The Way Love Goes (Serendipitous Love Book 4)

by Christina C Jones

  “Fallon,” I mumbled against her neck, making her let out a little squeal of pleasure as I gently pushed her against the side of the car. Her back was to me, and she grinned at me over her shoulder as she arched her back, pressing her ass against my groin. “You keep teasing me, like I won’t pull you into the backseat of this truck and make you miss this flight…”

  She giggled again, then turned to face me, planting her hands on my chest. “I am a lady. I wouldn’t let you screw me in the back of your truck, even if it is an Escalade…” – she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and grinned. – “At least, not for our first time. After that…”

  I laughed as I wrapped my arms around her waist. “So after that, anywhere is fair game?”

  Her eyes sparkled with mischief. “Anywhere.”

  “In your office?”

  “Anywhere.”

  “In my office?”

  “Anywhere.”

  “In… the flatbed of my work truck?”

  She laughed, and like always, I soaked that sweet sound up. “In the flatbed, with your hard hat on. And your boots. As a matter of fact… nothing but the hardhat and boots. And of course, your… hammer.”

  I groaned as her hands slid between us, cupping my dick through my jeans. “Fallon, for real…”

  “Sorry,” she whispered, grinning like she wasn’t sorry at all, and pushing her hands under the front hem of my tee shirt to run over my stomach. “We’ll have time when I get back from seeing my parents and checking on my other store. I’ll only be gone for a week, and then…”

  “You can come and spend the weekend at the lake with me.”

  That invitation came out of nowhere, but I meant it. I moved my hands from Fallon’s waist to her thighs, then to her ass for a squeeze. She closed her eyes, leaning into me to press her breasts against my chest as she let out a low moan.

  “Absolutely,” she whispered. She was giving me a look I’d seen before, half-lidded, lust filled eyes, lips slightly parted, and I could feel the slow rise and fall of her chest. I had to kiss her when she was looking at me like that. In the week since our failed sex attempt, I’d learned that it was futile to resist.

  We hadn’t tried again since then, but it was on both of our minds. The sexual tension was thick enough to need a power saw to get through, but I don’t think either of us wanted to risk another misstep. It was a good thing we enjoyed each other’s company anyway.

  In that week, I showed her how to lay down those tiles, she helped me fix her deck, and we’d shared two lunches and a dinner when she wasn’t busy getting ready to take the trip she’d postponed before. Now, I was getting ready to drop her off at the airport.

  I hated to break away from our embrace, but she did have a plane to catch, so we separated ourselves and climbed in the car. On the way, we discussed the logistics for when she got back, and when we pulled up at the airport, she reached into the big purse she had for an envelope. She handed it to me as she unbuckled her seatbelt, and when I opened it, I frowned.

  “What is this?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

  She rolled her eyes as she opened her door, and climbed out of the car. “It’s your check, for the house. Remember, your contract dictates progress-based payments?”

  I shrugged. “Yeah, I guess, but…”

  “But what?” She lifted an eyebrow at me as I got out of the car, then went around back to get her bag.

  “Shit feels weird, accepting money from you. Like I’m some dirty ass dude. I don’t like it.”

  Fallon sucked her teeth, then propped her hands against her hips. “Are you serious, Sean? You did the work on the house; I’m going to pay you for it. Don’t be crazy.”

  “Oh, I’m not being crazy,” I chuckled. “I want to be paid, so I can pay my guys for their work. It just makes me feel shitty to accept money from you, knowing that our relationship isn’t exactly… professional. Where is Ayden? Why isn’t she handing out the checks?”

  “Ayden is in California, and she won’t be back here until tonight. What, accepting the check from her is fine, but not me?”

  I put her suitcase down in front of her, maneuvering the handle into her hands. “Well, to use your little metaphor… I don’t want to knock Ayden’s walls down with my hammer, so, yeah. I can accept money from her.”

  Fallon’s lips fell apart for a moment, then she quickly pulled them back together, drawing her bottom lip between her teeth. “Knock walls down, huh? You think so?”

  “I know so, Fal.” I covered her hands with mine over the handle of her suitcase as I stepped closer to her. “I plan on it. It’s a damn guarantee.”

  She let out a shuddering sort of breath, then swallowed hard, dropping her gaze from mine briefly before she raised her eyes again. “I… I’m going to get on that plane now, before…”

  “Yeah,” I said, lowering my mouth to brush her lips. “You do that.”

  Longest week of my life.

  Or at least that’s how it felt, waiting for Fallon to get back from Chicago. I’d kept myself busy, between her house and the Pot Liquor job, but it didn’t change the fact that I missed the hell out of her. We’d kept in touch via texting and phone conversations, but that wasn’t the same as being able to see, and touch her.

  And it wasn’t some overly horny, just trying to get some ass type of thing either. It had been… a minute, but I was honestly okay with that. I knew from experience that sex clouded your mind, and complicated shit that sometimes really didn’t need complicating. Right after the divorce, before my father passed, I’d had my share of little flings. After his death, I realized that the little meaningless sex was just that – meaningless. Not worth the risk of complications.

  With Fallon, we could just sit and talk and chill, without touching each other at all, and have a good time. But something about that intense chemistry made it hard not to touch each other. Even when she was being goofy, when we were sweaty and dusty from working on the house, or when she was in a bad mood because she was pissed off, I was always drawn to her. That connection made it impossible not to wonder how the sex would be, which made it impossible not to anticipate it, after the way we’d left things before she got on that plane.

  That’s why the morning I was supposed to pick her up from the airport, I found myself at the store, doing some last minute shopping for her time at my house. I paid a service every week anyway, so I just slid my housekeeper a little – okay, a lot – something extra and told her I was expecting important company.

  She smiled at me, and told me she understood. And obviously, she had, because she had two other women come to help, and they scrubbed away every trace of “single man living alone.” I mean, she always did a good job of keeping the house clean, but by the time I left for the store, it was “this woman is probably gonna snoop around your house” clean.

  Good.

  I picked up steaks to put on the grill, and enough fresh produce for the weekend. I planned to stop and talk to Simone about fresh flowers, since I knew that was Fallon’s thing, and maybe see Viv about an assortment of chocolate. Roman had already hooked me up with some fancy tea he said Fallon would like in the mornings, based on her choices when she stopped into Urban Grind. So, there was only one thing left to do before I dropped all of this stuff back at home, then went to pick her up.

  I headed to the family planning aisle.

  Came to the wrong damn store, I thought, as my eyes skimmed over what had to be thirty different options for condoms. Glow in the dark, cherry flavored, covered in lube that heated up with friction, ribbed for her pleasure and/or his, and a bunch of other unnecessary shit. And then, there was the part Fallon hadn’t mentioned about having to go back to protected sex: condoms weren’t cheap.

  The business did well enough that I wasn’t pressed for money, but I wasn’t exactly swimming in it either. I picked up the big box of a hundred condoms, looked at the prices, and was doing the mental calculation on the best deal when I heard someone s
ay my name from behind.

  “Sean?”

  I dropped the box of condoms into my cart before I turned around, but her eyes were wide, and filled with amusement as she smiled at me. “How have you been?” she asked, extending her arms as she approached, and wrapping them around my waist.

  I lifted an eyebrow, and reflexively went a little stiff in response to her touch. But, still… I decided not to be petty, and hugged my ex-wife back.

  Yeah.

  Her.

  She kept the hug brief instead of lingering, and when she stepped back, she was still smiling. Definitely not my favorite person in the world, but I had to admit she still looked good. Glowing caramel skin, dark hair in a bob that bounced around her shoulders… she looked good. She looked… happy.

  “Olivia… long time no see. I’ve been good.”

  She lifted an eyebrow. “Wow… full name, huh?”

  I shrugged. Back to “Olivia” from “Liv” was better than the stuff I used to call her in my head, so… “How are you?” I asked, not interested in turning this into a “thing”. I needed to get home so I could be on time to pick up Fallon.

  “I’m good. Here in town because my… my…”

  The motherfucka you were screwing while you were wearing my ring?

  “I might be moving back,” she decided on, clearly uncomfortable with talking about her new man with me. Which was fine, because I didn’t want to hear that shit. “So, yeah. We were doing a little scouting.”

  I kept my face blank. “Oh, okay. Cool. Good luck with that.” I grabbed the handle of my basket, and started to walk away, but she caught me by the arm.

  “Sean, hey.” She stepped in front of me, her expression almost… guilty. “I guess you… have a new lady friend?” she gestured toward my basket: wine, a big hunk of meat, and a box of condoms – romance at its finest.

  Nodding, I moved away from her grasp. “Yeah, I do.”

  “Good,” she said, her face spreading into a smile. “After everything between us, and then hearing about your dad… I’m happy for you. She’s a lucky woman.”

  I scratched my head. “Yeah, I gotta get going, Olivia. But good luck with your search.”

  “Okay,” she said, and was opening her mouth to say something else, but I got the hell away from her, while I was still in a good place, mentally. It wouldn’t be fair to call Olivia an emotional vampire or anything like that, but that whole situation was draining as hell. So no thanks.

  I checked out – with my big ass box of condoms, and then stopped to see Viv and Simone. Once I had everything, I went home, put it all away, and made sure everything was ready.

  Then I went to the airport to welcome Fallon home.

  “I can’t believe how much I missed you.”

  That was the first thing out of Fallon’s mouth after dropping her bag to practically jump into my arms, where we kissed, deep enough to draw a disapproving glare from airport security, and a few teasing comments from people passing by. Her words came out soft, just above a whisper, almost as if they weren’t really meant to be said aloud. She ran her hand over my jaw, and looked up at me, her eyes glossy with tears, and glittering with barely restrained joy. “It’s a little scary…”

  I smiled, then briefly lowered my mouth to hers. “But it’s mutual.”

  She smiled at me then, and gave me a little nod before we grudgingly separated. I grabbed her bag and led her to the truck for the ride back to her place. On the short drive, she filled the silence with happy chatter about her trip, and I just listened, responding when it was appropriate. I was content to let her tell me funny stories about her parents and brother, fuss about a mistake the manager of the Chicago store had made, and then immediately follow that up by lavishing the woman with praise for everything she’d done right.

  It baffled me, quite honestly, that Fallon’s ex had passed over a woman like her. Smart, funny, gorgeous, what wasn’t there to like? It popped in my mind that she must be secretly crazy, but even in the times I’d seen her temper flare up, she could recognize her own misdeeds, and worked to correct them. And the level of self-confidence she carried? Good lord. Although she would make little comments about her size and appearance, I’d never gotten the sense that she allowed what she perceived as flaws to affect her overall sense of worth. Fallon loved herself, and it was sexy as hell.

  “I’ll just be a minute,” she said, when we pulled up in front of her building. “I need to switch out some things in my bag.”

  I shook my head. “I’ll come in with you.”

  I needed to see her face when she walked inside, and sure enough, her eyes went wide as her mouth dropped open in a gasp. Then she screamed. “Oh my God, my kitchen!”

  When Fallon left, nothing in the kitchen was really “finished” except the counters and floors. The cabinet boxes were installed, but the custom doors weren’t on. There were big holes were the appliances were supposed to be, the backsplash wasn’t up yet, and everything was just covered in what I referred to as “renovation dust”.

  That wasn’t the case anymore.

  The glass and natural stone backsplash was up, stainless steel appliances installed, the tempered glass inset cabinet doors on the hinges were where they were supposed to be, and everything was spotless. I’d had the housekeeper and her crew swing by here too.

  “It’s just like I imagined,” she whispered, her mouth spreading into a big grin as she wiped her eyes. “Better, than I imagined.” She turned to me, then wrapped herself around me for a hug.

  I chuckled, and then planted a kiss on top of her forehead. “Well, you did give me that check, so I figured we may as well actually get some shit done.”

  “And I appreciate you for that. This is beautiful Sean. Thank you.” She smiled at me again, then stepped into the kitchen to examine things up close.

  I shrugged. “Just doing my job.”

  “Doing a wonderful job. But I’ll get acquainted with this later; we have to get going if we’re fishing today. But this… I don’t know, I feel like I need to get some groceries, and come down here half naked and cook in this before it feels like it’s really mine.”

  I grinned, leaning against the refrigerator as I watched her run her fingers over the tiled backsplash. “Hey, don’t let me stop you. We can do that now.”

  “Whatever,” she laughed. “Let me go and get my bag together, and then we can head out. Okay?”

  “Yeah.”

  I sat back on the couch while she got her stuff, and twenty minutes later, we were on our way to my house. I lived about thirty-five minutes out of the city, and Fallon had just gotten off a plane, so I wasn’t surprised when she fell asleep on the drive.

  The first day together was going to be mellow, by design. No innuendo, no pressure, just making sure we were comfortable with each other. Once we pulled in the driveway, I woke her up, and she oohed and aahed over the house and the property as I showed her around. I got changed while she took a shower, and then yelled for Fallon to meet me out on the dock.

  The dock was covered, with built in benches for seating, so I didn’t have to drag out umbrellas or chairs. I’d already cleared away any spiders or cobwebs, so all I had to do was set up our reels and everything, then show Fallon what to do.

  I was still a little surprised that she was open to fishing. Fallon wasn’t stuck up by any means, but she did have an air of elegance and delicacy about her that made me assume something like fishing wasn’t her thing.

  And then I looked up to see her coming down the dock.

  Hot pink waterproof boots, ripped jeans, a tee shirt covered in a fish scale print, with two big hooks shaped into a heart, a gray denim jacket, a wide-brimmed hat, and a smile.

  So damn cute.

  “That is quite the fishing outfit, Fallon,” I said as she stepped onto the pavilion.

  She flashed that smile at me again, then did a little spin. “You like?”

  “I do. Come sit down with me, so I can show you how to put your bait on�
� or I may have to do this part for you.”

  Fallon sucked her teeth, then pulled her face into a scowl. “Ummm, excuse you. Which pole is mine?”

  I pointed to the red one, then watched with interest as she sat down, pulling it across her lap. She held out her hand, gesturing for the tub of fat worms we were using as bait. I offered it to her, and she took it, and popped the top off, reaching gingerly inside for one of the worms.

  Her face was pulled into a mask of disgusted – twisted lips, wrinkled nose, squinted eyes – but she deftly maneuvered the worm onto the hook, so that it was securely on, with a little left dangling to catch the fish’s attention. When it was on, she looked at me and stuck out her tongue.

  “Tell me what I can’t do, like my daddy didn’t teach me how to fish. Hmph!” she muttered under her breath – but loud enough to make sure I heard – as she stood and walked to the edge of the pavilion. I shook my head, and she turned to shoot me a grin over her shoulder before she turned to cast her line into the water.

  I learned something interesting about this girl every day.

  We stayed out there for hours, talking, laughing, and… not catching any fish, at least not until we were ready to pack up. In that last thirty minutes, we were pulling them out of the water one after another, until we had enough for dinner, which had been the goal. The steaks were plan B.

  “You got any other outdoor skills you want to tell me about?” I asked, as I carried the heavy cooler of fish back to the house, with Fallon beside me.

  “Well… I love canoeing, and I know how to spot poison ivy and avoid bears.”

  “How to avoid bears?”

  “Mmhmm. You want to know the secret? I stay my black ass out of the woods,” she chuckled. “So if you planned any foraging or anything like that, count this girl out.”

  I laughed. “Nah, with the snakes and spiders and stuff, I wasn’t planning to take you out there. We don’t get too many bears or wolves, stuff like that. They don’t come close to the house. At least not past the fence.”