Homecoming (A Boys of Fall Novel) (12 page)

“What?”

“Nothing. Just talking to myself.”

“Did you say
dibs
?”

“Long story.” When she started slowly and carefully working his zipper down, pulling it away from his erection, Sam made a sound that started as a moan before his lips parted and it became a shuddering exhale. “Do you want to hear it?”

His chuckle was strained. “Only if you can multitask really well.”

Clearly impatient, he took over stripping out of his clothes, so Jen did the same. She saw him take a condom from his pocket and toss it on her bedside table before dropping his pants on the floor. Leaving on the bra and panties since, judging by the smoldering look in his eye, he was clearly enjoying the lace, she stripped off the rest.

“God, you’re beautiful,” he said in a husky voice and when he looked at her like that, she couldn’t help but believe him.

“So are you,” she said, not surprised when he scoffed. But he was. Tall and solidly built, with a broad chest. And he was naked, so she took a few extra seconds to appreciate the full view.

“Come here,” he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her close.

He kissed her again, his mouth hungry and demanding. His thumbs brushed over her nipples, the sensation making her pulse race despite the lace covering them. Without taking his lips from hers, he turned her and started backing her toward the bed. When her knees hit the mattress, he lifted her and set her in the center.

She ran her hands over his shoulders as he joined her, covering her body with his. “You do look good in my bed, Sam Leavitt.”

“And you feel good in my hands. Undo the bra.”

She tucked her arms behind her, which arched her back and thrust her breasts upward. As soon as the clasp released, his mouth was there. He ran his tongue over her nipple and then blew on the moistened flesh so she shivered. She slid the straps down her arms until Sam grabbed it and pulled it off totally.

He turned his attention to her other breast, nipping gently
at the nipple before circling the taut nub with his tongue. Jen ran her hands over his shoulders and arms, loving the feel of his taut muscles under her touch.

Sam lifted his head and kissed her again, dipping his tongue between her lips as he slid his hand down her stomach and under the waistband of the lace panties.

Her hips moved, rocking against his hand as he stroked her sensitive flesh. She savored the pleasure, moaning as he worked two fingers into her. When he lowered his head to her breast, rolling his tongue over her nipple, she skimmed her fingernails up his spine to keep from digging her nails into his back.

“I want you now,” she said, her breath catching in her throat.

He caught her bottom lip between his teeth, biting down before answering. “Don’t you want to come first?”

“Not this way. I really want you inside me, Sam. Now.”

“Your house, your rules,” he said, kissing her before pulling away to put on the condom.

She was so ready, and when he knelt between her thighs, she lifted her hips to make it easier for him. So close to orgasm, she growled as he took his sweet time, giving her just a little before pulling back and giving her just a little bit more.

He chuckled, reaching between their bodies to brush his thumb over her clit. Her body jerked and she balled the comforter into her fists. “Ever since that night at the dam, I haven’t been able to forget how amazing you feel around my cock.”

Knowing he’d thought about that night as much as she had inflamed her, and she thrust her hips upward, trying to
force him to move. He only pressed down with the heel of his hand, holding her captive under his circling thumb.

“Why are you torturing me?”

“Because it feels good.”

She couldn’t take the teasing anymore. “You know what else feels good? Orgasms.”

“You’re not very patient when it comes to sex, are you?”

“Not when I’ve been waiting for this since you came back.”

He pulled out of her completely and for a few seconds, Jen panicked, wondering if she’d said something wrong. But then he took her right leg and threw it over her left, forcing her to roll over. Grabbing her hips, he pulled her onto her knees.

“You want to come now, Jen?”

“Yes,” she hissed, supporting her weight on her forearms.

He buried himself in her in one deep stroke, making her gasp. And then he drove hard, again and again. There was nothing gentle or teasing in him now, and it felt as if Jen’s world blew apart as the orgasm tore through her.

Sam’s fingers dug into her hips, almost painfully as his thrusts became faster and more erratic. Then he pushed deep inside her, almost still except for the pulsing of his body as he came.

Jen’s arms gave out and she collapsed onto the comforter, managing to turn her face to the side so she wouldn’t suffocate as she tried to catch her breath. He lowered himself over her, slightly to the side so he wasn’t crushing her, and kissed her shoulder.

“That was so worth the wait,” she said when she could finally talk again.

“You won’t have to wait quite so long for the next one,” he told her, his voice slightly muffled by her shoulder. “Maybe fifteen or twenty minutes. But I should warn you, I’m going to take my time.”

She ran her fingers over his back, smiling when the muscles twitched under her touch. “Maybe.”

“Challenge accepted,” he said. “Maybe only ten minutes.”

T
he sound of his cell phone chiming woke Sam and he rolled toward it. But instead of flinging his hand onto his nightstand to fumble for the phone, his arm landed on a warm lump. He opened his eyes in time to see Jen pull the covers up over her head with a groan.

He hadn’t meant to fall asleep. Spending the night with her and waking up in her bed hadn’t been part of the plan at all.

His phone chimed again and now he was awake enough to realize it was farther away than a bedside table. It had been in his coat pocket, which he’d draped over a chair. When he pushed back his share of the comforter and Jen immediately pulled it into her nest, he smiled. So she wasn’t one of those chipper morning people.

He pulled on his boxer briefs before making his way to the
kitchen. After hitting the power button on the coffee brewer, he grabbed his coat and pulled his phone out. The text was from Cody Dodge, which surprised him, even though it wasn’t as early as he’d first thought. They’d slept until almost nine.

Hey, Coach Leavitt. Do you have any free time for a talk today?

Just the fact the kid hadn’t opened with
hey, dude
was cause for concern.
I’m free. When and where?

Can I come to your place? At 10? I have to work at noon.

That left him time to get dressed and drink a cup of coffee before he’d have to leave, but at least he and Jen wouldn’t have to dance around whether or not to have breakfast together. That was always followed by the awkwardness of spending the day together or parting ways. And it really didn’t matter. Cody obviously needed a shoulder.

Sounds great. See you at 10.

He was setting two mugs of fresh coffee on the table when Jen walked into the kitchen. She’d thrown on a long T-shirt over a pair of stretchy pants that clung to her legs. And she wasn’t wearing a bra, so he did his best to keep his eyes on her face. He had to go soon.

“Good morning,” he said. “I hope you don’t mind, but I helped myself.”

“I smelled the coffee. Thanks.”

There was nothing in her voice or her expression to give him a clue how she felt about him still being there. She hadn’t thrown him out last night, but he remembered how limp she’d been against him, with her soft breathing, and guessed she’d nodded off as quickly as he had. And maybe he should have gotten dressed and left before she woke up fully, but that didn’t seem right, either.

“I’m going to get dressed before I sit down,” he said, and she nodded before pulling out a chair.

It only took him a few minutes to get dressed. He made a quick trip through her bathroom, borrowing her mouthwash, before going back to the kitchen. Jen set down her mug and smiled as he sat across from her.

“Sleep well?” she asked.

“I did, even though I didn’t mean to.”

“Did you mean to leave last night?”

He wasn’t sure how to answer that. “I meant to take that cue from you, but we didn’t make it that far.”

“No, we didn’t.” She smiled again before taking another sip of her coffee. “Kind of nice to wake up to my coffee already made, though.”

He turned her words over in his head, wondering if the word
though
implied her plan had been for him not to be there in the morning. But there was no point in overanalyzing it to death. “That was a text from Cody Dodge that made my phone go off. He wants to meet at my place at ten to talk about something.”

Her brows furrowed as she sat straighter in her chair. “Really? Did he say about what?”

“No, but it seems a little out of character for him, so I told him I’d be there.”

He watched her glance at the clock and then give a little nod. “It must be important.”

“Do you have any thoughts on what it might be about?”

She stared into her coffee mug for a long moment before lifting her gaze back to his. “I’d rather let him tell you.”

“You told me about Shawn Riley’s issues,” he reminded her.

“I did. But I also knew Shawn wouldn’t tell you himself and you were in a position to really set him back. Cody’s reached out to you. It’s better if I don’t interfere with that.”

Sam bit down on his frustration. It had to be hard for her to protect the students’ privacy in a small town like Stewart Mills, so he respected the way she found that balance. But at the same time, he didn’t like to go into a talk with Cody blind. If he said the wrong thing, he could end up doing more harm than good.

“You can always call me after,” Jen said. “You know, if you feel like whatever is on Cody’s mind is too heavy for pep talks from his coach.”

Sam knew from experience that pep talks from a coach could change a young man’s life, but he was no Coach McDonnell. “Thanks.”

She glanced at the clock again. “That doesn’t leave you a lot of time.”

He wasn’t sure if that was a sign she was ready for him to leave or if she was actually concerned Cody would leave if Sam wasn’t there when he arrived, and perhaps the opportunity to help the kid out would be missed. Either way, he took the hint and downed half the coffee, thankful it didn’t brew hot enough to burn his throat.

“I’ll drive fast,” he said.

She laughed. “Just make sure you come to a complete stop at the stop signs.”

“At least I’ve figured out where all the new ones are now.” He got up and walked to the counter, where he downed the remainder of his coffee before rinsing his cup and setting it in the sink. “I guess I should run.”

Jen stood, her hands still wrapped around her coffee mug in a way that prevented him from pulling her into his arms, and he wondered if it was a deliberate move on her part. “You’ll let me know if whatever’s going on with Cody is serious, right?”

“Of course.” He pulled on his coat and walked to the door to shove his feet into his sneakers. “I enjoyed last night.”

“The dance or after?”

She was watching him over the rim of her coffee mug, so he smiled and winked at her. “Both.”

“Me, too.”

Since she followed him to the door, Sam took the chance and stepped forward for a good-bye kiss. She leaned closer—tilting her face up—and when his lips touched hers, he realized spending one night with her hadn’t quenched his desire for her. He hadn’t gotten her out of his system by a long shot, and there was a good chance if she wasn’t holding half a cup of coffee between them, he’d have his hands on her again.

But she was, so he reluctantly broke off the kiss and opened the door. “Thanks for the dance.”

She was smiling, her eyes soft, when he walked out. He was careful not to rev the engine too much as he drove down her road, trying to avoid attracting attention, but he stepped on the gas as soon as he hit the main road. He wanted to
clean up and put Jen out of his mind before Cody showed up so he could give him his full attention.

Sam had just enough time to rush through a shower and pull on clean clothes before he heard a knock on his door. He opened it to find Cody on the other side, looking downright subdued. “Hey, kid, come on in. You want a drink or something?”

“No thanks.”

Rather than sit on the couch, which might make it hard for him to see Cody’s face, Sam walked to the table and sat down. “Have a seat.”

Cody sat and then proceeded to stare at his hands. It was so unlike him to be quiet, and it made Sam nervous as hell. Maybe the kid was in real trouble. “You’re overthinking it, Cody. Just open your mouth and let the words fall out.”

“If your dad contacted you, would you talk to him?”

Sam sat back against the chair, his mind suddenly empty of anything but the remembered fear of looking out the window one day and seeing Roland Leavitt standing in the dooryard. Over the years, the fear had faded but, right up until the day he left Stewart Mills, it had never totally gone away.

But he was looking at a teenage boy who suddenly looked a lot younger, and he drew in a deep breath. If this conversation was going to go to a hard place, he’d have to suck it up for the kid’s sake. No matter how much he loathed talking about his old man.

“I won’t lie to you,” he said quietly. “No, I wouldn’t, but that’s me. Did your dad contact you?”

Cody nodded, his jaw clamped shut so tightly that Sam was surprised it didn’t hurt. He waited, but the kid didn’t say anything. Sam knew he lived with his grandmother, but
he didn’t know what had happened to his parents. Bill Dodge had been a little older than him, but he’d known him, of course. It was a small town.

“Cody, I know you live with your grandmother, but I don’t know why. And even if I did, you’re the only one who can decide if you respond to him or not.”

“He’s in prison.” Cody’s lower lip trembled for a few seconds, but then he gave his head a sharp shake, as if trying to gather himself. “He got addicted to drugs and things got really bad really fast. And then he took something and they were driving and he crashed, like three years ago. My mom died.”

“Shit.” He ran a hand over his hair, wanting nothing more at that moment than to call Jen for help. Or backup. Or something. Jen would be so much better at this. But Cody wasn’t reaching out to an adult for advice. He was reaching out to a man who’d been alienated from a shitty dad as a teenager and might understand what he was going through. “I’m sorry, Cody.”

“Thanks. I’ve been doing okay. My grandma’s awesome and Miss Cooper helped me through a lot. And Coach. But sometimes I hate my father and you’re the only one who knows what that feels like.”

“It sucks, I know. And this is the first time he’s contacted you?”

Cody shrugged. “He’s written me letters. I read them all, but I never wrote back, though I know Grandma does. But he called and, I don’t even know why, but I agreed to talk to him. Like, he was a really good dad until he broke his leg at work and started taking painkillers and then got into other drugs. And when I heard his voice . . . like that dad was the dad in my head.”

He stopped talking, his eyes watering and his bottom lip trembling again. Sam got up to get the roll of paper towels as Cody swiped angrily at his eyes. After handing him a torn-off sheet and setting the roll on the table, he sat back down.

Sam cleared his throat. “You can cry here, son. It’s a safe place.”

Cody nodded, his face pressed into the paper towel as his shoulders shook for a few minutes. Then he blew his nose and took a second sheet to dry his eyes. “So I was talking to him and I missed him and then it was like
bam
, I remembered he killed my mom. And he only had a minute to talk, but he wants me to visit him.”

“And you’re torn.”

“I don’t know what to do. I miss my dad, but I miss my mom, too, which makes me so mad at my dad. I feel like I
have
to go because he
is
my dad, but it’s like you said. You wouldn’t talk to yours.”

“First, you don’t
have
to do anything.” Sam got up again and poured them each a glass of water. “You have to take care of you. But my situation is different, Cody. My father was a drunk, mean son of a bitch filled with hate and anger my whole life. Your father was a good man who ended up on the slippery slope to addiction and fell. He’s been in prison and he’s clean now, so that dad you miss might be the dad he is again. But only you can decide if you want to give him the chance.”

“Is it . . . is it disloyal to my mother’s memory?” Cody ripped off another paper towel sheet and pressed it to his eyes.

“No, I don’t think it is. Your mom loved you and I’m sure she loved the man your father was before he got sick, so seeing you both together and healthy would probably make her happy.”

“You think so?” There was so much hope in Cody’s
cracking voice that Sam thought his heart might break. And he realized the kid probably just needed somebody to say it was okay to still love his dad even though he was in prison for the accident that killed his mother.

“I believe that.” He didn’t have a lot of experience with happy families, but he’d had the McDonnells. He knew that if, God forbid, they’d been in a similar situation, Mrs. McDonnell would want Coach and Kelly to find their way back to each other. “And your mom’s gone, Cody. There’s no good reason to go through life without your dad if you can forgive him and he can be the man he used to be.”

“I’m afraid, though.” Cody started shredding a paper towel, making a pile on the table.

“Of what?”

“I don’t know. That sometimes I’ll get angry or something and make him feel bad.”

“I don’t think you can say anything worse than what he’s said to himself.”

“What if it makes him want to do drugs again?”

Sam breathed in slowly through his nose and then released the breath. Trying to imagine what Jen would say in this situation, he leaned forward and propped his elbows on the table. “The only person responsible for your dad’s sobriety is him. And you can always walk away if that’s what you have to do. But there’s going to be some hard stuff to work through. He’s in a secure place and he probably has some kind of support group in there.”

“So if I visit him at the prison, we can maybe get through some stuff while he’s got help.”

He sighed. “I’m trying really hard not to influence your decision. But yeah, if you
want
to rebuild your relationship
with him, it might not hurt to start it while you have some automatic space and he can have a built-in support system. What does your grandmother think?”

Cody shrugged. “I know she wants me to see him, but she won’t say so. Miss Cooper helped us, in the beginning. It was hard because Grandma’s his mom, so we had to learn to respect that she would stand by him but that I didn’t want to, you know?”

“So you know you’ll have her support, then.”

He nodded. “No matter what I decide, really.”

“You can’t beat that kind of love and support, kid. I hope you appreciate that.”

“Oh, I do.” Pushing back his chair, Cody gathered up the paper towels—including the mountain he’d shredded—and dumped them in the trash.

“It’s not always going to be easy.” Sam paused to take a drink of his water because his mouth felt dry all of a sudden. “I’m trying to work on my relationship with my mom while I’m here, and it’s hard. And I think it’s harder when you’re trying to forgive a parent because they’re supposed to take care of you no matter what and when they let you down . . .”