Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 24429 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 122(@200wpm)___ 98(@250wpm)___ 81(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24429 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 122(@200wpm)___ 98(@250wpm)___ 81(@300wpm)
“Lay down with me.”
He grinned, his dark eyes gleaming as he basked in the glory of that word.
“Scoot over.” He looped his long arm around my waist and wiggled himself behind me, kissing my neck as I shifted my hips backward onto his crotch. “You keep that up, we’re going to be right back where we started, and I don't think that's what you need right now. I think you need to take a break."
I sighed, wriggling still, and he chuckled.
"You’re going to be pretty sore, baby. I was none too gentle with you.”
“It’s okay. I liked it. A lot.”
“Yeah? Me too. Now, shhh. You need to sleep, and I need to go to work.”
“What? You haven’t even slept!”
“Military training, baby girl. I can go days with no sleep. But not you. I’ll be home by 2. You won’t even know I’m gone.”
“What about me? If we're talking about work... Shouldn’t I go to work too?”
“No. You don’t work there anymore. I only had you around that bar so I could keep eyes on you, but now things are different. You’re done worrying, little girl. Just sleep.”
He rubbed my back and my hair until the tiny white sheep danced in my head.
Jesse was sound asleep next to me when I woke up. There was a deep throbbing down inside my body from the toasting of my cherry. Even so, all I could think of was doing it again.
And again.
I winced as I tried to quietly climb out of the bed without waking him.
“Where you going?” His voice rumbled from deep in his chest, his eyes not even opening as his body stayed still as a statue. "I don’t ever really sleep, Kitty Kat. You'd better get used to that."
He was so perfect laying there, his body longer than the bed and his t-shirt stretched deliciously over the indents and protrusions of his muscular body.
I stifled a laugh at his words.
“I’m just going to take another shower. I want the warmth. I want a minute to think.”
“You want me to help?”
I thought about that for a moment. “No.”
“Okay. Come here and give Daddy a kiss first.”
I leaned back over the bed, and met his soft lips. His tongue took a quick swipe into my mouth.
“Damn it, baby. I want you in ways a civilized man shouldn’t.”
I waited a moment until his breathing turned slow and even, then I tiptoed into the huge bathroom and turned on the multiple jets inside the giant glass shower. The bath had soothed my body, but this helped to clear my mind as well. Sleep had been welcome, but I needed a moment to think. To process all that had happened to me over the past few days.
And I loved Jesse, but processing had to be done alone.
Letting the water cascade over me, I felt like I was washing away someone I used to be. That Katrina had been a mess, but it was a justified mess. I wouldn't judge her, but I wouldn't go back to being her either.
Not now. Because now I had something to hold on to. Something I never thought I'd have, and something I certainly didn't want to lose.
After my shower, I slipped my nightie back on. My bottom was still sore, so I didn’t even look around for panties before slipping out of the bedroom and into the main house.
Jesse lay stone still on the bed, and while he'd told me that he never really sleeps, I didn't know if I altogether believed that.
The house was amazing and so perfectly Jesse, and although I knew he had built a new house, I never asked to see it, and he had never invited me over after that first time I refused.
Nothing seemed out of place. Just like Jesse. Lots of wood and glass from floor to ceiling, showing off the views from every room. As I walked around, my fingers traced over pictures he had around of his mom and dad. They had been soldiers, too, though they’d made sure Jesse had a settled home instead of following them from base to base. I'd met them once or twice when I was little, before the helicopter crash that claimed both their lives.
Then, in the library, I found a shelf filled only with pictures of us.
Kent, me and Jesse.
Years of pictures from when we were little, and my brother and Jesse first became friends, until the week before Kent died. There was Jesse standing in his full-dress uniform, back from one of his deployments. And him and Kent the day they graduated from college with honors degrees in business.
And me, the day I graduated high school. I wasn't sure how he got that photo. He hadn't been there, because he hadn't been in the country.
If I had any doubt before how deep our bond ran, I had none now. Jesse had always been there for me, I just hadn't noticed.