by Pj Fiala
Ashley smiled at her. “Darlin’, I wish Bear was half as crazy about me as Dog is about you. Seriously, as far as that bitch goes, who gives a shit?”
The girls giggled. If everyone felt this way, why did Jeremiah keep her around? Just then, he walked into the kitchen and saw them all laughing.
Joci turned and saw him watching her. She pointed her beautiful, dimpled smile right at him. “Hey, you. What’s up?”
“Not much. Just came in to see if you needed help.”
Joci glided over and slid her arms around him and squeezed.
“Thank you for checking, but we’re doing great. Anything I can get you?”
“No, baby. I’ll just go bullshit with the guys. Can I get you another drink?”
Joci laughed. “Not if you want a tasty supper. I should wait until I’m finished cooking.”
Jeremiah looked over at Janice and Ashley, who were both watching and smiling. Janice held her glass up and nodded at Jeremiah to go ahead and make Joci another drink. She would probably be cute as hell drunk. Jeremiah smiled and squeezed Joci again, then turned to leave. He was back in minutes with another drink. He walked over to Joci and held the glass to her lips.
“Drink up, baby. Tonight, we play!”
“I won’t be able to ride tomorrow, babe. I can’t.”
Jeremiah kissed her quickly on the lips. “If that’s the case, I’ll take care of you. I want to watch you let go of yourself. Let me see it, Joci. Have fun with me.”
Joci’s eyes grew big as Jeremiah held the drink to her lips and smiled at her.
“I’ll take care of you, always.”
Joci took the drink and sipped it. He smiled at her while Janice, Julie, and Ashley giggled behind her.
He kissed her quickly and left the kitchen. The girls were still giggling when Joci turned around. Janice put her arm around Joci’s shoulders and hugged her. “He wants to see you drunk, Joci. Haven’t you gotten drunk in front of him before?”
Joci smiled at her. “No, I don’t drink much. I’ve always been alone and had to get myself home and take care of Gunnar.”
“Ah, so that’s it. He wants you to know you aren’t alone anymore. Drink up, Joci. Tonight’s going to be fun!” Ashley stated.
They ate a great meal, and Joci was feeling no pain. The boys laughed at her silliness.
“Mom, too bad the Golden Girls aren’t here,” Gunnar said.
Joci rolled her eyes. “The Golden Girls haven’t been together in a while, Gunnar.”
Jeremiah looked at Joci. “Who are the Golden Girls?”
Joci grinned at him and shook her head.
Gunnar laughed. “Mom, Jackie, and Sandi are the Golden Girls. They used to go out on ‘girl’s night’ and sing Karaoke. Mom can sing like crazy. Their signature song is ‘Lady Marmalade.’ You should hear her, Dog. She blows the room away when she sings it.”
Jeremiah looked at Joci, and her face flamed up bright red.
“Really? Sing for me, sweetheart.”
Joci shook her head no. “I can’t sing without my girls.”
She had a goofy grin on her face. Jeremiah leaned over and hugged her. “Then we’re going to go out with your girls soon. I want to hear you sing.”
Joci leaned her head into Jeremiah and closed her eyes. She whispered, “Guess I’m a cheap date.”
He kissed the top of her head. “I love you, Joci.” Then he whispered, “I’ll take care of you.”
Joci closed her eyes and let herself believe that was true. Only time would tell.
21
Two Steps Forward
Sunday was a long day. Joci had a headache but refused to ride behind Jeremiah and let everyone think she couldn’t take it. But she was suffering. She remembered laughing and having so much fun, actually everyone was having fun. When she looked around, it looked like a lot of them were hung-over, so she wasn’t the only one. Even Jeremiah looked kind of worse for the wear. Deacon and Julie were the only ones who didn’t look tired and drawn. Joci couldn’t wait to get home and take a nap.
They stopped for gas and Joci pulled to the edge of the parking lot to drink a Gatorade. Jeremiah walked over to her but didn’t say anything. He kissed the top of her head and laid his head on top of hers. They stood together like that for several heartbeats.
“Are you okay, sweetheart?” he whispered.
Joci chuckled a little. “I’m good. How about you?”
Jeremiah snickered. “I’m good. However, I want to get home and take a nap with you.”
She nodded her head. “I was just thinking the same thing.”
When Joci woke up from her nap, she had a dry mouth and a slight headache. Jeremiah was nowhere to be found. Hmm. She got up and went to the bathroom, took a couple of aspirin, and looked in the mirror. Oh, well. She walked out to the living room to find her man. Nope, not there.
She walked out to the garage and there he was, removing their bags from the bikes. He smiled at her when she walked out.
“Hey, gorgeous. How are you feeling?”
Joci laughed. She had just seen herself in the mirror.
“If you’re talking to me, I’m okay. If you’re talking to someone else, never mind.”
He grabbed their bags from the bikes and walked up to her and kissed the top of her head. “You’re the only woman in the world I think is gorgeous. So, yeah, I’m talking to you.”
She shrugged. “Okay. You?”
He shrugged too. “Been better. But totally worth it. You’re a very cute drunk.”
Joci groaned. She didn’t want to know. He put his arm around her and walked into the house. He looked around at the boxes of Joci’s stuff stacked everywhere, looked at her and smiled.
“I think we are going to need a bigger house after all. Where are we going to put the kids?”
Joci’s eyes got huge. Did he just say that? No, no, no, no, no.
“Jeremiah…we…I…no.” Joci shook her head.
He squeezed her and turned to wrap his arms around her.
“Joci, don’t get scared. I want to have babies with you. It’ll be different this time. We’ll both be able to enjoy the whole process, including raising a beautiful little girl or boy. We’ll do it together.”
She shook her head. She tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let her go. No, she couldn’t go there. She didn’t know what would happen in the future, but she couldn’t think about babies when they had only been with each other for a couple of months. No, she didn’t want to do that unless she was married. She didn’t want to be a single mom again.
Joci’s body tightened, and she could feel her pulse thrumming through her body. Her head still ached from last night, and now he wanted to have babies.
Jeremiah tightened his arms around her. He rocked her back and forth for a little while.
He took a deep breath. “Don’t be nervous; I won’t push. I just can’t help myself. When I look at you, think about you…I just want the whole package.”
She trembled. Of course, not feeling well didn’t help things at all, but this wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have. She decided to change the subject.
“Are you hungry, Jeremiah? I can throw something together for us to eat.”
She still wasn’t even sure she could still have babies. But if she were ever going to have another baby, it would certainly be with him.
Jeremiah squeezed her a little. “I don’t want you to have to do that. Why don’t we order a pizza?”
“Mmm, that sounds awesome.”
He kissed the top of her head and pulled out his phone. Joci began digging through boxes. She had to work tomorrow, and she wanted to get her office set up so she could get right to it. The photographer from the Veteran’s Ride had sent her all the pictures from the day, and she wanted to start working on the video. She didn’t tell Jeremiah because she wanted to surprise him with it.
Joci had gotten a few boxes unpacked when the pizza delivery person knocked at the door, announcing supper. Jeremi
ah paid the guy and brought the pizza into the living room. Joci washed her hands and grabbed them each a bottle of water from the refrigerator. They sat on the sofa to eat and watch the news.
Jeremiah looked over at Joci. He took a deep breath and said, “I didn’t mean to scare you before. I’m sorry.”
She caught his gaze and saw the love in his eyes. She leaned forward and grabbed his hand. “I know, baby. I’m sorry I got weird. Being hung-over doesn’t help. I don’t want to be a single mom again, Jeremiah. It’s important to me. I don’t want to bring another child into the world without both parents being right there for him or her.”
“I’m here, Joci. You’re here. We’re together, and I’m not gonna let anything change that. I won’t push you. Well, I’ll try not to push you. But I’m committed to being with you forever.”
She nodded her head. What more could she say? For now, he wouldn’t push, and she could see how things worked out between them.
Around nine p.m., Joci and Jeremiah crawled into bed, exhausted. Drinking sure takes its toll on a person.
The next morning, as Jeremiah was getting ready to leave for work, his phone rang.
As he answered, he looked at Joci with a smile and mouthed, “My mom.”
She smiled. They had eaten dinner with his parents last week. She enjoyed spending time with them. Emily had a great sense of humor and teased her husband and Jeremiah endlessly. She seemed to have a very comfortable relationship with all her men.
Jeremiah hung up the phone and looked at Joci. “Why do you have that little smirk on your face?”
“I was just thinking about your mom teasing you and your dad last week at dinner. She’s funny.”
Jeremiah smirked too. “Always has been. Anyway, she called because Thursday is Eli’s graduation. She wanted to make sure you and Gunnar would be there also.”
Joci nodded. “Absolutely. Can you remind the boys at work today?”
“Yeah, I’ll make sure they all remember. I would love it if you asked the rest of the Golden Girls to go out with us the Saturday after we get together with my Marine buddies. I want to hear you sing, Joci.”
She groaned. He just didn’t let anything go, did he? She didn’t respond right away. Jeremiah stood back a little and looked down at her.
“Hey. Don’t you want to sing for me?”
Joci smiled. “I’m really not that good, Jeremiah. After a couple of drinks, I just think I’m good. There’s a difference.”
He crossed his arms over his chest and stared, and she sighed. “I’ll see if they want to go out. Sandi just mentioned something about that at lunch last week, so I would bet unless they have plans, she’s in.”
“Perfect. See you at lunch.”
Joci cocked her head to the side. “Do we have lunch plans?”
Jeremiah slapped her on the ass. “Now that you live here with me, I’m coming home for lunch. Do you have a full workload today?”
“Not too bad.” Joci smiled.
“Great. Meet me in the bedroom at noon, with nothing on. Lie on the bed, on your back, with your head toward the door. And be ready for me.”
He kissed her on the lips and walked out the door.
Joci smiled all the way to the back bedroom/office. She was turned on already, so being ready for him at noon wasn’t going to be a problem. As a matter of fact, it was going to be a long morning for her, thinking about him coming home for a nooner. She giggled as she thought about it. She was forty-four years old and was about to have her first nooner.
She worked on the video until eleven. She was organizing the pictures in an order she thought would work well. She was going to set the whole thing to music and was running songs through her mind. She stood up, stretched, and decided to take a quick shower before Jeremiah got home. She giggled as she walked into the bathroom and turned the water on.
She took a nice long shower and made sure she was shaved and soaped—everywhere. She put body butter all over herself, so her skin was smooth, and dried her hair. She looked at the clock and noticed she still had about fifteen minutes. She walked to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water and strutted back to the bedroom, humming a song to herself.
She put the bottle of water on the bedside table and took her robe off. She stretched out across the bed like Jeremiah had asked her to do, on her back, and hummed while she waited for him. Soon, she heard the door open and heard his footsteps walking toward her down the hall. The bedroom door opened, and she heard a soft whistle.
She looked up to see Jeremiah devouring her with his eyes.
“You are…without a doubt…the sexiest woman I’ve ever laid eyes on. And you’re mine.”
Joci smiled from ear to ear. He walked toward her and touched her cheek. He ran his hand down her cheek to her jaw and under her chin. Softly but forcefully, he pulled her chin up. He reached under her arms with both hands and pulled her to the edge of the bed, so her head slightly hung over the edge. He ran a finger down her throat and over to her breasts. He palmed a breast in each hand and massaged them. He pinched each nipple and made them hard peaks, straining for his mouth. He chuckled. “I could play with you all day.”
Slowly he unzipped his jeans and let them fall to the floor. His boxer briefs followed. He pulled his t-shirt up over his head. In record time, and he was standing at her head, completely naked. He stroked his hard cock up and down a few times while watching her. She squirmed, watching him pleasure himself, and he smiled at her.
“Do you like watching me, Joci? Does that turn you on?”
Joci licked her lips. “Yes, I like watching you. You’re beautiful. Watching you touch yourself is sexy as hell.”
“Is it now? Let me see. Touch yourself. I want to watch you.”
She reached down with her right hand and slipped her fingers into her soft folds. She moaned a little.
Hissing out a breath, he said, “You’re right, that is sexy. Keep touching yourself, Joci; I want to watch you and hear you.”
He grabbed his cock and touched her lips with it. She opened her mouth, and Jeremiah slid himself inside. He knew she couldn’t take him all the way, so he kept his hand on the base of his cock so he wouldn’t get excited and forget how little she was.
She tightened her lips around his length and let her tongue slide along the underside of it when Jeremiah pulled out and slid back in. He hissed out a breath. He’d thought about this all morning, and still, he was amazed at the feeling of her mouth and watching her touch herself. Shit, there was nothing like it. Joci slid her tongue along the vein on the underside of his cock and he groaned.
“Joci…geez…fucking amazing,” He panted.
She wiggled around her fingers working furiously. He watched her squirm and knew she was having trouble making herself come. Fine with him. He would rather help her anyway. He leaned down and ran his tongue around her swollen, sensitive little bud while pushing in and pulling out of her mouth. Joci moaned again and lifted her hips to intensify the pressure from his mouth.
He licked her clit again and sucked it into his mouth. She reached up and cupped his balls in one hand, and put her other hand on the base of his cock. Jeremiah used the opportunity to slide a finger into Joci’s wet little pussy. Two pumps and her orgasm started racing, her body warming and her breathing ragged. He added pressure on her clit with his tongue, at the same time pushing two fingers into her wet channel, and she exploded. She pulsed and clenched.
She continued to rub Jeremiah while working her mouth along his length. She licked his balls, and they sucked up inside of him. Gently sliding back into her mouth, Jeremiah let go. Joci swallowed quickly to drink all of him down. He laid his forehead on her belly, giving them both a little time to catch their breath. She licked his cock as it fell from her mouth and he groaned again. He stood up as soon as he could, climbed onto the bed next to her, and pulled her into his arms. Joci wrapped her arm around his waist and kissed his chest.
They lay quietly a few minutes, and Jeremiah kissed th
e top of her head.
“Sorry, baby, I meant that to last longer. Sometimes you make me come so fast my head spins.”
Joci smiled. “It isn’t about the amount of time. It’s about the quality. That…was high quality.”
Jeremiah squeezed her shoulders again and sighed, contented and happy.
“I suppose I should feed you before you have to run back to the shop. What would you like?”
“Why don’t we finish up the pizza from last night?”
Joci nodded. “Sounds good. Give me about ten minutes.”
She got up and put her robe on. He watched her and smiled.
“You’re a sexy woman, Joci.”
She smiled at him. “And you’re a sexy man.”
Joci walked out to the kitchen and started warming up the pizza. She set the table and got two bottles of water out of the refrigerator. Just as the microwave dinged, Jeremiah walked into the kitchen. He was pulling his shirt on over this head. He looked delicious; really, she was a lucky woman. As she watched him, his head poked through the top of his t-shirt.
He looked at her and smirked. “I do have a brain, you know.”
Joci burst out laughing. “Yes, you do, but you also have that smoking hot bod. I love looking at you.”
He sat down, and they ate lunch. Joci was dying to know, so she asked. “How did this morning go with LuAnn?”
Jeremiah shrugged his shoulders. “I guess okay. She acted contrite and she’s been pretty quiet. Janice said she hasn’t asked anything about the rest of the weekend at all, which is kind of weird. LuAnn always wants to know what she missed. Honey, all I care about is that she's good. I won’t tolerate anyone hurting you, ever.”
Joci looked over at him. “Thank you,” she said softly.
He chuckled. “You don’t have to thank me, honey. I mean it.”
She nodded. She wished she could get over this niggling little feeling that LuAnn was about to drop a bomb or something. Jeremiah was right. It wasn’t like LuAnn not to want to know what she missed, especially when it came to Jeremiah.
