Desperately Seeking Househusband Read online

  Gabby launched herself at me and I dropped my phone to the tile, not caring if the damn thing cracked on impact. She kissed me sloppily while her hands tried to open up the towel at my waist. I reached down and helped her, then pulled away as she tried to grab ahold of me again.

  “Wait.” I paused until her eyes focused on me. “You haven’t said you want a real relationship with me, but I want you too much to hold out any longer. But just so you know, I do this with protest.”

  She snickered, which I had to join her in as my statement was a bit ridiculous, but I wanted her to know I would still press for a relationship. Sex wouldn’t be enough for me. I wanted everything with her.

  When she nodded, I yanked her towel off and lifted her up. She wrapped her legs around me and I nearly lost my balance from wanting. I finally made it over to the bed, laying her down carefully. I wanted to see every square inch of her up close. She tried to pull my head back to her for another kiss, but I was a thorough kind of guy. When you made a surfboard, you didn’t rush to the end when you poured the resin and saw the finished product. You had to take care with building the stringer first. I didn’t think Gabby had a wooden stringer, but she had parts I wanted my hands on just the same.

  Kneeling down, I grabbed her feet and kissed each instep, loving the gasp and giggle she gave me. The sounds were my catnip, spurring me on and riling me up even further. I progressed to her calves, then her knees, and finally her thighs, crawling my way onto the bed between her legs. She spread for me, telling me not-so-subtly where she wanted my kisses next, but my girl wasn’t the only one who was unpredictable.

  Lifting up, I grabbed her arms instead, placing them on the bed above her head and kissing my way down the first one and then moving to the other. This placement meant Godzilla dragged across her stomach and between her perfect breasts. Just as I got to her other arm, I felt the warmth of a thousand suns on the tip.

  “Ahh!” I screamed like a little boy, nearly losing control with the sight of Gabby’s lips wrapped around me and that thing she was doing with her tongue. I aborted the arm kissing and pulled myself out of her mouth to save the situation. I was a millisecond away from spilling myself in her mouth and ending this way too early.

  I lay down flat on top of her and caught my breath. “Damn, woman. Save that for our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary when I can control myself a bit more.”

  I both heard and felt the snort-laugh, loving that even while making love, I could make her laugh. When I felt like I could continue without embarrassing myself, I lifted up onto my elbows and gave her time to catch her breath.

  “Sorry about lying on you like that.”

  She smiled up at me. “Sorry for sucking on you like that.”

  I flinched, absolutely delighted to hear her talk dirty. “Maybe I should return the favor and suck on you for a little bit. Would you like that, Snookums? My tongue on your clit, my fingers spreading you wider?”

  Her cheeks flamed and I gave her a lecherous smile. This is the most fun I’ve ever had with a woman. The thought flitted through my brain as I shifted to settle my face between her legs. She gasped and I dove in, lapping her up like a five-course meal at Kitty and Jasper’s house, tasty but never enough. Her thighs clenched around my head and I had to reach down to grab my dick in a tight squeeze to keep myself in check.

  Gabby let out a loud string of curses before going silent, her back bowing off the bed. I slowed my movements, letting her come down slowly. I kissed my way back up her body, hovering over her on shaking arms, taking in the lazy smile that graced the face I’d come to cherish.

  This time I let her hook her arms around my neck and pull me down. She didn’t go for my lips, though. Instead, she slowly licked one side of my mouth and then the other.

  “Those dimples,” she muttered, licking her lips, “and my taste all over them. Perfection.”

  That was the exact moment I lost control. I simply couldn’t handle a dirty talking Gabby. I smashed my lips on hers ungracefully, needing more of her in any way I could get it.

  “Please tell me you’re clean,” she gasped against my lips.

  “Yeah. We just took a shower,” I muttered back, distracted.

  She huffed a laugh, tickling me with her breath. “No, silly. I mean, can we forgo the condom?”

  I dropped my forehead to hers, her meaning finally getting through to my foggy brain. “Yes. Totally clean. And I already know you take birth control. I see you pop it into your mouth every morning.”

  “Then give me the hammer right fucking now.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Reaching down, I lifted her knee up high and notched myself to her entrance. I paused there like an idiot, needing a second to just savor the moment. She growled and I gave her what we both wanted, plunging in until I’d sunk fully inside her. I may have seen the heavens, heard the choir singing, felt the wind from a thousand angels cheering.

  “Mmm, yes, Rhett.”

  I slid back out, lunged back in, and earned another groan. I quickened my pace, chasing the pleasure that rippled down my spine. The rest of my body went numb, like every nerve ending gave up their post and raced to my cock to get in on the electric pulses stealing my breath.

  Gabby threw her head back and thrashed about, making her hair a tangled mess, but the movement also thrust her breasts up at me, so who was I to worry about the tangles? She clenched, gripping me tightly and making me falter in my rhythm.

  “Do that again,” I whispered.

  She did and I was addicted. I slammed into her again and again, finesse forgotten. When the clenching around me started in rapid succession, I needed more from her.

  “Look at me.”

  Her eyes fluttered open, the pupils dilated. We stared at each other, neither of us breaking our gaze. She gasped and sputtered, then chanted my name over and over, a few Tesoros thrown in there. Her orgasm was a green light, giving me permission to let go.

  And let go I did, spilling into her until I was wrung out, possibly dehydrated, and saying incomprehensible things. I swear I blacked out and saw stars, vaguely wondering when we’d taken this outside and if a lost goat would be ruining our fun any time soon. The earth trembled and I was happy to let the quake take me. My life was complete now anyway.

  A poke in my side had me bracing for the goat. I blinked a few times and came back to the room. Gabby was giggling underneath me, poking me repeatedly.

  “Get off me, you heavy blanket!” She let out another peel of laughter and I realized I was lying on her, all my dead weight probably crushing her.

  I popped up to my elbows, happy to see my arms still worked. “Did you just call me fat?”

  Her eyes danced, tears gathering in the corners. “Yes! You tricked me with your chiseled abs and muscles everywhere and tracks of veins. Now I know you’re actually obese!”

  I grinned, lopsided. “You take that back, Snookums.” I poked her in the side, a tickle war starting, which wasn’t a good idea when you couldn’t feel your legs or properly defend yourself. Or when still inside a gorgeous woman.

  She snorted and tried to tickle my obese abs, which actually did tickle. I pulled away, which caused me to slide out of her, a move I wasn’t ready for. Maybe ever. But tickle wars required one’s full attention, so I focused on that, delighted to find Gabby’s hands all over me, looking for ticklish spots.

  Yeah, I was a bastard, getting hard all over again, letting Gabby think I was ticklish everywhere just so she’d keep touching me. We rolled a few times, coming perilously close to the edge of the bed, but I pulled her back each time.

  “Okay! Uncle!” She gasped, her hair a mess, sticking to her sweaty cheeks, tears squeezing out of her eyes as she laughed. She’d never looked more beautiful.

  “Joy looks good on you,” I whispered in her ear as I pulled her in for a hug. She melted against me, holding me tight. We stayed with our backs leaning against the headboard for long minutes, just breathing each other in, feeling our heartbeat
s settle into a rhythm together. I stroked a hand down her back, deciding I’d never tire of touching her, feeling her soft skin, giving her comfort while also taking it too.

  Gabby kept her face nuzzled into my neck but rearranged her legs to wind up straddling me. She drifted a hand down between us to find my hard love sausage, lifting up only to slide down onto me inch by inch. My eyes rolled back in my head.

  She began to move slowly, agonizingly so. Her hands rested on my shoulders, her gaze never leaving mine as she rode me back to heaven, the bright lights and soft, fuzzy clouds welcoming us. Not once did she look away from me, just stared into my soul as we shattered together.

  I may not have had a verbal commitment from her, but there was no way this was a casual fuck. We were in this thing together now, whether Gabby could admit it or not.

  We had to be.

  Because there was no way I was letting her go.

  24

  Rhett

  The whole next week was better than I ever believed to be possible. Gabby and I were attached at the hip, teasing and silly one minute, serious and soul-deep the next. I’d texted the producer to permanently take that camera out of our bedroom. He’d only relented when I said it was coming between us since we liked to fuck nightly and couldn’t since they’d installed it. I didn’t say I’d sue him for my relationship problems, but I didn’t not say it either. The thing was gone the next day and I celebrated by pinning Gabby against the wall it had been installed on. She’d eventually screamed long and loud in celebration of its removal.

  It was more than the sex, even though hum-didler tried to make it all about himself. The bliss came from the way Gabby opened up to me. The constant touches even when the cameras weren’t around. The looks she gave me across the table as she ate the eggs I’d made her. The way she wasn’t afraid to show her anger in front of me, while also showing me her soft and vulnerable side. She’d crack a silly joke and my heart would leap in my chest. She was everything rolled into one woman and I loved it all. Hell, I loved her.

  Yeah, that’s right. I’d fallen in love with her. Somewhere between the third nipple discussion and the goat takedown, I’d fallen for her. It no longer mattered who she dated before me. It didn’t matter that she could buy a small country while I barely made ends meet, even with her paying for the roof over my head.

  Maybe I was setting myself up for heartache since she still hadn’t verbally committed to a relationship. Maybe we’d actually hit that twenty-fifth anniversary. Either way, I couldn’t help falling in love with her. The slide was easy and I went down fast.

  “Rhett!” Gabby called from downstairs.

  I pulled a T-shirt over my head and ran a hand through my hair. That would have to do. Gabby and I were having our couple friends over the next day for dinner at our place. She was already getting nervous and I wanted to get my work done so I could help her out as much as possible.

  “I’m here,” I said as I sailed down the stairs. She was in black trouser pants and a deep blue blouse that made her skin look edible. The heels had me running my hand through my hair again. I could just picture her with nothing on but those heels.

  “Hey, Gutter Brain,” she said with a saucy smile. “I gotta go to work for a few hours and then it’s going to be full-on cleaning and getting ready for the caterers to do their thing. Will you be able to help me later today?”

  I walked closer, pulling her in by the hips to rub against her. “I don’t have a gutter brain, I just have a really imaginative Junk Johnson. He sees heels and he comes up with ideas.”

  Her hands gripped me through my shorts, instantly getting a reaction from me. “I’ll polish your knob later today when we get to cleaning. Until then”—she pushed against my chest and stepped away—“get your work done, yeah?”

  She rifled through her purse and put on lip gloss while I rearranged the growing bulge in my shorts, staying a safe distance away. “I just have two boards that need fins installed and then I’ll have my first custom boards finished.”

  She looked up, pride in the way she smiled at me. “Good job, Tesoro. That’ll make you some nice cash and maybe you’ll get some referrals from it.”

  I shrugged, a little uncomfortable talking about selling two boards, when I needed to be selling several per day to make the kind of money required to open my own shop. “Yeah, I hope so.”

  Gabby put her purse down and came over to tug on my T-shirt. “Hey. Selling two boards is awesome. That’s how every business starts. There’s no shame in being in the first stages of a business.”

  I looked at her in the nice pants and fancy blouse, the diamond stud earrings and designer shoes. I wanted to believe her, but history told me I was poor and would always be living paycheck to paycheck. If I truly loved her, how could I bring that kind of failure into her life?

  She poked me hard in the side, making me yelp. “What is that look on your face?” she demanded.

  “Uh…”

  “It’s the worms, isn’t it?”

  “What?”

  Gabby grabbed my head, smashing my cheeks and bringing me down to her level. Damn, the woman was strong. “Hew put some sort of bullshit in your head, didn’t he?” When I didn’t answer right away, she squished me harder.

  “Opay. He sed dat I’d amays be poor.”

  She finally released my face and I moved my jaw around in fake pain. “He some sort of palm reader now? Able to see the future? What was it? A crystal ball?” Gabby paced away from me, throwing out so many questions rapid fire, I didn’t have a chance to answer. “He said you’d always be poor and you believed him?” Her hands went to her hips.

  Oh boy. She was winding up, I could feel it. “I don’t know that I consciously decided to believe it, but yeah, I do kind of wonder if I’m cut out to be a successful business owner.” I shrugged like it was no big deal.

  Which just made her angrier based on the fire shooting out of her eyes. “Are you kidding me right now? You decided a couple weeks ago to start a business and you already have two custom orders. Do you have a website yet? Have you done any advertising yet?” She paused only to breathe. “No. No, you haven’t, which means you’ve barely gotten started and you’re already in the black. Do you know the stats on new businesses? Fifty percent of all new businesses fail after their fifth year! Only forty percent of small businesses are even profitable! You’re already ahead of the game, so don’t you dare start to doubt yourself now.”

  “Whoa, there, Gary Vaynerchuk. That was an impressive rundown of stats on small businesses.” My chest swelled. She just went to bat for me against myself. That was some straight up badassery right there.

  I took two giant steps, wrapped my arms around her waist to lift her up in the air, and spun her around. She squealed, putting her hands on my shoulders to steady herself. When I put her down, her frown had morphed into a shy smile.

  “Thank you. I believe in myself and I love that you believe in me too.” I kissed her quickly, not wanting to go too far when I knew she had to leave for work. I swatted her on the ass. “Now get out of here so I can make more boards and build my empire, woman.”

  She winked at me and went to grab all her stuff to head out the door. She swung it open and paused, looking back at me. “When I get home, let’s celebrate your board sales and the first official day of our official relationship.”

  She stood there, framed in the soft morning light filtering through the doorway. So sure of herself she was spitting fire at me just moments ago and now hesitating like I might not want a relationship with her after all. All the blood in my body decided to dance in my veins at that very moment, leaving me giddy and a little nauseous if I was being honest.

  I couldn’t even speak. Instead, I raced up to her, pinned her against the open door, and smashed her lips on mine, smearing her lip gloss and apologizing in between kisses. Some dude on a bike whistled at us, the warning I needed to back away and let her get to work.

  “That color looks good on you.” She w
inked at me and left, hips sashaying down the walkway to her car. I swiped at my mouth and found dark red sticky stuff. Damn, how did women wear that shit?

  Everything was falling into place. So why was I suddenly nervous?

  25

  Gabby

  The weight of hosting a fun dinner for the group had dissipated the longer the evening wore on. The caterers had prepared the most delicious food, the house was a sparkling shrine from all our cleaning the night before, and each couple was on their best behavior. Kitty and Jasper were civil to each other as they explained the challenge handed down by their therapist. Natalia and Frank pawed at each other all night like the kiss heard ’round the world never happened. Lavender and John were their calm, peaceful selves. All was well.

  “You got the camera taken down? How’d you do that?” Natalia eagerly questioned Rhett, wanting to know his exact words used with the producer so she could get their bedroom cam taken down too. I’m sure the editing team would be happy not to have to watch that video and see if anything made the cut. Those two were a little freaky with their affection. Case in point: Natalia’s pinky finger sucked inside Frank’s mouth right now. Who does that in front of other people?

  “I avoid the camera by simply sleeping in another room,” Jasper said loudly from the club chair in the corner of the living room.

  Kitty, all the way over on the couch, shook her head, her eyes downcast. “Lord…”

  Everyone knew exactly why he was sleeping in another room and it had nothing to do with a camera. To cover the dark cloud that had descended over the group, I hopped up, ever the consummate host.

  “Who’s ready for some dessert?”

  Rhett stood too, ready to help me and probably ready to get the hell out of the room. Conversation with this group was like walking a tightrope. You had to actively manage where the topic led in order to keep from falling to the ground below.

  The front door crashed open behind me, banging against the wall with a loud boom, startling everyone. I spun around quickly, but then froze. There in the doorway to my home, the outside lamp illuminating only one side of his face and leaving the other side in total darkness like some kind of scary Halloween mask, stood Hewitt.