by Allie York
“Oh, please. I’m allowed an indiscretion or two. Anyway, he asked me to stay and we had breakfast.” My sisters alternated asking me questions about the date. What we talked about, what he ordered, and the stuff said at breakfast. Then Reese asked for the sexy details, which there were plenty to divulge. I tried not to get too in depth with them, but Lydia was very persuasive. I stopped the both of them when they started talking about dick size.
Reese talked about Julian and him going back to school for his business degree and how it made her want to go back. We polished off the bottle of wine and the chips without even being ashamed.
“Well, I think you should give him a shot. Like really try.” Reese glared at my curled lip. It was all a show. I fully planned on enjoying every long inch of him for as long as I could and as often as I could. “I mean it, Jove, you deserve to be happy, and if you think he could make you happy, you should let him. Or at least keep getting laid.” Reese followed me to clean up our dishes while Lydia flipped channels. “Go out with him at least one more time and try to enjoy yourself,” she commanded me like I wasn’t planning on it anyway. Reese knew exactly how I was—more than two dates and I got attached, which I didn’t want to do. Attached meant I could get hurt. Attached meant a guy could screw your best friend and swear it’s because you suck in bed. Reese was wise beyond her years when it came to reading people, so I tried to listen to her, but the thought of letting myself get close to him was really scary. I finally nodded. “Ewan’s not a Davis, is he?”
I nearly laughed. “Not at all. And I would be lying if I said I didn’t really enjoy myself.” My date didn’t seem to be complaining, either.
She threw a hand towel at me. “See, not all sex is bad.” I shrugged. I hadn’t said all sex was bad, just sex I had was bad. We dropped the sex subject, thankfully, and settled on my couch to watch Friends re-runs.
Ewan texted me randomly the rest of the week, sending me cute little, “hope you have a nice day” and “sleep well” messages in the morning and evening. It was so nice. I liked how hard he was trying, as hard as it was for me to admit, but no one had ever put so much effort into me. The man I was married to didn’t try as hard as Ewan was trying. Friday night he sent me a message simply asking what I was doing, and it led to a late night conversation as I drove back from Lydia’s. We talked until sleep threatened to take over both of us. Ewan wanted to know everything about me, and even followed my book conversations with ease. I told him about Nick, and he didn’t seem too weirded out by the concept of my best friend being a guy. Work was insanely busy with a holiday coming up, but we weren’t complaining. It was a much-needed distraction from obsessing over a guy. I started planning what I was going to invite him to do next time in-between work calls, training sessions, and cleaning up. Surely, Amelia liked bowling, even if it was with her brother and his nerdy date. I found myself wanting to do something for him since he was cooking dinner for me. I wanted to cook for him, or take him to do my favorite things. Such a strange urge.
By six on Saturday, Amelia and I were locked in a fierce Mario Kart battle. We were barefoot on the floor in front of the massive TV, both screaming at the game, and I struggled to keep my language PG rated. Both of us had the habit of leaning as we turned with the joystick even though it didn’t help, and we laughed every time we bumped each other. I beat her again and threw my hands in the air, letting out a victory whoop.
“You cheat! You have to be cheating!” Amelia shoved my shoulder making me fall into the loveseat.
“No, you just suck. I mean, how hard is it to stay on the track?” Amelia scoffed, and Ewan chuckled from the kitchen. It smelled incredible. Upon my arrival, he had made it clear that neither of us were welcome in his work space and were banished to the sitting room to find our own entertainment. They had plenty to choose from. They owned every game system imaginable: old, new, and in-between.
“Fine, I suck.” She turned the TV off and focused on me. “What are you reading right now?”
“Outlander.” I winked at her. “The show is phenomenal, and I have a serious thing for the Scottish accent. Even reading it is sexy.” Amelia doubled over giggling and Ewan yelled an “oy” from the kitchen.
“Night Circus.” Amelia tried to hand me her Kindle, but I scrunched my nose. “Kindles don’t bite.” She rolled her eyes.
“I prefer my Nook, I hate the Kindle interface, but that book was insufferable. No amount of romance or magical premise could save it from the two dimensional characters. Two-stars.”
“Are you joking? It is so romantic how they refused to kill the other one and fell in love despite the competition.” Her jaw was hanging open, and she crossed her arms, daring me to argue.
“Oh, please, they don’t even physically meet until two-thirds into the book and girl is too stupid to even know who the guy is when they meet. It’s not love. It’s poor character development and set up for the insane ‘love at first sight’ concept that is overused in the YA genre.” I smirked, mirroring her daring look.
“Last I checked, your boyfriend is the least romantic person ever. So what do you know?” She cocked a brow at me, and I snorted an embarrassing laugh. Ewan was easily the most romantic guy I had ever met, outside of a Colleen Hoover novel, and he wasn’t exactly my boyfriend. Ewan groaned from the kitchen, but Amelia went on, “Seriously, for their anniversary, he got Darcy a vacuum. I mean I hated her, but geez.”
“She asked for one,” he called out, but it was drowned out by Amelia giggling near my ear.
“Darcy was a huge bitch and threw a tantrum because he hadn’t bought her a stupid expensive pair of earrings.” His sister rolled her eyes. “She really did ask for a vacuum, but expected him to buy her both. Between blowing his money and calling me a brat, I hated her.” I wasn’t sure why Amelia insisted on talking about Darcy, but I was tired of hearing about the woman. Ewan obviously had money, but who cared? Plus, the idea of any other woman touching him made my blood boil.
He called us to the dining room table where the food was plated, waiting on us. Not romantic my ass. He poured me and himself a glass of wine and Amelia opened a Coke, pouring it into a glass. I dug into the spicy pasta dish shamelessly. Amelia pointed a fork at me and made a comment about liking a girl who wasn’t afraid to eat as she devoured hers with as much gusto, if not more. I stopped Ewan after the first glass of wine and resisted the temptation to literally lick the creamy sauce from my plate when I was done. Yeah, perfection summed him up nicely. Hot, accent, and a great cook was a winning combination. Not to mention the sizzling sex.
“Can I ask you for something?” Amelia looked at me sheepishly. “Say no if you don’t want to.”
Ewan groaned, and grumbled an, “Amelia, please.”
His sister ignored it, waving a dismissive hand at him. “My birthday is in a few weeks, and I had planned on some friends staying the night, but a couple of moms are weird about Ewan being the adult here.” Amelia batted her lashes at me and smiled sweetly.
“So you need a female chaperone?” That was the stupidest concept ever. If he were her single dad, would those moms still feel the same way? Then I looked at him and wondered if those were the same girls drooling over him on Facebook after I accepted Amelia’s friend request. Amelia nodded. “Sure. Why not?” I shrugged, and she squealed, pulling out her phone to update her friends on the change in adult supervision. Ewan was smirking at me with something resembling adoration in his dark eyes.
After dinner, I started washing the dishes despite him telling me not to, and Amelia ran up the stairs talking excitedly on the phone. Ewan wrapped his arms around my waist from behind, pressing his lips into the hollow below my ear, and I had to stop what I was doing. “Stay with me tonight.” His hands slid under the hem of my shirt, and his thumb grazed my hipbone. My breath caught in my chest. The man was determined to break me.
I tilted my head to see him over my shoulder. “What kind of example would we be setting for Amelia?” I arched my eyebrow at hi
m, making him chuckle against my neck. I shivered.
“She won’t come out of her room the rest of the night and you dropped by for breakfast in the morning.” Ewan shrugged. Amelia and dealing with what she knew was his problem, not mine, but I didn’t want her thinking less of me for spending the night with her brother. “I want to wake up with you.” My pulse quickened at his words. I was fine with him asking me to stay for sex, but the whole waking up thing sold me.
“All right,” I mumbled, pretending to put up a fight. No sooner had I cocked my head to look at him again we heard a clicking noise and he jumped back. Amelia was giving us an accusing look, phone in hand. Had she heard our conversation? We had been whispering, but still.
“Selene doesn’t believe you’re my brother’s girlfriend.” She obviously sent the picture and then moved over next to us. Amelia tucked a strand of my hair back and squeezed herself between us. “Smile, Ewan,” His sister commanded. A series of pretty flattering pictures were taken after Ewan relented to smiling and relaxing. Once Amelia was satisfied, she turned the phone off and faced us. “Have a nice night, you two,” Yup. She heard us.
Dusk settled over us as we sat on the porch swing. Well, I sat; Ewan was lying in my lap with his long legs thrown over the arm rest at the other end. I rocked the swing, gently slouched back with my eyes closed, and he had our hands clasped on his chest. He was incredibly comfortable around me, with me, it was so weird. I wanted to mirror his comfort, but it was all too surreal, too incredible.
Chapter Nine
EWAN
“Tell me about your affinity for the Scots. Should I be jealous?” I smirked without opening my eyes. I knew Jovie was watching me, I could feel it, but I kept my eyes closed tight. Jovie’s thumb made tight circles on mine where our hands were clasped on my chest. She giggled an “uh-huh”, and I shifted to bury my face in her stomach. I circled my arms around her and nuzzled in. “Thanks for agreeing to help with the party. I wasn’t sure what to do. I hate that they’re uncomfortable with me supervising, but maybe I almost understand.” She answered with a hum. “Maybe I’ll take the night off and go find a classy gentleman’s club.” I cocked my head to judge her reaction.
Her mouth fell open but the shock was ruined by a giggle. “Remember whose lap you are in, mister. I could have you on the floor pretty quick right now.” I growled softly at the threat making her laugh harder. The idea of her putting me on the floor made my cock twitch with anticipation. “Was that just payback for my Scottish comment?” I nodded against her, and we slipped back into silence. She stroked my hair, and I clung to her back with my face buried into her stomach. When Amelia opened the door to tell us goodnight, Jovie answered, but I only waved.
“I could get used to this.” I peeked at her, trying to gauge her reaction, but Jovie only looked confused. “All of this. You, me, having someone to spoil and talk to. Having someone to spend time with.” I sucked in a breath, pushing up from her lap. The way I felt about her had only intensified since our first meeting, so I felt the need to show my hand and cross my fingers.
“I don’t want to be spoiled.” Her defensive, snarky tone came through, making me instantly regret what I had said. It was too much for her.
“What do you want?” I was still not ready to let her turn me down.
“Nothing.” My face fell; I felt my expression give away my pain at her words. She saw it too. “I mean, I don’t need to be spoiled. I can buy things for myself. As far as a relationship goes, I have been on my own so long, I guess simply having someone to spend time with would be enough. I could go on about someone loving me unconditionally and all, but that isn’t reality.” There was obviously a lot more baggage related to the cheating asshole than I realized, and shewas still carrying it around. “Reality is that relationships are hard. People give in easily, cheat readily, and don’t take care of each other.” Jovie truly thought we were all alike and I was going to fight her to prove we had something that was worth it, something real. I wanted it all from her, with her, instantly, but she wanted nothing or was trying to convince herself that she wanted nothing.
“Aren’t you the cynic?” I laughed while she nodded, cracking a smile. “So, you think the idea of true love is a farce?”
Jovie shook her head. “No, I don’t. I think the idea of love being easy is a farce. It’s not butterflies and rainbows. We lead busy lives and relationships are work. Does anything I said make sense?” I nodded and started twirling a strand of her hair. “So as far as what I want, it would be nice to find someone as devoted to me as I am willing to be to them. Someone who can hold their own in conversation is a must, and at the point I’m at in my life I am too old to fool around with flakey men. Unfortunately, that’s asking a lot, so I stopped asking a long time ago.” I draped an arm over her shoulder and pulled her into me. Her face flushed a very sexy shade of red, and she stared at her lap. I had a job ahead of me, but I was more than willing to prove myself to her.
“What about the steamy sexual chemistry and chiseled jawline? You forgot to add those to your list.” She finally giggled, jabbing her elbow into my side. Her laugh turned me on even more. “Seriously, though, I feel like now that Amelia is older I have the freedom to make myself happy. I have a nice house, nice car, my mother’s hefty inheritance was forfeited by my father, and I have a decent career. I just don’t want to enjoy it all alone. I want the American dream, as you all call it. I want it all.” There was no taking it back. I had put it all out there. She had to understand. Jovie ran a successful business, was well educated, and was completely self-sufficient. Surely we hadn’t come together with a pull so strong only to want entirely different things.
“We’re in the easy part. The beginning is always easy, but when you are forced to deal with reality, people show their true colors. In the beginning, it’s all new and exciting. You pretend it doesn’t matter if you aren’t the same religion, or have the same fundamental values, or you think the other person will love you enough to change, but people don’t change, not enough to matter anyway.” The woman was driving her cynic title home, but I was refusing to believe her theory. Her ex had obviously messed her up. The bastard had ruined her for other men, good men, but she had ruined me in a week and I wasn’t backing down.
“We should get the hard stuff out of the way then.” I stood and pulled her to her feet. “Let’s go work it all out so we don’t have to worry about it anymore.” Jovie looked at me like I was insane, but she let me drag her into the house and up to my room. She had barely closed the door before I was on the bed in an undershirt and black boxer briefs. Her gaze scanned me from the foot of the bed and I smiled when her tongue darted out to lick her bottom lip. I tossed her one of my shirts and watched her change into it. Her matching lace bra and panties were a deep purple and set off her creamy skin. I hardened instantly and Jovie noticed. We weren’t going to get much talking done. Jovie stretched out next to me, and I immediately started with her hair, separating a thick strand out, and letting it slide through my fingers before wrapping it around my thumb and then starting the process over. It was so soft and the act was calming. Plus, it took my mind off of how hard I was.
“All right, list off the things couples fight about once the easy part is over.” I was serious when I said it, making a point to not even hint at a smile.
“Money, children, politics, religion …” She rattled off answers like the list was already in front of her. The idea of her not wanting kids was saddening, but I would respect it. I wanted children, a house full, but if she didn’t, I would live as long as I had her.
“Both of us have decent jobs with the ability to support ourselves so that is a pointless topic. You said you didn’t want children…” She sat up off of me, shaking her head, and cutting me off
“No, I said I didn’t want children when I was nineteen and couldn’t even support myself.” I grinned at her correction, probably looking like a damn fool.
“So you want children?” Jovie nodded, and
I sighed in relief. I wanted a family—big small, or in-between. “Then that subject is done as well because I love children. I personally have one religious preference, and it’s no thank you. We get brainwashed into enough without having to feel guilty about swearing, or fornicating, or whatever other nonsense. Politically, I tend to say none of the above, but if I had to choose a preference, I’m more liberal,” I waited for her response, and she kissed me, latching onto my bottom lip. I wasn’t sure I had convinced her, but her tongue exploring my mouth made the thought vanish. I pulled her soshe was straddling my hips and she ran her hands up my chest. My woman was so damn sexy.
The moan she breathed when I bit her bottom lip and sucked it into my mouth made me even harder. I needed her, all of her, right then. I broke our connection long enough to strip my shirt from her, cupping her breast with one hand and her ass with the other. Jovie took my face in her hands and our tongues darted against each other as I groped for her bra clasp. It landed somewhere across the room.
I was more prepared with a box of condoms in the drawer within reach, and once we sent the rest of our clothes to the floor, I planned to kiss every inch of her. Jovie let out an airy breath when my fingers trailed down her stomach to her hip. She squimed when I slid my fingers against her sex. I kissed her harder, nipping at her lips, using my hand to bring her right on the cusp. Her ragged breathing and soft moans grazed my cheek while I kissed her neck. Then I stopped and Jovie cursed me. I jerked her on top of me again. I wanted to watch her. I wanted to have a front row seat for her to be moaning my name. Her wet warmth was pressed against me, and I pumped my hips, making her gasp. Once she begged, pleading my name, I didn’t hesitate to slam into her. I bit her bottom lip at the same time, swallowing her moan. I reclined against the headboard, gripping her hips, setting our pace. Jovie grabbed at my chest and shoulders, letting out little hums of pleasure. The way she gripped me, tightened around me, made me need her against me. I moved her so my mouth could travel up her neck to her lips and we were eye to eye. Her dark-blue eyes fluttered closed a few times. It seemed like only a moment before she was digging her fingers into my shoulders and trying not to wake Amelia.