Shortcake*

***Chapter 39: I Love You***

*Copyright: Stephanie Myrick, 2023. Posted to Wattpad ONLY*

***Chapter contains Sex Scenes***

"Nico's coming?" Link sat in the chair next to her and reached for her hand.

"Yeah. He saw the magazine article and wants to talk face to face." Cleo laced her fingers through his and squeezed. "Do you mind?"

"No, not at all. I understand. And actually, it would be nice to have a different opinion about this. I kinda feel like we're spinning our wheels and not getting any further ahead." Link let out a long sigh. "Sorry about earlier; hearing what Percy said about selling Lily to me to marry... Made me sick to my stomach. I've dated women her age; I just never saw it from the perspective of a father before. I'd be livid if someone dated Kimber like that; she'd be just two years older than Lily is."

"Okay, first of all, everyone consented, right?"

"Yeah, but Cleo, come on." He shifted his body, agitation showing plainly on his face and in his body language. "They weren't going to turn me down. I knew that."

"Let me finish." She scolded gently. "Lots of women like older men for a variety of reasons. Maturity, for one, guys in their early twenties are, in a lot of cases, still teenagers mentally. Attraction is another, security and safety. Did you ever lead them on?"

"No." He shook his head. "I was very upfront that it was for fun. A couple of them tried to use me to get bigger movie parts, and sometimes I helped out, sometimes I didn't." He fell quiet for a minute. "How do you think Kimber would have felt about it?"

"Well, if she really had a problem with it, she could have done like Danielle did to her father," Cleo smirked.

"What did Danielle do?" Link raised his eyebrow.

"Her father started dating one of her friends, so she started dating one of his. He got the message pretty quickly. Apparently, the idea of his best friend screwing his little girl was too much."

Link let out a low chuckle. "Yeah, I can definitely see that."

She said she would have gone after her friend's father to really drive the point home, but he was happily married, and she didn't want to be that person." Cleo squeezed his hand. "Look, I get it. You didn't see what you were doing from a dad's perspective before, but there's nothing wrong with an older man and a younger woman being together as long as everyone is on the same page. Sounds like you were with all of them. Don't be so hard on yourself. Besides, you're all grown up now and in a healthy, happy relationship with a woman just five years younger than you." She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Introducing me to your parents and everything."

He laughed and turned his head to kiss her. "You're amazing."

"Mmm. Don't you forget it." She stood up and offered her hand to him. "Come on, let's go to bed. We have a full day tomorrow." He took her hand and let her pull him out of the chair but pulled her to him. Cleo smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck, sliding her hands up the back of his head into his hair, pulling him down to her. His lips brushed hers gently and then traced along her jaw to the sweet spot below her ear.

"God, you smell amazing, like strawberries and whipped cream." He mumbled against her neck. "You're short and sweet, taste and smell like strawberries, like the perfect strawberry shortcake." his hands slide down her ribs to her hips and around to cup her ass. "Let's go inside." Cleo let out a yelp as he bent and picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder.

"Link!" She giggled as he turned and carried her into the hotel room. "Put me down!"

"I will." She could hear the smirk in his voice as he strode through the suite and nudged the bedroom door open with his foot. Moving to the bed, he deposited her on the mattress, and her breath caught in her throat as he crawled onto the bed above her on his hands and knees. "You said you wanted to go to bed, so I'm just helping out." He sat back on his knees and began pulling her top out of her waistband.