Page 99 of Bonus Daddy
Next month, we’d complete the year we’d been required to spend in Jersey. Next month, I’d be moving back here. It was hard to wrap my head around. What felt like a prison sentence had turned into maybe the biggest blessing of my life. Of all our lives.
“How many bedrooms?” she asked, running her hands along the quartz countertops.
“Four.” I followed her as her curiosity took her up the spiral stairs at the back of the kitchen.
She walked into the primary bedroom and stopped dead in her tracks. “I am deceased,” she said, clutching her heart. “Look at this place.”
I crossed my arms, trying to rein in the joy that was bubbling up inside me.
This place had been a disaster when I bought it and had taken years and a ton of money to renovate. But it was my place. My shelter from the storm. And I wanted her to love it as much as I did.
She squealed when she took in the original fireplace, and she wore a thoughtful expression when she noticed the solar shades. Thechandelier in the powder room earned a giggle. I’d buy another brownstone and fix it up all over again just to see her this excited.
“Wanna move in?” I kept my tone casual, wanting to gauge her response.
She pinned me with her mom glare. “Be serious, Brian.”
I walked her backward until she was pressed against the wall and caged her in with my arms. Then I dipped down to kiss her softly. “I am serious. Come live here. I’ve got the space. I’ll make some calls and have a piano delivered tomorrow.”
She blinked rapidly, her jaw unhinged.
“Or”—I kissed her again, a little longer this time—“I’ll sell it and move to a farm in Vermont. Whatever my girl wants. I’m flexible.”
With an unintelligible sound, she ducked out from under my arm to keep exploring.
“Don’t avoid me,” I said, following her into the living room.
“You don’t mean it,” she said, running her hands over the deep couch. “Your firm is here. Your life is here.”
“A year ago, I would have agreed with you wholeheartedly. But now I know better. Geography doesn’t matter. We can make anything work if we set our minds to it.”
She launched a throw pillow at my head. “Can you please stop being so perfect?”
I gave her an exaggerated wink and eased myself onto the couch. “I’m only perfect for you.”
She plopped down next to me, letting out a groan. “Oh my God. It’s like a cloud. And so deep my feet don’t even touch the floor.”
I pulled her over so she was on my lap. “You know,” I said, ghosting my lips over the shell of her ear, “I have this fantasy that includes you riding my cock on this couch. Wanna make it come true?”
She moaned against my mouth as she straddled me, her hands buried in my hair. “I really do,” she said, already breathless. “But I feel like we need to talk about all of this first.”
I grasped her hips and pulled back with a sigh. I wanted to stripher naked and make her come five times, but she was right. Yes, I was delirious for this woman, but we were adults with responsibilities. If we wanted to be together, we had to work out the logistics.
“Anything you need.”
She climbed off me and scooted over to the far side of the couch.
Instantly, I missed the warmth of her body. But this was good. The space would help me think straight.
“I want this,” she said softly. “For so long, I didn’t let myself want things. I denied my own needs and put everyone else first. But I want you. I want us.”
My heart swelled.
“But…”
I deflated.
“I need to go at my own pace.”
