CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
J ULIAN
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T HE NIGHT STEFANIE told me about her past with the bastard she’d been married to, I contemplated whether I should tell her that I’d known most of that already or not. I decided to tell her the truth about when I’d first seen her at the hospital.
Not telling her wouldn’t have been right. That night, after watching movies, we talked about why I was at the hospital that day. I let her know about the DNA test I’d been having done and that I’d overheard her on the phone telling someone that she hoped her child would never find out that she wasn’t really hers.
Hearing that, while going through what I’d been going through, had made me want to hear more. Plus, the woman on the phone was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. So, I followed her to the waiting room and sat a few chairs behind her, listening to her talk.
That day, I’d overheard Stefanie on the phone saying that her daughter had gotten hurt at school and needed a few stitches. The doctors checked the daughter’s blood type just in case she needed blood.
Stefanie told the person over the phone that it made her nervous when her daughter showed interest in knowing her blood type and knowing Stefanie's and Archie’s blood types. She’d feared her daughter would find out that there was no way she could be her mother since Stefanie was AB positive and India was O negative.
The person on the other end of the phone had been able to calm Stefanie down. But, hearing how worried she’d been about a child that wasn’t hers biologically made me think about my own mom.
Then watching her stand up and help a little girl who’d fallen down while running made me realize she wasn’t just a good mom, she was a good person, period. My gaze had drifted over her body.
The sexual attraction had been instant. To my surprise, it wasn’t just her curves that made me want to know more about this woman. In the waiting room, I’d watched her shed tears while on the phone.
Then I’d seen her smile at that little girl as she helped her up. It was that smile that did it. It made me realize that I needed to see every emotion in the world on this woman’s face. That thought floored me.
I’d never felt anything like that before. I’d never wanted to sit and watch someone, just watch them. I wasn’t in a hurry to approach her. I wanted to understand her. I wanted to know what she liked, what she didn’t like.
So, I watched her from afar. I followed her home. I found out her name, her job, and her socials. I’d gone to the boardwalk where she jogged and watched her there. During the times I watched, I got to see her happy, sad, distracted, upset, frustrated, and irritated.
But I was greedy for more, and it wasn’t long before watching wasn’t enough. And when fate brought us together by making my sister and her daughter roommates, I realized that there was no reason for me to just watch.
I wanted to touch her lips when she smiled. I wanted to wipe her tears when she cried. I wanted to kill whoever made her afraid. I wanted to know more about this woman and be more to this woman.
I thought revealing that to her would scare her and that she’d retreat again, try to push me away, or something. Not that I’d let her, but I thought she’d try. However, that wasn’t what she’d done.
My Stefanie had simply smiled and asked me if I wanted to know what she’d thought of me when she’d first seen me. She’d wondered how big my cock was. That was her first thought of me.
That had made us both laugh. We spent the rest of the night revealing things about ourselves. Well, I revealed things about myself. I almost knew everything there was to know about the woman I loved.
She told me she was now on a mission to learn everything about me. And she didn’t want me to tell her everything. She wanted to stalk me online the way I’d done her. I needed to post more so she could stalk me better.
After talking for hours, we fell asleep wrapped in each other’s arms. But my mind was still on Stefanie because my dreams were filled with her. Erotic dreams. Filthy dreams. In my dream, Stefanie was pinned beneath me, body warm, pussy slick with arousal.
Her breathing was ragged as her nails dug into my back, her eyes fixed on mine, the corner of her lips lifted in that wicked little smirk that always made me lose control. I loved the feel of her body under mine, the feel of her pussy around my cock, tight, wet and fucking perfect.
In my dreams, I fucked her until her cream flowed over my cock and dripped down my balls. And as I drifted awake, I carried remnants of my dream with me. I could still feel her warmth around my cock.
My breath caught, and my hips jerked as my eyes opened. Staring up at the ceiling, I felt something hot, wet, and undeniably real slide over the head of my cock. I looked down and there she was, the woman of my dreams and my reality.
She was on her knees between my thighs, her hair falling around her face like a curtain of curls. She looked like an exotic angel. An angel with her mouth wrapped around my cock. She lowered that sexy mouth of hers onto my cock, taking me deep.
Her eyes were locked on mine, a devilish little smirk dancing at the corners of her lips. She raised up, mouth dragging up my cock until she released it with a wet pop.
"I was thirsty," she whispered, lips brushing the crown of my cock before swallowing me whole again.
I groaned, the sound raw and wrecked. “Fuck, baby...”
My hand found her hair, threading through it, gripping just tight enough to let her know I was awake now. Fully awake and needing more. Her lips tightened around me. Her mouth was fucking heaven.
Her tongue glided over the tip of my throbbing cock. Precum leaked onto her tongue as she sucked me like she owned me. And she did. She did own me. I was hers. All hers. My heart was hers.
And this cock that she was swallowing down so beautifully was hers. My body jerked as her saliva dripped down my cock, wetting me up and I fucking loved it. She hummed around me, the vibration making me curse under my breath.
“You trying to kill me?” I rasped, body trembling.
She pulled back slightly, her tongue teasing the underside of my length, mouth slick with my juices. “That’s the plan,” she said, eyes gleaming.
Then she slid me back into her mouth, and this time she didn’t hold back. She sucked me deep, her throat relaxing around the tip of me. One hand stroked the base while the other rested on my thigh, nails lightly dragging down my skin.
She knew exactly what she was doing. Every time she gagged and kept going, I twitched so hard I nearly came right then. My cock jerked against her tongue. I bucked into her mouth, tapping her throat, making her gag louder. Then, she moaned.
She fucking moaned like she enjoyed choking on me. Her throat tightened and milked me, and I could feel my balls draw tight, a low growl ripping from my throat as my hand tightened in her curls and held her there.
She didn’t stop. She looked up at me, eyes watering, spit trailing down her chin, and that filthy fucking smile still curled on her lips like she knew I was right on the edge and wanted to shove me over it.
I thrust up into her mouth, fucking her throat as she swallowed around me. I was leaking precum, and she was slobbering all over me, slurping sounds filling the room as I bucked into her mouth, lost to the pleasure of this woman and the things only she could make me feel.
My head fell back against the pillow, my free hand gripping the sheets as she devoured me, sucking me with wild abandoned, making me feel shit I’d never felt before.
“Damn it, Stefanie,” I groaned. “Your fucking mouth... how can it feel this fucking good.”
She moaned in response, bobbing faster on my cock, gagging louder. My stomach tightened. My thighs tensed. That familiar burn curled low and fast in my gut, and I felt like I was about to explode.
“Fuck, baby, I’m gonna come,” I warned, breath hitching, body bucking.
Her lips sealed tighter, her cheeks hollowing as she sucked like she was trying to drink my soul through my cock. My thighs trembled under her grip. My stomach clenched. With a ragged growl, I thrust faster, unable to control my body.
Her mouth was in complete control of me. I buried every inch of me down her throat as I came hard, shouting her name as my back bowed off the bed. My cock throbbed violently, pulse after pulse of cum erupting into her mouth. Hot. Heavy. Endless.
It hit the back of her throat, thick and overflowing, but she took it all, every fucking drop. I could feel her swallowing around me, tight little gulps that milked me through it, her throat flexing like she was addicted to the taste of me.
It was embarrassing how my body wouldn’t cease shuddering and how I couldn’t fucking stop saying her name as I spilled into her mouth. I looked down and saw her eyes flutter closed like she was savoring the taste of me.
Her fingers dug into my thighs as my cum spilled from the corners of her mouth, dripping down her chin, mixing with her spit, creating a glorious, messy masterpiece on her beautiful face.
Even after the last twitch, she didn’t release my cock from her wicked mouth. She suckled gently, tongue lapping at the oversensitive tip, cleaning up the mess she made, making my entire body quake with aftershocks.
And when she finally pulled off with a wet pop, she opened her mouth, stuck out her tongue and showed me some of my cum still glistening there before she swallowed it all down. That had to be the sexiest shit I’d ever seen in my life.
“Damn, baby,” I rasped, eyes locked on her mouth.
She smirked, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, and said, “Sorry, I woke up thirsty and you were closer than the kitchen.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah,” she purred, climbing up my body slowly, straddling my hips, her lips brushing mine in a soft kiss that was the complete opposite of what she’d just done to me.
“I think I’m addicted to your taste, Julian Cattaneo,” she whispered.
I let out a hoarse laugh, still catching my breath. “You ever do that again before I’m fully awake, and I’m marrying your ass in the kitchen with the toaster as the officiant.”
She burst out laughing, the sweetest sound I’d ever heard. She kissed me again, even slower this time. Sliding to her left, she snuggled up next to me, placing a kiss on my cheek. For a while, we lay there in silence with her rubbing her thumb over my nipple and me trying not to shiver from her actions.
“Are you going to miss me when I go visit India in a few days?” she asked, with a yawn.
“I’m trying not to think about it,” I groaned, hating that she was leaving my side, but understanding that I couldn’t keep her all to myself every second of every minute.
“It’ll only be for a week,” she told me. “I wanted her to come home at first. But then Ronnie said some of her friends wanted to see her for her birthday, your sister included. And, I didn’t really think having them here was such a good idea.” She yawned before continuing. “Ronnie suggested closing his restaurant for a day and having her a big party there. India loved the idea.”
“I bet she did. I talked to Aubrey yesterday, and she said she was going to visit India and help her decorate for the party. I’m glad they get along so well.”
“So, am I,” Stefanie said.
But I could practically hear her overthinking.
“Don’t worry. India won’t find out about us until you’re ready for her to know,” I told her.
“It’s not that. It’s just...” she yawned again. “I can’t think properly when I’m tired.”
“Then go to sleep, love.”
She snuggled even closer to me. Another yawn escaped her, and it wasn’t long before she was snoring. I lay there, listening to her light snores. She was still tired, but I was fully awake and unable to go back to sleep. I wanted her to be awake with me. I wanted to talk to her. I loved talking to this woman.
But I wasn’t rude enough to force her to stay awake with me just because I already missed the sound of her voice. Easing her off my arm, I moved her over to her pillow and tucked her in. Before leaving the bed, I kissed her forehead.
I climbed off the bed, clad only in my boxers, and strode into the kitchen to get a bottle of water. I’d just stepped into the living room to watch a little television when something caught my eye, a ray of light sweeping across the far wall.
Headlights .
I moved toward the window, quiet, cautious, and looked through the blinds. Sure enough, there was a car parked in front of Stefanie’s house, just idling there with its engine running. No one got out.
It was too dark for me to see inside the vehicle, but I had an idea of who was inside. My jaw clenched. Stepping away from the window, I stalked down the hall and eased the bedroom door open.
Stefanie was curled up on her side, fast asleep. But she’d rolled onto my pillow. I smiled. Even in her sleep, she was fucking adorable with one hand under her cheek as her snores filled the air. She was sleeping peacefully.
Trying my best not to wake her, I stepped over to the chair in the corner, pulled on the pants I’d worn earlier, and headed back to the living room. I checked under the couch and pulled out my gun. After turning off the alarm, I opened the door.
The second I stepped onto the porch, the car took off, leaving me standing there, staring after it. I didn’t move. I stood there and watched until the car disappeared around the corner. Then I pulled out my phone and called one of my guys.
“Dude, do you know what time it is?” Rashad answered on the first ring, voice rough.
“Yeah. I’ll pay double for your trouble,” I told him.
He sighed. “Alright. What’s up?”
“There was a car parked outside my woman’s house. Black sedan. As soon as I stepped out, it took off. I need to know who it was and where they live.”
“You get the plate?”
“Too dark. But I’ve got security cam footage.”
“Send it over. I may not be able to get anything unless the camera is positioned just right. If I can’t get anything off your footage, I’ll try to hack into other cameras in the area. It might take me a minute.”
“I think I know who it was,” I said, heading back inside and locking the door behind me. “I need to know where Hudson Howard was tonight. Look into his whereabouts for me.”
“Didn’t you already give him a warning?”
“Apparently, he’s braver than I thought,” I said as I turned the house alarm back on.
“You want me to send someone to trail him?”
“No. Just find him. I’ll take care of him myself.”
“You come from a family of motherfuckers who stay ready to kill. Why do you always want to do shit by yourself?”
He sounded just like my father. My father was always saying, why go at someone alone when you have an entire Cattaneo army behind you. But in my mind, if a man couldn’t handle shit on his own, then he wasn’t a real man. If I couldn’t protect the woman I loved, then I didn’t deserve her love.
“My family has my back when I need them. But I don’t need them for this. Let me know what you find on the car and on Hudson’s whereabouts.”
I hung up and stood in the foyer, still staring at the locked front door. I didn’t like the way that car lingered. I didn’t like that it left the second I showed my face. Hudson had been quiet lately. Too quiet.
If that was him, or someone he sent, he was already making the mistake of thinking he could come anywhere near Stefanie without me knowing. He wanted a problem? Fine. I’d give him a problem.
Now, I really couldn’t sleep. Though I knew Rashad wouldn’t be calling me back anytime soon, I still paced the living room, hoping Hudson would come back. Hoping he’d try to get inside.
And when he didn’t come back, I almost went to him. I knew his address. I knew where his family lived. I knew where he worked. I could get to him before he considered coming near Stefanie again.
But I couldn’t leave her side without knowing where this fucker was. For all I knew, he could still be close by. I walked back into the bedroom and stared at my heart outside my chest, sprawled across the bed, snoring, without a care in the world.
This woman was everything to me. This summer had been the best summer of my life. However, it was coming to an end. But fuck the contract, because I could tell Stefanie loved me just as much as I loved her.
What we had wouldn’t end when the season changed. This was real. And this was worth fighting for, worth protecting. My gaze drifted over her. She was sleeping soundly, and that was exactly how she was supposed to sleep.
Peacefully. With no fear. Because I was there, and I would always make sure the outside world didn’t destroy what we had in here. That was why I had to kill Hudson Howard. And her ex-husband’s family also.