by Amy Brent
“That’s what I said. But when I brought it up, it made him squeamish almost. I got him to commit to talking about it in a couple months, but I’m not holding my breath for it.”
I spat that last part a little more than I wanted to.
“I just don’t know where things are going or what I’m doing with him any longer. When we first got together, I was very upfront with him about what I wanted: a career, a life, a home, children someday. And he was on board with it completely.”
I raised my eyes to gaze into Ryan’s as he sat there, listening intently.
Adam never listened with the kind of fervor Ryan seemed to be listening with now.
“But now I can’t even get him to talk about taking a partial step toward one day having a house together,” I said. “I’m not sure if his future lines up with mine anymore, but I can’t get him to talk about it so I can’t even confirm what I think I already know.”
“I’m so sorry, Kylie,” Ryan said. “I had hoped to raise a better man than that.”
“It’s got nothing to do with you,” I said. “And I really shouldn't be saying any of this in such a professional setting.”
“You’re first and foremost—”
“Family,” we said together.
I sighed as a small grin trickled across his cheeks.
“I know,” I said. “And I really appreciate it. This has nothing to do with you. All Adam has to do is tell me what he wants. But he won’t. Whether he doesn’t care enough to or whether he’s scared of what the outcome might be once he admits it, I don’t know, but I feel stalemated and I don’t like that feeling. Progressing forward is the only thing that roots me sometimes, and I don’t have it right now.”
“Well, if it’s any inclination, if Adam does squander this with you, I know he’ll regret it eventually.”
“I wish he would be willing to throw that energy for regret into figuring out and fixing why we went so far off the rails,” I said.
“I had always hoped my son would end up with a woman like you. Driven. Successful. A proud, independent force to ground his floating, artistic endeavors. My son’s creative and very talented, but sometimes he can fly by the seat of his pants and get himself into trouble. You’re the only young woman he’s ever brought home that I’ve approved of.”
“That’s kind of you to say,” I said.
“It makes me sick that he isn’t treating you right.”
“Ryan, don’t—”
“Don’t make excuses for him. After the outburst in the restaurant a couple months ago, I prayed it was nothing but a one-off moment because he was having a bad day. But listening to what you’re saying and watching you speak with such sadness laced in your voice? I know he’s been making you feel this way for a while. And you deserve better, Kylie.”
I had no idea what to say to his statement.
“If you want me to talk with him, I will,” Ryan said.
“I can’t ask you to do that,” I said softly.
“I won’t tell him we talked. I’ll only tell him I’m concerned for his well-being. I can probably address some of these issues with him without getting the backlash of emotion he’s giving you.”
“Anything would be appreciated at this point, Ryan.”
“Try to clear your head as best as you can, then take an early day. I want you walking out of this office by four.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Positive. Take the remaining hour and treat yourself to something. Take care of yourself, Kylie, because it’s obvious my son isn’t.”
He spat that last part a little more forcibly than I figured he wanted to judging by the crinkling of his nose. Then he dismissed me with a nod before he got back to work. I felt good about him talking to Adam. Maybe he could talk some sense into his son so we could all move forward. I got up from the seat and headed back to my office, closing my door behind me and leaning against it.
I felt a little better, but not much better. There was something in the air I couldn't explain, but it didn’t feel right.
It felt good, but it didn’t feel right.
Adam
I knew the second my father asked me out for drinks that something was up. He never asked me out for drinks without Kylie unless he wanted to talk about something serious. In the back of my mind, I panicked. What did my father want to talk about? Was everything okay? Had something already happened with Kylie at the gaming company? I finished filming earlier than I wanted to so I could prepare myself for whatever it was my father wanted to address.
Then I went to meet him at the bar.
“Hey, Dad,” I said as I embraced him for a hug.
“Hello, Son.”
“I have to admit, you’ve got me a little worried,” I said as I hiked my leg up to sit in the tall chair. “It’s been a while since we’ve met up outside the dinners between you and myself and Kylie.”
“How’s the filming coming along?” he asked.
“It’s going well. I’ve put a pin in the Sundance film for now since we have to run it through a test audience this weekend, so I’m working on a short horror flick to add to our YouTube account.”
“How’s that coming along?”
“Good. Today was the first day of filming, which is always a waste. Actors and actresses are finding their chemistry on film and the set isn’t quite right for the scene. Things like that. It’s more logistics than actual filming.”
“Sounds productive.”
“It is. So what brings just the two of us out? I almost invited Kylie out of habit before I remembered you specifying it was just the two of us.”
“That’s what I want to talk with you about,” he said.
“You’ll have to be a little more specific. A lot was said in those last statements.”
“How is your relationship with Kylie?” he asked.
A whiskey neat was set in front of my father before a bottled beer settled in front of me.
“Why?” I asked. “Has she said something to you?”
“No, but I know you, and I know Kylie. So I know something’s going on.”
“Nothing’s going on,” I said.
“I’m your father, Adam. I know when you’re not well. And you’ve been with Kylie long enough for me to know when she’s not well. She’s actually held herself together quite well, not allowing her emotions to get in the way of work.”
“Sounds like her,” I said with a murmur.
“But I also know you don’t like to talk about how you’re feeling.”
“So what?” I asked.
“The mark of a man is being able to admit his emotions when the time requires it.”
“And you think that time is now?”
“I think you’ll lose an independent woman like Kylie if you don’t,” he said.
I grabbed my beer and took two long pulls as his words forced their way into my mind.
“She wants to move in together,” I said.
“Do you not want that?” my father asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I really don’t.”
“It’s the logical next step.”
“Why does everyone abide by logical next steps? Why does everything always have to constantly be changing? Why can’t someone settle into a rhythm with someone and just let it ride?”
“Because life isn’t a stalemate, Adam. Life is about improving, moving forward, progressing.”
“You sound like Kylie.”
“No, I sound like the rest of the world,” he said. “Why are you so hesitant to take that next step with her? She’s good for you.”
“Why the hell is everyone wanting us to move in together all of a sudden?”
“Maybe you should take a look at the fact that I’m apparently not the only one bringing it up,” he said.
“No, you’re not. First Sawyer, then Kylie, and now you. Are you sure the two of you haven’t talked or something?”
“Positive,” he said.
I wasn’t sure I believed him.
/> “The only thing Sawyer and I want is the best for you. For the both of you. Kylie’s a great girl and you’re an outstanding young man. I can see how stuck the two of you are.”
“Stuck?” I asked. “I’m not stuck with Kylie. I love her.”
“Then act like it. Communicate with her. Talk to her. Don’t hide away from what you want because you’re concerned about the outcome once the two of you talk.”
I put my beer to my lips to give myself time to collect my thoughts.
“I know what Kylie wants,” I said.
“She knows what she wants too.”
“And that’s the issue. There’s no compromising with her. It’s either moving in and marriage and kids or nothing at all.”
“Why is that a problem?” my father asked.
“Because relationships are about compromise, right?”
“Yes—compromising on bath towel colors, not children.”
“You’re one to talk,” I said.
“Yes, you were a surprise to me and your mother, but I did right by her. I loved your mother, and when she told me she was pregnant with you, I married her. I dropped down onto one knee right there and committed the rest of my days to her. That’s what men do when they love a woman, Adam. You say you love Kylie, but your actions don’t say that.”
“Why? Because I won’t move in with her?”
“No. Because you’d rather keep her on a string and dangle a possible future in front of her so you can bypass the fact that you might not want that same future and risk losing her altogether.”
My eyes hardened on my father while he sipped his drink.
“I’ll talk with her,” I finally said.
“Good. And make it sooner rather than later. I raised you to be better than this. Don’t prove me wrong.”
The two of us finished our drinks in silence before he threw some money down for the tab. That was my dad, always throwing around his money to make himself seem more powerful. But I knew what my mother had done to him had broken him more than anything Kylie could ever do to me. My mother had cheated on that man more times than he could count. He gave her his world and she stomped on it the second the two of them got married. No prenuptial agreement. Nothing to keep his money in place. Then she pawned me off on him five years later and ran of with some other nameless man, unloading millions of my father’s money into her own personal bank accounts.
Which meant if my father thought something was wrong, then something was obviously wrong.
I pulled up to Kylie’s studio apartment and made my way to her door. I knocked on it and watched it swing open before her beautiful face came into view. She was an angel, and every time I looked into her eyes, the worries of the world melted away.
“Let’s give this a shot,” I said.
She furrowed her brow before she looked down at her watch.
“What are you talking about? It’s almost midnight, Adam.”
“Moving in. Let’s give it a shot. I can easily cut my lease and you can easily cut yours. I’ll pull some money out of the production company to—”
Kylie came barreling into my arms and pressed kiss after kiss into my neck. I buried myself into her, picking her up as I walked her into her apartment. If this was what it took to keep her in my life, then I would do it. I would move in with her, live alongside her, and solidify our relationship if it meant I didn't have to let my muse go. Because that was what Kylie had become. I saw my success in her eyes whenever I looked down into them. I saw us standing side by side at film festivals, celebrating the success of my projects. I saw every idea outlined in the curves of her skin and smelled every character between the depth of her thighs.
“Are you serious?” she asked in a whisper.
I set her back down on her feet and brought her eyes to meet mine.
“Very,” I said. “Let’s take the leap. Let’s move in with each other.”
“Oh my gosh, Adam. Thank you so much.”
“Anything to see you happy, Kylie. I’d do anything for it.”
I crooked my fingers underneath her chin and brought her lips to mine. Her decadent curves fell into the strength of my arms as I kicked back my leg and shut her front door. I backed her all the way to the edge of her bed. It sat in the middle of her apartment where her living room should have been. But the damn place was so fucking small that she couldn’t fit regular furniture in it. The feeling of her tongue swiping against mine set my toes on fire. Her hands tangling in the tresses of my hair sent electricity jolting through my body. I lowered her to the bed and tugged at her robe, smoothing the fabric back to reveal the soft body I had called home for longer than I’d called anything in my life by the same name.
Then I slid my tongue across the roof of her mouth and felt her hips roll into mine.
Kylie
It felt so good to have him in my arms again, to feel his body pressed against mine on my bed. My lips swelled against his as my hands drifted down his back, fisting his shirt to get it over his head. He cupped my breast while his thumb massaged my nipple to its engorged peak. Electricity shot through my body, sizzling me from head to toe. His lips grazed down my neck. He sucked at my pulse point. I rolled into him, wanting to feel more of him as we stripped each other of our barriers, of the things that had been holding us back for weeks.
“You have no idea how happy you’ve made me,” I said breathlessly.
He kissed every part of my breasts before rising to look me in the eyes.
“It’s been way too long since I’ve felt you, Kylie. You have no idea how badly I want you.”
“Then take me, Adam. I’m yours,” I said.
His lips crashed back to mine and I rolled him over onto his back. I rushed down his body, my fingertips falling into the divots of his taut muscles. I felt him pulse underneath me. He groaned and gasped as my lips traveled down the washboard of his abs. My tongue traced those lines I loved on him before it disappeared into the crook of his thigh, forcing his legs wide open. His cock throbbed against his pelvis. It leaked for me as I nuzzled my nose against it. I wrapped my lips around it and encompassed him in my warmth, moaning when he reached down and fisted my hair.
“So long. Too long, Kylie. Suck that cock.”
I hollowed out my cheeks and felt his legs quiver against my face.
“Holy shit, that’s it. Don’t stop.”
I ran my fingernails up his sides and felt him cave to me. I felt his beautiful body become putty in my glorious hands. My tongue ran around the tip of his dick, lapping up his precum as it dripped over the edge. He tasted like home, smelled like home, felt like home in ways I couldn't imagine. I found his free hand and interlocked our fingers as his hips rolled into my face.
Then he pulled me from his cock before he could explode down my throat.
He tossed me facedown on the bed and lifted my hips. I reached back for him, begging for any part of him I could feel. His cock slid between my dripping pussy lips as he coated himself in me, then pressed between walls that fluttered around his intrusion. I fisted the sheets of my bed as he bore down on my hips. He sank into me as electricity filled my gut. My legs grew weak. Tears of joy sprang to my eyes. I’d missed this, the intimacy and the passion and the rawness of how we felt.
“I love you,” Adam said in a whisper. “I love you, Kylie.”
He slid back out and slammed in, causing me to moan out into the room. A tear trickled down the side of my face as his hand reached for mine. He bent over me, slapping his skin against mine as our fingers laced. His balls smacked my clit as my arousal dripped down the inside of my legs. His lips kissed every divot in my back. His stubble raked along my skin and pulled goose bumps from my body. I trembled against him as I bucked back, swallowing his cock down with my pussy as fast as I could.
Then he rose and gripped my hips before he slid out of my body.
He flipped me over onto my back before his lips crashed into mine. He grabbed my hands, pinning them above my head. He slid in without a s
econd thought, and my legs curled around him. Wrapped around his strong body I had missed for so many weeks, I came alive underneath him. I breathed his every pant and took in the way his sweat dripped from his brow to my neck. He kept kissing me as his hips pounded into mine. He kept whispering how much he loved me as his cock swelled against my walls.
“I love you, Adam,” I said. “I love you so much.”
My back arched and my pussy exploded and everything around me silenced. I pulsed around his dick, shivering against his body as my tits pressed into the swelling of his chest. He bit down on my shoulder, fucking me through my orgasm as my legs dropped to the bed. He slid his hands down my arms before dipping down to kiss my breasts, to suck on my nipples and draw faceless pictures on my stomach.
As I plummeted to the bed, his eyes grew dark.
He hooked his arms around the bends of my legs and folded me in half. My eyes bulged as his dick pressed farther into me, raking against my beautiful spot. He always found it, every single time. He pulled himself up and plunged back in as groans fell from my lips. I couldn't speak, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t do anything but focus on him, Adam. He was the love of my life, with his sparkling blue eyes and his devious smile and the sweat of his efforts dripping from the tips of his wet hair.
“Come for me, Kylie. Do it again. Let me feel you.”
The sound of skin slapping skin filled the small space of my studio apartment as my body rose to the occasion. My nails curled into his strong forearms, feeling them pulse with sexual energy. Tears rose in my eyes as I reached up for his lips, encompassing them as his cock thickened against my walls. He filled me in ways I’d never experienced, in ways no man had ever filled me before. Our tongues battled for dominance as he rolled deeper into my body, and I felt my pussy building, throbbing, rippling and massaging. His trimmed curls grazed my clit and sent my body back to the bed as my vision began to tunnel.
“Adam. Adam. Oh shit. Oh no. Oh yes. Don’t stop. Yes, Adam. I love you. I love you so much.”
My back arched and my body quaked as his face fell into the crook of my neck. I gasped for air as pleasure barreled over my body. My toes curled so badly my legs cramped, and I felt my pussy pulling Adam even deeper than I expected to feel him. He grunted into my skin, groaned and cursed underneath his breath. I slid my hands up his arms and wrapped myself around him as he stilled, spilling himself into my body.
