Maya And The Tough Guy (22 page)

When they walked into the house, Kellen was asleep on the couch and Maya was making breakfast.
 

“How come Uncle Kellen never has to go to work?” Matthew asked.

“Because he doesn’t have a real job,” Jayce replied. And Kellen, the freelance photojournalist, must have really been asleep because he didn’t respond.
 

“Did you have fun, Mattie?” Maya called from the kitchen.

Matthew hurried to her side. “It wasn’t fun, Mom. I’m gonna train to be a boxer. This guy named Ace says he’ll show me how and if I work hard every day, then when I’m eighteen I can box professionally.”

“Oh, great,” Maya said, with no enthusiasm whatsoever. She slid Jayce a look that suggested if her son became a professional boxer, Jayce would be paying for it some day.

“And Ace says Uncle Jayce could be a boxer if he wanted. Have you seen his muscles? Show her your muscles, Uncle Jayce.”

“I’ve seen his muscles, honey. He’s very strong, isn’t he?”

“Yeah. But look at mine.” Matthew flexed his arm to show off his bicep.
 

Maya gave his skinny arm a pinch. “Wow. You are super strong. And sweaty. Better go get yourself a shower, okay?”

“Okay, Mom. Can we have bacon with breakfast? Fighters need lots of protein.” He left without waiting for an answer.

She turned to Jayce and arched a brow.

“He’s eight,” Jayce said. “Next week he’ll want to be an astronaut.”

She grinned. “Well, Uncle Jayce isn’t an astronaut. And right now, you’re the hero. So I’m guessing the boxing dream will stay alive for a while.”

She’d put on jeans, but she was still wearing the tank top from earlier, no bra underneath. His hands itched to touch her, to caress her, to feel her nipples harden.
 

“You want something to eat?” she asked.

He’d actually assumed that this breakfast was partially for him. But he didn’t want to intrude. “Uh, I should probably get home and shower.”

She nodded like she’d expected him to say that. She didn’t ask him to stay, either.

“Okay, well, I’ll see you at work,” he said.

“Thanks, Jayce. I haven’t seen Mattie this happy in a while.”

“My pleasure.” He thought he might lean in for a kiss, but she turned back to the stove.

He frowned and backed away. “See ya.”

“Yep. Five o’clock.”

He swallowed down a lump of unwanted emotion, turned, and left.
 

#

Kellen offered to tend bar for the last couple of hours that night. So at eleven, Jayce turned it over to him. He’d filled in before. Having such a flexible career made Kellen a good substitute bartender.
 

So shortly after Maya clocked out, Jayce drove to her house. She opened the door and looked…disappointed? Maybe he was pushing too hard. Maybe he needed to give her some space. Not tonight, though. Please, God, not tonight.
 

“Hey,” she said. “I haven’t even showered yet.”

“Fun. Let’s do it together.” He hooked an arm around her waist, kissed her, and nudged his way into the house, kicking the door closed behind him. She was still in her uniform. He squeezed her hard against him and kissed her until at last she melted in his arms. When he pulled back, she was smiling blissfully and not looking at all disappointed.

She took his hand and led him back to the shower. He had her against the wall. And then again in the bed. And at last on the sofa where they snuggled, drank wine, and watched a movie.

Before they went to bed, she slipped into the prettiest, pink nightgown. Jayce felt like a lovestruck kid again as he watched her look at herself in the mirror and touch the lace edges at the bottom.

“Do you like this?” Maya asked.

“Oh, yeah,” he replied.

She turned and smiled brightly. “I’ve had this for years. I originally bought it for a Valentine’s night surprise for Damon. But he came home drunk and I couldn’t bear to soil this pretty nightie with bad memories. I thought I’d wait, but there wasn’t ever a time when I felt like I wanted to give this to him. And finally I gave up and kept it hidden. This is the first time I’ve worn it except when I tried it on the day I bought it.”

She turned back to the mirror and touched the place where the neckline dipped. “I’m glad you like it,” she said.

“You look like an angel.”

Maya sighed. “I think you put me on a pedestal.”

“You put yourself on a pedestal. What else can I do but worship you, Maya?”

She turned to him, all humor vanished, her eyes hot with lust. She crawled up the bed, onto his lap, and straddled him. They kissed and touched. He nipped at her breast with his teeth through the satin of the gown. She gasped and arched and dug her fingers into his hair, which drove him crazy.

“We’ll keep this on, huh?” he asked, giving the nightgown a tug.

Her answer was another gasp, but that was likely because of where he’d slipped his fingers just then. He massaged her and then encouraged her to lower herself onto him. When she did, Jayce wrapped Maya’s legs around him and hugged her close. The slow grinding was different from the hot, hard thrusting of earlier, but it was somehow more intimate. It also gave her more control of her orgasm, which he liked. He enjoyed feeling her take her own pleasure from him.

They both came in a flood of warmth, holding each other and moaning softly into each other’s necks. He fell asleep with her in her bed and this time, when they woke up in the morning, they were alone. She surprised him again, as she had last week, with some spontaneous morning sex, and then they woke up slowly in each other’s arms. Jayce couldn’t stop smiling as he stroked her hair. He felt her tense in preparation to get up and leave him, so he held on tighter.
 

She giggled. “Let go, I have to get up.”

“Stay. I’ll get up and do whatever it is you have to get up and do.”

“Well I have to pee, so I don’t think you can do that for me.”

He sighed, rolled to his back, and let her go. She laughed and threw her pillow at him. He watched her slip out of the room and down the hall, the nightgown fluttering around the tops of her thighs. He thought he might have to marry that nightgown if he couldn’t marry her.
 

He must have dozed off because the next thing he knew, he was smelling…something. Cookies?

He got up and pulled on his boxers. She was in the kitchen taking blueberry muffins out of the oven. She was also scrambling eggs and frying sausage. In her nightgown, which clung to her curves. Jayce licked his lips.

“You okay?”

He snapped his eyes up and smiled. “More than okay.”

She laughed and went back to cooking. “There’s coffee.”

“All I really want at the moment is to bury my face between your legs and listen to you scream my name.”

She caught herself on the counter, turned her red face to him, and grinned. “Jesus, Jayce.”

He leaned against the fridge and folded his arms over his chest. She went back to cooking and he went back to fantasizing. “Hope you like muffins,” she said absently.

He grinned. “Love them.”

“I’m almost done here. Hopefully they’ll stay warm long enough for the butter to melt.”

He went up behind her and rested his hands on her hips. “You want me to butter your muffin, Maya?”

She finally caught on. He felt her stiffen. “Oh, my God, Jayce,” she laughed. She turned and pushed him away. “Get out of my kitchen. You’re disgusting.”

“You’re the one making muffins and sausages.” He backed away to the bar where the coffee pot was and poured himself a cup. “I’m immature and I have a one track mind. You should have seen this coming.”

“Coming?” she asked.

He laughed.

“Great, now you’ve got my mind in the gutter, too.” She dished out two plates and shoved one at him. “Here, eat your buttered muffin and let’s stop turning our breakfast into foreplay.”

“I like breakfast foreplay.” He moved to the table with his food and coffee. “What time are the kids coming back home?”

“Tomorrow.” She slid into the chair across from him.

He grinned hopefully.

But she shook her head. “You can’t come back over tonight.”

He slumped. “Wore you out, did I? You need time to recover? I understand.”

She blushed and ducked to hide her smile.
 

“Well we’ve got today, then, yeah? You don’t even have to work until five.”

She gave him the mom look, half amusement, half quit-while-you’re-ahead. “Actually, I was hoping we could talk.”

His heart stopped for an incredibly long pause. Nothing good could come from talking. “Why?”

She blinked. “Um, because I had an idea.”

He relaxed. “Oh, good. I like ideas. What’s your idea?”

Her breasts moved faintly beneath the pink satin, the outline of her nipples rising and falling with her breath.
 

“So what do you think?” she asked. She’d been talking and he hadn’t been listening.

“I love it. Do it.” He moved his chair next to her, kissed her, and gently cupped her breast, thumbing her nipple.
 

And then she was gone. Up, taking away plates and dropping them into the sink. “You weren’t even listening.”

“I’m sorry,” he said blankly, staring at the space where her breasts had been. “You can’t shove your muffins in my face dressed in that nightgown and expect there to still be blood-flow to my brain.”

He stood and leaned on the counter while she scrubbed at the dishes, her back to him. That ass. God, she had a great ass.

“Okay, but I was talking about something for the bar. You know, you’ve got that side room and the stage. I really think live music would be a big hit. There’s nowhere else in town doing it. And it would be a great way to showcase local talent.”

He loved the backs of her legs. Her smooth, trim legs. “I like the idea of live music,” he managed to say. “I’ve just never had time to get it organized.” He was completely hard, now, and utterly miserable.

“Well I’ve collected a few audition videos. I thought we could watch them together. I definitely want a live band for our Ladies Night.”

He rested on his forearms, dropped his head, and squeezed his eyes shut. “Uh-huh. Sounds fine.”

“So if you want, we can get dressed and snuggle on the couch and see what options are out there.”

The water from the sink shut off. He looked up just as she turned and caught his gaze. She cocked her head to the side. “Are you serious? You’re an animal, Jayce.”

He shook his head, disgusted with himself.

She sighed. “Come here. I’ll take care of you so you can listen to me.”

He stood up and folded his hands in front of his crotch. “Know what, don’t do me any favors. I’ll go take care of myself if you’re not interested.”

She made her way around the counter, her eyes sparkling. “I like doing you favors, Jayce.”

“Yeah? Seems you were feeling pretty inconvenienced a second ago.”

She stopped in front of him and let her eyes wander. He felt his body warm in all the places that her gaze touched. “I’ve been enlightened.” She moved his hands away and slipped hers into his boxers.

He groaned, his heart pounding raucously. Could she hear it? Did she have any idea what she was doing to him? “Okay, babe,” he said. “We’re gonna go back in that bedroom and do very naughty things to each other. Then as soon as we’re done, you’re gonna change out of that nightgown so I can give you my complete, undivided attention.” He picked her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist.

“I love that you love my nightgown,” she said. She nipped at his ear. He took her back to bed and loved her. He kissed her, caressed her, fucked her like it was the last time he’d ever have the chance. He didn’t know what was driving the desperation, but he knew when this morning ended that there was no guarantee of more.
 

She finished her third orgasm trembling, panting, sweating. Jayce wasn’t done. Not nearly.
 
He lifted her into his arms, buried inside of her, and cradled her while he finished—while he came inside of her, lost himself inside of her. If he was a man who cried, he would have wept. If he was a man who begged, he would have thrown himself at her feet.
 

But his strength kept him silent. His strength held him upright, even as he held her exhausted body in his arms.
 

At last he laid her down on the bed. Her eyes were heavy-lidded, her smile sated. He looked into her eyes. He tried to tell her everything that was in his heart without saying anything. He tried to make her understand him and to convince her to join him…all without saying anything.
 

She saw it. She saw something, because her eyes opened and her expression sobered. She reached up and touched his cheek.

His voice was hoarse with suppressed emotion. “Maya—“

“I’ll put on jeans and a sweatshirt,” she said. “You won’t be distracted, then, will you?”

“Maya, I—“

“Because I really want us to listen to those bands.”

He swallowed and sat up, turning his back to her. “Yeah, okay.”

Her hand stroked his back. He closed his eyes. She kissed him between his shoulder blades and then got up and dressed. He thought he might become a man who cries after all. God knew if anyone could break him down that far it would be Maya.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Sunday morning, Maya had planned to get her children and go to church as usual. But Zoey had begged and begged her to make a day trip to St. Louis to visit Addy.
 

So now they were in Zoey’s car, driving north. Kellen had offered to get the kids back to Zoey’s house and make sure they had their homework ready for Monday.
 

“Thank God for Kellen,” Maya muttered. “He’s got to be the best uncle ever.”

“He’s the best everything.”

Zoey used to never say sentimental shit like that. But falling in love with Kellen had changed her. Maya wondered what that kind of love felt like. Damon had twisted and perverted her love into a sick sort of dependency. She felt soiled from it and wondered what it would be like to love a man she didn’t fear. She certainly knew what it was to have sex with a man she didn’t fear, and that alone was a victory she’d never imagined possible.