Brothers & Best Friends

by Rose, Ashley

  Betty nodded. "Have you decided on any names yet?"

  Janine shook her head. "No. We have a few we're considering, but nothing really settled yet."

  "Oh yeah? What kind of names?"

  "Well, one of our ideas was to name him after my brother, John, and call him Johnny," Janine said. "Another idea was to name him after your father, Christopher. Then a name that we just like is Reid. We've talked about it a lot, but we can't decide. We might just name him when we see him."

  "What name do you think, hon?" she asked Jess.

  "Undecided," he replied.

  Janine frowned at Jess. "I think he was leaning toward Chris last night, but like I said, we still aren't sure."

  "We need to get going," Jess said.

  "Already?" Betty asked.

  "I have to work tomorrow."

  "Oh," she said, frowning. "Well, could we ride out to the baby store first? I want to get sndbaby."

  Jess stood up, sighing quietly. "Okay, but we can't be too long. It's a five-hour drive, and I don't want to have to go to bed as soon as I get home."

  She nodded. "I'll go get my purse."

  Betty left the room and Janine stood up, hugging Jess's arm. "I assume you're not being paid by the word," she said.

  He half smiled. "Flat rate."

  She rolled her eyes, smiling slightly. "Please be nice. When we leave we're not coming back until next Christmas."

  He sighed. "Thank God."

  She smiled and pulled him, guiding him to the door to wait for Betty.

  ***

  "We don't have room for this crap," Jess groaned, stuffing another one of Janine's boxes into the back seat.

  She put a hand on her hip and raised her eyebrow. "Are you calling my stuff crap?"

  "Your stuff fits fine, but this stuff my mom bought is too damn big."

  "Well, the stroller and baby swing can't help if they're bulky, and I'm sure that tiny baby blanket isn't causing you any trouble."

  "Did you see the stroller box?" he asked, peeking his head back out. "It takes up the whole seat."

  She waved him off. "One more box and we're good to go."

  "You might have to put it on the floor up there," he stated.

  She sighed. "Comfy."

  He scowled and went back to rearranging boxes.

  She smiled and turned back to John. "It's fun to annoy him sometimes."

  John smiled and draped an arm around her shoulder as he watched Jess shoving boxes around. "So, you're really going, huh?"

  Janine nodded. "I'm going."

  He sighed and nodded. "I'll miss you, you know."

  "I know. I'll miss you, too. But it's just like before. You'll visit. I imagine you have to come to Mom's for Christmas, don't you?"

  "Aren't you coming home for Christmas?"

  She shook her head. "I don't think so. I promised Jess we wouldn't cross the city limit again until next Christmas. Coming back home is not a fun trip for Jess. He likes his new life better than his old one, and I don't blame him, so I doubt we'll be back."

  "Well, maybe I can come out to the city and have a pre-Christmas with you, then come home for Christmas."

  She mock sighed. "Great, now I have to make two Christmas dinners."

  He smiled. "That's what happens when you're a good cook."

  She grinned and hugged him. "You better come visit us. It's already going to be strange enough having Christmas without Mom, but a Christmas without you would be just plain wrong."

  "It wouldn't be very normal for me, either. You know Mom's going to be mad when you tell her you're not coming home."

  "Sh," she said, raising a finger to her lips. "I'm not telling her until we're back in the city."

  Jess shut the back door. "All right, it's all loaded up."

  "Can you see through the stuff?"

  He nodded. "It isn't blocking my view." He glanced at his watch. "Come on, we need to get going."

  "Okay." She turned to John and gave him another hug. "Behave yourself."

  "I'll be an angel," he stated.

  She rolled her eyes and smiled. "Don't stretch it." She turned and walked over to her mom, approaching slowly and shoving her hands in her pockets. "Mom, we're all loaded up."

  Janet nodded, her nose already red from crying. "Tell him to drive carefully," she said.

  Janine nodded. "I will." She stepped closer and gave her a hug.

  "And call me to let me know you got there safe."

  "Okay," Janine said.

  "And remember, if things don't work out you can always come back here."

  Stifling the urge to tell her it would work out, Janine nodded. "I know."

  "Bye," she said with a last wave, then went over and got into the car with Jess. He put the key in the ignition and started up the car, then backed out of the driveway and started down the road.

  He glanced over at her and saw her staring at the floorboard. "Are you okay?" he asked.

  She nodded, her voice a little less firm. "It's just...a little harder to leave when they know about it."

  He saw the tears glistening in her eyes and he looked away, more than a little uncomfortable. Before he got to the end of the road, he glanced at her again. "Do you want to go back?"

  She shook her head and half smiled. "No. I'll be fine."

  He smiled and reached over to take her hand. She squeezed it and sighed, looking out the window.

  Chapter Twelve

  Once they were finally home in New York, Janine was content to spend the latter part of the evening in Jess's arms.

  They settled into the couch to watch a movie. Janine elbowed Jess as he mocked the dramatic scenes. She tried to tell him he was an incredibly annoying person to watch movies with, but she ruined it by grinning, and then he started kissing her and she forgot about the movie until the end. By then, there was obviously no point in trying to finish.

  Once in bed, they continued to kiss, catching up on lost time. Jess leaned over Janine, holding himself up with his hands to avoid putting his weight on her. He continued to kiss her, moving slowly, taking time to taste her lips and caress her tongue. From time to time, Jess would playfully nibble her lower lip, which would inevitably make her giggle.

  "Jess!" She laughed.

  "Yes, dear?" he said, feigning innocence.

  She glared at him, pretending to be angry. He tweaked her nose playfully, then kissed her lips again. From there, he kissed her left cheek, and then her right. He moved to her forehead, her nose, her chin. "I want to kiss every square inch of your gorgeous face," he said between kisses. Janine giggled and blushed, then pulled him in for a deeper kiss. As their tongues moved together in unison, she moaned softly against his lips. Parting her legs slightly, she pulled him farther on top of her, wrapping her arms around his neck and threading her fingers through his hair. Once again, Jess kissed each of her cheeks, then trailed kisses to her earlobe. He nibbled, his breath hot against her ear, before moving down to leave soft kisses on her neck. She couldn't help but thrust her hips up, the space between her thighs meeting with Jess's arousal. The feeling of his hardness against her caused her to moan, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. Pulling him as close as she could, she whispered into his ear.

  "I think...I think I might have changed my mind," Janine said.

  Jess pulled back to look at her and raised an eyebrow. "How very specific."

  She smiled. "Isn't it?"

  "What did you change your mind about?" he asked idly.

  "About...sleeping together."

  "Now I have to sleep on the couch?"

  She rolled her eyes. "No, I mean I think I've changed my mind about not sleeping together. I think maybe...I don't want to wait," she said hesitantly.

  Whatever reply she had expected, it wasn't his pause or his eventual response of, "Huh."

  She frowned. "Huh? That's what you have to say? That's not even a real word. I tell you that I might be changing my mind about a huge decision that I made years ago and your respons
e is a monotone un-word?"

  "It wasn't monotone. My tone was slightly higher than usual."

  Her jaw dropped.

  He sighed.

  She pushed him off her and prepared to exit the bed in a huff.

  "Get back here," he said, easily pulling her back down.

  "No, I'm going to go talk to Todd, see if he has any real words for me," she said stubbornly, despite not making an effort to remove his hand or get up.

  "I was thinking, Janie. Not everyone has your remarkable ability to rattle off five thousand words at the drop of a hat."

  "Are you saying I talk too much?"

  He wisely chose not to respond, instead going back to the problem at hand. "Why exactly have you changed your mind?"

  She glanced down at his chest and started drawing imaginary circles. "I don't know. I mean, not I don't know, it wasn't a stupid thing that I decided on a whim or anything like that. It's just that...I love you, and I want to be close to you. Not that I don't already think we're close, of course," she amended. "But...do you think we're close?"

  "What kind of question is that? Of course I think we're close. I told you I love you, didn't I?"

  She half smiled. "Yes, and that makes me very happy. But I was reading in Cosmo that—"

  He put his hand over her mouth. "Please don't finish that sentence."

  Her smile widened and she removed his hand. "I just want you to feel as close to me as I feel to you."

  "I do."

  "But how do you know?"

  He sighed. "How do I know what, Janine? How I feel? Dr. Phil told me."

  She slumped and sighed. "That isn't what I mean. I don't even know what I mean, so I don't know why I expect you to."

  "Start over. Why do you suddenly want to have sex?"

  "I don't just want to have sex," she replied defensively. "It's not like that. I didn't make the decision based on stupid, shallow, or self-indulgent reasoning. I don't want to sleep with you just so I'll know what it's like, or because...whatever reason it is that people decide to have sex."

  "Feels pretty good," he remarked.

  "Well, that's certainly not why I want to do it." She paused. "Is that really why you want to have sex? Just because it feels good?"

  "It's a nice bonus," he replied.

  She rolled her eyes. "Men. You're such strange creatures."

  "Funny, I was thinking the same thing about you. Now stop avoiding the subject and tell me why you want to sleep with me".

  "Because I love you." She sighed. "I don't know. I don't even know how to describe it. I just know it's different. I know that there is no possible way that I could ever love a man more than I love you, unless of course, you count my son."

  He half smiled. "Then I take the back seat?"

  "No, then you have to put him in your lap and share your seat."

  "I think I can do that."

  She smiled. "I figured you could. You're not so insecure that you'd be threatened by an infant."

  "I'm not insecure at all," he corrected.

  "Sure you're not," she replied, patting his cheek to annoy him.

  "I'm not," he stated.

  "Larry?"

  He scoffed. "Not wanting another guy kissing and groping on my girlfriend is not the same as being insecure."

  "You think I let Larry kiss on me and grope me?" she replied, raising her eyebrows.

  "I sincerely hope not, but if you did I don't really want to know."

  She looked up at him, amused. "You're disgruntled."

  "You'd be disgruntled, too. John only told me you were going out with the guy. He never told me how serious it was."

  She smiled. "You're jealous."

  "I am not jealous. Why would I be jealous? You're with me now, aren't you?"

  Finally, Janine said, "You never gave your opinion about our original topic."

  "Sex? I'm a fan of it."

  She rolled her eyes. "No, really?" she said sarcastically. "What do you think? You didn't seem to have much of an opinion. If you don't care one way or the other, then forget you. You can take cold showers for the rest of your life."

  "I don't not have an opinion. I just don't want you to take my opinion the wrong way and get offended."

  Janine frowned. "I'm listening."

  He paused to formulate what he wanted to say, then said, "I don't think you should change your mind."

  She raised her eyebrows. "What?"

  "Like you said, you made this decision years ago, before dating me was even a realistic possibility. I don't think you should change your mind for me. I'm extremely pleased, flattered, honored, that you would even consider it, but I don't think you should."

  She frowned in confusion. "You don't want to sleep with me?"

  The sound he made was a half laugh, half scoff. "Want to? Of course I want to. But I also want you to make the decision on your own."

  "But I did. You didn't even know until just now."

  "I know, but you're making it because of me. I assure you, I feel close enough to you, Janie. You do not have to worry about losing me. I don't want to be the reason you go back on your decision. I think you should stick with it. I'll be fine."

  She rested her head on his arm and maintained a thoughtful silence. "But...who knows how long...I could be old before you ever..."

  He smiled. "I don't think it'll take that long."

  She sighed. "Also, I'm pregnant right now, so we wouldn't have to worry about me getting pregnant."

  "They created birth control for a reason."

  She shook her head. "I don't know if I'm allowed to take birth control while I'm breastfeeding. I'll have to check into it. If there's any risk, I'm not taking it until I'm done breastfeeding, so that's another year."

  "Condoms. I know those aren't a risk for breastfeeding mothers."

  She scowled at him. "You think I want my first time to be with a piece of latex between us?"

  He scowled right back. "You are a difficult woman."

  "And you're a confusing man. We argued about sex before I left because I didn't want to and you did, and now we're arguing because I'm willing and you don't want to. I don't want to be a nun," she said, looking up at him.

  He smirked. "Well, now, I don't want you to be a nun, either."

  "Please, Jess, can't we just be open to it, and see how it goes?"

  "Baby, are you sure? I want this to be what you want, nothing else."

  "This is what I want. I promise you. I want you. All of you."

  Before Jess could change his mind, Janine rolled onto her back, pulling him on top of her as she went.

  "Okay, okay," he said, laughing. "I get it!"

  She smiled up at him, then bit her lip shyly. Jess leaned down and slowly kissed her.

  "The thing is," he said, "I think I'd be more comfortable with you on top. I want you to take the lead. Given the, um, situation, I just don't want to…I don't know…do anything that you don't want, I guess?"

  "Jess…" Janine bit her lip again. "I'm nervous. What if I'm not good? What if I do it wrong? Please…I promise, if I start to feel uncomfortable, I'll let you know. Just don't make me be on top the first time," she pleaded.

  Jess nuzzled her neck. "Okay, as long as you promise…"

  "I do," she answered, pulling him in for a kiss.

  Jess kissed back tentatively, until Janine parted her lips to accept his tongue. He caressed her tongue expertly, but made no further moves. Slightly exasperated, Janine took one of his hands and placed it on her breast. Finally, Jess realized she was serious. He continued kissing her, slowly caressing her breast, then pulled her up into a sitting position and slipped her shirt over her head. Tossing it over his shoulder and onto the floor, he gently laid her back down and kissed her neck. He sat back up long enough to remove his own shirt, then continued his job on her neck, trailing light kisses and licks down to her collarbone. Janine inhaled sharply, parting her legs and sliding one thigh up to the side of his waist. Jess moved down farther, using his tong
ue to pay attention to one nipple, then the other. The sensation sent electricity shooting through Janine. Unable to stand the layers of material between them anymore, Janine pushed Jess up and off of her. Confused, he leaned back.

  "Are you okay?" he said, worry in his voice.

  "Yes…" Janine answered breathlessly. Lifting her hips off the bed, she removed the rest of her clothes in one smooth motion. Jess gasped, but didn't get much time to take in the view before Janine pulled him down to her again. Kissing him with near desperation, she reached between them and began to pull down his pants. Jess grabbed her hand, stopping her.

  "Not yet," he said. Using both hands, he trailed his fingertips across Janine's lips. Moving down, he circled each breast, then continued down. Passing her waist and hips, he moved his hands to the inside of her thighs, trailing his fingers up and down but avoiding Janine's most sensitive spots.

  She trembled, her mind begging him to touch her. He was going too slowly. She needed to feel him. "Please," she practically begged, "please touch me."

  It was all the encouragement Jess needed. Leaning up to kiss her once more, Jess rested his palm between her legs, then used one finger to slide up and down, taking time to circle her hard little pleasure button.

  Janine responded by spreading her legs wider, urging him on. Jess used one finger to enter her, moving in and out at a slow, rhythmic pace. He used his other hand to expertly work her clit. Janine came almost immediately. She shook hard, moaning the entire time.

  "Jess," she gasped. "Jess, I need you. I need all of you. I can't wait anymore. Please, I'm ready. Please don't make me wait anymore."

  Without a word, Jess pulled off the rest of his clothes, his cock springing up and out. Janine couldn't help but stare between them as Jess lowered himself over her. He kissed her, then laid his head next to hers so they were cheek to cheek.

  "You're absolutely positive?" he whispered in her ear.

  "Yes, Jess. I'm ready," she answered.

  Jess kissed her once more, then used his hand to guide himself into her. He went slowly, looking at her face for any sign of discomfort.

  "More," she said, wrapping her legs around his waist and pulling him deeper. Soon, to Jess' surprise, Janine had taken his entire length. They lay still for a moment, both getting used to the sensation of their bodies being one. Janine circled her hips once, slowly, letting him know she was ready. Jess pulled back some, then slid into her again, thrusting slowly, kissing along her neck and chest as he went. When Janine moaned his name softly, it took all his willpower not to explode. She had no idea how sexy she was.