We asked to sit outside on the patio, which was just warm enough and perfectly shaded. Sol inspected the wine list and asked for something that I never heard of, as well as bruschetta and a charcuterie plate.
“I never had you pegged for a wine snob,” I said when the waiter left.
He grinned. “I grew up in Napa. My family actually runs a cellar there, so I probably had a taste for it since before I was born.”
Before I could voice my surprise our waiter returned with a bottle and two large glasses, which he poured expertly and placed the bottle on the center of the table next to my lily bouquet.
“How did you end up here and doing… what you do?” I asked.
“How much time do you have?” he said with a chuckle as he swirled the ruby liquid in his glass.
“All the time in the world,” I answered, clinking my glass gently against his. We took our first sip together as if it marked a new chapter in our… whatever we were.
“I first came out here because Ari’s mother’s family is from here,” he began quietly. “They’re loaded. They live in one those mansions overlooking the town from the hills. But the moment they saw me with a baby in my arms, they drove my ass away.”
“Seriously?” I demanded.
“Yeah,” he said with a wry smirk. “They wouldn’t believe in a million years that their perfect daughter would get knocked up by a degenerate like me. I even had a DNA test ready. No amount of evidence staring them in the face would convince them Ari was their granddaughter.” He took a long pull of wine. “Whatever. Their loss.”
“That’s awful,” I breathed. “Not only is Ari a wonderful kid, she’s their own flesh and blood!”
“Heh, not according to them.”
I paused and swirled some wine in my glass like I knew what I was doing. The question at the forefront of my mind had been there since I first met Ari, but it never seemed appropriate to ask. However now seemed as good a time as any.
“What happened to her mother?”
“Um, well,” he said with a nervous chuckle. “We dated when we were both going to Cal. She was a political science major, I studied engineering.”
“You went to Cal?” I couldn’t keep the shock out of my voice. “I applied there and got rejected!”
“I know. I don’t look the part,” he said with a wink. “I did well in school but ended up getting kicked out. I was paying my way by selling pot and prescription meds on campus because I couldn’t get a normal job.”
“Why not?” I asked. After thinking about it, Sol did seem well-educated and intelligent for being a criminal.
“You see all this?” He stretched his long, muscular arms out straight in front of him, indicating all the ink that stretched from his knuckles to his neck. “I already had most of my tattoos by the time I was sixteen. No one at a prestigious university wanted to hire a kid that looked like a thug. So I utilized the skills I did have until like a dumbass, I got caught and expelled.”
“And Ari’s mom didn’t want to be with you because of that?”
“Not exactly,” he said, chewing his lip. “After getting kicked out, we were still together for a while and I still wasn’t done fucking up. I kept selling drugs and supported her in a cushy San Francisco apartment because she hated living on campus. She got pregnant right before graduating, and right before I got busted and sent to prison.”
“Oh,” was all I could say, my eyes wide.
Sol merely shrugged as he refilled his wine. “I got a slap on the wrist as far as prison sentences go, only twelve months. It was actually great for me financially. Selling in prison is way more profitable than on the street. I still supported her but it killed me to miss my daughter’s birth. When I got out, I got an infant dumped into my arms and was told her mother wanted nothing to do with her.”
“No way!” I gasped, feeling my heart break for Ari. And even Sol, for everything he went through. “How could a mother just do that?”
“She wanted a career in politics,” he answered dryly. “Getting knocked up right out of college by a criminal while unmarried was a surefire way to ruin that.”
“Well, I hope she never became a politician,” I grumbled. “It takes a certain kind of person to just abandon her infant daughter without a care in the world. And that kind of person should never be in a position of power.”
“You heard of Analise Renoir?” Sol asked.
“The congresswoman?”
“Yep.”
“No!” My mouth dropped open and I desperately needed more wine, which Sol expertly filled for me without spilling a drop. “She gave me a weird vibe throughout the whole campaign. Glad I didn’t vote for her but now I’m extra pissed that she won.”
“Her family has connections and very deep pockets,” he said sadly. “Ari doesn’t even know who her mother is. I’d never say it in front of her but they can all fuck off at this point.”
I wrapped a hand around his bicep and felt the taut muscle flex under my fingers. I looked at his face, the kissable lips, strong jaw coated in stubble and the wisdom in his sharp, amber eyes. There was so much more to him than what was seen at the surface. He had a depth to him that rivaled the ocean’s and I was just beginning to see the complexities of this handsome, rebellious man.
“You’re a great father,” I told him. “You’re doing so well with her. She’s curious and smart and so sweet. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for you to do it alone, but I can already tell you’ve done a great job.”
He smiled so widely as he wrapped a hand around the back of my neck to pull me closer.
“Thank you, beautiful.”
He kissed me so tenderly, savoring the wine on my tongue and lips as his fingers gripped my hair like they didn’t want to let go. I wondered if anyone ever told him straight out that he was a good father before. He held onto me like I was the only one who did.
Our tender moment was interrupted by our waiter bringing out our food and setting it on the table.
“Another bottle, please,” Sol requested, to which the waiter nodded and scurried off to retrieve it.
“You know my life story now. Tell me about you,” he said, helping himself to prosciutto on a cracker.
“My life’s a bit more boring than yours,” I replied with a smirk. “I came from a regular middle-class family, had a pretty normal childhood. My parents had me when they were older and my mom died from cancer when I was young. It was just my dad and me for most of my life.”
“I’m sorry about your mom,” he said softly.
I shrugged. “It’s okay. I mean, I was so young that I barely remember her.”
“So if Ari ends up anything like you, I have nothing to worry about,” Sol said gently with a smile. “I worry a lot about her growing up without a mom.”
“Ha,” I scoffed. “I don’t know if you want her ending up like me.”
“That depends on what you keep telling me,” he teased.
I sipped my wine pensively as I went on. “ I was in school too, in Oregon. I studied marine biology.”
“Really?” Sol asked with genuine interest. “One of my favorite engineering projects was designing an aquarium. I didn’t sleep for three days straight working on that shit.”
“Ah, college days,” I mused with a smile. “I pulled lots of all-nighters too. I was a pretty straight-laced kid but I did sometimes buy stuff to, you know, stay awake and focused.”
“Ooh, a closeted bad girl,” Sol smirked with a playful squeeze of my thigh. “What’d you use?”
“Adderall, usually. I never wanted to get involved with more illegal stuff.”
“Yeah, better to not get hooked on those things. That was smart of you,” he praised.
“I thought so too,” I said, my eyes losing focus on the table in front of me as that dark memory became all that I saw. “Until my dealer talked me into meeting up at his dorm instead of in public like we usually did. We had mutual friends so I trusted him. But he… attacked me. I thought h
e was going to rape me but he ended up choking me until I passed out.”
The terror rocked through me as if it was happening right then. I saw Darren’s face hovering above as I scratched and clawed at him for dear life but to no avail. I heard him say something about how he’d make more money by selling me and it didn’t make any sense to me. Slavery didn’t exist anymore. What the hell was he talking about?
Sol’s lips at my temple and his firm hand rubbing my neck brought me back to the present. I realized I was shivering despite the warm day and I turned to him. Without hesitation he pulled me into his lap, smoothing his hands up and down my back and kissing my hair as I buried my face in his neck.
I stayed like that until my trembles went away and I whispered, “The next thing I knew, I was tied up in a dark, dirty basement with a half dozen other women.”
“You’re safe now,” Sol whispered the promise into my ear. “Nothing will hurt you as long as I’m around. But some motherfuckers are going to get hurt badly for doing this to you.”
“Thank you,” I breathed into his neck, sinking into his warmth that wrapped around me like a protective blanket. “You literally saved my life.”
He smiled down at me, his amber eyes twinkling.
“In some ways, you saved mine too.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
SOLOMON
I began to realize Natalie changed everything for me.
Since meeting her and falling for her, I knew my life wouldn’t be the same anymore.
No one ever told me I was a good father. Everyone said I would be the exact opposite, so I always assumed I was a shitty one.
Despite all the love I had for my Ari and how proud I was of her, I did my job and lived my life in such a way that a bullet could end me any day of the week. If that happened, I figured she wouldn’t miss me and be better off raised by Netta or some nice family who adopted her.
With just a few words, Natalie made me realize that my daughter needed me.
Me. Her dad.
I had to stick around and raise her because her mother was gone. I was all she had.
And she wasn’t the only one who needed me.
Natalie did too.
If I lost my life getting my retaliation on Antigua, it wouldn’t matter as long as the mission was successful. At least that’s what I thought yesterday.
But that day, when she jumped trembling into my arms and thanked me for saving her life, I realized I needed to live. For both of my girls. The beautiful blue-eyed one who kept my cock permanently hard whenever she was near, and my sweet little munchkin who was my flesh and blood.
They needed me. And as a man, I needed to be there for them.
After Natalie calmed down, I wouldn’t let her return to her own chair. I kept her sitting in my lap until we finished off our second bottle of wine and all our food. By the time I paid our bill and we started walking home, we were both thoroughly tipsy and shamelessly groping and kissing each other.
“Stop that,” I said but made no motion to keep her from grabbing my thick bulge through my pants. “Or I’ll have to fuck you in someone’s backyard here.”
“Oooh, I’ve never done it out in the great outdoors,” she giggled and reached up to kiss me.
I picked her up off the ground and carried her for several steps, kissing her all the while until she began slipping down my body.
“Come on now, my love,” I said laughing, pulling her to her feet. “We’re almost home. Then we can fuck each other’s brains out with abandon.”
She stood and stopped walking abruptly, facing me on the sidewalk. Her blue eyes were large and filled with emotion. Then out of nowhere, she giggled again and kissed me.
“I love you too,” she said grinning.
What?
My horny and alcohol-soaked brain tried to connect the dots. Did I drunkenly say it and forgot already? Or did she hear me incorrectly?
None of it mattered. I looked at her face, listened to her speak, saw her strength and how much she cared for my daughter. She was already a hundred times more of a mother than the woman who gave birth to her.
“I love you, Natalie.” My hands flew to her gorgeous face and pulled her in to kiss her with everything I had. She made a little sound of surprise but kissed me back with equal passion, tugging at my shirt collar.
“I really love you. I do,” I whispered against her lips as I held her tightly, repeating the words like a mantra as the realization flowed through me and lifted me. Everything that was missing in my life, I held right there in my arms.
And it squirmed and wiggled, trying to get away.
“Come onnnnn, let’s make another babyyy!” she sang, grinning naughtily and stumbling slightly as she pulled me in the direction of home.
I didn’t even care if she was drunk and not realizing what she said. Those words made me want to shoot the heavy load in my balls deep in her needy pussy with no barrier between us. I was so drunk on wine and feeling in love that putting my baby inside Natalie sounded so perfect. Ari could have a sibling and the mommy she always wanted.
“You want to feel me cum inside you?” I growled into Natalie’s ear, tugging her hair back slightly as we made it up the front porch and my primal, animal instincts took over. “Want me to bend you over and fuck you til you’re pregnant?”
“Yes,” she moaned, arching her back and grinding her juicy ass against my crotch as I struggled to get the front door open. “Fill me up with your cum, please.”
We finally burst through the front door, tearing at each other’s clothes before even getting it open. I had just barely enough common sense left to kick the door closed behind me. My mind and body were both hell bent on sinking into the sweet, tight depths of Natalie’s pussy and nothing on earth could deter me.
I turned her around and bent her over the back of the couch, taking a moment to squeeze her ripe ass cheeks in my fists while I rubbed my cock between them. When I lifted the hem of her dress over her hips, her panties were already soaked with wetness.
She squirmed and mewled like a good little kitten when I rubbed her slit, pulling her panties aside to gaze at that beautiful pussy.
“Mmm, I love how wet you get for me.” I ran my tongue from her clit to her tight little asshole and she nearly jumped off the couch.
Out of nowhere, the TV turned on to a random news channel.
“The fuck?” I muttered.
Natalie wriggled an arm underneath her and pulled out the TV remote she accidentally laid down on. She tossed it on the couch and looked back at me with the hottest, lust-filled expression I ever saw.
“Don’t stop. Get your cock out and fuck me,” she demanded.
I stood up and unzipped, more than happy to oblige. She was wet and beyond ready to receive my cum. I was hard as concrete and ready to pound mercilessly into her.
Ignoring the background noise of the TV, I rubbed the swollen, silky head along her slit a few times before pushing past the threshold and sinking all the way up to the base.
“Fuuuuck,” I moaned as her pussy swallowed me. She arched her back and pressed her ass back against me for more. I gripped the fabric of her dress and held on as I pushed deeper into her.
She gripped me so tightly, holding onto my cock every time I pulled back like she never wanted it to leave. I knew she was on the verge of coming and reached around to hit that little bundle of nerves, driving even harder into her as I did.
“You want this even deeper, babe?” I said. “You want this cock to tear you apart?”
“Ohhh yes, yes!” she cried, holding onto the couch for dear life as she teetered on the edge.
The walls of her pussy closed in all around me, convulsing and sucking me in. I felt lightheaded as I tried to hold back and maintain control but her orgasms were too damn good at nearly setting me off too.
I stopped for a moment to breathe and cool down, just feeling her silky tightness wrap around me like a glove. Nothing in the world felt better than this.
&nb
sp; Just as I got my bearings and began thrusting again, she suddenly stopped moving and making any noise. Her head turned to the side and her eyes focused on the TV screen.
“Getting distracted?” I asked with a chuckle as I began fucking her harder.
“Stop.”
She reached behind her and pushed me back, making my cum-coated cock slide out. Saying nothing else, she slid off the back of the couch and sat down in front of the TV, her eyes still glued to the screen.
“Natalie, you okay?”
Alarmed, I sat next to her. Her behavior did a complete 180 without warning.
Her eyes were wide and I could see they were brimming with tears. She fumbled for the remote and quickly rewound the DVR to the beginning of the news story.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
I wrapped an arm around her and planted a light kiss on her shoulder.
“It’s her,” she whispered, tears now falling down her face. “Look.”
I turned to the TV to see a sharply dressed female news anchor with a practiced sad expression.
“The search for a missing teenager has come to a tragic end,” said the woman forlornly. “The body of sixteen-year-old Leah Harris was found in Yountville early this morning. Leah disappeared from her home in Bakersfield approximately four months ago. Local authorities believed she was kidnapped but had no suspects in custody. The cause of death is not yet known and police are continuing to investigate.”
I turned to Natalie, who was now full-on sobbing and rubbed her arms and back. “You knew her? From there?”
She nodded and her breath hitched in her chest.
“She was so young... the youngest of all of us. We all tried so hard to protect her. When I escaped… I stabbed the guard who was raping her and she told me to make a run for it. That was the last time I saw her.”
Natalie turned toward me and sobbed deeply into my chest. I held her and gently rocked from side to side, rubbing her back and trying to soothe her. But my heart broke for the woman I loved and I felt absolutely helpless.
Down and Dirty: A Single Dad Bad Boy Romance (Small Town Bad Boys Book 3) Page 10
