Dog Days of Summer (15 page)

Jeremiah leaned down and kissed her.

“
I will never get tired of watching your face when you come, Joci. So beautiful I don’t even have words for it.”

Joci reached up and dug her hands into his hair and fisted it in the back. She kissed him hard while holding him. He groaned loudly.

“Ride me, Jeremiah. Ride me hard and fast.”

Fuck. She could make him come just by talking to him. He groaned again but didn
’t wait for her to say anything more. He slid an arm behind her back and pulled her up the bed so he could lie on top of her. He started pushing into her. He felt like a rutting animal. He was pumping, and she was moaning and mewling.

“
Not. Long. Baby…Get there.” He had a hard time forming words. His vision was blurred. His breathing was staggered.

She moaned very loudly.
“Yes, Jeremiah…yes. God…so…good.”

He felt her stiffen and gasp out his name. He was right there, draining himself into her, thrust after thrust. Jeremiah thrust two more times, spilling into Joci. As he lay on top of her, he kept his arms under her so he didn
’t crush her. He lay there a minute or so and as he started to lift up, she wrapped her legs around his back, holding him in place.

Jeremiah cupped her head in his hands and kissed her temples, then her ears. When his breathing was steadier, he whispered in her ear,
“Never thought I would find you, but I did.”

She looked into his eyes; he never looked away from her. He held her gaze, and his thumbs started making light little paths across her cheeks.

He leaned down and kissed her, tenderly, gently. They kissed for a while, still joined, needing to stay close to each other. Joci ran her hands through Jeremiah’s hair, kneading his scalp and holding him close to her.

Jeremiah pulled out of her and they both groaned at the feeling. He told her to stay there and he would be right back.

After cleaning them up, he climbed in bed next to her and pulled her into his arms. They drifted blissfully off to sleep.

Tuesday morning, as they were getting ready for work, Jeremiah reminded Joci that they were going to The Barn tonight to visit with Kevin.

Joci smiled.
“What time do you want me to be ready?”

Jeremiah smirked at her.
“What time do you want to go? Did you want to go out to eat first?”

“
I can make something here, if you’d like. Or maybe my place. I feel like I haven’t been there in weeks. I probably have food going bad in the refrigerator.”

Jeremiah laughed.
“Wow, you make that sound great. I’ll have a helping of bad food, please,” he said, smiling from ear to ear.

Joci laughed.
“Not what I meant. I just meant you’re going to have to let me go home eventually. I played hooky with you yesterday. I have to go and work and clean my house. Let me make you supper there.”

Jeremiah frowned a bit.
“I like you here. I don’t want you getting used to being without me. I want you here, with me. Move in with me, Joci.”

Joci looked at him.
Move in? What would she do with her house? All of her stuff? She needed to work from home. Where would she work here?
There were a million thoughts running through her head right now.

“
I can’t, Jeremiah. It’s too soon. I need office space to work. I have a house…full of stuff. What would I do with all of it? Where would I work?”

Jeremiah walked to her, looking into her eyes.
“Those are simply excuses. You know all of that can be worked out.”

Jeremiah touched her face.
“I want you here. I want to wake up with you every day. I want to go to sleep with you every night. I want to see you in my space, our space, every time I look around. Will you think about it, please?”

He leaned down and kissed her tenderly.

Joci smiled at him. “Yes, I’ll think about it.”

Jeremiah nodded slightly.
“Maybe one of the boys will want to live in your place rather than pay rent somewhere else.”

“
It’s a thought,” Joci said with a smile on her face.

Moving in. Wow.
She had never lived with anyone but Jackie and Gunnar. That was a big step. Jeremiah was easy to get along with, but something was telling her to wait a little bit and not jump into this so fast. Actually, it probably wasn’t that fast; they had known each other for a year. Worked with each other, made plans, had meetings. The sex was the newest thing … and the relationship. Both of those were indescribably good … no, great, so far!

Jeremiah finished getting dressed, keeping his eye on Joci. What was she thinking? He didn
’t want her holding back from him anymore. He had thought about her living with him for the past six months or more. He didn’t want to move too fast and scare her, but he did want her to know just how serious he was about her. He started combing his hair to pull it back into a ponytail while she stood next to him in the bathroom, putting on her makeup. He loved looking at her, watching her go through her routine. It felt comfortable with her here, like it was supposed to be.

Jeremiah turned to look at Joci.
“Are you more comfortable making something for dinner at your place, Joci?”

Joci put her lip-gloss in her make-up bag and turned to look at him.

“It’s not about comfort. I feel very comfortable here with you.” Joci took a deep breath. “It’s scary, Jeremiah…I’ve never lived with a man before, except my son, and he doesn’t count. I’m his mom. If it doesn’t work out, then I have to go find another place to live. And, I work from home most of the time. My work would be disrupted, too.”

Joci looked down at the counter. Her heart was beating like it was trying to burst out of her body. Her vision was blurry from the tears that were threatening to flow. She was fidgeting with her make-up bag and trying to calm herself down.

“Joci?” Jeremiah’s voice was soft. “Look at me, baby.” He sighed.

Joci turned and looked at him. He reached over and slid his hand in her hair at the temple and pulled her close to him.

“I would like for us to build a relationship looking forward. When Jackie and David moved in with each other, don’t you think they had the same concerns? We’ll have disagreements over time, and we’ll have to work through those disagreements. I’m committed to that. Are you?”

Joci looked into his eyes. Those beautiful green eyes never wavered. She took a deep breath.

“Yes, I’m committed to making it work. I just worry about … everything. This is a big step.” Her voice was soft and shaky.

Jeremiah pulled her to his body and wrapped his arms around her to hold her close, hug her, cocoon her in his arms and comfort her. A silent message that he was here and not going anywhere.

After long moments, Joci looked up at him. “I’m sorry, Jeremiah.”

He shook his head,
“No need, babe. I know it’s scary for you. For me, I’ve thought about you moving in with me for months. I’m excited as hell for you to be here with me.”

Wow, Joci couldn
’t believe this! She didn’t want him to think that she didn’t want to move forward with their relationship.

She took a breath,
“How about I make us supper here tonight, and then we can head to The Barn later?”

Jeremiah kissed her lightly.
“That sounds amazing, Joci. Thank you.”

They walked together to the kitchen and started making breakfast. Jeremiah had to go to the shop, and Joci had to go home and get some work done today. She would run through her cupboards and see what she had to bring here and stop at the store on her way back to Jeremiah
’s if she needed anything else. She thought she could stay at Jeremiah’s the majority of the time and go home in the mornings to work. She wanted to try it that way for a while and see how that worked without making it a permanent move right away.

Jeremiah opened a drawer in the kitchen and handed her a garage door opener.
“Keep this with you. Come and go as you like. I’ll have a key made today. Your bike is fine at the shop. I’ll run you home this morning on my way.”

Joci smiled at him.
“Thank you.”

* * * * *

At 7:30 that evening, Jeremiah and Joci were in Jeremiah’s truck and heading out to The Barn for a nice evening out. It had been a beautiful day, but still a little cool in the evening, so they opted for the truck instead of the bike. As soon as they walked into The Barn, Kevin waved at them as he was serving customers at the far end. Jeremiah held Joci’s hand as they walked to the opposite end and took a seat. Kevin finished with his customers and headed their way. Jeremiah got up and walked behind the bar to hug Kevin. Once again, they did their “man hug” thing, and Kevin looked at Joci with a big smile on his face.

“
How ya doin’, Joci?”

Joci couldn
’t help but giggle at him. “I’m great, Kevin, how are you?”

Kevin held out his arms and looked up.
“Livin’ the dream, darling.”

They all laughed. Kevin got them their drinks and told them at 8 o
’clock, he had a bartender coming in so he could visit with them. His girlfriend, Kathy, would be here soon to visit as well. Joci was excited to meet her.

They sat at the bar talking, and suddenly Kevin
’s face lit up like a Christmas tree.

“
Hey, baby, give me some lovin’.” He stretched his arms wide as his smile lit up the room.

A beautiful redhead walked around the end of the bar and wrapped her arms around Kevin, and he swung her around. When her feet were on the ground again, she laid a kiss on him that almost had Joci squirming on her stool. Whoa!

Kevin turned toward Joci. “I want you to meet Kathy. Kathy, this is Joci James, Dog’s girlfriend.”

“
Oh, I’ve heard about you, Joci. Kevin’s been excited all weekend that you were coming in to visit. It’s very nice to meet you,” she said with genuine happiness in her voice.

Kathy reached over the bar and shook her hand, and Kevin pointed them all over to the corner of the bar where there was a fireplace and a couple of sofas. Joci hadn
’t noticed the fireplace when they walked in. Certainly not when they had been here for the Veteran’s Ride. There had been too many people.

Jeremiah and Joci grabbed their drinks while Kevin and Kathy got drinks for themselves. Kevin told Scott, the bartender, the bar was his for the evening.

They sat on the sofas, talking and getting to know each other. Joci looked at Kathy. She was beautiful. Long red hair, bright blue eyes, and a killer body. But, she was also genuinely sweet and pleasant to be around. She practically sat on top of Kevin on one of the sofas while Joci and Jeremiah sat opposite them on the other sofa.

They had an enjoyable evening talking and having a few drinks. Joci asked Kevin,
“How did you and Jeremiah meet?”

“
I met Dog years ago at another bar I was managing. He was on his bike, and it had started pouring rain outside. Dog stopped in to wait for the rain to stop and we struck up a conversation. From there, we became fast friends.” Kevin’s eyes darted to Jeremiah’s quickly.

Joci gathered that Jeremiah used to pick up women in that bar, which is where the awkward glance came in. Joci didn
’t want to think about that. It wasn’t a secret that women threw themselves at Jeremiah.

Kathy leaned forward just then and looked at Joci.

With a wink she said, “They had to kiss a lot of frogs to find us, Joci.”

Joci smirked.
“I suppose you could look at it that way.”

Kevin spoke up,
“Dog, are you ready to shoot some pool?” Jeremiah leaned over and kissed Joci on the temple.

“
If you’re ready to have your ass kicked, I am,” he said, laughing.

Kathy came over and sat on the sofa next to Joci.

“Holy crap, Joci. Dog is head over heels for you. How did you wrap him up so quickly?” Her smile was bright.

Joci smiled back at her. It was hard not to. She was just so bubbly and sweet.

“I don’t know that I would say wrapped up. We’ve known each other for close to a year now. Just recently we moved into a relationship.”

Kathy laughed a big belly laugh.

“I would definitely say ‘wrapped up.’ He can’t take his eyes off you. And did you feel that tension a few moments ago when you asked how they met? Shit, he was worried about Kevin’s answer.”

Joci took a breath.
“Yeah, I felt that. What don’t I know?” Joci looked at Kathy with sincerity.

Kathy shook her head,
“Baby, you have nothing to worry about. Dog has been with women—a few, not a ton. Kevin was a huge whore before he met me. I’ve only seen Dog with one or two women all the time I’ve known him, and that’s been about four years now. And then, he barely paid them any attention. You could tell it was simply a booty call for him.”

Joci sighed.
“Yeah, booty calls.”

Kathy chuckled and put an arm around Joci.
“Girl, don’t you worry about that. The past is the past. You have to look forward. Think about what you have now and what you want in the future. If you live in the past, all you’ll get is more of the past!”

Joci frowned. She wanted nothing to do with the past. She decided to change the subject and steered the conversation to other things.

“Tell me all about you, Kathy.”

“
Let’s see. I have three children, all grown now. I met Kevin four years ago when I started working for him here as a bartender. We’ve been together ever since. Not always easy, after all. He used to be a man-whore; I had to overcome that. We’ve had a lot of rocky times, but we’re doing well this past year and a half.”

Joci and Kathy talked for a couple of hours while the guys played pool and bullshitted.

Around 1:00 in the morning, Jeremiah and Joci pulled into his garage and closed the door. He got out of the truck and reached in to pull Joci out. She slid over and was about to step out when he scooped her up and carried her into the house. Joci wrapped her arms around his shoulders and nuzzled his neck and ears.

He carried her straight back to the bedroom and laid her carefully on the bed. He started to stand up but stopped and swept a lock of hair away from Joci
’s brow. Softly, tenderly, sliding his fingers along her forehead and temple.