Page 11 of A Breath of Fresh Air

“Are you sure?” I don’t like the idea that I’m getting in the way of his kid.

“I’m sure. And her mother, Tracey, is fine about it.”

“If it’s really okay with them, then yes. Absolutely,” I say, feeling giddy.

The weekend passes in a blur.His nephew is staying with friends, and we make the most of the empty house, fucking on the couch in the lounge with the doors wide open, nothing but the grassy lawn and the beach directly in front of us as the moon hangs low in the sky, a tiny sliver of a thing hanging over calm water. The air is freezing cold but I can’t tell, not with the way Brett has me bouncing on his dick. He knots me as I come, and then makes me come again, sucking on my tits while his thumb circles my clit with precise movements, andfuck, I love coming around his engorged knot.

I’m glad I packed spare clothes, but I still steal Brett’s tee to wear to bed at night. When I wake sometime before dawn I find him staring at me, a soft smile on his face.

“I’m glad you’re here.”

“Same.”

Our kisses start off slow and lazy, but I can’t help it with him — he turns me on so much. I kiss down his body, breathing in the musky scent of him, sucking on the side of his knot and loving the noises he makes as I do so.

He comes down my throat and I swallow it all. I meant it when I said I wanted everything.

Brettand I hold hands as we stand in front of the cafe cabinet, trying to decide between carrot cake and lemon tart. “Ah, fuckit, we’ll get both,” he declares, pulling his wallet out of this back pocket. He freezes, eyes panicked as his nostrils flare, and —

“Mum.”

I turn slowly towards the voice behind me. Ellie’s there with her wolf husband, both of them grinning, eyes darting between Brett and I.

Shit.

“Ellie!Kia ora, baby girl.” Just like she predicted, I wasn’t planning on telling her I was down this way.

I’m a bad mum.

She knows, I can tell. She pulls me into a hug, muttering, “I have so many questions,” in my ear. There’s a hickey on my neck that I’ve tried to keep hidden with my hair, and her eyes widen as she spots it.Mum, she mouths, looking scandalised and excited all at once.

When she orders herself the garlicknots, giving me aknowing look, I wish the ground would just open up and swallow me whole.

Sayinggoodbye is even harder than I thought it would be. Brett insists on taking the passenger ferry back to the mainland with me, my hand held tight in his grip the entire time. He walks me to my car, and we stand in the carpark for what feels like forever, clinging to each other, my face pressed against his chest, my fingers digging into his sides. He wipes my stray tears away with calloused thumbs and kisses my forehead. “I’ll see you soon, okay? You drive safe.”

I nod wordlessly, heart caught in my lungs.

Ellie

TELL ME EVERYTHING

What is there to tell?

Did he knot you?

Ellie!

Sorry! I don’t wanna know but I do. I’m so morbidly curious, because, you know.

Yes, I know.

But do you KNOW know????

Yes.

Oh My God. MUM.

!!!

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