“Please, harder,” she moans, making me groan and curse. I pull out of her quickly, then flip her to her belly and pull up her hips. I don’t even give her a chance to adjust before I sink into her again, smacking her ass as I fuck her hard. Her head flies back, then her arms stretch out in front of her. Seeing my handprint on her ass, I smack her other cheek, hard twice, sending her into her orgasm as she drags mine from me. Darkness skims the edge of my vision, and my cock throbs as she pulses around my length. Weak and completely spent, I cover her with my body, pushing her into the bed, then roll us to our sides, not wanting to lose our connection.
“Are you okay?” she asks, pulling my hand up to rest between her breasts, sounding breathless and content.
“Never been happier.”
She hums her agreement, and I give her a squeeze, then pull my hips back, hearing her mewl as she loses me, then turn her to face me.
“How’s your ass?” I get up on my elbow and rest my head in the palm of my hand while using my free hand to slide over her bottom.
“Warm.” She blushes, making me smile, and I lean forward to kiss her. “How about a shower? I know you gotta leave soon to meet Gia.”
At the mention of her plans for the day, I notice her eyes lose some of the happy light that was there moments ago. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t think we should go to the party,” she blurts, and my hand resting on her hip tightens. “I never even wanted to go in the first place, so I have no idea why I even agreed to it.” She waves a hand between us. “I mean, I do know why, but I shouldn’t have.”
Studying her closely and seeing the worry she’s trying to hide, I lean forward and rest my lips against her forehead briefly. “If you don’t want to go, I’m good with that, baby, but you gotta trust that I can handle your parents and your ex.”
“I trust you. I just....” She licks her lips while looking over my shoulder. “I’m worried.”
“About what?” I cup her cheek, and her eyes come back to me.
“That I won’t be able to control myself if they treat you poorly,” she admits, and I feel my face soften. “I know that it seems crazy, because you and I are new, but I…” She cuts herself off, nibbling her bottom lip for a moment, before whispering, “I would choose you over them.”
Letting out a deep breath, I wrap my arms around her and roll to my back, sliding my hand over her hair and down her back. “I never want you to have to make that choice, Aria.”
“I wish my parents were normal.” The pain in her voice makes my chest ache.
“I wish I had the power to make that wish come true.” I kiss the top of her head and hold her closer, saying quietly, “We’ll do whatever you want. If you don’t want to go to your parents’ party, we’ll do something else. If you want to go, we’ll go. You don’t have to decide right now.”
“Thank you.” She lifts up, rests her hands on my chest and her chin on top of them, and studies me. “Part of me wants to go, just so I can rub it in everyone’s face how happy I am.”
“Everyone, as in your ex?” I grin.
“Yes.” She laughs. “I know it’s immature, but he always made it seem like it was my fault that neither of us were happy, and even though I knew that wasn’t true, there were times I would stress myself out to make myself into who he wanted me to be, hoping it would make things better between us.”
“There’s always two people in a relationship. Sometimes shit just doesn’t work.”
“And things just didn’t work out with you and Anna?” she asks carefully, and I sift my fingers through her hair at the side of her head.
“Us splitting up was inevitable. From the beginning of our relationship, we’d fight over shit that didn’t mean shit. Olivia was the glue that kept us together longer than we should have been.”
“At least you realized that you shouldn’t be together before you spent your life unhappy.”
Letting out a deep breath, I tell her the truth. “I might have known it wouldn’t work, and that what we had wasn’t healthy, but I would never have given it up. I didn’t want to miss out on my time with Olivia.”
“I’m sorry.” She reaches up, tracing my jaw with the tips of her fingers, no judgment or anger in her eyes as they roam my face.
Taking her hand, I kiss her palm, then hold it flat against my chest over my heart. “It still sucks, but as Olivia has gotten older, it’s gotten easier. And now that we share fifty-fifty custody, I don’t feel like I’m missing out on so much.”
“You’re a great dad and she adores you.”
“I try to be, but I’m sure that one day she’ll tell me all the ways I fucked up. Then again, that’s parenting. No one knows what the hell they are doing. You just gotta hope for the best.”
“I guess you’re right.” She drops her eyes from mine.
I place my fingers under her chin and lift until her eyes meet mine. “I know you don’t have the best relationship with your parents, baby, but you’re doing what’s best for you when it comes to dealing with them. You have the right to put boundaries in place to protect yourself.”
“I know, but what you said makes me wonder if I need to look at things differently, if maybe I need to stop expecting them to be who I want them to be and just accept them for who they are.”
“It probably wouldn’t hurt,” I agree before I roll her to her back and loom over her. “I’ve got friends and family who’ve shown me time and time again what kind of people they are, and nothing they do or say surprises me anymore. Sometimes you gotta put people in a box, so you don’t get your feelings hurt.”
“You’re very smart.”
“Nah.”
“Yes you are.” She lifts her palm to my cheek stopping me when I lean down to kiss her. “Even if we didn’t get together, I would have still been lucky to count you as a friend.”
“We could never have been friends, Aria.” I tell her honestly, and her brows dart together.
“Why not?”
“Because I would have been constantly trying to come up with ways to get in your pants.”
“You’re an idiot.” She laughs.
“It’s the truth.” I burry my face between her neck and shoulder, nibbling her skin, making her laugh, then lean back to look at her smiling face.
“Now, we really need to shower. You have plans with Gia, and I gotta meet my mom to help her drag out all the Halloween shit from the attic.”
“Your mom still decorates the house for Halloween?” She smiles.
“My mom decorates for every fucking holiday, but she loves Halloween. She is always the most popular house on her block, because she hands out full-size candy bars to all the kids.”
“I love that. Back in San Francisco, I used to do the same thing. I’m going to miss not seeing all the kids in their cute little costumes this year.”
“I’ve got Olivia on Halloween. We’ll hang at Mom’s, then take her around the neighborhood for trick-or-treating. So you won’t miss out.”
“Really?” Her beautiful eyes light up. “Do you dress up?”