Chapter 9 #2
I gasp, my lower half twitching. My release gushes out of me, and it’s at the last possible second that I remember not to scream out my pleasure as I flood Forest’s face.
I collapse forward on my elbows, my mind hazy with bliss, and Forest wriggles out from beneath me.
I jerk when he places a solid hand between my shoulder blades, pinning me to the mattress, followed by a wet slapping sound.
I turn my cheek, peering over my shoulder, and moan at what I see.
His eyes are big and round and wholly focused on my backside, his fist working the length of his huge, hard cock. I’ve always heard it’s the ones you least expect to have the biggest dicks. Forest is living proof.
“Never eaten a pussy as sweet as yours, angel,” he says, flicking his eyes to mine and back again. “Makes me feral when you ride me.”
I don’t know what it is in me that makes me do so, but I lift my hips higher. The sight of his quick-moving hand makes me squeeze my pussy around empty air. “I want to do it again,” I say with a pout. One orgasm isn’t good enough, not when I know what having two back-to-back feels like.
“Give me…a second. I’m almost done.”
I rock forward and back impatiently, and Forest seems to grow taller, puffing out his chest.
“Ah, hell, you miss my tongue deep inside your pussy?”
“Mmhmm,” I hum, pressing my knees together so I can lift my hips as high as I can. He doesn’t have to hold me down anymore, because I’m not going anywhere.
“Almost…there,” he says, panting as he jerks himself faster. “Want to fuck you so badly, angel. You have no idea.”
“So why don’t you?” It just pops out of my mouth, and I’d run screaming at how quickly things have progressed if it weren’t for the fact that I really, really want the man I frustratingly can’t stop thinking about to give me that second orgasm.
He shakes his head. “I don’t have any condoms, and I’m not looking to have a fourth kid any time soon.” He says absently, “Or ever.”
What the fuck? I jerk upright to sit on my heels and twist to the side. “You don’t want any more kids?”
Forest’s pace slows until he’s simply holding his fat erection. “I have enough on my plate with three. Not sure I could handle another,” he says with a chuckle—and also a slight grimace when his cock bobs.
“It’s hard now, but things will get easier with time,” I say, wrinkling my nose, even as I salivate at the size of him. Yeah, my vibrator’s got nothing on Forest’s dick.
“Parenting never gets easier, no matter how old they get.”
“But what if you got married and didn’t have to parent them all on your own? You still wouldn’t want more?”
He shrugs, letting go of his cock as the heated atmosphere turns chilly. “I don’t know. Probably not.”
“What is wrong with you?” I ask, hugging myself as goosebumps start popping up on my arms.
“What’s wrong with you?” he echoes, appraising me with a hesitant expression. “Why do you care how many kids I have?”
“I don’t.”
“Kinda sounds like you do.”
“Well, I don’t.” I crawl off the bed and locate my shorts, roughly tugging them up my legs.
He reaches for my hand. “Where are you going?”
I dodge him and unlock the bedroom door, breezing out. “Back to my suite. Bye.”
He chases after me, shoving his erection under his waistband. “Autumn, stop,” he hisses when I step out of his suite. “Come back.”
I throw both middle fingers up over my head as I race toward the elevators, disappearing inside the conveniently open door, then stab the button for the fifth floor.
It was a mistake letting Forest get anywhere near me again. I knew better. I should have kissed the kids goodnight, then gotten the hell out of there, because there’s no way I’m finding sleep any time soon, that’s for damn sure.
Fucking asshole.
“Where were you, young lady?” Dad asks as soon as I step inside our suite, a lamp in the corner casting a warm glow on his surly expression.
I stop short and freeze as if I were fifteen years old, getting caught sneaking through my bedroom window in the wee hours of the morning after partying all night. At least I’m old enough that my parents can’t take away my phone and ground me to my room any longer…I think.
“What are you doing up?” I ask instead. He’s an early riser, but two in the morning is pushing it.
Dad draws up to his full height, folding his arms across his large chest. “I could ask the same of you.”
“I…went for a walk.”
“Would that walk happen to be on the fourth floor?”
“No.” My cheeks are on fire, and I’m sure he can see the guilt of lying written all over my face.
Dad slowly relaxes with a lopsided smile. “Couldn’t help yourself, huh?”
“What?”
“Knew you’d have to go say goodnight to the kids sooner or later. Just surprised you were able to wait so long. But you know they’re in good hands with Mrs. Schwartz.”
“Oh. Right. Yeah.” I shift on my feet, belatedly realizing I left my slippers in Forest’s suite. My thong too.
Dad grabs a bottle of water from the fridge in the kitchenette, takes a long swig, and ambles back toward his room. “Well, try to get some sleep. We have to be up early if we want to catch breakfast before the conference starts. See you in the morning.”
“Goodnight, Daddy.”
“Sure is nice to hear that again.” He turns in his doorway and pats his chest. “Hurt an old man’s old heart when you girls started calling me Dad.”
I shuffle closer to him. “You remembered to take your pills, right?”
His brows lift as he silently thinks about it. “Plum forgot. I’ll go do that now.” He winks. “Don’t tell your mother.”
“Oh, I’m definitely going to tell her.”
Dad scowls but replaces it quickly with a smile before he shuts his bedroom door.
“Tum-Tum!” Sebastian yells, yanking his hand out of Mrs. Schwartz’s grip. He sprints toward me as fast as he can…faster than the useless Mrs. Schwartz, even in her fancy sneakers. I told Forest she wouldn’t be able to keep up, but did he listen? Noooo. Frickin’ men.
“Sorry, Mr. Woods,” Mrs. Schwartz says, attempting to catch up.
I push out of my chair at the table Dad had reserved to have breakfast with everyone downstairs in the hotel lobby.
“Sebby!” I say happily, rushing toward him in my heels, sweeping the toddler up in my arms, twisting side to side while we hug.
“I’ve got him,” I snap when Mrs. Schwartz lifts her arms to take him from me, and then I give her my back.
From Forest’s arms as he and Josephine trail behind Mrs. Schwartz, Benjamin squawks, clapping his hands when he sees me. I refuse to look Forest in the face, freshly showered and dressed in a nice suit that fits him impeccably well.
“Good morning, Benny,” I say, motioning for Forest to switch kids with me. Benjamin gives me a gummy smile, and I kiss his cheek, inhaling his loveable baby scent. “Good morning, Josie,” I say to Josephine next, wanting to pull her into a hug.
“Morning,” she murmurs, tucking her chin to her chest.
She pushes past me to get in line at the buffet, where Dad is already loading up his plate with all the foods his doctor told him he should be eating—basically everything he doesn’t want to.
Not five seconds after I texted Mom this morning about Dad forgetting to take his pills, she called him and chewed his ass out.
As she should. Dad’s been grumbling about his daughters spiking his blood pressure all morning…
hence the very reason why he needs to remember to take his meds.
“I’m worried about Josephine,” Forest says, stepping closer.
“Me too,” I whisper.
“I don’t think she’s smiled once all week.”
“Maybe you should take her out to do something fun, just the two of you, tonight. Give her some one-on-one time. I’m sure she’s been missing that since you brought the boys home.”
“Good idea,” he says with a nod. “Have you eaten yet?”
“No. We just got here.”
I startle slightly when he rests his hand on my lower back, pushing me toward Dad. “Sit, and I’ll grab you a plate,” he says, pulling out my chair positioned between the highchairs Dad and I had already brought to the table.
I lift my brows, choosing not to respond as we get the boys buckled into their seats.
“So…Autumn,” Mrs. Schwartz says when she sits at the head of the table on my left. “I haven’t seen you since Shayla’s kids went back to school. How have you been?”
“Fine,” I mutter, looking everywhere but at her.
“That’s good to hear.” A beat passes in silence before she asks, “How are things at the firm? Forest told me you’re working under him?”
Under him. I certainly wanted to be last night. Ugh. “It’s fine,” I say, drumming my fingers on the tabletop.
The table falls quiet as we wait for everyone else to join us.
Dad pulls out the chair directly across from me for Josephine, then takes his seat catty-corner to Mrs. Schwartz.
He’s much warmer with her, striking up a conversation about Shayla’s kids, for which she seems grateful, avoiding my chilly attitude.
Every once in a while, Dad grimaces after taking a bite of his egg white omelet or dry turkey bacon, which makes me laugh.
In turn, it makes him grumble that much worse, which then, of course, makes me laugh even harder.
Forest sets two plates of a variety of foods in front of me, then goes back to the buffet line.
I divvy up the food, cutting the sausage patties, pancakes, and fruit into smaller bites for Sebastian, and give Benjamin half a banana to gum, before I dig into my own breakfast. Forest returns with as many glasses as he can hold of juice for the kids and cups of coffee for him and me, then returns to the line again.
A girl could get used to this. By the time he sits to eat, I’m already halfway through my meal.
“You’re not hungry?” he asks Josephine, who has only eaten a slice of bacon and half a pancake before pushing the rest of her food around her plate.
She shakes her head.
“Do you want something else?” I ask her, rising from my seat. “They have oatmeal, cereal, and waffles.”
“I’m not hungry,” she says in barely a whisper.
Forest and I finally make eye contact. It seems neither of us is sure of the right thing to do or say here.
“Ah, Sherman, I thought that was you,” says a man a few years younger than Forest as he makes his way toward our table, dressed in an impressive suit that rivals Dad’s.
Gabriel is one of those fancy, bigger-city types with an expensive haircut and a gleaming gold watch. He looks good, and he knows it. His ID badge for the conference hangs on a red lanyard around his neck, and it sways forward when he reaches to shake Dad’s hand.
Dad stands and claps Gabriel’s shoulder. “Good to see you, Gabriel.” He sweeps his arm toward me. “You remember my daughter, Autumn.”
“That I do,” Gabriel says, reaching across the table.
We’ve run into him several times before, and I’ve even gone out with him once when he invited me to share a nightcap at the hotel bar at the last conference. He was disappointed when I didn’t want to go back to his room afterward, but unlike Tobias, he took the rejection well.
I rise, smoothing down my skirt, to take his hand. With thick black hair, warm mahogany eyes, and a square jaw, he might not have been a bad choice to start up my wild oats phase, had I taken him up on his offer.
Gabriel catches me silently appraising him, and he smiles slyly as if he knows exactly what I’m thinking. Heat settles over my cheeks, though it’s more in embarrassment than it is in attraction.
Forest’s fork of hash browns hovers midway to his mouth, and he clears his throat loudly, then clenches his jaw. I don’t want to examine why I’m relieved he interrupted the moment. He stands next, surprising Gabriel, who has to step back quickly to make room for the taller man.
Forest juts out his hand. “Forest Woods. New Senior Advisor at the firm, and Autumn’s…supervisor.”
Oh geez, kill me now. What is he doing?
“Right. Nice to meet you.” Gabriel flicks his gaze toward me, tugging back his hand when Forest doesn’t immediately let go.
The tan lines across his forehead crease with surprise as he takes stock of the kids while I cut up a second pancake for Sebastian.
“I didn’t know you had kids, let alone three,” he says to me. “You hardly look old enough—”
“She’s not our mom,” Josephine says, dropping her fork on her plate with a clatter. She curls in on herself, her shoulders shaking when she starts to cry.
My heart breaks all over again for her. For the boys, too, who won’t understand for some time that they won’t get to see their mother again.
Forgetting Gabriel, Forest kneels beside Josephine, drawing her into a tight embrace.
Dad claps his hand on Gabriel’s shoulder, leading him away from the table with a low murmur.
From across the room, I watch as Gabriel nods with understanding, and he gives me a small, sad smile before drifting away.
While Dad is on stage, answering questions during the Q & A portion of his engagement about start-up funds for opening your own firm, Forest tips his head toward me in the dimly-lit room, where we’re seated together in the middle. “I was thinking, how about dinner and a movie?”
“Huh?” Is he asking me out?
“You know, the animated princess one that just came out.”
“Don’t you think we’re a little old for that?”
“No, she still loves those kinds of movies. I’ll cry when she grows out of them and thinks they’re lame. Swear it.” He pulls his phone out to order tickets online, then stops. “Wait, did you think I was asking you out?”
I loudly shush him and cross my arms. “I want to hear Dad’s answer.” I give my totally divided attention to Dad as I try not to squirm in my seat while Forest stares at my profile.
He leans closer and whispers, “Would you have said yes if I did?”
“Shhh. Pay attention.”
His voice is deep and rumbly when he asks, “Would you say yes if Gabriel asks you out?”
“Been there, done that. Now shut up. You’re being rude.”
“As rude as you were when you ran out on me last night?” He drops his voice lower. “I was hard for hours afterward, thinking about you.”
I go red hot, my neck prickling, trying to focus everything I have on Dad and not the magnetic pull I have toward the man beside me.
The corner of his mouth turns down. “I still don’t understand why you left. Did I do something wrong?”
I pinch my lips shut.
Forest gives up on waiting for an answer that will never come, and he finishes paying for his movie tickets, then sits back, his shoulder brushing mine.
He crosses his ankle over his knee, bouncing his foot with agitation when he turns his head to the side.
I follow his line of sight, finding Gabriel in the crowd.
Is he jealous? I think he’s jealous.
Interesting.