Chapter 11 Jacob
JACOB
Itold her I would take her home, but she doesn’t blink when I pull my truck into the driveway of my garage and the truck idles while the door to the attached garage opens.
She doesn’t ask a thing. All she does is snuggle in close to my side, humbling me with the trust she shows in me.
The trust she handed to me blindly with her body. And what I hope, her heart.
“I love you,” I break the silence in the truck and feel her lips press against the material of my long-sleeved shirt just as I put pull the truck inside.
I park, and darkness starts to enclose us as the garage door slides shut. For a moment, we sit there. The air is still warm from the heater I blasted on the drive home. Sweet with her scent. I secretly hope it stays in the cab of my truck forever.
“Wait for me to open your door,” I rumble. She looks up at me. Her big blue eyes are going to be the end of me.
“Okay,” she whispers. I hurry and get moving to open the door for her, taking her by the hand before leading her inside my home.
A home I hope she will call hers. The sooner the better. I give her a tour of my cabin, not that it’s huge. The place has three bedrooms, an open floorplan that lets you see straight from the living room to the kitchen that still needs to be updated.
I try to look at it through her eyes and wish I had finished more of the renovations than what’s already done. When I turn toward her, she’s grinning from ear to ear.
“This is incredible.” Her voice is almost dreamy. I lose her eyes for a moment while they soak in the space. “I love the kitchen.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. Is that weird?” Her head tilts.
“No, I just—" My voice cracks. “I thought maybe you would like something a little more modern.” Her shoulder rises and falls.
“I don’t know. It looks great here. It feels… homey.”
“Homey,” I repeat, not tearing my eyes from her.
“Your home is beautiful, Jacob. Cozy and welcoming.” I swallow hard and thank all the damn stars up above she feels that way.
I want her to be comfortable here.
If I’m honest, I never want her to leave. I thank her, my voice a little hoarse. “Umm, would you like to—” I scratch the back of my neck, “To eat something or—"
“Later,” she whispers, cutting me off. She steps closer, and my arms automatically wrap around her.
“Later?” My lips twitch slightly because I have a feeling I know where she is going with this. “Okay, if you wanna eat later, what does my sweet angel wanna do right now?” She smiles like a cat who ate the canary, but then her expression changes.
“Why do you call me that?”
“What?”
“Angel.”
“Ah…” I open and shut my mouth. “You really want to know? The truth?”
“Always,” she responds, and I nod. I pick her up, and she yelps, but she what doesn’t do is fight me or say something stupid like she’s too heavy.
My good girl simply wraps her arms around my neck.
I carry her to the couch and sit, placing her on my lap with her legs hanging over my thighs, loving the feel of her weight on top of me.
“The night before you moved back?” She nods, and I lick my lips and sigh. “The night before you moved back, I was sitting outside looking up at the sky, wondering what the hell I was doing in Moonlit Pines.” Her lips part in surprise, and I keep sharing.
“My family is in Florida, but when I left the Army and went home, it didn’t feel the same.
I was in my head and a different man than the one who existed before the Army.
Your brother called. Suggested I come here to visit.
I did. And stayed. But that night, I don’t know.
” I shrug. “I was just feeling a little…”
“Lost?”
“Yeah. Lost.” I clear my throat. “Lost and alone. I needed a sign to prove to me I was in the right place. I shit you not, a couple minutes later, Reed calls, asking for help, and when I hung up, I laughed because maybe it wasn’t the sign I wanted, but it made me feel needed.
But that morning when I knocked on your door, you opened your front door looking like an angel. ”
“I’m pretty sure I was a sweaty mess, Jacob,” she playfully argues. I grin at her. I can’t help it. I’m so damn happy and content with my girl on my lap. But still, I can’t let her talk badly about herself.
“A beautiful, sweaty angel, nonetheless.” I wink, and she laughs, resting her head on my shoulder.
“Thank you for telling me.”
“You’re welcome.” I kiss her temple. She looks up at me. Jesus, every time my eyes connect with those big blue sapphires, it feels like a first.
“You wanna watch a movie or—" Again, I can’t finish the sentence, this time because her fingers press against my lips.
“Or,” she whispers before leaning forward and kissing me.
Her initiating a kiss brings something inside of me to life.
We get lost in the moment as our tongues duel and dance while my hands explore her back.
When Eden shifts her body and straddles me, I have a feeling the storm rolling in is a godsend. I’m going to enjoy every moment of it.
“Morning,” she whispers with a smile on her face, and I roll over to cover her body with mine. We’re naked and warm under the mountain of blankets I made sure to toss over us after the power went out.
“Morning,” I sleepily drawl and drop my lips to meet hers. She kisses me without hesitation, and my body starts to get hard. Or harder from the morning wood I feel finding its way between her legs.
She spreads her thighs for me, to adjust for the size of my body, and I smile against her lips. “You’re already wet for me.”
“That’s your fault, Daddy,” she whispers like a naughty girl.
“Yeah?” I raise a brow, and she giggles. We have been insatiable all night. Shit, my dick is a little sore from how many times I’ve had her in as many positions as she was willing to try. And fuck me, my girl is freaking flexible.
“Oh yeah,” she sighs, resting her foot just over the small of my back. My tip is at her entrance when my phone starts to go off.
“Ignore it,” I murmur. Her giggle turns into a moan when I push into her wetness inch by inch. Halfway in, my house phone rings, and I groan.
“Shit.”
“Ignore it,” she pants.
I want to. Fuck, do I ever, but no one uses the landline. I tell her this, and she pouts adorably. “Fine.” She lets me roll over, and I answer the phone, not bothering to hide the fact I’m outta breath.
“Hello?”
“You better sound like that because your ass is working out.” Shit! I try not to wince since I can feel Coutney watching me.
“Reed—"
“Shit,” he hisses. “Please tell me my sister is not at your place.”
“How did—"
“Damn it! She’s there.” He isn’t asking but confirming it.
“Reed—"
“Her car is still at the salon. The sheriff called me to ask if I’ve heard from her because there is no one at the salon and the streets still need to get plowed.”
“She’s safe,” I confirm, and my best friend, a man I view as a brother, stays quiet. The silence kills me, and I sit up. My eyes find hers, and I know exactly what I need to do.
“This isn’t how I wanted you to find out,” I start to say and don’t miss the way her eyes widen as her hand comes up to rest on my chest.
“Find out what, Jacob?” he grits, obviously pissed.
“I love her, man.” The words tumble out as easily as it feels to breathe. “I love her with everything I got. If she will have me, I want to keep her. I want to be the man who she can count on. I want her to wear my ring.”
“You just met.”
“Come on, man, are you of all people going to give me that shit?” He growls because he knows I’m right.
It might have taken Reed a little to come around and make a move, but he fell for Camila hard and fast. He was just too stubborn for his own good.
Now they have a beautiful family and I’m pretty sure another on the way.
“You hurt her, and I swear to god, Jacob, friends or not—"
“I would rather chop my balls off with a rusty knife than hurt a hair on her head.” She squishes her nose, but I wink at her, and she smiles.
“You better,” he mutters then once again goes quiet.
“Reed? You still there?”
“Yeah,” he sighs. “Man! You owe me. Big time.”
“I most definitely owe you, I know that, but why are you saying it?”
“Camila bet me there was something happening between you guys after dinner this week. I told her she was seeing stuff. You have any idea how much she loves being right?” he complains, and I laugh.
“That’s probably because she’s right most of the time.”
“That’s fucking right, brother,” he mumbles.
“If she’s going to settle down, I’m glad it’s with you, man.
She chose well.” I feel my chest filled with pride at his blessing.
I didn’t need it to claim Eden as my own.
I was more than ready to give up my friendship if that’s what it took to have her as mine.
But knowing I have it, knowing he approves, sure as shit feels good.
“Thanks,” I rasp. “Roads into town are shit right now,” he mumbles. “They should be cleared up by tomorrow.”
“Sounds good.”
“I’ll see you guys soon.”
“Right,” I mutter. We end the call.
“What was that all about?” she asks, but the way she’s looking at me, I have a feeling she already knows.
“That was your brother giving me his seal of approval.” She rolls her eyes, and I pounce on her, covering her body with mine once again. “Where were we?”
“Oh,” she yelps but makes space for my body. “He acts like I’m a kid,” she pouts. I rub my nose against hers.
“He loves you. You’re his little sister. He’s just being overprotective.”
“I get that but—"
“But nothing, baby. Approval or not, it wouldn’t change exactly what’s going to happen,” I grit through my teeth, and her lips part. I love the pink tinge that blooms to life on her face.
“And what’s going to happen, daddy?” she asks, her pitch a little higher as I bump the tip of my dick at her entrance, in and out, just teasing her sweet dewy hole.
“I’m going to love you, nice and hard. Make you forget everything but me. Then we’re going to keep being us. You and me. I’ll take you on a date after this storm ends.”
“Really?”
“Oh yeah. Then I’m going to work really fucking hard,”—I push in a little more—“to make you happy"—I push further, deeper into her— “every day of your life.”
“I love the sound of that,” Eden whispers. With her hands on my face, we kiss, and I make love to her.
Over and over.
With my cock, mouth, and hands, until our stomachs growl, and even then, we’re not done, eating before I have her all over again, this time on the kitchen counter.
One that might be dated, but fuck me, the memory of taking her on that space will be ingrained in my memory till the day I stop breathing.