by Stacey Lynn
His hand came out, settled on her lower back. It was a gesture to push her away, move her from the scene she was causing.
And how ridiculous. How was it possible a woman could be almost thirty and still act like she was thirteen?
I sighed, exhausted from wasting so much energy on her, thinking of her, being afraid of her. She’d consumed space in my brain for far too damn long.
“Get her the hell out of here, Jefferson,” Jordan said, still standing, arms shaking. “Before I do it for you.”
“Actually,” Gavin said. “There’s no need for me to get her out of here. Not when she’s not anything to me.”
That grabbed a reaction from Jenni. Quickly, she spun to him. Pressed her hand to his shoulder. He picked it off and flung it to the side like she was a speck of dust. “Gavin, honey, you don’t mean that.”
“I do. You’ve gone too far. Your pussy was sweet but your mouth is shit and I’m done with your crap. Plus, you’ve never learned a man doesn’t enjoy teeth on his dick.”
She jerked back. “Oh please. You don’t mean that. We’re good together. You’ve said so.”
He glared at Jenni with sharp, dark eyes so deep it was impressive she didn’t burst into a pile of ash. “You’re a bitch, Jenni. And I’ve warned you to let shit go. Since you can’t do that, you’re gone. The only thing you’re good for is spreading your legs and even that has lost its luster.”
Rebecca poorly stifled a giggle, covering her mouth.
The rest of us looked ready to explode.
All except Gavin. He wasn’t laughing.
He kept his glare focused on Jenni until she huffed and rolled her eyes. “Oh please. You don’t know anything.” She flipped her hair and flounced off, but I saw the roll of her shoulders, the wobble of her chin she tried to hide.
He’d been harsh with her.
I still thought it was hilarious.
“You won’t have any problems with her,” Gavin said, gaze roaming the four of us. I imagined what we looked like, a mixture of awe and laughter being fought by all of us. “And if you do, let me know, I’ll handle it.”
“You think we trust you?” Jordan asked. He spit the words out, clearly not thinking that what Gavin had just done and said was awesome as I did.
“Got no reason to, but you still have my word.”
“Why?” Rebecca asked. Her expression twisted into confusion. I wasn’t as lost as the rest of them. Gavin Jefferson had always been a jerk, but I knew why he was like that. I’d been walking to Jordan’s ranch one day, years ago, sneaking out of Tillie’s house and walked the miles out of town to get there. I’d hit the edge of Jefferson’s land that bordered Jordan’s to see Gavin’s dad. He slammed his fist so hard into Gavin’s gut, that at fifteen years old, he’d fell to his knees. He didn’t see me. I never mentioned it, but ever since then, it was always obvious why Gavin was such a jerk to everyone.
He rapped his knuckles on the table and shrugged. “Maybe it takes some of us longer to grow up than others.”
With that strange proclamation, he walked away. My focus stayed on him until he walked straight out of the bar, everyone giving him a wide berth, not acknowledging him.
“That was weird,” I said.
Rebecca turned to me and smiled. “That was freaking awesome.”
Twenty-Seven
Jordan
* * *
“Well, that dinner was certainly interesting,” Destiny said, walking up to the front door of Tillie’s home.
I didn’t respond. I was too busy checking out her ass swishing back and forth temptingly as she walked in front of me. After Gavin left, I spent the rest of dinner half-listening while Rebecca filled Destiny in all the drama she hadn’t quite figured out including the entire long story of her first husband cheating on her with that wench. Then I’d spent the rest of dinner alternating between wanting to figure out a way to run Jenni out of town for good, and wanting to rip Destiny out of the booth, haul her ass back here and throw her to the couch and fuck her brains out for being so damn awesome.
Every single time she stood up for herself she impressed the hell out of me.
I tossed my keys to the small table by the front door after we walked in and slammed it closed.
Destiny jumped at the noise and spun around. “You okay?”
“Upstairs,” I said, prowling toward her, my intent clear. “Get your ass upstairs and naked now.”
A visible shiver rolled through her and her face flushed. She grabbed the couch next to her to steady herself. “What’s going on with you?”
Her lips lifted into a smile, head tilted to the side. She was trying to figure out what was going on? I needed to sink my dick inside of her.
I took another step toward her and lowered my voice. “If you’re not up those stairs in five seconds, I’m hauling you over my shoulder and taking you there myself.”
“You’re being awfully bossy.”
“Don’t pretend you don’t like it.” She loved it. Every time I bossed her around in bed she shivered. More importantly, she listened.
Her bottom lip slid between her teeth and her head turned, looked back at the kitchen, and returned to me. “There’s actually something I wanted to talk to you about first.”
“Later.” I reached for her then, was close enough to get my hands on her waist and she might have been tall, but she was slim, and I was strong. I bent, picked her up and threw her over my shoulder.
She immediately screamed my name and clung to my waist. “Jordan!”
I playfully bit her ass. “Later. If you’re awake enough to talk by the time I’m done with you.”
She laughed then, and it was beautiful, so playful. Despite my need to take her, I also wanted to show her exactly how much I loved her and how much I’d always loved her.
I carried her to her room, the same small room with the same small full-sized bed she’d always had. I didn’t blame her for not taking Tillie’s room when she came back, but sleeping here was a pain in the butt. When I was at the foot of the bed, I bent over, laid her gently on the bed.
She was wearing short, frayed denim cut-off shorts. A simple black top that kept falling off one of her shoulders all night. More than once I’d felt that beautiful shiver skim across her skin when I’d brush my finger at her shoulder to fix it. And despite the urge to screw her into next Tuesday, I still forced myself to slow down.
“You’re so damn beautiful,” I whispered. My hands were at her knees and I brushed them up her thighs, back down, unable to take my gaze off her heavy-lidded eyes as she watched me.
Her tongue peeked out and she licked her bottom lip. “So are you.”
I laughed softly, pulled my gaze down her body, memorized every curve and dip of her breasts, her stomach, her waist, even her toned thighs that flexed and showed cute muscles down their length. I couldn’t wait anymore. I reached up, unbuttoned her shorts and slowly pulled them down her legs. Then her black satin thong beneath. Crawling up the bed, I ripped off my shirt and flung it to the floor and I bent, kissed her legs, her stomach as I pushed her shirt up. My mouth settled on one of her breasts and I bit her nipple through the thin satin until she arched and pressed against me.
My hands were already at my own shorts, unbuttoning, shoving them down with my boxer briefs. Before I got them too low, I grabbed my wallet, pulled out a condom, and threw everything else to the floor.
I was naked, straddling her, and she wiggled and reached for the hem of her shirt pressed above her breasts. “Get this off me,” she said. Desire thickened her voice, spurring me on.
I did what she asked, and we were naked, skin-to-skin, hearts almost beating in tandem against our chests.
Cupping her cheek, I pressed my lips to hers before pulling back and ripping the condom wrapper with my teeth.
“I love you,” I groaned, running the condom down my length. My balls were already pulled tight. My dick hard as fuck. “Let me show you how much.”
A wicked glea
m hit her eyes at the same time her lips lifted. Her legs spread wide, knees bent and she wiggled her finger in a come hither gesture. “Show me what you got,” she teased, smiling, happy…exactly how I wanted her to always be.
Then I spent the rest of the night showing her with my body, my hands, my cock, and my mouth exactly how much I wanted her, how much I loved her. By the time we were done, cleaned up, sated and exhausted, we’d used the four condoms I’d brought. I couldn’t think of a single thing other than the fact that when Destiny snored after a night of hot sex, slow sex, better than anything in life sex, she was cute as hell.
“Hey,” I whispered, brushing my lips over my cheeks. She’d fallen asleep in my arms almost immediately, but as I was about to follow her, I remembered she wanted to tell me something. “Did you want to talk?”
“’Morrow,” she mumbled and snuggled in deeper. “Love you.”
“I love you, too.”
I kissed her cheek again and tightened my arms around her. I was sweaty from all the sex and with her naked body against mine, I felt like I’d jumped into a furnace, but I didn’t push her away. Somehow, we were doing the impossible and moving on from lies and horrific decisions. I never wanted her out of my arms again.
* * *
She was beautiful, resting on her side facing me. Hands pressed together beneath her cheek with the faint hint of a smile on her lips. A part of me wanted to roll her to her back, spread her thighs, slide my lips across the creamy, silken expanse of her stomach and hips until I reached the sweet spot I feasted on last night.
Destiny had grown in the decade we were apart. Not just in age, but in wisdom and strength and with a freeing, wild side to her, I caught myself wondering, had we stayed together, would she have changed into this fiery, self-assured woman she’d become?
Or would she have stayed the wallflower, content to be at my back while I fought our battles for both of us? It would have been a task I would have happily taken on, but for the first time, I truly understood why she’d left. She’d left knowing she needed to become this woman. She’d left knowing that while that life we would have had was enough for me, she was the one who would have suffered.
It was still selfish. It was still the wrong decision.
I stared at her, physical need urging me to wake her. But it was my desire to see to her emotions as well that forced me to roll out of bed and tug on my shorts from last night. She needed rest, because later, after we picked up Toby from Brooke’s, I wanted to take them to the city for the night. We’d get tickets to the Royals game, we could stroll the mall at The Plaza, and we’d spend the weekend, out of town, doing everything a family did.
She was giving me that shot to give that to her, and I was running out of time to convince her to stay.
The scattered boxes all over the house as I headed toward the kitchen, told me she still might be considering leaving since she was still in the throes of packing up all of Tillie’s old things.
I couldn’t let that happen. I refused to let that happen. I had my son and the only woman I’d ever loved with me, and damn it…I was keeping them.
Once I reached the kitchen, I ignored the packed boxes stacked inside the door that led to the backyard. I focused on the coffeepot, dumped a leftover pod from yesterday and dug through the drawer beneath her maker for a new one. If I knew Destiny as well as I believed I did, if the smell of coffee didn’t rouse her from sleep, the sizzle of bacon cooking would.
Grabbing the contents of breakfast from the fridge, my arms were loaded with bacon and eggs, a package of shredded cheese and orange juice and milk cartons in my hands. I shoved it all to the kitchen counter, haphazardly dumping all of it.
A stack of papers on the counter shifted, and one piece fluttered to the floor.
I ignored it in favor of coffee. Cooking half-asleep would end up with bacon grease burns on my chest.
Coffee done, I poured myself a cup, prepared a new pod and once I’d taken the first few sips, I bent down to grab the paper on the floor.
Flight confirmation
Two words. They jumped out at me like a rattlesnake, quick and painful, sinking lethal fangs into my flesh before I knew it was primed for an attack.
My eyes scanned the document, my body chilling as I read.
One-way.
Two people.
Footsteps approached, thundering loudly on the old wood floor.
My eyes lifted, my hand raised, and before I could filter out anything, take a second to think, said, “What the fuck?”
Twenty-Eight
Destiny
* * *
I should have said something. I shouldn’t have hidden it. My mistake was glaringly obvious from the waves of bubbling fury rolling off Jordan I felt while several feet separated us.
“I was going to tell you,” I said, stepping cautiously toward him.
His lips twisted. “Before you left this time?”
“Jordan—”
“You’re leaving? Are you fucking kidding me? Swear to God—”
“I’m coming back.” My hands flew up, palms up. I had to calm him down. I didn’t want a fight. Not after last night. Not ever.
“In a decade?” He sneered. He was entitled to every ounce of his pain, but every barb he flung showed something else. He might have promised he’d be able to forgive me, but he hadn’t yet.
I’d earned that, but I wouldn’t tolerate much of it. I’d learned too much about myself over the last month, and one was that I didn’t have to be anyone’s punching bag.
“Take a minute and calm down. Let me speak.”
He waved the paper in the air, my flight confirmation crumpled in his hands. I’d only printed it so he had our information when we did fly out. And I should have told him. Last night. Yesterday. I shouldn’t have hidden it from him, but I wanted everything planned so I could answer all his questions before I went to him.
“You are not taking my kid from me, Destiny. There is no way in hell I’m allowing that shit to happen. Not again.”
“I’m not.” My hackles rose. The fierce protectiveness I had for Toby overshadowed my need to calm Jordan. “We’re coming back, Jordan. And I should have told you, but I wanted everything set in place.”
His chest heaved and dipped. He twisted and set his coffee mug on the counter, turned back and shoved his hands to his hips. The crumpled piece of paper a ball in his large fist. “Explain.”
“We’re going home to get our house on the market.” I stepped toward the feral beast slowly and reached for the rest of the papers. I handed him the market analysis the realtor I’d contacted in Friendswood sent me. “See?”
He glared at it, snapped it out of my fingers and scanned it. For a second, his features softened. Then hardened all over again.
Before he could call me a liar, or whatever else he was going to dish out, I kept talking. “I wanted Toby to go back so he could say goodbye to his friends. I’ve got things to work out with Allison at the design firm, about me continuing to telecommute from here, but that would mean traveling back to Houston occasionally, and I haven’t decided if I want to do that yet. And it’s only a one-way ticket because when we return, we’re driving the moving truck.” I flung my arm out and gestured toward the boxes in the kitchen. “I’ve been packing up Tillie’s things so I can donate them, or sell them, but I don’t need them. Not with the stuff I’ll be bringing.”
He stared at me, glanced at the market analysis again and then dropped it to the kitchen counter. His hands went to the counter, arms flexed, head down.
I took that as a sign he needed a minute to cool down, so I shuffled around him, gave him space and grabbed my own coffee mug. On my way, I slid the other papers onto the counter.
“The rest of all of that is Toby’s paperwork from school so I can get him registered here. And I need to figure out football and basketball stuff.” Jordan didn’t move, and I’d saved the best for last. At least, I’d thought I saved the best for last but considering he
wouldn’t look at me, uncertainty spiked.
Yet this wasn’t about me. It was about Toby. And his dad. The man he desperately wanted to call dad and was too afraid to ask.
I took a couple sips of my coffee, fortified myself with wake-up juice and gathered my strength. When I spoke again, my throat clogged with emotion. “There’s a paternity test in that stack of papers. Toby wants you to take it. Wants me to get you added to his birth certificate.”
His shoulders tensed and slowly, ever so slowly, it felt like it took a thousand years for him to raise his head, he asked, “What?”
I moved toward the counter and slid my mug to it. “It was his idea. We aren’t leaving, Jordan. We were going to say goodbye to our life there so we could start our new one here.”
With you. I bit back the words. His reaction had been deserved, but it taught me a lot. And I was terrified of what it said about us, the us I wanted with Jordan, Toby, and I living together. Becoming a family.
Clearly we weren’t ready for that yet.
“Paternity test?” His voice went thick and rough. He shook his head as if he had to clear it, but it was clear from his expression I’d shocked him. I gave him a minute to absorb that reality and when he didn’t say anything else, I continued.
“I was waiting for the right time to talk to you about it, but I was trying to line everything up first.”
“How am I supposed to know if you don’t talk to me?”
“Toby wanted to be here so we could tell you together, but I’d decided to tell you at the bar last night. Then Jenni showed up and you ushered us out so fast and distracted me once I got here, I forgot.”
“I should have been involved in the decision from the beginning.”
“Why? Because you don’t trust me?”
He flinched. Barely perceptible but I still saw it and the pain of that, the realization he was still trying to get over what I’d done to him but hadn’t yet, scored a mark to my heart.