Jesse (15 page)

He turned her toward him when they got
to the counter. He never took his eyes off hers as he pulled the untied top
down over her breasts. When some of the material caught on her nipple, he
leaned down, licked the cloth away, and then took a quick nip at her breast
too.

“Please, Jesse. I need something. Anything.”
She didn’t think he’d believe her if she told him she’d never had a climax
before or he’d wonder why. She wanted him to take her away before he found out.
But he wasn’t going to be rushed.

“Naked. Just as I thought you were.” He
let the dress pool at her feet before he stood back and looked at her. When she
started to cover herself he stayed her hands with his. “No. Not tonight. Not
with me ever. I want to look my fill of you while we make love.”

Joey leaned against the counter and let
him look. She tried to squeeze her thighs together so he wouldn’t notice that
she was wet. When he touched her hips and pulled her to him again she nearly
cried out when he picked her up and sat her on the counter.

“I’m going to feast on you before I take
you upstairs. Every time I come into this kitchen, I want to imagine you
sitting just like this and me between your legs.” He pulled a chair over from
the table. “I’m going to eat you until you scream, love. Do you have a problem
with that?”

No
, her mind begged him.
But
hurry.
All she could manage, however, was to shake her head. He smiled as
he sat down.

He lifted her foot and kissed it gently.
He put her leg over his shoulder and did the same to the other foot. Now she
sat before him completely exposed. Even as he moved his eyes down her body she
felt her pussy soak the countertop under her.

Kissing his way up her thigh, he murmured
things to her. Most of which she didn’t understand, but then a lot of it she
didn’t believe. He said he loved her. There was no way he actually did, but she
did think he needed to say that. She didn’t know why, but if that’s what he
needed, she didn’t want to stop him. The closer he got to her wet pussy, the
wetter she got.

The first swipe of his tongue made her
cry out. When he slid his fingers through her curls she watched mesmerized
while he licked them clean, moaning the entire time. When he leaned in again
she thought she was ready for him, but she wasn’t. Using his fingers again, he
opened her nether lips, pulled her clit into his mouth, and sucked.

The climax ripped her apart. She reached
for something to hold onto and wrapped her hand into his hair. Nothing had
prepared her for what he was doing to her. Her body seemed to have a mind of
its own and was soon riding out a second then a third climax before he stood
up.

“Christ, I need to be inside of you.
Your taste, your smell, is driving me over the edge.” He reached into his
pocket and then pulled his pants off. When he opened the package that would
protect them both she started to get down. But he had other plans.

As soon as he was sheathed in the latex
he reached for her again. Before she could figure out what he was doing he had
her lying back on the table and he was poised to enter her.

“I’m sorry, love. I wanted to do this
more slowly, but I can’t.” He moved his cock over her tender flesh. “I’m so
sorry.”

He slid into her hard. Even though he’d
been a little rough, she came. Crying out his name as he pounded into her, she
offered him her breast. Taking as much as he could, she felt him touch a bundle
of nerves deep inside of her and she came again. This time she took him with
her. He stiffened above her as he let go of her nipple and shouted out her name
as he came. She’d never seen anything so beautiful in her life and doubted
she’d ever forget this as long as she lived.

~~~

Jesse woke to an empty bed. He reached
to where he’d left her after making love to her again, on the bed this time,
and found a piece of paper instead of the woman he hoped to find there.

I had to go to work this morning. I
really enjoyed last night and hope that you did too.

He could see where she’d scribbled out
something and he smiled when he saw what she’d written. “Stupid” had been
crossed out several times.

I hope you don’t mind, but I took one of
your shirts and a pair of your boxers. My dress isn’t in very good shape.

She’d not signed her name, just a large
J at the bottom. He reached for his bedside clock and was surprised to find it
was after eleven-thirty. He groaned when he thought about going into work this
late and turned on the water as he called his secretary.

“Your brother Royce is looking for you. And
you mom has called here three times. She said you’d better be alright or she
was going to kill you anyway.”

He laughed. “Tell her I’ll talk to her
later. And whatever Royce wants, tell him if it’s not important, we’ll talk
about it tomorrow. Otherwise, he can call me later. Much later.” He nearly hung
up when she said something else. “What did you say?”

“A Mrs. Randles called. She said that
she wants to talk to you about her granddaughter before you get yourself in too
deep. She said that she wants you to call her today if possible.”

He leaned back against the bathroom wall
and tried to remember where the name came from. Then it hit him. She was
Josephine’s grandmother.

“She’s didn’t sound all that friendly. I
hope if you get involved with her granddaughter, she’s a bit friendlier than
that old bat sounded.”

He thought that he assured her that she
was, but couldn’t remember. As he shut down his phone, he wondered if this was
what Royce had wanted. Taking a quick shower, he called his brother as soon as
he was dressed. He wanted to find Josephine, needed to find her right now.

“Where are you right now? I have to see
you. Joey’s grandmother was in the office this morning and she’s spouting off
shit that will make your hair white.” Royce had answered on the first ring and
didn’t even say hello. Jesse knew it was bad.

“I’m coming in after I go get Josephine.
She’s at work. I don’t think she should be out where that woman can find her.” He
decided to call Wills and have her and Jared pull her into the trailer until he
got there. “Where is the woman now?”

“I don’t know. I had security toss her
ass out about an hour ago. Christ, you should hear how she’s talking. To hear
her, you’d think that Joey has slept with everything that moved and then some.”

Jesse knew that he was only the second
person she’d slept with. After they’d made love in the shower she’d confessed
that she didn’t have a lot of experience, hadn’t really enjoyed it until them. He
caught himself smiling at what he’d done to her later that night and wondered
if she was up for some more fun tonight. He was sure she was sore. He knew he’d
used muscles last night he’d not used in a long while.

“It’s not true. You have to believe me
when I tell you that.” He knew his brother wouldn’t repeat what he was about to
tell him, so he blurted it out quickly. “I’m about half in love with her, Royce,
and I’m not sure what to do about it.”

His brother laughed. “I would suggest
you finish up being full in love with the girl and marry her. This thing is
going to get ugly faster than you can imagine. Mrs. Randles seems to think the
paper should know that her granddaughter is only out to get your money and then
leave you like she did her.”

“Call Kylie for me, will you? I have to
call Wills and see if she’ll pull the wagons in a circle around Josephine. I’m
on my way there now. I should be there in about an hour.”

He closed his phone again and decided
his brother was right. He needed to get over the halfway point of his feelings
for Josephine and tell her that he wanted her in his life forever. He smiled
when he thought about changing how he did the asking and not the telling to
her. She wasn’t going to be happy, as it was, with him.

The flashing lights and the ambulance out
front had him nearly leaping from the car before he’d come to a complete stop. He
was running across the site when he heard his name. Turning toward the voice,
he nearly crumpled to the ground when he saw Josephine in the back of the open
ambulance and Wills talking to her. Jared rushed to him before he could get to
them.

“She’s fine. I swear it. Look at me,
Jesse. If you go there now she’ll fall apart. I don’t know how she’s held on
this long. But the police aren’t finished with her yet.”

“Why is she in the ambulance? Is she
hurt?” When he didn’t answer, he looked up at the man. “Jared? What’s
happened?”

“She’s been shot, but not seriously. The
bullet went through her leg and out. The police said if she’d been coming off
the ladder instead of going up it, things might have been different. Someone
shot at her three times before they stopped.” He moved so that Jesse could see
her. “She’s calm for now, but they’re afraid for her. When she falls apart they
think it’ll be bad. She wasn’t the only one standing there when the shots were
fired. Patty Melbourne is dead.”

Chapter 14

“We were talking about the plants I
still wanted to get. There are two places where the flowers just didn’t match
up with the way I wanted them to. Patty was going to let me work for her when I
finished here.” She looked at Wills and smiled. “You fixed it so I could have a
good job later.”

“You have a job, love. Right here with
Stone Construction. Tell the nice man here the rest so we can get you fixed up,
all right?” Wills was being so nice to her that Joey nearly forgot the pain in
her leg.

“I was putting the hook on the fountain she’d
brought over to see if it would work. She thought it was too lightweight for
the size of the basket. I think she is right. It’ll sag in no time.” Joey looked
away as something walked in front of the ambulance. It was a body bag and she
had a sudden fright then started talking again. “I think maybe she was hurt
first. I remember climbing up quickly to bring the hook down before I bent it
and I heard the first pop.”

“Do you remember where it might have
come from, Miss Foster? Did it sound like it came from behind or to the back of
where you two were standing?”

She looked at the policeman. It took her
several seconds to remember that he’d been there the whole time since it
happened. “Behind me. I remember thinking that it didn’t sound like anything to
do with the construction, more like one of those pop guns you see.” He blurred
for a second and she closed her eyes. Hearing her name, she opened them again.

“You have to stay with me a little
longer. Tell me what happened next.” He looked around and nodded. She did as
well, but couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

“Patty was lying there when several
pieces of the wall crumbled over my head. I couldn’t think, so I tried to climb
higher. I don’t know what I was going to do when I got to the top, but then the
next popping sounded and I was hurt and falling.” She closed her eyes as she
continued. “I fell on her. I didn’t mean to do that, but I couldn’t seem to
stop myself. Then I heard screaming. It took me a few seconds to realize it was
me, but I couldn’t seem to stop.”

“Miss Foster, do you know who it was?
Who might think they have a reason to want to shoot you or Mrs. Melbourne?”

She opened her eyes and looked at him,
but he wouldn’t stay focused. She heard him say her name several times, but she
was shaking now and so cold. She thought she heard Jesse, but was suddenly
hurting so badly that she couldn’t grab onto his voice. The last thing she
remembered was that she had lost a good friend.

When she woke up she knew that she was
in the hospital. She wasn’t sure why really, but she knew that something had
happened. When she tried to make her mind wrap around it she hurt, so she
stopped trying. Hearing someone speak her name made her flinch away until she
realized it was Jesse.

“I can turn the light on if you’d like. They
said your head might hurt and that we should turn it on slowly for you at
first.”

She nodded then realized he couldn’t see
her in the dark and told him okay.

Even the small light that he’d turned on
was almost too much. She closed her eyes tight against it and waited for it to
get better. Jesse took her hand in his and squeezed it. She returned the
gesture.

“How you feeling?” he asked her. “I can
call for a nurse if you want something for pain. In fact, if you need something,
I’d really love to get it for you. I need something to do to feel useful.”

“No. I don’t…I hurt, but I think it’s
okay.” He kissed her on the cheek and she felt tears burn her eyes. “It hurts
to try and remember. I know that I was injured, but not how.”

He was quiet and she looked over at him.
“They said that it would be better for you if you remembered on your own. I
think that’s a load of horse shit, but they have a degree in medicine and I
don’t. What do you remember, baby?”

“We were looking at Sheppard’s hooks for
the fountain. She told me that…Patty had come by to bring the last of the
flowers. There were hanging baskets to put up and I’d forgotten to get
something to hang them on.” She closed her eyes against the sudden pain. “We
had put one up. Conley had brought me a ladder, one of those kind that has to
be opened. I was on the second step when I heard something.”