Authors: Melissa Schroeder
* * * *
Hannah woke before the sunrise. It wasn’t something she did all the time, and especially not after a night like she had. But, she thought, looking at her bed companion; it wasn’t as if she wanted to sleep.
He was. He definitely earned a little rest after the night they had together. She hadn’t been a virgin, but she definitely counted herself as not that experienced after last night. She smiled as she spied the multitude of condom wrappers on the table next to the bed. One thing about Jack, he’d been right about the need for more condoms.
Since he was sleeping, she gave into the pleasure of looking at him. She had probably touched every bit of his body, but she hadn't gotten to see him like this. He was a god of amazing flesh and muscles, and unlike any man she had ever been with before. And God, he knew how to make love. He made her feel cherished and special. No one had ever done that for her in her life, but he did.
Lifting the sheet, she glanced down his body. Damn. How did she get the chance to enjoy this body? The better question probably would be how did she ignore that body for so long? Did she think it would be any less unclothed than it had been before?
His cock twitched and she looked up at him. His eyes were barely open but he was watching her.
"I bet I wouldn't be able to move an inch without you knowing, huh?"
He didn't say anything but his mouth curved. The look was filled with so much masculine satisfaction that it made her toes curl. Her heart was racing and then she realized-she was already half in love with him.
Shit.
"Hannah?"
He must have picked up on it and she didn't want him to know. Hell,
she
didn't want to know. But, she did want to enjoy the time they would have together.
She shook her head and smiled at him. "Sorry, just tired. And kind of embarrassed you caught me peeking at you."
"No embarrassment needed, darlin'. I will gladly sacrifice my modesty so that you can explore to your heart's content."
She laughed. "I bet you would."
Still, she took him at his word. Pushing the sheet all the way down, she placed a hand on his chest, and skimmed it down his abdomen to his cock. He was already hard now, and she wrapped her hand around it, giving him long leisurely strokes. As she teased him, she bent her head and flicked her tongue over his nipple, smiling when he groaned.
"Damn." It was the only word he uttered that she could understand as she kissed her way down his body.
She kneeled between his legs and gave his penis one last, long stroke before she took him in her mouth. It was nice to tease him as much as he had done to her over the hours they had spent in bed. His legs moved restlessly beside her as she continued on. His fingers dove into her hair and he molded the palms of his hands to the back of her head. Soon, though, he had apparently had enough.
He sat up and was going to roll them over, but she stopped him.
"Lean back. This is my time."
He wanted to argue with her, she could tell, but he did as she ordered. She grabbed the last condom and rolled it on him. She rose up and slid down on him. Oh, damn, she was sore from the night before, but she didn't care. The pleasure of having him fill her superseded any discomfort. She needed this connection, to feel him pulse deep inside her.
She rode him easily, slowly. When he rose up again, she thought he was going to take over. Instead, he took one of her nipples into his mouth and sucked on it hard. The pleasure/pain lanced through her body, sent another edge to the need that had been building. She increased her rhythm as he moved to her other breast. Soon, she was moaning his name over and over, as her orgasm approached.
"Yeah, that's it, Hannah. Show me how it feels."
That was all she needed. The words sent her up and over the edge. Pleasure coursed over her flesh and through her blood. He shouted her name as he followed her.
Long moments later, they fell onto the bed together, their arms still wrapped around each other and Hannah knew one thing was certain.
She was no longer half in love with him. She was insanely in love with him and she wouldn’t survive it without a few cracks in her heart.
Hannah woke a few hours later and alone. She knew he hadn’t left because she saw his watch on her nightstand. Sitting up, she couldn’t stop the groan that escaped. The man had worn her out. Not that she would complain about it, she thought with a smile. She had never been this relaxed in her life.
It was then she smelled the bacon. Oh, no. He was cooking for her again. This was just…wrong. But for some reason, she couldn’t get irritated about it, though. When a woman complains about a man cooking for her, she can’t be that smart. At least that’s what her mother had always said.
Her smile faded. She rarely thought of them these days. It was something she did for self-preservation. Every time she thought about them, she would feel a sharp jab to her heart.
Brushing away the pain, as best she could, she slipped out of bed and giggled when she realized she was still naked. She’d tried to get dressed during the night, but Jack had insisted on her staying naked. He said she would embarrass him if he had to sleep naked and she was clothed. She laughed then walked slowly to the master bathroom. Lord, she’d used muscles last night she didn’t know she had. When she turned on the light, she saw herself in the mirror. She had whisker burn over her neck, her stomach, and lord, her breasts.
There would be no hiding the ones on her neck. It wasn’t a hickey, but it was the next best indicator she’d had sex or at least a very heavy petting moment.
And she didn’t care. Hell, she wanted to tell everyone she knew she’d spent the night with Jack. What heterosexual woman wouldn’t want it known?
There was a knock at the door.
“Hey, how do you take your eggs?”
“Scrambled.”
“Good. You’ve got about ten minutes before I come in there and get you.”
With that, he left, or at least she assumed he did. And he was going off to the kitchen to cook her eggs.
A girl couldn’t ask for more than that on a Saturday morning. She decided to take a quick shower then hurry out to enjoy her breakfast.
* * * *
Jack was humming as he beat the eggs. He couldn’t remember a more satisfying night, ever. The woman was sweet and sensual and…well, he knew now without a doubt he was in love with her. They still had a lot to learn about each other, but he knew he wanted the privilege of waking up next to her every morning he could.
He’d wandered out of the room because he had to leave the bed. He woke just before dawn and watched her sleep. The need he had for her was so intense he would have taken her again. But they’d been out of condoms and well, she needed her rest. He knew she had to go in for a few hours today for work.
He dumped a pad of butter in the skillet as he slid the four slices of bread into the toaster. This, he could get used to. Although, she had a crappy selection of cookware. Next time, he had to try and get her to his house. There he could make sure he had the things he needed to feed her breakfast in bed. She was a woman who deserved that.
He glanced down at his now present companion, Hercules. The dog hadn't left his side since he'd gotten up.
"Don't think this bacon is for you."
Hercules licked his chops and continued to stare at him. He'd definitely have to have Hercules over because she wouldn't leave the dog alone like that over night.
"You and I are going to have to come to an understanding."
"And what is that, Jack?"
He glanced over and felt another little ping to his heart. He never thought it would happen to him like this. After his last tour and the mess that had turned out to be, he hadn't thought he was up to dealing with a serious relationship. Hell, he didn't want a serious relationship. He wanted marriage and kids. Lots of kids.
"Jack?"
"I was talking to Hercules. We need to talk about my flowers."
She rolled her eyes. "I keep telling you that last time wasn't Hercules."
He let that go because he felt too good.
"I thought we could eat outside."
She walked over and poured herself a cup of coffee. "Sounds good to me."
After pouring in a huge amount of sugar and half and half, she sipped at it. "You do know how to make coffee."
"Did you think I didn't know how?"
"Nope. You do everything just right."
The way her voice deepened over the syllables had his head spinning. He walked over to her and nibbled on her lips. "Good morning."
"Good morning to you."
"Why don't you and Hercules go outside. I'll bring out the food."
She cocked her head to the side studying him. The sunlight from the kitchen window danced over her curls.
"What?"
She straightened and shrugged. "I just never thought you would be so sweet. I like it."
Then she gave him a peck on the cheek and left him alone in the kitchen. He lifted his hand to the place where she'd planted her kiss and touched it. Damn, he definitely had lost it if he was getting sappy over a kiss on the cheek.
He shook himself out of his stupor and decided to finish breakfast.
Hannah carried their plates inside ignoring his protests. "You cooked, I clean."
"You have to get ready for work."
"I have time."
"No, you don't. Tell you what. I'll cook dinner for you tonight at my house and you can clean the dishes."
She set the dishes down on the counter and turned to face him. He stepped closer and set his hands on either side of her on the counter.
"So, I'm having dinner with you tonight?"
"Yeah, you and Hercules. You can come over."
"We said not serious."
"First of all, you just said not at all. And it would be stupid for you to turn away dinner when I know you have a full day at work. I don't."
She wanted to argue, but it did sound nice to come home to a cooked meal.
"Okay, just so you know we won't make this a habit. We need to be comfortable with having our own time."
He nodded but there was a look in his eye that told her he was going to fight it.
"Now," he gave her a quick kiss, "go get ready for work. I'll clean."
And, since she hated to clean anything, she slipped away. She had just walked past her front door when the doorbell rang. She turned and made her way over to it.
She peeked out the front door and found a very distinguished older man standing on her porch. She opened the door a crack. “Can I help you?”
He smiled and she felt something funny tickling the back of throat. There was something so familiar about that smile.
“I hope you can. I’m looking for my son.”
“Oh?” she asked, a feeling of dread started to descend on her.
“Yes, his car is in the driveway next door, but I can’t seem to find him.”
“Dad?” Jack said from behind her.
His attention shifted from her to Jack, who apparently was standing behind her in the hallway.
Oh, crap. This was not what she needed.
“I…I’ll just get out of the way.”
She slipped from between the two men and ran like a coward down the hall. She got into the bathroom. Shutting the door, she leaned against it. Damn, what the hell had she been thinking. Uncomplicated was what she wanted. This was not. Of course, if she had truly not wanted complicated ties, she shouldn’t have slept with her next-door neighbor.
Why had she done that?
That was a stupid question. He was sexy as hell and when he kissed her, all rational thought seemed to fly out the window.
Hannah heard the floorboard creak, then Hercules’ nails against the wooden floor.
“He’s gone, Hannah.”
“What is he doing here?”
“I would rather not have this conversation through the door.”
She opened the door.
Before she could ask him again, he slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer.
“I have no idea, but I was worried this would happen.”
“You were worried your father would catch you the morning after sleeping with your next door neighbor?
He chuckled. “No. But, MJ said he’d been making the rounds. I’m further away from DC, so I’m sure that he waited until now because of that.”
“I am so embarrassed.”
“Don’t be. I don’t think my father thinks I was a virgin.”
“You are such a guy. It had nothing to do with that and everything to do with the fact that he caught us.”
Jack shook his head and gave her another quick kiss. “Don’t worry. Just get ready for work, and I’ll clean the dishes. Dinner, after work.”
“Oh, we can skip it if you want to spend time with your father.”
Jack gave her a look that told her he knew what she was doing. “We can all eat together.” She opened her mouth to argue. “Believe me, you need to come to dinner. You don’t want my father to think I’m just sleeping with you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“He might think I’m taking advantage of you.”
She rolled her eyes. “Okay, I’ll come over for dinner.”
He grinned at her then kissed her nose. “Now, get ready for work.”
He shut the door behind him, probably to give her the privacy she needed. It really did no good at all, because no matter what happened, he would always own a little piece of her heart.
As soon as Jack shut the front door, his father poked his head around the corner.
“Sorry about that, Jack. Didn’t mean to cramp your style there,” he said with a smile.
Jack shook his head. He would have liked to entice her back to bed, but she had work. Plus, he figured, they both needed some space. It was going to be important if he wanted this relationship to succeed.
“She’s got to get to work anyway,” he said as he made his way over to the coffee pot. He poured himself a cup of coffee and sipped it, surprised by the taste. “Kona?”
His father nodded. “Yeah, I went there for a few days last month.”
That was news to him, but then, who knew where they sent his father half the time. It was hard to keep up.