Egotistically Yours by Hayley Faiman

Chapter Eighteen

BETHANIE

The woman was gorgeous.Stunning even. She had every right to turn her nose down at me. She was everything that I’m not nor could ever be. I’m not six feet tall, I’m not waif thin and I never really was, not even before having Tucker. She’s also had Laurent, so many times that she felt comfortable showing up with a suitcase.

“I think that I’m going to go and take a nap. I have a headache,” I whisper.

“No,” Laurent says.

My eyes widen at the forcefulness of his no. I watch, licking my lips, and wondering how much longer I have to stand here completely exposed.

“Do I have to show you again just how much I love your body?” he asks.

All I want to do is hide. My eyes widen and I stare at him for a moment, my body struggling with fight or flight. I can’t believe that he has been with her, well that’s not true. That is the exact woman that I see him with, that’s who should be here, not me.

“I don’t want to hear you say anything fucked up, not a single fucking word.”

“She’s beautiful, are you sure you want to turn her away like that?”

Laurent stares at me, his eyes wide and his lips parted in awe, but he doesn’t speak. I don’t blame him. He’s probably thinking about her and I’m half tempted to tell him to go to her, but I’m selfish. I want to keep him.

“She’s a bitch. You think I want a bitch in my bed? In my life? To be my partner?” he asks.

He is so full of conviction, I truly believe that he doesn’t want her, at least generally speaking. She was beautiful, though, flawless even. There probably wasn’t even an ounce of cellulite anywhere on her ass. If he could have that, why would he want me?

Before I can ask him any of the questions swirling around in my head, he charges toward me. I open my mouth, but no words come out. He lifts his hand, wrapping his fingers around the back of my neck and his lips are on mine in an instant.

His tongue slides inside of my mouth, swirling around and tasting me. I gasp and lift my hands, grabbing ahold of his shirt in an attempt to push him away, but instead I melt toward him and pull him closer.

Laurent nibbles on my bottom lip, then he rests his forehead against mine as we catch our breath. There is a moment of silence between us, then I hear Tucker from the bedroom. He lets out one cry and I know that he’s waking up. I have about forty-five seconds before he is crying out for me.

“I don’t want anyone except you, baby,” he rasps. “Even if I didn’t want you, she just showed her ugly and I wouldn’t have her if she came here crawling on her hands and knees. I’ve seen her true colors.”

Licking my lips, I think about saying something, but decide against it. He doesn’t want to hear my insecurities, but they’re there. They are huge and now they’re even bigger. I can’t help but wonder when this whole fantasy will end. There is no way he can want to be with me forever when he still has women like that literally knocking on his door.

“Go on and get our boy. I’m going to start the grill, you two jump in the pool.”

Nodding, I take a step backward, but he doesn’t let me go right away. His fingers are still wrapped around the back of my neck and he tugs me close to him, his lips touching mine in a hard, bruising kiss.

“Baby, I love you. Nobody else.”

“Okay,” I breathe.

His eyes search mine. I’m not sure what he’s looking for, but he must see it because he lets me go. Before his fingers release my neck, he flexes them, then he drops his hand and takes a step backward.

“I want you in that pool, Bethie,” he orders.

He doesn’t wait for me to say anything in response, he turns and walks into the kitchen. Not that I can really stay and argue, because Tucker starts to really wake up and I know that I only have a short window before he’s just too inconsolable from his nap.

Hurrying upstairs, I walk into the nursery with a smile and make my way toward the crib. His legs and arms are kicking and he’s letting out a few big cries, but as soon as he sees me, he stops.

Reaching for him, I pick him up and kiss his cheek, then I change him before I head downstairs. I know that he’s hungry, but I have a feeling that Laurent will come and hunt me down if I’m not by the pool within a few minutes.

Laurent is standing at the grill when I walk outside. Closing the door to the house behind me, I walk over to the patio furniture and I sit down. I’m in the shade and out of view of anyone else here, so I feed Tucker. Though this high up, I doubt anyone can see anything anyway.

“Paulette is pretty, but she’s empty,” Laurent announces. He turns to me. “She texted me a few months ago, said she was in town for one night. I was lonely,” he admits. “I don’t know her, never did. She’s nobody I care to associate with.”

Nodding my head, I can appreciate his explanation. He doesn’t owe it to me though. The reality is, we weren’t together. He could be with whomever he wanted. He didn’t even know about Tucker. And the cold hard truth is … it’s all my fault.

It doesn’t make me feel any better about myself, whether it’s him justifying it or me. All I want is to curl up in a ball and pretend that I don’t exist anymore. I want to lose all of this extra weight and then some.

I want to be like that girl, Paulette, I want to look like I belong on Laurent Astor’s arm so that women like her never think that I’m the help again. When Tucker is finished eating and I’ve burped him, I look at the pool, then at Laurent.

“I bought him a suit and some things called swim diapers,” he announces.

“You did?”

He hums and nods his head. “I did. I’ll grab them so you can change him and jump in the pool.”

“What about you?” I ask.

He lifts his head from the grill, looking back at me with a grin. “I’m going to grab mine too. I just wanted to get all of this started.”

“Okay,” I whisper.

He chuckles. “You’re beautiful, baby.”

Before I can deny his words, he turns and walks away from me and into the house. I watch him go, still not sure how beautiful I am, but there is something really, really flattering about this gorgeous man telling me that I am the beautiful one. I want to believe him.

LAURENT

Food consumed.Tucker asleep for the night, but not too far from us, he’s in the bouncer just inside of the living room, strapped in and safe and sound. I left the door open so that we could hear him, but this, tonight—this is for us.

Wrapping my arms around Bethie, I bring her closer to me, dipping my chin to touch my mouth to hers.

“This is the life, baby. You, me, and Tucker all together. This moment, I wouldn’t change any of it for anything.”

She tilts her head to look up at me, her eyes wide and her lips parted almost in awe, as if she didn’t expect me to say that to her. It’s exactly how I feel though. This is exactly what I didn’t know I was missing in life.

Reaching down, I grab a handful of her ass, squeezing her cheeks roughly before I pick her up and set her on the edge of the pool deck. She lets out a cry, at the same time laughing as she looks down at me. She lifts her hands and runs her fingers through my wet hair.

“How is work?” she asks softly.

“Better, still struggling,” I admit.

“I wish I knew more about how everything worked so that I could help you. I’m a receptionist, I’m a glorified doorman. It’s kind of lame,” she says with a laugh.

Shaking my head, I turn and touch my lips to the inside of her wrist. “You’re wonderful, baby. I’ll get it up and running or it’ll fail and I’ll have to figure something else out.”

Her eyes widen from my words and she licks her lips, tugging on the strands of my hair gently. “That sounds scary, Laurent.”

“Would you leave me if I failed? If I was a failure?”

“Never.”

She says the words with such conviction. She means it. She won’t leave me and there is something in that one word that fills me with comfort but also pride. Slipping my hands between her thighs, I spread her legs.

“Laurent,” she breathes.

Extending one finger between her legs, I run my knuckle against her center from over the top of her suit. Hooking the center of the suit, I tug it to the side and expose her pussy.

“Laurent,” she snaps.

Chuckling, I lean forward and touch my lips to her clit. “C’mon to the edge, baby.”

She does as I ask, but she does it while telling me that we should not be doing this at all. Her words are breathless and it’s sweet. All of her is sweet. Sucking her clit, I flatten my tongue and taste all of her.

Bethie grips the edge of the pool, her head dropping back between her shoulders. I taste her. I devour her. I’ve never wanted her more. Gripping the insides of her thighs with my fingertips, I keep her spread for me as I consume all of her.

I want to make her come, again and again. I’ve never wanted anything more. It doesn’t take long for her to find her release. The dangerous excitement of being out in the open has her and if I have to confess, myself, on edge.

When she comes, she must forget where she is, or maybe she doesn’t care, because she is not quiet and it’s sexy as fuck. Standing up, I pick her up and carry her over to the sunbathing ledge. Dropping my trunks, I sit on the edge and arrange Bethie astride me.

Pulling the center of her suit to the side, I position the head of my cock against her center, then I pull her down so that she’s fully seated on me, my cock buried deep inside of her. I look directly into her eyes, taking in all of her beauty.

Lifting my hands, I cup her cheeks and slide my thumbs beneath her eyes. “You’re fucking beautiful, baby.”

Her eyes tear, but the wetness doesn’t fall. She shakes her head a couple of times before she speaks. “Please don’t,” she whispers.

Licking my lips, I continue to look into her eyes. “I’m serious. If I have to tell and show you every single day for the rest of my life to get you to believe me, then that’s what I’ll do because you are fucking stunning, baby. Every single part of you. You’re better than a dream.”

She starts to move, her body needing it just as much as mine. I don’t move my hands from her cheeks, I don’t do anything but let her find her rhythm, what she needs from me. I let her take.

For the first time in probably my entire goddamn life, I let a woman take from me what she needs—what she desires.

Sliding my hands down, I grip her hips, but I let her continue to fuck me in her torturously slow motion. Sinking my teeth into my bottom lip, I try to hold back while all I want to do is lift my hips and fuck her—hard.

Her eyes never leave mine and I watch the moment her release takes over her entire body. She trembles in my arms and it’s fucking spectacular. Gripping her hips tighter, I shift my hips at the same time I lift her up and down along my length. It doesn’t take much, my back tingles along with my balls in almost an instant and I come deep inside of her.

“Fuck,” I hiss, my head dropping and landing against the center of her chest. “Fuck,” I repeat on a whisper.

Touching my lips to the center of her chest, I lift my head to look up into her eyes. “Perfect in every way for me, baby,” I whisper.

She lifts her eyes to the sky, but she doesn’t argue with me, thankfully. We clean up, then take Tucker to bed before we both pass out, our bodies exhausted from coming multiple times in one evening—it’s fucking fantastic.

So fantastic, in fact, that I know now, without a single doubt in my mind, Bethie was created for me. Nobody else. She is mine. This beautiful life is ours and I wouldn’t trade it for anything else in the entire world.