I faced the counter so that my back was toward him then briefly turned around to watch as he slowly licked the tip of his toy to wet it a bit; that was so erotic. I closed my eyes, loosening my muscles. Spreading my legs apart, I prepared for what I knew was coming.
I could suddenly hear the door open.
His body jolted behind me. “Who the fuck is here?”
My father’s voice echoed through the apartment from down the hall. “Hallooooo.”
“Shit!” Landon scrambled to adjust himself and tossed the butt plug across the room.
Papa walked into the kitchen carrying a giant pineapple.
Trying my best to seem casual, I said, “Papa, you should’ve called first.”
“I no-call. Why you need me to call first? I come to see him.” My father narrowed his eyes at Landon. “Why you have girly hair like ballerina?”
“It’s not real.” Landon was out of breath as he took the bun off. “Eddie…it’s good to see you.” He offered his hand.
As they shook, my father looked confused and asked, “Where you living?”
He knew Landon had moved to Michigan, but we hadn’t broken the news that we would be living together.
Unsure of whether to admit we were shacking up, Landon looked at me. I shrugged. There was no sense in hiding it.
“I’m living here, actually.”
My father looked between Landon and me. He wasn’t happy. As much as I knew he wanted me to date again, he was very conservative and didn’t believe in living together before marriage. Landon knew that.
He surprised me when he looked my father in the eye and said, “I know you don’t agree with what we’re doing. But I don’t want her living alone anymore. I want to be able to help her financially, and honestly, even if that wasn’t an issue, I don’t want to live apart from your daughter. I’ve already spent too much time away from her. I know you can relate to feeling protective of Rana. You’ve had to be the main person looking after her for practically her entire life. But I want you to know that now you have a second set of eyes. I want nothing but the best for her, too. Because I love her. And it’s really important to me that you understand that. I’m going to be here whether you’re okay with it or not, but I plan to earn your trust.”
My father just nodded silently. I knew he had heard Landon loud and clear. The fact that he hadn’t chosen to argue about it meant that he had essentially accepted it.
Papa walked over to the other side of the kitchen. He placed the pineapple on the counter.
Landon and I both looked at each other in fear as my father then bent down to pick up something off the floor. It was the butt plug Landon had hastily tossed.
“What’s this?”
“That’s a wine stopper,” I said.
Papa looked skeptical. “Hmm.”
I snatched it from him and threw it in the utensil drawer. “So, where did you get the pineapple?”
“I love pineapple.” Landon smiled, attempting to further shift the conversation away from the butt plug.
My dad answered my question, “Farmer’s market.” Carrying it over to the table along with a knife and a few plates and forks, he nudged his head for us to follow him.
Papa and I often sat at the table alone eating sliced fruit. For the first time ever, we had someone joining us, and I somehow knew that this was the start of a new family tradition.
Landon and I used our forks in a race to snatch up the slices that my father was cutting.
We ate in silence until Papa surprised us when he said, “Next time, I call first before I come.”
Landon looked excited when he entered the apartment. “I need to show you something.”
“The last time you said that I got quite an eyeful.”
“It’s not anything like that, baby.”
“What is it?”
“It’s outside.” He placed his hand on my waist, prompting me to follow him out the door.
Parked outside on the street was a beige-colored truck that looked a lot like the shape of Landon’s Lunch Box.
“Oh, my God. What did you do?”
“I decided to bite the bullet. I’m gonna turn this into another food truck. I have an appointment with the university next week to talk about getting a permanent spot for it on campus.”
“I can’t believe I never thought of that. That’s seriously an awesome location for it.”
“I hope it works out. It’s gonna take some time to fix it up and to get it exactly the way I need it inside, but I won’t know if I don’t try, right? I have to spend some time figuring out how to brand it. I sold the Landon’s Lunch Box name and the app. So, it’s going to really be like starting from scratch, but my hope is to build something as good, if not better, than the old one.”
Landon spent some time showing me around the new truck before we returned upstairs to the apartment.
“Once it’s up and running,” I said, “I can help you during the day, since I only have to work in the evenings.”
“I was counting on you as my sidekick a few days a week. That would be awesome.”
The thought of getting to work alongside him was seriously making me giddy. I remembered how much fun it was in California.
“Someone is going to have to help fend all those college girls off of my hot, tatted boyfriend. I’m going to be spewing venom.”
“One look at my girlfriend with the snake around her shoulders…I’m pretty sure they’ll all run away.” He wrapped his arm around my neck and kissed my forehead. “Actually, I was thinking that my belly dancing princess would probably be a huge draw for the college guys. I’m gonna need to make it crystal clear that you belong to me. Just the thought of some kid flirting with you in front of me makes me crazy. I might lose my shit and my business right then and there.”
I smiled at my crazy-hot boyfriend. Some days, I couldn’t believe he was actually mine now. I think a part of me would always feel jealous, insecure, and especially protective when it came to him.
Feeling like I needed to relax, I grabbed a bottle of wine. “Let’s celebrate.” When I opened the drawer, I took notice of the butt plug that had been sitting there since the day my father walked in on us. “Remember this?”
“I do.” His voice lowered. “I wouldn’t mind playing around with that right now, actually.”
“I think I’m going to need a lot more than a glass of wine, then.”
He examined my face. “You think it’s something you need to be drunk for?”
“Honestly, it scares me a little…anal.”
“Really…what are you scared of?”
“I’ve never had anything…you know…in there before.”
“I know I’ve spoken about how much I want to do it with you, and part of the reason I get excited about it is because I know I’d be your first. I selfishly want to claim every inch of you. But we have a lot of time. I don’t ever want you to feel pressured. I didn’t realize it scared you. You need to tell me stuff like that. Now, I feel like an ass—pun intended.”
“I do want to try it. I’m just afraid it will hurt. You’re not a small man.”
“You think I’m just going to stick it in? There’s an art to anal. And if it doesn’t feel so fucking amazing that you’re screaming in pleasure, it’s not being done right. It shouldn’t feel painful.”
I almost asked him how he got to be so experienced, but I bit my words. I didn’t even want to think about him doing something so intimate with anyone else. I’d gotten pretty good at not letting my mind go there anymore, and I didn’t want to regress.
Landon’s face was in mine. “You will know when you’re ready. And you sure as hell aren’t gonna need to be drunk with me. If a person needs to be drunk for it, then their partner isn’t doing it right. There is a big difference between pressure and pain. It should never be painful. But the pressure should be pleasurable. But before we even get to that part, I’d tease you until you couldn’t take it anymore. There’s no way my dick would be in your ass unless you were begging me to put it there.”