Chapter 21
Sunday was a long day. Joci had a headache but refused to ride behind Jeremiah and let everyone think she couldn’t handle it.
But she was suffering. She remembered laughing and having so much fun, actually everyone was having fun.
When she looked around, it looked like a lot of them were hungover, so she wasn’t the only one.
Even Jeremiah looked kind of worse for wear.
Deacon and Julie were the only ones who didn’t look tired and drawn.
Joci couldn’t wait to get home and take a nap.
They stopped for gas, and Joci pulled to the edge of the parking lot to drink a Gatorade. Jeremiah walked over to her but didn’t say anything. He kissed the top of her head and laid his head on top of hers. They stood together like that for several heartbeats.
“Are you okay, sweetheart?” he whispered.
Joci chuckled a little. “I’m good. How about you?”
Jeremiah snickered. “I’m good. However, I want to get home and take a nap with you.”
She nodded her head. “I was just thinking the same thing.”
* * *
When Joci woke up from her nap, she had a dry mouth and a slight headache. Jeremiah was nowhere to be found. Hmm. She got up and went to the bathroom, took a couple of aspirin, and looked in the mirror. Oh, well. She walked out to the living room to find her man. Nope, not there.
She walked out to the garage and there he was, removing their bags from the bikes. He smiled at her when she walked out.
“Hey, gorgeous. How are you feeling?”
Joci laughed. She had just seen herself in the mirror.
“If you’re talking to me, I’m okay. If you’re talking to someone else, never mind.”
He grabbed their bags from the bikes and walked up to her and kissed the top of her head. “You’re the only woman in the world I think is gorgeous. So, yeah, I’m talking to you.”
She shrugged. “Okay. You?”
He shrugged too. “Been better. But totally worth it. You’re a very cute drunk.”
Joci groaned. She didn’t want to know. He put his arm around her and walked into the house. He looked around at the boxes of Joci’s stuff stacked everywhere, looked at her, and smiled.
“I think we are going to need a bigger house after all. Where are we going to put the baby?”
Joci’s eyes got huge. Did he just say that? No, no, no, no, no.
“Jeremiah…we…I…no.” Joci shook her head.
He squeezed her and turned to wrap his arms around her.
“Joci, don’t get scared. I want to have a baby with you. It’ll be different this time. We’ll both be able to enjoy the whole process, including raising a beautiful little girl or boy. We’ll do it together.”
She shook her head. She tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let her go.
No, she couldn’t go there. She didn’t know what would happen in the future, but she couldn’t think about babies when they had only been with each other for a couple of months.
No, she didn’t want to do that unless she was married.
She didn’t want to be a single mom again.
Joci’s body tightened, and she could feel her pulse thrumming through her body. Her head still ached from last night, and now he wanted to have babies.
Jeremiah tightened his arms around her. He rocked her back and forth for a little while.
He took a deep breath. “Don’t be nervous; I won’t push. I just can’t help myself. When I look at you, think about you…I just want the whole package.”
She trembled. Of course, not feeling well didn’t help things at all, but this wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have. She decided to change the subject.
“Are you hungry, Jeremiah? I can throw something together for us to eat.”
She wasn’t even sure she could still have babies. But if she were ever going to have another baby, it would certainly be with him.
Jeremiah squeezed her a little. “I don’t want you to have to do that. Why don’t we order a pizza?”
“Mmm, that sounds awesome.”
He kissed the top of her head and pulled out his phone.
Joci began digging through boxes. She had to work tomorrow, and she wanted to get her office set up so she could get right to it.
The photographer from the Veteran’s Ride had sent her all the pictures from the day, and she wanted to start working on the video.
She didn’t tell Jeremiah because she wanted to surprise him with it.
Joci had gotten a few boxes unpacked when the pizza delivery person knocked at the door, announcing supper.
Jeremiah paid the guy and brought the pizza into the living room.
Joci washed her hands and grabbed them each a bottle of water from the refrigerator.
They sat on the sofa to eat and watch the news.
Jeremiah looked over at Joci. He took a deep breath and said, “I didn’t mean to scare you before. I’m sorry.”
She caught his gaze and saw the love in his eyes.
She leaned forward and grabbed his hand.
“I know, baby. I’m sorry I got weird. Being hungover doesn’t help.
I don’t want to be a single mom again, Jeremiah.
It’s important to me. I don’t want to bring another child into the world without both parents being right there for him or her. ”
“I’m here, Joci. You’re here. We’re together, and I’m not gonna let anything change that. I won’t push you. Well, I’ll try not to push you. But I’m committed to being with you forever.”
She nodded her head. What more could she say? For now, he wouldn’t push, and she could see how things worked out between them.
Around nine p.m., Joci and Jeremiah crawled into bed, exhausted. Drinking sure takes its toll on a person.
The next morning, as Jeremiah was getting ready to leave for work, his phone rang.
As he answered, he looked at Joci with a smile and mouthed, “My mom.”
She smiled. They had eaten dinner with his parents last week. She enjoyed spending time with them. Emily had a great sense of humor and teased her husband and Jeremiah endlessly. She seemed to have a very comfortable relationship with all her men.
Jeremiah hung up the phone and looked at Joci. “Why do you have that little smirk on your face?”
“I was just thinking about your mom teasing you and your dad last week at dinner. She’s funny.”
Jeremiah smirked too. “Always has been. Anyway, she called because Thursday is Eli’s graduation. She wanted to make sure you and Gunnar would be there also.”
Joci nodded. “Absolutely. Can you remind the boys at work today?”
“Yeah, I’ll make sure they all remember. I would love it if you asked the rest of the Golden Girls to go out with us the Saturday after we get together with my Marine buddies. I want to hear you sing, Joci.”
She groaned. He just didn’t let anything go, did he? She didn’t respond right away. Jeremiah stood back a little and looked down at her.
“Hey. Don’t you want to sing for me?”
Joci smiled. “I’m really not that good, Jeremiah. After a couple of drinks, I just think I’m good. There’s a difference.”
He crossed his arms over his chest and stared, and she sighed. “I’ll see if they want to go out. Sandi just mentioned something about that at lunch last week, so I would bet that unless they have plans, she’s in.”
“Perfect. See you at lunch.”
Joci cocked her head to the side. “Do we have lunch plans?”
Jeremiah slapped her on the ass. “Now that you live here with me, I’m coming home for lunch. Do you have a full workload today?”
“Not too bad.” Joci smiled.
“Great. Meet me in the bedroom at noon, with nothing on. Lie on the bed, on your back, with your head toward the door. And be ready for me.”
He kissed her on the lips and walked out the door.
Joci smiled all the way to the back bedroom/office.
She was turned on already, so being ready for him at noon wasn’t going to be a problem.
As a matter of fact, it was going to be a long morning for her, thinking about him coming home for a nooner.
She giggled as she thought about it. She was forty-four years old and was about to have her first nooner.
She worked on the video until eleven. She was organizing the pictures in an order she thought would work well.
She was going to set the whole thing to music and was running songs through her mind.
She stood up, stretched, and decided to take a quick shower before Jeremiah got home.
She giggled as she walked into the bathroom and turned on the water.
She took a nice long shower and made sure she was shaved and soaped—everywhere.
She put body butter all over her body, making her skin smooth, and then dried her hair.
She looked at the clock and noticed she still had about fifteen minutes.
She walked to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water and strutted back to the bedroom, humming a song to herself.
She put the bottle of water on the bedside table and took her robe off.
She stretched out across the bed like Jeremiah had asked her to do, on her back, and hummed while she waited for him.
Soon, she heard the door open and the sound of his footsteps walking toward her down the hall.
The bedroom door opened, and she heard a soft whistle.
She looked up to see Jeremiah devouring her with his eyes.
“You are…without a doubt…the sexiest woman I’ve ever laid eyes on. And you’re mine.”
Joci smiled from ear to ear. He walked toward her and touched her cheek.
He ran his hand down her cheek to her jaw and under her chin.
Softly but forcefully, he pulled her chin up.
He reached under her arms with both hands and pulled her to the edge of the bed, so her head slightly hung over the edge.
He ran a finger down her throat and over to her breasts.
He palmed a breast in each hand and massaged them.
He pinched each nipple and made them hard peaks, straining for his mouth.
He chuckled. “I could play with you all day.”
* * *