Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Summer
The wall of heat was behind me again. I’d slept better than I had in months. I curled into the warmth. A strong arm wrapped around me and hugged me closer.
“What time is it?” I murmured without opening my eyes.
“Late,” he said gruffly.
“Mm.” We’d had a lot of sex. The guy was powered by the moon.
I slitted my eyes open. Light poured around the blinds. Judging from the erection pressed against my back, Jonah was also powered by the sun. I wiggled against his length.
He groaned and his arm banded tighter. “You’re trouble.”
“I am.” I was debating rolling over when my stomach growled for five seconds straight.
A laugh shuddered out of him. “Sounds like I need to feed you.”
I giggled and rolled toward the edge of the bed. “I guess we need fuel.”
Just as I was sitting up, not bothering to cover myself—we were both naked—my phone buzzed. I reached for it. Wynter was calling.
My stomach flipped. Was it baby time? I wouldn’t get to the hospital, but I wanted to be one of the first available aunts when Wynter and Myles were ready to show off the baby.
“I’ve gotta take this quick,” I told Jonah before I answered.
I didn’t get my hello out before Wynter said, “No. No baby yet.”
“Is Myles shoveling out the highway?” I pulled the sheet to my chest and wiggled to the head of the bed. Jonah draped a heavy arm over my thighs and buried his face in the side of my leg. The scratch of his scruff was pleasing.
“Almost. It’s like he’s never been through a Montana winter.”
“Didn’t Denver get snowstorms?”
“I didn’t have a baby on the way,” Myles grumbled from the background.
“You don’t have to worry until I tell you to get the chains,” she retorted.
“Don’t mess with me like that, Frosty,” he said.
Wynter sighed. “He’s so uptight,” she muttered into the phone. “I’m supposed to be the nervous one. Anyway, I’ve been mad nesting, and I’m going to redo the nursery for the third time if I don’t distract myself. How’s it going there?”
I glanced at Jonah. He was likely hearing everything. “We still have power.”
“Mm-hmm. And?”
She was fishing. A part of me wanted to tell her, to be giddy that I’d broken through Jonah’s armor, but a larger part said I needed to take things slowly.
Jonah had a hard time with his feelings for me, and other than lust, I didn’t know what else was going on inside him.
He was cuddled against me, but he also had morning wood. His motivations were cloudy.
His tension was barely noticeable, but I caught it. I threaded my fingers through his hair. Don’t shut me out again.
“We’re going to watch some shows and I might even get him to play Connect 4.”
“So he’s at least talking to you?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” I could picture her rubbing her baby belly, a disgruntled look on her face. I wasn’t giving her more info, but I also heard the worry in her voice. “You deserve to be treated right. If it can’t be toe-curling sex, then Connect 4 is a good runner-up.”
“I don’t know what kind of Connect 4 you’re playing.”
“The kind that usually ends in toe-curling sex.”
I laughed. “I won’t ask about Monopoly.”
“Don’t.” She let out a frustrated sound. “Myles is the most ruthless board game player, and he’s the worst when it comes to Monopoly. He buys everything up and takes all my money. I threw the game away.”
“You did not, because you think it’s hot.”
“It really is. I made him wear a suit last time we played. If this storm doesn’t let up soon, I’m going to get pregnant again before I have this baby.”
My laughter was genuine, but the thread of envy constricting my lungs and heart was too. Wynter was living my dream. A doting husband who was a really good guy. A baby on the way. Unafraid to talk about what things were like between them. Hot and passionate, but also moody and worried.
Whenever I witnessed her and Myles together, I realized how watered down my relationships had been.
How superficial. When Boyd had proposed and wanted to fast-track the wedding, I’d gone along with it, thinking we’d get there, like all the red flags would morph into a red carpet that would make my love life real and easy.
“Oh.” There was rustling on the other end. “Mama’s calling. If I don’t answer, she’s going to make Lane and Cruz plow a path to town.”
“She’ll call Myles first.” I hoped. Little else got Mama more excited than grandkids.
“After she mobilizes his brothers. I’ll talk to you later.”
When we hung up, I continued stroking Jonah’s hair. He hadn’t moved and his breathing was even, but he wasn’t asleep.
“What should I tell them?”
He rolled to his side, putting some distance between us and crossing his bare arms over his chest. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, Wynter said she got through Myles’s shell by giving him a blow job. Do I tell her that a hand job works just as well?”
He blinked, then half snorted, half coughed. “I’d prefer you didn’t.” He cleared his throat. “You don’t have to say anything.”
He was a private man. Was that his motivation? Or had he spent the time I was on the phone second-guessing what we’d done? “What is this?” I asked softly. “I don’t want to get my hopes up if you’re wondering how quickly you can get me out of your house.”
Sleepiness was gone from his eyes and a scowl was in its place. “You want to tell your family we’re messing around?”
Hurt echoed through my chest. “Is that all we’re doing? Messing around?”
His brow furrowed deeper. “Summer, you stormed into my life more powerfully than the blizzard outside and I’m having a hard time keeping up. I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about you and Eli in regard to everything I did to you last night.”
Tingles spread through my body. Jonah Dunn was a virile man. He was all tightly bound sexual energy, and when someone loosened the ties, he was captivating—and he’d held me captive orgasm after orgasm. I hadn’t been this stiff since my high school sports days.
“I liked what you did to me last night.”
“And this morning.” When my mouth tipped up, he put a hand on my thigh. “I’d like to keep this to ourselves before others get involved. They’re going to talk, and while it might not reach me, it’ll find you.”
“I don’t care.”
His steady, dark gaze held mine.
“Jonah, I don’t care.”
“You will though.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“You took fifteen years to tell me you’d broken up with Eli.”
Guilt punched me hard. I struggled to swallow around my thick throat. “I care what you think.”
He rolled to a sitting position. “What if people in town are worse about the thought of us than I was?”
“That’d be pretty hard. You were a dick.
” When his eyes narrowed like he wasn’t sure if I was joking or not, I giggled and held my hands up.
“Kidding. Your reaction was understandable given the circumstances in all the situations involving us. But if you’re more comfortable keeping our winter-storm fuckfest to ourselves, that’s okay too. ”
He was quiet for several moments. “Fuckfest? It’s been one night.”
I let my gaze stray to the window. “Sounds like the weather is still awful.”
The corner of his mouth tipped up. “There’s still half a box of condoms left.”
“How big of a box did you get?”
“You’re telling me you didn’t snoop once in that cabinet?”
“I peeked in and saw extra razors and shaving cream, not an industrial-sized box of protection.” I’d seen a box and figured it was man-beard supplies or something.
I had clearly not looked at it closely enough.
“Are you telling me we’re not going to have to ration how often we do it until the weather clears? ”
“I’m saying you’d better grab a bite to eat so you have the stamina to keep up.”
I scoffed. “I’ve got stamina.” I hoped. I was in uncharted territory.
He flashed me a grin and we both rolled out of our sides of the bed. I was to the dresser and pulling on the sweater I’d arrived in when I spotted him just standing at the edge of the bed.
Was he realizing this wasn’t what he wanted? No. He was rolling his left shoulder and favoring his left side.
He caught me watching and pink dusted the crests of his cheeks. “It takes a minute for my knee to limber up. And I, uh, like to test my foot before I take a full step.”
“Is it painful?”
He shrugged. “Depends what I did the day before.”
Like carrying a woman to bed? I stooped to pick up his clothing, then tossed them on the bed.
His eyes darkened. “I could’ve gotten those. I’m not helpless.”
Frustrated, I rolled my eyes. I should’ve anticipated his insecurity, and my irritation that he was feeling vulnerable in the first place took over. “Or, hear me out, you could let me do something for you since you’ve been doing everything for me.”
His brows drew together. “You’ve been cooking and doing laundry.”
“Which I would’ve done anyway. You might need a hand once in a while, Jonah. And it might be because of your injuries.” I threw my hands up. “I’m still going to want to fuck you.”
A gust of air escaped his lips. He wasn’t fully facing me, but his dick had heard what I said loud and clear. “Point taken. I’m going to use the bathroom. You can head down.”
He grabbed his shirt and flicked it right side out, avoiding looking at me.
He wanted me to leave him alone. I’d done that once and it hadn’t helped either of us.
“Just for that, I’m going to watch you climb every step.
I’m going to catalog every wince. I might even time you.
” His teeth ground together so hard I was afraid his teeth would crack.
“And you’d better have a condom because I’m going to jump you as soon as your feet hit the floor. ”
His erection grew bigger. “Goddammit, woman. You’re going to be unbearable, aren’t you?”
“Unbearably horny. You’re to blame with that tongue of yours. But I get first dibs on the bathroom. If you think you’re going to sneak downstairs without me, just know—I can keep my horniness to myself. I’ve lived without spectacular sex since puberty right up until last night.”