Love Is the Drug

by K. E. Saxon

  Jason nodded and began to sweep. “Well, as far as I can tell, your dad was a freakin’ genius, because he got you to do all these damned chores.”

  Julie shook her head at him and walked over to the island. With a brisk sweep of her hand, she scooped up the piece of paper and held it up so the list was facing him. She pointed to the bottom direction. “Did you read this?”

  He squinted at it. “Yeah.”

  “But you didn’t follow it?”

  He stopped sweeping and leaned on the broom. “Follow what?”

  “The direction which states: ‘see other side’!”

  His eyes widened and his lips thinned. “Shit.”

  She cackled.

  “Give the damned thing to me!” he snapped and stormed over to her. He grabbed it out of her hand and read the words written on the back of the paper. “Shit,” he said again.

  “So—do you wanna?”

  “Fuck yes, I wanna.” He took hold of her hand and barreled toward the doorway, dragging her with him.

  His cell phone rang. She was surprised when he ignored it, and after three more rings, it finally stopped. But just as they walked through the door of the bedroom, it started ringing again.

  “Jason! Aren’t you going to get that?”

  “No. We’re only six paces to bliss. Fuck the phone.”

  Julie pulled it from his belt clip and looked at the display. She stopped dead in her tracks and yanked her hand from his. “It’s Adam Taylor,” she said and looked up at him as she pushed the button that engaged the call. “Jase?” she heard Adam say as she pressed the phone to Jason’s ear.

  Jason gave her a surly look and turned to pace to the wingback chair in the corner. “Hi, Adam. What’s up?” As he sat down he glanced back at her and said, “No. No, we didn’t get the message. Sorry—we were tied up most of the day and I forgot to check for calls.”

  Julie walked on shaky limbs into the bathroom and closed the door with hands that were cold and numb.

  * * *

  CHAPTER 9

  Jason hung up the phone a few minutes later, switching it off entirely, as he had done earlier while they were in the hotel. Then he got up and stripped down to his briefs before striding over to stand with his shoulder against the wall next to the bathroom. He rapped lightly on the door and then crossed his arms over his chest and waited.

  * * *

  Julie gnawed on her lower lip and looked down at the door handle. That phone call from the attorney working on their annulment had put a serious damper on her earlier sexual confidence—on her resolve as well. But she wouldn’t run from the truth; whatever that might be at this point. So she took a deep breath, threw her shoulders back, bucked up her chin, and turned the handle, swinging the door wide.

  “Now I’ve got ya!” Jason crowed, swinging her up into his arms.

  “Jason!” She threw her arms around his neck as he propelled them both toward the bed. “Jason! Stop! Tell me what Adam said first.”

  He dropped her unceremoniously on top of the mattress and tore at the fastenings of her cutoffs.

  She tried to slow his progress, but he batted her hands away, laughing diabolically. “Jason! Tell me!”

  “He just wanted to let us know that he’s still looking for Lou-the-postman and the other witness.” Despite her best efforts to keep her clothes on, Jason managed to strip her shorts and panties off her. Then he leaned down and nuzzled her neck. “I told him to forget it and come home.”

  She stilled but her heart nearly tripped out of her chest. “You don’t want an annulment?”

  He raised up and looked into her eyes a moment before giving her a soft, oh–so–tender–and–much–too–brief kiss on the lips. Then he said: “Sure I do.” His gaze traveled to the strands of hair that fell across the pillow next to her ear. He twisted a bit of it around his finger. “But what’s the rush? I’m sure, if need be, we can find Lou through a detective agency later. Plus, there’s no statute of limitations on annulments in Texas, and my dad’s not completely recovered yet from his surgery.”

  He returned his gaze to hers then. “You’re still okay with us keeping our annulment plans from him until after he’s recovered fully, right?”

  Julie nodded. “Yes.”

  * * *

  Jason gave a mental sigh of relief, bent his head and kissed her. There was some gratitude behind it, but mostly, now, it was pure, unadulterated passion. When she began to squirm beneath him, he ran his hand up under her shirt and rolled her nipple between his thumb and forefinger. After another long torturous minute, he broke the kiss. Resting his forehead against hers, he said “I love the feel of your skin against me,” and then he pressed his erection into her mons. “I can’t wait to be inside you again.”

  She arched her back. “Yes!” she whispered and delved her hands under the waistband of his briefs, tugging them down off his hips and then wrapping her legs high around him so that the unsheathed, hard heat of him pressed against the hot, damp center of her.

  He ground his mouth against hers; forced her lips to open wide as he thrust his tongue deep into the moist recesses. Then, in the grip of his growing need, he broke the kiss and hitched her top up higher before clamping his mouth down over the tight peak of her breast. He sucked her so hard, she arched and cried out.

  He couldn’t get enough of her.

  He yanked her head back further to give him better access to her neck as he rotated his pelvis, stimulating her clitoris with the underside of his cock. “Julie, Julie, Julie,” he rasped between harsh, suctioning, biting kisses down her neck, “God how you turn me on.”

  His need was driving his actions now. So much so that he lifted his hips and pressed the head of his cock into her a little before he remembered he didn’t have a condom on.

  He jerked out of her. The sex fog cleared in a painful, heart-pounding swoosh! and he realized just how close they’d come—he’d come—to making a very big, very bad mistake.

  “Shit!” he said under his breath. Then he leapt off the bed and darted into the bathroom.

  * * *

  Julie bit her lip and rolled onto her side, facing away from the door Jason had just gone through. His sudden desertion had felt like a betrayal. But how stupid was that? They had no business having unprotected sex—no business at all. She knew that. Okay, her head knew that. But her heart? Well, that was another matter altogether. Stop it, Julie! Stop it right now. You knew when you began this that it wasn’t for real—for the long haul. Just enjoy the here and now, for once in your life. Jason is a wonderful lover and he’s good to you. Allow yourself a little adventure and stop, stop, STOP dreaming about the future!

  * * *

  Jason looked at the wild man reflected in the mirror and grabbed hold of the edge of the counter, leaning further in. There was a fierceness in his eyes he’d never seen before. His body was still on fire for her, so much so that he ached—he quivered—with it. Get a grip, man. He slammed his hand onto the cold-water knob and twisted it to full blast, then he splashed his face, his neck—even his chest. After a moment, he dried himself off and stepped over to the cabinet where he’d stored the condoms earlier. This thing—this over-the-top sexual desire coupled with the intense tenderness he felt for her—was getting way out of control, but he couldn’t fight the force of its momentum.

  And what was scarier still: He didn’t want to.

  He opened the condom box and pulled out the gold foil strip. He almost tore off a couple, but then thought better of it. The way things were going, he’d probably use the whole pack tonight. Well, maybe not tonight, but at least by tomorrow night. Yeah. Much safer to have these guys within easy reach. He should have thought of it earlier. So what if she didn’t have a drawer in her nightstand? After last night—and no doubt tonight—his dad was surely well-aware of what they were up to in here, even without the proof of it lying on top of the bedside table.

  He stepped into the room and an anxious feeling darted through him: Julie was givin
g him her back.

  “Okay,” he said, hoping to lighten the mood, “now I’m loaded for bear!”

  When she looked over her shoulder at him with a look of confusion on her face, he dangled the long length of condoms in the air. She gaped.

  He gave a nervous chuckle.

  Then she giggled, and all his worry fled.

  * * *

  The next day Jason drove to the lodge site in Julie’s truck—tomorrow, he was buying an SUV. He sure as hell didn’t want to put one single scratch in this fine machine using it another day for cross-terrain driving. His mind was only half on the job, though, because the other half was still in the soft, sexy, gorgeous grip of the novice lover he’d left thoroughly sated and nearly comatose in bed an hour ago. She was supposed to be with him right now, but she’d been so fuzzy after that last wild ride he’d taken her on, that he’d had to leave her to rest awhile longer, promising to pick her up in two hours so she could meet with Mike about the progress on the restaurant.

  He grinned and turned to happily scan the terrain. She sure was game, he had to hand it to her. That chick was fun with a capital F. And at the rate he was going, he’d be through his repertoire by the end of the week. Which usually didn’t happen ‘til just around the time he’d start gettin’ that antsy feelin’ and figure it was time to explore other options, so to speak. But he wasn’t near to bein’ done with her—not by a long shot.

  He scrubbed his fingers across his chin. Well, he guessed he’d just have to start all over again, from the beginning. Yeah. It’d be like a second helping of the best damned meal he’d ever had. And who knew? Maybe he’d just have to put his mind to thinkin’ of a few new moves and positions to add to his bag of sex tricks.

  A steaming hot fantasy began to form in his mind then, but was rudely and painfully snatched away when his sights were snared by the distinct form of a young black-haired boy of about seven- or eight-years-old skipping stones—or trying to—on the small pond about a quarter mile from the lodge.

  He hauled ass over there and slammed on the brakes, stopping the truck about ten feet from where the boy stood and rolled down the window. “Who are you, kid, and what are you doing on my property?”

  * * *

  Luke turned in the direction of the aggravated voice and gave the snippity-looking guy behind the wheel of the shiny red truck a squint-eyed glare. He’d heard the sound of a car coming up behind him, but he’d figured it was Mike come to yell at him and take him back to his worksite. So he’d decided to show him just how un-scared of him—or that ‘time-out’ thing—he was, by pretending to ignore the roar of the engine.

  “Well?” the man said and got out of the truck. “Whose kid are you?”

  Luke crossed his arms over his chest. “None of your beeswax, mister.”

  “Are you one of the construction worker’s boys? You shouldn’t be out here by yourself—it’s not safe for a kid your age.”

  Luke pressed his lips together and didn’t say another word. He figured the less he said, the better—that way, Mr. Snippets wouldn’t know who to snitch to.

  * * *

  Jason gritted his teeth. The kid’s attitude irked the hell out of him. But, he’d be damned if he’d let the little monster stay here to get into God-knew-what-kind of trouble—which, no doubt, would end in a very long, very expensive lawsuit against himself, his dad and Julie.

  He slid his cell phone from its belt clip and sent a call through to Mike, who picked up on the first ring. “Hey, Mike—shit! I’ll call you back.” The kid was already thirty feet across the pasture that surrounded the pond.

  Jason took off after him.

  Well, that confirmed it. The boy was up to no good. And Jason had every intention of getting to the bottom of it—and putting a stop to this nonsense—toot sweet.

  Less than thirty seconds later, he caught the boy up by the scruff of his shirt.

  “Hey—” The kid twisted and squirmed, clawing at Jason’s hand with his grubby fingernails.

  “Calm down, little guy, I’m only trying to make sure you don’t hurt yourself—or get hurt—I’ve seen a few cottonmouths in that pond.”

  The kid stopped squirming and gave him a wide-eyed, open-jawed look. Jason let go the hold he had on the boy’s shirt, but kept his hand near in case he decided to bolt again.

  The kid’s initial fearful look instantly turned to one of belligerence. “So? I like snakes,” he said.

  “Great, so do I, but they don’t always like us—especially if you get too close.” Jason put his hand on his hip. “Now, are you ready to tell me who you are?”

  The kid crossed his arms over his chest and answered him with silence—except for the sound of raging, fuming breath blowing out his nostrils and from between his teeth.

  “Okay, in the truck with you, then. You’re going to sit your canister down in the farmhouse until I can find out who you belong to.” Jason put his arm around the boy’s shoulders and goose-stepped him over to the truck. After lifting his angry, tense, skinny little body onto the black-vinyl seat, he strapped him into the retro-fitted seat belt and got into the cab of the truck himself.

  Fifteen minutes later, he pressed the kid down into one of the kitchen chairs and, with his hand still firmly positioned on the boy’s shoulder, called Mike again. “Hi, Mike—listen, did one of your worker’s bring his kid here today?”

  * * *

  Julie came back into the kitchen from the door that led out onto the porch, Pookie in hand. “What have you been in to? You’ve got cobwebs all in your fur, you naughty kitty.”

  “He’s your son?” Jason said.

  Julie’s head shot up. She hadn’t realized anyone was in the room with her. Her eyes landed on Jason long enough for him to mouth to her that he’d explain in a minute, before skipping down to the child in the chair.

  “Yeah, I understand,” Jason said, “but I found him at the pond—the one we saw those two cottonmouths in that first day, remember?”

  The boy had a thunderous look on his face—and a mouth pinched so tightly closed, Julie doubted even the Jaws of Life could get it open—but he was darling. What a little cutie. Big brown eyes and an oval face framed by longish straight dark hair, cut so that it covered his ears and fell over his forehead. He was wearing a faded black t-shirt with Nirvana printed in gold letters on the front above a print of a hand-drawn smiley-face that had Xs for eyes and khaki cargo shorts with well-worn and grass-stained athletic shoes.

  “Hi,” she said and gave him a smile.

  His expression didn’t budge.

  “Are you hungry? Would you like some eggs and bacon or something?”

  “I brought him to the farmhouse,” Jason said into the phone and moved to stand in the doorway that led into the living room with his back to them. “He can stay here with my dad until you’re done for the day.”

  Julie saw a flash of interest at the meal in the child’s eyes before it was doused by Jason’s last words. She put her kitten on the floor and quickly gave it its food before getting the eggs and bacon from the refrigerator. “I’ve got some fruit juice—would you like a little while I’m making your breakfast?” she asked the boy over her shoulder.

  He didn’t answer her, but he wet his lips and resettled in his chair, so she figured he wouldn’t refuse the drink if she set it before him.

  “Bye, Mike.” Jason turned and slid his phone back into its clip. “Julie—this, evidently, is Luke Magnusen, Mike’s son.”

  Julie turned with the bowl of beaten eggs and whisk in her hand and grinned at the child. “Hi, Luke, glad to meet you.”

  But the boy’s entire attention was focused on Jason. He leapt to his feet. “Luke Blum!” he yelled. Then he turned to Julie and repeated, “My last name’s not Magnusen, it’s Blum—and Mike’s not my dad, George Blum is my dad! I don’t care what anyone says!”

  Julie’s eyes flew to Jason’s stunned face. She could only imagine what must be going through his mind right now. She shifted her gaze to
Luke’s then and said, “Well, it’s nice to meet you Luke Blum.”

  The boy’s shoulders relaxed and he surprised her by whispering very sweetly, “Hi,” in return.

  “Are you related to Nora Lee Blum by chance?” Julie asked, expecting to hear of some second-cousin or similar relationship. Common in small towns such as this one.

  “She’s my mom.”

  Julie’s brows shot up and she darted another half-glance at Jason. His expression mirrored her own. “Your mo—”

  “What’s his name?” Luke stormed, his face a glower. He jabbed his thumb in Jason’s direction.

  Jason crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m Jason Jörgensen,” he said. Julie heard the strain in his voice. “And this is my wi—partner—Julie Del Mar. We own the property together.”

  Julie kept the smile plastered on her face and her eyes glued to the boy, but pain arrowed through her heart, cramping it, and taking her breath away for a second. And even though she knew Jason was dealing with some demons of his own, she couldn’t help thinking: He couldn’t call her his wife? After all that had happened between them the past few days?

  She turned back around then and continued beating the eggs. “You two wash up, the food’ll be ready in about ten to fifteen minutes.”

  * * *

  Jason shoved his hands deep in the pockets of his jeans and stared out at the waning light of late-summer-night dusk enveloping the land surrounding the wood-frame skeleton of the fishing lodge on whose cement slab he currently stood.

  “That was rather awkward.” Julie said from behind him. He heard the scuffling sound of her footsteps across the sawdust covered floor, but didn’t feel the heat of her coming too near him, for which he was relieved. He felt way too jumpy just now to deal with a female. And, damn it, he’d thought she’d left with Mike a few minutes ago when Mike went to pick up Luke from the house. Clearly, he’d been mistaken.