Dog Days of Summer (8 page)

She whispered,
“No, thank you. I’m fine.”

He wrapped his arms around her tighter and took a deep breath.

Joci swallowed hard, trying to keep her stupid emotions under control. Her heart was beating so erratically. She leaned up on her elbow and looked down at him. Jeremiah grabbed her and pulled her to him hard, afraid to let go. His voice cracked.

“
I know you’re scared. I don’t want to make your life harder. I want to make it easier.”

Joci took a deep shaky breath.
“I’m scared shitless, to be honest, Jeremiah.”

Jeremiah
’s mind was racing. He wanted to earn her trust. He knew in his mind that was going to be hard, but he wanted to earn it. Finally, he had a chance!

“
It’s been a long fucking year, Joci.”

Joci lay next to Jeremiah, thinking about all of this. It was inevitable
that they would be together, but when she had woken up this morning, she would never have imagined she would be lying here with him tonight, naked and exhausted. It wasn’t going to be all sweetness and light touching; he seemed to like it hard and rough, too. That excited Joci. She had been afraid to tell her lovers in the past that she liked it harder. Not that she had that many—she surely had not—but it seemed nasty and dirty to want a man to push hard into her. She wasn’t able to put it into words what she liked, but she really enjoyed the way Jeremiah seemed to read her and give her just what she needed.

“
Do you want to talk?”

Joci leaned up again and giggled.
“You want to talk? I thought men didn’t like talking after sex.”

Jeremiah smiled at her, saying nothing else. His chest was still rising and falling from the exertion; his sexy eyes were still hooded.

Joci chuckled. “You’ll need to get me home soon anyway.”

Jeremiah snorted.
“You are home, Joci. You’re staying with me tonight. If you think that was all there was for tonight, you have another thing coming. As for the days to come, we’ll play it by ear, but I want to be with you. Not just when the mood strikes you, but all the time. We’ll need to discuss this further, but I don’t want to sleep alone ever again. I want you in my arms.”

Joci cocked her head to the side and looked at Jeremiah.
“You don’t think this is moving way too fast?”

Jeremiah sat up and looked at Joci with question in his eyes.
“You’re kidding, right? I just told you it was a long fucking year. We’ve had close to a year to think about each other, talk to each other, work with each other, and think about what we wanted. As far as I’m concerned, we’re way behind the ball on this.”

Joci looked at Jeremiah and her face softened.
“I’m sorry. You know this isn’t going to be easy. Jeremiah, I see the way women look at you and fawn over you. That’s what has kept me away for this year. I’ve been cheated on and lied to. I have a real trust problem. You might want to walk away right now so I don’t drive you crazy.”

“
I’m not walking away, Joci. I know you have trust issues. Remember, I’m the one who was trying to get you to go out with me, to spend time with me. I’ve watched you struggle with your feelings for me and not want to admit them. I wish I could make them go away, but I can’t. What I can do is stick with you and hang on tight. That’s what I intend to do. And, just so we’re clear, I’ve never had another lover. I’ve fucked women, but I’ve never made love to them. I just made love to you. I can’t explain it, but that was intense, amazing, emotional, and completely consuming. You are my first and last lover.”

Joci watched Jeremiah
’s eyes. She could see the honesty there. He never wavered when he looked at her. He didn’t fidget and twitch. He just looked at her like he was trying to mentally tell her he was telling the truth. She didn’t know what to say to him. She had never made love either. She didn’t know that until just now. She had fucked or been fucked, however you determined that, but had never made love. Now she knew what the fuss was about.

He hugged her tight and she wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him back. Her heart
continued to race.

Jeremiah and Joci lay back against the headboard. The candles were burning low and the light wasn’t nearly as bright, but still very beautiful. Jeremiah couldn’t stop looking at Joci. Every dream he ever had was of her. He hadn’t even met her yet, but he dreamed of her in his life. He dreamed of days laughing and loving and, nights of passion.

The day Gunnar
had brought Joci to the shop and Jeremiah met her, he knew she was the one he had been dreaming of. He spoke to his brothers about it. He asked them when they knew their wives were the ones and all three of them said they knew it the moment they met their wives. Jeremiah was sure as well.

“
Joci, tell me about Connor. What’s the deal with him?”

Joci looked at Jeremiah. He seemed irritated about Connor.
“I take it you don’t like Connor.” She smiled thinking about Connor.

Jeremiah looked at her for a long time.
“Connor’s in love with you. I see the way he looks at you. It drives me nuts.”

Joci looked at Jeremiah and furrowed her brow.
“I don’t think so. He’s been there for us. He feels bad about the way Keith treated us, Gunnar and me. He was Keith’s best friend. They’re still friends and keep in touch. He knew all along that Keith was cheating and told me he tried talking to Keith about it. Connor’s been a good friend for a long time now. When I needed help with Gunnar, Connor stepped in for me—for Keith actually. That’s all.”

Jeremiah
’s lips formed a straight line. “He never asked you out or tried to kiss you?”

Joci cocked her head to the side.
“Yes, after he divorced, he asked me out. He did kiss me a couple of times, but each time, I told him I wanted to keep it friendly. Eventually, he accepted that.”

Jeremiah leaned over and kissed Joci lightly on the lips.
“You can’t possibly believe that! I would never accept that from you, and I don’t think he did either. I see how he looks at you. He loves you. If he makes a move for you, he and I are going to have problems. That may cause a problem with Gunnar, but I’ll deal with it.”

He was smiling when he said
it, but Joci got the feeling Jeremiah was serious.

“
Did Keith leave the area, or does he still live around here? And how do you feel about that?”

Joci shrugged.
“He really wasn’t the love of my life. What really hurt was when I found out how much he screwed around. Besides screwing Tori and my aunt, he screwed a woman I worked with. Actually, he had been with almost everyone I knew. It’s hard to think these women would see me and talk to me and offer me advice and be in the friggin’ delivery room with me and, the whole time, they were screwing him themselves.

“
That’s why I don’t trust easily. So many people have betrayed me. But even worse was that we had a little boy who wanted and needed a father. Keith left him. He left the area when Gunnar was one or so. I’ve heard, from Connor, that he met someone and married her. I hope he treats her better than he treated me. They have two children together now.”

“
Does he ever see Gunnar or keep in touch with him?”

“
Nope. Since the day I found him with Tori, he hasn’t made any attempt to touch base with Gunnar. When he was younger, Gunnar would ask about Keith, of course. I tried to be honest without being brutal about it. I told Gunnar that Keith decided he didn’t want to be a family with us, but we were fine without him and that no one would love him more than I did, or Aunt Jackie and Uncle David. Keith’s parents never tried to see him either. When Jackie married David, he stepped in a lot and helped with Gunnar.”

“
I won’t betray you, Joci. Never. My father raised us better than that. No one in my family would ever treat anyone so cruelly. I promise you.”

Joci watched Jeremiah
’s face. He was dead serious. She wasn’t sure what to say to that, so she asked about his life.

“
What about you, Jeremiah? Did you ever wonder if you should have done something different with Barbara?”

Jeremiah snorted.
“Hell, no. She shows up about once each year, traveling through. She doesn’t ride herself; just hangs around looking for a ride. She wears too much makeup, too much jewelry, too much everything. Last year, when she rode through, she asked JT for money, and he told her to take a hike. Not sure if she’ll come back this year or not. She’s been married and divorced three times and has two other children, a boy and a girl. Not sure where they are or who they’re with. I assume their fathers.”

“
That must have been hard on you. What about girlfriends?”

Jeremiah looked at Joci
, trying to gauge her mood. “No. I dated a few women, but nothing serious. I devoted my time to the boys and then later, to growing Rolling Thunder.”

“
I know what you mean. I devoted my life to Gunnar and then to building my marketing and graphic design business. I wouldn’t have made it if it hadn’t been for my sister, Jackie. Later on, Sandi and I became friends, but it took me a long time to trust her. But Sandi stayed tough and proved she was trustworthy.”

They talked a while longer, enjoying the quiet time with each other. Jeremiah
’s phone chimed. He let out a huff and reached down to the floor to retrieve it out of his jeans pocket. He smirked and texted something back. He looked up and saw Joci watching him.

“
Staci wanted to know if you liked the candles. I told her you did. She knew I was nervous.”

“
Aww, that’s really sweet of her.”

“
She really has been like a sister to me. Dayton found himself a great woman. I can’t wait for you to meet her.” He pecked her on the lips, “Do you want to take a shower?”

Joci nodded.
“Yes, that would be great.” 

Jeremiah swung his feet over the side of the bed and stood. He took her hand
, helped her out of bed and led her to the bathroom. He reached into the shower stall and turned the water on, letting it warm up.

Joci stood watching him. He was beautiful. He moved around his house with strength and confidence. His muscles moved and rippled with him. Jeremiah turned to look at Joci and raised an eyebrow.

Joci smiled. “I think you’re beautiful. I love watching you.”

Jeremiah smiled at her.
“You’re the beautiful one, Joci. The moment I met you, I knew I needed to be with you. You’re as stubborn as hell, but so beautiful you make my heart race.”

Joci furrowed her forehead.
“I’m not stubborn!”

Now it was Jeremiah
’s turn to furrow his brow, “Really? You made me wait a fucking year to touch you.”

Joci closed the distance between them
and ran her palms across his chest, down his stomach and over his hips.

“
I wasn’t being stubborn, I was scared. You have women fawning over you all the time. Making comments and dying for you to touch them. I didn’t want to go down that road again.”

Jeremiah shook his head,
“I don’t have women fawning over me.”

“
Seriously, Jeremiah, LuAnn has made it very, very clear that she wants you. She fawns over you, touches you every chance she gets. She’s made comments to me that you’re waiting for her to be ready to settle down. How can you not know that?”

Jeremiah looked like he had been slapped.

“That’s not fucking true. LuAnn is the last person on earth I want. If she’s made those comments, she’s lying. I have never, ever, given her any reason to believe there would ever be anything between us.”

He
shook his head, “I’ll take care of LuAnn. She better not give you any grief.”

Jeremiah leaned down and kissed Joci. Not a demanding kiss, just a beautiful, sweet, long, wet kiss. Joci had always dreamed of being kissed like that. When the kiss ended, Jeremiah looked into her eyes for a long moment. Joci closed her eyes. She had fallen for Jeremiah the first day she saw him. She had denied both of them this past year because of her fear of being hurt again.

She opened her eyes and saw Jeremiah looking at her. Oh, those beautiful green eyes, how she loved looking at them. How she loved that they looked at her so intently, like he wanted to see inside of her. Joci stepped into the shower with Jeremiah.

“
Wow, great shower.”

Jeremiah chuckled,
“Well, I’m too big for a normal shower. The first thing I did when I bought this house was gut the bathroom and build this big shower, so when I washed my hair, I didn’t beat the hell out of my elbows.”

He held his arms up to show Joci he could stretch out. Joci stepped under the water with him. She reached over to the shelf and grabbed the bottle of
body wash. She squirted some in her hand and held it to her nose. Hmm, that’s why he smelled so awesome. She rubbed her hands together and placed them on his back. He was so beautiful, chiseled muscles and beautiful clear skin.

She looked at the tattoo on his back. It was beautiful, lettered scrollwork that went from shoulder to shoulder and said Rolling Thunder. Joci touched the tattoo with her fingers. She slowly traced each letter across his back, noticing that his muscles rippled and moved under her fingers. Once she had traced the letters, she laid her palm flat and ran her hand over the whole tattoo.

“Beautiful. It’s beautiful.”

Jeremiah slowly turned finding her eyes. He stared at her a long time, the water beating down on them both. Joci reached up and traced the tattoo on his left bicep.

“What does this mean?”

Jeremiah
’s voice was cracking, “It’s JT’s initials in Vivaldi Script.”

Yes, now that she looked closer, she could see it, JTS. Joci slid her hand down to his wrist.
“This?”

“
His birth date.”

Joci traced the tattoo on his right bicep, RMS.
“Ryder.”

Jeremiah whispered,
“Yes.”

Joci slid her hands to his right wrist and traced the numbers.

“And this would be his date of birth as well. Twins.”

Jeremiah framed Joci
’s face in his hands. He stared into her eyes for the longest time. Slowly he leaned down and kissed her lips. He turned his head, so they fit together perfectly, and dipped his tongue into her mouth. He explored, wanting to touch every surface of her body. He wanted to crawl inside her and leave an imprint on her that would never disappear. He slid his hand into her hair and cupped the back of her head, holding her in place while he continued to taste her.

She wrapped her arms around Jeremiah
’s waist and hung on. Her knees were beginning to shake. When Jeremiah needed to breathe, he lifted his head and laid it on top of Joci’s. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her to him. He was hard as a rock again and needed to slide into her. He bent his knees and lifted one of Joci’s legs so he could, but when the tip of his cock touched her pussy, she flinched a little. He froze, watching her.

“
Are you sore?”

Joci looked down, a little embarrassed. Jeremiah lifted her chin with his fingers.

“Hey. I’m so sorry, Joci. I don’t want to hurt you. I just can’t get enough of you.”

Joci shook her head.
“It’s just been so long for me, and you’re very…substantial.” The words came out in a whisper. Her face was flame red. “I’m sorry.”

Jeremiah sucked in a breath.
“You’re sorry? Jesus, Joci, I’m sorry. I should have thought about that. You’re so small; I was being selfish. You just feel so fucking good.”

Joci looked at Jeremiah and slowly dropped to her knees. On her way down, she grabbed his hard length in her hands and started pumping him up and down. Jeremiah hissed out a breath. He was watching her eyes. Joci smiled and licked the head of his cock.

“Jesus,” was all he could say, his voice was as tight as the velvety skin on his cock.

Joci licked again and then slid him into her mouth as far as she could take him. She kept one hand on the base of his cock to completely cover him. As she moved her mouth up and down, her hand followed, completely manipulating his cock. After a few strokes, she swirled her tongue over the head and then licked the length of it. She slid her mouth back down over his length. He felt so good in her mouth. She wrapped her tongue around him and pushed him to the roof of her mouth and sucked in.

Jeremiah became light-headed watching Joci suck his cock. He had dreamed of her on her knees servicing him, but once again, the dreams didn’t come close to the real thing. The way she sucked on him was blowing his mind. Her mouth felt almost as good as her pussy. So wet and warm, surrounding him with the perfect amount of pressure. And when she sucked in, Jesus, it was hard to control himself. He felt like he was going to blow apart. After just having blown into her twice tonight, he was about to do it again, and quickly. He placed a hand on the top of her head and began pumping into her. He needed to remember to be careful with her, she was so small, not like the tramps he was used to. But damn, he wanted to come in her mouth so fucking bad.