Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
RICH
I knew Lucy wanted to be prepared and have answers to things, but the truth was neither of us knew for sure what was going on with us. Neither of us knew how Annie would handle it if I told her I wanted to try dating her best friend.
I had some idea of the comments she might come out with about it: my age and Lucy’s, that I’d known her since childhood. Wasn’t that a little creepy, and why did I have to pick her best friend. But I didn’t pick Lucy. It hadn’t been my intention.
Some of those things had been through my own mind. A few of them I had answers for, others I wasn’t so sure about.
Maybe it was a bit weird. But it wasn’t something I had thought about long-term. Nor had I encouraged her in any way. Hell, I hadn’t given a single thought about her until that night in the garden the day they came back from uni. In my mind, that helped take the creepy off it, and I could only hope Annie believed me.
I considered the fact that Lucy had thought about us breaking up before we’d had a chance to begin. Something in that really got to me. It scared me a little. There was a pang in my chest at the notion of not being around her. Was I already thinking of her that much? Was this already so full-on that after one kiss that the idea of breaking up something that wasn’t even a relationship yet pulled on my heartstrings?
It worried me. None of us knew what was going to happen, sure. We knew what we hoped would, but if my divorce had taught me anything, it was that nothing in life came with a guarantee. We were all here to do our thing and hope for the best. When I added that this was the first relationship I had even considered since my ex-wife, things made more sense. It all made me a little nervous that I was thinking about it more seriously than I should have been so early on.
“Penny for them?” Lucy asked, sitting beside me on the sofa as she took a bite of the food I’d ordered from Wagamama.
Dismissing the thoughts, I shook my head. “Oh, just stuff and nonsense,” I replied with a smile.
Lucy looked like she didn’t believe me. I wasn’t sure I would have believed me either. “Would you mind if I asked a random question?” She winced as though she wasn’t sure she should be asking at all.
“Of course you can.”
“Did you ever want more kids than just Annie?”
I coughed a little, choking a little on the food in my mouth. I wondered if she was thinking too far ahead, but it also gave me a warm feeling inside to know that kind of thing was on her mind. “I did. She didn’t. So, we had Annie and that was it. That’s why I had the vasectomy. Why, are you thinking of having kids sometime soon?” I laughed a little.
Lucy shrugged. “I’ve not really thought about it properly. I guess I would like all the things you’ve already done; the kids, and the wedding, and all of that. But I also appreciate it’s something you might not be interested in doing again.”
I shook my head. “No, I would absolutely do it again with the right person. I’m not that bloody old that I should be thinking of my retirement, you know. Vasectomies can be reversed.” I smirked.
A flash of something flickered across Lucy’s face. Was she really thinking about me with all those things? And dear God, why did the thought of her belly swelling with my child make my heart flutter and give me butterflies in my stomach? We had kissed. Once. That was it. How the hell was I so damn invested in the could be and might haves everything a future with her as a partner would offer?
“Sorry. I know that’s random and makes me seem insane to have it in my head right now, but it was something I had wondered about before all this.”
She winced as though regretting what she was saying; I touched her hand needing to reassure her. “You don’t have to explain. Erica hadn’t wanted to have kids. The signs were all there, but then she found out she was pregnant with Annie, and we openly talked about the fact that she didn’t want children. It was news to me because I wanted a whole house full with the woman I loved. Before we married, I thought that was what she wanted too. But she got into her career, and that seemed to be the focus of her life. By then, we were married, and I was still stupid, young, and hopeful things would change.”
Her gaze locked with mine, leaning in as though to listen more intently. “But they didn’t?”
“No. They got a lot worse, and she pushed hard for me to have a vasectomy. I guess that’s why the divorce hit me as hard as it did because it wasn’t just that she had been very invested in our marriage for years beforehand, but that she has been so insistent that she didn’t want more children, and then she fucked off anyway.” For the first time in a long time I realised that I didn’t sound as bitter about it as I used to. These days I sounded much more resigned to the fact that it was all done – a past I didn’t dwell on as much anymore.
“I didn’t know.” She looked away, giving my hand a squeeze as she did.
“You were very young. How would it have been on your radar? It was just one of those things, I guess.” My shoulders sagged with a little sadness.
“But it didn’t make you jaded about love?” She sounded hopeful.
Realising that she might be just as interested in me as I was in her was something I hadn’t expected to happen quite like this, but damn did it feel good.
Talking about life, love, and everything else like this with Lucy was refreshing. It was nice to talk to someone and not have to explain that I was a divorced man and how all that came about. Lucy already knew the basics, and filling in the finer details didn’t bother me. On reflection, I hadn’t realised how much I had missed having someone be interested in me as a person and not just as a participant in a sex act.
“No, it didn’t. Honestly, I hadn’t thought much about it before now. I was happy enough with my status quo. What about you? You were pretty serious all through university. What happened there?”
She rolled her eyes with a sigh. “I wasn’t his type apparently. He was just ‘slumming it’ while he was in university. Our relationship had never been perfect and with hindsight I guess it needed to happen. Still stung like a bitch at the time, though.”
“What a prick.” My free hand balled into a fist, a flash of anger and outrage on Lucy’s behalf coursing through me.
Lucy smiled. “My thoughts exactly, once I got over the initial shock.”
I thought about Lucy planning a future with someone, only to have it dashed when they announced they had other plans. It wasn’t unlike what happened with Erica. Sure, the finer details were different, but the basics were pretty similar. We’d loved someone who hadn’t been on the same page as us and we didn’t know it properly until the end.
“I think, like you, I knew it wasn’t perfect, and he wasn’t all he claimed. But at the same time, to be told I was just a phase in uni was a kick in the tits. He fucked off with some tart he met on his gap year. They’re out there now ‘finding themselves.’” Lucy groaned at the last part and surrounded the final two words with air quotes.
I grinned at her. “While I hate that he hurt you, I’m glad he decided he needed to go on without you.”
I touched her shoulder, and she leaned in against my hand. Sparks ignited where her skin touched mine, and the desire that had been simmering underneath kicked into high gear. I slid my hand to the nape of her neck and pulled her closer to me, needing to claim her mouth.
Reading my intention, her hand went to my face, and she turned more towards me. The moment our lips touched, everything else faded into the background. It was just her and me, and the burning desire between us. Her tongue licked along mine. I knew in that moment I wouldn’t stop at a kiss. I wouldn’t stop until I had her crying out my name. I needed this woman with an intensity I had never felt before, and I was damned if I was going to ignore it.
The ferocity of it all scared me a little, worried that something that burned so bright, so fast, perhaps wasn’t meant to last. Lucy’s actions pushed all thoughts of that from my head as she moved on the sofa without breaking our connection and slid across my lap, straddling me.
Feeling the warmth of this beautiful woman’s pussy grinding against me lit the touch paper of the emotions and lust that had been brewing. Everything had been leading to this, since we had our first hint of what was to come that night in the kitchen.
My hands traced across her thighs before coming to rest on her hips, grabbing hungrily at her clothed flesh. She shifted herself against me, and I moaned against her mouth. I cupped her arse and pulled her hard against me. The more our bodies connected, the greater the need to take this woman to my bed grew. I needed more of her. I needed her naked, spread out for feasting on before me.
Breathlessly, we parted our kiss. “Jesus, Rich,” Lucy panted.
“Are you okay?” I asked, my voice slightly raspy.
She licked her lips. “Oh, all good.” She leaned in closer again.
“You sure?” I smirked.
“Very sure.” She grinned before her mouth was on mine again.
Finding the hem of her T-shirt, I let my hands roam up over her back, my fingertips tracing over her skin. She rewarded me with a moan and rocked her hips against me. She was driving me insane with need, and I couldn’t take it anymore. Lucy had clearly been reading my mind because she pried her mouth from mine and shifted away from me.
“Come on.” She stood and held her hand out to me. I didn’t hesitate to take her hand in mine and let her lead me wherever she wanted us to go. Silently, she led me to the stairs and started to go up.
As we got to the landing, close to my bedroom door, I paused. “Are you sure about this?” I needed to hear her say she wanted me too.
“Fuck, yes. I’ve been thinking about this for weeks.” A blush rose on her cheeks as I grinned and kissed her fiercely. My heart soared to think she had been fantasising about me whilst I had been stroking my cock and thinking about her. I just hoped that I was going to live up to whatever fantasy she had.