by J. L. Leslie
“I almost forgot it was Sunday,” I say, but I don’t mention that Alex hadn’t really crossed my mind this morning.
He deposits me onto my kitchen island, his hands gliding up my thighs. I reluctantly stop him from reaching my center.
“I’m not that person,” I say quietly. “You know that, right?”
“Of course, I do, Jenna,” he replies instantly. He waits a moment and then begins inching his hands up my thighs again, a playful smirk on his face. I stop him again.
“I need to get ready for church,” I explain when he looks disappointed.
“Let me help you with that,” he offers, pulling his shirt off me and tossing it onto the floor. “I’m very helpful.”
I giggle as he kisses my neck, his strong arms wrapping firmly around my naked body. I enclose mine around his neck, but then stiffen when I hear a horn blowing.
Kaler arches an eyebrow. “Expecting company?”
I hop off the island and grab his shirt, hastily pulling it back on. “It’s my grandparents! Holy shit, it’s my grandparents!”
“Fuck,” he curses. “They pick you up for church?”
“Sometimes,” I answer. “She probably called me and I didn’t answer her. You have to get out of here!”
“Yeah, I don’t want to be caught in my damn underwear by your grandparents either,” he says, dryly.
“Well, you were thinking about what my grandma would wear to bed,” I joke as he rushes up the stairs.
I go to my door and crack it open, seeing my grandpa sitting in their vehicle, patiently waiting on me. My grandma is at my door, her hand primed to knock.
“Good Lord, child, you’re not even dressed yet,” she complains.
“I overslept,” I tell her. “I’ll drive myself to church.”
She tries to look in the house behind me. “Is someone here?”
“No, ma’am,” I lie.
“What you doing going around in a t-shirt like that? I bought you a nightgown.”
I glance down at the shirt, grateful it comes to my thighs. “Grandma, I need to go get ready or I’ll be late.”
She doesn’t push the issue, but allows me to close my door, telling me she’ll see me in a bit. I hear them drive off and a few minutes later, I hear Kaler’s truck leaving my house.
Only us. We’re the only ones supposed to know about what happened between us, and we were damn near caught together. I’m second-guessing capability to keep this a secret. In a town like Chapelwood, secrets are always exposed.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Kaler
I struggle at church, my mind drifting to last night over and over. I keep hearing Jenna’s whimpers in my ears. Feeling her teeth on my shoulder. Her body against mine. Damn it, if I don’t stop these thoughts I’ll be sitting in church with a fucking hard-on and these khaki shorts I’m wearing won’t be able to hide it.
I thought it was only going to be one time. We’d fuck and move on. The attraction between us would be out of our systems.
But no.
I had her twice last night and I wanted her again this morning. When I woke before her, I told myself to go home. Leave before anyone knew I was there. Let her go to Alex and forget about what happened between us.
I didn’t do that though. I went to her kitchen and started searching for some food. I didn’t even eat the damn eggs I made!
Seeing her in my t-shirt was a distraction. Finding out she wasn’t wearing panties underneath it was an even bigger one. I would’ve taken her right there on her kitchen island, not even concerned with the fact that I didn’t have a condom on me.
“You okay?” my mama asks and I nod, my hands resting over my lap.
I manage to get my thoughts under control before the service ends. I pass Jenna and give her a polite smile, pretending as though I didn’t lick her pussy last night.
She blushes and quickly turns away. Her grandpa turns to me and I half-expect him to tell me he saw my truck this morning. That he knows I was at his granddaughter’s house.
“What you know about starters for a 1998 Cadillac?” he asks.
“You having trouble with your car?” I ask him and he rolls his eyes.
“Yes, son, that’s why I’m asking you if you know how to fix it. I know you work for your daddy.”
“I can fix you up, just bring it into the shop tomorrow,” I tell him, trying not to smile at his bluntness.
I excuse myself, managing not to stare at Jenna and start toward the nursery.
“Hey, where were you this morning?” Tauren asks, catching up to me before I open the nursery door.
“Home.”
“Ah, now that’s not true,” he grins. “I came by your house this morning to borrow some tools and your truck was not there.”
“I had to run some errands before church,” the lie escapes my mouth easily, even in the house of God.
“Hmm, I’m not buying it. Who were you with?” he prods. “Jenna?”
“Like I said, I had to run some errands before church,” I repeat. It’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
I open the nursery door and Willow rushes out. Tauren catches her before she can get down the hallway too far. He picks her up and puts her on his shoulders.
“She’s going to ride with me to mama’s house,” he informs me. “Just in case you need to go run some more errands.”
Damn him.
Jenna
Seeing Kaler’s name on my phone makes me grin. He was so nonchalant in church, barely smiling at me, but I could see it in his eyes that he was thinking about last night. Replaying it over and over in his head.
I knew he was because I was too.
I could feel his tongue against my clit. His lips surrounding my nipples. His fingers stroking me. I’m surprised I didn’t leave a wet spot on the pew.
“I’m still in the church parking lot,” I answer.
“I know,” he replies. “I can see you. Do you have plans today? With Alex or anything?”
I look around and spot him in his truck. “No, Alex is out of town. Apparently, I need to go to the grocery store. There’s no sausage or bacon in my fridge.”
“Not even Spam.”
I laugh. “Not even Spam. Are you headed to your mama’s house?”
“Actually, I was going to sneak over to see this girl. Find out if she wanted to spend a little bit of time with me before I go to lunch.”
I back out of the parking space and turn left toward my house instead of right toward the grocery store. Kaler follows behind me.
“You’re not being very sneaky if you’re going to this girl’s house in the daytime,” I tell him.
“Who said we were going to her house?” he responds and I see his truck fly past me.
I hang up the phone and follow him, not sure where he’s going but not caring either. My body thrums with excitement as I follow him, knowing what’s in store. Knowing that it’s not just the dirty secret we’re keeping that has me so excited.
He turns down a dirt road and although it does cross my mind that my little white Civic is going to get dirty, I don’t slow down. I’m too anxious to get there.
The dirt road opens up to the land he owns, his fishing hole. I know we didn’t come in this way before. We both stop and I hop out just as he’s getting out. He has a blanket in his hand and spreads it out on the back of his truck. I watch him climb up and then he extends his hand to me.
“Are you sure this is private?” I ask him, joining him on the back of the truck.
His mouth is already on me, placing kisses at the curve of my neck. “Yes,” he murmurs.
I look around us and see nothing but trees and the pond where we fished. No person is in sight. No chance of getting caught. Would I even care if we could?
I quickly unbuckle his shorts and shove them over his ass. He has a very nice ass and now that I’ve seen it in person, I don’t mind admitting that.
He drops down into a seated position and urges me to straddle hi
s lap. I take a second to pull my panties down and then I climb onto his lap, my white sundress gathering at my hips. After he sheathes himself, I rise onto my knees and then sink down over him, wrapping my legs around his waist.
There’s an unspoken urgency between us, both of us uninhibited. Both of us not caring that we’re losing control. Both of us lost in each other.
Kaler cups my ass and grinds me against him so that I get that much-needed friction to my clit. His fingers dig into my scalp, gripping my hair as his lips skate over my skin. A strangled moan escapes my lips.
“This feels so good,” I murmur. “You feel so good.”
And he does. He feels good and he feels right, and I can’t imagine not doing this with him. Not being around him. Not being part of his life.
“It’s you,” he tells me. “It’s you, Jenna.”
Sweat beads on my skin from the hot September sun and from Kaler’s touch. I’m panting, so close to coming. A tightness builds inside me and I rock against him, his dick hitting my sweet spot.
Once. Twice. I’m gone.
I fall forward, my head resting on his shoulder. His dick twitches inside me, pulsing with his release. We’re both breathless, both holding onto each other.
After I catch my breath, I tell him, “I honestly thought we were only going to have last night together.”
He laughs and the sound reverberates through my ear. “That’s what I told myself. We would have the one night and walk away from each other. We both know this is complicated.”
“That’s an understatement,” I say, slowly rising off him and stepping into my panties. I’m seeing someone and though he’s been the furthest thing from my mind, he is still in the picture.
“If anyone was to find out, I’m sure they wouldn’t have any kind words to say about it,” he comments, removing the condom and tying it off. “Everyone knows you’re Brynn’s best friend, and well, everyone knows she’s my ex-wife.”
“They all forget about the ‘ex’ part,” I say. “Not to mention Alex.”
He scoots off his truck and pulls his shorts up before helping me climb down. He keeps his grip on my hand and I step to him, resting my hands at his sides. He presses a kiss to my forehead.
“I don’t want to stop,” he confesses.
“I don’t know that I can,” I admit.
“If you ever want to, or if this doesn’t feel right to you, then just say so, Jenna. I don’t want to make you feel like shit about this. You know how this town can be.”
“I know, and same to you. This is just as complicated for you as it is for me.”
He nods. “I’ll see you later,” he tells me and gives me a chaste kiss. “Go get those groceries. I’m a hungry man in the mornings.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Kaler
I’m fucking my ex-wife’s best friend. I crossed the line and damn it, I don’t care. I may as well have soaked the line in gasoline and lit a match to it. It no longer exists.
Nothing was going to keep me from Jenna. Not Brynn. Not Alex. Sure as hell not myself.
I could barely restrain myself when I saw her sitting at her desk this morning. So many scenarios ran through my mind. What would it be like to bend her over her desk? Fuck, now I’m having dirty teacher fantasies.
“You’re spilling oil, son.”
“Huh?”
My daddy points down and I realize I’m pouring oil everywhere because I’m not paying attention to what I’m doing. I mumble an apology and grab a towel out my back pocket. I’m doing a simple oil change and fucking it up.
“You okay today, Kaler? You seem a little distracted.”
He has no idea.
“Yes, sir.”
He glances up at the clock on the wall and tells me to go grab us some lunch. “When you get back, have your head on straight.”
Normally, I would walk over to my parent’s house and make us a sandwich or something, but today I decide to ride into town and grab us a couple sandwiches from Happy’s. I’m tempted to get some loaded nachos, only because I know they’re Jenna’s favorite and I can tease her about them later but decide against that.
I step inside and hear some laughter coming from the back where the tables are. I ignore it, since Happy’s is busy all the time, and go place my order. I’m digging some money out of my pocket when I feel a hand clamp down on my shoulder.
“Mama didn’t make you and daddy lunch?” Tauren questions.
I look over to him and then turn back to see who he’s with. Sure enough, Alex is seated at the table with him and some other members of the Wade’s Construction crew.
“Nah, I decided to grab us a couple sandwiches from here,” I explain. “I see you got the rest of your crew back in.”
“I didn’t know any of them left,” he says with a shrug.
I don’t question him about it any further because then he’ll be asking me questions and he doesn’t need to know I talked to Jenna. He was already making more insinuations yesterday and when I showed up for lunch, he said I smelled like sex.
“I’m gonna get this back before it gets cold,” I tell him.
He tells me goodbye and heads back over to his crew. Alex gives me a slight wave and I manage to give him a nod. I’m pretty sure he lied to Jenna about being out of town last week and I have no idea why.
Then again, she was crying out my name while my dick was buried inside her, so there’s that.
Jenna
I am not the type of woman who tries to balance two men. I’ve never cheated on anything in my entire life. Well, except for that chemistry exam junior year and I still made a C on it.
I’ve always been a firm believer in telling the truth, especially in relationships. If you don’t want to be with someone, don’t string them along. Don’t hurt someone who doesn’t deserve it.
Lately, though, the truth seems to be the hardest thing for me to tell. I haven’t told Brynn that I’m Willow’s teacher and I certainly haven’t told her about me and Kaler. She doesn’t deserve to be hurt by me, her closest friend, and I can’t bring myself to share that news with her yet.
Then there’s Alex. He’s a great guy, he truly is. He called me almost every day that he was out of town and he surprised me by showing up at my house about an hour ago.
I was supposed to be happy to see him. Pleased that he showed up unannounced to surprise me and take me out to eat. Instead, I was annoyed that he ruined a rendezvous I planned with Kaler, who I can’t seem to bring myself to tell him about. I was too busy being upset that he was interfering with my plans.
Kaler texted me that Willow had eaten dinner and would be getting a bath soon. If I wanted to come over, I could spend some time with her and then some time with him after she goes to bed. That sounded wonderful to me.
But no.
Alex showed up and screwed all that up for me. I don’t even have an appetite although I’m forcing down the hamburger steak I ordered. He must sense that something’s wrong because he’s asked me a couple of times already. That only makes me feel guilty, so I try to put a smile on my face. At least until I can figure out what to do about him. At least until I can come clean.
“Are you glad to be back home?” I ask him and for a moment he appears confused, then he smiles.
“Oh yeah. There’s no place like home, you know? The crew doesn’t like to venture off too far if we can help it.”
“I guess Tauren lucked out. I saw him Saturday night.”
Alex coughs a little and takes a sip of his soda. “Yeah, they split us up and only sent some of us. What’d you do Saturday night? I thought you were staying in.”
I feel my cheeks heat a little. “I was going to stay in, but I went out to Happy’s with a friend. I played pool with him and had a few drinks.”
“Him?” he arches an eyebrow.
“Yeah, Ben Hawkins. He’s my boss’s nephew,” I explain. “We winded up playing pool with Tauren and his brothers.”
“I keep forgetting you w
ent to high school with them,” he murmurs.
He looks down at his plate and there’s suddenly this awkward quiet between us. I know I could use this moment to tell him what happened between me and Kaler, to just blurt it out, but we agreed that no one else would know. That includes Alex.
We finish eating, almost in complete silence, and even the ride home is awkward too. I don’t know what’s bugging him but I’m pretty sure it has to do with me going out with Ben Friday night. I could reassure him he has nothing to worry about when it comes to Ben, but I can’t bring myself to tell him Ben’s secret either.
He slows to a stop in front of my house and I reach for my door handle when he doesn’t make a move to get out and open the door for me like he has before. I get one foot out when he grabs my hand.
His mouth slants over mine, his tongue slipping into my mouth. I tell myself to return his kiss, to not sit there like a knot on a log. I go through the motions until he releases me.
“Sorry about dinner. I don’t like thinking about you hanging out with other guys,” he admits. “Especially the Holt brothers.”
“We’re just friends.” Mostly.
He nods and presses a peck to my lips. “I’ll call you.”
I ease out of his car and close the door behind me. I stand there on the sidewalk and watch him drive away. I turn toward my house but instead of going inside I go where I’ve ached to go all evening. Straight to Kaler’s house.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Kaler
Willow stands beside me, clearly anxious for the bowl of ice cream I’m fixing her. She points to the chocolate syrup and claps when I drizzle it over the scoops of chocolate ice cream. I stick a spoon in it and hand the bowl down to her, telling her to be careful with it.
She wants to watch the ‘Elsa movie’ and since Jenna no-showed tonight and we’re finished with homework, it’s daddy-daughter date night then. I carry my bowl into the living room and I’ve barely sat down when I hear a knock on my door.
I put my ice cream on the coffee table and go answer my door. Seeing Jenna there makes me smile. I invite her in.