Strip away tap that book.., p.14
Strip Away (Tap That Book 4), page 14
Yep. He felt sorry for her.
But she let him pull her into his arms. Considering neither of them had pants on, it wasn’t the best idea to indulge him, but she couldn’t bring herself to push him away. She wanted to steal these few remaining days she would have with him.
After a long moment where his broad chest felt far too appealing and his arms enveloped her with warm comfort, she forced herself to pull back. “Go shower. You smell like whiskey.” It was only a faint lingering smell, but it was a safe thing to say.
“I could smell like worse things.”
“I don’t even want to know what those things could be.” She unknotted the T-shirt she was wearing. “I hope you don’t mind but I borrowed a shirt.”
“No problem. That’s totally businesslike.” He grinned at her.
He had a point, but she refused to admit it. “You’re impossible.”
“Impossibly charming.”
That made her laugh. “Stop. I can’t even take you seriously right now. You aren’t wearing pants, you have a fat lip, a swollen nose, two black eyes, and you’re wearing a hat that says “nipples make me smile.”
“What?” He pulled his hat off and looked at it. “Shit, it does say that.”
“It’s ridiculous,” she said. “I’ve been trying not to look at it but it’s impossible not to. Why do you have a hat like that?”
“There is the obvious. Nipples do make me smile. But I believe this was from Rick’s bachelor party.”
Astrid was tempted to peel his shirt off and toss it at him, just to see if her nipples would make him do a whole lot more than smile. But if she did that she would find herself flat on her back on that lounge chair in the next ten seconds.
He seemed to know where her thoughts were going. He glanced at her chest. The fabric of his T-shirt, while looser now that she had unknotted it, still did nothing to prevent him from seeing that her nipples had beaded beneath the cotton.
“Do you want to see my smile?” he asked. “I have good teeth for a hockey player.”
Afraid to speak, she just spun on her heel and ran into the house.
Chapter Twelve
“Hey, stage diver!” Rick called out from his station at the grill in Brandon’s backyard.
Jesse grimaced. He was in for an afternoon of being tormented by the guys. Not that he didn’t deserve it. He just didn’t want to deal with it. He wanted to tell Rick to fuck off but there were children present. “Good, get it out of your system. Give me a hard time and let’s move on.”
He gestured for Astrid to go up the stairs to Brandon’s deck. He honestly wasn’t in the best of moods, which was rare for him. But his general face and head area still ached and Astrid had flat out told him they were “nothing.” That they needed to be businesslike and finish conducting their “deal” and then that was it. Nothing.
It had bothered him more than he cared to admit.
Hell, it had hurt. He had thought the spark between them could be fanned into a flame. Physically, it already had. Emotionally, he’d thought they were right there. On the cusp of something special.
“Are you kidding me?” Rick said. “I’ve been waiting years for an opportunity like this. Need I remind you how many times you called me Little Dickie during high school?”
Jesse couldn’t really argue with that. “That’s fair.”
“Little Dickie? Rick?”
Astrid looked at Rick with such amazement Jesse felt the pang of jealousy. “He was a shrimp when we were kids.”
Rick shot him a look. “You’re not making this day go any better for yourself by using a word like shrimp.”
“I said past tense.”
“Exactly. I was worthy of a nickname at fourteen. Here you are, thirty, making an ass out of yourself,” he said, sounding very cheerful. “It’s nice to see you again, Astrid.”
She glanced back down as she started up the stairs. “You, too, Rick.”
Jesse felt a little guilty that Astrid’s friend Sasha had declined the invitation. She had actually asked if she could hang out at his house alone, reading a book on his beach. He’d been happy to oblige but she suspected she had an agenda. She seemed more of a social person than someone who wanted to read alone all afternoon, but maybe he was totally wrong. He had thought maybe she was trying to give him time alone with Astrid, which he appreciated. Or maybe she thought he and his friends were idiots, which given what she’d seen of him thus far, he wouldn’t have blamed her.
He followed Astrid up onto the deck and found all his friends already there, relaxing and chatting. He gave Leighton a hug and said, “Have you met Astrid yet?”
She shook her head. “No, not yet. I skipped the charity event last night. You know big crowds like that make me anxious.”
He nodded. Leighton was actually the one who did like to read alone on a private beach. She wasn’t big on loud bars. “Leighton, this is Astrid. Astrid, this is Leighton, Axl’s better half.” He figured they would have a few things in common given they had both grown up in wealthy families. Though he wasn’t entirely sure how much money Leighton’s family had, he knew for a fact Astrid’s father was a billionaire.
Which was partly why Jean-Paul was still so intimidating, despite how nice he’d been to him over the years. Jesse still felt a little like a hick in comparison. With a rusty truck and a Shag Shack. Which Jean-Paul now knew he had, well, hosted Astrid in. Monday night dinner was going to be awesome. Not.
“Hi Leighton, it’s so nice to meet you.” Astrid held out her hand, which was the right move with Leighton. She wasn’t touchy feeling like lifelong Beaver Bend residents. A hug would hav made her uncomfortable. “You’re from California?”
Leighton nodded. “Beverly Hills.”
“Excuse me for a minute,” Jesse said, assuming they could find something to talk about for a minute or two. He wanted to go say hello to Rick’s wife Sloane. Plus he was dying to hold their baby.
Astrid nodded at him and she didn’t look put out. She smiled at Leighton. “I’m so jealous. I went to boarding school in Vermont, but I really, really wanted to go to boarding school in California,” she said. “But my father insisted the east coast would give us some sort of cache. Mostly I think he wanted me to learn French.”
Astrid spoke French? He supposed that wasn’t surprising. There was a lot he didn’t know about her.
“Hey, Sloane,” he said, approaching the seating area. “Hi, Grace, how are you?”
“Pregnant,” Grace said ruefully, sprawled out on the sofa in a sundress, hands resting on her impressive baby bump. “I blame Brandon. We could have timed it better so I wasn’t nine months pregnant in August.”
“I don’t think you should trust Brandon,” he said, leaning over to give her a hug.
Grace laughed. “Since he originally told me when we first met his name was Jeff Spicoli his record was spotty, but he’s come a long way in the last year. Okay, fine, I guess I’m equally to blame. Damn you for making me admit that.”
He laughed. “Sorry. But at least you live in Minnesota. If you were in Texas right now where I live you’d never leave the air conditioning. Ever.”
Grace blanched. “I can’t even imagine.”
Then he hugged Sloane with one arm because she was holding little Penelope. “Give her to me,” he said, already melting at the sight of all that sleeping cute chubbiness.
“Take her,” Sloane said. “My arms are killing me.”
They did the hand-off and Jesse instantly felt better having that warm little body nestled in the crook of his arm.
“Don’t wake her up,” Sloane said. “I will hurt you.”
He was already running a finger down her soft cheek trying to get her to open her eyes. “I will rock her back to sleep.” He would. Babies liked him.
“Jesse, honestly, it’s not a good idea. She’s a screamer.”
“She’s a brat like her mother,” Sullivan said, strolling up to them with a beer in his hand. “Should you be holding my niece? You were knocked out cold last night.”
“Sloane is fine with it. Mind your own business. And I was out for all of five seconds.” He really didn’t want to rehash the night before over and over with everyone but he supposed he needed to accept the inevitable.
“I’m so tired I would let anyone hold her,” Sloane said. “And you’re on your third beer already, Sullivan, and it’s noon, so it’s not like you’re babysitter gold.”
Astrid and Leighton came upstairs while Sullivan protested very defensively that he wasn’t drunk and Jesse lifted Penelope up so he could kiss her little cheek and feel her silken hair. She didn’t have a full head of hair, just a few wispy caramel strands that felt like peach fuzz. Jesse was one hundred percent in love with her. She was absolutely adorable and perfect in every way.
“Isn’t she the best?” he asked Astrid, turning to display Penelope’s face for her.
“She’s so sweet,” Astrid said, and her voice was filled with the appropriate amount of awe.
At least, appropriate to Jesse’s ears. Because if she had sounded unimpressed, he was going to be very disappointed.
Astrid reached out and stroked Penelope’s head. “She’s beautiful, Sloane.”
“Thank you.” Sloane grunted when her nephew Finn, Sullivan’s son, launched himself onto her lap. “Jesus, hi Finn. You’re like a torpedo.” She kissed the top of his head. “Where’s Auntie River?”
Rick’s sister, River, lived with them, and had become a personal favorite of four-year-old Finn. Fallon, Grace and Brandon’s daughter, and River actually ran up right then.
“Oooh, I love your pink hair,” River said to Astrid.
“Thanks,” Astrid said, smiling back at her.
“Sullivan, Dad is taking us fishing down on the dock. Can Finn go with us?” Fallon asked.
Finn was already scrambling down off his aunt’s lap at the words. Sullivan nodded. “Sure. Put a life vest on him and keep an eye on him, okay?”
“On it,” River said, who was very mature for her age.
Jesse thought she was thirteen or fourteen now. He’d lost track of her exact age.
“River amazes me,” Grace said. “She’s been so good for Fallon.”
“She does our taxes,” Sloane said, dryly. “The kid is a genius.”
“How come Rick didn’t get any of that intelligence?” Sullivan asked.
“Haha,” Sloane said. “You’re so funny.”
They descended into another round of sibling good-natured bickering.
But this was why he wanted to move home. All of this. His oldest friends. Their kids. His family. His grandparents still lived on the other side of the lake.
He wanted his own family enjoying the benefit of this sense of family and community. He’d never been able to establish that in Texas because he traveled too much.
He wondered what Astrid wanted for her future. Beyond her education, that is. Not that it mattered. She’d made it clear it wouldn’t include him.
But then because he wanted to brag on Astrid, he said, “Astrid is going to be a mid-wife.”
“Give the baby to her then,” Sullivan said, joking.
“Really?” Grace said. “So if I go into labor today I’m in good hands then.”
“Oh, I don’t start my program until next week. I’m no expert. I did do a stint in a women’s clinic in India, though. That was an amazing experience.”
Jesse was impressed all over again by Astrid.
So were his friends. It was visible on their faces. “Do you want to hold her?” he asked Astrid, reluctant to give up Penelope, but feeling like it was polite.
“I’d love to.”
Damn it. But when he passed the baby to her, Astrid was watching him with such an incredible softness in her eyes, it was worth it.
“You’re very comfortable with her,” she said, and there was admiration there.
“I love babies,” he said.
He loved her.
Which was fucking ridiculous.
He barely knew her.
But looking into her soft hazel eyes, he loved her. He did. Because he knew enough. He knew Astrid was a strong, beautiful, compassionate, intelligent woman.
Everything he’d said on stage the night before was the truth.
And he did want to marry her.
Astrid stared up at Jesse with wide eyes, the baby resting gently against her chest. Why was he looking at her like that?
She couldn’t even decipher the expression, just that something was different. Something was deep, meaningful.
Seeing him holding the baby had done all sorts of gooey things to her insides. She used to think the most magical moment ever would be eating ice cream under a double rainbow, but Jesse mooning over a baby was true magic. It was pure and perfect and damn, was she supposed to be able to speak? Her breath hitched.
“Good Lord, you two,” Sloane said. “When is the wedding? Because you both look like you want to go into the house and make a baby right now.”
That snapped Astrid out of the moment and she turned away from Jesse, quicker than she had intended. “Oh, geez, well, uh, I don’t…
She trailed off, no clue what she was saying.
She was surprised Jesse hadn’t told his friends the engagement wasn’t real. She was also surprised that none of them seemed to think an engagement after twenty-four hours was all that crazy. Maybe they assumed since they had known each other in the past, it was different.
But it was crazy.
Even if it didn’t exactly feel crazy.
What felt crazy was never seeing Jesse again after this week.
“Is that an option?” Jesse joked. “It seems a little rude, but if you’re all cool with it, we’ll see you in an hour. Grace, can we use your bedroom?”
Jesse was definitely better in social settings than she was. She’d come a long way since her teen years, but she also spent a lot of time alone hiking and camping. She wasn’t quick like Jesse to inject humor into an awkward situation.
She’d definitely enjoyed talking to Leighton. Not only did Leighton have a similar background to her, even if she was from the west coast, she definitely seemed like a more solitary person. Astrid felt comfortable around her.
Not that it mattered. She would never see any of them again. For some reason, that had her cuddling the baby closer.
Grace laughed. “My husband would kill you.”
“Your husband couldn’t hurt me if he tried and I had two hands tied behind my back.”
Grace rolled her eyes. “I’ll let you two settle that. By the way, do you want to ice your nose again? It’s looking really angry.”
“That’s probably not a bad idea.” Jesse touched his nose. “I’ll get it. Don’t get up,” he said, when Grace braced her hand on the sidearm of the sofa to stand up.
“Good, because I don’t think I can.”
Astrid felt guilty just looking at his nose. She was glad he’d left the nipple hat behind though. Feeling like she and Jesse needed to talk, she turned to Leighton. “Do you want to hold the baby?”
“I’d love to,” Leighton said, giving Penelope a soft smile.
As soon as they’d made the transfer and everyone was confident Penelope was still asleep despite being jostled around from person to person, Astrid followed Jesse into the house.
He was at the refrigerator, the freezer door open. “I know, I know,” he told her. “That wasn’t businesslike or whatever. But I was just trying to smoothe over the moment.”
“I know, I appreciate it. I didn’t know what to say.” She still didn’t know what to say, only now it was she didn’t know what to say to Jesse.
What were they doing? Why had he looked at her like that?
Astrid had changed into a tie dye maxi dress back at her rental apartment with Sasha at Tap That and she put her hands in the pockets, needing to do something with her hands. Sasha hated this dress, telling her she looked like she was getting on the bus after summer camp, but the kaleidoscope of colors made her happy.
Jesse scooped ice cubes into a towel and made a bundle with it. He put it on his nose. “Fuck,” he said. “That’s cold.”
It wasn’t his best look. The kitchen towel had mushrooms on it.
She smiled at him, because it was hard not to smile at Jesse.
“What?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Nothing.”
He took the ice pack down off his nose, opened it, and pulled out a piece of ice. “Did you chew on ice when you were a kid?” He popped a piece in his mouth and crunched on it, hard.
“No. My mother said I would break my teeth.”
“Your parents were kind of uptight, weren’t they?”
“Yes. I was raised in a neurotic environment. Boarding school was actually good for me. It gave me freedom to gain some confidence.”
“And now you travel the world solo.” Jesse took a piece of ice and ran it over her bottom lip. “Amazing.”
It instantly turned her on. The cold of the ice, the heat in his eyes.
She opened her mouth.
He cut her off by sliding the ice between her lips. “I know. You’re going to say “Jesse,” in that voice that both makes me feel terrible and frustrates me. Businesslike sucks.”
Astrid sucked on the ice, before tucking it into her cheek so she could speak. “I’m not very good at it,” she said. “Businesslike is not the word most people would use to describe me.” She was pretty sure if she had to wear a classic business suit her soul would shrivel.
“I bet life would be an adventure with you.” Jesse closed the space between them and took her mouth in a demanding kiss.
He couldn’t seem to follow the rules. Whatever they currently were. She couldn’t seem to remember. His lips were hot, her mouth cold from the ice. For a second she hesitated because of his injuries, but he didn’t seem to care, so she lost herself to him. To his touch. To the tangle of his tongue with her, to the feel of his fingers digging through her hair, to the sound of his breathing, heightened with arousal.
She shifted her arms around his neck, wanting to be closer, wanting to feel all of his body pressed against hers. He didn’t disappoint. He actually took her hip and hauled her up against him, holding her leg against his leg so that his cock was rocking against her now damp and aching sex. She moaned into his mouth, aware somewhere in the back of her hormone-flooded brain that there was a reason this was a bad idea, but not able to grasp what it could be.
