All In (The Blackstone Affair, Part 2) (20 page)

Clarkson and Gabrielle arrived next and
since they were already in good with Marie all I had to do was make
drinks and pass them around. Clarkson and I had an easy truce of
sorts, along the same lines as my relationship with Gabrielle. We
all cared about Brynne and wanted her to be happy. I didn’t thrill
about him taking her pictures but then we were only able to be
friendly because he was gay. Seriously, I know it’s my issue, but
if he was straight and taking nude pictures of Brynne? He wouldn’t
be in my home right now.

Once Neil and Elaina showed up, I felt a
little more at ease in my own house. Clarkson went in to help
Brynne and Marie in the kitchen while Gabrielle and Elaina seemed
to hit it off by talking books—something trending about a very
young billionaire and his obsession with an even younger woman…and
sex. Lots of erotic sex scenes in the book, like apparently on
every page.

Neil and I looked sympathetically at each
other and had absolutely nothing to add to the conversation. I
mean, who reads this crap? Who has time? Why even read about sex in
a book when you can have it instead? I don’t get that. And
billionaires in their twenties? I mentally shook my head and
pretended to care. I’m such a bastard.

I looked at my watch and just like a
summons, the bell rang. My dad, finally. I leapt out of my seat to
get the door. Poor Neil looked like he wished he could come with
me.

“Dad. I was getting worried. Come in and
meet my girl, why don’t you.”

“Son.” He clapped me on the back in our
standard greeting and grinned. “You look happier than the last time
I laid eyes on you. Hannah tells me you’re going up to Somerset to
visit. Taking Brynne along.”

“Yeah. I want them all to know one another.
Speaking of meeting, come on, Dad, she’s this way.” I led him into
the kitchen and was greeted by the most glowing radiance on
Brynne’s face as she got a gander at my Dad. It made my heart jump.
This was important stuff. Meeting the family and making
impressions. Wanting them to get on was suddenly very important to
me.

“Now this must be the lovely Brynne and
her…older sister?” Dad said to Brynne and Marie.

“Hey! You stole my line, Dad!”

“He’s right,” Marie said, “Your son used the
same one on me when I arrived.”

“Like father, like son,” Dad said, grinning
happily between Brynne, Marie and Clarkson.

“My father, Jonathan Blackstone.” I jolted
out of my stupor to make the introductions and rubbed slowly up and
down Brynne’s back. I wondered how she was taking in all this. We
had come so far, so fast, it was more than a little mad, but like
I’d said before, there was no changing our path now. We were
speeding down a mountain and weren’t stopping for anything. She
leaned in to my side and I gave her a little squeeze.

My Dad took Brynne’s hand and kissed it,
just like he’d been greeting females my whole life. He told her how
lovely it was to finally meet the woman who had captured me, and
how beautiful she was. She blushed and introduced Marie and
Clarkson. Damn if the old flirt didn’t kiss Marie’s hand as well. I
shook my head, knowing he’d make the rounds to every woman here
tonight. If they had a hand, he’d have his lips on it. Oh and yeah,
he thought Marie was hot. Easy thing to spot and I was sure.

“I won’t kiss your hand though,” Dad said to
Clarkson as they shook.

“If you really want to you may,” Clarkson
offered, in the ultimate ice-breaker.

“Thanks for that, mate. I think you’ve
stunned him speechless,” I said to Clarkson.

Brynne looked at me and then at Dad. “I know
where Ethan learned to do that hand kissing thing I love so much,
Mr. Blackstone. I can see he’s been trained by a master,” she told
him with a beautiful smile. A smile with the power to light up a
room.

“Please call me Jonathan, and bear with me a
little more, my dear, as I take a further liberty.” Dad leaned in
and kissed her on the cheek! She blushed some more and got a little
shy, but still she looked happy. I kept caressing up her back and
really hoped it wasn’t all too much…of everything.

“Easy there, old man,” I said, shaking my
head. “My girl. Mine.” I drew her very close to me until she
squeaked.

“I think they get it, Ethan,” she said,
pressing her hand up on my chest.

“Okay, as long as nobody forgets.”

“Kinda impossible for that to happen,
baby.”

She called me
baby
.
It’s all
good now, I thought, glad I could laugh at myself as we all got
down to the purpose of coming together for the evening.

“Chicken Marsala…mmmm. Brynne darling, what
is that in here?” Dad asked between bites. “It’s really
wonderful.”

“I used a chocolate wine to sauté the
chicken.”

“Interesting. I love what it does to the
taste.” Dad winked at Brynne. “So you’re a gourmet?”

“Thank you, but not really a gourmet. I
enjoy it and learned to cook for my dad when my parents split. I
have these marvelous cookbooks by Rhonda Plumhoff on my e-reader.
She links her recipes to popular books. She’s famous from where I’m
from. I just adore her recipes.”

He tilted his head at me. “Smart son I
raised.”

“I’m not an idiot, Dad, and she can cook,
but I had no idea about that part in the beginning. Her first meal
with me was a Power Bar, so imagine my surprise when she started
slinging pots and waving sharp knives in my kitchen. I just kept
back and got the hell out of the way!”

“Again, you were always a quick lad,” Dad
said with a wink.

Everybody laughed and seemed very at ease
with each other which helped me, but I was still nervous about what
I needed to tell them. Not for the security part, that I knew how
to do and very well too; it was sharing the information with Brynne
present that rattled me. I didn’t want to objectify her as a
security job when she was so much more to me. I also didn’t want to
get her all tangled up in the emotionality of the situation and
have her upset, and in turn have that disturb our relationship
again. I was protective of us. I was protective of her. Yes I was,
with no apologies to the fact, nor would my feelings change on that
front. I couldn’t bear to hurt her any more with that sordid mess
and wouldn’t let anyone else do it either.

So we made a deal. I would brief Clarkson
and Gabrielle together in my office while Brynne played hostess
with the others, and then switch with Marie and my dad. That way
Brynne didn’t have to be in there feeling uncomfortable watching
the PowerPoint I’d made with timelines and photos so everyone knew
faces and names. It was important for the people closest to Brynne
to know all the details of who, what, where, and the possible
motivations of what may come. You couldn’t get any higher political
motives than a presidential election in the US. And the side
wanting to exploit Brynne would work just as hard as the side who
wanted her existence unknown. I didn’t know how else to protect her
and get the information out to the people that mattered. Elaina and
Neil were already up to speed and Brynne said she was comfortable
with them and my dad knowing. The others already knew her history
of course.

We had a session scheduled with Dr. Roswell
to go over some things as a couple. I agreed to it when she asked
me. Brynne still had this idea in her head that I couldn’t really
love her enough to overlook where she’d been with those guys on
that video. Like her time stamp branded her forever a whore at
seventeen. It made me really sad she blamed herself. It was
definitely an issue for her, not for me, but getting her to believe
that I didn’t love her any less because of that foul assault she’d
endured, was the real hurdle. We had our stuff to work on and
hadn’t even scratched the surface of my demons at all. And for more
than the first time I wondered if I needed to talk to someone about
my bits and pieces. The thought of another nightmare scared the
ever living shit out of me. More so that Brynne would see me like
that again.

I watched her carefully the whole night.
Outwardly she looked beautiful and charming, but inside I guessed
she was struggling as the evening progressed. The minute I was done
with Dad and Marie I went right over to find her in the kitchen
where she was getting coffee and dessert ready for our guests. She
kept her head down even though she knew I was there. I wrapped my
arms around her from behind and rested my chin on top of her head.
She was soft against me and her hair smelled like flowers.

“What have we here, my darling?”

“Brownies with vanilla ice-cream. The best
dessert on the planet.” Her voice was flat.

“It looks decadent. Almost as delicious as
you look tonight.”

She made a sound and then she got quiet. I
saw her wipe at her eye and then I knew. I turned her and took her
face in my hands. I hated when she cried. Not really the tears, but
the sadness behind them. “Your dad—” She couldn’t finish but she’d
said enough. I pulled her against my chest and drew her further
into the kitchen so people couldn’t see us and just held her for a
minute.

“You’re worried what he thinks?”

She nodded against me.

“He adores you, just like everyone else
does. My dad is not a judgmental fellow. It’s not his way. He’s
just happy to see me happy. And he knows what makes me happy is
you.” I put my hands on each side of her face again. “You make me
happy, baby.”

She looked up at me through sad, beautiful
eyes that sparkled and brightened as she comprehended my words. “I
love you,” she whispered.

“See?” I poked at my chest with a finger.
“Very happy guy.”

She kissed me on the lips and made my heart
thud hard inside.

“Dessert…” she said, motioning toward the
counter, “the ice-cream is going to melt.”

It’s a good thing she remembered because I
sure wouldn’t have. “Let me help you with that,” I said, “the
sooner we serve them, the sooner they can go home, yeah?” I started
picking up dessert plates and moving them out to people. If nothing
else, I am a man of action.

♥

I woke up to a whole lot of noise and fitful
movement next to me. Brynne was having a dream. As in, not a
nightmare, but a
dream.
At least it sure looked like it to
me. She was writhing all over the place and scissoring her legs.
Grabbing at her t-shirt and arching her body. She must be having a
really
nice
fucking dream. And it better be me she’s fucking
in her dream!

“Baby.” I put a hand on her shoulder and
shook a little. “You’re dreaming…don’t be scared. It’s just
me.”

Her eyes flew open and she sat up
immediately, looking around the room until her gaze fixated on me.
God, she was wildly beautiful with her hair all down her shoulders
and her chest heaving. “Ethan?” She reached out a hand.

“I’m right here, baby.” I took her hand in
one of mine. “Were you dreaming?”

“Yeah…it was weird.” She left the bed and
went into the loo. I heard water running and a glass being set down
on the counter. I waited in bed for her to come back and after a
couple minutes she did.

Boy. Did. She.

She slinked out stark naked with a look in
her eyes that I’d seen before. A look that says, ‘I want sex and I
want it NOW.’

“Brynne? What’s going on?”

“I think you know,” she said in a sultry
voice as she climbed on top of me and looked down, her hair falling
forward like a pleasure goddess intent upon ravaging me.

Oh, fuck yes!

My hands went up to her breasts without a
thought. God! I cupped all that soft flesh in my hands and drew
them toward my mouth. She arched and began grinding over my cock
which was now as wide awake as my brain. I forgot about her being
out of commission because she sure wasn’t acting like she was out
of commission.

I got my mouth over her nipple and sucked it
in deep. I loved the taste of her skin and could play for ages
before I was ready to give her beautiful tits up. I took the other
nipple and bit down a little, wanting to take her to that edge
where a little pain made the pleasure so much better. She cried out
and pushed harder against my mouth.

I felt her hand slip under the boxers I’d
worn to bed and wrap around my cock.

“I want this, Ethan.”

She hopped off my hips and her nipple left
my mouth with a pop. I didn’t have time to protest the loss before
she went to work on removing those annoying shorts and getting her
lips down around the bell end of my cock. “Ahhh, God!” I threw my
head back and let her go to work on me. It was so fucking good my
balls ached. She was really good at this. I got a handful of her
hair and held her head while she sucked me to the brink of orgasm.
I so wished I could go off inside her instead of her mouth. I
preferred to be up in her deep when I came, with my eyes locked
onto hers.

Well, my girl had more surprises in store
for me because she said, “I want you inside me when you come.”

How in the hell did she just do that?

“Is it okay?” I managed to gasp out as she
moved up to leverage herself.

“Umm hmm,” she moaned, pushing up on her
knees to straddle me and back down to swallow my cock all the way
to my balls.

I don’t know how it didn’t hurt her. Maybe
it did, but it wasn’t me doing it, it was her taking what she most
obviously wanted.
If you insist!

“Ohhhh, fuuuuck!” I yelled, latching onto
her hips and helping her out.

Brynne went wild, riding me hard, rubbing
her sex where it did her the most good. The pounding rhythm
exploded between us, and what was coming, I knew would be huge. I
felt the tightening start but desperately needed to bring her with
me. There was no way I was coming without her at least joining me
in the fun. I didn’t operate like that.