She half turned to look at him. “Who’s Alfred?”
“I’ll tell you later.”
Using his knees, he spread her legs further apart and placed his hand on her back to keep her bent over. A loud moan burst from her lips when his tongue stroked over her clit. He licked her up and down and back up again. She was panting and he was so turned on he was ready to explode. He wrapped his fingers around his cock, pumping it just to get some relief.
“Kevin,” she whispered breathlessly. “I don’t think I can stand anymore.”
“Then sit on me.”
She eased herself down onto him, and as soon as he slid into her wet heat, he knew he wasn’t going to last long. Draping her legs over his, she leaned her back against his chest and rocked against him. Slow at first. So torturously slow. She reached back, wrapping her arm around his neck, and brought his mouth down to her collarbone. His hands were everywhere, one palming her breast, the other between her legs, his finger stroking from the place where they joined up to her swollen clit. She began to rock faster, so his hands moved faster and the moment he was trying to delay came all too quickly.
“Fuck, Jazz…I’m gonna come.”
Even when he bit into her shoulder, she didn’t stop. Even when his body shuddered, she didn’t stop. Even when she’d drained every last drop from his body, she didn’t stop. She rocked against him and he felt her clench around him. His finger worked harder against her throbbing clit until she burst. She arched her back, whispering his name as she climaxed. She was trembling when she finally came down from her high and he wrapped both his arms around her to keep her steady.
“God…I didn’t know numbers turned you on so much,” he teased, placing butterfly kisses along her neck.
She giggled and dropped her head against his shoulder. “You should see me when I get started on trigonometry.”
* * * * *
“I’m sure I look exactly like her,” Jasmin said as she walked out of the bathroom naked, her long hair draped untidily over her breasts.
It was strange how just a few weeks ago she was insecure about showing her arms and now she was comfortable enough to prance around naked. Her growing confidence was as appealing as everything else about her. On a scale of one to ten of awesomeness, Jasmin was definitely an eleven.
“I don’t look anything like my dad,” she continued. “Like, not even one feature, so all her genes must have been passed on to me.” She pulled on his discarded T-shirt and climbed into bed beside him.
“Then you better keep her away from me. I might just prefer the cougar version of you.”
She giggled and hit his arm before pulling it over her chest. “I wonder what it’s going to be like. She’s probably going to be so surprised to see me.”
She was nervous and excited. Her eyes glistened with hope and there was so much longing in her voice as she spoke. Kevin wanted to caution her to not expect too much, but he didn’t have the heart to bring her down from her high.
“Just leave it in the hands of destiny,” he said. “Things will turn out the way they’re meant to be.”
Annoyance flashed on her face. “Did you just throw destiny at me, Kevin? You know I think that’s all a bunch of hogwash. You’re such a disappointment. Next thing you know you’ll be telling me you believe in soulmates and the one.”
She said it with so much repugnance he was almost afraid to admit the truth. “My parents are still happily married and madly in love after thirty-two years. Of course I believe in it.”
She shook her head, looking at him condescendingly. “I’m gonna lay this out for you, Son. I just hope your petty little mind hasn’t been too warped by society’s misconceptions for you to accept the knowledge I’m about to impart.”
“Oh, a cynic and a bitch.” He chuckled and lifted up onto one elbow to give her his full attention. “All right. Lay it on me.”
“There’s no such thing as The One. It’s all mathematical, statistical. Now I have a theory, but obviously I haven’t met enough people to prove it yet. I’m gonna throw numbers at you, but they’re random. It’s just a theory until I can prove it, okay?”
He nodded. “Okay.”
“So let’s just say that you meet a hundred people in your lifetime. Out of those hundred people, you might like forty of them. I’m talking about people you can hold a conversation with, people who are fun to be around. Out of those forty people, you might become friends—and before you get upset, I use the term loosely—you might become friends with, let’s say, twenty of them. These are people who you party with, hang out with a lot. You really enjoy their company. Out of those twenty people, there may be only five that you have a real connection with, kindred spirits…whatever. And out of those five, there will be that one person that you fall head over heels in love with. People deem this person as The One when actually he or she is just the one in one hundred. If you had to meet another hundred people, statistically, the pattern will repeat itself and you’d find another one. There are billions of people on this planet. Anyone’s personality is bound to be compatible, to the level of love, with a few people, not just one.”
“I disagree,” he said, lightly running his fingertips up and down her thigh. “Some couples stay together until they die. They do that because they found the one and only person they could love like that.”
“Okay. Then answer me this. There are some couples who are madly in love and each of them believe that they found their soulmate, but then a few years later, they get divorced and one or both of them find love again. It’s the same with finding love after the death of a spouse. Many people believe that maybe the second person is truly the one when in actual fact, they both were the one…the one in the statistical pool of one hundred. Said person just encountered enough people to meet both of them. The people who stay together until they die are so in love that they close themselves off to the possibility of meeting someone else, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. There are multiple soulmates for everyone.”
“That makes sense,” he said, though he still saw holes in her theory. “But how would you end up meeting these people in the first place? It’s destiny.” It was weird how he always sound like the sentimental one.
She rolled her eyes, completely exasperated, and he had to hold back a smile. “Really, Kevin? I give you my theory, which is not proven, but still very sound and you throw destiny back at me. I am still unconvinced that such a thing exists. Why don’t you take some time and think about something solid and scientific, back it up with plausible fact instead of trying to feed me airy-fairy hogwash and then maybe—just maybe—you might make a believer out of me.”
This was a lot of nerdy conversations for one day and he wondered if other couples talked like this. After that crazy thought, he had to remind himself that they weren’t a couple. He interlinked his fingers with hers and brought her hand to his lips as he thought about it.
“Got it,” he said after a few minutes. “Okay. So energy cannot be created or destroyed, thus I assume a soul is energy. Once it enters a body, it has a mass and if it has a mass, I’m thinking…Newton’s Law of Gravity. That’s how soulmates meet.”
“The force between two objects is equal to the product of their masses, divided by the square of the distance between them…Hmmm?” She recited it slowly, letting it sink in as she spoke. “That’s the smartest thing you’ve said all night. Yes, Newton’s Law of Gravity is the perfect explanation. It also explains how we met. I couldn’t understand it at first. Why was I at that exact place at the exact time you were there and then we were both going in the same direction. It was so coincidental, but now it makes sense. When I was in South Africa, the distance was too big, so the force was small, but when I moved closer, it became stronger. And once I got to Montana, our souls just pulled us towards each other and it was a force that both of us didn’t understand.”
She was right. From the very beginning, he’d felt an unexplained pull towards her, one so strong it made it im
possible for him to leave her every time he’d tried.
A smile spread across his face before he could stop it. “Are you saying I’m your soulmate, Jazz?”
“I’m saying that you could be…one of them…one in one hundred.”
Somehow hearing that made him feel so conflicted. Part of him was hoping it was true and the other part knew that it was impossible. She deserved more than he could give her and she would be better off with someone else, someone with his head screwed on straight. A doctor.
But right now she was his, even if it was only for a few more days, and he was going to embrace every moment he still had left. Even if he met another hundred people, he would never experience this again, he would never meet anyone like her again. No one else would be able to comfort him with silly stories and crazy dancing. No one else would turn the concept of love into a scientific debate. There was merit to her theory, but he knew with certainty that he would never feel the same way about someone else.
Leaning down, he brushed his lips against hers. As soon as she allowed his tongue entry into her mouth, he rolled on top of her, kneading the supple flesh of her thighs. This was so close to being over and he wanted to make this night last forever. He didn’t know if she felt the same, but she responded in the same way. Her arms were clasped tightly around him, clinging to him.
And as the barriers were stripped away and their hot, aching bodies became one, another one of Newton’s laws came to mind.
Newton’s Second Law of Motion: Force = Mass x Acceleration.
The mass of their tangled bodies was probably insignificant in the greater scheme of things, but when multiplied by the speed at which he gravitated towards her, the acceleration at which his feelings were spiraling out of control—the force at which he was falling for her…was incalculable.
Part Three
Newton’s Third Law of Motion:
For every action there is an equal but opposite reaction
December, 1
Birmingham, Alabama
Jasmin couldn’t take the anticipation anymore. They’d spent the entire day on the road yesterday, driving straight through Mississippi. They only stopped for lunch and then to book into a hotel when the sun began to set. She’d managed to pry Kevin out of bed early this morning and got as far as Alabama. As soon as they checked into a hotel, Kevin disappeared without any explanation. She was disappointed. This would be their last night together. Tomorrow when they got to Georgia, they would part ways. She didn’t want to say goodbye to him, but she hadn’t asked him to stay either.
She wanted to be with him tonight. She was anxious about meeting her mother and he had a way of calming her down. But now he was gone and after tomorrow, she would probably never see him again. She’d known this was coming all along, yet just the thought of it was hurting her to nth degree. Maybe it didn’t have to end. She was in charge of her own destiny. They had their own lives to lead, their own storms to face, but that didn’t mean it had to end.
She was still thinking about a way to ask him when he came through the door with a huge grin on his face.
“Let’s go,” he said.
Her eyebrows creased with confusion. “Where?”
“Just get your keys and let’s go.”
Feeling wary, she stood up, grabbed her purse and headed out the door with him. Once they were in the car, he told her to punch in a specific address into the GPS. Fifteen minutes later, they were in a residential area and she became even more confused.
“Kevin, where are we going?”
“To dinner.”
She passed house after house and didn’t see a single restaurant. She turned into a narrow, tree-lined street and a few meters later the GPS dinged. “Arriving at destination.”
She looked up at the white, two-story house and still couldn’t piece it together. “Is this family of yours?”
“No.” His excited smile made her more curious. “C’mon.”
He opened his door and waited for her to meet him at the front of the car before taking her hand to lead to the front door. He knocked and the door opened almost immediately, as if their arrival was expected.
“Hi, Kevin,” a redhead woman said cheerfully. “And you must be Jasmin?”
“Uh…yep. That’s me.”
“Jazz, this is Loretta. She was kind enough to offer us a home-cooked meal.”
Loretta smiled warmly. “Come on in.”
Three kids swarmed around them, two girls who looked to be between the ages of five and seven and a boy who couldn’t have been older than three.
“This is Jamie and Mary-Jo,” Loretta said and then lifted the boy into her arms. “And this little guy is Connor. Say hi, kids.”
“Hi,” the girls chorused but Connor buried his face in his mother’s neck.
“He gets shy around new faces,” Loretta explained as she led them into a large dining room. “Wade, honey, they’re here.”
The aroma in the room made her mouth water. Corn on the cob, dripping with melted butter, mashed potatoes and cream spinach. It all looked so tempting. She wanted to devour everything in sight.
Wade entered the dining room, a burly man with a thick auburn beard and friendly brown eyes.
He kissed Loretta on the cheek, then took Connor from her hands.
“Have a seat,” Loretta told them. “I’m just going to get the pot roast…Oh, sweetie, don’t put that in your mouth.”
Mary-Jo spat out a Lego before taking a seat next to Jasmin at the long oval table. “I like your hair,” she whispered, twirling a lock around her finger.
Jasmin took note that her hand was covered in spit, but smiled anyway. “I like yours too.”
“You guys must be tired of traveling,” Wade sat down at the head of the table and reached for the meatloaf. “Kevin says you’ve been on the road for almost a month.”
Jasmin was still confused by this arrangement and how Kevin had even met them to begin with, but her questions could wait for later. “Yeah. It hasn’t been too bad, but there’s only so much takeout one can stomach. Thank you so much for having us.”
Loretta came in and placed the steaming pot roast in the middle of the table. “What are you waiting for?” She took Connor again and sat down, keeping him on her lap. “Dig in.”
They didn’t need a second invitation. She and Kevin both took a little of everything and Wade said a prayer before they began eating.
“This is delicious,” Jasmin said. “All of it. You’re an amazing cook, Loretta.”
“Thank you.” She looked over at Wade with a teasing grin. “At least someone around here appreciates it.”
“I never said you weren’t a great cook. I said you need to feed me smaller portions before I start looking like a walrus.” He slapped his bulging belly with both hands. “I need to stay sexy for you, woman.”
Loretta’s smile turned into something more flirtatious. “You’re always sexy to me.”
Jasmin giggled as she watched the two of them. This kind of loving banter was something she hadn’t witnessed at home. Her dad had never even dated and now she understood why Kevin believed all the hogwash. He’d seen this growing up and she could see why it was so easy to get sucked into that kind of love. Maybe one day she could have that too.
Dinner was amazing. It wasn’t just the food that was great, it was the company. They held a conversation whilst scolding the children in between. Jasmin found it fascinating how they could be hosts and parents at the same time. Wade told them about how he was supposed to play pro-baseball, but gave it up when Loretta became pregnant with Jamie. He was a man who made his family his number one priority and Loretta was an equally devoted mother. It was both a torment and a delight to watch them as a family and every now and then, when it got too much, Kevin rubbed his hand down her thigh under the table.
After dinner Wade and Loretta disappeared into the kitchen to wash up, leaving them alone with the kids. Mary-Jo braided her hair, embellishing it with colorful ribbons, while Con
nor and Jamie climbed onto the couch beside Kevin and coerced him into reading them a story. He didn’t even protest. It might have been the influence of his nieces, but being around kids came naturally to him. She could see that he would make a great dad someday.
“Time to decorate the Christmas tree,” Loretta announced from the entrance of the living room.
“Oh.” Jasmin immediately stood up. “We’d better get going.”
Loretta exchanged looks with Kevin and after a slight nod, he turned back to Jasmin. “We’ll stay for a bit, Jazz.”
This was a personal, family thing and she felt like they were intruding, but Loretta intervened before she could object. “We’d really love for you guys to stay. Now…what do you prefer? Lights? Tinsel? Bells?”
Jasmin had to swallow the lump that instantly formed in her throat. “It…it doesn’t really matter.” She pretended to cough to hide the unsteadiness in her voice. “I’ve gotten used to doing this by myself.”
Loretta smiled like she didn’t pick up on the undertone of sadness (she did), and gave Jasmin’s shoulders a quick squeeze. Maybe that was supposed to be some sort of comfort, but an ever-tightening throat was the only effect it had.
Wade came in carrying a box of Christmas decorations and placed it on the table a few feet away from the bare tree. Jasmin watched silently as they strung up the lights and Silent Night playing in the background only made it worse.
“C’mon,” Loretta urged, looking back at her over her shoulder.
Kevin took her hand and walked with her to the box, but before she could reach for anything, Jamie piped up.
“Popcorn strings first. Mom helps us make popcorn strings every year.” She shoved one end of the string into Jasmin’s hand. “This goes on before anything else.”
Traditions. They had traditions and she felt privileged that they would let her be a part of that. Because Kevin was taller, he roped it around the top of the tree before she and Jamie took over to do the middle down to the bottom. Once that was on, everyone else joined in. Loretta helped Connor as he struggled to get the strings over the branches and carried him when he wanted to reach higher up on the tree. Red and green, silver and gold, one by one different colors adorned the tree, changing it from insignificant and lifeless into something magical. She got sucked into it—the carols, the laughter, the arguments about where the angel should go. She loved every second.
Journey to the Unknown Page 30