Honey

We walked into the silent house.

“You should get ready for bed,” I told Jamie.

She nodded, but didn’t let go of my hand. I guessed the day’s events had left her needy and I understood. I followed her to her room and tried not to let the fact that Jake was nowhere to be found bother me.

As I tucked her under the covers, she asked, “Do you like my daddy?”

The question stumped me for a second. “I like all of you,” was my response. I reached down and tickled her. I couldn’t help myself. I bent down and pressed a kiss to her head. I’d come to love Jamie like she was my own. It was easy as she was totally lovable.

Then she stopped me dead in my tracks. “Do you think my mommy and daddy will get back together?”

It was a good thing I’d gotten up and turned to go. She didn’t see my wince or how I kept my eyes shut for two beats too long. She’d asked so confidently, not noticing she hadn’t stuttered a word.

There was no good way to answer. I faced her and said, “Do you want them to?”

Her smile was a little sad when she shrugged.

“Get some sleep,” I said instead and flicked off the light.

I couldn’t be sure of her non-verbal answer. She was a child who’d just met her mother for the first time. Of course she wanted her parents together. What child wouldn’t?

As the door clicked shut, I took another few moments to collect myself before checking on Ford. He lay lightly snoring in his bed, which left only Jake unaccounted for. His door at the end of the hall had been closed with no light reflecting underneath. So the only two people missing were him and Tara.

I walked all the way to my door, but passed it and out the back. I placed my hand on my back and stretched, working out some of the tension in my muscles. Just as I straightened, a squeak left my lips as I was toppled into Jake’s lap.

He’d snagged my arm so silently, I hadn’t noticed him until I lay sprawled across him.

“Where are you going?” He didn’t give me a chance to answer. “I didn’t kiss her. She kissed me,” he admitted.

Then his lips slid over mine as he cupped the back of the neck and drew me closer.

Every thought I had dissolved into nothingness. A furnace built inside me like I was on fire. He must have felt it to, because he was on his feet with me cradled in his arms. I melted against him because he lifted my twenty—no, my thirty extra pounds like it was nothing.

The screen door opened and we were under the darkened sky with only the stars and moon to light the way. I felt like I floated in his arms with nothing but air underneath me. I landed cocooned in a pile of hay with another squeak. But he was there, covering me with his big body.

“I need you,” he demanded gruffly, his palm sliding up my shirt to palm my breast.

As his intense eyes waited for permission, I nodded despite all the reasons we shouldn’t.

His kiss was a rough as his hands as they fumbled with the button of my jeans. Once he finished, I levered up on my arms to raise my hips and help him remove them from my legs.

He didn’t bother with taking anything else off of me, a testament to his waning restraint. A finger ghosted under the fabric between my legs. His big knuckle brushed over my opening, sending tingles down all the way to my toes. Then the connections of my panties snapped, giving him free rein. Calloused fingers tested my readiness as I fell to my back once again. All alone as we were with nothing but our panting breaths, I heard his zipper drop and nearly begged for him to hurry.

I spread my legs in invitation. He took my cue and pushed inside me. I sucked in air, my body stretching and accepting all of him as he groaned.

I barely had time to catch my breath before he started moving in earnest. The straw at my back was no bed, but it didn’t bother me much. Every sensation was focused on the nerves he slid against with each stroke.

He hooked an arm under one leg and lifted my ass off the hay to drive in deeper, hitting the end of me. I quick jolt of pain was immediately lost in the immense amount of pleasure he created. The man was a multitasker as somehow he shoved my shirt up and exposed my breast, his mouth taking in a bud.

My nipples were my Achilles’ heel when it came to him. Everything heightened as he sucked and nipped.

“Jackson,” I cried out.

He stopped, spurring a frown to form on my face.

“Don’t call me that,” he demanded.

His tone was cold and I hated the steel stiffening his spine. I hadn’t ever used his real name before. Had I subconsciously given in to the notion that he and I were done and over?

“Sugar.” It was a whisper from my lips.

“Good girl.”

Then he was at it again. His pistoning hips took me back to the edge in seconds. I clawed at his back, trying to bring him closer. Looping my arms around his neck, I pulled him in for a punishing kiss. His thrusts were like brands, marking me as his. My kiss felt like a goodbye because I knew it was.

When I came, he quickly followed and we lay in a heap. His crushing weight was nothing like the words I’d held back until this moment. Only he beat me to it.

“Tara is threatening to take Jaime from me.”

Those words broke my heart a little. I’d hoped Tara wasn’t the vindictive conniving type she came across as.

I admitted the truth of the talk I’d had. “Jamie asked me if you and her mommy were getting back together.”

It was weird to have this conversation as his softening cock was still buried in me.

He covered his eyes before scraping a hand over his hair.

I didn’t give him a chance to say anything that couldn’t be. “You should give it a chance. I’ll take a few days off to visit my grandmother.”

“Honey.”

I covered his lips with a finger.

“This is for the best. You loved her once. Jamie deserves to get to know her mother. I won’t stand in the way of your family working things out.”

He kissed my fingertip before moving it out of the way. Then his lips were on mine again. This time there was nothing urgent about it. It was as sweet as my name for him.

Then a shrill voice so small as not to be unrecognizable, but also as clear as the moonlit sky broke our connection.

“Daddy.”