TWENTY-FOUR

Jared

My sister is already rummaging in the kitchen when I untangle myself from Mia and leave her sleeping a bit longer.

“Did you fix it?”

First thing in the morning and she’s already throwing attitude. Granted, she’s the one who threatened physical harm last night, if I didn’t get my dumb, knuckle-dragging ass in there to make things right, but wait for the damn coffee before chirping at me. Instead of going on the defensive, I crowd her against the counter and wrap her in a hug.

“Morning to you too, sunshine. Got coffee?”

“Well, did you?” she repeats, pushing away. At least this time she fills my mug with my morning essential. Living with my sister isn’t always easy, when she has a tendency to be all up in my face about stuff, but she knows how to set me straight and does a damn good cup of coffee.

“We’re fine.”

“That’s it? That’s all I’m gonna get?” she sputters.

“All I’m gonna give you. We talked, we slept, we’re fine.” I hide my smile behind the rim of my coffee mug. I know damn well she’d like a blow-by-blow, so she can chew on and analyze every word that was exchanged, but it’s frankly none of her business. She opens her mouth to protest, but Ole chooses that moment to announce he’s awake, so all I get is a glare. I quickly kiss the top of her head as I pass her on my way out of the sliding doors to have my coffee in peace.

That’s where Mia finds me a little later.

“Need fresh?” she asks when she reaches me, indicating my empty cup.

“Maybe in a bit. Need a kiss though.” I tilt my head back and wrap my arm around the back of her knees, when she bends down to make good on my request. “Morning,” I mumble against her lips, while stroking the back of her leg.

“Morning.” I like the soft smile on her face when she echoes me. “I need to work in my garden today,” she says, sitting down beside me and glancing over to her place. “I think I’m going to have to do some canning or else a lot of my crop will go to waste.” I reach over and put my hand on her knee.

“I can help,” I offer. “I need to be in Toronto for the three o’clock meeting, but I have time this morning.” I have no damn idea about gardening—or canning for that matter—but I have a feeling it might be a dirty job, which requires getting clean after. My mind has no problem seeing us doing either or both of those. Plus, we’ll be all alone.

“What are you grinning about?” she asks, tilting her head as she watches me with a half-smile of her own.

“Nothing,” I lie, putting on an innocent face. “Look forward to getting dirty.”

“Riiight,” she drawls, a twinkle in her eyes.

-

I’m not having so much fun about two hours later when the fun of watching Mia bend over, sticking her ass in the air, has worn off a little. Weeding seriously sucks. She’d tried me on the tomatoes, but after I squeezed a few too hard when picking them, she reassigned me to weed duty, which is killing my back and making my knee throb. Never figured gardening to be physically challenging. I straighten up and stretch my lower back, glancing over at the two bushel baskets filled to the top with vegetables.

“Want those inside?” Mia lifts her head from where she had it buried in the pepper plants.

“If you don’t mind.”

I’m at her sink, scrubbing the dirt from under my nails, when she walks in and closes the door behind her. When I look up she’s leaning her back against it, a little smirk on her face.

“This is dirty work,” I observe, wiping my hands on the towel.

“I know, isn’t it fun?” The smirk spreads to a genuine smile as she tries to blow a curl sticking to her forehead.

“Up for debate, but I’m pretty sure the getting clean part can be fun,” I point out, stalking toward her. She ducks under my arms and snickers, skipping down the hall to her bedroom. Baby wants to play.

I’m just in time to see a glimpse of her disappear into the adjoining bathroom. The pile of dirty clothes on the floor tells me she’s not wearing much and I hurry to dump mine on top as I hear the shower turn on. The simple plastic curtain is drawn when I follow her into the bathroom, but I can see the outline of her body and stop to admire her for a minute. Mia is not tall, she just reaches my chin, but she fits there perfectly. Instead of the tall, lean, and tight bodies I used to be drawn to, hers is much different.

Curved, soft in all the right places, and wholesome in a way that makes me want to bury myself in her and plant my babies. I can say with conviction that thought never entered my mind with anyone but Mia. She’s not some fantasy—she’s a real flesh and blood woman I can’t see myself ever tiring of.

“Are you coming in or are you just gonna stare?”

Pulling back the curtain, I step under the stream of lukewarm water and immediately wrap myself around her slick, wet body.

“You’re beautiful.”

Her face lifts up and she treats me with a brilliant smile.

“Hardly,” she says. “But I’m happy that’s what you see.”

“It’s all I see,” I admit, bending to kiss her deeply.

The feeling of skin sliding against skin, her fingers tangling in the hair at the nape of my neck, and the rub of my dick—already hard in anticipation—pressed against her soft belly, has me moan against her mouth. My hands slide down and each grabs a handful of her ass cheeks, and I can’t help squeezing the soft flesh. It elicits a responding moan from her, muffled by our kiss. I let myself sink to my knees, pulling Mia down with me, and with one hand in the small of her back and the other coming up to cup her head, I lay her down on the shower floor.

“Jared...” she mumbles when I lift my body away from hers.

“Shhh...” I soothe, one hand, fingers spread wide, stroking her front from the base of her neck, down her chest and belly to the soft hair of her patch. I lazily caress my fingers through her folds, already slick with want. The flush high on her cheeks, and the slight purse of her parted lips, evidence of her need. But it’s the deep green of her eyes that betrays her heart. Trust is all I see there as she lies back with the water streaming down on her, completely open to my hands and eyes.

I watch those eyes widen slightly as I reach for the handheld showerhead. A twist of the dial, and the water flow changes to the pulsing stream I was hoping for. I can hear her sharp intake of breath when I spread her pussy lips with the fingers of one hand, and with my other, aim the stream of water for her mons. She moans and lifts her hips into the pulse of the shower, moving so it hits at the top of her slit. Everything she feels is laid out plain as day on her face, and I can’t drag my eyes away. I struggle to keep my hands still as I watch her get herself off with just the slightest of shifts against the water and my hands.

“Fuck, baby...you take my breath away,” I groan, feeling her body wind up for release.

An urgent need to be inside her has me toss the shower to the side, and drop down between her legs. Already she has her hips tilted for me, and in one move I bury myself to the root. I fight for control but lose, as her core clenches around my cock. I can’t do anything to stop the surge of my hips, mindlessly chasing my own release as Mia falls apart around me, my name from her lips bouncing off the tiles.

I can still hear the echo when I feel the hot stream of my seed pump into her.

“Mia? Are you here?”

Mia

“Shit!”

I’m frozen until I hear Jared’s hissed curse and try to scramble out from under him, but his body continues to pin me down.

“Jared!” I hiss back, only to feel his body start shaking with laughter on top of me.

“Give us a minute,” he yells, humour lacing his voice, while I close my eyes and die of embarrassment.

“I’ll just be on the porch!” Steffie hollers back, clearly amused as well, and I listen for her footsteps to disappear down the hall.

“I’m not going out there,” I whisper, as Jared gently pulls me to my feet. I drop my head to hide my burning face, but he won’t let me. He lifts my chin with his fingertips and leans his forehead against mine. Our noses are almost touching.

“Oh yes, you are,” he insists. “We’re both going out there. We both have some fences to mend with your friend. Right after we get cleaned up.” He gives me a quick brush of the lips and then quickly puts the shower back in order so we can rinse off.

“We did it again,” I point out, as he hands me the bar of soap, much calmer than yesterday.

“I know,” Jared declares with a grin, which only grows bigger when I glare at him. “Look,” he adds, a little more serious as he cups my face. “You said the likelihood of pregnancy is very remote, and I like the thought that every time I’m inside you, we allow destiny to take its course. I’ve got to admit, I get a kick out of even just the possibility we might be creating something beautiful beyond that moment.”

Damn him for making my knees buckle with his words, when my friend is pacing a hole in the floor of my porch.

“Jared...” I start a feeble protest, but I don’t get far. His index finger firmly presses against my lips.

“Just go with the flow,” he whispers, right before he steps out of the shower, grabbing a towel off the rack and disappears into my bedroom.

Right.

By the time I’m dry and dressed, I can already hear the sound of their voices coming from outside. I pause for a moment, listening for any tension between them, but all I hear are Jared’s low chuckle and Steffie’s excited chatter. Griffin snorts softly in greeting when I walk past his bed, giving him a distracted scratch behind the ears, on my way to the sliding door.

“There she is,” Steffie greets me, a massive smile splitting her face before I disappear in her embrace. “And I’ve gotta say, getting some looks good on you.” I roll my eyes to the ceiling at her lack of filter, but per usual she ignores me as Jared tries hard to hide his shit-eating grin. “And you’ve gotta forgive me,” Steffie plunders on. “But getting told off by my best friend, whom I’ve never even heard raise her voice, was a shock to the system. No way I wasn’t going to come check things out for myself.”

I groan and drop down on the couch where Jared tugs me close and kisses the side of my head.

“On that note, I’d better check in with Jordy and get changed before I head out,” he says standing up and facing Steffie. “Will you be staying?”

“Oh, hell no,” Steffie answers, waving her hand dismissively. “I’m driving back after dinner. I’ve got a six a.m. induction and I’d like to try and get some sleep. Tomorrow’s gonna be a long day.”

“Well in that case, you might be gone before I get back,” he says, nodding at Steffie. “Nice putting a face to the name.”

My friend beams before blurting, “Nice putting a body to yours.” I snort when I see Jared’s eyebrows shoot in his hairline and a faint blush stain his cheeks. Steffie is her own brand of forward. “My Doug’s gonna shit himself when I tell him I caught The Enforcer with his pants down.”

With a quick distracted peck to my forehead, Jared makes tracks out the door, leaving Steffie and me in tears of hilarity.

“I like him,” she says, unapologetically watching him make his way around the inlet, all the way into his house.

“Yeah, I like him, too,” I admit when she turns to face me.

“You love him. You’d never have gone off on me like that if you didn’t.” She points her index finger at me and I swat it away.

“I might,” is all I’ll give up, but the smile on my face is too obvious.

Just like that, whatever wrinkle popped up in our friendship, is ironed out again.

-

“I made some fresh pasta sauce, do you want me to bring some over?”

Steffie helped me process this morning’s harvest and a few very gratifying rows of jars of salsa, pickled beets, onion relish, and chutney filled my counter. With the remainders I’d been able to put together a thick tomato based sauce, most of which is in containers in the freezer, except for one large pot on my stove. I just got off the phone with Jared, who said things went well, but that he’d likely be late since Brian had something else lined up for him. I promised him I’d check in on his sister.

We didn’t discuss this morning. Doesn’t mean it isn’t on my mind. Things are moving fast and it feels like I’m being swept along, but then I’m not exactly doing much to put the brakes on either. It’s terrifying, and liberating at the same time.

“You don’t have to. There’s plenty of food here,” Jordy answers, a little distracted.

“Well, I can give you a little break from Ole,” I offer, struggling to get my mind back on the conversation.

“Actually, someone’s already offered to bring me dinner,” she admits. “I think we’re good.”

I don’t have to guess at who that someone might be, I can hear it clear in her voice.

“In that case, say hello to John for me and I’m right here should you need me.” The soft giggle on the other side makes me smile. “Want me to shoot Jared a message to come here instead of there?”

“God no! John has a shift starting at ten. This’ll be breakfast for him.”

I’m still smiling when she ends the call.

“Busy place,” Steffie concludes, tilting her head in the direction of the other house, where the now familiar black and white SUV rolls to a stop in the driveway. We both watch the tall, uniformed man get out, holding a few brown paper bags and a pretty bouquet of flowers. I pull Steffie away from the screen and usher her inside, when we see Jordy opening the door.

After dinner, and helping me store away the jars for winter, Steffie gathers her things.

“Promise me you won’t hang up on me again,” she says, folding me in a bear hug. “I understand why, but it freaked me out.”

“Promise,” I mumble, my head buried against her shoulder where she is holding it. “And bring Doug and the kids next time. Maybe on Labour Day weekend?” I finally manage to untangle myself from her hold.

“I don’t think he’ll need much persuading,” she says, already moving down the steps. “Call me, I want to stay up to date.” She nudges her head in the direction of the OPP vehicle, still parked in the driveway on the other side of the water.

I watch until her taillights disappear behind the trees before calling Griffin inside and closing the door.

Steffie’s last words have me emotional. In all the years I’ve lived here, it was always me who asked her to keep me up to date on her life. I simply didn’t have enough of one to have anything new to report. But I have a life now.

The sound of a sliding door closing draws my eyes to Jared’s house. Backlit by the indoor lights, I see Jordy’s shape make its way to the end of the dock where John is rising from his seat. Almost seamlessly she slips in his arms and tilts her head back as his bends low.

I immediately turn and go inside.

Their first kiss should be theirs alone.