by Ann Garner
Desperate to show him, to give him the actions because the rest of the words, the most important words, are lodged in my throat behind a wall of fear, I sweep my tongue into his mouth, exploring the soft crevices. I yank at his shirt, frantic to get it off so I can touch his skin.
He yanks his head back enough, reaching up and grabbing the shirt at the back of his neck so he can pull it over his head. It lands somewhere on the floor behind me. My hands shoot down, fingers delving under the edge of the nylon pants. “These were a waste of time.” I whisper hoarsely against his mouth. “Take them off.”
I stand up, watching as his hands hook in the pants before yanking them down. He kicks them off his feet, letting them join the shirt on the floor. Not that I’m paying attention to the clothes because, hello, naked Jacob. My favorite thing.
I attack him, jumping forward so fast I knock him backwards on the bed, sprawled out on top of him as I grab his face in my hands, smothering his mouth with my own.
I can’t get close enough to him.
I can’t get enough of him. My mouth moves over his, tongue dipping in and out in an erotic dance that shoots desire straight to my core.
Like I wasn’t already wet enough for him.
I slither down his body, trailing kisses over the exposed skin. I stop to give attention to his navel, loving the way his stomach muscles jump in response to my ministrations.
“Grace,” he moans my name. “You keep that up and I’m not going to last.”
I swirl my tongue around his belly button one more time before starting to work my way up his body again. His hands fist in the bottom of the cardigan I’m wearing. “I want to see you.” His fingers slide under my top before hooking in the top of my leggings and pulling downward. The backs of his fingers slide over my ass as he moves them down.
I’m suddenly regretting wearing my kick ass knee high leather boots because they’re a bitch to get off. I roll off of him, landing in a heap next to him on the bed, yanking anxiously at my boots. Jacob chuckles, then reaches over and snags one of my legs, pulling the boot off, my legging coming away at the same time. One of his hands snakes up under my shirt, closing around my breast above the lace of my bra.
Gasping, I arch into the touch, removing my other boot momentarily forgotten as his fingers squeeze gently.
His mouth is suddenly on my neck, tongue moving in circles as his hand move down, fingers dipping inside of me the same time his mouth closes over my ear.
I can’t wait any longer.
Not caring that I’m still mostly dressed, that I still have one boot on, I shove against his chest, forcing him on to his back so I can crawl over him again.
My eyes close, my head thrown back as I pull him inside of me. He grabs my hips, his fingers digging into the skin. I tilt forward, pressing my hands against his chest and together we find a frenzied rhythm. I bit my bottom lip to the point I feel blood when one of his thumbs brushes lightly over the sensitive part of my body where I feel everything building and gathering. The touch sends me right over the edge, and I’m pretty sure I scream his name.
My head drops against his shoulder as I suck in huge breaths of air, trying to fill my suddenly empty lungs. Before I can say anything Jacob starts to laugh under me, the sound causing his entire body to shake under mine.
“Why are you laughing?”
“You still have a boot on.”
Chapter Twenty Two
“Tell me about your mother.”
I shove a bite of lukewarm mashed potatoes into my mouth, while watching Jacob dig his fork into a piece of apple pie. The thought of putting anything with that much sugar into my mouth after eating nothing but ice cream yesterday makes me sick to my stomach.
We are eating the leftovers my mother had sent on Friday, sitting with our legs crossed on his bed, knees touching. I’d finally pulled the rest of my clothes off, yanking on his discarded shirt while he’d gone to make us plates.
“Now?”
I lick an extra bit of mashed potato off my fork. “Why not now?”
“We just had sex.”
I choke trying not to laugh at the incredulous look on his face. “Is there like a rule that I’m not aware of that prevents us from talking about our parents after we’ve had sex? Like a specific length of time I need to wait before I ask?”
He takes another bite of pie instead of answering me. I know this is a diversion tactic, because Jacob doesn’t want to talk about his mother.
“What do you want to know?” He finally asks.
“Whatever you want to tell me.”
He leans over, scooping some corn pudding off my plate. I narrow my eyes as he eats, watching his dimple flash with the smile he shoots my way. Leaning over I press my lips against the edge of his mouth, my hand pressing into his thigh.
I don’t let it become more than a kiss, though it could easily go that way. I don’t want him to brush this off, and not answer my question. I think he needs to talk about his mother and Lacey, I think he needs to tell someone about them and what losing them has done to him. I think it’s the only way he can even hope to get past the guilt that’s eating at him.
“She snorted when she laughed. Full on snorting that would only set her off even more.” He has a faint smile now, and a far off look on his face. “She told the corniest jokes, but you couldn’t help but laugh, because she would be laughing and snorting before she even got the punch-line out.”
“Tell me one.”
“Of her jokes?”
“Yeah. I love a good corny joke.”
Taking another bite of apple pie, Jacob studies me. He swallows then asks, “Why does a seagull fly over the sea?”
“Why?”
His mouth is already kicked up in a smile when he delivers the punch line. “Because if they flew over the bay they would be called a bagel.”
The burst of laughter that shoots out of my mouth is surprising. “That is corny.” I tell him around the laughter. “I’ve never heard that one.”
“That’s one of the better ones. Here,” he hands me a napkin. “You have some mashed potato on your lip.”
Before I can lift the napkin to wipe it away, he runs one finger across my lip to clean it away himself.
“She liked to do the Sunday crossword puzzle even though she sucked at it, and she liked to turn the music up in the house and dance and sing at the top of her lungs.”
“She sounds like a lot of fun. I wish I could have met her.”
“She would have liked you.”
Jacob drops his empty pie plate on the nightstand before leaning back against the headboard, crossing his arms over his chest.
“And Lacey?”
There is a slight pause before he says, “She liked to play Chutes & Ladders obsessively. I played more rounds of that game than I’d like to admit.”
Smiling, I agree. “It’s hard to imagine you playing Chutes & Ladders.”
“I would kick your ass.”
I drop my empty plate on top of his, moving so I can snuggle up against his side. He shifts, letting my cheek settle against his chest as one of his arms wrap around my waist. I tangle my legs in his, letting my thumb move idly back and forth over his stomach.
“What else do you want to know?”
His voice rumbles in his chest against my ear. “Anything.”
He doesn’t say anything else though, and I don’t want to push him any further than I already have. Even that small bit of information feels like a huge step in the right direction. Oh, we still had about a million steps left to go, but at least we’d taken one.
Of course, starting tomorrow I’m going to disappear for three days. I’ve promised both Delaney and Cole that I would be there, though Delaney’s reasoning for wanting me there is vastly different than Cole’s.
Cole thought the more people who care about Delaney around the better. Delaney wants me there to be a support for Cole.
I’m supposed to go out with Cole and Delaney tonight for dinner.
Cole’s doing everything he can to try and keep her mind off of what’s coming so we’re hitting up the local pizza shop. Holden and Ally are supposed to be there, and Robby as well. I’d specifically asked Cole not to invite Grant, because I just didn’t need the drama that he being there would cause.
“Did you want to do anything today?”
“Besides this?” I ask, dropping my hand down lower on his chest, which he obviously enjoys. The muscles of his stomach jump under my touch. Grinning wickedly I move my hand down lower, skimming against the hard hot flesh of skin. I move my hand over him a couple time before pulling back, “Oh, wait, is there like a time limit before we can do this since we just talked about your mom?”
“That’s not nice.” His voice is guttural. Then he moves fast, shifting our position so that he’s over me, the muscles of his arms bulging near my head. “You shouldn’t tease, Pixie.” One of his hand slithers down between us, brushing against my center, causing me to gasp. He moves his fingers a few more times against me, and then he’s moving inside of me.
His head dips down, nose nuzzling against my neck as he moves. It’s a slow build this time, but every bit as enjoyable of the quick burst from earlier. When I tumble over this time I feel like I’m floating. It only takes him seconds to follow along behind me. He drops to my side, pulling me against him again.
“See, I think this is a perfectly lovely way to spend the day.”
“It certainly has its benefits.”
I love how easy it is with him, how beautifully complete I feel lying here with him. I want to stay locked up in this room, in this feeling, with him forever. Part of me is afraid that once we walk out this door then the solid ground that we’ve built between us, in the last few hours, will crack under the strain of real life.
That it will crack under the weight of a past with Grant that I can’t escape, no matter how much I wish I could. Grant isn’t going anywhere in my life, not with how close he is with Holden, and now with Cole as well. I would never ask them to put their friendship with him aside, though it would be much easier if I could. I know I need to find some balance with Grant, some way for the two of us to exist without it affecting my relationship with Jacob.
Jacob has become so much more important than I had ever planned. All in, he’d said. I needed to be all in, and I’d told him I was, but I don’t think neither he nor I were prepared for exactly how far in I’d let him come.
“What are you thinking?” Jacob’s voice interrupts my thoughts.
Yeah, totally not going there right now, I think. So instead I invite him to dinner that night, wanting to stay with him as long as I can. “I want you to come out to dinner tonight with me.”
“A date?”
“Sort of. My brothers will be there, along with their girlfriends. Possibly Robby and whatever girl he happens to be with at the moment.”
“Okay.” He doesn’t even hesitate.
I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding. “Okay.” I echo.
***
“You’re sure they aren’t going to try and kick my ass?” Jacob grins as he asks the question. We’re heading to the pizza place to meet up with everyone, after having spent the rest of the day in bed, tucked away from the world like I’d hoped we would. His hand is warm on my knee, squeezing softly when I don’t answer him right away. “Grace?”
“Cole won’t.” I nibble on my bottom lip for a second, then smooth my tongue across the spot where I’d nearly drawn blood earlier.
“You have two brothers.”
“Yup.” I agree, shooting him a quick grin.
He pulls into the parking lot, finding a spot along the back. The place is jammed full of cars, which doesn’t surprise me. Classes start tomorrow, and the students have started trickling back to campus, and this is a favorite spot for them to gather. I reach a hand out, stopping him before he opens his door and gets out of the car.
The mood among our group tonight is going to be tense at best. It wouldn’t be fair to take him in there blind. Not that it’s particularly fair that I’m bringing him in to this group for the first time tonight of all nights.
“I need to tell you something about Delaney.” I wrap my hands in his, enjoying the warmth that seeps from his hands to mine.
It spills out of me. How she was drugged and taken all those years ago, held for three torturous days against her will before being tossed away like garbage when he decided he was done with her. I tell him about meeting her for the first time, and watching her attempts to keep Cole at arm’s length. I explain how hurt I’d been when I’d learned the truth, how stupid I’d behaved for months after she’d reconciled things with Cole. I study his face as I tell him what the next three days are going to bring for Delaney, and my promise to be with her every step of the way.
“I just wanted you to know what you’re walking into tonight.”
Jacob runs a hand through his hair, before leaning across the car to kiss me softly. “You’re a good friend, Pixie.”
Cole, Delaney, and Robby are already seated and have commandeered a table in the back of the dining area. I give them a quick wave, reaching behind me to grab Jacob’s hand as we weave through the tables. I give Cole a smacking kiss on the cheek before sliding into a chair next to Delaney.
Cole nods his head in Jacob’s direction when he says hello, but he doesn’t stand up to greet us. I can tell by the angle of his arm that he is holding tightly on to Delaney. Like he’s afraid she’s going to bolt at any moment.
I’m sure she’s thought about it.
“Where’s Holden and Ally? Are they not coming?”
Cole smirks. “On their way, Gracie Lou, you aren’t that lucky.”
“That’s the second time I’ve heard someone call you that.”
Shooting Cole a hard look I tell Jacob. “It was my nickname.” My gaze swings back to my brother. “When I was a child.”
“You grew up?” Cole asks innocently.
I stick my tongue out in reply. Cole rolls his eyes. “Real mature, brat.”
The waitress swings by to take our order, and I take a moment to lean over to Delaney. “You okay?”
“Sure.” The word is stiff coming from her lips. She looks like she’s moving on auto pilot, smiling when she’s supposed to, though it doesn’t reach her eyes, and answering questions by rote. Watching her for just another second I wish there was something I could do to magically make the next three days be over and done with.
I lean back in my chair, tilting in toward Jacob, just as Holden and Ally come through the door. Holden’s gaze immediately lands on Jacob, studying him briefly before moving over to land on me. He arches one eyebrow in question before following Ally over to the table.
“Hey guys!” Ally sits down next to Jacob, thank God, forcing Holden to sit next to her and away from Jacob. “Did we order? I’m starving. Hi, I’m Ally. You must be Jacob. It’s so nice to finally meet you. Grace talks about you all the time.”
“Holy fuck, Ally, did you eat an entire bag of sugar or something?” I ask, eyes wide.
“I’ve been stuck in the car with Mr. Grumpy here for the last couple of hours.” She rolls her eyes. “He’s been in a mood ever since he got your text that Jacob was coming tonight.”
Holden groans, “Jesus, Ally, you need a filter tonight.”
Her eyes narrow. “You’re going to want to choose your next words very carefully, Holden James Marsh.”
I grin, “Oh, you’re in trouble. She busted out the whole name.”
“Bite me.”
“And I’m the one accused of being immature?”
I catch Cole leaning over to whisper something in Delaney’s ear out of the corner of my eye. She’s nodding her head to whatever it is he’s telling her. A small smile flickers over her lips, gone almost before it forms. Holden leans forward, bracing his forearms on the table, and looks directly at Jacob. He opens his mouth, but I interrupt him before he can even get the first word out.
�
�This is not an inquisition.” I tell him. “You aren’t my father, and you don’t get to be an asshole. Which you will be if whatever it is you’re thinking right now actually makes its way out of your mouth.”
“It’s all right, Pixie.” Jacob tugs on a strand of my hair. “He’s just looking out for you.”
“Doesn’t give him the right to be an asshole.”
Exasperated, Holden tells me, “You have no idea what I was about to say.”
“Oh, I’ve a pretty good idea. We’ve been down this road before, you and I, Holden.”
He mutters something under his breath that I don’t quite catch and my eyes narrow as I watch him. Then I smile brightly, leaning back in my chair. “He knows whether or not I snore.” I tell him, thinking back to a conversation Holden and I’d had over a year ago.
Poor Jacob, who had just taken a drink, ends up choking. I pat him on the back, smiling at Holden’s frown. “Maybe you need a filter to.” Jacob coughs out. “Let’s not give your brother any more reason to want to kick my ass.”
The waitress swings around with our pizza, effectively cutting off the conversation. She drops the pizza on the little metal stand in the middle of our table, sliding a stack of plates down next to it along with a stack of napkins.
She gives a cursory glance over the guys at the table, her eyes finally landing on Robby as the only unattached male sitting there. I’ve watched Robby work a room before. Robby’s a pretty big guy, solidly built of muscle, with warm brown eyes that seem flecked with gold, hair the color of honey, and the most charming smile I’ve ever see on a guy.
Girl’s trip all over themselves when he flashes that smile.
He doesn’t even give the pretty waitress a second glance tonight. Instead, he keeps playing with his phone, looking down at it nearly every thirty seconds, and the charming smile is decidedly absent, and something I’ve hardly ever seen from Robby, a frown, pulls his mouth down.
I don’t get a chance to ask him what’s wrong though. The frown deepens as he looks at his phone again, and then he gets up and leaves the table, barely uttering a word as he walks away tapping furiously on his phone.
