Jordan

“Well, that dinner was certainly interesting,” Destiny said, walking up to the front door of Tillie’s home.

I didn’t respond. I was too busy checking out her ass swishing back and forth temptingly as she walked in front of me. After Gavin left, I spent the rest of dinner half-listening while Rebecca filled Destiny in all the drama she hadn’t quite figured out including the entire long story of her first husband cheating on her with that wench. Then I’d spent the rest of dinner alternating between wanting to figure out a way to run Jenni out of town for good, and wanting to rip Destiny out of the booth, haul her ass back here and throw her to the couch and fuck her brains out for being so damn awesome.

Every single time she stood up for herself she impressed the hell out of me.

I tossed my keys to the small table by the front door after we walked in and slammed it closed.

Destiny jumped at the noise and spun around. “You okay?”

“Upstairs,” I said, prowling toward her, my intent clear. “Get your ass upstairs and naked now.”

A visible shiver rolled through her and her face flushed. She grabbed the couch next to her to steady herself. “What’s going on with you?”

Her lips lifted into a smile, head tilted to the side. She was trying to figure out what was going on? I needed to sink my dick inside of her.

I took another step toward her and lowered my voice. “If you’re not up those stairs in five seconds, I’m hauling you over my shoulder and taking you there myself.”

“You’re being awfully bossy.”

“Don’t pretend you don’t like it.” She loved it. Every time I bossed her around in bed she shivered. More importantly, she listened.

Her bottom lip slid between her teeth and her head turned, looked back at the kitchen, and returned to me. “There’s actually something I wanted to talk to you about first.”

“Later.” I reached for her then, was close enough to get my hands on her waist and she might have been tall, but she was slim, and I was strong. I bent, picked her up and threw her over my shoulder.

She immediately screamed my name and clung to my waist. “Jordan!”

I playfully bit her ass. “Later. If you’re awake enough to talk by the time I’m done with you.”

She laughed then, and it was beautiful, so playful. Despite my need to take her, I also wanted to show her exactly how much I loved her and how much I’d always loved her.

I carried her to her room, the same small room with the same small full-sized bed she’d always had. I didn’t blame her for not taking Tillie’s room when she came back, but sleeping here was a pain in the butt. When I was at the foot of the bed, I bent over, laid her gently on the bed.

She was wearing short, frayed denim cut-off shorts. A simple black top that kept falling off one of her shoulders all night. More than once I’d felt that beautiful shiver skim across her skin when I’d brush my finger at her shoulder to fix it. And despite the urge to screw her into next Tuesday, I still forced myself to slow down.

“You’re so damn beautiful,” I whispered. My hands were at her knees and I brushed them up her thighs, back down, unable to take my gaze off her heavy-lidded eyes as she watched me.

Her tongue peeked out and she licked her bottom lip. “So are you.”

I laughed softly, pulled my gaze down her body, memorized every curve and dip of her breasts, her stomach, her waist, even her toned thighs that flexed and showed cute muscles down their length. I couldn’t wait anymore. I reached up, unbuttoned her shorts and slowly pulled them down her legs. Then her black satin thong beneath. Crawling up the bed, I ripped off my shirt and flung it to the floor and I bent, kissed her legs, her stomach as I pushed her shirt up. My mouth settled on one of her breasts and I bit her nipple through the thin satin until she arched and pressed against me.

My hands were already at my own shorts, unbuttoning, shoving them down with my boxer briefs. Before I got them too low, I grabbed my wallet, pulled out a condom, and threw everything else to the floor.

I was naked, straddling her, and she wiggled and reached for the hem of her shirt pressed above her breasts. “Get this off me,” she said. Desire thickened her voice, spurring me on.

I did what she asked, and we were naked, skin-to-skin, hearts almost beating in tandem against our chests.

Cupping her cheek, I pressed my lips to hers before pulling back and ripping the condom wrapper with my teeth.

“I love you,” I groaned, running the condom down my length. My balls were already pulled tight. My dick hard as fuck. “Let me show you how much.”

A wicked gleam hit her eyes at the same time her lips lifted. Her legs spread wide, knees bent and she wiggled her finger in a come hither gesture. “Show me what you got,” she teased, smiling, happy…exactly how I wanted her to always be.

Then I spent the rest of the night showing her with my body, my hands, my cock, and my mouth exactly how much I wanted her, how much I loved her. By the time we were done, cleaned up, sated and exhausted, we’d used the four condoms I’d brought. I couldn’t think of a single thing other than the fact that when Destiny snored after a night of hot sex, slow sex, better than anything in life sex, she was cute as hell.

“Hey,” I whispered, brushing my lips over my cheeks. She’d fallen asleep in my arms almost immediately, but as I was about to follow her, I remembered she wanted to tell me something. “Did you want to talk?”

“’Morrow,” she mumbled and snuggled in deeper. “Love you.”

“I love you, too.”

I kissed her cheek again and tightened my arms around her. I was sweaty from all the sex and with her naked body against mine, I felt like I’d jumped into a furnace, but I didn’t push her away. Somehow, we were doing the impossible and moving on from lies and horrific decisions. I never wanted her out of my arms again.

* * *

She was beautiful, resting on her side facing me. Hands pressed together beneath her cheek with the faint hint of a smile on her lips. A part of me wanted to roll her to her back, spread her thighs, slide my lips across the creamy, silken expanse of her stomach and hips until I reached the sweet spot I feasted on last night.

Destiny had grown in the decade we were apart. Not just in age, but in wisdom and strength and with a freeing, wild side to her, I caught myself wondering, had we stayed together, would she have changed into this fiery, self-assured woman she’d become?

Or would she have stayed the wallflower, content to be at my back while I fought our battles for both of us? It would have been a task I would have happily taken on, but for the first time, I truly understood why she’d left. She’d left knowing she needed to become this woman. She’d left knowing that while that life we would have had was enough for me, she was the one who would have suffered.

It was still selfish. It was still the wrong decision.

I stared at her, physical need urging me to wake her. But it was my desire to see to her emotions as well that forced me to roll out of bed and tug on my shorts from last night. She needed rest, because later, after we picked up Toby from Brooke’s, I wanted to take them to the city for the night. We’d get tickets to the Royals game, we could stroll the mall at The Plaza, and we’d spend the weekend, out of town, doing everything a family did.

She was giving me that shot to give that to her, and I was running out of time to convince her to stay.

The scattered boxes all over the house as I headed toward the kitchen, told me she still might be considering leaving since she was still in the throes of packing up all of Tillie’s old things.

I couldn’t let that happen. I refused to let that happen. I had my son and the only woman I’d ever loved with me, and damn it…I was keeping them.

Once I reached the kitchen, I ignored the packed boxes stacked inside the door that led to the backyard. I focused on the coffeepot, dumped a leftover pod from yesterday and dug through the drawer beneath her maker for a new one. If I knew Destiny as well as I believed I did, if the smell of coffee didn’t rouse her from sleep, the sizzle of bacon cooking would.

Grabbing the contents of breakfast from the fridge, my arms were loaded with bacon and eggs, a package of shredded cheese and orange juice and milk cartons in my hands. I shoved it all to the kitchen counter, haphazardly dumping all of it.

A stack of papers on the counter shifted, and one piece fluttered to the floor.

I ignored it in favor of coffee. Cooking half-asleep would end up with bacon grease burns on my chest.

Coffee done, I poured myself a cup, prepared a new pod and once I’d taken the first few sips, I bent down to grab the paper on the floor.

Flight confirmation

Two words. They jumped out at me like a rattlesnake, quick and painful, sinking lethal fangs into my flesh before I knew it was primed for an attack.

My eyes scanned the document, my body chilling as I read.

One-way.

Two people.

Footsteps approached, thundering loudly on the old wood floor.

My eyes lifted, my hand raised, and before I could filter out anything, take a second to think, said, “What the fuck?”