Chapter 17 #2
“Yeah, you’re gonna have to make that. But I can grill anything. Meat, fish, vegetables. How about I get the real food, and you handle the treats?”
“You’re a lot more agreeable than I’d have imagined.”
“There’s very little I wouldn’t do for you.” He settled back down. “And that text went to my dad.”
“At three in the morning?”
“I told him I’m not going to work nights while I’m in town.” He powered down the phone and settled in next to her. “If he needs me, I can help him with admin or show up on a busy night, but other than that, I’m here for Cody.” And you.
“Oh. Okay. That’s great.” Her demeanor changed, and she grew agitated. She pulled the blanket up to her chin. “I guess you won’t be needing a nanny anymore, which is fine. I can pay you back in, like, monthly installments or something.”
“Fee, we’re not changing anything.” He reached for her, pulling her into his arms. “We’re in this together.” If it didn’t work out between them, it’d hurt like hell, but he’d squeeze the joy out of every moment they had together. “I want you as much as Cody does.”
“But you won’t be working. Won’t this put you in a financial bind?”
Always looking out for me. “I do more than mix drinks. I flip bars, too. I have a nice savings.”
“You flip them?”
“Yeah, I buy a rundown bar, give it a facelift, and then sell it. Been doing it since I got out of the Marines.”
“So you own the one in Florida?”
“No, but I was thinking about it. I work in them first to see if they’re worth flipping.”
“And is it?”
“Might be. But only if I can buy the apartment complex next door. There’s a lot of shady shit going on over there, and it’s keeping people away.”
“If you buy it, does that mean you’d move Cody to Florida?”
“You asked if it was worth flipping. Not whether I was going to buy it. For now, I’m staying here. I have to see where things are going with Cody.”
“Okay, that’s fine then. I’ll be your concubine.” She snuggled in closer. “This’ll be fun.” She ran her fingers through the hair on his chest. “Cody’s so lucky to have you.”
In a lot of ways, yes. But he couldn’t help worrying… “What happened with Mrs. Atherton is the norm for me. What if Cody’d been there and seen the way she treated me?”
“I would’ve immediately shot her down. And I’d explain small-minded, grudge-holders to him.”
“My champion.” He kissed her cheek. “But I guarantee I’m going to get a lot more of that while I’m in town, and that means Cody will, too.
He’s just starting out in school. I don’t want him to get branded as the bad kid.
” He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her palm.
“That was the whole point in keeping my distance from you.”
“You keep saying that, but I’m not buying it. I think you’re afraid of losing me.”
“What do you mean?”
“Jude, you lost your mom. You might not remember much about her, but you had her for the first six years of your life, and then, she was gone. And not only that, but your dad up and moved you from the only life you knew.”
“That was a long time ago,” he said, even though it rang true.
“I’m not a psychologist, but I’d think such an abrupt change would deeply impact a kid.”
“I had Ava.” Though it sounded hollow even to him.
“And thank goodness for that, but did anyone ever help you through your loss? Did you see a therapist?”
“No. I don’t remember talking about any of it.”
“You were ripped out of your safe, comfortable world, and no one helped you process the loss. Why would you want a wife and kids when you learned it could all be taken away from you?”
“I had a good life.” Oddly, his voice sounded faraway—like he was listening to himself through a wall. “A good family.”
“Sure, but there’s a six-year-old boy inside you who’s still waiting for his mom to come home.”
He’d crashed his bike before. An elk leaped onto Gallatin Road right in front of him. He’d veered sharply, narrowly avoiding the animal. But that same jarring, electric fear rang through him at that moment. “I never thought of it like that.”
“And then, right after she died, your dad moved you, right?”
“Yeah, he needed a job with benefits right away. He applied to anything he could find, and when he got a last-minute interview in San Francisco, he packed us up and hit the road.”
“How’d he wind up in Calamity, of all places?”
“He ran out of money.”
“What do you mean? I’m not seeing the connection.”
“He had a car full of hungry, tired kids, so he stopped at the Hole in the Wall diner to feed us but couldn’t pay the bill.
I guess the club president was there and saw the whole thing go down.
He paid and then asked if my dad had a place to stay that night.
And with four kids—one of them a newborn—he knew he wasn’t going to make it to California, so he stayed.
They set him up with room and board, childcare, clothes for the kids… everything. They took care of him.”
“That’s amazing. I never knew any of that. Do you have pictures of your mom?”
“Not a single one. From what I understand, they lived in student housing. They didn’t have much of anything, to begin with, but my dad took what he could fit in the minivan and hit the road.”
“Have you looked her up online?”
“There are hundreds of Mary McKennas, and I don’t think she had much family.”
“I guess he must’ve really loved her.”
“My dad?” Funny, but he’d never really thought about it.
“Yeah, I mean, in all these years, he’s never remarried.”
“Oh, yeah. Like I said, we’re just not built like that.”
“There you go again. But you know what? I see you, Jude McKenna.” She pointed two fingers at her eyes and then at his.
“You can say it all you want, but your dad was built like that once, right? He was married and had four children. It’s more likely that, after such a big loss, he isn’t willing to open his heart again.
I hope you don’t let that happen to you. ”
“Maybe.” He’d have to sit on what she said for a while, but it made sense. “Or maybe…” He rolled on top of her, bracing his hands on either side of her. “I haven’t met the right person yet. I’m very particular, you know.”
“Hmm.” She scraped her fingernails down his bare back. “Impossibly high standards, huh?”
“Want to hear my criteria?” He left a trail of kisses from her cheek, down her neck to the tips of her beaded breasts. He sucked a nipple into his mouth.
“I’m going to take a wild guess here, but big boobs?”
He nodded, his tongue too busy licking. He liked the way her fingers curled into his back, and her jaw slackened. “Mm-hmm.”
“A jiggly ass?”
He reached underneath her and grabbed a handful of that luscious flesh. “You get me. You really get me.”
“Anything else?”
“Oh yeah. Long, silky, curly hair. It’s got to spill all over me when she rides my cock.”
Her hips bucked, and he took her cue to roll onto his back. She straddled him, pinning his wrists to the mattress. Her hair pooled on his chest, and she rocked her hips, letting it brush across his bare skin. “Like this?”
“Just like that.” He thrust so his dick rubbed against her opening. “You better check that drawer for protection.”
“Well, wait a minute. Is that number four? A willingness to have sex with you?”
“Sweetheart, it’s not just about willingness. She’s got to be insatiable for me.”
Shifting back, she reached for him, notching him in the hot, slick cove between her legs.
She rocked over his length in long, sensuous glides.
“I don’t know, Jude. I feel like I might just be your dream woman.
Why don’t we test it to be sure, see how insatiable I am?
” She leaned over and opened the drawer.
“Bingo.” She waved the packet at him and tore it open with her teeth.
He reached for it, but she shook her head. “Not a chance, buddy. You know, it’s good you weren’t my first because when I used to fantasize about you, I didn’t know what sex was. I pictured us kissing with closed mouths and cuddling. The first time I saw a real wiener—”
He choked out a laugh. “Never say that word again when you’re sitting on my dick.”
She sat back on his thighs and swept her hands up his arms, rounding his biceps, and caressing his chest. “Okay, but hear me out. A penis has always just been a penis, you know? It’s just a weird-looking appendage.” She pushed back on his thighs and gripped him with both hands.
He hissed in a breath when she licked him.
“But for whatever reason, yours gets me all hot and bothered. Isn’t that crazy? Just looking at your cock makes me desperate to have you.”
“You remember the game show and tell?” He swatted her bottom. “Let’s do a little more showing.” He gave her ass a shake. “Less telling.”
“Patience.” She sucked him into her mouth and got him soaked. “Did you know it’s easier to put on a condom when you’re nice and wet?” She sat up, boobs bouncing, lips wet from sucking him. “That’s not something you learn in a middle school sex education class. Nope. You learn it from experience.”
“You think I want to hear about the other men you’ve fucked right now?”
“It might excite you more if you know I have some experience under my belt.”
She was being sassy, and it was cute. Batting her hand away, he fisted his swollen cock.
“Do I look like I’m not excited?” He couldn’t be any harder.
Her eyes glazed with lust as she sucked him back into her mouth.
When she licked just under the ridge, a jolt rioted through him, making his hips pitch off the mattress. “Fuck.”
“See that?” Quickly, she rolled the condom down his shaft. “You’re going to love having sex with me.” Then she positioned herself over him. “You ready?”
“I’ve fantasized about fucking you since I was fourteen years old. I’m way past ready. Now, ride me.”
Desire flared in her eyes, and she slowly sank down. As she swayed her hips to accommodate his size, her eyelids fluttered closed, and she sighed in pleasure.