Page 5

Teddy sped his Bugatti through the security gate of his home, waving at the detail at the gate, and drove all the way down the winding driveway and stopped beside Nikki’s Porsche. He sat behind the wheel for a few seconds amazed that it was almost daybreak already and he’d been working all night. Again. He was so tired he didn’t feel like walking in the house. But he got his second wind, like he always did, and walked on in.

He went to the nursery first. The nanny was already up and preparing the lesson plans for that day, so Teddy tiptoed over to his daughter’s bed. He wanted to wake her up as he stood there staring at her, but he was too tired to even engage her. He was going to make it his business to spend time with her that day. His old man was a deadbeat dad, as far as emotional support growing up, and he was determined to never be like his old man. But deep down, he knew he was too much like him already.

That was why, to the delight of her nanny who knew how much she missed her father, he sat on the edge of the bed and awakened Kimmie anyway. As soon as Kimmie opened her large green eyes and saw her father sitting there, she flew into his arms. “Daddy!” she said happily. And it warmed and alarmed Teddy at the same time. This little human being depended so much on him. He didn’t feel worthy of her.

But he closed his eyes tight and held on to her dearly. He eventually laid her back down, but she insisted on telling him all about what she did all week and what she planned to do that day. And Teddy, exhausted though he might be, sat there and listened. He loved seeing her so happy and so full of life. He just loved it.

By the time she had run out of things to say, he kissed her on the forehead and made his way upstairs. It was Nikki he wanted.

But she was in the shower. Which was exactly where he needed to be. He walked into the bathroom, took off all his clothes, and was opening the shower door before Nikki even knew he had made it home. When they eyed each other, and specifically each other’s nakedness, all of Teddy’s exhaustion and all of Nikki’s concerns about that other woman, melted away.

Teddy went up to Nikki, slammed his body against her body as the water careened over both of them, and he began kissing her with a roughness and a desperateness that took their breath away. And that was only the beginning.

They kissed so hard and for so long that Teddy kept breaking away, but kept coming right back in for more. He was massaging and kissing her all at once until neither one of them could bear it any longer.

He entered her, forcing both of them to slow down, and then they settled into a rhythm that only lasted a matter of minutes, but that gave them both everything they were looking for. Teddy needed the warmth inside of Nikki to calm him down again. Nikki needed the security of Teddy’s big arms around her to remind her that he loved her and would never hurt her like the news of that other woman seemed to suggest. They moved to that rhythm of need as if they invented every gyration.

Nikki’s back was against the shower wall. He was holding her up by her thighs, penetrating deeper and deeper. She was running her fingers through his hair as he continued to kiss her as he did her, and as they were unable to stop those feelings that had overtaken them both.

Slapping sounds could be heard throughout that shower that morning. Hard slaps of their wet bodies that started increasing again the longer they held on. Until they couldn’t hold on another second.

They were grunting so hard that it felt as if they were going to explode if they didn’t cum. They came. With a thunderous slap, Teddy took them over and they came hard.

It took several more minutes for those feelings to ease up enough for them to ease up too.

When their orgasms finally waned, they were breathing so heavily that they thought they were going to pass out from the sheer emotion of it all. It was the hardest cum they’d had in a long, long time.

Teddy was leaned against Nikki, breathing harder than she was, when their realities returned and she couldn’t hold it in a second longer. She knew he was tired. He had to be: he’d worked all night. Or at least did something all night. But she was nobody’s fool. She didn’t sweep shit under rugs.

“Who was that woman you kissed at the bar last night?”

Although he remained leaned against her body, she could feel his own body stiffen when she asked that question. Then he leaned back and looked her dead in the eyes, which she appreciated. “She was somebody I used to know who needed help.”

“What kind of help?”

“Her boyfriend is abusive. That kind of help.”

Nikki didn’t know what she expected him to say, but it wasn’t that. “So you agreed to help her?”

“I agreed to send some of our guys over there to help her, yes. She’s an old friend.”

“Friend,” asked Nikki, “or lover?”

Teddy didn’t hesitate. “Both,” he admitted.

“When was the last time?”

“Years ago. Before I met you.”

Nikki continued to stare at him. He was no natural liar, but he was still a man. She still had to keep her guard up. But in this instance, she believed him. To a point. “What you will never get me to understand,” she said, “is that you had time to have drinks with an old friend-slash-lover, but you haven’t had time all week to have dinner with me and your daughter.” She shook her head. “I tolerate a lot of shit from you, Teddy Sinatra. Lots of shit because I know you’re out there doing what you need to do. But I’m not tolerating that shit. I’m never tolerating that shit. Remember that,” she said, and then moved away from him, forcing his penis to slide out of her. And then she left the shower.

Teddy leaned his forehead against the wall she just vacated and closed his eyes. Because he did feel some sense of guilt. Seeing Caitlan again reminded him of his days when he was free as a bird. Could come and go when he pleased. Was working for himself and had no responsibilities whatsoever. Didn’t have his old man breathing down his neck like he was some child he had to manage. And a part of him, a growing part of him, missed those days.

But those days were long gone, and he knew it.

He changed the water from hot to cold, and took a long, cold shower.