by Lena Skye
Jennifer leaned closer to Naomi as if to confide in her. “Well, I’ll be honest with you, part of the reason I’m trying to keep myself so busy is because I’m trying to get over a guy, and that’s never easy to do. I’ve found in the past that the best way to do it is to be so preoccupied with something fun and good, that I don’t have time to think of the guy, or of the past, and I do really want everything here redone, but part of it is to distract myself from him.”
Naomi looked at her in surprise. Jennifer had told her right at the beginning that she was over at Scott’s house just the night before, and it was all Naomi could do to block from her thoughts the unbidden images of the two of them having an intimate evening together. Hearing her say that she was trying to get over a guy was the last thing that Naomi had expected to come out of her mouth.
Jen saw her surprised look, and explained a little more. “Well, you see, he really wasn’t the best guy for me. I fell right in love with him, and I shouldn’t have; I mean… he was into so much bad stuff. He was doing drugs, but I didn’t know that when I started dating him. I didn’t find out until way later. Actually… I’ll tell you the truth, I felt so stupid about it; I found out from the media.
The newspapers and magazines broke a story on him and his drug problem and even a criminal record I knew nothing about. I love David; I still do, but I had to let him go when all of that happened. I miss him so much. We were great together, but his life was so screwed up that he couldn’t stay with me. Plus, he was arrested and put into jail, so I couldn’t really have a boyfriend in jail, you know. Talk about bad press.” She rolled her eyes and her shoulders slumped slightly.
With a shake of her head, Naomi tried to wrap her mind around everything that she was hearing Jen tell her. “David?” she asked quietly, as she tried to puzzle it out.
Jen nodded. “Yeah. It’s really lonely without him, but I didn’t see him much on the road while I was touring anyway. He was always flying back and forth to meet me, and then when all the drug stories were published, I just broke up with him. I couldn’t take it anymore. It’s just a little lonely now. Or a lot, I guess. Still, the redecorating will keep him off of my mind, and I’ll be able to focus on that and the music project for the children with cancer, and that will help so much.”
Naomi cleared her throat softly and looked at Jen with a lowered brow. “I thought that… that you were seeing Scott Thompson. Isn’t he your…” she trailed off. She couldn’t make herself say it. It made her sick to even ask, but she didn’t understand what losing David had to do with Jen being with Scott, unless she was using Scott to get over David.
Jen’s face twisted for a moment and then she laughed. “Oh god no! Scott and I are just friends. I know that the media always makes it out to look like we’re dating, but there isn’t anything going on between him and me. We’ve always been just friends. I like him a lot; heck, I love him, but not that way. No chance. He’s really not my type.
See… we went to a party together as a friend couple, and the papers got wind of it and snapped some photos that made it look like we were together, so instead of arguing with them, we just let them print whatever they want, and we never corrected them. There’s not really a point in trying to correct them; they’re going to do what sells the most papers and magazines, and having us as a hot celebrity couple seems to sell a lot of papers, so we just ignore it. We did decide that we’re the perfect friend couple for events and awards ceremonies and stuff like that, so we go together to those kind of things, but we’re not really a couple. That would be too weird… like, kissing my brother. Ugh.” She made another face and shook her head, making her big blonde curls shiver around her face.
Naomi could barely breathe, or think, or move. She swallowed hard as she realized that Scott had told her the truth, and that she had mistakenly been horrible to him and left him, thinking he had cheated on her with Jennifer Jones, when it was never the case.
She remembered him trying to tell her the exact same story, and she knew then that he had been telling her the truth, and she had shunned him for it. She hadn’t thought that she could feel worse about everything that had happened with him, but as she sat there, it was clear that she hadn’t yet felt as bad as she could.
“Are you okay? You don’t look so good,” Jen asked, giving her a closer look.
She nodded. “Yes, Jen, I’m good. It’s just been a big day, and I didn’t get much sleep last night.”
“Oh! Well gosh, why didn’t you say so? Here I’ve kept you all of this time, and I probably should have let you go. Anyway, just email me about the rest of the details on the house, and start as soon as you can. I really want to dive into this, and I can’t wait to work with you. Scott’s place is a dream, and I love it, so I know I’m going to love the work you do here, too!” She finished her wine.
“If you’d like to eat the rest of lunch, please do, don’t feel rushed to go, but if you need to leave, then I totally understand, and I don’t want you to worry about it. You can come back as soon as you’re ready.” She smiled and reached over to pat Naomi on the hand. Naomi gave her a genuine smile for the first time then, and squeezed her fingers gently in return.
“Thank you. I appreciate that! I’m sure I can get started on this tomorrow,” Naomi told her as she stood up. Jen stood up beside her and walked her to the front door of the house, giving her a big hug before she opened the door for Naomi to leave.
“Thank you so much! I can’t wait to work with you!” she called out as Naomi got into her car and waved goodbye. It had been a far more amazing morning than she had ever imagined it could be. When she got to the end of the driveway, just before the guard’s house, she pulled over and parked her car, reaching for her cell phone. She had to talk to Scott. She had to tell him that she had been wrong about everything, and she knew as she sat there texting him, that she had to tell him that he was going to be a father.
She was surprised that he texted her back right away. He told her that he was glad to hear from her, that he missed her, and that he definitely wanted to see her. Gratitude washed through her and over her, and she felt more relief and happiness in her than she had in a long while.
Things were beginning to brighten for her. She had a job with a kindhearted and generous woman, one that would enable her to keep her business. She had been wrong about Scott cheating on her and having an affair with that woman, and she was going to tell him that they were going to be parents. Things seemed to be lightening up, and she could feel it all throughout her body.
It was a faster drive down through the hills to get to Scott’s house from Jen’s than it was to get to his house from her office. She was there in less than fifteen minutes. She parked at the front of his house and went to the door, ringing the bell. She still had the key to get in for her decorating work, but she didn’t want to walk right in while he was home.
Her heart was in her throat as she waited to speak to him, and when he opened the door and looked at her, she could see that he was anxious to see her, but he was slightly guarded, and she could not blame him for that. She had been very harsh with him the last couple of times that they had spoken to each other.
He was elated to see her, standing there in his doorway in a stylish soft yellow summer dress that brought out the golden tones in her dark brown skin. She looked beautiful, as she always did to him, and he wanted to take her into his arms right away, but he knew that things were too tense between them for him to act on his impulses. He smiled at her warmly and invited her in, and she smiled back and walked with him to the living room.
“It’s so good to see you…” he said quietly, wondering what it was that had brought her there to him, and simultaneously not even really caring what the real reason was. He held his arms open to her, hoping she would let him embrace her, and to his great joy, she walked straight into his arms and hugged him in return, holding herself close to him as they stood together.
At long last, she let him go, taking a step back from him
and looking up at him. “First, I want to thank you for recommending me to Jennifer Jones.”
He looked at her in surprise. He was certain that Naomi had hated her for what she had thought was the affair Scott was having with her. “Jen?”
“Yes,” Naomi continued. “She called me today and asked me to go over to her house. She wants me to decorate it. I’ll admit, I only knew her first name when I went over there, and if I had known who it was that I was going to see, I probably wouldn’t have gone at all, and that would have been a huge mistake on my part. She’s a really wonderful lady.”
Scott blinked in total surprise. “Wonderful… yes… she’s pretty wonderful.” He grew silent as he watched Naomi, wondering where she was going with everything she was saying to him. He couldn’t have been more surprised by what she had already said.
“So… you went to her house?” he asked, as he tried to wrap his thoughts around what she was telling him. He was beginning to think that it couldn’t have gone well to have them both there when Naomi thought that Jen was having an affair with him.
“Yes, I went to her house, not realizing who she was. When I did find out, it was pretty awkward, as I’m sure you could imagine, but she didn’t know anything about me, and she just started talking and telling me what she wanted done there at the house. I would have turned her down for the job, but the truth is that I really need the work. The design firm needs the work. So, we don’t really have a choice; we have to do it.” She raised a brow at him and continued.
“Anyway, she and I got to talking, and she told me that she is looking forward to the work because she can use it as a form of escapism from thinking about her ex-boyfriend David. I didn’t know that she had an ex-boyfriend, and I might have asked if she wasn’t seeing you, and she almost laughed in my face at such a ridiculous notion. She said the same thing that you told me: that the two of you are nothing more than very good friends and that there has never been a romance between you two, and there never would be. She thinks of you as a brother. She was much more wrapped up in her ex-boyfriend David, and getting over him, than talking about you. I was floored.” Naomi saw Scott’s face brighten as he began to realize what it was that Naomi was telling him.
“So you know now! So you believe me, right?” he asked with anxious hope as the truth dawned on him.
She smiled at him and nodded her head. “I do believe you, and I’m so very sorry that it took me hearing it from her to believe the truth. I should have believed you when you told me, but it just didn’t sound like it was the truth when you said it. I’m so sorry that I doubted you. It hurt me a great deal when I thought you were just keeping me on the side while you were dating her publicly. That was so hard to take, and it made it impossible for me to believe you. I hope you understand, and I hope that you can accept my apology.”
He launched himself toward her and hugged her to him tightly, burying his face in her hair and her neck, breathing her in as he closed his eyes. “Yes… god yes. I understand, and I definitely accept your apology, as long as you accept mine. I never wanted you to be hurt. It’s just… so complicated in my world. It’s tough to balance all of the things that I have to do and be for everyone, and I couldn’t figure out how to fit you into all of that. I’m so sorry, too.”
He kissed her cheek gently and whispered in her ear. “God I miss you. I miss you every single day.” He kissed her cheek again, and her heart skipped a beat as his mouth left her cheek and found her lips, moving over them tenderly, hungrily, almost drinking her in. She kissed him in return, and as she did so, everything in her began to feel as if it was right, finally.
His tongue moved over hers, twisting and turning with it, and his arms held her to him tightly. Warmth began to ignite deep in her body, and the familiar yearning for him stirred within her. She felt his hands caress her back and her hips and it only made her growing need for him stronger.
She had missed him, and she hadn’t realized just how much until she found herself in his passionate embrace, losing all of her inhibitions to him as every moment passed and the heat between them grew stronger.
His mouth moved from her lips to her throat and his breathing became ragged and short as he hardened in need for her. “Naomi…” he whispered in a throaty voice, “please… please come to bed with me.” He paused in his kissing of her neck long enough to take her face in his hands and looked into her dark brown eyes. “Please… I’ve missed you so much. I need you.” He barely spoke.
Something in the back of her mind hesitated for the briefest moment, but staring into his blue eyes and feeling the sweet breath from his partially opened lips on her skin blurred all of her thoughts, and she felt herself fall right into temptation, and into his embrace as she kissed him back breathlessly. “Yes!” she answered in between kisses. “Yes. I missed you too!”
With one swift movement, he picked her up and carried her in his iron arms down the hall to his bedroom, where he laid her back on his bed. He lost no time in shedding his own clothes, but he lingered slowly in removing hers; one piece at a time, as if he was unwrapping a precious gift.
With the last stitch of her clothing removed, he crawled into the bed with her, sliding down between her legs and gently pushing her thighs apart. With slow tender kisses, he made his way up her inner legs to her core, where he teased her for a few moments at first, flicking his tongue over her, tracing the outside of her, and kissing her sensually, but then he delved his tongue into her body, making her gasp and arch her back, reaching her hands down to his head and twisting her fingers into the dark locks of his hair.
She began to move her body against his mouth, moaning in pleasure as he manipulated her with his tongue; sucking, biting, nibbling, and tasting her until she writhed and cried out, burying her head into the pillow as her body shivered and trembled in release. Only then did he move himself up to hover over her, kissing and sucking at her breasts, taking her dark nipples into his teeth, and making her plead with him to make love with her.
In one long, slow movement, he entered her, pushing himself into her until he had reached the full depth of her, and he had to close his eyes as the feel of her body around his overwhelmed him. He began to move in her, and she rocked her body with his; steady and slow at first, as they lost themselves in the ecstasy they felt.
Their lovemaking lasted a long sweet while, turning and rolling with one another in the sheets, holding each other, crying out in pleasure as the fires between them mounted, until at last their passion consumed them and they clung to one another, both of them holding on tightly as their bodies tensed completely, and they came together, their orgasms overtaking them in blissful release.
She laid down with him, trying to catch her breath and reveling in the happiness that she felt flooding her. She had missed him so much, and ached for him, and her need for him had been satiated to a great extent.
He held her close and gazed into her eyes, happy once more to be so close to her. “Everything feels so right. It feels like it’s all exactly like it should be. How do you do that?” he asked with a quiet smile as he touched her cheek.
She shook her head slightly. “Oh no; it’s not me. It’s us. It feels right because it is right. That’s all there is to it.”
He leaned close and kissed her long and softly, and then laid his head down again. “This feels like nothing I’ve ever known before. Like… it’s not just you and just me as individuals. It feels like we’re one when we’re together this way. Is this what it’s supposed to feel like?”
“Is this what what is supposed to feel like?” she asked as her heartbeat began to speed up again.
He smiled. “Is this what love is supposed to feel like?” he corrected himself.
She grinned back at him. “I’m sure it is.” The time had come to tell him. “Scott…” she began, taking his hands in hers and holding them gently.
He looked at her expectantly. “Yes?”
“I have something important to tell you. Something pretty big.�
� Her heart was racing, and she was anxious to find out what he would say and think about it.
“What is it?” he asked, looking at her curiously.
She hesitated, taking a deep breath. “I’m pregnant.” She answered him in a hush, watching his sky blue eyes for any hint of his response.
He stared at her. Silence surrounded them like a thickness that could not be breached for a long minute.
“What?” he asked, blinking. He was certain that he’d heard her wrong. “What did you say?”
“I said that I’m pregnant,” she repeated, beginning to feel a small ball of uncertainty in her.
He continued to stare at her. “I… I don’t know what to say.” He replied. “Are you sure?”
She nodded, and waited. It began to feel like she was waiting for a sentencing from a judge.
He rolled over onto his back and stared at the ceiling. “Wow… a baby. I didn’t… I didn’t expect that.” Visions of a tiny infant began to fill his mind, followed by images of the infant growing up throughout the coming years; kindergarten, summers playing baseball, football, and swimming, high school, a car, graduation. He felt as if he could see all of his life passing right before his eyes. “A baby…” he repeated.
She waited. She knew that it could be a big shock, and she remembered how hard she had taken it, and she told herself not to expect him to be too excited or happy about it right away. Even so, she was beginning to feel a little disappointed that he hadn’t appeared to be too receptive about it.
“This is incredible…” he began and stopped, lifting his hand to his forehead to rub it. He turned his head then and looked at her. “How do you feel about this? What do you want to do about it?”
