Page 53 of Joint Custody

I shook my head. “No.” I smiled. “You’re perfect as you are. This is perfect,” I said, leaning forward to kiss his soft pink lips. It was slow. Slow enough for me to feel the tingling in my scalp, down my neck, and over my back like there were hands running over me even though his hands were around my waist.

We took our time tasting each other’s lips as if it was the first time I was sampling his flavor, and I was brought back to a few days ago. The first night we kissed. It seemed so long ago. So nostalgic. I tried to squish my body even closer to his as I worked his buttons free. He groaned and pulled his lips from mine to kiss my jawline before looking me in the eyes.

“We don’t have to have sex, you know? I know you’ve just lost your job, and I’m quite content with just being here with you like this, kissing, touching, even just holding you,” he said, stroking me and the back of his hand brushed against my breast, making me wet.

“I know.” I smiled. “That’s what’s turning me on.”

He chuckled. “Well, I mean, if that’s what you want, I’m up for that too.” He grinned before toppling me over on the couch until I was lying on my back and he was on top of me.

The swift movement made me grin as I wrapped my legs around his hips, moaning as he leaned over me, grinding against me as our kisses, though still slow, grew more passionate, more necessary and impatient.

I began to undo the buttons on his shirt again and he leaned up, finishing it up himself before peeling his shirt off. Maybe it was the fact that we were back in my apartment but seeing him remove his shirt made me shy like the moment I’d walked in on him trying to leave in nothing but his underpants.

I reached out to stroke his abs in wonder, and he sucked in a breath, biting down on his bottom lip as he reached for my shirt, raising it so that he could place kisses on my belly and up my sternum. I shivered as he paused between kissing to tug at it. I raised and pulled it over my head. I wasn’t wearing a bra so my breasts jiggled before him.

“You’re perfect,” he said, cupping them in his hands before lowering his mouth to them.

I squirmed. “Your lips are healing,” I responded, moaning as I held onto his head. He wasn’t rough or aggressive, and it was exactly what my tender nipples needed. Just the warmth and softness of his tongue. The stresses of the past few hours fell away, and Mario opened the gates of that flower field again where I was running free as my hair blew in the wind.

“Good, because I can’t keep them off your body,” he said, pressing soft kisses on different areas of my body. I didn’t know the inside of my elbows were sensitive but I found out. Some places made me laugh more and he paused to look at me. “You’re so damn beautiful.”

“You said that already,” I smiled.

“Well, I’m saying it again.” He grinned, picking me up off the couch and carrying me into my bedroom where he dropped me on the bed. As my body bounced against the mattress, I giggled again, stopping when I noticed his hands moving to undo his pants. I bit on my index finger watching him until he caught me staring and I smiled.

He laughed. “You want to take a picture?”

“Trust me, the image of you is seared into my mind,” I responded.

“Ooh, when did you get so smooth?” he asked, stepping out of his pants.

“I’ve always been this smooth.” I smiled sweetly before he was crawling onto the bed toward me, silent as he stared into my eyes and got to work removing my shorts over my hips.

I bit my bottom lip and reached for his face as he moved to settle the warmth of his body between my legs.

I felt his hardness against my thighs, and it felt right, like it belonged there. This whole moment felt special, and I found myself thinking about how there must be something about the one you lost your virginity to after all. This felt like we were making love even though we hadn’t started yet, and it was ridiculous to even think that far after just a few days, but I wasn’t sure how else to describe the sense of calm and peace that settled over my body, feeling safe with him.

He gripped my hips and pulled me lower so that he could line up with me, and I locked eyes with his glacier blues as he slipped inside me. We both shuddered as I felt him stretching my walls, moving against my nerve endings. I wrapped my legs around him as if encouraging him to not pull out again until we were both satiated.

His pulses were rhythmic, and he only broke eye contact to kiss me as his pumps grew a little faster and just hard enough to keep me in a state of ecstasy while surrounding me with comfort. I could have him inside me forever like this and I’d never have another complaint again. We were brought to our releases quicker than usual and I fell asleep holding him as he dozed on my chest. Only to wake up again like the morning after our first night with his hardness pressed up against my back.

This time, I knew what it was and backed into it, waking him up. He moaned and laughed, pulling me toward him and burying his sweet prickly beard against my neck. I giggled. It was dark in my room now which meant our bodies must have been spent and we’d been asleep for a couple of hours.

“Ready to go again?” he asked, and I nodded. When he brought his fingers to my center he groaned. “Oh, you are ready,” he said, pleased.

I moaned and rubbed my bottom against him. He lifted my leg and rested his legs in between mine before I could feel his hardness breaching me. My phone started blaring and dancing again on my nightstand. Okay, this was too reminiscent of the first time. I groaned, reaching for it, about to put it on silent when I saw a message come in from Anthony.

I opened it up and gasped at the context, flying to sit up in the bed.

“What is it?” Mario asked in shock, flying up with me.

“Jared is being investigated for sexual harassment because of me.” I turned to look at Mario, wide-eyed.

“What?” he asked, concern wrinkling his forehead.

“They saw me run from his office in tears,” I said, showing him the message that Anthony sent, explaining everything. “Shit, this is so bad!”

I hopped out of bed and started to search for something to throw on. “Where are you going?” Mario asked.

“To fix this. As much of an asshole as Jared Crawford is, I can’t just sit around and have him charged for something he wasn’t guilty of. Just because we both made a mistake that I vow willneverhappen again, it doesn’t mean he has to suffer for it.”

“I’ll come with you.” Mario jumped out of the bed and got dressed again and we both rushed to the office where I burst into the building and asked where I could find Jared.

Mario and I were both a nervous wreck in the elevator, tapping our feet, wondering how long it was going to take before I was rushing off the floor and bursting into a meeting room where all the partners and Jared gathered. He turned to look at me in shock and a hint of worry wrinkling his face. Shame on him for thinking he had anything to worry about. He just couldn’t accept the fact that I wasn’t who he thought I was. I cut my eyes away from his and turned to face the room.

Everyone stared at me with their mouths wide open. Some people looked at me with pity. I couldn’t stand it and rushed to speak.

“I’d like to clear up any rumors going around that Jared Crawford sexually harassed me. Jared Crawford and I have never been involved in anything sexual. The only reason I ran out of there crying is because Jared fired me. I didn’t see it coming. I felt blindsided, but he found a legitimate reason to let me go so he did. I felt like a failure and ran out of there crying. That’s all it was. Please don’t let this man suffer because of a misunderstanding. I might not be able to stand the man, but he shouldn’t be held guilty for something that he didn’t do.”

With that, I left the building without a backward glance, going back to my apartment with Mario to finish what we started.