Chapter Fifteen #2
She shook her head, unable to speak.
“Baby, tell me what’s wrong.”
Her pulse sped up at the endearment.
“I thought you were going to break up with me,” she muttered, her voice muffled against her hands.
“What? I can’t—” He pulled her hands away, eyeing her in concern. “I can’t understand what you’re saying when your mouth is covered.”
She didn’t look at him. Instead she stared at his shoulder. “I thought you were coming over to break up with me.”
“I don’t want to break up.” He kneeled on the floor next to her. “Why on earth would you think that?”
She finally met his eyes. “You said we needed to talk.”
A line formed between Jesse’s eyebrows. “No… I said I wanted to talk to you. When people say, ‘We need to talk,’ that usually suggests a relationship is over, which is not what I said. Why do you think I’m always on the verge of ending things with you?”
“Stifling abandonment issues?” she grumbled under her breath. “I don’t know. Forget I said anything.”
Jesse sat back on his heels. “I don’t want you to keep thinking I’m going to break up with you. I’m the one out of my league here, not you.”
He said it lightly, and she snorted in response despite the heavy conversation.
He reached up and tucked a loose strand of hair that had slipped from her ponytail.
“You… My life has gotten so much better since you entered it. You call me out on my crap, and you make me laugh. You’ve helped me reach my son when I didn’t think I could anymore.
I love texting with you—even though I’m the first to admit that I’m crap at it.
But you have no idea how much I look forward to starting my day just because I know there’s a morning text from you.
And I feel like the luckiest person in the world when I get a message from you wishing me a good night.
You’ve filled an emptiness in my soul that I never thought I’d be able to fill again, so please stop thinking I’m going to break up with you. ”
Carly sniffled. “I feel the same way about you,” she whispered.
“Okay,” he responded. He stood up and offered her his hand. When she took it, he said, “Now, lead me to the couch so I can cuddle the hell out of you.”
She burst out laughing as they made their way into her living room, sitting on her oversized white couch. She grabbed her controller and turned the TV on.
“Feel like watching anything in particular?” she asked.
“Anything but true crime or hospital dramas,” he said. When she gave him a questioning look, he said, “There’s already enough unhappiness in the world. I don’t need to hear any more about how depraved society is. And hospital dramas bring back bad memories.”
“Got it,” she said. She flipped the channels until they landed on a rom-com. “Good with this?”
“Fine with me,” Jesse replied. He threw his arm around her and drew her close. She wrapped an arm around his waist, side hugging him. They settled in and started to watch the movie. She occasionally felt him brush his lips against her hair.
As the movie went on, Carly began to run her fingers up and down the smoothness of Jesse’s flannel shirt. She soon became distracted as different parts of his abs twitched at her touch so she continued to tease the muscles.
“Carly, I’m trying to take things slow and be a gentleman here, but if you keep touching me like that, I’m going to return the favor.”
Carly leaned slightly back so she could see Jesse’s face. “Who says I want you to be a gentleman?”
He groaned before he clasped the back of her neck and pulled her mouth to his. Her hands ran up his sides, her palms pressing against his pecs. As their kiss deepened, their tongues played with each other.
His hand ran down her back, along her hips before settling on her bottom, molding her roundness.
Before she knew it, Jesse pulled her into his lap so that she was straddling him.
His hands shifted up, running along her ribs until they cupped her breasts, his thumbs running circles around her nipples through her sweatshirt.
She wanted to feel more of him—all of him. Carly leaned back and ripped the sweatshirt off her head.
Jesse stared at her revealed skin, muttering, “I’d wondered…
” before he cupped a breast and leaned down to lick her hard nipple.
Carly arched as he savored her, her hands tightening in his hair.
She ground down on his lap, feeling how much he wanted her.
Her body responded in return, going liquid with anticipation.
Jesse pulled back, his pupils blown wide open. “Do you—” His next breath looked like it pained him. “Do you want to stop?”
An onslaught of tenderness for this man only made her need him more.
“Don’t you dare think about stopping,” she replied, rubbing down on his lap once more.
He hissed before he pushed her to the side so he could stand up on unsteady legs. “Your couch is very comfortable, but I’m going to need more room to give you everything I’ve been planning in my head since the moment I laid eyes on you.”
Carly shivered at that. “You promise?”
He pulled her against him and then picked her up, allowing her to wrap her legs around his waist as he carried her in the direction she pointed toward her bedroom.
“I guarantee it.”