Dog Days of Summer (20 page)

They lay quietly a few minutes and Jeremiah kissed the top of Joci
’s head.

“
Sorry, baby, I meant that to last longer. Sometimes you make me come so fast my head spins.”

Joci smiled.
“It isn’t about the amount of time. It’s about the quality. That…was high quality.”

Jeremiah squeezed her shoulders again and sighed, contented and happy.

“I suppose I should feed you before you have to run back to the shop. What would you like?”

“
Why don’t we finish up the pizza from last night?”

Joci nodded,
“Sounds good. Give me about ten minutes.”

Joci got up and put her robe on. Jeremiah watched her and smiled.

“I love you, Joci. So much it hurts.”

Joci smiled at him.
“Love shouldn’t hurt. But, I know what you mean. I love you, too.”

Joci walked out to the kitchen and started warming up the pizza. She set the table and got two bottles of water out of the refrigerator. Just as the microwave dinged, Jeremiah walked into the kitchen. He was pulling his shirt on over this head. He looked delicious; really, she was a lucky woman. As she was watching him, his head poked through the top of his t-shirt.

He looked at her and smirked. “I do have a brain, you know.”

Joci burst out laughing.
“Yes, you do, but you also have that smoking’ hot bod. I love looking at you.”

Jeremiah sat down and they began eating lunch. Joci was dying to know, so she asked.
“How did this morning go with LuAnn?”

Jeremiah shrugged his shoulders.
“I guess okay. She acted contrite, and she’s been pretty quiet. Janice said LuAnn hasn’t asked anything about the rest of the weekend at all, which is kind of weird. LuAnn always wants to know what she missed. Honey, all I care about is that she’s being good. I won’t tolerate anyone hurting you, ever.”

Joci looked over at him,
“Thank you,” she said softly.

Jeremiah chuckled.
“You don’t have to thank me, honey. I mean it. I love you, and I don’t want anyone to hurt you.”

Joci nodded. She loved him, too. She wished she could get over this niggling little feeling that LuAnn was about to drop a bomb or something. Jeremiah was right. It wasn
’t like LuAnn to not want to know what she missed, especially when it came to Jeremiah.

Jeremiah broke the silence.
“Did you call Jackie and Sandi this morning?”

Joci shook her head.
“I never call Jackie before noon. Yikes, she’s crabby in the morning. Sandi worked this morning, so I’ll call her after 2:00. Are you afraid I won’t do it?”

She was smiling as she asked. Jeremiah was a great guy. He was a good person, but when he made up his mind, he would move heaven and earth to get what he wanted. Right now, he wanted to hear Joci sing, and he wanted babies. How was Joci going to get around that?

Jeremiah wiped his mouth with his napkin. “I can’t help it that I want to know the things about you that others know. I want to know everything about you.”

He never looked away from her, which she had quickly learned was his way of letting her know that he intended to get his way.

“I feel the same way, but you keep things from me.”

Jeremiah looked at her like she slapped him. He furrowed his brows and stared into her eyes.
“I haven’t kept anything from you.”

“
Really? Why won’t you tell me why you keep LuAnn around? You said you couldn’t explain it.” Joci’s voice got quiet. “Are you committed to her in some way, did you once have feelings for her… or do you still?

Jeremiah stood up and walked around the table. He leaned down and pulled Joci to her feet. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tight. She could feel his heart beating a rapid rhythm.

“I have never loved anyone, Joci. Not until you. You’re it for me, babe. I need you to believe that.”

Jeremiah pulled back just enough so he could kiss her. It was gentle and sweet. A kiss that curled her toes just as much as one of his passionate kisses did.

When he ended their kiss, he moved his hands into her hair and cupped her nape in his hand. With his other hand, he ran his fingers down the side of her face.

“
You are so perfect, Joci. I still can’t believe that God brought you into my life. I’m not like those other fuckers who treated you like shit. You need to start believing that.”

Joci smiled at him and looked into his eyes. She believed that he loved her, but once again, he was avoiding answering her question. She nodded and stepped back a little. Joci turned and started clearing the table.

Jeremiah knew he was going to have to tell her about LuAnn, he just couldn’t do it yet. He hated the wall she just erected between them. It made him feel cold and alone again.

He watched Joci move around the kitchen. He was at a loss for words. He decided to go back to the shop and let her have some time to herself. He kissed her on top of her head and told her he would be home at five o
’clockish and left the house.

Joci didn
’t know what she wanted to do. She had lost her enthusiasm for finishing the video for the Veteran’s Ride. She didn’t feel like unpacking boxes. Quite frankly, right now she felt like packing up and going back home. Maybe that’s what she would do—go home.

Five hours later, Joci
’s phone rang. She wiped her hands on a towel and picked it up without looking at who was calling.

“
Hello?”

“
Where are you?” Jeremiah’s voice was tight.

“
I’m at home.”

There was a long silence.
“No, you aren’t. I’m here—and you aren’t. It doesn’t look like you’ve been here all afternoon. Where are you?”

She could tell he was trying to keep it light, but the tightness in his voice was a dead giveaway.

Joci sighed. “After you left for the shop, I decided to come home and clean up a little.” Her voice grew soft. “I didn’t feel like staying there any longer.”

Jeremiah sucked in a big breath. There was silence on the other end of the line while he tried to control himself. Joci looked at her kitchen, which was as clean as a whistle right now, and leaned against the counter.

With as much lightness in his voice as he could muster around the fear and tightness Jeremiah said, “This is your home now, Joci.”

Joci closed her eyes. She couldn
’t say anything.

“
Are you coming home, baby?” Jeremiah was on the verge of smashing something. He hated that just when he thought they had moved so far forward, they were moving backward again. He was going to have to tell her about LuAnn. He could hear Joci sniffling over the phone. God dammit. “I’ll come and get you,” he said around a tightness he thought would choke him right off.

“
No…I’ll be there in a few minutes.” Her voice so soft he barely heard her.

Joci pulled into the driveway. Jeremiah was in the garage waiting for her, pacing back and forth. He turned and looked at her and moved aside as she pulled in. He ran over, opened the door for her, and pulled her out of the car. Without saying anything, he took her hand and started walking into the house. As soon as they were inside, he slapped the button on the wall to close the garage door and took her by the hand, drawing her into the living room. He sat on the sofa and pulled her down next to him. He looked into her eyes for long moments.

“
Tell me what was going on today. With you. With why you felt the need to leave here.”

Joci grimaced a little. She wasn
’t sure how she should answer. She licked her lips, trying to form the thoughts to answer that question.

“
Were you leaving me?” His voice cracked.

Softly, so softly, he almost didn
’t hear her. “No. I needed space from you. I didn’t want to unpack anything else because that felt permanent. I wasn’t feeling very permanent after you walked out. You know if I can’t trust you, it will never work. If you can’t talk to me, I can’t trust you. We have a real problem here.”

Jeremiah closed his eyes for a moment and pinched the bridge of his nose. He swallowed hard and opened his eyes to look at her.

“Yeah. That’s what I thought. Not at first. At first I thought you left me. But, you didn’t take anything with you, so then I figured you needed some space.”

He got up and went to get a beer out of the refrigerator. He looked at Joci to see if she wanted anything; she shook her head no. He walked back into the living room and sat next to her on the sofa and turned to look at her.

“LuAnn’s brother, Lance, was my best friend. We went to high school together. We went into the Marines together. We were inseparable. We managed to keep ourselves stationed together and then deployed together. I loved him like I love Dayton, Tommy, and Bryce.”

Jeremiah
’s voice was cracking. Joci’s heart swelled for him. She figured there was going to be a sad end to this story.

“
Lance’s parents died when LuAnn and Linda, his sisters, were young. A lot like you and Jackie. Lance looked after them. Made sure they were safe. He watched over them. But he wanted to be a Marine so damn bad; we both did. So, he told them he had to go, but he would be back. An aunt and uncle watched over the girls. They were already in high school by that time, so it wasn’t like he was abandoning them. But he always knew when we were finished in the Marines, he would come back and finish taking care of them. He sent his checks home to them and called them all the time. He really loved them. By that time, Barbara was pregnant with the boys. Lance and I knew that, at least for me, my time in the Marines was almost over. I was coming home. Then we were deployed to Iraq.”

Jeremiah took a long pull off his beer. His chest heaved as he drew in a deep breath.

“We were under fire. It was horrible. It was chaotic, and we couldn’t see anything. The sand was always blowing, and the buildings are the same color as the sand. We couldn’t see shit, and we couldn’t hear shit because of all of the gun and mortar fire. My unit huddled behind an overturned vehicle to reload our weapons. We were mapping out our plan when Lance heard an incoming grenade. He threw me down on the ground and then lay over me to protect me.”

Jeremiah had tears rolling down his cheeks. He took another breath to try to calm himself. His voice was very quiet.
“He didn’t make it.” Jeremiah choked.

Joci leaned forward and hugged him tight. She rubbed his back and held him while he cried. He wrapped his arms around her and let the tears flow. He just couldn
’t talk about it. They sat that way for a very long time. Jeremiah was trying to collect his thoughts and his composure. Finally, he pulled away and wiped his eyes.

“
I don’t love LuAnn; I never have. But I feel that because of me, she doesn’t have Lance anymore. She doesn’t have anyone to take care of her. She always was wild and unfocused. Where will she work if I don’t keep her at the shop? I owe it to Lance to make sure she has a paycheck, that she’s somehow is taken care of.”

Joci didn
’t know what to say. She sure hadn’t expected this. Now she felt like a sap. She had needed to know, but it didn’t make her feel like a champion.

“
Jeremiah…Lance wasn’t asked to save you. He loved you and wanted to protect you. You don’t owe him. There is no way you can repay him, except to live a good life and be good to people. You have the Veteran’s Ride every year to help to give back to people just like yourself and Lance. You can’t live your life trying to pay back a debt that isn’t payable.”

Joci looked into his eyes. He was watching her very closely.

“That being said…I understand why you would want to try. I do understand it.”

They hugged again for long moment.

Joci took a deep breath and continued rubbing Jeremiah’s back. “We have to find some way to make LuAnn understand that you love me, and she can’t keep interfering.”

Jeremiah nodded. He knew that. He was at a loss as to how to make that happen. He had never, ever given LuAnn any indication that there would ever be anything more between them. They leaned back into the sofa and sat staring straight ahead for long moments.

“Thank you for telling me, Jeremiah. I needed to know what it was.”

He kissed the top of her head and took a deep breath.

With a hoarse voice, he said, “It feels like a weight has been lifted…talking about it. I’ve never told anyone that before.”

Joci looked over at him and furrowed her brows.
“Really?”

Jeremiah shook his head,
“Really. It’s just too personal…and I feel guilty.”

“
LuAnn and Linda don’t know?”

Jeremiah sighed,
“They know I was with him when he was hit. They don’t know that he saved my life.”

Joci hugged him tighter to her.
“I’m very glad he did.”

“
I need you, Joci.” Jeremiah stood and pulled Joci to her feet.

Without a word, he walked them to the bedroom. Once inside, he picked her up and gently laid her on the bed. Stretching out next to her, he softly kissed her lips, fitting his mouth perfectly over hers.

Joci began unbuttoning his jeans while he consumed her lips, her tongue. His hands were everywhere, massaging her breasts, unbuttoning her blouse, her jeans. He needed her naked and against him. Joci sat up abruptly and looked over at him. A slow, seductive smile spread across her face as she crawled on top of him and pulled his t-shirt up while kissing his abdomen.

Her lips kissed and licked up his chest, paying special attention to each nipple. She pushed his arms up over his head so she could slide his shirt the rest of the way off. Gently sliding her hands over his body, feeling the plains and ridges of his muscles, watching them quiver under her touch, Joci met his eyes with hers.
“You’re a beautiful man, Jeremiah Sheppard.”

Joci scooted off of him long enough to divest him of his jeans and boxers. She looked at him lying across their bed, naked, aroused, and allowing her to do as she wanted to him, and a light shiver winged through her body. Goosebumps grew on her arms and her nipples puckered tight. She pulled the remainder of her clothing off and slid her hands up his massive thighs as she stood between them.

Her hands roamed his body, enjoying the feel of his skin on hers. She bent down and licked his balls as her hands found his thick erection and massaged him root to tip. Jeremiah hissed out a breath. Joci smiled against his balls. She placed a few light kisses and stood. She reached over to the night stand and pulled out some massage oil and squirted a little in her palms and rubbed them together to warm the oil.

Jeremiah
’s eyes never left hers. He reached over and grabbed a pillow to prop his head; he wanted to watch this. Joci smiled at him as she wrapped her fingers around his thickness and began to pump him up and down, the oil making his cock so silky and smooth under her fingers.

“
Jesus,” Jeremiah husked out.

Joci smiled again at the coarseness in his voice. She looked at him as she bit her bottom lip. Her little tongue darted out to lick her lips, and his cock jerked in her hands. She smiled again.
“I want to make you come with my hands, Jeremiah.”

“
Jesus.” Nothing else would come out of his mouth.

Joci increased the pressure and the speed of her manipulations. She alternated between watching his cock slip through her fingers and watching his face. He was beautiful, this man of hers. She wanted to make him come without his having to do anything for her.

Joci slid one of her hands over his balls and they pulled up inside of him. As she reached the tip of his cock, she ran her thumb over the head, causing pre-cum to form. Jeremiah’s breathing was choppy, his chest rising and falling rapidly. He fisted the comforter on the bed and threw his head back as his muscles tightened. “Joci…fuck...baby.”

Joci watched the ropes of semen spurt out of him as she slowed her manipulations. His cock pulsed as he groaned. Once he finished coming, she gently massaged him as he softened. Joci walked to the bathroom to wet a cloth to wipe him up as he regulated his breathing. She climbed up next to him on the bed and softly wiped the warm cloth across his abdomen. After cleaning him up, she tossed the cloth into the bathroom hamper and slid into bed beside him.

He quickly wrapped her in his arms and kissed the top of her head. He swallowed a few times before he could talk. “I’ve never done that before. Fucking amazing.”

Joci smirked.
“I’ve never done that before, either. Fucking amazing.”