He moved to the door, fisting his hands at his side so he wouldn’t drag Lucinda out with him.
“It was nice to meet you, Theo. Have a good flight back to Minnesota,” Mrs. Chatman said, pulling the door open. This woman explained everything about his brat. Jesus. No wonder.
He needed to regain some control here. “Oh, I’m not leaving yet, Mrs. Chatman.” He glanced in Lucinda’s direction. She was still immobilized in the stifling living room among dark antique furnishings that belonged in a museum instead of a home, but at least she was looking at him. He winked. “I’ll call you later this evening, Lucinda. We’ll have dinner.”
Her mom pulled the door wider. “Lucinda will be preparing dinner for her father.”
He smiled wide back at her. Shark to shark. “Tomorrow then. Even servants get time off.”
Then before she could say anything else, he strode from the front porch and back to his rental. This situation was a bigger problem than he expected, but Theo would not let that keep him from bringing his brat back home where she belonged.
»»•««
Theo had been in town for four days, and she’d barely seen him. Sure, he came to the house every single day, but suddenly all her mom’s previous commitments had disappeared, and she was present to dismiss him. Over and over again.
Theo took it all in stride, but Lucinda was sure he’d leave soon. Why would he stay?
Her mother was rude, condescending, and a genuine bitch. Why Theo continued to put up with it was beyond her.
The most embarrassing thing was when her mother had outwardly made it perfectly clear that it was inappropriate for Lucinda to keep close friends of another race. Another race. She had suggested, right in front of Theo, that the two of them should not waste their time developing a “friendship” with someone not of “their own kind.” Lucinda had nearly died, her face heating up to a level that left her almost faint.
Theo had said nothing. In fact, after the first time he came to the house and faced off with the formidable Barbara Chatman, he hardly spoke to her mother at all. He came to see Lucinda and left when the air got too thick in the house. He didn’t respond to the woman’s jibes ever. He would simply smile and say, “I’m sorry you feel that way, Mrs. Chatman.” And then he would squeeze Lucinda’s hand or forearm or thigh in silent support.
Every scene with her mother hovering was exhausting.
This morning, Daddy had a fever, and she’d brought him to the hospital where they decided he needed to stay so they could monitor the fever. She was in the waiting room filling out paperwork when her phone pinged.
Theo: You’re not at home. Are you hiding from me again, brat?
Lucinda smiled and texted back.
Lucinda: Took Daddy to the hospital with a fever. They think it’s just a side effect of the chemo, but they want to keep an eye on him here until the fever breaks.
Theo: Does that mean you have some free time?
She nibbled at her lip. She should stay with her dad. But she’d been with him twenty-four/seven since she landed in Atlanta. She could take a few hours off.
Lucinda: I might have a few hours. Let me just tell my sister-in-law to come relieve me.
The phone call with Emma left Lucinda feeling as if she’d bathed in motor oil. Emma seemed almost too giddy about her father-in-law in the hospital, but then was equally put out about having to come visit him. Lucinda listened to her martyr act for a full ten minutes before Emma finally agreed to come. Lucinda didn’t call her mom at all. No sense in alerting the queen bee that one of her workers was taking a break.
Outside of his hotel room door, Lucinda couldn’t stop the huge smile from cracking her face. He’d come for her. He wasn’t going to leave. She almost wished she had her whip to hand to him, but it’d been so long since they’d been together, she figured they could improvise a bit.
He flung open the door wearing low-slung jeans and nothing else. He dragged her into the room and pressed her against the door, devouring her mouth as if he were a man traveling the desert and she was the first bit of water he’d had in days.
She dueled tongues with him and whimpered into his mouth. Needing him. Needing more. Needing everything she was feeling to seep out of her so she could just exist in this moment without any fears or worries or obligations.
It had been too long since she’d been in his arms. Leaving her apartment and quitting her job to move back to Atlanta seemed like an eternity ago.
She needed to forget, if only for a few minutes.
Thank God Theo knew just what she craved. “Clothes off,” he demanded, but instead of stepping back to watch her strip for him as he normally would do, he grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head himself. His hands wasted no time going for the button of her jeans next, and then he kneeled in front of her and pulled off her shoes.
She gasped as he grabbed her around the waist, tossed her on the bed, and tugged her jeans and thong off in one fluid movement. In just her lace bra, she stared up at him. Her entire body shook with need. Her clit pulsed, and she squeezed her legs together against the longing.
“Spread your legs, Lucy. Let me see you.” As he spoke, he removed his own clothes, dropping them haphazardly on the floor with hers. And then he climbed onto the bed, shoving her farther back, and buried his face between her legs so fast he startled her.
She grabbed his shoulders and braced herself against him as he jabbed his tongue into her pussy and lapped at her. Her eyes rolled back, and she tipped her head toward the ceiling to concentrate on the feel of his mouth on her.
He pressed her thighs open wider and lifted his face.
She could feel his breath on her wet skin, cooling her heated pussy. When she tipped her head down, she found him smiling.
“Do you have any idea how sexy you are like this?”
“Like what?” she breathed, willing him to stop talking and keep licking.
“Needy. Open. Wanton.”
She licked her lips, but said nothing.
“Have you been touching yourself in your parents’ house, brat?”
She swallowed hard. She had. Late at night when she finally had some time alone, she would masturbate to images of Theo fucking her. It was all she had. She nodded.
“Show me.” His simple statement in the calmest of voices unnerved her.
He sat back, righting himself between her legs, forcing them to remain open around his body. “Touch yourself.”
Of all the things they’d done together, masturbating for him hadn’t been on the list. She had no idea why she felt a sudden shyness swoop over her, but she did. Her hand shook as she reached between her legs and drew one finger through her wetness. She moaned at the contact. She’d been so close to the edge from the moment he’d taken her in his mouth that it wasn’t hard to shoot right back to that precipice.
Needing more, she closed her eyes, let her mouth fall open, and flicked her clit. She even engaged her other hand to hold the hood back.
“Look at me, brat. Don’t hide.” His commanding voice made her flinch.
When she lowered her gaze, she found him concentrating on her pussy, his own cock held loosely in his grip, stroking slowly up and down.
He lifted his eyes to hers. “Keep going. I want to watch you come.”
This was not how she wanted to come right now. She wanted him to fuck her—hard. Take the sting away from her current disaster of a life. But she bit her lower lip between her teeth when he glared harder at her and then lifted one eyebrow, seemingly testing her ability to hold her tongue and not challenge him.
She pinched her clit between two fingers and thrust the pointer of her other hand into her pussy, digging her heels into the bed and lifting her ass up a few inches at how good it felt to masturbate with him watching. Commanding her with his look.
She added a second finger inside her and thrummed over her clit rapidly, needing the contact in both places, stroking over her G-spot with every thrust.
So c
lose.
She inhaled sharply and held her breath in that moment right before she came, her eyes falling shut without her permission.
Theo grabbed both her hands, tugged them over her head, and held them tight as he thrust into her so fast he shocked her. He fucked her hard, digging in deeper with each rapid stroke of his cock.
She shattered, coming around his intrusion before she could stop herself.
Luckily, Theo didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he was lost in his own state of bliss, setting his forehead against hers while he continued to thrust, harder with each pass.
She craved the intensity. She wanted to wrap her arms around him and grab on. Hold him in her hands. Dig her nails into his back, his ass, his thighs. He wouldn’t release her hands, no matter how hard she tugged.
“Stop struggling, brat.” He pursed his lips and slammed into her again.
When she stopped resisting, every nerve in her pussy came alive, another orgasm rising to the surface. Concentrating on the feeling, she relaxed her arms in his grip and lifted her hips into his thrusts.
“That’s it. Come with me, brat.”
Her eyes fluttered.
“Eyes on me,” he commanded with a grunt.
She met his gaze, their faces inches away. His lips were tucked between his teeth, and he seemed to be holding on by a thread.
“Now, Lucy. Come.”
At his demand, her pussy gripped his cock and pulsed around his thickness. She moaned around the sensation as he thrust deep into her one more time and held steady, emptying his own orgasm into her depths.
For long moments, he stayed imbedded inside her. He released her hands, but held himself over her by his elbows. Finally, when she was able to draw air without gasping, he rolled to his back, taking her with him and managing to remain lodged inside her.
As she settled over his torso, her knees to the mattress on both sides, he cupped her face and brushed her hair away to hold it in one hand behind her head. “I love you, Lucy.”
She stared at him. She’d said those words to him only once.
Tears slipped from her eyes. She couldn’t hold herself up, and she didn’t want to. She wanted to maximize their skin-to-skin contact. So she lifted off his cock and snuggled into his side, wrapping her arm around his waist and thanking God she’d gotten so lucky to have won the heart of this man who seemed to be in it for the long haul.
Chapter Seventeen
Theo brushed tears from her cheek and pulled her into him so her head rested on his chest. For everything they’d done together, this had brought him closer than he’d ever felt. It was an emotional connection, and his heart thumped hard in his chest that he’d somehow managed to find this woman and she’d agreed to be his.
“I want you to tell me everything, sweetheart. I’ve figured your mom out already. She’s gotten herself some slave labor through tossing out words like family obligation. But what about the rest? Where’s your brother and sister-in-law?”
Lucinda sighed. “They’re here, obviously. But I feel like they’re just vultures waiting for Daddy to kick it. Emma, my sister-in-law, has this whole agenda about ensuring my brother inherits the business.”
Theo raised his head. “Would that be a problem?”
Lucinda shrugged. “Well, he’ll run it into the ground. I don’t really care. It’s not my money, and I never would consider it mine. But Daddy worked really hard to ensure the furniture store remained successful and even grew for the last fifty years, and it breaks my heart that it won’t be around anymore.”
Theo nodded and traced his fingers down her spine. He hadn’t left any marks. Her pale skin was perfect porcelain, and there was something reverential about that. As if it was waiting for him.
“What would you like to happen with the business?”
Lucinda looked up at him. “Daddy has a partner—Walter Layton. Ever since it became clear my brother didn’t have a knack for it, Walter took over the financial side and Daddy worked operations. I wish he could buy Daddy out. I suspect Daddy wishes it too, if all the things he’s been mumbling at me when we’re alone together is any indication.”
Theo nodded. “Could I meet him? Your dad?”
She grinned. “Do you want to?”
“Of course, brat. Why wouldn’t I? I figure since I’ve made you mine, it’s high time I meet the whole family.”
“Am I yours?”
He swatted her ass, and his heart thunked at the splash of pink that emerged. “Don’t ask silly questions, brat. You know you are. Now let’s get dressed and go talk to your dad.”
“He might still be out of it from the fever.”
Theo nodded. “That’s okay. I’d still like to meet him.”
»»•««
As it turned out, Lucinda’s dad was in better form than she’d seen him for the past week. Maybe it was the IV fluids, or maybe it was being out of the cavernous house, but he smiled when Lucinda and Theo walked in, and his eyes showed life for the first time in forever.
Emma put down the magazine she’d been reading in the corner and stood up, thrusting her chest out and smiling ridiculously at Theo. “Who’s this?”
“Theo, this is my sister-in-law Emma. Emma, this is my friend Theo.”
“Friend?” he said in a low voice beside her.
What was she supposed to say, though? This is the guy who just fucked me six ways to Sunday, and I want to spend the rest of my life with him? Emma rushed forward and simpered at Theo’s big hands and “all those muscles.” Lucinda held in a snort at how quickly Theo wrapped a protective arm around her, as if he needed to protect her from her ridiculous sister-in-law.
When Emma finally huffed out a goodbye, Lucinda brought Theo forward and introduced him to her dad.
“Daddy, this is my boyfriend, Theo. He lives in Minneapolis.”
Her dad’s eyes widened. “I didn’t know you had a boyfriend, Lucy sweetheart.”
She smiled. “It’s pretty new.”
Her dad nodded, but then said, “Serious enough for him to come for a visit, though.”
Theo moved a chair closer to the bed and guided Lucinda to sit. He propped himself on the edge of the chair and turned his attention to Daddy.
“Yes, serious enough for a visit.”
“You come here with intentions, son?”
Theo smiled. “Mostly the intention to get her back home as soon as possible.”
Daddy’s shoulders slumped. “She’s leaving me again?”
Lucinda reached forward to take Daddy’s hand. “No. I’m here for you. I promised I would stay, and I’m staying.”
“But not for good?”
She shook her head. “My life isn’t here anymore.”
Her dad let out a sigh. “What’s going to happen to my business then?” His voice cracked at the end, and she almost blurted out a promise to stay. Almost. But Theo’s thigh pressed against her side was enough to make her hold her tongue.
“Well,” Theo started. “I’m a securities broker, but I know a little something about business.”
The next twenty minutes were astonishing to Lucinda. She knew Theo was smart; he had to be to have gotten where he was. But she had no idea just how smart until he started discussing options with her father. Daddy seemed to lighten with each word Theo said, and by the time Lucinda walked Theo to the hospital exit, her own heart was lighter.
“Will that all really work?” she asked, lacing her fingers with his.
“He’ll need to talk to his lawyer. It’s better if he does it sooner rather than later. But yeah, it’ll work.”
She nodded. “I’ll call the lawyer when I get back to the room.” She grinned. “Emma’s going to be so pissed.”
He laughed. “More than when you blew her dad at the beauty pageant?”
Her grin widened more. “Toss up.”
He pulled her into a hug and placed a kiss on her forehead. “I need to go back to the Cities soon. I’ve been away from work too long.”
Her hea
rt clenched. “I know. I can’t…”
He kissed her again. “I know. I’ll come back every weekend. As much as I can.”
She shook her head. “You don’t have to.”
“Brat. Stop.” Her mouth snapped shut, and he kissed her soundly. “I’ll come back. And we’ll work this out. But I need you to do something for me.”
“Yes, Master,” she whispered into his mouth.
“I’m going to give you a list of toys to buy. I assume you didn’t bring any from home?”
She shook her head.
“You’re going to need them if we’re going to be playing long distance for the near future.”
She grinned wide. “I did like that plug.”
He swatted her ass and kissed her nose again. “Okay. I’ll make sure it’s on the list.”
»»•««
Her dad had been back home from the hospital for a week, and the days were starting to blend together. She talked to Theo every night when he’d gotten home from work or the dojo. Sweet things or dirty things, but always it didn’t feel like enough. Every day, she wondered if this was the day he’d give up on her. He’d decide that, really, they barely knew each other. It wasn’t real love. Not after such a short time. Her heart ached for him, but maybe it was just the sex? Maybe it was finding someone who made her feel like she wasn’t broken?
Her phone buzzed.
“Theo?”
“Sweetheart. You busy?”
“No. Mama’s at the grocery store and then the salon and Daddy’s sleeping.”
“How’s he been?”
“Well, weaker, to be honest. But he seems more content. He told me his lawyer was taking care of things, whatever that means.”
“Good. Now. Go to your room and get the clamp vibe out.”
She shuddered, frozen to her spot. Could she do it? Play with herself in her father’s house?
At her hesitation, Theo lowered his voice. “Do it, brat. Stop hesitating when I give you an order.”
She padded upstairs and peeked into her father’s room. He was sound asleep. Snoring even. So she continued on to her own room—the same room she’d occupied as a child, although her mother had totally renovated it and turned it into a luxurious guest room about ten minutes after Lucinda had moved away.
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