49. Tyler
FORTY-NINE
TYLER
Steam billows in the shower and the smell that comes off me when the water first hits is enough to make my nose hairs curl.
Been a long time since I’ve gotten mad, gotten drunk over it, and made a mess of my life.
Like, since before Ellie was born. I honestly thought I wouldn’t ever do it again, and I don’t want to ever do it again after this.
I feel like the scum of the earth, a guilty little worm flopping on the sidewalk after a storm and getting roasted in the sun.
But I’m lucky as can be. My wife still loves me somehow. My daughter loves my wife. I fucked up, and still, they take me back.
A cool breeze blasts through the shower when Becca opens and closes the bathroom door.
“Already smelling better,” she says.
A condom and a bottle of lube appear at the corner of the bathtub before the curtain pulls back enough to let my wife get in the shower with me.
“Condom?” I ask. “I thought we were done with those.”
“I just wanted to keep our options open in case we get adventurous.” Her eyes glow up at me until she shimmies past me, ducking her head under the spray and humming at the warmth.
I admire how pretty she looks with the water running over her, all the waterfalls and rivers on the peaks and valleys of her body.
She pours some shampoo into her hand and works it into her hair, while I grab some body wash and work the lather over her skin.
I take my time on my favorite places: over her hip bone, on her perky boobs where I dip to give her a bonus suck, down to tease her until she’s grinding against my hand.
“Can’t believe you want to get adventurous after how I acted.”
Becca puts her head back and I help her rinse out her hair, massaging her scalp. She leans into me, letting her hands glide along my sides.
“You might still make mistakes in your life. I will too. But that doesn’t mean it’s all ruined or everything’s bad. It just means we’re human. As long as we’re trying to do better, that’s the best we can do.”
I put some conditioner in my hand and pause while she adds a little more. “It’s hard not to beat myself up about it.”
Becca chuckles and puts her head back to let me work the conditioner into her hair. “Well. You were an asshole. I’ll let you give yourself a little hell.” She presses a kiss to my lips. “But I’ll also be here to hold you until you forgive yourself.”
I close my eyes and lower my forehead to hers. “The luckiest. I’m the luckiest.”
She kisses next to my mouth. “And you are going to apologize to Denton too—”
“Don’t push it,” I joke. “I’ll think about it.”
“You put the raccoons on his property, didn’t you?”
I crack up and she does too. “He knows, doesn’t he?”
She nods and I love her smile right now. “He definitely knows. Y’all aren’t that slick.”
“I have to give him credit. He hasn’t tried to get back at me.”
She puts her hands out. “I’ve been trying to tell you how sweet he is!”
I quirk a brow. “Is he sweet, or is he just waiting for the right moment for revenge?”
“I think,” Becca’s hand drifts down my stomach, “we should quit talking about him.”
“Mmm, I think you’re right.”
Becca works me in her hand while I let my hands explore her body. I grip her ass, doing the math on what she said. Condom. Lube. Adventure.
She wants me to fuck her ass.
I pull her away from me and spin her so her back is to me. “Hands on the wall.”
I drop to my knees, take one of her cheeks in each hand, and spread her wide to her gasp. “What are you doing?”
“You told me to kiss your ass, so here I am.” I trace the tip of my tongue around her puckered hole while my fingers stroke around her front entrance.
I gather some of that wetness, drag it up over her clit, and stay there, playing with her rapidly swelling flesh.
My tongue continues its work on her asshole, and I open wide to cover more area.
“Oh my god, Tyler.”
“We have to be quiet,” I remind her. “Our girl’s still asleep and we want to keep it that way.”
“I’ll be quiet,” Becca breathes. “Promise.”
“I know you will, baby.” I squeeze some lube onto my fingers and brush the excess over her hole. “Because you want my cock in your ass, don’t you?”
She moans as my finger slips past the rim.
“That’s my girl right there,” I sigh. “You let me know when you can take more.”
“Okay, Big Daddy.” She’s been too immersed to this point to make jokes, but now she’s grinning at me over her shoulder. I work my finger in and out of her, smiling back at her when her eyes go drowsy and she bites her lip.
“You’re a slut for this, aren’t you, baby?”
“Yeah. I want you.”
“You’ll get me,” I assure her. “You gotta let me stretch you out first, though. You want another finger?”
“Yes.”
I add my middle finger and Becca’s knees knock together. I put my other hand on her ass to hold her steady. “Doing so good, baby. You’re a champ.”
“Do I get a trophy?” she teases, and I laugh.
“If you want a trophy, I’ll get you one.” I scissor my fingers to stretch her wider, and I feel how she relaxes around me. “I’ve watched so many other people do this to you.”
“Leave an impression?”
“You could say that,” I say quickly and she giggles. I pump my fingers in and out of her, picking up a steady pace.
“Can I tell you something?” She moans when I slow and focus on spreading my fingers. Her blue eyes peer over her shoulder. “I always wished it was you.”
My head sags back on my shoulders. “Fuck, Becca. You know I’m going to fill you up just right.”
“Now. Please.”
“And you want a condom?”
“Might make it easier to get through the rest of my day, yeah.”
“You got it.”
I stand, fighting a head rush with my hand on the shower wall before I reach for the condom and lube. I rip it open and roll it on, filling my fist with lube and working it all over the condom.
“Tell me if it’s too much, okay, baby?”
Becca bends forward, leaning a forearm on the wall while she bows her lower back to angle herself up to me. I press my tip against her hole and pulse small thrusts against her.
“Just push it in,” she wheezes. “All the way.”
“Like this?” I slam my way home and her whole body shudders. I take a deep breath, dizzy with how good she feels around me.
“Stay there but touch me,” she begs. “Play with my clit.”
I press into one hand on the wall above her and reach my other hand around, rubbing her in broad circles.
I’m glad she wants me to be still for a moment because I could lose it, fast. Her ass is a vise grip on my dick, and I can feel the added pressure when I send two fingers inside her pussy.
I rock the heel of my hand against her clit and her legs shake.
“Fuck me. Quick. I’m going to come so hard.”
I lay into her and have to close my eyes for a second because the feeling is so intense. I pull her upper body flush to my front while I thrust into her, dropping my lips by her ear.
“You gonna be thinking about me today, Reba? How I stretched your ass so good you can’t walk straight? How you were begging to be full of my cock? How you made your man come because you were so sweet and sexy, just for me?”
My hand coasts up to her throat, and I can feel her moan against my palm.
“I might not always get it right in other ways, but I will always fuck you this good.”
“Yes, Tyler, fuck, I’m about to—”
Her ankles press against the insides of my feet as she curls up her toes, all while a sweet, gasping cry leaves her lips. Her ass tightens around my cock and while I want to give her the time to savor this, I’m about to explode. “Rebecca. Oh, baby, I—fuck!”
I gnash my teeth as my orgasm sears everything inside me. My arms wrap around her waist as I continue to throb into her, and her head leans back against my shoulder. She wiggles her ass from side to side as the final pulses leave me, her hand reaching back to cup my neck.
“Made ya come,” she hums.
I laugh and kiss down her neck. “It was more of an epic battle to not come the second my dick touched your ass.”
She laughs too, and slowly, I work my way back out of her.
“I kinda like when you call me Rebecca. It’s nicer than Reba.”
“I always mean Reba affectionately. But if you don’t want me to call you that, I won’t.”
She screws up her face and meets my eyes over her shoulder. “Affectionately? You were making fun of me!”
“No! I was celebrating you! I liked your red hair. I thought it was cute. And I liked that you were like, ‘Fuck everyone, I want red hair and I’m going to figure out how to get it.’”
“Oh. I didn’t know you saw it like that.”
“Yeah. It’s that Reba spirit.” I tighten my arms around her waist.
“A single mom who works two jobs, who loves her kids and never stops? A corn dog aficionado?” she laughs.
“Not exactly, but that vibe. It’s very you. You’re a fighter. And that’s one of the things I love about you.”
I’m fully out of her now, so she spins to face me. “Even when I win our arguments?”
We melt into a deep, slow kiss. “Especially then.”
Once again, I’m basically worthless at my job.
My body’s exhausted, from drinking, from fucking Becca in the shower, from being up too early. My mind’s exhausted from the roller coaster of the last twenty-four hours.
But my heart is overflowing.
“Hey, starry eyes,” my dad calls. “Why don’t you go drive Ms. McGreevy’s car and see what sound it’s making?”
“Oh, yeah. Good idea.”
“Somebody has to have the good ideas. You’re barely here,” he says.
“Sorry. Yeah. I’m just—”
“In love. Yeah. I know.” The jangle of keys fills the air and I look up just in time to catch the set Dad flung my way.
“Yeah. In love.” I hold up the keys. “I’ll be back in a few.”
I merge onto the interstate, music down in this car so I can try to hear the sound the owner swears it’s making. My head’s still throbbing and I could puke if I cough too hard, but I’m functional.
Guilt remains my constant companion today, but that’s how hangovers work anyway. I can’t believe Becca forgave me. It makes me want to throw myself at her feet to grovel because she can’t possibly have made me feel sorry enough.
Hell, maybe I still will.
I floor the gas to see what the transmission does, and when I do, a deep green billboard comes into view on the side of the highway.
WOODPECKERS
A COMPLETE HOLIDAY EXPERIENCE
TREES | MARKET | WAGON RIDES
THANKSGIVING WEEKEND TO CHRISTMAS EVE
My heart thrums, because that’s my girl, making everyone happy, bringing the party, knowing how to celebrate life.
I hate how many years I spent denying her infectious joy, considering her more of an infection herself.
I’m sad I spent so long believing CJ when I knew she was lying about other things.
But I have to forgive myself. It’s like Jake said: you can try to protect yourself from pain, or you can choose to trust people and get let down every once in a while. I can see my time with CJ for what it was: a time of intense pain that had an extremely positive result.
My Ellie.
And now I get to share her with this person who trusts, who welcomes people with open arms, who has so much love to give that I’m pretty sure there’s no bottom to her heart. I’m the luckiest because she decided I’m worthy of a piece of her heart.
I completely spaced out on listening to the car, because as I get off the next exit to turn around, a word on the radio makes me perk up.
The commercial is backed by jingle bells with a warm voice telling me all the fun that awaits me at Woodpeckers: a Pecker Farm experience.
That’s my Becca. I want to rush home now and kiss her. I want to feel her skin all over mine, to hear that raspy laugh, to feel the unmatched comfort of her love.
Before I turn around to get back on the highway, I notice something in a plaza on my right, a place I’ve never been.
A jewelry store. I know what I need to do.