Happily Ever After: A Contemporary Romance Boxed Set

by Piper Rayne

  Heat washed through Jenna’s body and pooled between her legs. She wanted Nate more than she could ever put into words.

  She ran her hands over his bare chest and unbuckled the belt of his jeans, undoing the button and zipper. She reached into his pants, wrapped her fingers around his hard dick, and he sucked his breath in through clenched teeth.

  “Dammit, woman, you’re making it incredibly difficult to hold back,” he said.

  “Who said I want you to hold back?” Jenna whispered.

  Nate’s eyes darkened. He kissed her again, his body pressed against hers, her breasts pushing against his chest.

  Nate spun her around and aimed for the three-quarter bed that she had had since she’d been a teenager. They collapsed onto the narrow bed in a tangle of limbs and Nate bucked his hips against Jenna, rubbing himself against her through their clothes. She opened her legs for him and he ran a finger up to her crotch. She shivered, the sensation incredible even through her own jeans.

  Nate pulled her jeans off. He did it slowly, sensually, undressing her as if he were unwrapping a present. And his eyes roamed her body as he did, admiring her. When he looked at her again, Jenna blushed.

  “You’re blushing,” Nate said with a grin, the kind of smile that had always driven Jenna crazy.

  “You’re looking at me like you want to devour me.”

  “You’ve always known how to read me,” Nate said, and Jenna shivered.

  He pulled the jeans off completely and spread her legs with his hands, diving between her legs. He licked a line from her entrance to her clit and Jenna cried out, turning her head into the pillow to muffle the sound. She bunched the sheets in her fists as Nate alternated sucking on her clit and flicking it with his tongue, sending pulses of fire through her body, making Jenna feel like she was coming undone at the seams.

  She was getting closer and closer to an orgasm and she gasped and moaned as Nate carried on, relentless.

  When he pushed two fingers into her while he licked and sucked her, it was more than Jenna could bear. He pumped his fingers in and out of her and it only took a moment or two before she fell apart, shattering into an orgasm that rocked through her body, shaking her to the core.

  And he hadn’t been inside of her.

  The moment she thought it, Nate crawled up, hovering over her body. He pressed himself against her entrance and Jenna shivered, holding her breath in anticipation. She hadn’t been with Nate in the longest time, but still, her body remembered.

  When Nate pushed into her, she let out a long groan and felt every delicious inch as he slid into her. When he was buried inside of her, Jenna looked up into his eyes and everything else fell away. All the years they had spent apart. This was the boy she had fallen in love with. The boy she had connected with.

  This was the boy she would always be in love with, no matter what happened.

  Nate started to move inside of her and Jenna’s eyes rolled shut. Nate slid in and out of her, rocking her body back and forth. His breath was hot on her skin as he rocked faster and faster, and Jenna wrapped her legs around his waist, moving with him.

  It was pure bliss being with him again.

  Nate moved faster and faster, bucking his hips harder and harder as he fucked her and Jenna had to really focus not to cry out in pleasure and wake Carol. Being with Nate felt right. It felt like what she should have done all along.

  After a while of Nate rocking her world, he pulled out of her and her body protested. She wanted more. But she knew what he wanted, and when he rolled onto his back, she straddled him. This was how they had done it so many times, so long ago. This was how he liked to finish. And Jenna liked to be in control, too. She liked to be on top so that she could give him a view, so that she could look down at him and enjoy the way his face crumpled when he got closer and closer.

  She started rocking her hips back and forth, feeling him slide out of her and back into her again, pushing deeper and deeper. She braced her hands on his chest and rocked her hips faster and faster. His hands were on her thighs, helping her move faster. His mouth was open, lips clenched in an animalistic snarl, but his brows were drawn together in a frown and his eyes were locked on hers.

  He got closer and closer, she could hear it in the way he was breathing, the way he pushed her legs so that she moved even faster still.

  And the friction on her clit while she rode him was pushing her closer to another orgasm. When she was so close she could barely hold herself up anymore, Nate released inside of her. His stomach contracted and he curled upward, breath forced out of his lungs with the intensity of the orgasm, and she could feel his hard dick pulse inside of her. It pushed her over the edge and she collapsed onto his chest, waves of pleasure washing over her as they orgasmed together.

  It hadn’t happened very often in the past that they had orgasmed together, and it was incredible to feel so close to Nate again, to be so connected to him.

  When the orgasms subsided, Jenna lay on Nate’s chest, completely satiated. He made a deep, rumbling sound in his stomach as he groaned in pleasure and lightly ran his fingers over her back.

  “That was a hell of a lot better than I remember,” he said in a deep voice. “We’re getting better at this.”

  Jenna smiled and nodded sleepily. She could fall asleep right there, with him still inside of her, his fingers tickling her back.

  12

  Nate

  Being with Jenna again was right. She should never have left. And Nate had known it after their scene together at his restaurant—albeit under the influence of a lot of alcohol, especially on her side. What had been between them was still there. He could feel it now, in the way that they moved together, the way that she lay on him, the way that everything was right with the world again. And she was so soft in his arms, so relaxed. He had missed this. God, he had missed her.

  Her alarm started to buzz, an incessant beeping that yanked her out of the bliss that she had been wallowing in. It sent a chill through Nate’s body, too. He hadn’t expected it at that time of night—it was early evening. They had spent a long time together. But it had only felt like a moment.

  That was how it had always been between them. It was how Nate knew that they could spend an eternity together and it would feel like a snap.

  “Shit,” Jenna said and rolled off Nate. His skin was slick with sweat and, in her absence, he felt a chill in the room.

  “What?” Nate asked. “What is it?”

  “My mom needs her medication. I need to take it to her.”

  “Okay,” Nate said, putting one arm under his head. “You can take it to her, I’ll wait here.”

  Jenna shook her head. “No, you need to leave. If my mom finds you here…”

  “Babe, we are adults. I am pretty sure your mom knows what adults do, too. It’s not a big deal. I won’t come out of the room.”

  “Don’t call me that,” Jenna said, and her voice was cold. “You have to get out of here.”

  Nate sat up and frowned. “You’re kicking me out,” he said.

  “Don’t say it like that, it sounds bad.”

  “Isn’t it bad?” he asked.

  Jenna shook her head. “I can’t do this now. Why does everything have to be a complicated conversation?”

  Nate gasped in surprise. “Are you being serious?” he asked. “We sleep together, you kick me out, and then you call communicating a complicated conversation?”

  Jenna pulled up her shoulders and started looking for her clothes, pulling on her underwear, moving around the room frantically.

  “Come on, Jen,” Nate urged. “We have to talk about this.”

  “There is nothing to talk about,” Jenna said. “Seriously, I need you to go. We can’t do this again.”

  Nate climbed off the bed. “Do what? Sleep together? Or talk?”

  Jenna shook her head, glancing at Nate’s cock for a moment. He had gone soft, both since he had had his release and because her reaction was sucking the life right out of him
.

  “You’re doing it again,” Nate said.

  “What?” She pulled her blouse over her head and picked up her jeans from the floor where Nate had dumped them.

  “You’re leaving me.”

  Jenna shook her head. “I’m not, I’m asking you to leave.”

  “It’s the same thing,” Nate said. “You’re shutting me out. And you’re doing it without an explanation. What the hell did I do to you to deserve this?”

  Jenna paused, doing up the button and zipper on her jeans. “You didn’t do anything,” she said in a soft voice.

  “Then why are you being like this? Just let me stay. I will even sit in the living room like a gentleman and make small talk with your mother. You can’t just kick me out.”

  Jenna hesitated and, for a moment, Nate thought that he had gotten through to her. But then she shook her head.

  “I’m sorry, Nate. We can’t do this. I can’t be with you.”

  Nate’s ears started ringing. Saying that he needed to leave, saying that she couldn’t do this, was very different from her saying that she didn’t want to be with him. Or rather, couldn’t be with him.

  “You have to remember one thing,” Nate said tightly.

  “What?” Jenna asked, running a brush through her hair that had gotten tangled up with their sex. She wasn’t even looking at Nate now.

  “If I leave now, that’s it. I am not going to do this again, not a third time. I’m not going to let you screw me over like this and pretend that it doesn’t hurt me.”

  Jenna looked at Nate and winced. So there was a heart underneath her icy exterior. Why was she insisting on pushing him away?

  “Fine,” Jenna said, and Nate was shocked.

  “Fine?” he asked. “Is that what it is? Fine? I am about to walk out of your life for good and you think it’s fine?”

  Jenna turned her back on Nate and checked herself in the mirror. She didn’t say anything else. Nate only waited a moment longer before he walked to the bedroom door, pulled it open, and left. She wasn’t going to say anything else to him. And that told him everything he needed to know. She wasn’t interested in another relationship with him. She wasn’t interested in trying again. He had thought that they had something special, but clearly, she had just been back to…what? He didn’t even know what she had wanted from him. Because it wasn’t like Jenna to just look for sex. It wasn’t like her to use him like that.

  He just wished that he could figure out what the hell was going on. But if she wanted to be like that, she could go ahead and enjoy herself. She could live her life alone—Nate was done.

  He stomped through the house, realizing that this was going to be the last time he saw the inside of it. And along with the pang of sorrow that shot through his chest there was anger—anger that overrode any amount of sorrow he had felt.

  The anger was good. Anger, he understood. Anger, he could deal with. It was being heartbroken that Nate hated. He hadn’t known how to pick himself up and move on when Jenna had left the first time. Somehow, he had managed to fill the void with other women, people who distracted him from the emptiness inside of him.

  This time, Nate wasn’t sure how he would deal with it. But he knew for a fact that no matter what happened, Jenna wasn’t going to come back to him. Sure, she was back in town. But she had never really come back, not the way he had thought she had.

  And now, it truly was over. He should have accepted it six years ago. This time, he knew for a fact. This time, he would deal with it the way he was supposed to. The way he should have done the first time around.

  Nate climbed into his truck and slammed the door. He hammered his fists on the steering wheel, letting out a shout of rage. Dammit! He was so fucking furious. How could she do this to him?

  He threw the truck in reverse and floored it out of the drive, tearing down the road. He knew that he was being ridiculous, that he was allowing his anger to take over. But everything he had kept bottled up for years was bubbling out now. All the anger, all the resentments, all the sorrow that he hadn’t allowed himself to feel before when Jenna had left the first time.

  He felt it all now, in full force.

  In a blind rage, Nate tore through town, hardly thinking about where he was going. He didn’t go to his apartment and he didn’t go to the restaurant. Those were places where he had been completely contained, where he had managed to keep it all bottled up. Those were the places where he had been able to carry on with his life, almost as if nothing had happened.

  This time, Nate was falling apart. It felt like he was being ripped limb from limb. And all of that over a silly woman who couldn’t make up her mind.

  God, they had been kids when they first dated. Sure, it had been a long time, and he had been madly in love with her. But they had been apart for six years. The same amount of time they had been together. He should have taken the time to mourn the relationship and move on.

  Instead, he had held out some tiny piece of hope that she would come back. And when she had, he believed it was for him.

  Now, Nate understood that he was wrong. Only when he was a couple of miles outside of town did he realize how far he had gone. He pulled the truck onto the shoulder of the road and jumped out, marching into the darkness beyond, feeling the long grass brush against his knees as he stormed ahead, not even knowing where he was going.

  So much anger raged inside of him that Nate barley knew what he was doing.

  When he tripped over a rock, he fell to his knees. And he let out a scream, bellowing out his anger to the universe.

  13

  Jenna

  She had told him to leave. It was better that way. Because if she loved him again, if she allowed herself to get attached again, she was going to stay. And Jenna couldn’t do that. She couldn’t stay, she couldn’t allow her dreams to go up in smoke.

  It was the reason she had left Smithville in the first place. She had been terrified that she would become “small town,” and she wasn’t going to allow that. New York was a big city, it allowed her to dream big. She couldn’t stay in this little town and live a life that wasn’t worth remembering.

  Even though it hurt like hell to leave the place behind. To leave Nate behind. Telling him to go away had been the hardest thing Jenna had ever done. Even harder than leaving without saying goodbye.

  But what else could she have done? She couldn’t allow herself to fall back into the trap that was Smithville. She had to keep on track, she had to stay on the path she had created for herself. That was the right thing to do.

  This, too, would pass. Even though Jenna felt like she was falling apart.

  Jenna had a fitful night. She barely slept, and, when she did, her dreams were filled with Nate’s face. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get away from it. The only time it went away was when she sat up with a start in the darkness, blinking, wondering how the hell she was going to be able to escape these dreams, how long it would take her to forget this time.

  When she finally shuffled out of her room at sunrise, Carol was already in the kitchen.

  “You look like hell,” Carol said.

  “You’re up early,” Jenna answered, ignoring her mother’s comment. “I didn’t hear you pass by my room.”

  “Didn’t you sleep well?”

  Jenna shook her head.

  Carol nodded and reached into the cupboard to take out a second cup. She made Jenna coffee, adding in another spring of instant coffee so it was twice as strong as usual. Jenna was relieved.

  “I assume Nate didn’t stay the night.”

  Jenna frowned. “How do you know he was here?”

  Carol pulled up her shoulders. “I’m not in idiot, sweetheart. I might be sick, but I’m not blind or deaf.”

  She handed Jenna her cup of coffee and Jenna wrapped her fingers around the hot mug, ignoring the searing pain. Anything right now to numb the pain inside, Jenna thought.

  “When are you going to stop toying with that boy?” Carol asked.<
br />
  “I’m not toying with him,” Jenna said defensively.

  Carol raised her eyebrows at Jenna.

  “This isn’t any of your business, Mom,” Jenna snapped.

  Carol pulled up her shoulders and turned to the cupboard, taking out cereal and pouring herself a bowl. Jenna watched as her mom moved around the kitchen. Wasn’t she going to say anything else? But Carol continued to make breakfast without saying another word. And Jenna was glad. She had made her decision and she was going to stick to it. There was nothing to it.

  “When are you going back?” Carol asked after a while.

  “I don’t know yet,” Jenna said. “I spoke to Sabrina yesterday and she said they are still managing at the office. I can afford to stay another day or two. I just want to make sure you’re fine.”

  “There is nothing wrong with me,” Carol said. “So, I have to take a couple of pills. So, I get tired sometimes. So, I’m getting old. It’s about time I accept it, don’t you think?”

  Jenna raised her eyebrows, surprised at her mother’s speech. Carol had been fighting the idea of being sick and getting old tooth and nail from day one. It was Dr. Harris’s primary concern about her condition. He was worried that Carol wouldn’t take things slow. But now, she was acting like she understood what it was all about, all along.

  “This is a surprise, hearing it from you,” Jenna said.

  “If there’s anything I learned in the past couple of days with you coming home, it’s that I have to accept the inevitable.”

  Jenna rolled her eyes. “Don’t start with me, Mama.”

  “I’m not starting with you,” Carol said. “Aren’t you the one that was so worried about me living in denial? You should be happy about what I’m telling you.”

  Jenna nodded. She understood what her mother was saying. And she was right, of course. Jenna had to be happy that Carol was accepting that she was sick. Maybe it would even mean that she would move into one of the units at the retirement village Dr. Harris had recommended. But Jenna wasn’t going to bring that up now. One step at a time. An admission was already a big deal.