He swims up next to me, and my legs seal shut as my body rides out the most satisfying hum I have ever known.
“I bet your battery-operated boyfriend can’t do that.” He buries kiss after kiss in my neck. “You taste sweet, Eight Ball.” He plunges his tongue into my mouth as if to prove his point, and I squirm right back out of that kiss.
“Sweet? Like a candy cane or tropical fruit? Because tropical fruit can be iffy.”
He pulls back with a laugh suppressed in his chest. “Has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?”
“You know you love it.” I reach up and give his ear a swift tug, and the moment grows serious.
“I do.” He lands a soft kiss to my lips. “I love everything about you, Poppy.” My mouth finds his, and our kisses explode into something next level, something I have never experienced before. His body falls over mine, heavy and weighted, and the feel of his naked flesh covering mine is electric. It’s as if my skin has been craving him all of these years, and in this moment right here, it gets its first satisfying taste of what it’s thirsted for. I’ve always thirsted for Jaxson. I’d be a liar if I didn’t admit to it.
My hands ride down the hard ridges of his abs. Jax is built like an Adonis with his supremely sculpted body. My fingers ride down to that hard V I was in deep admiration of when my mother burst onto the scene like some sexual sleuth at the ready. Jaxson’s body is a work to be admired, but I’d much rather go it alone without the aid of the one who pushed me out onto this planet through her loins.
My fingers follow the ridges of that hard V as they point straight to Jaxson’s most prized member, and I run little circles down his hairline until I clasp onto his manhood. And as cheesy as it sounds, it’s just that. Jaxson has grown into a drop-dead gorgeous, delicious tasting man right before my eyes, and now that I’ve taken this first bite out of what was for so long forbidden fruit, I know there is never any going back. All that friendship bullshit ends tonight. I’m in love with Jax, and I always have been.
I pull back abruptly and slap my hand over my mouth at the revelation.
“What’s the matter?” He sweeps the hair off my face. “Don’t worry. I’ve got us covered.” He reaches down and comes up with a condom so fast you’d think his jeans handed it right to him. It wouldn’t surprise me if his Levi’s had superpowers. Everything about this boy seems pretty otherworldly.
“Right,” I whisper as he waves it in front of me as if he were teasing. He tears it open with his teeth, and all I see are those glowing eyes still trained on mine.
Jax pauses as he pulls me over to him. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m great.” It’s just that I finally admitted to myself that I’m madly in love with the boy in my bed, and I can’t bring myself to say it. “I’ve never been better.”
A quiet laugh reverberates through him. “I was just thinking the very same thing.”
Doubtful, but here’s hoping.
He rolls the condom on before giving himself a quick stroke, and that little act sends my body on another quivering spree that sets my solar plexus on fire.
“Oh hell,” I whisper. “Just when I didn’t think you could get any hotter, you have to go and touch yourself.” I try my best to frown up at him. Growing up, we’d bounce back banter on the regular, and a part of doing so was keeping a straight face. I was never any good at it—thus, the smile twitching on my lips.
He winces a moment before pulling me up so that our mouths are just inches apart.
“I have a confession to make.” His voice vibrates from his chest to mine as I wrap my arms around him. “I’m not trying to kill the moment, Pops, but this is pretty serious.”
“You’ve come to your senses and realize you’re about to make the biggest mistake of your life?” I bury my face in my hands a moment as if I just pulled the pin on the truth grenade.
“Not true.” He pulls me up by the chin. “What I realized is that”—his throat jumps as he swallows—“that it’s pretty cool that I get to do this with someone I care about. Someone I love.” He pulls me in by my cheeks and lands a tender kiss to my lips. “I love you, Pops.” His dimples dig in.
“I love you, too, Jax.” I brush my hands over his beautiful face before pressing a kiss into each of those deep divots that sink into his cheeks. My mouth lands over his, and I give his tongue a playful bite.
Jax pulls back and gazes at me as if he’s marveling at what he sees. “I have another confession to make. I have never stopped thinking about you.”
And there it is. Much to my satisfaction, I’ve haunted Jaxson’s mind for the better part of his life.
“I’m going to start off slow, but consider this a warning. Things are about to get rough and rowdy real quick.” His finger drips down my chest achingly slow. “I’ve been greedy to have you for so long.”
My heart thumps wild. Jaxson has spilled every word I have ever wanted to hear. “You do realize that I’m about to turn your body into a pornographic playground.” My nails graze over his rock-hard bottom.
“Well, then”—he straddles me as he lands his chest over mine—“let’s get ready to rumble.”
His mouth crashes over mine, soft, yet determined. I reach down and navigate him to where he needs to be, and with a steady thrust, Jaxson presses into me in one hot blaze of glory.
A nervous laugh bubbles from my throat as I look up at his sleepy eyes. My hand glides over his cheek, and he turns toward it and takes a quick bite before moving in and out of me, slow and steady at first, then just like he promised, rough and greedy. My mattress suddenly decides to do its best impression of a waterbed, and just as Jaxson gets in a few aggressive thrusts, as if he’s trying to teach my vagina a lesson, my headboard crashes over the wall with a thunderous clatter.
“Jax!” His name gets garbled in a laugh as my headboard thunders away. But Jaxson continues with his endeavor as he thrusts his way to completion.
His body shudders over mine as he breaks out into a cold sweat. Jax falls over me, and I cover my face in a whimpering laugh.
“You think that was convincing enough?” He leans in and takes a bite of my earlobe.
“I think we’ve convinced the entire neighborhood.”
Jaxson lands one of his magical kisses over my lips, and we start all over again.
We wrestle it out all night long. I always knew that Jaxson Stade was a beast to be reckoned both under and over the sheets.
It’s bliss like this with Jaxson.
I always knew it would be.
“All night?” Sadie can hardly land her fork to her mouth the next day as we enjoy a late lunch at Starry Nights.
“Thankfully, my parents were nowhere to be seen this morning while Jax and I scarfed down that blueberry pancake breakfast. Who knew a sexual feast of fantastic proportions could leave you feeling as if you hadn’t eaten for days?” I take a quick breath at the memory and quickly gulp down my ice water.
“So back up to the I love yous. Why did you have to muck it up with all that friendship crap? Now it’s going to be a nightmare trying to decipher what he meant.”
“Of course, we love each other. Jax is practically my second brother.” I gag a moment at the thought. “Not that way. It’s you know, that kind of love.” Purely platonic, but I can’t bring myself to say it because for me it isn’t true.
“No, I don’t know.” She pulls her roll apart as if she were readying to feed a thousand pigeons. “Pops, I was married for fourteen grueling months, and I can count on one hand how many times that man said I love you and still have fingers left over.”
“Well, this isn’t like that. We were just...” I pause, fork midair, and suddenly my appetite for the world’s greatest Chinese chicken salad vanishes to nothing. “I don’t know, messing around?” I wince as I say it. “I mean”—I toss my fork into the leafy green jungle plated before me in surrender—“I love him. I meant every word.” Tears come to the party uninvited. “I’ve loved him for so long, and last nig
ht was the culmination of all those jacked-up feelings I’ve had to hide from the time I was seven. It’s not fair.” I grab my drink as if I were about to strangle it.
“What’s not fair?” Sadie gets that incredulous look on her face. “Poppy—you and Jax share something the rest of us have to search our whole lives for, and even when we think we’ve found it, we end up proving ourselves wrong. Face it, what you and Jax have is true love. What happened last night was a testament of your feelings. You said so yourself—you love him. So the question is, how does this fit into that little practical joke you’re pulling on your mothers?”
“Oh—that.” It was a stupid idea to begin with. “Of course, we still have to go through with it. We need to see those women suffer in front of a large assembly of friends and family lest they live to torment us another day. This is our perfect chance—our one moment in time. There’s no way we can give up now.”
“But he’s in love with you, and you’re in love with him.” Sadie shakes her head at me with that sickly laugh that screams I pity you, bleating from her throat. “Don’t you see? The jig is up, girl. This is one prank that’s backfired in the most spectacular way.”
I think on this for a moment. “I guess I should talk to Jax about it.” Something in my stomach churns as if deep down I know this isn’t the best idea. “He mentioned something about a business meeting in Denver today, so he won’t get back until late. But I’ll try to bring it up the next time we’re together.” Maybe.
Sadie reaches over and picks up my hand. “I know this will all work out, Pops. Don’t worry. No matter how this ends, I’ll be there for you.”
“Only, I’ll be in California.”
We wrap up lunch, and Sadie invites me to scout locations around Oak Grove for her up-and-coming coffee shop that’s about to take the town by caffeinated storm. Everywhere we go we seem to run into couples laughing, embracing, looking lovingly into one another’s eyes, and for some odd, Jaxson Stade-shaped reason, I’m morbidly jealous of them.
We stop outside of the Pine Crest Bakery and look in at the sad display of old, plain-looking cakes that no one seems interested in, save for the fly trapped in the refrigerated case. Sadie really called it.
A man and a woman skip on by, chortling at nothing in particular. Her cheeks are rosy, and his eyes filled with far too much lust for Main Street in the middle of the afternoon, and now I wish I had held on to that fork from lunch because I’d really love to stab their collective eyes out.
“Is it wrong that every time I see a happy couple, I want to throttle both of them?”
Sadie starts in on a laugh before it quickly defuses to a rife look of worry. “You do realize throttling innocent people will probably lead to a felony charge.”
“Only if I achieve my goal of killing them.”
“Oh, Pops” —she lands an arm around my shoulder—“I’m sorry you’re in the mood for a good killing spree. As your best friend, I like to help propagate your shenanigans, but seeing that it might garner me an orange jumpsuit, I’ll have to put the kibosh on this one.”
“How could I have let him run away with my heart like this? Jaxson isn’t going to pick up Stade Steel and move to L.A., and I’m not going to pack up the UGG boots I’ve amassed and move back to Oak Grove—although the aforementioned collection would be much better suited in a subarctic climate such as this. But you’ll be glad to know they don’t really roast your feet at seventy degrees since wool can be comfortably worn at stable temperatures, but I digress. If I move back home—and I really do consider Oak Grove my home—then Jaxson will think I’m some desperate stalker.” I let out a Sasquatch-worthy groan. “This started out in the name of revenge, and I’m afraid it’s going to have to end there. I knew no good would come from trying to pull a fast one on those mischief mavens.”
“This is all their fault.”
“This is all their fault.” My blood boils at the thought of my mother and Deb ruining yet another major milestone in my life—first love.
Jaxson will always be my first love no matter how bad our mothers manage to botch what could have been.
On Saturday, exactly one week from the party, Jax invites me to his mother’s home for dinner. And even though I’ve known Debbie Stade all my life, the thought of joining her for dinner as her son’s main squeeze has me in a state of panic. I change three times from a skin tight nude number that made me look like a stripper, to jeans and a sweater that made me look as if all my other clothes were buried in an overflowing hamper, to the final ensemble of the evening, a white lace top that screams both sexy and conservative and a pair of black velvet pants because what in the hell goes with lace, anyway? Of course, I pair the outfit with my Louboutin heels because nothing says I’m making bank in L.A. more than a thousand-dollar pair of the sexiest heels on Earth. I toss on my pea coat and drive like mad for the Stade house because all of those wardrobe changes put me behind schedule a good forty-five indecisive minutes.
But I’m good and excited and feeling on top of the world because not only is Jax back in my life—in my heart and on the lucky off chance in my body—but I had an official job offer come in from Kleese and Sloane Designs that I promptly accepted on the spot. Not that going back to L.A. is a dream come true, but it sure helps with the bills. The thought of a couple thousand miles splitting the distance between Jaxson and me dampens my mood, so I put the thought out of my head for the time being.
I park and slip and slide my way to the door. Note to self: High heels do not a good snowshoe make. And believe me, after living in Oak Grove all my life, I’m well aware of the fact. But I have to make Deb believe I’m putting an effort in to impress my man—even if I am really putting an effort in to impress my man.
Jaxson opens the door with a huge toothy grin on his face and his nephew Jensen in one arm.
“Hey, cutie!” I pat little Jensen over the top of the head. He has Jaxson’s bright blue eyes and those requisite Stade dimples. Jensen could easily pass for Jaxson’s son, and the thought makes my ovaries plead for mercy. Is it terrible that I wish that wild romp Jax and I shared in my childhood bedroom actually led to a child? I admit I was a touch disappointed when he drummed up that condom, then two, then seemingly twelve. I mean, dear God, have a value pack—will travel? Talk about egotistical assurance that he was going to get laid. That’s some serious balls that boy was packing, and I mean that in both the literal and figurative sense.
“I think you’re okay yourself.” I lean up and brush a quick kiss over Jax’s cheek, and he widens that smile. He’s donned a bright blue flannel that sets off his eyes like flames, the hint of that white cotton T-shirt straining under the duress of his muscles makes my girl parts whimper, and those well-worn Levi’s. There is something inherently sexy about a boy in well-worn Levi’s.
“You look beautiful.” He dips in with a kiss of his own. “Some men give flowers, and I’m giving you a son.” He pretends to toss Jensen at me, and the little boy explodes in laughter.
“Finally!” Kali grunts when she spots me. “Jax’s ho is here!” she barks, prompting Jules to pop into the room and glare at me.
“Don’t call her that,” Jax barks right back. “Sorry,” he mouths.
Why would Kali call me his ho? That’s what we used to call Jaxson’s vaginal jukeboxes as a team, and now she’s turned on me. Kali and I seemed to get along okay, but that was years ago. It’s clear she’s long forgotten all about me. She was only starting junior high when I left. I’ll have to make it a point to get back on her good side.
I give a friendly wave to Jules. Jules and I go way back. We were never really close. She’s sort of like that cousin you were forced to see on holidays and special occasions that never really talked all that much to you—and secretly thought she was better than you.
“Food’s getting cold,” she scowls as she scoops up her son and heads to the dining room.
Jaxson wraps his arms around me from behind and presses a kiss to my neck. His warm col
ogne soothes me, and I’m hoping his spiced scent and heated affection will be enough to get me through the hostile waters I’ve ventured into. I know they will.
“Let me take your jacket.” He helps me slide it off and is quick to place it on the coatrack.
“You don’t think anyone’s upset with me, do you?” I wrap an arm around his waist as we head into the grand dining room painted pink and gold, a color combination only Deb Stade and her billions can pull off.
“Why would anyone be upset with you?” He lands another kiss to my cheek just as Deb comes out to greet us.
“Look at the lovebirds!” She pulls us into a dual embrace. “My—don’t you look virginal in white lace.” She offers a sly wink with her dark hair coifed to the ceiling and her lips a bright, cheery red. “We all know that’s a bit of a fib, now don’t we?” She touches the tip of my nose before scurrying off to her seat, and both Jax and I exchange a quick glance.
Oh my shit. My virtue was just called out as an appetizer, cold, and yet with a little kick you don’t feel until after. It’s clear my mother has rattled off the naked truth about Jax and me. And I get it. Deb is her very best friend. That would be like me keeping things from Sadie, which is practically a capital offense.
We take our seats to a table full of food that I’m sure Deb prepared herself. She might have more money than every small nation combined, but she’s not giving up her God-given right to party in the kitchen.
A nice mixed salad and a side of creamed green beans look delicious. The glibbery mass of pink bovine is still mooing, so I think I’ll take a hard pass on pretending to be a carnivore. In all honesty, I can’t remember the last time I ate any part of a cow. I guess L.A. has changed me. I would have been much happier if it were bento boxes all around tonight, but I’m just thrilled to have been invited to enjoy a meal with the Stades so I don’t say boo—or in this case, moo.