No one had ever called me Tori, just Vicky, which I absolutely hated. Since I left my mother’s house, I’d been only Victoria. I’d insisted on it. But I found the nickname, coming from Brock’s lips, filled me with warmth. So I moved everything down to the end of the table and said, “I’m going to check on dinner,” before leaving him to peruse the catalog.
Everything was finished and plated when I re-entered the dining room. Brock had moved the poster board down with the other items, but was still looking over the artwork.
“I like your idea … Choosing pictures from both Ireland and Mexico to decorate the office. It incorporates the family concept, O’Malley’s, and shows pride in our heritage. Some of these landscape prints are breathtaking,” Brock brought his green eyes to mine, his gaze gentle, and said softly, “You did amazing work, Tori. I love all of the ideas that you’ve presented.”
The breath whooshed out of me at his words, and pride filled me. My heart felt so full, and my smile was so big, that it was almost painful. The best kind of pain. I put the plates down on the table and crossed to Brock, putting my hands on his cheeks and dipping my head to press my lips to his. I kissed him with all of the feeling I could muster, then pulled back and laid my forehead against his.
“No one has ever believed in me the way you do,” I admitted softly. I pulled back to look him dead in the eye and added, “You don’t even know me.” I searched his face, as if looking for the answer.
He brought his hand up to cup the back of my head, holding me there, our gazes locked. “I know you, Victoria, and there’s a lot to believe in.”
I let his words wash over me for a few moments, then stepped away and sat in my chair.
“This looks great,” Brock said, looking up from his food and giving me yet another compliment.
“Thank you.”
I’d taken a delicate bite of my potatoes when Brock asked, “You said no one believes in you … What about your parents?”
The potatoes suddenly felt like dust in my mouth. I picked up my wine to take a drink, not just to sooth my throat but to buy myself a couple seconds. Brock had told me about his family, so I knew that it was only a matter of time before I had to share that part of myself as well. Still, I wasn’t looking forward to it. I would have liked to hold on to the happy feelings for a little while longer.
Resigned, I carefully set my glass down, patted the corners of my mouth with my cloth napkin, and turned my gaze to meet his.
“When I was eight, my father left my mother for another woman,” I began, my voice monotone, as if I were reading from a newspaper, rather than detailing an event that ripped my life apart. “My mother is a very weak woman. She couldn’t handle it … The embarrassment, the betrayal, but mostly, the thought of being alone. Although she wasn’t alone, she had two children to look after.” This was said with a bitter laugh that I couldn’t seem to contain. “I was only there a few months. A few months of watching the woman who was supposed to care for us drink herself sick every night. Of listening to her cry and wail when she woke up every day and my father wasn’t there. I took care of Abigail, getting her up for school and making her lunch, and when my father came back and wanted to take us to live with him, I thought all of our problems were over … But Abigail chose to stay.” I looked off into the distance, unseeing, as I sipped my wine and let the bitter flavor coat my tongue. “It was another betrayal. I couldn’t believe that she would rather stay with our mother than go with me, but Abigail and our mother have always been close, and she blamed my father for her behavior. I couldn’t stay. Couldn’t watch my mother’s spiral of self-loathing … so I left. I moved in with my father and Felicia, who he married as soon as the divorce was final.”
I brought myself out of my memories long enough to look at Brock, gauge his reaction. He was listening intently, so I continued, “Felicia is everything that my mother wasn’t. Hard working, driven, self-sufficient. As my father’s position in the company grew, so did his exposure, and Felicia fit into that life perfectly. She was born to money, so she was a part of that world already, which really helped my father succeed. She taught me all about society, how to dress, how to act, what I needed to do to help my future husband succeed. She helped me become the woman that I am today.”
When I paused, still lost in my thoughts, Brock’s voice broke through, “What about your mother and Abigail, did you spend time with them?”
I turned my head, nodding slightly. “Yes, I still went there for the occasional weekend, and Abigail came to us, but it was like two different worlds. My mother hates me for leaving, for becoming a woman like Felicia, and I try to stay away as much as possible. Abigail loves my father, and she tolerates Felicia, but she is definitely still on Mom’s side. Their relationship is different than ours, and Abigail has always had free reign to do what she wants. She went a pretty wild during her teenaged years, and hasn’t quite calmed down yet, but she is the sweetest, most loyal person you’ll ever meet.”
“Thank you,” Brock said when I stopped talking, startling me out of my reverie. “For telling me about them. This,” he added, his hand gesturing to his plate, which was empty, “was delicious. I can’t wait to see what you make next.”
I was a bevy of conflicting emotions at his words. Embarrassed that I’d told him about my family and pleased that he liked my food. My initial reaction to his insinuation that I’d be cooking for him again was to shoot back a caustic remark about his presumptuousness, but the thought of cooking for him again was strangely appealing, so I bit back my remark.
Then he reached across the table, covering my slender hand with his large one. His voice got low and he said, “I’d love to make you one of my mom’s specialties, chilaquiles.”
“What’s that?” I asked, his touch causing my body to slowly come alive, bit by bit.
“Breakfast.”
Chapter 11 – Brock
Even as I said it, I knew it was the worst line ever, but I wanted to bring back the effortless happiness that Victoria had displayed before I brought up her parents. She’d been looking so forlorn that I wanted to do something to snap her out of it. I wasn’t lying though, I wanted to still be there to make her breakfast in the morning.
Rather than getting pissed, like I expected she would, Victoria surprised me by letting out an unexpected giggle.
“Did you really just say that?” she asked, all traces of despair gone from her striking face.
I chuckled softly, turning my grin up a notch, then leaned in and brought my hand up to touch her cheek, before changing direction and running my thumb over her lower lip.
“I did,” I admitted gruffly. “I’d like to stay, Victoria, make no mistake about it. But if it’s too soon for you, just say the word. Like I said, I won’t do anything to make you uncomfortable, and I won’t push you to do something that you aren’t ready for.”
She didn’t say anything for a few minutes, just closed her eyes, leaving me to wait and wonder what she’d decide. Finally, she opened her eyes, keeping them a little wider than usual. Not wide enough to look crazy, but enough so that I knew she was nervous about what she was going to say next.
“I’d like you to stay,” she responded, so quietly I understood her more from reading her lips than by hearing her words.
“I’ll clear these,” I said, dropping my hand and standing to gather the dishes. I chuckled to myself at the bewilderment that crossed her face when I turned to go to the kitchen. I don’t know if she’d expected me to jump her at the table as soon as I got the green light or what, but I wasn’t planning on rushing anything.
I was washing the dishes when Victoria came in and started putting the leftovers in Tupperware. It was quite a homey scene, and I found I enjoyed sharing space with her. She looked good, smelled good, and I was thoroughly enjoying plotting all of the things I was going to do to her later.
When the kitchen was clean, Victoria turned and stood in the middle of the room, looking at me expectantly. I bit back a lau
gh and asked, “Another drink?”
Her eyebrows furrowed together, but she nodded and turned to grab me another beer. I walked up behind her, reaching past her into the refrigerator, bringing my front flush against her back, causing her to jump when we touched. I murmured, “I got it,” in her ear.
I turned, smiling to myself, and walked into the living room. I looked around the room, and when my eyes settled on her state-of-the-art sound system, I walked over and picked up the iPod that was docked there. I started scrolling through, stopping when I heard her footsteps behind me.
I turned my head to watch her enter the room, a fresh glass of wine in her hand, and asked, my voice conveying my shock, “You listen to the Grateful Dead?”
“Sure,” she said with a shrug. “I went to college.”
Her response caused me to chuckle. I hit play, then turned to sit on the couch, gently patting the cushion next to me, indicating that she should sit there.
“I didn’t, so I didn’t realize it was a pre-requisite, but I’ve listened to my share of the Dead.”
Victoria sat down, leaving a few inches of space between us, so I curved my arm around her hip and drew her in closer. Once her body was resting against mine, I settled back into the couch and had a pull of beer.
She leaned back, somewhat awkwardly, but didn’t try to scoot away, then turned her chin up to look me in the face and asked, “You didn’t? How did you end up running your own business?”
I cuddled her in a little closer, running my finger down her arm until I felt some of the tension leave her body.
“Well, you know I went right to work when my parents passed. I started doing odd jobs. I worked on cars, did security at events, even tried working at a restaurant … that shit wasn’t for me,” I said with a chuckle. “But what really stuck for me was the painting. It began with me doing interior paint jobs for some of my parents’ friends. I think they felt bad for us and were just finding ways to give me work, since I was trying to make it on my own, without handouts. I started small, eventually growing into exterior work, and then entire projects. It turned out I was good at it. Not just the painting, but running a crew, getting new clients, marketing myself, so I decided to give it a go and opened my own business. I originally worked out of the house, then, once we outgrew the living room, I found the lease for the building that we’re in now. I never expected to have O’Malley’s, I just wanted to keep my brothers together and make sure they didn’t want for anything.”
“That’s amazing,” Victoria replied softly, and the look in her eye was enough to bring me to my knees. “You’re amazing…” I don’t know what else she planned to say, because I grabbed the glass from her hand, setting it on the coaster on her table as I simultaneously bent my head to kiss her lips.
Once her wine was safely out of the spill zone, I leaned into the kiss, causing her to fall backward on the couch. Not one to miss out on a perfect opportunity, I covered her body with mine. Careful to put my weight on my left arm, I braced myself above her, allowing key body parts to rest seductively against her. Her mouth opened on a gasp when I cradled myself between her legs, which were currently wrapped around my waist. Her soft, plump lips made the kiss soft and sweet, even as her tongue tangled with mine, and her sexy whimpers caused my blood to flame. I used my right hand to quickly undo the buttons of her pretty shirt, while my mouth moved from those succulent lips to trail down her long, creamy neck.
I pushed the delicate material aside, keeping my lips on her neck as my eyes wandered over her chest, eager to see what the loss of clothing revealed. My hand cupped her breast through the blue lace bra, my thumb brushing the nipple that was barely revealed through the scraps of lace. Victoria arched her back at the contact, pushing up her hips and causing me to groan at the feel of her hot little body responding so fiercely to my touch.
“You hot for me, baby?” I growled in her ear as my tongue swept behind it, unable to keep quiet when her little moans were driving me to the brink of madness.
When she didn’t say anything, I persisted, eager to hear her voice when it was husky with need. “Tori, baby,” I prodded as my fingers worked the button of her pants. Once they were opened, I moved slightly to give myself better access, then I pushed my hand down, bypassing her pants, to the matching blue panties that were peeking through. When my hand got close to her pussy, she thrust up, urging me closer, but I kept still. “You hot for me?” I asked again. She bit her lip and gave a half nod as she threw her head back.
“Tell me, Tori,” I urged. “Tell me you want it, and I’ll give it to you.”
“I want it,” she said finally on a low, throaty breath, giving me what I wanted … So I gave her what she wanted.
I slipped my hand the rest of the way in her panties, cupping her softly as I ran my fingers along her seam. Wet heat greeted me, letting me know that she was just as ready as I was. I sucked the base of her neck, right at her collarbone, as I slipped the first finger inside. Her sigh of relief, followed by a deep moan, caused my brain to fog and my dick to throb uncomfortably against my jeans, which suddenly felt way too fucking tight.
I moved my mouth down, but when I reached her breast, I was unwilling to remove my hand, so as I added a second finger, pumping slowly in and out as she writhed beneath me, I used my teeth to pull back her bra. Once I had access to her firm pink nipple, I thrust out my tongue to hold the lacy fabric back, then suckled it into my mouth. I let Victoria fill my senses … The taste of her sweet nipple in my mouth, her tight slick pussy pulsing around my fingers, the smell of her spicy perfume, tangled with her aroused body, and the sounds of her panting … She was all around me. I was in fucking heaven, and I never wanted to leave.
I sucked and fingered her until her breath began to catch, then I brought my thumb to her clit, rubbing it swiftly until she fell apart beneath me. When she shouted, “Brock!” I was in danger of coming myself, so before she had a chance to come down off the high of her orgasm, I got up and gathered her in my arms.
I walked down the hallway, unsure of where I was going, but certain I could figure that shit out, when she lifted her head groggily and pointed toward the closed door at the end of the hall. The fact that she was still so out of it made me want to yell and beat my chest like a savage, and by the time I got close enough to see the door was partially open and kick it the rest of the way, I was almost beyond the ability to maintain control.
All that registered in my brain was the bed, which I laid Victoria on, then made quick work of getting her clothes fully off. She was finally coming out of her haze, helping me by unclasping her bra and lifting her hips so I could pull her panties down her long, toned legs.
Once she was naked, she surprised me by coming up on her knees and pulling my shirt over my head, then bringing her hands hastily to work on the button of my jeans. While she teased my cock with her eager hands, her lips came to my chest. She ran her tongue over one nipple, then the other, then practically undid me when she turned her head and rubbed her cheek along my chest. No longer wanting to play, I placed my hands on her shoulders and shoved her back a bit, giving myself enough space to rid myself of my jeans and boxers, swearing when I realized that I was still wearing my boots. I dropped my ass to the bed, bending to get the damn boots off as quickly as possible, when I felt Victoria’s tongue on my neck and soft breasts on my back.
“Fucking boots,” I muttered as I worked, smiling when I heard Victoria giggle behind me.
Once I was free and completely naked, I stood and turned, ready to bury myself inside Victoria, but was stopped when her hands spanned my hips, and she sucked the head of my cock into her mouth.
“Fuck, yeah,” I groaned as her tongue swept the underside of my dick. I closed my eyes, allowing myself to enjoy the moment, until felt my body begin to thrum with my impending release.
I placed my hand at the base of her ponytail and pulled her gently back, not wanting to hurt her, or my dick. When she brought those heavy lidded blue-violet eyes to m
ine, I said, “Need inside you, baby.” At my words she scurried back onto the bed, her long, lithe body flush and ready to be taken. I ran my nose gently up the length of her body, starting at her ankle, along her hipbone, up her stomach, to her chest, and stopping at the base of her chin. Her eyes were closed, lips parted, as she allowed herself to feel the sensations running through her.
I grabbed her wrists, tugging them slightly, encouraging her to move, and placed them up over her head. She opened her eyes slowly, drugged with passion, and watched as I brought her hands up to the slats of the headboard and showed her where she should hold on. Comprehension dawned, and she wrapped her fingers around them, getting a good grip.
“Hold on, Tori,” I said, lowering my mouth to hers, intensifying the kiss by nipping her lips and sucking them into my mouth, my hands wandering her body. I wanted to feel every inch of her, but I was at the point of no return and needed the release that her body offered.
I reached into the pocket of my jeans, pulling out a condom and ripping it open hastily. I sheathed my cock and lifted Victoria’s legs until they were bent at the knees, and she was spread open before me. She was a sight … Dark hair bound tightly, with the long tail covering the pillow. Her hands above her head, gripping the headboard in anticipation, as her desire-filled eyes watched my every move. Her body was bowed, and she stared, unabashed, as my hand gripped the base of my cock and I drove into her.
I stopped when I was fully seated, my balls slapping deliciously against her firm ass, wanting to memorize the feeling of being inside her. But when she moaned her own pleasure, my control snapped and I pulled back quickly, allowing the tip of my cock to pulse in and out, before driving back in. Victoria straightened her legs, bracing them against my chest, raising up her hips so that I filled her more deeply.