Jennifer and Rocket (The Princesses of Silicon Valley Book 6) (13 page)

Giving Nick the nastiest look I can muster, I say, “No, my big brother.”

“Nick, this is Tristan. We’re old college friends.”

Nick looks him up and down. “Yeah, we’re leaving now.” He gives Tristan the big brother evil eye.

“I’m fine,” I say to Nick.

His jaw is tight as he glares at us. “I’m not leaving here without you.”

I glare back at him, which has zero effect. Then I look up at Tristan and apologetically shrug. “Hey, it was nice running into you.”

He nods, “You going to be around this week?”

I shake my head. “I’m heading back to California tomorrow.”

He nods. As I start walking up the stairs, he calls after me. “I’ll call you when I get back. Maybe we can…get together.”

“Yeah, that’ll be cool.” My one chance with Tristan Hall, and Nick has to blow it.

***

The next day, after landing in San Francisco, I walk through the terminal. Standing outside of the passenger control area is Rocket.

Shit!

Guilt slams me in the face.

I force myself to breathe.

I didn’t cheat, not really. It was a few minutes of flirting. I partook in a little fantasy kiss.

Anyway, Rocket and I never said we were exclusive.

He’s not my boyfriend….

Not really.

Rocket has a big smile on his face; he looks really good, but in a completely different way than Tristan. I pull myself together, smile, and wave. Can he see my duplicitous guilt? Does he know what I’ve done?

Damn, why does Rocket have to look so good?

Something’s off.

What happened when she was home?

She’s edgy.

Are we back to where we were when we first met?

It feels like I’m having to prove myself, again.

What’s going on?

***

Jennifer and I hang out for a couple days before heading up to Tahoe for the long New Year’s weekend. As we pack up to leave, I’m dumbfounded by the amount of food and clothes she’s planning on bringing.

“Jennifer, we’re going away for four days. Why are you packing all of this shit?”

“Rocket, I might need something. You’ve got plenty of room in your truck.”

“What, you’d take the bed if there was room for it?”

She gets an irritated look on her face as she packs up more shit.

It finally hit’s me. Nothing I’m going to say will modify her behavior. She’s been irritable since visiting her family. I’ve been married, I know better. I should be a good boyfriend, not say anything. I relegate myself to lugging all her shit to the truck.

***

We stop at In-N-Out Burger in Auburn for lunch and to let Hartley out. As we pass Colefax, it starts snowing lightly.

“After so many years of drought, do you think we’ll actually get some snow this year?” Jennifer asks with excitement.

“Let’s hope so.”

“I’ve only been up in Tahoe in the winter a couple of times. The last time, there wasn’t much snow,” she tells me.

“Did you find some snow to play in?” I ask.

“No, we went hiking. But when I was a kid, my grandparents took us up to Mauna Kea Observatory. We had a great time. All the kids in my family built a snowman.”

As we drive, the visibility decreases.

Jennifer asks, “Are you OK driving in this?”

“After living in Wyoming, I’m experienced with winter weather.”

As we get off the freeway in Truckee, we miss the start of chain controls. Arriving at the house, I jump out and have to wade through the snow to use the keypad. After pulling into the garage, Jennifer and Hartley race into the house.

I yell after Jennifer, “Can you turn the heat up for the house and the hot tub?” I unload all of Jennifer’s crap while she puts everything away. As I wait for the house to warm up, I get the fireplace going. Sitting back and relaxing in front of the fire, Jennifer struts into the living room in her bikini.

Damn, my girl’s hot!

“You want to check out the hot tub?” she says, her voice dripping with sex.

Immediately, I stand up and start to strip.

“Rocket, what if someone comes in?” Jennifer says in alarm.

“Then they’ll see me naked. Come on,” I say as I grab her hand and head to the deck. When I open the door, she squeals and pulls away.

“It’s cold out there.”

“You were the one that wanted to get in the hot tub.”

“But now it’s nice and warm in the house.”

Leaving her in the house, I run outside to remove the hot tub cover. I wish I hadn’t been so rash to remove my clothes as it’s freezing, snowing, and I’m naked. Jumping into the hot water feels great. Jennifer is still inside. Her face is pressed against the window, now she’s wearing a big beach towel. Sitting in the hot tub by myself is not what I want to be doing. I wave to her to come in. She shakes her head. I get up and stalk over to her. She squeals when she sees me open the door. She starts to run.

This is even more fun.

I run after her, grab her by the waist, and lift her into my arms. “You’re cold and wet.”

Hartley runs into the bedroom to hide as I carry a squealing, wriggling Jennifer into the hot tub, towel, and all.

She’s still on my lap when I squat down so only our heads are out of the water.

Now she’s yelling, “You got the towel wet.”

“Yeah, and you’re wearing way too many clothes,” I say as I start tugging off her bikini top. I hold it up, swing it around, then throw it so it hits the door.

“Rocket, what if my friends show up?”

“I guess they’ll get to see us naked,” I reply.

Reaching down, I start pulling off her bikini bottoms while simultaneously kissing those pretty, pink lips. The kiss moves to hot and sexy. As our temperature rises, I realize that a hot tub is way too hot for what I want to be doing. With Jennifer still wrapped around me, I stand up, which elicits another squeal. Covering her lips with mine keeps the commentary down. I walk us inside and over to the fireplace, which is now warm and crackling.

Laying her down on the rug, I’m over her as she breaks away and says, “We’ll get the rug wet.”

I start kissing down her neck to her chest.

“Meredith and Sam should be getting here soon.”

Since I have one of her nice pink tits in my mouth, I have to release it to respond. “Yeah, I don’t care.”

She squeals as I run my mouth down to her core. Looking up at her, I can see the passion run over her face as she makes those cute moaning noises she’s so good at.

“Oh, Rocket,” she breathes out as she arches her back.

Those are the words she should be saying. When I’ve got her good and revved up, all squirmy and moaning, I realize that I need protection. Shit, I hate breaking the mood when she’s ready. Reaching over, I find my jeans and dig out a condom. She’s ready and so am I. Just as I’m coming, I hear the garage door go up. Shit, talk about timing it tight. I finish my last thrust, take a deep breath, and pick my orgasming girlfriend up as I hightail it into the shower for round two.

When we finally show our faces, Meredith raises an eyebrow and has a big smirk.

“Have a nice shower?” she says as she hands Jennifer her bikini. “This was getting buried in the snow. Oh, and Rocket, are those your clothes strewn across the living room?”

Jennifer snatches her bikini as I say, “If you got here five minutes earlier you would have walked in on a show.”

Jennifer slaps my arm; her eyes get big. “Rocket!”

Jennifer cracks me up. In some ways, she’s so prissy and in other ways…she’s not.

A combination I like.

Feeling dehydrated, I head for the kitchen. I’m astounded. Meredith brought up as much crap as Jennifer. Looking through the bags, I can’t find any beer.

I say to Sam, “With all this food, do you think they could have forgotten beer?”

Sam shrugs as he tells me, “I don’t get involved. This is their thing.” This is probably the best attitude to have. I can see why he’s lasted so long with Meredith.

Heading over to Safeway, the snow is relentless. Two feet must have fallen since Jennifer and I got here. Safeway is a complete madhouse. Not only is it a holiday, but they’re predicting ten feet of snow. Everyone’s making sure they have enough supplies. Grabbing a shovel and a couple cases of beer, I decide that I better get some anti-freeze and some candles in case we lose electricity, we certainly don’t need any more food.

Back at the house, Jennifer’s friends Juliette and her boyfriend Nate have arrived. Nate has a Jeep with snow tires and a Minnesota license plate, so there are at least two of us who can handle the snow. Juliette’s also brought a lot of food. I wonder who’s going to eat it all.

Of course, Jennifer’s lugged up her rice cooker. Sam pulls out a beer, points to it and says, “Hey, Jennifer, I see you brought your security blanket.” Looking at me, he continues, “She never travels without it.”

Dinner is fun; her friends are enjoyable to hang with. They bring out a side of Jennifer I’ve not yet seen. They all start telling funny stories from college. Whenever they bring up Jennifer, she’s making the costumes, creating the invitations, or memorializing the event in some scrapbook. Not that I’m surprised—I’ve seen her wall of crafts.

After dinner, the guys cleanup and then the six of us play poker. Juliette and Nate play well. Jennifer plays terribly. She forgets which card is high and which is low, she asks questions that broadcast her every move, then she’s shocked when she loses. Trying to help her out only makes the situation worse. I don’t mind learning my girl’s weaknesses. Anyway, it’s nice to know she’s not good at subterfuge.

After poker, we sit around the fireplace and countdown to the New Year. Sam has a crazy tradition of spitting Jägermeister into the flames after making a new year’s resolution. Surprisingly, it’s fun. As we make our New Year’s wishes, I silently wish that Jennifer and I have a good year together. Sam’s phone dings telling us it’s time for the big countdown. Jennifer squeaks as I pull her onto my lap.

I start the New Year kissing my girl. Nate stands up with Juliette wrapped around him as he heads to their room. Thinking this is a good idea, I grab a hold of Jennifer’s hand as we head off, too.

***

In the morning, I instantly know something’s off. The light coming through the window is wrong. Rolling over, I figure I might as well sleep, until Hartley starts whining at me. Damn, she needs to go out. Jennifer pulls the blanket over her head as she snuggles in deeper. Quietly dressing, I pull on my warm jacket, boots, gloves, and hat. I open the garage door; it’s a solid wall of snow. With shovel in hand, I start digging a tunnel so we can access sky. After a bit, Nate comes out. He stands in the garage with his hands on his hips looking at the wall of snow. I give him a few minutes before I say, “You going to look at it, or are you going to help out?”

He picks up a shovel and joins me. When we actually reach the surface, Nate says in disbelief, “It’s still coming down. I grew up in Buffalo, lived in Chicago and Minnesota and I’ve never seen so much snow.”

I take a break by leaning on my shovel. “Growing up in LA, Wyoming at first was a shock. My first winter there, I went home for Christmas and didn’t go back until March. Actually, I traveled around the Southern Hemisphere. By the second year, I fell in love with snow and winter sports.”

Nate nods as he says, “Yeah, winter sports are great.”

After a while, we get a decent path cleared. Hartley pokes her nose in the snow, then whimpers and barks at me as she hangs out in the garage. Finally, I get tired of her complaining. Nate and I throw snowballs to her. This gets her over her fear as she starts chasing them. As we move her outdoors, she’s totally confused where they go while she swims through the snow to catch them.

It’s exhausting to shovel at 6,000 feet. Feeling hungry, we head in the house. Everyone is up and making breakfast. Afterward, the six of us head outside so we can clear the driveway and uncover Nate’s Jeep. When we break for lunch, and to dry our clothes, someone turns on the weather channel. Not surprisingly, all the roads in the area are closed. They predict the storm will pass through by tonight, dropping another three feet. That will make twelve feet of snow in about thirty-six hours.

In the afternoon, we get a break in the weather with bright blue skies. We all head outside. At first we throw snowballs to Hartley. Soon this turns into a full-blown snowball war. Remembering from when we got here that there aren’t any bushes or trees near the front door, I climb onto the roof and jump into the deep soft snow. Jennifer starts screaming my name thinking I killed myself. Hartley’s also barking, but she’s a crazed dog. The jump was fun, though it’s hard getting from the middle of a deep snowdrift to the path. I like it so much I decide to do it again. This time, I pick Jennifer up over my shoulder, carrying her up to the roof. Her friends shout and cheer as she squeals and screams. It’s only a small drop since the snow is so deep. Soon, all of us are jumping off the roof.