“My aunt Bea has a diner. I used to work for her. She said she could use me again over the summer break.”
“Good. You should take my truck. That way you can drive back here too, maybe once a month? If I go there once a month and you come here once a month, the summer will pass pretty quickly, don’t you think?”
I could just imagine my mother’s reaction if I told her I intended to shack up in some hotel with my boyfriend for the weekend.
“What’s wrong?”
“That’s really generous of you, but I really don’t need wheels while I’m at home. Like I said, it’s a tiny town. I can walk everywhere I need to go.”
“Yeah, but you can drive back here to see me if you take the truck. Unless you’d rather fly?” He nodded as though he’d answered his own question. “Yeah, that probably makes more sense. You’ll only get the weekend off, right? You should definitely fly. It’ll give us more time together.”
“Nex, I can’t afford to fly back and forth. I’m supposed to be saving money for school, remember?”
His brows dipped as though he were still trying to make sense of me. “I’ll pay for the flights.”
I patted his chest, trying to laugh off his offer. “That’s very generous, but I can’t let you do that.”
“And I’m telling you now you’re crazy if you think I’m gonna go three months without seeing you. Even once or twice a month isn’t enough.”
I knew Nex was a strong-willed, opinionated man used to getting what he wanted, but he needed to understand I wasn’t some wallflower content to let the man in her life make all the decisions for her. If this was going to work, he had to understand it would involve compromise.
“I’m sure we can work something out if we both deem it important enough, right?” I asked, my voice laced with warning.
“Is that your not-so-subtle way of telling me to back off, that I’m pushing too hard?”
I tapped his face gently, smiling. “You’re a smart man.”
“At least spend the night with me tonight.”
I’d love nothing more, and since my first class was late in the morning, I could. “As long as you promise to behave yourself.”
“Meaning?” His eyes trailed over my body in the tight-fitting black dress. “Are you telling me it’s your time of the month or something?”
I slapped his chest, torn between amusement and embarrassment. “No! I just meant I don’t want to argue any more about my plans for the summer.”
“Were we arguing?” he asked, drawing me so close I could feel his arousal prod my belly. “I could have sworn we were having a mature discussion about the future.”
The future. Every time I’d heard those words from Scott in recent years, a feeling of dread filled me. Not so with Nex. When he talked about the future, the butterflies started flitting around in my stomach, reminding me how exciting it could be to plan for the future with a man I was crazy about.
“Call it what you want,” I said, lowering his head so I could whisper in his ear. “I think you’re trying to strong-arm me, and I just wanted you to know it’s not going to work.”
I could feel his smile against my cheek as he whispered, “I didn’t hear you complaining the other night when I was strong-arming you.”
Just the thought of his bulk pressing me into the mattress, his hand capturing both of mine, made me hot all over again. “There are times when it’s okay,” I teased. “Just don’t get used to it. Sometimes, you’re going to get your own way. Other times, you’re going to have to let me have mine.”
He tipped his head back, looking serious. “Does that mean you wanna be on top sometimes? I think I can live with that.”
I laughed loud enough to draw the attention of the other couples on the dance floor. I didn’t care, and neither did he. The only thing that mattered was that I’d finally met a man who made me laugh while challenging me in the best possible way.
Chapter Eleven
Nex
By the time we made it back to my house, I wasn’t nearly as tired as I should have been. In fact, it felt like I’d just had a triple espresso and was good to go all night. But it wasn’t caffeine that had me revved up. It was the way Jaci’s hand kept creeping up my thigh on the ride home.
Since I was just as anxious to get her going, I’d been teasing her through those sexy silky panties at every stoplight. At this point, I was pretty sure if I’d asked to bend her over the hood of my car, she would have been game.
“What’s wrong, baby?” I asked, shooting a sidelong glance in her direction as I shut off the car. “You seem kinda edgy.”
“Edgy?” she asked, practically panting as she shot daggers at me. “I wonder why.” She reached up to close the garage door using my remote before climbing into my lap and manually shifting the seat back as far as it would go. “Maybe it’s time to give you a taste of your own medicine.”
“Or maybe it’s just time to give me a taste.” I grabbed the back of her head, kissing her hard. I loved this aggressive side of her and wanted to see what I could do about drawing out a little more fire.
She moaned into my mouth as she lifted her body just enough to reach the front of my pants.
Now I was the one panting as she continued kissing me while undoing my belt, followed by my button and fly. “Damn, girl…” There were no words to describe what she was doing to me. I’d been trying to get her fired up, but she’d somehow managed to turn the tables on me and it felt like I was at her mercy instead.
She reached for her purse, pulling out a condom.
“What the hell are you doing with those?” I grumbled. I didn’t want to think about her being that prepared. She had to know that I would always take care of her, that I’d never be stupid or reckless where she was concerned.
“A girl’s gotta be ready for anything, doesn’t she?” she asked, licking her lips.
Muttering a curse, I lifted up just enough to lower my pants and boxer briefs. “Not my girl. You just let me worry about the protection from now on.”
“Why?” she asked, tearing the package open with her teeth before rolling it over my shaft.
“Because I don’t want you carrying goddamn condoms around in your purse,” I said, gripping her head so I could kiss her again. I knew it was stupid, but if I was the only guy she was sleeping with, she wouldn’t need those. I could provide them. “I’ve got it covered.”
She shoved her panties aside, moaning as she lowered herself. “Well, now I’ve got you covered, sexy. Don’t you prefer this?”
Any and every day.
But I couldn’t talk, couldn’t think, when she was riding me like that. I closed my eyes when I realized they were rolling back in my head, giving her some clue as to what she was doing to me. I’d always been a master of self-control, but I was putty in Jaci’s hands whenever she looked at me like making love to me was the highlight of her day, her week, her life.
“God, yes.” The words seeped out between my clenched teeth as I dug my fingers into her luscious hips. Jaci wasn’t the kind of woman who counted every calorie. She was curvy and sexy as hell, giving me just enough to hang on to when I felt like my world was tipping on its axis.
“You like that?” she asked, grinding against me, giving, taking, making me crazy.
“You know I do.” Love would be a more apt description, but I wasn’t stupid enough to start throwing the L-word around too soon.
“Mmmm, me too. God, I needed this, Nex.” She bit her lower lip, her eyes heavy with lust. “I needed you.”
I really did love the sound of that. I wanted her to need me, to feel as though she couldn’t go a day without seeing my face or hearing my voice, ’cause that’s the way I was beginning to feel about her.
“You’ve got me, sweetheart.” I pulled her closer, kissing her neck. She went off like a firecracker every time my mouth zeroed in on a spot just above her collarbone. I was getting to know her body, and in time, I was determined to know it even better than I knew my
own. Keeping her satisfied was imperative to keeping her, and that was my part of my long-range plan.
“Jesus, Nex…” Her head rolled back as she sank her nails into my shoulders. Even through my suit jacket I could feel it, and the only way I would have enjoyed it more was if I woke up in the morning bearing the reminder of our front seat action.
“Yeah, that’s it, baby.” I watched her as I guided her hips, hard, fast, deep, just the way I knew she needed it to get off. I’d never seen anything hotter than watching this woman explode while riding me. If she kept it up, I was pretty sure the next thing to explode would be my head.
She felt like a hot, wet vise, and no matter how much I tried to distract myself from how good it felt, I was still clawing my way up to that high point in record time. I wanted to hold out, to make it last, but the way she was throbbing around me made that an impossible feat.
The final eruption was so fierce I felt winded, as though I needed a minute to catch my breath before I tried to move or speak. But when she wrapped her arms around me and snuggled up, resting her head in the crook of my neck, my throat felt like it was closing up. I wrapped my arms around her, overwhelmed by how good it felt just to hold her after what we’d just shared.
We were in the front seat of my car, unable to wait until we got inside to start tearing off each other’s clothes. It should have been hot and fast and dirty, and while it had started out that way, it turned into something else. Something that made me wonder how the hell I was supposed to let her go.
***
Sitting across from Jaci at my kitchen table while she wore one of my old T-shirts and nothing else made me appreciate what Ryker had been going on about for all these years. He said he didn’t rush into the office in the morning ’cause he loved that quiet time with Mac in the morning, where they’d share a cup of coffee and talk about their plans for the day. Enjoying the Spanish omelette Jaci had woken up early to make for me, I finally got what he was talking about. It was easy to imagine starting every day this way.
“I still say you’re wasting your talents, Jac,” I said, polishing off my breakfast. “You should be going to culinary school, ’cause this is seriously amazing.”
She laughed, the color rising in her cheeks. “It’s nothing, just an omelette.”
Maybe, but I’d been watching her when she prepared it. She was so cute, so intense, as though she wanted it to be just perfect. For me. And that small gesture, like so many others, made me fall just a little deeper.
“Tell me,” I said, reaching for my freshly squeezed orange juice. “If you could open your own restaurant, what kind would it be?”
She looked like a little girl who’d just been asked what she wanted Santa to bring her for Christmas as her eyes widened while she pleated creases in the napkin resting in her lap. “Gosh, there are so many options, so many different types of cuisine I love and would love to explore. Problem is, all that takes money I don’t have.” She sighed. “My mama always told me daydreaming could be dangerous. Made you want things you could never have and made you ungrateful for all the things you did have.”
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with daydreaming,” I said, trying to be cautious. If this worked out, there wasn’t a single thing she could want I wouldn’t be able to help her with, but I knew saying something like that to a woman like Jaci, who was strong and determined to write her own ticket, would earn me a swift kick. “That’s part of my job, imagining what a bike will look like, how amazing it’ll be when it’s finished. Sometimes it’s that time I spend letting my mind wander, thinking about the possibilities, that makes all the difference.”
“I guess you’re right,” she said, taking a sip of her juice. “I never thought about it like that.”
“So what do you plan to do with this degree of yours?” I asked, watching her spread jam on her toast. “You said yourself there aren’t many job opportunities in your hometown.”
“I don’t know exactly,” she said. “My aunt Bea’ll be retiring soon. Maybe I could work it out so that I’ll take over her diner.”
I couldn’t imagine Jaci wasting her life in some greasy spoon in a small town, chatting up the locals all day. She was cut out for bigger and better things, and whether she was willing to admit it or not, I knew she wanted more. She deserved more.
“If you didn’t have to go back home after graduation to care for your mama, what do you think you’d do?” She’d already told me she felt she had to go back, that she didn’t have a choice after all her mama had done for her. But I cared about her enough to want to help her find another way. Maybe I was being selfish, but I wanted to believe we could figure out a way for her to be the dutiful daughter and mine at the same time.
“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I’ve never let myself entertain that possibility for long, Nex. What’s the point? I knew I’d have to go back eventually.” She sank back in her chair, reaching for her coffee mug. Curling her hands around it, she said, “My mama was pretty upset when I told her I wanted to come to Florida to get my degree instead of staying in Georgia, but she agreed when I told her it would just be for four years and I’d be home every summer and for a couple of weeks at Christmas.”
I hadn’t even met Jaci’s mom yet and I already had a problem with her. The way she manipulated her daughter and made her feel guilty didn’t sit well with me, though I knew I wasn’t at liberty to express those opinions yet. I was pretty sure the day would come when I would, ’cause I wasn’t good at holding my tongue, but I needed more time with her before I could convince her that my concern was genuine, borne of my feelings for her.
“You shouldn’t have to get your mama’s approval to do anything, Jac. She raised you right. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders. Now she needs to trust you to make your own decisions.”
“You know what it’s like,” she said, lifting her gaze to meet mine. “To be raised by a single parent who made all kinds of sacrifices to keep a roof over your head and food in your belly.”
Unlike Jaci’s situation, my old man had been in the picture, but it would have been better for all of us had he not been. “Yeah, sure, but—”
“Didn’t you wanna make your mama proud, Nex?”
“Of course I did. But—”
“Didn’t you wanna let her know that all of her sacrifices weren’t in vain? That you appreciated everything she did for you?”
I hadn’t had nearly as much time with my mother as I would have liked. She was taken too soon and I was still testing the boundaries when she passed. More than a few times in recent years, I wished she could have lived long enough to see that I’d turned out okay.
I took Jaci’s coffee cup and set it aside before reaching for her hand. “I get what you’re saying, and I admire you for caring so much, for wanting to be there for your mama the way she was there for you. But staying there, being her caregiver as she battles a debilitating illness, is going to be a huge burden on you.” I hated being so blunt, but someone clearly had to be or she was going to sacrifice the best years of her life playing nursemaid.
“I’m her daughter,” she said, looking shocked as she withdrew her hand from mine. The chair scraped across the tile floor as she scooted away from me. “Her only child. I couldn’t live with myself if I abandoned her when she needed me most.”
“I understand what you’re saying, but—”
“Do you, Nex?” She stood, staring at me. “I’m beginning to think you haven’t got a clue. You’ve lived this self-indulgent life, believing the whole world revolves around you. Well, guess what? It doesn’t. Part of being a grown-up means doing things you don’t want to do because you know it’s right.”
I reached for her hand, but she stepped back, just out of my reach, letting me know I’d crossed the line. “I’m sorry if I overstepped. I just don’t wanna see you make choices you’ll regret.”
“I’d regret not being there for my mother. I’d regret putting my needs above hers. ’Cause there will come
a day when she won’t be here anymore. When that day comes, I want to be able to look myself in the mirror knowing I did everything I could for her.”
***
The tension in the car was palpable as I parked in Jaci’s driveway. I knew I couldn’t take back the things I’d said, nor would I want to. I’d meant every word of it, even if she hadn’t been ready to hear it.
“I know you think this is none of my business,” I said, turning to face her. “But I only expressed my opinion because I care about you and want you to be happy. Can you honestly tell me you’ll be happy living in some little backward-ass town—”
“Who the hell are you to call it that?” she asked, her blue eyes flashing with outrage. “Have you even been there?” Before I could tell her I hadn’t, she rushed on. “I’ll have you know that town is filled with wonderful, generous, hard-working people who would give a neighbor in need the shirt off their backs.”
I closed my eyes so I wouldn’t roll them. I wanted to remind her if it had been so great, she wouldn’t have been in such a big hurry to leave, but I knew that sure as hell wouldn’t diffuse the situation. “I’m sure it’s a nice place to grow up, but what kind of opportunities will you have living there?” I really tried to suppress my smile when I said, “Running Aunt Bea’s diner?” but I could tell by her venomous look she’d heard the amusement in my voice.
“Who are you to judge?” she demanded. “I’ll have you know that diner helped support her whole family when my uncle had a farming accident. It put two kids through college and helped support her parents in their old age, paying their medical bills and helping to pay for the home care they needed so Aunt Bea could keep running the diner.”
“Ah, so they do have home-care workers there?” I said, spreading my hands. “Perfect. You won’t be leaving your mother high and dry.”
She gaped at me. “How can you be so callous, so insensitive?”
I thought I was being practical, offering a reasonable solution to her dilemma. “Look, Jaci, I don’t know where this relationship is going, but I really don’t want to invest a lot of energy in someone who’s gonna pick up and leave me in a few years ’cause caring for her mama is more important than building a life with me.”
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