Unexpected Love (Jo's Story) (15 page)

“So what are you doing?”

“Nothing, just put the girls to bed and I was going to go snuggle in my bed and watch some TV.”

“You slept until 10:00 this morning and now it is only 8:00 and you are going to bed already?”

“I'm on vacation, I can do whatever I want,” I laugh as I sit on my bed.  “What are you doing?”

“I just left the stadium.  We had some team meetings after.  I was going to see if I could stop by and see you?”

“Really?  I figured you would want to go home and go to bed because you have to be up early.”

“No, actually I don’t.  Coach isn’t making us practice tomorrow.”

“Well that was nice of him.”

“Part of the job,” he laughs.  “So, are you up to some company?  Cause I'm about to pull into your driveway.”

“Why did you even call then,” I laugh and walk down stairs.

“Because I wanted to hear your voice.” 

I get to the front door and see him pull into the driveway.  “I don’t know what if I'm not up to company.”

“Well I will just back out and go home then.”

“I don’t think you will.” I have a daring tone.

“Your right, I won’t.” I see him get out of the car.  I walk over and open the front door and hang up my phone.  “Hi,” he smiles at me when he gets to the door.

“Hi,” I answer back.  “How was your day?”

He laughs and gets closer to me, “much better now that I get to see you.”

“Ditto,” I smile and step back so he can come in.  Once he is in I shut the door.

“I missed you,” he walks up behind me and traps me between him and the door. 

“You just saw me last night,” I smile at him.

“I know, but after last night and all the crap today I just wanted to hug you and kiss you and tell you how sorry I am that this got out of control that fast.  I was really hoping that we could have gotten it under control before it got this crazy.”

“Its fine, I know it isn’t your fault.” I reach up and run my thumb along his jaw line.

“That makes me feel a lot better.  I was scared you would be mad at me.”

“I have no reason to be mad at you.  I knew it would come out eventually, I was just hoping I would have had time to tell people myself.  I still don’t know if my grandma knows,” I laugh at the thought.

“You didn’t call her?”

“No,” I laugh, “I have been a little preoccupied today.  For some reason I can’t get you out of my head,” I poke him.

“Oh yeah?  What did I do?”

“Probably because you are amazing,” I smile at him.  “Jake, this is a crazy situation you know that right?”

“Yeah, I know, but I like it,” he bends down and kisses me.  I can feel that hunger in his kiss again like I did last night when he left.  He wraps his arm around me and pulls me close to him.  He pulls back away from me but doesn’t let go, “Jo, what are you doing to me?”  He runs his finger from his free hand down my cheek and my neck.

“The same thing that you are doing to me,” I look into his eyes.  I see the need and want deep down inside him.  “Jake, too soon for this.”

He steps back a little, “I know, but it feels so right.  And I just can’t get enough of the connection that we have.”

“I know, but we agreed to take things slow remember?”

“Yes, I remember,” he steps back and goes to the kitchen.  I hear him open the fridge.  I'm assuming he is after a beer.  “You need to go grocery shopping,” I hear him say then I hear the fridge close.

“I know, but I have been pretty busy the last few days.”

“Maybe you should make some time,” he jokes.  I see him stop in the doorway to the living room.  “Want to watch a movie?”

“Not really, I don’t want to wake the girls up.”

“What about in your room?”

I look at him and see his smirk.  “You just want to get me alone,” I laugh.

“I never said that,” he walks back toward me.  “I just want to relax and spend time with you.  Wrap my arms around you and hold you close, you know the kind of stuff a boyfriend does.”

I shake my head, “that damn word keeps getting me in trouble.  Lizzy started that!”

“Well, at this point I don’t think there is any turning back from it is there.  I mean by now the entire world has probably seen your face all over the news.  You might as well just accept it.  You’re my girlfriend which means I don’t have to hide you anymore.”

“How did I know that you were going to say that?  I don’t understand why you are so excited to show me off.”

“Really Jo, look at you.  You are beautiful.  Please don’t tell me I am going to have to keep trying to convince you of that.”

“I just don’t see it,” I walk past him and go to the kitchen and get a glass of water.

“Well, I do.  And so do a lot of other people.  Jarrod obviously thought the same thing.  He married you,” I see him smile.  “Please don’t make me make a complete fool of myself trying to convince you.”

“Jake stop,” I laugh as he tries to be funny.

“I can start a poll on one of my websites.  I will call it “Who thinks my girlfriend is gorgeous?”  I bet you get like a 95%.”  He pulls out his phone.  “I will pull it up right now,” he laughs and starts typing something in.  I grab his phone out of his hands and run past him. 

“I think I have had enough public attention for one day, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Only if you agree to let me snuggle with you and watch a movie,” he walks up to me.  “I'm serious Jo; I just want to hold you.  It makes me feel like everything is ok.  I feel responsible for the media spreading yours and Jarrod’s faces all over the news.”  He grabs my hand, “I wish I could have stopped it.  I would give anything to take it off the air so that no one knew.”

“Jake, it isn’t the fact that people know.  I don’t mind that, I'm scared of what it is going to do for mine and the girls’ privacy.  They are my life and if anything happened to them because of choices that I have made I don’t know how I would live with myself.”

“Trust me; they are a top priority for me too.  I have told Joan that if anything comes up about them we do not let it out.  I don’t care what it takes.”

The look on his face is almost painful.  He really can’t handle the thought of anything happening to my girls.  He can’t handle anything happening to me.  “Jake,” I put my hand on his cheek, “you are amazing.”  I kiss him.  “Let’s go relax and watch a movie.”

“Jo, it’s late, I'm going to get going home.” Jake wakes me up.  I fell asleep snuggled on his chest watching TV.  I wake up just enough to see that he has Sports Center on.

“What time is it?”

“It’s 11:00.  I figured I should get going so I don’t get overly tired on the drive home.”

“Stay?”

“No, that wouldn’t be right.”

“Why not?”

“You don’t want the girls to see me here do you?”

“Why?”

“Because we just started seeing each other.”

“Jake, I would rather you stay here then chance driving home over tired.  Besides I feel safe with you here.  And after today and all the crap on the news, I think I would feel a lot better with you here.”

“Are you sure?”

“I wouldn’t ask you to if I wasn’t sure.  You know that.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Besides if you leave I will lose my snuggle buddy,” I smile up at him.

“Oh, I see how it is.  Well if I'm staying, can I at least put my super nice car in your garage and grab a pair of sweats out of my bag in the car?”

“If you must.  But I cannot be held responsible if I am laying here snoring when you get back.”

“Wait, you snore?  I can’t sleep here if you snore.”

“It’s possible.  I have been told that I do indeed snore.  You can always chance that long boring drive home.”

He smiles at me as he climbs out of bed, “nah, I will take my chances.  If it gets too bad I will just throw you on the floor.”

“Good luck with that.  You may think you are strong but I am willing to bet I will put up a good fight for my bed.”

He bends down and kisses my forehead, “I will be right back,” he walks out the bedroom door.  I am laying there watching the highlights from the game when I hear one of the girls start crying.  I jump out of bed and run to Lizzy’s room.

“Hey baby, what’s wrong,” I instantly crawl in bed with her.

“I had a bad dream mommy,” she buries her head in my shoulder.

“Oh sweetheart, I'm sorry.  What was it?”

“Our house was on fire and no one could get it to go out.”

I shudder when she tells me.  I remember her having dreams like that right after Jarrod was gone, but she hasn’t had them in a really long time.  “It’s ok baby.  We are safe I promise.  You know mommy is here and I will protect you.”  She hugs me tighter.

“Mommy, I'm scared.”

“I know,” I sit there rubbing her back.  I hear Jake come back in the house.  I wonder if her knowing he is there will make her feel better.  I look down at her and see her just staring across the room.  “Hey, would it make you feel better if I told you Jake is here and he will protect us?”

“He is?” I think I see her smile a little.

“Yeah, you want me to go get him?”  She nods.  I get up and catch him just as he is about to go up the steps to my room.  “Jake, Lizzy wants to see you.”  He turns and smiles at me. “She had a bad dream,” I tell him as he walks through the door.

“Hey Lizzy,” he sits on her bed.

“Hi, Jake.  I didn’t know you were coming over tonight.”

“Yeah, I wanted to stop and see you guys.  Mommy told me you had a long day of cheering,” I see his face brighten at the thought of them cheering for him.

“Yeah, me and Abby cheered really hard.” She smiles at me.  “Mommy, come sit with us,” she pats the bed next to her.  I walk across the room and sit on the other side of her.  She grabs my hand and holds it tight.  “I love you mommy,” she snuggles her head on my arm.  Then she reaches for Jake’s hand, “And I like you a lot too.”  I hear Jake let out a little laugh.  He reaches behind her and puts his free hand on my neck and rubs.  We sit there long enough for her to fall back to sleep.  Once I know she is sound asleep I motion for him to go out of the room.  I tuck her back in and kiss her cheek.  Where would I be without my girls?  I love them so much and don’t know what I would do if anything happened to them. 

“Did you tell her I was here?”  He asks me when I go into my room.

“Yeah, she had a bad dream.  After Jarrod passed away she would always have dreams that our house was on fire and the three of us where trapped inside and no one could get to us.  She hasn’t had them in a really long time.  I really hope that it doesn’t start again.  I thought things would get better.” I sit on the edge of the bed.

“Hey, they will.  Maybe it is just because this is her first night here.  This is a new house to her you know.  Maybe it is just because she doesn’t feel safe here yet.”

“Yeah, maybe.” I crawl back into bed and under the covers.  I notice that he has changed already and he crawls in next to me.  “Thanks for coming in by her.  I think it made her feel better.  Maybe she is like me and feels safer with you next to her.”

He smiles at me, “I think I should be the one that feels safe with you.  I mean in all honesty all I do is throw a football around, you shoot at people for a living.”

“No I don’t, I haven’t for a while.  I just investigate the people that shoot at people,” I laugh.  “Oh yeah, that reminds me, I should probably tell you since I had an emotional break down because of him.  I got a text from Ryan this morning.  I guess his girlfriend left him.  From what he told me she has been cheating on him and he had a feeling but didn’t know how to handle it.”

“Wow that sucks.  How do you think he will handle being kicked off your division along with that?”

“I actually emailed Chief this afternoon and told him that I don’t want him as my partner anymore, but I'm not going to kick him out.  But I asked him to let me be the one to explain it to him face to face.  I think he will take it easier that way.”

“Are you still going to replace him with someone else?”

“Yeah, I think I am going to bring one of the squad members up.  Her name is Alicia Turner.  She is a damn good cop.  She was actually here Friday night.  I have had my eye on her for a couple months now.  And now that Chief gave me the go ahead to take over the division completely I am going to take advantage of it.”

“I'm glad you’re taking control of the situation.  And I'm glad you found out what was going on with Ryan.  Now you know the reasoning behind his outburst, even though it is still super shitty he did it.”

“Yeah, but I understand.  Not only is our job stressful, but you add the stress of home life and something like that to the mix, it really takes a toll.  Been there, done that.  Not something that I want to experience ever again.”

He pulls me close to him and I lay my head down on his chest again.  “Jo?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think that there is more than one someone for everyone?”

I look up at him, “what do you mean?”

“I know you already found your someone, and that was Jarrod.  I guess I'm wondering if you think that you could have another someone.”

“I think if I find that perfect connection with a guy then yes.  But I am not ready for that yet.  It’s more than just me, and I know you know that, but I have to take the girls into consideration before I can make a huge decision like that.  I know we have this unexplainable connection and it is amazing, but I don’t want to rush into anything and have both of us end up getting hurt.  And more importantly, I don’t want the girls getting hurt.”

“Is that the reason that you didn’t date at all?”

“A big part yes.  I don’t want the girls getting attached to someone and then have them walk out on us.  I have had enough heartbreak in my life and I don’t think I could handle losing someone else that I love.  Trust me when I say that losing someone like that is the worst thing that can happen.  I thought my world was going to end right then and there when Jarrod’s battalion chief showed up on my doorstep that morning.  I cried for days and days.  I don’t want to feel that again.  I don’t think I could handle that again.”

He rubs my back softly, “Well I could never hurt you, or the girls for that matter.  I don’t think I could just walk out on you.  I have pretty much committed myself to you.  I know that sounds like too much too soon, but I don’t want to take the chance of losing you.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Anything.”

“The way you talk about not feeling this connection before, is that true, or have you felt it but had your heart broken?”  He stops rubbing my back and I feel him tense up a little.  I sit up and look at him.  “You can tell me, I'm not going to hold anything against you.  You said it yourself, we are probably going to find out much worse things about each other the longer we are together.”

“My Junior year in college I had a girlfriend that I was very much in love with.  We were together for a little over a year and I proposed to her.  Of course I knew we were young, but I loved her, a lot.  She said yes, and we were going to get married after we both graduated.  We weren’t in a hurry because she was trying to finish school too.  I got drafted and went to San Diego and she stayed in Texas to finish out school.  I went back at the end of the year of our senior year to watch her graduate.  She didn’t know I was coming I thought it would be nice to surprise her.  Well, I got the surprise when I went to her place and found out that she had been living with this guy for the last two months.  I wasn’t the only one though, he didn’t know about me either.  So she lost everything.  I took my ring from her and walked out the door and never looked back.  I pretty much threw myself into my career at that point.  I'm not going to lie and tell you that I didn’t date because I did.  A lot!  I was actually a lot like my little brother is now, a different girl every two weeks.  I told myself I was not going to get hurt like that again.  And I knew that being a “super star quarterback” was not going to make it any easier.  I was not looking for this at all when I gave you my number at the bar Thursday night.  I thought a couple dates and that would be it.  I never ever anticipated feeling like this.”

I sit straight up and look into his eyes; I have not seen this pain in his eyes.  “I'm sorry,” I run my fingers along his jaw.  “I didn’t mean to push.”

He laughs, “I'm glad you asked.  I needed to tell you.”  He grabs my hand and kisses my palm.  It sends tingles down my arm.  He turns my hand over and kisses the back of my hand.  “Jo, I don’t know how to act around you.  I have so many feelings for you that I am not used to.  I haven’t had to deal with something like this since then and I don’t know how to deal with it right now.”

“Just tell me,” I grab his other hand with my free one.

“I think I'm falling in love with you.”  I see the fear in his eyes about how I am going to react.

“I think I knew that,” I lean in and kiss him.  I can’t stop myself this time and I pull him closer to me.  I feel his need for me.  I have no plan of stopping but he pulls away.  He leans his forehead against mine.

“Now is not the time,” he kisses the end of my nose.

“Jake.”

“Please Jo, I don’t know if I can’t stop you again and I don’t want to rush that.  We agreed, remember?”  He sits back up against the headboard like he was.  “Please just come here,” he opens his arms.  I lay back down like I was.  I feel really tired all of a sudden and last thing I remember is him turning off the TV and kissing my hand.

~~~~~~

“Mommy, I'm hungry,” I feel Abby and Lizzy jumping on the bed next to me.  Then I hear Jake laughing.  I sit up so fast I almost throw them off the bed.

“Whoa, easy,” he grabs their arms so they don’t fall. 

“Sorry,” I mutter.  “I completely forgot that you were here.”

“Oh, thanks,” he kisses me quick and gets out of bed.  I see Abby and Lizzy both standing on the end of the bed.  “Come on girls, let’s see if we can go find something to eat and let mommy wake up a little.”  He grabs them both and throws them over his shoulders.  I glance at the clock.  Its 8:00, I'm surprised the girls slept this late.  I get up and walk down the steps to the living room and see Jake digging through the cupboards in the kitchen.  I see he found the cereal and assume he is searching for bowls.  I walk over and kiss both the girls on the cheeks.

“Good morning,” I say to them both.  Then I walk over and stand next to Jake.  “Morning,” I look up at him.

“Morning,” he leans down and kisses me again.  “Sleep well?”

“I must have last thing I remember is you turning off the TV,” I grab the coffee out of the freezer and start making a pot.

“Well good.  I slept well too.  Felt good to hold you all night,” he flashes that smile at me.  And on cue I blush.  DAMMIT! Why does he still have that effect on me?  He chuckles, “glad to see that I haven’t lost my touch.”

I roll my eyes at him, “I will figure out how to get it under control,” I snort at him.

“Ok,” he smiles and walks back to the table.  He pours the girls both a bowl of cereal and goes to the fridge to get milk.  He looks for a minute and then turns to me.  “You don’t even have milk?”

Crap, I forgot to run to the store yesterday.  “I was supposed to go shopping yesterday; it slipped my mind with all the attention I was getting sorry.  They will eat it without.”

“Yeah, now we can watch cartoons,” Abby squeals and takes her bowl and runs for the living room.