Worthy

by Lacey Carter Andersen

  He nods tightly. “There was a car accident on a trip. A trip they forced three adult sons to go on.” There’s the slightest amusement in his voice before it fades. “We were asleep in the back. I still don’t know why mom didn’t have her seatbelt on. I still don’t know why the car hit that pole and smashed in dad’s part of the car. We got out with minor injuries, but they…”

  God, Evan didn’t tell me how they died. He didn’t tell me he was with them when it happened. “That must have been horrible.”

  His hand on my hip tightens slightly. “That wasn’t my point. My point was that when we were struggling financially, we were happy. We were a family. And they died, and left us some money, and... we were miserable. It was like a light went out in our lives.”

  I look away from him, remembering my life as a child. Everything was ruined when I became poor, right? Not just because I lost my father…

  The thought is like something awful and sharp in my belly. I push it away and struggle to hold onto something, anything rather than get dragged down.

  “Life is about choices, Jade. Being happy is a choice.”

  “You sound like Evan.”

  He laughs. “I think that’s the meanest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

  My gaze meets his again, and I can’t help but smile. Maybe he’s not AS much of an asshole as I thought.

  His eyes twinkle as he pulls back from me and twirls me around. I laugh as he guides me back into his arms. “And you said you weren’t a good dancer.”

  “I’m not!” I say.

  “You’re fucking floating,” he compliments.

  I shake my head, and then feel him brush the slightest kiss on my cheek.

  We dance four more dances before dinner is called. Big doors open at the end of the room, and we all head back. Emmett and I are seated across the room from Mr. Blake and Allie, something I’m oddly grateful for. We eat a meal that doesn’t sound like it should be good at all, but is absolutely amazing. Crab cakes, stuffed salmon, some kind of mouth-watering shrimp in a sauce that tastes like heaven, and a dessert stuffed with chocolate, strawberries, and a white chocolate sauce.

  And through the meal, Emmett and I talk with surprising ease. He tells me about how much he loves to surf and hike. I tell him that all I do is work, but that I’d like to learn to surf, if I had hobbies. He promises to teach me. Then starts to describe the many things he’s seen while on his board, and I’m bewitched by his love of the ocean. Who would have thought?

  Someone clinks a glass.

  I’m sad our conversation has to end.

  An auction begins for charity items. Emmett buys something. Mr. Blake buys something, as do several people in the room. All of it would be tedious if not for Emmett in my ear, whispering about the various people who are bidding.

  “That guy raises alligators in his backyard,” he tells me, nodding toward a balding, middle-aged man.

  “For pets?” I ask, surprised.

  “I think he uses them for his wife’s purses.” He raises his brows and indicated a blonde who can’t be more than twenty. Sure enough, she has a purse that looks like it’s made of alligator.

  “No way!” I exclaim.

  An older woman at our table gives me a dirty look.

  Emmett chuckles lowly, and rubs those soft lips of his against my ear. “Maybe. Or maybe I’m making it up.”

  I stifle a laugh. “You’re so bad.”

  He indicates the man who just bid. “That guy likes to take dumps on his dates’ chests.”

  I turn, my jaw dropping open. “Emmett!”

  “Shhh!” the lady says, scolding me.

  Emmett makes a tisking sound at me, and I know I’m blushing.

  “You suck,” I whisper.

  “And you blow,” he whispers right back.

  “Asshole,” I mutter.

  This time, he laughs, and gets shushed too. Which makes us both laugh harder.

  “Come on,” he says, grabbing my hand.

  We scoot out of our chairs and head out the back doors quietly, and I’m glad that no one seems to notice. He pulls me through the hall where people are cleaning up. I thank them as he whisks me past, and then we come exploding out into the cool night. He leads me passed a bunch of cars, even though the drivers are nowhere to be found at first. As we keep going, I spot them behind a building, smoking and chatting. We get all the way to the end of the winding driveway, where our car is parked in a shadowy corner.

  “What are we doing?” I ask, shivering in the cold.

  He opens the back car door. “Get in.”

  I get in. “What?”

  He closes the door behind me, and before I can ask again, kisses me. And, holy fuck, the kiss is good. Hot, desperate, incredible. His tongue is almost instantly in my mouth, sweeping over mine, tangling with mine.

  When he breaks our kiss and starts to kiss my neck, he murmurs, “Fuck, I’ve wanted to do that all night.”

  “Me too,” I say, realizing it’s true.

  He looks up, and there’s desire in his eyes. “Really? I thought you hated me.”

  “You’re growing on me,” I respond, strangely out of breath.

  He kisses me again, hard. My head’s still spinning when one of his hands slips into the top of my dress and starts to fondle my breast.

  “Emmett!”

  “I fucking love when you say my name,” he murmurs.

  I’m glancing around us frantically, wondering if anyone is around to spot our little session, but everything around us is dark and silent. When he pulls both my breasts out of the top and leans down to suck them, I moan. This is not at all how I thought this evening would end, but damn if I mind.

  An arm moves behind my back, and he starts to angle me down onto the seat. I protest for a second, and he sucks my nipple harder. My protest dies on my lips as I gasp and fall back, not caring that I can no longer keep an eye out for people.

  I’m so lost in desire, I barely notice when he pushes up the long skirt of my gown. One of his hands finds my little pair of lace underwear and pushes it aside. A finger slides along my slit and I gasp, digging my hands into the back of his hair, willing him to touch me.

  And then he does, his finger sliding into my body, stroking the folds of my body. Making me wetter with each touch until I can hear my arousal. My head spins. I feel so good. So fucking good that I can barely think. Barely do anything except accept that I’m in heaven.

  And then he slides down from my breasts.

  My brain barely has time to realize what’s happening when his lips press against my hot core. And whether it’s my need to release stress, the strong drinks, or just how damn good Emmett is, I completely surrender to my desire.

  Tangling my fingers into his hair, I press him closer. “Yes! Oh god, yes! Damn it!”

  My legs curl around his shoulders, and I bounce against him, using the seat to make each thrust against him harder. I hear him swear against my body, something about my sweet pussy, which only manages to turn me on more.

  One of his fingers presses into my body as he continues to lick me.

  “Emmett! Yes! Oh, yes! There!”

  When he adds a second finger and starts to fuck me with his hand, I go nuts, shouting his name, begging for more, grinding against him. And then, I explode. My hands press against the door of his car so that I can grind harder against him as stars explode before my vision.

  And it doesn’t stop. Not the way it usually does. It goes on and on and on until I collapse back, feeling spent and relaxed. My legs falling to the sides.

  But Emmett? He continues to lick me slowly, like this is a feast he isn’t ready to stop enjoying.

  “Someone’s going to see us,” I say weakly.

  “No one’s going to see us,” he says, continuing to lick me. “But someone sure as hell heard you.”

  “I wasn’t…that loud.”

  “You were fucking screaming at the top of your lungs, babe,” he tells me. “And I loved every second of mak
ing you come.”

  “We should…stop,” I say, but the last thing I want to do is stop.

  Even though my breasts are hanging out of my dress, and I have a man crouched between my thighs, licking my spread body.

  “I’ll need more time,” he says, pressing his lips to my clit as I gasp. “A lot more time.”

  “Fuck,” I mutter. “We’re going to get caught.”

  Emmett sighs and pulls his fingers out of me, then puts my underwear back in place.

  Our eyes lock in the darkness. “Tell me you’re done with me tonight.”

  It’s hard to breathe. “You know why we’re here. What my plan is.”

  “So that means we can’t get a hotel room and fuck all night?” he asks.

  The air rushes out of my lungs.

  “Come on, Jade, give me one reason we can’t.”

  I can’t think of a single one.

  He smiles and reaches forward to adjust my top and spread my skirt back down. “Then let’s go get my driver.”

  I sit up slowly and look around. It’s still dead quiet back here. “Not yet.”

  He frowns, but I hold his gaze as I lean forward, unbutton his pants, and pull his delicious dick out of his pants.

  “Fuck, Jade…”

  “Want me to sit on your cock?”

  “Hell.” He grabs for me, sliding my skirt back up, and tugging my underwear to the side as I climb on top of him.

  I’m shocked when my wet body slides down onto his hard length, and the fit is still so tight.

  “You’ve got a huge cock,” I gasp.

  I feel a shiver wrack his body. “Keep talking. I like when you talk.”

  “It’s so big and hard,” I say, trying to adjust myself to take him fully, then rock a little forward.

  “Damn it!” he shouts. “You’re made for me, Jade. Your whole tight fucking body was made for me.”

  He starts to move me up and down, and the sensation is everything I’ve needed and more. It’s like I can feel every nerve on his shaft awakening every nerve in my tight channel. And hell, this boy knows how to help a woman ride him. He meets each of my thrusts with his own.

  We both cling to each other like we’re in the middle of a storm. I wrap my arms around his neck and he holds my waist, slamming me down on top of him over and over again until I finally orgasm, shouting his name. He comes a minute later, my name on his lips so damn hot.

  Never in my life do I think I’ve enjoyed the feeling of hot cum inside of me more. But I love it right now. I love continuing to ride him and knowing his sticky sweetness has filled me.

  It’s glorious.

  “Fuck,” he says, collapsing back and bringing me with him. “I could…I could keep my dick buried in you forever.”

  I shift against him, and he swears. “I wish you could.”

  He leans me forward a little to kiss me long and hard.

  When he pulls back, his gaze locks with mine. “For tonight, the hotel room. But you need to know something, Jade. If you think I’m going to let Blake have you, then you’ve got this whole thing wrong.” Leaning forward, he bites my earlobe and I shiver. “You have your plan. I have mine.”

  I don’t really process his words; I just continue to straddle him, feeling oddly content.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Jade

  I ignore the dirty looks from the hotel staff as I make my walk of shame out. Then, to add insult to injury, I have to take the bus back home. In a full gown, my makeup a mess, my hair a mess. I rush home, take a shower and scrub off all the makeup, then change quickly into my maid outfit. Even with all the hurrying, I’m going to be late.

  Not good. Not good at all.

  The only chance I have at getting to work even close to on time is catching a ride with the other maid who cleans my first house of the day with me. Luckily for me, it’s Laura, a woman who lives near me and is about as laid-back as a person could be.

  Dialing my phone, I’m relieved when Laura picks up. “Any chance I can get a ride to the Smith’s?”

  I can hear her smile over the phone. “Luckily for you, I’m running late too. Be there in five.”

  I finish getting ready and rush down the stairs. At the bottom, Laura’s beat-up car is waiting. I climb in through the window since the door doesn’t work, and then she grins at me, combing her fingers through her short, black hair.

  “How’s the morning?”

  I laugh. “Not bad, even if I wish I’d had time to eat.”

  “Look in my purse.”

  I peek in and see a big bag of breakfast taquitos. “Oh my gosh, those look like heaven!”

  “Have as many as you want, ma made a ton of them.”

  I don’t hesitate before I open the plastic bag and dive in, handing her one and taking one for myself. A song comes on the radio, and I turn it up. In seconds, we’re both belting out the song, cruising down the road.

  Two songs and four taquitos later, Laura turns down the music. “So, what’s up?”

  “Nothing,” I say, smiling. “Why?”

  “Are you kidding?” She raises a brow at me.

  “Oh, I was late…”

  “No, you’re happy! What’s going on with you?”

  Happy? Me? “No, I’m not—“

  “Who’s the guy?”

  I stare at her.

  She smirks. “Come on now, don’t hold back. My love life is a sad little desert with only me and a vibrator.”

  I laugh, shaking my head. “It’s not really a guy. It’s three guys, and—“

  “THREE guys? You go, girl!”

  “It’s not like that! They’re, they’re helping me with something.”

  “And that’s what has you grinning and singing and acting like it’s the best day of your life?”

  I think back to my wild night of sex with Emmett, and I feel my cheeks heating.

  “I knew it!” she says.

  “Okay,” I admit. “It’s more than just that they’re helping me, but it’s not…well, I don’t know.”

  “But they make you happy?”

  I hesitate, even though I know the answer. “Yeah, I guess they do. They kind of just make me feel like they get me. And that maybe they understand things that I didn’t think a lot of people understood.”

  “Like what?”

  I think of my dad. I don’t tell anyone about my dad. No one except Allie, and I saw how that turned out. “Like what it feels like to lose something. And what it feels like to have dreams and obstacles standing in your way.”

  “Oh, I get that,” she says. “Why do you think I always have my headphones on?”

  “Music?” I ask, frowning.

  She shakes her head. “Open the glove box.”

  I do, and pamphlets rain down on me, most from programs at the local community college. “What is this?”

  “I’m going to college. I want to become a teacher, but there’s no time to sit and study textbooks, so I listen to all my books while I work.”

  My jaw drops. “You do?”

  She nods.

  “How didn’t I know this?”

  She shrugs. “You never asked.”

  I kind of feel like an ass, but also strangely vulnerable. “I always wanted to go to college, but I thought it wouldn’t work with this life.”

  Laura gives a kind smile. “I’m not saying it’s easy, but the scholarship helped.”

  Scholarship? Oh. “I’m not smart enough for one of those, and I doubt I’d ever have the money, so…”

  She laughs. “I didn’t get it for being smart, I got it for being poor.”

  “I’m poor!”

  She laughs again. “Look in there for the pamphlet about their scholarship program.”

  I shuffle through the papers and find it. A woman in a work uniform is smiling on the cover.

  “And they also have programs geared toward people who are working. Night classes. Online stuff. Accelerated programs. Credits for on-the-job experience.”

  I�
�m completely overwhelmed. “I didn’t know anything like this existed.”

  She taps her fingers on the steering wheel to the rhythm of the song. “Well, you don’t want to do this forever, right?”

  I nod, then realize she isn’t looking at me. “No, but I thought I needed…other things to get me out of this situation.”

  “My mom always said that all I needed was the will to work hard and a sharp mind.”

  I look between her and the pamphlet. “This is seriously incredible.”

  She stops at a light, then turns to look at me. “So, you going to sign up?”

  “I have to get my GED first.”

  “You going to do that?”

  My gaze holds her. “You really think I can?”

  “If I can, you can.”

  I look back at the image of the smiling woman in my lap. Could that really be me? Could I actually get my GED, go to college, and start my own business like I always wanted? Without my lamp?

  “Keep the pamphlet,” she says. “Maybe it’ll inspire you.”

  I put the others back in the glove box, then fold the one about scholarships and stuff it into my apron. “Thanks, Laura.”

  We start driving again. “No problem. And, Jade? Whatever you’re doing right now, keep doing it. It’s nice to see you happy and sharing.”

  “I wasn’t that bad, was I?” I ask, actually surprised.

  “We’ve worked together for years,” she says. “But this is the longest conversation we’ve ever had. Isn’t that strange to you?”

  I realize that she’s right. “So, have I always been a self-absorbed asshole?”

  She laughs. “It’s not that. I think you were just…sad. It’s hard to be sad and notice the people around you.”

  Have I been sad? The answer yes is so clear that it startles me. How didn’t I realize it? I thought I was just beaten down by life.

  But now…I’m not sad. And it seems like I have more choices than I ever thought possible.

  I bite my lip. “If I wanted to get my GED and sign up for this program, do you know how I could do it?”

  Her smile widens. “My dad went back for his GED. There’s actually a class taught right in our neighborhood, at night, to prep for the test. You could be taking it in a month.”