Chapter Eight Jake
Chapter Eight
Jake
As I start to wake, Ashley’s scent is still in every breath I take, and my arms are still anchoring her to my body. I might have been lying on the ground, but once I closed my eyes last night, it was peaceful having her so close to me.
Opening my eyes to the dim morning light that is starting to peek through the treetops, I see that Rosie has also been watching over Ashley during the night, lying right beside her, perhaps also sharing her heat.
“Morning, girl,” I whisper to Rosie, at the same time I notice how full my bladder is, and it’s all I can think about. I need to get up, but that means moving Ashley without waking her, and that feels like an impossible task.
I’m not ready to let go of Ashley. This will be the only time I ever get to hold her like this.
Running my hands slowly up and down her back, I listen to the sound of her breath and inhale her beautiful scent.
Last night I took liberties that I don’t regret but know I probably shouldn’t have.
Despite Ashley pleading for it from me, I shouldn’t have let my own desire overcome my rational thought.
But this here and now, just holding her, is less about desire and more to do with how right it feels.
Taking one last deep breath of the sensual scent of Ashley, I know it’s time to start waking her. I’m surprised at how solidly she has slept and that I managed to get a few hours too.
“Ash. It’s morning.” The sound of my voice in the still of the morning has Rosie moving and startles Ashley into trying to sit up quickly. I hold on tighter to stop her from hurting her foot while she’s still half asleep.
“Whoa there, just take it slow. I’ve got you.
” But the fact that it’s morning, reality has quickly broken the peacefulness she found in her sleep.
Already she’s pushing away from me. Giving in, I slowly release my arms from around her.
“Don’t try to get up too quickly. You need to watch your ankle. ”
Once she’s sitting up and balanced, I slide to my side of the blanket a little and push myself to sit up beside her. I try not to laugh as she turns her head away from me and brushes the hair from her face before straightening her shirt twisted around her body while she was sleeping.
“Did I sleep on you?” she asks, her voice hesitant, and as much as I want to sit and reassure her, my bladder is not going to hold on much longer.
“Yep, like I said, we needed to share body heat. You got cold.” I get up and walk toward the bushes behind us. “Back in a minute.”
“Wait, no, don’t leave me. I’ll come too.” I hear her moving behind me.
I stop and spin back toward her. “Don’t you dare get up and try to walk on that leg.
” My voice is loud and stern and causes her to halt.
“I’ll be just there.” I point to the bush that I’m about to step behind.
“I’m in desperate need of a pee, so sit and put your hands over your ears if you don’t want to hear it.
” Not the conversation I want to be having with her, but I’m torn between her fear and the piss shivers that are running through my body, leaving goosebumps on my skin from my desperation of holding on to go.
“Oh, sorry,” I hear her mumble as I step away.
Returning feeling so relieved, I see her sitting with her arm around Rosie’s neck and giving her some love. The morning sun filters through the trees and shimmers on different parts of Ash’s hair, giving her an angelic glow.
Stop it. Friends don’t look at friends like that.
“Okay, we need to get you out of here.” I look down on her as I walk toward the fire, checking the last of the warm coals and stomping out the last lingering glow with my boot.
“And what is your plan for that, because from what I have learned, you always seem to have one.” She smiles up at me like I have all the answers. Which I do, but I doubt she’s going to like them.
“Well . . .” I start, holding both her and Rosie’s attention.
“I can’t believe you have piggybacked me the whole way without complaining once. What are you? Some kind of superhero with your dog sidekick?” Ash’s voice is right beside my ear from where she’s perched on my back.
“Hey, that dog is not mine in any way, shape, or form,” I reply as I negotiate around the last few branches sticking out from the trees on the edge of the woods and then look out to see Ash’s car sitting where she left it, next to the fence line.
The sound of a bark beside me gains my attention, and Rosie looks up, unimpressed with my comment about her.
What I wasn’t expecting is to see Gramps’s truck parked beside Ash’s car, with Gran leaning against it wearing a smug grin and holding a travel mug. The moment Rosie spots Gran, she’s off running down through the field like her ass is on fire.
“I’m just going to apologize up front for whatever Gran is about to say,” I tell Ashley, as I wonder how long she has been sitting out here waiting for us.
Ash’s laughter has her bouncing on my back, and she buries her face into my shoulder. “Not sweet old Betty.” She tightens her arms around my chest, and I hitch her a little higher onto my back again to carry her the last thirty or so feet.
“Yeah, right.” I know full well that Gran is not just here to make sure we are safe. If there is one thing Gran is, it’s a lover of gossip.
As we approach the car, Gran rushes over to us. “Oh dear, you poor thing, Ashley. I hope my Jake looked after you.” As I lower Ashley down onto the back tray of Gramps’s truck, I see Gran raising her eyebrows up and down at me.
“He was amazing. I’m so lucky he and Rosie found me.” As I lean around Ash to relieve her of my backpack she had to wear, I take in what will probably be the last deep breath of her alluring scent.
“Oh, I bet he was amazing, especially if he takes after his grandfather.” Gran is chuckling to herself as she heads to the front of the truck, opens the passenger door, and pulls out a thermos and two cups. I hope like hell it’s hot coffee.
“Gran,” I warn her with a tone that is not too sharp but stern enough that she gets the idea.
“Oh, shush, you. Here, pour these.” She hands me the thermos and cups and then reappears with a basket full of muffins and sandwiches. “I was guessing you would be hungry, you know, with no dinner and after working up such an appetite.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake, why doesn’t she just come right out and ask whether we fucked each other last night? Gran is as subtle as a sledgehammer.
“I don’t know, your grandson had a snack for me, like I’ve never tasted before.” Ash just smiles at me, proud of her comment and the reaction she gets from Gran.
“I give up.” I throw my hands in the air. “You two women are impossible.” Rosie then nudges into my leg, trying to get my attention. “Okay, sorry, you three women.” She lifts her head, satisfied, and then heads back to Gran where she sits at her feet and gets fed some muffin.
Pouring the coffee and handing it to Ashley, part of me is glad she’s here safe on the truck now, but I also feel a little disappointed that our time in the woods is over.
“Drink up, and then I’ll take you to the doctors’ clinic over in Rocky Cedars to get you checked out.” I watch as a strand of hair falls into her face and resist the urge to lean forward and tuck it behind her ear.
“Okay, but not before I’ve had a shower and changed out of these clothes.
” Lifting the warm coffee to her mouth, she takes her first sip of caffeine, letting out a moan that should be against the law for what it’s doing to me right now.
It takes me back to last night, her lying underneath me, racing through that orgasm, but it’s not a thought I should be having with my grandmother standing right beside me.
“Was it that good?” The words slip out before I can stop them.
“Good doesn’t even come close to describing that feeling.” Her cheeks are glowing light pink, telling me that she wasn’t talking about the coffee.
Reaching into the basket, I take a muffin and hand it to her.
“Eat,” I growl.
Because if I don’t stop those lips from moaning like that, then I’ll have to give her something to moan about.
I walk away from her before my grandfather strikes me down with some lightning for having dirty thoughts in the presence of his wife.
I know these two women are about to drive me crazy, and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.
Ashley
“I told you some hottie was on his way to sweep you off your feet, and you didn’t believe me. Shame on you, Ashley,” Tiffany rants at me as she places a dinner plate on my lap where I’m perched on the couch with my foot up on the coffee table.
The moment we got back to my car this morning and I checked my phone, I saw all the messages from Tiff, who had gone into crisis mode, getting Adi to take control of the clinic and calling in Wade to be the emergency vet in my absence.
It seems like I owe Wade more than a few favors when I finally get back on my feet.
“Now tell me again about this horrible neighbor with the big hands.” Plonking herself down beside me, she pulls her legs up and crosses them as she starts picking at the salad she made herself.
“I didn’t say he had big hands. You just made that up.” I roll my eyes at her.
“Aha, but he did know what to do with them, obviously.” She giggles.
I slap my hands over my eyes. “I can’t believe I begged that man to make me come.
What the hell is wrong with me? He must think I’m some lonely old spinster who lives on her own in the middle of nowhere, and the first new man she sees, she wants to jump his bones.
Or worse still, a member of the Abbey Falls Desperate Women’s society like the flock of gushing vultures he had around him at homemade Saturday.
I’m never going to be able to look that man in the eye again.
” I groan, wishing I could pretend the whole thing never happened.
“And that’s sad because they are such sexy eyes. ”