Jason trembled. It was all his aching muscles could do to hold himself above her, to hold back the floodgates of lust and passion even a little bit. Her soft lips tasted so sweet as her tongue lightly brushed against his bottom lip.
He groaned. Before he could stop himself he opened his mouth and slipped his tongue into hers, deepening the kiss to maddening levels. As his tongue moved hungrily inside her mouth, he felt her arms shaking as she ran her hands up his back.
Calling upon every ounce of will he possessed, he pulled away from her and asked, “Are you okay? You’re shaking.”
Present Day
And that was the beginning of...Jason shook his head. Never mind what that was the beginning of. He never let himself think about what happened after that.
And he certainly couldn’t afford to break his decade-long habit of not thinking about it at this particular moment, when he and Katie were locked in Aunt Wendy’s loving death grip.
--- ~ ---
“Well, I swan! It's a little piece of heaven to see you two out here visitin' in the yard. Just like the old days. Have you two youngins had a chance to catch up?”
Aunt Wendy chattered happily as she released them both from her hold. Even though Aunt Wendy had grown up in Harper's Crossing and lived there most of her adult life, she had spent 6 months living with a boyfriend in Alabama when she was in her early twenties, and still liked to pepper her speech with Southernisms – especially when she was happy or excited.
“Actually I just got here...like, literally two minutes ago...so no...not really, no,” Katie could still feel the flush heating her face, and heard herself babbling. Luckily, Aunt Wendy didn't really seem to notice.
“Well, Mr. Sloan, have you ever seen any girl as beautiful as my Buttercup?” Aunt Wendy asked as she looked at Katie, her eyes shining with pride and love.
Katie leaned her head against Aunt Wendy's shoulder, feeling safe and warm as she listened to her speak. Unlike Kit Kat, a nickname she hated with a passion, Buttercup was something that Katie loved to be called. It made her feel special and cherished. Her Aunt Wendy had been calling her that for as long as she could remember.
As a little girl, Katie had been obsessed with the movie The Princess Bride. Aunt Wendy had thought that, with Katie's long and flowing blonde hair, she looked a lot like the princess in the movie, whose name was Buttercup.
“No, I can honestly say I have not,” Jason said, his eyes boring into hers with a complicated intensity. She knew that she saw desire in those eyes, as well as something else she couldn't quite identify. She felt her cheeks start to flush again, and shook her head to clear it.
Down girl, she admonished herself. You need to lock that kind of thinking down before it gets out of control!
Just as Katie was beginning to fear that she could not take one more second of the heat of Jason’s intense gaze on her she was saved by the bell. Well...a horn, actually.
Katie turned her head to see Sophie and Bobby pulling up in the driveway of Sophie’s house, next door to Katie’s. All thoughts of Jason and of angst were gone as Sophie burst out of the car before it even came to a full and complete stop. Her wild enthusiasm brought a laugh of pure joy bubbling up from Katie, and she couldn't remember the last time she had felt so happy. Or so loved.
Sophie ran up to Katie at full speed and threw her arms around her.
Katie's eyes filled with tears as she returned the embrace. Even though Sophie was now a full grown woman who stood a good two inches taller than her, when Katie saw her flying across the yard with her wide open smile and her honey blonde hair bouncing around her face, all Katie had seen was the four year-old little girl who used to follow her around like a shadow, and who she used to dress up like a doll.
“I am soooo happy that you are finally here!” Sophie squealed as she pulled back from Katie, cheeks flushed. Katie smiled. This picture was only enhancing her view of Sophie as the adorable little moppet that she used to be.
Sophie turned excitedly to the handsome, solemn young man who had been steadily following in her tornado-like path from the car. She exclaimed, “Bobby can you believe it? Everyone is here now! Let the wedding festivities begin! Woo Hoo!”
Katie had to give herself a little shake as she took in the sight of, not only a grown-up Sophie before her, but a grown-up Bobby, as well.
Bobby Sloan, Jr. was Jason’s youngest brother. The last of the famous Sloan Boys.
Of course, the Sloan Boys weren't famous anywhere but in Harper's Crossing. But in Harper's Crossing? They were nothing short of legend.
There were five boys in the Sloan family. Seth, Riley, Jason, Alex and the youngest, Bobby. Katie had always teased Jason about having “middle child” syndrome – always trying to do crazy things because he craved attention.
Seth and Riley had left for the military as soon as they had graduated high school, so Katie didn't know them that well – although she knew all the stories about them well enough! One thing that had become even more obvious now that both men were adults was that Bobby was just about the spitting image of Seth. Physically, they were the only two of the boys with striking jet black hair and green eyes. Coupled with smooth, pale skin, these features made them seem like movie stars from another, more elegant, age.
But it was more than just their outward appearance that made Katie group Seth and Bobby together among the Sloan Boys. They had the same manner about them. They were both quiet observers, always taking in their surroundings, always making unseen connections and observations. When you looked into the eyes of either Seth or Bobby, you could practically see the wheels turning. Katie had always thought of them as the “brooding bookends” of the Sloan boys.
Come to think of it, Katie wasn't sure that she had ever heard Bobby speak more than 10 words in her entire life. He'd always just been there – nice, reserved, and quiet.
It was hard for Katie to think of the taciturn Bobby and the effervescent Sophiebell together. Talk about polar opposites! But when it came down to it, she guessed that it was true what they always said – opposites attract.
Bobby raised a hand in greeting and smiled a smile that reached all the way to his expressive green eyes. “It’s good to see you, Katie” he said warmly, and when he spoke, Katie got a shock! His rich baritone voice was one of the deepest she had ever heard.
She felt her mouth fall open as her hand flew to her chest. She laughed involuntarily and exclaimed, “Holy smokes, kid! You have certainly grown up!”
She reached up to give him a hug and heard Jason clear his throat in irritation as Bobby's arms encircled her.
“Okay, okay, enough with the hugging. Everybody knows everybody, everybody looks good or older or fill in the blank. Don’t we have some meeting or something to get to?”
Jeez, grouchy much?
Jason sounded more annoyed than Katie had ever heard him, and when she glanced over to where Aunt Wendy and Sophiebell were standing to see if they had taken note of his reaction, she saw them exchanging conspiratorial little grins.
Hmmmm...
Wonder what that's about?
But Katie didn't have an opportunity to pursue it further, because as soon as Sophie took note of the puzzled look she was throwing them and the fact that she was about to open her mouth to say something, she jumped in to fill the silence.
“Right, right,” Sophie agreed crisply, suddenly sounding very mature and adult. “Okay, Aunt Wendy did you bring the notebook?”
Katie could barely stand how cute it was to hear Sophie sounding so businesslike and efficient!
“I sure did,” Aunt Wendy confirmed proudly, “What kind of dog-gone wedding planner would I be if I didn’t have the wedding planning notebook?”
“You're a wedding planner?” Katie burst out. She tried to keep the shock out of her tone. She had been raised to show respect for her elders. But, regardless of how successful she may be at not expressing the shock, there was nothing she could do to keep from feeling it.
It wasn’t just that organization was NOT, shall we say, one of Aunt Wendy’s strong suits. She had also never been married and was not what you would call a ‘romantic.’ In fact, she was such a pragmatist that she had often been known to refer to romanticism as “hogwash” - not what Katie would think of as the seeds from which a wedding planner would one day sprout!
“Well, yes, Buttercup. Don’t you read my blog?” Aunt Wendy asked, sounding a little hurt.
Ouch. Busted.
She could try to explain that the life of an associate on the partner track didn't leave a whole lot of time for perusing web journals, but somehow she didn't think that would ease her aunt's hurt feelings. So instead, she shared a lesser truth – which was still no less valid just because it wasn't the main reason – that she thought would be something which would be more meaningful to Aunt Wendy.
“Well, I try Aunt Wendy,” said Katie with all the sincerity she could muster, “It's just really hard because I miss you and Mom so much! When I read it, I just…I get really emotional.”
Sharing this small vulnerability had the desired effect of distracting Wendy from her own hurt feelings entirely and focusing her energy elsewhere.
“Oh my poor little Buttercup-girl, all alone in California! It must be so lonely for you, out there with no family around.
“Well, don’t you worry your pretty little head, darlin'. I am gonna get you all caught up on what’s new with me and every other living soul in Harper's Crossing while you’re here!” Aunt Wendy said as she slammed the trunk of Katie’s rental car. Katie had no doubt that her aunt would keep that promise.
Aunt Wendy continued her speech, “But as for right now, let's put a pin in that. Romeo is right. We need to get inside and nail down the nitty gritty of this here shindig!”
Katie smiled at her aunt's vernacular. When Katie was little, she had asked her aunt why she talked like that even though she'd only lived in Alabama for a few months, and Aunt Wendy had just shrugged phlegmatically and said, “It stuck.”
“I haven’t even brought my bags into the house yet,” Katie pointed out, gesturing to the suitcase still sitting beside the car. She wanted to buy a little time. All these people, all this emotion, all these changes. All this Jason. She suddenly felt very overwhelmed. She needed a moment to regroup.
Well, let’s be honest, she needed more than a moment, but she wasn’t greedy. She would take what she would get.
“Okay Buttercup, you go put your things inside and we’ll meet you next door after you get settled,” Aunt Wendy said briskly, in full “wedding planner” mode.
“Great,” Katie said gratefully.
“Romeo here will help you with your bags,” Aunt Wendy continued, patting Jason's chest as she walked past him.
“No! No, that’s okay, I’ve got it. Really!” Katie said, trying to keep the desperation out of her voice. But, it was too late. Sophie, Bobby and Aunt Wendy were already half way across the yard that separated Katie's house from the Hunters', and they were deep in wedding-related conversation.
“Looks like you’re stuck with me,” Jason said smugly, with an oh-so-very-pleased-with-himself smirk on his face.
Not knowing what else to do, Katie grabbed her suitcases and popped open her trunk. She threw her luggage inside unceremoniously and said faux-brightly, “I can get settled in later.”
Slamming the trunk, Katie turned and looked up at Jason with the brightest smile she could plaster on her face. Keep it light, Katie, she told herself. Don't leave any room for the intensity to creep back in!
“Wow,” Jason said casually, with only the barest hint of hurt at the edges of his voice, “the idea of being alone with me is that scary, huh?”
Katie maintained her faux-cheerful demeanor as she brightly chirped, “Yep Jas, you’re reeeeaaaal scary. I’m terrified to be alone with you. Good guess!”
With that, she spun on her heel and began to practically jog across the lawn.
Alone. HA! Right, like that was going to happen!
Katie’s heart raced and her stomach was full of butterflies – no, she mentally corrected herself, not butterflies...those lovely creatures flew around gracefully, sweeping their wings in wide, slow arcs. Whatever had invaded her belly was a lot more manic than innocent little butterflies. Maybe hummingbirds. Yeah, she thought, hummingbirds...their wings going a mile a minute and shredding her stomach lining. Sounded about right.
But, she amended, it's like they're not even just flying around in there. Maybe they were having some kind of Gladiator death battle, or an orgy, or...STOP IT, KATIE!
God!
She had to stop thinking about sex! At the mere thought of even a few moments alone with Jason, her mind had sunk into the gutter, and her body had exploded with uncontrollable tingling. Up and down her arms, zinging along her spine, but mostly…between her legs.
She sighed. Yep. Especially between her legs.
Her own body was betraying her!
She had not had a reaction to anyone like this since...well, damn. If she was honest with herself, it was since that night after Nick’s funeral. The night when Jason had found her semi-conscious in her bathtub and had laid her in her bed, and then stripped off his shirt to warm her up.
Oh, Lord. That night. At the mere thought of it, she wanted to bury her face in her hands. She was so ashamed! She couldn’t begin to imagine what he must think of her after how she had behaved that night.
I mean sure, he wasn't complaining then...but that was in the heat of the moment. Once they were interrupted and he had the opportunity to view events in the harsh light of day, he must have had horrible regrets.
Not that she had had any. She had tried so hard to feel regrets for that night. She had masochistically tried to FORCE herself to muster up even the slightest bit of self-recrimination for the way things had transpired. But she simply couldn’t.
She knew that he MUST think awful things about her, though. And deservedly so – he had every right to! Not only for her actions that night, but also for the way she had behaved in the weeks before Nick’s funeral. When he had been constantly trying to connect with her, trying to get her to talk to him, trying to get her in a place where they could lean on each other like they always had...and all she had been able to do was shut him out.
Shaking her head as if her brain was an Etch-a-Sketch and her painful memories were as easy to clear away as the thin grey lines on its screen, she ordered herself to put a stop to this line of thinking.
This was NOT the time to embark on a trip down memory lane. No need to dredge up the past. Moving forward. Onward and upward. Here and now, that’s all she had any control over.
Her priority this weekend was to be there for Sophiebell, focus on the wedding, and be the best damn maid of honor she could be.
As they were crossing the yard to the Hunters' house, Katie felt Jason’s arm wrap around her waist. This caused a shiver (or rather, a NEW shiver!) to run from her head right down to her toes, one so powerful that it almost caused her to break her stride. OK, come on, who was she kidding? It almost knocked her flat on her ass.
Good night nurse!
What, was he? Electrically charged or something?
She felt her body go tense at his touch and hoped that he would just get the drift and release.
Instead, he leaned in and whispered in her ear, the condescension coming through loud and clear even without his tone of voice to assist in conveying it, “Not a big blog reader, huh? You get ‘really emotional.’ Good save, Kit Kat.”
Immediately Katie’s body relaxed, irritation seemed to have that effect on her. She was a lawyer, she was at home making an argument, it was where she shined. As soon as annoyance began to flow through her and a retort began to form in her mind, her body reacted like an athlete about to run out onto the court. She was ready.
Who did he think he was? He hadn’t seen her in ten years, he had no idea what was going through her mind. She really HAD meant what she had said to Aunt Wendy!
She opened her mouth to give Jason a piece of her mind when she realized that they were standing at the front door of the Hunters’ home, and that realization derailed her rant.
She looked around at the porch, the door, the yard from this perspective. She felt like she was having an out-of-body experience.
It was surreal how familiar and yet how completely foreign this place felt to Katie.
The last time she had stood at this door was after the funeral. Nick’s mom, Grace, had given Katie Nick’s football jersey. She had handed it to Katie wordlessly, the weight of grief etched on her face. Katie had taken it in her hands reverently, like a talisman, tears streaming from her eyes. She had turned and walked down the porch steps without a word, the entire ceremony conducted in silence. The two women could feel how sacred it was, words were not necessary. In fact, they would have cheapened it.
She hadn't known it as she walked down those steps, but by the next day, she would be gone. It was the last time she would stand on that porch.
Until today.
This realization hit her all at once, like a ton of bricks. She tried to move her feet but she couldn’t.
“It’s okay, I’m here. We'll go in when you're ready,” Katie heard Jason's voice say behind her, and she felt his arms wrap her tighter. Her knees were so wobbly that it felt like he might be the only thing holding her upright.
Katie took a deep breath. Her palms became clammy, and her feet felt like someone had dipped them in cement...but she knew she had to do this. She just needed to push forward. Yep. Forward momentum was the only thing she could count on to get her through this door. Through this WEEKEND, if it came down to that!
Plus, she REALLY needed to get out of Jason’s arms before she did something she would end up regretting.
“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” she said with a decisiveness that she did not yet feel. Still, she pulled open the screen door and stepped inside.
“Katie, you’re here!”
“We’ve missed you so much!”
“Honey, you look so pretty.”
“Oh, my, gosh, it’s really you, Katie!”
My First (Jason & Katie) Page 4
