Loved Bayou (Martin Family Book 1)

by Brooke St. James

  Chapter 19

  If there was a graceful way to get out of a boat, I didn't know about it. I grew up on these waters, and had entered and exited boats my whole life, yet still my legs shook as I tried to steady myself making the transition from boat to dock. Aunt Debbie was there to steady me until I reached out to take Jacob's hand.

  "Are you gonna need a ride home?" Aunt Debbie asked, staying true to her protective, motherly instincts.

  "I've got her," Jacob assured her, pulling me onto the dock to stand beside him.

  I turned and smiled down at everyone still sitting in the boat. They all had completely different expressions. Aunt Debbie seemed a little surprised that I was staying, Cam was checking us out with an unreadable expression, and Jolene was beaming from ear to ear like a girl who was on her first date. Actually, I think she and I were wearing similar smiles.

  The realization of this made me giggle a little, which caused Jacob to look at me. I couldn't believe he was standing right next to me. It had been nearly two weeks since the last time I had seen him, and it seemed like an eternity. I continued to smile as I let my eyes roam over his face. I wanted to say something to him, but I felt like anything I could say right there in front of Cam and everyone else would be silly and insignificant.

  "You saw your sign?" I asked, unable to stop myself from blurting something.

  He smiled and nodded. "I like that little crawfish with a hat."

  "I made a little poster board thing for his front door," I said, turning to those in the boat to explain since they were just sitting there staring at us.

  "Awww," Aunt Debbie cooed.

  "Are you gonna hang out here?" Cam asked, poised to turn the motor and drive away.

  I nodded at him before I turned to Jacob who grinned and nodded at me.

  "All right, we'll see y'all later," Cam said.

  "Love you guys," I said, waving at my family. "It was nice meeting you, Jolene."

  "Nice meeting you, too," she said, still smiling.

  Within a few seconds, they disappeared onto the water, leaving Jacob and me standing on the dock. It was difficult for me to look at him when they first drove off. I had been able to do it while they were there, but now that we were alone, I felt shy and vulnerable, like I didn't know where to begin. I could see him out of the corner of my eye when he turned to look at me, but I didn't return his gaze right away. I heard Larry collapse down behind us with a loud doggy sigh.

  "He's tired," I said, turning to Jacob with a smile.

  He glanced at the dock toward his dog, who was laid out on his side. "That's an understatement," Jacob said. "He's been going crazy since we got home earlier. That's why we were outside when I saw your light. Larry was acting the fool trying to get outside. I thought maybe those kids were back."

  I turned to him with the intention of saying something about those kids and how they wouldn't be back, but I lost my train of thought once I started staring at his face. I thought as I looked at him that his facial hair must not be that thick, because his beard didn't seem very shaggy to me. I could still see his jaw line underneath. I traced it to the middle of his chin to find that his little indention was mostly obstructed by hair.

  "You are a little shaggy," I said, smiling at him. He grinned and rubbed his jaw just like I pictured him doing when we were on the phone.

  "I planned on shaving before I saw you tomorrow."

  Neither of us reached out to touch the other even though we both wanted to. I guess maybe I shouldn't say we both wanted to since there was no way to know for sure what he was thinking, but I had a pretty good hunch by the way he was staring at me. Either way, we both kept our hands to ourselves as we stared at each other at the end of the dock.

  "It's funny that you had to go live out in the woods to escape your house in the woods," I said, still thinking about the stubble on his face.

  He let out a laugh at that. "Those woods were different," he said. "I can't think straight over here."

  I shot him a what in the world does that mean expression.

  "These woods come with a you," he said.

  "A me?"

  He smiled. "Yep."

  "I make you not think straight?" I asked.

  He grinned. "Or maybe you make me think straight and I was used to thinking crooked. You make me think differently, that's all."

  I shrugged and glanced down shyly with a little smile. Jacob used his knuckle to tilt my chin so I would look at him. "This house came with a you, Alex. I don't think either of us meant for it to happen that way, but it did. I knew if I stayed here, you'd be a part of the equation. It's like you come with this place."

  "And it almost made you run away?" I asked.

  "I would have if I didn't think I could do right by you."

  "So you're back because you can?" I asked.

  He sighed. "I'm back because I have to try. It was you all along, Alex. You're my Louisiana. You're what I was trying to escape to."

  There were sounds of frogs and crickets chirping loudly and Larry's panting, but none of them could drown the sound of my beating heart. I bit my lip and smiled at him. "I think I come with this house, too," I said.

  He grinned as his eye roamed over my face. He stepped closer to me, wrapping his hand gently around my back, and letting it come to rest on me. I wanted to collapse onto him dramatically with a sigh—a good old-fashioned swooning session. I held firm since this wasn't 1890's England.

  "I didn't see anything about you in the contract," he said, regarding me seriously.

  I made an expression like I was deeply offended. "I don't know who worked me into the deal like this," I said. "I don't think it's right that I get tossed to and fro—bought and sold like property."

  "I'm sorry about that," he said, holding me a little tighter. "But there's really nothing we can do about it since I've already signed everything."

  "So, I'm just yours, that's all there is to it?" I asked, looking disheartened.

  He nodded with a playful look of regret before shrugging. "I don't think it'll be so bad, though, once you get used to it."

  I hesitated for a few seconds before saying, "I'm already used to it."

  My voice came out quieter than I expected, and Jacob leaned forward with a curious expression on his face. He tilted his head toward me as if asking me to repeat myself.

  "I'm already used to it," I repeated. I whispered it this time because my mouth was right next to his ear. I let it linger there after I finished talking, and my lips gently brushed against his earlobe. His grip around my back tightened just slightly as my lips touched him. I pulled back after a few seconds, and saw him swallow before he spoke.

  "One more time," he said as if he hadn't heard me.

  I stretched up to put my mouth next to his ear again. "I'm already used to being yours, Jacob Fox."

  He let out a sigh and I pulled back to look at him. I missed the smell of him, and I laid my head on his chest for a second just so I could get a good whiff. He put his hand on the back of my head to hold me close, and as if on cue, Larry let out a long exaggerated sigh of relief. It was so perfectly timed that I could feel Jacob's chest shake with silent laughter.

  "He's glad to be out of that car," I said.

  "I am too," Jacob added, running his hand over my head. There was honest to goodness electricity flowing through my body in the places where he touched me. He had one hand behind my back and the other on my hand, and I felt electrical impulses at the places we connected. We were standing above the water with sounds of the swamp all around us, which only added to the surreal feeling. I popped up to put a kiss on his cheek, mostly because I couldn't keep my lips off of him another second.

  "Alex," he whispered a few seconds after I kissed him. "You missed."

  "Missed what?—Oh," I said, once I realized what he was saying. My stomach tied in a thousand knots at the thought of kissing his lips. I glanced at them instinctually. "I didn't miss," I said. "I was aiming for right there."

  "
Why would you want to do that?" he asked.

  "Because ladies don't make the first move," I said timidly.

  He unashamedly stared directly at my mouth. "Does a lady respond if a man makes the first move?" he asked.

  I hesitated for a second and then nodded.

  He continued staring at my face, letting his eye roam over it as he touched my cheek with his fingertips.

  "What happened?" I asked, seeing a bandage on his thumb.

  "Machete."

  "Wow, you were roughing it, weren't you?"

  He grinned. "Something like that."

  I wondered if I would ever know the depths of what he had been through in the past and on this most recent trip. I had to think it might take him a while to tell me everything, and that was okay. What mattered was that it made him the person he was today.

  "I love you, Jacob," I whispered, knowing it was the truth.

  He leaned down and gently put his lips on mine, causing our somewhat dry mouths to stick together for a second before he pulled back. "Say it again," he said. He licked his lips right after that, and put them down on mine again, not giving me the chance to repeat myself before he kissed me.

  "I love you," I whispered the instant he pulled back.

  "Again," he said just before kissing me again.

  "I love you, Jacob Fox," I whispered, smiling when he pulled back again.

  I leaned up after I said it, planting another kiss on his mouth. Again and again, we kissed, smiling and whispering things between each one. We kissed like that for what must have been a full minute before I felt like I wanted to melt. My blood was warm and syrupy as I clung to him. I was desperate for his kiss.

  I ran my fingers to the back of his neck and through the short hair on the back of his head. I let out a little whimper, letting him know I wanted more. He sucked my bottom lip into his mouth, and the warm silky slickness of it made my knees weak. I collapsed into his embrace, and he held me tightly as he drew more of my lip into his mouth. He turned to the side and let the tip of his tongue enter my mouth. I tugged on the back of his head, telling him that I wanted him to do it again, and he did. He kissed me deeply. He kissed me like a man kisses a woman when she's his. He didn't pull back until we both knew some intangible thing had exchanged between us.

  We were both breathing heavily by the time we broke contact. We stood on the end of that dock, looking into each other's eyes like each of us knew the significance of what had just happened.

  "I guess we're gonna have to get married," he said.

  "I know," I said.

  "Are you okay with that?" he asked.

  I nodded.

  "It's difficult to stop kissing you," he said.

  I smiled. "I know."

  "But we have to until we get married."

  I smirked at him. "We don't have to, but we should. At least that's what my daddy says."

  He grinned. "Your daddy's right." A few seconds of silence passed. "But I can kiss you as much as I want between now and then," he said.

  I smiled, hoping there was a lot of that. "Yep," I said. "And we can dance to Otis Redding."

  He shook his head. "We're not going that far. We might need to be married before we break out the Otis again."

  Chapter 20

  It was almost midnight by the time Jacob drove me home that evening.

  We were having so much fun that it felt like I had only been over there a few minutes. I was shocked to see how late it was. I found myself dreading the ride home. I knew we couldn't jump into anything right away, but I couldn’t help but want to sleep next to him after I'd been missing him so much. I imagined what it'd be like to wake up beside him in the morning.

  Jacob walked me to my door when we arrived at my house. I sort of anticipated that he would just drop me off, and I was happy when he turned off his truck and stepped outside with me. I normally used the side entrance of my house, so we headed in that direction. My porch light was switched on, but we stopped shy of the door while we were still in the darkness.

  "You can see everything from out here," he said, looking up at the stars.

  "Was it like this in Maine?"

  He nodded and looked up as he put his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "We had a lot of clouds, but on the clear nights it was like this."

  "My mom's having everybody over for lunch tomorrow," I said while he was still looking up. "Cole and them will be there. Amelia will probably have a few of her little friends there, too. My dad's making homemade ice cream. We'll probably get out the washer-toss game." I paused and smiled at him. "It'll be a little chaotic. I assumed it would be a too much for you, but I wanted you to know you were welcome in case you—"

  "I'll come," he said.

  "You will?" I asked, smiling.

  He smiled back. "Don't look so surprised," he said. "I told you if I came back, I was gonna be fixed."

  "You weren't broken," I said, pointing at his chest and narrowing my eyes playfully.

  He gazed back at me. "Yes I was," he said with a little nod. "I really was. But sometimes it takes being broken to get put back together the right way."

  I swallowed hard, not quite knowing how to respond to something so profound. "Are you coming to my mom's tomorrow?" I asked shyly.

  "Yes," he said. "If that's where you'll be."

  I smiled and pushed at his shoulder, batting my eyes at him. "Aw, shucks, you know just what to say to a lady."

  He laughed. "I know just what else to do with a lady, too," he said.

  "Oh yeah?" I asked in a challenging way.

  "Yeah," he said, still grinning.

  "What?"

  Jacob looked at me just the right way as he nudged his chin toward me. He was telling me to get over there and kiss him, but he was doing it without saying a word. I was helpless to do anything but obey him. All he had to do was look at me just right and I closed the distance between us. I wasn't brave enough to come right out and kiss him on the lips, so I reached up and kissed his cheek. The whole point of this was to demonstrate that he knew what to do with a lady, which apparently he did if he knew how to make me run over there and kiss him by simply tilting his chin at me.

  Jacob's hands came out of his pockets, and he wrapped them around me, holding me close to him for a second before letting me go. "I'd better go," he said with a sigh.

  I nodded, wearing a smile.

  He pulled back to take in my smile before leaning forward to kiss me. His touch was gentle, and he let his lips linger on mine for several long seconds before pulling away. He squinted and ran a hand through his hair as if the decision to stop kissing me was a difficult one.

  "My cousins are really competitive," I said, changing the subject since stopping was challenging for both of us. "And so are my dad and uncle, for that matter."

  Jacob looked at me curiously, and I smiled and lifted my hands.

  "It shouldn't be that bad, but I wanted you to know what you were getting into if you play the washer-toss game."

  "I don't even know what the washer toss game is," he said.

  "You take these huge washers and toss them onto a wooden box to score points."

  "Like a washer and dryer?" Jacob asked, looking totally confused.

  I laughed. "No way! How in the world could you toss a washing machine?"

  "I was wondering the same thing, but you said they were huge, so I just assumed…"

  "I meant huge for a washer—like a nuts and bolts washer—a round metal disc with a hole in the middle—only these are like two inches across and they're pretty heavy. You toss them onto a wooden box with holes in it to earn points. It's similar to a beanbag toss or whatever."

  "I'll kill it at that game," he said. "Tell Cole and Cam I said bring it."

  I laughed. "You can tell them that yourself. I'm looking forward to seeing you do that."

  "I know their smack talking skills. I went to summer camp with them, remember?"

  ***

  We all went to at my parents' house for l
unch the following day. I told Jacob we'd be getting there around 1 and would eat closer to 1:30, and he chose to split the difference, showing up at 1:15.

  I was watching out the kitchen window, and saw when he pulled into the driveway. "Oh my gosh, Alex, you are totally in love!" my sister said, pinching my arm.

  "Ouch!" I said, since she did it really hard.

  I couldn't be mad for very long with Jacob pulling into the driveway, so I smiled again as I looked out of the window. He had parked his truck, and was now getting out of it. I crossed the kitchen, heading outside to meet him.

  The guys in my family were all standing outside doing guy things, and they had already called Jacob over there by the time I made it outside. I had to walk around to the side of the house since that's where they were. Jacob was wearing jeans and a T-shirt with a pair of sandals, and I beamed at the sight of him. He had a dozen eggs in his hand that I assumed he was bringing for my mom.

  "Cole was just introducing us to Mr. Fox," my dad said, looking at me to gauge my reaction after he shook Jacob's hand. He knew Jacob and I had something going on, and it was interesting to watch him appraise the situation. "I guess it goes without saying that we're all really protective of Alex," my dad continued, horrifying me.

  "Dad!" I gasped.

  He looked at me with a patient smile that said I didn't know what I was talking about, and I looked back at him with a pleading expression, begging him to stop.

  Jacob put his arm around my shoulder and looked down at me sweetly. "I'm glad they love you this much," he said. "They should warn me—I mean, not me specifically, because I'm not gonna hurt you, but he's right for saying that to someone who comes over here trying to date you."

  "Don't encourage him," I said.

  "He's right that I'm right," Dad agreed. "I like that he knows that."

  "He's okay," Cole said as if he had already done his research on Jacob.

  "They're not going to bombard you every time," I promised, taking the eggs from him.

  "Just once," Uncle Steve said.

  "It's our Alex," Cam said.

  Jacob smiled and put his hands up in surrender. "You don't have to worry about my intentions," he said.