Best Friend's Little Sister

by Riley Rollins

  “And if he decides it’s too much?” I said, letting the tears spill over my cheeks. “I know what it’s like to have a child who needs so much extra care. He doesn’t, Mattie. Even if he loves me and I love him… what if he decides halfway in that it’s all too much? Or he decides I’m not what he wants anymore, and tries to take Violet away from me. He’s got the resources to…”

  “Do you really want to base your future and Violet’s on a bunch of what-ifs, Angie?” She frowned and handed me a box of tissues. Practical girl…

  “He built a sex room in his house, Mattie,” I said, exasperated.

  “Lucky girl,” she replied evenly, with that unflappable smile.

  “Just be back by seven,” she said. “I’ll have dinner ready and everything else taken care of. Just go enjoy yourselves.”

  I handed Violet her little plastic pail and struggled to get the leash snapped onto Miri’s collar. Her little back was arched and she was dancing, eager to get outside. What she needed was a good long run on the beach. So did I.

  “I don’t know what I’d ever do without you, Mattie,” I said, straightening up and opening the door. The brisk scent of salt water made me take my first full breath in, in as long as I could remember. “You know I’ll never be able to thank you enough for everything you’ve done for me… for us.”

  She scowled lightly. “You don’t have to thank me, Angie,” she said. “You just need to be happy.” She shooed us out with a look. “Seven, remember…”

  And we were off. The sand was so fine and soft, I couldn’t help but kick off my shoes. Violet held my hand and walked beside me slowly, but Miri pulled at the leash. She’d been cooped up too long and, in spite of her excellent training, was bursting with puppy energy.

  “I can take her leash if you like…” His voice warm, close… resonant. And even as my mind resisted, my body relaxed and responded to his tone. He was sitting among the smooth dark rocks that formed a natural jetty. He was barefoot and in jeans, a black pullover showing roped, tanned forearms. My insides rolled, and I remembered absently that I’d forgotten to eat…

  “She needs exercise,” I answered as coolly as I could. “So do I, really. This is the kind of sand that’s made for a good long run.”

  “I can give her a run, let her burn off her energy… It isn’t any good, holding it inside…,” he said, standing up and moving closer to us. The denim hugged his long, lean legs as he made his way down, setting off a riot of feelings inside me.

  “Or we could come along with you,” I replied, leaning down to pick up Violet and putting her on my hip. “As long as you two don’t go too fast. Miri’s not as little as she used to be.”

  “Well, then…,” he said, reaching for Violet before I realized what was happening. “How about if…,” he said as he lifted her in one easy swing up to his shoulders, “we all go slow. I could walk for hours on this beach,” he said, looking down at me, taking my hand in his.

  But my nails dug into his palm. I braced for her temper to let go… for my little daughter’s typical response to the sudden touch of a stranger. She might be mute, but she could scratch and strike out with her knees and her little feet. She’d done it before… I opened my mouth, gulping in a breath to warn him, to soothe her… but when I looked up to her…

  She wasn’t pulling his hair. Her little fingers were wrapped around his cheeks, but they weren’t biting in and scratching. She wasn’t smiling… but the anxiety I expected to see wasn’t there either. She sat on his broad shoulders, looking out over the water with curious eyes… as if she was waiting to see what would happen next…

  “I won’t change my mind, Will,” I said softly. “I wish I could help you to understand…”

  The sun was setting fast and even Miri was sound asleep. I carried her, warm and furry in my arms, as we headed back. Will had Violet, and her head rested comfortably against his shoulder, her eyelids bobbing heavily. “Today was wonderful, but it doesn’t really change anything.”

  “Then maybe tonight will,” he said, his voice gentle… seductive. “Come up to the house… after Violet goes to bed. Mattie’s back… she can stay with her.”

  “She’s my responsibility, Will…”

  “Then bring her with you. There are half a dozen extra bedrooms in the house.” He grinned down at me. “You furnished them yourself.”

  I shook my head in frustration. “You don’t understand. She isn’t like other children. You can’t just expect her to adjust to new surroundings.”

  “She’s been happy at the cottage,” he said, shifting her weight on his shoulder. “You told me yourself how well she adjusted to the move. Besides, what I’m planning for us may not be exactly what you’re thinking…”

  By the time we reached the front steps of the cottage, I was exasperated, starving, and I knew… grasping for straws. I knew I needed to tell him that we’d be leaving for good in the morning. That there wouldn’t be any more nights together. That Mattie had packed up the last of our things while we’d been spending our final afternoon on the beach. I turned to him, not knowing what words to use…

  Mattie saved me by opening the front door.

  “Fifteen minutes late. I swear if that chicken is dry…

  Hey, Will,” she said, seeing him over my shoulder. She looked back and forth between us and pursed her lips. “I see you got the invite.”

  It was my turn to look from one to the other. “You asked him to dinner?”

  She took the puppy from my arms and disappeared for a moment, to tuck her into her bed. I could still hear Miri’s snore from the other room. “I thought he had a right to hear what I have to say,” she said finally. “Will Violet wake up enough to eat, or is she out for the night?”

  “I’ll put her to bed,” I answered, taking her from Will’s arms. “Once she’s asleep, she won’t wake up for anything…”

  And I carried her to her room, my stomach churning, my heart racing.

  33

  Will

  “So have you told her?” I asked.

  Mattie turned around with the casserole in her hands and kicked the oven door shut with a foot. She lifted the top with a potholder and the scent wafted up. “No, I wanted you to be here when I broke the news,” she said. “It’s why I invited you.” She faced me squarely. “And have you asked her?”

  I sighed through my nose. “Not yet.”

  “I swear to God, you two are the most irritating…” She broke off abruptly as Angelina came back into the kitchen. “Did she go down okay?”

  “Not a peep,” Angel said.

  “Not that she would…,” Mattie muttered, bustled around us, putting plates of roasted vegetables and buttery rolls on the table.

  “She’s an extraordinarily quiet child,” I added, pulling out a chair for Angelina. She looked pale and sat down. She and Mattie exchanged a meaningful glance.

  “Violet’s mute, Will,” Angel finally said. She looked up from her plate to my face. “She isn’t quiet… She’s never spoken a word in her life. She communicates in other ways…”

  “Her music,” I said softly, understanding. “And with her eyes…”

  “And early intervention is really important,” she added. “That’s why I’ve decided to take her back to Seattle.” Angelina was pale, but she looked at me squarely, meeting my eyes with determination. “I can see that she gets therapy several times a week there. And the job here is almost complete. It’s not like you really need me to stay anymore.” She was talking fast, turning her fork in her fingers. “What’s left can be handled without us living here any longer… and you’ve been incredibly generous. I want you to know how grateful we are… and what a difference the money will make in her life…”

  “We can do so much more for her together,” I said, taking her fork away and gripping her fingers with mine. “Did you think there’s anything you could tell me that would make a difference in how I feel about you… about wanting a life with you…? Did you think that telling me she doe
sn’t speak would scare me off?”

  “It’s done, Will,” she answered quietly. “Mattie found an apartment and we’re leaving in the morning. She spent the day packing the rest of our things.”

  I felt the weight of the ring in my pocket. “This is what you really want?”

  “I’ve already told you… it’s the way it has to be, Will. It isn’t about wanting…”

  “Angie,” Mattie said gently, slipping out of her chair and kneeling next to where Angelina sat, “I’m going to give you two some space… but there’s something I need to tell you first. Now I’m thinking maybe my timing might suck…

  I shouldn’t have waited so long,” she went on. “I thought… I don’t know. I thought it would never come to this, I guess, that you’d be settled first. I should have told you sooner…”

  “Told me what…?” Angel asked. I felt her grip tighten on my hands.

  “That Rex popped the question,” she said, holding up her hand. On her finger she sported a dark metal band, set all around with blood red stones. “And I told him yes.” I could see happiness in her eyes, but concern, too. For her friend…

  “You’re getting married?” Angel asked faintly. “When…?”

  “Next weekend,” Mattie replied. “I’ll still be around whenever you need me… but we’re thinking about a place together over in Renton.” She stroked Angel’s blonde hair over her shoulder. “I didn’t spend today packing our things…,” she said carefully. “I only packed my things.

  I love you, Angie. Always have, always will. It’s pretty fucking impossible not to. But I think maybe I’ve been holding you back.” She pulled up a chair and sat close to us both. “Our friendship has been safe and familiar. And in the beginning, when Jimmy left, you needed that. But now, I think I’m just a comfortable excuse to avoid taking a chance on love and a real life of your own.”

  Mattie glanced at me and back to Angelina, who sat still and staring.

  “Learning to let go of what’s safe is part of life,” Mattie said in a whisper. “For both of us,

  for all of us…”

  “Did you know?” Angelina demanded, letting her fists fly against my chest. “Did you know she was leaving me too, and you just came here to pick up the pieces?”

  I took her wrists in my hands and held them tight. She was shocked, overwhelmed… angry. And I couldn’t blame her.

  “I knew,” I admitted. I’d followed her outside into the darkness. A cold wind had started to blow and whistled through the eaves of the cottage. It was dark, but not so dark I couldn’t see the look of betrayal in her eyes. “I fully intended to be moving you and Violet into the main house with me before you found out.”

  “I want you to leave…”

  “I want you to marry me.”

  For a moment she was still, blinking as the words settled in. “Because you think I can’t make it on my own? That I can’t raise my own daughter on my own?” She struggled against me and I gripped her tighter.

  “Because I’ve spent the last half-decade trying to find you,” I said harshly, pulling her to my chest. “Because I love you and I want us to be a family… whether Violet is mine or not.” I kissed her roughly and the feeling of her breasts against my chest made me suddenly and painfully hard. “Fuck the test,” I growled. “We won’t take it. As far as anyone ever knows, she’ll only be yours. But I’ll be her father anyway, from this moment until the day I die. And your husband…,” I rasped out.

  I pulled her hands behind her back and gripped them together with one hand. Her full, lush breasts surged toward me. I tangled my other hand in her hair and tilted her head back, forcing her to face me, aching for her to accept the truth…

  “Marry me,” I demanded, using my lips and my tongue to tease her response. “Tell me now… that you love me as much as I love you, that you want me as much as I want you, that the bond we formed years ago is only stronger now…”

  “But my daughter…,” she protested against my demanding mouth…

  “Isn’t the one who’s afraid,” I finished for her. “Your father left. Jimmy left. And you’re the one who’s afraid, Angel.” I let go long enough to reach into my pocket and pull out the ring. It sparkled like a living, breathing thing, even in the inky darkness. “I never left you,” I said, bringing her hand around and slipping it onto her finger. “And I swear, that as long as my heart beats,

  I never will.”

  I waited, watching her face slowly begin to soften. The furrow in her brow smoothed… her body relaxed… she blinked, her eyes wide and so lovely.

  “You could love her as your own,” she asked, “without knowing…?”

  “That she’s a part of you is enough,” I answered honestly. I picked her up and cradled her against my chest. As I carried her back inside, I shot a glance toward the living room. Mattie, God bless her, had had the optimism to camp out on the living room sofa for the night. I looked only enough to see her lift her head and smile in satisfaction. And then I carried my woman to bed.

  I smiled from between her heated thighs, savoring the trembling warmth against my face. She threaded her fingers through my hair and lifted my head until it rested on her sweaty belly. She watched me when I licked my lips, and a wicked shiver ran through her whole body and straight to the head of my waiting cock. I was leaking, hard and slick against her leg.

  “So it was really all just for me?” she asked with a soft sigh. “The house… even the playroom?”

  “Who the hell else?” I asked, with a smile of my own. I nuzzled her pussy and tasted her again, letting my tongue flick against her nub. “The prom with you was the first… and the last time for me, too.” I leaned up on one arm. “Did you really think I’d spent the last six years tying up random women and doing sinful, unspeakable things?” I gave a long, leisurely lick up the inside of her thigh.

  “I didn’t want to think about it at all,” she admitted. “How could I have ever known it was only me?”

  I rose up and climbed her body slowly, kissing and nipping and tasting my way up. My heavy cock dragged the length of her, jerking and bobbing in sweet anticipation. She spread her legs wide and inhaled. Her breasts rose to meet me…

  “Only you,” I said, giving her my weight. “Forever you.” And I lifted her legs, pushing her knees up… spreading her wide. I felt her hands reach for my cock to position my head between her lips, and felt her diamond thump heavily against me. I sucked air through my teeth.

  “Tell me you belong to me. Tell me you’re mine now and always.” I held back, throbbing with need, waiting for her to give me what I needed most. “I want all of you, Angel. Every inch of your heart…”

  And her answer was everything I needed, everything I’d struggled for, everything I’d waited so long for. I was inside her in a single powerful thrust, consumed by her heat and by her love,

  and by the unbreakable bond between us.

  34

  Angelina

  “It’s only fair, after all,” I said, pushing him onto his back and climbing on top. I straddled him, enjoying the hungry way he looked at me. We’d both come hard and fast the first time. But I had plans of my own now. I let my breasts dangle in front of him, just out of reach as I stripped the pillowcases off.

  “They may not be diamond bracelets,” I said, wrapping each of his thick wrists. “But I think they’ll do… as long as you don’t try to fight me…”

  A dark, throaty chuckle escaped him as I pushed his arms up toward the bedposts and tied him off. He knew as well as I did that he could free himself in a hot second, but I leaned into him, letting my nipples drag along his chest, and we both knew he was my willing slave. “It’s my turn to explore you,” I said, letting my tongue find its way. His abs were hard, rolling hills of muscle… all leading downward.

  He groaned, a mixture of pain and sweet torture, as I took my time, learning every nerve, every flick of my tongue that his body responded to. He was enormous when I finally knelt between his spread thighs an
d took his cock in my hands. No fucking wonder I come within minutes, I thought, running my fingers over his slick head. He was huge and heavily veined… I squeezed and was rewarded with even more slick fluid. I ran one hand over it, smoothing it down the length of his shaft, my fingers sliding easily over his girth. I cupped his tight, huge balls and tightened my hand around his massive base.

  Fucking Christ, Angel…,” he gasped out. “If you don’t suck me now, I’m going to tear the posts right off the bed and…” I went down on him, taking in as much as I could swallow and then some.

  My pussy can take all this…, I thought, shocked and excited. And I could taste us both on him... Me sweet, him salty. I worked him with my lips and the muscles in my cheeks. And every time he grew and stiffened like granite, I pulled back until the tension eased. But each time I let up, I would begin again, only to drive him higher… each time getting him closer and closer until I needed his climax almost as desperately as he did. I felt his veins thicken and tasted his imminence. Every muscle in his body stiffened as he groaned my name and began to leak his seed. He thrust his thigh between my spread knees and I clenched it, rubbing my hungry clit against him shamelessly. That was all it took. His climax hit, taking me over the edge along with him.

  “Fuck me,” he ground out. “Now… I have to be inside you… right the fuck now.”

  He bucked and I let him go. I threw my leg over his hip and he thrust again… and I was fully impaled, straddling him and riding him like a warrior. He was still coming… jets of hot fluid spilling inside me. Another shattering climax hit me and left me collapsed against his chest. Hot, heavy throbs pulsed as the last ebbs of his orgasm slowed. My hair spilled over his chest, my breasts spread over his face as I worked to catch my breath. His heart was pounding… as was mine…