“I’m not going to tell her, sheesh.” He chuckles before shaking his head and picking up the remote and turning on the television. “I can’t believe she broke up with him. I mean, I guess I can and now that it’s over, I can be less diplomatic. He was the fuckin’ worst.” He leans back and props a foot up on my coffee table and I hate that he’s getting comfortable which means it’s going to be impossible to get rid of him.

  My phone vibrates in my hand and I know without looking it’s Whitney. I look down at my phone when Kevin turns his attention to the television.

  Whitney: What the fuck

  Me: I know.

  Whitney: Get rid of him!

  Me: How would you like me to do that? Do you want me to tell him?

  Whitney: No! I don’t have the energy for that conversation right now. I need you right now, JP I want to be alone with you.

  Me: What would you like me to do, baby? Tell me and I’ll do it. But I can’t just kick him out because you and I want to be alone to talk without that raising a hundred questions. Let’s be real, Whitney.

  Whitney: Ughhh. I’m coming down in a second. I rang the alarm to Chloe, she should be here soon to run interference.

  I don’t respond. I just drop to the chair with a sigh of relief. I was happy that she’d called her, it makes it look a little less odd that she’s here. If Chloe is here, then I just serve as a place for them to talk in peace. Trey doesn’t live far from here so I anticipate Chloe in the next twenty minutes or so.

  When I pull my eyes away from my phone, Kevin is eyeing me over his beer and almost thirty years of friendship allows me to read his look easily. The wheels are turning.

  “What?” I ask as I reach for one of his beers that I don’t even want and crack it open. I was in the mood for wine or something harder. I know Whitney would have eventually worn me down. I would have had a glass of wine with her and then another and then a whiskey neat and then my dick would have been inside her for the rest of the night.

  “It’s just odd. You haven’t seen Whitney in three years and I’d know if you guys had kept in touch.”

  “Would you have? I didn’t realize I needed to run all my conversations by you.”

  “This isn’t conversations with just anyone. It’s Whitney and she never mentioned talking to you either. It’s just strange. She’s comfortable enough with you to show up here after she broke up with her fiancé after not talking to you for years.” He leans forward and shakes his head. “Never mind.” He looks me up and down quickly before turning toward the window and then back to the television that he turned on but I can tell he’s not actually paying attention to what’s on the screen.

  I know what exactly that never mind is about and part of me wants to press it. Reassure him that it’s not what he’s thinking. I don’t because it’s exactly what he’s thinking and I can’t lie right to his face. I think if I were anyone else in the world, he’d ask. He’d ask the words that floated through his brain when he looked at me. But I’m me and I wouldn’t.

  Fuck.

  I think he’s going to speak up again when Whitney walks into the room. She’s wearing sweatpants and one of her hoodies, and I’m grateful that she didn’t put on any of my clothes.

  “Dad.” She nods as she sits next to him on the couch and leans her head on his shoulder.

  “Daughter.” He chuckles. “You going to tell me what’s going on? Why you’re here?”

  She lifts her head and her eyes dart to her left, finding mine before moving around the room as if she’s not sure where to look when I know she just wants to look at me. “I wasn’t happy.”

  He frowns. “Since when?”

  “This is exactly why I didn’t come home, Dad. I made a decision, give me a second to sit with it before you start asking a million questions!” I can feel her agitation flowing off of her and I wish I could pull her into my arms and hold her.

  He opens his mouth to respond when my doorbell rings and then Chloe is coming through it with Trey right behind her.

  “Hi, I’m here, I’m here.” Chloe rushes into the room with freshly fucked hair and clothes that look like she just threw on in a haste to help put out whatever fire is happening here. She plops down next to Whitney and puts a bottle of tequila in front of her. “We are so getting drunk.” She looks at Kevin. “Uncle Kev, what are you doing here? A girl breaks up with her fiancé, she doesn’t need her father right now. She needs me.” She puts a hand under her chin and smiles.

  “I didn’t even know she was here. I came over to hang out with him,” Kevin says, pointing at me. “I still don’t know why you came here in the first place. You could have come home.” He looks at Whitney with a face of concern but also a little bit of skepticism.

  “You’ve been here five minutes and have already asked me the same question more than once,” Whitney responds.

  “She wanted space and she knew I’d meet her here.” Chloe interrupts before grabbing the tequila and pulling Whitney off the couch. “We’re going to go talk,” she says, and I try not to follow her with my eyes out of the room. Trey grabs one of Kevin’s beers, turning the attention to him and away from the tension flowing off of me.

  “Looks like I’ll be here a while.” He grabs the remote and puts on the ESPN channel and I’m glad that seems to catch Kevin’s attention pretty quickly.

  For now.

  I’ve looked at my phone no less than a hundred times in the last hour trying to wait enough time before I get up to do something that would allow me to check on Whitney. Fuck this.

  “I’m going to take a leak.” I get up and I don’t miss the look Trey gives me. I’ve known Trey his entire life so I know how to read what he’s saying in the fleeting look he gives me before turning back to the television.

  Do not be fucking reckless.

  I don’t respond to the look before I make my way up the stairs and hear giggling coming from my guest room. I hover outside of the door for a moment but I think they’ve actually managed to get a little tipsy in the last hour because all I hear is giggling. I enter the room and Whitney’s eyes widen over the shot glass she has hovering near her lips.

  “JP!” She cheers and some of the liquid sloshes over the side of the glass.

  “Oops.” She sets the shot down on the floor. “I spilled. Sorry.” She gets up and I think it must have been the first time she’s stood up because she stumbles slightly before she’s in my arms.

  I brush some hair from her face. “How many have you had, baby?”

  She turns to Chloe and I watch as they both seemingly try to count the shots on their fingers. She turns back to me and I can see her eyes getting hazy. “Five?”

  My eyes widen at her drinking that much alcohol in a short period of time. “Whitney.”

  “I know but my dad is here. And… why is my dad here, JP!” She puts her hands on her hips and I can’t help but think she looks fucking adorable. “Have you gotten rid of him yet? Are you here to take me to bed?”

  She bounces on the balls of her feet in excitement before she moves into my arms and grips the back of my neck pulling me closer to her lips. I cup her face before pressing my lips to hers and it hits me that it’s the first time, I’ve kissed her since she got here. Maybe she realizes it too because she whimpers in my mouth before pushing herself closer to me. Her tongue slides in my mouth and she tastes of liquor and limes and sex and I want to lick my way down her body to the space between her legs. Her hand tightens on the back of my neck and my hands slides through her hair and I meet her tongue with equal enthusiasm.

  “Okay, hello?” I vaguely hear Chloe speak. “I am still in the room.” I try to pull away but she holds me tighter and bites down gently on my bottom lip to keep me from moving. I finally manage to remove my mouth from hers and she pouts.

  Whitney turns around to look at Chloe. “You could have just looked away. I normally have to pry your eyeballs away from your phone.”

  “I’m stopping you before things get carried away and Uncle Kevin comes strolling through the door.”

  Whitney crosses her hands in front of her chest. “I’m telling him.” She passes by me toward the door and I scoop her in my arms before she can open the door.

  “Uh uh.”

  “What do you mean?!”

  “I’m not going to let you drunkenly unleash everything on your father just because you’re horny, Whitney. No.”

  “We said we were going to tell him anyway!”

  “We said we would tell them as in with your mother as well who your father is going to need to keep him calm and potentially keep from killing me,” I joke though I’m not sure I’m kidding. “We can tell them tomorrow when you’re sober. We can get everything out in the open when you tell them about Parker and me and… it’ll be a fresh start.”

  “Okay…” She nods. “But get rid of him now!”

  “I can’t just kick him out, Whitney. For what reason? It’s not like I could even say I got called in for a surgery, I’m not back at work yet.” Back when we were much better at sneaking around, I used to say that whenever I wanted to get away from someone and back to Whitney. I was called in for a consultation or an emergency surgery. I would get rid of my company, leaving right behind them to really show the urgency of the situation and then I’d usually pick up Whitney from wherever she was and then come back to my house. “We’re just going to have to wait him out.”

  “Where are you even supposed to be right now? You’ve been gone for a while,” Chloe says and I nod in agreement.

  “I said I went to the bathroom but I’ll just say I came to check on you two.” I press my lips to hers again before moving toward the door. She follows behind me. “But I should get back. Actually, I’m going to bring you guys some water. Are you hungry?”

  “Yes, but not for food.” Her back is to Chloe, so she doesn’t see the obvious look she gives my groin.

  “I’m hungry!” Chloe chirps from the other side of the room. “And for actual food not for JP’s dick.”

  “It’s Jacob to you and don’t talk about my man’s dick.” She glares at Chloe and gives her the middle finger and Chloe snickers in response.

  “I’ll bring you guys some food and some water.”

  “And beers!”

  “How about no.” I give Chloe a pointed look before turning out of the room and heading back downstairs. Trey and Kevin appear to be in a debate about something when I enter the room. “I went to go check on those two who, if you can believe it, have made a significant dent in that bottle.” I chuckle.

  “Oh lovely. Chloe on tequila is a real treat if she’s had too much.” He rubs his forehead and lets his head fall back against the back of the love seat.

  “I’m going to take them some food and some non-alcoholic beverages.” I chuckle and it’s not lost on me that Kevin hasn’t said anything since I entered the room.

  I grab some water and decide to make them one of those terrible frozen pizzas Whitney actually likes even when she’s sober. I’d gone to the grocery store when she was in New York and got her some things I know she used to like. I’m sure her tastes have changed somewhat in the last three years but I took a chance that some stayed the same. I grab some water and chips while the oven preheats and make my way up the stairs. When I get to the guest room, I only see Chloe and she’s watching television on her phone despite the flat screen mounted on the wall.

  Her eyes light up when she sees me, grabbing the chips from me. “I’m making you guys a pizza, unless you want me to order you one? I just figured cooking one would take less time.”

  “You’re the best, Jacob!” She squeals before ripping open the bag of Doritos.

  I shake my head as a laugh leaves me. “Where is she?”

  “Bathroom, I think,” she says without pulling her gaze away from what I think to be Grey’s Anatomy. I chuckle, remembering all the times Whitney would ask me if things were accurate when she’d make me watch it with her.

  I make my way out of the room and I notice my bedroom door is ajar. Fuck. Whitney, what are you doing in there?

  I push the door open and close it quietly behind me. The lamps on my nightstands are still on so the room isn’t pitch black. “Looking for me?” I hear from behind me and when I turn around all of the air leaves my lungs in a gush as my eyes fall on a completely naked Whitney.

  “Fuck,” I whisper and despite the horrible idea it is, I fall to my knees in front of her and pull her naked cunt to my face. I nuzzle the smooth skin and press a kiss to the top of her mound before spreading her lips and tonguing her clit, desperate for a taste of her. “What are you doing to me, baby?”

  She grips my face and strokes my beard softly. “I need you.”

  “I need you too, Whitney but—”

  “Fuck me,” she interrupts me. “Please.”

  “Now?” I speak, but the rest of me is already on board with being inside her.

  She nods her head and I look at the door behind her. The door that led to a hallway and a flight of stairs that led to a room where her father was sitting drinking beer and talking to my brother. I look up at her. “Can you be quiet?” A smile finds her face and a warm feeling spreads throughout my chest that I’m the one that put it there. She nods enthusiastically. “Can you be quick?” I ask her and she nods again.

  “I’ve been wet since I got here and now, I’m kind of drunk and even hornier. And your mouth is pressed up against my pussy, what do you think?”

  I stand up, unbuttoning my jeans and pushing them and my briefs down my legs.

  “God, you have such a nice dick.” She runs her hand over it which is getting harder by the second. She bites her lip and if I had more time, I’d already be shoving my dick down her throat.

  “I’m glad you like it.” I lift her into my arms and press her against the wall, knowing that if I fuck her on the bed, it’ll make noise. She lets out a quiet moan the second I get inside her.

  So much for not making noise.

  “You said you could be quiet,” I murmur in her ear. I whisper against her neck as I pull her up and down on my dick harder but slowly so as to not make any noise. She locks her ankles behind my back trying to push me harder into her.

  “Mmmm sorry, daddy,” she whispers so quietly; I know there’s no way anyone could hear her.

  Fuccccck. My mind thinks as it processes her words. “You’re such a good fucking girl taking daddy’s cock like this.” She wraps her arms around my neck and our eyes lock as I continue to fuck her like we aren’t on limited time and there isn’t someone downstairs who may not ever accept this. With the angle and the speed in which I’m fucking her I know she can feel every ridge of my cock as I move in and out of her painfully slow.

  She lets out a sigh so sexy and breathy it makes me almost come on the spot. “I think I’m going to come.”

  “Hearing that leave your lips is my favorite sentence in the fucking English language.”

  She gasps and then she bites down on her bottom lip and I want nothing more than to do the same. “I love how you love me.”

  I brush my nose against hers and capture her lips in a kiss that’s hungry and aggressive and loving and I’m fucking ecstatic that I get to kiss this woman every day for the rest of my life.

  “Come for me, baby,” I tell her, knowing that my orgasm isn’t far away and I want to give her one first.

  “Touch my clit,” she whispers. I oblige her request and with the first swipe of my thumb over her clit, she detonates. Her fingernails dig into my flesh and her eyes flutter closed and she lets her head fall back against the wall quietly as she bites her lip trying to quiet the scream, I know bubbling inside of her. Fuck. She mouths.

  Holy shit, she’s sexy.

  My orgasm comes not far after, and I spill into her. “Fuck, that’s so fucking good.” I growl in her ear. “You are so fucking amazing.” I press a kiss to her neck and then her lips as I let myself fall out of her and set her on shaky legs.

  “That was so hot.”

  I let out a breath as I pull my pants up over my dick. I hadn’t pulled my shirt off in my haste to get inside of her so I’m fully dressed which is a stark contrast to her nakedness. “I can’t believe we did that.” My eyes zone in on the space between her legs which is glistening from our lovemaking and I want nothing more than to drag my tongue through her slit.

  “You’re staring at my pussy.”

  “Because I want a taste and I don’t want to run the risk of the scent lingering behind.” I bite my fist. “I’m going back downstairs. God knows how long I’ve been up here. Time seems to stop when I’m inside of you.” I cup her face and press a kiss to her lips. “I’ll be back with your pizza in a bit.”

  I make my way into the hallway and I go into the guest room to see Chloe lying on the bed still watching television on her phone, swinging her feet behind her. Her eyes find mine and then drop to my hands. “You’re back with no pizza?” She whines.

  “Just checking on you, that’s all.” I leave the door open so maybe they’ll assume I’ve been talking to Chloe or maybe both of them this whole time and not railing Whitney against the wall of my bedroom.

  “I’m dying of hunger, Jacob!” I roll my eyes as I make my way out of the guest room and head downstairs. When I enter the living room, Trey is on his phone and Kevin is nowhere to be found.

  Where have you been? he mouths and I wince and shake my head as if to say not now.

  No fucking way. With Kev here? He points toward the kitchen, and I scratch my beard before heading toward the kitchen. I’m almost to the kitchen when I see him in my office, looking at the cluster of pictures I have hanging on my wall. I have a brief moment of irrational panic that he’d somehow seen the pictures I have of Whitney on my computer, but not only is it in a very password protected folder, but my computer is also turned off.