218 First Hugs Read online

  “Vanessa, are you out of your mind right now?” Cypress asked with suppressed rage. “Are you trying to piss me off?”

  “I just wanted to talk—”

  “What is there to talk about? You could just call me if you had to.”

  “I thought it was better to do it face-to-face…”

  Cypress sighed loudly. “Why are you doing this to me? I’m married. Married. What part of that don’t you understand?”

  “I thought she didn’t have her memory back.”

  “Wouldn’t matter even if she didn’t. I’m still married to her. I’m still off the market. I still don’t want to be with you.”

  Ha. Take that, skank.

  “Come on, Cypress. What kind of relationship is this? This isn’t gonna last.”

  “She has her memory back, and we’re doing great. We’re gonna be together forever. You need to let it go, Vanessa.”

  Bet she didn’t like that.

  When she didn’t say anything, I assumed she wore a pissed look. “You know it’s always been you and me…”

  Now I was pissed.

  “It was us years ago. When I said I loved you, I meant it. But I’ve moved on. You need to move on too.”

  “You didn’t seem moved on when you slept with me when you were with her,” she snapped.

  Bitch.

  “I made a mistake, and I still regret that to this day. But I changed. I realized Bree was the woman I wanted to spend my life with, and I’m gonna spend my life with her. I don’t want to hurt you, but I don’t want you, Vanessa. You can keep swooping around like a damn vulture, but you aren’t going to get any scraps. I’m committed to my wife. You can do whatever you want to try to persuade me otherwise, but it won’t make a difference. But for your sake, I hope you don’t waste your time.”

  She didn’t have a comeback to that.

  “You need to leave me alone, Vanessa. You can’t just show up on my doorstep like this. How did you know where I lived anyway?”

  “The post office,” she answered.

  So Cypress was telling the truth.

  “If she’s had this memory problem once, she might have it again,” Vanessa said. “And you’ll be back to where you were. And you’re just gonna stay?”

  “You need to look up the word marriage in a dictionary because you don’t obviously don’t understand what it means.”

  Boom.

  “Vanessa,” Cypress said. “Even if Bree and I broke up, I still wouldn’t want to be with you. Does that sink into your head?”

  “I don’t believe that.”

  “Well, you should. I’m not attracted to women who don’t respect marriage. I don’t want a woman who’s fine with stealing someone’s husband. You seduced me once, but you won’t do it again.” His feet sounded against the stone as he headed back to the house.

  Shit. I crawled across the ground and hopped back into the kitchen just before he opened the door. I turned the burners back on and tried to steady my breathing so I wouldn’t seem winded. The food was cold, so I pushed it around to make it seem like it was sizzling.

  The door shut, and Cypress walked farther into the house.

  I didn’t turn around and ask him about his conversation. I was too scared that he knew I’d been listening. I worked the spatula in the pan and watched the food start to simmer again. Hopefully, he didn’t know it was cold just a minute ago. “Dinner is almost ready…”

  He opened the fridge and grabbed a beer before he opened it at the counter. “Please don’t tell me we’re back to where we were. Please don’t tell me you’re gonna let that woman get under your skin like last time.” He set the bottle on the counter and made a loud clank. “Don’t let her have so much power over us.” He leaned against the counter as he looked at me, his desperation obvious by the way he gripped the counter.

  I set the spatula on the counter and let the food simmer. Cypress was right. When I saw her in that restaurant, she got me all worked up. Now that I’d heard Cypress talk to her outside, I knew I really had no reason to be threatened. Maybe he picked her once in the past, but he wouldn’t pick her again. “What did she say to you?”

  “Just a bunch of bullshit. It doesn’t matter.”

  Bullshit was a great way to describe it.

  “Tell me you’re still with me. Tell me we’re still moving in together.” He grabbed the dials on the stove and turned them off.

  “I need to cook—”

  “I don’t give a shit about dinner.” He grabbed my elbow and turned me so I was forced to look at him.

  He crowded me, pushing me back until we were on the other side of the kitchen. The kitchen was heavy with the smell of food, but it didn’t seem like we would be eating anytime soon.

  I looked up at my husband, who was nearly a foot taller than me. “I’m not going anywhere, Cypress. You can relax.”

  “I can?” His large hands gripped my hips, and he positioned me against the counter. He always pressed me against things, like prey that couldn’t run away. He held his face close to mine, his breathing heavy.

  “Yes.” My hands snaked up his arms, and I felt the hardness of his wedding ring against my hip. “I know you’re mine.”

  He pressed his forehead to mine and released a quiet sigh. “Sweetheart…I’m all yours until the day I die.”

  12

  Blade

  She rode me nice and slow, taking in every inch of my hard cock until she pulled it down again. Up and down she moved, her beautiful tits in my face. Her nipples were subtly pink, and their hardness felt perfect against my tongue.

  Never seen anything sexier.

  My hands appreciated her luscious ass, gripping it and squeezing it as she moved up and down. I liked her slow pace because I was already struggling not to come. The second we walked inside my house, we landed on the couch and started going at it.

  She moved her hands up my chest to my shoulders, and she rolled her head back, her tits hardening as her breathing increased. “Oui…”

  I loved those French words. “Baby…” I gripped her ass harder, guiding her up and down my length.

  “Oui…”

  “Come on my dick, baby.” I pressed my thumb against her clit and rubbed her hard, moving my digit in a circular motion just the way she did to herself.

  She dug her nails into my skin, and the sexiest expression formed on her face. She closed her eyes, her long lashes moving down toward her cheek. She released a cry that echoed in my house, the kind that probably reached the neighbors.

  I felt her moisture ooze all over me, sheathing me all the way to my balls. I loved her come. It felt incredible.

  “Your turn.” She grabbed my hands and placed them over her big tits, making me squeeze them hard as she worked her hips on top of me, taking me over and over again. “Give it to me, Blade.”

  I was on the verge of coming, but I wanted a little more. “Talk to me in French.”

  “Je te veux.”

  I gripped her tits harder and felt my cock thicken.

  “Fais-moi l’amour.”

  I didn’t know what she was saying, but my dirty mind could do the imagining for me. I pulled her down my length until I was completely inside her before I released. I had a great orgasm, filling her pussy with all my seed. Every time I fucked her, I was more obsessed with this woman.

  Too obsessed.

  When my come was sitting inside her, I kept her on my lap. I was surrounded by her arousal, and she was soaked with mine. Her tits were still in my face, and my mind was focused on sex even though I was satisfied.

  She didn’t get off of me, just as content as I was.

  We hadn’t mentioned our previous conversation after we had it because there was nothing more to say. My priority was making her choose me instead of him, making her realize she could be loved by me in a way she’d never been loved by anyone before.

  She ran her fingers through her hair, dissipating the sweat that formed at her hairline. When she was on top of me, she ro
de me at a smooth pace, but her toned body had to work hard to move up and down my long length.

  She was a pro.

  It was the first time she’d been at my house, but I hadn’t given her a tour because we were too occupied by fucking. While I liked to be in charge, my favorite position was having her on top. I loved watching a woman take my cock the way she liked, using me to please herself. I loved having beautiful tits in my face as my hands helped her move up and down. Celeste was a natural at it, so she must like the position too.

  “Can I make you dinner?” I’d take her out if that’s what she preferred, but when we were in public, we couldn’t hook up. When we were behind closed doors, there was a lot more opportunity for sex. We had sex before dinner, during dinner, and always after dinner.

  “You cook?”

  “I own restaurants. Of course I know how to cook.”

  “Wasn’t sure if you were just a businessman.”

  “No. We work together to find new entrees for our customers. We take culinary classes together, and sometimes we have working dinners where we come up with new stuff to try. So, I know a thing or two.”

  “Wow.” She ran her hands up my chest. “A handsome man who also knows how to cook. Very impressive.”

  “I’ll impress you even more very soon.”

  “Ooh…you have my attention.” She slowly pulled my cock out of her, some of my come stuck to the head of my dick.

  “You’re welcome to shower while I start cooking.”

  “I think I’ll take you up on that offer.” She picked up her panties and her dress from the floor, standing completely naked in my living room. The blinds were shut so my neighbors couldn’t see us, and I liked seeing a beautiful woman walk around in just her bare skin. She took the stairs and helped herself to the master bedroom.

  I got to work in the kitchen and started preparing the chicken and pasta.

  A knock sounded on the door.

  I could hear the shower running, so I knew Celeste wasn’t going to walk down the stairs naked anytime soon. “It’s open,” I called from the counter next to the sink.

  Cypress walked inside in running shorts and a t-shirt. Judging from the sweat stain around his neck, he’d just finished with a run. “Hey. I walked in at the right time.” He came to my side and looked down at the cutting board just as I finished preparing the asparagus.

  “You aren’t getting any of this. Celeste is upstairs.”

  Cypress tilted his head toward the ceiling, listening for the sound of the running water. “A shower this early in the evening could only mean one thing…” He nudged me in the side before he winked.

  I winked back. “I’m a gentleman, so I’ll never tell.”

  “You just did,” he said with a laugh.

  I carried the prepared food to the pan on the stove and got to cooking.

  “Wow, you’re making her dinner too. You really do like her.”

  “I don’t think like is a strong enough word.”

  Cypress grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and took a drink. “Since she’s here, I’m assuming the two of you worked things out?”

  “Yeah. I told her I didn’t want to settle for being her fling and she should leave her loser boyfriend for me.”

  “Why is he a loser?” Cypress twisted the cap back on and left the bottle on the counter. He leaned against the fridge with his arms across his chest.

  “He doesn’t care if she sleeps with other guys. Of course he’s a loser.”

  Cypress nodded in agreement. “Very true. So where does that leave you?”

  “I have until the end of the summer to convince her to be with me.”

  “And live here permanently?”

  “Yeah.”

  Cypress whistled under his breath. “Good luck, man.”

  “I can do it.”

  “You sound confident.”

  “She and I have a connection. I can feel it every time I’m with her. Call me crazy, but I can tell she feels it too. There’s no other reason why she would agree to give me a chance if she didn’t feel that way. She’s seriously considering moving here for me.”

  “Wow. You must be good in bed.”

  “Duh.”

  Cypress chuckled. “Anything we can do to help? Talk you up?”

  “Nah. I have to do this one solo. But make her feel like family.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Like we wouldn’t have done that anyway.”

  The shower turned off upstairs.

  I glanced at the ceiling even though I couldn’t see through solid walls. “Looks like she’s done. You should probably get out of here.”

  “You aren’t going to invite me to dinner?” he teased.

  “Not unless you wanna watch us have sex.”

  He cringed in disgust. “I’m good.”

  Before Cypress could walk away, I asked about Bree. They seemed to be doing well and things were back on track, but anything could change with them. “How’s the wife?”

  “Good,” he said with a quiet sigh. “We were doing really good until Vanessa showed up on my doorstep.”

  I looked away from the pan and dropped the spatula on the counter since dinner didn’t seem important anymore. The chicken sizzled and popped in the oil, but I needed to wait a few minutes before I turned it over anyway. “What? Why did Vanessa show up on your doorstep?”

  He rolled his eyes. “Wants to get back together or hook up. I don’t even think she wants me that bad. She just doesn’t like the fact that I chose Bree over her.”

  “She’s been trying to get you for years now. Doesn’t she have a life?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t get it either. She’s a pretty woman, so it’s not like she can’t find someone else.”

  “And she just showed up at your house?”

  “And, of course, Bree was there.”

  “Yikes.” Having an ex stop by your house never made you look good. “Bree was pissed?”

  “No, she took it pretty well, actually. Said she trusted me.”

  “Whoa…that’s a big deal.”

  “I know.” He drank from his water again. “When she saw Vanessa the first time, she wanted to get divorced again.”

  “What changed?”

  “I’m not sure. She’s just warmed up to me lately, even said we should move in together.”

  “That’s awesome. You’re still doing that, right?”

  “Yeah. Thankfully.”

  After all the back-and-forth nonsense they went through, it seemed like things were finally getting better. “It sounds like everything is on the right track, then. Hopefully, Vanessa leaves you alone.”

  “Might have to ask Ace to put the moves on her so she’ll forget about me.”

  “He is a sex machine. May as well use him for his talents.”

  “Exactly.” Cypress glanced to the ceiling when he heard footsteps. “Looks like your woman is almost finished. I should get going. Enjoy your dinner.” He walked by me and patted me on the shoulder. “By the way, I’ve got my money on you.”

  “Thanks, man.” I held up my hand in the form of a wave and watched him walk out and shut the door behind him. I turned my efforts back to the food and started boiling the pasta. Celeste came down just a few minutes later in one of my long t-shirts instead of the dress she’d been wearing when she came over.

  I preferred this outfit over the last one.

  She sauntered over to me at the stove then gave me a warm kiss. “Sounded like you were talking to yourself.”

  “No,” I said with a chuckle. “Cypress stopped by.”

  “Oh, that’s good.” She rubbed her hand up my arm. “I’m relieved.”

  “I’m not a freak, don’t worry.”

  “How is he? He’s a nice guy.”

  “He just stopped by to say hi. Told me about his marriage problems.”

  “It didn’t seem like they were having problems last time I saw them.” She grabbed the salt from the counter and poured some into the water with the pa
sta, adding her own preferences to my cooking.

  “It comes and goes…” I’d never told Celeste about Bree’s condition, so I mentioned it to her now.

  “Wow. That’s unbelievable.”

  “It’s been a crazy ride. It’s nice having her back again, but she and Cypress have struggled a lot.”

  “Doesn’t surprise me,” she said with her accent. “That would be hard to come back from.”

  “But they’re making it work. Sounds like things are finally going well. They just had a few bumps.”

  “I’m glad things are better. They’re cute together.” She looked into the pan and watched me sauté the chicken and veggies. “Mmm…that looks good. You really are quite the chef.”

  “I hope it tastes as good as it looks. I want you to come back for more.”

  She grabbed my ass and gave it a squeeze. “I already do come back for more.”

  At this rate, we would never get through dinner. Actually, we wouldn’t have anything to eat because I was probably going to burn it since I wasn’t paying attention. I set the spatula down and crowded her against the counter, the pan still sizzling with the food. “Be careful, baby. I’ll give you more if you want more.”

  She grabbed my hips and pulled me farther into her, meeting my challenge with her own. “Always assume I want more, Blade.”

  * * *

  When I woke up the next morning, my lady was still right next to me.

  I was already calling her my lady when she wasn’t even mine yet. I was being too confident in my assumption that she would pick me, but I’d rather be certain than uneasy. I was a confident man, and I knew Celeste would appreciate that since she was so strong herself. If I wanted to keep a powerful woman like her, I had to be just as powerful.

  I could take her to expensive and fancy places for dinner, but that wasn’t what Celeste was looking for. I didn’t want to impress her with my wealth or my charm. I wanted to impress her with something much more personal than that.

  I wanted to show her that being with me every day could be much more exciting than anything Henry had to offer. Because when it was just the two of us, we didn’t need anything else.

  I opened my eyes and stared at her, seeing the top of her tits since the sheet was low. Every inch of her beautiful skin was flawless and soft. I loved kissing her everywhere, tasting the invisible rose petals off her body. I loved everything about her, from her slender neck to the way her petite feet felt against my chest. Every inch of her was divine.