Ten first dates, p.42
Ten First Dates, page 42
“Lane, just hang up,” a snide feminine voice says on his end of the line, and it takes everything in me not to scream through the phone at her, too.
Somehow, I manage to keep my composure. “Instead of coming to see you, I’ll be moving out.”
“Hayden, don’t do this.”
I don’t stick around for his pleas; I simply hang up.
And then I give into the sobs and the unsettling realization that as shocked as I am that he’d cheated…
A part of me is also unexpectedly relieved.
CHAPTER FOUR
“This trip is exactly what you need,” my sister Hannah says a month and a half later as she helps me load two weeks’ worth of food and clothing into my Jeep. “In fact, I’m willing to bet that you come back as a new woman.”
“I don’t know about that.” This summer has already been life-changing enough. “But Cole Creek has always done a little something extra for my soul, so who knows.”
Hannah’s lips turn up into a knowing smile as she opens her arms for a hug. “Call me when you get there, okay?”
“I will.” I squeeze her for an extra second before we pull apart and I climb behind the wheel. “Love you, sis.”
“Love you, too.” She blows a kiss and steps back from the car as I put it in reverse.
Honestly, I wish I’d decided weeks ago to take this trip instead of sulking around at Hannah’s place. Thankfully, she and her husband Paul let me crash at their couch for a while to give me time to find an apartment of my own since moving into the new place Lane and I had picked out in Green Bay was out of the question.
The downside, however, to staying with my sister and her husband has been watching them love on each other all the damn time when my fragile heart is still trying to mend. That’s my main reason for needing to get away. That and I just want some time to myself.
And maybe, just maybe, I’m hoping to see Jesse again, too.
I would be lying if I said I didn’t think about him when Lane and I broke up. Part of me wanted to get in my car and head north just to blow off steam. But that’s not me. I can be plenty petty, but I’m not the kind of girl who makes crazy, impromptu decisions, let alone uses one guy to get back at another.
More than that, I like Jesse. A lot. Which I realize sounds silly, because I don’t really know him, do I? We’ve only spent a handful of hours together, but something tells me that sitting on a beach with someone like him is exactly what my soul needs right now.
Two hours later, I pull into the Cole Stop for gas and immediately run into Jinx Enders, Jesse’s younger brother.
“Hey, you,” he says with a cheesy grin. He’s closer to my age than Jesse, but his goofy, carefree charm always makes me forget that. “What brings you to our little piece of paradise?”
“A much-needed vacation. How are you doing?”
“Eh, I complain.” He lifts a shoulder and glances toward my vehicle. “You’re really alone?”
“Yep. Two weeks of freedom.”
“Huh.” His light eyes sparkle down at me. “Not saying you want to see him, but if you did, you could probably find Jesse hanging out with the guys at the lake.”
My cheeks heat instantly. “I was actually headed there.”
“Uh huh.” He winks, and I’m sure my face is as bright pink as the polish on my toes. “I have a couple of lawns to cut today, so I’ve gotta run, but don’t be a stranger. Come on over to Sam’s if you see us light up a bonfire.”
“I might just do that.” But first, I think I’ll hit up the beach.
He’s not hard to miss, leaping out of the water to spike the volleyball down onto the other side of the net, smacking Sam square in the face. He laughs and dodges the ball when his friend launches it back at him, hollering a few not-so-friendly phrases as he holds a hand to his cherry red cheek.
They continue on with their game for just a minute more before Jesse’s attention suddenly cuts to me, as if he felt me watching him.
He frowns at first and then breaks out into a grin that sends butterflies whirling around in my stomach. I’d never stopped to think about whether he’d actually want to see me. Or if he’d even be single anymore. And for all I know, he isn’t. But the fact that he calls a time-out with his friends so he can jog out of the lake and straight toward me gives me hope.
“Hayden?” He lifts a hand to shield the sun from his eyes, his bare chest and arms glistening with lake water. “What are you doing here?”
“Hi.” I offer a timid wave, my beach bag dangling from my arm while my toes dig into the warm sand. “I ran into Jinx at the gas station, and he said I might find you here.”
He closes the distance between us, stopping when only a few inches remain. Our eyes lock and our breaths mingle for several drawn-out seconds in lieu of the hug I wish he’d give me. He won’t though, because as far as he knows, I still belong to someone else.
“You were looking for me?” A cocky smirk comes to life amidst the light brown scruff on his face. “Do tell, Miss Foss.”
This is the part that’s had my stomach in knots since I decided to come here. The great unknown. The do or die. “I, uh, I’m on vacation and thought maybe we could hang out.”
“Is that so?” He takes a step back, letting his eyes slide down my body and back up again as if he’ll find the answer somewhere along the way. “You’re here with the family?”
I shake my head, and he cocks his to the side.
“Your girls?”
“Nope.”
His eyes narrow. “Your boyfriend?”
I shake my head again. “I don’t have a boyfriend anymore.”
CHAPTER FIVE
“Oh my God, I’m starving.” I set the plates on the island as Jesse flips open the pizza box and the glorious aroma of cheese and pepperoni fills the air. I whimper, not even bothering to hide the shudder that slides down my spine.
“You okay?” He chuckles.
“No.” Sidling up beside him, so close that I can smell the coconut-scented sunscreen still lingering on his skin, I flash a grin. “It’s entirely possible something very naughty is going to happen the second this pizza hits my tongue.”
Dark lashes lower over light eyes as he stares down at me. “Is that so?”
“Uh huh.” And it’s not the only naughty moment I anticipate tonight, either.
“Do you want some time alone or…?” He thumbs toward the cabin door we came through not more than five minutes ago. After I found him earlier, we spent most of the day on the other side of the lake, hanging out and playing volleyball with his friends.
Sam invited us to stay for another beach bonfire like last summer, but Jesse declined, insisting he needed to feed me before I passed out. I like that he took responsibility for my well-being like that, but I suspect he had ulterior motives. Kind of like I do.
“You’re not going anywhere,” I tease, grabbing the bottom of his T-shirt to accentuate my point. “In fact, now that I finally have you to myself, I don’t plan on letting you go.”
He chuckles and turns toward me almost tentatively. I lose my grip on his shirt, but my hands find their way to his waist, which I like better anyway. He’s so warm and so big and so... everything.
“Tell me more about that,” he husks, reaching up to tuck my hair behind my ear, then trailing the backs of his fingers down the side of my neck.
His touch is gentle enough, but his skin is rough against mine and I shiver again, recalling vividly how he’d touched me so innocently that first night two summers ago. His big hand had swallowed mine when we pointed at the stars, and I loved how small yet safe he made me feel in that moment.
His hands are rougher now. And somehow, they seem bigger. He seems bigger. Larger in reality than the secret places I’ve kept him hidden in my mind, wondering…curious…
“I’m here for a couple of weeks.” My hands drift over the ridges of muscle hidden beneath the soft white cotton of his shirt. “I was hoping we could spend some time together. If that’s something you’re interested in. Unless, of course, you’re seeing someone…” My voice trails off.
“I sure as hell wouldn’t be here if I were,” he rasps, his gaze narrowing down on mine. “And you know I’m fucking interested. But be real with me, Hayden. Spending time together… what does that look like to you?”
I’ve had weeks to think about this. Weeks to figure out what I would say when I finally got the chance, so I don’t screw it up and come off as selfish and promiscuous.
I want to explore the curiosity. Taste it and definitely touch it because I don’t know if I’ll get another chance.
When this is over, it’s over. I’ll go back to Green Bay and to the future I have waiting for me there, just like I’ve had planned for years even though I’ll be doing it alone.
But now that he’s standing in front of me, so close that I can feel the heat radiating from his body, I know this fling or whatever we end up calling it… it will never be enough.
And yet, it has to be.
“Hayden…” His hand curls around my neck, his thumb lifting my chin. “I’m just a small-town guy who moves dirt for a living. I don’t dream about the mansion in the suburbs, the corporate job… none of the shit you do. I want a simple, quiet life. Here.” He shifts closer as his thumb slides across my bottom lip, dragging it down and sending goose bumps dancing across my skin. “You know that, right?”
I nod. “The curiosity is killing me. I don’t think I’m alone in that. Am I?”
He gives his head a solitary shake and his gaze darkens like a storm I want to get lost in. “This isn’t going to be like one of those romance novels in your beach bag, city girl. When it’s over, it’s over.”
“I’m not here for the happily ever after,” I whisper.
“You here for the dick and pussy part of the story?” he grits out, jaw pulsing.
Heat fills my cheeks, but I won’t shy away from this. “And if I am?”
He eyes me for a long moment, thunder and lightning at war in his heated stare… until he jerks me against him with that hand around my neck. “Then I’d say it took you long enough.”
I barely have time to smile before he pushes me against the island, pins me between his hard body and the counter, and crashes his mouth down to mine.
He tastes like moonlight and stars, of wishes made and wishes come true. Of cold beer by warm firelight and an unexpected connection neither of us saw coming.
I’ve imagined this so many times… what it would feel like to finally open the gate I’ve kept tightly latched around my desire for him.
I barely know this man.
I don’t know how or why just a few moments over the course of a few years could mean so much to me and make me want him like I do…
But I do.
In every way imaginable.
“Jesse…” I sigh against his lips as he threads his fingers through my hair. “I need this.”
“I know,” he mutters before he steals my breath away again with his demanding yet unimaginably tender kiss. His tongue teases across my lips, seeking entrance I so willingly give, over and over again until I’m breathless.
My fingers slide beneath his shirt until it’s bunched around his chest and my hands are full of hard, hot muscle. His skin is smooth, save a dusting of hair across his pecs, and I can feel his heart pounding against my fingertips.
In one quick motion, I tug the shirt over his head and toss it blindly to the floor. He grins down at me, his eyes hazy with desire before he mimics my urgency and does the same with my top. Of course, he’s already seen me in my bikini, so there’s nothing particularly scandalous about the moment… until he trails his rough fingers down the valley between my collarbone and cleavage and then detours to the right, curling his big hand around my breast.
“Fucking perfect,” he murmurs, his thumb stroking over my already pebbled nipple as I shudder and suck in a ragged breath. “You like that?”
“I’d like it more if you got me out of this bikini top,” I rasp, lifting his free hand to my other breast as confirmation.
He chuckles and tugs down the stretchy fabric without hesitation, his calloused palms and eager fingers quickly replacing it. “Like this?” he asks against my mouth as he tweaks and strums and then absorbs my whimper for more with his kiss.
I want his mouth on me. I want his skin against mine. I want to feel him everywhere.
“I want all of you, Hayden. I want to taste you and touch you and fuck you until neither of us knows our name.”
“Then do it,” I whisper, one hand already dipping into the waistband of his shorts.
“I need to know you’re sure.” His fingers stall on my breast and I whimper at the loss of friction, greedily straining up toward his touch.
“Jesse….” My entire body trembles, and there’s an ache in my lower belly that only he can ease. “I’m sure. God, you’re all I’ve thought about.” I toe up and pepper his mouth, jaw, and neck with kisses, biting gently against the tendon near the frantic flutter of his pulse.
He groans, and the hand on my hip tightens while the one on my breast gentles. I’m almost disappointed until he shifts his hips and presses the hard length of his cock against my belly.
Instantaneous heat thrums through my core and I squirm at the thought of him sliding inside, stretching me, and making me his, at least for a little while.
He must read my mind because he reaches for my shorts at the same time I tug at the elastic of his. The bonus of swim trunks is that he’s not wearing underwear, and his thick cock springs free without effort. My hand wraps around him, and a barely restrained fuuuck vibrates through the cabin.
My shorts hit the floor a moment later, quickly followed by my bikini bottom. We’re skin on skin in seconds, pulsing against each other, hands and mouths everywhere.
I cry out when his tongue laves against one nipple and then the other until needy arousal dampens my thighs. I’ve never been so turned on without actually being touched as I am right now.
Then again, I’ve never had the pleasure of Jesse Enders before either.
“You’re killing me,” he groans against my breast as he finally slips a hand between my thighs. “And you’re so fucking wet.”
“Yesss,” I plead, my hips twitching and pushing my body against his hand.
“You like that?”
My only response is a greedy nod as I grind into his touch.
“Then take it. Fuck my hand if it feels good.”
Goose bumps rise across my chest as my eyes lock with his and I do as he says all the while he pumps his fingers inside of me.
“That’s it, baby. Just like that,” he praises me, and it’s exactly what I need to hear. “You’re so fucking beautiful, Hayden. So sexy. Do you know how many times I got myself off thinking about you? About this?”
“Please…” I beg shamelessly, my nails dragging down his biceps in desperation. I knew I wanted him, but I had no idea how badly until now. “Please, Jesse.”
“So many fucking times. Imagining how pretty you’d be. How wet you’d get for me. How sweet you’d fucking taste…” He pulses his thumb against my clit, and I clench around him, so close. So very, very close. “He doesn’t do this for you, does he? He doesn’t get you off like this…”
And that’s all it takes. A million stars burst behind my eyelids as I come harder than I ever have with his blue eyes locked on mine. The orgasm seems to go on and on until every cell in my body buzzes with satiated pleasure.
“Good girl.” He leans in and presses his face into my hair, gently bringing me down with his fingers and his soft words. Only then does he grab a condom from his wallet. “Last chance to change your mind,” he warns me, tearing the foil open with his teeth while his strokes himself with the other hand.
“I’ve wanted you since the first night I met you,” I assure him. “I’m not going to change my mind now.”
“Thank fuck.” With an arm around my waist, he lifts me to the island and slicks the tip of his cock through my wetness. “I’ll go slow,” he grits out, but I shake my head. I don’t need him to be gentle. I need him to fuck me and make me forget.
Teeth clenched, he slides inside, filling every inch of me to the hilt, and I nearly come again from that alone because it’s too good. Too perfect.
“Two weeks,” he croaks as he flexes his hips and pulls out only to drive back in again. “You’re mine for two weeks. Say it.”
“I’m yours.” For two weeks, two years, two eternities...
I’ll be his as long as he’ll have me.
CHAPTER SIX
Waking up with Jesse in my bed after my first night in Cole Creek isn’t quite how I’d expected these two weeks to start.
Don’t get me wrong—I’m not complaining. It’s just that I’m usually the kind of girl who takes her time. I’m cautious and careful. It took me two months to sleep with Lane for the first time, and even longer with my boyfriend before him. But Jesse? He’s different in the best way possible, and no matter how this ends, something promises he’s a risk I will never regret. If anything, he’s probably a risk I should have taken a lot sooner.
Snuggling into my pillow, I trace a whisper-soft fingertip over his eyebrow and smile to myself as he sleeps.
He was not part of my plan or my vision for the future.
He was a wish I never thought I’d have the opportunity to see come true. And right now, I’m thanking my lucky stars for these moments with him, however temporary they may be.
“Good morning,” he rasps in a sleep-thickened voice with his eyes still closed.
“Hey, handsome.” My finger slides to his cheekbone and then the line of his jaw. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“S’okay. I like when you touch me.” Beneath the sheet, he pulls me close, and our legs naturally tangle together. “What are your plans for today?”
