“Wait!”
“What?”
“Don’t you want to share?” I ask. “It is sort of both of ours.”
“Yes, but I won it, and . . . I don’t know . . . I mean, how much is it worth to you?”
I lean back, giving him a view of my breasts as I play with my hair. “I’m not sure.”
Jacob grins, his eyes moving up and down. “How about just one lick to start with?” He moves closer, lifting the spoon until it just brushes my bottom lip. “Can you do that?”
“Are you asking if I can resist?”
“Can you?”
“Depends what I’m being told I have to hold out against.”
“Is there something else you’d rather?” Jacob asks, pulling the spoon back.
“I wonder . . .” I move a bit closer, my lips nearing his. “If I were to taste a bit of the ice cream somewhere else.” Jacob’s eyes flare, and my mouth is right there. I could kiss him so easily.
“Where else?”
I fight back the smile when I hear the hitch in his voice.
And then I close my lips around the spoon and take the whole thing.
Jacob lunges forward, grabbing me around my waist. “You little sneak!”
I laugh as I swallow the ice cream and we fall to the cold ground. “Hey!”
“Hey, yourself! You stole my ice cream.” Jacob lies on top of me as he tickles my side.
“What was that about possession?”
“Ice cream thief!”
I giggle and squirm from both his assault and the cold tile beneath me. “Jacob! Stop! I’m sorry!”
His big arms cage me in, and he pushes up a little. “Are you?”
“Maybe.”
One brow raises as he stares at me. “Maybe?”
“Well, I mean, I wanted that ice cream.”
“Did you?”
I nod and press my hands to his strong chest before moving them up to his shoulders. “I did.”
“And what about what I want? That ice cream was on my spoon. You owe me something for taking it from me.”
His words stir the heat inside my core, and I’m awfully glad we’re still naked because it will make round two of tonight much easier.
“I do?”
“Yup.”
I grin, moving my fingers along his jaw. “What do you want?”
His deep voice is low and warm. “Lately, there’s only one thing I want.”
“Yeah?”
He nods. “Yeah, I want you.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Jacob
I roll over, breathing in that warm apple scent that is all Brenna. She shifts in her sleep, snuggling deeper into my arms, and I nuzzle her hair.
Waking up like this is everything I swore I’d never want. I was a liar and an idiot. I don’t know how I’m going to give this up.
She moves a bit more, rolling over a little to look up. “Hi, there.”
“Hi.”
She smiles softly. “How did you sleep?”
It was one of the best nights I’ve had since I’ve been back. There was no wind causing branches to hit the windows or a generator kicking off because it ran out of gas, causing me to wake up in a sticky sweat.
“Good. You?”
She reaches back and runs her nails lightly through the scruff on my cheek. “I slept great, even with your chin scratching me.”
I lean in, rubbing my face against her back, and she laughs as she moves away. “Like that?”
“Yes, knock it off!” She slaps at my shoulder playfully.
“You know, this is the first time I’ve gotten to see you wake up in the morning.”
She rubs her finger against my jaw. “I like it.”
“Me too.”
There is a warmth in her eyes that I never want to forget. When she looks at me, it’s as though I can move mountains. And for her, I want to.
“Last night was really great,” Brenna murmurs.
“How often can you get the kids to sleep out?”
“Not often enough.”
I want to tell her about my revelations regarding us and my feelings. I think she feels the same, but I’m not sure. Her deep blue eyes watch me, assessing me, and I wonder if she can read my thoughts. After a few seconds of silence and just staring at each other, her stomach growls.
“Hungry?”
She nods, and the connection we shared just moments ago snaps away. “I wake up early every morning absolutely famished. I’m sorry.”
I look over at the clock. “This is early?”
“Well, I guess to some it is. Seven isn’t overly early, but for the weekend it is.”
I laugh and grab my phone. “It’s ten thirty.”
Brenna sits up quickly, pulling the sheet with her. “What? It’s ten thirty?” She damn near screams. “I never sleep past seven! Get up!”
“What’s wrong?” I ask as I hear the panic in her voice.
“You have to go!”
“What? Go where?”
Brenna is out of bed, throwing a robe on and putting her hair in a pony tail. “The kids will be home any minute! You have to get dressed! Quickly!”
Since she’s clearly on the verge of a breakdown, I don’t argue. I look around, grabbing the clothing we tossed in the room as I carried her over my shoulder last night, slapping her ass for taking my ice cream.
“Oh my God. We can’t let them find us like this. And then there’s my in-laws! I’m never going to live this down. It’s the end of my quiet existence. I’m going to have to listen to lectures about unmarried sex again. They did that when I got pregnant with Melanie. Oh God, oh God, oh God, I can’t believe this!”
“Relax,” I tell her. “I’m already mostly dressed, and worst case, I’ll hide in the closet.”
She pumps her hands up and down as though she’s doing a push-up and blows a few breaths out. “Okay. Relax. I’m not doing anything wrong. I’m just having sex with a man. I’m an adult, and I can do that. Right?”
“I would like to say yes considering I’m who you had sex with.” I walk over and pull her into my arms.
“Don’t be charming. Be dressed and be gone before they show up.”
Her pep talk didn’t exactly calm her. I laugh once, kiss the top of her head, and throw my shirt on. “I’m all dressed now. Maybe you should do the same.”
Brenna looks down. “Shit! I have no clothes on. What am I thinking? I’m not. I’m in some sort of post-amazing-night-of-sex haze.”
She’s fucking adorable.
After another second of her deep breathing, she grabs a dress from the closet and slips it on. “You look beautiful,” I tell her.
“I look frazzled and like I just woke up in the arms of my lover. Maybe they’ll know. Maybe they can sense the sex on me. Do I smell like it?”
I lean in and sniff. “You smell like apples. I’d bite you.”
Brenna doesn’t seem as amused by my joke as I am. “Jacob, what we’re doing, it’s just for us, and I really don’t want my kids or anyone else getting the wrong idea about what we are. We’re just fucking around, and while I’m enjoying it, my kids, well, they won’t understand it. Sebastian loves you. Melanie thinks you’re wonderful, and they’ll want even the slightest chance that we could be something more than . . .” She points to the bed.