Chapter 33
six days since
Preston Darling
“You’re harder to kick than a meth habit,” Dolly says, stomping into her kitchen the next morning. “Why are you still here?”
I shoot her a grin before going back to the hollandaise sauce in the pan. “You mean besides protecting you, giving you mind-blowing orgasms, and making you breakfast?”
She glares and slides onto her barstool. “Yes,” she says, her tone clipped. “Besides that.”
“After breakfast, I’ll remind you why that’s enough,” I say, removing the pan from the burner. “Unless you want me to bend you over the kitchen table and remind you right now.”
“You can’t be here,” she says, her voice tight with frustration.
“And yet, here I am,” I say, drizzling the sauce over the stack and delivering a perfect eggs benedict to her place at the island. I slide a cup of coffee to her, sweet and creamy just the way she likes, with all the flavor in the creamer and the beans, too.
“Preston,” she says, glaring at me. “I mean it.”
“You weren’t protesting last night,” I remind her with a grin.
“You came in and started—that—while I was sleeping,” she protests. “I was half asleep, half drunk, and all the way out of my mind.”
“When I drove you out of your mind,” I say. “I’m hard just thinking about the way you looked when you came for me with my cock buried so deep inside your sweet little cunt and your gorgeous tits rolling when you were bucking against me like that, saying my name…”
Her cheeks turn red in the cutest way, and I adjust myself, trying to get my semi to a comfortable place inside my jeans.
Her gaze follows, and she swallows visibly.
She can deny it all she wants, but I see the way her pupils dilate, the desire in her lusty gaze, the points of her nipples as they harden inside her shirt.
I want to fuck her tits so bad my head spins, but I won’t waste a chance to put my cum inside her.
I take a seat beside her at the bar. “I’m going to keep making you feel good until you admit to me and yourself that you deserve that,” I say.
“You’re a fucking queen, Dolly. One day, you’ll be my queen.
Until you realize that, I’m going to keep showing up, keep proving it to you.
I’m not giving up until you’re back in Faulkner. ”
“Preston,” she says. “You’re delusional. Not to mention insane. You can’t just come into my apartment and take advantage of me while I’m sleeping every night.”
“Actually, I can,” I say. “Even if you change your locks, your security company has copies of keys for all the apartments.”
“Then I’ll call the security company and get you fired.”
“You think that’ll stop me?”
She sighs. “What do you want?”
“Come home,” I say. “Just for a month. Give me a chance.”
“I gave you a chance,” she says. “It didn’t work because we don’t work, Preston. All we do is fight. There’s no use giving it a second chance.”
“It’s not a second chance,” I say. “It’s a first chance, the one we never took. You never gave me a chance to be your man or even convince you to stay, Dolly. You always found some excuse. I’ve been waiting for you all our lives, but you’ve never really given me a chance and you know it.”
She eats for a minute and then nods. “You’re right. Because my career comes first. I don’t want to go back to Faulkner.”
“Your dad needs you,” I say, though I don’t feel good about using that to manipulate her. There are certain lines I don’t like to cross, but I’m done being a nice guy. I’m crossing all the lines now. Nothing will stop me from getting her.
Not just to fuck her. I want a real shot with her, a chance to have all of her, not just her body.
I want her heart, her soul, her laughter and tears, her trust, her admiration.
I want to cum inside her every night, walk beside her every day, hold her hand, touch her elbow just to remind her I’m with her, help her into her seat and out of the car.
I want to do our taxes and sleep late with her; pick up our dry cleaning and take her up on the roof to watch a storm roll in with her.
I want it all, everything that makes a life together.
“Does Dad really need me?” she asks.
I take out my phone and slide it to her.
“The first article’s already come out, just like I predicted.
Mr. Dolce was blown up in a drug lab. He was distributing at the very least, and all of Faulkner is now asking who else was involved, who knew about it.
Your dad’s the mayor, Doll. I’m sorry. But he’s probably going to go down for this one, too. ”
She chews slowly, scrolling the article as she finishes eating. Finally, she sits back on her stool. “This is really serious, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” I say, bitterness curling my words like frostbite on tender green leaves. “It’s serious.”
“I haven’t heard anything from Dad…”
“Come on, Doll,” I say. “He’s not going to burden you with his problems. And you’ll be coming home for Christmas in a week, anyway. This way, you won’t have to take the bus. If we leave now, you can be there with your family, be the supportive daughter and show the town you believe in your father.”
“It would look good to the town if we showed a united front,” she concedes. “And I’m not much of a celebrity, but a few people who put stock in that kind of thing might be swayed by my presence.”
“Exactly,” I say. “I’ve got my truck here. We can make a road trip out of it. It’s a solid twenty-four-hour drive, so we’ll have lots of time to catch up in the truck, and we can stop at some nice places along the way. Once we’re back, I’ll know you’re safe.”
“And you’ll leave me alone,” she says, giving me a hard look. “I’m not doing this for you. I don’t need a boyfriend or a bodyguard in Faulkner. I’m going back for my dad.”
“Fine,” I say, raising both hands.
“I’m leaving after New Year’s,” she warns, taking a swig of coffee. “Don’t get your hopes up.”
A swell of triumph rises inside me. I did it. I won.
She’s coming home.
I grin and lean in to kiss her sugary lips. “Too late,” I say. “I’m going to show you I can be the man you deserve, Dolly. Just wait. I’m going to change your mind one day.”
“Preston,” she says, pushing me back. “I can’t think about this right now. I have to focus on what’s going on with Dad, and then I’m coming back here. If you want to be a good friend, just be there for me, okay? Don’t make it about us. Please?”
“Then let me have this until we get home,” I say, slipping an arm around her waist, marveling at every casual touch she allows. “I know you’ll have to be on the Dolces’ side like your dad when we get back. But for the trip, at least, can we pretend you gave me a chance?”
“If you promise not to ask me to stay in Faulkner,” she says, looking pained.
“I promise.”
She searches my gaze for a minute before finally nodding. “And no more sex.”
“No promises on that one,” I say with a smirk. “You know I can’t say no to you, and you’re prone to begging.”
“I don’t beg,” she protests.
“I’m sure I remember a ‘please’ or two in there last night.”
“That’s just my southern manners,” she says. “I can’t help but be polite.”
“Is that right?” I ask, sliding my hands around her wide hips to palm her ass. “I’d suggest you forget your manners for a few minutes, because what I’m about to do to you is anything but polite.”
“I said no more sex,” she protests, twisting away from me and sliding off her barstool. “But you can be a gentleman and help me pack while I make arrangements to take off work an extra two weeks.”
I do as she asks. I convince her to make a road trip out of the drive home, since I have my truck and she doesn’t fly, anyway.
We stop and shop in Sedona that afternoon, then check into the nicest hotel in the city.
I spoil her with a massage, spa visit, and room service.
She knows none of that can make her feel as good as I do, though, and after a visit to the sauna, she lets me seduce her, though she makes me wear a condom.
I flip her over when I’m close, slipping the condom off before sliding my bare cock back into her thirsty cunt and finishing inside her.
Fortunately, she’s exhausted by then, and she falls asleep without getting up.
I lie beside her, thinking about my cum inside her, wondering if it’s made its way to its destination yet.
I’m going to do everything in my power to get a baby inside her before we get home, to guarantee that she’ll be tied to me forever.
In the morning, I wake her up with more pleasure.
I slip off the condom before I cum this time, too.
Before she can get up to shower, I clean her up with a washcloth, so she won’t notice anything wrong.
I toss the condom in the trash and check my phone, counting the days since her period so I know when she’ll be ovulating.
Since I don’t know exactly when her last period started, I can’t be sure, but I know the next two weeks will be critical.
If I want her pregnant, I can’t miss any opportunities.
As we get back on the road, I remember the drive out to California, how different it was.
I took Harper to a boxing gym to work off steam when we’d had too much time in the car together.
I was annoyed with her restlessness and excessive excitement; she was irritated with my surliness.
We did the whole drive in two days, getting it over with as fast as possible.
With Dolly, I want to make it last, to linger in the moments together.
We don’t talk about what’s going on at home, but everything else is fair game.
It’s comfortable, like no time has passed.
We fill each other in on the past two and a half years, then move on to our lives and memories.
When we mention the future, we avoid the topic of relationships.
There’s nothing sad between us, like there was with Harper.
With Dolly, everything is exciting. We’re on an adventure, pretending we’re lovers.