Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Hutch
I wake to the feeling of a heated, weighted blanket. When I open my eyes, I find that Jocelyn is star-fished on top of me. Her legs hang over mine. Her arms are on either side of my shoulders, and her head is nestled against my chest.
I grin. I can’t remember the last time I was this happy.
I run my fingers up and down her back, remembering every second of last night.
Fuck, that was hot. I can’t remember the last time I was that turned on by a woman.
Hell, I can’t remember the last time I just made out with a woman. It’s been years.
I feel the vibration of my cell phone. It’s lying on the cushion next to us. I reach over and grab it. It’s the group text from the apartment building.
Kasen: Well, they still haven’t emerged. Should we be worried?
Piper: Shush
Kasen: Make me.
Piper: Don’t tempt me.
Roxy: I hope they had wild sex all night.
Gray: Roxy, that’s none of our business.
Al: Well, I hope they are happy together.
Margie: Oh, me too. Such a perfect couple.
Cam: I want details. Jocelyn better spill.
Cornelia: Oh, to be young.
Roxy: I want details, too. Like all the details.
Bray: Ladies, maybe let them just try this thing out before everyone jumps down their throats.
Cam: Oh, I bet there was something jumping down a throat.
Roxy: (laughing emoji)
Fletcher: (Face-slapping emoji)
Carly: Uh, guys, Hutch is on this group text.
Kasen: Earth to Hutch! We need to know what happened.
Cam: Yes, we are dying over here. And Jocelyn’s on this group text too.
Roxy: (skull emoji)
Jocelyn stirs, and I set my phone back down. My other hand is still absentmindedly stroking her back.
She raises her head and stares at me for a moment. I hold my breath, hoping this isn’t going to be awkward.
“Is your monster Viking dick always at full staff every morning?” she asks, wriggling against me.
I groan from the fiction. “It is when there’s a super-sexy woman sleeping on it,” I reply through gritted teeth.
She giggles. “You’re funny,” she says, and before I can stop her, she gets up and holds out her hand. “Come on. It’s our last full day. What are we doing?”
I sit up and reach for her hand, pulling her back down across my lap. She wraps her arms around my neck, and I kiss her jaw, then her cheek, and finally her lips.
“I was thinking, we could stay right here,” I declare as I pull back and run a hand through her mess of wavy locks.
“I think we should go to the beach. We don’t get to be here for much longer. Plus, remember, I invited my family over,” she says. She had mentioned this to me at some point last night.
“We’ll have to make something good for lunch. You want to ask them if there’s anything they don’t eat?” I suggest.
She smiles and fumbles around as she looks for her phone. I locate it first and hand it to her. She texts her grandmother and aunt.
“No, food issues. And my cousins can come too. I guess they have a half-day at school,” she says, her smiling widening.
“What should we do till then?” I ask, my thumb stroking her thigh, where I grip her tightly against me.
She looks up at the ceiling and purses her lips. “Huh, not sure. We could play mermaids with Ava?” she teases.
I narrow my eyes. “Think again,” I mumble like a petulant child, even though I know she’s joking.
“We could play football player and cheerleader,” she jokes.
I raise an eyebrow. “OK, I’m listening.”
She laughs as she tightens her arms around my neck. “We just started dating, and my parents are gone for the day,” she starts as she moves to straddle me.
“Oh?” I play along.
She nods, playfully pulling my shirt over my head. Her eyes are drinking me in, making all the blood pump to my hardening appendage beneath her.
“Yeah, and my annoying cousins are out in the pool, but we’ve snuck into the guesthouse…my parents are very rich,” she teases with a smirk.
“Are they?” I ask as my voice drops an octave, my hands finding the waistband of her pajama bottoms, wishing she still had her dress on for easier access.
“And we only have thirty minutes to make out before they come home,” she explains as she stands for a moment and pushes her pajama bottoms down, revealing black lace underwear that has me practically drooling.
“Fucking hell, Jocelyn. Why do you even have underwear like that?” I curse.
She giggles and straddles me again, pulling my pants down like before and revealing the crown of my erection poking out the top of my underwear.
She lines her core up against it and slowly grinds down. I groan and she whimpers as I take control of her hips, moving her up and down along my length. Her wet panties are rubbing against my tip with each pass.
“Because I like sexy underwear,” she finally answers.
“I’d prefer no underwear,” I grumble.
“Fair point, but…my parents could come home at any minute,” she teases.
I slap her ass, and she yelps and then giggles. I reach between us and push her panties to the side just like last night because I need to feel her silky, drenched flesh against mine.
She starts moving faster, sliding her skin along mine. I palm her breast, rubbing her hardening nipple with my thumb as I lean in and kiss her. Her lips are swollen from sleep. She looks sexy as fuck in the morning. How was I missing out on this for months? I should have asked her out on day one.
I feel her quicken her pace slightly, and I know she’s close. Hell, I’m close. I reach between us, circling her swollen flesh as I did last night, and after a few seconds, her body trembles as she cries out against my lips.
I follow her a moment later. Our kiss lingers as our bodies relax.
“We should clean up before your parents come home,” I say, and she laughs and plants a final kiss on my lips.
“I suppose we should. Shower?” she asks as she crawls off me and grabs her bottoms from where they fell on the ground.
“I…don’t think I can trust myself with you naked and wet,” I admit, running a hand through my hair.
She shrugs and shakes her ass at me while heading upstairs. “Your loss,” she calls out. I groan and look down at the mess on my lap and abdomen.
“I think that woman is going to be the death of me,” I mutter to myself, walking over to the sink to clean up.
* * *
“Thank you for having us. It was a wonderful afternoon,” her aunt says as her daughters and Jocelyn play in the pool alongside Ava, who is clearly loving all the attention.
“Of course. I’m so glad you were able to connect with Jocelyn,” I say as I glance into the kitchen.
Cam and Fletcher just left for an evening in San Juan.
Kasen booked a sunset cruise for him and Piper, and they are changing before heading out.
Gray found an orchestra that’s giving a concert in San Juan and got tickets for him and Roxy.
And Al, Margie, Cornelia, Jessa, and Troy found a casino that they want to go to tonight.
Bray leans over from where he’s watching Ava. “Hey, do you and Jocelyn have plans tonight?” he asks.
I shake my head. “No. I think we were going to chill here.”
“Would you mind babysitting Ava. She’ll go to bed by eight. I just thought it would be nice to take Carly out for dinner. She doesn’t get to go out often,” he says.
“Oh?” I say, giving him a pointed look.
He glares at me. “As friends, jackass,” he whispers.
“Right. And yes, we could watch her,” I reply, but deep down, I’m screaming, “NO! I want more make-out time with my woman!”
He gives me a look that says, “We will be talking later about what went down with you and Jocelyn last night.”
I turn back to Jocelyn’s aunt and grandmother. “I’m glad you were able to come over today,” I add, and her grandmother gushes about the house and thanks me profusely for having them for lunch. Cam had made some sort of barbecue chicken with rice and beans. It was delicious.
“Princessa Jocelyn!” Ava yells from where she’s still playing in the pool. She tosses Jocelyn a pool toy. I look over at Jocelyn, and she’s giggling with her cousins.
“Hey, Mom! I speak Spanish!” Ava says, swimming to where Carly has just walked out from the kitchen and sat down on the edge of the pool.
“Oh?” Carly replies.
“Yep. That”—she points to the house—“is a casa.”
“That’s very good,” Carly says.
Jocelyn’s aunt says something to her daughters in Spanish, and they get out of the pool. Jocelyn follows them and dries off before there is a round of goodbyes. I watch Jocelyn tear up a little when her family drives away. I wrap an arm around her shoulder and give her a squeeze.
“We’ll have to come back soon and visit again,” I whisper. She nods, and we walk back inside the house.
It seems like everyone starts leaving after that, until the house is quiet except for Ava, who somehow made her way back into the pool because I’m pretty sure that kid is half shark.
Jocelyn leisurely swims around her as they talk. I made Ava a sandwich to use up some of our food in the house. I had sent Jocelyn’s family home with some because I didn’t want to waste any.
But I have something special in mind for our dinner after we get Ava tucked into bed.
I quickly turn all the clocks forward an hour when they aren’t looking. I need more alone time with Jocelyn, and I need it now.
“Hey, will you look at that. It’s almost eight,” I say with an “I’m sorry” look.
“Mr. Hutch. There’s no way that’s right. It was just six,” Ava says, glaring at me.
I point to the clock on the wall inside, hoping she didn’t notice me fidgeting with it.
“Let me see your watch,” she protests, crossing her little arms and glaring at me. I sigh. Fucking smart kid.
“Fine, it’s not yet. But you do need to have a bath and get ready for bed. If you start now, we can read you a story, a short story,” I state because I know this kid, and she will pull out some thirty-two-chapter-long book.
“How many pages?” she counters.
“Darn, you drive a hard bargain, Princess Mermaid,” Jocelyn teases.
“That’s Princessa Mermaid to you,” Ava counters.
Jocelyn laughs. “Come on, we’ll pick one together.”
I watch as Ava begrudgingly gets out of the pool, thankful that she has no vibrators with her today.
Jocelyn helps her dry off, and then we shut down the pool and head inside.
We don’t have to leave for the airport until around two thirty tomorrow, but I want the area somewhat clean before we leave.
I hear Jocelyn helping Ava with a bath as I head upstairs. I have ordered food that will be here in thirty minutes.
“Do you like Mr. Hutch?” I hear Ava ask, and I freeze mid-step.
“Yes, he’s very nice,” Jocelyn replies over a splash of water.
“No, do you like like Mr. Hutch?” Ava asks.
It’s quiet for a beat. “Can you keep a secret?” Jocelyn asks, followed by more splashing.
“Yes. I’m the best secret keeper,” Ava says. I press my lips together to keep a laugh from escaping because this kid couldn’t keep a secret if her life depended on it.
I quietly walk closer to the bathroom because I want to hear what Jocelyn says.
“I really like him,” Jocelyn whispers.
“I knew it. He likes you, too. I heard Mom tell Unca Bray that you definitely like him, and then Unca Bray said that he liked you. So, you should get married and have a baby, so I have someone to play with in the hot tub. Oh, and for blowing bubbles,” Ava adds, and I hear a choked laugh come from Jocelyn.
“OK, uh, thanks. I’ll take that into consideration,” Jocelyn manages as I walk into the bathroom.
“Did we pick out a book?” I ask.
“Mr. Hutch!” Ava protests, pretending to be offended that I just walked in on her tub time, even though I’ve sat by the tub a million times with her.
I turn around, and she gets out, and I hear Jocelyn drying her off and putting on her pajamas.
For a kid that I’ve bathed since she was three, she certainly has become shy about this lately.
It makes me a little sad that she’s growing up.
I liked having a little kid around. Kids are fun.
They let you be childlike, which doesn’t happen often as adults.
“You can turn around,” Ava says as she brushes her teeth. The words come out mumbled, but I manage to understand. I spin and find her watching herself brush in the mirror.
I look over her at Jocelyn. Jocelyn is watching me, and with the look she’s giving me, I just want to toss Ava in bed and hurry back to our guesthouse.
Carly found a baby monitor in a closet and set it up so we can listen in on Ava from the guesthouse after she falls asleep.
She assured us that once Ava is out, she’s out, and we could swim in the pool or watch a movie in the guesthouse, and it’ll be fine.
I suppose since the two dwellings are connected by a covered walkway, it’s sort of the same house, but I’d feel better waiting until someone gets home.
“Come on,” I urge, and she rinses her mouth and scrambles into bed. We read her two chapters, and she falls asleep before we start chapter three.
We quietly make our way downstairs.
“So you like like me?” I tease.
“You heard that, huh?” Jocelyn says as I pick her up and toss her over my shoulder.
“I like like you too,” I reply, slapping her ass as I carry her through the house.
The front door suddenly opens, and Al, Cornelia, and Margie stop in their tracks.
“We’re back early. Cornelia wanted to get a good night’s sleep,” Margie says as she looks at us.
“Great. Ava is sleeping upstairs. Have a good night,” I state as I whisk Jocelyn through the house and out the back door.
“Oh my God! That was embarrassing,” she says with a laugh. “Put me down. I need to shower. I didn’t get a chance after the pool.”
I slowly set her down once we’re in the guesthouse. I follow her into the bathroom and watch as she starts stripping.
“You just gonna watch?” she asks.
“Nope,” I reply as I start pulling off my clothes. “I like to be hands-on.”
And just like that, I follow her into the shower because this woman isn’t just a princessa mermaid, she’s a freaking siren.