“Well? What did you think?” I ask as we work together to wash what few dishes are still dirty.
After eating, Jack and I sat outside, finishing the bottle of wine and enjoying the cooler temperatures. I love this time of year. It’s warm enough to wear short sleeves, but cool enough that you can wear jeans without having a heat stroke. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not chilly. But when it’s been in the upper nineties for months, eighty feels like a cold front. This mild weather is why people move to Texas and suffer through the summer. Every other season is amazing. If only summer wasn’t about six months’ long.
“I think I’ve been selling myself short.” Jack wipes the hand towel over a plate I just gave him. With only two of us, there’s no reason to use the dishwasher. “If I had known it was so easy to make a decent meal, I wouldn’t have been surviving off fast food all these years.”
“You’re telling me you’ve never googled anything about easy-to-make recipes?” I chide playfully, handing him some clean silverware to dry.
He thinks for a minute. “No. Can’t say that I ever have. I guess I just assumed it would be too much work for me to figure out.”
I giggle. “Oh, Jack. I know you’re set in your ways and all. But the internet really is your friend.
He scoffs. “I know that.” I raise one eyebrow at him. “Okay, fine. I only use it when I’m at work. Who needs the distraction when I get home?”
“You mean the distraction from ESPN?”
“Exactly,” he says with a grin. “I knew you would understand.”
We continue with our lighthearted banter as we finish the dishes. Once my hands are dried off, I lean against the counter to brace myself. “What time do you have to leave tonight?”
He crinkles his brow. “What do you mean?”
“Don’t you have an early morning or something?”
He shakes his head and licks his bottom lip. I notice, because I’ve noticed every time he’s licked his bottom lip tonight.
While we were eating.
After drinking his wine.
Just now.
I’m kind of jealous of his bottom lip.
His eyes seem to darken, and I know his thoughts are venturing the same direction as mine, and I wonder if he’s as nervous as I am. “Are you wanting me to leave?”
Suddenly, the air seems to get thick in the room. It’s sexual tension. I haven’t felt it in years, but I’d recognize it anywhere. It’s not something you forget because it’s been so long. In fact, I’d say the feeling is magnified because it’s been so long.
I clear my throat and try to remember how to breathe when I whisper out a “No. I don’t want you to leave.”
He stalks two steps my direction. “You want me to stay?”
I nod and lick my own lip in anticipation.
“How long do you want me to stay?”
This is where it gets sticky for me. I’m battling myself. I want Jack to stay all night. I really want Jack to stay all night. But I need to know where we stand first. I need to address that before anything else. “That depends,” I finally admit.
“On what?” He runs his hands over my hair, pulling the bandana off my head and dropping it on the counter. I completely forgot I was wearing it and for a split second, I hope I don’t have hat head. Especially in this moment.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been with a man, Jack.”
He wraps a lock of my dark hair around my finger. “How long is a long time?” he says quietly as his eyes roam over my face, taking in each of my features.
“Um . . . I think Isaac was in middle school the last time I had sex.”
Jack freezes and looks me straight in the eye, the moment gone. “Middle school?”
I nod.
“He’s a junior in college now.”
I nod again.
“So, you haven’t been with a man in almost a decade?”
I quirk an eyebrow and purse my lips. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“No, no,” he defends quickly. “It’s not a bad thing. It’s just . . . Wow, Joie. That’s a long time. Did you not date or something?”
I shrug. “I dated, but I don’t get how people can just drop their pants for anyone. This third date rule people do now? That’s such crap. I’m not embarrassed or a prude or anything. I’m just not interested in giving the milk away. This cow is worth more than that.”
His head bobbles slightly as he considers my thoughts. “I can see that. So then why are we having this conversation now? We haven’t been dating that long.”
I take a deep breath, sucking in nerve along with air. “I guess I like you more than I’ve liked anyone before, maybe ever.” His eyes soften, and a shy smile crosses his face. “So I’d like to take you to bed with me. But before I do, I wanna know where your head is at. When it comes to us.”
He scratches his jaw while he thinks. “I tend to be old school, ya know? Not as proper as my parents were, or anything. But like you, I don’t see how people can get physical with someone they don’t know and never see them again. There’s so much more to sex than only getting off.” He begins twirling that lock of my hair again. “It’s intimacy. It’s sharing mutual pleasure. It’s connecting on a spiritual level.”
Oh boy. I’m getting hot just hearing him describe the emotional part of intimacy. I’m a goner if he starts talking dirty. Which makes me wonder, does he talk dirty? I kind of hope he does.
“And I like milk. But I don’t want free milk. I want the cow, too. For as long as she’ll let me have her.”
My brain screeches to a halt. “Wait . . . did you just . . . did you call me a cow?”
“You started it. But yeah, that sounded way better in my head than it did coming out of my mouth.”
I lean my forehead on his chest as the giggles overtake me. He wraps his arms around me and we laugh. It’s wonderful, and intimate, and perfect. Finally, he pulls away and kisses me on the lips. It’s slow and sensual. And over all too soon when he continues our conversation.
“In all seriousness, though,” he says, as I continue kissing him. Only this time, my lips are moving down his neck as he rubs his hands up and down my back. “I’m okay with not pushing that part of our relationship until you feel comfortable. I’m not in this to bag you and get out.”
“I don’t think that.” I continue my trek behind his ear and his breath begins to hitch as he tries to keep talking.
“Well, good. But let’s be honest . . . we’re in our forties. We’re tired. There won’t be an all-night sex marathon, and the anticipation isn’t going to kill either one of us. Plus, there are preparations to consider.”
“Preparations? What kind of preparation?”
“You know. Birth control and stuff.”
This time I pull away and look him in the eye. “Jack, my tubes are tied.”
He pauses. “Really?”
I shrug. “Yeah. I had it done several years ago. I was having some serious bleeding issues so my doctor took out half of my uterus, and I had my tubes tied at the same time.”
“Wait. Bleeding issues? Like heavy periods or something?”
I wrap my arms around his neck as we talk. “Way worse than that. I ended up in the hospital a couple times because my iron count was so low. I was literally bleeding out. Even had a couple transfusions.”
His jaw drops open. “Joie! That’s terrible!”
“That’s why they finally did it. Haven’t had any problems since.” I kiss him gently on the lips. “It also means, there is no chance I’ll accidentally get pregnant.”
He freezes for a moment and then moves at lightning speed, bending down and scooping me up by the thighs.
“Jack!” I squeal. “You’re going to throw your back out!”
He wraps my legs around him and carries me down the hall. “Jesus, woman! How old do you think I am? I’m not decrepit!”
I laugh as he struts straight through my bedroom door and squeal again as he tosses me on the bed. Before I can make another sound, he’s on me, kissing his way down my neck, gently moving my shirt to the side so he can kiss my shoulder. I haven’t felt lips on my skin in so long, it makes me tingle all over.
“This is going to sound really bad,” I sigh, “but you better take your shoes off before you get dirt on my bedspread.”
The rumble of his laugh reverberates through my whole body. “You’re worried about dirt on your bed at a time like this?”
“You don’t want that dirt anywhere near our bodies once we’re naked.”
“The woman has a good point.” He practically launches himself off me and all the sudden is stripping out of all of his clothes, not just his shoes. Those go first, followed by his socks, but then his shirt comes off and . . .
Holy moly.
He’s fit. Not quite a six pack, but darn close. A smattering of dark hair sprinkled on his chest. His biceps—oh my. They flex and stretch as he removes all of his clothes except his boxers. Those arms might be my favorite part of his naked body.
I bite back a grin as I realize how much of a farmer’s tan he has. I should have figured the color of his torso doesn’t match the rest of him. I think it’s cute. And it reminds me of what a hard worker he is.
Once he’s naked, except for his tented boxers and the wolfish grin on his face, he narrows his eyes at me. “How come I’m the only one taking my clothes off?”
I laugh at this unexpected question. “Sorry. I was enjoying watching you so much, I forgot.” Kicking off my flip-flops so they drop on the floor, I hold eye contact and reach down to unbutton my shorts. His breath hitches at the sound of the zipper going down. It makes me feel sexy and shameless. And gives me confidence as I shimmy my shorts over my hips and down my legs and then flick them at him when they get to the end of my toe.
He snatches them out of the air. “You trying to end this before it even begins? Because I’m feeling remarkably like a first-timer again, watching you do that.”
“Oh . . . I’m sorry.” I stop my movements and widen my eyes innocently. “Should I stop?”
His eyes roll in the back of his head. “Hell, woman. You’re gonna kill me, aren’t you?”
“I’ll try to be gentle when I do it.” Slowly, I sit up and peel my shirt over my head. Jack groans as my lacy blue bra and matching panties are bared to him.
It’s been a long time since I’ve been naked in front of a man. You’d think it would make me shy or even embarrassed, but I’m not. Jack knows I’m not young, tight, and toned. He knows I’m going to be soft in certain places, and I’m sure he figured out long ago my breasts aren’t larger than a handful. But if the way he’s looking at me now is any indication, all he’s seeing right now is me.
And possibly enjoying the anticipation of a really good orgasm.
I watch his Adam’s apple bob as he swallows, before he finally speaks again. “Take off your bra,” he demands, and I know I’m going to like this side of him. This is that Viking I was looking for. The one who can command in the bedroom while being respectful of my needs. Even if those needs are as quirky as keeping his shoes off the bed.
Reaching around my back, I unhook the clasps. As I slowly slide the straps down my shoulders, preparing to bare myself to him, Jack’s patience runs thin.
“That’s it,” he bellows as he pounces on top of me, tossing the bra aside, “playtime is over.” He latches onto my nipple, making me squeak.
But he’s wrong.
Playtime has just begun.