“Then maybe you should go to Portland and talk to him. You can’t just sit around and wait for him to pop by again, only to turn back around and leave right after the conversation,” she said.
Samantha was right. This was what I had to do. Thanking my best friend for being the one to talk some sense into me, I got off the phone and went into my bedroom to pack a bag. When I was packed and ready, I drove to The Hollow.
Ava looked up at me questioningly when I walked in. “You aren’t scheduled for tonight, are you?”
“No. And I might need to be unscheduled for a couple of days,” I said.
“Why? What’s going on?” she asked, sounding worried.
“I need to go to Portland. I have to talk to Jordan.”
Ava smiled. “It’s about time. Go. We have everything handled here. Don’t worry about it for a second.”
“Thank you,” I said.
She hugged me tight, and I jogged toward the door.
“Hannah?” she said.
I turned around to face her.
“And if you need to be unscheduled permanently, we have that handled, too,” she said.
I smiled. “Thank you.”
The drive to Portland was only ninety minutes, but I spent every minute of it wondering what was going to happen when I got there. Lingering trauma from being with Ethan for so long had me wondering what I might find at the bar. Jordan tried to get me to move with him, but he didn’t really push very hard. Maybe that was because he didn’t actually want me there. Maybe he was already building another whole existence in Portland and I didn’t factor into that equation.
I forced those thoughts out of my mind as I got to the city. I couldn’t let myself spiral right now. Ethan was gone. Out of my life for good. He would have a long time in jail to think about everything he did, and when he was out, he wouldn’t be allowed anywhere near me.
The GPS guided me to the bar, and I took a few seconds to admire it. Though it was obviously an older building, I was impressed by how well they seemed to make it look like The Hollow in Astoria. It was like it had been there all along.
I glanced in the visor mirror and smoothed my hair before getting out. I felt strangely nervous walking inside, but as soon as I saw Jordan behind the bar, that all melted away. I waited for him to look over in response to the bells over the door. When he did, his eyes widened.
“Hannah!” he said, obviously shocked to see me. He ran around from behind the bar and scooped me into a hug. “What are you doing here? Are you okay?”
I shook my head. “No. I’m not. I miss you. I miss you so much, Jordan. But I’m scared.”
“Scared? What do you mean? Did something happen with Ethan?” he asked.
I gave an exasperated sigh and shook my head. “No. It doesn’t have anything to do with him.”
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go in the back and talk.”
He gestured at Matt to indicate we were going in the back, and Matt nodded. As soon as we were in the office, I threw my arms around him again. I just needed to be close to him, to feel him near me.
“I’m scared because of what I feel for you, Jordan,” I said. “This isn’t something I’ve ever felt before. I didn’t even know if it was possible. But I don’t know what you feel for me.”
He looked at me incredulously. “How can you not know that? How can you not know how I feel about you?”
“Because you’ve never said it?” I said. “We’ve never said what our relationship is, or if we even have a relationship. We’ve never talked about our feelings. I keep holding myself back because I’m trying to protect myself.”
“Hannah,” he said, taking my hands and holding them tight as he looked into my eyes. “I love you. I’ve loved you for a long time.”
“You do?”
He nodded. “Yes.”
“I love you, too,” I said.
Jordan pulled me close, and his mouth dropped down to mine in a deep, passionate kiss. When he stepped back from me, both of us were breathless.
“I hate this, but I have to go back to work,” he said. “We’re shorthanded already. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t say you’re sorry. It’s your job. I’m here. I’ll wait for you,” I said.
“You will?”
“I have a bag in my car, and Ava gave me permission for a slumber party.”
Jordan grinned. “Oh, did she?”
“Maybe not those words exactly, but the sentiment was there,” I said.
We walked back out to the bar, and I slid onto one of the booths. Jordan poured me a pineapple juice and put a bowl of snack mix in front of me.
“Nice touch,” I said.
He shrugged and grinned before going back to work.
I sat there watching him work for almost an hour before Matt gave me an incredulous look.
“Hannah, are you just going to sit there, or are you going to do your job?” he asked.
“My job?” I asked.
“You are on official Hollow grounds. Your skills and responsibilities transfer,” he said, then gave me a playful smile. “Come on, the cocktail waitress insisted on a break, and we really need the help.”
I smiled at him. “Sure. I can help.”
I fell right into the rhythms of the bar and found myself really enjoying working there. It was the same vibe as the other location, and yet different in a way I couldn’t really define.
We worked hard through the rest of the night. Jordan kept plying me with juice, water, and food, but I was feeling great by the end of it all. Like being near him just gave me a new surge of energy.
After we closed the door and locked it, I looked around and realized I couldn’t find Jordan. In the office I found him filling out some papers at his desk. As I walked toward him, a calendar on the wall caught my eye. It had all the shifts marked with who was going to be working and when. And my name was on it.
“What’s that all about?” I asked, pointing to my name on the calendar.
“Matt asked if you were going to do your job,” he said.
“Yeah.”
“Well, that’s really your job. It’s been waiting for you from the beginning. We knew you would come here eventually,” Jordan said.
All I could do was laugh and melt into his lap for a kiss. I felt so happy and peaceful. There was nothing left to worry about anymore.
39
Jordan
I hadn’t slept in the bed I’d bought for the apartment before Hannah came, and I was glad for it. The first time I slept in it, I had her curled in my arms like she was supposed to be. Granted, the studio apartment wasn’t going to work out, and I had already called the landlord and asked if there was another room. I got voicemail, but I remembered him saying weeks ago that they had multiple two-bedroom apartments available on the same floor. While I didn’t relish the idea of moving all my furniture again, I would do it happily if it meant I got to have Hannah there with me.
I rolled over and curled around her, and she wiggled her hips into me. Natural physical reactions took over, and she turned to look at me over her shoulder. One eyebrow cocked, she smiled at me, and I smiled back. I shrugged.
“How are you feeling this morning?” I asked, wary of how the mornings were sometimes difficult for her.
“Feeling good,” she said.
“How good?”
“Really good,” she purred.
“Oh, really now,” I said, sitting up a bit and gently guiding her jaw around so I could brush my lips against hers. One of her hands slid down and grasped my cock through my boxers. “That good?”
She nodded, and I pressed my lips down for a deep, emotional kiss.
Soon, that kiss turned hungry. Hungry for affection, for closeness and release. My tongue slid into her mouth and played with hers. She returned my exploration eagerly, and my hand slid up her shirt. Filling my palm with her breast, I moved my lips down her neck to her collarbone. I kneaded into her chest as she gasped when I reached the sensitive area in t
he crook of her neck.
Moving down, I helped her remove her shirt entirely and tossed it away. I took her sensitive nipple into my mouth and slowly, reverently caressed it with my tongue. My hand slid down her stomach until it reached her panties and dipped inside. She was wet and ready for me already, but I wanted more. I wanted to show her just how much I’d missed her all this time.
I moved across her chest to the other side, taking her nipple into my mouth while my middle finger explored her slick folds until it found her clit. I rubbed in a circular motion as she moaned, and I sucked on her breast. Then, I moved down the center of her stomach, pulling her panties down and away as I did. She reached for me, and I scooted so that my legs were facing the opposite way as hers. Hannah placed her hand on my cock and stroked it through the thin boxers.
Groaning as her fingers wrapped around my staff, I slid my tongue along her lips and heard her moan as well. She pulled my cock through the hole in my boxers and used her tongue to sweep up the bottom of it, then swirl around the head while I paid attention to her clit. She stroked me as she sucked on the head of my cock, and I teased her clit with the tip of my tongue and slid a finger inside her.
Brushing the tip of my finger along the upper walls, I found a spot that made her squirm and paid it extra attention. Soon, her breathing hitched and she writhed as she fell into a climax, diving her lips deeply over me while moans escaped her mouth. Her moans vibrated over my staff, and I rocked into her, feeling the tension building up around me as well.
When her body stopped convulsing, I pulled my hips away from her and slid around. Pulling my boxers off, I tossed them away as I positioned myself between her thighs. She arched her back up, and I took her breast into my mouth again as my cock slid through her folds until it reached her opening. I teased her clit with the head before sliding into her slowly. She was slick and ready for me, and I drove deep into her pussy.
Rocking my hips back and then thrusting deeper, I took my time in slow, measured movements. There was no hurry. There was nothing but time now. We had each other forever.
I sat up on my knees as I continued my slow motion of rocking into her and admired her body. She was so beautiful, and I let my fingers roam across her body as I gained speed. Hannah reached up and pulled me down by the back of the neck until our lips pressed in again, and I could feel her rocking underneath me, begging me to go faster, harder.
Obliging, I began to thrust deeply into her at a much quicker pace. Her mouth opened as she closed her eyes and let her head fall back into the pillows. I pressed my closed fists on either side of her as I mounted her and thrust over and over again. She crossed her ankles over my ass as I slammed into her with gaining intensity.
Suddenly, she opened her eyes, and they bored into mine. She bared her teeth as an aggressive need rose between us. I began to slam into her harder, faster, and she cried out. Then, pressing up on her elbows, she maneuvered until we switched and she was on top of me. Her hips took over the motion, and she pounded down on top of me. She sat up, pressing her hands into my chest for leverage as she rode me, and I admired her beauty again. There was nothing in the world sexier that I had ever seen than watching her ride me, knowing I was pleasuring her as much as she was pleasuring me.
I reached up and grasped her breasts, and she moved one leg so her foot was planted on the mattress beside me. It gave her better positioning to slam my cock deeper into her, and she slid her fingers down until she could touch herself. Swirling her middle finger over her clit, her mouth fell open and she continued to slam onto me. I could sense that we were both nearing completion, and I grabbed at her ass with one hand to guide her into ever harder, faster thrusts.
I groaned deeply as she rode me and felt a desire for control build up. Hannah’s eyes bored down into mine, and I pulled her with me into a seated position until my back was against the wall. There, I grabbed her ass and pulled her hard down onto me. She placed her hands on the wall to steady herself as I took a breast into my mouth and guided her motions.
The tension was at a breaking point, and I knew I was extremely close. I pushed until she fell on her back again, and I lay down on top of her. Her legs wrapped around my back, and I buried my face in her neck. Both hands reached down to get under her ass, lifting it and squeezing as I slammed into her as hard as my hips would let me. The groans turned to a growl, and I could feel her release underneath me.
Her body vibrated and shook, and she screamed out as I raised my voice with hers. The overwhelming rush flowed through me, and I exploded into her, my body locking up as I came hard and shook as I emptied myself deeply inside her. When I was spent, I crashed on the bed and curled her into me again, pulling the covers over our naked bodies in satisfaction.
We lay back, catching our breath for a few minutes before she rolled over onto my chest. Placing a kiss and sighing contentedly, she turned so she could stare at me. I was doing the same, just taking in her beauty.
“I’m very glad you decided to move in with me,” I said.
“I am, too,” she said. “I only hesitated because I was afraid. What if things don’t work out being here?”
I sat up and pressed my lips into hers, and she rolled so she was lying in my lap, looking up at me.
“They will,” I said, “I promise you that. Because I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she said, and we shared another sweet kiss.
A thought crossed my mind, and I sat with it for a moment before saying anything.
“You know, I can keep my place in Astoria,” I said. “That way we will have a place to stay when we visit home.”
She sat up quickly, her eyes wide and a grin breaking across her lips.
“Really?” she asked.
“I don’t see why not,” I said. “It’s not like we won’t be going down there all the time. It’s where Mom and my other brothers are. It would be nice to have a place we can stay that still feels like home.”
“We could spend holidays there so we could be close to your mom,” Hannah said, getting excited. “It would be our little getaway.”
“I like it,” I said. “Do you? Do you really?”
“I do. I love it.” She threw her arms around me, and I smiled.
“Good, because I love it, too. And I love you.”
“I love you, too, Jordan,” she said, and we kissed once again.
I lay back in the bed with her and held her tight. I never intended on letting go.
Epilogue
Hannah
I drew in a breath, then realized I was holding it and forced it out of my lungs. My eyes squeezed tight, I tried to do what the birth coach had taught me and focused on my happy thought. The only problem was, I couldn’t really remember what my happy thought was in that moment.
The only thing going through my mind was the pain. It started when Jordan and I were out at a romantic dinner he’d surprised me with to mark the last week of my pregnancy. With our baby girl due in seven days, we were taking as much time as we could to just soak each other and this experience in.
And partway through my plate of incredible portobello mushroom ravioli with sun-dried tomato garlic cream sauce, it became pretty clear our daughter wanted to join the party.
My first contraction wasn’t that bad. Just a pain that was different than the Braxton-Hicks contractions I had been having for a couple of weeks. I ignored it and kept enjoying my dinner and talking with Jordan about the future. Then a few minutes later, another pain came. This one was a little more intense. By the third one, I had to stop and catch my breath when the pain hit me.
It was Jordan who decided it was time to get to the hospital. There were so many emotions as we piled into the car and made our way. He got on the phone and called the doctor like we’d been instructed to do, telling her we were on our way and my contractions were only five minutes apart.
Things were happening fast. I was so excited to know I would soon be welcoming my daughter into the world and seeing her little
face for the first time. But it would be a lie if I didn’t also admit to being nervous and even scared about labor. I did all the preparation I could. We went to labor classes. We learned the breathing patterns and focus techniques. We did the exercises. All that was left was actually doing it.
I thought I was completely calm about the situation. Now that it was happening, it didn’t feel quite that way. Jordan reached over and held my hand, reassuring me with just that touch. It was enough to bring back my focus, and by the time we were at the hospital, I felt in control again.
In the maternity ward, they got me in a gown and hooked me up to monitors to check on the baby. Everything was going great, so I got up and started pacing the hallways. I knew from the beginning I wasn’t going to be the type of woman who had the patience to lie in bed throughout labor. I needed to be up moving and letting gravity do its job.
Two hours of painful contractions later, I felt a gush of water. My eyes widened, and Jordan laughed almost like he was just realizing how real this was. The nurse wandering the halls with us rushed us back to the delivery room so the doctor could check me.
“Alright. Looking good. Won’t be long now,” she said.
“Really?” I asked.
“You can do this. Just keep focusing. Your baby will be here in no time.”
Less than two hours after that, she was in my arms. It all seemed like a blur, almost like it didn’t happen. But the sweat running down my face and my exhausted muscles reminded me it did. I had never felt happiness like it before. It was more than I ever could have imagined.
We took the next few hours to be selfish and just relish our new little family together. Then just as I expected, as soon as we invited everybody, they swarmed the recovery suite, eager to meet the new little one. Even Matt had gotten on the road and was there to greet his new little niece. Ava cradled her own newborn in one arm and mine in the other, and I felt my heart swell. I knew they would grow up so close, and I couldn’t imagine anything better.
Boss Daddy: A Secret Baby Romance Page 22