Forever's Embrace (Forever In Luck Series Book 2) (17 page)

Nik
scooted his chair back and looked over at Jake. “Sorry man, can’t front for
you, too risky. If I do, she might never cook for me again.”

Jake
rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Whatever.”

Jules
sat up with a start. “Oh, I forgot.” Then she hopped up and went to the fridge.

As
she did, Nik pushed her chair closer to Jake, as Kris smacked him on the arm
and pointed to his ring finger, motioning to Jake to get a ring on Jules’s
finger, fast.

“I
made this sour cream dill sauce for Jake’s fillets,” Jules explained, as she
came back to the table with a dish. “It was simple to make, sour cream, fresh
dill, chives, lemon, and a little white wine.”

They
passed it around. More moans.

“Jake,”
Kris said, getting his attention, “I like what you got here, and I sure
wouldn’t turn it away, but I’m really liking the almond crust on this bad boy.
The dill sauce does bring yours up a few notches though. A nice change from the
traditional tartar.”

“I
think we should take a vote,” Linnie said. “All for Jake raise their hand.
Jules, you’re not allowed to vote, put your hand down. That’s three for Jake.
Hands up for Jules. Jake, put your hand down. Okay, we have some people voting
twice, that’s five for Jules. Jules you win! What do you have planned for the
two of you tomorrow?”

Sitting
up with a big grin on her face, she said teasingly, “I was thinking all day
shopping.” Pitiful groans were heard from all around the table. “At the mall.”
More groans. “I thought I’d get my hair and nails done.” Louder, more miserable
groans.

Nik
shook his head, as he said, “Jules, Jules, Jules, we’re active guys. We don’t
like sitting around, waiting, while you girls do a bunch of nothing. We like to
be out doing things, manly things, tough and rugged things.”

“Yeah,
I second that,” Kris added, putting some bass in his voice. Then he lifted an
arm, and started flexing his bicep.

“Oh,
really?” Jules said. “The kind of active that has you sitting in an ice house
all day, waiting for fish to bite, as you pee in a bucket? Hmmm?”

Nik
smiled. “Hell, yeah! And the bucket’s just for you girls. Us tough guys, neh,”
he said, shaking his head, “we just go outside. What you’re describing is
heaven, and depending on who’s with you—he wiggled his eyebrows at her—heaven
on earth. What you got planned is pure torture, nothing but hell on earth.” He
scowled as he said the last part.

Playing
their little game, Jules said, “Well, Jake’s not like that. He’d like to go
shopping. Right?” she asked, as she turned and looked at him.

“Don’t
answer that!” Kris whispered loudly to Jake. “You’ve been slacking on the work
in the barn. You could stick around tomorrow and sling some shit or something.
Let Linnie take her. If nothing else, beg for mercy, she could go to the mall
while you go to Cabela’s. Let me know though, I need some stuff from the
hunting department, and some fishing lures too.”

Jake
shrugged. “I don’t mind shopping so much.”

“Ahhh,
man,” Nik whined, as he threw his napkin on the table. “Jake, you’re killing me
here. You do realize you’re setting a precedent, don’t you? Whatever you do,
we’ll all have to do the same sometime down the road. Well, we could always say
you were adopted.”

“You’ve
been hanging around Nate too much.” Kris added. “You’re both whipped.”

“Hey,
now,” Nate jumped in, snapping to attention. “You can say what you want, but at
the end of the night, I’m the one snuggling up with my girl. So, I must’ve done
something right.” Nate leaned over and put a kiss on Linnie’s cheek.

Nik
sat up. “Wait a minute, let me get this straight. You’re saying shopping in
exchange for some nookie?”

Karl
Albrecht, cleared his throat. “I don’t need to be hearing this.”

“Just
trying to get some pointers from a self-professed pro, Dad.”

Jules
interrupted. “Well, it’s moot, because I said it’s what I was thinking I wanted
to do, but what I really want to do is…go dancing.”

All
the guys except Jake busted out laughing.

“What’s
so funny?” Jules asked perplexed.

“That’s…that’s
worse than shopping!” Nik hooted, trying to stop laughing as he held his
stomach. “Where are you and Fred going to go?”

Irritated,
Jake interjected grumpily. “You ain’t invited.”

“Oh,
I’m going to be there, Elvis. The good thing is, you can have a few drinks
first. Hell, with any luck, you won’t remember a thing about it.”

“What’s
so bad about dancing?” Jules asked. “It’s fun. I enjoyed dancing with all of
you.”

“Chick
stuff,” Kris answered with disdain. “Dancing, shopping, romantic movies, all
chick stuff.”

Jules
scowled at them and dug in her heels. “Well, you want the chick, and all that
comes after, then you ‘men’ need to happily suffer through the ‘stuff’ is all I
have to say,” Jules answered.

“I
know,” Linnie cut in. “The guys can take us to the Dalles House in St. Croix.
We can all dress up for an evening of dinner and dancing, sounds perfect.”

All
the men groaned.

“I
hear the powder’s good on the slopes,” Nate offered, in an attempt to sway the
conversation.

Jules
shook her head, “Skiing’s off limits. I don’t ski.”

“Snow
tubing then?” Jake asked, with an encouraging smile. “That’s a lot of fun, and
easy. Plus it’s supposed to be warmer tomorrow.”

Jules
thought about it. “I’ve never done that before. I guess we could go tubing
during the day, and then dancing in the evening. That sounds like a good
compromise.”

*****

Later,
after everyone had turned in for the night, Jake crawled into bed behind Jules.
Snuggling up and spooning with her, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her
in tight. Now we’re talking, he thought. She’d done such a good job with him
earlier, he planned on returning the favor. Putting his face to her hair, he
inhaled, mmmmm, damn, he felt himself getting hard. Bringing his hand up, he
smoothed back her hair, exposing her neck. Lifting his head, he began kissing
her there. Shit, she tasted good, smelled good too.

“What
are you doing?” she asked, groggily.

Undeterred,
he responded, “What do you think I’m doing?”

Chuckling
sleepily, she responded, “Giving me the royal treatment, even though I didn’t
ask for any chocolate milk.”

He
smiled at her humor and came back with, “Ooooh no, you’re mistaken. The royal
treatment is for when you’re in front of me, face to face, standing in the
kitchen, this is altogether different. Consider this a preliminary exploration
of fascinating places in an attempt to plan future endeavors.”

They
both laughed. He continued kissing her neck, then her ear, and he knew he was
starting to have an effect on her from the little sounds she was making.

“Precious?”

“Wha—mmm?”
she responded with a moan.

“Can
I touch you some, sweetheart?” He sucked on her earlobe, then placed a gentle
breath in her ear.

She
squirmed, then whispered, “You really want to do that?”

He
paused for a moment, thinking. “Ahhh, yeah, I do.”

“Alright,”
she whispered.

Holy
hell, she’d said yes. “Stop me, if I do something you don’t want, okay?” Once
he said it, he hoped she wouldn’t feel the need to.

“I
will,” she answered with a nod.

He
knew where he wanted to go first. Moving his upper hand down, he stroked her
outer thigh, then worked his way up and under, thanking his lucky stars her
pajamas bottoms were stretchy. Making contact with her skin, he slowly moved
his hand down, while noticing her breathing had increased. Coming to her hip
bone, he found what he was looking for. Following the edge of lace back, he
soon had her bottom in his hand, and loved what he was feeling, a nice bare
butt cheek. He began his ministrations, attending to this area in great detail.

“You
do realize you’ve been gypped out of some fabric back here, right? Not that I’m
complaining,” he teased, as he nibbled on her shoulder

She
laughed. “They’re called cheekinis, and they’re supposed to be that way.”

“Mmmmm,
they are nice, for sure. I, for one, would like to meet the fashion genius who
designed them, they deserve an award.” He began kissing her neck again, as his
hand began traveling north.

She
gasped, her breathing heavy. “They’re…one of my favorites. I have tons of
them.”

He
stopped, remembering the contents of her suitcase. “Tons? You have a thing for
sexy lingerie?” he said, feigning ignorance.

She
sagged in his arms, then nodded as she panted.

He
turned her onto her back, and tried to see her in the dark, but couldn’t. He’d
reached her breasts, and when he’d rolled her onto her back, her top had ridden
up some. She was wearing a silky bra, and he could feel lace on the top half of
her breasts. “I like what I’m feeling,” he said, nuzzling and kissing her neck.

“Mmhmm,”
she murmured, as she ran her hands over his shoulders.
 

Tugging
on her shirt, wanting to bring it up a little more, it wouldn’t give, so he
gave it a little more muscle. It went up, and up, and up. He tried to stop it,
he really did, but she’d straightened her arms over her head and he had it off
her in a flash. Whoops. Hell, this was like Christmas, and he was unwrapping
his best present. Trying to look at her again, he let himself imagine what she
looked like right now, and his head spun.

Propping
himself up on his forearm, he lay next to her, kissing his way up her neck.
When he reached her ear, he whispered, “I love sexy lingerie. It’s kind of
naughty though, don’t you say?”

She
put her hand on his face and pushed him away. “Shhhh, you’re embarrassing me,
and I’m trying to pay attention in class.”

He
chuckled and kissed her hand. “Naughty’s good, sweetheart. I’m way into naughty
with you.” He nuzzled her neck, attended to her collarbone, and slid the
forefinger of his free hand back and forth over the lace. Slowly working his
way down, he placed tiny kisses along the tops of her breasts, causing her to
squirm and wiggle.

“Jake?”
she called out in a rush.

“What,
sweetheart?” he said, as he began kissing his way back up, his finger switching
to the other breast.

“This
feels too good,” she answered, as she took a deep breath, expanding her chest.

“It’s
supposed to feel good,” he assured her, smiling as he nuzzled and nibbled her
neck. He added a little thumb to the finger action.

She
moaned. “But…but this feels too good.” She took a few quick breaths. “Oh, Jake,
I think we could be in trouble.”

He
chuckled, as he continued the tease, while putting tiny kisses on her face.
“No, no trouble. I’m just going to return the favor. You took care of me, I’m
going to take care of you. Fair’s fair, sweetheart,” he answered as he kneaded
and tweaked.

“Can
you do that?” she asked with a whimper, turning her face to his chest and
kissing him there. “I mean, won’t it be too hard for you?”

Now
he laughed. “No, I got it covered. You did such a good job with me, I can do
this. No problem.”

She
lifted her head to him and kissed him on the lips. “You sure?”

He
nodded as he made his way down. “Very sure,” he answered, with a tweak and a nip.

“Mmm,”
she responded, as she arched her back. “Jake,” she called out.

“What?”

“Two
hands, please.”

*****

Jules
was humming with pleasure. This felt wonderful. She’d had erotic feelings before,
but nothing this intense, and this was with a bra on. Wow, he was ever so fine,
and knew just what to do. Moaning, she wanted more, a lot more, but knew that
had “bad idea” written all over it. His mouth was on her, and she felt him
slide her bra strap over her shoulder, then it stopped, as he kissed his way
down her chest. Ohhh, she thought, don’t stop, please keep going.

Massaging
her breasts, he teased her with his nose and mouth, adding a gentle stubble rub
here and there. She was out of breath and beside herself with pleasant
frustration, when he began to move lower. Oh boy, he was going to have a
stroke. Why had she done it, she shouldn’t have done it. Threading her fingers
through his hair, she hoped to distract him. No luck, he was on a mission and
heading lower, and she was lax for stopping him.

Pulling
on his shoulders, he responded by sliding on top of her as he continued his
downward study, one hand teasing and tweaking, while the other moved around her
waist and inside her pajamas, where he kneaded and massaged her bottom. He
scooted down some more, continuing to kiss and nibble his way along. Grabbing
at the waistband of her bottoms, he gently tugged them down a bit, and she
heard him gasp.