Chapter Ten
Jacob
As I stood on Felix’s doorstep, my stomach twisted.
The last hour had been close to insanity.
The next few minutes were likely to be the most consequential of my life.
With Josie’s words in my mind, I knocked on the door.
Nothing.
Knocked again.
Nothing.
Pounded.
I had raised my arm again when the door flew open.
Felix, hair mussed and a little disheveled, stood before me. Before I could evaluate the wisdom of my actions, I pushed into the house. Then I hauled him into a massive hug. He felt small in my arms, reminding me of the difference in our sizes.
The sound of high heels clacking on the porch was all the warning I got before the door closed.
Slowly, Felix pulled back.
I gazed into his eyes, but found them only a little hazy. Not red, as I’d first imagined.
We turned, together, to face Josie.
I eyed my sister. “Okay, you said he needed me.”
“He does.” She pointed to Felix. “Tell him.”
Before me, Felix turned a bright shade of scarlet.
“Look around the house, guys.”
Together, with my arm still supporting Felix, we did a slow survey of the great room with the living area as well as the kitchen and dining room. Everything was exactly as she’d said it should be—right down to the placement of the throw pillows and wool blanket she said was for cold, rainy days.
“Uh, Josette, I’m confused.” Felix huffed.
It always startled me when he used her full name. He always did, while I only ever did it when she pissed me off. Which was admittedly less and less over the years.
My sister sighed. “I designed it for you.”
Felix pressed a hand to his chest. “Right. For us.”
“Yes.”
“So I’m—”
“You and your future partner. And yeah, until today, I wasn’t positive it’d be my brother. I mean, you’ve barely got your head out of your ass while Jacob’s is still firmly planted—”
“Josette.” Apparently she could still piss me off. More because of her implication Felix had done anything wrong. I never worried about myself. I wasn’t the sensitive one. I drew in a deep breath. “You and Felix aren’t getting married.”
“Nope.”
“You designed this house for Felix and me?”
“See, I know you’re a little slow, but you get there eventually.”
I chose to ignore the barb. “And so now, what, you expect Felix and I to…?” I couldn’t finish the sentence. Because over the past month, all I’d thought about was how I wanted to fill in the blank with Felix. Kiss? Fuck? Marry? But it’d all been out of reach, so I hadn’t gone there. Like, at all.
So you tell yourself.
“I’m moving to Romania in just over a week. I’ll be here for the wedding.” She held my gaze. “Go for it, big brother.” Then she walked away. Right out the door, down the porch, to her little green sedan, and off. Likely heading back into town.
My head hurt. Slowly I pulled away from Felix, who I’d still been supporting with my hand against his lower back. I shut the front door, then leaned against it. "So, you two aren’t getting married?"
"Nope." Felix blinked those huge dark-brown eyes several times. Like he couldn’t quite believe what had just happened either.
"And Josie’s not brokenhearted about it?"
"Nope." He shrugged. “Like she said, she’s off to some castle in Romania. Which I think sounds a little suspicious, and I hope you’re planning to do some due diligence to follow up on this count guy before she actually flies to Europe.”
My head spun. I’d do what he suggested. At the moment, though, I had a more pressing issue. "And you're not brokenhearted about it?"
"Nope." Not a flicker of disappointment in his gaze. Aside from still looking a little sleep rumpled—had he been taking a nap? —he appeared completely unconcerned. But he’d had longer to absorb this, since Josie had come here first.
"Right. But our mothers are still expecting a wedding?" As much as I’d worried about Felix’s feelings, our mothers’ hearts were right up there in my concern.
"Yep."
We just stared at each other as the moment hung in time.
I cleared my throat. "You do have a cheerful house. It's very big."
"Yep." His monosyllabic answers gave nothing away.
"You still want to get married in the middle of the woods?"
"Yep."
Slowly, ever so slowly, I saw my life before me. It didn’t scare me. In fact, I wasn’t certain anything had ever felt so right. Again I cleared my throat. "Will you be upset if I ask your brother to be best man? I mean, he can be best man for both of us, can't he?"
"Are you proposing to me?"
No hint of his feelings about this. If he hadn’t jumped me a month ago, I doubted I’d even be saying these things. Still… "Maybe. Do you want to be proposed to?"
Felix shrugged. "I don't think I actually ever proposed to Josette. Everyone just thought we were getting married. So, uh, do you mind if I do the proposing instead?"
"I fucking well don't care, as long as you fucking well get on with it so we can get to the kissing part."
"Oh. Okay.”
To my shock, he got down on one knee. I towered over him but the surprise overrode most of the discomfort.
Most.
“Jacob, will you marry me in the woods with your sister as maid of honor and my brother as best man and our two mothers crying copious amounts of tears? And then will you live with me in this cabin. Together? And have kids?"
This time, I blinked. And not so much from confusion—although that was part of it—but because I was holding back tears. Everything I’d ever wanted but hadn’t known I wanted, was before me. I knelt to join him.
He rolled his eyes.
“Yes. To all of it. I didn’t think I could have those things, but I say yes.” I winked, "Okay. Can we kiss now?"
“Oh my God, yes, please.”
I rose, gently guiding him up with me. When we were upright, I cupped his cheek and drew him close. Where I expected his eyes to drift shut and for us to enjoy a nice, languorous kiss, he wrapped his arms around my neck, grabbed my hair, and yanked me down to him.
He plundered my mouth with his tongue, demanding in a way I would never have predicted. He thrust against me in a way that pretty much assured me he hadn’t done this before.
In response, I placed my hands on his hips to hold him steady.
A low moan came from his throat. He pulled back, gazing up at me. “I want you. I thought you wanted me, too.”
“I did. I do.” I drew in a breath. “But last time, we were wrong to do anything—”
He ducked his head. “I said I was sorry.”
“And I know you were. But we could’ve really hurt my sister. Neither of us knew she had this planned.” I swept my arm to encompass the room. “It’s a lot to take in.”
“Yeah, I suppose.” He eased his hand from around my neck and started to pull away.
“Hey, I didn’t mean it like that.” I snagged his hands and pulled them to my chest. “I’m just saying…” I hesitated. “Tell me if I’m wrong, but you don’t seem very experienced.”
He pinkened.
“Yeah, okay. So there’s nothing wrong with taking things slow.”
He blinked big brown eyes up at me. “What if I’m no good?”
My heart broke a little. “First, I won’t be comparing you—”
“Well, that’s good.” Just a touch of sarcasm.
I smiled. “We have to do things our own way.” I drew my finger down his smooth skin. How had I never seen him this way? Or had this attraction always been simmering just below the surface? I grasped his cheeks in my hand and drew him into a kiss.
This time, I did the plundering. I thrust my tongue into his mouth, searching out the recesses. Slowly, he eased himself against me. This time, I didn’t try to hold him away.
Capitulation.
And, as he brushed his erection against mine, I knew. Not just the physical—although that was pretty awesome—but that this was the way things were supposed to unfold. He’d always been destined to marry a Fogal. I just had to make certain I was the Fogal he chose. I also had to hope he felt the same way.
I cupped his ass.
“Please, Jacob.” He pulled away from the kiss to nuzzle my neck. “I need to know.”
Which pretty much confirmed what I’d known—not only had he never done anything with Josie, he’d never done anything with anyone else. My mind screamed slow down while my cock demanded now, now, now. We had to land somewhere in the middle. I’d have to figure out what to do.
In turn, I bent my knees so I could nuzzle his neck.
He arched it back, giving me full exposure.
I’d never before wanted to claim in this primal way. I held back, though, deciding with my last functioning brain cell that sending him into the world with a hickey might not be the brightest choice.
His hand trailed down my chest and lower still. It stalled around my waist.
Ah. I snagged his wrist and gently guided him lower.
He curled his fingers around my denim-clad erection and squeezed.
I saw stars. And reveled in the headiness of knowing he’d never done this with anyone before. “Can I suck you?”
“Is that, like, a blow job?” The dark brown of his irises were nearly invisible with the blown pupils.
“Uh, yeah, that would be a blow job.”
He dragged his lower lip through his teeth. After a long moment of holding my gaze, he nodded.
I kissed him again. Long and sweet. All the while, I meandered my hand down his chest, past his abdomen, and to the button on his jeans.
More time passed before he nodded.
Taking that for the assent it clearly was, I unbuttoned his jeans, then drew the zipper down. Good thing I was dexterous, seeing as I did it with one hand. The other still grasped his hair. I slid my hand under his boxer briefs so I could get my skin against his.
He sucked in a breath. “Cold.”
I laughed. “You don’t seem to mind.”
“Uh, no.” He pressed into my fingers. “The callouses are so sexy.”
Not something I’d ever heard before, but I liked the playful side of Felix that I didn’t see very often. Have to bring that out more often. I met his gaze. “I’m going to give you your very first blow job.”
Then I dropped to my knees.