Searching for Sunshine
Page 23
“I was going to try to get back together with you today, and a man can always hope,” he said.
She sat up and smiled. “Optimism can pay off sometimes. Here, give me that.” She reached for the condom, and when he gave it to her, she helped him put it on. He groaned as she rolled it onto him. He trembled with need.
Breanna pushed Jake down onto his back and straddled him. She eased him into her, loving the sensation of his body merging with hers.
She moved on top of him, taking the lead, and that felt right, too. It was right that after all this time, after all of this waiting, she should help herself to this moment, to this man. That she should relish every moment and every sensation.
Because she was no longer afraid, she told him the truth. She told him everything.
“I love you,” she said, her mouth inches from his.
He gathered her to him, kissed her with a raw, ferocious need, and then rolled her onto her back, their bodies still joined.
There were no more words, no more thoughts. Just the glory of their bodies moving together and Breanna rising, rising, and then crashing on wave after wave of pleasure.
He followed her down into the abyss, into that place from which neither of them would ever want to return.
* * *
Afterward, when she was lying in his arms, he answered her.
“I love you, too.”
“You don’t have to say that just because I did,” she said.
“I have to say it because it’s true.”
And she knew it was. She knew.
37
The next step, after that, was the thing he’d wanted in the first place. They got cleaned up, went back to the ranch, and then went out for pizza with the boys.
At the kids’ request, they drove down to Morro Bay to a place that had arcade games and big-screen TVs blaring whatever sports events happened to be available.
Jake figured that, under the circumstances, his job was to spoil the crap out of the kids, plying them with quarters for the games and then coming through with ice cream later on.
He expected some resistance from Breanna on the spoiling, but he didn’t get any. Instead, she looked relaxed and happy, laughing at Lucas’s jokes and holding Jake’s hand under the table.
“I didn’t think it would go like this,” Jake said when the boys were busy in the game room exclaiming over someone’s score.
“Like what?”
“When I realized what was going on—what you thought had happened to me—I thought you’d be too scared to give me another chance.”
“This is better,” she said, and kissed him.
After the pizza and the ice cream, they went to the movie theater down the street to watch the latest Star Wars movie. Breanna wasn’t particularly into Star Wars, but Jake and the kids exchanged opinions and commentary on the best and worst movies of the series, the relative purity of the early movies, and the affront that was Jar Jar Binks.
Afterward, they went back to Breanna’s house and Jake hung around while she sent the boys up to bed.
“You can stay,” she told him, running a hand up his arm.
It was tempting, but he had to play this right.
“I’d better not,” he said. “I don’t want to push it with the boys. Plus, I have to walk Sam.”
“All right.”
They kissed for a long time before he headed out the door, whistling a happy tune, certain that he would be back tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that.
* * *
The morning after pizza night, Michael came to Breanna while she was in the kitchen making waffles.
“Is Jake going to move in?” he asked.
Michael tended to be blunt by nature, but even so, Breanna was surprised by the directness of the question.
“Why would you ask that?” It was, of course, not an answer.
“I just want to know.”
“Well … no. Not yet. But he might, someday.” She was nervous, waiting for his answer.
Michael nodded somberly. “That would be okay.”
Breanna blinked. “It would?”
“Yeah. I like him. And you seem really happy since we found out he wasn’t in the accident. Like, really happy. I like it when you’re happy.” He shrugged and studiously avoided looking at her.
Breanna pulled him into a hug. “I like it when I’m happy, too.”
Lucas came downstairs rubbing his eyes, still groggy from sleep. “Are you making waffles?”
“Yes. Do you want some?”
“Yeah.” He sat at the table, still looking unfocused.
She put a fresh, hot waffle in front of him.
“If Jake moves in here, can Sam sleep in my room?” Lucas wanted to know.
Clearly the boys had been talking about the possibility between themselves. Breanna felt a little bit ganged-up on, but she didn’t really mind.
“We’ll have to see what Sam wants,” she said.
Privately, she thought he would probably like it just fine.
* * *
The subject came up again a couple of weeks later, after dinner at the ranch. Jake and Breanna had been visiting the ranch a lot lately, having dinner around the big kitchen table with the boys, Sandra and Orin, Ryan and Gen, and Liam and Aria. Delaney dinners were big, messy affairs, with noise and chaos and a seemingly endless supply of food emerging from Sandra’s stove and oven.
Jake had been blending in with the family seamlessly, trading good-natured gibes with Ryan and Liam, teasing the boys about this or that, and bonding with Sandra in a way that was common for people who were good at judging character.
After dinner, Jake jumped in to help Sandra and Breanna with the cleanup, which prompted Liam to ask him if he wanted a ruffled apron that said KISS THE COOK. Jake suggested that Liam bite him, and with the male bonding properly attended to, they all settled into their roles, comfortable with the world.
“So, when are you moving in with my daughter and my grandsons?” Sandra asked, handing Jake a wet dish to dry.
“Mom,” Breanna began.
“Now, don’t mom me. I’ve got eyes, haven’t I? I guess I can see where things are going without a damned road map.”
Breanna didn’t deny that things were, in fact, going in exactly the direction Sandra thought they were.
“Breanna hasn’t asked me yet,” Jake said. “And that’s fine. I can wait. I’m a patient man. At least, I’ve learned to be.”
“The boys say it’s all right with them,” Breanna said. “Just FYI.”
“They do?”
“They do,” she said.
“Hmph,” Sandra said with satisfaction.
Jake carefully dried the dish in his hand and then placed it in the cupboard. “Only one other party we need to check with,” he said.
“Who might that be?” Sandra wanted to know. “You got another live-in family member I don’t know about?”
“Oh, you’ve met him,” Jake said.
Sandra let out a cackling laugh, understanding. “Those boys have always wanted a dog of their own. Though I think that one of yours is more dog than they can handle.”
“They’re ranch kids,” Breanna protested. “There’s no such thing as more dog than they can handle.”
* * *
Breanna began to doubt the wisdom of her words the next day, when Jake brought Sam to Breanna’s place for a test run.
“We’ve got a new dog bed, his favorite food, some treats, and a couple of new bowls with his name on them,” Breanna said.
“That’s a pretty sweet welcome,” Jake said. “I hope he appreciates it.”
Jake brought Sam in the front door, let him off the leash, and watched as he bounded into the arms of the boys, who were waiting with tummy rubs and Milk-Bones.
“Come on, Sam. Come see the upstairs,” Lucas said. He ran up with the dog hurrying after him.
Seconds after the dog vanished from view, they heard a large crash from upstairs, followed by Lucas
yelling, “No, Sam!”
“Did I mention he needs some training?” Jake asked Breanna.
“I kind of gathered that when he knocked me flat on my back the day we met.”
“Well … what he lacks in self-control, he makes up for in enthusiasm,” Jake said.
There would be a mess upstairs, one of many to come. But messes could be cleaned up. Having control and avoiding crises was overrated.
Breanna was going to take it all as it came: the mess, the chaos, the risk.
And the love.
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Read more by Linda Seed
Learn about the Main Street Merchants here:
Moonstone Beach
Cambria Sky
Nearly Wild
Fire and Glass
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Learn about the Delaneys of Cambria here:
A Long, Cool Rain
The Promise of Lightning
Loving the Storm
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Learn about the Russo Sisters here:
Saving Sofia
First Crush