“Really? That doesn’t feel like me.”
“It was. You’re in so much fucking trouble,” Paxton said with warm words to my lips. I sensed something unusual in Paxton’s touch at that very moment. The way he held my ribs gently with both hands felt different. I don’t know how, but it did. His fingers softly ran up my arms and to my neck. His touch was special. It didn’t feel threatening like it had before. His fingers folded around my throat and his lips met mine. My body tingled clear to the tips of my toes. Our mouths opened and our tongues searched each other out. Desperately.
“Jesus Christ, Gabriella. What the fuck happened to us?” Paxton panted with sultry words.
I had no response. Instead, I kissed him. Deep and hard. Fervently showing how much I wanted him with every touch. His fingers tightened around my throat and he kissed me back, letting a soft moan hum in my mouth.
“Eww, stop doing that,” Ophelia said with a hand between both of us. She shoved us apart and lifted her arms for her dad.
“What? You don’t like it when Daddy kisses Mommy?” he teased with stiff fingers digging into her ribs. She cackled and lunged forward. Paxton pretended to let her fall to the floor and caught her right before she hit.
“Well, you didn’t do it before she come home,” Rowan said while her arms too went into the air. Paxton tossed Ophelia over his shoulder and grabbed her up, too. They both squealed, upside down as he walked them to the theater.
I stared after them feeling heavy hearted. That’s the only words I know how to describe it. Heavy. Like a bomb being filled with more and more. One that would eventually go off. Filled to capacity. An explosion. A deadly eruption.
A dense sigh slipped through my lips and I gathered the girls’ cups. Shaking it off seemed to be what I did best. Blow it off. Compartmentalize it. That’s what I did. The only problem was, I never got back to them. I ignored them. Filled the ticking bomb even more.
“Where’s my drink?” Paxton questioned as he reached for both the cups from my hand.
My eyes shifted to the screen on the wall and back to his. “You mean the drink you don’t like?”
“I like it,” he said in some sort of high-pitched tone. He cleared his throat and said it again.
I blew out a puff of air with my crooked smile and winked at him. “I’ll get your drink.”
I did get it. I topped his off with a little more vodka and fixed myself another one. Drunk sex sounded like the perfect punishment for my disobedience.
As much as I loved my girls, I didn’t want to sit between them during the movie. I wanted Paxton on one side of me. They weren’t having it. They both insisted on sitting next to me. One on each side.
I snuck out once to get popcorn and filled our drinks, hoping to sneak in beside Paxton. That didn’t work. Both girls whined simultaneously for me to sit beside them. I sighed and took my same position. Paxton placed his hand on the back of my neck and massaged. Not a mean kind of touch, either. This was gentle. Like he wanted me. Like he wanted me as much as I wanted him.
The next trip to the kitchen finished off my pitcher of mixed drinks. Again, I topped Paxton’s off with more alcohol and a squirt of lemon. The lemon was to mask a little bit of the vodka. I didn’t mean to get that much. Well, maybe I did. Drunk Paxton seemed like the better choice for later.
“What?” I questioned when Paxton reached for my glass. The one with a quarter of liquor.
“I want yours.”
“Shh, Daddy. This is my favorite part,” Rowan complained while shushing us.
I gripped the glass firmly, but Paxton wouldn’t let go. His eyes darting to Rowan warned me that the cup was about to end up on her head. I had no choice but to let go. “That’s what I thought. Drink up, love,” he said in an arrogant tone.
I didn’t want to drink up. I’d already had three. I didn’t need a stronger one to finish me off. I was already drunk. The next twenty minutes were spent with me trying to digest the very strong drink. Epic fail on my part. Paxton whispered for me to keep going every time he wanted me to take a drink.
The time on the bottom of the projector told me we still had twenty-nine minutes of the movie left. I didn’t even know what it was about. Between the passion searing between Paxton and me, his hand down the front of my shirt, resting on my chest, and the alcohol, I needed them to go to bed. I had a punishment to endure.
My lips barely touched him. I turned my head and kissed the inside of his wrists. Paxton’s arm stilled and then he stood.
“We’ll be right back. Keep watching,” he said to both girls while taking my hand.