Rachel sighed and reached up to brush a tear off my cheek. “Oh, Jenna. That’s not true. You have her here.” She rested her palm against my chest. “And here.” And moved it up to my head.
“I know. But this was her home. She worked her ass off to pay for it and take care of me at the same time.”
“Honey, that doesn’t mean she expected you to stay here forever. Did she ever make you promise not to sell it?”
“Well, no, she didn’t, but—”
“But nothing. She wouldn’t want to tie your life to this house especially when you have the opportunity of a lifetime. From what you’ve told me about Heath, he loves you more than anything whether he’s admitted it yet or not.”
I knew she was right, just like I knew Heath was. It didn’t make the decision any easier. “How do you know he loves me?”
“No man in this world jumps through hoops like he did unless he loved someone.”
“He did tell me he loves me. Actually he tells me every day.” I heard the whispered words in my mind from that morning.
“Then don’t feel like you need to keep this place. The only thing Nana wanted was for you to be happy. If you’re happy then she’s happy. It’s how it always was for her.”
I looked around the room at the photos on the walls and the albums under the table. Memories filled the place, but every one of them could be taken with me.
I looked over at Rachel out of the corner of my eye. “He also offered to move in here even if he’d be ninety minutes away from work. He said as long as it made me happy.”
“Jeez, Jenna, you could’ve mentioned that. So have him move in here.”
“I thought about it, but he’d spend three hours every day traveling.” I rested my hand on my stomach, the press of a little foot against my abdomen reminding me why I knew that was a bad idea. “He lives thirty minutes from the studio. That’s an extra two hours round-trip we won’t have with him.”
Rachel laid her hand on top of mine. “Then let go of the guilt and move in with him. Nana would love that you found someone so special.”
I leaned forward and pulled her into a hug. Like Heath, Rachel always knew what to say to help me push through the barriers I placed on myself.
“Thank you,” I whispered in her ear.
“Anytime, babe.”
I held on for a few more minutes before sitting back and giving her a smile. She patted me on the leg.
“And, fuck, imagine what his house looks like.”
“Rachel.” I gave her a light shove to the shoulder.
“What?” She tried for innocent but couldn’t pull it off and burst out laughing instead. I couldn’t help but join in.
Slowly, she got her mirth under control. “So when do I get to meet him?”
“Depends on how late you want to stay. He’s in the studio today and tomorrow. They’re setting up for a magazine photoshoot.”
“Is he driving back tonight?”
“Yeah, they’re taking the rest of the weekend. The studio wanted them to record a few songs. Their tour was such a success that they want them to get a new album after the New Year, but they want to release a single before the end of this year.”
“That’s in like three months.”
“Yep, which is why he left early this morning.”
“And what do you have planned for the day?”
“I was going to give my two weeks’ notice at the diner and the club.”
She smirked. “Didn’t take you long to decide to quit your jobs.”
“Nope.”
“Smart girl.” Rachel reached behind me and pushed on my back. “Now let’s get you dressed and ready to go. I’ll drive you there and then we can have lunch and catch up.”
“Does that mean you’re going to tell me all about Steven?” Steven was the latest to catch Rachel’s attention.
“Every detail.” She winked.
“Oh God, that might be more than I need to know.” One thing Rachel had no problem sharing was details about her sex life.
“You love me,” she called as I walked back down the hall to finish getting dressed.
I picked up my phone where I left it on the dresser.
Me: I miss you.
I didn’t expect an answer right away. He was driving to the studio.
Heath: I miss you too.
I smiled and held the phone to my chest. Never did I imagine a world where things would finally start falling into place for me. But they were.
By the time I finished visiting with my bosses and Rachel and I made it to lunch, it was late in the afternoon. She’d dropped me off, promising to be back tomorrow to meet Heath. This way she could spend time with her parents while she was here. I told her we’d have dinner so she could get to know him. The man I knew, not the one in the gossip blogs and social media.
By the time I stepped through my front door, exhaustion was winning the battle. I had a feeling that was another reason Rachel dropped me off. I kept yawning throughout lunch, even with her very in-depth descriptions of what Stephen could do with his tongue. Which I really didn’t need to know.
I trudged down to the bedroom, kicking my shoes off into the corner of the room. I didn’t bother changing before climbing beneath the blankets. The moment my head hit the pillow, my eyes fell closed.
Warm lips touched my forehead as strong arms wrapped around me. My eyes flickered open to see smoky gray eyes staring back at me.
“Hey,” he whispered.
The darkened room told me I’d slept a lot longer than I’d planned on.
“What time is it?” I asked, trying to push the last bit of sleep from my system.
“After eight.”
“Shit,” I muttered.
“I didn’t mean to wake you. Have you been asleep long?”
“Since a little after four. Guess I was more tired than I thought.”
Heath cupped my face, rubbing his thumb lightly across my cheek. “Does that mean I need to keep my hands to myself?”
That brought me fully awake. “God, I hope not.”
“Are you hungry? I can cook or order something.”
My stomach growled, answering for me. Heath laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
I giggled. He let go of me and climbed off the bed.
“Let’s go,” he said, holding out a hand. “We’ll find you something to eat.”
I placed my hand in his and let him help me from the bed. He walked me to the kitchen and sat me at the table in the corner.
“Don’t move.” He smiled, figuring I would probably fight him on that and offer to make dinner for the two of us. But tonight, I had too many things I wanted to tell him about that he was more than welcome to make dinner without any complaints from me.
He pulled out a large pot from the bottom cabinet. “How did things go with Doug and at the diner?”
I looked up at him. “Oh yeah. Umm…weird. Doug had a feeling I’d be leaving soon and told me things were already taken care of so I don’t need to finish my two weeks.”
“That’s fucking awesome.”
I laughed, thinking of his face. Not a moment of surprise when I told him why I was leaving. “Somehow he had the inside scoop. My guess Reagan said something to Marcus. He made me promise to visit and have a drink in VIP.”
Heath laughed as he put the pot of water on the stove. He flicked on the burner and moved to the fridge to grab the ingredients for spaghetti sauce.
“We’ll have to do that. And what about the diner?” He took out another, smaller sauce pan and began pouring in all the ingredients to make the sauce.
“They asked if I could finish out the week. They hired someone already figuring I’d need time off for the baby and want me to help train her.”
“That sounds fair.”
“More than fair.”
I twisted my hands in my lap. I knew he was going to be excited about my decision on the house, but that also included telling him we were having dinner with Rachel to
morrow. He took the seat across from me.
“Are you feeling okay today?” I could see the worry lines etched in his forehead. And I wanted to smooth them away with my fingers.
“I’m fine. I just had a visitor today.”
His brows drew together. “Really? Who?”
“Rachel’s in town. She drove me to the club and diner today, then we went and had lunch.”
He lifted my hand from the table and pressed a kiss to the top of it. “That’s great.”
I smiled. “It is. I miss having her around.”
“I know you do.”
I couldn’t count the number of times I’d hung up with Rachel to talk to Heath while he was on tour. Even though they hadn’t met, he knew a whole lot about her. It would’ve been hard to tell him about life growing up without including her.
“And we’re having dinner with her tomorrow night.”
He didn’t even flinch. “Am I making dinner or am I taking you somewhere special?”
I took his face in my hands and pulled him toward me. “I love you,” I said against his lips before I sealed our lips together.
I’d been nervous as hell when Heath suggested meeting his bandmates. Mostly because I was worried about what they would think about me. Most people would see me as a gold digger. So I wouldn’t blame him if he was nervous to meet my closest friend.
“Damn, if I had known it was that easy, I would’ve offered to make you and Rachel dinner a long time ago.”
I laughed and pushed him away. “You’re so bad.”
He winked. “I try. Did you two get enough to catch up before our little angel there sapped all your energy?”
I rested a hand over my very pregnant belly. “We did. We also had the chance to talk about me quitting my jobs and going to culinary school and the house.”
I felt him stiffen more so than I saw it.
“And what did you decide about the house?”
“I’m going to sell it.”
Heath’s head snapped up and his mouth dropped open. “You’re what?”
I reached out to rest my free hand on his arm. “I’m going to sell this house.”
He closed his mouth and opened it again, but nothing came out. He shook his head. “Sorry. I guess I don’t know what to say. I spent our breaks trying to figure out a way to make the commute faster so I can get home to you and the baby sooner.”
“Yeah, but it will never be under thirty minutes, which is what we will get if we come and live with you.”
He covered my hand on his arm. “Are you sure?”
My lips curved up. “I’m positive. Rachel helped me see that the only thing Nana would want would be for me to be happy. And sitting around waiting until late in the night and watching you leave early in the morning wouldn’t make me happy.” I gestured around the room. “I can take every memory I have with me.”
“I’ll replace every stick of furniture in my house with your stuff if you want me to.”
I scoffed. “I’m sure Reagan and Sawyer would love that.”
“They wouldn’t give a shit. If Sawyer had his way we’d never know what the furniture looked like. Asshole is a complete slob and Reagan would be happy just to see the furniture without having to argue with Sawyer about his shit being everywhere.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. After getting to know the two of them, I could imagine every one of those arguments.
“Are you really sure?”
“Yes, I’m really sure. I’ll call a realtor tomorrow and we can work on packing stuff up to bring to your place.”
Heath stood and walked over to kneel between my legs.
He cupped the back of my neck and brought my face down to his. My lips tingled at every point his touched mine as he pressed the sweetest, softest kiss on my lips. It wasn’t until we both heard the distinct sound of boiling water hit the stove that we pulled away.
A spark lit his eyes as he stood and went over to the pot to put the pasta in.
I was the luckiest woman in the world.
CHAPTER 34
Heath
I was the luckiest bastard in the world.
I dumped the pasta into the pot, stirring it and the sauce for a second before returning my attention to Jenna.
This beautiful woman and the mother of my child had just agreed to move in with me. I don’t think I could have been any happier than I was in that moment. The only thing on my mind at the moment was celebrating by worshipping every inch of her body, but that would have to be put on hold until after she ate. I didn’t want to leave her or the baby hungry. I ordered my cock to fucking behave and finished making her dinner.
The smell of garlic hit my nose as I set the finished plates on the table in front of us. I filled her a glass with milk and grabbed a soda for myself. Besides the nights I sat in the club, I still felt bad having a drink in front of her.
“Your dinner is served.”
“It smells amazing.”
She picked up her fork and started in on her plate. I knew she’d be hungry by the way her stomach growled. I just didn’t realize how hungry until I glanced up and noticed her plate empty while there was still food on mine. I wiped a napkin across my face.
“Are you still hungry?” I asked.
“Not for food.” I couldn’t miss the spark of lust peering back at me from her eyes.
“Fuck it, I’ll eat later.” I dropped my fork to the table and helped up from her seat. I didn’t want to waste time by leading her back to her room and began stripping her from her clothes right there in the kitchen.
“Fuck, you’re beautiful,” I whispered.
“Not as gorgeous as you are,” she said, stepping forward and ridding me of my shirt. Once the piece of cotton landed on the floor, I backed her up until she was flush against the fridge, her chest rising and falling with each panted breath. Being pregnant did nothing to diminish how fucking sexy she was. It made her even sexier to know she stood there carrying my child.
I crushed my mouth to hers and thrust my hips against her. My dick pressed against the zipper of my jeans, begging for relief. I kept Jenna boxed in against the fridge with one hand and used the other one to undo my jeans and free my aching cock. As much as I wanted to celebrate her moving in with me by savoring her for hours I knew I didn’t have the patience at the moment. The heat radiating between us was hot enough to set the kitchen on fire.
I tore my mouth away from hers. “Baby, this is gonna be quick.”
“Quick, slow, fast, I don’t care, just get inside me.”
I loved how demanding she got when we were together. Like our bodies knew they needed each other to survive. I gripped her thigh and held it high against my hip as I bent my knees and sank deep into heaven. If I could stay there forever I would, but my balls were already drawn up tight to my body, begging for release. And by the way she panted, her eyes wild, I knew she wanted the same. With hard, rapid thrusts, I brought us both to the peak. So close, I was so close. She was too, but something held her back. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep myself from coming before she did and reached between us with my free hand. One swipe of my thumb over her clit and she was crying out. Her body convulsed around me and I couldn’t hold off any longer. I slammed into her one last time and felt the release as my body emptied into hers.
I held tight to her leg and dropped my forehead to hers, trying to catch my breath. Every time with her felt like the first. Each orgasm getting more and more explosive. When I was sure we could both stand, I lowered her leg to the floor and lifted her in my arms.
“Heath,” she protested, trying to wriggle down. “I can walk.”
I pressed a kiss to her lips. “I know you can, but I want you to save your strength, because now I’m going to take you to your room and linger over all night long.”
“Mmm,” she hummed in the back of her throat. “I like the sound of that.”
I walked down to her bedroom and kept my promise. Slow and steady until we were both so dazed with pas
sion we couldn’t take it anymore.
I woke up the next morning, an ache in my muscles reminding me how spectacular the night before had been. Not only was there mind-blowing sex, but Jenna had also agreed to move in with me. No more having lives in two different cities and hours in the car away from the people I cared about. Soon they’d all be under the same roof. I told her last night I wanted to start packing today. Maybe a part of me was afraid she’d change her mind if I gave her too long to think about it and I wasn’t going to let that happen.
Jenna was still sound asleep. I wanted her to get as much sleep as possible, so I quietly slipped from the bed and made my way into the bathroom. After a quick shower, I decided to make her breakfast in bed. I carried the tray of eggs and juice down to the bedroom and set it on the top of her dresser before taking a seat next to her on the bed.
I pressed a light kiss to her forehead. “Wake up, love.” Her eyes fluttered open and I knew I’d never grow tired of that emerald green gaze.
“What time is it?” she asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
“A little after ten. I made you breakfast.” I gestured to the tray on top of the dresser. “I figured you could eat while I go rent the truck and get boxes. That’s if you’re still okay with moving in?”
Her smile could brighten any room. “Yes, I am. I can’t live in the past forever and I know Nana would want this for me.”
The weight on my chest lifted. She sat up against the headboard. I stood and brought the tray over. “Okay, then. You eat and I’ll be back soon.”
She quirked a brow. “What? No movers?”
I smirked. “Nope. I know how much all of this means to you and you wouldn’t want strangers going through it for you.”
She lifted the fork and pointed it at me. “You know me so well.”
“Yes, I do.” I shoved my wallet and phone into my pockets, then walked over to place a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll be back in a little bit.”
“Okay. Oh, and remember we’re having dinner with Rachel tonight. She can’t wait to meet you.”
“I can’t wait to meet her and thank her for her sage advice.”
Cover Me (Jaded Ivory Book 3) Page 25
