Episode 37
Episode 37
Puff Puff Pass
SUMMER
The memory of Jack’s kiss, his hands on my breasts, the way he worshipfully gazed at my body when he had me splayed out on the kitchen table not an hour ago kept running on repeat through my mind. I wiggled in my seat as Jack drove the SUV down the road toward my parents’ house and the farm where all the magic happened.
Jack smirked but kept his gaze on the road ahead as I crossed and uncrossed my legs for the zillionth time. I’d planned on taking matters into my own hands while in the shower earlier, but for some reason, that felt like the easy way out. I had a man in my life now. A man who wanted to bang me into next Tuesday and would have if Autumn hadn’t interrupted us. My sister’s timing had always been terrible. I’d certainly remember to keep the back door locked in the future.
“You’ve sighed for the third time in as many minutes, Summer. What’s the matter?” Jack asked, then took the turn leading straight to my parents’ land as if he’d driven there a thousand times before, when he’d only driven it once, which was last night.
“Nothing.”
“Are you worried about something?” he pressed. “You can tell me anything.”
I rolled my eyes. “No, it’s not anything important.” I sighed again, hating how I was incapable of keeping my feelings and emotions from showing.
His gaze flicked to mine, eyebrows rising toward his hairline in question. He even went so far as to tap his fingers on the wheel, expressing in no uncertain terms that he’d wait patiently until I gave up what was bothering me.
“Fiiiiine. But it’s a bit inappropriate.” I slapped my thighs dramatically as my cheeks heated.
“I didn’t think you were the type to worry about whether something was appropriate or not. It’s part of what attracted me to you in that elevator. I like how you’re uninhibited and speak your mind.” He gestured with a wave of his hand to go ahead and share.
I sighed deeply and chewed on my thoughts for a minute as my heart pounded wildly. Just looking him in the face, the air in the car got thicker, more energized, setting my body ablaze. “You teased the hell out of me earlier…”
He cocked a single sexy brow but stayed silent.
I swallowed nervously. “And just when things were heating up, and about to get really damn good, my annoying sister ruined it. I’m horny as all get-out. It’s been a long time for me, okay?” I grumbled.
A full belly laugh left him as he shook his head. “You do not mince words, do you, solskinn ?” He called me sunshine in Norwegian, something I found ridiculously sweet.
I growled low under my breath at the teasing nature of his tone when he pulled up next to my parents’ truck and parked, then turned to stare at me. He had his left arm stretched out, wrist lying loosely over the steering wheel, looking extra freakin’ cool. Literally my fiancé was a heartstopper. Dark finger-swept hair, chocolatey brown eyes, chiseled jaw with the exact right amount of scruff to make any heterosexual female take notice. Tanned skin, a toned physique, and the most kissable lips. All of this put together made me want to ride him until I saw stars.
I glared at him as he smiled coyly, then grabbed my hand and brought it to his lips. He kissed the tip of each finger until I was holding my breath and squirming in my seat.
“When we end this day, I will have you on your back completely naked, spread out on your bed, where I will become familiar with every inch of your beautiful body. This, I promise you.” He dragged his lips against my pinky finger and then sucked it into his mouth, swirling his tongue around the small digit.
My breath caught, and those dark eyes melted with desire as heat pumped off him in waves.
I cleared my throat. “I look forward to it,” I whispered, my voice a raspy, needy mess.
“I shall as well.” He nipped at the very tip of my pinky, and I groaned at the small bite of pain that instantly turned into pleasure. What else on my body could he give the same treatment?
“Keep that up and my parents will be getting a free triple X show right in front of their house,” I challenged, my nerve endings singing as arousal soared through my veins making the space between my thighs slick and my panties damp.
Jack inhaled through his nose, his nostrils flaring as if he was thinking about putting the SUV in reverse and fulfilling his promise right now. Eventually the sexual tension between us was so thick I could have cut it with a knife. He let out a long, tortured breath and opened the car door. “Let’s go see this farm you’ve created.” He seemed as deprived and uncomfortable as I was.
I fanned my face and got out of the car as my father rounded the side of the house.
“There you are. I was just about to ring you again,” he said excitedly. “The new strain is testing at our highest level yet. Come on, come and see!” He waved for us to follow.
I clasped Jack’s hand, and we followed my dad around the house and down the path toward the indoor growing facility where his lab was. We’d had it built when the outdoor farmed plants started to exceed our expectations and profit margins to the point where we needed more office and lab space. That’s also when we decided to build the indoor planting facilities where the more specialized and higher potency products could be grown.
Jack took in the multiple large domed, almost tent-like buildings attached to the brick-and-mortar structure where the office and lab were housed. I tried to see our setup through his eyes. From an outsider’s perspective, the whole thing looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. And he hadn’t even seen the inside.
I nudged his shoulder. “Come on. I’m excited to see what you think of what we’ve built and eager to get your opinions and thoughts on the possibility of expansion, possibly even worldwide,” I breathed, feeling wings take flight in my belly at the idea of the sky being the limit on what my family and I had created.
Jack rubbed my lower back as Dad held the door to his lab open. We walked through and went straight to a set of glass double doors. Those led directly into our lab, which had an open one hundred and eighty degree view through floor-to-ceiling glass walls of our indoor farm.
“ Min gud ,” Jack gasped, which I think was Norwegian for “my god” in English. He walked over to stand before the glass that revealed line after line of my flourishing plant babies.
“Sunny, check this out. You won’t believe what the Autumn Moon is testing at!” Dad announced while pointing at his computer screen.
I left Jack to his gazing and checked out the numbers on the plants we’d named after Autumn.
“Damn, that is high. Get it!” I joked and snorted as my Dad chuckled. Sure, my pot jokes were lame but still funny to me.
“It’s doing exceedingly well with our practical tester group too. Looks like adding the moon water and adjusting the soil as you suggested worked exactly as you’d hoped.”
Pride filled my chest, and I beamed with the knowledge that I had been right. A lot of the time, success came with trial and error and maybe a little boost from the Universe. Letting the moon charge jug after jug of water when it was at its fullest, then adding that to each plant for a little boost was my sister’s idea.
“Don’t tell Autumn about this or she’ll think it was her. She demanded we go skyclad as we filled the water jugs. We did some manifesting during the spring equinox, which was also her idea, so…”
He laughed more exuberantly. “My theory is that the soil adjustment was most likely the source of the outcome.”
I opened my mouth to argue the natural and spiritual benefits of moon water, especially when it fell right on a full moon, and during the spring equinox, but my father held up a hand to stop me from arguing.
“Though I am also not averse to admitting the possibility that the Universe might also have given it a solid nudge as well.” Oh, the man knew better after thirty years with my mother.
“Damn straight,” I narrowed my gaze as I heard the door from the lab to the indoor farm open and close. I’d become so caught up in the data my father was sharing, I had left Jack on his own. Apparently, he got tired of waiting for me.
I watched through the glass as Jack clasped his hands behind his neck and scanned the long lines of plants.
“This is really great news, Dad. We’ll have to work with our marketing team to figure out the best way to announce that this particular product has the highest THC percentage to date. Our locals are going to go wild but so will our vendors all the way up and down the West Coast. We can even encourage mentioning we used actual moon water in the growing process.”
“Absolutely. It’s going to be a high profit year for sure, Sunny.” He sat down and focused on his computer, instantly lost to his data per usual.
“If that’s all, I’m going to show Jack around.”
Dad nodded, his gaze never leaving his screen. He was already in another world. One where numbers, math, and science reigned supreme and everything else was just background noise.
I pushed through the door to the indoor farm and came up behind Jack. He didn’t so much as flinch when I wrapped my arms around his middle and snuggled against him. “Pretty cool, huh?”
“Cool?” The single word rolled off his tongue as though it were a curse. “Am I seeing what I think I’m seeing?” His tone was jagged, not at all what I would have expected. My plants were absolutely stunning. Each aisle contained a different shade of green with each individual plant having gobs of sticky flowering buds on them. The smell was intoxicating and made me want to hit my vape so I could feel connected and at one with the atmosphere.
“If you think you’re seeing the finest indoor cannabis farm in all of the US, then you are correct.” I let go of him and moved around so I could see his face.
His expression was like marble. Stone cold.
I frowned and tilted my head. “What’s the nasty vibe I’m feeling coming from you all of a sudden?”
He slowly blinked and then looked down at me.
“You farm marijuana?” His voice was scrupulous and the question rhetorical because it was blatantly obvious now that he could see thousands upon thousands of plants in varying stages of growth running in every direction. Our indoor facility was the size of multiple football fields. And this was only the indoor plants. We had acres upon acres of sun-grown varieties.
“Ye-aaah,” I stretched out the word while trying to figure out the nuance in his statement.
“This is legal here?” he gasped, flabbergasted.
“Uh, yeah. For almost a decade, dude. I wouldn’t be in the business of selling illegal anything.”
“It’s absolutely not in Norway, nor in most if not all of Europe. Although from what I read recently, most countries have decriminalized it but are nowhere near close to recreational use, let alone medicinal. I had no idea when you stated you were in the plant business that yours would be one that was illegal in most countries besides your own.” He ran his hand through his hair. “I’m not even sure how I feel about regular use of the substance myself.”
I put my hand to my hip and glared at him, feeling that icky vibe turning into a vortex of ugliness. “Well, you better figure out those feelings real quick, buddy, seeing as you’re supposedly marrying the biggest seller of cannabis in the United States.”
“I-I…” His words fell away as he stared out at the sea of plants. “This could be really bad for Johansen Brewing.” He closed his eyes and scowled. “Shit, this could end up a PR nightmare. I need to think about all of this. Talk to my second-in-command, get my team on this before anyone finds out we’re engaged.” His jaw firmed and a muscle in his cheek started to flicker. “I need to speak to Erik too.” Then he cursed under his breath in Norwegian. “Erik’s on his honeymoon.” He inhaled like a fire-breathing dragon about to burn down the world as I knew it.
Then he ripped my chest open and stabbed me straight through the heart with his next outburst.
“This is bad. This could ruin everything we’ve built. What the hell have I gotten myself into?”