Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
Deacon
I’ve been attracted to Aurora since the moment I met her—or more accurately, spilled coffee over her, revealing the outline of her breasts in the most alluring way.
But tonight? Tonight was different. The attraction has grown between us, but tonight was more than just attraction.
The way she was with Willow. The way she patiently taught me how to plait my daughter’s hair.
She seemed to fit right in with me and Willow as if she’d always been here.
For the first time since Gabby and I split, I saw the possibility of Willow and me being more than the two of us…
that we might grow and expand to include someone else.
As I watched her with my daughter, all I could think about was how happy I felt, how delighted Willow was chatting to Aurora, and how I wanted the moments to last forever.
It made me realize that Willow might want or need more than just me.
Maybe Gabby isn’t being selfish. Maybe she’s giving Willow more. More of what she needs.
“Is Aurora your girlfriend, Daddy?” Willow asks me sleepily, her eyes closed as I stroke her hair away from her face.
“She’s a girl, and she’s my friend,” I answer.
She sighs, teetering on the brink of sleep. “She’s nice.”
I smile. Half because I agree with my daughter’s assessment and half because Willow looks so adorable in this soporific, floppy stage, just before she drops off to sleep.
I slide off her bed, turn, and drop a kiss on her forehead. “You’re nice. Sweet dreams, Princess Willow,” I say copying Aurora’s term of endearment.
“Night, night, Daddy.”
I creep out of the room and my stomach lifts at the thought I’ll get to see Aurora in a few minutes. As much as I’ve loved seeing her with Willow, the fact that we get to be alone together sends a shiver of excitement down my spine.
Excitement. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt excitement to be with a woman.
Aurora is new territory for me in so many ways.
“Hey,” I say as I enter the kitchen. Lucia has cleared everything away and has let herself out. She leaves when everything is done and I’m upstairs with Willow.
“Is she asleep?” Aurora asks.
“I think she will be by now,” I reply.
“She’s lovely.”
I nod. “She is. I’m very lucky.” I pick up our wineglasses and gesture for Aurora to follow me. I head down the stairs into the basement.
“You’re a very good dad,” she says, as she follows me downstairs.
“I try,” I say.
We head into the room that’s set up as a TV room.
But it’s a kid-free zone. It only gets used once Willow is in bed.
And it’s also become the part of the house that’s just for me, along with my bedroom.
Gabby and I have never had the conversation that this is my room exclusively, but it’s obvious she doesn’t come down here.
“She’s a very happy kid,” she says. “And I know you’re concerned that she’s not getting a conventional childhood, but you know, that means she’s going to be prepared for a lot when she’s older. This is how she builds resilience.”
I sigh and collapse on the huge peacock-green sofa.
“She has her dad read her a bedtime story four times a week. I bet not many kids can say that.”
I reach out a hand and Aurora takes it. I tug, urging her to sit down. “But a lot of kids can say their parents are still together.”
She sits next to me and puts her feet up on the coffee table in front of us, mirroring me. “Yeah, but a lot of kids can’t. And you and…Willow’s mother seem to have a great relationship.”
“Just because things could be worse, doesn’t mean they couldn’t be better.”
“Maybe the ivory tower you have imagined for Willow wouldn’t be so comfortable,” she says, shifting so she can look at me as she talks.
“Maybe it’s lonely. Maybe it means she has less empathy for others when she grows.
Maybe she wouldn’t have been able to know she can do difficult things if you make it too easy for her. ”
I groan. As much as Aurora makes sense, I still live with this guilt that sits in me like silt, weighing me down.
“She has two parents who love her. I think she’s going to grow up the luckiest girl in New York.”
“I just want her to have what I didn’t have.”
“Maybe she does. She doesn’t seem like a child who’s unsettled.”
No, Willow doesn’t seem unsettled, that’s true.
But when seeds are planted, they don’t necessarily spring to life immediately.
They take time to sprout and grow. I have no idea how Willow’s childhood will impact her.
That makes me feel out of control, and not having control makes me feel powerless.
I’ve worked very hard to put myself in a place where I’m never powerless. But I can’t do that with Willow.
“Anyone tell you you’re an excellent teacher?” I say, wanting to change the subject.
She laughs and the vibration travels right to my balls. “Yeah, I’m great at hair braiding, even if I do say it myself.”
“You’re great,” I say, “at a lot of things.” I press a kiss to the top of her head.
“A lot of things?” she asks.
I don’t know if it’s the tone of her voice or the way her fingertips lie against my thighs. Maybe it’s the virginal white skirt she’s wearing, or her tan legs that I can barely look away from. It could be her scent—somehow she smells innocent and ball-achingly sexy at the same time.
Whatever it is, in this moment, all I can think about is fucking Aurora.
“Yeah,” I say, my voice hoarse. We’ve only been alone a minute or two, but I can’t wait any longer. I want her. Now.
As if she knows, she slides her hand up my thigh and across my hard-on.
“I’m hard,” I tell her.
“I can feel.” Her hand sweeps up and down my denim-covered crotch, so lightly it’s maddening.
Her gaze flutters to mine, then she reaches for the button of my jeans.
I grab her wrist. That’s not going to happen.
She’ll only do what I tell her. That’s how this works.
“Please, Deacon,” she says. “Let me.”
Fuck. How can I resist when she asks so nicely. I press a kiss to the inside of her wrist and let go of her, then I cup her head in my hands and bring her face to mine. Our mouths are hovering a centimeter apart, like we’re standing on a cliff, ready to jump off.
I don’t know if it’s because we’re here, in the place I’ve called home for so long, or because it feels like she’s been here a thousand times before, but for some reason, I have the urge to pause and just take in the moment.
The moment before the kiss.
She tilts her head and parts her lips, and that’s all it takes—the smallest of movements—and I can’t hold back anymore. I lean into her, my mouth finding hers, my tongue sweeping through her lips to claim her.
She moans, like kissing me is exactly what she’d been waiting for. I get it. I feel exactly the same.
But I want more.
I pull back. “Take off your panties,” I growl.
She rolls her lips together like she’s deciding what to do. Slowly, she stands and hooks her hands under her skirt and pulls off her underwear. She dangles them from her pointer finger, and I reach for them and stuff them in my pocket.
She’s standing over me and I hold her gaze. She’s waiting for her next instruction.
“Get on your knees,” I say, my voice thick with lust. I can’t wait to see her mouth full of me.
She complies quickly and settles herself between my legs. Jesus, there are so many things I want to do with this woman.
I unzip my jeans and fist my cock, not taking my eyes from Aurora. She won’t be able to take much of me, but I’m going to enjoy watching her try.
“I want it as deep as you can get it,” I say.
Her eyes close in a long blink, like the thought is sending her crazy with lust.
Her hands slide up my thighs and her tongue starts at my base and she licks up, up, up in one slow movement.
I sigh with…contentment.
Somehow this just feels so right. Aurora feels so right. Like this is exactly how life is meant to be in this moment.
I don’t ever remember feeling like this before.
Aurora’s lips curl around my crown and she begins to suckle. It takes everything I have not to reach for her head and fuck her mouth. There’s nothing quite like seeing this woman with my cock in her mouth, doing exactly what I tell her.
“Take your hands off my shaft,” I say. I want the visual of my length disappearing into her mouth.
She complies immediately, placing her palms on my thighs and taking me deeper, like she knows exactly what I wanted.
“Does it feel good?” I ask. “To know that soon, you’ll have me in your pussy?”
She moans, and the vibrations burst against my erection, and it’s almost too good. She shifts slightly and swallows me deeper. Watching myself disappear into her mouth, so deep, her eyes watering, is the most erotic thing I’ve ever seen.
“I can’t wait to get inside you. You’re going to be so wet, you’re going to want to come immediately.”
She whimpers.
I don’t know if it’s the size of my cock or the thought of me fucking her. Either way, her sounds are louder than before and their vibrations send me wild. I’m not going to be able to take much more of this.
“Okay,” I say, cupping her face. “That’s deep enough.”
She pulls back, her lips dragging along the length of my cock.
I can’t take any more. I’m going to explode down her throat if she swallows me again.
“Stand up,” I say.
She complies and gets to her feet. I reach for her, between her thighs. I want to see what sucking my cock did to her.
I close my eyes as my fingers reach her wetness, taking what’s mine. I did that to her. I got her wet. I made her needy and desperate. She’s so worked up, she’s perfect.
“Deacon,” she whispers.
“What?” I ask, pulling my t-shirt off. I know what she wants, but I want to hear it.
“Please, Deacon,” she says.
Blood pounds in my ears, but I will it quiet. I want to hear her. Hear her beg.
I push off my jeans and sit back, my cock hard and ready for her.
Her eyes trail down to look at my hardness.
“Are you thinking about how it will feel when I’m inside you?”
Her gaze flutters up to my eyes, and she nods.
“And you know it feels good.”
She moans and tips her head back. I’m torturing her. A little. And I can’t be sorry about it.
“Take your skirt off. And your shirt.”
She strips naked in a second and I have to take a steadying breath. She’s so fucking perfect. Her hips sway from side to side as if she can’t keep still and her hair falls over her shoulders, her breasts jutting out, finding their way through so I can see her sharp, ripe nipples.
Fuck.
“You want my cock?” I ask her.
She nods. “I do.” She pauses. “Please.”
I stifle a groan at her begging.
“Come sit,” I say.
She’s tentative at first, but she straddles me, her soft skin, sliding against mine. I roll on a condom and anchor a hand on her hip.
“I’m going to push into you now,” I tell her.
Her hands press against my chest and I hook my hands over her hips.
In one swift movement, I pull her onto me, impaling her on my cock, hard and fast.
She screams and tips her head back.
“Fuck, that’s deep,” I grunt out.
“So deep,” she cries.
“Too deep?” I ask.
She shakes her head slowly. “I want it all.”
I groan and start to move her, pushing and pulling her onto my cock. In seconds her entire body begins to shake—her thighs, her hands, her shoulders all shudder as she convulses in orgasm.
I love that she was so ready to come. For me.
“Oh god,” she says as the aftershocks ebb away.
“It’s just the start,” I say.
“Deacon,” she says. “You’re…it’s…I’m…”
She doesn’t need to say anything. I feel it too. It’s so intense. It’s like the entire universe compresses into the energy between us and then explodes. I’ve never experienced anything like sex with Aurora.
I start to move again and she moans immediately, sending sparks to my balls.
There’s something about the sounds this woman makes.
Her pleasure concentrates mine, her need for me heightens mine for her.
It’s like we’re inextricably linked and there’s no ending or beginning, we’re bound in some kind of endless mobius strip of pleasure.
Our bodies move together like we’re one, and for once in my life, I manage to let go a little and let her lead, let her set the pace. And it feels good.
“So good, Deacon,” she sighs, like I’m the best thing that ever happened to her.
At that thought, pleasure starts firing in my belly and I groan out her name. I’m going to come. It’s so easy. So quick, and I want to make this last, but I know there’s no way back. I reach between us and find her clit.
Her panicked expression tells me that she’s holding on by a thread.
“Come for me, Aurora.”
Her expression breaks into bliss and the vibrations of her orgasm triggers mine, and I thrust up into her, pulling her deep onto my cock.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
She leans over me, wrapping her arms around me as our climaxes soften and float away. I slide my hands up her back, wanting to have her closer than physics makes it possible.
“You’re incredible,” I tell her. But I feel more than I can say. She’s not just incredible, she’s special. She’s more than I thought I could ever know.
She hums her appreciation, pressing a warm kiss to my neck and circling her hips in a way that gets my attention. Unbelievably, I feel my dick stir to life inside her. Jesus, what is this woman doing to me?
In a flash, I flip her to her back, pull off the condom and replace it with a new one, then slide back into her.
“Thank god,” she groans out, like being without my dick inside her was torture.
“You can’t get enough, can you?” I ask, as I lie over her, my body against hers.
She shakes her head.
I know the feeling.
I start to shift and watch as my movements create physical reactions that I can see on her face and feel in her pussy. She’s so slick and wet, and I slide in like she’s been perfectly designed for me.
“I’m so full of you,” she says. “In every way.”
I groan and push into her again.
I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get enough of this woman beneath me.