Dirty: The Complete Series (Secret Baby Romance Love Story) (158 page)

“I want you to know,” Patrick said slowly.
“I love you.”

I stared at him, stunned by his
confession.

“I know it’s really soon to say it, and I’m
not telling you to try and make you say it back, but I love you.”

“You do?” My voice came out in a squeak.

“I haven’t felt this way about anyone
since my wife passed away,” Patrick told me. “Joanne was a wonderful woman, and
if she had lived she would have been a great mom to Landon; but I’ve come to
terms with the fact that she’s gone and never coming back.” He licked his lips
and held my gaze for a long moment of silence. “I don’t want you to ever think
that I’m comparing you to her, or that you come in second, or anything like
that. I care about you. I want to see where this goes.”

“Thank you,” I said, smiling through the
tears that had started to form in my eyes at his beautiful words. “I—I don’t
know if I can say ‘I love you, too’ just yet—I’m still kind of jumbled up
inside. But I care about you a lot. I like you a lot; and I like Landon too.
You’re the best guy I’ve ever met.” I swallowed against the tight feeling in my
throat and suddenly my whole body began to relax.

Patrick leaned in close and brushed his
lips against mine. I kissed him back slowly at first, almost hesitating from
how strangely nervous I felt. Then as Patrick deepened the kiss, I wrapped my
arms around his shoulders, pulling him closer to me, pressing my body against
his in the little bit of space we had in the front of the SUV. For what felt
like almost an hour we did nothing more than kiss, holding each other, touching
each other all over, exploring each other’s bodies through our clothes as our
tongues slid against each other.

I felt the heat building up inside of me,
my muscles tightening, and every moment I became more and more turned on as
Patrick broke away from my lips to kiss along the column of my throat, down to
the collar of my sweater and then back up to my mouth once more. I felt like I
was on fire, tingling all over, and when I broke away from his lips to catch my
breath, I could see the condensation fogging the windows. “Maybe we should go
inside,” I suggested breathlessly. Patrick looked around, dazed, and then nodded,
chuckling lowly.

He opened the door on the driver’s side.
“Stay right there,” he told me quickly, and I nodded, even though I was too
turned on to be able to make sense of what he wanted from me. I watched as he
climbed out and then walked around to the passenger side, opening my door for
me. I unbuckled my seat belt and then somehow tumbled into his arms, bringing
my mouth up to his for another kiss. We stayed like that for a few moments
before the cold was too much for us both. I pressed my body against his,
exploring his broad back, tasting his lips over and over again.

Then Patrick broke away from my lips and
closed the door behind me, taking my hand in his and leading me quickly to the
entrance to his house. He dropped the keys trying to get the door unlocked and
cursed, bending over to pick them up off of the welcome mat. His second try was
more successful, and in the span of a few heartbeats, he had the door open and
propelled me through it. Patrick pushed me up against the door and kissed me hungrily,
his hands moving all over my body, touching and teasing me everywhere. I moaned
against his lips, my nerves tingling, getting hotter and wetter every moment as
I kissed him back and let my hands explored his body all over.

Somehow, I realized, my clothes were
starting to fall away; my coat was off, dropped to the floor, and I felt
Patrick’s fingers moving up along the buttons on my sweater. He pulled me away
from the door and broke away from my lips panting, his eyes dark with obvious
desire as he met my gaze. “We can stop any time you want,” he told me, looking
almost uncertain.

“If you stop right now I’m going to be
really upset,” I said, taking a moment to catch my breath. Patrick led me
through the living room and I glanced around quickly, remembering his remark
about the mess; I could barely qualify the few toys I saw scattered around the
room to even be messy at all. I dismissed the idea, pushing it aside as Patrick
stopped at a door. He turned the knob and pulled me through it in his wake, bringing
my hand up to his lips to kiss it lightly. He didn’t close the door behind us,
but just pulled me close to him in the darkness, wrapping his arms around my
waist. My heart pounded in my chest, and I felt myself heating up all over; I
could feel my inner muscles flexing with the thought of the sex to come, the
memory of how good it had been before.

I gasped when I felt the cool air against
my skin and realized that more and more of my clothes were falling away from my
body, hitting the floor or flying across the room as Patrick stripped them off
of me. I started to work on his clothes, tugging his sweater over his head,
throwing it aside without even looking to see where it ended up in the
darkness. I pulled the shirt underneath free of his pants, letting my
fingertips graze his skin as I undressed him. I wanted to tease him every bit
as much as he was teasing me.

Patrick stepped back from me, turning a
light on in the bedroom, and I blushed as he took in every inch of my body. “I
was such an idiot,” Patrick said, shaking his head slowly. “Such an idiot for
almost letting you slip away.” He stepped closer to me again and then started
guiding me towards the bed, his hands trailing over my body slowly, caressing
me everywhere. My pussy was already soaking wet, my skin tingling, and I stood
up on the balls of my feet to kiss Patrick as he pressed me down onto the bed
on my back.

He reached down between my legs and I
shivered as his fingers brushed up against me, stroking up and down slowly,
pressing deeper as he teased me. My hips began to move in reaction, my whole
body twisting and writhing as he found my clit by touch. I’d somehow managed to
forget just how good it felt to have him touch me, play with me. He shifted on
top of me and I felt the hardness of his cock digging into my thigh, the heat
of his skin almost burning, the slickness of the precum already beginning to
flow.

I moaned out as Patrick started to rub and
stroke my clit more firmly, one of his fingers drifting down to slide up and
down my inner labia, not quite pushing inside of me, teasing me for what felt
like ages. I squirmed underneath him, getting more and more turned on, my
breath catching in my throat. Patrick kissed me everywhere, over and over
again, capturing my lips with his and then trailing his mouth down to my
breasts to worship them with his lips and tongue. He slid one finger inside of
me slowly, pushing past the resistance of my body, the flexing of my muscles,
and I cried out, arching up, twisting my hips down into his touch. I reached
down and groped at Patrick’s body until my fingers found his cock, hard and
heavy; I wrapped my hand around him and began to stroke him just like he was
teasing me. Patrick groaned, shuddering against me, his fingers working me
faster.

We both squirmed and writhed and twisted
against each other in Patrick’s bed, bringing each other to the edge of climax
and then slowing down until I thought I might go crazy or maybe even die if I
didn’t get off. I pulled back, panting and gasping for breath, and looked
Patrick in the eyes. “I’m so close,” I told him, almost whimpering from how
needy I was, how much I wanted him.

“Me too,” he told me, his voice ragged and
hoarse. He slipped his fingers away from me; the next moment I felt the heat of
his hard cock pressing against my entrance as he guided himself along my folds.
He shifted on top of me and my whole body tensed up, waiting for the next
movement. Patrick thrust into me slowly, filling me up inch by inch, and I
moaned out, wrapping my legs around his waist, pushing my hips down to take him
deeper. His hands wandered all over me as he rocked against me, his hard, thick
cock rubbing against my inner walls, and I kissed him everywhere my lips could
reach. I fell into his rhythm, twisting my hips down and arching up as he
thrust deeper and deeper inside of me.

I lost all track of time, wrapped up in
the sensations, how good it felt to have Patrick’s body pressed against mine,
to feel his cock inside of me. He started to move faster and harder and I met
his thrusts, moaning out again and again as I came closer and closer to orgasm.
I felt the tension mounting inside of me with every movement of Patrick’s hips,
and all at once something snapped, and the last of my self-control dissolved as
wave after wave of pleasure washed through me, driving every thought out of my
head. I barely even noticed Patrick hitting his own orgasm; but when I felt the
sticky-slick heat of his come gush into me, my climax intensified and I clung
to him, moving until neither of us could possibly move anymore. We both sagged
against the bed, panting and gasping, and I fell into a happy, satisfied doze,
my cheek pressed against his chest, listening to his heartbeat as it slowed
down.

Chapter Four - Patrick

I checked the time yet again as I tried to
get the knot in my tie right. I was anxious to see Mackenzie in the dress she’d
bought for her parents’ party, but even more than that I had to admit I was a
bit nervous about meeting her family, even if it was just for New Year’s Eve.

“Did you buy that tie for the party?” I
turned to look at Landon, dressed in warm pajamas for the trek to his
grandparents’ house. He always spent New Year’s Eve with Joanne’s parents, and
normally I was with him—but this year would be different for us both.

“I did,” I told him. “I bought it to match
Mack’s dress.”

“That’s silly,” Landon said, frowning in
confusion.

“It’s something you’ll understand when you
get older and go to parties with women,” I explained. Mackenzie had sent me a
picture of the dress she’d gotten a couple of days before, and I’d spent the
day before New Year’s Eve scouring menswear sections to find a tie that would
go with it. I’d even gotten her a corsage from the florist who’d had the
peonies she loved; I knew it was a hokey tradition, but I hoped she would
appreciate it.

Mack had told me while we cuddled in bed
the night of our last date that the party wasn’t a situation for a tuxedo, but
that everyone tried to dress at least a little nicely, so I’d found one of my
better suits to wear for the event, and made sure it wasn’t stained before I
even went after the tie to wear with it.

“What are you going to do with Mack at the
party?”

I smiled, checking my reflection in the
mirror to make sure the tie looked right. “We’re just going to listen to music
and dance, and talk to people. It’s not like a kid’s party.”

“That doesn’t sound like a lot of fun,”
Landon said, looking at me doubtfully.

“There will be food and things to drink.
It’s a grown-up party.”

“No games?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. There might
be.”

“It’s going to be weird to not be with you
at ball drop time,” Landon told me. I hesitated and looked at my son.

“I know it’s going to be weird,” I said,
crouching down and getting to my son’s level. “Maybe next year we can all go to
a party together—me, you, your grandparents, and Mack.”

Landon brightened. “Do you think so?”

 
I
grinned. “I hope so!” I tousled Landon’s hair. It occurred to me that according
to the bet we’d made—that I could find Landon a new mom before the New Year—I
only had one day left to win it. “Do you think I can seal the deal with Mack by
tonight and win our bet?”

Landon looked thoughtful. “I really want
double presents,” he said slowly, “but I want to have Mack live with us, too. I
wish she could be my mom.”

My heart twisted inside of me and I felt
happy and sad at the same time.

“Well, it’ll probably take me a little
while to get her to be your mom,” I said, holding Landon’s gaze. “But she’s in
our life now, and I’m going to do everything I can to keep her with us, if she
wants to stay. How does that sound?”

“I hope she stays,” Landon said.

“Let’s get your backpack packed, so I’m
not late to pick her up for the party,” I suggested. Landon darted out of my
room and into the living room to gather up the toys I’d told him he could take
to his grandparents’ house, and I checked myself in the mirror one more time,
and then left the bedroom to supervise the last mad dash of my son’s packing.

I grabbed the corsage and a bottle of
champagne out of the fridge, bundled Landon up into a heavy coat over his
pajamas, and helped him get into his seat in the car. I would have just enough
time to drop him off at my in-laws’ house, pick up Mackenzie, and get to her
parents’ place outside of the city, assuming that traffic hadn’t started up
early.

“Are you going to kiss her at midnight?” I
heard Landon kicking his feet against the seat bottom as we made our way to his
grandparents’ house; traffic wasn’t as bad as it would be in a few hours, but
it was still the same heavy Chicago flow as always.

“Probably,” I said. “Think you’ll be able
to make it all the way to midnight this year?”

“Gramma said that I could have a little
coffee milk to stay up,” Landon informed me; I laughed.

“Well I will call you and let you know if
I got to kiss Mack when the ball drops, how about that?”