“I see you got the girl,” he remarked.
“I did.” I stuffed my hands in my pockets, off-kilter. We’d had the birds and the bees talk when I was an adolescent, and he’d been fairly hands-off with me since. That might’ve been due to how deeply private I kept my sex and dating life…and the several years of drought I’d had recently. “Thank you for staying. I appreciate it.”
He rose to his feet, stretching his back. “It’s no trouble, champ. I figured you might be gone for the night. A gentleman doesn’t leave his lady after—”
I held up my hand. “I know. I don’t like it either, believe me. But I didn’t tell the kids I wouldn’t be here tonight, and I would hate for one of them to wake up looking for me and find my bed empty.”
A flash of pain crossed his face before he schooled it. “You’re right to think of that. Tia did a good job picking you to be their parent. But you don’t have to sacrifice yourself for them. Remember that.”
“I know, and I have no plans of doing that. Tonight will be the last time I leave her.”
He nodded, drawing in a deep breath. “She’s a very good woman. I haven’t gotten to see the two of you interacting much, but from what I know of you both, I like the idea.” He kept nodding, slower now. “Yeah, I like it a lot. You’ll have a nice balance.”
“Thanks,” I muttered, unsure what else to say except I agreed with him.
He walked by me, headed toward his attached apartment. As he passed, he squeezed my shoulder. “Happy for you, Sal. Glad you chased her.”
“Me too, Dad.”
I would never stop.
Chapter Forty-one
Bea
Torehadmeonmy knees, my face pressed to the mattress, gripping my hips as he drove into me, shoving me toward the headboard with every thrust. Grunting, I braced a hand against it and pushed back, screwing my backside into his pelvis, taking him even deeper.
“Yes,” I cried. “Baby, yes. It’s so good.”
My thighs were shaking and sore, and my core ached from all the attention he’d given me, but I could take it. Iwantedto.
This wasn’t the first time he’d fucked me tonight. Not the second either. After dozing off in a sweaty tangle of limbs, he’d woken me with his tongue, and it hadn’t taken long until he was inside me again.
Since the night he chased me across the street a month ago, he hadn’t stopped. Most evenings, I had dinner with him and his family and usually hung out with them after too. And once everyone retreated to their own rooms for the night, I was in Tore’s bed, taking him then falling asleep with him.
I always snuck out at the crack of dawn, though. I wasn’t ready for everyone to know I was sleeping over.
Tore didn’t like it, but he indulged me. He’d had two years to prepare for what he wanted us to be. I was catching up quickly, but I wasn’t quite there. It wasn’t his fault life had taught me to be cautious. And we both agreed we had to be careful with the kids.
He was getting me there, though. Every time I watched him with his kids. Each night we fell asleep together. How he looked at me. The way he spoke to me. Every little thing he did pulled me closer.
He dragged a finger along the valley of my ass and tapped my hole. “I want this.”
I looked over my shoulder. The sight of him—rippling muscles glistening with sweat, hungry eyes focused on my ass like he was seconds from taking a bite out of it—made my insides clench around him.
“If you keep being such a good boy, I’ll let you have it,” I panted.
His gaze lifted to find mine. “You’re going to let me have you here?”
“Can you be good?” I teased, breathless.
“Anything to win my prize, beautiful.”
I shot him a punch-drunk grin. “We’ll see about that.”
He reached around me, rolling my clit with the pad of his finger. “I’m going to start by making you come. Are you going to do that for me?”
I nodded into the mattress. “Oh yeah. I definitely will.”
