My older man had been incredible.
He had been sinfully dirty, giving me everything I didn’t know I wanted. He had stamina I wouldn’t have even guessed was possible in a guy my age, much less a man in his forties. Something about him had woken up my dormant libido. The first go-around, he had been rough and kinky. The second time, he had made me feel like the princess he called me.
Cherished.
Worshipped.
There wasn’t an inch of my body he didn’t kiss and explore. He had even left little love marks over my body. Had anyone else done something like that, it would have pissed me off. But I had to admit I had been smiling when I had stood in front of the mirror last night after my shower and had looked at the marks.
“Of course it counts! You should be proud!” Ruby said, and I had a feeling I knew exactly where this was going. “You didn’t have some weird, drunken one-night stand, in costume, and have to do the walk of shame in the rain.”
“Hey!” Daisy pointed at Ruby. “First off, I wasn’t that drunk,”—she checked off on her finger. and I coughed out, “Bullshit,” to which she glared at me, then looked back at Ruby—“ and secondly, it wasn’t that weird. Everyone was in costume! It was a Halloween party, for goodness sakes!”
“Really?” Ruby moved up, leaning on her knees. “You fucked Santa!”
“It was a Halloween party, and what can I say? I had been a bad girl last year.” Daisy winked, and we all laughed uncontrollably, remembering she had gone dressed as a sexy inmate.
“Well, let’s just be glad he didn’t decide to dress up like the Easter Bunny. All he would have had to do was point at his crotch and say, ‘He has risen,’ and you would have been all over it,” Ruby busted out of nowhere, and our cackles filled the room, my stomach hurting from laughing so hard.
“Yes, because yours was so much better, yeah?”
“Hey! I have no regrets!” Ruby straightened out, sitting down on the couch and holding her head up high. “He was hot. It was fun and done.”
“As it should be.”
“Here! Here!” I added, and silence slowly started to creep up into the living room. “I’m going to miss you guys,” I said quietly into the silence, Ruby’s hand squeezing mine.
“Me too.”
“We should have a standing dinner date. Like every Wednesday, we have to get together,” Daisy motioned.
“I don’t think we ate that often living together,” I pointed out.
“I know, but you know what I mean.” Daisy leaned her head on Ruby’s shoulder, and I did the same on the other side.
“It’s going to be okay. This will be good. For all of us. Plus, if you think about it, Karina got the best part of this whole thing. Your place is amazing! And you know we will all be there hanging out.” Ruby words changed the vibe in the room.
Our building manager had sold this place, and our apartment building was going to be demolished to bring in new architecture to our small Southern California town of Beech Grove. As much as it sucked looking for a new place, we had decided it was time to spread our wings and live on our own, promising if we hated it, we would go back to being roommates after six months.
That had been the plan.
But plans changed.
Daisy had found a fantastic apartment at a great price with even better amenities that was close to her new city job. She was leaving an administrative position at the local elementary school. The kicker? It was a one-bedroom, and she would be taking over the two-year lease from an old co-worker, Sophia Blanco, who had recently bought a house with her soon-to-be husband.
Talk of real estate got Ruby thinking, so she had invested in a townhome on the edge of town. It was beautiful and perfect for her.
Finding a place for me had been a little harder. Working from home made proving my financials a little more difficult. That was when Ruby suggested renting her dad’s pool house. I hadn’t been sure, but not to be brushed off, she had quickly jumped on the phone and called a man I had never once met in our seven years of friendship.
He wasn’t around much.
Work and travel seemed to be his way of living, and from what I could tell, it never seemed to bother Ruby. I didn’t blame her. Her parents had been teen parents, having had her super young. Like so many times in those kinds of situations, things didn’t work out. But her mom had married an amazing man who had been there for them every step of the way. But that didn’t say much about their relationship. Ruby liked her dad. They spoke constantly, and from what I had picked up, he had done everything he could to help support his daughter financially, especially since he couldn’t be there in person.
I had almost been positive he would nix the idea and say no. To my surprise, he had gone with it, taking me on as his tenant, sight unseen. Most of my things were already in the empty pool house. He had set everything up through Ruby. The rent, the way to pay him, etc.
He hadn’t been home. In passing, Ruby had said something about him being out of state or something, so I had been alone moving my stuff into the gorgeous pool house and had no idea what to expect.
“You guys will have to come visit me in the suburbs!” I playfully cried, and we chuckled. “This will be good. It will all be okay. It’s time for us to fly and live on our own,” I added.
“Plus, the place is basically all yours. My dad’s never there,” Ruby added positively.
“Exactly! It will give you an idea of what owning a home feels like, without the thirty-year mortgage!” Daisy added, smiling. I nodded.
“Either way, we’re only a fifteen-minute drive from one another. Max,” I joined in. We couldn’t be marshmallows about this new change.
It would be a good change.
“Okay, so what if we do Sunday brunches? Rotating homes?” Ruby suggested, bringing up the calendar app on her phone.
“I can do that,” Daisy piped in, and I smiled.
“Me too!”
“Yay!” Ruby cheered. “Okay, now we really need to raise our glasses and make a toast.”
“To a new chapter in our lives: No more need for noise-canceling headphones when one of us brings a guy home,” Daisy joked, and I picked up, “To amazing careers, toe-curling sex, and one-night stands!”
“And to us! To not sticking together to infinity and beyond!” Ruby finished off.
“Cheers!” the three of us said, clinking our glasses together.
Frank
“Have you met your new tenant?” my business partner and longtime friend, Enzo Carlino, asked, and I shook my head as my ass sat in my car in my driveway.
“No. I have no idea how Ruby talked me into this,” I muttered.
“Because that kid could talk you into buying ice in a snow storm,” Enzo teased. “Don’t worry, you added that stipulation to the lease, yeah? The one she signed? Where you could get rid of her after three months?”
“Yeah, it was in the fine print.” Something about that loophole was burning my gut. “It makes me feel skeezy,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck, his hand sliding over his bald head.
“She’s what, twenty-three?”
“Twenty-four. Ruby’s age.”
“She should know better than to not read the fine print at her age,” Enzo said. “Plus, twenty-five means it’s not like she’s going to be throwing keggers. She might lounge out by the pool in an itty-bitty bikini, but if she’s hot, lucky you, right?” I rolled my eyes.
“Again, she’s as old as my kid, E.”
“But this woman we’re talking about isn’t your kid. It doesn’t hurt to look, Frank,” Enzo pointed out, and I shook my head.
If he only knew what I had done the day before. I’d done my share of looking.
And then some.
The beautiful woman had caught my eye from the moment I’d stepped into the coffee shop I had recently discovered only a block from my office.
Now, I wouldn’t mind seeing her in an itty-bitty bikini.
“Come on, E, you know—”
>
“All I’m saying, man, is you’re not fucking ancient.”
“I know that,” I clipped, rubbing the top of my head.
“You had a kid at an age where you were nothing but a kid yourself,” he said gently, and I tried not to grit my teeth. I knew better than anyone how old I was when Ruby came to fruition.
“E.”
“You’re barely in your forties, man. You might have assholes like me and Jas as friends, but that doesn’t mean you’re as old as us. You should be out there fucking living. You served your time.” I laughed and shook my head.
“You’re flipped, you know that, right?”
“It’s true. Your kid is grown and established. You put your life on hold to help raise her, and you know I admire that. Anyone else would have skipped town or not given a shit.”
“I don’t know about—”
“You made something of yourself. You did it, so you could give her more. But she’s on her own now. She doesn’t need ballet slippers her mom can’t swing anymore. It’s your time, man.”
“That’s kind, Enzo.”
“It’s the truth. Shit. Karen’s walking over here, and by the look on her face, I fucked something up.”
“Good luck, sucker.”
“Fuck you. At least I have someone waiting for me at home, and I get it on the regular.” Karen was a bitch. Jasper, our other business partner and close friend, and I had no idea why Enzo put up with her. But he did.
“Anniversary and your birthday?” I laughed as he told me to fuck off before ending the call.
I looked toward my house, and after a long breath, I sighed, resting my head on the leather headrest of my Audi.
I didn’t want to walk in.
I didn’t want to deal with a huge empty house and a new tenant. One that would probably drive me crazy with loud music and annoying shit.
All I wanted to do was go back to the coffee shop and hope my sexy girl from the day before would magically be there. My dirty girl had sneaked out, leaving nothing but her scent on my skin and a sweet fucking note behind. One I’d stuffed into my wallet and had found myself absentmindedly staring at throughout the day.
I couldn’t get myself to stop thinking about her either.
Her face and smile were imprinted into my fucking soul. I was going to be busy as hell tomorrow, but I knew I was going to carve out a chunk of time to see if maybe she would be at the coffee shop. She had mentioned it was her favorite place. She enjoyed working there when she needed a change of scenery.
How the hell we had shared information like that and not one another’s name was beyond me. But my dick was at half-mast just thinking about her calling me Daddy. I frowned for a moment, wondering if something was wrong with me for having enjoyed it, but I quickly shook it off. We were both consenting adults and had had a good time. Whatever dirty shit we got into behind closed doors was between us.
Sliding out of my car, I hesitated for a moment.
I should probably go and knock on the pool house and introduce myself. My phone rang. Looking down at it, I saw it was an investor for one of my newer projects, so I quickly forgot about my tenant and walked into the house and straight to my home office.
There was always tomorrow.
Chapter Two
Frank
I’D WORKED UNTIL MY EYES STARTED to cross on their own.
Trying to catch up was killer but a necessity. Especially when my thoughts had been on a certain woman all damn day.
K. That’s all I knew about my dirty girl’s name, and it was fucking frustrating. When I got home last night, I was determined not to feel the sting of disappointment of her sneaking out on me, but as soon as my head hit the pillow, my head filled with nothing but her.
Why do so many names have to start with that fucking letter?
I wasn’t above admitting to googling female names that started with K at work. The temptation was too high. The image of her was seared into my brain. The naughty girl who at the end of the day was probably too young for me was seriously driving me crazy.
Rubbing my face, I shut down my laptop and headed toward my room on the second floor. Moving through the empty house, I wondered, not for the first time, why the hell I had gone balls to the wall buying a place like this. Five bedrooms, three baths, plus a pool house.
It was meant for more than one person.
Not that Ruby hadn’t enjoyed it. When I had finally graduated college and started working, I did all I could to be there but also make enough money to be successful in the future.
Success took sacrifice, and I had sacrificed a lot.
My relationship with the very person I was working so hard for had suffered. We weren’t close. Not the way she was with her mom. Or her step-dad, for that matter. Maybe that’s why I didn’t hesitate when she had asked about renting the pool house to her friend. Why I gave in and never hesitated when she asked anything of me. Not that she took advantage. She was a good kid. Even now, her friend would be paying a fair amount of rent. The extra money was good, and even though I had no idea who the girl was, it was good to know someone was hanging around, since I was hardly home.
Taking a shower, I washed the day away, thinking about the shower I had taken at the hotel. Moments before she slipped away like grains of sand through my fingers. I was a dirty bastard, wishing I hadn’t washed her scent away from my body.
Stepping out, I dried off and put on some gym shorts and a white T-shirt. Looking out my bedroom window, I frowned, my eyes narrowing on the pool.
The light had been left on.
Dropping the wet towel at the end of my bed, I headed back downstairs. It was too late to introduce myself to my new tenant and too late to call or text to ask her to turn the lights off. I didn’t want to give a bad first impression.
She was going to hate me enough when she found out I was planning on getting rid of her before her lease was up.
Karina
Everything was mostly settled and in its place.
I almost wanted to giggle at myself. I usually wasn’t such a stickler for organization—Ruby held that title—but something about the cozy pool house made me want to get settled and working. Maybe it was the new place, or where my life was, or the extracurricular activities from the day before, but I felt inspired.
It hadn’t been easy working non-stop, but as I took in my home, the pool house, I smiled. I felt settled. Not that I hadn’t in the apartment with the girls, but it was different. This was mine.
Kind of.
My muscles ached. I was dusty and sweaty and probably looked like a hot mess, but I felt accomplished. Accomplished and inspired at twenty-five. Not bad, Castillo, I thought and giggled for patting myself on the back.
Glancing over at the space I had designated as my home office, I couldn’t help but feel on top of the world. I was on to the next step of my life with great friends by my side, starting off a career that gave me the flexibility to work from anywhere I could connect my laptop. It was a good place to be in life at my age. If that wasn’t enough, the memory of my afternoon delight with the gorgeous older stranger still made me ache with desire. Too bad it was a one-time thing! I greedily thought, the image of Daddy in my head. A wicked smile played on my lips before I shook my head.
Men, no matter the age, were a complication I did not need.
Wishing for a man who I probably would never see again was pointless.
It was after ten, and the main house had some lights turned on, so I assumed Ruby’s dad was home. Or I hoped he was. A small shiver ran down my spine as I stepped outside looking toward the house in front of me.
That huge house all for just one man.
It made me feel a little sad for him and wonder what that was like. Being all alone in that space? It made you think and appreciate what was really important in life. Something my parents had taught me. We hadn’t had everything, but we had what we needed and more than enough love and laughter.
Standing at the edge of the lit p
ool, I took a deep breath and smiled as I looked at the blue water. A dip sounded good. Looking back at the house, I saw that the lights were still on. He was in there, or I hoped it was him and not some burglar. I really needed to set my alarm early and make it a point to introduce myself to him in the morning.
Maybe a midnight swim wouldn’t be a good idea in case my new landlord was a light sleeper, but dipping my feet into the cool water couldn’t hurt.
Sitting at the edge of the pool, I was glad I had worn my old black cheer shorts. They were old, but the cotton material was Downey soft, and they were short. So, it didn’t matter how much of my legs got wet in the pool.
Taking my sneakers and socks off, I set them beside me and turned, dipping my feet into the water. A soft moan escaped from the back of my throat. I’d obviously worked harder than I had realized. Closing my eyes, I leaned back on my arms as I swished my feet back and forth in the water as a cool breeze cut through the heat of the day. His face played behind my eyelids. Charming smile, kind eyes.
I am hopeless.
With my eyes still shut, I felt something change in the air. Like I was being watched. When I popped my eyes open, I was surprised at who was in front of me.
There he was. Right on the other side of the pool, as if I had conjured him up. Am I more tired than I realized? I wondered to myself. Is he a hallucination?
“You,” his deep voice spoke. I tilted my head, still unable to believe he was right there.
“You,” I repeated softly, my legs holding still in the pool, my entire body frozen in place.
“How… Babe.” He stepped forward, closer to the edge of the pool that separated us, and stopped. Holy smokes. He was real.
He was really there.
How the hell is that possible?
I quickly stood up, pulling down the too short shorts I hadn’t expected anyone to see me in, and frowned.
“How are you here?” I asked out loud. A creepy tickle made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Has he followed me?
“Baby girl, I should be asking you the same question.” Hmm. He was answering a question with a question. Did serial killers do that? Shit. Had I screwed a psycho?
Quite Frankly: Dilf Mania (Beech Grove Book 5) Page 2
