“You look so pretty, baby. Give me those lips.” I lean over and kiss him on the cheek. He breathes in deeply through his nose, and I smile at him. I didn’t let him have my lips last night like he wanted, and I’ve yet to press my lips to his, but it’s been four days, so I think I’ll give him a taste soon. He puts my helmet on my head, making sure it’s secure, and I put my hand on his shoulder and straddle him.
“I missed your bike.”
“I missed it, too,” he says with a wink. I stick out my bottom lip, all pouty. Just thinking about why he had to miss it makes me sad.
“Don’t be pouty. The way you feel about your charm bracelet, I kind of feel the same way about my bike. This bike was the first thing I ever worked for. It was my lifeline to get to you.”
“Yeah, you sure had a memorable day on your first ride to me, didn’t you?” I ask. He chuckles and squeezes my thigh.
“Yeah, you reminded me of what those pouty lips did to me on that first ride to see you yesterday at the center when you left me standing there with a hard-on. That was just mean. So, since you denied me those sweet lips last night, I expect some action right now on my bike.”
“How am I going to give you action on your bike?”
“Press that chest I watched grow over the years from little pretty buds into the most beautiful full blooms against my back and let me feel them.”
“You are so silly, Jace.”
“No, I’m not silly. I’m just a boy desperate to connect with his girl.”
“Desperate, huh?” I tease. He licks his lips while he stares at mine.
“Really, really desperate.” He moans, turning around as I press my chest into his back and squirm around. “It’s probably a good thing you haven’t given me those lips yet.”
“Why?” I yell over his bike.
“I won’t be able to stop once I taste you. I need to be in that condo, behind closed doors, or I’m risking getting thrown back in prison for making love to my girl in public.”
“Don’t ever say that, Jace.”
“What? You don’t want your boy under the moon and stars anymore?”
“Of course, I do, but don’t ever say going back to prison and you in the same sentence, okay?”
“I’m sorry. I won’t tease like that again.” He squeezes my thigh again and yells over his shoulder, “You remember how to hold on to me?”
“I’ll never forget how to hold on to you,” I tell him, gripping him tight.
“No matter what, always hold me tight,” he says, knowing I was talking about us and not riding on his bike. “But remember when you’re on my bike, always lean in and turn with me.”
“I will.”
When we get to Runyan Canyon, he parks and I get off his bike, then reach up to take my helmet off. “Let me get that for you,” he says, setting his helmet down. He loosens the helmet straps, taking it off me as my hair falls around my face. He kisses my forehead. “So pretty.”
I smile at him and take the ponytail holder from around my wrist and put my hair up. We start walking up the trail.
“I want to hold your hand.” Jace stops and looks at me. Without hesitation, I put my hand in his. He glances down at our hands as I entwine our fingers, then looks up with tears in his eyes. “That day in the visitation room when I put my hand on the glass…I wanted to shatter it to feel your touch.” He lifts our hands and presses his lips to my skin. “The only hand I ever want in mine,” he whispers.
“Are you sure about that?” I ask, smiling. He scrunches his eyebrows together. “Yeah, I’m sure about that.”
“You might feel differently one day.”
“No, Shay, I won’t.”
“One day we’re going to have kids, and I’m sure you’ll want to hold their hands.”
“Don’t scare me like that. Of course, I’ll want to hold their hands,” he says. I laugh, and he lets go of my hand. For the first time in so long, he smacks my butt. “Don’t be sassy.” He finally takes a breath. “Now, give me your hand back.” I put my hand back in his, and we make our way up to Inspiration Point.
When we get to our place, he takes the backpack off his back. He puts my hand back in his, and we sit down on the bench and find our names. This time, he pulls his hand out of mine, takes my finger, and traces our names he perfectly carved into the wood. Jace and Shay Forever Love.
“Only you, pretty girl. I know I screwed up, and I don’t just mean when I got out, but the reason that put me in prison in the first place.”
“Stop,” I interrupt him. He traces the heart with our names in it.
“No, Shay, don’t make light of what I did. I should have walked away from Cole that night, and I didn’t.”
“Cole was just as much to blame. I told him that…” I trail off. He stops tracing our names and looks up at me.
“When did you talk to Cole?” I take a breath and look out into the city below.
“Shay?” He gently pulls my chin toward him.
“I saw him at the beach.”
“He didn’t bother you, did he?”
“No, not really. But we kind of had it out.”
SWAYING THOSE PERFECT HIPS
MY PULSE FINDS MY neck, and I hold on tight to her hand. Did that fucker not learn a lesson already?
“What do you mean ‘had it out’?” If he touched her, I will beat his ass all over again. But, then again, if I do that, my ass is locked right back up, and we’re separated again. I’m so fucked now with a record. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Why would I tell you while you were in prison? You would have just been upset, and I didn’t want you to have any more stress than I already knew you were dealing with.”
“Tell me what he said to you.”
“A lot of things were said—mostly that he felt you took me away from him, and he thought I cast him aside when you came into my life. I told him I always cared and loved him like a friend, and I was sorry if he wanted more, but after I met you, that would never have been a possibility between us,” she says truthfully. I run my hand though my hair and let out a breath. A damn year in prison, because he was such an asshole.
“Cole wants to make his wrongs right with me, and I told him you are the one he needs forgiveness from. My loyalty will always be to you, and he knows that.”
“And how do you feel about that?” I ask. She turns to me with tears streaming down her face.
“How could I ever forgive him for what he did to you? I can’t ever forgive him, Jace.”
“From the moment I met him, Cole and I were never going to get along. I knew the second he came up to me at your sixteenth birthday party he would be a thorn in my side. I was a threat to him from the get-go.”
“That doesn’t excuse how he always treated you,” she says as I wipe away a fallen tear on her cheek.
“No, it doesn’t, but I can see why he felt the way he did about me. Any guy that ever tries to steal my girl is not going to be in my good graces.”
“I was never his girl. I’ve always been your girl.”
“I know that. Up until you met me, he was the boy you hung out with.”
“Yes, because our parents did business together.”
“That didn’t matter to Cole. You were the girl he threw football with…until you played a game with me.” I can’t help but smile. “Then I kind of stole you from him.”
“I hadn’t even hit puberty,” she blurts out, and my eyes dart straight to her chest.
“I don’t know. I remember those little buds blooming under that cute pink tank top you were wearing.” She smiles, and now I’m getting hard again thinking about my girl’s blossoming chest over the years. Always. So. Damn. Perfect.
“He put you in prison. How can you get past that?”
“Oh, I’m never getting past that, but I have to take ownership of why I landed in that cop car. I beat him up bad, and no matter what he said to me in the past, what I did was not right. I could have killed him, and if it wasn’t for you sc
reaming and crying for me to stop, I don’t know if I would have stopped on my own. It’s a lesson learned on my part. That’s for sure. Your boy is not weak. I’ve always been tough, and you don’t see that because you make me calm, loving, content. Cole and I were both to blame—him for his mouth, and me for my fist, but we got through it, and I paid for what I did to him.” I pause, grabbing her hand again. “We’re getting through it, right?” She nods, a half-smile forming on her lips. “Let’s not talk about it anymore, okay? I don’t want you to get upset.”
“All right,” she says, taking her other hand and running her finger across my scar.
“Come on, baby. I have a meeting I have to get to.”
“A meeting? What meeting?”
“Oh, you know, just making stuff happen for my girl.” I smile, teasing.
“Like what?”
I stand up, still holding her hand, pulling her up with me. “How am I going to take care of my girl if I don’t work?”
“Where are you going to work?”
“I was asked to be an underwear model. I heard they make great money, and my bad boy look is in high demand. So I thought I would do it.” She puts out that pouty lip, and I grab it. “I’m just kidding. You should know me better than that. I would never be an underwear model.” I grab myself. “You’re the only girl that will ever see all I got under here.” She rolls her eyes. I kiss her forehead and chuckle. “And, I really want to show you what’s inside my—”
“Jace James?”
I laugh out loud. “Let’s go. I really do have a meeting.”
“Are you going to tell me where?”
“I want to surprise you.”
“Okay.”
“It’s a really good thing, pretty girl, so don’t get all worrisome.”
“I won’t.”
I DROP HER OFF, and she presses a kiss to my shoulder over my T-shirt. When she walks away, swaying those perfect hips, I pray to God when she lets me come home, I can last more than five minutes before I explode deep inside her. She turns around before she reaches the corner to her condo and smiles at me. I twitch in my pants, and yeah, I pretty much know I’m going to be inside her the entire night getting my fill.
I make a quick stop at Landon’s to change into a sweatshirt. Even though it’s hot during the day, when the sun goes down, it’s cold on my bike. Thirty minutes later, I’m walking into Stark Records, sitting on a stool in studio four with an acoustic guitar on my lap. Mr. Stark walks in with another guy.
“Jace, this is Adam.”
I get up and shake his hand. “Nice to meet you, Adam.” He stares at me for a moment.
“Adam is Shay’s long-time guitar teacher,” Mr. Stark says. Then it dawns on me. “Of course. Shay has talked about you a lot over the years,” I tell him.
“Hopefully, all good things.”
“Yes, she really admires you.”
“So, I’m going to leave you in here for a little bit with Adam and see how you do. I think the project I mentioned to you will be the perfect fit for you and Shay, but I need to know your skills are there.” I nod, and he closes the door behind him as he leaves. Adam smiles, saying, “Let’s hear what you got.”
After I play a few songs that Shay and I played at the beach, Adam gives me one to do. I’ve never heard of it, but reading music comes easy for me. Later, when I start “Cliffs of Dover” by Eric Johnson, one of his favorites, he calls Mr. Stark back in to listen.
“Let’s hear it, son,” Mr. Stark says, pulling up a chair. Nervous because I’ve never played in front of Shay’s dad and playing well is going to pave a way to take care of her, I swallow hard and start to play. After I finish, he looks at Adam and then back at me. “I think you and Shay are going to make some great music together.” The biggest grin spreads across my face because he has no idea how good the music I make with his daughter really is. Way inappropriate right now, but I’m not talking about the kind of music Mr. Stark is thinking about. I want to be inside his daughter more than I need my next breath.
“Your daughter taught me well.”
“Yes, I think she did.”
“Have you told her what we talked about?”
“Not yet. I’m still trying to win her back.”
“You never lost her, Jace.”
“Yeah, I know, but she won’t even let me go inside the condo,” I say. Both Mr. Stark and Adam laugh.
“Well, I can’t help you with that.”
“She’s getting there.” I smile, and he pats me on the back.
“It’s getting late, and Shay’s mom waits at the door for me to walk in,” he says, standing up.
“Tell Mrs. Stark hello.”
“I will.”
“It’s nice to finally meet the guy Shay has talked about all these years.” Adam gets up and puts his hand out to me.
“Hopefully, all good stuff,” I say, mimicking him.
“Bro, it was sickening at times how much she gushed about you,” he jokes, and I chuckle. “Hey, good job in there. You’re talented, and I know you have a future with this project Steven was telling me about.”
“I hope so. Taking care of his daughter has always been my goal.”
“Well, if you land this, you will have no problem taking care of her.” I nod. “See you later, Jace.”
“See you, Adam,” I say as I leave.
WHEN I GET BACK TO Landon’s, it’s already getting late, and I still have to make all my hearts to place at Shay’s door. As I sit down to make the first one, Landon comes out of his room, yawning. “Bro, your phone has been ringing nonstop.”
“My phone?” I pat my pockets.
“Shit, I forgot to take my phone with me.”
“I heard it beep a few times, then it started ringing.”
Shit…shit…shit. I practically run into the room I changed in earlier and grab my phone off the dresser. Dammit! I forgot to put it back in my pocket, and I was in the studio so long working with Adam I didn’t even think about my phone. I was too busy trying to seal that deal for my future with Shay. I scroll to her number and hit Send.
MORE THAN ANYTHING
I CALLED AND CALLED and no answer. Tears make their way, and I’m glad I’m by myself because I probably have the ugliest face ever. It’s been hours since Jace dropped me off, and I haven’t heard from him. That damn panicked feeling of not knowing where he is takes over, and I’m scared all over again. I’m totally done torturing him. I can’t be away from him any longer. I want him home with me where he belongs.
I get out of the shower and blow dry my hair. Slipping into some bootie shorts and a white tank top, I spray my tropical body spray around me and crawl into bed. But, after a few restless moments, I walk into the kitchen. After tearing off some pink paper on one of the larger hearts Jace left me, I cut out a small heart. With a black marker, I write More than anything in big, bold letters in the middle of it.
Opening my door, I look down, and there are no pink hearts, so I know Jace will see mine if he drops off more sweet love notes to me. Then, I shut the door and curl up on the couch with our picture blanket and close my eyes.
DO YOU LOVE ME, BABY?
WITH NO TIME TO SPARE, I take one pink heart and write in big bold letters Do you love me, baby? That’s all I need to know. Then, I grab my bike key and head out the door fast. She’s probably sound asleep, but I don’t want her to think for one second there will ever be silence again. I want Shay to know I forgot my phone. Never any silence between us again.
I pull up and park my bike in record time. Taking my helmet off and throwing my hair back, I walk to her door. I don’t want to wake her, but when I look down and see one pink heart marked with the words More than anything, as I hold the question that goes with those words in my hand, I know my girl is letting me in that door.
I knock three times.
TELL ME WHAT OUR HEARTS SAY
THREE LOUD KNOCKS, and I jump off the couch.
“Jace, is that you?” I whisper against
the door.
“Yeah, it’s me,” he whispers back. I open the door, and he stands there, holding my one little pink heart in the palm of his hand so I can see it. “Open your hand.” I do what he says, and he places a pink heart that he made me in my palm. Written in black words are Do you love me, baby? “Put your hand next to mine, Shay,” he says in the sweetest, sexiest voice. I reach out and set my hand next to his. “Tell me what our hearts say.”
First, I read the question Jace has asked me since I became his girl a long time ago. “Do you love me, baby?”
“Do you, Shay? Do you love me, baby?”
I stare into his soulful eyes that hold my happiness and read the three words I always say when I answer this question. “More than anything, Jace. I love you more than anything.”
A tear falls down my cheek, and he nods as he starts to cry. “I’ve waited for those three words,” he says, gripping More than anything in his strong hand.
“I know you have,” I agree as he stands there patiently, but I’m not making him wait anymore.
“Can I come home now?”
I tilt my head, saying, “Yes.” As I open the door wide, he picks me up and walks inside. I wrap my bare legs around him, and he leans down with me holding on tightly. “Lock the door.”
Reaching down, I turn the lock, and then with my face pressed against his neck, he heads quickly to the bedroom that we’ve waited to share together.
I FIND MY PERFECT PLACE
SUN-KISSED LEGS GRIP me as she hangs on to me with all her strength, forever whispering, “I love you,” across my skin. Quick strides move us to our room that I’ve been dying to see. With just enough light pouring in through the curtains, the moonlit sky casts a glow onto our bed sprinkled with heart-shaped love everywhere. I’m speechless, overwhelmed with how much love I already feel inside this room.
Questionable Love (A Love Beyond Labels #2) Page 35
