Pole Dance (42 page)

I felt Jake's arm snake around my waist before he turned onto his back, dragging me with him to press me against his side.

"Settle, Darlin', yeah?" I heard him rumble against the ear that was pressed against his chest. "There'll be enough. Your girls said they were bringin' shit, too, right?"

I nodded because it was true. My girls were bringing stuff. Marianne and I had been on the phone constantly, going over the menu again and again. My mind drifted off thinking about how she and I had become so close after my brush with the worst of Fiona.

I was happy to have Marianne so close.

I was grateful to have her so close.

Shit, I was damn lucky to have her as close as she was.

She was in charge of coordinating with others that had been invited which had been everyone at Fuego's, the Grantham Police Department, the girls from Arminster Arms and a few of Jake's friends. She and I often laughed about this mix of characters and she even reminded me the last time she was over, throwing up her arms and yelling loudly, "There's gonna be drama, Cait, and
we
get a front row seat!"

"Gonna be good, Cait, yeah?" I heard the man of my dreams growl softly while he tightened his arms around me. While I was still learning 'Jake-speak', I found I was getting better at it daily. Either that or he just was verbalizing more for me.

"Wish we could've had Ms. Lilly, though," I said on a sigh. My favorite patient and Jake's surrogate mother had died the previous Tuesday. Per her instructions, she was cremated and Jake took me way up the mountain, about two hours beyond Smithfield to a hidden meadow that she had specified in her will, that Jake seemed to know about without consulting a map. It was a beautiful day, the sunshine had a promise of Spring in its rays as it twined around us when we parked the bike and set out on our half-mile trek to the meadow before Jake up-ended the wooden box that held her ashes.

"Be at peace, my love," he murmured as he released her ashes into the wind that was blowing softly through the meadow. We caught a bit of the ash as it blew back on us and closed our eyes quickly.

"Think she was giving us her blessing, Cait," Jake said softly, almost reverently as he fitted the lid of the box back on its container.

The lump in my throat prevented me from answering, but I was touched by the thought as well as the memory of the hour that Jake had spent alone in our bedroom after receiving the call from Shady Acres. I had pressed my ear to the bedroom door about fifteen minutes after he had sequestered himself in there and all I could hear were his mostly muffled, heart-wrenching sobs coming through the closed door.

I had left my man, my Jake, to his grief knowing he would seek me out when he needed me.

"Amazing what she left behind, though. For you, her Jacob," I whispered against his chest, my fingers painting aimless designs on his chest.

"Never thought she had that much, to tell the truth," my man said. "The director of the home never gave me a clue when I asked who was paying for her care there. Just kind of rumbled at me, and said it was already taken care of."

I smiled at the 'rumbled at me' remark. I knew
that
particular sound a little
too
well.

"Dunno know much about her or her 'dear Albert', as she called her husband who had passed on before she came into our lives. Which is kinda sad when I think about it. She knew everythin' about Frank and me and, yet, we knew nothin' about her," I felt Jake shift as he spoke. "Don't feel worthy with what she left me."

I remembered when Jake came back from Sam's after the reading of her will. Ms. Lilly had left Jake her house and the contents of her safe deposit box that held different titles, bonds and savings bonds which was, all told, worth $1.5 million dollars.

I raised my head and my blue-green gaze captured his golden one. "She knew what she was doing, Jake. Was done a long time ago."

"Guess you're right, " he conceded, his eyes to mine, before pulling me close once again.

"Plans?" he asked softly.

"Shower and get dressed before going downstairs to start arranging things," I muttered as I brought the list of 'things yet to be done' that was first and foremost blazing in the front of my mind. I disentangled myself from Jake and slid my booty to the side of the bed.

"Pretty girl?" I heard him call and glanced over my shoulder and caught my breath.

My Jake, my gorgeous man was on his elbow, head in hand, with the sheet draped low around his hips.

"Mmm-hmm?" I responded, my eyes roaming and delighting over the view presented to me.

"Care to share a shower?" I heard him say over the heavy heartbeat that was making all my pink bits swell in anticipation.

"Loved to, Baby," I said instantly knowing it was going to extend my shower by a good fifteen minutes.

It was time well spent and worth adding to the schedule, I thought turning my back on him and walking softly, slowly away from him as I smiled.

I wasn't wrong in either 'cause my man, my Jake was at my side, as fast as he could move.

*.*.*.*.*

I was getting dressed when it hit me, I mean really hit me, how much my life had changed in two weeks. I slid on my new navy blue satin thong with the cute rose detail in the front, with its matching bra as I remembered asking Marianne to become the apartment manager at Arminster Arms.

She had been so excited. She had taken Jake's advice and ran every application by Rich Harding, the Private Investigator that Fuego's had on staff and finally settled on Sara Davidson--the one that had been so cold after seeing me with Jake--renting Apartment Three and Julie Bell, Tim's younger sister and a fellow student at State U, who had rented Apartment One after I moved in with Jake. Jake had suggested, and I had agreed, to give Marianne a discount on rent since she was now the apartment manager and Floyd's official mom.

I had dropped Biology 202, kind of because I didn't like being there without Renee and kind of because I wasn't able to do all the labs by myself. Rather than fail, I dropped the class. Go ahead and call me chicken. I have enough times. But I just couldn't do it.

The job at D & J Accounting services panned out and Aaron, the office manager there, hired me on the spot at $10 per hour which, combined with what I was earning with the increases in rent since Julie was renting my place furnished for $600 per month which Detective Tim Bell, her brother, called 'a steal'.

The Beast, my '87 Rivera, finally died and Jake convinced me that it shouldn't be resurrected. He took me to the local dealership and I drove off in a cute 2012 Ford Focus with all the bells and whistles. Jake co-signed the loan telling me that it would help me establish credit.

I went with my man to give my notice to Mr. Mahmood.

Wait! That makes it sound like I had a choice in taking Jake or not.

Uh, for the record, I didn't.

It wasn't pretty and I got shoved outside the room and against the wall a-freaking-gain as those two, once again, threatened physical violence on one another. And, yet, nothing came of it but me getting my final paycheck in the form of a personal check from Mr. Mahmood. We got out to the parking lot, Jake moving to the Kia but he stopped as I raised my hands in the air and yelled, with rock devil horns straightening my digits, "Score!" Jake leaned up against the car as he watched me wiggle and gyrate there in the mini-mart parking lot, be-bopping around, in what I considered success.

Only words he said? "Let me know when you're finished, pretty girl."

What a man, right?

God, I love my Jake.

*.*.*.*.*

He was listening to her cries, feeling her wiggles as she finished feeling her bliss when he turned her towards him and lifted her so she was face to face with him. He balanced her against the shower wall, her long legs snaking around his waist, his hands moving to cup her. His eyes caught on hers before he aimed the hard flesh, that had formerly been rubbing against the full cheeks of her ass, straight into her hot, wet core.

He couldn't think straight for a while and when he did it was to only move, in and out, as he felt her hold him tightly, both inside and out.

God
damn
, but he loved this girl. This sweet bit of woman that had finagled her way into his life, his soul.

He felt his balls clench and felt his orgasm building from his spine and dropped his lips to hers. Ah, but she was rolling right along with him, if the sounds coming from her mouth were any indication. There, there it was, the clenching of her sheathe which pulled on him and caused him to explode right along with her. The sounds of their orgasm that was being captured in each other's mouths.

He had tied his running shoes, before going back into the bathroom where Caitlin was blow-drying her hair, with her ass in the air, her long, dark multi-hued hair hanging down between her knees. When she glimpsed his running shoes in the space underneath her hair, Caitlin stood straight, flipping her hair back and lifting her mouth. Knowing that signal, Jake complied, softly, thoroughly.

"Bye, Baby," he heard her say over the motor of the blow-dryer as he stepped away, and his heart seized a bit.

God
damn
it, but he loved her, Jake thought as he closed the heavy front door behind him. He made his way to the street and began in a fast walk before quickly moving to a jog. His mind was flittering here and there, never really landing on anything specific as he allowed his body to just move through its paces. Hearing the beep from his watch, he turned and made his way back towards the house.

"Where we live," he said aloud loving the sound of the word 'we'.

He entered the front door, hanging his keys on the rack by the front door that Caitlin had installed and wiped himself with the hand towel that she had left for him on the ottoman stationed closest to the door.

Jake heard the sound of her heels, softened by the carpet that were centered on each step of the staircase as she made her way down. He smiled as he caught her eyes and saw her smile and blush in return.

It was the blush that caused him to go semi-hard when he would've laid good money that there was no way he would've gotten hard until a week from now.

He was amazed at how much she loved him. But was even more amazed at how full his heart was with her. The sight of her asleep in his bed, hair falling around her face, was of such beauty that he could scarcely breathe. The thought that she, in his bed, was the first thing he awoke to and was the last thing that his eyes caught on each night was not lost on him. And it was those fuckin' breathless moments that, fuckin' took his breath away, that his heart stored away.

He thought quickly of the small, black box, safely tucked away in his nightstand that had been burning a hole through him for the past week.

"Shower, Darlin', yeah?" he said glancing at his girl who was pulling stuff out of the refrigerator as he moved up the stairs to take his second shower of the day.

He turned the water on and thought of how their meeting with Sam earlier in the week had gone.

He had gotten there early at Sam's request so he could give him an update on Cait's situation. Since she was between classes, Sam had called her and put her on speakerphone so she could hear the news, too.

"Come to find out, Jamison's been paying the property taxes on the apartments. Now that's not illegal in and by itself and I'm thinkin' that we just leave him with the bills paid over the last two years. The sticky part is how did he get those bills? Was there an address change or did that stupid shit, sorry Cait, have the property in his name? So I've still got investigating to do. Or rather Rich Harding, the private investigator, has. I know for a fact that Rich has contacted the insurance company to find out what happened as the title to the property should have been transferred to you, Cait, free and clear."