Chapter Twenty-Eight
Nora
“So your phone was stolen?”
I frowned as I reclined on the leather sofa in Jacob’s bedroom. Wait, no….our bedroom, as of ten minutes ago. I’d just returned home from my cleaning escapade-slash-girly pizza night with Angie at my old house, and now I was officially a resident of Beverly Hills.
Jacob ran his hands through his hair, something I noticed he always did when he was stressed. “No. I mean, I don’t know. The restaurant manager said it was probably just accidentally given to the wrong person.”
“Well, I’m sure they’ll return it.”
He sighed. “I don’t know about that. James was at the restaurant.”
My eyebrows shot up. “James?”
“There was some sort of company dinner for all the accountants at the firm my friend Chris works for. I saw James there. I’m worried he saw me too and stole the jacket with my phone in it.”
I chewed on my lip as I mulled it over, and then I shook my head. “I don’t think so. For one, how would James even know your phone was in the jacket in the coatroom? Most people keep their phones on them at all times these days.”
“True.”
“Secondly, he was there on a company dinner. It’s not like he purposely went there to hunt you down.”
“Also true.”
“And lastly, he’s been very careful with his harassment of me. Careful not to get caught, I mean. He’s been using a VPN to send his online messages, and he’s also doubled down on that by hacking that Robert Quinto guy’s Wi-Fi and using that just in case anyone cracked the VPN. And he also made sure the security cameras and guard didn’t catch him when he went to trash my old house. I don’t think he’d change that now and brazenly steal your phone from a restaurant you knew he was at. I mean, surely he saw you talking to Chris, so he must’ve known that you knew he was there.”
Jacob let out a sigh of relief. “Yeah. Good point. But still, I’m worried. Even if it’s just a random accident that someone got my jacket and phone, it could still be bad. All my photos and videos auto-save to the cloud, which is linked to my phone. Including…”
My heart began to race, and my stomach turned over. “Our tape. Shit.”
He nodded grimly. “Yeah. If whoever accidentally got my phone goes through it to see who it belongs to, I’m screwed. Or more specifically, you’re screwed. People would probably expect a sex tape from someone like me. But you…”
“It could seriously mess things up for me,” I said with a nod. Something suddenly occurred to me, and I sprang to my feet. “Wait, never mind. I know how to fix this.”
“How?” Jacob asked.
“You said your photos and videos auto-save to the cloud, not the actual phone itself, yes?”
He nodded. “Yeah.”
“So just log on to the iCloud from your laptop and remove all connected devices. That’ll stop your phone from being able to connect to it, and whoever has it won’t be able to view anything on it.”
Jacob slapped his hand against his forehead. “Jesus. How the hell did I not think of that earlier? I’ve been sitting here for two hours wondering what the fuck to do, and you came up with that in under thirty seconds.”
I smiled and hugged him. “You’re the beauty, I’m the brains.”
He pulled back and grinned. “Nah, you’re the beauty and the brains. I’m just the big dumb oaf.”
“The brawn?”
He nodded and chuckled, and then his smile faded. “But wait. What if the person already looked through my phone in the last couple of hours that they’ve had it?”
“I seriously doubt it,” I said, giving him a comforting squeeze. “They probably haven’t even realized they have it yet, and even if they have, I doubt they’d go through it. I mean, if I found a random phone, I wouldn’t go through it. And you have a lock code on it anyway, right?”
Jacob gave me a guilty look. “Yes, but it’s my birth year. Not exactly hard to crack.”
I shrugged. “If they don’t know who owns the phone, then they wouldn’t know your birth year or any other details that might help them guess the unlock code. It’s fine, Jacob. I think our little secret is safe for now.”
He breathed another sigh of relief. “Fuck, I’m so glad you’re here. I’ve been driving myself crazy worrying about this shit.”
I smiled and sat down again. “Do you have a spare phone you can use for now?” I asked.
“Yeah, in the study somewhere. I’ll set it up now,” he said. “Which reminds me, do you want me to have a room set up as a sort of home office for you?”
I hesitated and looked down at the floor, and Jacob frowned. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
“It’s about me living here,” I began.
He sighed. “Shit. I knew I probably asked you to move in way too fast.”
“It’s not that,” I said hurriedly. “It’s just…I have an interview for a new job tomorrow. With Hartwell. It was sprung on me at the last minute, and it’s for a movie that films in New York.”
“That’s great. When is it happening?” Jacob asked.
“If I accept it, I’ll have to leave in a week.”
He furrowed his eyebrows. “Jesus, that’s fast. For how long?”
I looked at the floor again. “Six months.”
“Shit. That’s a while.”
“I can just say no,” I said, looking back up at him. “Delos will have other contracts for me here; I don’t need to accept this one.”
“Nora, it’s Hartwell. You shouldn’t say no to them. They’re a huge deal.”
“I know. It could be so great for me, but at the same time, I literally only just moved in here. So if I suddenly picked up and left for six months, I feel like…”
Jacob reached forward and put his hands on either side of my face. “Baby, you don’t need to worry. I can tell you’re freaking out, but you’re freaking out about nothing. Remember three minutes ago when I was so worried about the phone thing, but then you had an easy solution and I realized everything was actually fine?”
I nodded, and he went on. “There’s an easy solution to this as well. You go east for work, and I stay here for my own work. And then I can fly out to New York every two weeks for a couple of days. That means we’re only going ten days between seeing each other, and we’ll both be so busy with work that those days will fly by anyway. And after just twelve visits, it’ll all be over. Six months is really not that long.”
“You’d really fly out to see me that often?”
“Does a bear shit in the woods?” he said with a grin. “It’s only a six hour flight.”
My shoulders relaxed, and I smiled. “So you really think I should take the job? And you think we’ll be okay?”
“Of course. I know we haven’t been together for long, but fuck, Nora…this is solid. We’ve got something good here. Being apart for a while isn’t gonna change that. Got it?”
“Got it,” I said with a weak smile. “But now I’m kinda nervous. What if they interview me and don’t even want me for the job?”
Jacob chuckled. “Okay, now you’re just being ridiculous. Who wouldn’t want you? I certainly do.”
I smiled. “Oh, do you?”
“Yep. I fucking love you, Nora Valencia.”
My eyebrows shot up, and in those seconds, all my worries dissipated. Of course our relationship could survive a six month long distance episode. Jacob loved me, and I loved him too.
“You’ve never said that before,” I said softly.
“I know. I was waiting for the perfect moment to tell you for the first time, but I kinda think all the moments are perfect when you’re around. So may as well be now, right?”
I smiled widely and threw my arms around him, and he kissed the top of my head. “Gonna leave me hanging?” he asked, a tinge of amusement in his voice.
“Oh, I love you too!” I said. “Sorry. I thought it in my head but I didn’t say it out loud.”
“Thank god. That could’ve been awkward.”
“You already knew I loved you back,” I teased. “Why else would I move in with you?”
“Because I’ve got a big house,” he said, eyes twinkling with humor. “Maybe you’re just using me.”
“Oh, I am,” I replied with a mischievous grin. “But not for your house. For your body.”
He held his hands up and slowly backed toward the bed. “Go ahead. You can use me right now.”
“Maybe I will…”
I pushed on his chest, and he moved closer to the bed before reaching forward and grabbing me, sliding his big hands over my soft skin. “Get that skirt off,” he murmured. “Right now.”
I reached down and pulled at the skirt, letting it slip down over my thighs and knees until it was pooled on the floor. Then I yanked my top off too, and Jacob groaned softly at the sight of me in my black lacy bra and panties before sliding his hands up my back and unclipping the bra. My breasts spilled out as he pulled my underwear away, and he leaned down and buried his face in them, kissing them and laving my nipples with his tongue.
Jacob pulled back for long enough to pick me up and throw me down on the bed, and then he was back on me, worshipping my breasts, neck and shoulders with his mouth and hands. He kneaded and massaged, licked and sucked, and when he was done, my skin felt raw and red, claimed so utterly by my man. He began to work his way down my body, kissing as he went, and I writhed as he sank below my bellybutton, teasing me just above the hem of my panties.
“Please, Jacob…please,” I said with a moan. He always liked to make me beg.
He grabbed my panties with both hands and tore them off me, and I could feel how wet I was as he gazed down at my pussy. He ran a hand down along my trimmed mound, and then he moved ever so slowly and gently further down across my bare skin. When his finger grazed my soaking and swollen lips, I let out a yelp and bucked my hips.
“I’ve barely touched you yet,” Jacob said with a smirk.
“Then touch me more,” I said breathlessly.
He pressed against my lips and slid his fingers slowly down. Then he pressed one finger into my drenched entrance before pulling it back out and sliding it toward my clit. As soon as he pressed lightly against it, my body tightened. He rubbed gently, and my back arched off the bed. Jacob dived between my legs and ran his tongue up the length of my pussy, and my legs wrapped around his head, begging him for more without saying a single word.
He gave me what I wanted, bringing his tongue up to my clit, and I moaned as he began to lick up and down over the swollen nub. He held me still, grabbing hold of my hips and worshipping my clit, and when my moans became frenetic and breathless, he quickened his movements. I came hard against him, whimpering and quaking as I said his name over and over, digging my nails into his head.
“Oh god, I don’t think I can go for six months without that,” I said breathlessly as I lay back on the bed a moment later, still recovering.
Jacob grinned. “I told you, I’ll be visiting as often as I can.”
“Oh, you better,” I said, giggling as he wrapped me in his strong arms.
As far as I was concerned, everything in our cozy little world was perfect at the moment. Our lives and careers were crazy right now, and things were only going to get crazier if and when I got this job with Hartwell, but we had each other. That was enough to keep us blissfully happy, grounded, and sane no matter what curveballs the universe decided to throw our way, and I couldn’t think of a single thing that could come along and screw it up for us. It simply couldn’t happen…right?
Wrong.