Not That Kind of Love

by K. S. Martin

  “Good, now get out of my kitchen.” Jamie slaps my rear end and turns back to the stove. I go to the bathroom to brush my teeth and take care of my female issues. I shower and wrap myself in his robe and head back to the kitchen. I pick up my coffee cup and drink. It is heaven in a cup. Jamie put my breakfast in front of me and joins me at the counter. He opens a newspaper to the sports section. Hey look the Nationals are on a streak. I’ll be damned. Jamie had missed the hockey playoffs, it would’ve depressed him anyway, the Capitals lost in the second round. I wash his dishes and clean his kitchen. “Are you going to help me pack my clothes?” He folds the paper and watches me hopefully. I nodded. I went to the bathroom and tied my hair back and got dressed. I don’t bother with makeup, he likes looking at me without it. It’s something new for him. I smooth lotion on my face but that’s all. I start folding clothes and putting them in suitcases and duffel bags. He’s going to leave everything but his personal items. The plan is that when Fran shows up tomorrow she will find a stocked fridge, a clean bed and a note saying he’s moved in with me and that she is responsible for the bills and rent. Fran has a great paying job with the government. None of us knows what she does, it’s classified. Of all of Jamie’s sisters, Fran would be the last that you would think that worked for the Department of Defense. Maybe she trains operatives to cuss. She’s really great at it. I giggle at the thought. She won’t have a problem affording this apartment. Jamie’s clothes are packed, and his clothes for today are lying on the dresser. I change the sheets on the bed and put the dirty ones in the washer. We run the dishwasher and get all of his things from the bathroom. Jamie has already given her my old keys so she can come and go. I can’t wait to get him to my house. I am suddenly so ready to get on with it. I want to wake up with him every day, I want to see that glorious chest and belly as often as possible. I want to run behind that gorgeous ass for seven miles three times a week. I want to watch from my kitchen window as he pushes a mower back and forth across my yard while his sweat covered skin glistens in the sunlight. Thinking about it has turned me on and he knows as soon as he sees my face that I want him inside of me. Jamie comes to me and leads me to the bathroom. He turns the shower on never taking his eyes from mine.

  “I’ve had a shower.” I whisper.

  “I haven’t.” His fingers are entwined with mine. “You need me Mich, and I need you, right now.” He pulled my tee shirt over my head and I wiggled out of my pants while he dropped the pajama bottoms that he was still wearing. I climbed in, Jamie reaches between my legs and pulled the tampon out gently and dropped it in the toilet flushing it. He pulled the curtain closed and cradled my face with his hands. His mouth covered mine. Tenderly he explored my mouth, my tongue. He sucked my bottom lip into his mouth. I melted. My hands flat against his chest. My fingers gently explored his skin. The water was warm coming over his shoulder and sluicing over my breasts. Jamie lifted my leg up high against his hip. I felt his erection huge resting against my belly. His hand dipped between us and guided his shaft into me. His eyes still haven’t left mine. He’s pushing into me gently, slowly. My greedy muscles are grabbing at him trying to hold him still. “You feel so right.” He murmurs against my mouth. The curtain jerked open then.

  “Jamie? Oh, whoops, sorry!” She says surprised. It closes just as quickly and I laugh. “Let him have it Mich!” I hear Fran say as I hear the bathroom door close. She’s on the other side of the closed door but I hear her “whoo hoo!”

  “Damn it.” Jamie mutters. “This is the first time in her life that she’s early.”

  “Don’t worry about her. She’s cheering for us.” I let my hands glide over his wet skin trying to refocus him. “Come on Jamie, don’t quit on me now.” I tried to mollify him, to distract him from Fran. It was so romantic and intense and now it wasn’t. He can’t concentrate with Fran on the other side of the door.

  “She’s going to give us a fit.” He muttered.

  “No she won’t, she’s happy for us.” He shakes his head disagreeing with me. “She may not do it front of you but I am never going to hear the end of it.” Its over then, maybe I could persuade him later when we were alone.

  “I’ll take care of it.” His eyebrow quirked up. “I will, just wait.” We climbed out and dried ourselves, not talking and both of deeply frustrated. I wrapped the towel around me and went out into the living room. Fran was sipping a beer with her feet on the coffee table. She was watching an infomercial about a magic pan. “Fran, don’t rag him.” She grinned. “I mean it. It’s really…” I chewed my bottom lip thinking. “It’s really delicate right now. Give it a few years okay. Wait until we’re married, you tell the story at the reception okay?” Her face lit up at the thought.

  “If you insist Shell. I wasn’t going to say a word except congratulations and when can I wear my new fucking dress, but if you want me to tell the story, I will.” I laughed with her.

  “You suck Fran.” I grabbed her beer. “It’s a little early for this, don’t you think? You Flanagan’s have got to lay off the booze.

  “I’ve been up all night so it’s a little late for me.” She snatched it back and put it on the table.

  “What were you up all night doing?” I grinned and quirked an eyebrow.

  “Reconnaissance.” My mouth fell open unattractively.

  “What is that exactly?” I asked expecting something kinky.

  “What is what?” Jamie came into the living room, dressed and looking perfect as usual.

  “It is a mission to obtain information by observation or other methods.” Fran said matter of fact.

  “Recon.” Jamie looked at me curiously. I shook my head. Who were these people? “Did Dad have you helping him or was it for DOD?”

  “Dad of course, if it were for DOD, I wouldn’t be able to tell you. I was a hooker last night.” Fran laughed. “It’s alright Mich. I wasn’t in any danger, not with Dad and the entire vice squad watching me.”

  “What does your Dad do? I thought he was just a cop.” I took a drink of her beer, this made her laugh harder.

  “He’s a detective. Right now someone is running cocaine through the hooker’s downtown. He wanted me to find out what I could. You will see a major bust hit the news any day now.” Fran winked at me and took her beer back and finished.

  “So that’s how you guys found me.” I grinned.

  “Nope, Dad refused. He said that if one of his girls needed time on her own, she was going to get it.” Fran said.

  “One of his girls?” I was a little confused.

  “In his mind you are one of his girls. He told me that if I used any of my connections to find you that he would blow the whistle on me too. That made it harder. We had to do it the old fashioned way.” My brows knitted. “Ask around, drive around, look around and hope you get lucky. That night at the restaurant, we were on our way home giving up for the day. Jamie spotted you inside. Your back was to the door and I didn’t believe him so I made him wait until you came out. He was right.” She looked up at her brother with admiring eyes. “He knew the curve of your neck and the slope of your shoulder, can you believe that?” I nodded and glanced up at him with my own smile. “It’s fucking freaky, you two belong together.” She finished her beer. “I see you’re packed and probably moving in with her, so get the fuck out, I’m bushed. I take it the rent and bills are all mine?” Jamie nodded. “That’s fine. I’ll call you if I need you.” Fran got up and went into the bedroom to fall across Jamie’s freshly made bed. She was out cold before I could finish dressing. Jamie and I were as quiet as we could be when we left.

  I helped Jamie put his clothes in the closet in the spare bedroom. He took care of his guitar and computer equipment. The closets were small in this house. I gave him the chest of drawers, it was mostly empty anyway. I moved the few items that I’d been storing there into my dresser. He took the master bath and the side of the bed that I wasn’t using next to the window. A week ago I was hiding from him and now here he was in my house. I he
ard him running the vacuum in the living room. I put fresh towels in his bathroom and gave him a bar of soap and bottle of shampoo. I put his shoes in neat rows in the bottom of his closet. “Hey, I was thinking that we should get a double bed for in here and we should make the little bedroom an office. What do you think?” I thought about it. We would have two computers, printers and would need two desks.

  “Are we going to share a desk?” He was already shaking his head.

  “You need your own space. I’ll work it out. I’m going to do some shopping, do you want to come? Or would you rather relax with a cup of tea?” I melted at the word and he smiled the lopsided smile that I loved. “Can I borrow your truck?” I pulled the keys from my pocket and handed them to him.

  “You should get the house keys duplicated.” I offered.

  “Will do. Do you need anything while I am out?” I shook my head. “Rest, I’ll bring food back with me.”

  “Thanks Jamie.” I sighed and wondered why I ever left him.

  “Anytime sweets.” He tossed the keys in the air and caught them, he was whistling when he left.

  I was starting to worry about him when he finally came home. I’d read, drank tea, took a nap and he was still missing. I heard the garage door open and he came in a few minutes later with bags of groceries and fast food. He put the groceries away quickly while I rummaged through the fast food bag. There were two burgers, two fries and two chocolate shakes. I put my straw in and sucked as hard as I could and let the cold chocolate fill my mouth. I heard Jamie’s wolf whistle and giggled. He sat next to me and took a bite of his burger. “Maybe I will let you have my shake so I can watch that again.” He winked at me. I giggled again. “I had the cable turned on while I was out. It should be working, and you will be getting a newspaper starting tomorrow too. The tread mill etc… will be delivered on Tuesday.”

  “Wow, you were really busy today. I wondered what happened to you. Thanks Jamie.” I touched his arm.

  “Wait, there’s more. I combined our car insurance and took out a renter’s insurance policy. Patty said to say ‘Hi.’ I also got the keys duplicated to the cars and to the house.” He pulled car keys out of his pocket and put them on the counter in front of me. “Can you help me carry some things in the house?” I nodded and followed him to the garage. The bed of my truck had boards and tools in it as well as office equipment. Jamie lifted a desk chair down and rolled it toward me. “Put that in the living room until I’m ready for it.” He followed with the other one then went back for the plastic mat that would cover the floor in our new office. I watched Jamie measure the room and followed him back to the garage. He set up a saw and cut a piece of what looked like countertop. He carried it through and left it in the hall. He did this twice more, and then set about cutting a long board into smaller pieces that were angled on both ends. Jamie pulled a drill and screws out of the bed and went inside of the house. I went to the living room and checked the television. I had cable with premium channels. I was anxious about what it would cost. My inner accountant was jumping up and down, furiously tapping her foot. I flipped through the channels and saw a naked woman stroll across the screen. Oh dear. I changed it quickly. Jamie did not need to see the big boobs and long blonde hair on that channel. I found a cooking show and was immediately engrossed in the man with the French accent sculpting chocolate. My hormones screamed, ‘gimmee!’

  “Whoa, that’s not a good idea in your condition.” Jamie took the remote from me and changed the channel to the weather. He kissed my cheek. “Come see what I did.” He took my hand and pulled me into the guest room.

  “Oh Jamie!” I cried excitedly. “It’s beautiful.”

  “Do you want the long side or the corner end?” He left me there to decide and came back with the office chairs putting one in the corner and one on the long end of the room. “I thought you could put the treadmill there.” He pointed, “And you can run while I play video games.” He smiled excited. “We can put a small television up there to watch while you run.”

  “Only when it rains, the rest of the time, we will run in the park.” I scolded him.

  “Of course.” He wrapped me in his arms and hugged me. “What do you think?”

  “I love it.” He squeezed me and let me go.

  “The furniture will be delivered with the treadmill. I hope you don’t mind that I picked it out.” I shook my head. “I got a full sized sleigh bed and a nightstand to match.” He said into my hair.

  “Jamie, what is all this going to cost?” There, I waited as long as I could wait, I had to know.

  “Don’t worry about it. I got the counter top from Dad’s shed, it used to be in Mom’s sewing room and I borrowed his tools, so all of that was free. The rest is insignificant.”

  “Jamie, cable and newspapers cost money, furniture costs money and so do treadmills. How much?”

  “I said don’t worry about it. I’m just so happy to be here with you Mich and besides I have savings and a big fat salary coming very soon.” He tried to distract me with kisses that trailed from my temple to my jaw. I pushed on his chest.

  “Jamie, you know how I feel about debt.” My eyes were welling. “And you should never count chickens.”

  “Hey, hey, easy baby, it will be fine, I promise. I paid cash and it was on clearance.” He lifted me easily and carried me to the bedroom. “Don’t get upset, okay?” Jamie lay me down on the bed gently. Trailing soft kisses down my neck and across my collar bone, he was murmuring as he went to soothe and distract me. Jamie reached into the cabinet beneath the nightstand and brought out the heating pad then plugged it in. “I’m going to make myself a cup of tea, would you like one?” He asked from the doorway. I nodded. I would be glad when this was over in two or three days. I hate my period. It makes me so over-sensitive. Jamie is an adult. He is not in debt, he is very smart with money and I really had no real reason to question him. I heard his cell ring and he was speaking softly. I got up and went toward the kitchen but stopped in the hall when I heard him. “Yeah honey its fine.” My heart flopped frantically in my chest. Who was ‘honey?’ I watched as he put water in the kettle and turned the stove on. “I know I’ll miss you too.” He got mugs from the cabinet and put a tea bag in each of them. “Sure, anytime, you know I will.” I didn’t like his tone. His voice was smooth and sweet, the same tone he used on me. Who was he talking to? “Absolutely,” He chuckled. “Anytime.” I couldn’t stand it anymore. I walked toward the kitchen watching him. He made no move to hide what he was doing and he didn’t hang up. I narrowed my eyes and cocked my head. “She’s here. Do you want to say hi?” He paused. “Okay talk later. It’s Fran, say Hi.” He handed me the phone. The kettle whistled and Jamie filled the cups. Why did I doubt him? I know why, hormones. I spoke briefly to Fran and begged off going out. I told her goodbye and handed Jamie his cell.

  “I’m sorry.” I wrapped my arms around his middle and buried my face in his chest.

  “It’s okay.” He led me back to the bedroom. We sipped our tea and cuddled. Jamie held the heating pad on my tender belly most of the night, his arms wrapped tightly around me. When I woke, he was up and gone. I found breakfast on the counter and put it in the microwave. I looked in the garage, my truck was missing. I guessed that he was returning his father’s tools. I cleaned my dishes when I’d eaten and went to shower. I felt a lot better today. I gathered a load of laundry and put it in the washer. I went to the new office and wiped the counters down then vacuumed the room. I connected the printers and set up the lap tops. I sat there looking up at the empty walls and thought about how handy shelves might be. I heard Jamie come in from the garage. He came in the office surprised to find me. “Hi.” He leaned to kiss me.

  “Hi, yourself. Where did you go?” He smiled broadly and pulled a box from the bag he was carrying.

  “I went to get a TV for up there.” He pointed. “I also went to the cable company again and got cable internet for us, it will be faster and we will be able to run two computers at onc
e. Don’t worry its ten dollars more a month than what you have now and that is seventy dollars cheaper than adding to yours.” I let out the breath I’d been holding. “The TV is only fifteen inches and less than a hundred dollars.” He hooked everything up while I watched. I had to admit, the computer was faster when he was done. Jamie cleaned up his mess and sat down next to me once he pulled his chair over. “Now,” he reached across me and logged into his online banking website and out of habit I turned my head when he filled in the password. “The password is Michelle.” He whispered close to my ear stirring the desire waiting low in my belly. The bill pay is already set up. Help yourself. Remember, bills are your responsibility.” He set up online transfer between our accounts and checked his balance. My eyes nearly bugged out of my head.

  “Jamie, where did you get all of that money?” His account had five figures in it.

  “I saved it. I told you that I was okay and not to worry.” I rolled my eyes, he was proving a point. “Hey, none of that now.” He nudged me with his elbow chuckling. Jamie rolled his chair over to his area and logged into his computer. He checked his email then logged into an online gaming site. I watched him shooting stuff on the screen for a while then went back to the bedroom. I picked up the book I’d been reading and settled into the pillows. Jamie woke me a few hours later. “Mich, lunch is ready.” He shook me gently. I opened one eye and looked at him. He was so very beautiful. I reached to stroke his face, his lips found mine. “Come and eat sweetheart.” Jamie pulled me to my feet and walked me to the kitchen. When we rounded the corner into the living room the smell hit me. Jamie made pizza, it smelled like sin and my stomach growled loudly. “See you do like my cooking.” He squeezed my shoulders.

  Chapter 14

  Monday morning was dark and rainy. Jamie drove us to work and we said our goodbyes in the elevator. Once the doors opened, I went to my office and he went to Robichaux’s office. Hannah came in a few hours later and brought me two yogurts. “Mr. Flanagan would like to see you in his office.” Hannah was trying to contain her giddiness. “You can take him a yogurt too. It’s going to be a long day for him.” I took the yogurts and two spoons from her.