Redemption (Forgiven Series) (20 page)

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if I listen to my dad, I’m supposed to play professionally, and my coaches want me to attempt the Olympic team—”

As she spoke I reached across the table and covered her hand with mine. “Jersey, I didn’t ask about what everyone else wants. I want to know what
you
want to do.”

She sighed. “You know something?”

“What is that?” I said, squeezing her hand.

“It’s nice to have someone listen and care about my opinion,” she said, grinning. “To be honest, I’m not sure what I want to do. Playing pro, or for the Olympics, is always on my mind, but if that’s what I choose I want to do it for me.”

It had to be hard, everyone always trying to make decisions for her. Her dad seemed to want to make a lot of those decisions. Problem was, since he appeared to know so little about her, he had no idea about the type of the choices she would make for herself.

Wanting to take her mind off of the last part of our conversation, I offered to move onto the next part of our night. By now, all of our friends should already be at the bar.

“What do you say we move onto the next part of the night?” I asked, a hopeful expression on my face.

When she nodded, I signaled to the waiter to get our check.

“Sir, your check has been taken care of,” the waiter said. When I gave him a questioning look he continued, “The Jacobs family hopes you have a wonderful evening, and they’ll see you soon.”

“Okay, thank you,” I responded, distractedly.

I shook my head. Not that I should really be surprised by the fact that Caleb’s parents had paid the bill. They’d probably set it up when they got me the reservations. I would have to call them tomorrow to thank them. Once I got over my shock, I stood up and offered my hand to Lauren.

“Ready?”

She smiled, taking my hand. “Absolutely.”

I tossed some money on the table to cover the tip. I’m sure that had been taken care of too, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. Helping her out of her chair, I twisted my hand to link her fingers with mine, and led her to the front of the hotel.

After handing over the valet ticket for her car, we had to wait a few minutes before they pulled up out front and my nerves resurfaced. With slightly shaking hands, I helped her into the car, knowing I needed to get a handle on this by the time we got there. Taking a deep breath, I pulled out of the drive and headed toward the bar.

From the corner of my eye, I saw her head turn toward me, like she wanted to ask me something. “So, Caleb’s parents paid for dinner tonight?” she asked.

Keeping my eyes on the road, I nodded my head. “Yep, that’s just the kind of stuff they do. I called to ask them to help me make the reservation.”

“They are really wonderful people. I only met them the night of Angie’s party,” she said wistfully.

In that moment, I knew she was probably thinking the same thing I was: Why couldn’t I have had parents like them. Although it wasn’t something I could change, that didn’t mean I didn’t want it. Thankfully, my mom was awesome, and Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs had treated me like one of their kids from the very beginning.

The drive to the bar didn’t take very long. Not that it mattered, because this time I didn’t have to worry about trying to get as much alone time with her without interference. Just like everything else tonight, things would be different. We had all the time we wanted.

By now everyone should already be there waiting for us, and I hoped that Lauren wouldn’t recognize their cars in the parking lot. Angie had promised to try and have everyone park in the back of the lot. With all of this sneaking around, it felt a lot like Angie’s surprise party all over again, but I was glad that I could make this a special night for Lauren.

We pulled in to the parking lot and Lauren turned to me and smiled. “I guess we’re doing everything from that night,” she chuckled.

Reaching over, I slipped my hand around the back of her head and brought her face closer to mine. “My goal is to do everything, but I won’t push you,” I said, bringing her lips to mine for a quick kiss. But it was Lauren who slid her hand into my hair holding my mouth to hers. When she pulled away, we were both breathless, and just like that first night, I wanted nothing more than to take her back to my apartment and have my way with her.

Instead, not wanting the night to end yet, I took a deep breath and tried to calm my body down before stepping out of the car. By the time I got it together, Lauren was already waiting for me at the front of the car. Once again, I slid my hand into hers and led her inside. Everyone was waiting there, just like I’d planned, and I looked over to Lauren to see her reaction. The disbelief was there, but it was quickly replaced by joy. She leaned up and whispered, “Thank you,” in my ear and dropped a kiss on my cheek.

We made our way over to the bar, where Lauren was immediately swallowed up by Angie, Emily, and the blonde from the Pixel Lounge the other night. They were laughing and giggling about God only knows what.

Caleb sat there watching me, the look of amusement written clear across her face. “Hey, man, glad you could make it,” he said sarcastically, pulling me into a one-armed hug.

“Thanks,” I muttered.

I took the seat next to him and watched the girls continue their conversation.

“How was dinner?” Caleb asked, handing me a beer.

“Perfect, she was shocked by my plans.” I smiled, thinking about the look of disbelief on Lauren’s face when we’d pulled up at the hotel. “Oh, and I need to call your parents tomorrow and thank them for dinner.”

He shook his head and covered his eyes with his hand. “Let me guess, they paid?” he sighed.

“Yep. At first I was surprised, then I remembered they were your parents,” I replied. “It’s what they do.”

“They are unbelievable,” he said.

“Yeah, but you’re lucky to have them.”

He brought his beer up to his lips. “You’re right,” he said, watching the girls and taking a sip. I noticed his eyes soften when they landed on Angie. Turning my attention to Lauren, I took the time to appreciate how gorgeous she was. I mean I knew a lot of beautiful women, but Lauren was in a league of her own.

She must have felt me watching her because she turned and hit me with her beautiful smile. She looked back to the blonde and linked their arms, pulling the blonde toward me.

“Josh, I’d like you to meet my roommate and best friend, Morgan,” she said, gesturing towards me. “Morgan, this is Josh.”

Morgan set an appraising eye on me. “Nice.”

It felt a little weird to be so blatantly checked out by my girlfriend’s best friend and I shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other while Morgan continued to stare. I noticed that Lauren was watching my reaction and I jumped when she suddenly broke out into laughter. The rest of the girls joined in and I realized Morgan had been messing with me. After a few seconds, she reached out her hand to shake mine. “Sorry, I had to give you a little bit of a hard time. It’s nice to meet you, Josh.”

Nick came up behind Morgan and wrapped his arm around her waist. What was up with that? They had been together the other night, but I’d thought Nick was just working out his frustrations. Maybe he was finally ready to move on from Angie. Damn, that would be a good thing. Caleb would finally completely relax around Nick then.

“Hey, man,” I called out over the music, raising my hand for a fist bump.

“Dude, you were a mess the other night,” he chuckled loudly as his fist hit mine.

My eyes dropped down to Lauren who I pull into my side and held her close. “Yeah, can you blame me?” I asked, looking back up at Nick.

He looked Lauren up and down, which didn’t sit well with me, but when his eyes moved to Morgan, my annoyance faded. “No, not really.”

Nick leaned down and whispered something in Morgan’s ear. Then, just as quickly as they had appeared, he took her hand and led her to the dance floor.

My eyes drifted back to Lauren. I leaned down so she could hear me over the music. “Do you want something to drink?”

She shook her head. “Not right now,” she answered.

Spinning in my seat, I ordered another beer from the bartender. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Andrew and I twisted in my seat to face him. Instantly, I noticed the way his arms possessively held onto Emily. He had that look that Caleb wore when he looked at Angie. Before everything with Lauren, I would have been right there, winding him up. But now I knew exactly how he felt. Hopefully, the two of them had finally talked to each other about their feelings, instead of everyone else. Andrew nodded his head at me and I knew what he meant. He was happy for me, just like I was happy for him. I nodded my head in return and turned back to Lauren, who was deep in conversation with Angie.

For the next hour or so we just sat and drank. Enjoying the conversation with our friends, Lauren eventually decided to join in and have a few beers. It was awesome to see everyone happy again. I couldn’t remember the last time that happened, but I knew it had been a while.

At some point, Lauren turned my lap into her seat, which of course I didn’t mind, but I knew she had to feel my erection pressing against her ass. The feel of her movements as she talked and laughed had made me hard in seconds. Needing to get her off my lap so I could calm down, I leaned down and put my lips next to her ear. “Dance with me,” I suggested.

A shudder ran through her body at the feel of my breath on her neck and she nodded slightly.

“Excuse me,” I interrupted Angie. “I’m borrowing Jersey for a dance.”

“Whatever,” Angie said waving a hand and dismissing us. Suddenly, she grabbed a hold of my arm to stop me and stretching up she kissed me on the cheek. “Have fun,” she smiled.

“Thanks,” I said, giving her a hug.

“Hey,” Caleb called out. “Get your hands off my fiancée. You have a girlfriend of your own now.”

I flipped him off and then took hold of Lauren’s hand. “Come on, Jersey, let’s dance,” I said leading her to the dance floor.

The plan was obviously flawed because when she turned to face me and wrapped her arms around my neck, my body’s reaction was instantaneous, and my dick was harder than it had been before. Damn, what I wouldn’t give to be inside her again. But I wasn’t going to push her. I had to prove that this relationship was about more than sex. When she was ready, she’d tell me.

With my thoughts realigned, I was content to enjoy the way her body moved against mine. Her eyes locked with mine as we danced and that single look was enough for the flames to spark. I knew she’d felt it too when her teeth sunk into her bottom lip. My hands roved up and down her sides and, every once in a while, I’d move high enough to lightly graze the outside of her breast. The longer we danced, the hotter her eyes burned with need.

When the next song started, she turned so that she was dancing with her back to me. I lowered my nose to her hair and inhaled. She smelled amazing, like cinnamon. Throughout the song, she’d press back and to grind her ass all over my dick. She was driving me crazy, to the point where I wanted to bend her over a table and have my way with her, not caring who saw.

When she did it again, I groaned and tightened my grip on her hips. She turned her face towards me and pressed her lips to mine. It was only a kiss, but I was so fucking turned on. It was so hard to behave myself.

When her tongue licked across the crease of my lips, I was done. It took all of my willpower but I pulled away from her and suggested we head back to the bar to get a drink.

Hot, sweaty, and out of breath, it had nothing to do with dancing and everything to do with her. We were halfway back to where Emily and Andrew were at the bar, when Lauren put her hand on my arm. I looked down at her. “What’s up, Jersey?”

“How long do we have to stay?” she asked suggestively.

Because most of the blood in my body was definitely not in my brain, it took me a few minutes to catch up. “Are you tired from practice?” I asked with concern.

“No.” She shook her head and bit down on her bottom lip again.

Suddenly, the answer smacked me in the face. Taking a hold of her hand, I looked around and saw that Angie and Caleb were on the dance floor, while Nick and Morgan were nowhere to be found. We’d spent enough time with our friends for now, and if Lauren wanted to be alone with me, there was no way I was going to pass that up.

We made it to the bar but we didn’t order drinks like I’d originally planned. “We’re going to get going,” I told Emily and Andrew.

Emily started to protest, but Andrew cut her off.

“Have a good night guys,” he said, shooting Emily a glare.

Emily’s face snapped up and she must have noticed the flush on Lauren’s cheeks because she started nodding. “Call me,” she said, looking between the two of us. “Sometime tomorrow?”

“I will.” Lauren smiled. “Tell everyone we said goodbye, okay?”

“Oh, I don’t think they’ll be surprised you’re gone,” Emily smirked.

As Lauren’s flushed deepened I bid everyone goodnight and pulled her toward the door. I was done with the conversation. I wanted her all to myself.

We made it to the car in no time and quickly pulled out of the parking lot. While we were driving she reached over and ran her hand up my thigh, almost touching my dick. I groaned at her touch, and her hands sent heat through my entire body. Not sure how far she wanted to take this, I needed to get home quickly and find out.