As I pushed away from the entrance to the kitchen, I winked at Alex, knowing the ruddy shade I adored would climb up her neck to her cheeks. I wasn’t disappointed.
There was an additional car in the driveway when I arrived home with the four steaks. I assumed the practical sedan belonged to Rory. Even as a young girl, I remembered her always being the overly cautious kind. Second-guessing every move we made when they’d join me and her brother to play in the fields. She was as goody-two-shoes as they came, which was what I supposed made her a great teacher.
Juggling both the case of beer, the bag of both red and white wines, and the package of steaks, I maneuvered my way into the vacant house. Someone pried open the downstairs window, letting in the warm late-spring breeze. The scent of grass and honeysuckle filled the room. Immediately, I closed my eyes as I took a deep breath. This was what I was after. This feeling of just being.
It didn’t take long to realize the girls all made their way outside to the pool. Their screams of laughter were loud enough to make out the shenanigans even at this distance.
I seasoned the steaks and set them out to get up to room temperature. The quick internet search I made while at the store offered that as a piece of advice, along with the mix of spices I picked up.
The white wine now chilled in the fridge in the butler’s pantry, along with my beer. I made sure to snag one before leaving the room.
Opening the screen door that led to an oversized porch, I made my way to the edge. Leaning over the railing, tasting the first sip of the wheaty fizz, I pondered if this was what I wanted in my new home.
The shock of Marisol and Nash offering to sell me a plot of their family land still lingered. And I knew they weren’t charging me nearly what they could or should have.
I texted my parents to let them know the good news, hoping they’d find some sort of enjoyment for me and the girls, but my unread message squashed any chance of them celebrating my good fortune. Even a couple of hours later, they still hadn’t read it. I considered messaging Sasha to let her know I found a place to settle down with our daughters, but I knew opening up that line of conversation wouldn’t end well for any of us. Knowing her manipulative ways, she’d show up at our doorstep and demand a rekindling of something.
Sometimes I wanted to forgive her for everything she put me and the girls through. Her life was stressful, always seeking her family’s approval within their lifestyle and business. She helped run her father’s mass media corporation. They practically shunned her when she wound up pregnant. But even with our quicky wedding, that didn’t stop her from gallivanting around town with whatever person tickled her fancy.
She also made sure I knew all about the affairs.
Off in the distance, Alex’s voice rang out clearly. “Cannonball!” she shouted before a splash followed.
Taking another long pull of my beer, I took the steps down to the yard, making sure to stay on the path of stones as I went.
Alex was nothing like Sasha. Not just in age or appearance, but in her personality and heart. Alex was like an open book the way she wore her emotions all over her face. There were things in her past, like her ex, that had her shutting down, but I knew there was more to that prologue of her story, and it was clear it shaped who she was today.
As I got closer, her laughter rose above all the others, and I found myself laughing alongside her. It was infectious.
In my pocket, my phone buzzed with a message. A ridiculous hope speared through me that my parents actually responded. But as I tugged the device from my pocket, it was a message from Andrew. He demanded I join him tonight while he was still in Ashfield for a double date. I wasn’t keen on going out tonight, or on a date at all, but I knew things with his sister couldn’t go anywhere.
It wasn’t only that she was Andrew’s little sister, which was a big part of it, but she and I were complete opposites. Alex was wild and carefree, where I was as direct and straightlaced as they came. She was also fourteen years younger than me. At twenty-four, she didn’t need to be saddled with a ready-made family. Hell, I was going to be forty in a couple of years. I had no business pursuing anything with her.
But all logic flew out the window when I stepped inside the gated pool area. There she stood, the vixen in all her glory dressed in the tiniest fucking bikini I’d ever seen, and my body and brain immediately stopped caring about all the reasons I couldn’t want Alex Easterly.
Tiny scraps of material covered all the parts of Alex I wanted to get intimately familiar with. She stood at the side of the deep end, adjusting one of the ties at her waist, while my daughters looked on. They both wore life jackets, which gave me peace of mind because of the way Alex stole my attention. All the blood rushed from my head toward my cock.
My eyes were glued to Alex’s trim waist, as Molly yelled out, “Daddy! Alex is going to do a cannonball! They are the biggest ever.”
In fascination, I watched Alex’s chest move as she sucked in a deep lungful of air and then launched her body into the air. I’m not sure how those flimsy scraps of material stayed together as she splashed into the water, soaking the twins in the process. Luckily, I was far enough away from the collision to not be an innocently soaked bystander.
“Hey, Nate,” a voice said from my right.
My eyes widened when I realized I wasn’t alone on the pool deck. I’d forgotten Rory was going to join us, my mind and body completely focused on the other Easterly sister currently climbing out of the pool again.
Rubbing my free hand along the back of my neck, I greeted Rory. “Uh… hey. How are you?”
“I’m good, thanks.”
She wore a practical red one-piece, which suited what I remembered of Rory. Her hair was drying in the late-afternoon sun, leaving it in subtle waves as the ends dripped onto the towel resting at her waist.
The lounge chair beside her was free, so I settled in as we continued to watch Alex entertain my twins. Rory told me all about the end of the school year and how she was looking forward to the summer, especially a conference she was attending just before school started back up.
As I listened to her continue discussing the ins and outs of the conference, my eyes trained on the pool, where Alex shifted from cannonballs to launching the girls in the air one at a time, letting them splash down into the water. I smiled at the mixture of their laughs.
“You have it bad.” Rory giggled beside me.
“Have what?”
