Stripped

by Harms, C. A.

  I watched closely until she emerged. She held Emma tightly and she looked destroyed. My heart broke once more when I looked directly into her bloodshot eyes. The tears immediately began streaming down her cheeks once again. I took a step toward her prepared to apologize over and over.

  I was taken by surprised when she curled into me and allowed me to take both her and Emma into my arms. She cried into my chest heavily. “I’m so sorry baby. God, I’m so sorry.” I kissed the top of her head and held her securely. She straightened after a few minutes and took my hand in hers. She guided me to the awaiting limo and I crawled in along with her, her mother and Sarah.

  Kylie sat close to me and Emma climbed into my lap. She tilted her head up to me and I resisted the strong urge to kiss her. I leaned forward and placed a kiss on her forehead instead. I caught her mom watching us closely. “I’m so sorry for your loss ma’am.”

  She thanked me and then shocked me with her forwardness. “So would you be the reason that my daughter cried herself to sleep last night?” I turned to look at Kylie and she looked down.

  My throat tightened with that thought. “I love your daughter ma’am and I’d do anything for her. If I’m the reason for her tears last night, I can guarantee you that I’ll never repeat that action.” I took a deep breath. “Forgive me ma’am but I had a moment of complete stupidity and I acted like an ass.”

  She stared at me intensely before responding. “Don’t break my daughter’s heart. She’s been hurt enough in her life. I think it’s about time someone started treating her like she deserves to be treated. Life’s too short for constant heartbreak. Kylie deserves a good man…are you a good man?”

  Kylie spoke before I could, “Yes mama…Evan is one of the good ones.” I squeezed her shoulder and pulled her close. I used the next ten minutes of the ride to breathe in her scent. I’d missed her with such intensity that I felt I couldn’t get close enough.

  When the car stopped at the graveside I exited first. I slowly helped each one of the ladies out by extending my hand to them. I laced my fingers with Kylie’s, kissing the palm of her hand gently. Holding Emma close, I walked alongside of Kylie toward the graveside.

  Once we reached the chairs I remained standing behind Kylie as she held Emma on her lap. I rubbed her shoulders and she shook with emotion under my hands while the pastor said his final words. I wanted to take her pain anyway. Seeing her cry gutted me over and over. Kylie has spent so much time over the last couple of years alone. She’s been forced to hide her true feelings and to push forward no matter what. She wasn’t allowed to be weak, because she had no one to lean on for support. From this moment forward, I vowed to change all that; she would no longer be alone. I’d do whatever was necessary to show her she could trust me. Never again would my mother speak to her the way she had at the hospital. Kylie deserved happiness and I wanted more than anything to be the one to give it to her.

  ~Thirty Five~

  (Kylie)

  We all went back to my mother’s house after the funeral; I felt lost and exhausted. I cried into Evan’s shoulder as he held me close on the front porch. I looked up into his eyes and a thought hit me. “My daddy will never get a chance to know how happy you make me. He’ll never meet you.”

  The tears ran down my cheeks and Evan kissed them away. “Kylie, you can’t think like that. You’ll just drive yourself crazy. You just have to believe that somehow he knows. Somehow he can see that all I want is to take care of you and love you forever.”

  Feeling Evan’s lips touch mine only caused more tears to fall. I’ve missed him so much. I hadn’t let myself think about anything other than my father. As I stood on the porch and Evan kissed me, it suddenly sank in. The heartache of not having Evan in my life hit me right then. I whimpered beneath his soft lips. He pulled back, looking down at me as tears filled my eyes. I attempted to tame my shaky voice, “Promise me we’ll be okay. Promise that one day you won’t decide that I’m not enough. I can’t wake up one day and not have you…I can’t.”

  He pulled me closer and held my shoulders tightly. “I promise you Kylie. God, baby I promise you.”

  Emma smacking the door on the other side caused us both to turn in her direction. She giggled before running back in the other direction. Evan and I lightly laughed. He took my hand in his, kissing my palm before speaking. “Let’s go inside.” I nodded at him in agreement.

  I showed Evan my parent’s home room by room. We paused in the hallway to look at the pictures of my daddy. In several photos of them he was holding me or we were laughing. I fought the tears as I led Evan into my old bedroom. As we entered, he looked around taking in everything. I stood in the center of the room at the foot of the bed and watched his eyes roam the room. He paused when he reached a bulletin board above my desk. I realized there were photos of Brad and I plastered all over it. There were ones of him hugging me closely and tickling me. A few of them were of us kissing and smiling at one another. He turned back to face me and his expression was hard to read.

  He took a few steps toward me and closely watched my eyes. Reaching out, he placed his hand under my chin lifting it up. “That stung a little.” I instantly knew he was talking about the photos. I opened my mouth to reply but his mouth crushed mine before I could speak. He slowly worshipped my lips and traced his tongue along mine. He whispered against my lips softly. “I know it seems childish, but I like to pretend that no one else has ever tasted these lips.” He kissed me again.

  Leaving me breathless, I attempted to speak clearly. “No one has ever kissed me the way you do. There is no one I want more than you.” I fisted his shirt and pulled him over me as he lowered me to the bed. I wanted to get lost in Evan for just a little while. I wanted to feel his body and imagine that everything was perfect. I pulled back to look at his face and brought my lips to the cut on his cheek. I placed a soft kiss over the healing wound. I then placed my lips onto the cut above his eye. He let his eyes close for just a moment before once again looking into mine. I looked at the cut on his lower lip and slowly brought my lips to it, softly kissing. “I’m so sorry this happened to you. I’m sorry I caused you pain.”

  Evan blinked a few times before responding. “Kylie, this wasn’t your fault. I blew up at Brad and he retaliated. You didn’t cause that fight. It was bound to happen between us. You knew that just as well as we did.” He lightly brushed the hair from my cheek and placed a soft kiss to my lips. “You didn’t cause me pain, baby. I’ve told you before, you and Emma have become the best part of my day. I want you both in my life so desperately. I want to build a life with you.” I pulled him to me hard and wrapped my legs around his waist. I wanted to feel him close. I wanted to show him just how much I needed him. “Kylie, we aren’t alone here. Your mother is downstairs.”

  I kissed him again and ran my tongue across his lip biting it between my teeth. “Just for a minute, I want to feel you against me, just for a minute.” I felt Evan push into me and the friction from his growing erection caused chills to run through me. I pushed myself up into him feeling him against my center.

  “Oh shit…I’m Sorry.” The door slammed shut quickly as Evan and I sat up from the bed. Sarah had just witnessed us dry humping on my bed and my cheeks reddened. I looked back to Evan and we both laughed. He stood from the bed and reached for my hand. He attempted to adjust himself as we made our way downstairs. Once we were in the kitchen Sarah giggled behind Evan’s back and looked over his shoulder at me. “Hey Evan, next time you’re trying to get some…lock the door.”

  He grinned and winked at me before my mother walked in holding Emma. The conversation ended that moment. My mother didn’t need to know what happened.

  I could still feel Evan’s lips against mine, and I raised my hand up to lightly trace my lips. They felt numb from his kiss.

  ~Thirty Six~

  (Evan)

  “So Evan, what is it that you do?” Kathy, Kylie’s mother asked from across the table. I took a deep breath before I answered the
question. I hadn’t found the moment to tell Kylie about walking out on my dad. I hadn’t told her about working for his competition and I really didn’t want her find out like this. When I looked across the table and connected with her mother I knew I needed to answer her question though. I silently hoped for Kylie to understand and then I answered the question.

  “I’m actually the Vice President of Prescott Energy, owned by Arthur Prescott.” I heard it before I saw her. Kylie flew from the table angry and upset. Her chair flipped onto its back and she stood with her hands on the table. Kathy and Sarah were both staring at her and I slowly turned my head to face her.

  “Outside Evan…Now!” That was all she said before turning and walking out the back door.

  I slowly stood and pushed my chair back. “Excuse me ladies.” Kathy’s mouth hung open and Sarah was smiling.

  As I turned toward the back door I heard Sarah laugh. “You might want to hide Evan, she looked pretty ticked off.”

  I blew out a deep breath and walked out. I found Kylie with her hands on her hips and her back to me. She must’ve heard me approaching, because she spun around quickly. She threw her hands up into the air and let them drop to her sides. “What the hell, Evan?” She threw her hands up again and this time they came to rest on her hips. I tried not to laugh because I was seeing a new side of Kylie. She was pissed and I found it extremely sexy. “So? When the hell did this happen? What happened?”

  I stepped toward her and stopped quickly when she glared at me. Yes…Pissed Kylie was really hot. I fought the threatening smile. “I quit Baby. I walked out of my dad’s office and didn’t look back. I told you I wouldn’t tolerate them treating you with disrespect. My dad thought I would eventually cave and I didn’t.”

  Kylie looked up at the sky. I watched as she slowly exhaled and then she lowered her head again. “Evan, if I’ve learned anything from this experience with my dad, it’s that you can’t get back the time you lose. It’s lost forever and no matter how hard you wish, you can’t get it back. Once they’re gone, it’s over, there are no second chances. You have to talk to them. You have to fix this with them Evan.”

  I let her rant and lecture me as I watched her closely. I knew she was hurting over how things were with her father. I wished things could be different, but they weren’t. She needed to understand it was their choice. There was only one thing I asked from them and that was to respect Kylie. “I’ll talk to them, Kylie. I haven’t removed them from my life…I just wasn’t going to allow my father to control my choices. He thought he could hang the business over my hand and I proved him wrong. Baby, this is on them…completely, not me.”

  She finally allowed me to take her into my arms and hug her close. “Kylie, you need to let me handle my parents. You need to stop worrying and stressing over it.” She slowly relaxed in my arms as I held her. When I felt it was safe, I decided to attempt to lighten the moment. “The pissed off Kylie…she’s really hot. I’m pretty sure this was our first introduction and um…don’t get jealous, okay?” I leaned in closer and whispered in her ear, “She turned me on majorly. I kind of want to sneak off somewhere with her. I’ve decided I want her to abuse the hell out of me.” She pushed against my chest and I chuckled.

  “You’re such a pervert.” When I heard her lightly laughed at me, I knew we were okay. She rose to the tip of her toes and kissed me. I playfully bit her lip and she moaned.

  “Do you think we could sneak off later for a drive?”

  When her eyes met mine I knew she was thinking the exact same thing as me. “I think we might be able to get away later…after Em is in bed.” We stood in the backyard and shared a few more deep kisses before we made our way back inside.

  Sarah was still feeling a little rebellious and I could see it coming. Kathy had her back to the door when we came in but Sarah still sat at the table. Her eyes shot up when we walked in. “So Ev…where does Kylie hide your balls dude? We should really get those suckers bronzed and hang them from your car mirror, Kylie.” She laughed and Kylie smiled.

  I couldn’t help but laugh once I saw Kylie’s expression. Her smile was a huge weakness of mine. Over the next couple of hours, I continued to hear jokes about how whipped I was. The three women laughed; it was great to hear. After what they had spent the last two days doing, I knew they could use a good laugh, even if it was at my expense; I’d deal with it.

  I sat on the floor with Emma and played with her toys. I leaned down close to her ear, “Your momma does have me wrapped around her finger, angel…so do you.” I found Kylie watching Emma and I closely and I winked at her before continuing to play.

  After Emma’s bath, Kylie read her a book. She began dosing off against Kylie’s shoulder and I knew from experience she was moments away from falling asleep. Kathy had gone to bed about an hour ago and Sarah insisted that she would watch Emma so we could go for a drive. We climbed into my rented Tahoe and backed out of the long driveway. “Where are we heading, sexy?” I winked at her and she smiled.

  Kylie directed me to a long dirt road a few miles from her mother’s house. It was completely dark and there were no houses for miles. I was about to ask her if we were lost when we pulled out into a clearing. There was a small lake up ahead. I pulled up close and parked. Turning off the lights, I left the radio playing.

  Kylie shuffling around in the seat next to me drew my attention from the lake. She moved fast, as she crawled over the console and into my lap. She straddled me and brought her lips to mine. When I brought my hands to her waist, I’d realized what she’d done. She had removed her pants and now sat on my lap with only a skimpy G-string on. I immediately began to harden at the feel of her. I moaned into her mouth when I felt her grind onto my hardness.

  Kylie drove me crazy, I found her unbelievably sex. Our sex life was never boring.

  I traced her thigh with my finger and let it slip below the thin elastic band. She reached down and pulled her shirt over her head. Our eyes reconnected and hers were full of lust. She continued to rotate her hips, grinding herself against me. When my finger slipped into her panties and found her wetness she moaned. Her head fell back and she let out another soft moan. Damn, she was so wet. I slid my finger into her and slowly began to glide it in and out. I added a second one and she started riding my hand. I let her fuck my fingers while I watched her face. She bit her lip and moaned loudly as she exploded around my fingers. I never stopped stroking her; I moved my fingers faster and deeper.

  Kylie reached between us and slowly unbuckled my pants, her eyes locked with mine. I felt her hand slip into my jeans and under my boxers. She gripped my cock and started stroking me slowly. Her gaze fell between us and landed on my hardness she held in her hand. I watched as she lifted her body and guided my cock to her wetness. I gripped Kylie’s hips tightly as she slid down over my hard cock. Both of us moaned together from the sensual contact.

  Kylie took over and I didn’t try to stop her. She was in a complete lust driven state. I watched her eyes and her mouth as she rode me with such ease. She was slowly fucking me and I fought the urge to come. I wanted this to last. A few days ago I thought I had lost her, now I just wanted to treasure her. Our lips met as she clenched my cock with her pussy. “Oh yes!” Kylie screamed as her head fell back and her hips rocked hard and fast. I was so close to coming. I put my hand on the back of her neck and pulled her lips to mine. I thrust my hips upward driving into her and she bit my lower lip right before I exploded inside of her sweet warmth.

  ~Thirty Seven~

  (Kylie)

  Saying goodbye to my mother was more challenging than I had expected; something developed between us over the last few days and it broke my heart to leave her. I cried for the first twenty minutes of the car ride home and then I called to check on her. She laughed, of course, but it made me feel better to hear her calm voice.

  Evan had returned the rental car and decided to ride back in Sarah’s car with us. When we all pulled into my driveway I gasped. “What the hell?”
was the only thing I heard as Sarah stared at my house equally shocked.

  The back window of my car had been busted out and someone wrote “Whore” along the side of it. Evan quickly climbed from the car to go check on June. The first person that popped in my head was Alexis. How could she have figured out where I lived, though?

  When June came out of the house with Evan’s assistance she looked directly at me. “Honey, I’m sorry, but I had to call the cops.” She paused and I nodded my head. Of course she did, I would’ve called them myself had I been here. Evan was looking at me with a look of distress. What was going on here? I looked back at June and she continued. “Darling, he was crazy. He beat on your door for over ten minutes, hollering and cussing; then he went totally crazy. He threw a block through your car window and started kicking the door.”

  I glanced at my car finally noticing the caved in door. I wrinkled my eyebrows in confusion, “Who?”

  June’s eyes glassed over, “Brad…it was Brad, honey.”

  The air in my lungs disappeared in a rush and I felt light headed. Evan reached out placing his hand on my shoulder, “Kylie, he’s in jail, baby. We’ll figure this out okay.” He squeezed my shoulder and I looked into his eyes as the tears ran down my cheeks.

  I couldn’t figure it out. Why had Brad done this? I left him a message telling him why I went home. I hadn’t heard from him though. I turned to Sarah and reached out taking Emma into my arms. I slowly walked toward my apartment and pulled out my key. Once I was inside I sat down onto the couch still holding Emma. She squirmed until I released her as she slid off the couch quickly, disappearing down the hallway toward her bedroom. I found myself still staring in that direction long after she entered her room. I saw nothing, just an empty hallway as my mind continued to race.

  I felt the couch dip next to me but I couldn’t pull myself away from the daze that overtook me. I was overwhelmed with everything that had happened; everything seemed to be flying out of control. Evan and I had been dealing with our problems, or should I say his family’s problems. Evan and Brad got into a fight at a bar and then both were taken to the hospital. I lost my father and now Brad was going crazy. How much more of this stress could I take?