Chapter 27

Pacey

 

 

I was whistling under my breath as I trimmed the hedges for our young, trophy wife client again. I had only been a few weeks since we’d last been here, but somehow, things had changed. I’d changed. I was walking on fucking sunshine after my date with Juliana last night.

And it wasn’t just because of the sex, although that was pretty awesome. A lot awesome. So much so that it ran through my head about every 15 to 20 seconds. I couldn’t wait to get her underneath me again, but that wasn’t what was making my chest feel lighter than air for first the time since leaving that jungle behind.

It felt like I’d reached the light at the end of a very long, very dark tunnel that I had been certain led straight to hell. Instead, it had led me to Juliana: my very own beam of light. I wasn’t sure how she was going to take the news about May, and I could tell when I dropped her off that she needed space, but I was hopeful. Positive.

Now there was something that I hadn’t felt in fucking forever. I whistled a little louder and Tugger looked up from the across the yard, striding across the freshly mowed grass. “Okay, I’ve been watching you smile like a maniac all morning. I’m going to go ahead and assume you took my advice?”

“I did,” I admitted.

His large hand slapped me on the back as his grin grew wider, eyebrow raised. “And?”

“I did it. I opened up to her and told her about May, the married women, everything.”

Dark eyebrows shot up to the sky as Tugger took a step back, looking at me with concern in his eyes. “How’d she take it?”

I shrugged. “Well, I think. I mean, it’s a lot to take in, but I think she’s doing okay with it.”

“How are you taking it?” he asked, worry coloring his tone. “You haven’t talked about it all that much.”

I met his gaze and the tension in his shoulders relaxed, a small, hopeful smile tugging at his lips at whatever he saw in my eyes. “I feel good, actually. Great. Like a shiny new toy.”

Tugger laughed, slapping me on the back again, wagging his eyebrows at me. “I don’t want to think about your toy, but you look like a new man. Won’t lie to you: it’s great to see you looking happy again. For a while there, I was wondering if we were going to get you back.”

“Throwing me a ‘welcome home’ party?” I smiled, but I was grateful to see him looking at me like anything other than a ticking time bomb for once.

He flipped me off, laughing as he picked up his hedge cutter and got to work next to me. “Nope, throwing myself an ‘end of suicide watch’ party though. You should come.”

The words gave me pause, sobering me up as I looked back at the last few years with a clarity I had lacked before. “Was I really that bad?”

He shrugged, but the darkness returned to his eyes. “Nah, never thought you’d go through with it, but the hole you crawled into once you got back was pretty fucking dark, and you gotta admit, the self-destructive habits you picked up were—”

“Pretty destructive?” I finished for him.

He ran a hand over his hair, glancing at me from the corner of his eye. “Yes. I didn’t know how many more skirts you were gonna try to find May under before something bad happened or you finally let the guilt over doing it bury you.”

We trimmed in silence for a while, before I muttered, “Thanks for bringing me back, Tug.”

“I didn’t. She did. Maybe we should throw her a party instead. You seeing her again?”

“Hoping so. Our relationship is still very much in the fledgling stage, but I’m hoping it’ll turn into something more permanent.”

“Me too, brother,” Tugger said. “Me too.”

Finished with the hedge, we went our separate ways to perform our routine maintenance of the client’s garden. Mrs. Brooks appeared in her screen door again an hour or so later, shooting me that same come hither look that ended in a pretty decent blowjob for me last time.

Tugger noticed from where he was watering the herb garden, giving me a long, worried look, especially when she tugged down on her shirt to expose the tops of her creamy breasts and lacy beginnings of a bright red bra. Strangely, despite the fact that I knew how good she was with her mouth, I had absolutely no interest in going inside.

The only person I wanted to fuck was Juliana. She also happened to be the only person I wanted to think about fucking. My dick didn’t react to Mrs. Brooks in the slightest; he wasn’t interested either. It was not familiar territory for me, but I was okay with it. Instead of walking toward her, I gave her a friendly wave and went about my business without another look in her direction.

With Juliana in mind, I finished up clearing out the beds—our last task for the Brooks house—and pulled my phone out of my back pocket. While it rang, I started collecting our equipment and loading it up. I was about to lose hope that she was going to answer when her chirpy voice came over the line, flooding me with sweet, pure relief.

“Hey, you,” she said.

“Hey. How’s your day going?”

She sighed softly, “Long; the clock is part of this conspiracy against me.”

I laughed. “Really? How’d you figure?”

“It stands still while I’m looking at it. How’s yours?” I glanced toward the house, where Mrs. Brooks had taken to lounging by the pool in a string bikini that I previously would’ve taken off with my teeth. Still, I had zero urge to fuck her.

Interesting.

“Boring. The only thing keeping it interesting is thinking about you.”

There was slight pause. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“What were you thinking?” Nothing I was getting into while standing next to my truck with Tugger within earshot.

“You have any plans for tonight?” I asked, trying to pull my mind out of the gutter. Unfortunately, it clung to that bad boy like a parasite and memories of how she tasted when she came on my tongue jumped to mind.

Christ. I had to get my brain under control or I was going to pop a boner in a client’s yard. Not cool.

“I was actually considering cooking dinner for a certain handsome ex-SEAL. You know any?”

I laughed, glancing at Tugger, who was shamelessly eavesdropping. “The only one I know in town has an ugly mug. And he’s married.”

“So, more your type than mine, then?” she quipped and giggled.

“Touché, baby.” I couldn’t change the past, but I could joke with her about it if that helped her come to terms with it. “You were saying something about dinner?”

“Yes. Wanna come over? Wait, before you say anything, I should warn you that I’m an awful cook. My culinary skills leave everything to be desired.”

“I’m still in.” The only thing I desired was her anyway. “What time will you be done?”

“I should be home just after 5; can you come over around 6?”

“I’ll be there,” I promised. “With bells and whistles on.”

“Oooooh, how’d you know I have an elf fantasy?” she joked, but of course my gutter mind still went right where it shouldn’t, picturing her at Christmastime wearing nothing but—

No, Christmas was months off. I couldn’t go there, even in my mind. Not until I knew where she was standing on the whole May thing.

“I didn’t, but I’m game if you are,” I told her honestly. Hell, if it meant I got to keep her for at least a little while, I’d go buy the outfit right now.

Juliana laughed, the light, happy sound causing the glow that had been in my chest since I woke up that morning—after a surprisingly good night’s sleep—to crank to nuclear levels.

“Calm down there, cowboy. Or Elfie,” she giggled. “See you at 6?”

“Can’t wait!” That was 100 percent true. My attraction to Juliana surpassed even what I’d felt with May, and thus far, it seemed like the feeling was mutual.

The rest of the afternoon dragged, and I made a mental note to tell Juliana my watch had joined the clock’s conspiracy, but I was finally in the shower and would be heading over to her house in less than an hour.

I’d set the water to a cool temperature, lathering myself up with soap, still unable to stop thinking about Juliana. As I washed, my mind drifted to what it felt like when she touched me, to how her pussy clenched me like a vise when she came. I imagined her being in the shower with me, what her body would look like wet and glistening.

Taking my cock in hand, I started stroking and imagined that it was her hand on me. The need I’d felt for her all day was relentless, trying not to think about her was torture, and now that my imagination had finally run away with me, my dick was throbbing fucking hard in my hand.

I needed to come so badly that my knees shook slightly from it. My balls were tight and achy. I gripped my cock harder, tension starting to tingle in the base of my spine. Then I realized what the hell I was doing and let go of myself completely.

My body protested, and a loud groan escaped from my lungs, but no. I punched the wall and flipped the water to freezing cold to stave off my very imminent orgasm. I was saving everything I had for Juliana.