His Reason, Her Choice (6 page)

“You said you were getting off around now, didn’t you? I thought I’d pick you up. It’s coming down out there.”

“I was going to catch the bus,” she said and shrugged. “It’s rained before.”

“Yes, but when ran back home for some paperwork I’d forgotten, I noticed your umbrella in the trash.”

She winced. “Nicolette.”

He nodded his understanding with a slight grin. “Are you ready?”

“How are you?” Sharon walked over and stuck her hand out.

Russ took it. “I apologize. My mind is on getting back to the office. Nice to meet you. I’m Russ.”

“Sharon.” She smiled. “It’s good to meet Joy’s boyfriend. She’s not like the rest of these loud women, yapping away about all their business. Joy keeps her head down and does her job.”

“Hey,” someone shouted in protest, proving Sharon’s point.

Russ glanced at Joy. “She is something special.”

“So, I was thinking,” Sharon began, but Joy cut her off. She pulled Russ away from her.

“Sorry, Sharon. We’ll have to talk about it tomorrow. I have to pick up the girls or pay a fee for being late. Good night, ladies.”

Joy hurried Russ out the door, not mentioning the fact that they had plenty of time to get to the daycare since she didn’t have to catch the bus. Once they were in the car with Russ behind the wheel, he leaned across and kissed her lips. The soft touch was nice, but then he deepened it, dipping his tongue into her mouth.

After a few moments, he straightened and started the car. “What did you stop her from saying?”

The man was too damn quick. “Nothing.”

“Joy.”

She sighed. “She wanted me to work this weekend. I told her no.”

“I can watch the girls.”

“No again.”

“It’s not—”

“Not up for discussion.”

“We’ve been together for a month now.”

“Yes, and that’s not very long. I admit it was a miracle I got the job with Sharon, and it doesn’t pay much of anything. Just pocket change. I don’t want to put a financial strain on you since you’re paying for the girls’ daycare. I’m definitely not asking you to watch them on the weekend.”

“First, it’s not a strain. I don’t have much else to do with my money. Like you said, I make a decent wage.”

She glared at him.

“Second, I know you want to be able to take care of yourself and the girls as soon as possible.”

“Yes, and weekend work isn’t the way to do that.”

“Can I make a suggestion?”

Her face might be permanently stuck frowning. She tried to think more positively and therefore reflect it. The situation made it hard. She glanced over at Russ, and she realized along with the suit, he smelled nice.

“Do you always smell like that at the end of the day?” she asked before she realized. “Oh, damn, sorry. That sounded rude. Just for the record, you smell good.”

He grinned at her. “Thanks and no. While I was home, I put on a touch of aftershave.”

“Did you shave?”

“No.”

“Then why...” She trailed off. He knew he was coming to get her. Sometimes he acted like he knew her deepest, darkest secrets like how tormented she had been over Isaac’s scent. Russ was the opposite. He didn’t drink or smoke. He was by no means perfect, evident by the fact that he had made her the proposition he did and the fact that he wanted everything his way and refused to see any different. She was expected to fall in line, and that’s where he came wrong and she had to tell him about himself! “What’s your suggestion?”

He shook his head. She had changed the subject, and he let her. Curiosity made her come back to it.

“You could go back to school.”

She cringed. “I hate the thought of that, but I’ve been wondering if that’s my only option.”

“Or.”

She looked at him. “Or?”

“We can talk about your other skills.”

“What other skills?”

He chuckled.

“Wait, you’re not talking about my body, are you?”

“You’re obsessed with your body.”

“No,
you
are.”

At a stoplight, he let his gaze rove her from head to thighs. She shifted in her seat. “I am. You’re right about that, but there’s more to you, Joy.”

She folded her arms over her chest. “I’m not saying there’s not. It’s just that with so much coming at me so often, I can’t stop to think about it. I’m not down on myself.”

“No, that’s what I always liked about you. You don’t indulge in pity parties. But...”

“But what?”

“You don’t let yourself dream either. You’re too much of a realist.”

“I have to think about Denita and Nicolette.”

“You won’t last if you don’t think beyond them.”

“Excuse me?”

“Don’t get mad.”

“How do you figure I won’t when you’re telling me not to think of my daughters? If you’re about to give me that bullcrap about looking out for number one first, save it.”

A nerve twitched in his jaw. “You also think everyone’s out to tell you you’re doing something wrong.”

“You just said it.”

“No, I said change your thinking a little, and open up more.”

She didn’t get it, but this time she kept quiet. Sure she flew off the handle easily when it came to the girls, or herself for that matter. All her life, her mother ragged on her. The only bright spot growing up was her father, and he was gone. At the time, losing her dad had broken her heart, and the wedge between her and her mother had grown.

“I’m not saying to
not
think of Denita and Nicolette. I’m saying
also
think about happiness and about possibilities.”

“Rainbows and kittens,” she added half-heartedly.

“Okay, too poetical. Let’s get literal.”

“Russ, you always were a brain. That’s why I used you for math. It got me through high school.”

His expression turned painful. “I’ll try not to take it personally.”

She touched his arm and felt the muscle flex, but then she drew away. Their friendship was different now.

“You were good at English,” he said.

“I was passable.”

“Have you considered writing?”

She looked at him. “Earlier you accused me of not dreaming. Now you’re suggesting I write. Doesn’t that mean I have to have an imagination?”

“Don’t you?”

She hesitated. Back in school, she had enjoyed writing a few papers, but that wasn’t fiction. She’d read a lot and told him about it. Did he remember, or was it coincidence?

“You read a lot of mystery books,” he said, confirming her thoughts. “You could give it a try.”

“They were my escape from my mother, but I haven’t read anything interesting in years, not since high school as a matter of fact.”

“Your assignment, beautiful, should you choose to accept it is to write a short mystery story and let me see it.”

She squeaked. “Are you crazy?”

“Should you choose to accept it,” he repeated.

“Well forget it. I’m not. I can’t. I don’t have time.” A million other excuses ran through her head, but Russ smiled. Her heart raced, and her breath was shallow. He must be out of his head to think she could ever do what he asked. “This isn’t a part of my, uh, responsibilities, is it?”

His eyes widened. “To please me? No, of course not. You do it if you want. Don’t if you choose not to.”

She sighed in relief. A ding from her phone caught her attention, and she pulled it from her purse. The display read Isaac. Her throat locked. She read the words.

“I miss you. You can come home any time you’re ready.”

J
oy lay on her stomach, wearing nothing. She had been sleeping a moment ago, but she woke at the first touch of Russ’s hands on her skin. He traced the dip in her back down to the curve of her ass and lingered there. She didn’t move but let him tease her skin, massage it with a thumb, and eventually push the covers away so he could kiss it.

This wasn’t the first time he woke her in the middle of the night, and she didn’t mind. He stirred her desires, never rushing. Well, he rushed when he was horny, but then after he calmed down, he never failed to help her to reach an orgasm.

Just once, Joy wanted to lay with him without obligation, without feeling like she had to. Russ didn’t force her, and he had made clear she could walk away at any time. Still, she couldn’t really. She had nothing, for herself or the girls. Not yet.

He squeezed her ass cheeks, bringing her out of thoughts of her situation and placing her attention firmly on him. Kissing along her back, he moved between her legs and leaned in close so she felt his chest against her butt. He moved higher and let his hard-on brush her.

“Your dick’s always hard,” she said in a muffle beneath the pillows.

“It’s not the only thing that’s ready.” He reached between her legs to prove his words, but she knew she was wet. Russ didn’t need to push a finger into her heat and have her moan involuntarily to know what she wanted. “You’re always wet.”

“I am not.”

He shoved her legs farther apart. She clutched the sheets and bit down on the inside of her cheek. He was going to take her from behind. She knew from their short time together, he loved doggie style, but with her lying flat, it was going to be a tighter fit. Her breath caught in her throat. Anticipation was killing her, and she couldn’t help arching so her ass stuck in the air.

Russ ran a hand up her back to her neck then under her arm to her chest. He reached farther toward her throat, his fingers giving no more than a caress. Yet, the way he touched her, she felt his authority and his strength. His thumb brushed over her lips. She panted.

“I’m not putting a condom on,” he whispered in her ear. “Are you okay with that?”

“Yes.”

Her eyes shut, she scarcely got the word out before he filled her to capacity. He pumped hard a few times, and she cried out in pleasure. Crushing her into the bed, he ground against her ass, and she came too quickly.

“Oh, yeah, honey, that’s what I like—you coming for me.”

He withdrew his shaft until just the tip pierced her and then slammed home. Their skin slapped together, and he pulled back again. She shuddered, a quake invading her core until she moaned.

Russ flattened himself fully on top of her, allowing his dick to sink all the way to the hilt. His shaft throbbed, and he grunted. She knew he had come sooner than he wanted to, but he wouldn’t stop. He kissed her lips when she turned toward him, and he nipped at her earlobe. His hands covered hers where she gripped the sheets, and they stayed that way for a while with him still inside her.

A sound startled her, and she looked toward the nightstand. Russ glanced over and frowned. She just made out his expression in the dim lighting the moon provided through the window.

“This time of night?” he said. She recognized the ding for when she received a text.

“Leave it,” she said too quickly.

He picked up her phone. “It could be an emergency, Joy.”

She knew it wasn’t.

Russ started to hand her the phone, but the display was lit, and even as she saw it, she knew he couldn’t help seeing it too.

“I love you. I’m lying here thinking about you. If you were here, I would be inside you right now.”

“Oh, hell,” she said under her breath.

“Fuck.” Russ didn’t pause. He threw the phone against the wall, and she heard it shatter into a million pieces.

“Russ!”

“I’m sorry,” he bit between clenched teeth. “Reflexes.” He pulled out of her and climbed off the bed. She flipped to her back and watched as he strode over to where the phone hit. From the sound of it, she doubted the thing was salvageable.

Joy listened to hear if the noise had awakened the girls. She heard nothing from their room but decided to check. Slipping a robe on, she started for the door, passing Russ as she went. He stood stark still, not saying a word. With him in the shadows, she couldn’t see his face, but he was pissed, no doubt about that. So was she.

Denita and Nicolette were still asleep, but Joy lingered in their room. She should have nipped Isaac’s texts in the bud when he started them up, but she didn’t. To tell the truth, she had no idea why she would let it go on. His attention didn’t mean much, and she was so far from being tempted to go back to him it wasn’t funny. Russ didn’t know that.

After she calmed down, she walked to Russ’s room and closed the door once she was inside. He lay on the bed with his arms behind his head. “I’ll buy you a new phone.”

“You sure will. That was uncalled for.”

“We agreed there wouldn’t be any other men.”

“A text isn’t another man. You know Isaac’s in New York. Last time I checked, we were in Atlanta.” She stomped over to the bed and took off the robe.

He sat up, grabbed her hand, and pulled her to the bed to flip her onto her back and straddled her hips. “Don’t play games with me, Joy. Do you want to go back to him? My dick isn’t big enough for you?”

She gasped. “That’s what you think of me? I just go where the dick is good?”

“You were quick to accept my proposition. You said yourself you would fuck me all day and night to take care of the girls. Maybe you’re waiting for him to make a better offer.”

She smacked him twice, and he didn’t stop her. A single tear gathered in the corner of her eye and rolled down the side of her face. “You’re an asshole. Get off me.”

He dropped his weight down, pressing her into the mattress. “Joy.”

She turned her head and sniffed. “You’re right. I’m yours. Go ahead and do what you want.”

He cursed over and over then climbed off her. She stared at the night sky while he dressed and left the room. The door shutting sounded like a slam even though he made sure it didn’t. Joy checked the time by the bedside clock. Three a.m.

The next day, she was off work. By that night, a new phone sat on the kitchen table for her, but Russ must have left it when she didn’t notice and gone back to the office. She slept alone in his bed, and by the time she woke to get the girls ready for daycare, he was gone. An unmade bed in the spare room indicated he had slept there. She wondered if their arrangement was coming to an end.

* * * *

“R
uss, I got another job doing waitress work,” she told him as they both walked down the hall.