“I was so young when I had him. Seventeen. He wasn’t planned, but I loved him desperately.” I smiled at the picture and turned to face Joel, who was watching me very intensely.
“His father was an aspiring actor. He left us for the chance to live the Hollywood life. We did fine. I wouldn’t have it any other way. But he put on a good act, and I fell for it.” My hand reached up to touch Joel’s bearded face, and even though I’d done it hundreds of times before, this was real. I was under no influence of hormones, or my job. I was touching him because I wanted to.
“I’m nervous about letting this move with you. Be patient with me?” I asked, and he leaned into my hand. The gesture was sweet, and it made those butterflies flap away in my tummy. He didn’t say anything, which for him was a first, but when he nodded that he understood, I felt like a weight had been lifted.
“Thank you. I can see there’s more to you than what I assumed; I want to know more if you’ll let me.” He took a step back, away from my hand, making me look at him with a little confusion in my expression. Was he not okay with taking things slow?
“'Take Your Time,’ by Sam Hunt.” He gave me a smile, and I found myself wanting to hug him in thanks. This theme song thing was pretty cool, and kind of romantic, when used properly. I did like that song, and knew the lyrics. So I knew he just wanted to spend time with me, and was giving me what I wanted.
“Doesn’t change that I wanna kiss the shit out of you right now. But I’ll keep the suspense up and wait until the end of our date. Otherwise you won’t wanna keep your lips off me.” And there’s that mouth of his!
Chapter Thirteen
Joel
I knew she’d like that one.
Her exasperated smile, and shaking of the head, didn’t fool me.
“Shall we?” I held out my hand, hoping she would accept the gesture. She did. I mentally patted myself on the back for the little victory.
We walked out of her apartment after she locked the door, and then she laughed, seeing my truck.
“You’re trying not to attract people’s attention, but you pick me up in this?” I looked at my candy apple red 1954 Chevy truck that Killian delivered to me a few months ago.
“Lots of people have classic cars,” I defended and opened the door for her. I was a gentleman sometimes, after all.
Money or no money, I always had a love of cars. Fast cars, unique cars, trucks, I liked them all. Now I was just able to collect them. I never let them sit in my big garage for too long, so it was this girl’s turn to come out and play.
The drive over to our mystery date was easy. I didn’t wanna come on strong so I asked her about simple things. Mostly her son. Mothers loved to talk about their kids. My mom would never shut up about her 3 spawns. I really like watching the way her face lit up when she talked about him, and as far as I can see, besides the normal teenage boy stuff, he was a really good kid.
Seemed cool when I chatted with him. I had no issues with kids at all. One day when I wanted to slow down from filming I would want my own. I figured a lot of women around thirty already were divorced or had a kid or two of their own, which I was fine with.
When we pulled in to the parking lot, I saw her eyes light up. She tried to hide her excitement. It was cute. I could see the young woman inside of her that she didn’t really get to be, having a child so young.
“Ever been?” I hopped out of the truck and went to open her door. Honestly, I was a little surprised she waited for me to open it.
“Jenson had his tenth birthday party here.”
I placed her hand in mine, and she didn’t pull away. Together, like a normal couple, we walked together into The Zone. We were going to do it all: bowling, the ninja course, bumper boats, mini golf, the whole works. Our inner teenagers were going to come out tonight. It was the perfect way to get her walls down enough to see the woman she really was.
“What do you wanna do first?” I was leaving it all up to her.
“Maybe I should have had a margarita before this,” she mumbled, seeing all the teens running around everywhere. There were some adults like us, too, on a date as well, so we weren’t total creepers. I just looked at her, waiting for her choice.
“Um, let’s do mini-golf. Warm up the fun before we do the heavy hitters.” Mini-golf it was. I got us one round of eighteen holes and grabbed the little card and pencil. We both picked out our clubs, and balls. Hers was pink and mine was blue. I knew she was expecting a blue balls joke, and so I wouldn’t disappoint her. To my credit, I only did one.
She went first, naturally, and I stared at her ass as she bent down to place the ball in its spot and lined her club up. Ass sticking out while she concentrated, it was very distracting for me.
She hit the little ball and it bounced around. She sucked, which made me snicker.
“Yeah, yeah.” She walked down and tried again. Two more times then it finally went in the little hole.
“Let’s see you do better.” I kinda felt bad for the girl; there really wasn’t much I wasn’t good at. I was one of those people who were naturally good at most things, and the things I wasn’t good at, I learned. Golf was a learned sport. When directors wanted to take you golfing because that’s what they like to do, you learn to golf.
I bent over like her, shoving my own denim-clad ass out, which made her laugh. I lined up the club.
Hole in one.
She huffed and walked over to the next hole. After grabbing my ball, I wrote down our points and followed suit.
Six holes later she was all riled up and losing the game. The competitive side of her had come out, and I found it undeniably sexy.
I’d had a hard-on since she started cursing in Portuguese on hole three. But despite the added discomfort in my jeans, I was still whipping her ass, and she was not liking it. In a cute way.
“Here, let me help you, crazy.” My arms wrapped around her and held the club with her hands.
“I’m going to pretend you don’t have your dick on my ass in front of all these people,” she whispered, and I chuckled.
“Whatever helps you sleep at night.” I moved our hands together, and whispered encouraging words in her ear. I may or may not have also enjoyed the hell out of being so close to her, getting to hold her, smelling her hair. Classic move to get close, teaching her something.
“I know what you’re doing,” she hissed, all sassy.
“And boom!” We hit the ball and what do you know? She nailed it. She leapt out of my arms and did a little victory dance.
“Take that, sucker!” She wiggled, and I was mesmerized.
“You had a good teacher,” I reminded her, to which she gave me the finger.
“Fine, fine. You had the magic dick touching you, giving you the power to put the ball in the hole. He’s good at that, you know, entering holes.” I walked over to the next spot and stood behind the couple in front of us, waiting for our turn. I could tell she was ready to spout out some comeback at me but held it in since there were other people so close.
She must have swallowed that retort of hers by the time we were alone again, because she just went to work and only missed the hole once. It was an improvement.
After mini-golf was finished, we moved on to something a little less skill-oriented: bumper boats. She was ready to sink my boat, and God did she try.
She had revenge in her eyes from losing to me, and I just ate it up. I’m sure she could do some damage if she wanted to, but this was just adorable, and I wanted to cuddle with her. Which was like trying to cuddle with a lioness. I was officially that stupid guy that wanted a lioness in his house to spoon. One day I was going to get my leg chomped off, and I didn’t care one bit.
The more we bumped, the more her smile grew, and the harder and harder I fell. Because really, I think I knew from the first meeting that she wasn’t a girl I would ever forget. I’d maybe gone through some steps to get her around me that I shouldn’t have. But she was here now, and having fun. With me. Giving me the ti
me of day, and a glimpse into who she was as a person. A fierce woman, who I wanted to immerse myself in and never come back up for air.
As I day dreamed about my lioness, she came at me good and I got splashed right on my crotch.
Chapter Fourteen
Alessandra
Dear God, Joel Kline had a big cock.
I’d felt it on my ass while he “helped” me play mini-golf, and now I saw it outlined in his wet jeans.
He was going to get arrested with that thing, being exposed like that around all these kids. I was genuinely concerned for him right now.
“Staring isn’t helping, you know.” His voice was lower, and I knew he was having a hard time trying to control it with me staring at it like it was a yummy corn dog at the state fair.
“Did you take a Viagra or something? I’m pretty sure it’s been like an hour that you’ve been erect,” I whispered to him as we moved to the next portion of our date. I suggested we try laser tag, because it was dark and he’d have to move around, hopefully helping his situation.
“Nope. All you, crazy. I’m starting to think we really are like Harley Quinn and Joker.” He shook his head and we went into the room with the gear.
“Are you with me? Or against me?” He reached over to the two different color-coded chest armors. My mind was still on his hard-on, but I managed to answer him without too much delay.
“Against. Gotta lay the smackith down on your ass.” I was feeling cool, and thought this would be fun. I’d played with Jenson before; he liked it. Of course, I wasn’t thirteen like him, but I could still pull out my inner Charlie’s Angels if I needed to. And right now, it was needed.
Joel smiled and suited up. I did the same, and he was just so sweet to help me get it over my head and boobs. A real gentleman, he was.
The instructor went over the rules and then separated us into two rooms.
When the light on the wall turned green, my blue team all ran into the blacklight-lit room and headed for cover. I went another way, hiding behind the columns to scope out the red team. I didn’t see Joel but I had that sixth sense that he was around me. Slowly I crept around and then spotted some red.
Gotcha! I managed to get a few kids before one kid took me down. I had to wait fifteen seconds before my laser was ready to shoot again, so I tried to hide it out.
As soon as the blue light on my chest stopped blinking, I was good to go.
Then Joel found me. He got me square in the chest. I wasn’t going to wait around so he could get me again, so I took off running, laughing and feeling like a teenager again.
We shot each other back and forth, and managed to get taken down by other kids in the room. I also didn’t notice that there was a ramp in the room, so when I started going up and scanning for Joel, I felt like I was super-badass for managing to find him. But then that ramp started going down, and I fell to my knees.
Skidding down the ramp in true Charlie’s Angels style, I held my gun out and shot Joel in my descent. The look on his face was priceless. I totally had rug burn on my knees from that move, and it was a total accident, but I turned it into a win for me.
When I stood up to try and compose myself a little, I was plastered against the wall and Joel’s lips were crashing upon mine before I had time to blink.
The gun fell from my hand which went to his neck, lacing my fingers through his hair.
He kissed me like he had no other need in the world. It was purely primal. His tongue invaded my mouth, and I sought to match his passion.
This kiss was forever tattooed on my brain. I felt light, like a feather, as if his lips and my grip on his neck were the only thing keeping me tethered to the ground. But the more we explored each other’s kiss, the more the burn began to escalate. I’d kissed him in a moment of weakness, driven by hormones. This was something entirely different, and I knew I’d never be able to come back from this moment.
The lights came on and the buzzer sounded, letting us know the game had ended, and we needed to leave the room.
“Get a room, guys,” some teenager sneered at us and we parted our lips, just looking at each other.
“So much for slow.” I smirked, but we both knew I had no problems whatsoever with that kiss.
“Your smile was so beautiful; I had no other choice.” He leaned in and pressed one soft kiss to my lips before taking a step back.
We walked together in silence back to the room and took off our gear. We decided on bowling next; it would probably be the end to our night since we had to get up early for work tomorrow. We were past the years of wanting to stay up all night. We laughed, while we casually bowled, about how age changed us. We no longer wanted to get drunk and sleep until noon. Even when I tried to sleep in, I only made it to 8:00 a.m. I also didn’t recover from getting drunk like I used to—a drink here and there was all I needed to feel content.
When our date was over, and Joel took me home, I debated seeing if he wanted to come inside and take things further, even though I said I wanted slow.
We reached the door and I turned to say something to him, but he pressed his lips to mine gently. It wasn’t the type of kiss that led to wild sex against the door. It was the type of kiss that promised more.
“See you tomorrow,” he murmured against my lips, the fake beard tickling my chin.
“Bye.” I pressed my lips to his once more before we parted ways.
He waited inside the truck until I unlocked the door and walked inside. As I floated into my bedroom to shower and get ready for bed, I thought about all of the night’s events. We still joked and carried on like normal, but there was a sweeter side to our dynamic. We had fun, we played, and we talked. It was like a teenage dream.
He made me feel like I was back in high school, no adult pressures lingering on my shoulders. Just a boy in my class, taking me on a date in his cool car, where we had fun, got to know each other, and fell into heavy “like.”
When my head finally hit the pillow, I didn’t let reality settle in about how things were different. Until the morning came, I would relish the feelings that he brought out of me, feelings that had been gone for so long. Having a baby, and a man who didn’t want the responsibility, changed me. I wouldn’t have it any other way, but it was nice to go back to that girl I was for a night.
Tomorrow would bring about a different scene between Joel and me. I still had to protect my heart, and my son. But I was letting go just a little bit to enjoy the moment. In this moment, Joel made me happy, and I was going to enjoy the feeling.
My alarm came early the next day.
I went through my normal morning routine, and when Joel finally came in the trailer, he said hello, but there was no morning kiss. We were professionals right now, making our jobs come first.
“I had fun. Thanks,” I said, breaking the silence, and he smiled.
“We should keep doing it.”
“I’d like that.”
Kandi walked in shortly after I agreed and stole him away to get in his wardrobe. Things were going to be all right, just as long as no one figured out that we were testing the waters between us.
Chapter Fifteen
Alessandra
“I can’t believe we are going to stay at Joel’s house this weekend! You must be a really good lay, Mom.”
Yep. That just happened. My thirteen-year-old son just commented that I must be a good lay in order to keep the interest of Joel Kline enough that he would invite us over to his house for the weekend. I didn’t know whether to just smother him with the pillow, or walk away.
I went with option three. I always stressed honesty between us, and I would be honest with him now.
“Yep, might not want to put your food there without a plate, kiddo.” He was going to need therapy one day because of me.
“Mom! Gross!” He looked at the kitchen table in disgust.
“Exactly. Don’t say things like that about your mom and I won’t put the picture in your head. Deal?” He nodded, a grimace still on his
face.
“He asked me last week, before we went on our date, anyway.” I put that out there. We actually hadn’t done anything other than kiss a few times. Nothing life-altering like the kiss in the laser room, just pecks here and there. We were busy with the film, and I had to go to a school event for Jenson the past week. The end of the school year was in a month, so he had all kinds of projects and fairs that were happening. I was proud of him, and loved being a part of his school life.
Joel was not my top priority. He never would be, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t enjoying myself with him. Even just the little looks, touches, and our normal banter were a bright spot in my day.
“We will head there after school tomorrow, and you are going to be on your best behavior, got it?” I pointed my fork at him with a piece of shrimp still dangling.
“Yep.” He ate his food, and I decided to bring up something I’d been thinking about for a while but didn’t think I would be able to actually do. Thankfully, this job was helping to pay off some credit card debt that I racked up when things got tough.
“So, you know how I said you were going to be staying with Grandma and Grandpa while I worked away from home in a month?” He nodded and started chomping on a piece of garlic bread. It was gone in three bites.
“Well, I was thinking. If you are good for the rest of the year, and get an A in your history class, that before you go to stay with them, we can go swim at Monterey and do some of their special tours.”
“No shit?” He jumped up and started celebrating.
“Mouth!” This kid, I swear.
“Sorry! Mom, that is awesome!”
“Well, it’s not official yet. You still have to do good the rest of the year.” I reminded him, and he shook his head yes. He promised over and over that he would be good.
Joel texted me around ten at night, just as I was getting ready for bed.
Are you ready for a weekend of debauchery and other fun activities?-Master of Your Universe
How You Get The Girl (Theme Song Book 2) Page 6