Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
RYAN
Karla was deep asleep when I woke. I pushed her messy black hair out of her face and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Lily had taken Jones’ spot on the other side of Karla. I laughed at seeing her sleep on her back like a human, with her black nose snuggling against Karla’s neck.
I tucked the girls in, then got up to find my missing man. It was scary how comfortable I was at Jones’ cabin, though a huge reason for that was probably the man who’d welcomed us with open arms.
With the cabin having an open-floor plan, I could see from a glance that Jones wasn’t in the kitchen or living room. I padded into his room and found it empty.
The shower was on in the en-suite bathroom, and I found myself smiling as I opened the connecting door just a crack.
Jones’ beautiful form came into view. He looked delectable, with water droplets sliding down his dark skin, eyes closed and head tilted back as he stroked himself. He was so focused that he didn’t even notice me slipping inside and closing the door behind me.
Jones pumped his erection, his thumb gliding over his mushroom top the way I learned he liked. His eyelashes fluttered and my name fell from his lips.
“Yes, Jones?” I answered, which had him popping his eyes open and jolting at the sight of me.
“Fuck,” he muttered, hand to his heart, but he seemed to calm down when he realized it was me. “I need to get in the habit of locking doors.”
“Mmhmm,” I agreed and locked the bathroom door before tugging off my shirt. A trail of clothes followed me as I made my way to him.
“What are you doing?” Jones gulped, his still-wide eyes locked onto every one of my movements.
“I thought you might want some help with that,” I said, stepping under the spray with him and giving his erection a slow stroke.
Jones hummed with approval. His hands found my waist, and he pulled me in for a good morning kiss. The heat of his mouth and the taste of him I was now so familiar with had my own dick ready to come out to play.
I broke the kiss, and Jones leaned in, chasing my lips, but I stopped him with a smile. The puppy-dog look he shot me had me choking out a laugh. I pressed one last kiss to those pouty lips, then dropped to my knees.
“We don’t have much time,” I said and licked a stripe down his shaft.
“Ryan,” Jones moaned, his fingers grasping at my short hair. The way he moaned my name was music to my ears, and it only spurred me on as I sucked him in.
My eyes stayed locked with his. I loved watching the way they filled with desire as I took him in as far as I could. I wasn’t exactly a pro at sucking dick yet, and Jones wasn’t small either, so I only managed to swallow half his length before I was gagging.
“Don’t push yourself,” Jones murmured, his hand stroking my cheek.
I grunted, frustrated at my stupid gag reflex. I meant it when I said I wanted to be good for him last night. I tried to take more of him, and tears prickled my eyes at the effort.
“Ryan,” Jones chided. His hand slid down my cheek until he was cupping my chin. His thumb slipped into my mouth along with his dick, and he used the force to pull a bit of himself out until I could properly breathe again.
“You feel so good. Just having you touch me is enough,” he breathed, and I wondered if he was saying that because I was feeling insecure about not being enough for him.
I moaned around his dick, determined that even if I couldn’t give him the best blow job of his life, I’d give him the most fucking enthusiastic one.
My tongue swiped over his head and played with his slit. Jones moaned appreciatively and his hands held me just firmly enough to stay in place. His neck was straining, probably from trying to keep still and letting me take the lead.
That was hot. Him standing there, taking the pleasure I gave him. I wanted him to feel so good. My hand reached to give his balls a quick fondle before sliding over his taint. Jones made an airy sound that had my own cock twitching.
My finger traveled further back. Our gazes stayed locked as I teased his hole. As if giving me permission, Jones nodded, and I slipped a digit inside.
The entry was slow going, with nothing but the shower water to lube the way, but soon, his hole opened up nicely for me.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Jones chanted when I curved my finger to hit his prostate.
I pulled off his dick long enough to say, “Quite a dirty mouth you have on you.”
The expression Jones gave me told me he was going to have some choice words for me if I didn’t hurry and finish my job. I laughed and put my mouth right back where he wanted it.
It only took one swipe of my tongue over his slit and a crook of my finger over his prostate to have one last “Oh, fuck” falling from his lips as he shot his load .
“Ryan,” he called, his grip on me tightening as he bent over my head. His moans of pleasure echoing off the bathroom walls were the most fucking beautiful thing I’d heard. I loved how I was the one making him feel this good.
His softening dick popped from my lips and he slipped his thumb into my mouth again to press against the flat of my tongue. I sucked his thumb as enthusiastically as I’d sucked his dick.
Jones muttered another curse and pulled me to my feet to smother me in a kiss that had me feeling a little lightheaded when it finally ended.
Jones kissed down my neck, stopping to graze his teeth over my collarbone. “You looked so fucking perfect down there. You make me feel so good.” I hissed when he sucked hard on my nipple.
“I want to make you feel just as good.” Without another warning, Jones fell to his knees and deep-throated me like he was trying for the cock-sucking Olympics. His gag reflex was nonexistent.
“Show-off,” I gritted out, trying my darnedest not to blow the moment his warmth enveloped me. Jones didn’t seem to care for my self-control, as he laughed with his mouth full of my cock. The fucking vibrations did me in, and I was shooting into the back of his throat.
What a way to start the day.
Brunch was a loud affair. Clay and Dan were the first to arrive, and we could hear them before even turning onto the block where Hector’s was located. They had pushed together a couple of tables at the diner’s outdoor seating.
They were laughing about something. “That’s a good sign. I thought they’d still be fighting after yesterday,” Jones muttered and glanced at me with a smirk.
He used one arm to carry Karla. She clung to his neck and looked around excitedly, wearing the blue dress she’d chosen.
Today, I’d managed to get her hair into twin buns that turned into dangling braids on each side of her head.
She looked super adorable, but also reminded me of the cartoon moon princess who fought evil and enforced justice that I used to watch on TV as a kid.
His other hand was tangled with mine, slowly swinging between us as we made our way to the table. In my mind, the scene was so familial that I had a hard time not getting my hopes up about the future.
Could I really have this? A life with Jones and Karla? Us living together as a family and meeting up with friends? It sounded almost too good to be true.
I’d heard about Jones’ past dating history from the gossip mill in town. Besides his ex, he wasn’t the long-term relationship kind of guy. What if that hadn’t changed? What if Jones got bored with us one day and decided he was over playing make-believe family?
Just thinking about the possibility caused an aching hole inside of me that had absolutely nothing to do with skipping breakfast. Reuniting with Jones unlocked the feelings I’d shoved deep inside when I was going through my dad’s cancer treatment and his eventual passing.
When he first kissed me, it was the first time I realized I might possibly like my friend as more than just a friend.
And at seventeen, that scared the hell out of me.
Liking a man didn’t scare me nearly as much now at twenty-seven, but we weren’t kids anymore, and what did scare me was the intensity of my emotions.
My teenage crush had evolved into a full-blown, head-over-heels love with the man.
And if that wasn’t the most fucking terrifying thing in the world, then I didn’t know what was.
Because now, he had the power to absolutely wreck me if he decided this relationship—Karla and I—wasn’t for him, after all.
And where would that leave me? If there was anything this past decade had taught me, it was that there was no getting over Jones Denn.
“Is something wrong?” Jones asked, breaking through my fog of self-doubt. These thoughts slipped through the cracks whenever I was really happy. Like my brain was afraid I was experiencing too much joy and had to knock me down a notch. Didn’t you just love it when your own brain worked against you?
I shook my head and put on a smile that felt a little too tight, just like how Jones’ hand was now crushing mine. The action only made my smile feel less forced, because even if my mind was working against itself, Jones noticed and had my back.
This was the kind of man he was, always so fucking nice and caring, almost to a fault. He faced everything with his entire heart, and how he’d been trying with Karla and me…Well, I had to have faith his heart wouldn’t stray.
“Just nervous about meeting your friends,” I replied. It wasn’t the full truth, but it wasn’t a lie either.
“You already know all of them, silly,” Jones teased.
“Yeah, but still,” I grumbled. I didn’t have time to say much more than that, because Dan stood up from the table and waved at us.
“How long does it take you people to walk over here?” he called over.
It was only then that I realized we were moving practically at a snail’s pace. Jones grinned, surprise-attacked me with a kiss on the cheek, and said, “It’s gonna be great. We’re gonna eat so much good food and have fun, aren’t we, baby girl?” he said, directing the last question at Karla.
She raised her hands over her head and squealed a “Yah!” It was hard not to laugh when the two of them sounded so enthusiastic.
“Finally! You took your sweet time just to keep me and this pretty lady separated, didn’t you?” Dan shot a glare at Jones, then waved to Karla with a smile. “Do you remember me? I’m Uncle Dan. ”
Karla giggled and waved back. Jones just rolled his eyes dramatically and settled her into a seat.
“Where’s Lily?” Clay asked, looking around us like the dog might suddenly appear.
“She seemed worn out from yesterday, so we left her home to rest,” Jones replied, and I could see Clay physically deflate. Jones must have noticed as well since he laughed and added, “You could just raise a dog yourself if you like them so much.”
“Dan’s allergic,” Clay replied.
The person in question nodded. “It’s fine if I’m around them for a little while, but I’d be having coughing fits every day if I lived with one.”
Jones hummed, pulled out a seat for me, then sat at the edge so Karla was between us.
He turned to Clay. “You could consider not living together anymore if you really want a dog. The apartment building our team is working on should be finished by the end of the year, and the investors have allocated some units to our company. I could reserve one for you.”
The two men went quiet, and something about the way they looked at each other told me they really didn’t want to live apart. It was sweet how these stepbrothers were so close, even as adults.
That topic of conversation quickly ended when the others arrived.
Sam and Ryker came strolling over with the most adorable gray cat on a leash, leading them.
Karla’s eyes almost popped out of her head when she saw the chubby cat meandering over.
I laughed. I was shocked too, since this was the first time I’d seen someone walk their cat.
Sam sat beside me with the cat on his lap.
Karla scrambled onto my legs so she could meet the fur baby.
They introduced the gray cat, aptly named Gray, to Karla.
She immediately fell in love with the purring machine, who soaked up all her pets.
I had to remind her to be gentle, worried she’d hurt the kitty with her enthusiasm.
Ryker set the cat carrier he was holding in the shade and opened it for Gray to rest in, as well as set up a travel bowl of food and water nearby.
Jordan and Wren were the last to arrive.
Our server, Atlas, quickly came to take our orders.
He seemed to be on good terms with everyone at the table, laughing and making jokes with them.
It was my first time meeting the young man, but he managed to make me laugh too with tales about his Christmas-obsessed hometown.
I convinced Karla to return to her seat when the food came out, but that didn’t keep her from constantly staring at Gray, who looked content to continue lying on Sam’s lap.
“Baby, Lily’s gonna get jealous if she finds out how obsessed you were with Gray,” Jones teased and tugged on one of her braids.
Karla giggled and reached out to grab his beard. The wince Jones wore told me she’d used all her muscles to pull. I really had to break her out of the habit of tugging his beard, but Jones just laughed and patted her head .
“Well, I’ll be,” Ryker muttered with a grin. “I never thought I’d see the day where you didn’t blow your top at someone touching your beard.”
“Well, none of y’all are my baby girl. Isn’t that right?” Jones asked Karla, who laughed with delight and nodded.
“I can be your baby girl, too,” Dan teased and reached for his beard.
“Get your grubby hands away!” Jones cried and swatted him.
Everyone at the table laughed except Clay, who was currently grumbling something with his arms crossed over his chest. He must be pretty possessive of his stepbrother.
“I can’t believe you have to deal with a jerk like him,” Dan said to me, but he was obviously teasing by the smirk he shot to Jones as he settled back into his seat.
Jones literally growled at the man, which had Karla trying to imitate him. She had the entire table laughing again at how adorable she was.
“If he’s a jerk, then he’s the best one I know. He’s my jerk,” I said.
“Yeah?” Jones asked, the hint of a smile crinkling his eyes.
“Absolutely.”
He brought my hand up and kissed the back of it.
All his friends erupted in coos and kissy sounds. It was the most dramatic brunch I’d been to, but it was also a ten out of ten. Would one hundred percent recommend again.