Chapter 37
CHAPTER 37
A NNIE
Trying to tiptoe to not wake Jack, I go over to his nightstand to leave him a note before I head out to run.
“Where are you going?” he murmurs, startling me.
“Shit!” I say, jumping.
He chuckles and gives me a sexy smirk that nearly melts my panties off.
“I thought you were sleeping. I’m gonna go on a run now, then come back and shower before we leave for your follow-up appointment.”
“I have a better idea, sugar,” he says in a sultry voice, pulling me down onto the bed, though, admittedly, I don’t resist at all.
Holding me on top of him, he kisses me, softly at first but, within seconds, the need we’ve both been feeling in the two weeks he’s been out of the hospital turns this kiss into one of the steamiest we’ve had in a while.
I can’t help but moan, loving the way his mouth is claiming mine and feeling it all the way down to my core.
“Fuck, Annie,” he says, sliding his hand down my belly and heading for my panties. “You make the fucking sexiest sounds.”
I’m so distracted by the kiss and his words that I don’t stop him before his hand slips into my panties. However, I’m jolted from that distraction when he caresses my clit.
“Hell, you’re so wet for me,” he growls.
I should stop him immediately, to lessen the torture for both of us, but I take a few seconds before I roll myself off him because it feels so damn good.
“No, no, no,” I say, panting from the kiss. “Not until we get the go ahead from your doctor today.”
“Grrrrr,” he responds playfully, rolling onto his side to look at me.
He just stares at me for several long seconds, then, reaching up, he tenderly tucks a piece of my hair behind my ear and whispers, “God, you’re so beautiful, Annie. So damn stunning.”
I can’t stop myself from snorting. “I look like absolute hell right now, Jack,” I laugh. “You’d say I was beautiful if I was covered in mud and hadn’t showered in a week.”
He responds without missing a beat. “Because you would be, sugar. There will never be a day, in the near future, or when we’re wrinkled and celebrating our fiftieth wedding anniversary, that I won’t think you’re the most beautiful woman alive.”
This man and his words get to me in the best possible way. I smile at him, wondering how we got so lucky to find each other. Then come back to each other after falling apart.
“I love you, Jack… for always.”
JACK
“Fuck yeah,” I whisper-yell, fist pumping the air when Annie and I get into the hallway outside the doctor’s office. “Not only did I get the all-clear to get back to work next shift, but I got the okay to get back to working on showing that body of yours how much I love you. I even had the doctor write it on my note,” I say excitedly.
Laughing, Annie grabs the note from me. “You did not, Jack. Let me see that.”
As she reads the note, her cheeks turn a deep shade of red.
To Whom it May Concern,
Jack Donley is cleared for full return to duty at work, no restrictions.
He may also take part in sexual activities without restriction.
“Oh my God, Jack! You have to turn this into the fire department! I’ll never be able to meet your chief without dying of embarrassment,” she says, giggling like a teenage girl.
“I don’t care, babe. I didn’t want there to be any question in your mind that we are good to go when I get you home today,” I answer, smirking at her.
“And, I’m driving,” I say, snatching the keys from her hand. Driving is another thing she hasn’t let me do for the last two weeks.
When we’re about halfway home, I decide now is the best time to talk to her about something that’s been on my mind. Since we’re in the car, if it sends her into a panic spiral, I can try to talk her down because she’ll be a captive audience.
“Sugar? I want to ask you something,” I say.
She turns to me, clearly noting the seriousness in my tone .
“What’s wrong?” she asks.
I hate that everything that’s happened in the last few months has created this kind of default to worrying in her—worry that something is going to go wrong and mess up what we have.
“Nothing’s wrong, nothing at all,” I answer, clearing my throat. I’m actually a little nervous about how she’ll respond. Shit, I’m just going to go for it.
“I want you to move in with me. I mean, I own the house and you’re on a month-to-month lease now, but if you really want to stay at yours, I can rent mine out and move in with you. I just… I just want us to be together. The last two weeks have been amazing… minus your ‘no sex until okayed by the doctor’ rule. I don’t want you to leave now that I’m medically clear. I don’t want it to end.” I stop, realizing I’m rambling.
I’m trying to keep my eyes on the road, but I risk a quick look over at her and see her giving me the most radiant smile.
“Yes,” she whispers.
“Yes, you’ll move in or yes, you’re planning to leave now that I’m in the clear medically? I need the words, sugar,” I say, hearing the hope in my voice.
“Yes, I’ll move in with you, Jack.”
I quickly pull the car over to the side of the road and put it in park. “Seriously, yes?”
“Positively, absolutely, hell yes!” she answers. “I’ll move in, Ja?—”
But I stop her with a kiss. The sweetest kiss I’ve ever had in my life because my girl just told me she’ll stay. I plan to never let her go.
ANNI E
God, I love this man. We pull into his attached garage, and as soon as the overhead door shuts and the car is in park, he wraps his hand around the nape of my neck and pulls my mouth to his. There is no question about what this kiss means—it’s a clear promise of what’s in store for me today.
Christ, the things this man can do with his mouth.
My mind takes a trip down memory lane, and I remember that, oh, yes, he can do delicious things with his mouth. Things I’ve missed so much and hope I finally get to experience again today.
Breaking the kiss momentarily, Jack orders, “Pants off, baby.”
Without hesitation, I shimmy my jeans off while Jack scoots his seat back as far as it will go from the steering wheel. Before I know it, he pulls me over onto his lap, and I’m straddling him with my knees on either side of him. I groan at the sensation of his very hard, very thick cock under me, just my lacy black thong remaining on my lower half.
His cock twitches and it makes the lace on my thong rub over my swollen clit. I can’t stop the whimper that comes out of my mouth, wanting more.
“Fuck, Annie, I love your sounds,” he whispers.
Desperate for him, I shamelessly grind against him as I pull his shirt over his head and then do the same with mine. When he sees my sheer black bra, his eyes darken, his pupils dilate, and I love how sexy and powerful that makes me feel.
He brings his mouth to my nipple and holds it between his teeth, tugging on it while biting down lightly. I continue to grind on him. The combination of his teeth and the thin fabric of my bra is so sensual.
“That’s it, sweetness, grind against my cock ’til you come for me. I want to watch your beautiful face while you come,” he whispers into my ear, momentarily pulling away from my nipple .
Fuck, it makes me so hot when he talks dirty right into my ear like this. He knows it, too. I moan, and he chuckles.
I’m so damn close to coming. Just when I think I can’t feel any better, Jack reaches down into my panties and starts rubbing my clit in soft, slow circles. I come undone, my body quivering with the most consuming orgasm, but then he bites down hard on my nipple and more pleasure than I thought possible flies through my entire body.
“Damn, sugar, that was so damn hot to watch?—”
“Need you… inside me… now. Fuck me. Now,” I command, panting.
In seconds, the car door is open, and he’s lifting me out, holding me up by my ass as I wrap my legs around him. I’m totally turned on by how strong he is as he carries me into the mudroom. He flicks on the light and backs me up against the wall without putting me down.
“Why the lights?” I ask, panting.
“Sugar, I’ve been missing this tight body of yours for too long. Don’t think I’m not watching every detail of every second I’m fucking your sweet pussy today.”
“Oh…” I swallow, feeling my face grow warm.
Chuckling, Jack reaches down and unbuttons his jeans with one hand, while holding me up against the wall with the other. I literally become wetter as I watch how it takes him no effort at all to do it.
“Now, are you ready to be fucked hard?” he whispers in my ear while pulling my panties to the side.
“Oh, God yes, I am. Please, Jack, plea?—”
I lose all power of speech as his thick cock thrusts into my pleading pussy and fills me, stretches me.
The pleasure increases with each time our bodies collide, driving us closer to our release. My body feels so damn good, hyper-sensitive in a way that I feel like I’m going to come apart any second .
“I love you, Annie, so damn much,” he says, as he kisses and nips along my jawline.
“I love you, too,” I groan.
“I’ll never tire of hearing that,” he growls.
I fall over the precipice, in pure ecstasy… and he follows right after me.
Sprawled out on my back in Jack’s bed, my head rests in the crook of his arm and I’m wide awake. My brain is, anyway, my body, deliciously spent, is not pleased that I’m considering getting out of bed. It’s exhausted from mission “get reacquainted with Annie’s body,” as Jack dubbed it yesterday.
A warmth swirls in my belly as I remember how he fucked me in the mudroom, both of us thinking it would ease the raging want in our bodies. It didn’t—it just added fuel to it.
We spent the rest of the day doing everything we hadn’t been able to while we were apart, letting our bodies speak to each other of all the love we have.
The need to sleep finally caught up with us and we passed out by midnight. So, why I’m wide awake at six a,m,—I have no idea—but I can tell I won’t be able to fall back to sleep.
Trying to be as quiet as possible to avoid waking Jack, I slither out from under his arm that is tossed over my waist and shimmy off the bed. Padding to the kitchen in my fuzzy slippers, I make a single cup of coffee for now, but start a pot of coffee for later. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a multiple cup day.
Warming my hands on my coffee cup, I grab a blanket and head out to Jack’s back patio before planting myself in the comfiest chair. I love this part of Jack’s backyard and the privacy it affords. I feel like I can come out here and let the sounds of life during the day and the peaceful symphony from the sounds of night ground me a bit.
I think about Jack asking me to move in and am surprised to find that I’m not scared to death. In fact, I feel this profound sense of calm throughout me.
Being with Jack, letting myself love him and be loved by him, then losing him and finding our way back to each other has been the most clarifying experience of my adult life. It’s shown me what matters most.
I realize that sometimes people who love you will have to leave, but not by choice… like my dad. But just because he had to go, it doesn’t erase all those years of love he gave me, and I have to hold on to that, keeping those memories alive.
Other people will claim to love you, maybe even think they do, but they will always put themselves and their desires ahead of you, even if it’s subtle at first. Eventually, those people will leave, either physically or emotionally, on a large scale or in smaller, maybe less noticeable ways, when it suits them… like Jason.
Ugh, I cringe when I think about him. Not sure how I missed what an asshat he was. His type of people don’t deserve my energy.
But then, there are the Jack Donleys of the world. Good, honorable, sexy-as-fuck men who will love you with a love that pierces your soul.
He’s not perfect, but perfectly imperfect.
If the last few months have shown me anything, though, it’s that no matter how strong any of us are, or how much we love someone, there is always something life can throw at us with the potential to break us, leaving us in pieces that can make us pull away from those we love.
This kind of leaving doesn’t have to be intentional to be devastating. The most important lesson I’ve learned, though, is that it also doesn’t have to happen. Anchoring each other in love can stop this kind of leaving and is stronger than anything life can throw at us.
I’m pulled from my early-morning philosophizing by a tender kiss on the top of my head and a hand on my shoulder as Jack comes out on the patio, dogs in tow. The dogs plop themselves down by my feet with long dog sighs, and I can’t help but laugh.
“Morning, sugar,” he says in his rough morning voice that I love. “You couldn’t sleep in either?”he asks as he sits next to me, taking a sip of his coffee.
“No,” I answer, smiling. “Just sitting out here pondering the complexities of love and life.” I wink at him.
“Oh yeah? Did you get it all figured out and can now enlighten the rest of the world?” He smiles, and it’s so damn sexy.
“Yep. As soon as I finish my coffee, I’m going to call CNN and see if they want to interview me about it.” I laugh.
After this, we sit quietly, holding hands for a few minutes and I love how this feels perfect, complete. Taking the last sip of my coffee, I set my cup on the table between us.
Jack glances down at it. “I’m going to get another cup. Do you want one?”
“Yes, please, extra half and half. I’m going to live on the edge this morning.” I smile.
It’s almost seven-twenty in the morning, so I get a front-row seat as the sky slowly starts changing colors, painting the darkness with vibrant pink and purple hues.
I get so lost in watching the show in the sky that I don’t even realize Jack has come back out until he takes my hand and pulls me over to his lap before covering us both with a blanket. I snuggle in and rest my head on his shoulder, continuing to watch the sunrise.
“Wow, it’s gorgeous, isn’t it?” I ask, in awe .
“It sure is,” Jack murmurs, and something in his voice makes me look over at him.
Butterflies take off in my lower belly when I see he’s not looking at the sunrise—he’s looking right at me.
“Annie,” he whispers as he plays with one of my curls, “I hope you know I intend for you to be my forever. I’m so fucking grateful you came back to me and I’m never letting you go again.”
Looking into those sultry gray eyes, I smile widely at him. “Right back at you, Jack. I love you so much,” I answer, before bringing my lips to his.
Minutes later, when we break the kiss, I snuggle into Jack’s chest and turn my gaze back to the sky. I gasp at the beauty of the full sunrise on the horizon.
Right then and there, it hits me that true love, the kind of love I have with Jack, is like a beautiful sunrise.
Life may have periods of darkness, but this kind of love pierces the darkness and paints it in the gorgeous colors of life.