Chapter 21
21
Janie
THE KNOCK AT her door had her entire body reacting. She might as well be one of Pavlov's dogs at this point, because the sound was now connected with Devon. It had her heart racing and her stomach doing somersaults, anticipation biting at her heels as she rushed across the floor.
She'd come to Moss Creek thinking it would be easy to swear off relationships. And honestly, for a while, it had been. Not anymore. Now she was caught in this giddy, terrifying, aggravating place where a full-on relationship with Devon was all she wanted. But it was also the last thing she needed.
So far, he hadn't distracted her from her goal of paying off all her bills. But how long would that last? Not long considering she practically ran across her trailer to get to the door, flinging it open with a dumbass smile on her face before whispering a breathy, "Hey."
She'd busted her ass to finish up as early as possible at The Baking Rack so she could get home, take a shower, and be ready for his visit. And it was worth every iota of effort as she basked in the warmth of his smile.
"Hey." He stepped in, leaving his boots by the door before gathering her in his arms, pulling her close and breathing against her skin. "You smell really good."
She giggled.
Fucking.
Giggled.
This idiocy couldn’t continue. Unfortunately, she couldn’t seem to stop it.
"I got home a little early, so I took a quick shower.”
She also might have sprung for an order of scented body wash and lotion. Spent a little extra time shaving her legs and making sure her skin was soft and her hair looked extra good—as good as it could considering the regrowth giving away her age.
"That's pretty impressive. I thought you'd whittled down every second you could off the cinnamon roll making process." Devon straightened, gaze warm as it moved over her face. "I should know better than to doubt you."
Janie toyed with the fabric of his coat. "You really should."
He nuzzled her once more before stepping away, working his coat free before hanging it over the back of one of her two dining chairs. "It’s pretty cold out there." He paused, turning to face her, straightening to his full height. "And, while I know this is going to go over real fucking bad, we need to have another conversation about your tires."
The topic used to make her want to scream. It hit her like nails on a fucking chalkboard and had her ready to throw things. Heavy things. Right at Devon Peter’s head.
Now?
Now she was a salivating dog. "Fine. We can talk about tires."
Devon's brows lifted, expression skeptical. "Really?"
"Really." Tires were still not at the top of her list of priorities, but he was probably right. They should be a little higher than they were. Especially with the impending snow. "I'm sure it won't surprise you to discover I threw away the name and number of that guy you know."
Devon laughed, the sound low and deep. "Not even a little surprised." He moved closer. "Also irrelevant because we’re going to switch keys before I go. I don't want you on the road at four in the morning, going all the way out to the Pace ranch on bald tires in three inches of fresh snow."
Janie forced in a breath. Made herself relax instead of allowing her knee to jerk the way it wanted to. After years of being let down by the people she’d wanted to love her—to take care of her—it'd become easier to reject any and all attempts. Then she wasn’t let down. Then she wasn't hurt.
Allowing Devon to do this would be setting herself up for the possibility of being hurt again. But fuck if it wasn't starting to feel good to have someone she could rely on.
So even though it made her want to both throw up and cry a little, she nodded. "Okay."
Devon's brows lifted higher as he stared at her like she'd grown two heads. "Really."
Janie nodded once more, confirming either the best decision she'd ever made or the worst. "Really."
“Well,” Devon spoke slowly, “in that case, I’m going to press my luck and say we have something else we need to talk about.”
“Oh?” Her stomach dropped, falling straight to her feet. Devon wouldn’t want to trade cars if he was about to tell her this wasn’t working, would he?
No. She was overreacting. Letting that damn knee get in her way again.
“Sharon told me she was selling this place.”
All the air rushed from her lungs. “Oh.” She struggled to breath, watching his face for any sign of the anger she knew was there.
Hadn’t she just lost her mind on him a few days ago for not telling her his mother-in-law was her landlady? And then she’d turned around and done the same thing, holding back something he should know just because she was afraid to let him too far into her life.
Because of that fucking knee.
“I was going to tell you.” The words rushed out. “I just—”
Devon’s brows came together. “You don’t have to tell me everything, J. You’re an adult. You have a life, and parts of it don’t involve me right now.”
She didn’t miss that qualifier he put on the end. “But she’s your mother-in-law, and selling this place cuts all ties she has to Moss Creek. It means she might not come back as often—”
“Sharon was never coming back to live in Moss Creek.” Devon moved close, snagging her by the arm and reeling her in. “She was done with Moss Creek the day Maggie died. I knew it. She knew it. My girls knew it.”
Janie pressed her lips together, eyes on his face. “You’re not mad that I didn’t tell you?”
Devon shook his head. “I’m not mad you didn’t tell me.”
She sat on that a minute before asking, “Is that just so I can feel like an ass for being mad at you over not telling me Sharon was your mother-in-law?”
Devon’s lips curved into a small smile. “Maybe a little.”
“Ugh.” Janie’s head dropped back on a groan. “And here I was about to tell you my period’s done.”
“Done, you say?” Devon pressed against her, moving her toward the bedroom. “I feel like that’s information you should have shared the minute I opened the door.” He suddenly bent his knees, hooking both hands around her thighs to pull her body up his, legs circling his hips. “I might be mad you didn’t tell me about that sooner.”
Janie held onto his shoulders, eyes on Devon’s face as he made his way to her bedroom. "I'm sorry about getting so upset with you over not telling me about Sharon being your mother-in-law." She chewed her lower lip, struggling to make her next admission even though Devon already knew. "Sometimes I jump to the worst-case scenario and occasionally it makes me overreact."
He angled a brow. "You don't say."
This was why she wanted to apologize. She knew Devon wouldn't gloat. Wouldn't revel in her acceptance of fault. That wasn’t the kind of man he was.
"I messed up. I'm probably gonna mess up again." She repeated the words he'd given to her before, but the next ones would be different. "It's probably a good thing you know how to deal with it."
She didn't want to think too hard on the fact that dealing with criminals as a cop was what prepared him for dealing with her. Whatever the reason, he had never batted an eye at anything she'd said or done. He’d made it clear that while she could feel a certain way, act a certain way, they would be figuring it out. Because, no matter what, Devon wouldn't run away. He wouldn't back down from her outbursts or that damn knee always trying to get in the middle of everything.
"It is a good thing." Devon flexed, letting out the smallest of grunts a second before her body went flying.
By the time she realized what was going on, her back hit the mattress and she bounced, bringing out a laugh instead of a scream. "Did you really just throw me onto the bed?"
Devon shrugged as he started to crawl over her. "It was easy. You don't have any body fat, remember?"
Jani e rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She poked him in the stomach. "I just think you're trying to show off."
Devon's big body settled over hers. "Maybe. Is it working?"
"Meh."
"Meh?" He looked shocked, and not in a completely fake way. "My powers of seduction are better than just meh ."
Janie groaned. "Your powers of seduction are a little better when you show up in your uniform."
Devon's expression turned serious. Mostly. One corner of his mouth twitched like he was holding back a smile. "The truth finally comes out. It's all about the uniform for you."
Janie laughed. "Right. Because I'm clearly such a fan of authority figures." She hooked her legs around his hips, feet sliding between his thighs. Before he could anticipate it, she latched tight and rolled, taking the controlling position. "I respond so well to being told what to do.”
“So what you’re saying is, it’s actually the dad jeans that do it for you.” He ran his hands up her thighs, palming them through the soft fabric of her leggings. “Noted.”
She smoothed her hands over his chest and the waffle weave Henley covering it. “I don’t hate these shirts either.”
“I think you just don’t hate me.” Devon’s palms followed the line of her hips upward, curving around her waist on their way to her ribcage. “You accidentally started to like me.”
Gathering the fabric of his shirt, she worked the tail free of his jeans. “It’s a little annoying how you wormed your way under my skin.”
“Yeah?” Devon’s wandering hands hit the band of her bra and his brows pinched together. Without warning, he pushed the hem of her T-shirt up and out of his way, revealing the lacy cups of her front clasp bra. “Well, this is different.”
“You seemed to struggle with the sports bra. I figured I’d make it easy on you since you’re so out of practice.” Making it even easier, she shucked her shirt, tossing it away before going back to Devon’s, pushing it up his chest. “Don’t want you pulling one of these big muscles trying to get me out of my clothes.”
“Is that why you wore these?” He snapped the waistband of her leggings. “Ease of access?”
She went to work on his belt, unfastening the buckle as a smile worked across her face. “Maybe.”
“So, all those times you wore leggings to my house…”
She scoffed. “I told you already. It was because they’re comfortable to clean in.”
“Likely story.” He watched as she flipped the button on his waistband loose and dragged down the zipper. “I don’t think I believe it.”
She spread the fabric of his jeans wide before tugging down the elastic of his boxers to reveal the hard line of his straining cock. It flexed under her attention, a drip of wetness collecting at the tip .
“Fuck, J. You can’t lick your lips like that when you look at it.” Devon reached for her. “Why don’t you take those leggings off and come up here and sit on my face.” His voice grew strained at the end and his cock flexed again, like the thought of that scenario genuinely did it for him.
And while she liked the sound of that plan, it would have to wait. “This time it’s your turn to just lay there.” She hadn’t minded Devon taking charge last time, but she wasn’t the kind of woman who liked to just take what she was given.
She preferred to be an active participant.
“I don’t think so, J.” Devon started to sit up, ready to hit the brakes on her control.
Wasn’t going to happen. She ran her life, messy or not, and she was never going to let a man—even one like Devon—be completely in charge of any part of it.
So she did the thing that would stop him right in his tracks and leaned down to wrap her lips around the thick head of him, pulling his length deep into the well of her mouth.
As expected, his brain shorted out on a garbled swear, body falling back to the mattress as she swirled her tongue around his leaking tip, lips curving at the heady swell of female power his reaction created.
When she sank over him again, Devon’s hand tangled in her hair, fingers fisting at her nape as she hollowed her cheeks and lifted her eyes, watching his face as his eyes locked onto the slow glide of her mouth. His lips parted, pupils dilating as she sank over him again, the flex of his cock against her tongue almost as arousing as the expression on his face. Like it was taking everything he had to—
His hand tightened in her hair, pulling her off him. “That’s enough.”
She scoffed, wiping at the corner of her mouth. “Already?”
Devon’s eyes trailed down her front, pausing on the swell of her tits peeking out of the top of her bra. “Like you said, I’m out of practice.” He met her gaze. “Guess we’ll just have to keep at it until I get back in the swing of things.” He jerked his chin at her lower half. “Why don’t you get naked.”
Janie lifted a brow. “That sounds dangerously close to an order, Officer Peters.”
“All right.” Devon lifted up, reaching behind his head to pull his shirt off, back to front. “Why don’t you get naked… now.”
God he was a pain in the ass. And he did that shit on purpose.
“Ugh.” Janie slid off the edge of the bed, shucking her leggings, panties, and bra with a roll of her eyes. “I’m not doing this because you told me to. I’m doing it because I want to get laid.”
Devon kicked away his own clothes before stretching back out down the center of her bed. “Reasons don’t matter, J. Only results.” He lifted one hand, a condom pinched between his first and middle finger. “Don’t get lazy on me now. You said all I had to do was lay here, and I’m going to hold you to it.”
She snatched away the rubber, still fucking smiling because somehow sex with Devon wasn’t just hot, it was also fun. “Watch it. I might have all my fun and then get off the ride.” She tore open the foil packet and started rolling the condom into place. “Leave you to fend for yourself.”
“We’ve already established that I’m well-versed in the art of fending for myself.” He gripped her hips as she settled over him. “And you never know, you might like watching.”
She leaned forward, the thought of one of Devon’s big fists working his cock circling through her mind as she aligned their bodies and slowly sank down. “Is that an offer?”
Devon’s nostrils flared as he watched her body engulf his. “I’m sure we could work something out.” He let out a low groan as she seated herself completely, the backs of her thighs meeting his hips. “Fuck that’s good.”
“Yeah?” Janie braced both hands on his chest, using it for leverage as she moved, rocking her body onto his.
“Yeah.” One of Devon’s hands gripped her hip as the other flattened across her lower belly, pressing in just a little on the soft flesh above her pubic bone as his thumb settled over her clit.
The next time she sank down had her pussy clenching as sensation swirled both inside and outside. Her eyes flew open on a gasp to find Devon smirking up at her. “Told you it was good.”
She rocked again and again, his dick hitting something inside that had her toes curling and the threat of an impending orgasm barreling tow ard the finish line. When his palm pressed a little more, she discovered the pressure he put on her belly was creating the star-seeing sensation.
If she hadn’t already been dangerously close to falling in love with him, that move would have done the trick. Between his hand and his thumb, there was no stopping her. She barely made it another minute before she started to lose her rhythm, unable to maintain her stride as her pussy clenched.
Devon picked up where she left off, thrusting up into her, sending her flying over the edge, his cock swelling as he came along with her.
When it was over, she collapsed on top of him, breathing heavy, that stupid smile still on her face.
Because Devon was right. They did fit. She could deny it all she wanted. Spend every day waiting for the other shoe to drop, sure it would all fall apart. Or she could embrace it. Embrace him. No pressure. No fear. If things didn’t work out, she was the only one who would get hurt, and it’s not like she hadn’t been through that before.
Devon rolled them to their sides, grabbing the throw she draped across the bottom of the bed and pulling it up over their naked bodies. “By the way,” he pulled her closer, sliding one of his legs between hers, “the girls know we’re together.”