by Angela Blake
He also remembered that he was her first. He remembered how one night they were just outside gazing up at the stars, and they started talking. One thing led to another, and the next thing he knew he was asking her if she was sure because it was her first time before she nodded and pressed him closer.
He hadn’t thought about her in years. Almost eight years. They met when they were eighteen. He was now twenty six, and who would’ve thought that they’d end up living in the same city, and she’d end up being the one to interview him tonight?
Fate was a strange thing.
He smiled at her. “I remember you now, that night under the stars, but why is that a problem now?”
“You don’t understand. I moved soon after, remember?”
“Yeah.”
“A few weeks later, I found out I was pregnant.”
All the color drained from his face as he stared at her. “What happened?”
“My parents didn’t want me to keep the baby at first, but I insisted, so we raised her. Her name is Ellen. I tried to find you for so many years, but I couldn’t, so eventually I gave up and was resigned to raising her alone. Oh, David. You’d love her. She looks a lot like you with her fiery red hair, and her eyes, she has both out eyes, this strange mixture of blue and green, and she is just the sweetest little kid.”
David swallowed audibly as he stared at her.
He had a daughter. David Westley. The womanizer. The man who didn’t want to be tied down. The man who mocked the other teammates he had who had fallen into the same trap.
“Look, I understand that this is a lot to take in, and if you don’t want to be a part of her life, I’ll respect your decision, but you’ll be missing out.”
He gave her a tight smile as a million thoughts raced through his mind.
“Can I see a picture of her?” he said finally managing to unglue his tongue from the roof of his mouth. She pulled out her phone and showed him a picture.
He felt an unfamiliar feeling bloom in his chest at the sight of her. Coira was right. She did look a lot like him, but there was a lot of her mother in there too.
“I want to know her,” he found himself saying before he could fully realize it was out of his mouth.
“Really?” she tried not to let the hope show on her face.
This was his chance to take it back if he wanted to. “Really.”
“I’m not sure if I’ll be any good as a father, but I really want to try. I can’t let her grow up without a father any longer. I mean who will teach her about basketball and chase away boys when she’s old enough to date?”
Coira laughed as she threw herself at him and kissed him. It was a sweet kiss at first, but then it turned into something more charged, more passionate, and with a lot more purpose now that the truth was out in the open, tying a tether around both their hearts.
He steered her back towards the bench, and he slowly entered her. She gasped into the kiss as he began to thrust slowly first allowing her time to get used to the sensation before she began matching his thrusts with the movement of her hips. They both wrenched themselves away as rested her head between his neck and his shoulder and began to bite and suck while he did the same to her neck.
They pounded into each other with a passion and fervor that had spent years being built up until they both finally came together.
THE END
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In The Storm: A Workplace Romance
Chapter One
Ashlyn knew that the hurricane was coming, and she knew that it was dangerous. But there was a part of her that still believed herself invincible. Everything this far in her life had turned out so well. Why should she have trouble with a little hurricane? Ashlyn stood by the window and watched the ocean dance in angry, jagged lines. The waves were coming up higher than she had ever seen them.
A few foolish surfboarders were out there trying to balance on top of the waves. Ashlyn shook her head. Now they were truly acting foolish. It was like they wanted to die. Why would they purposely put themselves in such a dangerous position? The rain droplets fell like hail pellets and blocked Ashlyn’s view. It started looking like a big, grey stew outside.
There was nothing to see out the window anymore except fat drops of rain. Ashlyn stuck her tongue out. Their filming was being put off today. They only had one more scene to complete, but they couldn’t do it until the storm had left.
Ashlyn turned and saw Brandon and Mark, standing up face to face. Neither one looked happy with each other. Ashlyn instantly felt guilty, and she went over to see what was going on.
“Don’t think you’re trying to help. I didn’t ask for you to be my mom!” Mark was saying. His face twisted into a downward snarl. Ashlyn flicked her eyes over to Brandon. His mouth was in a straight line, and his arms were crossed.
“I thought I was helping. You don’t have to get your britches in a knot over it.”
“Oh, yeah, I’m obviously the problem here. You shouldn’t ever touch my stuff! Is it yours? No, then don’t touch it.”
“Hey, guys, it’s okay,” Ashlyn said. “What happened?”
“It’s none of your business!” Mark quickly spat out. Ashlyn turned to look at Brandon, assuming he would give her a straight answer.
“Just go away,” Brandon said, his eyes not even locking on hers for an instant. “We’re working something out, and we didn’t ask for anyone else to get involved.”
His words hit Ashlyn hard. It wasn’t like she was trying to be nosy. She really wanted to help. She had thought maybe she could help sort out the disagreement. But even Brandon thought she was useless. Ashlyn frowned and turned away. Her eyebrows knit together as she tried not to cry.
She balled her hands up in fists and marched away. Maybe she did look like a baby, but she didn’t care. Brandon’s words really hurt. They didn’t have to need her help. That was fine. But he could at least have told her that civilly, instead of telling her that she was annoying them and they didn’t need anyone’s help.
Ashlyn flopped down on her bed, kicking her flipflops off and curling up in a ball. She wanted to be strong and keep herself from crying, but she had never been able to hide her emotions well. A few tears trickled down her face. Pamela and Katy, Ashlyn’s roommates, weren’t in the room, and she was grateful. Sometimes, a girl just needed to be by herself.
When Ashlyn had wiped away her few tears, she noticed how loud the wind had become. It was beating against the windows. Ashlyn wondered how strong the wind had to be to do some damage. She looked outside. While the rain didn’t let her see far, she could see a few palm trees being blown to the left. All of their leaves were flowing to the left, like an urgent invitation had been extended them and they were trying to break away from the tree to go.
Ashlyn bit the inside of her cheek to hold back a smile. Maybe Brandon would leave soon, and she could just avoid Mark. It wouldn’t be so bad. They were going to have sloppy joes that night, and maybe Ashlyn would call her mom. Maybe Ashlyn had been wrong about Brandon’s sweet-tempered character.
Two raps sounded on Ashlyn’s half-open door, and she turned around. There was Brandon standing almost contritely. “May I come in?” he asked.
Ashlyn shrugged and let the curtain fall back over the window. “Sure.”
Brandon took a few steps inside. “Do you want to sit?” It was strange to have him come in her room and invite her to sit down, but Ashlyn was tired anyway. She had been going out on the beach too much. It was making her exhausted.
Ashlyn sat cross-legged on her bed, and Brandon sat on the edge.
“Are you okay?” Brandon asked. Fifteen minutes ago, Ashlyn would have poured everything out without wavering. She had been trying this new thing where she allowed Brandon to see every side of her, where she didn’t hide anything. She knew she stood a big chance of getting hurt, but he had shown himself trustworthy so far. Ashlyn knew that she was falling hard for him, and it would b
e hard to leave Brandon behind if he decided at the end of her time here that he didn’t like her as much as he thought he did.
Ashlyn shrugged, and her eyes followed the carpet’s jagged pattern. “I’m fine. I’m not dying or terminally ill. I eat food every day. In comparison to a large majority of the world, I’m amazing.” Putting her problems in that perspective made her feel like a slug for throwing a miniature pity party. What did it matter if Brandon said one thing that wasn’t so nice? She still had a lot to be thankful for.
“I know,” Brandon said, leaning back on the palms of his hands. “Isn’t it crazy how we stress about the stupid stuff every day? Like just now, my argument with Mark.” Brandon closed his eyes and shook his head. “That guy is crazy, but we both got pretty upset about something stupid.” Brandon shrugged. “I didn’t want to drag you into it.”
Ashlyn pursed her lips. “You could have said that without being so harsh.”
“Was I harsh?” Brandon seemed surprised.
Ashlyn wondered if she was simply being too sensitive. Maybe he hadn’t really been that harsh. She didn’t really remember anymore, and it didn’t seem to matter. Finally, Ashlyn just shrugged. “Yeah, a little. I was only trying to help, and I just thought that, I don’t know. It kind of hurt that you didn’t need me.”
Brandon studied Ashlyn seriously for a few minutes. “Okay, let me tell you something about guys. We will love a woman if she lets us, and we will, at least I will, be faithful. But, guys, no matter how much they might like a woman, they don’t want her interfering in the disagreements they have with another man. Would you want me butting in when you’re arguing with Pamela over leaving her dirty clothes on your bed?”
Ashlyn laughed, but she understood Brandon’s point. “I guess I would be pretty irritated.”
Brandon opened his arms to Ashlyn, and she crawled over into his lap. “Sorry,” Brandon said. “But I guess we both learned something, huh?”
“Yeah,” Ashlyn replied, wrapped her arms around Brandon’s neck. “I learned that you still look really cute when you’re upset, and you learned that you better treat me like a lady.”
Brandon leaned forward and gave Ashlyn a quick peck on the cheek. “I already treat you like a lady.”
“Yeah, you do,” Ashlyn agreed. She laid her cheek against Brandon’s chest and wondered if he was thinking about the future. Every night after they had walked down to visit the turtles, Ashlyn had wondered if the two of them together was something that could last. When filming time was over, would he make some sort of effort to see her again? Where would she go? Would she be willing to stay with this man that she had known twelve days?
Chapter Two
As Ashlyn sat in Brandon’s lap, she felt him trembling. Was she really so large that he couldn’t hold her? Ashlyn pulled away from Brandon immediately to stand on the floor, but then she felt that the floor was trembling just the slightest bit.
“Do you feel that?” Ashlyn asked Brandon, looking at him with wide eyes.
Brandon nodded. “I think this hurricane is hitting us in full force.”
Ashlyn took two steps toward the window before Brandon caught her hand. “Where are you going, Ashlyn? You’re supposed to stay away from the windows in a hurricane.”
Ashlyn had never experienced a hurricane before, but Brandon obviously knew everything. “Isn’t that because the wind is so strong? What else are we supposed to do?” Ashlyn remembered watching The Wizard of Oz when she was a kid. Dorothy had been trying to reach a storm cellar. “Shouldn’t we go to the storm cellar?”
Brandon started laughing, and Ashlyn frowned at him. “What? I thought that was what you’re supposed to do.”
“Yeah, if you live somewhere that has firm ground. This house is built high-up. Didn’t you notice? There is room under the house in case the waters rise. If you go under the house, you might drown.”
“Oh,” Ashlyn looked around. “So what do we do?”
“We need to find a small room without any windows that is low down and in the middle of the house. Do you have a flashlight?”
“No,” Ashlyn said. Brandon went into action, taking Ashlyn’s hand and pulling her out of the room.
“That’s okay,” Brandon replied. “I know where some lighting is.” He pulled her along to the living room where a few people were seated calmly while others were running around like scared chickens. Brandon found a few flashlights, and they began walking through the house and finding the only windowless rooms available. People seemed to sense the leadership in Brandon and automatically followed him.
Some people calmly followed “psshawing” the thought of anything actually happening to them. There were two rooms. One was a bathroom, and the other was an empty coat closet. Brandon and Ashlyn got put in the bathroom. As everyone crowded in, Ashlyn began to get this sick feeling in her stomach. It was like she had to go to the bathroom, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to do that in privacy for a long time. Besides, if they couldn’t flush, the bathroom would start to smell.
The floor seemed to tremble again. The wind made a loud whistling sound, and Ashlyn heard something break off in the distance. She sat on the floor next to the sink and waited as Brandon herded the last occupant into the bathroom. There were nine people in the bathroom, and everyone was squished up against each other. Brandon passed out three flashlights and closed the door.
Just as he did that, the electricity started flickering. On, off, on, off. After thirty seconds of flickering, it went off and stayed off. One by one, the flashlights clicked on. “Let’s just turn on one at a time,” Brandon advised. “We don’t know how long the flashlight batteries are going to last, and I don’t want us to use them all at once.” Everyone agreed that what he was saying was a good idea. Only Mark’s flashlight glowed from the corner of the bathtub. Everyone was silent, and Ashlyn leaned her head back against the cabinet.
She could almost sleep if it weren’t for the strong wind that rattled the house occasionally and banged her head rapidly on the cabinet. Ashlyn shifted and rested her chin on her knees. She knew from that moment that it was going to be a long time before they were going to be safe.
“Where is the hurricane passing?” someone asked.
Another voice from the semi-darkness answered. “It’s supposed to pass through pretty close to here.”
“Man, what are we going to do if the camera equipment is destroyed?”
A panic started to rise up in the bathroom as everyone imagined what it would be like to have their work gone. They had uploaded what they had filmed onto an external drive, but the equipment would cost thousands of dollars and take a lot of time to replace. That was when the complaining began.
“How long are we going to be stuck in this bathroom?”
“How will we know when it’s safe to go out?”
“Are you sure it wouldn’t be better to drive away from the storm instead of just waiting for it to hit us?”
Brandon held up his hands and seemed to take charge. Someone shone the flashlight on him like a spotlight, and he smiled. Ashlyn admired his smile from her little corner, where she had managed not to join into the complaining even though it had been very tempting.
“If someone had warned us about the hurricane, and we had been more prepared, then we might have been able to get away in a car. I guess no one here thought it was going to pass so close. But have you seen the rain outside?” A few people nodded. Pamela spoke up.
“It looked like most of the beach was covered.”
“Exactly,” Brandon said. “You guys knew it was going to be raining all day, so you didn’t film this morning. I think it’s been raining non-stop since last night.”
“Thanks, Bozo,” Mark spoke up from the back. “You’re really telling us something new.”
Brandon took a deep breath and continued, smoothly covering over the interruption. “Anyway, I don’t think the rain will let up, and there has already been some flooding, like you saw on the news. So, our best be
t is to hold down the fort here and see what happens. As for when it will be safe to go out, I would assume that would be when the house stops shaking.”
Everyone was silent as the wind gave the house a particularly violent shake.
Brandon sat back down, and Ashlyn wiggled over so that she was a little closer to him than she was to Katy. Not that Ashlyn had anything against Katy, but there was something romantic about snuggling up to her man in the middle of a violent storm.
Brandon put his arm around her and gave her a little kiss on her nose. Ashlyn smiled. They might be stuck in the dark bathroom for a long time, but she didn’t particularly care at the moment. She had always been one for adventures. And while this could bring about some serious danger, Ashlyn saw it more as an exciting adventure that they were embarking on.
Some of the cast and crew started playing a game. Apparently, somebody was thoughtful enough to grab a deck of cards as they were being herded into the bathroom. Ashlyn wanted to join in, but the cards were too far away, and the edge of the bathtub looked occupied already.
“Have you ever been in a storm like this before?” Ashlyn whispered to Brandon.
Brandon nodded. “Yes, plenty of times.” Ashlyn was surprised. Brandon didn’t seem like some farmer who frequently weathered hurricanes.
Brandon gave a little laugh. “My family was big for vacations when I was little. We went a little bit of everywhere, as long as everywhere was in the United States. We didn’t have a regular vacation, like always going to the beach, and my parents wouldn’t tell us where we were going until we were on the road. When my brother and I got older, though, we started to learn something about snooping.”
Ashlyn smiled.
“So, I guess you could say that my family was never one to let weather deter it. We had to go the first week of September if my dad was going to get off work, so we always went somewhere that week, rain or shine. I have been through two hurricanes before.”
