His Jar of Hearts (A Broken Fairy Tale #3) Page 10

  I stare wantonly at Kat’s house as I walk by. If I see her now, there’s no way I won’t be able to stop myself from ripping her clothes off. And if I rip her clothes off and feel her skin on mine, there’s no way she’s getting anything done tonight. And if she doesn’t fix those dresses because I’ve been making love to her all night, Jess will have my balls. So here I am, pathetically staring at her house, silently willing her to come outside to tell me she’s all done and I can bury myself inside her.

  Instead, I hear Holden’s voice. “You are such a jackass, Joey!”

  I bend down and grab a pebble from the street and chuck it at his bottle of Newcastle that’s on the ledge of his deck and knock it solidly to the ground.

  “Doesn’t matter. I have a case in the house and you’re the one who will have to clean it up once Cam hears you spilled beer all over her deck which makes you an even bigger jackass.” Holden picks up the bottle and empties the last drops onto the stones that cover his front yard.

  “She won’t make me do a thing. Once I start talking to her about Kat, she’ll be putty in my hands.” I punch Holden in his shoulder as I make my way past him to the front door.

  “You realize you two sound like seven-year-olds, right?” Jess’s sarcastic voice is unmistakable as she makes her way from Kat’s house. I’m glad I didn’t see her open the door because the disappointment of seeing her instead of Kat would have ruined my night even more.

  “Shut it, Bosi.” I quickly realize tonight would be one of the last times that she carried Dave’s name. Sadness wells inside me at the reminder that our lives continue to go on without him at our sides.

  She seems to read my thoughts and slides her arm through mine to lean her head on my shoulder. “It’s weird that I won’t be a Bosi anymore. I love Gage more than anything in the world. I love him so much differently than I do Dave, but it’s not any less than I loved Dave, just different.” She looks up at me and smiles wickedly, snapping back into the positive Jess I’ve always known. “Look at me, talking about how weird love is to the one guy who spent his adult life as a man-whore and who’s now acting more like a whipped idiot than any person I’ve ever met.”

  I kiss her head, knowing that this is Jess’s way of saying things are alright. “So why are you over here anyway, while my lady is stuck at home, fixing your mistake, when she should be making sweet love to me?” I wink at her as if I’m kidding, even though I’m not.

  “Dude, we all know you haven’t bagged her yet, so don’t act like you have.” Holden taps my New York Yankees hat off my head.

  “First off, I’m never bagging Kat. Bagging is for a one-night stand.” I get defensive, and it surprises me.

  “Look at you, getting all pissy. Easy, cowboy, you’ll get your prize soon enough.” Holden walks past us into the house. When Jess follows him, I have no choice but to do the same. If I stand out here any longer, I’ll find myself at Kat’s front door, unable to resist the temptation of being with her. Right when I walk through the door, I see Cam and the three girls are playing some board game together, with headbands holding pictures on their heads. DJ is playing in some contraption that has him surrounded with toys and buttons to push, and all I can think is I want to have a family like this with Kat.

  Jess walks over to the island in the middle of the kitchen that’s set up with all the fixings for steak sandwiches, and pours wine in all of the glasses that Cam has set out.

  “Where’s Gage?” I notice there are only four glasses.

  “Since Kat won’t let me help with the dresses, and he has to tie up some loose ends before we leave for our honeymoon, he suggested I come over and spend the night with my three besties.” She takes a sip from her wine and leans her head up against me when I go over and put my arm around her.

  “It’s been forever since it was just us. Just the GoodFellas.” Cam walks over to Holden and sits on his lap. He sweeps back her hair and kisses her neck, immediately making me wish I had Kat here with us.

  As much as he always tries to play the tough guy, he’s a huge pussy when it comes to Cam. Always has been. Always will be. “Should we go toilet paper Cam’s dad’s house for old times’ sake?” Holden jokes.

  “No way, he’ll just make us all clean it up.” Cam slaps at Holden and he kisses her hard on her lips as if they’re newlyweds.

  “So…” Cam turns her attention to me. Her mischievous grin tells me I’m in trouble. “We had a nice little chat with Kat today…”

  I look back and forth between the three of them and instantly know that they’ve already filled Holden in. “What? What did she say? Why do all three of you look like that? I’ve been good. Like, I don’t even know myself, good. I swear.”

  “We know, and that’s what’s so surprising. Have you ever held out this long?” Holden’s clearly trying to get under my skin and I’m not going to let him. I’ve sat by and watched his tough exterior turn to complete mush in a matter of seconds when Cam came back to town. I’m not giving him the satisfaction of pissing me off.

  “Say whatever you want, Holden. I don’t know what Kat told you girls today, but things are good, and I don’t want you fools messing things up for me by being super nosey and intrusive in our relationship. You need to respect our personal boundaries.”

  “Why would we do that? There are no boundaries when it comes to us.” She looks back and forth between everyone, as if what I just said was an absurdity. “You and Kat getting together makes our lives way easier. No more Joey sluts to have to entertain and be nice to.” Jess is always straight to the point.

  “Do you love her?” Holden switches to the prosecutor he is, and looks me straight in the eyes.

  I don’t flinch. “More than anything.”

  Both the girls ooh and ahh, making us all laugh.

  “Have you told her?” Holden continues to cross-examine me.

  “None of your business.” When he eyes me heavily, I fold. “Yes. I’ve told her about a million times through songs, but just said it to her face the other day.”

  “You and your damn music. You and Gage should start a club.” Jess tosses a roll at me.

  “All right, Joey, tell us all your big plans for Kat, and Jess and I will get you fellas some dinner after we feed the kids.” Cam kisses my cheek and walks over to the kids.

  As I watch Holden and the girls gather the kids up and dish out plate after plate of food, I’m jealous. And for the first time, I can imagine my life becoming like theirs, and it’s the best feeling I’ve ever had.

  After a few glasses of wine, and a ridiculous amount of peer pressure from the gang, I make my way over to Kat’s place. When I try to peek through her blinds, I notice a faint light on and hope that means she’s still up.

  I turn the knob and curse when I realize she’s left the door unlocked. If I wasn’t about to try to make her mine, I’d give her an earful for always keeping her damn door unlocked when she lives alone. But that will have to wait until tomorrow.

  I quietly walk down the long hallway that’s still lined with pictures of family and friends, just as it’s always been, only some of the faces have changed. Her back is to me, and the silhouette of her small, slender frame is enough to drive me insane. Her loose gray sweats hang low on her curvy hips to reveal the sexy white lace of her underwear. I swallow hard, unsure how I’m ever going to make it down the hall without losing my shit. She still hasn’t noticed my arrival, even though my shoes squeak against the dark oak floors. She seems to be washing dishes and the sound of the water must be drowning out my arrival.

  I take one deep breath and slide up behind her, and pull back her hair in one swift movement to place a soft kiss on her neck.

  She jumps back startled, splashing soap and water everywhere. “Holy mother fucker of hell to the gods….” She blurts out several other words that I can’t make sense of, and I keel over laughing at the sight before me.

  Kat’s now entirely covered in suds, and I’m thanking God that she wore that white shirt to
night, because she might as well be wearing nothing but that black bra under her shirt. She has black splatters of dye over the shirt and a smudge on her left cheek that makes her nearly irresistible. Her hair’s disheveled, her clothes are a mess, and she has never looked more beautiful.

  This.

  Is.

  What.

  Love.

  Is.

  “I didn’t mean to scare you.” I walk back up to her and pull her close, kissing the tip of her nose. “Maybe if you ever locked your front door, strange men couldn’t get in and try to take advantage of you.”

  She looks up at me, and I can see the desire building as I slide my hands up the back of her shirt, and closer to me. “Maybe I wanted a strange man to come in and take advantage of me?”

  “Challenge accepted.”

  Without a word, I take off the light piece of fabric covering her ample chest in one swift moment and my lips meet hers with feverish desire. Her hands scrape up my back and she moves to take my shirt off my head, wanting to feel the same thing I do: her skin next to mine.

  “I’m a mess right now,” she pants out between kisses.

  “You’re perfect.” I can’t wait another moment to have her.

  “You’re so lucky I shaved today.” She giggles and I’m done.

  I sweep her up in my arms and make my way up the stairs; my lips never part from her body. I slide my hand down the back of her sweats as I make my way up the stairs. The thin fabric of her g-string is already wet, and I love it. I can’t wait any longer to feel her warmth, and push the smooth lace aside and slip one finger inside her while I caress her with my thumb. When she bites softly down on my lip and lets out a groan, I know tonight’s going to be better than anything I’ve ever imagined, because that sound—the sound of her pleasure—is something I want to hear for the rest of my life.

  “I love you, Kat,” I husk out, too enraptured to say more. I lay her down on the light blue comforter on her bed and pause, wanting to remember this moment forever. The moment we make love the first time. The moment I truly make her mine.

  She smiles up at me, and I can see she’s feeling the same. She reaches up and grabs the button of my jeans to pull me down on top of her. “I want you, Joey. I’ve always wanted you.” She crashes her lips to mine and unbuttons my jeans, and I make my way back to her core that has been calling to me for so long. The instant I caress her intimately again, she calls out, “I want you. Fuck me.”

  I stop everything and look her in the eyes so she has no doubt what I’m about to say is true. “I’m not going to fuck you, Kat. I’m going to make love to you like you’ve never been made love to before. I’m going to make you forget about anything but you and me tonight. I will never just fuck you.”

  Her smile is enough to make me give her my soul just to see it again. I kiss her softly this time, slowing things down, doing as I promised, and take the entire night to show her what it feels like to make love. She is beautiful, and she is mine.

  Kat

  “Gone, Gone, Gone”

  After falling asleep in Joey’s arms last night—or was it this morning?—I’m more in love than ever. Now, without him here, it’s impossible for me to even relax. Cam and Jess are sleeping here tonight and all of the kids are at their grandparents’ houses so we can all get an early start for the wedding tomorrow morning. If I had known how being with Joey would have made it impossible to be away from him again, I would have waited until tonight to give myself to him, because today has been pure torture. Every single thing today has made me think of last night, and my heart aches to be with him.

  Last night was quite simply perfect. The entire night I was so busy dying and re-dying the fabric to get it dark enough to cover the horrible green, I never stopped to imagine we were finally going to get the chance to be together once I was done. I had always imagined our first time together being something special, but I didn’t expect the fireworks that happened. I feel silly even thinking it, but being with him that way was as if our hearts and soul were weaving together, becoming one. I expected bold promises of satisfaction from Joey, because that’s just him: confident and cocky. So when he told me he was going to make love to me like I’ve never felt before, I didn’t expect it to actually happen. I knew it would be good. Joey just drips with sex appeal, and one look at him, most women fall at his feet. But last night was Ah-maz-ing! The way he achingly worshipped every inch of me with loving precision made it seem as if he was made for the sole purpose of pleasuring me and making me feel loved.

  We spent a good part of the morning in bed; we both had taken the day off to spend with Jess and Gage. I loved the feeling of the calm rise and fall of his chest against my cheeks as he caressed slowly up and down my naked back, pausing every now and again to kiss my head. I could’ve stayed with him there forever. The only trouble was Gage and Jess wanted to spend the day and night apart; they thought it would be special to spend some time apart until they saw each other at the altar. I thought it was a sweet idea until I realized that being away from Joey until tomorrow would be much more difficult than I thought. All day, memories of his naked, muscular body, adorned with dark tattoos, perched above me, distracted me from virtually every activity with the girls. Jess and Cam, of course, didn’t let it go unnoticed, and I had to confess some of the details of my night. I didn’t spill every detail about the loving, attentive way he treated me in the bedroom considering it would’ve grossed them out, but those were the details that kept my thoughts occupied and frustrated all day.

  Now lying here in my bed alone, it doesn’t feel right. I never felt that way with Kevin; I was always glad to have my space. But after just one night with Joey, I know that I don’t want to spend another night without him.

  Just when I try to control my crazy thoughts, realizing that we’ve only been together a handful of months, I hear a light tapping at my window. My first reaction is worry. If it’s raining tomorrow, it may be the one thing that could actually send Jess over the edge. Her wedding is all outdoors, even the reception.

  Tap, tap, tap.

  It continues and I realize there’s no way it’s rain. It’s too loud.

  Crap. Hail!

  I hop up from my bed and pull the string to the white wooden blinds down, praying it’s only a branch hitting my window from the wind. I silently say a prayer to Dave—he’s my closest connection to God up there, and he knows the whirlwind of crazy we’ll all get tomorrow if Jess’s wedding is ruined.

  One look out the window and my heart stops. Well, I don’t know if it as much stopped as exploded with happiness when I see Joey at the side of my house like an angel sent from God…or Dave. By the looks of his disheveled blonde hair and wrinkled shirt and sweats, it looks as if he’s having the same problem sleeping as I am. He smiles when he sees me and it makes me giggle like a high school girl when I see how excited he seems to get when he sees me at the window. I internally hug myself for not being too stubborn to try something more with Joey all those months ago when I feel how my heart reacts to him. Little did I know that something more is everything I’ve ever wanted.

  I feel like a kid again, sneaking down my hallway, past the room where Jess is sleeping, down the stairs on my tiptoes. When I pass the guest room at the bottom of the stairs where Cam is, I hold my breath hoping I don’t wake anyone up so they don’t give us a hard time about stealing away in the night together. I don’t care that I have no make-up on and my hair’s up in a messy ponytail. Joey proved to me last night that he loves me any way he can have me. I go out the sliding glass door to my deck filled with excited anticipation,

  When I step off the deck onto the stones and head towards Joey at the side of my house, I’m overcome with desire. When he turns at the sound of my footsteps and our eyes meet, it’s as if all is right in the world. The way he strides towards me with smoldering eyes leaves no doubt that he wants me as badly as I want him. He reaches me in an instant, crashing his lips to mine as if it’s the one thing keeping him ali
ve. His hands are on my face, holding me possessively in their grasp so he can control this kiss filled with so much relief.

  When we finally come up for air, he rests his forehead against mine with his eyes closed. “What have you done to me?” he says through labored breaths. When he opens his eyes, I’m pulled into the deep blue oasis of promise they project.

  “Is that a good thing or bad thing?” I reach up and run my fingers through his hair and kiss under his ear the way I learned he loves last night.

  He closes his eyes again and moans with pleasure. “It’s a good thing, very good.” He slides his hand under my tank top and takes my breasts in his hands, sighing in relief. “You’re ruining my rep, you know? The guys gave me shit for coming here tonight, and will come looking for me if I’m not back soon.”

  I pout up at him. “Can you come in for a bit?”

  When I bite down on my lip, that’s all it takes to make him fold. “Fuck it.” He picks me up; I wrap my legs around his waist as he walks me up the steps of my deck and in my house.

  The way he’s kissing me as we make our way to my room makes me forget about my houseguests until Cam’s head peeks out of her room. “Gross. Can’t you go to Joey’s?”

  We both laugh and ignore her, stumbling and groping at each other until we finally reach my room. He locks the door behind us and has his clothes off before I can even take off a sock. “Let me,” is all he says before he slowly undresses me, arousing every nerve in the process. This time we devour each other, rather than take it slow like we did last night. He’s powerful without being rough. He’s dominating, without being selfish. He’s everything I’ve ever wanted, and he’s mine.