Sinfully Yours StepDaddy

Chapter13

Morning light felt sharper than usual.

Aria came downstairs to find her mother already at the kitchen table, coffee in hand, watching the hallway like she had been waiting. Dominic stood at the counter with his back to them both, pouring a second cup. The air felt tight.

“Sleep well?” her mother asked. The question sounded casual. Her eyes did not.

“Fine,” Aria said, sliding into a chair.

Dominic set a mug in front of her. Their fingers brushed. Neither of them looked at the other.

Her mother took a slow sip of coffee. “You two were both up late again. I keep hearing movement in the hallway.”

Dominic’s jaw flexed once. “Restless night. Work stuff on my mind.”

“Mm.” Her mother set the mug down. “And you, Aria? You’ve been quiet since I got home. Distant, even. Is something going on that I should know about?”

The directness of the question landed like a stone. Aria kept her eyes on the table. “Just adjusting to being back. That’s all.”

Her mother didn’t look convinced. She glanced between them once more, the suspicion from the night before still clear on her face, then stood and carried her coffee toward the living room.

“I’m going to work from the couch today,” she said. “I’ll be right here if either of you need me.”

The message was obvious. She wasn’t going anywhere.

The day crawled.

Every room felt smaller with her mother nearby. Dominic took a long call in the study with the door open. Aria tried to read in the living room and failed. Every time their eyes met across the space the contact felt heavier, riskier. Once, while her mother was focused on her laptop, Dominic walked past Aria’s chair and let his fingers trail along the back of her neck for half a second. The touch left her skin burning.

By late afternoon the tension had become almost unbearable.

Her mother finally stood and stretched. “I’m going to take a shower and then make a few calls from the bedroom. Give you both some space.”

The second the bathroom door closed upstairs, Dominic appeared in the living room doorway and tilted his head toward the laundry room. Aria followed.

He shut the door, locked it, and had her against the washing machine in seconds. The kiss was rough, almost desperate. His hands shoved her shorts down just far enough. She heard his zipper. Then he lifted her onto the edge of the machine, stepped between her thighs, and pushed inside her in one hard thrust.

Aria bit down on his shoulder to stay quiet. He f****d her in short, deep strokes, one hand covering her mouth, the other gripping her hip hard enough to bruise. The machine hummed beneath them. Upstairs the shower ran.

“She’s getting closer,” he muttered against her ear, voice strained. “I can feel it. We have to be more careful.”

Aria nodded, already shaking. He rubbed her c**t with his thumb and she came hard and silent, clenching around him. Dominic followed a few thrusts later, burying himself deep and pulsing inside her with a low, broken sound.

They stayed locked together for a few seconds, breathing hard. Then he pulled out, fixed their clothes, and pressed his forehead to hers.

“I don’t want to lose this,” he said quietly. “But she’s watching us now.”

Before Aria could answer, the shower upstairs shut off.

They stepped out of the laundry room separately. Dominic went to the kitchen. Aria returned to the living room couch and picked up her book with unsteady hands.

Her mother came down a few minutes later in a robe, hair damp, and stopped in the doorway. She looked at Aria, then toward the kitchen where Dominic was, then back at Aria again. Something cold and knowing settled in her expression.

She didn’t speak right away. She simply stood there, studying them both, the suspicion from the night before hardening into something sharper.

“I’d like the three of us to have a real talk tonight,” she said finally, voice calm but firm. “After dinner. No more brushing things off.”

Then she turned and walked back upstairs, leaving Aria and Dominic in separate rooms with the weight of thos

e words hanging heavy between