Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Mitch
Waking up next to a woman he didn’t feel the immediate need to sneak away from was a new experience.
Actually, being cuddled around Domi was pretty nice.
She was tucked into his body, her head resting on his arm, curls tickling his nose, and her ass pressed up against his morning erection. The sweet ass that was all his.
Grinning, Mitch bent his head to press a kiss to the back of her neck. Not to try to wake her up—he doubted he could, and she’d been very clear last night how she felt about that—but because he couldn’t not kiss her right now. This felt too good. He felt too happy. He needed to show it.
She stirred against him, then came awake with a jerk.
“Where… Oh.” She relaxed.
Mitch chuckled. “Forgot where you were for a minute?”
“Yup.” Squirming onto her back, so she could look at him, she only winced a little.
Mitch stroked his hand down her stomach, caressing.
His erection prodded her thigh, but he ignored it while Domi blinked up at him.
In the morning light, which was coming in through a crack in the curtains, she was adorably rumpled.
“I’m not exactly used to waking up next to a man. ”
“Me, either.” Mitch grinned. “Or a woman. Or anyone, really.”
Giggling, Domi groaned, putting her hand over her eyes. “It’s too early in the morning for bad jokes, Mitch.”
“It’s never too early. Or too late.”
“Mmm.” Rolling toward him, she snuggled into his chest, and Mitch tightened his arms around her. “Hmmm. I forgot about this happening in the morning.” Dainty fingers wrapped around his cock. Mitch groaned, thrusting his hips forward.
Didn’t matter how much wild kinky sex they’d had last night, his dick still wanted more. Knowing she’d still be feeling the aftereffects of last night’s activities, that she’d be a little sore, only turned him on more.
“You’re two seconds away from being rolled onto your back if you don’t let go,” he warned. Her fingers tightened. Pumped. She squealed as he rolled her onto her back, exactly as he’d promised.
It wasn’t wild, kinky sex. It was softer, more tender, though not exactly gentle.
That wasn’t what he or Domi wanted. She whimpered and moaned as he fondled her breasts, leaning down to suck and nip her hypersensitive nipples, his cock sliding in and out of her wet pussy as she wrapped her legs around him.
Hands pressed her wrists into the mattress above her head as he pumped in and out of her, riding her to mutual ecstasy.
Domi
“You look happy.” Rae plopped onto the couch next to Domi.
Ana was in the dining room, working on her ‘homework’ for the weekend, making a poster to show off in class.
Domi had been staring off into space, remembering her time with Mitch.
It wasn’t until Rae joined her, knocking her out of her reverie, she realized she’d been doing so, with a big, stupid grin on her face.
“What’s not to be happy about? My daughter’s home and feeling good, my bestie is here and feeling good…”
“And you had multiple orgasms this week…” Rae added in a low voice.
Even so, Domi glanced over her shoulder to make sure Ana wasn’t paying attention to them. The little girl didn’t look up from the poster she was decorating. Domi had offered to help but had been roundly rejected. Ana wanted to do it on her own. Probably so Domi wouldn’t limit her use of glitter.
“That never hurts anything.” She grinned.
Her body still had a few small aches and pains, but it had been…
glorious. Did that seem overdramatic? It was how it had felt, though.
She hadn’t even been mad at Rae for keeping Mitch’s plan for an overnight at Marquis a secret from her.
There was still a little bundle of nerves hiding underneath her happiness, some pessimistic part of her waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“So, what’s next? You had the date, now what? Is it time for sleepovers? Introducing him to Ana?” Rae prodded.
Glancing over her shoulder again, her daughter was still oblivious to the conversation. Turning back to Rae, she shook her head. Rae leaned back against the cushions, giving Domi a questioning look, almost challenging.
“I guess that means he’s not coming to Ana’s birthday dinner?”
Rae’s tone was bland, and Domi couldn’t tell what her friend thought. Was it a mistake not to invite him? Ana’s birthday, when Domi and Rae would take her out to dinner with Marcus and Julia, was only a few weeks away. That felt too soon.
“Ana already met him, but I’m not ready to have him come around while she’s here.
I think the birthday dinner might be a little much.
But… I thought I might introduce him to my parents.
You know, over a call.” Since her parents had moved to Puerto Rico a few years ago to take care of her grandparents, they wouldn’t be able to meet in person any time soon, but she video chatted with them regularly, usually when Ana was around, though obviously, she’d wait until Ana was at Marcus and Julia’s to introducing Mitch.
Somehow, introducing Mitch to her parents didn’t seem as big a step as introducing him to Ana, but it was still a step.
A significant one, though she’d already let him do butt stuff with her, which was a pretty big step.
Heck, in some of the romance books she read, butt stuff was basically an engagement ring—and often led to one.
Not that she was expecting that. Nope. They were so not anywhere near there yet. In fact, just thinking about it made her queasy. She was just acknowledging how significant giving up her last virginity to him had been.
That was a step.
Introducing him to her parents would be another step. She hadn’t introduced a guy to them since Marcus, and obviously, that had been done with Julia by his side. Hopefully, this would get her mami off her back.
“Hoping this will satisfy your mom for a bit?” Rae asked as if she was reading Domi’s mind. Sometimes, their closeness could be a little unnerving.
“Hey, she’s been wanting me to date… I’m dating. She’ll like Mitch. As long as we’re dating, she’ll stop bugging me about dating, and if things don’t work out, I’ll probably still get a break for a while.”
“And if things do work out, she’ll be thrilled.”
“Right.” The little weight of uneasiness in the pit of her stomach grew a little more. If she and Mitch worked out, would they end up with… marriage? More babies? They hadn’t talked about any of that. Did he even want kids?
“What?” Rae asked, poking Domi’s arm. After she repeated her thoughts, Rae sat back with a thoughtful expression. “You two aren’t that serious yet, but you should probably talk about it. Soon. Before you get in deeper.”
“What if I don’t know my answers?” Domi really didn’t know what she wanted.
For so long, she’d seen her future as taking care of Ana and making sure her daughter didn’t want for anything.
Somehow, she’d always envisioned being here, in this house, with Rae and Ana, while having her a life separate from her daughter when Ana was with Marcus and Julia.
The idea of joining that separate life with her daughter’s life… scared her. So many things could go wrong. She could handle her own heartbreak but wasn’t sure she could handle her daughter’s.
“Then take some time to think about it.” Rae shrugged. “There’s no rush.”
Right. There was no rush. She’d figure it out.
“Mommy, Aunt Rae, come look! All done!”
“We’re coming,” she and Rae chimed together, glancing at each other and laughing.
There was no rush. Right now, she had everything exactly the way she’d always pictured it, except better—Rae and Ana at home, and her own life when Ana wasn’t there.
A life that included a boyfriend. While she hadn’t pictured that before, she’d grown.
Changed. It fit. She and Mitch worked together this way.
She didn’t need to combine her worlds yet, not when everything was going so well as it was.
Mitch
“It was very nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Ortiz.” Mitch gave Domi’s parents his most charming smile.
I’m a totally normal young man. I definitely didn’t spend last night clamping your daughter’s nipples, plugging her ass with an expanding, vibrating plug, whipping that ass, then fucking her raw.
Domi’s mom beamed back at him through the computer screen, though her dad seemed a little more suspicious.
From everything Mitch had heard, that was normal.
Dads were protective of their daughters, especially when they were dating.
It was impossible to tell size on a computer screen, but he got the impression Domi’s mom was petite like her, while her dad was taller and bulkier.
Domi definitely got her hair from her mom, who had similar corkscrew curls.
He was relieved his first time meeting the parents was a video chat introduction. It was much less intimidating than meeting in person, though he’d be ready when the time came for that. At least Domi’s mom liked him.
“It was wonderful to meet you, too, Mitch. We’re so happy Domi has such a nice boyfriend. Si, Enrique?” Because of the screen, it wasn’t possible to see exactly what she did, but Mitch was pretty sure she’d elbowed her husband.
“Uh-huh,” Domi’s dad said unenthusiastically. Mrs. Ortiz elbowed him again. “I mean, nice to meet you. I look forward to meeting you in person when we come up to visit in a few months.” He sounded more dubious than sincere.
“Me, too, Sir.” A few months was plenty of time to prepare. Besides, if he wasn’t mistaken, Mrs. Ortiz was the dominant personality in their relationship, and she was thrilled to meet him. Hopefully, she’d be able to convince her husband.
“Alright, adiós mami, adiós papi. Les hablo luego gracias por el video chat,” Domi said, leaning forward.
Thanks to the video chat, Mitch could see her bemused expression clearly.
High school Spanish had been a long time ago, but he understood enough to know she was saying goodbye and thanking them for the chat.
“Adiós, carino te quiero!”
“Yo también tequiero.” Domi clicked off the call and leaned back. “Well, I think we can call that a success.”
“Me, too.” Mitch pulled her in for a short hot kiss he had to end far too quickly. “If I didn’t have to get to work, we could celebrate.”
“When you get off work, I could come over, and we could celebrate then,” she suggested, watching him get to his feet. She leaned back, giving him a sassy look, then winced as she shifted her weight on her welted ass. Mitch grinned in appreciation.
“Sounds good to me.” Sliding his fingers into her hair, he tugged her head backward, dropping another kiss onto her lips. Fuck, he loved kissing her, spending time with her, and he was flying high, knowing he’d passed the parent test.
They’d only been official for a few weeks, but it felt good. Easy. Right. Like the other relationships at Stronghold.
Brian had asked if Mitch was worried about Domi not introducing him to Ana as her boyfriend yet, but he and Domi had talked about it, and he understood she wasn’t ready yet.
Yeah, sure, there was a part of him that was impatient, but only because he understood what a big step that was.
An important step and a necessary one if they were going to have a future together.
She was a single mom doing her best, and he was the first boyfriend she’d had since becoming a single mom. He also had a bit of a track record. He wasn’t going to blame her for being cautious. They’d get there.
Meeting her parents was proof of that. One step at a time.
He was halfway to the hospital when his phone started playing the Imperial March. Sighing, Mitch answered using the car’s system.
“Hey, Dad.”
“Hello, laddie, how are ye doing?” His father’s Scottish burr was as strong as ever.
No matter how long he’d lived in the states, it never seemed to let up.
Mitch suspected it was a deliberate choice on his father’s part since women went nuts for the accent.
While Mitch could do the same and sound completely genuine, he’d always preferred not to follow in his dad’s footsteps in any way.
“Not bad, but I’m on my way to work. What’s up?” His dad wasn’t the talker his mom was, the opposite in fact.
His dad cleared his throat.
“I’m going to be in town next week for a few days and was hoping I could spend some time with you. Maybe get dinner.”
“Yeah, sure, that sounds fine.” Mitch’s brain was already jumping ahead. “Are you free on Wednesday?” Domi always had dinner with Ana, Ana’s dad, and stepmother on Wednesdays, and Mitch had off, so that would work out well.
Unless… did he want to introduce Domi to his dad?
No, not really. They’d have to meet eventually, but it would be better if he introduced her to his mom first. Otherwise, it might hurt his mom’s feelings.
Unlike Domi’s relationship with her parents, things were always a bit awkward between Mitch and his dad.
He didn’t want her seeing that right after he’d charmed her parents.
“Wednesday is good. I’ll see you then. Also, you should talk to your ma soon, she wants you to come home for Passover. Bye, Son.” The phone clicked off, hanging up before Mitch could respond, so he wouldn’t have to answer any questions about how he knew what Mitch’s mom wanted.
It wasn’t a surprise his mom wanted him home for Passover.
It was one of the bigger Jewish holidays, but the only reason his Catholic dad would be saying something was she’d said something to his dad.
Which meant they were talking again. Typical.
Scowling, Mitch shook his head. Yeah, he wasn’t ready for his parents to meet Domi yet.
Introducing her to that dysfunction could wait.