Her Gentle Gangster by Carolyn Faulkner

Chapter Nine

Cara


“You don’t haveto do all this,” Michael says when I hand him a plate that I whipped up from the meager contents of his fridge. A low-fat cheese and egg white omelet, fruit, and of course, a slice of cake.

I laugh. “You said you wanted to role play. Let’s do it.”

He acquiesces and digs in, emitting adorable yum-yum noises over my cooking. Not going to lie; this roleplay is convincing on his part.

“And besides, you need to eat something healthy before you go into a diabetic coma. You can’t have cake for breakfast at your age, Mr. Brennan.”

He laughs ruefully at the reminder.

“I’m sorry,” I say. “I didn’t mean….”

“It’s fine. You’re right. I asked for wife roleplay, and this is pretty method,” he says with a smile and a wink.

I drink my glass of juice. “A wife needs to take care of her man.”

“I agree.”

“It’s easy with you. I always liked your eyes. I thought they were kind. And you’re funny, the way you bust my dad’s chops.”

“We could maybe not talk about your dad,” he says.

“Of course. I’m sorry.”

I must look more remorseful than intended because Michael reaches across the table and pulls me into his lap for a kiss.

“I should not have asked you to refrain from talking about your family. Sooner or later, this subject is going to come up.”

My heart races for a brief moment, wondering if he means this for real, as in, we’ll have to figure out how to tell my parents about our relationship.

“I mean, talking about our age differences and the whole aspect of me being your dad’s best friend can only make the roleplay hotter, right?”

I swallow, my hopes dashed, and nod bravely. “Absolutely.”

“Hey,” he says, touching my chin. “Just tell me if this is too much for you.”

I should tell him that, of course, it’s too much for me. Because the truth is, I love him. I love this man with all my heart. He can pretend to be a monster, but I just saw what he did for the preschool kids and me. My heart is full of love for him, and if this is a temporary thing, the heartbreak will crush me.

“I want to be whatever you need me to be,” I say. “So, my sweet husband, tell me. What would you have been doing this beautiful Saturday morning if Mrs. Hurley hadn’t come knocking on your door?”

He gives a slight shrug and says, “Honestly, I don’t know. It’s not as if the days of the week matter anymore when you don’t go into the office on Monday through Friday. Come to think of it, Saturdays didn’t mean all that much when I worked sixty-hour weeks, either. Not since childhood has Saturday been anything but a concept.”

I know this wealthy, powerful, and sexy man does not want my pity. But I can’t help but feel bad at how he’s spent his whole life working so hard with no warm home life to look forward to on weekends.

“I’m sorry I interrupted your Saturday, regardless, with my tacky cakewalk. I didn’t know it wasn’t allowed.”

Michael scoffs. “You know what bothers me even more? Snobs. If I didn’t think Mrs. Hurley would cause trouble for your family, I would have let it slide. Sweetheart, whatever you need from now on, you come to me. I want your weekends free from now on.”

Is this the honest Michael or play-husband Michael? I try to hide the shaking of my breath. “Surely you have exciting guy things to do on weekends, now that you’re retired.”

“Cara, I don’t camp or hunt or fish or whatever it is that dudes do on their days off. Of course, that didn’t stop me from wanting to build a cabin in the woods.”

I lean back in surprise. “A cabin? I didn’t know you wanted a cabin.”

“Of course you did. You’re my wife; you know everything.”

I chuckle at how cute he’s being.

“And if I were there right now, I would still be sleeping.”

“Or making love to your wife. Unless this is a hunting cabin, then I can’t go there.”

He shakes his head. “No, just a cabin to get away from people.”

I laugh. “That sounds more like the Michael I know. Michael on the outside. Michael on the inside is a lovely, squishy fellow. Otherwise, Corrina and Bill would never have been friends with you.”

“They are the best people,” he says. “I never would have sold my condo in the city and moved to the ’burbs if it weren’t for them. I wasn’t all that sure about it at first, but I somehow convinced myself that the clubhouse membership and the space were worth it. Build a big house, and a wife will come along, and soon after that, kids.”

I swallow. “Here I am!” I chirp, only half-joking. Oh god, what am I doing to myself?

“So tell me. How does my wife spend her time when not letting this old man sully her virtue?”

I heave a long sigh and look up at the plaster medallion in the ceiling. “With my pre-K kids, and figuring out how to make the most of the meager resources. With the PTA focused solely on the needs of traditional K-8, the principal, Mrs. Walker, needs volunteers to be in charge of organizing all pre-K fundraising for the time being. And with me being the most junior member of the faculty at the age of 23, how could I say no? Besides, I adore all the kids at this school, and I would do anything to help them.”

He listens and then clears his throat. “Those kids’ teachers aren’t going to need to worry about money ever again.”

I cock my head. “That’s very sweet of you, husband, but you can’t singlehandedly fund an entire wing of the school.”

“Watch me.”

I don’t know how to react to this. “This is a very different Michael than the one who shows himself to the world.”

“And you’re very different from the girl who used to squeak and run away like a bunny whenever I would talk to her.

If we’re going to do this thing, I can’t have you shying away, Cara. Can you handle coming to me at any time, anywhere, when I need you? No questions asked?”

I chuckle, “Well, I do have a job.”

“You don’t need it.”

I rear back. Is this real, or is this the roleplay? “Sir. I didn’t go to four years of college just to not teach. I love those kids.”

“Fine,” he sighs. “But when you come home to me, I want you wearing skirts and dresses so I can fuck you whenever I need you, as soon as you walk in the door.”

My body shivers in response to the memory of what we just did. He wrecked me so hard I can still almost feel him inside me. “Yes, Mr. Brennan.”

“And I want you in my bed at night because that’s where wives belong. Where I can reach for you and fuck you slowly in the middle of the night.”

His dirty words knock the wind out of me. I take hold of his face and kiss him with everything I’m feeling. Hoping he’ll understand how I feel, hoping the connection will give me back my words, my breath, and my senses.

I pull away from the kiss and begin to trace kisses down his neck and across his chest. I slide off his lap and get on the floor in front of him.

But before my knees hit the floor, Michael catches me.

“No. Stand up, Cara.”

“But I want to make my husband feel good after being so good to me this morning.”

Michael sweeps me entirely off my feet, and before I understand what’s happening, we’re marching to the bedroom, him carrying me in his arms like it’s our honeymoon. If only.

His voice is ragged again. “You want that? You better believe you’re not going to be on your knees when you get it.”

His roughness, assertiveness catches me off guard but also sends my sex twitching with the need for him all over again. “But I thought that’s how….”

He tosses me on the bed, crawls over me, and crashes his mouth against mine.

I let out a quiet yip of surprise. “Did I hurt you?” he asks.

I pull him back to me and answer, “Nuh-uh,” without breaking the kiss.

“Here,” he says. “Here is where my wife gives me my post-breakfast blowjob.”

He stands to rid himself of his pajama bottoms—finally. I can’t wait to wash them along with all of the laundry I can find. For the roleplay, of course.

This whole scenario is fucking with me in so many different ways, and I don’t understand why I want to do this man’s dirty laundry. My sisters would be shocked. Diana and Cecily, the most feminist of our family, especially would bite my head off.

“Be patient with me,” I say, watching this long, thick man spread-eagle on the bed, completely naked, his thick, pink member rising to attention in slow, languorous pulses. He pats the bed next to him. “Lie down however you’re comfortable, and I’ll talk you through it.”

With one hand caressing my bare bottom under my sundress, Michael is so kind and tender with me while I suck him off.

I always had a feeling I would end up in tears if I ever gave someone a blowjob. I just never imagined it would be tears full of every emotion one can name.