‘What is it, Jess?’
Jess drew in a breath. ‘Max, I wondered if you would mind double-duty…I wonder if you would please walk me down the aisle?’
Max’s eyebrows shot up and Jess was amazed to see tears in his eyes. ‘Jess….I would be honored. Truly honored.’ He stood and pulled Jess into a hug. ‘Thank you,’ he murmured into her ear, ‘thank you.’
Outside, Jules watched them through the blacked out windows of his car. They looked more relaxed than he’d expected. Good. He wanted them to be as unprepared as possible for his next move.
Jess peeked into Max’s room to see him passed out on his bed with an adoring Stan and Monty curled up next to him. The dogs looked up as Jess made a face at them. ‘Doggy sluts,’ she muttered and blew them a kiss. She pulled the door to and wandered out into the living room. Theo was flicking through the t.v. channels, not even looking up as she curled into his side. His arm looped automatically around her shoulders, pulling her close. She watched the t.v. with him for a few moments before turning her head to kiss his cheek.
‘I know this is a weird thing to say, given everything that’s happened, but right here, right now, I feel happy. Safe.’
Theo pressed his lips against her temple. ‘Damn right you’re safe. Always with me, Jessie. Always.’ He clicked the television off and pulled her onto her lap, smoothing the hair away from her face, studying it with such a look of love she felt her insides melt. He kissed her, quick, soft as if he was a shy teenager and she smiled.
‘Mushy,’ she whispered and he grinned – a definitely unshy grin. He maneuvered her onto the floor and lay above her, his fingers knotting in her dark, soft hair.
‘Mrs. Storm…’
She grinned but pretended to frown at him. ‘Not yet, big boy, don’t get cocky.’
Theo snorted with laughter and ground his hips against hers so she would feel the hard length of him. She grinned and lightly nipped his earlobe with her teeth. ‘That would be so much better off inside me…’
Theo was already pushing up her dress, his long fingers sliding into her panties and pulling them down. She moaned softly as his tongue found her clit, flicking around it until she was half crazed.
Suddenly he stopped and looked up. ‘Shit…my mom.’
For a beat, Jess looked down at him askance. ‘If your mom’s in my crotch, I think I’d know about it.’
They both lost it. Jess buried her face in her hands to hush her laughter, Theo pressed his face into her belly, his whole body shaking with mirth.
‘Sssh, Sssshhhhh,’ Jess waved her hands towards Max’s open bedroom door. She pushed him off of her and hitched her underwear up. ‘Moment’s over, chuckles.’ She pulled him to his feet. ‘Let’s go get pizza before we wake the kids.’
In the restaurant, they shared pizza and beers. ‘So, what about your mom?’ Jess teased him. ’When she’s not hanging out in my groin, that is.’
Theo snorted. ‘That’s just wrong. She called me. Actually, she stalked me via phone when the news stories came out.’
All trace of humor left Jess’s face. ‘I see.’
Theo leaned over to touch her cheek. ‘Hey, it’s okay. She wants to meet you, is all.’
Jess didn’t relax and she pushed her pizza away, rubbing her forehead to ease the sudden tension. ‘So the fact she reached out after her son’s girlfriend was outed as a nympho gold-digger shouldn’t bother me?’
Theo gave her a wry grin. ‘Well, when you put it like that…’
‘God, Theo.’
‘Hey, listen. She and I talked, I told her what a bunch of crap it was. I’m her son, she believes me over some damn tabloid assholes. It’s fine, she just thought it was about time she met the love of my life.’
Jess smiled then, stroked his face. ‘What did she say when you told her we were engaged?’
Theo’s expression gave him away. ‘Um…’
‘Theo!’ The tension was back. ‘You didn’t tell her?’
He shrugged good-naturedly. ‘I thought we were keeping it low key.’
‘Not from your family. Jeez.’
‘He rubbed his hand up and down her back, trying to relax her. ‘We’ll tell her together. This weekend.’
She gaped at him and he gave her a cheesy grin. ‘Sorry. I meant to tell you earlier.’
Jess sighed and her head slumped onto the table. ‘Kill me now.’
Theo winced and she was sorry. Suddenly she realized – meeting her fiancé’s mother was nothing to what they had been going through lately. She sat up and kissed him. ‘It’s okay. It is about time I met your family.’
He nodded and she could see he was happy. ‘I do have another motive,’ he said, ‘and it’s one you’ll like. A few years ago, I bought a house out on Whidbey Island, mostly as an investment. It was far too big for just me so I’ve been renting it out as a holiday let for the past few years. But now…it’s perfect for a family home, Jessie. It’s secluded but not isolated and has its own private beach. I want to take you there, see what you think. If you don’t like it – or you think it’s too close to Mom – then fine, we’ll find something else.’
Jess listened to him and couldn’t help feeling excited. She suppressed a grin. ‘Just how close is your Mom?’
Theo smiled widely. ‘Way over on the other side of the island…and it’s a big ass island.’
She laughed. ‘Then, I can’t wait.’
Theo kissed her. ‘We can go over on Sunday.’
‘We’re staying at your mom’s all weekend?’
Theo grinned nonchalantly and she swiped his shoulder with her hand. ‘There’s no way you’re getting laid tonight.’
He leaned over and pressed his lips to hers. ‘Yes, I am,’ he murmured, his green eyes glittering, sliding one hand onto the nape of her neck and the other to her stomach. Jess sank into his embrace and nodded her assent.
‘Yeah, you so are…’
Theo glanced over at her as they stood on the deck of the ferry out to the island. Jess was dressed in a simple white cotton dress that the breeze from the Sound was whipping up, showing a tempting amount of honey-skinned thigh. Her long hair was pulled into a messy bun at the nape of her neck, and her face, touched by the lightest makeup, was beautiful but a little tense.
Strike that, Theo corrected himself, a lot tense. He wrapped his arms around her, felt her lean back into him. ‘Stop worrying, it’s just my mom and maybe a couple of my irritating kid brothers. Nothing to worry about, I promise.’
Jess smiled at that. Theo had one older sister, Milly, married and living in Portland, and three much younger brothers who adored their older brother. One of them, Alex, was at Harvard, the younger two, Seb and Tom, were identical twins. Theo’s mom, Amelia, she didn’t know much about, telling Theo she’d rather not build up a picture of a formidable woman. Theo had rolled his eyes.
‘She’s just my mom, Jessie.’
But he knew that Jess’s own family situation had been tainted so much by Jules that she couldn’t reconcile family as being happy with her own experience. He kissed her temple.
‘I know a way you could relax…’
She turned in his arms and studied his face, a small smile playing around her lips. ‘Do you indeed,’ she raised her eyebrows at him. ‘This is a public place, you know.’
His eyes were dancing. ‘All the better.’
He took her hand and led her along the ferries’ deck until they came to a small alcove, hidden away from the sight of the other passengers and the crew. Theo pushed her against the cool steel of the ferry, his gaze intense, burning. He slid his hands under her dress and she gasped at the shock of him yanking her panties from her, ripping the delicate material easily. Theo ground his mouth down onto hers as she reached for his zipper, easing her hand into his pants to free his diamond-hard cock. Theo lifted her and she wrapped her legs around him, perfect trust in him, as he entered her, thrusting with deep, even strokes, kissing her lush mouth as he fucked her. Jess’s lips were at
his ear, telling him how much she loved him and when he came, so turned on he couldn’t wait, he felt the violent furious spasm of his cock inside her, filling her as she buried her head in his shoulder and muffled her cry of ecstasy. They caught their breath, staring at the other, completely oblivious to the cool breeze, the roiling of the dark waters of the Sound, the possibility of being caught. Neither said a word, neither needed to say what they were feeling, it was in the sensation skin-on-skin, the deep, abiding understanding in their eyes. Theo lowered her gently to her feet and straightened out her dress while she ran her hand through his dark curls, tidied him up. Their fingers entwined, they walked slowly back to the passenger lounge, never taking their eyes from each other.
Amelia Storm opened the door to the large house and walked down the stairs, smiling. Jess, her heart hammering frantically, smoothed her dress down and smiled tentatively, looking to Theo to make the introduction. She needn’t have worried.
‘Jessica, dear, it’s wonderful to meet you at last.’ The older woman, stately and graceful, her gray hair swept up into a chignon, kissed Jess’s cheek and slid a friendly arm around her shoulders. ‘I told Theodore that he’s very bad, keeping you a secret all this time.’ She mock-scowled at her son, who grinned good-naturedly and rounded the car to hug her.
‘Don’t scare Jess off right away, mom. At least feed us first.’
Amelia looked at Jess and Jess saw she had the same wicked gleam in her eyes as her son. ‘Always thinking with his stomach. What about you, Jess? Shall I scare you first or are you hungry?’ Her smile was the same as Theo’s too and Jess relaxed, grinning back at her.
‘It’s a tough choice but…’
Amelia laughed. ‘Come on in then, both of you. Theo, leave the bags until we’ve had a drink.’
Theo dutifully followed the women into the house. ‘Where are the demon spawn?’
‘Down at the beach. I told them a pod of orcas was spotted in the bay.’
Jess grinned excitedly but Theo squinted at his mother suspiciously. ‘Were there?’
Amelia grinned wickedly. ‘Nope, the suckers. But it’s a good way to get rid of them for an hour.’
Jess and Theo laughed. Amelia, smirking, went to the refrigerator and pulled out a jug, waving it at them.
‘Iced tea?’
Theo leaned over to Jess, with a stage whisper of ‘Don’t trust it.’ He straightened up and fixed his mother with a stare. ‘Iced tea…? Regular or Long Island.’
His mom made a face at him. ‘It might have a couple of shots in it. Let’s take it out to the deck, shall we?’
An hour and a half later, Jess knew two things. One: she was very, very drunk and two: she had fallen madly in love with Theo’s mom.
‘I’m thinking of leaving you for your mom,’ she told a grinning Theo, who was clearly enjoying her drunken state.
‘Quite right too,’ Amelia toasted her with an empty glass. ‘I was thinking of experimenting with my sexuality and you, Jessie, are a very beautiful girl. What say we cuckold Theo here?’
Jess clanked her glass clumsily against Amelia’s. ‘Ho’s before bro’s.’
Theo chuckled, shaking his head. ‘The state of you both…’ Amelia smiled and raised her glass to him.
‘Yep, but at least, Jess isn’t scared anymore.’
Jess looked between the two of them. ‘Oh, so this was a scheme?’
Amelia nodded while Theo tried to look innocent. Jess mumbled to herself and giggled.
‘Dude!’ Two lanky and impossibly handsome boys appeared from nowhere and threw themselves onto Theo, who wrestled them to the ground easily enough but soon lost out to the puppy-dog strength of his brothers. Jess watched them, grinning while Amelia rolled her eyes.
WWF-session over, Theo extracted himself from the melee and the boys – who Jess could not tell apart, stood and smiled at her. Theo beamed as he introduced them and they stuck out their hands to shake hers.
‘I’m Seb,’ said one of them, ‘you can tell us apart by this mole just under my eye, see?’ He stuck his face close to hers and when she leaned in to look, planted a kiss full on her mouth. She burst out laughing as did Amelia, Theo pretended to be enraged and Seb and Tom high-fived each other.
Tom nodded at the now empty jug of alcohol. ‘You getting drunk again, mother?’
Amelia peered at him over her spectacles. ‘I gave you life, child, I can just as easily beat you senseless.’
The twins started to tease their mother and Jess sat back. This, this was a family, the teasing, the joking around, the lack of judgment, the absence of malice…suddenly she felt tears swept over her vision and realized she felt more at home with these three strangers than she ever had at home once her mother had married Eric. She could feel Theo watching and when his hand covered hers and squeezed it gently, she knew he understood. He bent his head towards hers, his lips at her ear.
‘Are you okay?’
Jess nodded, leaning her forehead against his. ‘You know what? I really think I am now. Truly.’
And in that moment, she felt like everything would be okay.
Amelia had cooked a wonderful roast chicken and over dinner she and Theo talked about the house, getting Jess even more excited about seeing it. Later that evening, she and Theo undressed slowly in his old room and made love slowly, quietly, tenderly. Laying wrapped in his arms, Jess was nearly asleep when she heard him whisper. ‘Mom really loves you, y’know.’
Jess turned her face up to his. ‘And I love her too. I love your brothers, your home, everything about this family. I love you most of all. Thank you for showing me what happiness is.’
She could tell from his expression that her words had gotten to him and it was a moment before he could speak again and when he did, his voice was thick with emotion.
‘I want to marry you, Jessica Wood. Soon. Very soon. I need to be your husband, yours and yours alone.’
Tears fell down her cheek and she smiled through them. ‘I’ll marry you as soon as we can make it happen.’
He kissed her. ‘Mom wants me to announce it to the press, tell all those assholes to go to hell, they want the real story, it’s there on your finger, it’s in that big brain of yours, that heart which holds so much love for everyone.’
It was Jess’s turn to be speechless and she kissed him fiercely. ‘You and me, forever.’
‘Forever,’ he agreed and pulled her into his arms.
Theo dug through his pockets to find the key and opened the door. Jess hopped from foot to foot beside him, like an excited puppy. As they had driven up to the house, she had gasped and covered her mouth. ‘God, it’s perfect.’
The lodge was painted a light blue with a porch surrounding the ground floor. Huge picture windows, thick wood walls surrounded by trees. Jess ‘s eyes were shining as Theo parked the car and she hopped out, running to the edge of the house to look down to the beach. Her eyes were shining as she grinned back at him and he knew she was already won over. A picture came into his mind; Jess, her belly rounded and ripe with pregnancy, holding the hand of a beautiful child with dark curls and her mother’s eyes walking along the sandy path to the beach, laughing and singing. The vision made his heart swell with love.
Now, as he led her into the house, she clutched his hand, trying not to get too overexcited. The lodge was big but homely, the living room cost with large fireplace, the kitchen big enough to fit couches as well as tables, a hub for the family. They moved from room to room and began to talk about their future in each room, how they’d redecorate, which rooms would be reserved for the guests, which for their children.
Theo led her into a large room at the back of the property, its large arched windows overlooking the blue waters of Puget Sound.
‘This is our room,’ Theo said and smiled as her face shone with pleasure.
‘It is perfect,’ she murmured and slid her arms around his waist. Theo kissed her.
‘So, I take it…’
‘Theo, it’s more than I could
ever have hoped for. Yes, yes please,’ Jess laughed as he picked her up and swung her around. ‘Is anyone living here at the moment?’
Theo shook his head. ‘I have a confession. The last tenants moved out a couple of months ago and I’ve been fending off new inquiries ever since I met you because I just had this feeling. This is our place. Yours, mine, our children.’
‘Stan and Monty’s too,’ she reminded him, ‘Can’t forget our furry kids.’
Theo kissed her then, slowly, his tongue massaging hers. As they kissed, he drew her towards the king-sized bed and pulled her down on top of him. There were no sheets or pillows but they didn’t even notice, tearing at the other’s clothes. Theo’s cock was pulsing, rigid with the need to be inside of her and he tugged her ankles over his shoulders. Jess grinned up at him, a sheen of sweat already sticking her hair to her forehead.
‘Nail me to the bed, soldier,’ she told him and cried out as he drove his cock so hard, so deep into her that the bed moved with the force of it.
‘I’m going fuck you so hard, so long, beautiful,’ Theo held her hands above head as he thrust, ’I’m going to fuck you for the rest of my life.’
Their lovemaking was almost savage, brutal, not caring if they hurt or were hurt by the other. The quiet of the big house was broken by their cries, their love, their laughter.
Shattered and sated, they lay together, their naked bodies tangled up, in a pool of sunlight that drenched the afternoon. Jess pressed her lips to his jaw. ‘Theo?’
He looked down at her lovely face and smiled. ‘Yes?’
‘I don’t want to leave here. Not ever again.’
They moved in the next week, hiring movers to take their stuff over to the island as soon as possible while Theo and Jess worked out the logistics of living and working between the island and the city. They decided that Jess should work from the lodge three days a week so she could look after the dogs and Theo would do the rest of the week – or more if he could get away with it. Jess grinned at that, as they were packing the last of their belongings at Theo’s apartment.
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