Falling In (3 page)

Jake casts his head down and nods with shame. I shake my head with disgust. “We should kick your ass out of here. I can’t believe you! I thought we had a good thing going, but now I am just at a loss for words, Jake. So disappointed in you. I can’t even look at you!” I scold while trying to suppress the giggle that is threatening to bubble up.

Jake lifts his hands in the air in defeat. “Yes, okay, I went to U-dub. I’m a goddamned Huskie. But I concede, all right? You win. I’m man enough to admit the Ducks are better and a hell of a lot more entertaining than the dawgs.”

Damn straight they are.

After that, the questions become a little less heavy and geared towards our neighbor.
Are you single?
Yes.
Why?
My baggage is too hard to carry
. Hmm. Remember that for a later conversation I will in fact pester him about.
How does it feel to become a parent?
Humbling.
Aw, shucks.
What do you do?
A chef, but taking some time until Ben is ready. And until
he
is ready
.
Favorite food?
Chocolate-chocolate chip cake with buttercream frosting. I look down and blush at that
.
After a few more mundane questions from Cole, we finish our drinks and head back inside to find all of the kids passed out on couch. Jake picks up Ben and heads toward the door, thanking us for a great night and making plans to do it again soon. With a tilt of the head, he leaves our now silent house.

Cole and I each pick up a twin and head upstairs, putting them in their respective rooms. I kiss Cady’s sweet little head and tuck her in tightly before leaving the room at the exact time Cole leaves Dylan’s. Closing the door behind me, we both exhale with smiles. Exhaustion and elation from a good night settles in. Then I face Cole, walking toward him. I reach my right hand out, touching his chest, moving it up and down. I look into his eyes and all exhaustion is gone, replaced with want and need. I feel a clench in my lower belly. I lick my lips and bite down, knowing how much he can’t resist the action. And he doesn’t.

In two seconds flat, he picks me up with a growl and storms to our bedroom, like a man on a mission.
Mmmm, and that mission is my body. Lucky me
. He closes our door and locks it. Then tosses me on the bed like a sack of potatoes.
I love it
. While staring down at me he slowly unbuttons his shirt, revealing his mouth-watering chest and six pack abs. I want to lick him. So I do. I climb off the bed and saunter over to him. I stand in front of my beautiful man, feeling his deliciously hard erection poking my stomach and kneel down, swiping my tongue on that sexy V above his pelvis, licking little by little up to his belly button then gradually rising towards his right nipple. I suck hard and when I hear a moan I move to the other, repeat, then make my way to his neck and that spot behind his ear that I know drives him wild. He grabs me by the hands, pulling me off his body, and crashes his hot mouth to mine. He penetrates with his tongue, my own meeting his in a torturous wrestling match. Hands grope each other’s bodies, and I detach my mouth from his long enough to unbutton and pull down his jeans and black boxer briefs. Then my mouth is back on his. Never leaving my lips, he slips the spaghetti straps off my shoulders and my favorite navy-striped maxi dress puddles to the floor, revealing my half naked body. Yeah, no bra, just barely-there panties. His sharp intake of breath lets me know he appreciates the sight. He pulls away and his eyes, full of fire, roam my entire body

              “Shit, baby. I swear you get hotter every fucking day. I don’t know where to begin. I wanna kiss every inch of you, starting with that beautiful, wet pussy of yours. Then, after you come, screaming my name, I’m gonna fuck you so hard you won’t be able to walk tomorrow!”

Hot damn
. I am dripping wet and so unbelievably ready for him. “Why don’t you stop talking and do it already!”

              “You don’t have to tell me twice!” He pushes me back down onto the bed, practically rips my panties off and parts my legs with his strong hands, sticking his head in between them. He lays soft kisses against my aching sex, not yet going where I need him to go, teasing me to no end.

              “Cole, please.” I beg, needing him now more than ever.

              “Please, what? What do you need, Evie?”

              “Lick me, Cole! Fuck me with your tongue.”

              “Fuck, Evie!” he growls. Then he buries his face in my pussy. His tongue is moving up and down. In and out. Sucking and swirling on my clit. Over and over until I’m bucking my hips against his face, my hands gripping the comforter. I scream out his name as my orgasm rips through my convulsing body. Cole continues lapping up my juices until his skilled tongue trails up my body. Licking every curve until he finds my mouth and claims it.

              I can feel his hard cock near my entrance, ready to be invited inside. Wrapping my legs around him, heels digging into his toned ass, I push him inside with a collective gasp. Cole starts pumping, hard and fast. Fucking me and filling me up with his length. He grabs both my wrists, pinning them above my head and starts working on my sensitive breasts. Sucking and biting on each nipple. “Jesus, Evie. I. Love. Fucking. You.” He grunts with every thrust. Then he releases my hands, dips his fingers between us, and circles around my clit.
Fuck, I’m so close
.

              “Fuck, baby, I’m gonna come. Come with me, Evie. Come for me!” he barks out, pounding into me a few more times before my stomach clenches and my pussy tightens around his cock. He comes a second after, shuddering on top of me, whispering my name in my ear. We lay there, him still inside me and on top of me for a few minutes. Relishing our shared bliss, we’re riding the high until it subsides. We whisper sweet “I love yous” to each other. Tender kisses are exchanged. Then he pulls out and heads to the bathroom to clean up. I lay in bed, watching him as his come pools out of me. He comes back with a warm washcloth and wipes me clean, as he always does. Always taking care of me. After he discards the dirty cloth, he climbs back into bed, wrapping me into his arms and pulling the blanket over us as we drift off together.

Always together.

Evangeline

With the sun peeking through the curtains, I wake up the same way I do every morning during the school week: alone, and at six o’clock. Cole, the sadist that he is, gets up at four-thirty every day before work to run his excruciating eight miles. I can hear him in the shower now, and although I would love to climb in with him and do many naughty things, we both just don’t have the time. So I begrudgingly get out of bed, pull on some leggings, a sports bra, and a simple tank, then tiptoe downstairs, not ready to wake the kids yet. Mama needs some quiet time to recoup, even if it’s just five or ten minutes. If you have kids, you know what I’m talking about.

I set my teakettle on the stove and wait impatiently for my vanilla chai tea. I gave up coffee while I was pregnant with the twins. Haven’t had any since.
Talk about sadism
. As my kettle screams at me, I hear light pitter-patters coming down the stairs, followed by heavier footfalls. Sounds like my loves are awake and ready to start their day.

After I get mumblings from the twins of what I am assuming is “Good morning,” and a kiss on the forehead from Cole, my quiet moment turns into a hectic race to get everyone out the door on time. Between sips of lukewarm tea, I pack lunches, make toast with peanut butter and Nutella for everyone but myself, grab the clothes they picked out for themselves, and then toss them to Cady and Dyl. Cole is just finishing up tying those sexy-ass boots, while I am about to put a side braid in Cady’s hair. He walks over, giving us all kisses and wishing us a good day before he grabs his lunch, travel mug full of coffee, and heads to work. I finish with Cady’s hair and do absolutely nothing with Dyl’s—the kid has that perfect shaggy-skater hairstyle going on. He’s going to be trouble, I know it.
They both are.

Cady with her long, curly golden brown hair and matching eyes has got some serious style, like her mama. White polka-dot tutu skirt, red leggings, black Beatles tee, and black Chuck’s. Seriously.
That’s my girl
. Dyl is a bit more understated, although today he is sporting some golden yellow skinny jeans. He’s pairing those with a black Duck sweatshirt, a white tee peeking out the bottom, and Batman printed Vans. We’re strictly a Vans, Converse or Tom’s kind of family. That’s just how we roll.

After making sure the kids are presentable, I quickly stuff their lunches and books into their backpacks, hand them over, slip on my red striped Tom’s, and then usher the kids out the door as I follow behind towards the bus stop.

We’ve got a few minutes to spare, so I kiss the kids before they join their friends. As I’m watching them interact, a door to my left slams shut. I turn toward the noise and see a much frazzled-looking Jake jogging behind Ben, who is cool as a cucumber. But even in his exhausted state, Jake still looks mighty fine. Hair all mussed like he just rolled out of bed, a wrinkled Beastie Boys tee on, with gym shorts and flip flops. He notices me looking at him, most likely catching me ogling him. Again he smirks and tilts his head up, like all guys do as a way of greeting hello.
Damn, I really need to stop checking this guy out
.

In the corner of my eye, I watch him hug Ben tightly and send him off on his merry way. Cady and Dyl call him over, giving him high fives when he arrives and introducing him to their friends. I turn back to Jake and he’s watching the proverbial welcome wagon with a huge smile on his face. His shoulders sag in relief, the worry gone from those beautiful mint green eyes. I smile to myself.
Goddess I love my kids
.

“Good morning!” I call over to him

“Good morning, Evangeline.” He strolls over to me. Once he’s near, he turns to me with that perfect smile still plastered on his face. “Your kids are amazing. I’ve been freaking out about the move. I just wanted a new start for him, but I was worried that changing schools might be too much. But Jesus, look at him!” He turns back to the kids, as do I. Ben is laughing at some story Dyl is telling with his arms animatedly flailing about.
Have I mentioned how awesome my kids are?

Jake turns back to me with a look of wonder as he stares into my eyes. He shakes his head once, like he’s trying to rid the thought that just popped into his mind.

Hmm. Wonder what he was thinking?

“Evangeline?” he asks, like it wasn’t the first time.
Shit. I must’ve missed something.

              “
Hmm
? I’m sorry. I think I need more tea!” I laugh lightly.

              “I asked if you had breakfast already. I haven’t had any yet. And I figured I would return the favor from the dinner last night, and I guess as a sort of thank for being so damn welcoming.” He looks hopeful but wary, like he thinks I will say no.
No chance in hell
. Yes, I might be playing with fire. But a friendly breakfast can’t hurt.
Right?

              As the bus arrives gathering up all of the kids, I turn to Jake with a sly smile. “I would be crazy to turn down an offer of breakfast from a top chef. I’m tired of cereal, anyway!”

              He smiles brightly, nods once, then heads toward his house. I follow closely behind. As we enter his house, he apologizes for the mess. I wave it off, knowing good and well the disaster that is moving. We walk through towers of opened and unopened boxes and head straight to the kitchen, where I spot a pair of barstools at the little breakfast nook. I sit down and watch Jake pull out random ingredients from the fridge.

              “How does an avocado, spinach, tomato, and goat cheese omelet sound?” He glances over with an eyebrow raised. Challenge in his eyes.

              “
Mmm
, that sounds heavenly. I’ve had a love affair with avocado since I was pregnant with the twins. I swear, I put it on everything. That and cream cheese. Yum!” I laugh, remembering my preggo cravings.

Jake laughs, too. “I would pay big money to see you, you tiny little thing, huge with twins in that belly. How did you even walk without tipping over?” he asks, still laughing at himself.

              “Hey, I managed to walk just fine, thank you very much. And I am not tiny, trust me. What you see is an illusion.”

              “Doubtful.” He scoffs. “For having twins, your body is—” he trails off and shakes his head.

              “What? My body is
what
? What were you going to say?”

              He looks down for a moment, and when his face returns to mine, he blushes. He actually
blushes
. With my eyes and a tilt of my head, I urge him to answer. He sighs.

              “Banging. I was going to say, your body is banging. Sorry.” He answers sheepishly and slightly cringes. I just laugh.             

              “Don’t ever apologize for complimenting a woman.
Banging
. I like that. Thanks!”

              He clears his throat, mumbles a “welcome,” then carries on preparing our breakfast. As he starts to cut the vegetables, he attempts to change the subject.

              “So, Evangeline—I meant to ask you last night what exactly you do while the kids are at school. I’m new to this stay-at-home uncle deal. I’m not sure what the hell I’m gonna do.” I love the way he says
Evangeline
. I swear he tries to say it way more than necessary. That makes me smile.

              “Well, um, other than the mundane at-home mom duties like cooking and cleaning, folding clothes, blah blah blah—I do yoga five times a week, and I write.” He stops chopping. Surprise flashes on his face.

              “Write what?”

              “Books. I’m actually a New York Times and Amazon best seller! I’m working on the third and final installment of my series.” I say it proudly because I
am
proud. I’ve worked my ass off to write these books that I love.

              He is in shock. Well, geez is that surprising that I can write?
Jerkface
.

              As if he could read my mind.

              “I’m sorry, I probably look totally taken aback right now. It’s not that I don’t believe you’re an author. I guess I just wasn’t expecting it. So, you’re a fucking author! Anything I would’ve read?”

              I burst out laughing at that.

              “What’s so funny? You don’t think I read books?” he asks in disbelief, completely offended.

              “No, no it’s not that. I am sure you’re more than capable of sounding out words.” I can’t help but tease him. The look on his face is priceless. I put him out of his misery though and explain myself. “I write Adult Contemporary.” From the look on his face, he clearly has no idea what the eff I’m talking about. “You know—Romance, Mommy Porn, whatever you wanna call it!” I shrug like it’s no big deal.

              If he didn’t look surprised a minute ago, he sure as hell does now. I think I might have just blown his mind. He’s staring at me, speechless, and shaking his head out again. I’ve noticed he does that a lot. And then he straight up bursts out laughing at me. Again. Repeating, “Oh, shit,” over and over.

              Yep, jerkface.

              “Damn, Evangeline. Again with the unexpected.” He looks impressed. More than, even. His eyes are staring into mine with such intensity, I have no choice but to look away. I get a warm feeling in the pit of my stomach, and my cheeks heat to a dark shade of pink. I try to brush it off like it’s no big deal. But inside, I’m screaming through so many mixed emotions, I can’t look him in the eye. As if sensing my discomfort, his eyes soften and he apologizes.

              “I’m sorry, again—you just caught me off guard twice, in less than a minute.”

              “Don’t worry about it.” I offer him a small smile, attempting to reassure him that all is well, even though my body is still humming from the moment before. I take a deep breath. He looks at me for moment longer, then resumes making breakfast. I watch him move around the kitchen with such ease despite the space being completely new to him. He’s fascinating to watch, so confident and full of…
love
. I can’t keep my eyes off him. He’s so sexy.

             
Shit
.

After about ten minutes of clanging dishes and ogling the chef, Jake presents me with the most beautiful looking omelet I have ever seen. And the smell is mouthwatering. He pours two glasses of orange juice for us and stands across from me. I give my thanks and dig in.
Hot damn, it tastes even better than it looks and smells
. I can’t help but close my eyes and moan.

Big mistake
.

When I open my eyes, I find Jake’s on me instantly.
That
look is back. My panties are instantly damp, and I swear he can hear my heartbeat pounding out of my chest.
How can just one effing look do that to me?
I shiver in response. He shakes his head once again and returns his attention to his plate. I do the same, finishing in record time. I think I need to get out of here before I do something stupid. I need fresh air. Or a nap. Or an effing cold shower.

              “That was amazing, Jake! You’re ridiculously talented. Hands down, the best damn omelet I have ever tasted. I think I could eat that every day and never tire of it!” He blushes at my open praise. Yes, I actually made him blush again.

              Clearing his throat, he replies, “You’re welcome. Anytime.”

              I’m pretty sure he means that. I get up and take my empty plate and glass to the sink, accidently brushing my arm with his. A tingle runs through my body at the contact. We both freeze.
Did he feel that, too?
From the look in his eyes, I’m almost positive he did.

              Yeah, I need to leave.
Now
. “Well, top chef, thank you for the epic breakfast. It truly was perfection. I should probably head back home, though. Time to work off said perfection.” I wink.

              “Yeah, no problem. Thanks for everything yesterday. I really appreciate it.”

              Feeling like this is some sort of awkward ending to a date, I start to walk to the door, but then stop suddenly, looking at all of the damn boxes. I turn back around to face Jake.

              “Hey, do you want any help with all of this? I could come over later after yoga, bring over some lunch and maybe a bottle of wine? I know how much moving effing sucks, and to unpack alone?” I shudder.

              “Really, you’d do that?” He pauses for a second, looking astonished that I would even offer such a thing. Then his mouth curves into a knowing smile. “I don’t know why I’m surprised, of course you would offer! You’re something else, Evangeline. That’d be great. I honestly don’t even know where to begin with this shit.”

I finally walk to the door, Jake hot on my heels. He opens it for me, and he’s so close I can feel the warmth radiating off his body. I take a deep inhale, smelling coffee and a scent that is just him. Just
Jake
.
It’s intoxicating
. I halt any forbidden thoughts before they try to form in my mind. We exchange goodbyes and see you laters before I head back home.