Chapter 23
Thursday
Matt
“And the duck goes…”
“Quack,” Jacob said with a yawn and put his head on my shoulder.
I smiled down at him. We had a new routine. He loved reading his favorite books in the dark with a flashlight. While the stars glowed above his bed.
Usually Brooklyn was with us though. I was a little worried he’d be hard to put to sleep without her tonight. But he hadn’t made a fuss. He just seemed excited to read his story.
“And the lion goes…”
“Roar.” He yawned again.
“And the monster goes…”
Jacob started snoring lightly. Usually he was jumping around to this part of the book. But Tanner had been playing football in the backyard with him when I’d gotten home from Justin’s studio. Mason and I had joined them, and the four of us had kept playing for at least another hour. Jacob was tuckered out.
I smiled as Jacob snored again. He actually sounded just like Brooklyn when she was really tired. For a second I just stared at him sleeping. His little head on my shoulder.
For years, I’d tried to pretend I didn’t want a family. That I didn’t want to be a father. But I couldn’t be more wrong. This little guy made my heart feel so full. I knew he wasn’t my kid. But it was hard to believe he wasn’t when we were playing football. Or reading like this. Or dancing around the kitchen. This kid was a piece of me. I guess because Brooklyn was a piece of me.
I’d meant what I said to Brooklyn. That I would have been happy just the three of us. I kissed the top of Jacob’s head and gently moved him so he was lying down. I tried my best not to move the bed too much as I climbed off. I put the book down on his nightstand, switched off the flashlight, and tiptoed to the door.
“Goodnight, Daddy,” Jacob said.
I froze. I thought my heart was already full. But hearing him call me that? I turned around to say goodnight too.
But Jacob was staring up at the ceiling.
I swallowed hard. I don’t know why I thought he was calling me that. Jacob had told me he didn’t want me to be his dad. That he wanted to keep calling me Coach. And I was fine with that. I understood that. I just…I had a slip up. But my chest felt all funny now. Of course he wasn’t talking to me.
Jacob turned back to me and smiled. “Goodnight, Coach. I love you.”
I blinked and for a second and didn’t say anything at all. That hit differently. Because it was definitely for me. Jacob loved so freely. He trusted me to keep him safe. To keep his mom safe. To make sure they were both happy. No, I wasn’t his dad. But I could definitely be his coach. “I love you too, kiddo.”
He closed his eyes, rolled over on his side, and held one of his stuffed animals tight.
I stared at him for another moment until I heard him snoring again. And then I closed the door.
The house was eerily quiet now that Tanner and Mason had left and Brooklyn still wasn’t home. I picked up some of the toys that were strewn on the floor. As I put the last truck in the basket, I paused at one of the photos on the mantel. Of Miller and Brooklyn smiling at the camera. I exhaled slowly and walked toward the back door. There was something I needed to do. I closed the door quietly behind me.
“Hey,” I said and stared up at the sky. “I know you don’t like me, man.” How could he possibly?
The wind blew and the city felt so still.
“But I do promise to keep Brooklyn safe. And I promise to take care of Jacob. And to love them both. I promise you that.”
The wind blew again and I closed my eyes.
“I’ll pick up where you left off. Loving them.” I exhaled slowly and opened my eyes again.
The stars looked a little brighter in the sky.
And I could tell why this helped Brooklyn and Jacob so much. Because the stars felt alive. Like they were listening. Hell, maybe they were.
I cleared my throat and stared at the stars. “Thank you, Miller. Thank you for taking care of Brooklyn when I couldn’t. Thank you for being what she needed. And thank you for trusting me to be what she needs now.” I nodded. I hoped he understood. I hoped he knew that Brooklyn wasn’t just moving on. That her heart was still broken. And that she was letting me help heal her. That she was giving me a second chance that I probably didn’t deserve. But I wasn’t going to fuck it up this time. This time it was forever.
I nodded at the stars once more and then went back inside. It felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Like I’d somehow gotten Miller’s permission.
I didn’t move any of the pictures on the mantel, but I grabbed the couple I had framed and added them. One was of me and Brooklyn back in high school. I’d pulled it from the photo album Kennedy had made for us as a wedding present. It had been taken after one of my football games. In it Brooklyn was kissing me even though I was still in my uniform and all sweaty. I loved that photo. And I added one from prom too.
Tanner had brought over a huge stack of photos from prom that he’d gotten the photographer to print out. And he and Nigel were only in a few. And always on the end. He specifically asked me not to frame any of them.
I asked him why he really didn’t like being photographed. He’d just shrugged and said it was a billionaire thing. And that I wouldn’t understand until I was a billionaire.
So I put one of all the Untouchables on the mantel instead. One with Rob jumping on my back and kind of ruining the photo in the best way. Then I added one of all of us with our wives and girlfriends. It was definitely missing Tanner. But I respected his billionaire wishes. Hell, maybe I would understand one day. It was probably just a privacy thing.
I grabbed the big picture I had framed and walked into the entranceway. I’d moved the naked portrait of Brooklyn to our bathroom. I lifted up the new frame and hung it in the portrait’s place. It was another picture from prom, of me dipping Brooklyn backwards as she laughed. God I loved the sound of her laughter.
I stepped back and stared at the photo. There. I took a deep breath. Now it felt like my home too. Our home. Together. For our family.
I heard the key in the lock.
Shit.She was back early. I ran into the kitchen and turned on the music, low enough to not wake Jacob.
“What is this?” she said with a laugh.
I hurried back into the entranceway and dipped her like in the picture.
She turned toward it and smiled. “Seriously, what is going on?”
I leaned down and kissed her and then pulled her back upright. “Oh, this is how I’m always going to welcome you home,” I shimmied my shoulders.
“Hmm, I’m reconsidering everything now,” she said with a smile.
I pretended to look shocked. “Baby, I know you love my dance moves.” I broke out the robot and she laughed again.
“I truly will expect this every time I come home now,” she said.
“Done.” I twirled her around and pulled her in close.
The music was upbeat, but we started swaying in the entranceway.
“I like the new picture.”
“I like you,” I said. I’d been worried about her when I left her at Justin’s studio. But she looked do damn happy right now. I’d planned a whole night around making her smile again. But I was sure I could make her smile even bigger.
“I should go say goodnight to Jacob,” she said.
“He’s sound asleep.”
“Yeah? He was okay tonight? I was worried…”
“He was good. He had fun with Tanner while we were out. And Mason came over for a bit and the four of us played football outside.”
“I’m sure he loved that.”
“He did. He was so tuckered out that we barely made it through half a book before he fell asleep. Come here, I want to show you something else.” I pulled her into the family room.
She dropped my hand and looked at the new pictures on the mantel. She smiled when she reached the one of us from high school. “I remember that day.”
“I remember that night,” I said.
She laughed. “Yeah. I remember that too.”
“I was thinking we could reenact it.”
“You want to reenact your parents being out of town? And your brother being at a party?”
“Yes.”
“We’re not 16 anymore, Matt.”
“No. But we were rarely all alone back then. And we’re rarely alone right now.”
She squealed as I lifted her into my arms. I carried her into the kitchen and put her down on the island. I needed a new memory of someone naked on this kitchen counter.
Sixteen years ago, we’d skipped a party after my team won so that we could be alone. Brooklyn insisted she’d wanted to bake something. But I’d only had one thing on my mind then. And I only had one thing on my mind now.
I stepped between her legs, pushing her thighs apart.
“This is not what I was expecting when I walked in the door tonight,” she said.
“I want you to love surprises again. So I’ll keep surprising you until you do.”
She smiled. “I’ve always loved your surprises. Just not my dad’s.”
I really didn’t want to talk about Mr. Pruitt right now. For just a few minutes, I wanted Brooklyn to forget about all the pain she was carrying around. I slid my hands up her thighs, forcing her skirt to rise up higher. I ran one of my thumbs up the side of her thong and circled her hip bone. “I love this part of you.” Where her soft flesh met a hard line.
A soft moan escaped her lips.
“So you remember that night?” I asked, lowering my mouth to her skin. I kissed the inside of her thigh.
She didn’t reply, but she grabbed the back of my head.
“Greedy girl,” I whispered and nipped at the skin on the inside of her thigh.
She tightened her grip in my hair.
My fingers dug into her hipbone as I pushed her thong aside with my free hand. She was already glistening, begging for my tongue. “I remember making a mess. Kind of like what you’re doing now.” A drop of her wetness had landed on the granite countertop. So fucking sexy.
“I think we made a bigger mess than that,” she said.
She was right. We’d made such a mess. I locked eyes with her as I licked her wetness off the counter. God. I’d meant what I said during the tasting tonight. I could fucking live off her sweetness. I lifted my head from between her thighs.
“Matt…”
“Do you know what else I remember?” I asked as I walked around the island toward the fridge. “That you were still bad at asking me for what you wanted. That you had no problem spreading your thighs for me in the middle of my parents’ kitchen. But were too shy to ask me to make you come with my tongue.”
Her jaw dropped.
I opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of whipped cream. Which I’d picked up exactly for this occasion. Because I’d wanted to make a mess with her too.
I rounded the counter again and spread a line of whipped cream up the inside of her thigh. “Baby, we both know you’re not shy.” I licked the whipped cream up halfway. “You’re feisty.” I licked the rest of the way up.
But she didn’t say a word. So I squirted whipped cream up her other thigh and moved my head away from her pussy. “You’re bold.” I licked halfway up and she moaned. “And it turns you on to ask for exactly what you want.” I licked the rest of the way up. “So tell me.” I put a dollop of whipped cream on her pussy. “Tell me exactly what you want baby. So I can feast on you. And don’t you dare ask me to poke you in the pants.”
An exasperated laugh escaped her throat. “Matt, we’re going to wake…”
“Don’t worry, I won’t let you make too much noise.” I had an idea for that.
A smile spread across her face. “Okay.” She slowly spread her thighs wider like the little vixen I knew she was. “In that case…I want you to lick my pussy until I can’t even remember what day it is.”
Oh, I could guarantee she was going to remember today forever. But she had asked nicely. I shook the cannister of whipped cream and put a line on my thumb. I pressed the pad of my thumb against her lips. “Suck.”
She opened her lips and wrapped them around my thumb. She’d be quiet enough, moaning around my finger, wishing it was my cock buried in her throat.
And in the meantime, I could focus on what I’d been dying to do all night. I lowered my mouth to her aching pussy. I placed one, long stroke along her wetness.
Her lips tightened around my thumb.
Just thinking about it being her lips around my cock turned me on even more. I buried my face in her pussy, her sweetness mixing with the taste of whipped cream.
I grabbed her thigh and hoisted it over my shoulder for better access.
Her moaning my name around my thumb and the taste of her were enough to drive me insane. I swirled my tongue around her wetness and her lips wrapped around my knuckle.
I’d had every intention to just please her. But the way she was gripping my thumb? If she wanted the real thing…
I pulled back. She reached out to grab me, but I was holding her in place with my hand around her chin.
“Don’t worry, baby.” I undid my pants with one hand. “I know you’d rather gag on the real thing.”
Her eyes fell to my hard cock.
“Lie back.” I slid my thumb out of her mouth and smiled when she immediately complied.
I kicked off my boxers and pants and rounded the counter. I put a line of whipped cream on my length as I stared down at her.
I liked when she rode my face. But tonight I was setting the pace. I climbed onto the counter and she tilted her head back to see me from upside down. The angle made her neck look even longer. And I knew she could handle every inch of me. I pressed my tip against her lips and she immediately opened her mouth for me.
Good girl.
I thrust into her mouth as I leaned forward. I breathed in the scent of her pussy. Time for my favorite dessert.