room. She saw me there listening, and for a moment, I saw a look of pain cross her face before she rushed upstairs. She spent the next two days in her room, and on the third day, she emerged with her hair and makeup perfectly done and announced that we’d be leaving for New York that afternoon. We hadn’t been scheduled to travel until the end of the week, but she had decided it was better to get to the city and wait for our flight.

  I described how we’d spent several days in New York City shopping and eating and having a grand time, but that every time I looked at my grandmother, she seemed sad. I wanted to ask her what was wrong, but at 14 I still had a healthy respect for adults, and she’d been my manners coach, so I didn’t dare ask.

  “I loved my grandmother more than anyone in the world, but she was…” I trailed off.

  “She sounds like she was troubled,” Brian interjected.

  “Yeah, troubled is a good word for it,” I affirmed. I looked over at him. I’d been talking for what felt like hours and he looked ready to drift off into a comfortable food coma. I laughed. “Do you need to get to bed?”

  “Who, me?” he asked in a sleepy voice. “I’m not tired at all! I could party all night.”

  “Sure, sure, big man,” I laughed. “Do you want to share the bed with me? It’s more comfortable than the couch, I think.”

  “Why, Mrs. Robinson, are you trying to seduce me?” he joked.

  “Oh, get real, I’m just being nice,” I said, laughing that he was using a line from a 1970s movie on me, a younger woman. “We can share.”

  “Yeah, that would be nice, if you don’t mind,” he said more seriously as he yawned and stretched. “My back is killing me and that couch is not made for guys my height.”

  I felt guilty that I’d made him spend so many nights on the couch, but I’d had to in order to gain some kind of distance from him. Tonight would be different, we’d get a good night’s sleep and figure out the game plan in the morning. I smiled as I walked to the bedroom and changed into my pajamas as Brian set up the security system for the night.

  *****

  We slept soundly that night and woke up wrapped in each other’s arms the next morning. I woke first and lay next to Brian watching him sleep. He hadn’t had a night terror in a few days, and the look on his face was one of complete peace. I lay my head on his chest and listened to the sound of his heart beating slow and steady as he breathed in and out. It was meditative, and I drifted into a peaceful place between sleep and awake, so it was a few minutes before I realized that he’d woken up and was gently stroking my hair.

  “Morning,” I said as I looked up at him and smiled. He gave me a sleepy morning smile and then tightened his arm around me.

  “Morning, beautiful girl,” he whispered into my hair. I shivered as I felt his fingers move from my hair to my cheek and begin to trace a light path from my forehead to my chin. I lifted my hand and placed it over the top of his as he stroked my face, loving the feel of touching him as he touched me. Slowly, he traced his fingers down my cheek until he could rest them beneath my chin and tip my face up toward his.

  We lay gazing into each other’s eyes for a long time before he dipped his head and brushed his lips across mine. I let out a soft moan as I felt his lips pressing against mine and the soft tip of his tongue lightly licking my upper lip. He ran his fingers through my hair as he lazily teased my lips.

  I could feel the blood coursing through my veins as I gripped his hand and returned his kisses. I arched my back to press my body against his and felt his hand move to the small of my back, where he played with the hem of my tank top before sliding underneath it and stroking my skin. I gasped as I felt his hand on my bare skin, and pressed my lips more insistently against his. He pulled back just enough to keep the kisses light and teasing, and I groaned. I wanted so much more than this morning tease and I could already tell he did, too, as I felt his thick shaft pressed against my thigh as it swelled and grew harder.

  I smiled when he sighed deeply, and opened my eyes to look directly into his. In an instant, I knew he had ceded control, and I shifted so that I could sit up and look down at him as I slipped my hand into his boxers and grasped his cock. His eyes widened as I began slowly moving my hand up and down, then withdrawing my hand. I held his gaze as I brought it up to my mouth and ran it across my tongue several times, coating it in my saliva before slipping it back under his boxers and stroking more insistently now.

  “Oh, God,” he groaned as my slippery hand slid up and down over and over.

  “No, not God, just me,” I whispered in his ear seconds before I let go of his cock and yanked his boxers down. Brian watched me as I quickly slipped out of my pajamas and straddled his abdomen.

  “Oh, shit,” he whispered in awe. “You are incredibly beautiful and unbelievably sexy.”

  “Well, thank you,” I smiled as I gripped his upper arms and began sliding myself down his body so that his cock was positioned between my outer lips, then I began slowly moving back and forth as I coated his cock with the wetness that was already freely flowing from between my legs. Brian held his breath as he felt me using him as a tool of masturbation, but I wasn’t letting him off that easily or that quickly.

  I reached down between my legs and grabbed ahold of his rock-hard shaft and teased my clit a little as I bent down and kissed him deeply. That forced a moan from Brian’s lips as he looked up at me with eyes full of desire and need.

  “You want it, don’t you?” I whispered into his lips.

  “God, yes,” he groaned. “I’ve never wanted anything more!”

  “Mmmmm,” I murmured as I continued my teasing. “Maybe I should give it to you, then?”

  “Yes, Ava, please! Please!” he begged as he pushed his hips up, looking for a way inside my war
m, wet pussy.

  I smiled as I firmly gripped his cock, guided it to the edge of my needy entry, and then slid down fast and hard. Brian gasped as he felt me envelop the length of his cock in one swift stroke, and then lay still as I began to rock back and forth on it. I could feel the tip pressing against my G-spot as I moved my hips, and I pressed my hands against his chest to give myself better leverage. Brian did his best to resist slamming his hips upward, but he couldn’t stop himself from giving in to the small upward thrusts that quickly began to push me to the edge of orgasm. With my hand between my legs, stroking my clit, I rocked back and forth, feeling his thickness filling me.

  I leaned forward and kissed him just as I reached the point of no return, and whispered, “Yes” into his lips.

  Brian reached around me and grabbed my ass so that he could thrust hard and deep as I came hard on his cock. I cried out as he slammed into to me once, twice, three times, and then let out a deep moan that came from somewhere deep inside him as he stayed buried inside me as he released all the tension and need that had built up throughout the week.

  After we’d both returned to earth, we lay still, connected on the bed, me on top and him underneath, just holding each other. I wanted to tell him how much I’d missed this, but instead, I lifted my head and kissed his lips softly; hoping that he’d understand.

  *****

  We lay tangled up in each other for a long time, and then, in a moment of impulsiveness, I said, “Tell me about your family. What are your parents like? I haven’t seen you calling them any more frequently than I’ve called mine now that I think about it.”

  “That’s different,” he said quietly. “There’s a reason for it. It’s just…complicated.”

  “Oh, yes, I’m sorry,” I said sarcastically. “My family dynamic is so simplistic and basic that I forgot that other people’s families are really complex.”

  “Ava, don’t,” he cautioned. “That’s not what I meant.”

  “Sure it is,” I said. “That’s exactly what you meant, and I resent it.”

  “Ava, don’t ruin this, please?” he sighed heavily.

  “I’m not ruining it,” I retorted. “I’m asking you a personal question that you are refusing to answer. I’ve told you everything about my life. Everything about my parents, about my grandmother, about my relationship with Dominic, and now I’m asking you to reciprocate.”

  Brian sighed again as he pulled me closer and played with my hair. I couldn’t see his face, but I knew he was thinking about what I’d said. After a few minutes I felt him shift, then grab my arms and slide me off of him onto the bed next to him so that he could prop his head on his bent arm and run his hand over my naked body as he spoke.

  “My family is messed up, I’m going to warn you in advance,” he said warily. When I nodded solemnly, he continued. “My father died when I was a baby. My mother never actually told me what happened, but there were rumors that spread around town and I heard them all. Some said he jumped off the water tower in the middle of town on a dare while drunk, and some said he smashed his car into a brick wall while driving drunk. You get the picture…my dad was a drunk.”

  I reached out and held his hand for a moment without saying a word. Brian nodded slightly and continued, “My mom and I were alone for what felt like a really long time, but it was really only about three or four years. She waited tables at a local diner, and neighbors took care of me while she was at work. It wasn’t bad, and I don’t remember us having any big problems, but then I was what, 4?” He laughed a little and I smiled up at him as he remembered.

  “Then one day my mom came home and said I was going to have a new dad. Two days later, Will moved in. He was a tall guy, a former Army sergeant who loved order and rules, and his guns. God, the man loved his guns more than anything on earth. They scared the hell out of my mother, but Will told her not to be such a fraidy cat and took her out to the range to learn to shoot. She did it a few times, but she always came back swearing she’d never hold another gun again. Will was nice to me, he took me fishing and camping, and played ball with me, but about a year after he moved in, my mom gave birth to my sister and nothing was ever the same again. The sun rose and set on Claudia, and she was the cutest baby ever. I loved having a little sister, she was sunshine and love.” He stopped for a moment and bowed his head so that I couldn’t see his face. When he looked up again, it was obvious that there was a lot of deep emotion buried beneath the surface. I lay quietly as Brian continued to trace patterns on my naked skin, and after a minute or two, he continued speaking.

  “I was 12 the year that Claudia turned 6, and we threw a huge party for her in our backyard. Balloons, cake, games, the whole nine yards. There were at least 50 kids at the party, and at some point we lost track of where Claudia was. Will told me to find her and bring her back to the party. None of us were worried because Claudia had a habit of drifting off and finding adventure or a new friend, but in our town, that wasn’t dangerous. Everyone knew who we were and someone always brought Claudia back home safe and sound. I scoured the entire block, but I couldn’t find her anywhere, so I headed back to the house to see if she’d come home before I expanded my search area. As I was headed up the front walk, I heard an incredibly loud bang. I turned to see if Butch Jackson was backing his hot rod out of the driveway across the street, but saw nothing, then I realized that the bang had come from inside our house. I tore up the stairs, ripped open the screen, and ran back to my mom and Will’s bedroom…”

  Brian trailed off as he choked up. He bent his head again and took a few deep breaths before looking up and saying, “Claudia had taken two of her friends back to the bedroom to show them Daddy’s “big gum,” that’s what she’d called it because we’d all laugh when she said it. Anyway, she’d let her friend Caroline handle the gun and Caroline had accidentally pulled the trigger. For some reason, Will hadn’t locked up the gun or made sure the chamber was clear before he’d shoved it in the bedside drawer, and the bullet had gone straight through Claudia’s chest, tearing her aorta in half. She died almost instantly.”

  “After that, my mother started drinking pretty heavily, and Will got really strict with me. By the time I hit high school, he was waking me up at dawn to do morning workouts with him and came in to check that I’d made my bed according to regulation before I went to school. I’ve always joked that the military was a cakewalk for me compared to what I lived with at home.” He stopped and gave me a weak smile, and I squeezed his hand as I smiled back at him.

  “Anyway, I haven’t been home in a couple of years, I can’t go home. My mom is a raging alcoholic and Will is…well, he’s Will. He ignores her drinking until she needs medical attention and then he waits for her to dry out enough to be allowed to come home. Every time she does, the cycle starts again and she winds up calling me to come get her because she thinks Will is trying to kill her. I can’t go there without wanting to take a drink myself, so I stay away.”

  “You must feel really alone,” I observed.

  “You have no idea—” he stopped and looked at me. “Oh wait, yes, you do.”

  “It’s okay, Brian,” I said. “I’m so sorry about your sister.”

  “It happens,” he shrugged.

  “Yeah, but I’m still sorry that it happened to you,” I said quietly as I reached up and stroked his cheek with my fingers. He closed his eyes and leaned into my touch. “It’s going to be okay,” I whispered.

  Brian nodded, then opened his eyes and leaned down and kissed me deeply. I held his face between my palms as I returned his kiss, and felt the two of us sharing all of our pain and loneliness in a way that made it a little more bearable.

  “We’re going to get through this and we’ll be okay,” I whispered into his lips.

  *****

  We lay in bed together for half the morning before Brian said he was hungry and that we needed to get something to eat. I agreed, and got up to go shower and get ready. We decided to go down to the restaurant for a change,
so I took my time getting ready. I smiled at myself in the mirror as I stroked a coat of mascara on my lashes and then dusted peach blush on the apples of my cheeks to give me a little color. We’d been inside so long that I felt like I hadn’t seen the sun in ages.

  I pulled on a jean mini skirt and a loose-fitting T-shirt before I slipped my feet into a pair of thin black thongs. I looked at the rumpled bed and smiled to myself when I remembered the way Brian had held me against his chest and moved inside me. There was no denying that we had something special, and there was no way I was going to give it up after this was all said and done. I wanted him in my life, and I was going to find a way to make that happen, no matter what I had to do. I could switch schools if I had to, I didn’t want to, but I had decided I would if it meant that Brian and I could be together.

  I grabbed my purse and skipped out into the living room to find Brian standing in the middle of the room, holding my open laptop in one hand and running his other hand over his crew cut with an anguished look on his face. I gave him a confused look before I realized what he was looking at — the letter! He’d found the email I’d written to Dominic.

  “Ava, really?” he said with so much pain in his voice it broke my heart. “You wrote this yesterday? And sent it?”

  “Brian, no wait, let me explain,” I cried as I moved to take the computer from him. He held it up over his head, far out of my reach, as a sad look of betrayal spread across his face.

  “I think this is pretty self-explanatory, don’t you?” he said quietly. “You’ve spelled it all out pretty clearly.”

  “That’s not what I meant!” I cried. “I was trying to trap him, not get back together with him! He’s a psycho, and I wanted to catch him so that I could get back to my life — our life!”