by Erica Hobbs
He moved a little, bending his knees so he could position himself at my entrance. I guided him with my hand. He leaned against the wall with his one arm, keeping us both upright. His other was wrapped around my thigh.
His lips pressed against me and I gasped in anticipation. When he pushed into me, my body stretched to accommodate his size. Everything about him was bigger and better than I remembered, and I remembered it to be fantastic. I moaned as he slid into me. The angle was a little difficult. He moved in and out a couple of times, and I gasped and moaned.
“Hold on,” he said and reached down with his other hand. He grabbed onto my thigh. I pressed my hands on his shoulders. If he picked me up, I would have no way of keeping my balance. I would be at his mercy completely.
“Trust me,” he said. And I did. I trusted him so much it was ridiculous. I nodded, and he pulled against my thigh, lifting me up. My back was against the wall, my legs around his waist. His muscles bulged as he lifted me, but he held me up like I weighed nothing. I felt light and slim in his arms.
He pushed into me against and gasped. Like this, he went so much deeper. He stroked my G-spot, and I gave myself over to him, letting him take all the control. Somewhere at the back of my mind, the symbolism wasn’t lost on me.
I didn’t think about that for too long, though. He picked up the pace, hammering into me and I was at his mercy. I closed my eyes and lost myself in the feeling. An orgasm started building at my core. It was good he held me up because my legs went numb and my muscles started clenching. When I opened my eyes for a moment Jake’s eyes were on me, his face riddled with concentration. It was easily the hottest version of him I’d ever seen.
I held onto his shoulder, my nails biting into his skin. The water was hot, steam building in the bathroom until it was like a fog.
The orgasm took over, and I cried out. I curled around Jake, my legs closing around his hips. I held onto his shoulders and convulsed against him, my body contracting and releasing in waves as the orgasm washed over me. Jake hadn’t stopped pumping into me the way he had before, and he cried out, pressing me hard against the wall, so he was buried deep inside me. He was climaxing as the same time as me. I felt him jerk inside of me, releasing, claiming every inch of me for himself again and again.
It was hot. It was sensual. It was erotic. It was love. We were making love. I had never understood that term – attributing previous cases to us. This was the real deal, though. This was what it was all about. At this moment there was nothing that could rip us apart. Jake and I were one, and it was just as I’d wanted.
I didn’t know where I ended, and he began.
Chapter 47
Alyssa
“Why are you so secretive about everything?” Tanya asked when I met with her and Grace at Zig Zag a week later. “A new job, a new man, and we hardly see you? That’s unfair.”
She pouted. I hugged them both and sat down. A waiter appeared immediately, and I ordered some iced tea. Tanya and Grace did the same.
“Don’t be mad,” I said. “Things can get crazy, and everything’s changed so quickly.”
I’d given my notice at work. Tanya and I had to train a new girl to take my place, and neither of us enjoyed it. Tanya complained about it all the time.
“You get to leave at the end of the month, and then I’m stuck with her,” she said again and again.
Tanya pulled a face.
“That’s easy for you to say – your change is good.”
I shook my head, smiling. “She won’t be that bad once she understands it,” I said, referring to the trainee. Again.
“So, tell us about Jake,” Grace said. She’d been seeing Matt, and she understood what I’d been going through, not having time to cover it all in gossip every day. “Are you guys okay now?”
I nodded. We were more than okay in some ways. Like in bed – oh, my God. Of course, we were doing well as a couple, too. I was still nervous, but he didn’t give me any reason to worry, and when he told me he loved me I believed him.
“He’s such a great guy,” I said. “He’s leaving, soon. He has to play a few away games. He promised he’d be back soon, though. He wants to talk about meeting families, then.”
Tanya raised her eyebrows. “That’s fast.”
I shrugged. Maybe it was, but now that my parents knew what had been going on, I wanted them to know who Jake was as a person. I wanted them to like him, too. My dad was ecstatic I was dating a footballer, obviously, but I wanted him to get to know who Jake Nash was behind the scenes. I wanted it to work for a long time, and I needed everyone on board for that.
“You know how it goes,” I said. Grace shook her head. She hadn’t told her parents about Matt yet. He was younger than her and I had the feeling she was scared it would be a problem. And Tanya was single and wouldn’t care about things like that either way. She was fiercely independent, and no one told her what to do, so why bother listening to opinions?
“You have to promise not to keep us out of the loop now that you’re all successful and semi-famous,” Tanya said. “You can’t just forget about us.”
“What?” I snorted. “I’ll never forget about you. You guys are like sisters to me. This is just a new chapter, not a new book.”
They were satisfied with that, and I meant what I said. Things were going well, but it was still my life, and I loved living it right now.
***
For the first few weeks at work, I struggled to settle in. I felt disoriented and stressed. As the time passed, though, I got better at it. I started to get to know my co-workers. I got to know traffic in the mornings and how I could get to work on time. I created a routine, and as soon as I got used to it, things started to calm down.
I started to understand how Douglas wanted me to do things. He was a patient employer – strict about what he wanted, but willing to allow me the time to learn. That’s all anyone needs, right? It worked for me. I missed Tanya at work, but as time passed, I made new friends.
Sonya, the receptionist, was younger than she looked. She had habits that reminded me of my own grandmother. In short, she was perfect for her job as a receptionist, and she knew all the gossip in the office.
Charlene and Ray both worked in my department and they often helped me out with the projects. They were happy to teach me the ropes, and I realized it was just as much fun as staying in school if you were at the right place. I had never been happier with my career choice.
Things were fine for Jake and me, too. Since we’d spoken, we’d fallen right back into the way things had been before the terrible incident. It was almost like it had never happened, except we were stronger. There was something about being told you were loved that changed everything. Jake had thrown himself into his football, and he had gone away for a game or two. It had been a challenge, but with face time and promises that we both trusted in, it worked, somehow.
He was back, now, three months later, and I was going to see him after work. He was coming to pick me up.
Even though I’d said, I wanted in on the fame so that the world knew who I was and what Jake’s relationship status was, it was easier said than done. I wasn’t the one with the fame, with paparazzi watching my every move and pressure to do something that the state loved. I was the girlfriend.
I made an effort to be at every game I could attend. I would fly out and see some of the others when it worked with my new job. His life wasn’t like that of a celebrity, though. He was a sports’ star. That meant that after some sort of a reality show, things went back to normal for me. People didn’t know who I was when I walked past them the way I’d imagined it could be once upon a time.
Jake was willing to take me public with him, and that was all that mattered. He knew I wanted to be seen as the woman he was committed to, and whenever there was a chance for that I had faith in him to stick to his word. Nothing was the way I had imagined it to be. Despite the differences, it was better.
Douglas walked into the open plan office where m
y desk was arranged in a horseshoe shape along with Charlene and Ray’s desks. My two screens were set up, and I worked on a vector image.
“Alyssa,” he said, and I looked up. I peeled the computer glasses I’d gotten from the optometrist from my face and stuck it over my head. Douglas’s face was pale, his eyes wide.
“Yeah?”
What was going on?
“Powerhouse Jake is in my lobby, asking for you.”
“Oh, he’s here. Thanks.”
I threw my stuff into my handbag in the bottom drawer of my desk and shut down my computer.
“You’re dating Jake Nash?” Douglas asked, still standing in the office. I nodded and got up.
“Yeah, he said he would pick me up at five-fifteen. I hadn’t been checking the time.”
Douglas blinked at me.
“Your boyfriend is the Broncos’ star football player.”
I nodded again. When people found out about it, I tried not to make a fuss. It was hard, though. I wanted to beam at Douglas and brag about the fact that Jake was mine and mine alone.
“I’m going to be late,” I said. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”
Charlene’s mouth hung open. Ray blinked at me, frozen. I walked toward the door, and Douglas followed me.
“You’ve just become my favorite employee.”
I chuckled. He opened the door for me, letting me walk first. I followed the path through the communal area and out into the lobby where Jake was sitting in the seat I’d sat in when I’d come for my first interview. The chair was too small for him – it looked like it belonged in a dollhouse compared to his form. He got up and smiled at me.
“Hey, beautiful,” he said. I blushed like an idiot, the way I did every time he called me that.
“Hi,” Douglas said, holding out his hand. “I’m Douglas Rosenblatt, Alyssa’s boss.”
Jake took it, squeezing Douglas’s hand in a firm grip.
“Nice to meet you,” he said. “It’s good to know who Alyssa works with.”
Douglas chuckled breathlessly. He bounced on the balls of his feet like he’d found a new source of energy. He rubbed his hands together.
“Can I just say what a fan I am?” he asked. He was gushing. Jake smiled and thanked him. I turned to Douglas.
“We really have to go,” I said. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Jake and I turned and walked toward the glass doors that led out of the building.
“Start struck for days,” I said. Jake nodded and interlinked our fingers, holding onto me as if I would drift away even though he knew I was here to stay.
“Is what I’m wearing okay?” he asked as we walked to his car and got in. He looked dashing in a pair of faded jeans and a teal t-shirt that made his muscles look larger than life.
“You look great. Don’t worry, they’ll love you.”
Jake flashed a nervous smile at me. We weren’t going out on date night the way we did once a week when we had the chance. We weren’t going to a fancy restaurant or a movie or a picnic under the stars the way we’d been doing. I was taking Jake home to meet my parents.
It had taken us a while to get around to meeting family – I was up for judgment with his aunt and sister the following weekend – but it was time for that step for the both of us. We’d agreed to take it as it came at us, to not force it.
“I don’t know… first impressions really do last.”
He was referring to his fighting on my lawn. It was a hell of a first impression, for sure. My parents hadn’t thought he was the ideal candidate for a relationship at the time. Of course, he’d managed to fix it because he was Jake Nash and fixing it was what he did best. My dad thought he was a strong character. My mom saw how happy I was and that was enough for her.
“The good thing is that no matter what you do tonight, it can’t be worse than that time.”
Jake made a ‘hmm’ sound and kept his eyes focused on the road. His face was expressionless, impossible to read, but his hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned white. It told me everything I needed to know.
It was endearing that their opinion meant so much to him.
We stopped at home and got out. Jake looked up at the house.
“This is so much more intimidating than it had been, even when I’d come to apologize.”
I looped my arm around his. “You’re going to be perfectly fine. I’m here.”
He smiled at me, leaning down for a quick peck. We walked to the front door together.
My mom opened the front door before I could.
“Jake,” she said with a smile. “It’s so good to finally officially meet you.”
She gave him a hug. Jake looked surprised. He glanced at me. I shrugged and smiled at him. My dad came into the kitchen and held out his hand.
“Much better circumstances to meet under,” he said with a grin. Jake shook his hand nervously.
“I hope so,” he said.
My mom fussed over the food. My dad talked sports. I found a bottle of wine and glasses in the cabinet in the dining room. When I walked back to the kitchen, the smell of food and the talk of sports reminded me of life as a child when this was the soundtrack to my life.
And Jake was in the middle of it all, looking like he’d been there all along.
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