by Pj Fiala
She looked into the candlelight, and her memories came flooding back. “Jackie loved Gunnar instantly. She was amazing with him.” She turned on the sofa and faced Jeremiah, a giggle escaping her lips. “We would take him to the park and read to him and make sure he didn’t feel the stresses of not having a lot of money or not having a dad around. When Jackie met David, her husband, Gunnar was three months old. David immediately helped with Gunnar. He and Jackie fell in love almost instantly, and he was constantly around. He moved in with us after only about a month of them dating.”
Jeremiah smiled as he watched Joci recall Gunnar’s youth. Her eyes sparkled in the candlelight, her dimples winking at him as she spoke.
“Where was Keith all this time?”
Joci grimaced. “Turns out, Keith didn’t want the responsibility of being a dad. I was young, dumb, without parents, and maybe a little too adventurous. I can see things clearly now—long disappearances, late-night phone calls when we were together, a distance of sorts. After Gunnar was born, Keith really backed away and didn’t want the responsibility of a child. Thank God Jackie was there to help me. I wouldn’t have been able to make it without her.”
“When did Keith leave you and Gunnar?”
Joci looked at Jeremiah for a while. “Are you sure you want to hear all of this? It isn’t exactly a fun subject.”
“Yes, Joci, I want to know about you. More than I already know. I want to know what you like and don’t like. I want to know about your life.”
Joci took a deep breath.
“Okay, well, after Gunnar was born, I could tell Keith just wasn’t interested at all in him. Keith didn’t even come to the hospital when I had him—Jackie was with me. And my best friend, Tori.”
Joci winced when she mentioned Tori. She leaned forward and picked up her wine, took a drink and another deep breath.
“Anyway, when Gunnar was two months old, I caught Keith in bed with Tori. I had gone over to his apartment to talk with him. I walked in, and they were in bed together. It wasn’t like he was the love of my life or anything, but with my best friend? Needless to say, it was over.”
Jeremiah slid his hand over on top of Joci’s hand. “I’m sorry. That must have sucked.”
Joci looked at Jeremiah for a long while, his green eyes never wavering from her gaze—strong, steady, loving. Yes, he was a different kind of man than those she had been around. He genuinely seemed interested in her life. He was a great listener, and he never took his gaze away from her. She was beginning to relax. She took another drink of her wine.
“What about you? Where is JT and Ryder’s mother?”
Jeremiah’s lip turned up in a scowl, but he never looked away from Joci.
“Not sure. Barbara rides through once a year or so. She didn’t want to be a mother. It was an accident when she got pregnant. I was always careful, so when she called me and told me she was pregnant, I thought she was trying to scam me or something. I was in the Marines, had come home on leave, and met her in a bar. I spent time with her while I was home. Then I went back to California where I was stationed when leave was over. I got a phone call a month or two later that she was pregnant. I asked for a paternity test. She was bitchy about it but got one. My brothers Dayton and Thomas made sure she did it right. It turned out the boys were mine.”
Joci nodded. “It must have been hard. Good thing you didn’t have little girls.”
“God, I don’t know if I would have been able to raise girls. They would have been tomboys if I had. I don’t do girly things.”
Joci burst out laughing at the look on his face.
“You would’ve learned. I learned boy things. As kids, Jackie and I were girly girls. Our dad liked us in dresses and to have pretty things in our hair. Of course, we loved it. But, I had a boy, and Jackie and I learned boy things out of necessity. Then Jackie and David had two boys.”
Jeremiah sucked in a breath watching Joci laugh. She was so beautiful it took his breath away. He was in over his head with this one. Feelings like this were new. He felt primal and feral and, at the same time, protective and possessive. He wanted to lock her up in this house and never let her leave. He wanted her naked and in his bed every fucking day. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, sitting like this in the evening, talking to her, working like they had been working this past year on the ride or other ventures at the shop. He wanted to wake up every morning with her in his arms, sliding into her, smelling her, tasting her, touching her.
Jeremiah leaned forward and kissed her, gently at first, but Joci whimpered, which revved him up. He broke the kiss and set her wine glass on the coffee table. He turned back to Joci and reached over to touch her hair. He dug his fingers into her hair and ran his hand through it, cupping the back of her head. Jeremiah leaned forward and kissed Joci again, licking her lips and nipping her bottom lip.
“Open up, Joci.”
Joci sighed and gave in to the feelings she had, opening her mouth, and letting Jeremiah in. He slid his tongue into her mouth and floated around, tasting every part. He turned his head so his lips fit perfectly over Joci’s, wrapping his free arm around her waist and pulled her onto his lap so she straddled him.
Joci raked both her hands into Jeremiah’s hair and fisted it in her hands. Feeling her hand grip his hair so tightly, knowing she must be feeling what he was feeling, made Jeremiah throb. Joci leaned forward a little more, so her breasts were touching his chest. She rubbed back and forth, adding friction. Her nipples were so firm she could feel her heartbeat throb in them.
She was wet between her legs. She ground her hips against Jeremiah and felt his hardness against her, causing them both to groan loudly. Jeremiah grabbed her hips in both of his hands, pulled her tight against him and rotated her, so she was grinding against him in just that perfect way. Joci’s breathing became ragged. It had been so long since she had been with a man, she wouldn’t need much.
“Joci…I want to be in you so damn bad,” he groaned out.
Jeremiah wrapped his arms around her, leaned forward, and stood up, taking her with him. He skirted the coffee table and started walking to his bedroom. She hung on to him, nuzzling his ear as they moved down the hall. She breathed his scent in deeply. God, he smelled great. She didn’t have words for his scent. She just knew she wanted it on her. She touched his ear with her tongue. He groaned at the feeling.
“Hang on, Joci. It’s hard enough walking with a raging hard-on, but with your tongue in my ear, it’s damn near impossible.”
Joci tightened her hold around Jeremiah’s neck and wrapped her legs around him a little tighter.
As they reached the bedroom, Jeremiah walked in the door and kicked it closed with his boot. He walked over to the bed and gently laid Joci on top. He stood up and looked down at her. She was finally here. For ten fucking months, he had lain in this very bed with his cock hard as a rock, wanting and needing her. Only her.
Jeremiah reached over and unzipped Joci’s boots and pulled them off one at a time. He pulled her socks off as well. He looked at her left ankle, where she had a beautiful tattoo. It was an intricate little vine with pretty, delicate flowers on it. The vine trailed around her ankle, down the top of her foot and stopped halfway to her toes. He traced the vine with his fingers and then kissed the little flowers. His voice was husky with arousal.
“What’s this, Joci?”
9
What’s This?
Joci watched him as he traced her tattoo, kissing the flowers. The emotions running through her were tough to process. So many at once. There was no question he was sexy as hell. But, having him touch her, ask her questions about herself and her life, wanting to know about her and now intimately learning about her, this was overwhelming and emotional.
Her chest hitched, and her voice cracked. “It’s my family.”
Jeremiah raised his eyebrows in question. She swallowed to moisturize her throat.
“We are all bound by a tenuous little vine, which, if not nurt
ured, can wither and die. The vine is only as strong as the people who take care of it. The flowers are the fruit of that labor of taking care of each other. Each flower is one of the people in my family who help me nurture this vine. The color of the flower is the person’s favorite color.”
He touched the little white violet on Joci’s ankle. He wanted to know who these people were, though he suspected he already knew. But what if she had Keith or someone else on there that he didn’t want to know about? He had to ask.
“Who is this?”
“My mom. Her favorite color was white. Even though she isn’t here anymore, she gave me the base to start with.”
Jeremiah continued around her ankle.
“And this?”
“That’s Jackie. She loves orange.”
“And who loves blue?” he said, touching a blue flower.
“Gunnar.”
Jeremiah smiled. He knew that one.
“And this, who loves dark blue?”
Joci smiled.
“Dean, my nephew.”
“And how about yellow?”
“David likes yellow, though he doesn’t tell many people because they make fun of him. Apparently, guys aren’t supposed to like yellow.”
Joci smiled, remembering the time David told her his favorite color was yellow. He made her promise not to make fun of him. But she had told him her idea of the tattoo, and she wanted to make sure she had him correct on it. After all, it was permanent.
“And purple?”
“My nephew, Jacob.”
“And this light blue?”
“My dad.”
Trailing his finger down the vine to the top of Joci’s foot, there wasn’t a flower there, just a little bud. The bud was surrounded in green. There were cracks in the green bud, but the color had not started peeking out just yet.
“Why do you just have a bud here and no flower?”
Joci looked into Jeremiah’s eyes and swallowed a couple of times. Her eyes were becoming blurry with the threat of tears. He continued to look at her and waited for an answer.
Her voice full of emotion, she said, “That is someone who hasn’t been in my life yet. I saved that spot for the one man who loves me completely, doesn’t let me down, doesn’t betray me, keeps me safe, holds me when I’m sad, shares my happiness, and wants me and no one else.”
Jeremiah looked at Joci for a very long time. He looked at the spot on the top of her foot that held a place there for the man of her dreams. He wondered what it would look like to have a beautiful gray flower there, because since he had met her, his new favorite color had become gray, like a stormy night, the color of her eyes. Before that, his favorite color had been blue. He kissed the top of her foot before carefully laying it on the bed.
He slid his hands up her legs until he got to the juncture of her thighs, her very core. He massaged over her sensitive tissues through her jeans with his thumbs, watching her face the whole time. Joci closed her eyes and pushed herself into his thumbs, needing more contact. She heard Jeremiah’s breath catch and opened her eyes to look at him. His pupils were dilated, and she could see candlelight flickering in them.
“Lift up for me, Joci.”
She sat up and lifted her arms, watching Jeremiah the whole time. As soon as he took her t-shirt off, he gently laid it on the end of the bed, never taking his eyes from hers. Jeremiah looked down at her breasts and hissed a little.
“Jesus, Joci, you’re so beautiful.”
He ran a finger along the edge of her bra, watching her chest rise and fall as she pulled in ragged breaths.
“I want the rest of your clothes off. Stand up and take your jeans off for me.”
His voice was soft, but commanding. Joci was excited that he told her what he wanted. Sexy, demanding, commanding, and it made her wet—well, wetter.
She scooted to the edge of the bed and slid down the side to her very shaky legs. She hesitated and looked at Jeremiah. He nodded slightly, never taking his eyes from hers. His green eyes had turned darker with desire. She hooked her thumbs into the waistband of her jeans and started to shimmy them down her legs. She chanced a look at Jeremiah again. He was watching her every move.
Slowly, Joci slid her jeans to the floor and stepped out of them. He stared at her for a long time, not saying anything, just looking at her.
“Take the rest off…slowly.”
Joci’s lips curved into a small, shaky smile. She was stripping for Jeremiah! Holy crap. She had never, ever stripped for any man. And he was staring at her with blatant lust and interest. At least for right now, she could imagine that he wanted her and only her.
She hooked her thumbs into the waistband of her panties and slid them down her legs. As she stood back up, she slowly slid her hands along her body in a sensuous motion. She heard his breath catch and felt more emboldened. She seductively reached behind her and unhooked her bra.
Jeremiah rubbed himself through his jeans, the pressure that was building shocked him with its intensity. He didn’t remember ever being this hard. It was painful. Over this past year, as he had thought about Joci, he would get hard and stroke himself off. But standing here with her now, watching her strip—fuck, his cock hurt.
Joci sucked in a breath as she watched Jeremiah touch himself. Now, that was sexy as hell.
She let her bra drop to the floor and took a step closer to him, never looking away. It wasn’t a hardship; he was amazing to look at. The candlelight danced on his skin, which was beginning to glisten with sweat. She hesitated a moment, but he reached forward and placed her hand on his hard length. The pronounced bulge in his jeans gave her a thrill, sending delightful shivers the length of her spine. The coarse material between them created a friction against her soft palm.
Joci lifted her hand and began unbuttoning his jeans. Slowly, she slid the zipper down, watching his eyes as she did so. She pushed his jeans and boxers down his thighs and let them fall to the floor. He quivered as her fingers brushed his skin. She slowly wrapped her fingers around him and he gently slid her hand up and down with his, setting the pace. He groaned out an unintelligible word as the air whooshed from his lungs, his eyes closing, his head thrown back. She continued manipulating his cock, admiring the firmness under the satiny soft skin.
She pushed his shirt up his body, touching him as she went. He was a good-looking man: hard muscles, ridges, and planes. His tight abdomen narrowed to those glorious hips and thighs. She ran her hands up his chest and rubbed across his nipples. She heard a light breath escape, and feeling bolder, she leaned forward and lightly licked one pebbled disk. Jeremiah sucked in a breath.
She smiled against his skin and licked him again. When she heard him hiss out a breath, she kissed her way across his chest and licked his other nipple. She sucked the hard little peak into her mouth, and at the same time, added pressure with her fingers to the moist little peak she left behind.
Joci looked up at him. He inclined his head urging her to keep going.
She ran her hands down his body, his firm, broad chest, down the ridges of his abdomen and over his hips, purposely ignoring the bobbing penis straining toward her.
Jeremiah reached down and grabbed her hand, needing her to touch him. Again. More.
As soon as she touched him, a loud groan escaped his lips, and she huffed out a breath. He felt so good, soft and hard at the same time. Slowly, with her other hand, she reached down and palmed his balls. He felt good in her hands. His hardness was impressive, while the soft, satiny skin that covered him felt like heaven. As she moved her hands over and around his thick length, it jumped and moved in her hands. He hissed again.
“God, Joci, you’re going to unman me. You feel so good.”
She licked her lips and started to slide down to her knees when Jeremiah sucked in a breath.
“No, Joci. We’ll get to that later, but right now, I have other plans.”
In one swift motion, Jeremiah reached down and picked her up, laying her on the bed. He climbed o
ver her and kissed her again. His kiss was insistent, impatient, needing to be in her everywhere. He invaded her mouth with his tongue, his lips.
When he needed a breath, he kissed his way down her jaw, her neck, and to her breasts. When his mouth encased one of her taut peaks, Joci gasped. He pulled it into his mouth and sucked—hard. Oh, that feeling shot right to her pussy, and she thrust her hips upward, seeking something to relieve the need she felt there.
Jeremiah sucked her breast in again, this time, a bit harder, and Joci pushed forward again.
He sucked in the other breast just as hard as the last one and, at the same time, he pinched the nipple he just left. Joci gasped, at the same time pushing her hips forward and grabbing fists of his hair. Jeremiah kissed his way to her pussy and licked along the seam.
He pushed her legs farther apart and spread her open. He licked from the bottom of her pussy to the top. Circling her clit, he repeated the motion when she moaned. Rocking her hips into his mouth, she huffed out a breath and a moan escaped her lips. Jeremiah held her in place as he continued his sweet, sensual assault. Every nerve in her body was now completely trained on her pussy and his mouth. As his tongue glided along her wet folds of skin, she was overcome with desire and need. The flames shot down into her creamy depths and lit a raging fire within her. The only things keeping her from combusting were his tongue and his mouth.
“Come on my face, Joci—I want to taste you,” he rasped out.
Joci rocked forward a few more times. Jeremiah continued to lick and suck her. He slid a finger into her channel, and she let out a cry; it felt so damned good. Just one of his fingers would be able to bring her to orgasm.
She tasted amazing; sweet like honey. He wanted her taste on his tongue every day. Each time he added a little more pressure to her clit, he could feel her getting wetter. She groaned and thrust and was so hot and wet. This was the stuff wet dreams were made of.