Separation Anxiety (27 page)

This was the Jesse I had imagined when I thought about what he must have been like in bed. He knew what he was doing when it came to the bedroom, and I had a strong inclination that I was the first woman he’d ever made love to as slowly and sensually as he just had. I loved every second of both options, and all I could think about as he thrust up into me was how much I loved him and how much time we had wasted by not being together.

He pulled me off of him and threw me down aggressively on the couch, facedown. He reared up behind me and thrust back into me, his fingers reaching around for my clit as he drove in and out from behind.

He had told me that he was going to make me scream his name while he fucked me, and he succeeded.

Both of his hands moved to my shoulders so he could get a better grasp on me as he stood on the floor and drove in and out of me. My loud moans turned feral and carnal, a scream of pleasure escaping me as he thrust up fast and hard. His groans and grunts matched mine, and then all of the sudden my body splintered into another shattering climax. “Fuck!” he yelled, drawing out the word as he exploded into me, gripping my shoulders hard as his fingertips dug into my skin.

If we were panting after the first time when we made love, this time both of our chests were heaving as we fought to catch our breath after that. I turned around the moment he shifted out of me, and he lay down beside me on the couch, pulling me into his arms and planting soft kisses all over my face.

I was completely drained after what he just did to me but
entirely and totally sated.

He held me in his arms and we both fell asleep on the couch with smiles on our faces and tingles racing through our veins at how perfect “our night” turned out to be.

CHAPTER 1
8

The next morning, we showered together. I was stiff from the fucking, and his threat had been absolutely spot on; I was having a hard time walking, but all I wanted was for him to be buried back inside of me.

We’d shared a lot of intimacy over the past several months, but nothing compared to the feeling of his body sliding into mine, to the tender affection we shared when he was making love to me.

He washed every square inch of my body, massaging the soap with loving fingers into my shoulders and my back. He washed my hair for me and rinsed it, and I couldn’t remember a time when I’d felt more cared for or loved in my entire life. I returned the favor, and then we got ready together and headed out for another day of winery tours.

We’d already been through two tours, and we found ourselves on our
third tour of the day. We were both a little tipsy, warm from the wine and the sunshine, and we were wandering through the vineyards on our tour when Jesse held my hand back for a moment. I turned into him with a smile and pressed a kiss to his lips, and when I pulled back, he gave me an intensely erotic look.

I glanced around us and realized that in our quick private moment, we’d lost our tour group.

“Uh oh,” Jesse said, looking around with mock disappointment. “Where did our group go?”

I shrugged with a wicked smile, because his intentions were very clear.

He pulled my hand hard so I landed against him, and his mouth collided aggressively with mine. I suddenly didn’t care that we were in public. We were in a vineyard with grapes growing all around us. We were enough rows away from the path that we could easily hide and not get caught, and all I could think about was Jesse inside of me.

He pulled his lips from mine and we walked a few rows over, off the tour path where we’d have the privacy we needed for what was sure to be a quick fuck.

He quickly unbuckled his belt and lowered his jeans just a bit, and then he sat on the ground and motioned for me to join him. I was, thankfully, wearing a skirt, and I sat on top of him. He moved my panties aside with his finger and then guided himself into me. I threw my arms around his neck, trying to be quiet in case there was another tour group coming through.

“
Oh my God,” I moaned. “You feel so good, Jesse.”

“I don’t know how we went so long without this,” he said, thrusting hard up into me. I buried my face in his neck
and thought about his words as he made love to me in a vineyard. I didn’t know how we went so long without it, either, because now, even after only one night together, it was as natural as breathing.

He grunted softly as he pushed up, and I was trying somewhat unsuccessfully to be quiet as I took him as deeply as he could go. He shifted us so I was on my back. He drove into me, and the exhibitionism of it all got to me fast. It wasn’t long before we simultaneously found our climaxes, and his mouth covered mine as I nearly screamed out in pleasure.

He chuckled as he leaned his forehead to mine once both of our bodies stopped shuddering. “Good?” he asked.

“More,” I murmured incoherently in response.

He grinned. “Later.”

He stood up, unruffled as always, and fastened his jeans. I lay back for a moment to try to regain my composure. He reached his hand down to help me up, and I took it, smoothing out my skirt as I stood.
He yanked my hand so I fell against him again, and even after the raunchy sex we just had in the middle of a vineyard, he still managed to set the flutters afire in my belly with just one smoldering look. It was times like those when his eyes met mine and the flutters started battling against my insides that I felt that wave of love for him roll through me.

I
don’t know how I ever lived without Jesse in my life.

We caught back up to our tour group, and it didn’t appear that anyone had noticed we’d been gone for a few hot and sexy minutes. The guide was talking about the fermentation process when we rejoined the group, and it was a lot of the same information we had already heard at the other wineries. The best part came at the end of the tour when we got to sa
mple the wine.

I heard Jesse
unsuccessfully stifle a laugh behind me, covering it with a cough, and then he pulled something out of my hair. I turned around to shush him as he held up a twig. I started giggling uncontrollably, trying to be mature and quiet while the tour guide was talking, but it just wasn’t happening.

I couldn’t stop quaking with laughter, so Jesse pulled me back outside, where he burst into laughter as well. We were so close to not being caught… and then there was the random grape branch left in my hair from rollin
g around in the vineyard.

I wiped tears from my eyes and Jesse grabbed my hand, placing the twig into my palm. “A souvenir,” he said with a grin.

I would keep that twig for the rest of my life.

The rest of our time in Napa passed in much the same way. We were like two people on our honeymoon, spending as much naked time together as we could manage while enjoying the sights of wine country and the food and beverages the area had to offer.
We found quiet corners where Jesse would kiss me or shadowed doorways where we found a moment to grope one another. There may have even been a bathroom or two we ducked into to fool around in.

We drove through California
slowly. We stayed with some of Jesse’s friends, and he always introduced me as his girlfriend. We spent a night in Malibu and enjoyed the beach; we spent a couple of nights in Los Angeles and hit all of the tourist spots. He even took me to Six Flags Magic Mountain, and the thrill of riding roller coasters while holding his hand had nothing on the thrill of sprawling naked underneath Jesse Drake when we got back to our hotel room.

W
e ended up back in Santa Monica at his parents’ house for the last week of June. They welcomed me back with open arms, as loving and friendly as they had been the last time.

But this time, when we went back home after our time off the grid together,
there wouldn’t be some scandal waiting for us. Now that I wasn’t married anymore, nothing was going to keep us apart.

P
lenty of couples who worked together were able to maintain professionalism at work. One of our science teachers was married to one of our math teachers, and no one ever accused them of fucking on the office copiers. The district had issued a public apology shortly after summer break began, and that was good enough for me. I knew that when August came and a new school year started, everyone would forget the scandals the previous year held anyway.

Jesse and I
sat on the back patio of the Drake’s house after his parents had gone to bed for the night, our fingers twined as we relaxed in our comfortable Adirondack chairs.

“Want to take a walk?” Jesse asked me. I nodded, and he took my hand and led me down the stairs. He paused and sat on the bottom step just like last time, taking off his shoes and leaving them on the stair
s. I mirrored him, taking off my sandals and setting them on the step. He was wearing shorts, but I had jeans on. He patted his knee and I put my foot on it, and just like last time, he rolled the leg of my pants up for me.

I switc
hed legs, and he rolled that pant leg up as well. He took my foot in his hand and kissed the top of it, and just like last time, I inexplicably fell a little harder for him.

“I love this foot,” he said softly
, his voice raspy. He set my foot down and ran his hands up my calf. “I love the leg it’s attached to,” he said, his hands reaching my hips. “And most of all, I love the woman who walks on these gorgeous legs.” I leaned down to kiss him softly on the lips, and he took the kiss over, pulling my head toward him and opening his mouth to mine. Somehow I ended up spread across his legs, and he pulled back, kissing me twice at the end. He left me breathless, just as always, and the flutters fired up again. I never knew that it could be like this, that I could still feel the flutters in my belly for a man even after we’d grown used to being together. I always thought that the newness of a relationship was what caused that, but I was discovering that it was attraction that initially caused it, and it was true love that made it last.

I stood up from his lap so we could go for our walk, momentarily dazed by his kiss. I started down the beach, and when I turned around to see if Jesse was following behind me, I saw that he was
still sitting on the steps. I walked back toward him, and he took both of my hands in his.

“
I’ve learned the hard way that life is too short to waste time. V, I don’t want to waste any more time. I know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you because I will never love another woman the way I love you. No other woman will ever make me feel like you make me feel. I want to be your husband. I want to have children with you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

My eyes widened and my jaw dropped as I took in the scene before me. The man I loved was telling me that he wanted to commit his life to mine after I’d only been free from my first husband for a week.
The haunted Jesse who held his secrets inside was gone. This was a man who was an open book that only I had the pleasure of reading, and I wanted to read with him for the rest of my life.

“I don’t have a ring or a date in mind or anything like that. But, V, I have a promise. I promise to commit my life to yours. I promise to love you every single day the way you deserve to be loved. And I promise that someday soon, we will go ring shopping together and have whatever kind of wedding you want to have.
Sound good?”

Like I said earlier, we all get one true love in our lives, and it’s up to us to find it. Fate will act and try to push us together, but ultimately it’s up to us to recognize who that one person is when he’s standing in front of us.

“Yes!” I yelled into the quiet night. “Sounds perf!” He stood up and wrapped his arms around me, burying his face in my neck. He planted a row of kisses from behind my ear to my jaw, and then his lips met mine.

S
omeday soon I would marry Jesse Drake, and with that, I knew that Fate had led me to the right man this time.

EPILOGUE

Two Years Later: Jesse Drake

She was more beautiful every day, but today she was glowing. I had loved her from the first second I had ever seen her, and I bided my time patiently waiting for her. I had known she was the woman for me the very moment I spotted her, but I didn’t get the luxury of having what I knew was mine because she had found someone else first.

But the past didn’t matter anymore. She was my wife now, and she would be forever. She had taken an empty void that I’d had for fifteen years and managed to fill it with her laughter
and her beauty and her wisdom without even trying. She was the one person put on this earth for me, and while Fate had played a fun little game in keeping us apart, we’d eventually found our way together, right where we belonged.

I’ll never forget the night she told me she was
getting divorced from the asshole with two first names. I had plans that night to hook up with Tami from the bar again, but the moment I saw that Veronica was suffering, I had to be there for her. I never imagined what it would actually lead to for us. I always held onto the hope that someday it would all work out, but I never would have guessed that she’d been attracted to me all along, too, and that living together would ignite the feelings between us that would turn so quickly from friendship into something deeper. But I knew the moment that I first held her in my arms that I didn’t want to ever hold another woman again.

“It’s okay, baby,” I murmured, and she held my hand tightly.
I glanced down at the IV taped to her hand, careful not to squeeze back too hard.

“I’m scared, Jesse,” she said, looking
up at me from her hospital bed as tears streamed down her face.

“I know, V. I am, too. But we’ve got this.” I was much more confident in her than I was in myself, but I wasn’t about to let that weakness show through. I had to be strong for my wife. I had to be
her rock when she was scared, and I knew that this was one of her biggest fears realized. Hell, it was one of my biggest fears realized, too, but I was the man. I wasn’t going to admit to her how many sleepless nights I’d had just thinking about this day.

So I kissed her tears and b
rushed them away with my thumbs, and then I pressed a kiss to her forehead as I thought about our families sitting in the waiting room. My mom and V’s mom had become close friends once Mrs. Freemont saw how much I loved her daughter and how good we were for each other. V was right; her family was conservative, but they were family, and when it really mattered, they had come through.

“I love you, Jesse Drake.”

“I love you more, Veronica Drake. You have nothing to be scared about. I know that together, we are going to be every single thing she needs.”

She smiled
at me through her tears. “I love you,” she whispered to our sleeping, sweet pink bundle that she held in her arms.

Someday she would say it back to us, her mother and her father.

I leaned down and kissed our baby on her forehead. “I love you, Allison Carly Drake. You and your mother are
m
y whole world.”

And they would be. Forever.

THE END