Leighton
I inhale deeply, enjoying the fresh air coming in through the living room windows as I vacuum the rug. After this, all I have left to do is finish up some laundry and mop the kitchen floor, then all will be ready for August’s parents flying in tomorrow.
At Sam’s urging not to wait any longer, we decided to call them this morning and fill them in on everything. August did that while Sam sat beside him on the couch. I puttered around the kitchen while my dad stood at the counter sipping on a cup of coffee. We watched as Sam got on the phone and spoke to his grandparents—Brian and Lori—for the first time. I couldn’t help but cry, earning me a side hug from my dad and an inscrutable look from August as if he couldn’t understand why I’d be crying.
To say Brian and Lori were ecstatic would be an understatement. It was a bit humbling to listen to August tell them how the events unfolded. This necessitated him explaining how he never knew about Sam’s existence. My face flushed hot with embarrassment, even though August told them without any recrimination or blame toward me.
Bottom line, Brian and Lori are going to hop a plane tomorrow morning and head to Vegas. Sam’s family has just grown, and my kid is over the moon about it. That’s why I cried this morning—because even though my kid is battling cancer, I don’t think he has ever been happier in his life than now.
He’s so excited about them coming to visit he’s been bouncing around and generally making a nuisance of himself.
As such, I put August in charge of entertaining Sam for the day. He’s taken this entire week off work so he can be around to help with Sam, but I know part of it is because he’s worried about being away from the safety net of the hospital and medical professionals. August told me as much, testament to the fact that after we have sex, we often talk about deeper things.
My father is off somewhere—my guess is at the casino to see his mysterious lady friend—but he’s going to swing by the grocery store before coming home to get us all stocked up on food.
As I push the vacuum cleaner across the thick pile, my mind starts to drift. And when that happens, one of the things that usually comes to the forefront is August.
In particular, I think about him coming into my bedroom last night. I had awoken on the verge of an orgasm to what I thought was a dream only to find his face pressed between my legs. To say I was stunned was an understatement. I was also elated. I have no clue what is going to happen in our future or whether we could ever be something real again. We spent the last two weeks stealing moments at The Wicked Horse and getting our rocks off, but circumstances have changed with Sam home.
I guess August figured the best way around us not being able to head out to the club was to just take matters into his own hands.
I was okay with that. Last night was a revelation. The sex was obviously different. It was quieter. It seemed far more intense and intimate. When we’re at The Wicked Horse and on display, our sex is about everyone. Last night the experience made me feel closer to August than ever since it was just between the two of us.
When we finished, we laid in bed for a while with me half on his chest and his arm draped around my lower back working lazy patterns over my skin with his thumb. We talked about Sam, and I found myself wondering if we would just slip into sleep so he would stay the full night. It was a question that was answered with no equivocation when he rolled out of bed, saying, “I better get back to my room before Sam wakes up. It would be confusing for him to see us like this.”
It’s confusing for me, too, August.
Oddly, it probably wouldn’t be complicated to Sam. I know my kid. He would be over the moon if his parents got together. August doesn’t know him well enough to understand that. Honestly, I think this is the most confusing for August, but all I can do is let him plod along at his own pace.
Any thoughts I may have had that August and I sharing an intimate moment in my room might have meant more was dispelled when he mentioned perhaps scheduling a time for us to go to The Wicked Horse before leaving. Clearly, it’s just about the sex to August. He’s certainly not giving me any indication he wants more.
After I finish vacuuming the living room, I turn the machine off. The sudden loss of noise lasts only a moment before I hear Sam and August’s voice filtering in through the open window. They’re out on the front porch where they’ve been trying to put together a puzzle while taking advantage of a beautiful day.
I start wrapping the cord around the hooks on the vacuum, but freeze when I hear Sam say, “All I’m saying is it would be nice if you took her out.”
August gives a dry laugh. “Kid… It’s not like that with your mom and me.”
Holy crap. They’re talking about me. I move a little bit closer to the window so I can hear better.
“I’m pretty smart for a nine-year-old,” Sam says.
“You’re ten,” August points out.
“And that makes me even smarter,” Sam replies without missing a beat. I have to put my hand over my mouth so as not to laugh out loud. “And you and my mom are very much together.”
“How do you figure?” There’s genuine curiosity in August’s voice.
“You’re united in parenthood. You have a history. You don’t seem to be mad at her for keeping me away from you anymore. And I know you respect her because you’ve told me so. You think she’s been an amazing mom to me, so I don’t understand why you can’t simply take her out for a good time. She deserves it.”
God, I love my kid. He’s out there advocating for me in all the ways I don’t have the guts to do for myself. I’d rather sit in my own safe little bubble—let August come to his own determination as to what he wants because that’s far safer than putting myself out there only to have him tell me he’s not interested in a relationship.
Swiftly moving away from the window, I pull the vacuum cleaner along behind me. I don’t need to listen anymore. Partly because I don’t want to invade my son’s privacy, and I have a feeling he would not want me to know he was advocating on my behalf. But also because I don’t want to hear what August has to say about it. It has the potential to shred me.
I put the vacuum cleaner in the mudroom, then head over to the dryer to pull out the sheets I washed earlier. I’m going to make up my room for his parents to stay in. August had said they would gladly stay in a hotel, but I think it’s ridiculous when I can easily share a room with Sam.
♦
My arm starts to go numb, a byproduct of Sam having fallen asleep on me over half an hour ago. Shifting in the bed, I ease my arm out from underneath him. I gently roll him until he faces the other direction, then pull the covers up to his shoulders. He’s out like a light, which is definitely a consequence of his illness. Since undergoing the chemo and the stem cell transplant, he’s slept more deeply than he has in his entire life. I even asked his doctors about it on a recent checkup, but they just said his body needs the sleep to help recuperate. So when Sam says he wants to go to sleep at seven PM, I don’t question it. If he wants to sleep in late, I let him.
I reach over and nab my phone from the bedside table, flipping to my Kindle app to pull up a book to read. It’s far too early for me to go to sleep.
Settling in, I quickly immerse myself in a world of alpha vampires and sassy heroines. Reading romance has been a sustainable pleasure of mine over the years, a stopgap measure to replace what I’ve been desperately missing in my life.
My quiet interlude is interrupted by the doorknob turning. When I glance over, August pokes his head into the room. I can’t quite see his face because the only illumination is from my phone, but his voice floats across the darkness.
“Why are you sleeping in here?” he asks softly.
“I put fresh sheets on my bed for your parents today, so…”
My words trail off as I recall all the ways we’d dirtied those sheets up last night.
He’s silent a moment, but then he asks, “You got a minute to talk?”
“Sure,” I whisper, swinging my legs out of the bed. I realize I’m wearing a tank top and sleep shorts. There’s no way I can walk out of the room dressed like this since my dad could be out there.
“Your dad’s down in the basement. You’re fine.”
What the hell? Is he a mind reader?
As I pad to the door, he steps out into the hallway. I still make sure to peer to the left through to the living room and the basement door to make sure it’s closed. It appears safe enough.
I pull the door shut behind me, then cross my arms. “What’s up?”
He doesn’t respond, merely grabs my arm and directs me down the hallway toward his room. I don’t think to pull against him, fearing he must need some type of privacy. He walks me right into his room, then closes the door behind us.
Then his mouth is on mine, and he’s spinning me. Somehow, I get pinned between his big body and the door.
Now it’s clear why he wanted me.
Sex.
It’s a good thing I’m always willing to give it to him. My hands wrap around his neck. Just before I let myself sink under his full spell, I tell myself, This is all it will ever be, Leighton. Accept it.
August slants his mouth across mine, his kiss raw and needy. He pulls me away from the door, spins me again, and then continues to kiss me as he urges me backward toward the bed.
When my legs hit the edge of it, he pulls his lips away and yanks my tank top over my head.
Appreciatively, he eyes my breasts. His hands cover them, and there’s no stopping the pebbling of my nipples against his palms.
“Sam and I talked today, and he got me thinking,” August says as an aside, continuing to squeeze my breast, which feels insanely good.
I blink repetitively, trying to surface from the sexual haze he so easily has put me in. “Oh yeah?” I manage to gasp.
August doesn’t answer me. Apparently that line of conversation wasn’t all that important. Instead, he kisses me again. I immediately become hypnotized by the man. I work at the buttons of his shirt, dragging it over his shoulders until it drops to the ground.
August grabs a handful of my hair, pulling my head back so his lips can drag down my neck. “Just a reminder… you need to be quiet. And if you can’t be, just remember I have no problem filling your mouth with something.”
I can’t help but snicker, thinking about the panties he’d stuffed in my mouth last night. The double entendre is clear.
It makes me feel playful, frisky, and powerful. That’s not something I feel often with him since he always seems to dominate me.
My hands go to the button of his jeans, popping it free. “I have a very good idea of what I can fill my mouth with.”
August groans. “Please don’t be joking.”
He kisses me again. I get sidetracked with the magic of his mouth, but then he’s ripping away from me.
August starts to push his jeans down his hips, then gestures pointedly at my lower torso. He wants me to get rid of my shorts so we’re both fully naked.
I can do that. I start to shimmy them down my legs, but I end up freezing when August says, “Oh yeah… back to Sam. He was pointing out you have a lot on your plate.”
I straighten up, my shorts now falling to my ankles on their own accord.
August isn’t looking at me but working his jeans off. “Well, he was pointing out how much you have to do. You are taking care of him, the house, meals, and you are homeschooling him while he’s sick. It got me thinking… maybe we should consider enrolling him in school after the first of the year, so it’ll take one thing off your plate. And, honestly, as long as you’re staying here and until you find a place of your own, I don’t want you doing the cleaning. I’m going to hire someone to do it.”
August’s jeans come off, hitting the floor. He straightens, gloriously naked. His smile is transparent. He’s proud of himself for coming up with these solutions to help me out.
Realizing I cannot let him see how disappointed I am, I work to control my expression. I don’t want him to know how much it hurts that I thought he might be asking me out on a date because it was important to our son, but instead he merely wants to hire a housekeeper to take some chores off my list of responsibilities.
I swallow the bitterness down, and it tastes awful. But I manage to smile and lace my voice with gratitude I don’t feel. “That’s awesome. Thank you.”
I step closer to August, my hands going to his hips. There is no doubt the only thing we will ever have between us is sex. It’s just going to have to be enough for me.
In this moment… right now… it is. I love what he does to me and what I can do to him.
I drop to my knees, wrapping my hand around the thick girth of him. Raising my eyes, I find him gazing at me with a harshly beautiful face.
His voice is thickened and gruff. “You have no idea how beautiful you are while on your knees before me.”
Leaning in, I tentatively lick the base of his cock.
August’s eyes close. His head falls back as he groans, and he admits, “It’s been driving me nuts to know you had your mouth on Declan and not on me.”
Well, I’m glad I can give August something he appreciates, so I take him deep into my mouth.