Chapter 31

He took her around to meet some of his friends, having called his parents to let them know they wouldn’t be home for dinner.

Seeing that it was getting late, he told her they should head back to the ranch.

On the way there, she asked him to stop the car.

“I want you to take me to Make-Out Cliff.”

“What, now?”

“Sure. You said you would. And since we’re out, we might as well. Let’s go make out, and maybe you’ll get lucky.”

He ran his hand over his mouth and smiled. “I hope you realize there might be other couples there, like teenagers.”

When he saw her shrugging her shoulders, he turned his car around and headed to the cliff.

When they got there, they didn’t see anyone else.

She turned to him when he turned off the engine. “Okay, so what was the first thing you did with your date?”

He chuckled. “First, I would pretend to yawn and stretch out my arm, slowly putting it over my date’s shoulder,” he said, putting his arm over her shoulder.

“Now, instead of talking about it, I’ll show you instead.”

Putting his hand on the side of her neck, he drew her close, his lips coming down on hers.

His kiss was passionate, his tongue circling the inside of her mouth as his one hand went over the top of her blouse. He lightly squeezed one of her breasts, causing her to moan.

As he continued to kiss her, his fingers started unbuttoning her blouse. Spreading the material of her blouse open, he slowly moved his lips down her neck to the top of her breasts.

He pushed the bra down and clamped his mouth over one of her nipples, sucking hard while his tongue tickled the tip.

***

With her eyes closed, she leaned back in the seat, the feel of his lips on her breast was making her panties moist.

She ran her fingers through his hair when she felt him unbuckling her pants and his hand sliding down between her legs and inside her panties. He started rubbing over her dampness.

She grabbed a fistful of his hair and pulled him up so that she could kiss him, enjoying what his hand and fingers were doing to her.

She was panting like crazy. The world seemed to twirl around her, and she thought she was going crazy from the pleasure he was giving her.

She let out a disgruntled grunt when he removed his hand and stopped kissing her. “Dexter, don’t stop.”

He had a sly grin on his face. “It’s time to take this into the back seat.”

He got out of the car and went around to her side, opened the door, and pulled her out.

He put her up against the car and his lips came crashing down on hers. His cock was straining inside of his pants.

He managed to open the back door and lower her down onto the seat as he closed the door.

Hovering over her, he removed his shirt, pulled down her pants and panties, then undid his pants and pushed them down.

He took hold of himself and placed himself at her opening and entered her quickly, making her squirm and moan as he pounded inside her.

By the time they were done, the windows were all fogged up, and he lay on top of her, kissing her passionately.

“Holy shit, that was so freaking hot,” she said, rubbing her legs up and down his.

She had heard how people would make out in the back seat of a car and could never imagine doing something like that.

But damn, she liked it, liked it so much that she was going to talk him into doing it more often. “Was it as good as it was when you used to bring girls here?”

He looked down at her, moving her hair from her face. “It was nothing like this.”

“Oh,” she said, hurt and disappointed.

“Don’t look so sad. What I meant by that is this was 100 percent much better, and that’s because it was with you, and the fact that I love you.”

This made her feel so much better, and she smiled, reaching up and running her fingers over his lips. “I love you. Marry me.”

“What?” he asked, not sure if he had heard her right.

“I just asked you to marry me.”

“I thought you said you never wanted to get married.”

“I did say that, but I changed my mind.”

“Why?”

“Seeing your parents together and how happy they are after all these years of being married, I realized I was wrong and that I do trust you. It’s like you said, about taking a leap of faith.

“I love you, and I know that you are the only man for me. I can’t live my life without you, and I want to be your wife and the mother of your children someday.

“So, you haven’t answered my question. Will you marry me?”

“Yes, Miss Greene. I will most definitely marry you.” He lowered his head, and they kissed, sealing the deal.

After they cleaned up and put on their clothes, he started the car, and they drove home. They were both relieved that no one else was parked up there while they were doing it.

Amelia and Oliver were sitting in the living room, having their nighttime tea, when the couple walked in, holding hands and smiling.

“Did you two have a good time?” Amelia asked, placing her cup on the table.

“Yes, we had a fabulous time. I took her and showed her around town. Then we went to visit some of my friends and got reacquainted. And also I ran into Jill, and we had a talk.”

Amelia and Oliver looked at each other, both worried that Dexter might have lost his temper with Jill. “How did that go?” Amelia asked before Oliver could.

“I forgave them, and I’m honestly happy for the two of them, but I will not be staying friends with them. Now enough about that. Roxie and I have some important news to tell you.”

“What’s that, son?”

“We’re getting married,” he said, looking at Roxie with love in his eyes.

Both parents got to their feet and went over to give them a hug and congratulate them. His mother took a look at her ring finger and raised an eyebrow. “What, no ring?”

“No, mother. There’s no ring.”

“Sweetheart, you can’t ask a girl to marry you without presenting her with the ring first.”

“I didn’t ask her. She proposed to me.”

Amelia shook her head. “My Lord, as long as I live, I will never understand this new generation.”

Oliver put his arm around his wife’s shoulder.

“What does it matter? They are in love and are getting married, so we should be very happy that our son has found a beautiful woman that loves him and he loves her.”

Amelia nodded her head and smiled when she looked at Dexter. “Your father is right. I’m so happy for the both of you, and now I have the daughter I’ve always wanted.”

She went over and gave Roxie a motherly hug.

After two more days of visiting, they headed back to New York. When they got back home, they found Thomas waiting for them in his car.

“What is he doing here?” she asked as they got out of Dexter’s vehicle.

He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked her right in the eye. “Baby, just let him come inside, and hear what he’s got to say. It’s been over two months now.”

She sighed loudly. “All right, but I’m not doing it for him. I’m doing it because you asked me to.”

She went ahead inside, letting Dexter go over to her father. When she got inside their apartment, she went to the bathroom and splashed water over her face.

Just seeing him right now, mixed feelings raced through her body. There was a time she would have been excited to see him and would run into his arms for a hug, but now she didn’t know what to do.

She could hear their voices coming from the other room, so taking a deep breath, she went out to where they were.

“Roxie, I’m so glad you agreed to see me. I can’t tell you how miserable I’ve been and how much I’ve missed you,” he said, wanting desperately to go over and give her a hug.

“Father, why are you here?”

Dexter handed Thomas a shot of whiskey, and they all sat down.

“I need to explain why I started an affair with Claudia. Please don’t say anything until I’m done speaking, and then if you want me to leave and never talk to you again, I will respect your wishes.”

“I’m listening.”

“When your mother and I got married, we were very much in love, and then when we found out she was pregnant with you, we were over the moon with happiness.

“You were the most precious gift given to us, and your mother loved you more than any mother could love a child. But sadly, as you grew older, she turned a cold shoulder toward me.

“I don’t know why. I hadn’t cheated on her or raised my hand to her. I know she still loved me, but she wouldn’t let me touch her, and our love life disappeared forever.

“I never stopped loving her, but I was lonely, and when Claudia came to work for me as a model, it started off as just flirtation, but the more your mother pushed me away and the more Claudia came on to me, I became weak.

“It felt so good to have someone hold me, touch me, and make me feel like a man again.

“You have no idea what it’s like to have the person that you love with all of your heart not wanting you to touch them. She wouldn’t even let me kiss her.

“I tried to get her to go to counseling. I took her on trips and kept telling her how much I loved her, but all she could do was say don’t touch me.”

“I asked her what I had done to turn her against me, and she said it was nothing I did. It was just that she didn’t want me that way anymore.”

He wiped the tears from his eyes. It was hard having his wife not want him anymore, but to lose his daughter too was unbearable.

Roxie sat there listening to him, thinking back to when her mother was alive and they were all together. She did remember the last three years of her mother’s life. She never once saw them kiss.

One time she entered the kitchen when her parents were in there talking and saw her mother push him away when he tried to hug her. She’d just figured they had had a fight.

“I’m sorry. I never knew that.”

“Can you ever forgive me for having an affair?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

He nodded his head. “Well, that’s better than a flat-out no. I won’t try to push you into forgiving me, but I do hope someday you will.

“I also want you to know that Claudia and I have been doing a lot of talking. We both want our marriage to work.

“Things have been different between us for the last couple of months. We’ve been spending more time together, and I’ve learned quite a few things.

“Her cheating on me is partly my fault. No, I’m not saying what she did was right. After she and I got married, I didn’t realize it, but I started pushing her away.

“I guess I felt guilty about cheating on your mother, and I took it out on her. I ignored her, left for weeks at a time without bothering to call her or take her with me.

“In a way, she was feeling the way I felt the last few years with your mother.

“I really believe we can make this work, but I told her if she ever cheated on me again, I would divorce her in an instant.”

“I still don’t like her, and I never will,” Roxie said. Her feelings toward her father were slowly starting to change, but she still needed time.

Thomas got to his feet. “I’ll go now. I hope to see you soon.

“Before I go, I want to give you something, but I don’t want you to open it until after I leave,” he said, reaching into his breast pocket. He took out a brown envelope and handed it to her.

When he was gone, she sat on the sofa, with the envelope sitting on the coffee table. Dexter went and sat next to her, putting his arm around her.

“Are you all right?”

She looked at him all teary-eyed. “I don’t know what to feel about my father now. I just keep thinking about how I would feel if you never wanted me to touch you. When I think back, there were signs.”

“Baby, you never have to worry about that with me. I will always want you. Nothing in this world could make that happen.

“Your father said that your mother never gave him a reason as to why she turned against him. You’ll never know the answer to that either.

“We all have to move on with our lives. And I know you hate Claudia, but I think your father does love her, and if they can make their marriage work, that’s good. Doesn’t he deserve to be happy?”

She nodded her head in agreement. “I just hope she doesn’t hurt him again.

“Even though I can’t stand the woman, I guess in a way I can understand how she must have felt, hurting and alone. I’m not going to trust her yet.”

“I love you,” he said, pulling her in for a kiss. He looked at the envelope on the table. “Are you going to open it?”

She let out a sigh and reached over and picked it up. “It’s pretty thick. I wonder what it is.”

“There’s only one way to find out.”

Nodding in agreement, she used a letter opener and tore it open and took out the papers. She started reading, her eyes getting wider with each document she read. “I don’t believe this.”

“What is it?”

She handed him the papers. “Here, you read it, because I can’t believe what I’m reading.”

He took it from her hand. Sitting back, he went through all the paperwork. When he was done, he sat back and looked at her. “Holy shit.”