Pretend Daddy: A Fake Marriage Romance Read online

  The visceral resolve to say no to his offer suddenly disappeared. As sad as it was to admit that the lure of money was getting to me, after twenty-two years of struggling to get by and working myself to the bone so Jessica could have the life she deserved, that was the truth. The idea of finally living comfortably and enjoying my life instead of just existing in it felt too good to pass without at least considering it.

  Hoping to make an informed decision, I asked, “And you won’t expect me to fulfill my wifely duties?”

  Ben tilted his head and narrowed his eyes in an expression that was amused but not disrespectful. “The only wifely duties I expect you to fulfill are business related—functions, events, dinner parties and such—in all other areas we can be friends and housemates. You don’t have to sleep with me, and I won’t be faithful to you.”

  “Okay,” I said completely overwhelmed by the situation, but heavily leaning toward the yes. His face brightened at my reply urging me to explain myself. “That was just an ‘okay, I’ll consider it.’ This won’t just affect me my life, it’ll affect Jessica’s as well, and I have to make sure she’s on board.”

  Despite a heavy sigh, Ben nodded. “I understand that, but I’m in a hurry. The board will meet next Tuesday to vote on my father’s successor, and I’d really like to be married by then.”

  The idea of being married to someone I barely knew in less than a week made my stomach turn and my heart skip a few beats, but I still assured him that I would talk to Jess as soon as I arrived home and have a reply to him the next day. That answer seemed to please him and, with that part of the dinner behind us, we spent the rest of night getting to know each other.

  In light of his proposal, I fished for as much information as I could and realized that as fake husband prospects went, I could do a lot worse.

  Chapter 6 – Jessica

  “And that’s a wrap, folks,” I said to myself as I closed the book that had been propped over my thighs for the last hour and placed it on top of the scattered papers on the coffee table.

  Knotting my knuckles together, I stretched my back and felt every single vertebra from C7 to L2 pop. After five hours of seating on the ground and hunching over books, it was no surprise that my muscles and articulations were stiff as a board.

  Done for the night, I arranged all of my books and papers into a neat pile before picking up the half empty box of pizza from the ground and carrying to the kitchen along with my empty coffee thermos. Leaning against the counter, I grabbed another slice of the cold, cheesy goodness and stared out at our empty apartment.

  There was no denying that I was happy when my mom texted me to say she’d be late coming home. I was preparing for a very challenging biochemical exam and appreciated the peace and quiet. However, now that my studying was done and the subject was engraved into my brain, not having anyone around talk and relax with made me feel incredibly lonely.

  Unlike most of my classmates, I was determined to make it to med school as fast as possible and had inflated my schedule to the point where it prohibited me to have any social life at all. Usually, I didn’t really care about my lack of friends and weekend plans—to be honest, I was actually used to it after cramming what should be a four-year undergrad education into three. Besides, my mom was the best friend a girl could wish for and, after the headache my breakup with Trey had been, I was in no rush to welcome another man into my life. Still, there were some moments, like this one, when I found myself in need of human interaction and resented putting so much pressure on myself that I forgot to actually live my life like a normal twenty-two-year-old.

  “Things are what they are, Jess,” I whispered as I pushed myself away from the counter. “In ten years, you’ll be running a department at some fancy ass hospital and these lonely nights will have been worth it.”

  Ignoring how pathetic I felt at voicing a pep-talk to myself, I shoved the last bit of pizza into my mouth and started making my way down the small corridor that connected the living space of our apartment to the shared bathroom and both our bedrooms. I took a quick pit stop at the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth, and then finally dragged my ass to my room and closed the door behind me.

  Too exhausted to even think, I pulled my clothes off and didn’t even bother to put on pajamas before throwing myself onto the bed. A long, pleasurable sigh passed through my mouth as I wiggled my body against the mattress until I found just the right position. With a smile on my lips, I reached for the remote and turned the TV on hoping that seeing and hearing other people would make me feel a little less alone.

  As most late nights, the programming was lacking. The only available options were either talk shows, reruns or movies I really didn’t feel like watching, so I kept clicking and clicking the remote hoping something interesting would appear on the screen. For about a hundred clicks nothing did, then I reached one of my mother’s “special” channels, and my screen was filled with the naked body of a muscled man. Instantly, I stopped clicking.

  Though I had seen plenty images of naked men in my biology classes, none was as impressive as this guy. Aside from his ripped muscles and tattoos, his penis was longer and thicker than any I had seen and had veins that pulsated as he pushed it in and out of a blonde’s mouth. My cheeks flushed at the sight, but I couldn’t bring myself to change the channel or stop watching.

  During our year long relationship, Trey had tried to fuck me many times, but I always refused him. Although I liked him a lot, having him as my first never felt right. It was hard to explain why, but as I watched the hungry need in which the girl welcomed that guy’s cock into her mouth, I realized that was the reason I was still a virgin. I had never been hungry for Trey or any other man.

  But for some reason, I was hungry now.

  I had no idea if it was due to frustration or loneliness, but I wanted to feel something as intense as what the girl on TV was feeling. I wanted to forget, if only for a moment, about my fast track plan and my perfect GPA and just focus on feeling something other than pressured, tired and lonely.

  So, as the man continued to fuck the blonde’s mouth, my hands wandered to my breasts. My touch was timid and unsure, just light massage and soft pinches to my nipples, and thought the sensation was good it wasn’t what I expected it would be. Growing more frustrated by the second, I thought about giving up and writing sex as one of the few things I wasn’t good at. However, before I could reach for the remote, the man’s pleasure reached its peak and poured out of him, covering the girl’s chin, neck and chest as he groaned like an animal.

  I have no idea why, but the sight of a girl who even looked like me covered in some guy’s sperm was so hot and forbidden it liberated me from thoughts of what I should do or feel at that moment and allowed me to relax and simply enjoy what was happening. With a deep breath, I leaned against the pillows and cleared my mind.

  In that sweet emptiness of desire, my hands came alive and started working my sensitive nipples with a liberated energy. As the couple on my screen kissed and made their way to bed, I pinched, rolled, flickered and massaged my rosy peaks until my heart started to race, and my center became warm and wet with arousal. The delicious and strange sensation propelled me forward and urged me to explore other parts of my body.

  As he picked the girl up from the floor and tossed her onto a bed, my right hand left my breast and traveled on a downward path that connected my tits to my pussy. My knees widened to welcome my fingers into my wet center just as the man on the screen flipped his lover onto all fours and started to push himself inside of her.

  The scene playing out in front of me was so fucking arousing it breathed new life into my hands and, out of their own accord, my fingers started moving and circling around my clit. My movements were slow and tentative at first, but as my body began to get used to the sensation, my fingers moved faster and faster until I was pleasuring myself with the same voracity as that man was fucking his partner. Still, it didn’t feel like enough.

  Never movin
g my eyes from the TV, I continued to rub my clit and pinch my nipples until my lips parted to pull in breaths that never fully filled my chest. Before I knew what was happening, my heart started to pound, my limbs began to tingle, and the world disappeared. Everything that existed was the growing pleasure inside of me and my need for release.

  Although I didn’t really know what to expect, I could tell I was close, and I treasured every second of the delicious sensation. Then, as my toes curled and my eyes finally closed to enjoy my very first orgasm, I heard noise coming from the other side of the door. I could tell someone was calling me, but I refused to acknowledge and just kept circling my fingers until I felt myself dangling from the edge of a precipice and then falling into a sea of pleasure.

  “Jess,” I heard mom’s voice calling from the other side of the door as I relaxed into the incredible sensation that followed my orgasm. “You awake? I have something important to talk to you.”

  I turned off the TV and pulled in a deep breath through my mouth. Doing my best to steady my voice, I replied, “Yeah, I’m just changing. Give me five, okay?”

  “Okay, baby,” mom replied, and I heard her heels walking away.

  A smile curled up on my lips as the after effects of my new favorite pastime started to wear off. Decided to do this again and often, I got up from the bed and went to put some clothes on, feeling better and more relaxed than I had in ages.

  Dressed in a comfortable pajama set, I exited my room with that silly grin still on my face and went over to the kitchen where my mother was waiting. Barefoot but still in her uniform dress and with her hair tied in a neat bun, Mom was perched on top of the counter and munching on the rest of my pizza with a worried line creasing her furrowed brow.

  “Didn’t you just go out for dinner?” I asked as I approached her.

  With a roll of her hazel eyes, she replied, “Yeah, but the whole thing was so crazy I barely ate.”

  Despite my curiosity, I stepped away from the subject for a second to hug my mom. My display of affection broke through her anxious eating and made her face relax a little. We had a brief conversation about what she had seen in her travels and of how much we had missed each other while she was away, and once those subjects were exhausted, I stepped away and leaned against the counter opposite to her.

  Pulling my brows together, I asked, “Why was your dinner crazy?”

  The worry returned to my mother’s face, and instead of replying, she simply reached into her purse and removed a small black box which she tossed over to me. With my frown deepening, I opened it and gasped at the gorgeous—and huge—diamond ring inside.

  “What the actual hell?” I asked as my gaze bounced back to her.

  A small smirk curled up on her lips as she nodded. “I was proposed to by a man I’ve only seen twice in my life. He plans to be unfaithful and divorce me in a year, but if I say yes and marry him, you and I will be multimillionaires.”

  Thoroughly confused, I shook my head and asked for more information so I could understand the situation better. Although she was clearly overwhelmed as well, mom did her best to explain everything and fill me in on all the details of her bizarre proposal.

  From the information she was able to give me about Ben Walker, he seemed like a nice enough man, and though the whole proposition was a little too crazy for my taste, the more mom explained it, the better it sounded. Since starting college, I had blamed myself for the strain my career choice had put on my mother. As a single mother, she had always worked a lot to provide for us, but with the added expense of my tuition and student loans, I knew she was working herself to an early grave.

  Because I loved her and wanted her to live a long and happy life, I couldn’t help but think that maybe this marriage deal wasn’t such a crazy idea after all. Perhaps, it was the answer to our prayers.

  “And you wouldn’t have to sleep with him or do anything weird?” I asked once she was done explaining.

  A frown formed on my mom’s face. “Of course, not. I’m not a whore, Jessica. To the world, we would be husband and wife, but inside our home, we would be just friends. I would have my own room and everything.”

  “Then you should do it,” I finally advised, and her eyes widened. “If you’re sure he’s not going to murder us in our sleep, then marry him. It’s just a year, and you’re traveling most of the time anyways. I’m always at school and would have some company at night while you’re away. And, most importantly, at the end of it, we would have a more relaxed life than what we have now. I know you love your job, but wouldn’t it be nice to work a regular schedule every once in a while? Maybe you could enjoy the places you visit instead of just hopping from airport to airport.”

  Mom sighed and looked up at me with a new light sparkling in her eyes. “Enjoying traveling would be fun.” I smiled at her and nodded my agreement. “Okay, then. I guess you’re finally getting a daddy.”

  I laughed at her joke and pulled out a couple beers from the fridge to celebrate. After twenty-two years struggling to get by, our luck was about to change. Yay!

  Chapter 7 – Ben

  With a long exhale, I put my phone down on my desk and wrapped Vanessa’s long, brown ponytail around my hand as I guided her head up and down my cock.

  It had been ten hours since I dropped Pam at her apartment and the anxiety of the wait was getting to me. Usually, I had an alphabet of fallback plans to any business decision I made, but this time I didn’t. Pam was the only woman I could see by my side for any length of time, the only one I knew the board would approve of and my only way to regain my company. With only four days left until the big voting meeting, I needed her to agree to my proposal today so we could get married over the weekend and get this problem over with.

  Since sex was always my preferred method of relaxation, I was thrilled when Vanessa showed up in my office looking to add a little something extra to her internship curriculum. However, to my surprise, not even Vanessa’s skilled mouth was able to get me to relax. Despite how good she was making me feel, my mind was still on my phone and on the call I was not getting.

  I continued to guide her head up and down my shaft with one hand and reached for my phone with my other one. I turned on the screen to check if there were any missed calls or messages but saw none. With a sigh that had nothing to do with the sexual act I was receiving, I turned off the screen and returned the device back to its previous location on top of my desk.

  Closing my eyes, I tried to empty my mind and focus only on the delicious sensation of Vanessa’s mouth sliding up and down, her tongue circling the head of my cock and her teeth grazing against the soft skin of my length. For about a second, my efforts paid off, and all that existed was me, her and the moment. In the next second, however, my phone rang, my eyes opened, and everything else—Vanessa and her mouth included—faded to the background of the most important call I’d ever receive.

  Sliding my thumb toward the answer button, I brought the device to my ear and said, “Hello, Pam.”

  “Hi,” she greeted back seemingly surprised by the warm tone of my greeting. To be honest, it surprised me as well. “Is now a good time or should I call you back?”

  “Now is a perfect time,” I quickly said and received a stink eye from Vanessa who pulled back until my cock was completely out of her mouth and then threaten to stand up.

  With a roll of eyes, I tightened my grip on her hair and shook my head, letting her know I wanted her to stay right where she was. Understanding who was the boss, the girl nodded and sank back to her knees but kept her brown eyes focused on mine. A slow smirk curled on my lips at her submission, and as a reward, I guided her head closer to my crotch so that her lips touched the tip of my cock and I bounced her back and forth just slightly against me.

  I returned my full attention back to Pam. “Have you thought about my proposal?”

  A heavy sigh sounded in my ear and for a moment worry gripped at me thinking that she would refuse. But then, she said, “I have, and I’m in
clined to accept.”

  Her words filled me with a kind of peace and joy that was almost orgasmic. To celebrate, I pushed my cock a bit more into Vanessa’s welcoming mouth.

  “That’s the best news I’ve got all day. Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I can’t wait to marry you.”

  Vanessa angled a brow and momentarily stopped sucking me. I gave her a stern look that put her right back to work. In contrast, Pam chuckled on the other side of the line.

  “Easy, husband-to-be,” she teased. “I have a few requests before we go setting the date.”

  My brows pulled together with annoyance, but I managed to keep the emotion out of my voice as I demanded, “What requests are those?”

  There was a moment of silence, and then she said, “Well, I want to make sure Jessica is taken care of. She’ll have to give up her home and routine to live with us, and I want to make sure that once this is all done and over with she’ll have gotten something out of the deal as well.”