Augusta couldn’t stop staring at the rock, yes rock, on her finger while she flipped the egg whites. “I can’t believe you’re engaged. I’m so happy for you.” January stopped nursing her tea and gave Gus a quick hug before grabbing plates.
“I know you are, and I am beyond happy, but you seem sad. Are you missing—”
“Don’t,” Jan interrupted before she popped a piece of gluten-free toast in her mouth and made a face. “Blech, how can you eat that crap? A body needs red meat and white flour to survive.”
“Stop it. A few meals here and there won’t kill you. Now, back t—”
Jan tossed her toast and grabbed a pack of toaster pastries from the pantry. “Seriously, don’t say that name.” Jan smelled the foiled package and sighed as she dropped them in the toaster.
After she propped her hip on the counter, she seemed ready to speak, yet didn’t. Gus had to wave the spatula at her to prompt her to finally talk about her fiancé, but she didn’t say much. “I’ve told you before, that subject is off-limits. The rest of my life is an open book to you, I just can’t…deal with that right now. Besides, now that the baby has been born and I’m still here, don’t be surprised if Thunder and Windsong show up to collect their daughter.” She air quoted the last word.
Gus decided once again not to push the subject. Jan was right, she had been honest to a fault about everything else.
“Oo, oo, oo, hot,” Jan breathed as she bit into the gooey brown rectangle. Gus returned her attention to her eggs. Her ring sparkled as she transferred them to plates. She couldn’t wait to tell her BFF that she was soon to be her sister, but she wanted some more time with just her and John first. She wanted to serve him breakfast in bed and maybe get an encore of last night.
Remembering all the things they shared put a goofy smile on her face, she was sure of it, especially when Jan commented on it.
“Ew, stop thinking about dick and turn off the burner, the pan’s starting to smoke.” Gus shook herself out of it and moved the egg pan to the sink. “Going for a run, wipe that silly look off your face and don’t forget the bacon.” Jan grabbed her phone from the counter and dropped a kiss on Gus’ cheek. When she didn’t move away, just stayed there with her lips on her cheek, Gus shoved her with a hand to the face. After she snapped a pic, Jan yelled “sister selfie.” Then she popped her earbuds in and headed out the door.
As Gus was putting the finishing touches on the plates, she heard…Foreigner? She turned and searched for the source, and found her phone was lit up. It took her minute to put it all together. John must’ve changed her ringtone. Instead of answering, she swayed along with “Girl Like You.” She missed it a little when it stopped, but it immediately started again.
“Not mushy, my butt.” Gus danced around with her fists clenched.
“I take it you approve?”
“Uhhh,” she startled, “you almost gave me a heart attack.” When she turned to look at John, she wanted to forget about breakfast and just stay in bed, preferably on her hands and knees until she fell over from exhaustion.
He was unbearably sexy with his ankles crossed leaning against the door frame. His folded arms blocked some of the view of his incredible pecks. She blushed when she recalled feasting on his nipples so hard last night, they boasted marks in the light of day.
It was his unbuttoned jeans that made her fan herself. There was just something super sexy about a man with his jeans barely slung onto his hips, like they could yield to gravity at any moment. And his feet, good Lord those feet. She would be the first to admit that, as a rule, feet were completely unsexy, but not John’s.
“You need to stop looking at me like that, Augusta, it’s taking every ounce of restraint I possess not to fuck you up against the cool stainless of the refrigerator.”
“What’s stopping you? Jan left and cold bacon is just as tasty.” He straightened, and she walked into his arms.
“What’s stopping me,” he started while he walked her into the island and sat her there, “is you, my little insatiable temptress, blew through the stash of condoms.” John nipped her chin. “And until you are ready to go on the pill or have another baby, we kind of need them.”
Gus grabbed his cheeks and kissed him sweetly. Then she stared into his eyes. He was a good man. A very good man. His beautiful cock had risen though the opening of his jeans as she stared at him. Gus had a need he could fill involving said cock and her mouth. She was wiggling down from the counter when her phone went off again.
John looked at it and patted her hip. “You should get that.” He turned and snagged a piece of bacon. “And for the record, I’m not mushy. I was bored…and who doesn’t like Foreigner?” He bit the bacon forcefully and smiled as he chewed.
Gus just rolled her eyes and answered the phone without even checking who was calling. She barely got the “H” out when an angry Stacy yelled, “How dare you not tell me you got engaged. Am I not your best friend and sister of the fiancé? I should’ve gotten a call the second that diamond settled on your finger, instead I find out on Facebook. Fucking Facebook. What do you have to say for yourself, tramp?”
“Facebook? Who put it on Facebook?” She looked to John who shook his head.
“Don’t look at me, I don’t even have an account.” Then he yelled so his sister could hear through the phone, “Stop giving her a hard time, sis, you knew before she did.” He took his plate to the table, leaving her to deal with hurricane Stacy.
“You knew? Then why are giving me grief over it?”
“Duh, BFF, remember? Well, I thought anyway, I must—”
“Stop being a drama queen, I was going to call you, but I was waiting until later. I know what a bear you can be when woken up. What are you doing up and on Facebook, no less, at this hour?”
“Waiting on my ex-BFF to call and tell me she got engaged. I waited up last night and no call, so I got up early so I could be the first to hear. Anyway, nice rock, tell my brother he did good, and you look happy.”
“How the heck do you know that?”
“Picture.”
Gus was getting a little annoyed at having to pull everything out of her friend.
“What picture? Who could have possibly posted a picture of me?”
“Um, guilty.” A sweat-soaked Jan escaped Gus’ notice until she spoke.
Ah, now it all makes sense.
Gus mouthed to Jan a promise of retribution.
“It wasn’t on purpose, I swear. I didn’t even mention it. It said sister selfie and that’s it. I didn’t even think about that damn boulder being visible from space.”
Stacy’s voice saddened. “You should have called me the minute he proposed. I’ll forgive you if you give me all the details.”
“Okay, but remember you asked. We were naked and had just—”
“Gross,” Stacy said in her ear while Jan said it to her face.
“You asked.”
“I take it back, no details, then. Even though I found out the way a best friend should never have to, I am happy for you.” She lowered her voice. “And I love the shit out of you for loving my brother. I feel like the old John has come out of hiding, and that’s the only thing that saved you from my wrath.”
“Later, hooker.”
“Later, bitch.”
Gus ended the phone call and took in the scene around her. Jan was munching on the rest of her sugar square—who runs their butt off then eats that crap—John was tucked into his breakfast, and it felt right. Gus grabbed her plate and joined John at the table while Jan headed to the shower.
John was good for her, and good for Jan, no matter what he thought. He didn’t need to be mushy, he was perfect just the way he was.
They finished breakfast in comfortable silence. When they were done, Gus loaded the dishwasher. John ground against her ass when she bent. “God, I want to fuck you right now, just like this.” She stood and turned. John shoved her hand in his pants and groaned. “See what you do to me.”
Gus gave him a squeeze, then dropped to her knees so she could worship his cock like he deserved. Of the many times they’d made love last night, she didn’t get to indulge nearly enough in her new favorite pastime. As he neared completion, he massaged her throat, and his groans went from guttural to downright animalistic. “That’s right, swallow it all,” he chanted as he fucked her mouth and shot cum against her tonsils.
Grinding into her face, he said the words that fed her soul, “Fuck, I love you.” When he pulled from her mouth, he led her up with a hand still lingering on her throat and the other clamped across her mouth.
“That’s my Gussy Girl. You suck a mean dick, Augusta. I don’t want to know how you learned that, I’m just grateful you did.” After staring into her eyes for a few minutes, John let her go and disappeared. Before she had a chance to be stunned, he came down the hall pulling his shirt on as his legs ate up real estate. He kissed her on the forehead and grabbed his keys.
“You. Bedroom, on your knees waiting. I’m going to buy a fucking case of condoms.”
The sound of his car peeling out the driveway brought Rick out of hiding. He pawed at the door and meowed. He’d started doing that every time John left the house. Gus stooped to pet his head. “I know, boy. I miss him, too, but he’ll be right back, I promise. You stay here and wait for him, I have somewhere else I need to be.”
Gus stood and made a beeline for her bedroom. She wanted to be ready when he returned. She opted for a quick shower, then settled in to wait.
From her place at the end of the bed, she watched through lowered lashes as John stalked through the door and then around the bed, looking at her like she was precious. She felt cherished, a state she was unfamiliar with, but with every look, every touch, he was proving they were both much more than their pasts, robbing everything before of its power. The real power lay in the here and now.
“Turn around, shoulders on the bed, hands clasped behind your back, and present me that ass.” She did what she was told, happily. As she got into position, she stole another glance of him, noticing for the first time the tube in his hand. His groan of appreciation and gentle touch to her back allayed any fear she might have had.
The slide of satin on her wrists almost blinded her with anticipation.
She didn’t know when he got naked, just that he had, when the length of his torso molded to her back, arms, and hands. His movement ruffled the tails of satin against the swell of her ass, and it was decadent. One hand tangled in her short locks, drawing her head to the side. His breath at her ear made her shiver.
A shock of cold lube made her jump, but he shushed her with a nip to her lobe. As he rubbed the lube against a place no one had even been, it warmed, and she relaxed. “Are you ready for me to own every…single…inch of you?”
Her voice failed her yet again, so she nodded vigorously. John pushed himself back and loomed behind her.
This has to be the good life.
John had been lying there since the sun rose, just watching Augusta breathe. He didn’t think of it as mushy or being controlled by a relationship. Instead, he considered it more as appreciating what you have while you have it.
He had learned the hard way that tomorrow was no guarantee, and if that were the case, he’d learn to start living in the moment.
This moment, he was living memorizing every curve of her body as she slept draped in maroon cotton, the sound she made when she breathed in deep, and the way she caught herself if she made a soft snore.
Making every moment count was more important than controlling it. He finally got that. Speaking of making moments count, last night was a first for him as much as it was Augusta. Not in actions, but in the driving force behind them.
As they made love in ways Augusta had never tried, John realized he was more of the virgin than her. He had never let the moment control his actions before, emotions lead his body, not even during sex. That’s because I’ve never…felt this for anyone before.
His mind wandered; so did his hand. Softly, with a barely there touch, he slid the sheet down over her breasts, then her hips, and left it to rest at an angle just above her knees. He allowed his thirsty eyes to drink their fill at the well of the goddess who agreed to tie herself to him legally.
His eyes drifted to the ring he’d given her that she was so proud of that she showed it to everyone, even the UPS guy who delivered a package for Jan—one that seemed to upset Augusta. I guess I can get to the bottom of that when January gets home.
The fact that he didn’t hound Augusta for answers, well, that was a testament to his new let-it-go attitude. Although he hadn’t actually let it go, he just didn’t let it needle him to death. But he did need answers. January was as good as his little sister now, so her problems were his, and if there was a stressor between the two, he would fix it.
John hoped January would stick around for Augusta’s sake, but she seemed to be resigned to returning home at the end of the month. It was no secret her parents were calling constantly and even started hounding Augusta. Which was another thing on his…
John lost all train of thought when Augusta rolled over, grinding her luscious ass into his aching cock. He returned the favor and spoke into her ear.
“As much as I want to take you up on that invitation, we have a busy day ahead of us.” He indulged in one more twirl of his hips, finding slight relief in how perfectly his cock fit between her cheeks. The glide was sublime. He had cleaned them both well, but remnants of lube remained, making it a damn near impossible act not to continue the sensuous slide. “And it starts now.”
Before he could change his mind, John leapt out of bed and distanced himself from the parts of her that he wished to fuck into oblivion.
“But, I want to stay in bed. Just five more minutes.”
Heading to the shower, he tossed over his shoulder, “Suit yourself, but you know Frank and Francis will just barge right back here with the help of my sister, even if we are mid-stroke, so your choice. I prefer to be cleaned and dressed, besides, I have to leave for the airfield.”
“Would anyone like more coffee?” Augusta asked the entire Reid clan, which somehow managed to fit in her house. When John asked her to marry him, she was eager to start their new life together, she just didn’t realize the planning would start immediately.
Scratch that, I knew, she thought as she looked around at all the happy people talking cakes and flowers. Her gaze landed on each face and lingered there. These people, as a whole, meant more to her than the family she shared blood with, except January. Not just as a group, but as individuals. Every person here impacted her life in a positive way.
Each one had come so far from where they once were. For the first time, she put herself in that category too. She had never realized it before, but staring into January’s sad eyes brought it to focus; she had evolved for the better too.
It also brought to focus that January had sad eyes. They had been missing some of their luster since she had arrived, but the Thornes can do that to a person. Over her visit, they seemed to lighten and shine a bit more, but now, they were back where they started. Gus wanted to know why.
“Oh, this came for you, Jan,” John announced with her package in one hand and a drink in the other. Dang it, why did he pick now? Jan wouldn’t be happy about being outed in front of everyone. Gus had plans to tell John and hope the fatherly affection Jan felt for him might make her reconsider her employment, but out her like this…in front of everyone?
“Um, Jan doesn’t need that now. She can get it later.” Gus scrambled to intercept the package but failed. John’s long strides had the package in Jan’s hands before Augusta could even reach for it.
Jan thanked him and sat it on the floor beside her feet. Of course, everyone else in the room being Nosey Nellies started egging her on to open it. Everyone except Francis and Frank, that is.
“I’ll deal with it later, it’s just something for work.” Jan blushed and tried to turn everyone’s attention to a website that offered what they called rooted bouquets—flowers with roots and dirt so they could be planted after the ceremony. Of course, the Reid clan being, well, the Reid clan, they wouldn’t let it go.
Francis finally admonished them. “Shush, all of you, and let’s focus on the matter at hand, please? If January doesn’t want to show us her new stripper shoes or whatever, we should respect her wishes and let it go.”
Every man in the room exploded, as expected.
Every woman started clapping and cheering, also expected.
They were family, after all, and it was their little sister stripping, too. Gus let her eyes slide to John. He wasn’t livid; he was hurt. Gus patted his arm in comfort. Their exchange was silent, but each knew exactly how the other felt.
“Oh, stop it, all of you. Sit down and stop giving the child grief. And while you’re at it, stop acting like she is a streetwalker. She’s dancing, for crying out loud. If you ask me, being a stripper is the way to go. Good money, less hours than a nine to five, and lots of power. Dancers can turn smart men stupid with the twist of a hip and empty bank accounts with the flip of her hair. If I were thirty years younger—”
“Mom, no.”
“Gross.”
“Drill my eardrums, please.”
The reactions to Francis’ pronouncement were priceless.
January finally found her voice. “How did you know? I mean, not that I’m ashamed, but I kept it quiet for Augusta.”
Francis patted Jan’s thigh. “Oh dear, there isn’t much in this town I don’t know.” She then brandished a magazine. “Ooo, what do you think of this dress.”
You could have knocked Gus over with a feather; Francis never ceased to surprise her—part southern belle, part mafia don.
John broke into her thoughts with a kiss to her cheeks and a covert ass squeeze. “Sorry to cut and run, but I have to get to the hanger and meet Logan.” Turning to Jan, he uttered, “We’ll speak when I get back.”
“Who’s Logan?” Stacy inquired.
“Good kid, came by the airfield looking for work. New to town, some experience with small aircraft maintenance, so I thought I’d give him a shot. I think he just needs a break, you know, and a friend. I feel bad for him, seems like he has issues…don’t we all. Well, gotta run, or I’ll be late. Michael, you coming? The new plane is half yours, so I thought you might want some input.”
Michael looked to Tori, silently asking for permission. There was no need for them to be here, they just came because their ladies asked them, Gus was sure.
“I say all y’all go. Besides, I don’t need everyone complaining when I try to steer the ladies toward a gluten-free cake.”
Gus enjoyed the groan of disapproval from the people she adored. Her family.
With a pat to Frank’s hand, Francis encouraged him to join, “You should join the men, dear, and meet this Logan, invite him to the next barbecue.”
In unison, the “Reids” exclaimed, “Mom, NO!”