Page 22 of Payback, Penelope

Jacob smiles so wide it lights me up inside. Silently confirming Sebastian’s unfinished question, he puffs out his broad chest and splays his massive palm over my belly with his thick gold wedding band proudly on display.

Sebastian’s mouth drops open for a moment. “Well, I’ll be damned. You’re even younger than me, aren’t you? And you’remarried?”

“Yup. Best years of my life spent with my Penelope.”

Daniel shoots me a glare.

“Oh please, don’t look at me like that. We’re closer in age than you and I are. Certainly closer than you and Kayla, here.”

Sebastian laughs. “I didn’t know you had a thing for younger men, Penelope,” he says with a slow look up and down my form. “If I had known…”

Jacob drapes his arm over my shoulders, pulling me in closer, continuing to hold my belly. “Just one younger man,” Jacob growls.

My ex-stepson’s sudden interest in me makes me nauseous, no matter how handsome he grew up to be with his mother’s Mediterranean features instead of taking after his dad, who has to slather himself in sunscreen to avoid turning as red as a lobster after twenty minutes in the sun. Jacob and I might enjoy our seriously hot and heavy role-playing, but the idea of being with Sebastian has me swallowing back bile.

I blurt, “Are you only friendly with the women you want to F-U-C-K?” I spell it out since I don’t want to curse in front of Kennedy. “Because you sure weren’t when I was married to your dad.” I mumble under my breath, “Like father, like son.” The two of them at least have the good grace to look ashamed when I finish. As they should.

It’s not that I want to hurt Kayla’s feelings, but with the topic of conversation having veered toward our age gaps and the men shifting on their feet like they want to leave, I can’t ignore the compulsion to warn her with a soft voice that I hope she takes to heart, “You won’t be young forever. You’ve got maybe another five to ten years left before Daniel finds himself anotherpickleball partner.” My eyes shoot to the man in question. “Then again, he won’t be young forever, either, so maybe the fourth time’s the charm, and you’ve got a good shot at the long haul.”

Kayla looks like I’ve struck her, and I wonder if I’ve hurt Daniel’s feelings as much as he hurt mine when he would criticize my weight and apparent waning attraction. I hope so.Daniel grips Kayla’s arm like he’s trying to hold onto the last hot young woman who’ll ever give him the time of day.

Kayla takes it for what it is—her cue to end the bristling exchange. “It was really nice meeting you,” she says with a strangled voice, like it pains her to say the words. “We should get going now so we don’t miss our dinner reservation.” Without a glance back or saying goodbye, their group continues their original path past us toward the parking lot.

I watch from the distance as the group starts bickering by the time they reach the first line of cars. Waving his hands back and forth between Kayla and Sebastian, Daniel raises his voice in a way that doesn’t bode well for their futures. Maybe Kayla won’t have to wait for her age to extinguish any interest Daniel still has for her after all.

With a hearty chuckle, Jacob grabs the sunscreen from our beach bag once the group is out of sight, squirts a healthy amount in his hands, and starts lathering up our daughter. Once done, he does the same to me, making sure to cover every nook and cranny of my body while Kennedy lies oblivious on the towel with her juice box and quartered grapes, allowing her sunscreen to soak in.

“That was fun,” he says sarcastically.

“Serves him right. I wish I could be a fly on the wall when they get the paternity test results I’m sure Daniel is about to hit them with.”

“Me, too, Mama.” Squeezing my hips, he says with a low growl, “I saw the way Sebastian was looking at you.”

“Ew, don’t remind me.”

“So I’ve got nothing to be jealous of then?”

I smack his shoulder. “No! Why on earth would you think that?”

“Well…I just thought…” An insecurity I’ve never seen from him creeps to the surface. “With the way we like to play, maybe seeing youractualstepson would make you—”

“You stop that right now.” I cup his cheeks and pull him down to meet my lips. “You know you’re the only man for me. I’d have run screaming if Sebastian tried anything with me.” Lowering my voice for his ears alone, I whisper, “Mama loves you.Onlyyou, baby.”

If we didn’t have a toddler currently tugging on Jacob’s black swim trunks, impatient to get back in the water, I’m sure I’d be flat on back in the trunk of the huge Jeep Wagoneer we traded Jacob’s Audi in for with him deep inside me within a minute. My pussy clenches, and I rub my sunscreen-slicked thighs together at the mental image.

“Tonight,” Jacob whispers against my lips. “Your stepson is going to catch you in the shower while Dad is playing pickleball and show you just how much he loves you, too, Mama.”

“Looking forward to it, baby.”

Epilogue Two

Penelope

The first smattering of rain against the window is my cue, desire making my pussy pulse. Sliding out of bed, careful not to jostle the imaginary Daniel and wake him, I tip-toe out of the bedroom and down the dark hallway, stopping to listen for anyone else who may be awake. All is quiet, and I ease my stepson’s bedroom door open. Peering out into the hallway once more, I silently close and lock the door.

A dim flash of lightning guides me to the opposite end of the room where my stepson is sleeping on his back with the crossroads quilt I made for him a few years ago pulled up just below his bare chest. My heart skips a beat when I slide under the covers and press the length of my body to his strong build. I kiss his neck softly, inhaling the scent of the brown sugar and vanilla body wash he keeps stealing from my shower.

Resting my palm in the middle of his chest to feel his heart beating slowly in his sleep for a long minute, I move my hand under the quilt and down his stomach to the waistband of his pajama pants. I gasp when his hand comes down on mine, preventing me from exploring any lower.

---