My degree was in graphic design so I had a lot of places I could live while doing that. I also minored in Journalism, since that style of writing always fascinated me as well. I felt that it gave me a lot of options when I chose it, even though I wanted to be here with Perry for the rest of my life.
“I’m not sure. I suppose I’ll find a job and learn how to be a real adult,” I answered lightly as he frowned. “I could work anywhere, actually. I have the internships with the best firms in the area as experience, right?”
“You can do whatever you dream, Caroline. Anything.” Perry smiled at me, and I forced one back. “Taking those internships that last years of college were smart on your part. You have experience in both of your fields, and you could work at a firm doing design while you did some freelance writing, if you chose to. Though I don’t want you to work too hard,” he added as something crossed his face.
“Like you do?” I teased him as our gazes locked for a moment.
“Exactly like me. I used work to cope when we lost your parents, and I think I could have made better use of my time. I feel like I ran away from it,” he said in a rare moment of honesty.
“We both did the best that we could with what we had. I love you for all that you did for me, gave me…it was perfect and what they would have wanted. Dad worked a lot too, and Mom was always taking on a writing project that pushed her limits. It’s in my blood to work hard, I think.” I wiped the tear that slid down my cheek as I kept my eyes on his face, feeling vulnerable in this moment. I wanted to tell him that I loved him in ways that were wrong but they felt so right. I wanted to say that I wanted to be the woman that took care of him and made him happy in every way. “Perry…I could never express my gratitude to you properly.” Though I could, in his bed or mine. I wanted to learn every inch of his sinful body and what made him come the hardest, thoughts that warmed my face as I took another gulp of my wine.
“You do every day, Caroline. I love you, too.” He told me as I stared past him at the window to clear my mind of the carnal thoughts that were filling it. Did he?
We cleaned up together as we always did, though I found myself playing back our conversation. I’d tried a few tactics in the past to test Perry’s feelings for me, with Colton being one of the bolder ones. He was the bad boy at school, and every girl wanted him. I had to admit that there was something sexy about him though I was just using him as a decoy to make Perry jealous. Colton came over for dinner a few times, and we went out for a couple of months once I sank my claws into him. He wasn’t a deeply intelligent guy, but he could hold a conversation with my guardian, even though I listened to Perry speak more than my own boyfriend. How sick was that?
Colton was used to women giving into his needs and slowly started to pressure me to sleep with him. I assumed that he was a good kisser, though I always went back to wondering what Perry’s mouth tasted like when we were together in those moments. I knew deep down that I couldn’t give Colton what he wanted and once Perry seemed to express that he was merely concerned with my getting hurt in the relationship, I quietly ended things. Colton moved on quickly, and I didn’t care. I was never interested in him, and I tried with other guys since that is what friends seemed to be doing in their lives.
I found myself paying attention to what Perry did as a reaction to all my attempts. Jealousy was a game played well by teenage girls from what I could see, but he didn’t seem to respond like the guys my friends liked in school. Perry was strict in his reactions, never letting on that he knew what I was up to, just looking on as he warned me about what assholes guys could be.
It was just what Dad would have told me, but Perry wasn’t my father. He was the center of my being. This was so very complicated.
Perry
I played back the image of Caroline on her bed that day, sleeping soundly with her hand draped over her thigh. She wasn’t naked, but I saw her curves and pale skin more than I needed to, stirring something inside of me. She was beautiful, just like her mother. I knew from the scent in the air and the way her lace panties were twisted just a bit that she was making herself come at some point that day, something that I wanted to deny but couldn’t. Caroline was my niece though not by blood, and I wanted to see her as an innocent girl, not someone that felt lust and desire the same way that I did.
I loved to watch a woman make herself come. It was that way in person with a close intimate partner as well as a choice in viewing porn, and the idea made me hard as I stepped into the shower. Did Caroline do that for a man, perhaps that punk ass kid from high school? Did he know what she sounded like when she came on her hand or even wrapped tightly around his cock? Fuck…I reached down and stroked myself under the hot water as guilt flooded me. “I’m sorry, Brandon,” I whispered as I gripped tighter and closed my eyes. “She’s so fucking beautiful.”