16: ZENON

I'm exhausted this morning, but I'm not showing it. I didn't get any more sleep last night after Danica shared with me what she'd gone through.

I couldn't fall asleep again after she'd shared her story with me. I had no idea things were that bad for her.

"Are you okay?" I ask, looking up at her as she scrubs the counters for what feels like the hundredth time already.

"Yeah. I just want to make sure that everything is okay for Zílda when she arrives."

"Baby," I say, walking to where Danica is cleaning the kitchen counter. Grabbing the sponge from her hand, I lay it aside and take both her hands in mine.

"Stop. I need you to breathe, Dani. You're getting yourself worked up, and she won't meet the beautiful, smart, and funny woman that I know. She might not like this anal, crazed version of you."

A small smile tilts Danica's lips, and she says, "I'm sorry. I'm just so nervous."

"You don't have to be. She's just a thirteen-year-old girl who loves spending time on the phone with her friends, watching the latest TikTok videos, and going shopping."

Licking her lips, her eyes dance up to mine, and I see that she's still nervous.

I bend down, still holding her hands, and kiss her softly at first and then more heatedly. My hands finally release hers and go up to her bikini top. My fingers roll her nipples underneath the fabric.

Danica tilts her head and lock her arms around my neck. I lift her onto the counter that she was cleaning, and then move my hands around to her back and untie her bikini top. When it falls to the space between us, somewhere between her knees and my stomach, I lean in and greedily suck one of her breasts into my mouth.

My tongue laves around her nipple and sucks greedily at her soft skin and her budded nipple.

"Zenon, oh my God. This feels so good, but we don't have time for this," she moans.

I move to the other breast, not heeding her warning.

"I can't help myself when I'm around you, Dani. I want to taste you, feel you, and be inside of you," I say before kissing her again.

My hands palm her breasts, and she leans back against the cabinet as she spreads her legs, making room for me. I step inside of them and slip a finger into her cotton shorts, pulling her panties to the side.

Danica pulls one leg up onto the counter, planting her foot firmly there. My finger slips inside of her, and then another one joins it. I scissor them inside of her, smiling as she uncoils for me and holds nothing back.

"Oh, Zenon, that feels so good," she drawls lustily.

I pull my fingers back and suck the juices off before replacing them inside of her. When my lips clash with hers, she sucks at them greedily as if she's enjoying the taste of her essence coating my lips.

I press a third and then a fourth finger into her pussy until she's rolling her hips with wanton pleasure, begging me for more. She slides down on the counter until her back is in a crazily arched position, but her legs are up and spread before me.

Leaning down, I push her back until she's resting on the counter, and I shove her shorts aside. This time, I bury my face in her pussy, licking and sucking up every drop. My fingers join my tongue as Dani lifts her ass from the counter and rocks into me.

"That's it, beautiful," I say, pulling away for a moment and then returning.

I take several long licks of her before I consume her again. I suck at each of her lips before slipping my tongue inside of her.

Dani thrashes wildly on the counter as tears seep from her closed eyelids.

"It feels so good, Z," she moans.

I slide a finger into her ass and wiggle it around before I have to place a hand in the middle of her belly to keep her on the counter. She rocks so hard sideways that she almost falls, but I'm not letting her go.

When her knees clamp around the side of my head, I know that she's on the verge of her release. I suck at her and burrow my nose into her as I move my fingers to play with her clit.

"Zenon!" she cries out in a loud, lusty moan.

When she finishes, I stand and help her sit up.

She hops off the counter, fixes her clothing, and grabs the sponge. With her other hand, she grabs the Clorox cleaner and sprays the counter before she begins scrubbing madly again.

Chuckling, I shake my head and remove the sponge and cleaner from her hands.

"Go get cleaned up, and I'll finish in here. Then we can head out to meet up with Larisa," I suggest.

Exhaling deeply, she says, "Okay."

When I learned that Larisa was heading to Baltimore to be with family, I suggested that she drop Zílda off in Charleston, return her rental car there, and catch a flight to Baltimore from the airport.

The drive into Charleston is roughly fifteen minutes, and Larisa called me about half an hour ago, telling me that she was almost there.

When Dani returns, her eyes are bright, and she shakes her head at me.

"You cannot be doing that."

"Doing what?" I ask innocently.

"You know what you were doing," she says, mimicking my accent and causing me to laugh.

"I was just trying to ease your troubles. I don't see what I did wrong."

"While I thank you for being such a considerate gentleman, let me just say that you can't do that once Zílda arrives."

"What? Eat you out on the counter? I would never do a thing like that in front of my daughter," I say, pressing my hand against my chest in mock astonishment.

Dani playfully shoves me in the chest.

"That's not what I was talking about, you jerk."

"Then what?" I ask, grabbing her hand and holding it to my chest.

Wrapping my arm around her, I pull her closer and give her a long smack before dissolving it into a passionate kiss.

When we pull away, her lids are heavy, and her lips are swollen. She points to my lips and says, "That. What you did right there, we have to stop."

"I have to stop kissing you?" I ask as confusion fills me.

"Yes. She doesn't need to see us behaving this way."

"What? A man loving a woman and making her feel special and desirable?"

"All the things, Z. I'm sure that she's an impressionable young lady."

"Also, a very smart one. She's going to make her own assumptions about her daddy staying with a beautiful, sexy supermodel."

"You think she'll know?"

"Maybe between all the screaming and moaning you do, she'll figure it out," I assure her with a wink.

"That right there is exactly why it can't happen."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Z, we can't have sex while she's here. The intimacy has to stop. We have to behave ourselves and exercise restraint for a while."

"Why? I'm sure she's heard her mother and her fiancé fucking."

"Ex-fiancé, and don't be so crass."

"Either way, it's not like we'll be out here in the living room doing it. We'll be in the privacy of our bedroom more than likely when she's out on the beach or asleep at night in her room."

Dani folds her arms around herself as she steps away from me. Shaking her head, she says, "I just don't like it. I don't think it's a good idea."

"Come on, Dani, I was just teasing you. We'll behave with a modicum of respect, but I don't see why I can't still love on you. No, I won't be grabbing your ass in front of my daughter, tonguing you down, or eating you out on the counter, but those things won't stop."

"Z, could you take me seriously for once?"

"I always take you seriously," I say, offended that she would suggest otherwise.

"I just mean that maybe we should cool things out for a minute."

"You didn't look too cool laying out on that counter a while ago. If I recall correctly, you were the one urging me on," I say, pointing at the counter behind us.

"I know that, and I shouldn't have. It's just that..." Dani bites her bottom lip and looks away.

"It's just that what?"

"Since I've been here and we've torn the barriers away, that's all that we do. Why don't we see what we could build without the sex?"

"You don't think that there's more to us than sex?"

"There used to be, but I honestly don't know anymore. It seems like every time that I'm in the room with you, you want it."

Shoving my hands in my pockets, I say, "That's because I do. But if I recall correctly, and I know that I do, it was you who first instigated our renewed sexual interest in one another."

"It was, and I may have been wrong for that."

"It's also been eleven months since I've been with a woman, and I can't help that I'm horny as hell."

"Oh."

"What about you?"

She glances away and says, "Isn't this the stuff we were supposed to discuss before we came together again?"

"Yeah, but since we didn't, there's no better time than now."

Dani inhales and exhales slowly, and worry fills me as I think about what her answer might be. I never even asked if she was involved in a relationship. I took it for granted that because she was here, she was free for me to pursue.

"It's been almost four months for me, Z."

There's something about the way that she says that which makes me wonder if there's more that she's not saying.

"What, Dani?"

"The night of the awards show I was with a man that I often take with me to public appearances. His name is Andre Harrison, and he's a music exec. It works for us because it just does," Dani says, shrugging. "I take him to events, and he takes me to some."

"He's your boyfriend?"

Jealousy grows inside of me.

"No. Nothing like that. I guess you could just call him a fuck buddy because that's all we did. That and drugs. The night of the show, we had gone back to my hotel room. We had sex in the limo on the way back to the hotel and again when we arrived. We did a few lines of coke. I had already taken the hydrocodone and Zoloft, and that, paired with the alcohol and coke, was what did me in."

"I didn't know that," I say softly.

"Yes. Anyway, I passed out again, and he was afraid that I'd OD'd. My agent, Jade, was at the hotel too. Andre called her and told her what happened. There is a doctor who's on call for things like this whenever there are special events or celebrity parties. Jade called him in to take care of me.

"I was whisked to a private facility, and everything was swept under the rug. When I returned home from the hospital, Jade took me straight to rehab. I left rehab and came straight here. I haven't just had time to be. I was thinking that maybe we could spend the remainder of our time here getting to know each other again. And I could get to know your daughter. Besides, she's an impressionable young girl, and we need to be cognizant of that."

I drop my head, considering everything that she's said, and fold my arms over my chest.

I feel the light touch of her hand upon me, and I open my eyes and look at her from underneath my ducked head.

"I love what we've shared, Z. I just want to see if we can create other memories. I want to see if there's more to us than this. After all, you were the one who suggested that you wanted more of me."

I step forward, uncrossing my arms. Tilting Dani's head back, I say, "I did, and I do."

Then I kiss her lips softly before I say, "We'll do things your way."

When I step back, I head to the hook and grab the keys. Jerking my head towards the door, I say, "Let's go pick up Zílda. She's going to be enough to keep us busy."

The smile that brightens Dani's face is worth everything we've gone through. I look forward to getting to know her again.