Make Your Move (13 page)

“Dan, please,” she begged, trying to move but the position he had her in, and his weight, held her captive.

“Slow, Jodie,” he said thickly.

He was as good as his word, delivering long, slow thrusts and pausing between each in a way that built the pressure in her body until she felt a tear slide down her temple, she needed the release he promised so badly. She was begging now, and he smiled as he relented, driving into her with a few quick, hard strokes that pushed them both over a shuddering, incredible edge.

“I think slow is very, very good,” she said as he came down beside her and pulled her into his arms.

“I have to agree,” he said, hugging her close.

Jodie wished she could tell him what she knew he wanted to hear, but for now, she’d just do her best trying to show him all of the things that she couldn’t seem to say.

“A
RE YOU GOING TO
give me that soap or hog it all for yourself?” Jodie asked, looking at him as they crowded into the shower together. It was a small space, really built for one, and he was okay with that as hot water poured down over the two of them.

Jodie’s slicked-back hair and wet, gleaming skin made her look like something straight out of a fantasy, a sex goddess right here in his shower.

He smiled. She was making his logical mind take some interesting imaginative flights lately.

“I think I’ll hold on to it,” he said, pulling her up against him with his other arm, his cock hardening at the contact with her soft skin. It would seem against the laws of physics how she could excite him this way after the night they had shared.

“Oh,” she replied against his lips as he smoothed the soap over her, washing her with his hands as he slid the fragrant soap over the curve of her back, the round globes of her backside. Oh, how he loved every inch of her, how her breasts jutted up against his chest, her nails
sinking lightly into his shoulders as he nibbled on her neck while he continued soaping her down.

But her ass drove him crazy. So perfect and soft, he couldn’t keep his hands or his eyes off it. He might be one of the brightest minds in science, according to several journal reviews, but Jodie made him revert to his primal instincts, and he loved it.

Turning her, he kept her close and soaped her front, too, letting the water rinse down over them both. As he massaged her breasts in a way he knew she liked, he rubbed his cock over her buttocks, whispering raw words in her ear, letting her know what he wanted to do, and hearing her sigh as he bent her forward against the wall. He wrapped his hand in her wet hair to gently tug her head back for a deep, hot kiss as he slid inside her body.

“Hard this time, Dan,” she commanded in a sexy, purely female tone that he couldn’t resist.

Any pretense of showering or washing was lost as he thrust into her, giving her what she asked for, enjoying the way the hot water washed over them.

She responded as much to tender and slow as hard and rough, and he found himself challenged to find new ways to please her. Everything between them pleased him. Dan wasn’t sure a lifetime would be enough time to explore everything he wanted to do with her.

He drove himself into her, passion powered by emotions that were too strong to be expressed any other way. Her body tightened around him as she pushed back from the wall against him, fucking him back as she came with a shattered cry. Her body buckled forward and the coiled
tension of her muscles pulled a mind-blowing orgasm from him, as well.

He didn’t want it to be over. But when it was, he pulled her against him and they stood under the water for a moment, quiet.

“How is it possible that it just seems to get more intense?” he asked, planting kisses on her neck. “I love you so much.”

There must be some kind of algorithm for this somewhere, he thought, and if not, he was going to write one. There might even be a paper in it. He was pretty sure the scientific community would be shocked, and it made him smile to consider actually doing it.

“I know. For me, too,” she said against his chest, and he felt the familiar pang of his unrequited sentiment, but he was willing to give her time. He needed to hear the words, but told himself that, for now, this was enough.

He knew what she felt. He could see it in her face and feel it in her responses to him. She’d agreed they had more than sex between them, but she still had to work out some things before she could open her heart completely.

He could wait.

Stepping out of the shower, they toweled off and grabbed robes from the back of the door. His guest robe had never been used. He didn’t bring many people to his home, since it was his retreat, his place to be alone and away from the demands of the world.

He wrapped her in a towel and pulled her up close. He had to teach in an hour, and for the first time in his life, work wasn’t the first thing on his mind. It hadn’t been
for days. Being with Jodie, and knowing that he wanted her in his life, meant more to him than anything.

“Listen, Jodie, I’ve been thinking…”

“Hmm?”

“With Jason, I’ll talk to the committee again, and see what I can do. It’s just not as important as making sure you’re okay.”

“Two can play that game, Ellison. I won’t let you sacrifice your ethics. We can let Jason take his best shot. But the more I think about it, the more I think he’s wrong. We may lose some of the uniqueness of the Passionate Hearts, but the bakery will survive. I won’t let anything else be the case,” she said, sounding and looking resolute.

Dan’s heart flooded. He was aching to hear the words from her, that she loved him, but what she was saying amounted to the same thing. She hadn’t said the words, but she was willing to put everything she had worked for over the years on the line for him. His own resolve returned, wiping out doubt, and he kissed her lightly.

“We’ll figure something out. I promise,” he said, and he meant it. There was no way he was putting Jodie in the middle of this, putting her, or her business, in any more danger. He’d handle it himself, even if it cost a tiny chunk of his integrity to do it.

He’d put his own needs first for too long. Now it was all about Jodie.

It was a gorgeous day. Fall was her favorite season, and it was just starting to really nip at the air in earnest. Not all of the leaves had changed yet, but as Jodie sat at
the pretty café near the Lincoln Park Zoo, she enjoyed watching some of the bright red pop out, and was relieved that the summer heat was passing.

She tapped her foot nervously on the floor. The server had come by twice asking her if she wanted to order, and as time passed, she thought that maybe Ginger wouldn’t show up. Finally, she saw Ginger rush through the door, hurrying across the café to her table.

“I’m so sorry I’m late, again, I know,” she began but Jodie put up a hand and then, before she could say anything, stood up and hugged Ginger.

“Don’t worry about it. How are you?”

Ginger looked relieved. They ordered their food quickly, barely reading the menus.

Jodie took a deep breath. “Ginger, there’s something I didn’t tell you the other day,” she said, but as she finished the sentence, her throat tightened and her eyes stung.

It surprised her. She wasn’t typically a crier. She’d learned young that tears only aggravated her father and made things worse, so she’d thought that she’d all but trained crying out of her emotional repertoire, but tears certainly were a reflex these days. “I’m sorry, I’m pretty stressed—” Jodie went on to tell Ginger about Jason, and the chance that their business could be in trouble.

“So I don’t know that I’ll be able to guarantee the bakery job, depending on what happens. The recession has already hurt a bit, and if he does manage to damage our business, well…I don’t know. I should have told you, but I didn’t want you to quit.”

“Oh, honey,” Ginger said, “you couldn’t get rid of
me if you tried,” her voice high and tight as she fought off her own set of tears, and before the food came they were both weeping and laughing about it, and Jodie knew then everything was going to be okay.

Taking deep breaths and sitting back down with the air less tense between them, Jodie smiled at the waiter who smiled back in
that
way, pausing for a moment longer than he had to and refreshing her water though it had barely been touched. He was cute, she supposed, but she could have cared less.

“I was worried, thinking you would make the decision to cut back on your hospital hours when I didn’t know what was happening with the shop…” Jodie proceeded to bring Ginger up-to-date on the latest episode with Jason, and her and Dan’s plan.

Ginger’s eyes were huge and angry by the time Jodie finished. “I can’t believe he just walked into the shop like that and threatened you! What a bastard,” she said a little more loudly than she should, and they both smiled, piping down as they drew a few looks.

“He is. But you know, Dan and I’ve decided to focus on what’s more important. Us,” Jodie said, feeling her cheeks turn warm.

“I told you you’d meet someone and that would be that. Your prowling days are over—the hunter has been well and truly snared,” Ginger said happily.

Jodie sat back in her chair, her jaw dropping with a laugh. She was about to argue, but then her mouth clamped shut again, and she blinked.

“Yeah, I guess you were right,” she said softly. “There
was only ever Dan, really.” Even if she hadn’t screwed up the courage to tell him so, she knew it was true.

Ginger bounced in her seat, clapping lightly, her eyes dancing. “I am so happy for you,” she said. “Dan is perfect for you, and you deserve to be happy.”

Jodie’s cheeks warmed, but she only smiled, stabbing at her salad and changing the subject. Ginger was right, but Jodie wasn’t up to having her newfound emotional life diagnosed over lunch.

“So how are things with Scott?”

Ginger’s cheeks were turning pink and she appeared tentative again.

“I was going to tell you at the bakery the other day, but I guess my emotions were running really high, too. But…I think I’m pregnant. It’s kind of early to know for sure, but, well, I just think I am.”

Jodie dropped her fork, and the clatter distracted them both as the handsome waiter appeared at her side almost immediately with a new one.

She rolled her eyes, and they chuckled as he left, but then she met Ginger’s worried gaze again.

“Pregnant? Really?” she asked.

“Yes. And…it’s wonderful,” Ginger said, getting misty again. “We couldn’t be happier. He’s been so great, Jodie. It’s like something really has changed,” she said, dabbing at her eyes again.

Jodie consumed the new information, processing it.

“He’s happy about it?”

“Oh, yes. He’s thrilled. He told me anything I want to do is fine with him. I can do whatever work I want to or not even work at all, but I love working with you at
the shop. He wants to buy a house,” she said, her eyes shining.

“Wow,” was all Jodie could manage for a moment, and then she just shook her head. “Well, I’ll say congratulations, then, and I hope you will be happy, Ginger. Because no matter what you say, you and Anna really deserve it this time around, and if Scott hurts you, tell him I’ll—”

“He won’t. I just know it this time,” Ginger said, practically glowing with happiness.

“How do you know?”

Ginger shrugged. “I tried to get past the past, I guess. I watched him with Anna the other night and saw his face when I told him I was pregnant, and I just…know. Sometimes you just know.”

Jodie was humbled. She’d been critical of Ginger, unfairly so. Love was…complicated. People did their best, and sometimes it worked out and sometimes it didn’t, but Ginger at least was open to it.

“Ginger, you are probably the bravest woman I know,” she said honestly. “To have faith that you could find real love, and a family, with Scott again. It’s a chance I don’t know that I could have taken.”

Hell, she couldn’t even tell Dan, whom she loved, and who clearly loved her, how she felt.

“Aw, Jodie. It’s not so hard. Not when you really love someone. Like you love Dan.”

“I love Dan,” Jodie said on a whisper, out loud, mostly to herself, to see if she actually could form the words. Then she looked at Ginger. “I love Dan,” she said again, louder and stronger, smiling.

“Question is,” Ginger posed, “have you told him that?”

Jodie took a deep breath and released something that had been caught tight in her chest for a very long time. It made her feel free for the first time since…well, maybe ever.

Dan wasn’t her father, and she wasn’t her mother. They had a whole different relationship, and their future would be whatever they wanted it to be. Dan loved her. And she loved him.

She smiled at Ginger. “I think he suspects, but it’s probably time I told him.”

“Go. Do it. Now,” Ginger ordered. “Lunch is on me. See you at the shop tomorrow?”

Jodie grinned, planting a kiss on Ginger’s cheek as she rushed out from the restaurant.

“You bet.”

Jodie rushed into Dan’s office, and found him talking and laughing with a group of young people who all looked at her in surprise.

She stopped short in midstride. “Oh! I’m so sorry! I saw the door open, and I just thought—”

Dan smiled. “No problem. We’re almost done here. Guys, this is my girlfriend, Jodie.”

Jodie actually felt herself blush with pleasure. For a moment she thought he’d only introduce her as his business partner. Girlfriend was fine with her, and probably appropriate for the age group he was talking to. She smiled at the friendly faces.

“Hi. Sorry again for interrupting,” she said to them. “The door was open, and I just assumed—”

“It’s fine. Nothing top secret going on here,” Dan joked, wiggling his eyebrows.

One student with blue hair and more piercings than Jodie could count gave her an appraising look and then turned to Dan.

“Nice going, Dr. Ellison,” he said, making everyone chuckle, Jodie, too.

“I’ll just step back out,” she said, turning, but Dan shook his head, standing.

“We’re pretty much done here. These guys are going to be my lab assistants this semester. We were reviewing the schedule, but we’re all set, right, guys?”

“Absolutely, Dr. E,” one shorter, more serious looking student said.

All three smiled and said goodbyes—to Jodie, too—and she rolled her eyes as the pierced guy threw Dan a thumbs-up on his way out.

“They’re funny,” Jodie said, as Dan closed the door behind them and kissed her. “Especially the pierced guy. I can tell he’s always been the class clown.”

“They’re also incredibly smart, especially him. They’ll be great to work with this term,” he said. “What brings you here? Not that I’m not always glad to see you running into my office,” he joked.

“Sorry again. I just got kind of excited, and I wanted to tell you something,” she said, feeling her breath catch up in her chest, sudden nerves gripping her.

“Excited? About what?” Dan asked.