19. JENSEN
19
W ho the fuck doesn’t catch?
She literally stepped back like someone threw a fireball at her with the calmness of a fucking jedi. Other than the screech that left her lips, she looked like she was cool as a frog while she followed the path of the football with her eyes as it hit me right in the chest. Remind me to never throw anything at her that can break.
We buy a black home-of-the-blues shirt that doesn’t look as lame as all the other touristy shit, then roam the streets like we’ve been doing all evening. We talk about the team. We talk about my growing up in the public eye on a bench watching the sunset. We laugh about the drunks sauntering on the sidewalk, and I joke about her love for fried chicken until I figure out the other thing she has an obsession with.
“Your favorites are fried chicken and ice cream, and you manage to look like that?” My eyes rake up and down her body with an appreciative smile.
“Like what, exactly?” she cries “What’s wrong with my body?”
“Abso-fucking-lutely nothing, baby,” I say, her cheeks turning a soft pink.
I pay for our ice cream, and we both take a seat on the sidewalk, watching the people pass by.
“You know. I didn’t take you for a dark chocolate kinda girl.”
She takes a lick of her cone, her tongue darting out in a sensual way as she quietly eyes me. “What did you take me for?”
“Something fruity. Fresh. Lemon, maybe. Raspberry. Or orange.”
Satisfaction is shown on her face, a small faint smile tugging on her plump lips. “Actually, there is this ice cream parlor in Jacksonville that sells Orange Chocolate ice cream. That’s my favorite.”
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?”
She gives me a coy smile, then my phone rings, and I take it out of my jeans to see who it is.
Mom.
Rae glances at the screen, giving me an encouraging look. “Just answer it. You know she won’t stop until you do anyway.”
She’s right. My mother has been calling me ten times a day ever since she saw that picture of Rae and I, and with my luck, she’ll up that to twenty if I’m not giving her something to keep her quiet for a few days. Or at least until I’m in New York.
Not looking forward to this, I sigh, then press the green button before moving the phone to my ear.
“Hello, mother,” I say while my eyes keep looking at Rae eating her ice cream, following every move of her lips.
Her tongue dashes out with every graze, making me grow uncomfortably in my jeans. She really should stop doing that.
Not the best moment to talk to your mother, I can tell you that.
“Jared James Jensen.” My mother’s piercing voice cuts through my brain like a damn knife, making me roll my eyes. “How dare you ignore me for three days! Who do you think you are? You have a reputation to uphold. We can’t have you roaming off with some gold-digging whore with elections right around the corner!”
“She’s not a gold-digging whore, mother ,” I snarl, looking into Rae’s bright eyes still beaming at me.
“Moi?” she mouths, jokingly gripping her heart. Her lighthearted stance has me only annoyed by my mother instead of fuming, and I’m silently thanking her for it.
“Not to mention, Emily. That poor girl. Humiliated !” she keeps going, not even listening to what I’m saying. “Where are you, Jared?”
“Memphis.”
“Memphis?!” she parrots, repulsion distinct in her voice before she continues to rant through the phone. “What are you doing in Tennessee? I demand you take a plane right now and get your ungrateful ass in New York to fix whatever you ruined with Emily!”
“Or what, mother ?” I don’t know where my sudden rebellion toward my mother comes from, but something has me acting differently. Or should I say, someone . When I look into Rae’s glistering gold eyes, I don’t care about whatever my mother is ordering me to do. I don’t care about whatever threat she’s holding above my head or what I agreed upon. All I know is this moment, with this girl in front of me.
I want her.
I want her with every fiber of my being, and I don’t think I can hold back any longer.
“Excuse me?” my mother replies, after a shock of silence.
“Or what, mom?” I look up at the sky. “I’m twenty-nine. You can’t exactly tell me what to do.”
“You’ve always been a pain in the ass and your father and I let you, but we made an agreement! You’re staying together with Emily until your father is elected. I don’t care if you love her or not, although she’s the best thing that ever happened to you. Then again, you could never see what’s good for you. Enough with the bullshit, Jared. You’re coming home! Now!”
“So, what? You can organize my wedding to a woman I don’t love?” Rae’s eyebrows pop up in shock.
It’s eerily quiet on the other side of the line for a couple of long seconds. “Love is a fairytale, Jared James. You’ll be wise to get that into your thick head sooner than later. We will discuss your future when you get home.”
“No.” The word leaves my mouth quicker than I expect, but it’s everywhere in my bones. It’s as if the sky breaks open, the sun shining through after a rainy day. I’m done bowing down and doing shit I don’t want to for the greater good.
“No?!” my mother screeches through the phone.
“No,” I repeat with force this time, catching Rae’s bright brown eyes.
Without waiting for a reply, I hang up the phone while I let my ice cream drop from my hands, catching the cone dropping right on the nose of her red boot from the corner of my sight. My eyes never leave Rae’s as I look into her beautiful face. A burning desire to strip her naked forms inside of me, running a shiver up and down my spine. Like I’m jumping a cliff, ready to dive into the water.
I reach out to cup her cheek while I push her blonde hair behind her ear before I hold her face in my hands.
“What are you doing?” Her big eyes are sparkling with excitement, yet her voice is etched with surprise.
“Fuck it.”
“What?”
“ Fuck it ,” I say a little louder this time, then cover her lips with mine.
She freezes for a moment when our lips connect, and I press her against my face like I’m drowning and she’s my breath of air as I’m swimming toward the surface.
Her lips taste like honey mixed with cinnamon and chocolate, a flavor combination now forever embedded in my core. Hesitantly, she parts her lips, and I take it as my cue to delve in, completely claiming her like she’s mine.
A moan vibrates against the back of my throat as I place a hand to the small of her back, tugging her warmth closer against my chest. Her hands grasp onto my shoulders with the same hunger I’m experiencing, and for a minute, I forget we’re in the middle of the street.
Every stroke makes me want more, thinking about how I could kiss her forever, right at this moment. I grunt when she digs her nails into my skin, turned on by the desire that seems to ripple through the both of us.
“We should stop, before I tear off your clothes in the middle of the street,” I heave, even though I crash my mouth against hers once more.
“We should.” She bites my lip, and my breath falters before I press my forehead against hers, our noses touching. “But I really don’t want to,” she confesses.
“I know.” I pull her up, then take her hand in mine before I drag her behind me down the street like a mad man.
“You ruined my boots.” She pouts, jokingly, glancing at the leftover scoop of stracciatella melting on the red leather.
Quickly, I take her face in my hands again, her chest colliding with mine as I find her lips. “I’ll buy you new ones,” I murmur against her sweet mouth, before I continue guiding us down the pavement.
“Where are we going?”
I glance over my shoulder, shooting her a wink, as she touches her perfectly swollen lips.
“Somewhere I can have you for myself.”