by Fiala, PJ
The day Gunnar had brought Joci to the shop and Jeremiah met her, he knew she was the one he had been dreaming of. He spoke to his brothers about it. He asked them when they knew their wives were the ones and all three of them said they knew it the moment they met their wives. Jeremiah was sure as well.
“Joci, tell me about Connor. What’s the deal with him?”
Joci looked at Jeremiah. He seemed irritated about Connor. “I take it you don’t like Connor.” She smiled thinking about Connor.
Jeremiah looked at her for a long time. “Connor’s in love with you. I see the way he looks at you. It drives me nuts.”
Joci looked at Jeremiah and furrowed her brow. “I don’t think so. He’s been there for us. He feels bad about the way Keith treated us, Gunnar and me. He was Keith’s best friend. They’re still friends and keep in touch. He knew all along that Keith was cheating and told me he tried talking to Keith about it. Connor’s been a good friend for a long time now. When I needed help with Gunnar, Connor stepped in for me—for Keith actually. That’s all.”
Jeremiah’s lips formed a straight line. “He never asked you out or tried to kiss you?”
Joci cocked her head to the side. “Yes, after he divorced, he asked me out. He did kiss me a couple of times, but each time, I told him I wanted to keep it friendly. Eventually, he accepted that.”
Jeremiah leaned over and kissed Joci lightly on the lips. “You can’t possibly believe that! I would never accept that from you, and I don’t think he did either. I see how he looks at you. He loves you. If he makes a move for you, he and I are going to have problems. That may cause a problem with Gunnar, but I’ll deal with it.”
He was smiling when he said it, but Joci got the feeling Jeremiah was serious.
“Did Keith leave the area, or does he still live around here? And how do you feel about that?”
Joci shrugged. “He really wasn’t the love of my life. What really hurt was when I found out how much he screwed around. Besides screwing Tori and my aunt, he screwed a woman I worked with. Actually, he had been with almost everyone I knew. It’s hard to think these women would see me and talk to me and offer me advice and be in the friggin’ delivery room with me and, the whole time, they were screwing him themselves.
“That’s why I don’t trust easily. So many people have betrayed me. But even worse was that we had a little boy who wanted and needed a father. Keith left him. He left the area when Gunnar was one or so. I’ve heard, from Connor, that he met someone and married her. I hope he treats her better than he treated me. They have two children together now.”
“Does he ever see Gunnar or keep in touch with him?”
“Nope. Since the day I found him with Tori, he hasn’t made any attempt to touch base with Gunnar. When he was younger, Gunnar would ask about Keith, of course. I tried to be honest without being brutal about it. I told Gunnar that Keith decided he didn’t want to be a family with us, but we were fine without him and that no one would love him more than I did, or Aunt Jackie and Uncle David. Keith’s parents never tried to see him either. When Jackie married David, he stepped in a lot and helped with Gunnar.”
“I won’t betray you, Joci. Never. My father raised us better than that. No one in my family would ever treat anyone so cruelly. I promise you.”
Joci watched Jeremiah’s face. He was dead serious. She wasn’t sure what to say to that, so she asked about his life.
“What about you, Jeremiah? Did you ever wonder if you should have done something different with Barbara?”
Jeremiah snorted. “Hell, no. She shows up about once each year, traveling through. She doesn’t ride herself; just hangs around looking for a ride. She wears too much makeup, too much jewelry, too much everything. Last year, when she rode through, she asked JT for money, and he told her to take a hike. Not sure if she’ll come back this year or not. She’s been married and divorced three times and has two other children, a boy and a girl. Not sure where they are or who they’re with. I assume their fathers.”
“That must have been hard on you. What about girlfriends?”
Jeremiah looked at Joci, trying to gauge her mood. “No. I dated a few women, but nothing serious. I devoted my time to the boys and then later, to growing Rolling Thunder.”
“I know what you mean. I devoted my life to Gunnar and then to building my marketing and graphic design business. I wouldn’t have made it if it hadn’t been for my sister, Jackie. Later on, Sandi and I became friends, but it took me a long time to trust her. But Sandi stayed tough and proved she was trustworthy.”
They talked a while longer, enjoying the quiet time with each other. Jeremiah’s phone chimed. He let out a huff and reached down to the floor to retrieve it out of his jeans pocket. He smirked and texted something back. He looked up and saw Joci watching him.
“Staci wanted to know if you liked the candles. I told her you did. She knew I was nervous.”
“Aww, that’s really sweet of her.”
“She really has been like a sister to me. Dayton found himself a great woman. I can’t wait for you to meet her.” He pecked her on the lips, “Do you want to take a shower?”
Joci nodded. “Yes, that would be great.”
Jeremiah swung his feet over the side of the bed and stood. He took her hand, helped her out of bed and led her to the bathroom. He reached into the shower stall and turned the water on, letting it warm up.
Joci stood watching him. He was beautiful. He moved around his house with strength and confidence. His muscles moved and rippled with him. Jeremiah turned to look at Joci and raised an eyebrow.
Joci smiled. “I think you’re beautiful. I love watching you.”
Jeremiah smiled at her. “You’re the beautiful one, Joci. The moment I met you, I knew I needed to be with you. You’re as stubborn as hell, but so beautiful you make my heart race.”
Joci furrowed her forehead. “I’m not stubborn!”
Now it was Jeremiah’s turn to furrow his brow, “Really? You made me wait a fucking year to touch you.”
Joci closed the distance between them and ran her palms across his chest, down his stomach and over his hips.
“I wasn’t being stubborn, I was scared. You have women fawning over you all the time. Making comments and dying for you to touch them. I didn’t want to go down that road again.”
Jeremiah shook his head, “I don’t have women fawning over me.”
“Seriously, Jeremiah, LuAnn has made it very, very clear that she wants you. She fawns over you, touches you every chance she gets. She’s made comments to me that you’re waiting for her to be ready to settle down. How can you not know that?”
Jeremiah looked like he had been slapped.
“That’s not fucking true. LuAnn is the last person on earth I want. If she’s made those comments, she’s lying. I have never, ever, given her any reason to believe there would ever be anything between us.”
He shook his head, “I’ll take care of LuAnn. She better not give you any grief.”
Jeremiah leaned down and kissed Joci. Not a demanding kiss, just a beautiful, sweet, long, wet kiss. Joci had always dreamed of being kissed like that. When the kiss ended, Jeremiah looked into her eyes for a long moment. Joci closed her eyes. She had fallen for Jeremiah the first day she saw him. She had denied both of them this past year because of her fear of being hurt again.
She opened her eyes and saw Jeremiah looking at her. Oh, those beautiful green eyes, how she loved looking at them. How she loved that they looked at her so intently, like he wanted to see inside of her. Joci stepped into the shower with Jeremiah.
“Wow, great shower.”
Jeremiah chuckled, “Well, I’m too big for a normal shower. The first thing I did when I bought this house was gut the bathroom and build this big shower, so when I washed my hair, I didn’t beat the hell out of my elbows.”
He held his arms up to show Joci he could stretch out. Joci stepped under the water with him. She reached over to the shelf and grabbe
d the bottle of body wash. She squirted some in her hand and held it to her nose. Hmm, that’s why he smelled so awesome. She rubbed her hands together and placed them on his back. He was so beautiful, chiseled muscles and beautiful clear skin.
She looked at the tattoo on his back. It was beautiful, lettered scrollwork that went from shoulder to shoulder and said Rolling Thunder. Joci touched the tattoo with her fingers. She slowly traced each letter across his back, noticing that his muscles rippled and moved under her fingers. Once she had traced the letters, she laid her palm flat and ran her hand over the whole tattoo.
“Beautiful. It’s beautiful.”
Jeremiah slowly turned finding her eyes. He stared at her a long time, the water beating down on them both. Joci reached up and traced the tattoo on his left bicep.
“What does this mean?”
Jeremiah’s voice was cracking, “It’s JT’s initials in Vivaldi Script.”
Yes, now that she looked closer, she could see it, JTS. Joci slid her hand down to his wrist. “This?”
“His birth date.”
Joci traced the tattoo on his right bicep, RMS. “Ryder.”
Jeremiah whispered, “Yes.”
Joci slid her hands to his right wrist and traced the numbers.
“And this would be his date of birth as well. Twins.”
Jeremiah framed Joci’s face in his hands. He stared into her eyes for the longest time. Slowly he leaned down and kissed her lips. He turned his head, so they fit together perfectly, and dipped his tongue into her mouth. He explored, wanting to touch every surface of her body. He wanted to crawl inside her and leave an imprint on her that would never disappear. He slid his hand into her hair and cupped the back of her head, holding her in place while he continued to taste her.
She wrapped her arms around Jeremiah’s waist and hung on. Her knees were beginning to shake. When Jeremiah needed to breathe, he lifted his head and laid it on top of Joci’s. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her to him. He was hard as a rock again and needed to slide into her. He bent his knees and lifted one of Joci’s legs so he could, but when the tip of his cock touched her pussy, she flinched a little. He froze, watching her.
“Are you sore?”
Joci looked down, a little embarrassed. Jeremiah lifted her chin with his fingers.
“Hey. I’m so sorry, Joci. I don’t want to hurt you. I just can’t get enough of you.”
Joci shook her head. “It’s just been so long for me, and you’re very…substantial.” The words came out in a whisper. Her face was flame red. “I’m sorry.”
Jeremiah sucked in a breath. “You’re sorry? Jesus, Joci, I’m sorry. I should have thought about that. You’re so small; I was being selfish. You just feel so fucking good.”
Joci looked at Jeremiah and slowly dropped to her knees. On her way down, she grabbed his hard length in her hands and started pumping him up and down. Jeremiah hissed out a breath. He was watching her eyes. Joci smiled and licked the head of his cock.
“Jesus,” was all he could say, his voice was as tight as the velvety skin on his cock.
Joci licked again and then slid him into her mouth as far as she could take him. She kept one hand on the base of his cock to completely cover him. As she moved her mouth up and down, her hand followed, completely manipulating his cock. After a few strokes, she swirled her tongue over the head and then licked the length of it. She slid her mouth back down over his length. He felt so good in her mouth. She wrapped her tongue around him and pushed him to the roof of her mouth and sucked in.
Jeremiah became light-headed watching Joci suck his cock. He had dreamed of her on her knees servicing him, but once again, the dreams didn’t come close to the real thing. The way she sucked on him was blowing his mind. Her mouth felt almost as good as her pussy. So wet and warm, surrounding him with the perfect amount of pressure. And when she sucked in, Jesus, it was hard to control himself. He felt like he was going to blow apart. After just having blown into her twice tonight, he was about to do it again, and quickly. He placed a hand on the top of her head and began pumping into her. He needed to remember to be careful with her, she was so small, not like the tramps he was used to. But damn, he wanted to come in her mouth so fucking bad.
Joci continued sucking, licking, and pumping Jeremiah. She could tell he was getting close by his breathing. She continued to suck and put a little more pressure on the sucking, pushing his cock to the roof of her mouth, surrounding it with her tongue, and slowly sliding up and down. He groaned out loud. She palmed his balls and felt them start to pull up into his body—he was definitely close. She licked up the back of his cock and swirled her tongue around the head a few more times and then sucked him in her mouth hard.
She heard Jeremiah groan loudly and then, “Fuck. Joci…So good.”
She felt the first spurt hit the back of her throat and she swallowed quickly, as the next spurt hit her throat. She kept swallowing trying to catch it all. She swallowed over and over, not letting a drop spill out of her mouth.
Joci continued to softly suck on him as his orgasm slowly eased off. He began to soften in her mouth, but Joci continued lapping and sucking on him gently, loving the way he felt. She gave him a final suck and then let him fall out of her mouth. She looked up at him and saw he was watching her.
She stuck out her tongue and licked the length of him one more time and Jeremiah groaned. He leaned down, picked her up, and hugged her close for a long time. His body was vibrating from his orgasm and his breathing was ragged and choppy. She had done that to him, and she loved it.
Jeremiah soaped her up and then himself and rinsed them both off. He stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around Joci and grabbed one for himself. As soon as Joci had finished drying herself off, Jeremiah reached over, picked her up, carried her to the bedroom, and gently laid her on the bed.
Chapter 11
Promise Me
“You’re mine, Joci. No man will ever touch you again except me. God, I can’t get enough of you.”
Joci wrapped her arms around Jeremiah and held him close.
“I don’t want any other man, Jeremiah. I only want you. I need you to only want me. Promise me.”
Jeremiah lifted his head to look at her.
“I only want you, Joci. I’m a one woman man, I swear on my life.”
They tucked themselves into bed after that and both of them fell blissfully asleep in each other’s arms. Jeremiah woke Joci up two more times during the night to make love to her. Tomorrow was going to be a long ride on a motorcycle with a sore bottom, but it was so worth it.
Jeremiah woke Joci up around six o’clock a.m. He brought her a cup of coffee and set it on the bedside table. He leaned over and kissed her lightly on the mouth, surprised that she responded so quickly to his kiss. She rolled to her back, pulling him over with her, which caused him to groan.
“God, you’re an insatiable little woman. How in the hell am I going to keep you satisfied?”
Joci laughed, “I was just thinking the same thing about you. You’re the one who started kissing me.”
Jeremiah chuckled, “I just brought you some coffee. It’s six o’clock. We need to get to the shop in about an hour and a half.”
Joci sat up and took the coffee cup in her hand and breathed in the smell of coffee. She took a sip. “Mmm, very good. Thank you.”
Jeremiah lay on his side, watching her. He didn’t have any clothes on, and of course, he looked perfect.
“How is it you look great all the time. Geez, you’re going to give me a complex,” Joci smiled.
Jeremiah smiled at her. “You always look fabulous, Joci. I love looking at you.”
Joci shook her head. “I exercise because I have to. I still have a squishy belly from having a very big boy, and if I don’t work at it, it doesn’t take long to look flabby.”
Jeremiah pushed the covers down and looked at her belly.
“I don’t think it looks squishy.”
He leaned over and kissed her stomach. She had a few stretch marks he hadn’t noticed last night. He traced his finger along one of them and she moved to push his hand away and grab the covers. He stopped her and kissed where he had just traced.
“These don’t make you look bad, Joci. They came from having your amazing son. It’s part of life.”
Joci looked at him, “Men don’t get these marks from having kids. They look for women who don’t have them.”
Jeremiah looked at Joci, “I don’t. I don’t give a shit about a few little marks on your belly. I care about you, the whole package.”
Joci sighed loudly. Jeremiah kept touching her belly and kissing her imperfections. “Did you ever think about having another baby, Joci?”
She looked at Jeremiah. God, having a baby with him would be amazing, wouldn’t it? She could only imagine it would be a beautiful baby. And big—probably huge—and it would rip her apart. Yikes, enough of that.
“There was a time I longed for a little girl. My whole adult life was all about boy things. Boy games. Boy clothes. Boy everything. I wanted a pretty little girl to spoil. Now I’m too old.”
Jeremiah looked at her with furrowed brows, “No, you’re not. Under the right circumstances, it would be great.”
“Yes, well, the right circumstances haven’t materialized.” She smiled.
Joci watched Jeremiah look at her belly.
“Did you ever want another baby?” she whispered.
“I guess I never thought about it. I didn’t have anyone in my life I wanted to have a baby with. Now that I am thinking about it, it would be nice to have a little girl to play with.”
Uh oh, Joci wasn’t going there. She had already raised a boy by herself. She wasn’t risking having another child she would have to raise by herself. She started sitting up and pulling away when Jeremiah caught her leg.
“Don’t get scared. I was just thinking out loud.”
