Perfectly Ever After (Pieces) (11 page)

She dropped her hands to my belt, and I groaned a sigh of relief as her palm found my dick.
I stepped out of my pants and boxers, pulling my shoes and socks off on the way. When I stood back up, Carly’s hand returned to my cock, and she shifted to my side so she could watch her hand as she worked me up and down. Her breasts pressed against my arm and her teeth inflicted a pleasurable pain into my shoulder that I hadn’t been expecting. “I love watching you do that, Carly.”

“
Mmm, well I love
doing
it, love seeing your abs harden and your hips thrust toward my hand. I love it when your ass clenches like this,” she said, gripping it.

With every word she brought me closer and closer to letting go, but I desperately tried to hold off, wanting to get her just as close first.
Gently, I moved her hand from my cock, missing the warmth immediately. My lips traced kisses down her chest, my tongue lingering on her breasts, licking in soft circles around her nipple before taking one in my mouth and tugging gently with my teeth.

Carly writhed against me, moaning unintelligible words.
When she slid a hand down her stomach and began to stroke her clit, I nearly lost it right there. She knew how that drove me nuts—made me want to shove my cock in her so fucking deep until she sheathed me completely. “You know what that does to me, Carly.”

“Uh-huh,” she muttered.
“Why do you think I’m doing it?”

“
Mmm, Christ,” I growled before lowering myself down between her legs to begin lapping up the juices that had pooled between her thighs. I flicked my tongue sharply against her clit, enjoying the sound of my fingers sliding inside her and the feel of her nails scratching my scalp.

“Jesus, Adam,” she huffed
. “My legs . . . I can’t stand much longer. You’re gonna make me come if you don’t stop.”

I grabbed hold of her ass, thrusting her firmly against my face as I buried myself in her.
When I felt her legs weaken even further, I pulled myself away from her pussy to lick up her stomach.

Roughly, I lifted her, inviting her legs to wrap around me as I sat perpendicular on the bench with her on my lap.
My hand played with her breast as my tongue toyed with her nipple. The combination of watching her head loll back and the feel of her bucking against me had me ready to explode.

“Now, Adam.
I want you now.”

At her request, I shifted our weight so that I could position my tip at her drenched opening.
With her legs dangling at either side of me, she took all of me inside her at once, and the feeling caused me to let out a low groan against her throat.

She rode me hard, grinding her clit against my abdomen.
Then every so often, she’d rise up, supporting her own weight, sliding up and down my shaft in quick torturous motions. With every movement up, her pussy clenched around my tip, and then she’d slam down hard, bringing me closer to release.

Our mouths tasted each other’s smooth tongues and salty skin, while our eyes stayed locked on
one another in the mirror until it was clear neither one of us could stand to wait any longer.

We struggled to keep our eyes open, to see ourselves locked in such an intimate moment.
But when we did, it was nothing short of perfect—to see Carly’s face flush from
desire, her eyes wide with passion as my hands clawed at her back and pulled on her hair. I couldn't imagine ever wanting anything else. Carly’s body rocked against mine, and I crashed into her three more times before I felt her tense around me. I immediately followed, not able to wait another second before I exploded inside her.

I had been right: it was fucking beautiful.

              Epilogue: "When You Love Someone" (Bryan Adams)
             

“I can’t believe I let you talk me into flying across the country with these two.” Carly laughed as she reclined her seat and adjusted her pillow.

             
“Flying beats driving any day,” I said with a shrug. “Could you imagine being cooped up in a car for days on end with two three-year-olds? There aren’t enough DVDs in the world to convince me to make
that
drive. That trip would end up like
The Hunger Games
—only
one
of us would come out alive.” I shot a terrified look at the twins. “And I have a feeling Nolan and Mya would have a much better shot than we would.”             

“Noah, just sit on Mommy’s lap and try to rest.
We’ll be there soon.”

Nolan
stretched across Carly’s lap, kicking the flight attendant in the leg in the process. “Sorry,” I said, clearly embarrassed. “Long flight for these two.”

She smiled sweetly.
“It’s no problem, sir. They’re cute. How old are they?”

“Can you tell the nice woman how old you are,
Mya?”

“Free,”
Mya said proudly, holding up three fingers.

“Three?
That’s old,” she said with a wink. “What brings you to Oregon?”

“
Their older sister’s graduating from college. She goes to Portland State.”

“Eva!” Nolan
yelled directly into Carly’s ear.

“
Shh,” Carly said quietly. “That’s her name. They only see her on her breaks from college, so they’re pretty excited, as you can imagine.”

“Well, I hope you all have a wonderful time in Portland.
It’s a great city. And congratulations on your daughter’s graduation.”

“Thank you,” Carly replied with a broad smile.

Her words made me smile back.
She never bothered to correct anyone that Eva was not her biological daughter. It didn’t matter. Eva was her daughter as much as she was mine. Wanting to show Carly how much she meant to me, I leaned over to give her a kiss.

Until
Mya shifted on my lap and punched me in the eye.

***

Thankfully, the night’s sleep had been restful. We’d all been exhausted from traveling and the time change, so we’d relaxed in the hotel and just ordered room service. The kids had fallen asleep easily in the bed next to ours, and Carly and I were able to spend some quiet time with each other without the distractions of everyday life.

             
I didn’t even remember falling asleep. I just remember Carly’s head resting on my chest as I rubbed her arm lightly with my fingertips.

             
The next morning we awoke in nearly the same position. It always amazed me how peaceful she looked when she slept—how perfectly beautiful. I gazed toward her, counting her soft breaths, watching her eyelids flutter lightly as she dreamt. Even after all this time with Carly, mornings were still my favorite time of day—a time when I could admire her without any interruptions. “Why are you staring at me?” she laughed suddenly. I hadn’t even known she was awake.

“You know, your eyebrows do the cutest thing when you dream.
They scrunch up like you’re thinking really hard about something.” I brushed some of her dark red hair from her face so I could see how naturally beautiful she was. “What were you dreaming about?”

She ran a hand along my stomach. “You, Adam.
Always you.”

“Oh, stop.
You were not.”

She lifted her eyebrows playfully.

“Wait . . . were you?” I smiled.

She shrugged and hopped up off the bed.
“Guess you’ll never know,” she said with a pat to my thigh. “Now let’s get ready. We have a big day.”

***

Several hours later, the four of us were seated and waiting for Eva to graduate. I was thankful the graduation was being held indoors, and I guessed that the typical Portland weather had something to do with that. But an hour and a half later, we were still waiting.
Why do college graduations have to be so long?
Thankfully, we sat on an aisle so Carly and I could take turns walking the twins outside so they could stretch when they got restless. Kids were a great excuse to leave places you didn’t want to be: church, family parties, weddings . . . your daughter’s graduation.

             
Not that I was completely opposed to attending these things. They all had their appeal in small doses, but no one wants to hear their uncle tell the same story about the fish he caught off the Gulf coast for the hundredth time. And I had about as much interest in that as I did in seeing hundreds of kids I didn’t know graduate.

Finally, they announced the psy
chology degrees, and I held Nolan and Mya on my lap as Carly snapped pictures of Eva accepting her degree. Until that moment, I hadn’t realized just how much she’d grown up. To me, she was still the baby I held against my chest in the middle of the night when she refused to go to sleep. She’d always be the little girl who did cartwheels in the front yard until she got too dizzy to do any more. She’d stay that awkward teenager who didn’t care what anyone thought of her.  

No matter how old she got, those memories would never fade. And now I had another memory to add to the collection: intelligent young woman with her whole life ahead of her.
I remembered what it was like to feel that way—like your life was full of endless possibilities—if only for a brief moment in time, and I wanted her to make the most of it.

***

Eva had made reservations for the five of us at a quaint little bistro on the corner of a nearby street. She gave her name to the hostess, who quickly ushered us to a large round wooden table with wrought iron chairs. I took a minute to observe my surroundings. The restaurant seemed like it fit right into the feel of Portland. Vintage diner signs and license plates hung on the nearby walls, and the large floorboards gave the place a trendy antiquated feel, just like the city itself.

“This place has
great milkshakes and chicken salad sandwiches,” Eva said. “They put red grapes in them and serve it on a croissant. The best in town.”

“I’ll probably go with that then,” I said, not bothering to waste time looking at the menu.

"Though the French dip sandwich is pretty good too. That's what I got when Cage and I came here last month during his visit."

I couldn't contain the urge to roll my eyes at the mention of Cage, who thankfully hadn't been able to make it due to his own graduation. It wasn't that I didn't like the kid, but sometimes old habits die hard. I didn't care if he had been accepted to Harvard Law School. He still wasn't good enough for Eva, because honestly no one would
ever
be good enough for my little girl. But even
I
had to admit, Cage was as close as I could see any guy getting. I had been surprised when their relationship lasted through the four years of college with him at Princeton and her at Portland. But it had and she seemed happier with each passing year, instead of more bogged down by trying to maintain a long-distance relationship. I also gave them credit that neither of them had sacrificed their own goals to be closer to one another.

The waitress came to take our drink orders, interrupting my thoughts.
Carly ordered chocolate milk for the kids, and the rest of us got iced tea and sodas.

We chatted about Eva's final weeks of college: how difficult finals had been, how she'd miss her friends, that sort of thing.
When our food arrived, we discussed Portland, which Carly loved. It was definitely a change from Philadelphia. With clean streets, small shops, and friendly people, Portland was much more of a
town
than Philly was. “Other than the rain, I’d love to live here,” Carly said.

“Yeah, winter isn’t great, but summer here is beautiful.
Not as much humidity as the east has. That’s for sure. I’ve spent so much time here, it’s gonna be weird having to adjust to a new city all over again.”

And with that, the conversation shifted to my least favorite topic: the one that involved Eva moving to Boston to complete her grad work at Tufts School of Medicine to be with Cage, instead of moving home to be closer to us.
Though I couldn't blame her. They were obviously serious about one another, and they'd spent four years apart already. I understood why she'd made the decision she had. And she definitely wasn't sacrificing her education. Tufts was one of the best medical schools in the country. She'd be able to work nearly anywhere after finishing her psychology degree with them. But that didn't make me feel any better about not having her close.

"Have you found a place to live there yet?" I asked, hoping to sound happier than I felt.

Eva shifted uncomfortably in her seat and started moving food around on her plate. "Um, well Cage did."

"Well that's good. But what about you?"

She took a deep breath in and set her fork down abruptly, causing it to clank loudly against her plate. "He found a place for both of us."

I felt my jaw tic instantly. I
steepled my hands in front of me and supported my head on top of them. "He found
places
for both of you, or
a place
singular?"