CHAPTER 27
Jessie woke up the next morning feeling stronger than she could ever remember. Sharing her story with Blake, on her terms, left her feeling lighter too. They were carrying the weight of each other’s worlds, which somehow felt easier than it sounded. Neither was alone any longer in their circumstance.
Blake pulled her body closer to his, letting her know he was awake. Truth be told, he had something else, she felt against her backside, letting her know he was awake. He was insatiable, she thought.
“Tonight’s the open house at the hospital,” he reminded her.
“So, it is.”
“Do you want to go? Make our first appearance together
and get the stares and whispers over with?”
She giggled at the idea. “They are going to go nuts, aren’t they?”
“I can only imagine,” he said, dropping kisses on her shoulders.
“Unfortunately, I don’t have anything to wear. There is no time for dry cleaning, and who knows if they can even get the smoke out. The nicest thing I have with me is a pair of leggings and a tank top.” She laughed at the situation because if not, she would probably cry and wasn’t ready to leave the blissful place she had been the past twelve hours.
“I’m sure we can figure that out,” he replied.
“You got a dress I can borrow? Might be a little big; your boobs are bigger,” she joked.
“Very funny.” He leaned back and smacked her ass. “Why don’t you hit the shower, and I’ll let the fur bags outside real quick and meet you in there.” He kissed her shoulder before getting up, looking at the animals staring at them from the foot of the bed. “They didn’t watch us all night, did they?”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention to them…perverts,” she laughed.
Jessie watched as Blake got out of bed, completely nude and unashamed, beckoning the animals to follow. She’d follow him anywhere, she thought, before getting out of bed. Knowing full well she had his attention, without a stitch of clothing on herself, she made her way to the adjoining bathroom with a sexy sashay, stopping to lean in the doorway.
She looked over her shoulder and dragged her finger from her mouth, trailing the length of her body. “Don’t be long.”
To which he let out a hungry grunt before licking his lips. Given the twitch she saw below, she knew she had the effect on him that she was going for and disappeared into the bathroom, letting out a breathy seductive moan for one final tease.
Blake had lived a life of what if’s – what if he’d never gone to Bosnia? What if he’d never gone back to face the enemy and avenge Bill Traynor? What if he had been there that day with his wife and kids?
For the first time, he had answers to questions that had been haunting him for so many years. The answer was that what if
didn’t matter. For whatever reason, life dealt him a heavy hand, and he had survived it. He was meant to come to McKenzie Ridge and wouldn’t have had his life play out any other way.
Though he missed his family, he was glad to have a second chance at life with people he loved just as much. He felt purposeful and needed by them and his small town. Blake finally felt like he could live again – smarter, stronger, and with a new purpose and drive.
Two broken hearts, living as dysfunctionally as one really could – that was who he and Jessie had been. For each other and others.
He avoided love because he couldn’t lose what he did not have. Her emotional chaos was just as defective. Loved ones couldn’t hurt you and disappoint you if those relationships didn’t exist. What neither realized was that they did love their people; saying they didn’t was simply a handful of words that lacked meaning.
Each made choices that made for a tortured and lonely existence. It had limited who they could be for others, each living only half a life. Until now.
Pushing people away – maintaining unreasonable boundaries was easy. Except with each other. Blake and Jessie were kindred spirits, tortured souls fighting different battles on the same field. They craved acceptance and belonging but robbed themselves of the joy that resulted from such. That’s why they craved each other.
That’s why their relationship had been so tumultuous and angsty. The fight with each other was greater because the desire for each other had been. The fight was harder because their love was bigger – it was fated – they had just been blind to it. Until now.
While Blake stood on the front porch in all his glory, waiting for the animals to take care of business, he made a call. Jessie was going to the party – they
were going, together.
“Meg? It’s Blake – I need a favor.”
Blake and Jessie stayed in the shower until the water ran cold, then they took their love making to the bed, followed by the kitchen when they fixed lunch, and finally ended outside on their picnic blanket by the creek’s edge. They were making up for missed time, telling and showing each other more than they ever could with words.
They had finally made it to Meg and Colton’s, albeit an hour late, to get ready for the party. Meg was more than happy to loan Jessie a dress, which turned into a dress up party that provoked plenty of swearing and threats of bodily harm from Jessie. Where Jessie was rude and abrasive, severely lacking a filter of any kind – Meg was kind, generous, and tossed glitter on everything moving or otherwise. Despite their polar opposite demeanors, they were the best of friends.
Blake opted for simple black slacks with a charcoal button up shirt, nixing the tie Meg insisted Colton loan him. Colton wasn’t as lucky. He had to live with Meg, so his tie was a done deal as it matched her outfit and would simply ruin it if he didn’t. It wasn’t a hardship, though; he was happy to comply because he’d walk through flames for her.
Blake envied that. He was finally ready for that kind of deep smoldering love – the kind that was selfless and unwavering where putting your partner first was more fulfilling than anything else. He hoped that would be the story he shared with Jessie.
“You fucking lied, Princess,” Jessie hollered from down the hall.
Blake was pulled from his thoughts as the two women made their way to the living room where Blake and Colton were enjoying a beer while they waited for them. Meg entered first, head to toe glam, as usual – she loved a good party and dressing up. She lived for opportunities like this, a true girly girl who loved pretty clothes that didn’t consist of plaid, flannel, or faux fur mountain wear. And make-up – anything for make-up.
“You know you’re not a boy, right?” Meg fired back. “Like seriously, Jessie…love you, but you’ll never land a man if you always look like you’re going to kick his hiney.”
“Hiney? Really, Fancy Pants? Ass! Say, ass!” Jessie corrected.
“She’s definitely a girl – a hot blooded woman,” Blake said with a low whistle when Jessie entered the room and stole the air right from his lungs.
Both Meg and Colton turned their jaw dropped heads quickly to Blake, both shocked and confused by his admission.
Jessie fidgeted under his smoldering stare as she stood there in a fitted red dress that hit just below her knees, made of all lace. Her hair was up with soft curls falling, drawing focus to her red pouty lips that made Blake’s pants a little too tight in front. She was beautiful.
“What? You okay man? It’s Jessie… Look at her cross eyed, and she’ll kick you in the balls
, Jessie,” Colton reminded.
“Screw you, Sparks,” she fired back. “And I only did that once.”
“See, that’s not pretty
, Jessie,” Meg chimed in.
“No, glitter’s not pretty, Fancy Pants. I told you no fucking glitter. Give me that eyeliner. I know you have it; you’re not hiding it very well.” Jessie held out her hand, waiting for Meg to comply. When Jessie’s hand went to her half-cocked hip, Meg finally let out an annoyed sigh and pulled the eyeliner from the satin sash of her dress and slapped it in Jessie’s waiting hand.
When Jessie walked to a large nearby wall mirror, she darkened her eyes for a smokier look and let out a deep sigh of her own, “I said no glitter. No – glitter.
What does she do? Glittered me! God, I look like a fucking unicorn.”
“Okay – okay. That’s good. That’s plenty. It’s not Halloween, honey,” Meg said with a shriek, trying to get Jessie to ease up on the eyeliner. “You’re…stop…stop…you’re ruining it. Jessie, stop.
“Whoa. Must be some leftover hormones or something. Phew, where did that
come from? Okay, I’ll take that now.” Meg grabbed the eyeliner from Jessie’s hand and quickly dropped it in a nearby drawer, slamming it shut.
Blake walked up behind Jessie with his hands on her waist, looking at her through the mirror. “You look stunning.”
“Really? Because the thong she made me wear is currently flossing my ass, and these shoes she loaned me feel like medieval torture devices,” Jessie admitted in jest.
“You really do,” Blake replied, dropping a kiss to Jessie’s shoulder.
“So…this
is a little weird,” Colton said, waving a finger between Blake and Jessie.
“Finally!” Meg whispered, “I, uh, I am going to let the sitter know we’re heading out. She’s reading a bedtime story to Livie. Colton, can you help me, please.”
Meg hustled out of the room, pulling Colton by his tie, leaving Jessie to giggle. “She grabbed her cell off the table when she went by.”
“Calling the girls?” Blake asked.
“Group text probably. Faster, more efficient, full of bullet points.” Jessie laughed.
Blake turned Jessie to face him and looked over her shoulder before dropping to his knees in front of her.
“Oh, my God, Blake, what are you doing?” she scolded.
“Sshhh…” he whispered as his hands snaked under her dress, lifting it as he did.
He reached for her panties, and pulled them down her legs slowly as he kissed a trail up her thigh. With her hands on his broad shoulders, Jessie braced herself, completely lost in the intoxicating sensations he was stirring. When her lacy garment reached her ankles, she stepped out of them. Blake slid her dress back in place and stood, putting her panties in his pocket.
“Better?” he asked.
“Yes and no. You created an entirely new problem,” she said, shifting from foot to foot, squeezing her legs together, trying to ease the ache between them. The ache he
created.
“Good. I’ll take care of that in the truck. I needed something to do
on the way to this shin dig. If you scream my name loud enough, I’ll give you your boots. They’re in the truck,” he said, referring to her staple combat boots.
“God, you really are my hero,” she said, taking his mouth in a sultry kiss.
Her phone pinged in her purse, grabbing her attention. It was a group text that included all of the ladies from their group. All Jessie could see was a message from Meg that read, “I know, right? Squee!”
Jessie laughed, knowing full well what had happened and what Meg was talking about. She replied to the message with a series of question marks.
She heard a loud gasp down the hall, followed by a faint, oh shoot
, just before her phone pinged again.
“Oops.” Was the first message, followed by another ping that read, “Wrong chat. That was for Colton. It wasn’t about you. Or Blake, either.”
A slew of pings and laughing emoji’s followed from all of the other ladies.
“And, we’re out of the bag,” she said with an eye roll. “Let’s go and get that part over with.”
Blake hollered down the hallway that they were taking off and would meet them there. Then, he grabbed a handful of Jessie’s ass as he followed her out the door and whispered, “I want that dress around your waist as soon as you shut the door in the truck.”
Jessie was hopeful that Blake would take the long route to the event…