Chapter 26

Ethan

I MANAGED TO BREAK MYSELF from my writing long enough to go to the grocery store and pick up everything I thought we’d need for Thanksgiving dinner. I looked at the clock after putting everything away, wondering where Jenna was. She’d texted me when she left, and I thought she would have been here by now. I’d give her another half hour before I called her. It was the day before Thanksgiving, the busiest travel day of the year, so maybe she just got stuck in traffic. I pulled my ringing phone from my pocket, certain it was Jenna, only to be disheartened when I saw it was Edward.

“How goes the writing?” was my greeting from him after I answered.

“Hello to you, Edward?” I didn’t hide my sarcasm.

“How are you doing, Ethan?”

“Fine.”

“Please tell me that fine includes some words on your computer.”

“I’m making progress.”

“That’s music to my ears.”

I sighed heavily. I hated feeling like a trained circus monkey, needing to perform just to keep other people happy. “Yeah, whatever.”

“Well, can you give me a little sneak peek of what it’s about?”

“I’m resurrecting an old project.”

“And…that would be?”

“Remember the one I was working on a while back that I’d told you about and just wasn’t feeling?”

“The one you deleted?”

“Yeah. Well, I went with the same idea and started from scratch, and I’m okay with it now.”

There was a long pause before he responded. “Ethan, I think maybe you should be doing something that’s a little more on trend now. Zombies are the big fad now in your genre. Monopolize on that instead of reinventing an old idea.”

“What are you talking about, Edward? You were the one who was on my case to finish that story.”

He let out a nervous chuckle. “Yeah, about two years ago. Things change quickly in the writing industry. You know this.” He continued to babble on, but he may as well have been speaking Greek when I heard a knock on the front door. “I just think—”

“Edward, I have to go.” I hung up the phone and headed to the door to greet Jenna. Just one look at her standing on the front porch, dressed casually in her ripped-up jeans and her hair pulled off her face in a ponytail, washed away all my grief from the past few days. It was amazing how she always managed to have that ability. I opened the door and took her bag from her, pulling her into me, unable to resist getting my lips on hers.

“Is that the way you greet everyone who visits?” She giggled when our kiss ended.

“Just the really gorgeous ones I can’t stop thinking about.”

“Boy, you must’ve really been shut in if you think this no makeup, messy bun look is gorgeous.”

“I think it’s absolutely beautiful.” My tongue found its way down her throat once again. I couldn’t believe how much I missed her, and seeing her right now only reaffirmed that. She took my face in her hands and rubbed her thumb down my cheek line.

“Well, I think you look absolutely beautiful too.” She grinned. “And as much as I’d love to stand here and kiss you all day, I foolishly drank a boatload of water driving here and I’m going to burst…can I use the bathroom?”

“Right there.” I pointed to the powder room right off the foyer.

“You’re a lifesaver!” She brushed my cheek with her lips before rushing off while I took her bag upstairs to the bedroom.

I was just coming down the stairs as she exited the bathroom. “So, now that my bladder isn’t in the way anymore, where were we?” She looped her arms around my neck and kissed me once again. My hands moved up her shirt and my body came alive like it always would when she was around. “You know what I was thinking as I was driving here?”

“How much you want to put me out of this sexual torture I’m in right now?”

She shook her head and giggled. “Where do you write?”

“Where do I—really, Jenna? I think that can wait. I’m dying here.”

“No, really, I want to know.”

“Your ADD kicks in at the worst possible times. You know that?”

She shrugged her shoulders, and I took her hand and led her into my office. “Wow!” she exclaimed when she entered and looked out the window at the view of the mountains in the distance. “I think I could write a bestselling novel too with a view like that!”

“You think?” I smiled over her enthusiasm.

She walked to my desk and ran her hand over the mahogany finish. “So, this is where all the magic happens? If my former co-workers only knew I touched Jonathan Reed’s desk.”

I inched closer to her with my hands in my pockets, backing her into my desk. “And what do you think they’d say if you told them you had sex on his desk?”

“I usually don’t kiss and tell, but if I did, I think they’d be super jealous. Well, some of them anyway.” She laughed.

I took my hands from my pockets and grabbed her face, picking up where we’d left off a few minutes ago. Our lips remained locked as I pushed the papers off my desk to clear some space. She stepped out of her boots while I unbuttoned her jeans. She took them off and helped me undo mine, giving them a tug until they fell to the floor along with my boxers. I lifted her on my desk and she wrapped her legs around me. Letting out a deep breath when I entered her, I tried to maintain a slow and steady rhythm, so it wouldn’t be over too soon. My lips trailed down her neck and her hands moved up and down my back, our breaths getting heavier with each movement.

Jenna did something to me I’d never experienced with any other woman. My mind was completely focused on her and her beautiful body whenever I was with her. With every other woman I’d been with, including Darrah, sex was just an action that needed to be performed to get to the endpoint. But with Jenna, I wanted it to last. I wanted to know every inch of her body—what she liked and what she wanted. I was with her emotionally and not just physically. When we became one, she silenced my inner demons and made me feel whole again. My tongue slid in her mouth as my thrusts became deeper and harder. She opened her eyes and pressed her forehead to mine before letting out a gentle cry and calling out my name. I focused on her beautiful face and it was only a matter of seconds before I finally gave in and found my release as well.

I hugged her tightly while we both tried to catch our breaths. “Was I your first on this desk...oh forget it, I don’t want to know the answer to that.”

I kissed her on the forehead and smiled. “Actually, you were.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Wow, I feel so special.” She teased as she reached up and moved a strand of hair from my face.

“That’s because you are special.”

“Oh, I bet you tell all the girls that,” she joked.

“No…I don’t.” There was no joking tone to my reply.

Her eyes filled with emotion. “Well, I guess I’m a pretty lucky girl,” she whispered.

“No, Jenna. I’m the lucky one.”

She threw her arms around me, unaware of how fortunate I was that she’d entered my life. No matter how long she chose to stay in it, I’d never regret having such strong feelings for this gorgeous woman who’d saved me from myself.