Misty Reigenborn Romance Boxed Set (200 page)

Finally she decided that she was going to eat whatever she wanted that day and not feel guilty about it, because it wasn’t like she was ever going to have another eighteenth birthday.

The waitress came back with their drinks and to take their food orders.  Jude grinned at her when the waitress had walked away. 

“I thought my baby only ate crap every once in a while.”

“I do.  But it’s my birthday and I don’t care.”

“It’s good to eat healthy darlin’ but if you lose much more weight you’re going to start to lose your sexy curves.  You’ll break my heart if you do that.”

“I’ve only lost ten pounds Jude.”

“Okay.  But I’m serious.  You’re not fat.  Your body is the most beautiful thing in the world.  Especially when you’re naked.”  He winked.

“Pervert.  You’ve put on some nice muscle.”

He flexed his arm.  “Bulkin’ up for my favorite girl.”

Mellenda shook her head at him.  She reached across the table and twined her fingers through his.  “Your surprise doesn’t have anything to do with working out does it?  I’m still sore from the last time.”

“Oh, we’re gonna be doing some working out later or at least I hope so, but it’ll be in a horizontal position.”

“Jude.”

He laughed.  “No working out.  I have plans for the first part of the day and then we’ll head back to my house and eat dinner with my parents.  My mom found a recipe for chicken that she hopes you’ll like.  My dad was kinda bitching at her, because he didn’t think that it sounded good, but she gave him a dirty look and reminded him that it’s not his birthday.”

The waitress returned with their food.  They thanked her.  When she had walked away again Mellenda said “She didn’t need to go to so much trouble for me.”

“My parents liked Tory.  They kinda tolerated Molli, because they had heard that she was sleeping with Eduardo.  You, they love.  They see how happy you make me.  My mom almost cried when she helped me pick out that necklace.  She gave me shit about helping me pick out an engagement ring for you someday.”

Mellenda’s face got hot.  “Do you really think of me like that?”

“I almost pissed my pants the first time you said you wanted to hang out with me.  I thought I had to be living out any man’s fantasy when you wanted to fool around.  When you asked me out, I was sure that I had died and went to heaven.  Mellenda, I can’t tell you how much you mean to me.”

Mellenda smiled, though she felt tears sting her eyes again.  “Thank you.  You mean a lot to me too.”

Jude squeezed her hand briefly.  They were silent as they ate.  When they had finished, Jude signaled the waitress for the check.  He left a tip and then paid at the register. 

When they were outside, he said “You’re gonna have to let me drive now.  I don’t want to spoil the surprise by giving you directions to where we’re going.”

Mellenda gave him a pout.  “It’s my birthday and you won’t even let me drive.”

Jude pressed her against the side of the truck and gave her a lengthy kiss.  “You can drive on the way back.”  He held out his hand for the keys.

Mellenda let out a mock sigh as she handed them over.  “Meanie.”

“Yes baby.”  He winked at her as he opened the door of the truck for her.

There was no talk as he drove out of town.  She wondered where he was taking her, but she had fallen asleep by the time he stopped the truck some time later.  She woke up to him kissing her neck.

“Wake up sleeping beauty.  We’re here.”

They were parked next to a lake.  She’d known that there was a lake not too far from Brentwood, but she’d never been there.  Ricky wasn’t the outdoorsy type and she’d spent most of her time with Tony at his house.

She stretched.  “It’s so pretty.”

“Not as pretty as you.  Then again, nothing’s as pretty as you are.”

“I’m not having sex with you out here Jude.  There are already a bunch of people around.”

“Hey.  I can say nice things to you without it having to be about sex.”  He gave her a wounded look.

“I was teasing you.  Well, sort of anyway.”

She leaned over and gave him a kiss.  Their kiss turned into a heated make out session.  By the time she pulled away from him several minutes later, she would almost have been willing to have sex with him in his truck next to the lake.

He grinned at her.  “I can see the dirty thoughts circulating in your mind.  You wanna do it?  The people are far away enough that they won’t see anything.”

Mellenda shook her head.  “No thank you.  It’s bad enough thinking that your parents or your neighbors are going to catch us doing it in your driveway.”

“My parents have done it in the driveway.  I caught them once.  It was rather disturbing to find my middle aged parents going at in the backseat of my dad’s car.  And my neighbors, well, across the street you have Seneca’s family.  She does it with her boyfriend outside all the time.  They’re proud of it.  I think that sometimes they do it because their neighbor Mrs. Benson is nosy as hell and likes to tell people’s parents when they do stuff she thinks they shouldn’t.  Our next door neighbors on one side are a bunch of druggies.  I’m not talking about potheads either.  I’m talking about a bunch of strung out tweakers and crack heads.  On the other side you have the Morrison’s.  They have an open relationship and they don’t have any kids so there’s always a stranger coming out of their house at all hours of the day and night.  What we do in my driveway in my truck is tame compared to the stuff that our neighbors do.”

“That still doesn’t mean I’m doing it with you out here.  Maybe we can stop at the make out spot on the way back to town.”

“Sounds good to me.  It’s so cool to have a girlfriend that wants sex as much as I do.”

“I don’t think I could ever want sex as much as you do Jude.”

Jude chuckled.  “True.  But it still blows my mind that you think I’m good in bed.  If you don’t like what I’m doing you’ll tell me right?”

“Of course.”

Mellenda wasn’t sure why it was different with Jude, but she felt comfortable telling him what felt good and what didn’t.  Of course, most of what he did already felt really good to her, but the few times he had done things that hadn’t she had told him so.

“Do you like to fish?  I bought you a one day license because I wasn’t sure.  Some girls are bored to death with fishing.  If you want you can sit and read a book while I fish or we can walk around.  I brought a picnic lunch and my mom gave me a couple romance novels.”

“I haven’t fished for years.  My sister liked to fish way more than I did, so if my dad took someone with him when he went fishing it was usually her.”  Mellenda’s mood grew somber.

“I’m sorry baby.  We don’t have to fish.”

“It’s okay.  It makes me sad when I think about my sister but I’m not like my parents.  It doesn’t make me so sad anymore that I completely shut down.  It sucks that she’s gone and it really sucks that she was pregnant when she died, but I can’t stop living.  I know she wouldn’t want that.  My parents just don’t seem to get that though.”

“Your parents are crazy.  They have a beautiful, wonderful daughter and they ignore her.  When you take me to meet them, I might have to give them a piece of my mind.”

“My parents don’t listen to me.  There’s no way they’d listen to you.  I don’t want to talk about this stuff anymore.  We can fish, but I’m warning you that I might get bored in a few minutes.”

Jude chuckled.  “I promise I won’t be offended.”

They got out of the truck.  Jude grabbed the fishing gear and the cooler.  The only thing he would let her carry was the cooler.  She could see that he was struggling to hold onto everything else, but she knew that he was trying to show off for her so she let him and they made it safely to his chosen spot.

She found that she actually enjoyed fishing when it was with Jude.  He kept up a steady stream of chatter.  He was funny, and while his humor usually hung pretty close to the gutter, Mellenda didn’t mind anymore.  She was beginning to think that Jude could make almost anything fun.  She thought that it would be all too easy to love him.

Their picnic was romantic.  He took her back to the truck and spread out a blanket in the back and lit candles, though they blew out quickly since it was a blustery day.  They ended up making out again.  Mellenda almost wanted to leave and head to the make out spot so that they could release the sexual tension that was flowing between them, but she knew that Jude wanted to stay since he hadn’t yet caught a fish.

It took another two hours for Jude to catch a fish.  By then, it was too late for them to stop at the make out spot on the way back to Brentwood.  Mellenda was highly disappointed and decided that she was going to get high with Jude and his parents.  He gave her a huge grin as he handed her the keys to his truck and said she wouldn’t regret it.

Mellenda almost got them lost on the way back to town, so darkness had fallen by the time they pulled up to Jude’s house.  His dad was outside smoking a cigarette.  He gave them both a bright smile when they exited the truck. 

“Your Mama was about to send out a search party Jude.  Don’t you know how to pick up the phone?”

“Mellenda almost got us lost on the way back to town so don’t look at me Dad.  It was the woman’s fault this time.”

Mellenda gave Jude a mock dirty look.  “You told me that that road would bring us back to the highway when I took the wrong turn.”

Jude shrugged.  “So I was wrong.  What’s new?  I hope we didn’t keep you guys waiting too long.”

“Nope.  Mom just took the food out of the oven.  You look beautiful as usual Mellenda.  Happy birthday.”

Mellenda smiled.  “Thank you.”

Jude took her hand and they followed his Dad back into the house.  His mom gave them a wide smile from the kitchen.  “There you are.  Daddy was ready to call out a search party.”

Jude chuckled.  “Dad said that it was you who wanted to call out a search party Mom.”

“Maybe we both did.  We still worry about you Jude, even if you are grown.  Happy birthday Mellenda.  We are so glad that you chose to spend the evening with us.”

“Thank you.  You didn’t need to go to so much trouble for me.”

Mrs. Ashland shook her head.  “Honey, we have never seen our son as happy as he’s been since he’s been with you.  The least I can do for a girl that I hope to be my future daughter in law is make her a nice dinner on her birthday.”

Mellenda felt herself blushing.  Jude’s grin was so wide that she thought it was going to split his face.  “Thank you.  You’ve been so kind to me.”

“We all love you honey.  Jude has had nice girlfriends before, but he’s never cared about a girl the way he cares about you.  Jacob has a bit of a crush on you and the girls love you.  My husband and I are happy to see Jude so happy and to see that’s he’s settled down a bit.”  She winked at her son.  “Set the table for me Jude would you please?”

“Yes Mom.”

The table was set and they made their plates.  The food was fantastic, noodles with a light cheese sauce and broccoli and chicken that was tender and juicy.  Mrs. Ashland had made her a birthday cake, complete with eighteen candles.  She felt tears sting her eyes again since her parents hadn’t bothered to call her.

After they had eaten their cake and ice cream, they retired to the living room.  Mellenda was nervous about getting stoned, especially with her boyfriend’s parents, but they put her at ease by telling funny stories.  They passed around a joint.  Mellenda felt the effects of the marijuana almost immediately. 

She was feeling groovy by the time Jude’s parents retired to their bedroom.  Jude grinned at her and took her hand.  “I told you you’d like it.”

Mellenda smiled.  “Uh huh.”  She kissed him.  They made out for several minutes, but she shoved Jude’s hand away when he reached under her shirt to undo her bra.  “Not in here.  Your parents are right there in their bedroom.”

“They’re passed out baby.  Can’t you hear my dad snoring?”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean that your mom isn’t awake.  I don’t want her to come out here and catch us.  She might like me now, but she probably won’t like me so much if she comes out here and finds us having sex.”

“We’re eighteen.  Of course we’re going to have sex.  Let’s go outside then.”  Jude took her hand and pulled her to her feet.  “Grab the rest of that joint would you?”

Mellenda grabbed the joint from the ashtray on the table.  They slipped out the door and made their way to his truck.  When Jude shut the door behind them, it sounded really loud to Mellenda, but she was still feeling stoned and she was horny, so she found herself not caring.

They smoked the rest of the joint.  They made out some more.  When Jude unbuttoned her jeans and moved his hand into her panties, she moaned.  “Oh Jude.”

She turned her head into his neck and sucked on it lightly, then harder as his fingers worked their magic between her legs.  She knew that she was probably going to end up giving him a hickey, but she was too turned on to care.

She was almost ready to come when she stopped him.  “Jude, will you go down on me?  I don’t usually like it that much but I love it when you do it.”

Jude smiled.  “Of course I will.  I’m glad you like it.  I’m not quite sure how comfortable it’s going to be for either of us, but I’ll do it.  Get naked for me baby.”