Just Sex

by Heidi Lynn Anderson

  He turned into his new office, shut off his truck and stormed into the building. Ron marched to his deck. He came back with a bottle of Jack.

  “Sit down.” Patty grabbed some coffee mugs from the kitchenette. “I take it that it didn’t go well.”

  “No.” He wanted to kick something.

  Ron handed him a mug of Jack. J.J. slugged it down in one gulp. He handed the mug back to Ron. “Thanks. I needed that. I know you have been telling me about Kat’s parents, but a part of me didn’t believe it until today.”

  “Let me guess,” Patty said. “Bev wanted to know what Kat had to offer you, because, God forbid, Kat has nothing to offer anyone.”

  J.J. stood and stormed to the window. “I can’t believe that woman. I have never wanted to hit a woman in my life until today. She thought Kat was unfaithful to that son-of-a-bitch husband of hers.”

  Patty patted him on the back.

  “Why?” He spun and looked at both Patty and Ron.

  Patty blinked back tears. “Kat is like her grandmother, and Bev despised her mother-in-law.”

  “Yes, but I don’t understand the way Bev treats Kat. Bev is her mother, she should love Kat unconditionally.”

  “She does in her own way,” Patty said and took Ron’s hand and looked at him. Ron nodded to her.

  “You two have your own unspoken communication,” J.J. said.

  Patty laughed. “You and Kat do too,” she said. “You guys speak volumes.” Patty grabbed his hand. “I want to tell you something.” She took a deep breath. “Kat’s a lot like her grandmother, but she is very much like her parents too. Kat’s grandmother did everything her heart wanted and lived with the fall-out. Kat’s grandmother would have tried to live happily ever after with you, even if it risked ruining your life.”

  “Kat could never ruin my life,” he said. “I would gladly give it to her.”

  “I know, and so does Kat.” A tear spilled down Patty’s face. “Here’s where Kat and her grandmother are very different. She will do things for duty. She will leave and move to Maine because it is her duty. She will let you go because it’s what she thinks is best for you. She will bring the mill back to being a multimillion-dollar corporation. That’s what’s expected of her.”

  “But she will never be happy,” he said.

  “Kat will always make the best out of her life, but you’re right, she will never find true happiness.” Tears flowed down her face and soaked the hanky Ron handed her.

  “What can I do?” J.J. asked, feeling helpless.

  Ron grasped Patty’s shoulder. “Just love her and be there for her. Kat will be fine.”

  “I hope I’ll be okay at the end of this. I have never loved anyone so much. It will be the most painful thing I’ve ever gone through when she leaves.”

  Patty sniffled. “Me too.”

  “I’m sorry.” J.J tugged her into a hug. “If it wasn’t for me, I feel like she would stay.”

  “If it weren’t for you, Kat would be miserable. I have never seen her this happy.” Patty squeezed his waist. “We’ll change her mind.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Kat parked in J.J.’s spare parking space, next to his truck. She took one last glance in the mirror to fuss with her hair and to make sure the rings around her eyes weren’t visible. Kat and her mother had spent the rest of the day avoiding each other. After she put Sam to bed, Kat tried to be the bigger person and went to talk to her mother.

  What a huge mistake that ended up being. They had another nasty fight. The floodgates opened and tears flowed hard and fast, along with resentment. Kat now looked at the wreckage. She wished she had something cold to help with the puffiness her crying had created. Kat sighed, stepped out of the car and walked to J.J.’s door. She knocked and pasted on a smile.

  J.J. opened his door with a sexy grin. His handsome features hardened.

  She wanted to hide her face in his chest. She yearned to feel the soft shirt laced with J.J.’s scent against her cheek. “What’s wrong? Do I look that bad?”

  “No.” He tugged her inside. “You look perfect, but you’ve been crying.”

  “Just some PMS.” She leaned into him and pressed a kiss on his lips. The contact filled her with need.

  “Do I have to hide the knives?” He nipped her bottom lip.

  “Maybe.” She forced herself to step back. “It smells great in here.” Kat walked into his tiny kitchen. “Oh I love pasta.”

  He followed Kat into the small space. “It’s my mom’s secret recipe. I ran into her at the grocery store this afternoon and she helped me make it.”

  Kat lifted the lid to the sauce. “Looks good.”

  “You look good,” he said from behind her.

  She placed the cover back onto the sauce, turned into his arms and ran her hands to his tight ass and her body ignited.

  “We’re going to eat first.”

  She licked her lips and shot him a seductive glance. Kat needed her world set back to rights. The only way she knew how to do that was to feel his body in hers. “But I’m not hungry.” She knew he was as turned-on as she was.

  He dragged her to the sofa. “I spent a lot of time making this meal and we’re going to eat it.” He gave Kat a slight shove onto the couch and walked back to the kitchen.

  “Do you know this is the first time we’re eating before we have sex? We’re acting like a real couple.”

  “We are a real couple.”

  The realization of that fact struck Kat in the heart. She pushed herself off the sofa and went to J.J. She wrapped her arms around his waist. “I love you and I’m sorry about my mother.”

  J.J. turned off the stove and took her hands. “Why mess with our routine?” He led her into his bedroom. “I want to make love to you in my bed,” he said. “I have tossed and turned in this bed and dreamed of you in it.”

  He started to unbutton her top. She tugged at his shirt. J.J. looked into Kat’s eyes. “I love that you wear silky clothes,” he said. “You always feel great in them.”

  “I’ll make a note to wear silk more often.” She yanked at his pants.

  He unfastened her black slacks and she wiggled out of them.

  His mouth dropped. “What are you wearing?”

  She ran her fingers over the cherry red lace push-up demi-bra and red ruffled panties. “Just a little something I picked up at The Sassy Lady.”

  “Wow, I love it!” He laid her on the bed and kissed her breast where it bulged over the cup. Her panties dampened as she ran her hand down to his big stiff cock.

  “God, you do it for me.”

  “Shh.” He placed his finger on her lips. Then ran it down her body. She shivered and arched when his finger got to the waistband of her cherry red panties.

  J.J.’s mouth followed his finger. The steam of his mouth warmed her soul.

  She had never experienced such mind-numbing pleasure. Kat willed her hand to move to his dick. She stroked his throbbing member. She loved the weight of it in her palm.

  He grabbed both hands and tugged them over her head. That always drove her nuts with lust. J.J. fastened his lips on her mouth, making her head spin.

  She pumped her hips instinctively. His erection pressed into her belly. Kat loved how his hard planes fit against her soft valleys.

  He moved one hand to her waist, hooked a finger into her panties and tugged them down. Anticipation raced down her spine and settled inside her core.

  J.J. rose, moved to the nightstand next to his bed, yanked open the top drawer and retrieved the Shataki egg.

  Cool air flowed over Kat’s damp skin. Goose bumps dotted her flesh. She sat up. “That’s where that went.”

  His eyes sparked. “Yup.” He twisted the egg. The small hum filled the room. “Lie back.”

  Kat gazed at him suspiciously but did as he asked. J.J. kneeled on the bed and unhooked her bra. She moved her arms to keep her breasts from shifting.

  “I like that this sexy thing hooks in the front.” He moved Kat’s
arms back over her head.

  “I love the way you look,” J.J. said. He switched the light on the nightstand.

  Lust heated his face. J.J. rubbed the buzzing egg over her vulva. She gasped and hitched her hips into the delectable vibrations. He opened her folds, exposed her nub and placed the egg on just the right spot.

  She reached for him. Her whole body quivered.

  He cleared his throat and pressed the egg harder against her clit.

  Kat needed him like she needed to breathe. Every inch of her body ached. Her soul felt empty, the feeling causing Kat to shift from the sensation.

  J.J. pressed the buzzing egg even harder. “I want to see you come. You are so beautiful when you come.”

  “Please. I need you inside of me now.”

  “I want you to come first.” He adjusted the egg.

  Waves of pleasure crashed over Kat. She splintered into a million tiny pieces.

  He kissed her and kept the egg on the magic spot.

  She tried to inch away from the vibrations. “I can’t take any more.”

  “Yes, you can.” He rolled her limp body onto her stomach and pulled her hips up to meet him.

  He thrust into her and held the egg on her clit. She clawed at the bed and screamed. The walls of her pussy closed around his fat cock. J.J. shuddered and kept pumping hard into her.

  Kat thought that she might pass out. “Please.”

  J.J. exploded inside her and she climaxed again. He dropped the egg and collapsed.

  Kat couldn’t breathe under his weight. Her chest pushed against the bed. Her lungs burned and her heart pounded. “J.J.”

  “Mmm.”

  “You need to move.”

  He shot off her. “Sorry, are you okay?”

  The scent of sex filled air and streamed over her exposed skin. “That’s better.”

  J.J. stood and grabbed a corner of his comforter and placed it over her. “You hungry?”

  Her stomach rumbled. “I guess I am.”

  “Stay right there.” He tossed on his boxer briefs. “I’ll get dinner.”

  * * * * *

  Kat crept into her house a little after four a.m. “God, I haven’t done this since I was seventeen.” She and J.J. spent the night in conversation and sex. She smiled to herself and maneuvered down the hall.

  A light switched on behind her. “Crap.”

  “Katherine Elizabeth.” The disappointment in Bev’s voice caused Kat’s sex-hazed mood to flee the scene.

  She rolled her eyes and straightened her spine. “Why are you up so late, Mother?”

  “What self-respecting woman comes home from a date at four in the morning?”

  Kat spun to face her mother. “A thirty-five-year-old widow. That’s who.”

  “Katherine, people will talk.”

  The last remnants of her good mood evaporated. “Let them. People have been talking about me almost my whole life.” She turned and started back down the hall. “I’m done caring what people think of me.” Kat marched into her bedroom and shut the door. “Who does my mother think she is? I’m a grown woman.”

  She toed off her pumps and ripped off her top. “I can come in at whatever time I want.” Kat shimmied out of her pants and tossed them across the room. “I can’t believe she waited up until four in the morning.”

  Kat stomped into the bathroom and turned on the shower. She stepped into the steam and sighed. “Being in love is fabulous.”

  She had fallen in love with a man she could never be with permanently. Tears built behind her eyes. A sob bubbled from her chest.

  She grabbed the bar of soap J.J. left in the shower, so he wouldn’t smell, in his words, like a girl. “How could you let this happen?” Kat lathered the bar and let the smell of him envelop her. She slid to the shower floor. Uncontrollable sobs racked her body.

  A knock sounded at the door. “Shit.” Kat swiped at her eyes. “Go away, Mother.”

  “Kat, we need to talk.”

  “I’m in the shower.”

  “When you’re done, meet me in the kitchen.”

  She thumped her head against the tile. “Mother, I’m tired. Can we talk later?”

  “No, Katherine. I’ll be waiting for you.”

  “Oh all right. Give me a few minutes.”

  Ten minutes later, Kat walked into the kitchen and went to the refrigerator for a can of diet soda. “What is so important?”

  Bev sat on a stool at the breakfast bar. “I want to talk to you about this boy you’re dating.”

  “J.J.’s not a boy,” Kat grumbled. “He’s a man.”

  “Oh Katherine, that boy is a lot younger than you are.” Bev waved her hand toward Kat. “What does a handsome young man want with you?”

  Her mother’s words hit close to home. Kat slammed down her soda can. Liquid splashed over the side. “Do you think I’m so fat and ugly that no one will find me desirable?”

  “Well, look at you. You obviously don’t take care of yourself.”

  Kat stopped listening after that. She had been given the same speech since she was twelve and could not shop at the exclusive children’s boutique that all the other little girls in their social circle did.

  Rage and hurt welled inside her. Years of childhood pain boiled in her gut. When Kat was a child, her grandmother was there to make it all better. Even now, her father stood as a buffer, but tonight, Kat had to fend off her mother alone. Her words from earlier played in her mind. I’m old enough to fight my own battles.

  She took a fortifying sip of her soda and waited for her mother to wind down.

  “Katherine, are you listening to me?” Bev demanded.

  “I’ve heard it all before.” She took another sip and set the can down.

  “Don’t you talk to me in that tone.” Bev sighed and continued on the thousand and one ways Kat disappointed her and Kat’s father.

  Kat leaned against the kitchen counter, her gaze roaming the large space. I wonder if my mother realizes how much she needs me.

  The mill was in financial ruin and her father mismanaged his trust. Kat knew that Axel had been tapping into the family trust for months. She didn’t say anything about it, she just sent a check to cover the debts every month.

  Thank God for her business sense and her ability to live well within her means.

  Bev revved back up and spouted something about how Kat was just like her grandmother. At this point, Kat wished that was true.

  Her grandmother would have thrown Axel’s bad decisions in her mother’s face and told her to screw off. Maybe she would have cut her parents off financially.

  She smiled and continued to sip her soda. Snippets of what Bev droned on about filtered into Kat’s thoughts. Maybe if she’d been a better wife. Maybe if she’d taken an exercise class. Maybe if she’d had more kids, then Gary wouldn’t have cheated.

  Her mother blamed Kat for the hysterectomy and apparently the national debt. Kat finished her soda. She opened the cabinet to the recycling and tossed the can away.

  Kat glanced at the microwave clock. God, she’s been at it for twenty minutes. Kat knew Bev’s all-time record was two and a half hours. Set during Christmas, her first year at Wesleyan. That year, Kat’s grandmother gave her the power of attorney to the family trust. Kat remembered being shocked and scared. She wasn’t ready for the responsibility.

  Bev was so pissed that day, Axel had to take her on a cruise to appease her. Her mother finally ran out of steam.

  A sense of calm filled Kat. “Mother,” she said. “Fuck you.” Kat sauntered out of the room.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “I hate paperwork.” J.J. flipped through invoices and spreadsheets.

  Ron walked into the office they shared. “If you didn’t spend all your free time with a certain woman, then you wouldn’t be behind.”

  He balled a scrap piece of paper and tossed it at Ron. “Funny.”

  Ron caught the missile with one hand. “Why are you here so early?”

  “I couldn�
��t sleep after Kat left this morning.”

  “You got it bad.”

  Boy, did he. And he knew it too. All he thought about these days was how he could convince Kat to not walk away from him. She always seemed to have one foot out the door. It all but ripped his heart out of his chest to think about life without her in it.

  The tip of his pencil snapped. “Shit.”

  Ron chuckled.

  “Shut up,” he grumbled. “You chase after Patty like a puppy.”

  “Damn straight,” Ron said and powered up his computer.

  Patty strolled into their office. “Did I just hear my name?”

  “J.J. thinks I nip at your heels like a puppy.”

  “Well, instead of you giving me a collar, maybe I should give you one.”

  J.J.’s cell phone rang. “I don’t think I want to know.” He picked it up and checked the screen. “It’s Kat.”

  Patty strolled over and sat in Ron’s lap.

  J.J. rolled his eyes. “Hi, sexy.” He stood and left the room.

  When he came back into the office, Patty straddled Ron. They were making out like two teenagers. “Get a room,” he teased.

  Patty pulled back. “Is everything okay at Kat’s house?”

  “I guess. She sounded happy.”

  “I talked to her earlier, things have been tense between Bev and Kat since Kat told her mother off a few days ago.”

  “She wants me to come over for lunch,” J.J. said.

  Patty smiled. “Is that code? Kat and Sam were supposed to go with Bev to pick up her father at the airport at twelve thirty.” She rose off Ron’s lap. “I guess Bev is just taking Sam now.”

  He moved to his desk and opened the bottom drawer. “I have an estimate to do at the Jones estate.” He pulled out a folder and shut the drawer. “I’ll be back after lunch. Try to keep your hands off each other and get some work done.” He grinned and marched out.

  * * * * *

  J.J. climbed out of his truck in front of Kat’s home at twelve o’clock on the dot. Memories of the first time he met her flashed in his mind. He remembered Kat’s friendly smile and the way her hand felt in his when he shook it. I can’t let her leave me. He dashed up the flower-lined walkway.