Yesterday I’d thought I had a whole life of yearning for her ahead of me. A life of chanting just friends any time she would walk into a room. A life of pure torture when she settled down with someone else and I’d have to shake his hand and watch him be the one who got to kiss her. But today that man was me. Today there was a new vision for what my life would be. A life with her at my side and in my arms. A life I’d never dared to dream was a possibility.
“Feed Petunia!” she called, and I heard the shower start up.
I looked down the bed and found Petunia retaining her threatening stare.
“Hey, Petunia. So, I’m gonna move now. And I’m gonna need you to not attack me. Especially because, well, I’m naked, Petunia. And your claws don’t need to come anywhere near me and my bits. So, let’s just do this nice and slow.”
One cautious move at a time, I peeled back the covers, keeping as much space as I could between myself and the scowling cat.
“Easy, now.” Moving my hands to shield my crown jewels, I stood and took one cautious step after another between the bed and the wall, inching past Petunia. Her intense gaze remained fixed on mine while I crept by, holding my breath as I got within swiping range.
“Easy. Eassssy, Petunia.”
After I made it clear of the immediate danger zone, I leapt to the corner of the room where Jo’s beach towel was draped over a chair. Quickly wrapping it around my waist, I exhaled my first deep breath.
“Okay. So, I’m coming closer again to get your food. Okay? Can we agree you don’t attack me? Deal?”
Her golden eyes remained unblinking.
I padded to the food bowl, then reached to the shelf above and pulled down her food bag. When I glanced over my shoulder, the cat was no longer there. While I swiveled in circles to locate the missing threat, I felt her soft body rub up against my legs.
“Holy shit,” I breathed while I looked down to see Petunia purring against my leg. She chirped and looked up at me, the malice in her eyes replaced with the same softness she’d previously reserved only for Jo.
“So, this is it? I just had to feed you to get you to stop trying to kill me?” I laughed as I poured the food into her dish. She dove in headfirst, purring while she chomped on the little brown morsels of food.
I placed the food bag back on the shelf, and backed away, carefully stepping over her since things were still pretty vulnerable down below, and one swipe of her claws could end the fun I intended to have with Jo tonight.
Tonight. Ugh. Tonight felt like an eternity before I could taste her again. Explore every inch of the body I’d fantasized about since I even knew what things I could fantasize about. After twenty-plus years of waiting, even the four times we’d done it last night couldn’t satisfy the desire I had to touch her again. When we’d run out of condoms, our unquenched desire still unsatisfied, Jo had said she was on birth control and we’d dove back in headfirst. The feeling of our bodies connecting with nothing separating us had been an ecstasy I’d never imagined possible.
I listened to the shower water hitting the floor and felt jealous it got to touch her naked body when I couldn’t.
Or could I?
With a mirthful smirk, I tiptoed out of the bedroom and over to the bathroom. Carefully twisting the handle, I opened the door and slid through, pressing it closed behind me. Jo stood naked just on the other side of that curtain.
A curtain that couldn’t keep me away.
I pulled it back, and she gasped, spinning toward me.
“What are you doing?” she demanded as she stood naked before me, her hands buried in the white suds on her head.
“You said you had to shower.” I dropped my towel. “You didn’t say I couldn’t join you.”
“Matt...” she warned.
“It’s called multi-tasking, Jo. You just keep washing your hair, and I’ll put out that fire you’re so worried will be burning all day.”
I stepped inside the small space, pulling the curtain closed behind me, and yanked her against me. She didn’t resist my soft kiss, and instead wrapped her arms around my shoulders, sliding her hands down my back to cup my ass.
“Ah, ah, ah,” I tsked. “Multi-tasking. You keep washing your hair, and I’ll handle things on my end.”
I spun her around, pressing her up against the shower wall. Using my feet, I pushed her legs open, reaching between them to dip my fingers in the warmth of her core.
“Oh my God,” she breathed, then reached back to grab my hair.
“Multi-tasking. Keep washing your hair,” I whispered, and her soft moans blended with the sounds of the water pummeling the floor around us.
I lowered myself to line up with her entrance and pushed inside of her with a groan.
This. This was where I belonged.
In her.
With her.
Always with her.
Her whimpers drove me on, and I reached around with one hand, finding the place between her legs that had her moaning as I played her like an instrument. My other hand joined hers in her hair, running my fingers through the shampoo while I thrust inside her. She quivered and shook as I took my time bringing her back over the edge, only letting up when my name bounced off the walls of the bathroom on repeat. The sound of her ecstasy sent me tumbling over the same edge, and I held her against me, brushing kisses along the back of her neck.
“Holy shit,” she breathed.
“Multi-tasking.” I smiled. “Your hair looks clean.”
She turned around and blinked back at me, a crown of foam still clinging to her head.
“Better wash that out or you’ll be late for work.” I leaned in, brushing a kiss on her cheek before grinning and backing out of the shower.
“What? You’re leaving?”
“My job here is done. My girl is satisfied, and we’ll pick up where we left off after our date tonight.”
With a wink, I blew her a kiss and pulled the curtain shut, leaving her standing with a gaping mouth and a head full of suds.
Proud of my accomplishment, I wrapped myself up in the towel and strode back to the bedroom. This time Petunia greeted me with a chirp, and I grinned back.
“Snow day, Petunia. It’s a snow day.”
And I had every intention of enjoying every single snow day that lay ahead of us now that Jo was mine.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
JO
My cheeks hurt from smiling as I glided behind the bar at JJ’s. Maybe it was the mind-blowing orgasm Matt had given me in the shower this morning... or the four I’d had last night, but even though I knew those had cranked up the dial on my happiness, it was the fact that Matt had told me he loved me that took it up to an eleven.
No. A hundred.
Actually, there wasn’t a level on the happiness dial high enough to handle how incredible I felt knowing that Matt was mine. That he loved me. That I wouldn’t have to spend my life pining away for a man I couldn’t have. A man I thought would always be just a friend. But after what we did last night, and all the incredible things he’d said, we had blown out of the friend zone and straight into happily ever after.
Happily ever after.
Now there was a concept I didn’t think would ever apply to me. Sure, I was happy enough, nothing to complain about, but I never expected my life could turn into a bona fide fairytale.
“Two margs, Jo,” Sheena, our newest waitress, called from the corner of the bar.
With a happy sigh, I twirled around and floated over to the margarita glasses.
“What’s gotten into you today?” she asked, peeking up from the iPad she was punching her order into. “You’re like a freaking ray of sunshine.”
“Nothing,” I sighed. “Just a good day.”
“I’ve been working with you for a month. You don’t glow. You’re glowing. Giggling, glowing, and humming. You’ve been like this for three hours. Something is up.” She arched a dark brow, and her gaze followed me as I swayed over to the ice bin.
“Nothing at all
. Just a good mood.” I smiled over my shoulder at her.
Her eyes bulged and a sly smile stretched across her face. She glanced over both shoulders then leaned over the bar. “You got laid!”
“What?” I gasped, standing up straight. “I did not!”
With pursed lips and a knowing smile, she nodded. “Yep. You’ve got the sex glow.”
Damn it. I did have the sex glow. It was something I usually pointed out when I saw it. Hell, it was me who’d figured out Jake and Cassie had gone for it last year because they were glowing like freaking lanterns. Today, though, the one lit up like an LED was me.
“Busted,” she reiterated and grinned. “Who was it? Anyone I know?”
“Just... shush. I’m not talking about it.”
“Well, damn girl, it must have been hella good to get you glowing like that.” She pointed her tablet pen at me and drew a heart in the air.
“Shut up!” I laughed, and heat scorched my cheeks.
“I’ll figure it out.” She pursed her lips again.
“Just go help your tables. That guy over there is trying to get your attention.” I pointed to the man in the booth craning his neck so far back to catch her attention I worried he’d need a chiro adjustment after lunch.
“This conversation isn’t over.”
With one more point of her pen, she spun and raced off to her table.
Struggling to strip away the smile on my face and regain some semblance of composure, I finished making her margaritas and placed them at the end of the bar. The afternoon shift had been slow, so when I heard the door open, I hoped the newcomer would head for the bar instead of the tables so I could make some tips.
“Hey, gorgeous,” Matt said, and I spun to see him sliding into a stool.
My face lit up, and I knew my smile broadcast my excitement to see him. I only tried for a second to contain it, then gave up the struggle. “Hey, hottie. What are you doing here?”
“Missed you.” He smiled, and I wanted to jump the bar and cover him with kisses.
Forcing myself to stay put, I crossed my arms. “Is that so?”
“Yep. That’s so.”
“Well, I guess I kinda missed you, too.”
“Kinda?” He arched a brow.
With an eye roll, I dropped the facade. “Okay. A lot.”
“Petunia misses you, too, but I told her she couldn’t come with.”
“You’re talking to Petunia now?”
“Oh yeah. We’re like this.” He lifted his hand, twisting his fingers together. “Best friends.”
“Well, I guess ours wasn’t the only relationship to change last night, huh?”
His smile stretched wide, deepening his dimples. “I moved you out of the best friend spot to the girlfriend spot, and Petunia leapt from arch-nemesis to best friend.”
“I still get to be your best friend, too.” Leaning forward onto the bar, I pushed into his space, stopping before I let my lips do what they wanted to do.
Kiss him. Because for the first time in our lives, I could.
Desire flickered in his eyes and I glanced to his lips as they inched toward mine.
“Thanks for the margs!” Sheena called, snapping me back to my senses.
I was working. Making out over the bar with my new hot boyfriend was definitely not on the list of acceptable behaviors at JJ’s.
“You got it,” I responded, leaning back just before our lips met.
“Oh!” Sheena called, and I spun to see her grinning, eyebrows waggling as she looked at Matt. “Now I get it. Niiiiiice.”
“GO!” I laughed, shooing her away.
“Get what?” Matt asked, settling back into his stool.
“Nothing. But, we need ground rules.”
“Rules? That doesn’t sound like fun.”
“No kissing at the bar while I’m working.”
“Definitely not fun.”
“I’m at work. You can’t be coming in here looking all hot and giving me the bedroom eyes.”
“You can come to my work and kiss me. Ted won’t give a shit. Hell, he’ll probably give me a high-five when you leave.”
Laughing, I shook my head. “No making me want to make out with you at the bar. Deal?”
“Deal,” he grumbled, crossing his arms.
“So, since you’re here for non-seductive reasons, do you want lunch? Perch special today.”
“Actually,” he said, his scowl lifting into a huge smile, “I came to tell you I have news.”
“News? What kind? Good or bad?”
“Neither. It’s amazing news.”
“What is it?”
His smile was contagious as he leaned forward on the bar. “So, our neighbors two doors down have apparently been watching my progress on the cabin.”
“Yeah?”
“And, while I was out finishing the railing an hour ago, the guy, his name is Jeff, walked down the beach to talk to me. And he said he is looking to hire someone for a remodel, and he offered me the gig!”
“Shut up!” I slapped him on the arm. “Seriously?”
“Yep. Seriously. And it gets better. So, not only do I have a long-term job with him, but he’s got like a huge list of friends also needing work and he’s going to hook me up.”
“You’re kidding? That’s amazing!”
“And it gets one step better.”
“How is that even possible?”
“The glass for our driftwood coffee table arrived, so I put it on today, and when we were talking about his home revisions, he noticed it and loved it. He asked to contract me to make him some driftwood furniture. Said he’d pay top dollar.”
My mouth refused to close.
“Looks like I really can start a business doing handyman work and making driftwood furniture and stuff. Pretty amazing, huh?”
“It’s unbelievable, Matt. I’m so happy for you.”
“And none of this would be happening if it weren’t for you. Thanks to you letting me move in, it looks like I really will have a whole new career ahead of me. And one that I’ll love and won’t get bored with.”
“I’m glad I could help.” Reaching forward, I took his hand in mine. “I’m so happy for you, Matt. Whatever I can do to help you get your new business off the ground, just say the word.”
“Matt’s Manly Masterpieces is alive!”
“Ugh!” I dropped his hand. “You are not calling your new business ‘Matt’s Manly Masterpieces.’”
“Well, then you’d better think of a better one fast, because I’ve got to get business cards printed up so Jeff can give them to his friends.”
Pursing my lips, I took a deep breath. “What about ‘Handy-Matt’. Like handyman, but you’re Matt.”
He scrubbed a hand down his face, tipping his head while he mouthed the words. “You know... I like it! It’s catchy!”
“Eh?” I nodded. “Not bad, huh?”
“‘Handy-Matt’,” he said, forming a sign with his hands. “That’s it. That’s the one. Again... you’re a lifesaver.”
He leaned forward to kiss me, but I pressed my hand to his lips, pushing him back in his seat. “No kissing at the bar!”
“Ugh!” he grumbled. “Then sneak outside with me and kiss me out there.”
“Matt! I’m working!”
“There’s no one at the bar, and I’m not leaving until you do.” I saw the determination stiffen his face, and I knew he meant it. Matt had been stubborn as hell since we were kids.
Sheena came around the corner, a playful smirk growing while she eyed us up.
“Hey, Sheena?” I bit my lip.
“Yeah?”
“Can you watch the bar for a minute? I just have to run outside for a second.”
Her smile grew as she passed another look between us. “Absolutely. Have fun, kids.”
I opened my mouth to argue her spot-on accusation, but instead I snapped my jaw shut and gestured for Matt to follow me. We slipped out the sliding glass side door, and before he’d even ha
d a chance to yank it closed, I grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him into me.
Our lips connected, and he grabbed my face, pressing me back against the wall. I sighed into his mouth, the agony of the last five minutes being near him and not kissing him drifting away on my happy moans. After a lifetime of resisting the kisses I didn’t think I’d ever have, five minutes had been five minutes too many.
“I love you, Jo,” he whispered between kisses.
“I love you, too.” Pulling him in harder, I folded my body against his chest.
The door to the kitchen opened, and one of the cooks stepped out. I pushed Matt away and spun to see the cook grinning.
“Sorry.” I gave him a sheepish smile.
He just gave me a thumbs up and ducked back inside.
Matt laughed and pressed back in for another kiss, but I found the will to stop him. “I have to get back to work.”
“Just another minute,” he said, slanting his mouth over mine.
Another minute wouldn’t quench the desire coursing through my body.
I didn’t think even a lifetime of kisses could put out this fire.
“Work. I have to go.”
His warm breath ghosted my lips, and I closed my eyes and pressed in for a quick kiss before ducking under his arm. I paused at the glass door and turned back. “I’ll see you tonight.”
He slumped against the side of the building, pushing out his lip in a pout. “I’ll be counting the minutes. Hurry up and get off. Date night.”
Date night.
I had a date tonight. With Matt.
The thought made me smile, and when he mouthed ‘I love you’ I almost raced back into his arms.
“I’ll text you when I’m done.” I blew him a kiss and slipped back inside.
Ugh! If it weren’t the heart of the busy season, I’d be taking a week-long vacation just so I could spend every second in his arms, trying to make up for all the time we’d missed.
Okay, maybe a month-long vacation.
I closed the glass door, pausing to regain the composure his kiss stole from me.
Only a few more hours and I could devour him all over again.
The Other Room (Door Peninsula Passions Book 2) Page 16