Episode 93

Episode 93

The Lesser Evil

MAIA

Why in the world did I tell Rhodes I loved him?

The simple answer is because I do, in fact, love him.

He's everything I could ever want in a man. Kind. Gentle. Unbelievably considerate and compassionate. An amazing dad. A devoted fiancé. Hard worker, as can be seen by the mansion I'm standing in today. Not to mention, he's ridiculously attractive. Truly, a smile, a glimpse of his chest, the sound of his voice, and I'm swooning like some damsel in distress. And maybe that's part of my problem.

I'd worked so hard to not be someone else's baggage. Yet there I was staring into a closet half full of expensive clothes made by designers I'd never even heard of. I walked the length of my side of Rhode's closet, that was larger than my entire studio apartment back in Vegas. The fabrics had a wide variety of textures and colors that were very appealing to the touch and the eyes. But I didn't do anything to earn them. Rhodes knew I needed additional clothing and set about supplying them for me. It was part of that considerate and thoughtful nature that constantly blew me away. He was always worried about the ones he loved.

But did he love me?

He'd said he was falling in love with me, not in love. Though stupid me, had to go whole hog and drop the love bomb before him. I'd never told a man I loved them before. Not ever. Probably because I'd never trusted a man long enough to have those feelings. I absolutely did for Rhodes. After only such a short time, the man had become important to me. Important to my future happiness. He and his daughter Emily. For the first time, I felt like part of a family.

A real , loving, caring family.

And I was terrified of losing it.

"There you are," Rhodes said as he entered our closet. "Checking out your new duds?" he asked while hugging me from behind.

I nodded. "There's just so much of it," I whispered, scanning the long rows of women's clothing.

Rhodes kissed my neck and hummed as he inhaled. "God, you smell delicious."

A shiver ran down my spine making my heart beat erratically.

He placed his hands on my shoulders and then ran his fingertips down my arms. "Have I told you how gorgeous you are lately?" He clasped my hands with his and lifted my arms above my head and behind his neck. I arched my towel covered body as he slid those fingers down the underside of my arms until he reached my breasts. He cupped them over the towel and squeezed, eliciting a moan from me.

"You know… Emily is in bed." His breath was warm as he kissed down the length of my neck.

"Already?" I sighed as he continued teasing and plumping my breasts.

I wanted to yank the towel from my body and feel his hands on my skin directly, but decided to let him lead, preferring to enjoy his touch.

"Marisol knew she was tired but didn't want to leave her, so she suggested they continue their Friends marathon in her bedroom. Emily was out before the credits finished rolling." He chuckled and then bit down on the space where my shoulder and neck met.

"Rhodes, please." I gasped.

"Please what?" he murmured, then moved my hair to one side so he could rest his chin on my shoulder and look down the front of my body.

"Touch me," I mewled.

"I am touching you," he whispered, while one of his hands left my breast and slid down my belly over the towel until he made it to the apex of my thighs. My breath caught as he teased his way under the fabric to boldly cup my center.

"Yes," I cried out softly.

He rubbed my sex with his entire hand, his fingers becoming slick the more he played.

"Like this?" he bit down on the ball of my shoulder and inserted a finger.

"Gawd, yesssss!" I moved my hips, arousal tearing through my body at a rapid pace.

He wedged another finger inside and the fullness caused me to rise up onto my toes and press against him, trying to force him deeper.

His hand started to move faster, fucking me harder.

"You're so wet for me. I can't decide if I want to fuck you or eat your cunt right here in the closet." He growled and doubled his efforts.

I clung to the back of his neck and bucked wildly, riding his hand. I was so close to coming.

"Rhoooodes, please, please," I begged, for what, I didn't know.

I just needed more.

More of his hand working my sex.

More of his filthy words.

More of him.

"Fuck it, I'm taking both," he rumbled on a whispered growl before pulling his hand away, spinning me around, ripping off the towel, and dropping to his knees.

His mouth was on me in what felt like a nanosecond. I cried out at the extreme sensation of his assault on my oversensitive flesh. I grabbed the back of his head, gripping his hair by the roots, and bore down on his face feeling nothing but beauty.

His hands came around my hips to my ass where he dug his fingers into the plump cheeks. His tongue was everywhere at once. Gliding the length of my sex one second and then fucking me as deep as he could the next.

Blindly, I reached my arm out and grabbed one of the closet rungs as desire tore through me, shredding my nerve endings with powerful bursts of pleasure. I was a stick of dynamite that had been lit when Rhodes took the experience to a whole new level.

"Don't fucking come!" he demanded as he adjusted one of my legs, lifting it up and over his shoulder, opening me fully to his perusal. "I want you coming on my dick not my tongue, but I'm not done," he leisurely flicked my clit as his gaze trailed over my naked body then up to my face. "You hear me?"

I nodded, my breath sawing in and out of my body.

"Good girl," he smiled salaciously and went to town on my pussy.

I had to bite down on my forearm in order to not scream as wave after wave of sheer bliss cascaded in every direction.

I pulled at his hair, trying to be good. The pleasure was so intense, I couldn't escape it. I shook and rocked my hips as I moaned wantonly. It was filthy and so hot watching his pink tongue glide all over my glistening clit and swollen sex. It was carnal. It was raunchy. It was Rhodes, losing himself in me.

"I'm gonna come. I'm gonna come." I rocked my hips hard, forcing his tongue with more pressure against the tight bundle of nerves that could make me sing.

Rhodes pulled his head away and caught me when my legs could no longer hold me up. I fell directly on top of him. He was still in a white t-shirt and a pair of grey sweatpants, a large wet spot from his hard cock soaking the fabric near his waistband. I straddled his thighs and pulled his thick cock out. I didn't even wait to remove his pants or his shirt before I got up on my knees, centered the wide head of his dick at my entrance and slammed home.

"Fuck!" he roared as I arched my entire body, coming instantly.

The orgasm seemed to go on and on as I rode him like a wild bucking bronco. I wanted him to feel every inch of pleasure he'd given me and then some.

"Jesus, fuck, yes!" He grated through clenched teeth, his hands clinging to my hips as he thrust up on my down strokes.

I rode him with everything I had in me. All the pent-up worry, fear, and anxiety coming out in a flurry of mind-blowing sex.

Before I could finish him off, he sat up, wrapped me in his arms, then kissed me as he rolled me underneath him. His tongue tangled with mine as one of his hands hiked my knee up and toward my arm pit. He ground his cock against my center, crushing my clit in the process.

Another orgasm coiled low in my pelvis, getting larger, almost ready to burst as he fucked me harder.

"God damn, I can't get enough of you, Maia. I just want to keep fucking you," he hissed, seemingly pained by continuing to hold off his own release.

I cupped his face, our lips knocking into one another as he pistoned into me.

"I'm going to come again," I whispered. "I love you, Rhodes. I love you, baby." I chanted as he curved his arms under my back, cupped my shoulders from underneath as I wrapped both of my legs and arms around him, holding him close.

"Fuck yeah, you're going to come again. All over my cock, baby. You squeeze me so good. God, I fucking love you. Maia." He jackhammered into me, his energy seemingly renewed by his admission. "You hear me…"

"I do. I hear you," I took his mouth in a deep kiss as he swiveled his hips, the crown of his cock suddenly bumping against that special place deep inside me.

"I. Love. You." He accentuated each word with a deep thrust against my g-spot.

I lost it. My entire body convulsed and locked down around him as I came and came hard.

Finally, he planted himself to the root and groaned into my mouth, his release spurting hotly inside of me.

We stayed on the floor, connected for a long time. So long his length softened and slid out of me. I was as limp as a cooked noodle, every one of my muscles having been overused. Sated didn't even come close to the bliss I felt in that moment.

At some point, Rhodes placed a series of sweet kisses all over my face, down my neck, over each breast, and down my stomach. When he got to my sex, he spread my legs, butterflying them.

"I love seeing a part of me inside you," he said with reverence. He teased my slit with a finger, sending little pinpricks of arousal zipping and zapping through my body once more. "Just looking at your cunt like this makes me hard all over again," he grunted, palming his half hard cock.

It should be nasty, his words, and the way he played with me. Somehow it wasn't. He stared and touched this part of me as though I was a treasured piece of art that he couldn't help but put his hands on, or in this case, in me again.

He licked his lips as he pushed two fingers deep. "I can still taste you on my tongue…"

I moaned, starting to get with the program. If he wanted to go for O number three, I could rally, even though my eyes were closing of their own accord.

I must have dozed off while he played, because the air changed, and I opened my eyes to find I was being carried from the closet to a huge king-sized bed.

"Do you want to sleep with a part of me inside you, or should I get a cloth?" he asked.

I yawned. "You worried about another wet spot?" I gestured to his sweats where he'd made a mess.

He grinned. "Not even a little bit."

"Then come snuggle me. After a nap, you can give me O number three," I murmured already falling into dreamland.

"Sounds like a deal," he said.

I barely felt the bed shift when he got under the covers. He must have removed his clothing because his body was bare and scalding warm when he spooned me from behind.

"I do love you, Maia. I'm sorry I didn't say it earlier when you said it. I just didn't want you to think it was because you admitted it first. But I do love you, and I've never been happier to have you here, in my bed, within my arms." He snuggled my neck.

"I love you, too," I whispered and then fell asleep.

* * * *

It was dark. He was touching me again. I could feel his hand cupping my breast, squeezing rhythmically. His naked body was plastered behind mine. His breath smelled of cigarettes.

My eyes opened instantly and I went completely still, taking in the unfamiliar dark room.

There was a body plastered to mine. A huge one, not small and gangly like a teenager who hadn't gone through puberty yet.

The hand around my breast was…firm, in a pleasant way. Like it had a right to be there so casually.

My breathing sped up as reality and the nightmarish world of my past collided together, both fighting for supremacy over my brain.

I inhaled deeply. There was no cigarette smell, only the combined scent of my bodywash, Rhode's cologne, and the musky notes of the sex we'd had earlier.

Rhodes.

I lifted my hand and covered the one holding my breast. It was dry, with a light dusting of hair across the top. Not free of hair with spindly fingers.

I smiled as I realized that I'd woken naked in Rhodes' arms and didn't scream or jump out of bed like a scared kitten. I'd been a little frightened, and uncertain of my surroundings, because we'd forgotten to leave a light on, but I could hear the sound of Rhodes breathing. It was distinct. Like a large bear at rest. A soothing purr. And his hold around me was intimate and protective, not searching .

I laid there long enough to enjoy the feeling of waking within the arms of the man I loved and not freaking out. It was a first. A really good first. It meant I was healing. Rhodes was helping me heal. Through his care and his love. It made me feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

Unfortunately, luck couldn't stop the fact that I desperately needed to use the restroom.

With care, I extricated myself from Rhodes' hold. In his sleep, he stretched out his arm as though reaching for me. Ultimately, he tagged my pillow and tucked it against his chest while continuing to snooze away.

I went to the bathroom and took care of business before slipping into the monster sized closet to find some comfy clothes. The towel I'd worn was still on the floor in a rumpled heap. My cheeks heated as I remembered all that we'd done last night and the many times he told me he loved me. Just hearing those three words from him gave me such an incredible sense of peace.

All of this was new to me. This life. Being a stepmother type figure. A fiancée. And today, after all that we'd survived, including the beautiful things we've shared, I could finally say I felt comfortable. Confident even. I was madly in love with a man who loved me in return. My relationship with Emily had grown and evolved into something special. And I believed she genuinely cared about me as much as I did her. Sure, I'd need to get to know Marisol, but there would be time for that once we dealt with my mother and siblings.

The reminder that I had unfinished business in Colorado threatened to ruin my good mood, but I forced that problem down and pushed it aside. Rhodes promised we'd go to my grandmother's funeral at the end of the week and that's when we'd figure out what exactly was happening with my family. I had to trust that he would help as promised, and things would eventually get better. After all that we'd been through, it had to, right?

If history was anything to go by, nothing would go as planned. I needed to be careful not to set my expectations too high. I had no idea what we were going to find when we arrived in Colorado. I just had to pray that I wasn't too late.

Feeling antsy again, I decided to go check on Emily. It was her first night at home and the last couple evenings she'd slept with us by her side. Last night, Marisol stayed with Em until she'd fallen asleep, but I knew all too well what it was like waking up after a traumatic experience. I'd been dealing with my own demons for a decade. I didn't want Emily to feel alone when she woke.

Quietly, I padded out of the primary bedroom on socked feet down the hall to where I'd been shown Emily's room. It was still very early in the morning, and the sun wasn't up yet. Her door was open a crack, as was the door to the room across from hers, which I remembered was Marisol's. It was lovely that Marisol kept her door open in order to be available to Emily if she was needed.

Before I entered, I heard the tiniest of whimpers.

I acted immediately, pushing the door open. "Hey, Em, honey, it's me, Maia. You okay, sweetheart?" I approached her bed where she'd had the blankets pulled all the way up to her face. Her wide, frightened gaze broke my heart.

She nodded but didn't speak.

"Did you have a bad dream?" I asked and came to sit on her bed. I didn't touch her because when I was in the middle of a nightmare, or the aftereffects of one, I usually didn't want to be touched.

"I-I w-was b-back in that car…"

"Okay. I know that was a super scary time," I said softly. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"He had a gun on me and Auntie," she whispered squeezing her eyes shut.

"Can I lay down with you?" I asked, needing to be closer to her, but knowing it had to be her choice.

She eased the covers back in invitation.

I crawled in and pulled her into my arms. "Tell me everything that is scaring you."

"Will you tell my dad?" she whispered.

"Not if you don't want me to," I said automatically, but it was a big fat lie. If I had to involve Rhodes in something harming his daughter, I'd take the hit to our relationship in order to ensure she received the help she needed. It was the lesser evil.

She told me her dream. It was terrifying and with each new revelation, I held her tighter. Eventually, she talked herself back to sleep.

Not willing to leave her, I closed my eyes. It felt like only a minute of sleep but was probably hours, before the door to Emily's room flew open, the handle hitting the wall with a loud bang.

I sat up, instantly awake, and put myself in front of Emily who'd also heard the sound and screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Who the fuck are you and why are you in bed with my daughter?" screamed an angry, gorgeous blonde woman dressed in a skintight dress and stilettos.

"Mom?" Emily croaked, white as a ghost with tears streaming down her cheeks. "What are you doing here?"