by C. A. Harms
Then she finally glances at me and I can't help but chuckle at her appearance. Marathon doesn't even cover it, this woman and I just lived through the most powerful hurricane. We both are breathing heavy and from the looks of her hair, I'm not sure she'll be able to get a brush through those tangles.
"Are you complaining?" I know she's not.
She only shakes her head, still holding the same baffled expression.
For a few silent seconds we only stare at one another, my chest growing tight when I’m consumed by the love I feel for her.
"When are we packing up your apartment and moving you here permanently?" The question is out of my mouth before I have a second to think about it and frankly, I don't regret it. I want her here, though she always is, I want the reassurance she always will be.
"Jonah, I—" always wanting to argue her way out of this and damn it, I've decided I'm not letting her do it this time. "I hurt you," she says in a rush and for a second it leaves me speechless as I stare at her.
"And I hurt you," which still bothers me, but what's done is done.
"I kind of deserved it." She's so sure, arching her brow as if me disagreeing would be ridiculous.
"Dani, no one deserves to get hurt." I hate that motherfucker Matthew and her sister even more now than I did an hour ago.
She attempts to look away but I move in closer, "Hey, look at me." Slowly she turns her face back toward me and our eyes lock. "When are you going to realize you deserve to be happy? The day at the church was not your fault ,you did nothing, baby. They were wrong. They made that choice and in the process it hurt the woman I love."
"You didn't love me then," always so challenging and on most occasions it's her stubbornness that drives me insanely wild. But right now I need more than anything for her to accept she's an amazing woman who deserves to be insanely happy.
"I would have loved you, had I known you."
"You are so sure," I notice the trace of a smile tug at the corner of her mouth.
"Hell yeah I am," I have no doubt five years ago had Danielle walked into my life, I would have fallen for her then too. "So again I ask, when are you moving your things in here?"
I notice instantly the way her chest rises and then falls with a deep intake of breath, but I'm not backing down, not until she agrees.
Chapter Forty-Two
Danielle
"You've been here every day since I stole you from those horrible people."
"Stole me?" I can't help the laughter that falls from my lips. Jonah is adorable at times.
"Yes," he narrows his eyes in his playful manner, and I know he is relaxed and in the carefree mood of his I love. "Shh, this is my story."
I say nothing, allowing him to talk because, quite frankly, I know challenging him will only fuel him. Which, yes, I'll admit, does sound slightly intriguing. When I question him, he tends to get a little demanding and caveman-like, and I greatly enjoy those moods when we are naked and in bed together.
Chills cover my arms and neck as the visions of what may happen swarm my mind. Then Jonah starts talking again and breaks through the haze.
"I swooped in, rescued you from the demonic event you were trapped in and brought you back to my castle." Again I laugh when he leans in closer and starts to kiss over the side of my neck. "You're happy here. You can't deny it. My home has become your home, whether you want to admit it or not, so like I said, when can we move your things in?"
I don't reply right away, as my concentration is a little compromised by the feeling of his tongue along my earlobe before he sucks gently. When he releases it and leans away from me to look at me, my mind clears, and I remember an important detail. "My lease still has four months left on it."
"So I'll buy it out."
"No," I shift my body to face him, looking him in the eyes. I know what I am about to suggest is going to drive him crazy. "After four months, if you still want me to live here, then I'll give up my apartment."
"Four months?" He says this like I've just told him it is four years.
"Yes," I try not to laugh at the sour look on his face. He appears offended by my words which, again, I find humorous.
"And in the meantime, what we keep living in sin while your apartment remains empty?" Living in sin, as if me moving in here is going to change the sin part. Being sinful with Jonah is my favorite part.
"No, I think maybe I should go home," immediately, I feel an ache in my chest from the thought of sleeping a single night without his body pressing to mine.
"But this is home." He almost pouts.
"I don't want you to regret you—" he moves so quick I try to shift away but am unsuccessful. His lips press to mine. I'm sure a kiss meant to shut me up, which works.
"Now you hold on a minute, woman," rolling me to my back, he positions his body over mine, and I accept him, parting my legs. He pins my hands to the mattress above my head. "There is no way I would ever regret asking you to move in here. No way, I would regret asking you to marry me." My eyes widen, and he smirks. "I'm not asking yet, babe, but you should prepare yourself because that time is coming."
My heart races, and I panic for a moment, which he immensely enjoys. But words have escaped me, and I know my eyes are wide with surprise.
"I refuse to wait four months to have you in this bed with me permanently, so you decide now if you're going to contact the landlord of your building, or am I. One way or the other, babe, your lease is being bought out, and we are moving all your things here to your new home."
"When did you get so bossy?" I love this side of him.
"I've always been bossy. I think you've mistaken it for my charm."
My smile grows more significant, and he wiggles his way farther in between my thighs. He is slowly shifting his growing erection against me, my lips part when I match his movements.
"If you go home, then how are we going to be able to do this in the middle of the night when you wake up wanting me?"
"I always want you."
"Exactly, which is just one of the many reasons why you belong right here with me." Before I have the chance to agree or even argue, he pushes forward and slips inside me before he begins to move at a slow and determined pace. And gone is the argument, but honestly, my things are just things. I've mentally already made this place my home. Jonah is home; in his arms is where I belong. I think I knew it from the start, but fear outweighed everything, and I was nothing more than a fool to believe I'd be okay without him.
"Where does this one go?" I look back over my shoulder to find Tucker, Avery's fiancé, holding a box marked for Jonah on the outside in big, bold letters, and I laugh. My cheeks heat when the idea of what Tucker is holding hits me. Hurrying toward him, I grab the box, and he looks at me as if I've lost my mind.
"I'll take that," backing away, I feel like an idiot, but honestly, I have no idea how this particular box got mixed in with everything else. Tucked away safely in Jonah’s trunk is where it was supposed to be. I told him to hide it before everyone showed up to load the U-Haul.
"Is it like a severed head or something?" Tucker doesn't back down as he steps toward me, reaching for the top. "Maybe a collection of fingers and toes, or wait—"
"It says Jonah on the box." Holding my breath when Jonah's cousin Tripp walks into the living room carrying a pile of blankets. "If it's anything, its teeth, maybe a collection he's pieced together in some morbid fucked up way. Like one from each of his victims."
"You're right," Tucker nods, and then they both turn their attention to me and the box I'm holding onto with a death grip.
"Let us have a peek," Tucker says, taking another step toward me. I realize I only have one of two things I can do here. I can dart to the left and climb over the back of the loveseat in an attempt to escape, or I can scream and hope Jonah can hear me. Either way, I know one thing for sure, they are not looking in this box.
"What the fuck are you two doing?" Relief washes over me when I hear Jonah's deep growl echo over the living
room. No need for yelling; he came on his own.
Looking around the two men who block my path to him, I watch as his gaze shifts downward and a smirk covers his face. A familiar heat in his eyes, I know without a doubt had we been alone, Jonah would have had my pants around my ankles and pinned to the nearest wall or bent over said loveseat I'd contemplated jumping.
"Is it teeth?" Tripp breaks the silence, and Jonah looks at his cousin with a confused look on his face. "It says Jonah, so it means whatever inside belongs to you."
"It does," he smirks, and I narrow my eyes at him.
"So what is it?"
I will kill him if he says a single word. Straight up, I will smother him and then hide the body.
"It's a present for Dani," I narrow my eyes at him, and both men catch me glaring at Jonah.
"Then why does she look like she's about to kill you?" Tucker is less than convinced.
"Because she's been begging me to give it to her." The way he is saying give it to her screams sexual innuendo, and my nostrils flare. Jonah does not seem to care at all, though. "I keep telling her I will, but she's impatient, and she wants it now."
"Jonah," I step forward, and for only a split second, I let down my guard. But that is all it takes, one single second for Tucker to react.
He reaches out snags the box, and as if in slow motion, both Tucker and Tripp begin to fight over the box. The tugging force shifts the box, and falling right out of the bottom and spilling onto the floor is nothing but a nightmare.
Racy panties, lots and lots of panties, and two dildos fall, making a thug noise against the hardwood floor. The pink one rolls over and bumps into the leg of the coffee table. The smaller of the two, the one with the two ears that come up off the top and what Jonah calls the happy button tickler, remains in the center of the floor. Its bright blue coloring looks like a beacon against the dark wood beneath it.
The room is silent, and I'm afraid to look up.
"Damn," one of the guys, not Jonah, mumbles, and my cheeks heat. "Now that's hot," kill me now, I want to shrivel up and disappear.
"Oh my," immediately my head lifts when a feminine voice fills the air, and I feel my knees go weak. Stella and Avery both stand in the living room entryway, looking down at the embarrassing items that now litter the floor. Stella's eyes are wide with shock, and Avery, well, she is smiling so big it makes my cheeks hurt.
"I have one of those," she announces without an ounce of embarrassment. "But mine is purple, right, Tuck?"
He nods enthusiastically. As if having a dildo conversation in the presence of his future mother-in-law is no big deal. I am, however, humiliated.
Chapter Forty-Three
Jonah
Dani left with Addison over an hour ago, and I already miss her. Girls' night out sucks, especially when my best friend and I haven't talked since the day I told him to back the fuck off or stay away. I guess it meant he couldn't get off Dani's ass, so it is what it is.
She's my priority. That isn't going to change.
I'm lounging back on my couch. My feet propped on the coffee table as the recaps of today's games play on the television. But I'm not watching. Instead, I find myself looking around the room, seeing all Dani's things now mingled with my own. Pictures of her and her girls sit on the mantle. Even on a few shelves were her books displayed all in neat rows. Novels filled with romantic stories she loves to read by the pool. Though lately, I haven't left her with the need to seek those swoon-worthy feelings elsewhere. That's what she calls it when she reads about a guy in a book who loves his girl hard and unconditionally.
Girly shit litters my once manly and pretty plain home. It's shit like that, which makes me want to come home every night and kickback. Not mine, hers, I say nothing at all when she buys another trinket to add to another shelf. I welcome it. Frilly bathroom crap litters the countertops. Once masculine and sleek, the kitchen now has yellow and blue towels with this chef-looking fat guy on them. She loves that crap, and before her, I would have felt like it was ridiculous, but not now.
I may be biased because with those things came Dani, and I don't care if she wants to paint the entire kitchen pink; I'd be waiting with a paintbrush in hand so that I could see the happiness dancing in her eyes.
The longer I sit on the couch without her, the more antsy I become. I'm a sappy motherfucker. I know this, but without Dani, I'm unsettled.
Standing up, I hurry to the bedroom and change out of my lounge pants into a pair of jeans I know Dani loves. They make my ass look good, she says. Pulling on my long-sleeved pale gray Henley, I undo the top two buttons and smile when I imagine her face as I walk through the crowded club toward her.
Crashing girls' night should bother me, but honestly, I don't care. I need my fix.
Twenty minutes later, I'm walking through the front doors of Margaritas and offering a nod to a few guys I know. "Hey man," reaching out, I take the offered hand of Grady, and we offer one another a manly shoulder pat. "I just saw Reece walk in about ten minutes ago. You two a thing again?"
It's been a while since I've seen him, and yes, the last time I was still with Reece. The idea she is here and so is Dani leaves me feeling a little unsettled.
"Nope, Reece and I haven't been a thing for years."
He nods, and we chat for a few minutes before I excuse myself and go searching for a particular beauty who left our house wearing a skimpy little red dress and some killer heels. I might have made a promise to fuck her against the front door in the same dress if she didn't run out fast.
She hurried out to the car to meet Addison, giggling happily the entire way.
"Are you serious?" Spinning around, I see Avery and Addison both standing between me and a table of girls, both looking at me with displeased glares. "One night Jonah, one, it's all we asked for."
"I tried," and I did, but only for an hour. That is my limit.
"You really should have texted," Avery moves in a little closer, "then I could have warned you."
"Warned me?"
She looks over her shoulder, and I follow her movements, and immediately my heart seizes. There is a tightness filling my chest, making it a little difficult to breathe without great effort.
Completely enthralled in a conversation, Dani has yet to notice me standing there as she looks at a woman to her left. A woman who makes Dani feel threatened by a past we had or didn't have actually.
"I think it's because she’s drunk, but they seem to be getting along," I only nod, still watching Dani closely. "There were a few minutes there that they were discussing how you kiss." My stomach rolls, and I look at my sister. "It was a little hard to listen to that topic. I mean, who wants to hear that shit about their brother? This thing you do with your tongue and—"
"What the fuck Avery, why is Heather here?"
"Hey, don't look at me," she holds out her hands. "I had no idea she would be here, but she was with her friends." She points to a couple of girls I don't recognize. "She found me, and the next thing I know, we are all hanging out."
Addison laughs and crosses her arms over her chest. "Thankfully, Dani was already tipsy by then, and she didn't even flinch when Heather stepped up to her side and told her congratulations on landing the guy."
I hang my head and close my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose.
"Jonah," I lift my head and find both Dani and Heather staring at me. The way they both scan over me from head to toe makes me a little nervous. "You wore the jeans," Dani smirks, and her grin is lopsided as she stares back at me with glossy eyes. She is feeling good.
"I did," I step closer and ignore the way Heather is observing our reaction. She practically falls into my arms, and I grip her waist, holding her close. Leaning over, I whisper in her ear so only she can hear me. "I couldn't stop thinking about what you were wearing beneath this dress."
"Red lace panties," she announces proudly, and I hear a few others around us laugh.
"Babe," I fight the urge to chuckle at her innocence.
>
"Huh?"
"Information for me only," I hold her stare, and she nods.
"By the way, did you see who’s here?" Dani doesn't even register what I've said as she tries to turn in my hold and look behind her. "Your friend Heather," when she understands I have no intention of letting her go, she points instead. "She's really pretty," Dani declares.
I chance a look at Heather, and she too looks to be drunk as she smiles at me. "Hey Jonah," she offers a wave, and I give a little chin lift in greeting. "It seems you lied to me," immediately I'm attempting to run over everything I've ever told her about Heather and looking for the part where I may have lied. "You said you never kissed her as you kiss me."
"Babe," this conversation would be one I'd avoid if she were sober. Having it with a wasted Dani doesn't seem like a good idea either.
"I warned you they were comparing notes." Avery bumps her hip to mine, but I don't look away from Dani.
"That thing I told you I love," she reaches up and slides her thumb over my lower lip, and I nip at it, hoping to deter her from the subject. "With your tongue," she starts again, and I refuse to listen to another word. Not caring who may be watching, I grip the back of her neck and pull her flush to my chest. I dip my head and seek out her mouth, doing what I know she is attempting to describe—teasing her with the tip of my tongue until she opens up to me. I kiss her as I've never kissed her before.
A few whistles echo and some encouraging comments. I don't acknowledge any of them enough to hear clearly. Danielle's body sags against my own. For a brief moment, I forget we aren't alone. Pulling back reluctantly, I find her with her eyes closed and her body slightly swaying from the effects of our kiss.
"Yes, that," she says breathlessly. "You did that with Heather too."
"No, babe," I assure her, and she opens her eyes to look up at me. "Those kisses have always been reserved only for you." I don't whisper my response because I want everyone around us to hear. Even the girl who is still staring at me from over Dani's shoulder in her drunken stupor. "Don't you know by now, Dani girl, you are my everything? I live and breathe for you."
