He laid a hand on my back and pressed lightly. I knew he was telling me to go inside. So I did.
Dawn practically ran into the entryway, and Carter was right behind her. Throughout the hugs and greetings, her yorkies raced around our feet, threatening to trip us or deafen us with their shrill barks. I’d crouched down to scratch one of the little devil’s ears, when she said, “I’m so excited to hear how this happened.”
I grimaced, certain I knew what “this” was even before I looked up and saw her gesture between Graham and me. We were so not telling that story, at least not the detailed version; maybe I could just make something up.
“We just hit it off at the wedding,” Graham said. “There’s not much to tell.”
How did he manage to say that so calmly? I would’ve stuttered and fumbled through some attempt to say anything other than the truth—that I’d propositioned him for kinky sex, because I was into dominant, older men.
Dawn smiled deviously. “I’m sure that’s not the whole story, but I’ll accept it for now. Come on, let’s get out of the foyer. I’ve got drinks and appetizers out on the back deck, and Felicity and Carter are trying to light the fire pit.”
“Mama, I told you we got it going,” Felicity huffed. “I finally made Carter listen to me.”
Carter glanced my way, and I made a slashing motion across my throat to discourage him from arguing with her.
When we stepped onto the deck, Felicity’s grandmother was there, seated on an old-fashioned metal glider sofa.
“Forgive me for not coming to greet you,” she said. “Once I get in this thing, I don’t get up again easily. Besides, somebody ought to watch this fire. Those youngins just ran off and left it.”
“Granny, it’s all contained in the fire pit,” Felicity protested.
“You should never leave a fire unattended.” Granny shook her head. “This is what comes of you quitting girl scouts.”
Dawn looked at Graham, since the rest of us knew this story. “The leader told her she couldn’t add fringe and sequins to her uniform, and she never went back.”
“Clearly she needed a place that allowed for more self-expression,” Graham said, but I could see how hard he was trying not to laugh.
“Mother,” Dawn said, “You remember Graham, Carter’s father, right?”
“I’m not senile. I saw the man two weeks ago at Felicity’s wedding, and it would be hard to forget a man who looks like that.” Granny looked him up and down and grinned.
I smirked at Graham, who obviously had no idea how to respond. Finally taking pity on him, I sat down next to Granny to divert her attention. “So, tell me how you’ve been.”
“Oh, I’ve been fine. Not doing much but fighting bugs and rabbits in the garden.”
We rocked gently as the others made small plates of hors d’oeuvres. Graham seemed content with me taking some time to chat with Granny while he talked to Carter. My mother’s mother died when I was a baby, and my father’s mother was as cold as the arctic sea, so I’d been thrilled when I met Granny. She’d treated me like her own grandchild ever since.
She leaned over and whispered, “You look amazing.”
“You like this look?” I gestured to my eye makeup. It was a wonder it wasn’t smeared all over my face, since Graham teased me while I put it on, stroking my cock, brushing his finger over my hole, generally working me into a frenzy, and then telling me we’d play more after dinner. The bastard.
She narrowed her eyes, studying me. “I do like that shade of eyeshadow on you, but I meant that you look happy, rested, like you’ve found your place in the world.”
I glanced up to see if Graham had heard her, but he was talking to Carter about a hike Carter and Felicity had done on their honeymoon.
“I… I really like him, Granny.”
“I can tell you do. And why wouldn’t you?”
“You don’t think it matters that he’s older?”
“Pish, what difference does that make if you’re happy?” She said it like it was so obvious. Maybe it was.
“I am happy. He’s everything I’ve been looking for.”
She laid her hand over mine. “Then hold onto him, dear.”
“Listen up, everyone,” Dawn called.
“Oh boy,” Granny said. “It’s her turn to be bossy.”
“Did she get it from her father?” Granny wasn’t afraid to speak her mind, but she didn’t have the managing tendencies of her daughter and granddaughter.
“She sure did,” Granny said. “But I knew how to put that man in his place when he got like that. Dawn married an asshole who couldn’t appreciate her, but I think Felicity’s got it right.”
I smiled, glancing over at Carter and Felicity. His arm was around her as she poked at the fire, which she hadn’t left alone for more than a minute. “I think she did. “
“And if you marry Graham, we’ll all be one crazy interconnected family.”
My pulse sped up until I felt breathless. Marry Graham? “Graham and I aren’t… I mean we haven’t really… It’s all new.”
“That man is head over heels for you. He’s staring at you right now like he wants to eat you up.”
Dawn had stopped talking, waiting for our attention so she could make her proclamation. Everyone else had gone silent too, and Granny’s words echoed over the deck.
I tried to think of something to say, but all that came out was “um…”
“I think I should have dinner first,” Graham said as though responding to a completely innocuous statement.
After some light and only slightly uncomfortable laughter, Dawn said, “We have chicken, hamburgers, and hot dogs for the grill, but I wanted to see who wants what.”
We all gave responses, and she tallied up the right amount of each item. “I’ll throw on some extra too, of course,” she added before turning to go inside.
“Would you like some help?” Graham asked.
“Oh, no. You’re a guest.”
Felicity started to follow Dawn. “I’ll help.”
“That’s probably not a good idea,” I said. Felicity and her mom working together on things tended not to end well.
Dawn nodded. “You will not. I don’t need you meddling. If you insist on doing something, you can refill everyone’s drinks.”
Felicity glared at me, and I knew I was going to pay for that.
When we were all seated with our plates and Granny had said grace, Felicity gave me an evil grin. “Did you hurt yourself, Avery?”
“What? No.”
“Huh. I noticed you seemed to be having trouble sitting down.”
Holy shit, she didn’t. “No… um… the dogs. They were under the table, and I was trying not to step on them. That’s all.”
“Really?” She glanced pointedly at the dogs who were frisking out on the lawn. “I thought maybe Graham had—”
“Felicity.” Everyone jumped at Carter’s sharp tone.
“See,” Granny said. “I told you he was the right one. He seems all mild and easygoing, but he’s not afraid to call her out when she goes too far.”
“I have not—”
“I didn’t mean—”
Felicity and Carter’s words ran over each other. Then Felicity gave me a sickeningly sweet smile. “Those dogs really can be trouble when they get underfoot.”
As if to deliberately make the evening more impossible, Graham picked up his hot dog and wrapped his lips around it. Did he really have to choose a hot dog?
“Is something wrong, Avery?” Felicity asked, still using her sweet Southern girl voice.
“What? No.” I was suddenly sweating. despite the cool evening breeze.
“You aren’t eating.”
“Oh, I was just… thinking.”
Granny snorted. “Probably praying for his man to take him home, so he won’t have to deal with more of this insanity.”
That made Graham nearly choke on his hot dog, which only made the situation worse.
Wait a minute.
Hadn’t he said he wanted chicken when Dawn asked? I scowled at Felicity. This was her doing. I was sure of it. I glanced around. Carter had chicken on his plate when he’d asked for a hot dog. She’d switched them, and Graham was too polite to complain and Carter probably didn’t want to get into it with her.
“I thought maybe something had caught your attention,” Felicity said.
“Felicity, leave him alone so he can eat,” Dawn said.
“But he’s not eating, that’s why I was concerned.”
“I regret that you’re too old for me to send you to your room, and I doubt you have that kind of relationship with Carter.”
She frowned. “What kind?”
“The kind where he spanks you,” Dawn said.
Carter’s eyes went wide and he made a strangled noise like some chicken had lodged in his throat.
Granny pushed herself up from her chair. “Dammit, Dawn, you may have killed him now, and she’ll never find another man as nice as he is.”
“What are you doing?” Dawn asked as Granny moved behind Carter.
“Giving him that Heimlich thingy so he doesn’t choke to death.”
“No,” Carter managed to get out between sputtering coughs. “I’m okay.”
I looked over at Graham. His face was nearly as red as Carter’s.
“Do you need to get out of here?” I whispered to him.
“No. We… we better stay.”
“I promise it’s not always this bad.” That was a lie, but I didn’t want him convinced his son had married into a family of lunatics.
“Avery and Graham, why don’t you tell us the whole story of how you got together?” Dawn smiled brightly as if she hadn’t just nearly killed her son-in-law and embarrassed the rest of us.
“Um…” Think of something. Anything that doesn’t have to do with kinky sex.
Carter, having finally stopped coughing, tried to rescue us. “Like my dad said, they met at the wedding and hit it off, so they decided to go out.”
“The bride’s best friend and the father of the groom. There has to be more to the story. It’s like something from a movie.”
“I didn’t know he was Carter’s dad when I met him,” I blurted out. “Once I realized who he was, I thought maybe I shouldn’t ask him out, but at the reception, I realized he felt the same way, and so here we are.” Asking him out wasn’t exactly what I’d wanted to do, but I wasn’t going to tell them I’d wanted to drag him to the nearest empty room and beg him to fuck me.
Dawn frowned. “I still think you’re leaving a lot out.”
“Only things that would be impolite to discuss at the dinner table,” Graham said.
Carter started going red again. “We, um… we know all we need to.”
“For now,” Dawn said, her tone ominous.
“For good,” Graham insisted, using the authoritative tone that was so fucking hot I had to quickly think of horrible things like poorly dyed hair and clumpy mascara to keep my cock from getting excited.
“Fine, but you two are no fun,” Felicity said.
Granny winked at me. “I bet they’re a whole lotta fun when no one else is around.”
Carter groaned and dropped his head into his hands. I wanted to offer him another drink. He’d certainly chosen a challenging family to join.
For the rest of dinner, the conversation only skirted the edges of embarrassing or inappropriate. When most of our plates were empty, Dawn glanced around. “Is everyone ready for lemon cake?”
“Yes, please!” I said. Then in a stage whisper I told Graham, “Once you taste this cake, you’ll think the evening was worth it.”
Dawn brought each of us a piece, and the sound Graham made when he had his first bite was even better than the cake itself. “This is amazing.”
Dawn beamed. “Thank you.”
“It really is,” I said. “Thank you for making it for me.”
“Any time. You know I love making you happy.”
I was happy, but not just because of the cake. I was surrounded by people who loved me, people who were more of a family than my biological one had ever been. And now I had Graham too. He squeezed my leg, and I let myself watch as he brought another bite to his mouth. I took his hand and squeezed back. I’d been content knowing I had Felicity and her mom and Granny, but Graham was something I’d needed for a long time. I was so lucky to have found him.
***
Monday morning came way too soon. I didn’t want Graham to leave, but I was starting to worry because kissing goodbye had turned into fucking goodbye, and Graham had said he had to leave early.
“Weren’t you supposed to be on the road already?” I asked as I drew circles on his chest.
He sighed. “Yeah, but I was just thinking I could probably manage another day working from here.”
I sat up and looked down at him. “I won’t let you screw up your business for me. We’ll talk tomorrow night and—”
He flipped me under him and pinned my wrists to the mattress. “I don’t want to only see you on a screen for the next ten days.”
I bit my lip to hold in a whimper. I loved him going all dominant like this. “I wish you could come back this weekend.”
“Me too, but I have to meet with developers and look at some properties.”
I stuck my lip out. I hadn’t meant to be bratty, but going ten days from the wedding until he’d come to visit had felt like torture.
“Avery.” He was warning me not to push further.
“Sorry, Daddy.”
“I certainly could find time to spank you, even if I have to cancel my first meeting.”
I sucked in my breath, and my cock responded as Graham thrust against me.
“You like that idea.”
“Maybe.” I laughed as I arched into him, rubbing my cock against his.
“I have another idea I think you’ll like.” He rolled to his side and propped himself on his elbow.
“What is that?”
“I want to fuck you bare. I want to see my cum dripping from your ass.”
I groaned, barely resisting reaching for my cock. “Can we?”
He held my gaze. “If we do, then it’s just me and you, no fucking anyone else.”
“I don’t want anyone but you. I haven’t since our first night.”
He smiled. “I feel the same way, boy. I want you to get tested as soon as possible. Today, if you can. I will too, and when I come back, I’ll fuck you full of my cum.”
“Yes, please.”
He took my cock in his hand and stroked me. “I can see you do like that idea.”
“I do.”
“It’s too bad you won’t be able to do anything about this, though.” He teased my cock, stroking it slowly. “You’re not to come unless I ask you to when we’re talking.”
Just those few lazy strokes had gotten me fully hard and ready for another round. This was going to be a long week. “Yes, Daddy.”
“I expect you to do better this time.”
“I’ll be good. I promise.”
“If you are, you’ll not only get to feel me inside you bare, we’ll work some more on stretching your tight ass, because eventually, I want you to take all this.” He held up a hand and wiggled his fingers.
Holy shit. “Yes, Daddy!”
“I would hate to have to keep that reward from you because you couldn’t obey.”
“I can, Daddy.”
“I know you can.” He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood. “I’m going to shower now, and you’re going to make coffee and pour me some for the road. Once I’ve left, you need to shower and get ready for work. I don’t want you to be late.”
“Yes, Daddy.” Heat filled my face. “Um… Graham?”
“What is it, baby?”
“I really do like when you tell me what to do like that, not just for sex. I mean, I like it for sex too, but this is good.”
He smiled. “I like it too. Next time I’m here, we’ll talk more about the boun
daries we want to set, okay?”
“Yes, Daddy.”
I watched his gorgeous ass as he walked to the bathroom. Then I hurried to the kitchen. My daddy needed coffee.
CHAPTER SIX
Avery
I’d longed for Graham every day since he’d gone back to Charlotte. Now it was finally the day we’d be reunited. I should’ve been ready to explode with excitement, but ever since I’d left the house this morning, things had been going wrong. First, I’d tripped on a rut in the sidewalk and spilled my coffee all over myself. Midmorning, we had a power failure while I was in the middle of blowing out a new client’s hair. After lunch, I dropped an eyeshadow palette, and it broke apart all over the floor. Then I had to fix the toilet in one of the bathrooms when it overflowed. I wasn’t otherwise occupied, because one of my appointments was a no-show.
The only thing keeping me from running out of work screaming was texting Graham. Every time I told him about one more shitty thing that had happened, he sent hearts, emojis, and hints about what he would do to me later. If I survived these next three hours, I could go home to him, and he would make me feel better. So I knew that, despite all this, I was a lucky man.
Carol, one of the other stylists, stuck her head into the break room. “The Wilson bridal party is here.”
I like doing makeovers. I like doing makeovers, I chanted to myself. I’d had the “pleasure” of meeting this particular bridezilla and her giggling posse a few months ago. I was not looking forward to having them tell me what they wanted and then refusing to listen to my suggestions of what would actually look good on them.
“I’ll be right there.” I sent Graham one more text telling him to pray for me, downed a glass of water, and went to face my fate.
***
“Graham!” I called when I stepped into his condo.
He didn’t answer, so I headed into the living room. He was there on the couch. He put his laptop down, stood, and faced me.
I sucked in my breath as he looked me up and down, heat in his eyes.
“Daddy?”
He took my bag from my shoulder and set it down. “I have an idea for how to make you forget all about your bad day, but if you’d rather have dinner first or—”
“No.” I licked my lips. “I like your ideas. I like them a lot.”
After the Weekend Page 5
