Forbidden Kiss: Carson Cove Scandals Page 10

  A couple of meetings and I can think about the weekend from the comfort of my own home.

  * * *

  The next day

  I woke up so early that the sun wasn’t even up yet—hell, it still had a couple of hours before it peeked through the clouds. I tried to force myself to go back to sleep, but I just couldn’t get my mind to shut down. I finally gave up and went downstairs so I could fix some coffee and watch television. I caught the tail end of a movie that I hadn’t seen in a while, so I finished it. The movie that came on after it was over kept me slightly entertained for a couple of hours, and then I went upstairs to shower and brush my teeth. I could feel the lack of sleep, even with caffeine in my veins, so I relaxed until I got a text message from Taylor—she was five minutes away.

  I should have squeezed in a workout since I was up early—but then again, I think I’ll be getting one that puts my time in the gym to shame before the day is over.

  “Good morning!” I opened the door as soon as Taylor parked in the driveway and smiled as she approached.

  “I hope I’m not too early…” She looked up at me with concern on her face as she ascended the steps.

  “No, you’re right on time.” I pulled her into my arms and immediately went for a kiss.

  Feeling Taylor’s lips against mine was enough to purge the weariness I had from getting up early. My pulse started racing, and my heart began to beat in my ears. I pulled her into the house—and we made it to the couch before our passion really began to consume us. It wasn’t long before our shirts were off, her bra was hanging on the arm of the couch, and my lips were exploring her body. We definitely needed to take it to the bedroom soon, but we had a lot of fun on the couch the first night we were together, so I wasn’t in a hurry—we had all day.

  “I missed you so much.” I pulled her close and kissed my way up to her ear.

  “I missed you too…” She moaned, and goosebumps began to spread across her skin.

  “I’m going to do so many things to you today,” I exhaled into her ear. “I’m going to kiss your ears—your neck—your breasts—and then I’m going to have a taste of what I’ve been craving since you left…”

  “If you do that…” She moved her hand up my thigh and squeezed my cock through my pants. “I’m going to get down on my knees and make you come.”

  We continued whispering dirty things to each other as I unfastened Taylor’s jeans and started to play with her pussy. It was already wet—and I wanted a taste so fucking bad. I shifted her jeans down her hips, and her panties slid with them. Our lips met for another kiss, which caused me to get temporarily distracted, but feeling her lips against mine was worth it. I finished removing her jeans, along with her panties, and stared at the sight of her beautiful curves before I started to devour them—every swirl of my tongue—every tease against her skin—brought me closer to the paradise that I craved. I teased her inner thighs, forced her legs apart, and heard her moan as my tongue got dangerously close to her clit—but then she put a hand on my shoulder and sat up suddenly.

  “What was that?” She looked at me with concern on her face.

  “Huh? What do you mean?” I raised an eyebrow.

  “I heard something…” She reached down and grabbed her shirt. “It was a car door.”

  “Really?” I lifted off the couch and adjusted my clothes before walking to the window—my eyes nearly bulged out of my head. “Oh fuck! It’s Dylan!”

  “Where do I go?” Taylor’s voice was panicked, and she started frantically gathering up her clothes.

  “Uh—there!” I pointed to the bathroom. “I’ll tell him there’s a problem with it and send him to the west wing of the house if he needs to go.”

  Taylor picked up all of her clothes and dashed into the bathroom—the door slammed right before Dylan started walking towards the house. I had no idea why he was home—but judging by the duffel bag he was carrying, it looked like he was planning to stay with me for the weekend. It wasn’t uncommon for him to come home, but he usually called first—hell, he normally let me know at least a week in advance in case I had something going on at work. I thought about meeting him at the door but decided to make it seem as nonchalant as possible. I grabbed my tablet, sat down in one of the chairs in the living room—and spotted Taylor’s panties peeking out from under the couch. I barely had time to stuff them into my pocket before the front door opened and my son walked in.

  “Dylan?” I tried to keep a calm expression and pretend to be totally surprised—like I didn’t already know he was walking up to the door. “I didn’t know you were coming home this weekend.”

  “Hey Dad.” He walked into the living room and tossed his duffel bag on the couch. “Sorry I didn’t call—it was kind of a last minute thing. One of my high school buddies wants to get the gang together—he’s proposing to his girl and we’re all friends, so he wanted us there.”

  “Ah.” I stood up and put down my tablet so I could give him a hug. “Welcome home.”

  So far, so good…

  “Is someone here?” He gave me a quick hug and pulled away. “There’s a car in the driveway.”

  Fuck…

  “Yeah…” I quickly tried to wrack my brain. “I hired a new cleaning service—their car broke down. I think they’re coming back to get it later.”

  “Oh, okay.” He nodded. “I thought it might be someone I know. They have an old Carson Cove Tigers sticker in the back window.”

  “I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Maybe they have a kid in high school…”

  Okay, it’s turning into a string of lies, but it looks like he’s buying it.

  “I need to run to the restroom—long drive.” He patted my shoulder and started walking towards the one that Taylor was hiding in.

  “Wait.” I grabbed his arm. “I’m having some trouble with that one and I haven’t called a plumber yet.”

  “Alright, I’ll run upstairs. Maybe I can take a look at it when I get back—I had to fix the one in my dorm last semester.” He grabbed his duffel bag and walked towards the stairs.

  I hated lying to my son, but I had no idea how I would explain Taylor’s presence if he saw her—and he knew she was Victoria’s best friend. As soon as Dylan was upstairs, I checked on Taylor in the bathroom. She was fully dressed, except for her panties that were still in my pocket. I couldn’t usher her out the front door, and if the car disappeared while he was upstairs, it would probably look suspicious. We didn’t get much time to figure it out, because I heard Dylan coming back downstairs.

  “Hide in the library.” I motioned down the hallway. “He never goes in there.”

  “Okay.” Taylor nodded and made a dash for it—as quietly as possible.

  The morning went from one that was supposed to be filled with excitement to a stressful endeavor. Dylan couldn’t find anything wrong with the toilet—because there wasn’t—and I pretended to be a dolt that made a mistake. As soon as he went upstairs to make a few calls and check in with his friends, I went to the library to see how Taylor was holding up. Needless to say, she wasn’t happy. She just wanted to go—but I was worried she wouldn’t make it out the front door in time.

  I mildly hoped that would leave to meet his friends early, but that wasn’t the case—he came back downstairs and told me they weren’t meeting up until the afternoon. Normally, I would have welcomed any opportunity to see my son, but his timing was horrible. If I had known he was coming, I would have never planned to spend Saturday with Taylor—and I didn’t know if she was going to forgive me for holding her prisoner all day if it came to that.

  “Hey Dad?” Dylan walked back into the living room and sat down across from me—in the same spot where I was undressing Taylor shortly before he arrived.

  “Yeah?” I looked up at him.

  “Something I wanted to ask you…” He looked down and sighed. “Have you talked to Victoria or Shaina lately?”

  “Yeah.” I shrugged. “You don’t keep in touch with your sisters
? That’s surprising…”

  “I do—well, I have been.” He had a slightly worried expression on his face, which caused me to tense up. “I haven’t been able to get in touch with Shaina for a couple of weeks. Victoria said she hadn’t heard from her either…”

  “I talked to Shaina…” I looked up and tried to remember the last conversation. “Well damn, yeah—I talked to her a couple of weeks ago, but I didn’t get a call back from her when I tried to call last weekend.”

  I’ve been so preoccupied with everything else—but I just assumed she was busy with law school.

  “I wasn’t really that close to Shaina growing up, but we still try to keep in touch, you know?” he sighed. “She’s probably got stuff going on—law school and all.”

  “Yeah.” I nodded, but the worry didn’t leave me completely—I definitely needed to try to call her again. “I’m sure she’s okay.”

  Dylan has more important things to worry about. I’ll figure out what is going on with Shaina.

  “How are things going with you?” I leaned forward. “Grades still holding up?”

  “Of course,” he smirked. “I’m not a slouch like Victoria.”

  “She’s doing fine,” I chuckled under my breath. “Good enough to graduate—that’s all that really matters.”

  “I want to graduate at the top of my class.” He shrugged, and the smirk didn’t leave his face. “I have to be able to get a good job when I’m done with college—can’t leech off you forever, old man.”

  “I wish I could convince you to come work for me at Benson Enterprises. My chair will be yours one day.” I raised an eyebrow.

  “Yeah, I know.” He nodded. “I just want to get some experience and see what else is out there—I might have some new ideas when I finally do some work for you.”

  Maybe he’ll change his mind before graduation—he’s still got a few years to do that.

  I knew part of the reason Dylan didn’t want to move back to Carson Cove and start working at Benson Enterprises right after graduation was because he missed his mother. He didn’t say that, but they were always close—he was our youngest, so he got to be the baby longer than Shaina or Victoria did. It was no coincidence that he was thinking about working in the city after graduation, which was where she moved after the divorce. He didn’t get to see her very often. It was easy enough to make a trip to Carson Cove for the weekend, but it was a long drive to the city.

  “Oh, speaking of people that you haven’t talked to in a while…” Dylan seemed to hesitate, and he looked down before he continued speaking. “Mom is working now. She got a job at Dillinger Tech.”

  I didn’t think he’d actually bring her up—he must think the wound has finally started to scar. It has, but he has no idea why…

  “Really?” I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “Did my last alimony check bounce or something?”

  That was a little harsher than I intended, but it’s hard to hold back—she was the one who decided to file for divorce.

  “I think she’s just bored.” He leaned back against the couch.

  My comment seemed to sour Dylan’s mood a little bit and normally I would have apologized, but I was distracted by other things—namely Taylor, who was still hiding in the library. Dylan and I continued discussing his future, how things were going at school, and he let it slip that he had a girlfriend—which I decided to start calling mystery girl as a tease since he wouldn’t tell me her name. I finally found a break in the conversation and excused myself. I blamed it on work, which would explain why I was going to the library. Taylor had been in there for almost two hours, and if she wasn’t angry, it would be a blessing.

  “Hey…” I pushed the door open and found her sitting at my desk reading a book.

  “Is he gone?” She put the book down and stood.

  “No, I’m so fucking sorry.” I walked over and hugged her. “I’ll get you out of here as soon as I can.”

  “I never thought I would be hiding in here from your son—usually I was hiding from you when I was exploring this place.” She leaned back from our embrace and grinned.

  “We already addressed that behavior,” I chuckled under my breath and kissed her forehead.

  “Some of it…” She bit down on her lip and giggled.

  I’d love to have a long discussion about it upstairs, but that isn’t possible now.

  “Damn it—I was looking forward to spending the day with you.” I exhaled sharply and shook my head.

  “It’ll be okay. I’ll find a way to entertain myself…” She shrugged and sat back down.

  I couldn’t do much more than apologize—and I couldn’t stay in the library long or I would risk Dylan coming to check on me. A part of me just wanted to rip the mask off the charade and tell him the truth, but it wouldn’t be fair to Taylor—she was still Victoria’s best friend, and there was no way Dylan would keep our secret. He was too close to his sister for me to ask him to choose sides—and choose mine. If my relationship with Taylor continued, we would have to tell Victoria the truth, but that conversation was best had in person.

  “Everything okay at Benson Enterprises?” Dylan looked up at me when I returned.

  “Yeah, just had to check in on a few things.” I nodded and sat down.

  Dylan and I hung out for a little bit longer, ate lunch, and I managed to sneak a plate to Taylor after he returned to the living room. It was another hour before he decided to shower and get ready to meet his friends. As soon as he was upstairs, I hurried Taylor to the front door and gave her a quick kiss before she took off. I considered asking her to come back after Dylan was gone, but I had no idea how long he would be out with his friends. He wasn’t much of a partier, so he didn’t normally stay out late when he was visiting Carson Cove. Taylor didn’t seem angry with me at all, but I could see a hint of disappointment in her eyes before she walked to the car. I watched until she was gone and let out a sigh of relief since the crisis had been averted.

  I’ll make it up to you, Taylor—I just don’t know how yet.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Taylor

  I kept my composure with Bryant, but I was in full-blown panic mode when I left Benson Estate. In the back of mind, I knew there was always a risk—if we didn’t get caught in the act, someone who knew Victoria could see us when we were together. I was convinced that she would believe my intentions were pure if she had found out after the art show—but the purity didn’t last long. If someone told her about the kiss—it would be really hard to explain. If Dylan had realized I was at Benson Estate when he arrived, then there would have been no explanation that made sense. I had hours to let the guilt toy with me, and it was beginning to become unbearable. I was falling for Bryant, but the reality of the situation made a relationship impossible—the sooner I accepted that, the better it would be for both of us.

  The longer it drags on, the more it’s going to hurt when the inevitable tears us apart.

  “You’re home?” Anna poked her head out of her room when I walked upstairs. “I thought you were planning to stay out late.”

  “My plans changed.” I shrugged. “It looks like I’m spending Saturday night at home—maybe we can hang out?”

  “Uh…” She looked down. “I have plans.”

  “Is that so?” I couldn’t help but smile. “Do you want to talk about those plans?”

  “No.” She shook her head back and forth.

  “Just be careful, Anna—please.” I wanted to say more, but I didn’t want her to know that I saw her with Bolt—especially if she wasn’t ready to talk about it.

  “I’m always careful.” She rolled her eyes. “Mom won’t be home either—she got called into work, and she’s going out with some of the girls from the office tonight.”

  “Great…” I sighed. “I guess it’s Netflix for me.”

  “You could always paint me something…” She raised an eyebrow.

  “So you can tell me that you hate it?” I looked down and laughed. “Nah, I don�
��t think I’m in the mood.”

  I walked into my room and changed into my pajamas. If I was spending Saturday night at home, I preferred to be comfortable. There was also no reason for me to watch a movie in my room if nobody was home—the television downstairs was much bigger and had surround sound. I found a movie that sounded interesting but decided to play on my phone for a little while before I started it. I couldn’t help but notice that Anna was actually wearing makeup and some jeans that were rather tight when she finally did come downstairs. I pretended not to notice. I still hadn’t gotten used to the idea of my little sister hanging out with the privileged, and if Bolt was a star football player at Carson Cove High, he was an honorary one, even if he didn’t have the bank account to back it up.

  Maybe she’ll have more fun in high school than I did—not that I had any interest in mingling with the privileged back then.

  After Anna left, I made a frozen pizza and fixed a glass of wine—it wasn’t the best combination in the world, but it was what we had in the house. My mother usually bought groceries on Sunday, so it was pretty barren by the weekend. I carried my dinner into the living room and started my movie. It was slow in the beginning, and the wine put me in a different mood, so I didn’t make it very far—I decided to find something with more humor than drama. My second movie was kind of raunchy, but rather funny, and I found myself laughing at jokes that would have normally gotten little more than a roll of my eyes. I was about midway through the movie and considering a third glass of wine when my phone lit up—I had a message from Bryant.

  Bryant: Have you forgiven me yet?

  Taylor: I told you I wasn’t mad…

  Bryant: I know but I still feel bad about it.