“I could help stop that happening. Want to know the secret trick?” Her hair moved as she nodded her head vigorously. “Okay, you watch my head and see if you can spot what I’m doing.”
I kicked off my shoes and grabbed a dish towel from the top. With bare feet on this floor, a pirouette wouldn’t work. A watched every move I made intently as I folded the towel into a small square and placed it on the floor. “When I spin, I want you to watch my head. That’s where the magic happens.” Her beautiful face tilted upwards and I slowly began to spin, focusing on one point on the wall and only turning my head at the last minute, before returning my eye line to the exact same point. I gracefully replaced my balancing leg back and spun off again.
“Wow! Look, Mommy, look,” she squealed. “She’s a ballerina!”
I stopped and sat down, feeling embarrassed. I’d never received praise for something so simple and from someone so innocent.
This.
This was what my dance school dream was about.
“Did you see what I did? I didn’t spin my head at the same time as my body. Shall I help you?”
Again, there was that vigorous head nodding as she planted the cutest foot, with sparkly pink painted toenails, on the dish towel. “Now, pick a spot on the wall.”
“The picture of mommy in her princess dress,” she said proudly and pointed. When I looked at what she was referring to, I saw Dolly looking amazing in a bridal gown next to Jonas. She was laughing hysterically at something off shot, but he was smiling, his eyes only for her. It was a beautiful, heart-felt moment for them.
“You keep your eye on that and slowly pirouette. But when your body is turned so far that you feel your head absolutely must follow your body, let your head turn. Then spin your head quickly and look straight back at mommy’s picture, okay? I’ll hold your hand up here while you try.”
With a determined look on her face, she pursed her lips and glared at the picture, reaching above her head for my steadying hand. Mini commando twin had reappeared and was watching the show from the safety of the doorway. At first, we had slow spinning with a cute, yet funny, exorcist head spin. Then once she’d mastered that, she picked up the pace and was bobbing her balance leg down and going again and again. “Look, Mommy, I’m doing it. I’m doing it. I’m parroting!”
“Yes, you are and you look just like a ballerina.” I looked back to Dolly who mouthed the words thank you at me, and again, I felt that sense of embarrassment, only now it was mingling with pride.
“Maybe you should slow down. We don’t want you getting dizzy.” Her mom laughed, genuinely thrilled that A had picked it up.
I continued to watch the brilliance of this child learning from me and how happy it was making her. I could have sat there with her all day. After a minute or two, I noticed Jonas and Ross in the doorway at the back of the room.
Ross had a smug grin on his face, but Jonas didn’t looked pleased at all. His glare made me quake with fear. I lost my hold on A’s hand and she fell into me, laughing and giggling. Feeling brave, I looked at him again and realized Jonas wasn’t looking at me; he was looking past me.
Jake had arrived and was standing in the doorway with B. He’d been watching us intently and the look of adoration on his face, for me, was obvious for all to see. It made my heart race, and being near him again after our separation was awesome. I just wanted to be close to him so he could hold me and kiss me.
“Rebecca,” he breathed, smiling at me. It was a gorgeous grin and I knew instantly he felt the same way as me. Jake hated us being apart.
“Hey,” I whispered back, gulping.
“My office, Jake. Now,” Jonas barked, making me jump, and I remembered his words. ‘Keep it in your fucking pants, Jake.’
It was impossible to miss what had happened between us. I couldn’t hide my feelings for Jake if I tried, and I was terrified that it had made Jonas extremely unhappy.
Jake
I was definitely a big pussy where that girl was concerned. I felt like someone had removed my heart, gift wrapped it and handed it to her on a silver platter when I first peeked through the window.
Oli had dropped me off while Jack had made his own way from the airport. He still wasn’t ready to be in a confined space with me. The plane trip was funny. We made a hilarious spectacle out of our ourselves. I was at one end and he was at the other, causing a lot of confusing head spins and double takes between the passengers and air crew. Imagine the scene—two identical people as far apart as possible in one airplane cabin. I was disappointed when he took a cab back from the airport. I was honestly expecting him to ride with us but it was still too much for him.
He was still pissed at me, which put me in a very bad mood and I had to figure out how to put things right.
When I finally made it to Jonas and Dolly’s and peeked through the window and saw my girl—yeah, she’s definitely my girl, alright—helping A spin in some Swan Lake nonsense, I knew I was besotted.
Her connection with A and her desire to help the little girl achieve the move was apparent even through the pane of glass. Watching her do the demo and then get A to do it proved she was right to pursue her dream of having a dance school for kids. Even B was watching in awe, and I doubted anyone had ever managed to convince her to consider shedding the camo gear and donning a tutu instead.
When A fell and Rebecca caught her, giggling, I could have scaled walls or clawed through the bricks and mortar with my fingernails just to get to her. I needed to be next to her, and I needed my arms around her just so I could feel like I was on level ground again.
Then I spotted Jonas’s face. It was like fury and hell had tampered with his emotion settings all at once, and Ross knew it, too. He was stood there smirking over my disobedience and the fact that I’d finally fallen for a beautiful woman.
When Jonas demanded I go to his office, I knew I had one chance to make him see that Rebecca was different for me. That she wasn’t just some rule I’d ignored and disobeyed to get a quick fuck. He needed to know that I was prepared to burn my past life, parcel up my heart and hand it all in, just for the chance to give her everything in the world that she deserved, to live a normal life.
So, call me a crazy assed fucker, but I opted for the visual demonstration instead.
Ignoring his command, I wandered to B first and commando high-fived her, before passing A and Rebecca to go and give Dolly a hug. “Hey, sis.”
“Hey, you,” she chuckled. She knew my play.
Only then did I make my way to Rebecca and A, who were still on the floor. “Well, A, I see you’re still taking dance lessons.”
“Did you see my parrots, Uncle Jake? I like your new friend. You should keep this one.”
“I did, beautiful.” I couldn’t take my eyes off Rebecca as I said those words. “I think you’re right. She’s a keeper.” A blush appeared on her cheeks, and I’m not joking when I say I had to restrain myself. The blood was surging to my nether regions. I held out my hand to help her up and she took it without hesitation. An electrical current passed between us on that first contact, one that had her inhaling in awareness and causing my blood rush to ramp up in speed. “I see you’ve made yourself at home.” I stepped into her, our one linked hand quickly becoming two, and then pulled her to me so we were chest to chest. I couldn’t hold it off any longer and I bent down to reach her lips, giving her the gentlest of kisses. “You good?”
“Better now,” she breathed back at me, honestly.
“Funny that, me too,” I mumbled through a smile and kissed her again.
“Jake. Office,” Jonas growled again, and thankfully, fearing the ass kicking I was about to get, it had the desired effect on my growing erection.
“I won’t be long. You okay to hang here with Dolly and the chaos sisters a bit longer?” I asked, squeezing her hand. I was keen to impress on her that leaving after that sweet, simple kiss was the last thing I wanted to do.
As she nodded, I dropped her hands and walked pas
t her, desperate to wipe the gloating smirk from Ross’s face. But I knew that dealing with this maturely was the key to getting Jonas on side and to see how I felt about her.
We went into his office, a place normal people rarely entered. It was full of stuff mundane humans shouldn’t set eyes upon. “I see you failed to abide by my rules.”
“Before you start—”
“I asked you one thing, Jake, one fucking thing.”
“I know, but—”
“Your work on this represents me. If you had fucked up because you were too busy getting fucked yourself, what would have happened?”
“It wasn’t—”
“Dick. In. Your. Fucking. Pants. Was it really that hard?” he grunted at me.
I wasn’t standing for this. “Shut the fuck up and let me talk,” I shouted back.
Jonas, whose hands were now clenched into fists at his hips, stopped and looked at me. If it was at all possible, the smirk on Ross’s face got even bigger. “Told you. You’re rubbing off on him.”
“I didn’t intend for it to happen, but I feel something for her.”
“Yeah, the inside of her, I imagine,” he chastised.
I did not like that. Not one bit. “Jonas,” I warned.
“Did the Jack and Meesha episode teach you nothing?”
I’d finally heard enough. “Firstly, I came to you for help on that. Throwing it back in my face is not cool. Do you think I took one look at Rebecca and immediately flopped my dick out? No. I didn’t. I respected your instruction but sometimes things are different.”
“We never blur those lines at work, Jake,” Jonas reprimanded.
“Don’t we? I suppose there was no blurring of lines with you and Tits,” I reminded him. That woman was never mentioned after nearly destroying any chance he had of getting his happily ever after with Dolly. He was working a job that involved working her. “Did you think about any lines at all when you decided to go after Dolly? And you…” I nodded at Ross. “The king of fucking blurred lines—do I need to mention Neely and Cara? You’re so fucking blurry it’s a wonder you can focus at all.”
Neither of them liked my speech so I figured I might as well carry on now that I had their attention.
“So I fell for a girl. Is that so bad? I feel differently about her, so different it hurts to be away from her. I want nothing more than to keep her safe and happy, and whether you like it or not, that’s what I intend to do. So, if you talk about her like she’s some fuck I’ve had and discarded, or even mention her insides again, brother or not, ex-military or not, I will fuck you up. We clear?”
Jonas and Ross were motionless, their faces expressionless. I waited and waited until Jonas’s shoulders started to shake and then Ross started to snicker. Both fell about laughing like uncontrollable children. Jonas was laughing so hard he was wiping tears from his eyes, and Ross was bent double with his hands resting on his knees, laughing so hard that he was finding it hard to fucking breathe.
Me, I just stood there taking it all in, feeling more and more agitated the longer this routine when on. “Can we get this shit over with? I need to get back to my woman.”
Jonas finally managed to control himself and stop laughing. “Seems like you were right, Ross. Our boy is smitten.”
“Enough. Mansion wants access to the rest of his family,” I said, breaking the jovial mood. “Using Rebecca to do that doesn’t break his agreement with you and he says he is desperate to find them.”
The cloud of doom returned to Jonas and Ross immediately. “He does not get fucking Cara. I will kill him before that happens,” Ross said immediately, and the look on his face gave me no reason to doubt him. It was how I felt, too. If he got near Rebecca again, I’d end him.
“That all he said?”
“In a nutshell. Give him access to his family or Rebecca is fair game and she resumes her peachy spot as family bait. I think you get that I’m not about to let that happen.”
Neither of them answered, and that scared me.
“I fucking mean it, Jonas. That girl is it for me, so consider her family. She is out of this, so come up with a plan that doesn’t involve her swinging her ass out there like a worm on a hook.”
Honestly, I was surprising even myself right now. My damned attitude was a whole new side of me that I felt extremely comfortable with.
“I’ll find a way,” Jonas replied.
“Good. Rebecca stays in Hawkstown then?” I was already turning and heading for the door when his reply stopped me.
“Until her troubles are clear, yes.”
“No. If I have my way, she stays. End of. We’re going to need a place to crash and it’s not a good idea for her to be around Jack until I’ve resolved that situation. Can we borrow the cabin?” Jonas nodded. “Has he been okay?” I asked, dreading the answer. Jack came to help me, but that was the extent of his forgiveness so far.
“I suspect he’s getting there. And that dirty bitch has made it clear she’s waiting for the real deal to return home, so you’re probably going to need to deal with that, too.”
“Fuck,” I mumbled, feeling despair at the odd loose ends my life contained. I just needed them to disappear so I could work towards Rebecca’s dream—my dream.
Us. Living our life together and her finally knowing what it felt like to be truly alive.
Back in the main room, Rebecca was sat at the table with Dolly. The twins had moved on to some other form of play that would no doubt rival an operation FEMA could be called in to resolve. Their conversation hushed and a small part of my brain wondered what the fuck they could be talking about. Fortunately, that small part of my brain couldn’t be assed to override the even bigger part of it that needed to be alone with her. So, I grabbed her hand and dragged her behind me.
“Drinks soon!” Dolly shouted at our backs as we started to leave.
“Sure,” Rebecca answered, and continued stumbling after me. “Jake, slow down. Where are we going?”
“The cabin.”
“Another cabin? What’s going on?” she asked, taking double strides to keep up with me as I dragged her across the yard and through the kids’ play area.
“Stop!” she shouted and yanked on my hand to pull me to a standstill.
“Please, Rebecca,” I pleaded, turning to face her. “I’m tired and getting grumpy. I missed you and I just need to hold you.” At my words, she melted before my eyes and smiled. Satisfied that she understood where I was coming from, I resumed our pacing. I had a lot on my mind, but until I’d reassured myself that Rebecca could be mine, everything else could wait.
If she wasn’t on the same page as me then continuing to mull over the future was pointless. I’d been thinking about a possible job direction and I needed to know where she was at before I made that decision.
“Oh, this is seriously pretty,” she remarked, glancing around when I got her through the cabin door.
“I know,” I replied, not even looking at the inside of the remodeled cabin at all. I was completed focused on her. Everything felt right and normal as long I was always looking at her. “Is it wrong of me to want to rip all of your damn clothes off and bury myself deep inside you?”
I sensed her shock through her sharp inhalation. My patience had waited as long as it was prepared to, and my tact and diplomacy were in serious short supply.
“You weren’t lying when you said you’d missed me?”
“Fuck no. Not even remotely.”
The cabin was one big self-contained unit with clever walls to give it some element of privacy should it be required. It was in worse shape than the Rockton cabin when Jonas had first moved in. He’d used it as a base while the main house was being built and I guess he still kept it for visitors. So when I picked her up and latched my lips onto hers, I didn’t have to go far so I could throw her at the bed.
Kissing her was like taking in vital oxygen and I was worried I was never going to get enough. I’d been fighting a damn erection since the minute she’d im
plied things were all better because we were back together.
It didn’t take long for me to undress and shed my clothes. I was impatient, and when she didn’t appear to be losing hers quickly enough, I dived in to help out. “Do you feel this between us, Rebecca?”
“I do,” she replied breathlessly.
When I finally had her on her back, I was throbbing in agony—my need for her was that great. This wasn’t just some mindless fuck and me needing to get my dick serviced. This was ‘get inside her and connect your body with hers now before you lose your grip on reality’.
“Oh,” she mewled as I slowly inched my way inside her. Taking her hands and linking them in my own, I raised them to the side of her head, feeling every grasp and clench of her fingers in sync with the walls of her pussy.
Even though this was just basic sex, completely vanilla and plain old missionary, it was the most satisfying sex I’d ever had. No, scratch that, it was the most satisfying sex I’d had since the last time I’d been inside her.
“You need to come, baby.” I groaned, feeling that spark inside me gathering momentum and energy.
“Harder, Jake, I’m nearly there,” Rebecca panted, and not needing to be told twice, I increased the forward thrust of power through my thighs. Feeling the metal at the end of my dick scrape from the very edge of her to the furthest point possible was mind blowing.
As the muscles of her pussy started to flex and contract, I knew I needed to up my effort. If I didn’t she wouldn’t get her ending and I wanted to feel that more than anything. I wanted my dick to be the thing that forced her to finish.
When Rebecca’s body began to shudder and stiffen, I knew her orgasm was rushing through her and chasing mine down.
That was all I needed. One final surge and I seated myself as deeply as possible before feeling the veins in my body swell, my muscles bunch up and the whole of my essence spurt with passion inside her.
Rebecca continued to cling to me as I juddered and groaned my way to the bittersweet end. Afterwards, I could do nothing but collapse on top of her, breathing like I’d just run ten straight marathons.
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