AARON—
That night I took her by the hand and walked her upstairs to my bedroom. Closing and locking the door behind us, I took in her face, full of the same want for me I’d come to recognize, but there was something more there now. I’d seen the burning desire in her eyes, the light flush of her cheeks before, but her expression meant something new to me. I never fully identified it in her before, but now it was crystal clear.
I took her face in my hands and brought it close to mine. “It’s you and me. No more secrets, no more hiding, just us.”
I kissed her softly, so very slowly. Her scent and breath was all mine now, and at that moment, I couldn’t tear myself away. I’d been void of all things connected with loving another person until the moment I met her and resurrected feelings I’d buried long ago.
Her hands moved across my face, her fingertips burning a path across my skin as we continued to kiss. I gripped her around the waist while my mouth parted to ease my tongue in and find hers. Her body relaxed beneath my grip, and she whimpered against my mouth as our kisses deepened.
Walls were crumbling down, and from behind them, a flood of powerful emotions came crashing down over us. I wanted to hold her closer and tighter as we sunk deeper and deeper. The sexual desire we always had was being mixed and connected with the feelings we had professed, pushing everything we were experiencing into such perfection I wanted to fucking drown in it. Our bodies, our kisses, couldn’t get me close enough to all I wanted her to know.
She broke our kiss only long enough to whisper, “Make love to me.”
I bent down and lifted her up as she wrapped her legs around my waist. She brought her lips to the crook of my neck, running her nose and mouth along my skin as I walked her to the bed. I laid her down in the middle of the bed, and she watched as I stood, removing my shirt and tossing it to the floor. After I crawled across the bed and between her legs, I anchored myself above her, staring into her pleading eyes.
I lowered myself down as a chill ran through me. I teased her lips, grazing mine against them lazily. “So beautiful,” I murmured.
She lifted her head off the bed, bringing our lips together, and connecting us once again. My fingers moved rapidly down the buttons of her shirt, and once completed, she hurried her arms free, removing the shirt completely. Her arms wrapped around me, and the heat of our skin pressed together made my already prominent erection throb.
Any time before, I would’ve torn her remaining clothes off and ravaged her until we both were exhausted, but tonight was different. I wanted to take her slowly, loving on every inch of her body because now, well, I fucking could. I could revel with every touch, every kiss, and have no fear of my true feelings for her being known. It was all different now. I wanted her to know.
My head dipped down, my lips tracing the delicate lines of her collarbone and down the center of her chest. I slipped my fingers under the straps of her bra and eased them down her arms, her breasts spilling from the cups. My tongue dragged across the warm skin of her breast until I reached the peak of her nipple, which I took into my mouth. As I lightly dragged my teeth over the sensitive area, her hands tugged at the top of my pants.
“I want you so bad,” she pleaded.
I trailed a path of kisses from her breast back up to the side of her neck where I stopped to taste and suck at her skin there. Bringing a hand between our bodies, I fumbled with the button of her jeans before releasing it and pushing the zipper down.
“And you will have me…all of me. I want to taste you…feel you…everywhere first,” I whispered in her ear.
And that is what I did.
I lingered over her upper body, heated kisses across her skin, her hands gripping and fingertips digging into my back as I did. The remaining articles of clothing separating us were removed, piece by piece, until our naked bodies were grinding together, begging for more. I pushed myself up, my hard dick positioned up against her.
When I couldn’t hold out any longer, I slid my cock into her, slowly as her warmth enveloped me. I held still, reaching to intertwine our hands, before I started moving inside her.
Her eyes were closed as I brought myself deeper with each thrust. I leaned my head against her forehead. “Look at me,” I said.
Our leisurely lovemaking changed when her green, lust-filled eyes met mine. The longer she held my stare, the more I couldn’t control how hard I fucked her.
Our bodies damp from excitement and movement continued to work in unison until I was orgasming into her with an intense rush. She cried out into my neck as her own release ripped through her. She pulsed around my cock, urging me to continue to come harder and harder until we were both completely satiated. I drifted off to sleep with her head lying in the middle of my chest.
When I woke the following morning, she was gone, just like she always was. I wasn’t under any impression that everything that happened the day before meant things would instantly change between us. We couldn’t wake up in the same bed, at least not yet, because I hadn’t decided how to explain this all to Delilah. She’d grown so attached to Callie, even asking me on several occasions when she could start calling Callie “Mommy.” She understood, as much as a five-year-old could, that Callie was there to help Daddy watch over her when he was gone, and while Callie loved her, that didn’t mean she would be her Mommy.
Things were different now. In a matter of hours, everything had changed.
I began to see a future with Callie, a future that included her being with us in a permanent way, which didn’t involve her being my employee. In this short amount of time, I wasn’t sure what all that meant, but I knew, from everything that happened the day before, I was willing to put almost everything I had been fearing on the line, to have her stay in my life. I’d been petrified of people finding out what we were doing, the whole “the boss banging the nanny,” cliché. I worried people would think I was a shitty father or what my family would think and how it would affect my career, but once it was out there, in black and white for the world to see, it all became glaringly obvious. I wasn’t afraid of people finding out and all the implications associated with that. I was afraid of Callie not feeling the same way about me.
As I left my room to go downstairs, I was more committed to my decision than ever. I wanted every part of the secret we had been keeping to be public.
I stopped at Delilah’s room and peeked in to see if she was awake yet. “Hey baby doll,” I said. “Whatcha up to?”
She was kneeling in front of her dollhouse, the contents scattered all around her. “Daddy, I’m NOT a baby!”
“I know. I know. You’re not a baby. It’s just what I like to call you.”
“I don’t want you to call me that,” she pouted.
“All right. I’ll try and remember, okay? What are you doing? Rearranging?”
“Uh-huh,” she said, concentrating on the kitchen part of her dollhouse. “The mama is making muffins.”
“You want to come downstairs with me while I have breakfast? I have to leave for work soon.”
“No, I’m busy.”
I laughed knowing this wouldn’t be the last time she would be telling her old man she was too busy for him. “Okay, I’ll see you when I get home this afternoon. I love you, bab…Delilah.”
“Love you, too, Daddy.”
I walked away smiling and headed downstairs, the smell of something baking filling the downstairs. I followed the scent to the kitchen and found Callie wiping down the counters, unaware I’d walked in. Slowly and quietly, I snuck up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist.
“Shiii…shoot!” she gasped. “You scared me. Why are you always doing that?”
“Sorry. You scare too easily,” I said, nuzzling her neck. “Something smells good.”
She leaned into me slightly, her body relaxing from my touch. “I made blueberry…” She trailed off.
I ran my nose up her neck, placing a soft kiss behind her ear. “I’m sorry. What was that?”
“I made…Mmmm…God, I can’t think when you’re doing that.”
“Doing what?” I asked, smiling against her skin.
“Muffins. Blueberry muffins,” she said as her breathing halted.
“That wasn’t what I was referring to when I said something smelled good.”
She snorted loudly, an adorable noise she made whenever she thought I was bullshitting her. She swatted at my hands, wrapped and untangled herself from my grip.
“Oh, come on,” I moaned. “It’s true. You do smell nice. Always with the orange and honey body wash from the shower.”
She turned around to face me, rolling her eyes at me once she did. “You think you’re so smooth.”
I took the sight of her in and watched as she turned and bent down to retrieve something from the oven. Wearing simple white cotton pants and a light-colored T-shirt was anything but ordinary on her. The pants were snug in the perfect place to accentuate her killer ass and her T-shirt was just tight enough to emphasize her breasts, which were sans bra at the moment. Her hair was piled up in one of those ponytail, bun thingies exposing her long neck and delicate ears. I continued watching her as her back was turned to me and she removed the muffins from the pan, placing them on a plate next to the stove. Once she was finished, she picked up the plate and turned to face me.
“What?” she asked.
“What? What?”
“What are you staring at?”
“I wasn’t staring…,” I stuttered. I quickly realized I was coming across rude, glaring without telling her why. If we were going to give us a real chance at a relationship, I’d have to learn to not be embarrassed to express these things to her. It was new territory for me as well, Lexie never being one for any type of affection, whether physical or verbal, but with Callie, she was open to it.
“Quit gawking before I punch you,” she snapped.
I snatched a muffin from the plate before she yanked it away from me quickly. She placed it on the counter, grabbing a paper towel and shoving it at me.
Yes, she’s so very open.
I smiled at her slight temper as I started picking the blueberries out of my muffin. “Sorry I was staring. You just…you’re so beautiful.”
She snorted. Again.
“I’m serious,” I insisted.
Her eyes casted downward. “Look, you don’t have to go all…gooey…because of last night.”
“I’m not being gooey,” I said. “Well, maybe a little, but is that so wrong?”
She was quiet for a moment, continuing to look at the floor, until she lifted her eyes to me slowly, a cautious smile emerging. “I’m learning. Thank you.”
“Me, too,” I responded, grabbing her hand. “There are going to be a lot of things to get used to, to figure out together.”
“Daddy. I can’t find my My Little Pony,” Delilah screamed from upstairs.
“Like that,” I said, pointing upstairs. “She’s going to be something we’re going to have to figure out together.”
“We? Together?”
“Yeah, together,” I responded.
“What are we going to tell her?” she asked.
I sighed. “Honestly? I don’t think we’ll tell her anything today. I need to wrap my brain around how to explain to her first. She’s already placing you in the ‘mommy’ role. She’s upstairs right now playing make-believe and having the mommy make blueberry muffins, like you.”
“I think you’re right.”
I did my best to ignore the sting in my heart when she mentioned the possibility of us not being together. I wasn’t an idiot. There was always a possibility of things not working out. No one knew that better than me, but it was too soon to think about it.
“Daddy!”
I brought my hand from hers to her face and settled my palm against her cheek. Her eyes flutter closed, her face content against my touch. I brought my face closer to hers, but just before I kissed her, I heard the tiny steps of my daughter pounding her way to the kitchen.
Callie’s eyes opened, hearing the same thing I did. “She’s coming.”
We stepped away from each other, our private moment over.
“Daddy? Can you help me?” she called from the hallway.
“Coming, sweetie,” I shouted.
I started to walk out of the kitchen but stopped short of exiting completely. Turning back around, I called to her as she was facing the sink.
“Callie?”
“Yeah?” she answered, looking over her shoulder at me.
“Your ass in those pants? Sexy as hell.”
* * *
I was driving to work an hour later and my body, my brain, everything, was buzzing. This thing between Callie and me was the stuff of fucking fairy tales. It blew my mind. Now that it was all out in the open I wanted the world to see us together. I wanted everyone to know she was mine.
I wanted our life together to start immediately.
When I got to the office, I called Abel, and then my parents. I invited them to dinner at Stars on the Lake. It was a favorite of ours reserved for special occasions, and it had the most incredible view. Next, I called Sophie, our babysitter, to see if she was available for that evening. When she said she was, I asked her to be at the house by five.
Even though I was buried in work, there was something I needed to do before I could concentrate on anything else.
I stopped in Saks Fifth Avenue and told the salesperson exactly what I was looking for. After rushing off, she returned with several choices for me. The one I decided on caught my eye immediately. I knew it would be perfect. Once I paid for it, and filled out the necessary things to have it delivered to the house, I left.
“Hey, baby,” I said, calling Callie.
“Hey, what’s up,” she asked.
“Something’s going to be delivered to the house later this afternoon for you.”
“For me?”
“Yeah,” I said smiling. “For you. I want you to have it on and be ready when I get home at six.”
There was a slight pause. “What is it?”
“A surprise.”
“It’s not some trashy outfit, is it? I know you dig dress-up shit, but Delilah will still be up at six and—”
“It’s nothing like that. I think you’ll like it. Oh, and Sophie will be there around five so you’ll have time to get ready.”
“Are we going out?” she asked.
“No more questions. I’ll just see you when I get home.”
“Okay,” she said, sounding uncertain.
“I’ll see you then. Bye.”
We hung up, and while I needed to get back to the office, I had one more stop to make. Luckily, Harry Winston’s was only a few blocks away.