He swirled his tongue over her before taking her clit in his mouth again. He sucked gently while he slipped a finger inside her. She moaned and dropped her head back, listening as he hummed against her sensitive skin.
“Have you ever come standing up?” he asked.
“No,” she breathed.
Mark chuckled. He already knew what would happen, but he kissed her anyway because he liked her in this position and didn’t want to move her. He wrapped his hand around the back of her thigh and continued his sweet assault. Swirling tongue. Probing finger. He found a rhythm, and just like they were creating music together, she set a melody of whimpers to the pace of his tongue, his thrusting finger. The crescendo built as her body tensed.
“I can’t,” she panted.
“You better,” he said against her flesh.
He wouldn’t let up until he heard her scream, and she did. She screamed and shook, clutching desperately at his head, but her hands slipped on the slickness of the robe, and she fell backwards onto the living room floor.
“Jerk!” she yelled, laughing.
“What do you mean?” he asked indignantly.
“You let go of my leg!” she cried, fighting him as he climbed on top of her.
“Want a do-over?” he asked.
“I’m too sensitive.”
“I’ll be gentle.”
“I’ll still be sensitive.”
He grinned. “You keep feeding my ego, you know.”
“How so?”
“Well, I knock you out. I make you fall down. I’m starting to get a little cocky about my skills.”
She pushed him off her. “Oh, get over yourself.”
He laughed and lay beside her on the floor. They stared at the ceiling as they talked.
“I’m scared to be on my own,” Cadence said.
“You’re not on your own,” Mark replied.
She shrugged. “Well, you know what I mean. No parents.”
“My mom sure as hell would like to be your parent,” Mark said.
Cadence chuckled. “Was that all for show, do you think?”
Mark shook his head. “In the beginning, I thought maybe. But after about five minutes I realized it was genuine. She really likes you. She thinks you’re perfect for me.”
“And why’s that?”
“I think because you make me smile. And she sees that.”
Cadence thought for a moment.
“Doesn’t have anything to do with your past?”
Mark tensed. It had everything to do with his past, but he couldn’t tell her now. Not on her graduation day. Not in the weeks ahead when she needed to get adjusted to her new life. Not when she’d be starting college soon. There was never a good time, he realized, to tell her his secret. But he knew the longer she lived with him and became connected to him in the most intimate ways, the more damaging the truth would be once she discovered it.
He was trapped.
“I think it just has to do with a mother wanting her son to be happy,” he lied.
Cadence nodded. “Is your mother really lonely?”
“Lonely for companionship, yes. I mean, she’s got her ladies at church she visits a lot, but at the end of the day, she doesn’t like going home to an empty house.”
“What are her friends like?” Cadence asked.
“I try to steer clear of them. For a while, they were all in it together to find me a date. Like I’m some socially inept dork or something.”
Cadence giggled.
“What? You think I’m a socially inept dork?”
“No!” she said, laughing. “I’m just picturing these little old church ladies hatching plans for you. It’s funny.”
“Marybeth. She’s the worst,” Mark said, grimacing.
Cadence smiled. “I’d like to meet them.”
“No, you wouldn’t.”
Cadence was quiet for a moment.
“I mean, you’ll have to meet them eventually if my mother has anything to say about it.”
“I want your mom to like me!” Cadence blurted. And then she added more quietly, “I’ll do whatever I have to to make her like me.”
Mark took her hand in his and looked at her. “Hey.”
She turned her face to his.
“She likes you. Very much.”
Cadence nodded.
“I don’t want you to worry about that right now anyway. I want you to focus on work and getting ready for college.”
“Okay.”
“Actually, on second thought, I don’t even want you to focus on that right now,” Mark said. He peeled himself off the floor then helped Cadence up. “Tonight’s a celebration. And I have champagne. And there’s cake left. So what do you think?”
“I’ve never had champagne,” Cadence said.
Mark wiggled his eyebrows. “I know. And I’m gonna take full advantage of that.”
Cadence laughed. “Fine. Just don’t let me topple over again.”
“I won’t,” Mark replied. “I’m gonna have you on your back most of the time.”
He pulled her close and unzipped the front of her robe. He pushed it off her shoulders, letting it puddle around her feet in silky waves. She stood completely naked, and he took in every inch of her. Small, firm breasts. Tapered waist. Shapely hips and thighs for a girl so small.
“I want you to stay like that while we drink our champagne,” Mark said.
“Okay.”
“And I want you on my lap,” he added.
“Sure.”
He studied her face. She looked like a woodland sprite, and he thought he should tell her but decided against it. She’d laugh at him and think he was a weirdo. So he dropped the “woodland.”