Brad

I’m too comfortable. We worked together in the kitchen preparing dinner with ease. The light touches, the stolen kisses were easy. It was almost like we’ve been around one another for a while, like we cooked dinner together often. Meanwhile, I was fighting off the demons yelling in my head to back off and not get further involved with Mika. The other part of me was giving into the desires and the newness of whatever this was turning into. I had fought the pull between us for so long, I was mentally exhausted from corralling my thoughts.

I could learn to trust again. Just because one situation went awry, doesn’t mean that another will. One person fucked me over but that’s not how everybody is. I need to give into the chance of something happening.

I mentally remind myself to not take things too far tonight. We should have a conversation before I fuck her, regardless of how tempting her body is, how she molds to me when I kiss her. I need to make sure everything is out in the open, so she knows how fucked up my head is. Once she has all the facts, then she can decide if she wants to get involved with me. It’s the least I can do.

Is that too much too soon? Or would that be me going into whatever this is with everything out on the table. Will my fucked up-ness scare her?

I’m mentally backpedaling before I can even get the thoughts in my head straight.

A hand lands on my shoulder and snaps me back to reality.

“You’ve been washing the same plate for the past five minutes. I don’t think that it could get any cleaner.” Mika tilts her head, a question evident on her mind. Is everything okay?

I place the plate in the rack and turn off the water. She hands me a towel to dry my hands. My back is to the sink and she’s standing a few feet away.

“Sorry, just thinking.”

“About how amazing of a cook I am?” She smiles, her hands on her hips.

“Precisely. Maybe the next meal, you can teach me how to cook,” I throw back.

“I can make a mean bowl of cereal.” She grins proudly.

“I do like my cereal.” I push off the counter and stride to her. One hand goes around her waist, the other to her neck. I pull her to me and lightly kiss her. “We need to talk.”

“Wow. I think this is the quickest I’ve ever been broken up with. My cooking really is horrible,” she playfully pouts.

“First, not a chance. Second, the food was delicious. I just want you to know what you’re getting into.”

“You make it sound like you’re a bank robber and I’m going to be an accomplice.”

“You know that’s not why I went to jail, right?”

“Of course. I can read.” She smiles.

“Hooked on Phonics?”

“Worked for me!” She laughs as I shake my head.

I grab her hand and lead her into the living room. I motion for her to sit and then I take a seat beside her, angle my body towards her and lock eyes with her.

“I’m going to be completely honest with you, because I don’t want to blindside you once we get deeper into this connection. I learned the hard way to be completely honest with everyone in my life.”

She nods while worrying her bottom lip, pulling it through her teeth.

“I guess there are things that I should tell you too,” she says quietly.

“Let me go first. What do you know about my past?” I ask, letting her lead.

“Based upon Google, you’ve got a colorful past. You’re a part of the Maddox family, but you haven’t always been. You used to be an executive at Mad Designs along with your cousins. You were quite the playboy, and then you went to jail for perjury,” she states matter of factly, as if she was reading my Wiki page.

“That’s the CliffsNotes version. If you want me to go into detail, tell me. I’m re-learning how to trust, and I want to start with you but if you don’t want my fucked-up-ness in your life, I need you to tell me and we’ll just be friends and say goodnight.”

“I’m interested, in your story and in you.”

“Everyone make mistakes. I made an incredible mistake that resulted in losing my family and my place in the family business. I told a secret – my biggest secret – to the wrong person in a moment of weakness and she turned and used it against me. Not right away; first she made me fall for her, made me think she loved me too. Once she learned about Jacob and Tyson, I became last week’s news to her. She decided I wasn’t the Maddox she wanted, seeing as there were bigger fish in the pond. She created an elaborate scheme and blackmailed me to go along with it. I was in too deep and had so much fear that my secret would ruin my relationship with Jacob and Tyson, only I should have realized that going along with the scheme would have the same result, cause the same destruction. I wasn’t thinking clearly until it was too late.”

“I’m sorry,” she says sadly.

“Don’t be. It was my own fault. But now, because of the whole experience, there are some things about me that have changed.”

“Okay. You’re into dudes, aren’t you? I mean, after sitting in jail for a hot minute, becoming someone’s bitch… it makes sense. I mean, you’re pretty – you have a really great face – so I can see all the guys wanting to stick it to you, pull you around by your pinky and shit,” she nervously rambles.

“If I were into guys, I wouldn’t be here right now, giving you Brad Maddox 101.” I fight breaking into laughter.

“You could want to braid my hair, do facials, paint our nails or something. You know, be girlfriends.”

“That’s not at all that I want to do with you.”

“Bummer. I need to re-paint my toes.” She looks to her toes and wiggles them.

“Focus,” I say with a laugh. “So, I got fucked over by the person I told my secret to. She took my truths and bent them to her will, held them over my head and forced me to lie to my blood. I went to jail because of her and for not being a man and owning up to shit. I couldn’t tell you completely why I went along with the rouse, because I really don’t know what the fuck I was thinking at the time. It was like she was the Mad Hatter and put her devise on my head and controlled me.”

“Did you just give me a DC comics reference?”

I smirk.

“I didn’t know you were a closet nerd.” She shakes her head.

“It’s a new thing. It comes with working with software development. I hear some crazy shit sometimes. Anyway…”

“So, you have an issue with women and trust,” she says easily.

“I do.”

“Do you think you can trust me?” she asks after a moment.

“I want to, like I said.” I breathe. “For the first time in a long time, I want to trust again.”

“I should probably come clean too.” She takes a deep breath, runs her palms across the top of her thighs and looks up to me with a small smile. “I have a son.”

I look around the room as if he will materialize out of thin air.

“He’s not here. He’s with his father. We have some schedule, but yeah. He’s here a lot too.”

“Okay. How old is he?”

Can I handle this? A girlfriend and a child? She has a child; that’s a huge commitment. This makes things different, much different. Holy crap, can I do this? I look at her and, without a doubt, I want to try.

“He’s five, he’s in kindergarten and his name is Jared.”

“The father?”

“Um, he was a guy that I was seeing while I was in school.”

“Okay.” I nod and swallow the lump in my throat.

“He’s a doctor, but we don’t work together. He’s a good dad and yeah, that’s my secret. I’m a single mom, but my kid is pretty fantastic.” She smiles, locking eyes with me.

“All right. And here I thought that you had some really crazy, scary secret.” I nervously laugh. Can I be involved with someone with a kid? Do I want kids?

“So, you know that my mouth says things before my brain filters it. I try to be as truthful as possible. Can I ask that of you too?”

“That’s how I want to live now, no lies. They already ruined me once. I will be as honest as possible.”

“Can I ask something of you?” She looks apprehensive.

“Sure.”

“Be vulnerable with me and in return, I will be vulnerable with you. If you’re feeling weak, I will be strong and vice-versa.”

Mika

I’m not too sure how long I held my breath, but it whooshed out when a smile broke on his face.

“I think that I can navigate that, if you can.”

“I’m pretty much a weakling, I can’t even open jars. So you’ll be doing a lot of strong things,” I joke.

“So we’re going to do this?” he asks.

“I thought that was the plan?” I ask.

He kisses my forehead and then holds me to him before releasing me and settling his hand on my knee.

“I may fuck up and close myself off. I may freak out, and I may just become a dick. Those are my demons right now, I’m trying to push through and stay out of my head. I want this, I want you and I’m going to try like crazy not to let myself get in my own way.”

“Just remember that we can talk it out.”

“If it’s all right with you, I’m finished with talking.” He leans in again and runs his nose against the top of my shoulder and up the slope of my neck. I breathe out a jagged breath and squeeze my legs together to ease the ache forming in my sex. His hand moves up from my knee to my hip as he settles and squeezes.

His hand moves up from the hip up my side and then to around my back. He pulls me into him and I go willingly as our mouths fuse together. His tongue seeks mine and rubs against it, feeling like velvet as warmth floods my veins. My arms wrap around his neck, my fingers landing on the nape of his neck and toying with the hair at his neckline as we mold to one another.

Moments pass, my skin is heated and I’m out of breath as Brad pulls back.

“I should get going,” he whispers.

“But, why?” I cry.

“I don’t want to rush anything. This isn’t just some hook-up.”

“How about for shits and giggles, we hook up tonight and then tomorrow we can go back to not rushing things?” I wink.

“Once I sink my cock into you, I don’t think that I will want to ever leave,.” he whispers.

“Okay,” I say dumbly, in a daze from his words that I’m not sure are a threat or a promise.

He slowly stands and as he does he adjusts himself, shakes out his leg and groans.

“This is as torturous to me as it is to you, you know,” he says, offering me his hand to help me up. My hand stays wrapped in his big hand as we walk towards the front door.

“But we could turn that torture into pleasure.” I’m laying it on thick now, my hormones have taken over and no rational thought remains at the forefront of my mind.

“You’re going to be the death of me, aren’t you?”

“I’m just making sure my man is taken care of.”

“Your man, eh?” He says, stopping in front of the door and holding both my hands in front of him with a smile.

“Well, considering where you’ve been for the past few years, would you be more comfortable with my bitch?” I smile.

“For the record, I wasn’t anyone’s bitch in jail,” he deadpans.

“Will you be mine?” I joke.

“I’ll settle for being your man.” He pulls me into him, one hand going to my hip and the other running up my back to my hair and gripping the back of my head.

“Okay.” He kisses me and my knees start to feel weak. My hands grasp his hips as he pushes into me and turns me so my back is against the front door.

“Oh, fuck it,” he growls against my lips and hitches me up to wrap my legs around his hips. He walks to the stairs, holding me carefully and kissing me as he takes the stairs one by one. He kicks open my door and sets me gently down on the bed. “You’re a temptress, you know that?” he says, nipping at my lower lip as he kisses me again. His muscular body leans over me but he keeps his weight off my frame. My feet pull on his hips to get him closer, but his arms halt the movement.

“It’s been years since I’ve been with anyone. I can’t guarantee anything, so I’m just letting you know.”

“I think we’re in the same boat, it’s been awhile for me too. We’ll do this together.” I playfully wink at him and he shakes his head.

“I may just fuck you hard and fast and not take my time – this time – is what I meant.” He kisses down my neck.

“Then why are you still talking? You should be fucking me.”

Those will be my last words before I reach new heights.

* * *

He fucks like a porn star.

Not that I’ve ever had sex with a porn star, but I’ve watched enough porn and if I imagined what it would be like… it would be like this.

He knows just the right way to swivel his hips, the right pace and rhythm to get the job done effectively, but not too quickly.

He’s actively working hard to make me come and he’s doing a damn good job at it. Specifically, he’s rubbing his dick against my clit after he pulls out before thrusting back in.

His hand is on the inside of my knee, opening me up for him as he pushes in and out of me with vigor. His other hand is holding him up to keep some of his weight off of me. My arms are grasping him by his middle, his hips. I’ll pulling him into me and trying to not dictate his speed as he seems to prefer the control. I don’t want to assume, but I think that the control is what gets him off.

“Fuck! I don’t think I can hold off. I need you to touch yourself.”

I run my hand down starting at my collarbone, paying particular attention to the valley between my breasts and past my stomach to my mound, with Brad’s eyes trailing the movement. I begin to rub myself as his dick pumps in and out of me at an insane speed. My fingertips brush against him as I spin my nub. He becomes erratic and his movements are not as calculated as before. He’s chasing his release, which creates the need in me as well. I start to feel mine and I look to Brad and catch his eyes to confirm that I’m close and he growls.

I feel the rush of energy through my body, the loss of breath and my vision goes black. With my toes curling and my nails digging into his sides, I come with such intensity that I may have blacked out. He continues to thrust and then stills when I can feel my pussy pulsing. He lets out a loud groan that doesn’t sound human and then he tucks his head into the crook of my neck while taking several deep breaths. His dick and my pussy flex in tandem and we both laugh together.

He pulls up and settles on his elbow while wiping some scattered hair away from my face.

“I’m sorry if that was too much,” he whispers.

“That was perfect.”

“It’s been… it’s been a while,” he blows out.

“Like I said, it was perfect.”

“Well, I was aiming for that, you know.” He smirks.