Chapter 22 - Sunshine
Chapter twenty-two
“Are you sure you can’t come with me today?” Sasha asks, pausing from trailing kisses from my core to my navel to look up at me. “I really want you to meet Kat.”
Propping myself up on my elbows, I look down at the man who just rocked my world with his tongue.
His lazy grin would be enough to bring anyone to their knees, but knowing that his hair is disheveled from my grip while he was between my legs, and his mouth and chin are glistening from my arousal has me ready to go for round two.
“You do realize you’re talking about your sister with my cum still on your chin.”
Sasha sits up and scrunches his nose before lying down beside me on the bed. “You’re right, let’s change the subject.” He pauses to roll me into his arms and kisses the top of my head as he grabs a handful of my ass. “Like how we finally have a day off, and you have plans.”
I sigh, regretting ever agreeing to meet with Lawrence today.
I would prefer to go with Sasha and meet Kat.
I would prefer to do anything with Sasha.
I’ve become rather attached to the man currently squeezing the hell out of my ass cheek.
I almost canceled my lunch meeting when he asked me last night if I would be free.
His sister has been gone since he and I first started working together, and I know he’s dying for me to meet her.
I can tell she's extremely important to Sasha. In fact, it almost makes me jealous to think about another woman meaning so much to him, sister or not. Maybe it’s because I’m an only child, but the thought of having to compete for his affection has me seeing red.
“I’m sorry, maybe we could go tomorrow? Or sometime soon. I really do want to meet her. She means so much to you and…”
Sasha interrupts me, grabbing my chin and bringing my gaze to his. “You mean so much to me, Lucy. That’s why I want you to meet her. I just want to introduce you to my family, baby.”
Before I can respond, he brings his lips to mine, and I immediately open for him.
I’m past the point of caring about my morning breath.
I certainly don’t care about his. And the taste of my cum lingering on his tongue has me dripping yet again.
He pulls me closer as he deepens our kiss, but doesn’t take things any further.
Sasha loves to kiss me, and he’s rarely in a hurry when he does, even if it never leads to anything.
Even when I can feel the effect it has on him, pressing hard against my body.
He’ll lie in bed with me forever with us wrapped in each other’s arms.
When he finally breaks our kiss, he does it with so much love in his eyes that I can hardly stand it.
Neither of us has said those three magic words, but I do.
My love for him is unlike anything I’ve ever felt before.
And I know he feels it too. It may have taken him some time to let his walls down, but ever since our little getaway to the beach, he’s finally stopped fighting this thing between us.
I’m not sure why he ever felt the need in the first place.
The whole “I’m not a relationship kind of guy” seems beneath him.
Especially since he’s so mature for his age.
I’ve never met another twenty-two-year-old man who carries themselves quite like Sasha does.
With one last kiss to my head, he rolls out of bed, and I sigh like a lovesick teenage girl as I watch his erect cock bob with each step he takes toward the closet. He walks back out with clothes for both of us, chuckling when he catches me practically drooling over his chiseled, naked body.
“Come on, baby. I may have had my breakfast, but we need to get you fed. Or at least get some coffee in your system.”
I make quick work of getting myself ready for the day with the promise of coffee, and by the time I walk into the kitchen, Sasha is pouring me a cup.
“Here you go,” he says, handing me my morning happy juice. “You start with this, and I’ll whip up some breakfast.”
Taking the cup, I lean against a counter and watch as he maneuvers around the kitchen, preparing our meal. God, I love a man who cooks, especially when his ass looks like that.
Sasha turns, chuckling when he catches me ogling him for the second time in the past fifteen minutes.
Turning the burner off, he walks toward where I’m propped on the counter, boxing me in with his arms as he kisses up my neck until he finds my lips.
It’s brief but passionate enough to steal my breath, and my arms instinctively wrap around his waist. “You like what you see, Sunshine?”
I nod, biting my lower lip as I stare up into his eyes.
He moves one of his hands to cup my chin, and uses his thumb to free my bottom lip. “I’m all yours, baby.” He pulls me up for a chaste kiss. “And trust me, I can’t get enough of you either, pretty girl.”
Like always, Sasha’s breakfast is incredible. I don’t know if it’s because he’s making it or what, but everything he prepares is always just better. And it doesn’t hurt that my company is a sexy-as-hell man who makes me orgasm almost as much as he makes me laugh.
I’m still in my pajamas when he walks out of the room dressed for the day. He’s casual in a pair of jeans and a short-sleeved white T-shirt that has my mouth watering. Anything he puts on looks fantastic on him, especially when you know how he looks underneath it.
“I’m going to miss you,” he says, walking over to where I’m cozied up on the couch. He leans down to kiss me goodbye, and the feel of his lips on mine has me on the verge of canceling my plans yet again. “But I look forward to getting back home and making up for all the time we'll be apart.”
An email notification on my phone distracted me from getting ready for lunch, and I’ve been staring at it for ten minutes now, feeling every emotion all at once.
The hair from MJ’s bow was a match. I’m a Sinclair.
I can’t stop the tears as I feel the onslaught of pain knowing that my dad cheated on his wife to have me, and that he’s dead.
Fuck him for doing that to…Blanche. Oh my God, Blanche.
Not only did this asshole cheat and get another woman pregnant, then ignore the fucking kid for her entire life, but he also cheated on an absolute gem of a human being.
Someone who’s been nothing but kind, if a little quirky, to me since I moved here.
She’s obsessed with Henry Sinclair Jr. and seems to venerate his memory…
there’s no way she knows he was unfaithful.
Unless my mom was a part of one of the orgies or orgy-adjacent experiences that it seems like the Sinclairs took part in.
I mean, Blanche honored my preferences not to have other females in our scenes for the film, but she’s made it clear that she doesn’t share my proclivities.
With my face still bare of makeup and only half of my clothes on, the alarm on my phone blares my final warning that I need to leave or I’ll be late.
I’m not sure what I’ll say to Lawrence, if anything, about what I just found out.
I need time to process. Figure out how I’m going to avoid breaking Blanche’s heart…
or making all of her children hate me as their bastard half sister.
Fuck. Any relief I felt at finally having a name in my mind instead of just “sperm donor” is replaced with nausea at the thought of hurting any of the Sinclairs.
Fuck, fuck. I need to get it together. The only thing I can do now is go and try to enjoy lunch with the first person who was nice to me on this stupid trip… Fuck.
Lawrence already has a table when I arrive at the café we agreed to meet for lunch today. It’s been a favorite of mine since Sasha brought home a box of pastries weeks ago, and I make a mental note to order him some to go as I make my way to my seat.
Even though we’ve stayed in touch via texts and calls, I haven’t seen Lawrence since that first day we met outside Henry’s office, and he looks…
different. He’s not nearly as polished as he was when we met.
His attire makes sense, considering he’s having a casual lunch with me instead of meeting with the CEO of the Sinclair enterprise, but it’s more than that.
From his unkept hair and unshaven face to his posture, he looks rough.
There’s an air about him that feels more dangerous than friendly.
Regardless, I greet him as I did the day we met and sigh a breath of relief when he returns my kindness.
He’s just as friendly as before, and I feel guilty for my initial judgment.
As the meal progresses, I loosen up even more.
In California, I was constantly meeting new people, but I’ve been living in Blanche’s bubble with Sasha for so long, I’ve forgotten what it’s like to make new friends.
Thinking of Lawrence as a friend seems odd, but the only other people I’ve met in this city have been the Sinclairs and Sasha. And he’s technically the reason I met the Sinclairs in the first place. Had he not helped secure my job with Blanche, I doubt Sasha and I would have met.
Lawrence wiggles his eyebrows. “Ooo, I know what that smile means. You’ve found someone special, haven’t you?”
I haven’t told anyone about Sasha yet, considering my best friend is gone for the next year. The thought of telling anyone the details of our relationship causes me to blush.
“Oh, you’ve definitely got a boyfriend. Give me all the details!”
“He’s not my boyfriend necessarily. I mean, we are together, but it’s new, so we haven’t gotten around to putting titles on anything. But yes. There is someone. Someone very special.”
“Go on…”
“I met him when Mrs. Sinclair hired me. Most days, I, um, work with him as well as Blanche.” Lawrence’s brows draw in confusion. “You may know him or at least know of him. His sister married Henry Sinclair.”
Whatever confusion once painted Lawrence’s expression is instantly gone as his face turns a dark red.
The kindness in his eyes has vanished as well.
I freeze in my seat at the sudden change in his character and am reminded of my earlier instinct.
The silence between us seems to last forever, and I can’t help but break it.
“I’m…I’m sorry. Did I say something wrong?”
“Please tell me you're not in a relationship with Alexsandr Taranov," he spits out.
“No, I don't know him...I'm with Sasha Taranov. Are they related? Sasha never mentioned a brother."
Lawrence cuts me off. "You foolish girl. Sasha is the Russian diminutive of Alexsandr. Of course a slut like you would spread your legs without knowing the man's real name."
I look down at my fidgety hands, nervous to make eye contact with the now very scary man sitting across the table from me that I realize I barely even know at all. “Um…Yes actually. That’s him. Do you kno—”
“Yes! I fucking know him.” Lawrence yells, slamming his fists down on the table. He lowers his voice when every one turns to look at us, but the danger blaring in his eyes only grows. He takes several deep breaths, and I see the moment a thought flashes in his mind.
“This could actually work out quite well, Ms. Sommers.” His grin turns menacing as he fixes me with his gaze. “You might be the exact thing I need to get a leg up on that motherfucker.”
His insult to my Sasha inspires bravery. Sitting up straight, I fix him with a look of my own.
“Excuse me, Mr. Lawrence, but you have no right to talk about Sasha like that. And you will absolutely not be using me for a damn thing. I won’t be a pawn in whatever stupid game you think you're playing with him.”
His deep laughter is villainous as he leans back in his chair, eyeing me down.
“Oh, you’re not going to help me, are you?
And what makes you think you have a choice?
” When I don’t respond, he continues. “You listen, and you listen good, you little good-for-nothing whore. You will help me get out of the debt I owe Sasha Taranov. Because if you don’t, I’ll march right up to your precious Sinclairs and tell them the real reason you’ve been working with them.
Does your boyfriend know? Does he? I know you haven’t told Blanche that you’re only there to see if you are the bastard child of her dead husband, but does Sasha know?
I happen to know exactly how protective he is of his family.
I guarantee you the moment he finds out that your existence in his life could potentially cause distress to his beloved sister, he’ll kick you to the curb. ”
“That’s not true…” I try to say confidently, but it comes out barely louder than a whisper.
“You’re nothing to them, do you understand me?
Sasha Taranov has never and will never love anyone but his family, and you’re a threat to that stability.
So unless you want me to tell him exactly what you’ve been up to, you’re going to do every fucking thing I tell you to.
I’ll let you know what our next move is. ”
He gets up and leaves the café, leaving me alone at the table with nothing but my thoughts.
Fuck, he’s right. Sasha has just started trusting me, and all the while I’ve been keeping this huge secret from him.
I didn’t mean to. At first, I didn’t tell him because I didn’t know or trust him either, but recently, I’ve genuinely just forgotten all about it.
I haven’t really thought of anything important in our little love bubble.
Especially not the sadness and loneliness I felt when I decided to track down the Sinclairs in the first place. He has more than filled that void.
I know that if I want this relationship to move forward, I have to tell him.
Today. I know he’ll understand. I truly haven’t meant any of the Sinclairs any harm.
I’ve just wanted to find my family. I’ve been without one for so long, I just wanted to feel like I belonged.
And as much as I know he cares about me, I’m confident he will forgive me.
Paying the bill, I grab my to-go box. If Lawrence thinks he’s going to use me to get to Sasha, he has another thing coming. I would rather lose the man I love than ever do anything to hurt him.