by Amy Brent
After all, if my body ached, then I knew hers did, too.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Oh!” she said. “Breakfast. You like cooking, don’t you?”
“Only for those I care about,” I said.
I set the tray of toast, bacon, and eggs down into her lap before I took her juice and put it on her bedside table. I slipped back in beside her while I watched her eat her fill, and my eyes couldn’t help but slide over her beauty. Her breasts rose and fell with every breath she took before she swallowed, and the grace with which she moved took my breath away. She reached for her juice, and the residual bubbles tickled her nose, and it was in that giggle that I realized why this morning felt so different.
Why my chest tightened the way it had when my eyes fell upon her.
“So, what’s this good news?” I asked.
“The realtor called me early. She said they accepted our initial offer for the house. It’s ours if we want it!”
“That’s amazing. Lacey really liked that house, and you couldn’t take your eyes off it, either.”
“Did you like it?” she asked. “I don’t want to buy a house you don’t like.”
“Any house with my girls in it is the perfect house for me,” I said.
I watched a small blush tint her cheeks while she took another sip of her juice, and all I could do was stare. She was radiant when she blushed, but knowing the way her pussy had tightened around me so many times the night before confirmed suspicions in my brain that had rattled around for days.
She really did want me the way I wanted her, and I wondered if I could tell her about the truth I had realized this morning.
“If you’d let me, I’d like to cover the down payment and the closing costs,” she said.
“We can split that kind of stuff,” I said. “It’s not a big deal.”
“Well, I figured it would take a financial burden off you and sort of make me feel like I was contributing somehow.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“You know, to Lacey and her growing up,” she said. “It’s just been the two of you for so long, and I’m scared you might think I’m just here temporarily. I figured, maybe if I paid the down payment and the closing shit, you’d know I was serious.”
“Bridget, there isn’t a doubt in my mind that you’re running off.”
“And what makes you so sure of yourself?” she asked cheekily.
“Because you’ve done it twice now.”
I watched her face sink, and she pushed the tray from her lap. I slid myself up and slipped my arm around her, and I suddenly felt guilty for bringing it up when I saw tears crest her eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “These past few weeks have just been tough.”
“Bridget. I know you’re sorry, and I know, looking back, you wish none of that stuff would’ve happened. But I’m glad it did.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because it showed me two things. One, it gave me multiple opportunities to prove you were safe with me, and two, it gave me two very blatant instances where you pushed me away, but we ultimately found our way back to each other. It sets precedence, and a hell of a good one, too.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” she said. “I love that house, and I love Lacey. She’s beautiful, and she’s just like you in all the right ways.”
“And I love you,” I said. “In all the right ways.”
“You do?” she asked. She whipped her gaze up to mine, and I could tell she was hanging onto my every word. Her eyes were wide, and her body was fully turned toward me, innately trusting me with what was about to leave my mouth, while simultaneously begging me to go easy on her.
Go easy if the answer I gave wasn’t what she was looking for. But she didn’t have to worry. Not anymore.
Not with me.
“I do,” I said. “I love you, Bridget Meyers. More than I even realized until this morning when I woke up beside you.”
“It doesn’t bother you that, you know?”
I knew what she was trying to say. She was going to ask me if it bothered her that I never called her by her actual name. In the back of her mind, that truth was still lurking. That “Bridget Meyers” wasn’t her name and that she’d taken drastic measures to catapult her career. That somehow, me calling her “Bridget” meant I didn’t love her, but her job.
Her prominence. Her fame.
“Wasn’t it you who told me that you were still the same person?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she said, nodding.
“And wasn’t it you who told me that nothing with you had changed just because ‘Bridget Meyers’ wasn’t your real name?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she said with a sigh.
“If I’m being honest, it really doesn’t bother me. I met you as Bridget, I fucked you as Bridget, and I made love to you last night as Bridget. Even if you do come clean at some point in time with your name and what happened, I’m not so sure that I still wouldn’t call you Bridget.”
“And it doesn’t bother you?” she asked.
“No. Your name is meaningless to me unless it’s attached to you. And honestly? Aren’t there plenty of people in Hollywood who use different names. What do they call them?”
“‘Stage names’,” she said.
“Yeah. If all else fails, it’s just your stage name,” I said.
“It’s a bit more than that.”
“I’m not downplaying what’s going on, and should something ever happen with this, understand I’ll always be by your side. What I’m trying to get you to understand is that the woman I’ve fallen in love with doesn’t have a name to me. You aren’t just your name. You could wake up tomorrow and tell me you wanted to change your name to ‘Homey G Wannabe’ and I’d still love you, because your name doesn’t dictate how I feel about you. Removing it and replacing it with another doesn’t take away the love I have for you.”
“‘Homey G Wannabe’?” she asked. “Really?”
“Really,” I said, grinning.
She climbed onto my lap and graced me with the warmth of her body. Her knees planted onto each side of my hips while her trimmed pussy warmed my growing cock. She looked deep into my eyes while my arms slid around her, holding her steady while her palms cupped my cheeks. The smile she had, crinkled her eyes, causing them to twinkle with happiness before she pressed a small little kiss to my lips. She had me. All of me. And I knew within that very moment that I’d never let her go.
“I love you, too, Thomas. More than I’ll ever be able to express,” she said.
My heart thudded hard against my chest as each syllable left her lips. I pulled her close to my body, feeling her breasts swing against my skin as I peppered the crook of her neck with kisses. Her body wrapped around mine was something I wanted to wake up to every morning for the rest of my life, and my mind went blank while she continued to whisper in my ear.
“I’m so lucky to have you and Lacey. I love that little girl so much, and I hope I can live up to everything she has ever wanted from a mother, if you’ll let me be one to her.”
We tumbled to the bed and made love well into the afternoon. We kissed, we fucked, I watched her shake before I slathered her in my comeum, and we slept close against one another until it was about dinner time. My mother had been calling me relentlessly, no doubt trying to figure out when I was coming to get Lacey, but every time my eyes hooked onto Bridget’s, I’d get sucked back into her world, and I’d lose myself in her all over again.
“Want to have dinner at my parents’ tonight?” I asked.
“What, Not feeling like cooking?” she asked.
“You wear me out,” I said breathlessly.
“Then you know how I felt last night. Which was crazy, by the way.”
The playful wink she gave me caused me to reach out for her. I pulled her into me while she giggled and thrashed around, and I peppered her back with kisses before I released her from my grasp. We both got up and got ready while I shot my
mom a text message saying we were coming over for dinner, and just as we hopped into the car to head to her place, my phone rang.
“Hey, Mom,” I said.
“Daddy! Daddy! Is Bridget coming to dinner?”
“Hey, Lacey!” Bridget called from the seat. “I’ll see you soon!”
“Yesss,” Lacey said with a hiss. A smile cracked my face once again while Lacey fumbled to give Mom her phone back, and I could hear Lacey giggling with joy in the background just as my Mom’s voice trumpeted into the phone.
“She kept asking, and I didn’t have an answer,” she said.
“Not a problem, Mom. We’re about five minutes out.”
“Well, dinner’s already on the table. You two just come on it and sit on down.”
“Hi, Mrs. Jeffries!” Bridget called from the seat.
“Tell that beautiful little woman I said hello. Oh, I can’t wait to hug her neck!”
By the time we got to my parents’ house, Lacey was bouncing up and down at the window. I watched Bridget throw her door open before I could pull my car to a full stop, and the way she ran to my daughter before picking her up brought tears to my eyes. They twirled around on the porch before Bridget placed a kiss onto my daughter’s cheek, and for the first time in my life, I was looking at my family.
My cohesive, healthy, beautiful family.
Lacey’s face was red with happiness, and Bridget’s smile was so big it completely closed her eyes. I got out of the car and walked up to them before pressing kisses into the tops of both their heads, and I could see my father grinning from the kitchen table as we walked in.
“Bridget’s here! Bridget’s here!” Lacey exclaimed.
“Who’s hungry?” Bridget asked.
“Me! Me! Me! I’m hungry!”
“Well, then you better sit down so we can eat,” Bridget said.
“Can I sit by you?”
“But you always sit by me, sweetheart,” I said.
“But, I wanna sit by Bridget this time,” she said.
“Please?” Bridget said. “I promise we’ll be good.”
“That’s a lie if I ever heard one,” I said.
“Well, fine, but it’s happening anyway,” she said.
Bridget plopped down beside Lacey, who couldn’t stop giggling at the fact that Bridget had just stolen my seat, and the only thing I could do was smile until my cheeks hurt. My life finally felt complete as I watched the two most important women in my life giggle together while dinner was being served. I looked over at my mother who had tears in her eyes, and that’s when I hooked eyes with my father.
And he gave me the nod of approval I knew he would when he saw the two of them together.
Epilogue
One Year Later
Bridget
Something was wrong.
Thomas had been sneaking around and coming home late, and I knew something was up. He’d tell me he was going somewhere after work and to tuck Lacey in, but then he’d never slip into bed until well after eleven. I’d get up, go to work, and come home only to find that he’d dropped Lacey off with his parents so he could go spend time with the boys.
But I knew his boys didn’t hang out at coffee shops and malls.
He was cheating on me. I knew it. He was going out and seeing someone else, and he was leaving me at home to take care of Lacey. I was working my ass off while trying to keep my fame from disrupting their lives, and then I was coming home to an ungrateful man who smelled like burnt coffee beans and rainstorms.
He was tromping around with some other bitch, dancing in the rain or some shit, and I was here lying in bed alone at night, pretending to be asleep just so I could figure out what time he actually crawled into bed after being with her.
Fuck him.
Tonight was the night I’d confront him about it. Mrs. Jeffries had called, and I told her to pick up Lacey. I took the time to really do myself up. I fucking slapped on some heels and shimmied into my most flattering dress. I curled my hair and tied part of it up into a bow and slapped the perfect amount of makeup on to make me look innocent.
Just the way he liked it.
I stood in the living room as the door flew open, and before Thomas could even get around the corner, I was on my feet and ready to wow his eyes before I dealt the blow to his stomach.
And when he came around the corner and his eyes drank me in, I knew I had him right where I wanted him.
“I know your secret,” I said.
“You do, do you?” he asked.
“I do, and we need to talk,” I said.
It was then he brought a bouquet of beautiful flowers out from behind his back, no doubt attempting to get ahead of the fight that was about to ensue. But it wasn’t working. I wanted to know who this bitch was, and I wanted to scream in his face before I kicked him out and made him sleep in the guest bedroom.
I was better than this, and I knew it.
“Have dinner with me,” he said.
“We really need to talk about you and your after-work activities,” I said. But all he did was smirk at me before handing me the flowers and taking my hand.
“We can talk over dinner,” he said.
His touch could always soften me, and the moment my nose hit those beautiful orchids and lilies, I let him take me out to his car. He opened the door for me, and I eyed him carefully, sizing him up before I stepped in and sat down.
“What’s for dinner?” I asked.
“You’ll see.”
We rode through the town before we hit the main highway, leaving all the restaurants I knew about behind us. I knew about the types of restaurants L.A. had: there were the vegetarian restaurants and the hipster cafes. There were the high-profile restaurants and the specialty ones. Then, there were the ones men brought their girlfriends to when they knew they’d fucked up. Ones with ambiance that dripped of ‘sorry sex’ and served only aphrodisiacs for meals in order to bring couples closer together.
They made their money by temporarily fixing other people’s problems, but all those restaurants faded into the background while we cruised the coastline of the beach.
“Thomas?” I asked.
“Just hang on,” he said.
He slipped his hand over to me, and I felt his fingertips dance along my knee. I was furious at him for thinking he could whisk me away like this when I knew he’d been with another woman. I was enraged at the fact that his touch still melted me, even though I knew he’d been sinking it into another woman for weeks.
He wasn’t getting out of this that easily.
By the time we pulled to a stop, we were parked just beyond the beach. He got out of his car and opened my door for me, but all I could do was stare in confusion. He offered me his hand, and I took it mindlessly. My stomach slowly dropped to the ground when I saw the line of rose petals cresting the sand dune he expected me to walk up in those heels.
That is, until he swept me off my feet and walked me over the sand dune himself.
“Thomas, what the hell’s going on?” I asked.
“You can’t walk this sand dune in those shoes, though I might ask you to keep them on later,” he said.
“You’re not touching me until we talk,” I said with a growl.
“Fair enough.”
He set me back on my feet when we got to the beach, and my heels sank into the sand. We were surrounded with red rose petals and the crashing of the waves against the shore, and my eyes connected with his for a split second before I remembered why I was here.
“Thomas—”
“Just let me go first,” he said.
I heard footsteps behind us and turned around to see Lacey and his parents, and I wondered what he had trapped me into. Maybe he knew what was coming, and he thought if his family was here, I wouldn’t accuse him. Maybe this was some sort of ploy to manipulate me and keep me around for my fame and fortune, or maybe he was about to spring the media on me and spill my secret to the world for a lifetime’s worth of money.
B
ut everything fell to the wayside when Thomas dropped down onto one knee and pulled a box from his pocket.
“I’ve seen your suspicious looks for the past few weeks, and I know what you’re thinking. You’re wondering if I was seeing someone else. If I had somehow given up on us but didn’t want to let you go because of your money.”
“Thomas,” I said breathlessly.
“And it’s all right you thought that. I promise. But it’s not what you think.”
He cracked the box open to reveal the most beautiful diamond ring I had ever seen. The three-carat ring had one light pink stone in the middle with beautiful yellow ones cascading down the sides. It glistened in the moonlight as tears rose to my eyes, and my hands flew to my face while Lacey squealed with delight in the background.
“You are, without a doubt, the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. Moving into that home with you and creating this life with you has been one of the best blessings my life has ever received. I see you with Lacey, and it warms my heart. I watch you laugh with my parents, and it brings a joy to my soul I’ve never experienced. I hold you close to my body at night, and I bury my face into your hair, and the moment I wake up, my heart is filled with every single emotion a man in love could feel.”
“Thomas,” I whispered.
