The Final Chase (Final Love Book 2) (13 page)

Chapter Twenty-four

I tossed my phone on the bed and marched down to have a few words with the bad boy millionaire in question. The baby gate stopped me briefly, but once I figured that out, I was back to my search. I found him in the living room watching Casey and Binksie play.

“We need to talk.” I walked up to him and straddled his lap so he couldn’t go anywhere. When he put his hands on my hips, I remembered why this was a bad decision. He could turn our talk into something dirtier.

“Who are you, Jake?” 

“Jake,” he answered flatly.

“You know what I mean. I feel like I don’t know the man I’m in love with, and it’s freaking me out. My phone nearly exploded from all the notifications from people flipping out about me apparently being with a bad boy millionaire from New York. I mean, I feel like I’m on an episode of PUNKED or something.” I didn’t flail this time.  I watched his face as he took in what I said.

“I’m sorry.”  He looked me straight on, no shame or regret in his eyes.

“So it’s true. You’re some big hot shot wild man from the city. You’re a millionaire?”  The last part I could have cared less about, it was just the fact that I didn’t know.

“Does it matter?” 

“The money? No.” My answer was absolute and quick.

“I just want to know who you are.”  He pulled me in for a kiss then leaned his forehead against mine, eyes closed.

“This is me.  Who I was before, is not who I am now. Right now I am just a man who wants to be with the woman he loves and have her love him in return.” 

My breathing stopped. I knew how he felt. I could feel it with every gaze, with every touch. But hearing it did something to me. Some wall I had unknowingly built just crumbled.

“You have my love,” I whispered to him.  We were moving so fast, everything was a blur around us. He had me completely, every breath, and every heartbeat.

“Will you tell me about your life? Old, new, and everything in between?” I asked as I laid my head against his shoulder.  I wanted to know everything about this man that I could. We chatted for a few hours, learning everything we could. Favorite colors. Mine was orange, his was red.  My favorite movie was
Pitch Perfect
, his was
300
.

He grew up in New York, where his dad was a big hot shot in advertising, his mother was a doctor, and his sisters were doing their own thing. After one sister had a big sweet sixteen party with tigers present, he saw how they were treated and wanted to do something. So he traded in his naughty ways at twenty-five, learned everything he needed, and opened up the rescue a few months later. He’d been helping animals ever since. A higher purpose in life.

  My story wasn’t as glorified as his. I was a cute little girl, I only had one sibling, parents divorced. Fell in love with pretty dresses and makeup at twelve. Have been best friends with Rayne forever, she’s really like my family. I went to school for cosmetology, worked my ass off until I opened my own super awesome salon. He was a bit of a player, but with his money, good looks, and attitude, who could blame him? But since he started the rescue, there hadn’t really been anyone.

He was too focused on the animals.

I wanted to cut a bitch when he said that most of the women wanted him for who he was and the money he had. Once they realized he was just a laid-back guy that made the rescue his priority, they didn’t want him anymore. Yep, I was feeling pretty stabby after that.

I hadn’t been with anyone since my ex, just because I felt like I was missing something. Turns out it was a sexy man who lived and breathed rescuing animals. Who would have believed it?

“Tomorrow’s the last day of our bet.” I felt like it was bearing down on us, and I didn’t really know what to make of it. Would I go back to my life? Would I stay here? What would become of us? I felt like I needed something from this. A path to follow, some sort of reassurance.

“That it is.” He held me close but didn’t say anything else. I wasn’t ready to drop it, so I kept talking.

“What are we going to do? I mean, we live quite a ways from each other. I have my salon, you have the rescue. When are we going to see each other?” I pulled back and looked him in his beautiful blue eyes.  I wanted to make this work with him. I mean, hell, Cammy Jennings didn’t tell just anyone that she loved them!

“We will work it out. Both of us are the boss, we can be a little more flexible than some.”  It wasn’t the answer I was looking for, but I wasn’t expecting him to ask me to marry him either. Feelings of doubt and the unknown hit me. I hadn’t known Jake for long, and I was undoubtedly in love with him, but where did we go from there? I had to go back to my life. I had a business, and apartment. Jake couldn’t have me around distracting him, driving off to have sex in the woods.

“Sweetheart. Look at me.”  I was staring at his chest. I didn’t even realize I had looked away from his eyes. I returned my eyes to his.

“You love me?”
“Yes.” I nodded.

“Then don’t worry, any relationship has its kinks. We will work it out. We want it bad enough that there is no other way. I already told you. You’re it.”  My heart swelled and I leaned in to kiss him. I had to believe that things would be okay. I had to.

“Okay, kitten.” I called him the nickname I gave him in the beginning, to lighten the mood.

“I’ll show you a kitten,” he growled and mauled my neck. Teasing, licking, and nibbling.

“Knock, knock!” someone sang out by the door. Who the hell? I hopped off Jake so he could go to the door. Yikes, I totally forgot that this house was right dab in the middle of this rescue. Anyone could see us through a window. I needed to be more careful about that, maybe head upstairs or get some pretty curtains.

When Jake opened the door, he gestured for our guest to come inside.

“Rayne!” I bounced up and ran to hug my preggy bestie. She and Arson were here.

“What are you guys doing here?” I beamed. They looked so cute with their matching black hair and green eyes. Oh, their baby was going to be a cutie.

“I hadn’t heard back from you today and wanted to check in on you, plus this place sounded cool. Jake said we could come by anytime, so I thought now was as good as any.” She smiled while looking around.  A crashing noise startled Rayne and me, as Casey jumped up onto the table to the right of us and then dashed off, Binksie slowly stalking her. They never stopped!

“Good lord.” Rayne had a hand on her heart.

“Well, I’m glad you stopped by!” I hugged her again and gave Cammy Jr. a kiss.
“You’re all right?” She gestured towards Jake.

“Oh yeah, I’m just dating a millionaire, but who cares, right? Although now that I think about it… you do know I have an addiction to shoes, right?” I gave him a wink and started chatting Rayne up about everything.

“Can we give them a tour?”  I pleaded with Jake.

“Yeah, let me just put Casey in her crate for a nap. Don’t want her tearing up the house while we’re out.” He had a point there. Not sure why some people thought owning a tiger would be fun. They destroyed everything.  He walked off and grabbed the cub, placing her in her pen. She would be out in no time. Together, we all walked around, and I took the lead on the tour when I could. I was excited to share all the stuff I had learned. Everyone at the rescue knew everything already so I couldn’t impress them.

“This is Koda, the bear. He’s a retired circus bear. He had a pretty hard life, kept in a small cage, forced to do stunts, and travelling constantly. But he’s pretty happy now.  He likes to laze around his habitat and enjoy the fresh air.”  I pointed to the big bear that was hanging out in some water, enjoying the summer breeze. We kept walking. Rayne enjoyed seeing the wolves the most—something about her inner animal being a wolf.

I could think of myself as a house cat. I wasn’t about to kill creatures to eat, I liked to be petted sometimes, and I loved naps. Yep, my inner animal was a house cat. 

We walked around the rescue, saying hi to all the people and animals we passed.

Rayne cried a couple of times when hearing about some of the animals’ stories.  I didn’t like it either. Humans were really terrible when it came to animals. One of the facts that Jake stated, and it hit me pretty hard, was that there were more tigers in backyards than in the wild. I hated people at that moment. Both Rayne and I were pretty upset about that, but we ventured on. The young lions we passed were rescues from cub petting, just like Casey, but instead of getting sick, they just got too big and were going to be “canned.” Which meant they were going to be sold to the exotic hunting industry to be used in canned hunts where the hunter pays to hunt a fenced area for a guaranteed kill.  Horrible.  I just wanted to snatch all those animals that were still out there and bring them here, where they would be safe.

When we made it to the gift shop, I went straight to the kids’ section and bought Cammy Jr. some cute animal outfits.  Patty, the crazy lady at the desk, greeted me sweetly, and wrapped up the outfits for me.

“Okay, I think I’m good.” Rayne plopped down so much stuff on the table, I was a little worried how she carried it all over.

“Rayne, good gracious!” She had picture frames, T- shirts, stuffed animals, a few packets to sponsor the animals, Skittles, and a wolf snow globe. 

“I felt compelled, don’t judge me.”  I saw Arson chatting with Jake off to the side, and gave my attention back to the mess in front of me.

“Oh and I’d like to donate, as well.”  Rayne smiled.

“Okay, dear, how much would you like to donate? I see you grabbed a couple of the animal sponsors. How would you like to split that up?”  She held out four animal sheets. I stared at them. Those were not cheap sheets.

“A thousand for each, please.”  My eyes bugged out of my head at her answer. Holy shit, she was donating four thousand dollars! Plus everything she was buying in front of me.            

“Holy hell, Rayne.”  I was stunned.

“I have to help somehow. This is all I can do.” She looked at me and I saw the need to help in her eyes. After hearing all she had today, her heartstrings had officially been pulled. She wanted to give a new life to the poor creatures that had been mistreated for most of their lives.

“Thank you.”

I didn’t need to say anything else to her. What she was doing was amazing. As we said goodbye to my friends, I started thinking about things I could do to help. Maybe I could do a Wild Rescue day at the salon, with half off services, and donate the money to the rescue.  Or maybe T-shirts or something. I wanted to help. This place was like my second home now. I felt it in my bones.

Chapter Twenty-five

I was pretty damn tired by the time I hit the hay. Jake had to run and check on the bobcat with the arrow wound, but promised he would be back shortly. I hoped that when he got back we could play hide the snake. And by snake I meant his penis.

I played with Binksie and Casey, letting them chase a laser light. Jake said that they loved to chase, and it was good for them. Made them use their physical and mental abilities. It just made me laugh. I fed the cats and made sure they used the litter. Casey wouldn’t have a litter pan once she was in her habitat, but it helped for now. After they were tuckered out, we sat on the couch and they both snuggled against me on the couch. I grabbed my phone and was reading a hot romance when Jake walked in the house an hour later and put Casey in her crate.

“Let’s go take a shower.” He held his hand out to me and helped hoist me up. Binksie wasn’t happy about me moving him to get up, but he sauntered over to his bed and flopped down.

“He’s so comfy,” I commented. Jake looked at the serval and nodded.

“He’s a pain in the ass, too. They don’t make good pets, but he gets too stressed being outside the house.”  Yeah, Binksie probably would be better out in the wild. Although after the high life he lives now, he would totally not survive. Spoiled cat.

“Shower, sweetheart.”  I looked up at him and nodded. He pulled me up so we could walk up the stairs. A question rolling through my mind while we walked was, would we be getting dirty in the shower at all? I hoped so. I could use some good cock pounding.

“Cock pounding?”  Jake choked and looked at me. Oh God, I said that part out loud didn’t I? Kill me now. Well, no going back now, I had to own it.

“Yep, I was just thinking how I could use some good cock pounding. Know anyone up for the job?”  I walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. I could feel the fuck me vibes coming from the silent man standing behind me now. It was buzzing over my skin, lighting the fires within.

“I might know a guy.” His voice was husky and low. So hot. I think I needed some dirty talk from him. Jake was wild and I was one hundred percent in love with that. I didn’t want the tame and reserved sex. I wanted the can’t control anything, teeth clashing, back scratching, body slamming fuck.  What we did last night was amazing, sweet and slow, and perfect. Every girl needs that every once in a while. But right now? Nope. Nada.

I peeled out of my clothes and looked behind me to see his eyes were zeroing in on my ass. I did a little wiggle and purred.

“Would you mind going and getting him, then?” I loved our banter. We both were playing a game, obviously not taking each other seriously. It was fun.

“I’ll get on that. Until he gets here, mind if I fill you?” He took a step closer and shrugged his shirt off. Fill me? Uh, hells to the yeah! I scanned over his tan chest and down his sculpted abs to that sweet V I was going to lick. I moved my eyes back up to his.

“You’ll do.” I winked and jumped into the water. I didn’t have to wait long until his body joined mine under the water’s spray. Thank God for his large shower, otherwise this would have been a little snug.

“Vixen,” he whispered against my ear. Shivers down my body? Check.

My nipples hardened just before his hands cupped them, kneading me softly. Nothing like someone rubbing your boobs to make all the stress in your life melt away. I arched into him, enjoying his attention. But after a few more seconds of his slow teasing moves, I craved the heat. I turned in his arms and my hand went straight for his erect cock. Yeah, I was going gung ho right now. I caressed him, running my thumb over the head gently.

A hiss came up his throat; his eyes closed briefly from the pleasure.  Then they opened, and I had accomplished what I wanted to do— I unleashed the beast. My body hummed with excitement about what was about to go down. Poke the beast a little, and he would attack. A sexy, out of the world orgasmic attack was in my very near future. His lips crashed against mine as I was pressed up against the glass behind me.

His hands wrapped around the back of my thighs, lifting me up and right onto his cock. I was so ready for him, and he knew it. My head rolled back onto the glass. Heaven.

“You’re mine, sweetheart. Full of my cock, this pussy knows who it belongs to. No one else can give you what I can,” he gritted out through clenched teeth. I ground myself against him, needing him to move.

“I’m yours,” I groaned.

“Want me to move, sweetheart? Fuck your sweet heat?”  I nodded with my lip between my teeth. I so wanted that.

“Touch your tits, play with those rosy pink tips. I know you like that,” he ordered and started to lift my hips, then bring me back onto him. I did as he said and pinched my nips, kneading them. I loved playing with my boobs.

“Best tits I’ve ever seen.” His hips started pounding me against the glass. I hoped it didn’t break from the forced of being nailed to it. With every thrust, I was getting closer and closer. Jake was true to his words and had been ever since I met him. He knew exactly what I wanted and needed.  He was my alpha. My hands gripped his shoulders, nails biting into his skin.  His mouth went straight for my neck, ravishing me.

“I…”  I tried to form the words to let him know I was close but they didn’t come out.

“I know, you’re clenching me, beginning to quiver around my cock. Your soft walls are begging me to push you over the edge. Make you fall. Hard.” His words ran along the lines of my neck, through my ears, and straight down to my core.  I was so done for.

“That’s right, sweetheart.” He switched up his pace to slow and hard. Every time he pushed back in, his pelvis ground against my clit.

I shattered.

I had been close but that little move took me there in seconds, with Jake on my heels. He bit my neck and growled, something I would be looking forward to every time we came together like this.

“I love you.” My head rolled forward to look at him.

“I love you.” He lifted me up and off him, gently setting me down.  I felt something running down my leg and was struck with a thought.

“We didn’t use any condoms the past couple times.” I looked into his eyes and saw nothing. No panic, just nothing.

“Okay,” he shrugged, grabbing the bar of soap like it wasn’t a big deal.

“What if I have herpes?” I mean, honestly.  He gave me the look that called bullshit. Granted, he had been on a first name basis with my lady bits for a few days now.

“Then I guess we need to get married. We can be one happy herpes family,” he smiled, teasing me. I shook my head. I was staring at him like he was crazy. He decided to finally take my stare seriously, and started rubbing the soap over his body.

“You clean?” he asked.

“Yes.”  No hesitation in my answer.

“You on birth control?”

“Of course.”  Once again, no delay on my answer.

“Then we have nothing to stress over. I’m clean, you’re clean. No babies anytime soon, although I would like to see you grow with my child inside you. But there’s no rush.” My mouth dropped and he kept on washing himself. Once he was done, he looked me over and saw I was still in my shocked state.  Taking initiative, he poured some of my body wash in his hands and started cleaning my body.

Not one to fight about getting washed by a sexy man, I let him continue doing what he was doing. I took the opportunity to stare at him and run his words over through my head. He wants to have a baby with me. Dear Lord. Something about the way he said it made me want to jump back on him and ride him until it happened.  I wanted a family and my clock was ticking, but I didn’t think I wanted it that soon.

After we were clean, dried, and dressed, we curled into bed.

“Because I know you’ve been going crazy in that head of yours over what I said, remember the part where I said no rush. We have all the time in the world, sweetheart. I still need to convince you to move in with me, take my name, and then we can work on babies.”  I didn’t know what to think about that statement. It both frightened me and excited me. I wanted to tell him that I was moving in with him tomorrow, never going back, that we could get married and start that life. But I wasn’t ready for all of that just yet. I wanted it, but I needed a wee bit more time to wrap my head around it. I gave him a kiss, and then snuggled against his naked chest. I listened to his heartbeat and lulled myself to sleep. I didn’t want to think anymore, so dreaming was my next option.

I woke up in the middle of the night when Jake was getting back into bed.

“Sorry, go back to sleep. I just had to check on Casey,” he whispered and pulled me close. I tried to go back to sleep but my bladder started screaming at me.

“I have to pee.” I rolled out of the bed and padded over to the bathroom. It was dark, and I didn’t want to turn on the lights to blind my eyes, but thankfully, I could still somewhat see where the toilet was. I pulled down my shorts and sat down. I heard a splash in the water beneath me, which, had I not been still very sleepy, would have clued me in that something was up. Instead I just sat there, trying to figure out what made that noise, and then something smacked into my ass.

I screamed.

I screamed my head off.

Falling off the toilet, I scrambled away with my bare ass hanging out, tearing out of the bathroom as fast as I could.

“What’s wrong?” Jake was up and helping me get off the floor.

“Something just smacked my ass in the toilet!!”  I screamed.  I was assaulted, for Christ’s sake.

“Oh shit, it was probably a toilet frog.”  Jake held me, rubbing my back while my shorts were around my ankles.

“What the fuck is a toilet frog?” My voice was starting to return to its normal octave. I felt a little chuckle escape his lips but I managed to refrain from smacking him.

“Every once in a while, a frog will get in through the vent and hang out in the toilet, like it’s his own personal pool. Never bothered me. It’s gone by now, if you still need to go.”  He was holding back more laughter. I untangled myself from him, and pulled up my shorts.

I didn’t answer him. Instead, I walked out of the bedroom and to the other bathroom and did my business. After checking for creatures in the toilet.  I was tired, and feeling a little pissy, so when I made it back to the bed, I stretched out and went back to sleep, not caring if Jake was still laughing or trying to cuddle me. I needed my sleep.