Our Time (19 page)

"I can have her come right
now if you want," he taunted. "Otherwise, she will be coming at
4:30."

I turned in his arms and pressed
my palm flat against his firm chest. "And after the concert? What were
your plans?"

I hadn't been able to get my mind
off of him and how he had touched me that morning, which led to me wondering
what was going to happen tonight and picturing all types of scenarios. Needless
to say, I had some good dreams during that nap.

He kissed the tip of my nose and
pressed his forehead to mine. His breath smelled minty and sweet and I resisted
the urge to take another small taste of him.

"It will be pretty late by
the time we get back. If you are okay to leave her overnight with Maddy, she is
prepared to keep her, that way we won't have to risk waking her up to bring her
back. Might be nice for you to get a little more rest, too. I know you've been
working every chance you have gotten this week and… I haven't really let you
get to bed at a decent hour the last several days. It's up to you."

I thought about that for a minute
while he ran his hand up and down my back and through my hair, making the
circuit several times before I forced myself to focus. It would be nice to have
some extra alone time with him. I would miss Liv like crazy and most likely
wouldn't get much rest without her at home, but it would be too hard to pick
her up so late and get her into bed for the night without waking her up and if
she did wake up, it would be an even longer night.

Plus, I had a feeling that one of
the hundred scenarios I had thought about would play out. At least, I hoped one
did.

I hadn't been with anyone since
Olivia was conceived and it had never really crossed my mind or been an issue
until Andrew. He never pushed me into anything unless I gave him the invitation
and so far, the most skin he had touched on me was touched just this morning. I
always kept myself modest for the most part and not because I really wanted to,
but after being pregnant, my body had never really returned to its original
state. I had exercised often at first, but stopped as Olivia grew up and took
more of my attention. It wasn't horrible, I just had extra curves here and
there that I wished I could erase.

I thought of that bitch, Megan,
and what she had looked like. Big breasts, long legs, tiny waist. I hated to
admit it, but she was what most men would call sexy. I was not.

What if he saw me naked and
wished I looked like her instead? What if it was awkward and he was
disappointed?

No, don't do this to yourself.
You don't even know if he is planning on--

"Jocelyn? If you are wondering
what I am expecting if we don't pick Liv up tonight, the answer is nothing. I
know that we have been trying to take things slow and I will continue to go
slow for as long as you need me to. It might be nice to spend some alone time
together, see what we come up with…" his words trailed off, but I got the
gist of what he was trying to tell me.

I wasn't going to worry about
anything tonight. Whatever happened, would happen because both of us wanted it,
and the more I thought about it, the more I wanted it.

"Okay, why don't you let
Madison know that she will have Olivia all night. I can pick her up in the
morning after she wakes up." I felt him tense for an instant and
questioned whether he was nervous about what may happen, too. I had seen most of
his body before. Whenever we went to the pool, I had to wipe the drool off of
my chin when he removed his shirt and envisioned beating every staring woman to
a pulp. He was like a God with that body, so he had nothing to worry about. He
worked out a lot and anyone with eyes could tell. His abs alone could probably
cut glass…

He brushed his lips over mine and
tangled his fingers in my hair. "You sure?"

I grinned and looked into his
ocean blue eyes. Maybe tonight I would get to touch those abs, or even lick them
the way I had imagined. "Yes, I am."

He nodded as he reached into his
pocket and pulled out his phone. Olivia walked into the room with one of her
books and brought it over to me.

"Book, peez. Lion,
raaar."

I looked at the book and saw that
it was her animal book that Andrew had found several weeks before. She loved
when he made all the sounds because he did it so loudly. She already knew most
of the animals and the sounds they made, but after he got her the book, she was
now a pro at every single one in there.

Andrew would take care of her as
if she were his own.

I shook the thought from my head.
Not the time to think those things.

He was already saying goodbye to
Madison by the time I climbed out of the bed and lifted my sweet girl into my
arms. "Let's go read this downstairs and I can make you some lunch."

I heard Andrew talking to Monty
in my room as I made my way to the stairs. I don't think he realized that I was
still within hearing distance.

"What do you think,
boy?" he said, "Should I tell her tonight?" Monty made a
groaning sound and I imagined that he was getting his ears scratched. "You
okay with me taking care of her now?"

My heart thumped wildly and I
hurried down the stairs as quietly as possible. After a few seconds, he made
his way down to the kitchen and stood in the doorway watching me make some
lunch. I felt his gaze on every inch of my body and my stomach fluttered wildly
at the thought of what might happen tonight.

I was ready.

Andrew

The drive to Portland was quick
and Jocelyn spent most of the ride asking what Olivia had done while she was
taking a nap. She hated to miss any time with her and I told her everything in
great detail. Liv had been going through a growth spurt and was a little more
active than what was normal, which was a lot anyway.

She called Maddy after we had
dinner and checked in. Olivia got on the phone and talked to her for a minute
and the pride in Jocelyn's eyes was unparalleled. This was the first time she
would be without her overnight and I knew it was going to be hard on her. It
was hard for
me
to be this far away from her.

When we found our seats for the
concert, I entwined my fingers with hers and brushed my lips across her
knuckles. "Are you excited?"

She nodded excitedly and bit her
bottom lip, which only made me want to get this concert over with as quickly as
possible so I could do that
for
her.

"Yes, I am."

"Good. You know," I
said close to her ear, "you look absolutely beautiful tonight. I don't
know how to keep my hands off of you."

She flushed and looked down at
her hands. She was wearing dark jeans with a long sleeved black blouse that
hugged her waist and was unbuttoned enough to be distracting. She didn't see
herself the way I did, but I would make sure to spend the rest of my life
trying to fix that. Her ex-husband deserved to be tied to the back of a horse
and dragged across the country, and then some.

I wish I would have known the
Jocelyn before him. Then I thought, I may not know who she was, but I know who
she is. I love who she is. That's all that mattered.

She continued to stare down at
her hands and had started picking at her nail polish. She was nervous and I
knew that she was thinking about later. I hooked my finger beneath her chin and
tilted her face to look at me.

"Hey, whatever you want is
yours, you know that right? Let's just enjoy each other and not think about
anything else tonight, okay? Just know that you are beautiful and I have every
intention of reminding you of that every day."

Her eyes welled up with tears and
one fell down the smooth skin of her cheeks. I wasn't expecting her to get
emotional and for a moment, I worried that I had said something wrong. Then,
she smiled.

I brushed the tear away with my
thumb and held her gaze. Her beautiful chocolate eyes made me helpless and my
entire body hummed with awareness of her. The words I wanted to tell her so
desperately came to the surface.

"Jocelyn…I lo--"

The sound of a banjo came loudly
through the speakers and the crowd went crazy. We were still face to face and
all I could do was smile down at her and kiss her full lips, hiding the
disappointment I felt. Her eyes were dark and searched mine, pleading with me
to say what I so desperately needed to say, but the moment wasn't right. I
leaned into her ear and felt her shiver, "Enjoy the show, babe."

She sang and danced and hugged me
when one of her favorite songs was played, kissed me after
every
song,
and made me fall in love with her all over again. It was great to see her so carefree
and having fun. I know she loved every minute with Olivia and she wouldn't
trade it for the world, but I could tell that she needed this kind of thing in
her life, too. She had sacrificed so much to be where she is today, I only
hoped that she wouldn't have to sacrifice anymore.

When the band finished and the
crowd started to disperse, we stayed seated, holding hands with her head on my
shoulder.

"Thank you, Andrew. This has
been a wonderful night. I can't remember the last time I have had so much fun."

I wrapped my arm around her
shoulders and kissed her temple, "Good."

"Should we go?" she
asked as she looked around the stadium.

"Only when you're
ready."

The corners of her mouth twitched
and she stood, pulling me up with her. "I'm ready."

***

When we pulled up to our houses,
it was well after midnight. Jocelyn had dozed off the last 10 minutes of the
drive and was still sound asleep. I took the opportunity to gaze at her. Her
eyelashes fanned over her cheeks and the line of her jaw leading down to her
soft neck was more than a little tempting to kiss. I wanted to sit there and
stare at her forever, but she stirred and opened her eyes.

Her sleepy voice was the sexiest
thing I had ever heard, "How long have we been home?" She rubbed her
eyes and straightened in her seat.

"Just a couple
minutes."

"Oh." She snatched her
purse from the floor of the car and reached for the door handle, but paused.
"Do you want to come in?"

My heart beat rapidly and I
pictured every possible outcome of the situation before I finally spoke.
"Only if you want me to."

"I do," she replied
almost instantly.

I smiled at her and she smiled
back, but we didn't move. I studied her face and my eyes roamed down to her
neck where I could see the rapid beating pulse at the base. She was just as
nervous as I was. My eyes flicked back up to hers and the look she gave me…
"God, Jocelyn. You are so beautiful."

She didn't look away, but a blush
crept up her neck and covered her face as she smiled shyly. "Let's go
inside."

We walked up to her door and I
let her unlock it. For the first time in my life, I had absolutely no idea what
to do with a woman. She made me question anything I had ever done before and
the last thing I wanted to do was screw this up. Monty was there to greet us,
his tail wagging wildly and his ears pressed back, he seemed to be yelling at
Jocelyn with all the noise he was making.

"I know, buddy. We left you
all alone in the dark. I deserve everything you have to throw at me, but can we
wait until morning?" she said and scratched his chin.

He whined a few seconds longer
and then groaned in agreement.

"I'll never get over
that," I muttered.

"Get over what?"

"Him acting so… human. I
swear, just the look on his face tells you what he is thinking. It's
incredible."

She chuckled and flicked the
light on in the kitchen. "You thirsty?"

I cleared my throat and sat down
at her small table. "Yeah, I am."

None of it was awkward. If
anything, it was extremely comfortable except that my heart was about to beat
out of my chest and my hands wouldn't stop shaking. I watched her move around
the kitchen, stretching to reach into the cupboard and sweeping her hair behind
her ear as she filled each glass with water and ice. Just watching her move was
enough to make my entire body tighten. Her hips swayed as she made her way back
to me, and the best part was she didn't even know how incredibly sexy she was.
She was intoxicating and every part of me itched to be near her.

She sat down next to me and
handed me a glass. My mouth had gone dry and my skin felt tighter. The air
around us felt thicker, palpable.

Here we go.

Jocelyn

Andrew looked like he was deep in
thought and I took that opportunity to watch him closely. He had shaved this
morning, but had a thin scruff already coming in and I wanted to reach out and
feel it with my fingers. His eyes were so blue tonight and every time he looked
at me, I had to catch my breath. I ran my eyes along his jaw and down his neck
where I saw the tiniest flutter of a pulse. Looked like his heart was beating
just as fast as mine.