Just Pretend

Chapter Forty-Two

Jason
I can’t say when I’ve ever been so happy in my life.
I love being in a full-fledged relationship with Gwen and getting to know her mom over the last week has shown me that she was raised to be the beautiful soul that she is.
Her mom stands in the foyer, showing off the figure that her daughter inherited in a dark blue dress, and raises her eyebrows at our slight tardiness.
I tell them to head out to the truck while I open the sliding door for Carrie and lock up. 
From behind, the mother-daughter pair look like best friends as I watch them leave out the front door; Gwen throwing me a dazzling smile over her shoulder.
I watch her until the door closes, falling in love with her even further, before I get my ass in gear and making sure that Carrie can get through the gap in the sliding door and that she has kibble and water and heading out, sliding my key into the lock and ensuring that the lock clicks in place.
I walk to the truck and open the door to hear them laughing and talking very quickly in Afrikaans.  I can understand Byron's name as well as a name I don’t recognise; Donovan.
They switch languages and topics to include me and Gwen looks at me in a way that tells me she’ll tell me what they talked about later and I start the truck, reversing out of the garage and getting out to close the door.
I get back into the cab and we drive to the restaurant talking about Gwen's younger years and I can see her flushing with embarrassment under the light film of her foundation when her mom mentions her old hobbies of singing to an imaginary audience and pretending to be the translator she is today.
I make a mental note to ask her about it later and she looks at me pleadingly, begging me silently to forget it. I shake my head and she sighs heavily, causing her mom to cackle with delight while Gwen glares at her in the side mirror.  I laugh when Kim sticks out her tongue at her daughter and Gwen shakes her head, exasperated.
I get out of the truck when we pull into a parking space in front of the restaurant; opening the back door for Kim – where she insisted on sitting – before opening the passenger door for Gwen, and helping her out of the truck.  I wrap my arm around her shoulders and pull her into a hug while pressing her lower body against mine; showing her just how much this week of forced abstinence has done to me.
‘Are you two lovebirds coming, or are you planning on fucking right here in the parking lot?’ Kim asks loudly from the other side of the truck and Gwen chuckles softly into my chest as I almost choke on the spittle in my throat.
With her arm around my waist and mine around hers, we walk around the car to join her mom and I move Gwen around to walk in front of me to hide the prominent erection between my legs.
Kim looks back at us with a knowing grin in the brightly lit parking area while Gwen silently laughs in front of me as we walk to the row of elevators that will take us up into the floor that houses the restaurant.
Kim presses the button with the knuckle on her index finger, something I’d seen Gwen do more than once and she stands back to wait for the elevator and Gwen and I stand opposite her.
By the time we reach the first floor, Gwen is standing in my arms while she and Kim carry the conversation as I try to get a grip on the desire coursing through me.
The third-floor passes and Kim keeps shooting me a knowing smirk that makes me curious to find out what Gwen's told Kim about us, and I still haven’t gotten a hold on the erection now pulsing with my heartbeat.
Gwen stays in front of me and, to her credit, keeps a straight face the entire ride up to the seventh floor.
It’s only when we’re seated that Gwen breaks; her mother’s words enough to send her into a fit of laughter, burying her face in her hands.
‘Go on, go help your man get rid of that erection before he gets blue balls.’
Words escape me along with any bodily reaction at Kim's words and I can only gape at her.  Gwen is shaking with laughter but the expression of amused seriousness on Kim's face in enough for her to actually take my hand and drag me to the bathroom, uncaring of the curious glances being shot our way.
I don’t hesitate when she turns to face me after locking the bathroom door; I push her up against it as my lips find hers in a crushing kiss and her hands make quick work of undoing my belt and unbuttoning my pants.
Her fingers deftly unzip my fly and wrap around my cock; unbuttoning my boxers and slipping her hand between the folds.  I groan into her mouth, unable to stop myself as my hands fall onto her breasts, bare under the material of her dress, and squeezing gently.
She gasps and I take the opportunity to let my tongue dive into her mouth as she strokes me gently, running her thumb over the head of my cock; pressing into the slit with the pad.
I drop my hands to her hips and lift her up against the door as she slides me out of my boxers.  I pin her to the door as I slide my hand down the inside of her thigh to push the thin lace between her legs away from her wet, heated core.
I break the kiss briefly to look at her and I’m surprised her lipstick is still in place as she guides me to her entrance without breaking eye contact.
‘I need you, Jace,’ those words and the shifting of her hips  are all I need to hear and feel before pushing into her with a moan.
Ten minutes.
That’s how long it takes for Gwen and I to reach orgasm, straighten our clothes and head out of the bathroom to rejoin her mother.
‘Feeling better?’ Kim asks sincerely and I find myself nodding as Gwen slides into the booth before I sit down next to her.
‘Good.  We don’t want you uncomfortable, now do we?’ she asks teasingly and Gwen runs her hand over my thigh comfortingly.
‘No?’ I ask, clearing my throat and she chuckles, handing us menus over the table.  Gwen reaches forward to take them and hands me one, which I instantly put on the table and wrapping my body around Gwen’s back to peruse the menu over her shoulder.
She and Kim tell me their orders and when the waiter comes around to take it, I order a bottle of wine for Kim and I, and a cranberry juice for Gwen as well as two orders of chicken schnitzel and salad for Gwen and Kim and a steak for me.
‘What? Is my steak not good enough?’ Gwen teases as the waiter walks away and I laugh, leaning down to kiss her temple.
‘I just want to compare,’ I tell her and I feel her shift around to look at me, her expression amused.
‘Compare what?’ she asks and I feel her mom’s amused gaze on me.
‘Taste,’ I whisper and she flushes slightly before scowling up at me briefly, causing Kim to laugh as the waiter walks away, and squeezing my thigh gently with her hand.  I tighten my arm around her shoulder briefly while we settle back into the booth.  Kim looks at Gwen fondly before speaking something that’s clearly been weighing on her mind.
‘I’m not easily impressed, Jason, but this week you’ve shown me that I can trust my daughter’s heart with you.  Be warned, however, hurt her and I will rip your spine from your body with my bare hands.’ Kim looks at me seriously and I can feel Gwen shift to look at me, both women expecting an answer or reaction.
‘If I do hurt Gwen, I can promise you, I will come to you to complete that threat,’ I tell Kim and a brief flicker of respect shows on her face before she meets Gwen’s eyes.
‘You know I’m going to tell you to follow your heart, and I’m happy that you’re happy.  Even through your illness I could see the love and respect that you hold for each other.  Do not let anything get between you,’ she says and I nod, feeling Gwen do the same as she reaches forward to take her mom’s hand.
‘I’m not planning on it,’ she says something else in Afrikaans and her mother grins in response and I can just barely understand the word “sex” in her response.  This gets my attention and I look down at Gwen to see her blushing slightly but the expression on her face is determined.
With that shroud lifted, the atmosphere in the booth lightens and we fall into comfortable conversation while we wait for the food to arrive.  Kim teases me about being part of the family now and Gwen almost chokes on her drink, looking at her mom like she’s lost her mind, asking her if Kim thinks that Harold Reddick will agree.
‘Honestly, as much of a narcistic asshole as your father is, and as uptight as he is; he only wants the best for his children,’ Kim tells Gwen and I can feel her inhale deeply before telling her mom that she’ll believe it when she sees it.
Kim chuckles but allows Gwen to have her opinion of her father and I have to ask what kind of man Harold is.
Kim proceeds to tell me that Harold is the type of man who chooses business over family but his family means the world to him.  He’s a strict father and hard-headed and against any form of intoxication, despite the legality of the substance.
No wonder Gwen hides anything recreational she does, despite marijuana being legal – even more so than normal cigarettes.
‘Harold likes to think that he could have been the reason South Africa won the war against America – if we’d won,’ Gwen says and I can hear the exasperated tone in her voice.
‘Gwendolyn,’ Kim warns but I can see that she agrees with Gwen.
The American - World War was essentially the Third World War when America tried to take over the world.  They succeeded to conquer the majority of the world; starting with the British Colonies.
South Africa had been the first to fall.
Gwen sighs and Kim hides a smile.
‘I’m not arguing with you.  Your father does like to think he could have supplied enough capital to win the war for South Africa, but and you know what I think about it,’ Kim goes on to say and Gwen nods stiffly.
Mother and daughter communicate silently for a moment and Gwen finally relents, relaxing against me.