“Tell me what you want, Stripes,” I teased, almost removing my fingers from her centre, making her whimper, before I pushed them back in again in one swift motion.

“Nate, are you trying to tease me to death?” she asked breathlessly.

“Tell me what you want, Stripes,” I repeated, letting my lips brush against hers as I spoke.

“Go faster, please, you know what I want. Please, Nate, just stop with the teasing! And let go of my hands, I want to touch you too, please?” she begged. Her eyes were wild, frantic, desperate for relief as her breathing hitched.

I smiled and shook my head slowly. “No, not me tonight,” I refused. “But I will make you come.”

As soon as I said the words I started up properly with my fingers, pumping into her faster at the rhythm that seemed to suit her best. She closed her eyes and tightened her leg on my waist again as she moved her h*ps in time with my thrusts. When I could feel her inner muscles tightening around my fingers, I flipped my wrist the other way and traced my thumb over her wet folds until I found the sensitive nub that I was looking for. As soon as my thumb made contact with the little bundle of nerves, she moaned loudly and her movements became a little jerky.

I smiled proudly, watching her face as the pleasure increased. Her body shook, her whole torso raised from the sofa as her orgasm hit her. I covered her mouth with mine to muffle the sound of her moaning my name, slowly teasing my fingers inside her, rubbing on her sweet spot as she rode her cl**ax. I loved feeling her muscles ripple and contract around my fingers, tightening and clamping down as if she didn’t want to let them go.

I let go of her wrists that I was pinning above her head, and brushed her hair back from her sweaty forehead. She had her eyes closed, panting for breath, her internal muscles still twitching around my fingers. I could just imagine them doing that around my dick, how good that would feel, the need for it was unbearable but I wanted to prove I could wait for her.

Her hands loosened from the fists that she’d been clenching since I started, and her body slowly came down from the high alert it seemed to be on. I eased my fingers out, smiling as she whimpered, and then put my fingers to my mouth, slowly sucking her juices from them.

She was watching me, her eyes watching my mouth as I savoured the taste of her body. Her tongue swept across her full bottom lip, making my jeans tighten even more as I imagined putting something else in that sweet little mouth of hers. When all traces of her body were gone from my fingers, I pulled them out from my mouth still sucking hard, so it made a wet popping sound. She blinked as if coming out of a daze.

I bent forward, kissing her again, another of those primal, possessive kisses. I loved the way she submitted to me, like she was finally admitting that she was mine, her body submitting to my every unspoken request. I wanted desperately to keep going, to peel her clothes off and make her pant my name like that again. Thoughts of seeing her na**d for the first time were flashing through my mind, I couldn’t help but wonder what she would look like, how beautiful she would be all splayed out on the bed for my eyes only.

Somehow, I held onto my self-control though and didn’t take it any further than that. I pulled out of the kiss and put my forehead to hers, just looking at her, loving the fine sheen of sweat that covered her forehead because of the feelings I had just forced upon her.

Running my hands down her body, I gripped the side of her skirt, pulling it back down into place as if nothing had happened. As if watching her cl**ax whilst breathing my name, didn’t just rock my world. It was incredible for me too, even though I hadn’t once let her touch me. I wanted to prove that I could go without sex. Of course, that didn’t mean I wouldn’t be replaying this whole scene in my head later when I was alone.

She smiled tiredly. “That was…” she shook her head, looking at me in awe, her face still flushed. She looked so grateful, so content, that I felt the pride swell up in my chest. My feelings for her grew a little more because of that look.

“I know.”

I didn’t need her to tell me, I saw it, I knew how much she enjoyed it. I rolled off her and pulled her to my side, wrapping my arms around her tightly. “So, shall we take a picnic to the park tomorrow, or what?” I asked, changing the subject.

She grinned and snuggled closer to me, setting her head on my chest. We didn’t need to talk about what just happened, or why. I was just ecstatic that she was letting me closer to her.

All I needed to do now was make her fall in love with me.

Chapter Twenty-One

In the morning Rosie called me to say that Josh had let them down again and wouldn’t be picking up DJ at all for the rest of the weekend. Apparently, Rosie had already put in a call to Anna who had offered to have DJ for the night at their place, so at least we would still be able to go out tonight. For the day time though, we were going to the park for a picnic with DJ.

I headed over to her place just after ten. As soon as she opened the door I could see how upset she was. She was trying not to show me, but her whole posture was different. She was the picture of disappointment, and I could hear the reason why. DJ was crying his heart out in the other room.

I groaned and cupped her cheek. It just wasn’t fair for someone as special as her to be disappointed over and over, and it wasn’t fair for a great kid like DJ to have his dad flake out on him all the time.

“You alright?” I asked, already knowing the answer was no.

She put on a fake smile and nodded. “Sure. Come on in.” She waved me into her apartment and closed the door behind me, her voice was sad, but she was trying to hide it. I hated that she felt she needed to put on an act for me.

“He sounds upset,” I muttered, stating the obvious.

Her jaw clenched; I could see the anger in her eyes, but it was overtaken by the sadness that was there. She looked like she wasn’t sure if she wanted to burst into tears, or hunt Josh down and cut his balls off.

“He’ll be fine in a little while. He’s just disappointed. He was really looking forward to going to the zoo.” She shrugged, dropping her gaze to the floor.

Closing my hand over hers, I pulled her into the lounge. DJ was lying on the sofa hugging his Woody doll, his face buried into a pillow as his body hitched with sobs. I frowned; it actually hurt to see him so upset. I’d not seen him cry, he was always such a happy kid and the sight made me really angry; he really didn’t deserve to be let down.

“Hey, Kid. Want to go play some ball at the park? Maybe we could take some bread and feed the ducks too?” I suggested weakly.

He sniffed, lifting his face away from the cushion. His eyes were red from all the crying, his forehead and cheeks were blotchy. “I don’t want to,” he croaked, shaking his head.

Rosie sighed and pulled me away before I could answer and try to convince him or bribe him with the biggest ice cream I could find in the café down the road. She led me into the kitchen and wrapped her arms around my waist, pressing her face into my chest.

“I’m so sorry that I have to cancel our plans again. I understand if you’re angry at me. We haven’t been together that long and already I’m flaking out of plans that we’ve made, you have a right to be annoyed.”

I smiled, not really understanding how this girl’s brain worked. None of this was her fault. I brushed her bangs from her face and tucked them behind her ear, smiling at how they just fell straight back out again because they weren’t quite long enough to stay there.

“Why would I be angry at you, that’s just silly,” I whispered, kissing her softly.

She kissed me back and then pulled away, shaking her head a little. “Nate, I don’t understand what you’re doing with me. You know this is going to happen again and again. I’m probably always going to have to cancel plans at the last minute. DJ’s always going to be my first priority. You should find someone who can make you her first priority, and who won’t cancel all the time.” Her chin trembled as she spoke.

I smiled reassuringly. “Stripes, just stop that thought right now. I want to be with you, and I understand that you have a son. I went into this relationship with my eyes open. I know there will always be times when things need to change because of DJ. It’s fine,” I promised, kissing her forehead lightly.

She sighed and shook her head at me. “You really are too-” but I cut her off so she couldn’t finish the sentence.

“Sweet, I know,” I interjected, rolling my eyes.

She smiled and closed her eyes, pressing against me tightly. “Exactly,” she whispered, pressing her face into the side of my neck, making my skin break out in goosebumps.

Then I had a great idea. The kid wanted to go to the zoo, so why didn’t we just take him there instead? Sure, it would probably piss off Josh, me stepping in and doing something with his son that he wanted to do with him, but he was the one who let the kid down which, from what I understood, he did a lot. We had the whole day free, so instead of going to the park, we could go to the zoo.

“Why don’t we just go to the zoo instead?” I suggested, shrugging easily.

Rosie pulled her face out of the crook of my neck and frowned. “No, we can’t. I…” she trailed off, looking really uncomfortable.

I looked at her, waiting for her to carry on and explain why we couldn’t just take him instead. “What? It doesn’t make a difference to me what we do.”

She shook her head again, stepping away from me, avoiding my eyes. “We’ll just go to the park like we said. He’ll be fine in a few minutes once he gets on the slide.” Her voice sounded gruff and had an edge all of a sudden.

I gripped her elbow and pulled gently, guiding her to turn back to face me. Slipping one finger under her chin, I tilted her head so she had to look at me. “What is this really about?” I asked softly.

“It’s really expensive and I-I can’t,” she muttered. “We’ll just go to the park,” she whispered.

Wait, she’s worried about money? That’s what this is about? I knew she didn’t have loads of money; she was a single parent for goodness’ sake. “Stripes, let’s just go to the zoo. He wants to go there,” I suggested, rolling my eyes at how silly this all was.

“Nate, I can’t! I just don’t… it’s not possible.” She scowled down at the floor, obviously annoyed about the fact that she couldn’t afford to take her child out for the day.

I sighed and stepped back, letting her go as I turned towards the kitchen doorway. “DJ, get your shoes on, Kid, your momma and I are taking you to the zoo!” I called.

Rosie grabbed my arm, clearly horrified. “No! You can’t just say things like that. It’s different for you, I’m sure you have spare cash floating around all over the place, but I don’t! You can’t just make promises to him like that, it’s not fair!” she snapped, shaking her head, her jaw tight and angry.

DJ was whooping excitedly in the lounge. I heard him run into his bedroom and the door crash against the wall where he threw it open in a bid to get his shoes quicker. I rolled my eyes and enveloped her in my arms, pulling her flush against me.

“Rose, I’m taking my girlfriend and her son to the zoo. You don’t need to pay for anything. Stop stressing about everything. Today’s going to be fun,” I stated, kissing the tip of her nose.

Understanding crossed her face as she realised what I meant, but then she shook her head adamantly. “Nate, seriously, these places cost a fortune. I’m not letting you pay. No way,” she refused, pushing me off her, but at the same time looking at me like I was the sweetest guy in the world. I smiled. I loved it when she looked at me like that.

“Oh, just hush, you’re giving me a headache,” I lied, waving my hand dismissively as I turned my head to the doorway again. “How you getting on with those shoes, Kid? The penguins are waiting for you!”

Rosie groaned and buried her face into my chest. “Nate, I just don’t understand you at all! What are you getting out of this?” she asked, her voice muffled against my T-shirt. She pulled back, her eyes filled with tears. “I don’t deserve you, I really don’t,” she whispered.

I wanted to explain that what I got out of it was to see her and her son happy, but I didn’t have the words without making myself sound like a sappy romantic, so I didn’t say anything. The soft and tender way she was looking at me made my heart ache. Russell was right, the way to a mother’s heart was absolutely through her kids.

I pressed my lips to hers, kissing her softly. She kissed me back just as tenderly, her hands gripping my T-shirt tightly. I broke the kiss and pressed my forehead to hers, just looking into her eyes, wondering what it was that I had in my life before I met this girl. How had I ever thought myself happy and content with what I had? I obviously hadn’t realised what I was missing out on until I met her.

“You gonna make us that picnic?” I asked, sliding my hands up her back, pulling her closer to me.

She sighed, her breath blowing across my lips, making me shiver with desire. “I’ll pay you back, I promise.”

“You can pay me back in kind. I take kisses, cuddles and, my personal favourite, sexual favours.”

She rolled her eyes and grinned at me, pressing her lips to mine again but pulling away quickly as DJ came hurtling into the kitchen, swinging his shoes around his head like a lasso. I grinned and grabbed him, sitting him on the counter, taking his shoes out of his hands, and putting them on for him. I couldn’t stop the grin that was stretched across my face, just because of how happy he looked. The redness to his eyes and the tracks of his tears were still there, but they were overpowered by the big toothy grin he was sporting.