“Only women,” she replied briskly.
“Shame,” he muttered with a smile. “I wouldn’t mind a three-way.”
OH, MY GOD.
I stopped in front of the door, debating not even knocking and taking Dad home. I loved him, but he still took me by surprise when he acted this way sometimes.
Three-way? I would have laughed at the way he said it if it hadn’t been my dad that said it. Did I think he was just talking about a phone call? No, he was not, so why did he have to go and word it like that.
I snorted. I quickly covered my mouth because I was very much laughing when I said I wouldn’t. I looked over at Mom and Sarah rather apologetically, but Mom was holding back her own laughter.
She grinned over at Dad. “There he is,” she whispered softly. “I’ve missed you this way, ya know?” I saw real sincerity in Mom’s expression. “Maybe not a three-way, but you should date. Hell, with your beer belly gone, you could probably pick up a young one.”
Dad ran his hand over his stomach and demonstrated his charm for Mom. “You could always come to me when you want to cheat, after all, you did on me.” His words were good-natured, but I still felt the chill of them.
“We’re engaged,” Mom said, holding up her hand to display for Dad. “Despite what you might think, I loved you… You just didn’t love us or yourself at the time.”
Dad covered his mouth with his hand and looked ahead instead of at any of us. “I loved us, Deb. I was just inside myself and it took one bad decision to sober me. I was an alcoholic. I don’t blame you for leaving.” He left his words there in the air between them. “But… I wasn’t kidding about the other part if you’re ever looking for a man again.”
“All right,” I interrupted him from going any further. “I’m knocking right now and once I knock, we appear to be somewhat normal, okay?”
“Can we just leave your Mom and her fiancée out here?” Dad surprised me by saying. I tilted my head to the side and peered up at him. “What? Faith doesn’t know Deb left me for a woman, does she?” he grumbled. “Like complaining about my yard wasn’t enough. We’re about to ammo her up.”
I couldn’t help but smirk. “A lesbian mother and her girlfriend, and a recovering alcoholic.” Mom snorted as I spoke. “We got this in the bag. Ain’t none of Benjamin’s girlfriends before me made such an impression as what we’re about to do.” My smile faltered. “This is a disaster.”
The front door opened. Faith was the one to greet us. She wore the friendliest smile until her eyes took us in. Now it didn’t go away—she just looked a little confused. “You remember my mom, right?” I asked her. “This is her fiancée, Sarah, and you already know Dad.”
“Fiancée?” She recovered quickly, maybe realizing she was showing too much surprise. “Come on, all of you. I need to get back to the grill before Benny burns our food.”
“Do you need help with anything?” I asked her.
“You can cut up the tomatoes and bring out the food and drinks in the fridge if you’d like.”
I nodded eagerly, pleased that she was being normal. “Yeah. I don’t mind at all.”
“We can help,” Mom offered.
“Where’s Ben?” Dad asked her.
“Outside,” Faith replied before leaning in as Dad walked by her. “Does, uh, Ben know your ex-wife is…?”
Dad looked down at her. “Oh yeah. He knows that I ran my wife into the arms of a woman with my drunkenness.”
He managed to pull another shocked expression from Faith before walking off. Mom laughed rather normally for her own dirty laundry to be brought to light. “You’re getting in on all our family drama,” Mom chirped like it was no big deal.
I felt a slight twitch in my eye. “Every family has it,” Faith said good-naturedly. She caught me smiling at her and returned it. Yeah, we had developed our relationship even further this past week with all the planning we had been doing. It was beautiful which made me feel silly that I worried about this. I could have told her sooner, but maybe she already knew. Then again, she had been too caught off-guard when she had seen Sarah, so Benjamin most likely never brought it up.
At the thought of him, my stomach blazed with heat and anticipation tingled my skin for someone that wasn’t even around me.
I was in the kitchen grabbing things to take outside when he found me. “There you are,” he murmured with affection as he moved up behind me and kissed my neck. I tilted my head to give him better access. “You like that, do ya?” He constantly asked me what I liked when I truly had no clue about the things I liked until he came along and showed my body what it had been missing.
“All right. Don’t forget we’re in the kitchen.” Mom laughed at Sarah’s declaration.
“Sorry, Sarah,” Benjamin said while squeezing me into his chest. I grabbed the tomato in front of me and started cutting it. “I can’t help myself.”
No kidding. My body buzzed with awareness. We used our bodies so much that I had a soreness between my legs that didn’t care if I needed a break when Benjamin was giving it orgasm after orgasm. Until it was over, and I had to walk around all day with the reminder of how thorough Benjamin loved me.
I was beginning to wonder if he could ever be sated for longer than an hour at a time… I hoped the answer to that would be never.
Once I finished cutting up the tomato, I tilted my head and gave him a kiss. I handed him the paper plate. “Will you carry the tomatoes and things out while I put the drinks in the cooler outside?”
“I’ll get the drinks,” he said. “You take the small stuff.”
“I already have the drinks,” Mom said, walking outside. “Come outside with us, Benjamin. We don’t know anyone. You gotta help us break the ice.”
He laughed. “You’re gonna be fine, guys. Mom acts vicious, but she’s a giant teddy to those that she loves.”
“Yeah, well, we aren’t on the love list,” Mom grunted.
“Not yet, but you birthed someone that’s making her way on that list.” I looked back to see him pointing his finger down at my head.
I smiled. “Give it time. She’s gonna love me more than you.” I stated boldly, enjoying the idea of his mom’s affection. I had grown to like Faith, and I couldn’t wait to become closer to her. He was right. She could be cold-hearted, but she was also very loyal and loving to those she cared about.
I wanted to be on that list one day.
Mom and Sarah gave him a smile before carrying the sodas and water outside. He squeezed my butt the moment they left the kitchen. “Do you have any idea how great your ass looks in that tight flowery dress?” he asked me.
“It is a bit snug,” I mumbled with a grin. “Your mom said it looked great on me though.”
“You look like I’d rather be alone with you than at this party with a bunch of single ladies,” he said, turning me around to face him. I wrapped my arms around him. “Don’t get freaked out, but I think maybe my mom is up to something, and it involves hooking your dad up with one of these widows or divorcées.”
He placed his arm around my shoulders as I grabbed two plates while he still held the one with tomatoes. We started walking toward the back door. “Leave her be.”
“You sound like you’re aware of what she’s up to,” he stated, looking down at me as we stepped out on the patio.
I shrugged my shoulders and slid his arm off my shoulders as I placed the plates on the table Faith had outside. I did know what his mom was up to. She told me she’d set Dad up without him knowing. As I looked around her backyard at all these women at her husband’s birthday party—which was supposed to be a family get-together of a few friends and family—she might have gone overboard a bit.
One of the women had already made her way over toward Dad and Ben talking and was smiling and eyeing Dad like he was a fresh piece of meat. I smiled and looked the other way… Hmm, Faith was bound to rub off on me so I might as well start now.
Sorry, Dad, this was for your own good…and mine as well.<
br />
I had been sneaky with Faith the last few days, and Benjamin had no idea what I was about to hit him with.
That hot August day spent celebrating Ben’s forty-fourth birthday quickly turned to evening as my mom and Sarah sat around with Faith and a few other ladies and actually got to know each other. I wished Ben a happy birthday but otherwise Benjamin and I kept to ourselves still too wrapped up in each other to really enjoy anything else, not that I minded.
Dad naturally talked to women at ease, and I saw in person how charming he could be. I searched for Mom, wanting to ask if this was what Dad was like before he turned to drinking, but when I caught her smiling at him, I kind of figured it out on my own. He was always going to be a bit damaged, but now I had a feeling he was truly okay. Someone would love him despite all his flaws just like I did. It was never too late to start over. My relationship with him was proof of that.
I understood why Mom left him, truly I did. Sarah was a good person, but I kind of felt sorry for my mom that day. She had wanted the man that was here with us today, but now life turned the tables and gave them something different. She was happy. I took in the way she leaned into Sarah’s shoulder and how Sarah picked up her left hand and kissed the ring on Mom’s finger. Faith watched too with a soft smile as she found her Ben and brought a kiss to his cheek, the most affectionate I had ever seen the two of them, but I had never seen them interact a lot so maybe they still had fire after all these years… Then there was my dad who I sniggered at as one of the women winked and slipped something in his front pocket. I thought something similar had happened earlier with a different woman. Our eyes met, and a knowing grin was shared between us before he slipped in next to Ben and Faith, obviously ruffling her feathers with the way she was visibly huffing at him from this distance.
My dysfunctional family was going to be okay, and I kind of loved us a lot more that day. From the outside looking in, maybe we looked pretty damn cool.
“Ready to go home?” Benjamin whispered into my ear as I sat on his lap.
I was so ready. Only our night was going to be a long one.
We said our goodbyes, and I shared a grin with Faith as I left with her son.
Chapter 37
________
Benjamin
By the time we were out the front door, Emily was dragging me. Both her hands gripped one of mine as she tugged me forward.
My Raptor was blocked in the driveway. “Shit, babe, hold up. I’m gonna have to go get them to let me out.”
“Don’t bother, you’re riding with me,” she replied with a smile.
I arched an eyebrow at her. “I can’t just leave it.”
“Yeah, you know,” she said quickly. “We’re not going back to the apartment, anyway.”
“Where are we going?”
“Charleston.” She opened the driver’s side door and finally looked at me.
“Charleston?” I croaked.
“Yeah, we’re scheduled to meet with a realtor come Monday, and she’s gonna show us a few houses to look at.”
I stopped her from climbing into the seat and twisted her around to face me. “Houses? What’s going on?”
“I know about the dealership your dad wants you to run. I also hope I understand your reason for not telling me about it.” She gave me a small hesitant smile that quickened my pulse. “It’s already late, so we’ll have to find a hotel once we get there,” she mumbled quickly, grabbing my arms. “One question, Benjamin, and this one matters most. Where you go, I follow, it’s as simple as that. The question is: do you want to leave this town? With me? Shit. That was kind of two questions.”
“I couldn’t ask you to go… How could I ask you to leave your dad?” I cupped her face with both hands and searched her face. “That’s why I didn’t bring it up. I was fine with staying here.”
“Fine?” she whispered. “So you do want to leave?”
I thought about having her all to myself. Us starting anew. Us being away from Roger and Kelly and all the faces of her past and mine. Yeah, I wanted to get the hell away. I wanted her, and I had her. I’d stay here and forever live the rest of my life here as long as I had her, but us getting away? I craved the idea of showing her more, letting her let me give her more, all on our own. The thought of her following had me feeling so damn choked up.
The idea had me greedy for more, more, more of her and us, and a lot less of everyone else.
Now, I finally thought of the job I’d get if we left and that was the real question she was asking me. I knew that. She didn’t want to know how much every choice I made or wanted was about her. No. This was about what else I wanted that wasn’t her.
And, I wanted it. She knew it. I knew it. I didn’t even have to ask to know how she found out.
“I want the job,” I told her, leaning closer. “You know I work best when I’m my own boss.” That worked a smile onto her face. “But mostly, I like the opportunities the job brings…” I ran my hand down her arm. “I want to start somewhere new with you. I want a life with just us. That probably makes me sound so fucking selfish, I know it does, but it’s the truth.” I stopped rubbing and gripped her arm instead. “How could I even ask you to leave? I wouldn’t have, Emily, because deep down I knew I wanted to be selfish and pack us up and leave…. And at the same time, I feared the idea of you not being into us, what we are, enough to leave with me.”
She held her eyes closed as I spoke and now she was tiptoeing and wanting her face closer to mine. I leaned down to help with the closeness she sought. “I’m with you, wherever you go. You’re my safe place. You’re the heat inside me, and the passion in my soul and the love in my heart. How could you not ask me to go?” Damn, she was killing me with that mouth, and the blessings disguised as words dripping from her lips.
She opened her eyes. I drowned in the green staring up at me. “You’d leave your dad?” I asked her, tipping her head upward by her chin.
“He’s doing great. I trust him to stay that way without me.”
Emily owned me, inside and out. The chaos I was feeling, the need to cry, wrap her in my arms, fuck her silly, and love her until my dying breath… I felt everything while hearing her speak.
“Are we going?” She waited for me to answer.
“I love you.” I breathed the words into her, right before I kissed her.
“Is that a yes?”
“What about college?”
“I switched all my classes to online this semester,” she answered quickly, nibbling on my bottom lip until I groaned.
“What about Crash’s?”
“That depends on what we find when we go.” I pulled her arms closer. “Benjamin, are we?”
“Let’s get a move on before I take you in my parents’ driveway,” I murmured into her ear. “Get in the passenger seat. I’ll drive.”
She squealed and ran around to climb in. I started the truck up and looked over at her. “If we do leave, it’ll just be me and you… Will you still look at me the same six months from now when you’re pulled from everything and everyone you know?”
“It’s only two hours away.” She laughed freeheartedly. “It won’t be hard to come and visit… Benjamin, when we were apart, I was miserable. When I told myself we were going to one day grow apart, I pretended it was normal and that my heart wasn’t secretly ripping to shreds in the process. I think my heart knew even when you were just a friend to me that you’re the only person I need and want. If I have to spend every day and night, every second with someone, I’d want no one else.”
“You must want to be fucked,” I said with a gaze that took in the curves wrapped in the dress she wore. Even so, I cherished the things she said.
“That mouth,” she whispered, squeezing her legs together.
“Yeah, it’s going to be all over you when we find a place to stay.”
She pulled out her cell phone from between her breasts. “I’ll start looking for a hotel.”
“Emily, have I mentioned how much I
love you today?”
“You have, but you can say it again if you want. Better yet, you can say it for the rest of our lives if you’d like.”
Chapter 38
________
Emily
Tonight would be our last night in the apartment. First thing in the morning, we were heading out to the house we had chosen a month ago. Our house. One that we had chosen together. We had fallen in love with the second house the realtor had shown us that Monday, and we hadn’t wanted to look at anymore, and Benjamin being, well Benjamin, he made sure we got it.
What were we doing on our last night in Wells, you wondered? Well…
I smiled as I placed earrings in. My hair was pulled back in a messy bun, so I figured the earrings were a must. I wore a dark pair of jeans and boots with a gray long sleeve shirt that revealed the shape of my breasts quite nicely.
We were going to Crash’s. My work family was throwing me a small get together before I left even though I had already quit two weeks ago. Katie and her husband were also going to be there since she managed to find a babysitter last minute when I told her about it right after hearing about it myself a couple of hours ago.
The floor creaked at the bathroom entrance as Benjamin leaned into the doorway. “Holy fuck, Emily.”
Thinking it was something bad, I jumped and turned around clutching my chest. “What?”
His heated gaze calmed my fear, but pumped another emotion into my veins in the process. “Your ass in those jeans…” I rolled my eyes and tried not to laugh as he started doing gorilla impressions behind me as he wrapped his arms around my stomach and kissed my neck. I closed my eyes and offered more of my neck. “I guess you do want to go to this party after all.”
I opened my eyes and studied his expression in the mirror. “Don’t you want to go?”
“Of course, I do.” Our reflections smiled at one another through the mirror. “I just kind of made plans for our last night in the apartment together but… I have all night so letting these poor saps see you one last time is a must since they’ll be the unfortunate ones that will only get to see you when we come back.”
Just Enough Page 21
