Holly bumps her hip against me in admonishment. “I’d harp on you for that too.”
“I knew it… you’re a shrew,” I tease her, and yup… there it is… an eye roll.
We watch Sam for a moment, his eyes finally darting over to us as we stand there with our arms around each other. He doesn’t even lift an eyebrow, just flashes his big, gapped grin and turns back to the artist.
“So, you want kids?” I ask her.
“Yeah,” she says with a dreamy hint in her voice. “Someday. Maybe two… three? I don’t know, but definitely.”
“You’d make a wonderful mother,” I murmur as I lean over and touch my cheek to her temple.
“It’s funny, because growing up, whenever my father did something that I just adored, I would say to myself, ‘I’m going to be exactly like him when I grow up’. I’m so different now than I was then. I’ve learned so much… seen all kinds of ugly. I hope I’ve managed to weed out all the bad I’ve seen my father do and come away with only the good.”
“That is definitely not something you need to worry about,” I tell her as I keep my eyes trained on Sam. “There is nothing but good inside of you.”
“Yeah, well, you haven’t seen me up close and personal when I have PMS. You won’t be singing my praises then,” she teases.
“I think I could handle that. It’s only once a month.”
Holly gives a throaty laugh and pulls away. When my arm falls away from her shoulder, she immediately takes my hand and laces her fingers with mine. Turning to face me, her back to Sam, she looks up at me and the sun causes her green eyes to lighten to the color of limes. She’s absolutely breathtaking… literally steals my breath away.
“I checked up on you while you were in college,” Holly says out of the blue.
My eyebrows rise, not only because I’m surprised by this, but also because this is so far off track from our talk of her PMS. “Oh, yeah?”
She nods… almost shyly, lowering her gaze to the ground. “After I decided to leave Columbia toward the end of my freshman year. When I started getting scholarship offers to other schools. I knew I was going to leave my father and his controlling ways behind.”
Her words trail off… she’s lost in a memory. I take my hand and tuck it under her chin, raising her gaze to me. I look at her questioningly so she’ll continue.
“Remember Bennie… who was dating Sarah Carnes our senior year?”
I nod, vaguely remembering Bennie but having no clue who Sarah Carnes was.
“Well, Bennie went to Columbia and we had a few classes together. Sarah went to Syracuse and was in a sorority there.”
“I remember Bennie… not Sarah though.”
“Well, Sarah was sorority sisters with a girl you were dating your freshman year,” she says.
“Beth Gamble,” I say, remembering the petite little cheerleader I was seeing on and off while at Syracuse.
“Yeah… well, Bennie knew we had dated in high school, and he mentioned Sarah had seen you at a few parties. So, he always sort of kept me up to date on how you were doing. As much as Sarah knew from observing you at parties.”
“It’s why you didn’t try to contact me, isn’t it?” I ask with a dark feeling seeping through me.
She nods and gives a sad smile. “I wanted to contact you. Tell you everything that happened, and that I was going to be free from my father. I don’t know… I wanted another chance with you, but you had moved on. I guess I was just afraid of you rejecting me. So I did nothing.”
I felt anger toward her father for making this mess to begin with. Pure, blistering hot anger for fucking us and everything we had up.
I pull Holly into my arms and hug her hard. Then I dip down and kiss her… softly and sweetly, because there is a five-year-old sitting ten feet away who may be watching.
Sweeping my lips across her cheek, I murmur in her ear, “So much time wasted, baby.”
Holly pulls back and looks at me. “I don’t see it that way.”
“Oh, yeah? How do you see it?”
“I see it as an opportunity for both of us to grow on our own. And most importantly, you had Sam. That wouldn’t have happened if we had stayed together.”
Brave, pragmatic, practical Holly. So fucking sweet and thoughtful.
This time, I pull her in and kiss her a little harder. And yeah, I slip my tongue in between those sweet lips briefly and really pour my emotion into her.
“Ewww,” I hear Sam whine from behind us. “Dad… that’s gross.”
Holly and I break slowly apart, both gazing at each other with smiles before we turn to face Sam. “Trust me, buddy. One day, this won’t seem gross to you.”
Apparently, Sam had been watching Holly with keen interest all day, because right there and then, he gives me an eye roll that has me laughing at the little monster.
Chapter 8
Holly
“I can’t, Tim,” I gasp.
“You can,” he urges me with a growl. “All the way down, baby.”
“You’re too big… it’s too much,” I whine, but damn… it feels really, really good.
“Just a little more,” he pants, bringing his hands to my hips and pushing me down on him some more.
He’s lodged inside me deep… I’m on top and trying to take the rest of him in. But geez… he’s so freakin’ big that I don’t know if I can do it.