“You like?”
“Very much. Just your size.”
“And this?” She held up the bra against her own breasts.”
“Very nice. Put them on. They look like you, Ginger.”
She stepped into the panties and strapped the bra together. Staring down at the floor, she whispered, “I have a confession to make.”
He watched her, liking the excitement of a secret unfolding.
“Go on. Tell me all your secrets. I love true confessions.”
Her face was sad, her brow furrowed. “I haven’t been completely honest with you about all this.”
“What?”
“This. The room, the Honeymoon Suite. These,” she said as her fingers brushed against the lace of her bra.
He couldn’t possibly imagine what she’d tell him next. “Jake, I conspired to bring you here, to have you wind up here, in this room. I’m not proud of it. Gerud helped me. I thought he was someone I could count on. And it was wrong of me.”
He sat up. “You mean you guys did this?”
She nodded.
“And this?” He held up the wedding ring.”
Again, she nodded. “But the red ribbon thing, your wrists, that was never the plan. Gerud went overboard, but I have to take responsibility for that. I’m sorry.”
Jake chuckled. It was such a relief.
“So you planned all this, then. You did all this to get me back?”
“Well, I helped do it, but it was my idea, yes.”
“You are so in trouble, Ginger. You’ve been a very, very bad girl.”
“You’re not mad at me?”
“How could I be mad at you? I’m mad at Gerud for fucking with my wrists, but it all makes sense now. You little vixen. I never thought this was in you.”
“I’ve changed. Again, I’m sorry.”
“On the contrary, it worked. I’m glad. Now get your phone call in to Karen so I can properly punish you. You’re gonna pay for this, Miss Ginger.”
Ginger bent over and gave him a nice view while she searched for the phone in her purse. Then she dialed Karen.
“Hi, there, it’s Ginger.” She came over to the matching red chair and sat, crossing her legs, twirling her hair, pouting her lips and pretending to ignore him.
“Yes, I am. We’re just getting up.” She grinned at Jake. “How was the rest of the show?”
He propped his head and watched her tease him in the lingerie. He called to her, curling his forefinger slowly.
“That’s too bad. Why was he out of sorts?”
She listened, and Jake’s curiosity was aroused.
“Oh, I think you’re being silly. Karen, could you ask for a ride home with Gerud? I think Jake and I are going to spend another day, then I’ll drive us home. That okay with you?”
Ginger frowned. “Okay then. Let me know what he says. Bye.”
She replaced the phone and came over to the bed.
“You like?”
“I do. Come here, Ginger. It’s time for your punishment. I’m going to get so even with you, it’s not even funny.”
She climbed on top of him and slowly pivoted her pelvis back and forth, rubbing his cock, pressing harder and harder with each move. His thumb pressed her nub encased under the satin crotch, and she pressed herself against him. He pulled the elastic of her panty leg to the side, massaged her sex with long lazy motions, encircling her bud and then pressing it. His other hand slipped under the bra and squeezed her right breast hard, pinching her nipple.
Ginger’s expression went from sweet to siren in a matter of seconds. She rose up on her knees as he pulled the elastic to the side, and then allowed his cock to enter her as she pressed down and rocked her pelvis back and forth again.
He knew this wasn’t really punishment, but he couldn’t help himself. He needed to feel fully seated inside her.
After starting slow, he held her hips, urging her up and down on him, repeating the rhythm faster and faster until she stopped him, held her breath and he felt her internal muscles milking him. She held her hair up with one hand on top of her head and gave him that vacant look as he filled her.
He thought about the pancakes, but no way was he done with Ginger, or all the ways he could make her come. The waiter would just have to leave the pancakes in the hallway.
Chapter 8
They never made it out after they retrieved the pancakes. She’d had gotten creative with the maple syrup and whipped cream. One thing led to another and it required another shower.
Karen had gone back to Coronado with Gerud. Although Ginger felt there was some unfinished business with him, she was glad she didn’t have to speak with him until they got home.
They decided to take an early dinner, turn in and actually sleep, before heading home in the morning. Jake received a call there was another quick deployment coming up he’d be involved in.
“What do you think we should tell the girls?” she asked.
He was adjusting himself to driving her car, which was new since their divorce, and definitely did not have the power he was used to. She suspected he was a little frustrated with its handling.
Before he could respond, she addressed what she thought could be bothering him. “It’s a safe car, Jake. I don’t drive fast, but it’s safe, and has all those features that will protect us, the girls and I.”
He grinned and reached for her hand, which she gave him. “What do you say we just leave things the way they are right now? Let’s just wear this for a bit. Get used to it a little.”
She was a little tender about this, but let it pass. “No second thoughts, then?”
“Oh God, no.”
But she could tell there was a bit of hesitation because he’d answered so forcefully.
“I have to digest it. Figure out what I’m going to say. Figure out what all this means. But Ginger, honey,” he kissed the back of her fingers, “I’m in. We got together like an atomic bomb, and it was great. Not sure that’s what I want to tell the girls, do you understand?”
“I do.” It was the right answer. She would bide her time. Checking her insides with her outsides, she said something she’d had trouble with before. “I trust you, Jake.”
He squeezed her hand. “That means a lot. I’m working to become a better man, Ginger. But I’m not there yet.”
She let that one settle a bit before she answered, giving it careful thought.
“Just so we’re clear. If this involves other ladies, and I didn’t ask you last night if there were, the answer is no. I’m not sharing.”
He grinned. “Neither am I.” He kissed her knuckles again.
But there was still something there.
They dropped Jake off at his apartment. Ginger took over the driver’s seat, and they kissed good-bye, agreeing to get together after he found out what was happening with the Team.
Checking herself in the rear view mirror, she loved how she glowed. Flushed, full of that wonderful tired feeling from making love nearly non-stop for a day and a half. It harkened back to memories when he’d first come crashing into her life. God, how she hoped this time it was for keeps. This time perhaps she had the maturity to stand by when things got tough. Because she knew they would.
She dropped by her mother-in-law’s house to pick up the girls and saw Gerud’s car there. That worried her. She didn’t want to have her first conversation with him since her return to Coronado under the watchful eyes of her mother-in law and the girls.
Mrs. Green was at the front door before she rang the bell. “There you are and looking so pretty today!” Adele Green wasn’t exactly unattractive, either. A former model turned realtor to the stars in Coronado, she retired when she married Burt, Jake’s dad. But the Green & Green house signs were everywhere. Everyone in the community understood it referred to the Mr. and Mrs. Green, and not the father and son Green. Gerud was still part of the realty office, but no one expected him to take over some day. His heart clearly wasn’t in it.
“How was y
our little adventure?” she asked Ginger. Adele’s eyes twinkled in that conspiratorial way, anxious to live her life through the younger generation, but living the luxurious San Diego lifestyle that only the older generation could afford.
Did she know about the little ruse to get back in Jake’s good graces?
“Fine, Adele. It was just what I needed.” Ginger tried to appear wholesome and proper, but her thoughts were in the gutter with all the things she and Jake had done the last twenty-four hours. She suspected that most mothers-in-law knew about such things and could smell sex and abandon a mile away on their daughters-in-law.
Adele leaned forward attempting to go in for the deets, but Ginger was spared by her two carrot-topped girls.
“Mom! We got a puppy! Gran got us a puppy!” squeaked Jasmine, Ginger’s oldest, who was nearly five.
Ginger turned to her mother-in-law. “What did you do?”
Adele shook her hands above her head and closed the front door. “I know. I took the girls to the mall, and there were these adorable puppies being adopted out, and, well, the girls loved them. It was everything I could do to not come home with two, let alone one.”
Little Jennifer came out holding a squirming fat puppy with her arm around its belly, the little legs trying to find purchase.
“Careful, honey,” Ginger said as she stooped down and let the puppy come to her. “Oh he’s adorable.”
“She’s a girl, mommy,” corrected Jennifer.
“I don’t blame you, but Adele, you should have asked.”
Gerud appeared in the hallway, looking in a foul mood.
Ginger picked the puppy up and nodded to her ex brother-in-law. She doubted anyone else noticed how he scanned her entire body up and then slowly down to her shoes.
“Yes, you’re a cutie pie, and what a little flirt you are, wiggling your way into this family’s good graces,” she said in puppy talk. The pup licked her face, her chin and tried to bite one of the buttons on her shirt.
“We’ve named her Fiona,” said Jennie.
“No, we’ve named her Chelsea,” argued Jasmine. “After my best friend.”
Ginger put the puppy down, and it ran to the girls.
“She seems to really like you two already,” said Ginger.
“Tell me about it. Slept with the two of them last night. They got up with her a dozen times—every time she cried. That little thing is going to be spoiled out of her mind.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Ginger said in mock praise. “So we’ve got a puppy now, who sleeps with the girls.”
“Can’t put her out in the garage, that would be cruel. Too cold.” Gerud’s voice broke the levity of the moment.
“Oh, I think she has to pee!” said Jasmine. Both the girls ran to the kitchen, the puppy in tow.
“Now you’ve done it. What do I do with her when I work?”
“Drop her off here. When I get the girls after school, they’ll all play here that way.”
“And just when will you have time for your other grandchildren? What if you and Burt want to get away?”
“Oh my God. Just seeing those two with the puppy, it’s worth every vacation we’ve been on all last year. Nothing compares to seeing their smiling faces. You know how I like to spoil them.”
Adele was off to the kitchen to close the glass door the girls had left open.
Ginger sighed. “Just what I needed. Another project at home.”
Gerud stepped closer to her. “As if Jake wasn’t a project enough, right?” He wiggled his eyebrows.
“Well, let’s not get too ahead of ourselves, Gerud. We had a good time. We’re just waiting to see where it goes. That’s all. Would like to keep it low-key, if you don’t mind.”
“Your picnic, Ginger.” They walked side by side to the kitchen, watching the girls play with Fiona Chelsea who was chasing their grandmother in the backyard.
“I’m going to have my hands full,” she said to the glass door.
“Why? Won’t Jake move back in?”
“Gerud, we’re not having this conversation. Please, don’t press me.”
He shrugged and wouldn’t look back at her.
“Oh, come on, Gerud. I’m not telling anyone. Jake knows, and that’s all that matters, and he forgives me. As for what Jake and I discussed, about our relationship, that’s between the two of us. Only the two of us. We’re not ready to tell everyone. Not yet.”
“You know old big ears will find out. Your funeral”
“Your mother is more interested in the puppy and the girls than anything else.”
“Wanna make a bet? She’s already guessed something’s up with you two.” He paused before asking one more question, carefully. “Do the girls know?”
“Not yet. Gerud, we want it left that way, for now. Do you understand?”
It was a thin line she was walking, but she wasn’t going to let Gerud’s mood affect her. Her ex-husband loved her, had never stopped loving her. And she could finally tell him back. Show him back with everything she had. She was almost as happy as the morning after they’d first slept together, before all the storm clouds appeared.
And then she found some levity there, and giggled.
“What’s so funny?”
“Well, earlier you called it a picnic. My picnic. Now you’re calling it my funeral. You honestly think it’s the same thing, Gerud?”
“I guess it depends on which version of the truth you’re comfortable with. You owe me a thank you, and I’ll collect one day.” He winked at her, and for some reason, Ginger shivered.
“But for now, it will be our secret.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulder. She resisted the temptation to distance herself from him.
“I’m not proud of my involvement, but yes, the outcome was perfect.”
“There you go. Just remember I got you two back together again. Just in time, too, because in another two weeks he’d have married again and probably fathered another baby.”
Chapter 9
Jake entered his apartment that he shared with two other bachelors SEALs. Lucas and Alex had moved out, but Ryan Groves and Cory Brown, also men on SEAL Team 3, had stayed behind. They liked to rub it in they left Jake’s room vacant so he could come back every time he became a bachelor again.
The place was deathly quiet, but it had the familiar bachelor pad smell. A few days of dishes filled with dirty dishwater were in the sink. A pan with a spatula and lid was still on the stove. The TV was turned on to a sports network, but muted. The same pallet they’d put it on when they first moved in years ago was its stand. The couch was still there, lumpy as hell, but vacant. Always grinning, waiting for someone to grace it and sleep off a drunk. A row of beer bottles was displayed on the gas fireplace mantle.
His stomach growled, but looking inside the refrigerator, he didn’t see anything he wanted to risk eating, so he chose a yogurt, checked the expiration date, grabbed a spoon and went to his room, closing the door.
He’d had the master bedroom at one time, but this one did have its own bath, a tiny one with fiberglass shower stall. He tossed his bag on the bed, turned on the hot water and sat, finishing his yogurt. Before stepping into the shower, he heard a knock on the door.
Ryan was standing in a pair of boxers, bare-chested. “Have a good time?” he asked.
“Yeah. It was nice.”
“Sounds boring.”
“Well, first of all, I went up there with Gerud, which is never boring, but I kinda connected with Ginger again, and trust me, that was not boring.”
“No shit? Wow, I would not have expected that. You have that planned?”
Jake could see hope springing from Ryan’s eyes. He still loved his first wife, too. “Nope. She and a girlfriend were up there. But yeah, she planned it.” He nearly blushed.
“Well, good for you, then.”
The silence was awkward between them. Jake felt for Ryan, even though his Team brother had tried his best to drown out the memory of his failed marriage, just as Jake had. T
he collateral damage that being a SEAL created on families was hell. And he knew it was rare they ever got to live out their fantasies and get a do-over. Jake knew he was lucky.
He cleared his throat. “So, I’m gonna take a shower, Ryan, and then I guess we gotta get over to the Team Building. You guys both up?”
“I think Cory is still comatose. We watched soccer until two o’clock. I woke up on the floor, and everyone else was asleep, too. Sorry bunch of bachelors we are. I guess everyone got home okay cause I don’t see the couch has been used.”
“I’ll be out in five. Better go wake up Cory, then.”
“Roger that.”
After his shower, Jake unpacked his things and found the clothes he’d been wearing the night of his massage in the bag, along with his other pair of canvas slip-ons. He wondered how this could happen, and then recalled that Gerud had kept up the ruse by taking him shopping, later replacing the clothes. The wedding ring had come off in the shower this morning, and he placed it on the highboy dresser, with fondness. If everything went as he hoped, he’d be wearing one again. He finished getting dressed and came out into the kitchen-living room area.
Ryan had made eggs and coffee. Cory was dressed, with his duty bag, but it was obvious from the way his hair stood out in all directions he hadn’t showered. He was staring at a plate of eggs like they were the keys to his future.
“You good to go, Cory?”
“Nothing a little PT or a swim wouldn’t cure. How was your lost weekend?”
“Good.” That was all he was going to communicate. He could talk to Ryan straight, but Cory was a dangerous combination of fallen preacher’s son and victim of child support hell. Jake had avoided those things by staying charming to his exes. He didn’t want to be cut out of his children’s lives like Cory was from his son’s.
After breakfast, Jake cleaned up the kitchen.
“So you’re all domestic today, Jake. Looks like you had a good weekend up there.” Cory still had shaving cream under his ear, and Jake decided it wasn’t manly to tell him.
“Well, funny thing about being in a clean room for two days. I walk in here this morning, and first thing I notice? We live like slobs, Cory.”
Band of Bachelors: Jake Book 3 Page 5
