Redemption (Iris Series)

by Lynn, Rebecca

  “Alright, leave me to it,” she said curtly. “Pain in the ass,” she grumbled.

  She got up to get her clothes, when he playfully pushed her back down on the bed and straddled her holding her arms above her head.

  “Did you like my surprise?” he whispered.

  She hesitated, then, “Yes,” she pouted.

  “How long are you going to stay mad at me?” he asked, kissing her neck.

  “I don’t know yet,” she grumbled again, but this time with humor in her gaze.

  He moved his lips to the other side of her neck. “I couldn’t wait to see your face. I wanted you to walk into your place and see all of the candles, then see me. I wanted to surprise you, baby,” he said willing her to understand. “It took every ounce of willpower for me not to come down to your place and pound on your door when I got home.”

  She was still a little disgruntled, but only because she had missed him so badly. The fact that he was spending that time in the afternoon getting ready for her, made her sigh.

  “I love you,” she whispered, still with a little pout.

  He smiled. “I love you.” He raised an eyebrow. “Am I forgiven?”

  “Yes,” she mumbled. “I need my hands for a sec.”

  “Are you gonna hit me?”

  “Maybe,” she smirked.

  He released her hands and leaned back. Before he could go too far, she grabbed his face and pulled him down to her, kissing him hard on the lips.

  “Mmm. What was that for?”

  “That was for my surprise. I don’t think I thanked you properly,” she said running her lips over his. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “You are so very welcome.”

  She leaned up and kissed him again.

  “And what was that one for?”

  “For keeping your surprise a secret, because it really was an awesome surprise. It made me cry. In a good way.”

  “I’m glad,” he murmured against her lips. “That was the goal. Not to make you cry. To have it be awesome.”

  She kissed him one last time then pushed him off of her and got up.

  “Alright. Let’s get movin’ here. I’m fucking starving, and I could use a cup of coffee too.”

  He swatted her ass as she got up. “I’ll be right there. I’m just getting dressed.”

  “Sorry. I can’t hear you, champ,” she said as she walked out of the room naked while grabbing her clothes. “My mind is all about the sex oven at the moment.”

  Ayanna got to the kitchen and dressed quickly. Then, running her hand along the sweet stove top, she opened the freezer to take out the pizzas and looked for a cooking tray to put them on. Once she put them in the oven, she yelled out that she was going to run down to her place and get her camera while the pizzas were heating. She needed to get some shots for her blog.

  A few minutes later, she was back in Jonathan’s kitchen with camera in hand. She took several pictures while Jon got some plates down and poured coffee then they were ready to eat. They sat on his bed, dressed now in comfortable clothes and gorged on Janie’s mini pizzas. There were several, some traditional in taste, others more exotic in flavor. But each one was absolutely delicious, and Ayanna definitely planned on calling her to thank her.

  She decided that Day 41 truly was the best day of her life, and told Jonathan that with her mouth full of crispy crust and chewy cheese.

  “Yeah, I might agree with you on that,” he said, his eyes taking on a lusty pointed look.

  She could feel herself heating under his watchful gaze.

  He smirked, knowing what he was doing to her. The jerk. But what a gorgeous, hunky, wonderful jerk he was, she thought.

  “Tell me about your mom,” she finally said after swallowing the bite of pizza in her mouth.

  He reached forward and took her hand.

  “She’s doing much better and is on the mend. She’s at home with a day nurse for a couple more weeks.” He got quiet for a moment then said, “It was definitely hardest on my dad. It was so weird watching him out of control. He’s the strongest person I know. He’s kind of had to be given his profession, so seeing him lose it was disconcerting to say the least.”

  “I’m so sorry, babe. It’s done now, though. And I’m sure this incident probably made you all a little stronger, brought you a little closer, right?” she asked, squeezing his hand.

  He nodded then looked at her wistfully. Tenderly.

  “I told her about you,” he murmured.

  She blinked, and her heart skipped a beat. That bit of news made her want to do cartwheels. And at the same time scared her shitless.

  “Your mom?”

  He nodded again. “When she was still unconscious, I first told her about you. It made me feel closer to you, and made me feel like Mom had to make it through because she had to meet you.” He chuckled. “Trust me, there would be no greater incentive for my mom to stick around than to meet the woman her oldest son went and fell in love with. I knew she would want to wake up so she could check you out.”

  “What did you tell her?” she asked, a little nervous.

  He lifted her hand to his lips and nibbled on her fingers, then moved her palm to his cheek holding it there.

  “That you’re fearless.”

  She started to blush at that. “No, I’m not.”

  “Yeah, you are. You tackle things head on. You keep on going even when things are tough. You’re the type of person who takes 40 days to look at the hardest parts of yourself so you can reevaluate and become a better person. Fearless.”

  She blinked back an unexpected rush of tears as a feeling of pleasure and warmth coursed through her at his words.

  “Come here.” He pulled her hand forward so she could crawl onto his lap while he leaned against the headboard. Then he enfolded her in his arms, nuzzling at her neck.

  “I told her that I’d known you for a couple of months and that you were the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. Then I told her we fought every time we were together, until I realized I was an ass and apologized. I knew that would make her happy and earn me some points,” he smiled.

  Ayanna chuckled.

  He kissed her neck and she angled her head so he could have better access. Then he moved back to anchor his hand in her hair so she would look at him.

  “Then I told her I was in love with you,” he said, running his thumb over her bottom lip.

  She swallowed down the emotion rising in her throat.

  “When she woke up and was finally settled, she told me she heard most of what I’d said to her in the hospital. She wants to meet you. Very badly.”

  Ayanna stroked his cheek and kissed him softly. She wanted to meet her badly too. But she was terrified.

  “I would love to meet her,” she said against his lips.

  “Good, because I told her as soon as your schedule allows it, I was gonna bring you up to Boston. And my dad? He wants to see this woman who his son keeps talking about - and when he meets you, he’ll completely understand why I can’t shut up about you.”

  She gave him a teary smile. “I love you, JBG,” she whispered. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you—”

  “You didn’t have to do anything. You deserve everything good there is, baby. And I’m so thankful that it was me you chose.”

  “I don’t know if choice had anything to do with it,” she chuckled.

  “Probably not.” He paused with a smile. “I love you, sex goddess.”

  Then he swooped in and claimed her mouth in a slow sensual kiss, firmly holding her head with his hand buried in her hair and leisurely consuming her mouth.

  “Mm,” he said in between nibbles, “you taste so good, Yan.” He continued to lick, suck, nibble and bite, until she was a sex drugged fool gripping his head and was a puddle in his lap.

  When he released her, he asked, “What do you want to do today?” his voice hinting at the pleasures of the flesh.

  She chuckled. “Oh, we’ll definitely be doing some more
of that, champ. Don’t you worry your,” she reached down and pressed her hand over his hardened cock through his jeans, “pretty little head about that,” she finished in a sultry whisper.

  He pressed up into her hand. “I love fucking you. I just want to say that for the record,” he breathed.

  “That’s good. Because I’ll expect you to be fucking me on a regular basis,” she said, nipping at his lip.

  “I can be quite demanding,” he said, taking her lower lip between his teeth and sucking it into his mouth. “Do you think you can handle it? I might be at you several times a day. You seem to bring out the animal in me. You’re like a fuckin’ aphrodisiac,” he murmured, still pulling at her lips.

  She could feel the throbbing between her legs, the sluggish flow of blood in her veins creating a heartbeat there.

  His hands added to the build up inside her as he rubbed her back, then put his hands in her hair and skated them down to her hips. She let her fingers enjoy the landscape of his body.

  “I think I might be able to handle it, JBG,” she panted in between kisses.

  He finally pulled back, nuzzling her lips, then her neck.

  “What else do you wanna do today? Do you have any work you need to do?”

  They sat there, enjoying simply touching each other.

  “I have to post a couple of things with the blog - Oh man, I can’t believe I forgot to tell you!”

  “What?”

  “I spoke with Catherine, you know, the chef from the Bistro?”

  “Yeah. What’s going on with all of that? Any developments?”

  “She bought Robert out.” She paused, letting that information sink in.

  “Wow. Well, I guess we’re not too surprised.”

  “I can’t believe how fast it happened. She closed down the place, and is re-opening in about two weeks. I’m putting out daily bites about it on my blog for her.”

  “Good,” he said nodding. “Any news on the douchebag?”

  She smirked then got serious. “Catherine said he’s completely hit rock bottom. His wife left him. She said the last time she saw him he looked awful.”

  He clenched his jaw. “I want you to be extra careful, okay? Even though you’re not the reason he failed, it was his attack on you that spurred all of these things into motion and brought his issues to light. I wanna make sure we keep an eye on where he is and what he’s doing. He said some pretty nasty things to you that night, and if his mental and emotional state is a little iffy right now, I want us to be more aware, okay?”

  She felt such a sweet warmth as he spoke. He wanted to protect her. It was such a strange and wonderful feeling she wasn’t used to. But she loved it.

  “What kind of work do you have to do today?” he asked.

  “After I work on the blog a little, I have to get food for the dinner tomorrow night so I can prep some. Clean the apartment. That kind of thing. I don’t want to have to worry about that tomorrow.”

  “What time do you want to have dinner tomorrow night?”

  “They’re coming over around 6ish. I’ll start with some drinks. We’ll eat around 6:30 or seven.”

  “Okay. What do you need me to do for you today?”

  She smiled. “You’re doin’ it already. Relaxing me, making me feel good. Just knowing that you’re here helps me a great deal, champ.”

  “Well, if that’s all I have to do, that’s easy.” He kissed her with a growl then backed away. “Do you want me to drive you to get food today? That way you don’t have to lug anything on the subway.”

  Her eyes widened. “That would be awesome,” she said sincerely.

  “Good. How long do you need to do your blogging and stuff?”

  “Not long. Maybe an hour to get things posted and pick up the apartment.”

  “I can help you with that. There are a lot of tea lights to pick up.”

  “I can’t believe you got little holders for all of them. Very detail-orientated, JBG. Again, I’m impressed.”

  He snorted, his eyebrow raised. “I’m an impressive kinda guy. I was wondering when you were gonna realize that.”

  She rubbed her nose with his. “I wanna keep some of them out for dinner tomorrow. Why don’t we meet up in a half hour, then we can go shopping.”

  “Sounds good. I’ll come down and get you at,” he leaned over and looked at the clock on the nightstand, “quarter to one or so. How’s that?”

  “Perfect.” She kissed him on the nose, then hopped off his lap and started to clean up.

  “I’ll clean up,” he said as he stood. “You just go. The quicker you’re done, the quicker we get to see each other again.”

  She stopped and smiled, leaning up to kiss him and wrapping her arms around him. “I love you,” she whispered. She couldn’t seem to help herself.

  He grabbed her and said, “Say it again.”

  She smiled even brighter. “I love you.”

  He dipped her then said against her lips, “I love you, too. Maybe I’ll come down closer to 12:30.”

  She laughed again, knowing that it was only 15 minutes from that moment.

  “I better get crack-a-lackin’ then. Let me go, you beast.”

  He pulled her back up, and as she turned he swatted her behind. Apparently that was one of his favorite things to do.

  She jumped and sauntered out the door.

  ……

  At 12:35pm, she heard the knock on the door. She’d barely had enough time to use the bathroom, post one of Catherine’s teasers, and do a quick write up for one of Janie’s pizza recipes.

  She skipped to the door and looked through the peephole to see Jonathan standing on the other side. She whipped the door open, and beamed up at him.

  “Hi.”

  He walked in with a gleam in his eye, closed the door then wrapped his arms around her.

  “How much more work do you have to do?”

  “Dude, I only left you like 20 minutes ago.”

  “And your point is…”

  She laughed. “My point is I still have a little more to do.”

  He kissed her, his lips lingering for a moment. When his hand reached to her head and sifted through her hair at the base of her skull, she figured she wouldn’t be getting much more work done.

  She thought wrong.

  He pulled back, with her still leaning forward hoping to prolong the kiss.

  “I’ll clean up the candles. You finish blogging.”

  “Then we can do more of this?” she asked, taking a leisurely bite out of his chin.

  He secured his hand to her head and lifted her chin so their eyes met.

  “We’ll definitely be doing a whole lot more of this, baby. Maybe I’ll even take you out to dinner first. Now go finish up so I can have you for the rest of the day.”

  She smiled, they kissed one last time, and she ran back to her computer to finish up.

  Fifteen minutes later, the candles were cleaned up, her blog was updated, and they were on their way to the garage for their outing to get food.

  They drove to a great Indian food market in the East Village where Ayanna bought a lot of her spices and special rice for various dishes she liked to make when trying to mimic Ammie’s recipes. For the dinner with her parents, she decided to go with an old family favorite, a fried potato dish with chicken curry.

  Ayanna and Jonathan held hands as she walked him through the market, explaining the different spices and names.

  “I love curry food,” he said.

  “You do?” she smiled up at him. “Well, that’s good, because that’s what you’re gettin’.”

  After she found everything she needed, they headed to a local market that sold organic produce and free range, steroid free chicken for the rest of the ingredients.

  By the time they got home, it was close to 4pm. She put everything away, led them to the bedroom and flopped down onto her still unmade bed from the morning. They lay there relaxing, just looking at each other, touching and smiling.

  �
��You nervous about tomorrow?” he whispered, stroking her hair.

  “A little,” she sighed. “We’re not a ‘let’s sit down and have a family dinner’ kinda family. Plus I know Dev can’t always be himself around them which puts my back up a little. I guess it’s gonna be what it’s gonna be.”

  “Yup. You can only do what you can do. The rest is up to them.”

  She smiled at him then touched his lips with her finger.

  “Have I told you that I like you? A lot?”

  “Not today, you haven’t. Just that you love me,” he shrugged with an eye roll.

  “I think you need to have your dirty little way with me again, Mr. White,” she purred.

  “Hmm,” he said rolling so she was underneath him. “What should I do with you?”

  “Anything you want,” she said, her breath hitching at the hard evidence of his arousal grinding into her.

  “Oh, you know just what to say, don’t you?”

  “I’m no dummy,” she chuckled. “I know exactly what to say to get what I want,” she said with a twinkle in her eye.

  “Yup, you’re wicked smaht,” he said with a thick Boston accent. “So,” he hummed, kissing her chin then her neck. “I want to take you out to dinner. Or a late lunch, whichever way you want to look at it. Why don’t you put on something sexy and be ready for me to pick you up in an hour.”

  “Mm, I like where your mind is going. And I don’t need the full 60 minutes. I can be ready in 45, champ. I’m hungry again, so I could eat.”

  “Awesome,” he said kissing her again. “I’ll be back in 45 minutes then.” He looked her in the eyes. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered.

  She shook her head. “No, you are.”

  He smirked. “No, you.”

  They both rolled their eyes at their goofy lovesick play fighting.

  “I’ll see you in a bit, gorgeous.”

  “You got it, sweetie.” Then she grabbed his face and gave him a big smacking kiss.

  He grinned and got up, then smooched his lips at her and left her to get ready for dinner.

  ……

  Jonathan decided to take her to one of his old favorites in the neighborhood, a Mexican place that had killer margaritas and enchiladas.