Chapter Thirty-One
Kayla
I couldn't believe how excited I was to take Ethan home to meet my parents — and more than a little nervous, too. They hadn't approved of the last boyfriend I'd had, and they'd been right not to.
Ethan was the complete opposite of Mick, though, and I knew they'd love him. I just hoped the feeling was mutual. My family could be a bit overbearing, and I really wanted Ethan to feel accepted by them. I knew he grew up an only child, and I didn't want him to feel overwhelmed by the chaos that often filled the Brandt home.
Someday I wanted to have a big family of my own, and I was feeling more and more like I wanted Ethan to be a part of that future. A lot was riding on this visit, even if neither one of us admitted it.
"Are you ready?" I asked Ethan excitedly as I threw my backpack over my shoulder. It had two changes of clothes (just enough for a three-day weekend), my toiletries, and a few Hollywood souvenirs for my siblings. I was dressed in my favorite pair of black jeans, boots, a pink tank top with the Speed Motorcycles logo emblazoned on the front, and the new black leather motorcycle jacket Ethan had given me for the trip. My hair was pulled back into a braid to keep it from flying in my face and my helmet was tucked under my arm.
"Ready as I'll ever be," he replied with just a hint of dread. He was dressed in designer jeans, a tight-fitting, black tee-shirt, and a very expensive-looking leather jacket that must have come from Italy or France. His backpack was even fuller than mine, and his specially designed helmet was propped on top.
"Don't tell me you’re nervous to meet my family," I teased him, but there was a little too much truth to the jibe and he became defensive.
"I'm not. It's just I'm never been very good at the family thing. If you'd ever met my mother, you'd understand. She was never the warm nurturing type, and my dad was always just struggling to hold himself together. I never had what you have."
"Well, maybe someday you will; if you want it." I wrapped my arms around his strong neck, pulling him in for a sensuous kiss. My breasts pressed against his chest, and I felt his erection growing against my thigh.
"Maybe we should just stay home," Ethan arched his left brow at me mischievously.
Giggling, I shook my head emphatically and mounted my bike. "Forget it. We're going and that's final."
"Okay, but maybe we should take the sedan instead of the bikes," he said, procrastinating now for real.
I suddenly realized how nervous he really was about meeting my family and I longed to comfort him. "The bikes are terrific. My brothers will love seeing them and so will my dad. You should be proud of what you've created. I know I am."
"I just don't want to seem pretentious."
"And you think pulling up to our rundown little house in a luxury BMW would be any better?" I teased, and he flushed with chagrin. Touching his arm affectionately, I said, "Just be who you are. Don't worry about anyone else's opinion, and my family will love you or hate you just for who you are."
"Great, this is the first time you suggested they could hate me." He feigned being alarmed, but I could tell he was teasing. He kissed me passionately, drawing it out as our tongues intertwined. His hand grazed my breast before he let me go, seeming much more at peace.
He mounted his bike, and we took off onto the highway side by side. It was a beautiful trip as we road through grassy fields of wildflowers, shady patches of tall trees, and sunny horizons. The sky was clear blue with just the barest amount of clouds wafting through it.
We stopped at a field and ate the picnic lunch we had packed and ended up making love under a large tree. It reminded me of our first date, and when I said so, Ethan grinned brightly and agreed, "Me, too."
The sky was just turning to dusk when we reached my hometown, and suddenly all the sights became familiar. Excitedly, I pointed them all out to Ethan, shouting through the open facemask of helmet as he nodded and grinned at me.
"That's Polk High, where I went to school. That's the Tasty-Freeze, where I had my first job. That's the house where I went to that birthday party and threw up all over the hostess. I was so embarrassed; I never spoke to her again. I was always such a shy kid that I never had any friends. It's why I couldn't wait to get out of this town."
"What happened? You're not shy now," Ethan teased playfully, making me laugh.
"I guess I just needed to meet the right guy," I told him, trying to bluff away my nervousness, but he saw right through to the heart of me.
I was suddenly feeling like that shy kid with no friends again as we pulled to a stop in front of my parents’ house and removed our helmets. We shut off the engines and dismounted, staring up at my childhood home where so many memories had been made.
Caressing my cheek, Ethan said softly, "I'd like to take credit for the confident, powerful, beautiful modeling star you've become in L.A., but I can't. You were like that when I met you. All that you've achieved, you've done on your own, despite setbacks like Mick and the hardness of L.A. You had something inside you ready to break free and shine — you just had to get out on your own to find the courage to set it loose."
"You really think so?"
"I know so." Ethan pulled me to him and gave me a passionate kiss that was so hot it melted away all my uneasiness and reminded me of everything good in my life, including him.
"Hey, you two. Knock that off or go get a hotel room!" A familiar voice startled me and made us both jump. I turned to see my sister Morgan coming out of the house. She wrapped her arms around me in a big embrace, and I hugged her back, blinking back tears of joy.
"Cool motorcycles! How fast can they go? What's the horsepower on an engine like this?" My brother Tommy rolled his wheelchair up to my bike and started touching the handlebars.
"Hey, this is a sweet ride. Can I take Tommy for a ride around the block after dinner?" my brother Joe Junior lifted Tommy out of his chair and set him astride the seat of the bike. Tommy was beaming so wide, I thought he might burst.
"Let me through so I can give my sister a hug," my sister Emily cried out happily, pushing her way past my brothers and holding her arms out wide.
Ethan looked terrified as he whispered to me, "We're surrounded."
"It's okay, they don't bite," I laughed and hugged each of my beloved siblings in turn before pulling them all together into one giant group hug.
"Exactly how many brothers and sisters do you have?" Ethan asked me.
"Four: two brothers and two sisters. I'm exactly in the middle, with two older and two younger," I explained, still embracing them all.
"Yeah, and once I came along and got diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, she had to run away from home just to get any attention," Tommy said, and I could see Ethan shift uncomfortably in his boots, although I had a feeling he was relieved to learn what was wrong with my baby brother without having to come out and ask.
It wasn't nice of me not to have forewarned him of Tommy's disability, but I'd gotten so used to it over the years, I didn't even think about it. None of us did. He was just Tommy to us. Plus, we'd all discovered a kind of fun in intentionally not telling anybody about his disease and enjoying the surprised look on their faces when they found out.
It was a good way to judge someone's character. The way an individual reacted when they were first confronted with Tommy's disability and how they chose to treat him after they knew his diagnosis said a lot about what kind of person they were. So far, Ethan was a blank slate and time would have to tell.
"Well, can you blame me for wanting to get away from you?" I teased Tommy and then ruffled his hair lovingly, making him laugh. We shared a hug, and I helped Junior put Tommy back in his wheelchair before he fell or got hurt.
Then I said, "You know it had nothing to do with you. I just felt lost, like I didn't feel like I fit in anywhere, so that's why I ran away. Now I realize what a mistake that was. I do fit in; I fit right in the middle of the Brandt family."
"And you always will." My siblings embraced me in a group hug again. Letting them go, I turned to Ethan then and introduced him to them all one by one.
There was Junior; he was the oldest and a born athlete. He went to college on a baseball scholarship, graduated with a business degree, and married a girl he went to college with named Shelby. They had their first child two years ago, a chubby boy they named Joseph III. As I told the story, Junior grinned at me and said, "And, Shelby is about to make him a big brother. She's pregnant with a little girl, due in January."
"Congratulations!" I hugged my big brother tightly, no longer able to hold back my tears of joy. His lovely wife approached holding their young son, and I put my hands on her rounded belly, blinking back tears of joy again.
Then, I introduced Ethan to my big sister Emily. She was the brilliant academic I could never live up to. If they made a trophy for it, she had it. Spelling Bee Champion, President of the Future Leaders of Tomorrow Club, Student Body President, Class Valedictorian. Polk High may not have been a big school, but inside its walls, Emily Brandt was a shining star. Everybody loved her, and she had won a full-ride scholarship to the state university.
"Of course, all those trophies didn't mean a thing," Emily said, as humble as she was brilliant. "I ended up dropping out of the university my sophomore year when I got pregnant. I married my college sweetheart Mark and we had little Madison. Now I'm just a housewife while all my friends are getting their master’s degrees."
"Yeah, but you’re Super Mom." I wouldn't let her get away with putting herself down. "I hear you’re the head of Toddler Time and Mommy and Me and you held a fundraiser to get new toddler safe equipment at the park."
"Yeah, but that's just local stuff. I've never been on a national magazine or the star of a huge marketing campaign," she said. Now it was my turn to blush.
Next came Morgan, the musician the family. She could play piano, violin, and cello.
"When I graduate in June, I've been accepted into the music program at the University," she gushed happily, and it was clear we were all extremely proud of her. Then, it was time to introduce the baby of the family.
"Last but never least, you've already met Tommy," I said with a wave of my hand. I headed for the door to our house, ready to allow Ethan to escape the awkwardness by going inside to meet my parents. He surprised me, however, by hanging back and taking the time to shake Tommy's hand and spend some time with him first. A lot of people who'd come to the house couldn't wait to get away from Tommy because his disability made them uncomfortable, but I was glad to see Ethan wasn't one of those people.
"We haven't met officially, but now we have. What about you? Do you have big plans for the future?" Ethan asked, and Tommy's face lit up.
"I spend a lot of time studying on the computer, and I really love engineering. The things you've done to improve the speed and efficiency of your motorcycles is impressive. It's given me some ideas I've been developing. I just wish my hands worked the way I wanted them to so I could build models and try them out."
"Well, maybe I could give you hand with that. I'd love to look at your ideas. If they're any good, I could have some of my innovation techs build it."
"That would be so cool!" Tommy nearly fell out of his chair with excitement and we had to hold him back.
"We'd better get you inside before you hurt yourself and I end up getting in trouble with your parents before I've even met them," Ethan joked and Tommy laughed heartily. It was good to see him so happy, and nice to see Ethan taking the time to make him feel good. He probably had no real intention of actually showing Tommy's designs to his tech team or wasting the money to develop them just for some kid, but Tommy didn't know that and it was sweet of Ethan to make the offer, even if they were just words.
Mom and Dad embraced Ethan with a bit more wariness than my excitable siblings had. It was obvious from the first awkward handshake that Ethan was lot closer to my Dad's age than he was to mine.
"How old are you, son?" my father asked, making my mother flush.
"Joe, it isn't polite to ask such things." Mom had turned bright pink, but Dad didn't care. His arms were crossed over his chest, in full protection mode of his family.
"That's for women, not men," Dad said to Mom. He turned to Ethan, and looked him up and down disapprovingly. "You look a bit more mature than the average young man I'd expect my 21-year-old baby to bring home."
"Yes, sir. I'm 42. I realize that seems a bit mature to be dating a girl of 21; but if I may say so, Kayla isn't your average kid. She has maturity and class that far exceeds her years.
“I was impressed by the way she carried herself in Los Angles, where women come from all around the country desperate to be models. Many of them will do anything to make it on the cover of Speed Magazine, but Kayla wasn't one of those girls. She had integrity and grace, the kind that doesn't come from plastic surgery or sleeping your way to the top.
“It was that strength of character that attracted me to her, and made me want to work with her. The more I got to know her, the more I respected her. I was drawn to her good heart, so we started a relationship. I can honestly say that I've benefitted more from meeting your daughter than I'm sure she has from meeting me, but I'll do my best to treat her right."
It was the perfect speech and when he was done, my father had lowered his arms and invited Ethan to sit down to dinner. Ethan promised to give my brothers a riding lesson in the morning when it wasn't dark out, and the whole evening was just what I had hoped it would be.
"It's getting late. I'd better get checked into my hotel so I can get some sleep. I promised the boys I'd give them a riding lesson right after breakfast, and I have a bad feeling that's a lot earlier here than it is in L.A."
"You can count on it," my mother said. Then she surprised me by saying, "But you don't need to check into a hotel. Now that Morgan and Tommy are the only two still living at home, we have plenty of space for guests. Kayla, of course, can sleep in her old bedroom, and you, Ethan, can have Junior’s old room here at the end of the hall. There are towels in the bathroom, and just give a holler if you need anything."
"Thank you, Mrs. Brandt," Ethan said graciously, although I was sure he would have been more comfortable staying in a four-star hotel in town.
I didn't have the heart to tell my mother I had been planning on staying in the hotel with him. Instead, we accepted the separate rooms with a smile, giving each other a playful wink behind her back.
I managed to sneak into Ethan's room later that night after everyone had fallen fast asleep, and he feigned surprise.
"What are you doing in here?"
"I came to make sure you're comfortable," I whispered in the dark.
"How comfortable could I be?" he joked, and lifted the bedspread so I could see that his feet were hanging off the edge where his tall frame exceeded the tiny, twin-sized bed.
"Maybe this will make things better," I smiled salaciously and removed my robe to reveal the red silk teddy I was wearing underneath.
I ripped the covers off the bed and pulled off Ethan's pajama bottoms and underwear in one movement, throwing them both on the floor. Then I climbed onto the narrow bed and took his large penis into my hands.
I brought my mouth down and kissed along the length of it, from the base all the way to the tip, and instantly, he became rock hard. Sighs of pleasure escaped his lips as I brought my tongue into play, lapping him like a popsicle before taking him fully into my mouth.
His sighs turned into groans of ecstasy and he had to struggle to stay quiet as I administered to him, thrusting his dick deep into my throat as I fucked him with my hot, wet mouth. When I brought my hand to cradle his balls, he jerked with pleasure, and I knew he was nearing orgasm. It wouldn't take much more stimulation, and I knew just what to do.
Keeping up the passionate thrusting of my mouth as I deep throated him, I brought my forefinger to the narrow space just between his balls and anus and gently massaged him there.
"Oh my God, you're incredible," Ethan groaned a little too loudly.
He gripped the mattress as every muscle in his body twitched and every nerve cell exploded with the powerful pleasure of his orgasm. Hot come shot down my throat and I swallowed it down hungrily. When at last he was finished, panting to catch his breath, I lovingly licked him clean.
"Better?" I asked him with a devilish grin.
"Much, but do your parents know what a naughty girl you are?"
"No, and I don't think you should tell them if you don't want to meet the barrel end of my father's shotgun," I whispered with a giggle.
"Well, I don't think this sort of behavior deserves to go unpunished." He grinned at me.
"What kind of punishment do you have in mind?" My eyes flashed with excitement. Just the thought of playing BDSM games in my childhood home was so deliciously taboo, it made my body tingle and my panties moistened instantly.
"You grew up here. You tell me. What fantasies did you have?" Ethan wanted to know. I only had to think about it for a moment before I knew the answer.
"Follow me," I whispered. We tiptoed down the hall to my room. It was the same room I had slept in as a child, and the same twin-sized bed made of Maplewood. My mother had decorated it with a pink bedspread and the same pink roses lined the ceilings with wallpaper trim that I used to stare at as I dreamed of my future.
I reached into the nightstand where I used to keep my childhood diary, wondering if it would still be there, and found what I'd been looking for: a wooden hairbrush, with a wide, flat head and a long, carved handle.
With my eyes gleaming with excitement, I handed it to Ethan, and whispered, "Spank me with this. I've always wondered what it would feel like, but I never had the courage to find out. I want to, tonight, with you."
"You are a naughty girl." His face beamed and he sat on the edge of my bed and patted his lap. "Bend over, naughty girl, and take what's coming to you."
I bent over his lap with my ass sticking high in the air, vulnerably exposed. He massaged my buttocks with his hand, caressing my round cheeks over my silky red panties."
"These are wet," he said tauntingly and pulled them from off my waist. "That will never do."
He wadded them into a tight ball and stuffed them into my mouth like a gag, saying to me. "That should keep you quiet, naughty girl."
I expected him to spank me then, but he fingered me instead, exploring my wet and sensitive folds with his long, probing fingers: massaging, caressing, fondling, and fucking me there while I moaned and panted with pleasure.
He held up the brush and gently caressed my buttocks with it, before suddenly and harshly bringing it down hard against my naked flesh. The impact made me cry out with surprise and pain, and my pussy rippled with pleasure.
Again and again, he smacked my ass with the flat side of the wide wooden brush, making my round butt cheeks vibrate, as well as my wet pussy. With every spank, I grew closer and closer to orgasm, even as tears of pain ran down my cheeks, while the juices of my own pleasure ran down my thighs.
Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the spanking stopped and Ethan took the long, ribbed handle of the brush and inserted inside my quivering tunnel. I was so wet, it slipped inside me easily, and so ready, it brought me to orgasm almost instantly. Luckily, my screams of pleasure were muted by the silk panties shoved into my mouth as I cried out in ecstasy.
I still lay draped across Ethan's lap, and as I orgasmed, I could feel his erection growing beneath him. As my climax started to ebb and I began to regain my breath, Ethan moved me to lay on my back on my bed and bent my legs up high so they were practically reaching my shoulders before plunging his hard dick into my still quivering pussy.
With my first orgasm not quite finished, I was instantly pulled into a second, even more powerful orgasm as he thrust powerfully with mighty strokes. I was thankful for the gag as my screams of euphoric ecstasy were completely uncontrollable under such extreme sexual pleasure. My orgasm seemed to last forever, until finally, it began to ebb. Ethan had climaxed along with me, and we now lay side-by-side, cuddled together on the tiny twin bed that had once seemed so large to me.
The sound of Tommy wheeling down the hall the next morning awoke us, and we realized with a start that we had accidentally fallen asleep in my bed together. Luckily, no one had seen and Ethan was able to slip back to the guest room unnoticed.
The rest of the weekend went off without a hitch. Ethan gave Junior a few simple lessons on how to ride a motorcycle, and afterwards, they took turns giving Tommy rides around the block.
When Tommy had to go in for his physical therapy, Ethan sat and talked business with my father. Paying for all of Tommy's medications and therapies was expensive, and Ethan was impressed at my father's ability to stretch a dollar to its very maximum.
"I should have you talk to my head of finance. You're smarter than a lot of men with masters’ in business," Ethan joked, but I wondered if there wasn't a grain of truth in what he had said, too. He seemed to genuinely admire my father.
It wasn't all business, though. Throughout the weekend, Ethan talked sports with Junior and found common ground with my mother discussing organic vegetables and the best way to cook them. He talked to Morgan about music and gave her some advice on surviving life at the University, and gave Emily tips on pushing forward with her playground initiative with the city planning board. Tommy peppered him constantly with questions, wanting to know everything there was to know about motorcycles, L.A., living in Beverly Hills, what famous people he'd met, and if he'd ever been in a serious crash. It was obvious he idolized Ethan, and Ethan was kind enough to indulge him, answering his questions as quickly as he could ask them.
"Do you think you'll ever develop a motorcycle for people like me?" Tommy asked, catching my attention from where I was helping Mom set the table for dinner.
"To be honest, it never would have occurred to me." Ethan didn't pull any punches, and I think that's part of what Tommy liked about him so much. He didn't treat him like a cripple he had to handle carefully. He treated him just like anyone else.
"I never would have thought to make the kind of designs you've thought of here, but I think there could be a great market for them, if not in commercial motorcycles, then in rehabilitation facilities or hospital programs. You have a gift, Tommy: a talented mind and the ability to see things no one else does. You'll do great things some day; just never quit trying."
"Yeah, now you sound like Mom and Dad." Tommy rolled his eyes as my mother kissed the top of his head, but my Dad gave Ethan a firm pat on the back.
"I knew I liked this guy. Ethan, you're all right," my father said, and it was the closest thing to a compliment anyone could hope for. A glowing endorsement by a man who gave out very few, and I felt my heart flip in my chest.
I knew Ethan would win my parents’ approval, and they seemed to have earned his as well, telling me one night as we secretly met to make love, "Your family is really great. I can see why they mean so much to you, and why you'd want to settle down and have one of your own."
My parents hosted a big party in the backyard the last night of our stay and invited all their friends. It seemed like half the town came. It was a terrific chance for me to make good to all the people who had laughed behind my back when I ran away to L.A., saying I'd never make it as a model.
Many of those people brought a copy of Speed Magazine with me on the cover, and asked me to sign it. When they found out Ethan was the owner, some of them asked for his autograph on the magazine, too. It was fun, and made us feel like a power couple. We were careful, though, not to take the limelight away from Dad, and Ethan made a very beautiful toast in his honor before the cake was cut, turning the full attention of all the guests back to the birthday boy.
The next morning, we had a last family breakfast before Ethan and I had to leave. Then, we mounted the bikes and took the long ride back home to his mansion in Beverly Hills.
It wasn't like the ride out, filled with excitement and happy chatter. It was a long, silent journey filled with a lot of introspection. I wanted to give Ethan the space he needed to process all that he had seen and heard that weekend so he could come to his own conclusion about if he wanted to be in a committed relationship with me.
I didn't need to think about it on my end; I already knew I loved him and I was already committed to him, heart and soul. Seeing him with my family that weekend, the way he interacted with Tommy, and how my parents loved him and he fit in with my siblings like a glove, just reaffirmed what I had already known. Ethan and I were meant to be together. Now I just needed him to realize it.
We pulled into his driveway and parked the bikes in his massive garage between his Ferrari and his black limousine. I took off my helmet and handed it to him, unsure where else to put it.
"You've been awfully quiet all day. Is something on your mind?" he asked me as he placed the helmets, along with our gloves, onto a nearby shelf.
"So have you," I pointed out. "I figured you must be thinking about what we talked about before and I wanted to give you space to figure it out. So, what did you decide?"
He just stared at me with a blank look, like he didn't know what I was talking about, and my heart dropped. Feeling exasperated, I said, "You know, about being in a committed relationship. You said you needed to meet my family first. Well, now you have, so what did you decide?"
"Oh, that. Wouldn't you like to know?" He grinned at me playfully, but I wasn't in a teasing mood. He winked at me and said "Let's go upstairs and I'll tell you in the morning."
I was about to object, but he placed his lips on mine, kissing me passionately, and my words were forgotten. He carried me up the stairs to his bedroom, knocking over a lamp in his wake, but he was so impassioned he didn't care.
He threw me on the bed and leapt onto the mattress beside me, kissing and caressing me all the while in just the ways he knew I liked best.
"Take off your clothes," he instructed in a husky voice, and his need for me was clearly straining inside his jeans.
"Wait," I held him back at arm's length. "I need to know the answer."
"Okay, I'll take them off." He reached for my blouse, but I held fast, pressing my hand firmly against his chest and making it clear that I meant business.
"No, Ethan. Stop. I can't do this. I can't keep making love to you if I don't know what's going on between us. I'm not some sex object you can use and toss aside when the next issue of Speed Magazine comes along and newest model catches your eye. Are you willing to commit to me or not?"
He lay back on the mattress and groaned, pressing his hands against his eyes like I was giving him a headache.
"Don't ask me to decide this right now. We just got back from a long trip. I need time to think."
"That's fine. Take all the time you need." I gave him a kiss goodbye and walked out the door.
"Kayla, wait! Where are you going?" He chased after me with a look of shock and terror on his handsome face.
"Home," I stated simply. "Let me know when you decide what you want."