Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 53466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
“Ouch.” Summer sinks her teeth into her bottom lip. “How old were you?” she asks.
“Ten when the marriage began to unravel. Apparently when she was caught, my mother got hysterical. She cried and said it was a mistake, that they were both sorry… She begged my father to take her back and he did.”
“So he forgave them. That shows strength of character,” Summer says.
“I once thought so. Maybe it did … then. The problem was, they did it again. Or maybe they never stopped. Dad was wary at first but things seemed okay. He became complacent and they carried on behind his back.” I groan, rubbing a hand along the back of my neck, working out the tension there. I hated thinking of the past, my mother’s behavior and lack of caring for anyone but herself.
“What happened? How did he find out the second time? Did your dad catch them again?” she asks.
I nod, nauseated over what came next. “In the office, a year later, and this time, Mom didn’t beg him to take her back. She announced she was leaving him for Tom. Which meant Dad had a choice. He could walk away, be bought out according to the partnership agreement, and leave the business he’d built or come to work every day and face them. Together.”
“He opted for the buyout?” Summer guesses.
“He did. He put the money in the bank and wallowed in self-pity. That’s when the drinking began. Of course, I didn’t find out all the details until I was older. And after Dad began to drink … and ramble and admit the sad family truths.”
“And your mother? What happened?”
“She and Tom married. Had kids of their own.” My stomach cramps at the reminder of the parent I no longer have. I thought I’d come to terms with it, but repeating the story now fucking hurts. “I wanted nothing to do with them then, and it hasn’t changed now. Because she let Dad raise me. She didn’t bother with me, signed over full custody because she couldn’t deal with the friction with Dad.”
Summer holds out her arms, and despite not wanting pity for my pathetic childhood, I climb beside her. She lays her head against my chest in a gesture of comfort.
“Was he a good father?” she asks.
“He was physically present,” I say. “That’s the best I can say. I had food on the table and a parent at home because he was too depressed to find a job or try to create a new business. While I lived at home, he tried, a little, to be there.”
But I saw him withdraw into himself, to decline over the years until he was no longer the man he once was. “What I took away from watching my father was to never repeat my mistakes. Taking her back was a huge error in judgment. He wanted to believe the marriage he had was real, but he’d obviously missed something key in their relationship, because she betrayed him a second time.”
“That’s sad,” she murmurs. “I’m sorry. It explains why you were so hesitant to get involved with me again.”
My smile is grim. “I learned not to trust in much,” I admit. “Add to that I was just hurt and angry at myself that I was stupid enough to violate my contract and lose my job.”
“Stupid enough to get involved with me?” she asks, smiling despite the conversation.
“I couldn’t resist you, Summer. Then or now.”
Her face lights up at my words. And since I’ll have to deal with the fallout of my father’s actions tomorrow, tonight I want to get lost in Summer’s arms.
* * *
Summer
When Ben turns toward me, I can read the need in his eyes. Desire is there, but so is the yearning to get lost and replace his pain with something else. Something I can provide.
I sit up on my knees and lift his shirt, pausing to glide my palms up the light coating of hair on his chest and over his nipples, scratching with my nails before I ease the shirt over his head and toss it onto the floor. I take in his muscled forearms and pecs, his tanned skin, and lean down for a taste.
I follow the reverse path with my mouth, gliding my lips over his chest, teasing his nipples with my tongue and teeth before licking my way down to the waistband of his shorts.
He grips my breasts in his hands as I move, tweaking my nipples, moisture flooding my underwear, desire rushing through me. With his help, we remove his pants and boxer briefs, his cock huge and erect, his naked body mine to explore.
The problem is, he obviously doesn’t want slow, because he rips my panties off with a swift tug and lifts me, positioning me over his straining shaft. My legs quiver, barely holding me up, the feel of his pulsing heat between my thighs a heady thing.