— SEVENTEEN —
BY ten o’clock, Jake was more than ready to leave. His girlfriend, on the other hand, was the belle of the ball—literally.
Dani was radiant as she moved around the room, either on her own or on his arm. She disarmed officers and made junior enlisted men blush, and the entire time made sure Jake knew he was the centre of her world. He shouldn’t have chickened out earlier. He’d been so close to getting down on one knee, but he couldn’t get the warning from her parents out of his head. There would be another opportunity. Dani would be just as happy with a proposal during breakfast in bed as on V-Day.
And Jake didn’t want to ignore the possibility that he was more ready to move on to the next stage of their relationship than she was. He knew they’d need to talk about it at some point.
He didn’t think it would be on the drive home.
She sat curled up on the passenger side of his truck, wrapped in a heavy wool pashmina with his parka draped over her lap, because it was minus five and even though he’d heated up the truck first, her dress was just layers of nothing. Lovely nothing, but not warm at all. And at first she talked about the evening, and dancing, and he was listening—really—but he was also paying attention to the road. So he almost missed the moment when Dani proved he didn’t need to worry.
“Which is more your speed? The ball tonight or what Rafe and Olivia did on New Year’s Eve?”
“Both were fine.”
“Fine?” Her teasing tone grabbed his attention and he slid a quick glance away from the road. “No preference?”
“Well, tonight is an annual thing. I don’t think your mother can handle Rafe getting married again, so that was probably a one-time only event.”
“Jake.” The way she said his name, low and slow and full of heat, made him look at her all over again. And this time, he saw she wasn’t just teasing, but saying a lot more than the words coming out of her mouth.
“Oh.”
She grinned and he took her hand before returning most of his attention to the road.
“Well, I’d like a bigger wedding than what Rafe did.”
“Mmm hmmm.”
“And maybe not in the winter.” He rubbed his thumb across her knuckles. “Whatever dress you wear, I’d rather it not be covered up by my coat.”
“Agreed.”
“Maybe rent a big tent and have it at the house?” She made a noncommittal hum and he squeezed her hand. “How about you? What’s your speed?”
“Cottage barbecue, vows on a dock, like at the Fenichs’ place.” She said it quickly, then gasped at herself like she’d surprised herself with the quick and ready answer.
He laughed. “Didn’t know that about yourself?”
“Nope.”
“Okay, good to know.”
“Good to know? Not, okay, that’s what would we do?”
A smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth against his better judgement.
“Wow.” She laughed and wiggled her fingers inside his hand. “Fine. It’s not like these are imminent decisions. I’ve got time to wear you down.”
“You know…usually before a couple starts talking about weddings, the guy asks the girl an important question.”
She didn’t have a quick retort for that, and he had a couple of turns to make off the highway and through town, so he didn’t notice her twisting in her seat until her foot slid into his lap. Her bare foot, attached to her bare leg. His dick knew what he’d find before he turned his head fully and found his gorgeous woman leaning back against the passenger door, her skirt hiked high on her spread thighs. And her hand was the only thing obscuring whether or not she was still wearing her panties. “You sure I can’t convince you my way is best?”
A chuckle rumbled through his chest. Hell, she could talk him into getting married in clown suits if this was her negotiating stance. “This turning you on?”
She nodded and rocked against her hand, her leg sliding under his touch as she shifted. “I’m so wet.”
Jesus. He’d drive off the road if he wasn’t careful. “I bet.”
“Want to touch me?”
“When we get home, absolutely.”
She groaned, an almost silent noise that worked its way under his skin in zero seconds flat. “Your fingers feel so much better than mine.”
“Two minutes.”
“I can probably make myself come in less than that.”
“Don’t.” He squeezed her foot and pulled it against the erection straining at the thick fabric of his dress uniform pants. “Ninety seconds.”
“You can’t rip my dress.” She slowly smoothed the tulle down her legs.
Jake rocked his hips against her foot. “You can’t rip my uniform.”
“Are you really going to ask me—”
“Shhhh. Be a good girl and do as you’re told.” He tapped the garage door remote as he slid in the driveway at home, pulling into his spot. On the other side of the garage, Dani’s car sat exactly where it belonged. “Upstairs. Your choice how the dress comes off.”
He was out of the truck and around to her side by the time she had her shoes and wrap all gathered up, and she let him pick her up, which was for the best. He was carrying her upstairs whether she liked it or not. In their room, he set her down, then started taking off his uniform, draping the jacket, then the tie and shirt, over the chair in the corner. Dani just stood in the middle of the room, barefoot with her arms twisted behind her back, her hair tumbling loose from the updo she’d styled it into earlier. In her dark red dress she looked like a fallen angel, all shadows and sin.
He paused and just looked at her for a minute, then pulled out his phone and randomly selected some music. Anything to push out the nagging doubt in the back of his head that he should drop to his knees now and beg her never to change her mind. Beg her to always want him as much as she did tonight.
But she deserved more than begging. She deserved promises and trust.
He docked his phone on the speakers on his dresser, classic Nine Inch Nails quietly swirling around them, and he paced toward her. He was still wearing his pants, but it was her turn to strip. He gestured slowly with his index finger for her to turn around. She bit her lower lip and fluttered her eye lashes low on her cheeks as she did as instructed.
“You’re so damn saucy, Dani. What did I do to deserve you?” He kissed the base of her neck, right below the necklace he’d given her.
“You waited,” she whispered as he unzipped the back of her dress. She grabbed the fabric as it slipped off her torso and he resisted the urge to haul her backwards against him until after she tucked her dress onto the chair on her side of the bed.
But when she glided toward him, wearing just the skimpiest, laciest pair of panties he’d ever seen on her, he let his restraint fall away. Two rough jerks and his pants were undone. Two big steps and they were falling together onto the bed, mouths colliding and hands groping everywhere.
And she was just as wet as she’d promised in the truck.
— —
Jake slid her underwear to the side, hissing when he found her wet and bare, swollen and ready.
“Inside me,” Dani begged, and he thrust his fingers deep, stretching her as he moved over her. “Jake…”
“I love the way you say my name when you’re turned on.”
“I love the way you get me off when I’m turned on.”
“So feisty tonight.” He nipped at her lower lip, then sucked it into his mouth. She felt the soft tug all the way through her body, and it made her nipples ache and her clit pulse. From a kiss.
“You started it by not letting me have my fun in the truck.”
He loomed over her, eyes glittering and mouth wet from their kisses. “That was a matter of safety.”
“Such a protector,” she whispered, arching into his slow and steady touch.
“Never gonna apologize for that. You’re precious to me.” He kissed his way to her breasts, sucking first one nipple into his mouth, then the other. That drove her out of her mind, and she bucked off the bed, wanting more of him. He yanked her underwear down her hips as he moved quickly down her body, then kissed her mound before latching on to her entire sex with his hungry, eager mouth.
Liquid heat flooded her legs, then poured into her abdomen. Dani cupped her breasts and bit her lip, still feeling the tug of his mouth in all the places he’d sucked on his way to her clit. Worth the wait, and so much better than her fingers. He wasn’t the only one who was rewarded for waiting. He slid his hands under her hips, holding her sex right where he wanted as he licked her straight to a first earth-shattering orgasm. First of many he wanted to give her, she guessed through a muzzy haze as he slowly kissed first one thigh, than the other, waiting for her to come down from sensory overload. But he didn’t move, and before she could tell him to get his ass up the bed and fuck her already, he was between her folds again, driving her back over the edge.
This time, he didn’t wait for her to come down before surging up and into her body, his thighs pushing hers wide as he gripped his erection in one hand and braced himself over her with the other, rocking into her as he did what was essentially a one-armed push-up.
She’d have been more impressed by that if she wasn’t entirely distracted by the feeling of being joined as one with the man she loved. Pure, orgasmic bliss. She’d never get enough of that stretch as he filled her, hard and hot and wanting. Never stop craving him on top of her, claiming her as his own.
And it was a claiming, a possessive fuck made all the more intense because of how beautiful he was—all sculpted muscles and bright eyes, whispered words and hungry hands. He’d wound himself around her, one hand splayed wide in the middle of her back as he moved them as one, thrusting his hips hard against hers, the other palming a breast in a clear statement. Mine.
She wasn’t sure if she orgasmed a third time or if the second one just hadn’t ended when he joined her, spilling himself deep on a final jerk. Either way, she was limp and sated, a woman thoroughly loved on every level. As if she didn’t know already, he muttered it against her hair, then her neck, and finally her mouth. “Love you so much. More than I can say.”
“I know,” she whispered after he kissed her deeply, his tongue still hungry, as if they hadn’t just made the kind of intense love that they usually fell asleep from.
Inside her, he thickened just enough to let her know he wasn’t done, and she half-laughed, half-groaned. “More?”
“More,” he grinned, recovering quickly.
“In the shower, then,” she said, slapping his chest. “Because I love you.”
“And not because you love orgasms?”
“There’s a tipping point where the high isn’t worth the soreness.”
He froze over her. “You’re sore?”
She shook her head. “Not yet.” And even if she was, she didn’t want this night to end. It felt like they’d added a new layer of connection, something deep and thick and wonderful, and she wanted to luxuriate in it. Even if she’d ache the next day.
“I’ll have to be gentle, then, just in case.”
“Not too gentle,” she whispered as he kissed between her breasts, plumping them together for his mouth.
“So gentle. Just my fingers. Slowly, ever so slowly. I love how wet you get when I pet you like that. You squirm so hard against me, and your skin turns the prettiest shade of pink.”
She groaned, tipping her had back as her sex bloomed again, ready for him like she hadn’t just had him. “Screw that, and screw the shower.”
“Nuh-uh-uh.” He dragged himself off the bed, keeping his hands on her until all he touched was her foot, and then he tugged on her leg until she joined him on shaky legs. “Gentle. I’ve got my orders.”
“Belay that order.”
“Too late. My queen has spoken. Whisper soft touches.”
“I’m going to kill you.”
“May I suggest a tongue-lashing?”
With a laugh, Dani gave him a feeble shove. Oh, he’d get a tongue-lashing. It wasn’t like she could stand anyway. Might as well do something on her knees.
— —
Dani fell asleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows again. Jake held her close, a million thoughts racing through his head. He probably wouldn’t have heard his phone ring if it hadn’t been playing music softly in the otherwise silent room. When the music cut out and the screen flashed to a name he could read from across the room, he was tempted to let it go. It was middle of the night on a Friday, and there weren’t any Army exercises going on. But it could be one of his guys—either from the unit or an employee—and if there’d been an accident and he’d ignored it, he’d never forgive himself.
But when he padded across the room, it wasn’t a name he wanted to see on the screen.
“Hello?” He poured as much keep this short crispness as he could into that single word.
“Jake?” Tasha’s voice slipped hesitantly into his ear, like she knew she maybe shouldn’t be calling him at quarter to one in the morning.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I’m fine.”
He looked back at Dani, still sleeping in his bed. Their bed. He grabbed a pair of sweats—because he didn’t need to be naked for this conversation—and stepped out into the hall. “It’s the middle of the night.”
“I’m in Port Elgin at my sister’s, and I’m driving home tomorrow. Thought maybe we could have breakfast.”
“I’ve got plans.” Breakfast in bed plans with someone who wouldn’t like this phone call, he knew that in his gut.
“I talked to David. He’s not thrilled. About the baby.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” He really was, that was a shitty turn for her. “I can’t be a stop on your way north and south anymore, Tash.”
It took her a minute to say anything, and when she did, her voice was small and sad. “You were so good, in the hospital.”
He cut her off, because there weren’t any buts to that sentence. He had a girlfriend, full stop. “You shouldn’t have called me tonight. Or in general. I mean, if you were in a real bind or something…no. There have to be other people in your life that you can turn to, people you haven’t slept with.”
“I thought we were friends.”
“Well, I thought so too, but this conversation has me thinking otherwise.”
“Oh.”
He sighed. “I wish you well, I really do. But you can’t call me in the middle of the night, okay?”
“Shit.“ She started to cry, and he ground his teeth together.
“Can you talk to your sister?”
Wavering breaths filled his ear for a minute, then she sniffed and cleared her throat. “Yeah. I just…I don’t want anyone else to know how much I’ve fucked up, ya know?”
“Jesus, Natasha. You haven’t fucked up.”
“It doesn’t feel like that from here. I didn’t even know I was like five months pregnant. What the hell kind of mother am I going to make?”
He laughed. “Probably an average one. No, a great one. Listen, go wake up your sister and tell her all of this. She’s going to be a better support to you than I can be.”
“God, how much do I suck that I needed to have someone else tell me that?” She groaned. “Okay. Sorry for waking you up.”
He didn’t bother to correct her, and just waited for her to disconnect the line.
“Jake?” For the second time in as many minutes, a woman said his name like a question. But the specifics of that question—Can I trust you? Are you my knight in shining armour?—were different coming from Dani. He’d welcome them from her, though, and wished they didn’t go unasked.
“I didn’t realize you were still awake.”
“I woke up when you left the room.” To take her call. She didn’t say the second part of the statement out loud, but it might as well have been lit up on the wall in neon writing.
“I only stepped out because I thought you were asleep. I didn’t want to wake you. It was Natasha.” He used her full name, suddenly guilty for being so familiar with her for so long when distance would have been healthier for them all.
“I heard.”
“Did you hear me tell her that we don’t have a relationship? That I wish her well, but I can’t be someone that she leans on?”
“I did.”
“She wants to have breakfast tomorrow. I told her no.”
“Why?”
“Because the only person I want to have breakfast with is you.”
Even in the mostly dark room, he could make out a smile. “I appreciate that. But I meant, why does she want to have breakfast?”
“I don’t know.” And any guesses weren’t ones he’d voice to Dani.
She sighed. “If she asked you after you told her you couldn’t be a support person for her, then maybe she has a good reason.”
“Or maybe she’s alone and that sucks.”
“I’m going to regret saying this, but if that’s the case…maybe you should be a friend to her.”
He shook his head. “Not if it interferes with our relationship. She can find other friends.”
“That’s…cold.”
“It’s not. She has a sister. I know she has friends in Tobermory, too. She just hasn’t told any of them about the pregnancy yet. She will, and it’ll all work out. Now let me back into bed.”
She lifted the covers for him, then curled into his side with a yawn. “I sleep so much better with you than without you.”
“What do you say we make that an official thing? You sleeping here every night?”
Her fingers, which had been lazily sliding through the hair on his stomach, froze in mid-stroke. After their conversation in the truck—and the mind-blowing sex—Jake was pretty sure they were on the same track, so he just waited. “That’s not scary for you?” she asked quietly.
He shook his head. “I’m done living without you. No reason for you to keep any of your clothes at your parents’ place.”
“It’s not just clothes,” she mumbled into his chest. “I’ve got a doll collection and an antique sewing machine, plus the acres of paisley fabric I always wanted to make into flouncy curtains.”
That didn’t sound like… “Is this a weird middle of a heavy conversation version of two truths and a lie?”
A hearty laugh burst out of her and she sank her teeth into the skin on his chest just enough to make him squirm. “Okay, it’s official, you get me.”
“The sewing machine, right? You’re not going to inflict paisley on me?”
She nodded. “And I like my bedroom furniture…it would be a nice upgrade from the futon you’ve got in the second spare room.”
“As soon as we can coordinate some days off, we’ll do an official move-you-in day complete with pizza and beer.”
“It’s not a lot of stuff, baby. We could handle it just you and me and your truck.” She yawned again and pressed a sweet kiss to the spot where she’d just bitten him.
“How about, I wouldn’t mind making a big deal about you officially turning this into Casa Foster-Minelli?”
She shrugged lazily, her eyes closed for good again. Her words rolled lazily against his skin. “Okay by me.”
It was okay by him, too. The perfect kind of okay.