Page 27 of Reluctantly Yours

Except when it came to how long I would hate my father.That, I could see lasting until my final breath.

“Oh, now,” she insisted with a gentle laugh, waving a hand.“I’m not trying to alarm you.I’m only reminding you of a simple fact.Please.This one night for my sixty-fifth birthday.All I want is dinner at home with my family.Can you please do that for me?”

“Nana!Look at my painting!”Sofia acted as Penny’s hype woman, leading the way while Penny brought up the rear with a canvas in her hands.

“That is beautiful!”Mom clapped her hands to the sides of her face.“My goodness!I think you have a real future as a painter!”

“I’ve been thinking the same thing,” Penny agreed as she set the canvas up on the counter using that god-awful cookie jar to prop it up from behind.“She just… gets it, you know?It’s hard to explain.”

“No, I see what you mean.There’s so much detail.”Meanwhile, Sofia just about burst with pride.I was content to sit back and leave them to it as I silently seethed.She had me between a rock and a hard place, and she knew it.Sofia was thrilled at the idea of going, and Penny wouldn’t understand my refusal unless I sacked up and confessed the part of the story I didn’t tell her.Part of the story no one knew except me, Dad, and the mother of my child.Otherwise, my pride wouldn’t let me admit it.What he did.What I found them doing together.

And there was Penny, the opposite of that vile bitch in every way imaginable.How was I supposed to explain this because she would want an explanation, I knew that much damn well.Could I trust her with the most humiliating secret of my life?

Or would I only regret it the way I regretted almost everything about my ill-fated, short-lived marriage?Everything but Sofia, who hopped up and down with excitement as she described her painting to Mom.

No matter how I looked at it, I was fucked.I could be the villain who wouldn’t give my mother her one simple wish, or I could be the villain who told her the reason Nicola and I split up was the fact that I found her fucking Dad in his home study.I would lose out either way.

Mom laughed happily when Sofia threw her arms around her legs.She patted the top of Sofia’s head, smiling down at her before turning that smile my way.One full of hope.Silently pleading.

“Fine,” I mouthed, watching her smile widen, hoping like hell I wouldn’t regret this.Thathewouldn’t make me regret it.

12

PENNY

We were in Travis’ office post-bedtime to go over his schedule for the next couple of weeks.At the moment, however, neither of us was particularly interested in discussing a schedule.

“So tight.”His voice was an animalistic growl in my ear when he bent down over me.“This tight pussy.Fuck, you feel so good.”

Not as good as he felt.Even when he dug his fingers into my flesh, holding my hips tight enough that I knew I’d have bruises, I didn’t care.I loved it and wanted more of it.I didn’t know this side of me existed until him.Dark, almost.Hungry.

I arched my back, thrusting my ass into the air as he pounded against me.Every stroke meant the edge of the desk dug into my thighs as he took me from behind, but even that was good.A bit of pain mixed with the pleasure, making it even more intense, making me want to scream.

“Have you been thinking about my cock today?”he asked, lifting my right leg and propping it on the desk so he could take me even deeper.I pressed my knuckles against my mouth to stifle a shriek.

“Yes!”I gasped, pushing back against him, chasing my high now that he had me so close to the edge.

“I’ve been waiting for this all day,” he grunted out, moving faster, punishing me with the force of his strokes.“Dammit, you’re so good.I’m not going to last…”

I loved hearing him like this.So close to the end of his control.Lost in me the way I got lost in him every time we were together.It was simple, primal, undeniable.It didn’t matter how wrong it was to fuck my boss.I couldn’t imagine going without the feeling of him inside me, filling me, fucking me like it was the last thing he would ever do.I could let myself go.I could be free.

“Getting tighter,” he told me like I didn’t know.“Are you gonna come for me?Are you gonna come over my cock?”

I could only nod since I was fighting so hard to be quiet.I didn’t trust myself to speak when I wanted to scream the walls down.There was nothing like this.I wanted it to last forever.“Close… so close…” I whimpered, making him chuckle darkly in response.

Our bodies slapped together, the sound filling the room while I bit down on my knuckles, ready to ride out the orgasm that was about to tear me apart.I welcomed it and worked for it, with his rapid breaths pushing me even further.The sound of him using my body the way I used his was unspeakably hot.

“Fuck… come with me…” I begged when the tension was too much, once that familiar build of pressure in my core told me the end was coming.“Let me hear you come.”

I turned my head, locking eyes with him, and he let out a growl that rocked me.I went still in the final, breathless moment before the tension broke, and I came until my legs shook.

“Oh, shit,” he groaned out when it was over, slipping out of me.There was always a split second of sadness when he did that.I didn’t want to let him go.“I would say sorry, I couldn’t help but attack you the second you walked in here, but it seems like you enjoyed it as much as I did.”

“The day you hear me complaining about beingattackedis the day that I’m either sick or halfway dead.”I pulled myself together, standing and letting my dress fall back down to its normal position around my thighs instead of being hiked up around my waist.If anything, it was safer for us to be together this way rather than walk the tightrope of not being discovered together.Even though we’d agreed on a rule where I’d leave his bed before dawn, I was always nervous about her finding us asleep together.I didn’t want to confuse her.

Tonight, it would be easier to go our separate ways now that we were both satisfied.

“Where’s my panties?”I asked, looking around.

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