I'm Yours (Bold As Love) (3 page)

It was pure magical sometimes. I could get lost in his blue eyes, his touch, and his kisses. I think about all the times we had sex. After the first few times, there was a ton of pleasure and all I wanted to do was get him to his bed. It didn’t help that his parents weren’t home too much on the weekends, either. At first, I was horrified as I realized how much of a horny girl I was. Later, I reveled in it.

I think about the hurt I felt when he left. I see the light that is Jake as he brings me back to life. I bite my lip and wonder why exactly I have been hesitant to make love with Jake. I’ve wanted to, plenty of times. I always stop myself before it goes too far.

I’m still on birth control, so that’s not a concern. Did that have to do with Conrad? Or with my self-esteem from my mother? Was it because I love Jake with a greater love than Conrad so I was worried about losing him? These thoughts and questions keep me up half the night. I’m relieved to be able to sleep in since we don’t have school. I awake when I feel a soft kiss on my lips.

I open my eyes to see Jake leaning over me. “Good morning, beautiful,” he says with a grin. I slide over and throw the covers back, inviting him to climb in. Jake slips off his shoes and lays with me.

“
Good morning handsome,” I return giving him a peck on the lips.

“
How’d you sleep?”

“
Okay,” I say. “What about you?”

“
I had sweet dreams.” He grins wickedly.

I giggle and wrap my arms around his neck. “You want to tell me about it?” I ask.

“
I rather show you,” he whispers as he kisses my neck. He lights a fire up to my jaw and finally he claims my lips.

He tastes sweet and so…Jake. I pull away for air and grin at him. “We should probably join Drake,” Jake says.

“
Oh, alright!” I fake annoyance, making him chuckle. A memory pops in my head of a time when I did that with Conrad. I turned away from him and wouldn’t let him kiss me. That didn’t last long and we tumbled onto his bed.

As the thought crosses my mind, a blush burns my face. Jake chuckles, possibly thinking it was because of him. Immediately, I feel guilty. “You go ahead; I’ll be right there.” He gives me a quick kiss and leaves my room. I lay in bed for a moment before getting up to run a brush through my hair and brush my teeth. Why did Conrad have to come back now?

I pushed all thoughts of Conrad out of my mind and went to join Jake and Drake in the living room. I stopped by the kitchen to fix a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch first. I sit beside Jake on the couch and eat while we watch Phineas and Ferb. I after I finished, I set my bowl on the coffee table in front of us and was going to lay my head in Jake’s lap, but he stopped me. “Go get dressed, Sweetness.”

“
Why? Where are we going?”

“
Out,” he says with a smirk.

“
Ugh! You are just full of meanness today.” He makes the motion with his hand to shoo me out of the room. I roll my eyes and go to my room. I grab a pair of jeans, clean underwear, bra, and a baby blue short sleeve shirt. I went to my adjoining bathroom and started the hot shower.

Thirty minutes later, I had dressed, dried my hair, brushed my teeth, and put on a little makeup and perfume. I slipped on my shoes before leaving my room. “Alrighty boys. Let’s go. I’m driving!” I declared. Jake turns the TV off and stands.

“
Why are you driving?” They follow me into the kitchen where I grabbed my keys off the counter by the garage door.

“
Because I want to. Plus, you almost always drive. It’s my turn.”

“
Where are you driving to,” Jake asks me once we are settled into the car. He and Drake laugh at his comment.

“
Nowhere if you don’t tell me.”

He’s quiet for a moment and Drake seems to think that he wasn’t going to say anything because he says, “We’re going to Mayfaire to the movies.” Jake twists in his seat to look at Drake, causing him to shrug his shoulders.

I press the button on the garage remote that is clipped to the visor and it begins to move. I turn on the car, back out, and press it again for it to close. Once on the road, we head to Wilmington. I’ve got one hand on the steering wheel and my other arm resting on the compartment between the seats. Jake reaches over and takes my hand in his giving it a kiss before he rests it in his lap.

“
How was your weekend at Tommy’s, Drake,” I ask referring to his friend. Drake jumps in to say that they went to the movies to watch some kid movie that just came out, played outside, played video games, and a few other things. “Sounds fun,” I say when he is finally finished. Jake finds a station on the radio and turns the music up some. He leans his head back on the headrest and closes his eyes.

I bite my lip, wondering if everything is okay. I keep quiet until we reach Mayfaire and I park. We get out and make our way to the cinema. Jake holds one hand and Drake holds my other. “Everything okay,” I ask bumping shoulders with him once we are in line. He looks down at me and smiles, but it’s not a real smile. “Of course.” He leans down and gives me a quick kiss.

“
What are we watching,” I ask to keep conversation going.

“
Drake wants to see Rango.” We get closer in line and worry churns my stomach. Everything wasn’t okay; I could tell by the fake smile and how he was on the way here. Why would he lie? I try to shrug it off as he buys our tickets.

We go inside and stop for popcorn and drinks. We head to the left down the wide hallway covered with drink machines and arcade games to theater three. We sit in the middle and wait for the previews to start. I’m sitting in the middle with a brother on each side. I look to my right to look at Jake. His jet black hair is a bit longer and the ends curl up just a bit.

He catches me looking and leans over to give me a kiss. “What’s the matter,” he asks.

“
Nothing. Just appreciating your good looks,” I say with a smile.

“
Mmm. How about you show me your appreciation later?” he says with another kiss.

“
I’ll think about it,” I smirk. The previews come on and the lights dim. We eat all the popcorn and drink all of our sodas by the end of the movie. It was pretty funny and Drake enjoyed it. “Now what?” I ask when we are back outside.

“
We are going to spoil ourselves and eat ice cream as a late lunch,” Jake says checking at his watch.

“
There’s a Cold Stone by the road,” I tell him remembering the first time I took him there on our first date.

“
We have to go there,” Drake says with excitement.

“
Well, let’s go.” We walk across one of the roads and down the strip to the end where Cold Stone’s was waiting for us. I never eat a full ice cream from this place so me and Jake shared the birthday mix ice cream and Drake ordered a chocolate ice cream with sprinkles in a small waffle bowl. All the tables with three seats where taken. There were just tables with two seats left. Jake leads us to one.

He sits down, sets our ice cream on the table, and pulls me into his lap while Drake takes the other seat. We leisurely eat our ice cream with Jake kissing all over my face claiming I was a sloppy eater. I couldn’t help but laugh each time. I go to take a bite of the waffle bowl when I feel Jake tense beneath me.

I look at him and then follow his gaze to the person who just walked in the creamery. Conrad. With the sun shining in the windows behind him, he locks eyes with me giving a small smile, and it was if everything slipped away. A memory of a day we spent at the beach blasted forward. I was laying out and Conrad was towering over me with the sun shining down behind him.

He was dripping wet and gleamed a smile at me. “Are you going to get in the water or not,” he asked me.

“
I will…eventually.”

“
How about now,” he asked, leaning down to pick me up by the waist and carry me over his shoulder to the water. I laughed the whole way there and tried to get him to set me down. He wouldn’t, of course.

When he was about waist deep, he threw us both down into the water. Coming up, I playfully splashed him starting a war. In the end, he won like he always did, and claimed my lips as his prize.

The memory was torn from me when Jake spoke. I tore my gaze from Conrad and looked at Jake. “What did you say,” I ask.

Agitation flees across his eyes and he says, “If we are done, we should leave.” He grabs hold of my waist and pushes me to stand. Jake grabs our trash and walks towards the can by the door, leaving me and Drake behind.

“
C’mon Drake,” I say holding out my hand.

He takes it and we follow Jake outside. I glance back at Conrad who is waiting for his ice cream and thankfully wasn’t looking. This wasn’t going to be easy.

Jake

We arrived back at Emily’s around four. I quietly steamed the whole way there. I saw the way Emily looked at him when he walked in. She didn’t look at me like that. Was he just going to show up everywhere now? Last night, I felt relief and pure happiness when Emily told me she loved me.

Today, all that evaporated when Conrad walked in the creamery. She still loved him because he was her first love. But was it stronger than our love? I was mad as hell about this. Why did he have to come back and stir up those feelings inside Emily?

He wanted her back. She wouldn’t go, would she? Frustration built within me as worry over losing Emily climbed. Emily and I were cuddled together on the couch. “Jake? What’s up with you today,” she asks tilting her head to look at me.

I sigh. “Nothing.”

She leans away from me and crosses her arms over her chest, pushing up her breasts. “Don’t lie to me Jake. You’ve been quiet and grumpy all the day.”

I decide to ask the question that has been bothering me. “What are you going to do about Conrad?”

Her face falls and she looses her defensive stance. She leans back on the couch and tilts her head back to stare at the ceiling. “I don‘t know. I guess I will tell him that I‘m with you now,” she says softly. “Seeing him and talking to him just brought all these memories back. I should talk to him so he doesn’t waste his time.”

“
Do you want me to be there with you,” I say.

“
No. That would just make it awkward. What are you going to do without me tomorrow,” she asks with a smile.

“
I’ll go hang out with the guys.”

“
Have fun,” she says trailing a finger over my chest.

“
Let me know how it goes.”

Conrad

Around ten o’clock, a number I don’t recognize appears on my phone. I answer it with a, “Hello?”

A voice that I have missed for so long greets me. “Conrad? It’s Emily.” She asks where I’m staying and if she can come over. I tell her my hotel and room number. I honestly didn’t expect to hear from her, especially after I walked into Cold Stone and saw Jake showering her with kisses.

She looked so happy. For the thousandth time, I wonder if I should have came back at all. She’s happy and has moved on. The thought that I made a mistake and left her came back to me. I could have stayed and still be a father to Logan. So I was back to get the love of my life.

All these thoughts ran through my mind as I showered. I stepped out and dried off. There was a knock on the door. I wrapped the towel around my waist and looked through the peephole. Emily was standing on the other side looking anxious. I open the door and once again drank in the sight of her. Her soft brown hair was flying around from the wind. She had gotten an inch or two taller since I last seen her and she was more…filled out too.

Her brown eyes lustfully looked over my body. “Sorry, I just got out. Come on in and I’ll finish getting dressed,” I say.

A blush creeps onto her cheeks as her eyes meet mine. “Okay,” she says stepping inside.

“
I’ll be just a minute,” I call over my shoulder as I return to the bathroom. I quickly get dressed, run a brush through my hair, and brush my teeth. I return to see her sitting at the round table by the window.

She looks up from her hands when I open the door. My heart bursts when I see her smile. I walk over and sit in the seat across from her. I lose myself in her eyes and resist the urge to take her in my arms and kiss her. Emily takes a deep breath and starts to talk.

“
I’m so happy to see you again.”

I say, “I’m so glad to see you as well. I finally just couldn’t take it anymore and I came back. I was torn. I hoped you had moved on and were happy, but at the same time, I was hoping that you hadn’t fallen in love with someone else.”

“
That’s the thing Conrad. I have fallen in love with Jake. I would like to spend some time with you, while you are here, but nothing is going to happen between us.”

“
Would you like to have lunch then?”

“
That sounds great.”

“
Awesome! Let me just grab my keys and wallet, and we can go.” I walk over to the nightstand by the bed and pick up my things. I slip on my shoes and open the door for her. She walks out and over to my truck. Like old times, she waits for me to open her door. I would always make a fuss if she did it herself.

I close the door behind her and walk over to my side. I climb in and off we go. I take her to Clinton, which is about a forty-five minute drive away to Ruby Tuesdays. After the waitress takes our order, Emily asks about my son. “He’ll be two next month. Logan looks just like me too.”