Chapter 21
TWENTY-ONE
JAKE
“Follow me home?” Julia asked when I walked her to her truck. She wasn’t quite looking at me when she spoke, and I had no idea what was going on in her head. She’d kept me guessing all evening. “It’s on your way and it’s not that late. We can talk about the baby over a cool drink, maybe.”
“Happy to.” I’d almost suggested the same thing since I wanted to make sure she got home safely, but I’d held back, unsure of what her reaction would be.
She often bristled if I tried to be protective.
We reached her truck, and I opened the door for her.
I thought about kissing her, but I’d wait until we were back at her house.
I sure hoped her plan for the evening involved kissing, because mine did. “I’ll be right behind you.”
I hopped into my truck, following her out of town and onto the highway that led to our homes. I kept my speed down so I didn’t crowd her, but I wanted to race ahead to the next part of the evening when we were alone. The dance had been fun because I’d spent most of it with Julia.
After coming in from outside, she’d seemed to gain a new enthusiasm for the event. She’d chatted and laughed with me while we danced. The best part had been holding her close when slower music played. It had all been great, but now, I was ready to be alone with her.
My mind wandered to the future as I drove.
I’d put together a pretty convincing happily ever after in my imagination for us.
We could raise the baby together on Thorne Ranch.
Our child could have the kind of childhood that I’d had, and Julia and I could have the type of love my parents had shared.
I wanted something like that for all three of us.
Something safe and secure, without the out-of-control feeling Julia sometimes evoked in me, usually when we disagreed.
I smiled. There hadn’t been much arguing lately. Julia and I had developed a strong friendship. A relationship built on being friends could work for me, especially if we returned to the intimacy we’d shared in the cabin and in her bedroom.
Friendship, trust, pleasure…that could really work for me. It might not be the true love everyone talked about—the kind that both Brian and Cal seemed to have found—but it sounded pretty great to me.
She was already on the porch, letting her dogs out, when I pulled up. I took a minute to scratch Wellington’s ears before joining her. When the dogs ran off chasing each other, I turned to her. All evening that tinge of red on her lips had been tempting me to kiss her.
Before I could decide if the timing was right, she stepped toward me and leaned in to kiss me. For one second, I was too surprised to respond, but then I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her with all the pent-up passion I’d been feeling all evening.
My lips wandered from hers to explore the hollow at the base of her neck. I was nudging the collar of her dress aside when she planted her hand on my chest and put a little distance between us.
“Jake.” Her breathing wasn’t quite steady. “I have to know why we’re doing this. It can’t only be because I’m pregnant.”
“It’s not for me,” I said, speaking honestly. “But if it is for you, I’m okay with that. Any opportunity I have to be with you, I’ll take.”
“I’m serious, Jake.” She sounded exasperated now. “This matters to me. I need to know that there’s something between us, something real. Because if we go inside and go to bed, it’s not a one-night stand anymore. Or a fling.”
I cupped her cheek with my hand. “The one-night stand was over a long time ago. And this definitely isn’t just a fling.
I like you, Julia. I want to be with you.
I don’t have a great track record with relationships.
But I keep entering new territory with you.
I don’t have any experience being a dad, and I’m committed to making a success of that.
” I stroked my thumb over her lips. “I’d like to commit to a relationship with you, too, if that’s what you want. ”
“Why?” she whispered.
I smiled. “Because you’re amazing, and a man would be an idiot not to realize that.
” I saw the doubt in her eyes for just a second.
“I mean that, sweetheart.” Her brows lifted slightly, but the doubtful look was disappearing.
When I felt sure that she believed me, I kissed her again and didn’t stop kissing her until I felt her soften against me.
“Now, may I come in?” I asked against her lips.
“I don’t know why we’re still standing on the porch,” she said, then took my hand and led me into the house and to her bedroom.
She pushed the door shut behind me, then turned to face me, her fingers going to my shirt buttons.
Seconds later, she pushed my shirt off my shoulders and her hands were on my chest.
We both needed to be naked. I reached for the tie that closed her dress and tugged it loose, feeling as if I were unwrapping a long-awaited present. She shrugged, letting the dress slip to the floor and pool around her feet. Her bra and panties went next.
“They’re bigger,” she said as I touched her breasts. “I have cleavage now.”
“I noticed.” I’d seen—and admired—the change in her body at the dance.
“You would,” she shot back, making me laugh.
I sat her down on the edge of the bed to remove her shoes. “Lie back,” I said and watched her scoot up the bed and tuck a pillow behind her head. The ribbon that’d been holding her hair back had come loose and her hair was splayed around her head, making her look like a goddess.
She rose up on her elbows to watch me undress, so I decided to put on a bit of a show, slowly peeling my clothes off. I worried for a second that I looked ridiculous, but from the look on her face, Julia was enjoying herself. The way she bit her lip had my dick threatening to bust through my jeans.
Finally naked, I crawled onto the bed and reached for her, slowly kissing my way up her body and enjoying her writhing on the bed while she moaned my name.
All of my focus was on pleasing her. When I reached her apex, I skipped it, kissing and licking everywhere but where she wanted my mouth the most.
She reached for my head, but I dodged her hand. She then gripped the blanket in both hands, her knuckles turning white. Her hips flexed, chasing after me.
“Jake!” She drew my name out in both warning and clear arousal and I grinned.
Settling between her thighs, I parted her seam with my thumbs and pressed my tongue to her slit, making her jump and tremble.
When she lifted her hips again, I slid my hands under her butt and held her tight, licking and sucking and doing my damnedest to make sure I kept edging her arousal higher and higher without pushing her over the edge.
“More,” she said with a whine, and I doubled down, nipping at her sensitive flesh and licking until she was on the verge of her first orgasm.
Inserting two fingers and curling them like a hook, I twisted my hand looking for her g-spot.
Finding it, I increased the pressure and used my thumb to rub and press her clit.
She tapped her heels on the mattress, her body visibly shaking now.
Blowing hot air on her clit, I continued to apply pressure using both my hand and my mouth until… with a cry, she stiffened, her orgasm slamming into her.
I feasted on her, pumping my hand in and out to draw her orgasm out for as long as possible. When she collapsed on the bed in a contented puddle, I wiped my chin and slid up her body until I was holding my weight above her.
“I liked that,” she whispered.
“What else do you like, Julia?” When she didn’t answer, I moved down her body, kissing first her breasts, then the slight swell of her stomach and her thighs. I looked at her for a moment. Taking her in. She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever met.
“Come back up here, cowboy,” she invited, reaching for me. “I want you. Inside me. Please, Jake.”
I could deny her nothing, especially when my need to be in her was so overpowering. I forced myself to take my time as I kissed my way back up her body and positioned myself over her. Her hand slipped between us, wrapping around my dick. Her grip was strong as she stroked up my length.
“I thought you…you wanted me in you.” I could barely think, let alone talk, when she was doing that.
She gave me a wide smile. “Just checking to make sure you’re ready.”
“I’m ready, sweetheart. So very ready.” Instead of releasing me, she guided me inside her, which was about the sexiest thing I’d ever experienced.
Her legs came around my hips, and soon we were kissing and moving together.
Our bodies were tightly attuned to each other in ways I’d never experienced with anyone else.
I was not a man prone to flights of fantasy. I’d never even considered the idea of fate. But making love to Julia felt as if we were made for each other.
In the next moments, I lost track of everything but the two of us firmly intertwined. We moved to the beat of our own music, rocking and gliding, each chasing our own pleasure and knowing how much better it would be when we both came.
Julia’s breaths got faster, each exhale shorter and shorter until, with another loud cry, her orgasm rolled through her.
She gripped my dick with her internal muscles so hard, I saw stars.
My back bowed and with a shout of my own, my orgasm slammed into me with blinding intensity.
I buried my face against her neck and pumped into her, until I was spent and boneless.