Jenson (Wild Men Book 4)

by Melissa Belle

  My phone buzzes, and I pull it out of my purse.

  Sorry about the bank fiasco. I’m almost to the town hall.

  Didn’t bother me, I type back to him. I kept the seat on my right empty.

  Daphne, who’s never on time to these things, rushes up to the stage. Before I can stop her, she drops into the seat on my right.

  “Daph, I was saving that for…”

  “Olive, no one needs this seat more than I do right now.” She gives me a pleading look, her eyes widening with emotion. “Please don’t make me go sit next to our brother. Sheldon will send me into tears as soon as he takes one look at me.”

  Her hair is in braids, and her outfit consists of a pink blouse with a black A-line skirt that looks cute except…

  “Is that spaghetti sauce?” I say as I point to the stain on her blouse collar.

  “Can you believe it?” She blushes, and I have the urge to hug her. “I just got Alec off to bed, but Amy wouldn’t settle, and Todd worked late again. He got home the second before I rushed out of the house. I look a mess, Olive.”

  “You look great.” I reach into my purse and hand her a stain-stick remover. “Try this.”

  “YOU look fine,” Daphne corrects me as she takes the stick out of my hand and tries to furtively dab at her collar. “Better than fine, in fact,” she says as she looks at my face more closely. She lowers her voice. “Did you have sex recently?”

  I smile but don’t answer her.

  “You did, didn’t you?” she says, the tension in her jaw disappearing as she keeps rubbing her collar with the stick and the red stain diminishes significantly.

  I let her continue to think what she wants as I take the stick back from her and return it to my purse. No, I haven’t had actual intercourse yet, but whatever Jenson and I are doing together is so much better than any sex I’ve ever had. Being near him, around him, with him, makes me happy, and I know it shows. My skin is clearer, my eyes look brighter, and my mouth is…well, desperate for his lips. All the damn time.

  “Oh, just wait till you get married, Olive,” Daphne says bitterly. “I tell Amy this all the time. All that happiness will fade away. And when you have kids? Gone for good.”

  I put my hand on Daphne’s arm in concern. “Why?” I say. “Why will it all go away? Getting married and having kids is supposed to be one of those fantasies come true, isn’t it?”

  Daphne shrugs. “I guess it is. But the fantasy ends at the honeymoon. There are bills to pay, and all that great sex leads to something once you’re married—babies who have mouths to feed.”

  “So did you feel like you had to have kids as soon as you married?” I ask her.

  “Todd wanted kids right away.” Daphne shrugs. “And I guess part of me did too. I was naïve, though. It’s so draining.”

  I exhale, feeling exhausted.

  “Hey, you two.”

  I jerk my head up to the beautiful sight of Jenson Beau standing in front of me.

  His green eyes are as bright and intense as ever, and he’s wearing a white collared shirt and black dress pants. His slightly-long blond hair is combed back neatly. And he’s smiling.

  “What happened to my seat?” he says teasingly.

  I gesture toward Daphne. “My oldest sibling snagged it.”

  Daphne giggles and pats the empty chair to her right. “Sit next to me, Jenson. We can catch up.”

  He shoots me an “I’d rather be catching up with you” look before taking the seat on the other side of my sister.

  Daphne turns her back on me and starts laughing with Jenson right away. Darts of jealousy shoot through me. Which is absolutely crazy—to feel like I need to compete with my married sister for the attention of a man she thinks is off-limits and really has never been very close to, but I’m not feeling rational right now.

  When Jenson’s mom kneels down next to him, and they start talking, Daphne turns back around and whispers to me, “Jenson’s really hot, don’t you think?”

  I spin and look at her. “What?”

  “Oh, I know he’s our cousin,” she says. “I’m just saying he’s incredibly good-looking. He always was, don’t you remember? He was so hot on the football field, quarterbacking the team in high school. He was a star in town. Pity he couldn’t pursue it in college.”

  “You know why,” I say. “His knee.”

  “I know. But even though he doesn’t play football anymore, he’s still got an amazing body. Look at his biceps.” Daphne shifts to look at Jenson like he’s half-naked and posing. “God, he must look great naked.”

  “Daphne!” I elbow her. “Shh.”

  She giggles. “I know it’s wrong of me to talk about him like that. But sweet Lord, is he fun to look at.”

  “He’s not our cousin,” I say without thinking.

  Daphne stops and stares at me. “Why would you say that? Jenson’s family. He’s been family his whole life. I thought you two were close.”

  “We are.” I feel my cheeks flushing with heat. “I just meant—he’s not actually our blood cousin, so when you said he was cute, it’s okay to feel that way.”

  “Oh.” A thought passes across her face, and I freeze, but then she shakes her head, appearing to shake the thought away, too. “He is a hottie, isn’t he?”

  “He sure is,” I say in a short tone.

  Dad strides up to the podium and calls out a hello into the microphone, saving me from having to speak more to Daphne about Jenson’s hot body.

  “I’m thrilled to officially announce my intention to run again as mayor of Liberty Falls,” Dad says to loud applause.

  Once the clapping dies down, he clears his throat.

  “I’d like to thank my wife, Nora, for all her love and support, along with my children,” he says smoothly like he’s rehearsed this a thousand times. “My daughter, Daphne, and her husband, Todd, who’s at home right now with my two grandchildren; my son, Sheldon, and his bride-to-be, Cara; my daughter, Olivia, and her husba—”

  Oh, no. He didn’t. He couldn’t have.

  My father turns back to look at me, a pained apology written all over his face.

  He did.

  He whips back around to the crowd, who are tittering and murmuring.

  “Excuse me. And…her cousin, Jenson, who’s like my second son. I know Dee’s his stepdad, but Jenson’s part of the Graham family, and he always will be.”

  And the hits just keep on coming.

  Now Dad practically just announced Jenson as my stepbrother?

  Luckily, my father steers the rest of his speech away from family and focuses instead on the issues he plans to focus on if he wins re-election—to end bullying in the schools; to get more business in the downtown area; and to continue to make Liberty Falls “one of the safest towns in the state of Pennsylvania.” Then, he adds half-jokingly, “And another goal, I hope, is to bring a much-needed winning season to Randolph College’s football program. The addition of Jenson to the coaching staff should be a big boost.”

  Football’s huge in Liberty Falls, and the applause is louder for that part of Dad’s speech than anything else he’d said. I turn and raise my eyebrows at Jenson, who mouths “no pressure, right?”

  When Dad mercifully finishes talking, we all clap and cheer, and then we go out to dinner as a family to our favorite Mexican restaurant in town. Everyone except for Daphne, who says she’s too tired to eat out.

  My parents sit with Cindy and Dee at the big booth in the middle of the restaurant, and the hostess leads Sheldon, Cara, Jenson, and me to a separate space a few feet away.

  Customers call out to us as we weave around the tables. One of them tells me he’s pulling for my dad to be mayor forever.

  I laugh. “I don’t know if that’s going to happen but hopefully he will be for a while.”

  Another customer asks Jenson if he’s going to be at the fair’s bell ringing.

  “Wouldn’t miss it,” he says with a smile.

  “Love seeing you and Jenson togeth
er, Olivia,” the woman says. “I wish my cousin and I got on this well.”

  I clench my jaw and nod. “We’re very lucky. Have a good evening.”

  By the time we reach our booth, I feel nauseous. Jenson slides in next to me, and Sheldon and Cara sit across from us.

  “Are you two friend-dating to all events now?” Sheldon says in a teasing tone.

  “That’s right.” Jenson plays it off with a grin. “All in preparation for your big day. We want to make sure we know each other well enough and don’t act like strangers.”

  “You’re cousins—you’ve been best friends your whole lives,” Sheldon says. “What is there to get to know?”

  Jenson shrugs casually. “I haven’t been back much lately.”

  “Hi Olivia. Hello, Jenson. Welcome home.” Calvin, the reporter for the Star, smirks at me as he walks by.

  His comment is innocent enough, but there’s something about his expression, like he’s been listening…

  “Was that weird?” I say to Jenson, barely moving my lips. As the daughter of a man constantly in the public eye, I learned how to smile and talk without changing my face a long time ago.

  “We’re family,” Jenson says to me in a low tone. “Dinner together is expected. If he’s angling for something else, that’s his problem.”

  “You’re right,” I say, feeling sad for some reason. “But you know Calvin. He’s always been an ass.”

  “I know.” He catches my eye as the waitress hands out menus to the group of us. “Just ignore the noise,” he murmurs to me as he opens his menu. “Let’s get our favorite.”

  Chicken fajitas. We used to order this dish every year before the fair. Until Jenson moved away, he and I went to the fair together every year.

  “You haven’t been to the fair in so long,” I say as I reach for my glass of water.

  “I know. I might be late getting there because of team practice, but Kyle and Connor are stoked to go.”

  “I bet they are,” Cara says. “They’ll love some of the silly events.”

  “Silly?” Sheldon says in mock offense. “Baby, I live for those events. I’m going to win something this year. Mark my words.”

  The four of us chat casually throughout dinner, catching up on little things. Like how Jenson loves guacamole now.

  “What?!” I say.

  Jenson breaks into a laugh.

  “You hated guacamole forever!” I say.

  “I got started on it in Pittsburgh. The group of quarterbacks I was coaching were all obsessed with avocado, and one day at practice, I promised them that if none of them threw an interception, I’d take them out for Mexican, and I’d eat a dish of guacamole on my own. The fuckers played perfect football that day. I swear the defense helped them out by playing like shit, but I had to keep my word.”

  Sheldon chuckles. “And? You learned the joys of guacamole that Olivia’s been telling you about since we were kids?”

  Jenson points to his menu. “I did. You all want to share a bowl of it with some tortilla chips?”

  “Count me in,” Sheldon says as he and Cara excuse themselves for the restroom. “Be right back; order us more beers too.”

  Jenson turns to me. “What about you? You want to share a bowl of guacamole?”

  “I’d love to.” I’d love to share anything with this man. “I’ve missed this. Hanging out together.”

  The emerald of his eyes darkens. “Me too.”

  After dinner, Jenson and I say goodnight to everyone outside the restaurant.

  “Make sure to walk Olivia to her door,” Mom begs Jenson. “She always insists she’s safe, but I prefer her to have a companion when it’s this dark out.”

  “I will, Nora,” Jenson says.

  We wave goodbye and turn for my house.

  Within minutes, we’re completely alone.

  “So I cracked and told Dylan and Brayden about us,” he says immediately.

  “I figured you wouldn’t have much of a choice. Their expressions were pretty priceless when the realization seemed to hit them.”

  “No shit.” He lets out a short laugh. “Not the way I pictured filling them in on the most important woman in my life.”

  I inhale sharply. “J…”

  He leans down to see my face. “The. Most. Important,” he repeats.

  I chew on my lip anxiously.

  “I haven’t even been back here a week,” he says. “We’re going to figure this out, Olive. It may be messy, but we’ll work through it.”

  “So you told them,” I say, trying to return us to the topic he started with. “They never had a clue when we were younger. What was different when they saw us together this time?”

  “I’d given them a couple of big clues they’d never had before.” He fills me in on his trip to Maine and how Colton nearly spilled about us. “And I let them know it was a forbidden relationship. When he saw us together, Dylan said I looked at you the way he looks at his wife. And Brayden…I’m not sure. He said he just knew.”

  “Dylan’s married?”

  He laughs and fills me in on Dylan and Jasalie eloping.

  “Good for him. That’s awesome. And I wouldn’t worry about them finding out. I never expressly told you, but Hayley knows too,” I say quietly.

  “I assumed.”

  Our eyes catch and hold.

  I study his face, trying to see his expression in the dark. “What else is going on? You look like you have something else to tell me.”

  He reaches for my hand and pulls up to a stop. “Your radar’s still intact, huh? Yeah, I have something to tell you. My realtor called. She has a great lead on a house rental.”

  I swallow. “In Liberty Falls?”

  “Yes. About ten minutes from you on the other side of Main Street. By the old train station.”

  Holy crap.

  “I love that area.”

  His eyes brighten. “I remember. We always said we’d like to live there together.”

  “Have you seen it?” I say.

  “I’m going tomorrow. The house is empty, so if I like it, the owners want me to move in as soon as possible, which is fine with me.”

  “That would be…” Amazing. “A big change.”

  “A good change,” he says as he leans in close.

  The minty scent of his aftershave engulfs me, and his eyes burn with heat. His jaw clenches as he fixes his gaze on my mouth.

  “Let’s go,” he says in a rough tone. “I need to be alone with you.”

  As we walk up the front steps, Jenson takes the key out of my outstretched hand and unlocks the door. “Is it okay if I come in?”

  I don’t think I would allow him to leave even if he tried. I need Jenson so badly right now it hurts. The ache between my thighs is painful as I nod yes and gesture him in ahead of me. I close the door slowly, wanting to give myself a moment to clear my head before I go forward. Because I’m opening up more and more with each moment we spend together, and I hope to Jesus I know what I’m doing.

  “So if it feels right…” I say as I turn to face him.

  “Then yes.” Jenson’s eyes are heavy with lust as he steps closer to me, unbuttons my suit jacket, and abruptly pulls it off my shoulders until it drops to the ground.

  He unbuttons my blouse next, and doesn’t stop until it too is on the floor.

  My nipples immediately harden underneath my thin cotton bra, and a sexy sound escapes Jenson’s throat.

  “Olivia.” His mouth goes to my neck, and one strong arm wraps around my waist, urging me closer.

  My breath catches in my throat as he walks us back toward the couch. We fall onto it together, and Jenson pulls me on top of him. He grabs my ass and presses me against his growing bulge, and I let out a moan.

  His mouth goes to my lips, and his tongue tangles with mine until I’m dizzy and not thinking at all.

  I’m crazy with lust, so much that any hesitation and fear leave me. I don’t slow down. I don’t stop to think. I just move on instinct and fe
eling. I shift my head so I can lick Jenson’s neck. As he groans, I move down so I can lift up his shirt and kiss his bare muscled chest, and then his stomach. His breathing gets heavier, and his hands tighten their grip on my hair. I unbuckle his jeans and keep going until I can wrap my lips around the soft tip of his hard length.

  Oh, God.

  My first time doing this with him, and I’m so turned on it hurts.

  “Olive.”

  I raise my head and lock eyes with him. “You’re beautiful,” I tell him.

  The green of his eyes flashes with emotion.

  “I’m finally touching your dick, just like I said I wanted.”

  “You are definitely doing that.” His voice is rough and sexy. “What do you think?”

  “Perfect.” Jenson’s package was definitely worth the wait, and my imagination in sculpting him didn’t do his impressive erection justice. “I want it in my mouth.”

  “You can have it wherever you want it, babe. I want to be inside you in every way.”

  Sex with Jenson Beau? My body screams yes, but my heart isn’t quite ready to take that leap.

  So if using my mouth is the only way to feel Jenson inside of me tonight, I will gladly make that compromise.

  Jenson

  When Olive takes me into her mouth, the sensations that hit me nearly knock me out. I slam my eyes shut, unable to focus on anything—literally anything—other than the mind-blowing feeling of her lips on me. I’m so hard it’s nearly painful to drag this out, but with each lick and suck, I fall further and further into fucking bliss.

  “Olive. Shit.” I buck up into her soft, perfect mouth, my hands gripping her hair like a lifeline. “Oh, God, babe. So fucking good…”

  When she slips her hand around the bottom of my length and starts stroking me without letting up with her tongue, I’m a goner. My orgasm takes over my body and my mind.

  By the time I’ve stopped seeing stars and have opened my eyes, Olivia is lying next to me, her head on my shoulder.

  I kiss her head. “You literally just blew my mind.”

  She giggles. “Pun intended?”