All I wanted to do was loop my arms around her, tug her body against mine and kiss her properly.But there were too many eyes on us.I reined in this rush of desire and gave her hand a squeeze as she pulled away.“Let’s not wait too long to do that again,” I murmured as she pulled me toward the door.
Glancing over her shoulder at me with a twinkle in her eyes, she smiled.“Trust me, we won’t.”
It was Wednesday night before I was able to be back inside Naomi.And as much as I didn’t want our go-to sex spot to be the back of my truck on her family’s new property—it was.
It was the only child-free space we could think of.Even her cousins were at a loss as to where to suggest.
So for now, while the weather was good, we would have to explore each other’s bodies under the stars in the back of my pickup.
I arrived home from our date shortly after ten o’clock.The light in Mabel’s room was still on, and I could hear her flipping book pages.
I knocked gently on her door.
“Yeah?”she answered, which was her way of telling me I could enter.
“How you doing?”I asked.
She closed her book and set it on her bed beside her.“Are you having sex with Naomi?”
Crap.
“Is that why you keep going out?Where are you going?You’re not having sex here, obviously.And you’re not having sex at her house.So where are you going?”
“While I know our relationship is less than conventional and we don’t keep secrets, kiddo, typically, parents and children don’t discuss their sex lives with each other.”
“Why not?”She blinked at me curiously.“It’s a natural and normal thing that human beings do.All animals do it.Damon and I saw birds doing it on Friday.”
“Yes … butpersonally,I would rather not discuss my sex life with my thirteen-year-old.The fact that you know as much about my sex life already doesn’t sit particularly well with me.”
“Don’t you want to know when I start having sex?”
With a sigh, I entered her room and sat down on the edge of her bed.“Are you thinking about having sex?”I highly doubted she even had sexual thoughts, let alone was considering having sex, but then again, I wasn’t expecting her to approach Damon and ask him to hang out.Maybe she was developing feelings she couldn’t quite understand.
“No,” she said bluntly.“And even if I was, I will not even think about having sex until I’m at least twenty.Maybe later.I want at least two degrees, maybe three, before I risk the possibility of pregnancy or disease.And even then, kids and disease don’t sound appealing.So maybe I’ll never have sex.Just to be safe.”
Raking my fingers through my hair, I sighed again.“Sex can be safe—”
“Not one hundred percent it can’t be.”
I closed my eyes.“True.However, if you double up on birth control and have it with someone you trust …… They’ve been checked, you’ve been checked …” I glanced up at her.“I don’t want you to miss out on an enjoyable part of being an adult because of fear.If—when you’re ready—you feel the desire to be intimate with someone, and you’ve planned and prepared, then I don’t think you should deny yourself that.”
How fucking weird was this?I was encouraging my daughter to have sex.
“So you’re having sex with Naomi then?”
I was full of sighs and let another deep one slip.“Yes.We are having sex.”
“Good.”
I lifted my gaze from her duvet to her face.“Pardon?”
“You deserve to have sex with someone you care about and who cares about you.As long as you’re being safe.Are you being safe?”
I snorted.“Are you giving me the safe-sex talk?”
“I will if I have to.”
I gave her a look that reminded her just who the parent was in this situation.“You don’t have to.We are being safe.”
