Chapter 22
Levi
“You should skip out of work in the middle of the afternoon every day,” I groaned into Arizona’s neck, my hand cupping her breast.
We were making out on the couch like a couple of teenagers, and it was so fucking hot I was in danger of creaming my pants.
My wife moaned as I tweaked her nipple through her shirt. “Can’t,” she panted. “Or we’d end up broke.”
I wasn’t dumb enough to point out that I made enough money to support all of us. Plus, I respected that Arizona was a strong, independent woman who took pride in earning a living.
Her sharp gasp split the air when I slid my hand up her skirt. Damn, I loved the easy access.
My fingers continued their upward trek toward the paradise between her thighs, only to rear back in surprise when I discovered she wasn’t wearing panties. “Holy shit.”
Breathless, with heavy-lidded eyes, Arizona stared up at me. “What?”
I dragged a path through her dripping slit. “Has my naughty girl been showing houses to clients with her pussy out? If you say yes, I’m gonna have to punish you.” I cupped her sex roughly. “This belongs to me.”
She bit down on her lower lip. “If I tell you I stuffed them in your glovebox when I got home, can I still get punished?”
“Goddamn, woman,” I groaned. “You’re gonna be the death of me.”
My dick was throbbing, hard enough to pound nails, and all our clothing was still on.
Reaching two hands up, she pulled me down until our bodies were flush. Nipping at my jaw, she purred, “What a way to die.”
With the pads of two fingertips, I circled her clit, and her hips bucked, chasing friction.
“I need more.”
Against her lips, I rasped, “I know you do, baby, but don’t forget who’s in charge here.”
Her frustrated scream echoed through the heated air before I silenced it with a kiss.
My tongue drove deep, claiming her mouth, but my wife wasn’t one to go down without a fight. She battled back, using her tongue and teeth to express her displeasure that I was teasing her between the legs with featherlight touches instead of giving her the pressure she needed to get off.
Her nails scored a path over my scalp, and I hissed, which gave her an opening to tear her lips away. The fire blazing in her brilliant blue eyes turned me on like nothing else. She was my perfect sexual match, the passion between us hot enough to burn the entire house down.
“You gonna make me come or not?” she huffed. “Because I didn’t come home only to have to crack open my drawer of toys.”
Now that was an excellent idea.
“Hold that thought.” I pushed upright. “I’ll be right back.” Mentally, I rubbed my hands together, wondering how many orgasms I could force her to have before she tapped out.
But I didn’t make it two feet toward the stairs when the digital unlocking of the front door sounded, and I froze like a deer in the headlights.
What time was it? Had school let out already?
To my ultimate horror, when the door swung open, it wasn’t just the kids who waltzed inside the house; they were accompanied by my parents.
My hand dropped to cover my raging erection. “Mom. Dad. What are you doing here?”
Mom’s sharp gaze landed on me. “Your sister simply insisted that we make the trip down to see what you’ve been up to since moving back to California. Imagine our surprise when we pull up at the same time as a school bus, and two children hop off before heading to your front door.”
Throat closing up, I managed to croak, “I can explain.”
“No need.” She waved a dismissive hand. “Your daughter filled us in.”
I cringed. A pissed-off Evelyn Nixon was dangerous. If they decided to spend the night before heading back to LA, I’d be sleeping with one eye open.
A thought struck. “Wait a minute.” I zeroed in on Maisie and Austin. “You two met a couple of strangers and decided to let them in the house?”
Maisie blinked at me. “They’re not strangers. They’re my grandparents.”
I propped both hands on my hips, but then promptly remembered that I was still rocking a very large boner and discreetly shifted one palm back over my crotch. “They could have been lying about who they were, for all you know!”
Austin scoffed. “We checked their IDs.” He rolled his eyes. “Obviously.”
“Obviously,” I muttered. Except it wasn’t obvious, considering this was the same kid who’d hitchhiked to the beach a couple of months ago.
Dad took on his usual role as the good cop. “We’re excited to meet your wife. When will she be home?”
“Uh . . .” My eyes darted to where the woman in question currently lay flat on her back on the couch.
She covered her flaming face, pulling in a few deep breaths before she sat up so that they could see her head over the back of the loveseat. “Hi.”
Mom looked thoroughly scandalized, Dad chuckled, Austin bit back a smirk, and Maisie, well, she gazed upon Arizona with hearts in her eyes. Even though they’d only known each other for a few weeks, my wife and my daughter shared a close bond.
“Can’t say it’s the first time we’ve walked in on you with a girl,” Dad remarked.
“Charles!” Mom shrieked, swatting at his rounded middle with the back of her hand.
Adjusting her clothing, Arizona rose to her feet and moved toward my parents. “It’s very lovely to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Nixon.”
Dad wasted no time in pulling her in for one of his famous bear hugs. When he released my wife, his smile stretched from ear to ear. “None of this Mr. and Mrs. Nixon business. We’re family now. Charles and Evelyn are just fine. Though, we told the kids to call us Nana and Papa.”
That last part softened my mom, and her lower lip began to wobble. “Never thought we’d get grandbabies.”
Maisie wrapped her arms around Mom’s midsection. “I’ve never had grandparents before.”
Austin looked down at his feet, confessing, “Me, neither.”
Arizona sucked in a sharp breath, reaching for him, but he stepped back so that she caught nothing but air.
Their dynamic was certainly complicated, but despite Austin’s surly attitude, Arizona never stopped trying. Maybe someday, when he was older, he’d come to appreciate all she did for him growing up.
Mom extended her free arm, pulling Austin into her embrace. “Well, you have them now.”
My wife brought a trembling hand to her mouth, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. “I, uh, have to get back to work.”
She rushed out the door so fast that if I’d have blinked, I would have missed her departure.
Dad frowned. “Is everything all right, son?”
“Yeah.” I gripped the back of my neck. “Everything’s great.”
Except it wasn’t great because it felt like Arizona was running—from her feelings, from me, from this amazing family we could have together if she stayed.
And that didn’t sit right with me at all.
“Nana and Papa texted from the road to say they miss you guys already.”
Maisie didn’t look up from her book. “Uh-huh.”
“They also mentioned that they’d love to have you come up and stay with them in LA for a week this summer.”
That news elicited no response; my daughter’s eyes moved rapidly as they scanned the text on the page before her.
“Hello.” I waved a hand in front of her face. “Earth to Maisie.”
That finally broke whatever trance she was under, and she blinked up at me. “What?’
My brows drew down. “What are you reading that’s so interesting you can’t pause to have a conversation with your father?”
“Oh.” Her cheeks pinkened. “You wouldn’t be interested.”
I folded both arms over my chest. “Try me.”
She began to fidget in her seat. “It’s just a hockey romance. Nothing exciting.”
“Hockey romance,” I repeated slowly.
I wasn’t a huge recreational reader, but I had read exactly one romance book. And it just so happened to be a chart-topping hockey romance that became the catalyst for my trade to San Diego.
From what I could remember, it featured descriptive sex scenes that were not at all appropriate for consumption by my twelve-year old daughter.
“It’s really cute, actually,” Maisie gushed. “The male main character is a hurt pro who goes home to take care of his mom while he recovers and ends up coaching the local youth hockey team. And then he starts to fall for the star player’s mom, who also happens to be his best friend’s sister.”
“Right.” I held my hand out. “Mind if I take a peek?”
She clutched the book to her chest. “I’d rather you not.”
I curled my fingers. “Hand it over.” My tone brooked no argument, and reluctantly, Maisie relinquished her hold.
Flipping the pages, it didn’t take long to find the spice.
“Maisie,” I sighed. “I need you to appreciate how uncomfortable it is for me to ask this, but did you know there was sex in this book?”
Eyes cast downward, she nodded.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Honey, I get that you wanted to read about a love story, but this might be a little too adult for you. I bet if we asked Arizona, she could point you in the direction of some young adult books that focus on a romantic relationship without getting graphic about the physical aspect.”
When she peeked up at me, my daughter’s eyes were wet. “I’m sorry. A friend from school lent it to me and I—I—I—” Her chest heaved as she began to sob.
Dropping onto the couch beside her, I gave her a squeeze. “I’m not mad, sweetheart. But I will ask that you return the book to your ‘friend’ tomorrow.”
Maisie sniffled. “Okay. I need to get the one back from Austin.”
My eyes widened. “Austin is reading a romance book with sex?”
“Yeah.” She began putting on her prosthetic leg. “He got excited when he saw a gun on the cover.”
Uh-oh.
“Stay here. I need to have a chat with Austin.”
I found the fourteen-year-old at the kitchen island, and sure enough, he was devouring the book in his hands, turning the pages as if he couldn’t read them fast enough.
“Holy shit,” he whispered, blue eyes bulging.
Casually, I dropped onto the stool across from him. “Whatcha reading?”
Caught by surprise, the kid levitated from his seat. But when he saw who’d joined him, his guilty expression morphed into a sly grin. “Dude, you’ll never believe where this guy stuck his gun.”
I could venture an educated guess, but still asked, “Where?”
“You know.” Austin widened his eyes. “Down there.”
An unimpressed grunt was pulled from my chest. “If you’re not old enough to say it out loud, you’re not old enough to be reading anything that references the penetration—inanimate object or otherwise—of female reproductive organs.”
“Please,” he huffed. “I watch porn all the time.”
My mouth dropped open. “What? Where the hell are you getting porn?”
The teen lifted one shoulder. “On my phone.”
“Jesus.” I dragged a hand down my face. Back when I was growing up, people had a shared family computer, so you didn’t dare pull up porn for fear of someone walking in on you jerking off. Parents had it far easier before every kid had a freaking computer in their back pocket.
“I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal out of this. I don’t have a dad, so how else am I supposed to figure out sex?”
A sound of pure disbelief slipped past my lips.
“Okay, one, you’re fourteen, so let’s pump the brakes on you needing to know how to perform in bed.
And two, if you have questions about sex, I’d much rather you come to me than go down the rabbit hole of porn on the internet, where you’re not going to learn jack shit about consent, how to protect yourself and your partner against STIs, or better yet, how to prevent pregnancy. ”
He thought it over for a minute, then nodded. “All right.” Grimacing, he added, “You’re not gonna tell Arizona, right?”
That woman was stressed to the max on a normal day—the only time she unclenched was when she was mid-orgasm—so unless I wanted to give her a stroke, it was probably wise to keep my mouth shut.
“I think we can keep this just between us guys.” I pointed a stern finger in his direction. “So long as you promise to cool it on the porn.”
Austin’s head bobbed on a vigorous nod. “Yeah. You’ve got a deal.”
Jeez, just when I thought I was getting a grip on this parenting gig, these kids went out of their way to throw me a curveball.
Maybe someday it would get easier.
A guy could hope, right?