“Great.” I muttered, taking the prescription from him.
Layla gave my shoulder a little squeeze, and I put my hand over hers. The doctor gave her a meaningful look. “Make sure she takes it easy. Have those guys of hers tie her to the bed for a few days if you have to.”
Layla nodded. “Of course,” she assured him. “I’ll do it myself if I have to.”
Chapter 14
Layla
When we got home, I was quick to get Emmie up to her room. She didn’t protest much, probably because along with the nausea prescription, he had also given her a shot as a precaution. The shot, some kind of strong anti-nausea medication, was making her sleepy. The doctor didn’t want to chance Emmie getting dehydrated should she start throwing up.
As soon as I got her to her room, I helped her change into pajamas. I tucked her into bed like a child. She rested her head back on her pillow and pulled her body pillow closer. “I think I owe you a bonus, Layla. Your job description doesn’t cover taking care of the sick pregnant woman.”
Her words upset me, and I had to blink back a few tears. “If you even dare pay me for this, I will shove the check down your pretty little throat,” I told her.
Emmie blinked up at me, surprised at my quivering voice. “Layla…”
“You pay me to clean this house. I’m taking care of you because you’re my friend and I care about you. Don’t you ever say anything like that again.”
Her hand grasped mine, and I noticed that her fingers were ice cold. “Layla, I’m sorry. It was a joke.” Tears filled her eyes and spilled over. “Thank you for taking care of me today. No one, other than the guys, has ever cared enough to take care of me—to be there holding my hand, the way that you have today.”
I wiped my free hand across my eyes. “You are my friend, Emmie. Of course I’m going to take care of you when you need it.” I dropped a kiss on her forehead, like I would if I was talking to Lana or Lucy. In such a short span of time, Emmie had become another sister to me. “Are you hungry?” I asked gently.
She gave me a weak smile. “Not really, but I guess I should try something. The baby hasn’t moved around a whole lot, and I think she needs something to wake her up.”
“Okay. Just relax. I’ll get you something that won’t be harsh on your stomach.” I gave her hand a squeeze then tucked it under the covers with the rest of her to get warm.
In the kitchen, I fixed a can of chicken soup and some dry toast. A glass of fizzy lemon-lime soda and a dish of some melon sorbet rounded out the little meal that I had put together on a tray for Emmie. Before I could pick up the tray, my cell rang and I fished it out of my back pocket. Without glancing at the caller ID, I hit connect and put it to my ear. “This is Layla.”
“How has your day been?”
Jesse’s sexy as sin voice in my ear made me shiver. I stopped what I was doing and leaned against the counter. “It’s been an adventure,” I assured him then told him about taking Emmie to the doctor and what the man had said. The more I said, the more I could feel his tension even through the phone.
There was a pause, then he blew out a pent up breath. “How is she feeling now?”
I could hear his frustration and his love for her. It warmed me from the inside out that that big, bad rock star could feel so deeply for someone other than himself. It went against everything I had ever seen before in other rockers, namely my own father. Maybe it was okay to love this guy after all. “I’m making her something to eat. She’s a little out of it after the shot of anti-nausea that Dr. Chesterfield gave her.”
“Thank you for taking care of her, Layla. That…It means a lot to me, baby.”
I wrapped my free arm around myself, trying to hold the feelings I had for this man inside. “Don’t thank me,” I whispered. “Emmie is my friend, too. Friends take care of each other.”
“Yes they do,” he murmured in a thoughtful tone.
“When will you be home?” I questioned, excited to see him.
“Probably as soon as I tell Nik about Emmie. Want to have dinner with me, tonight? I know a kid friendly place that we could take Lucy. I’m sure she would love their mac and cheese. Crap, I order it every time I go.”
My heart literally skipped a beat. I had to swallow a few times to get the emotional lump from my throat. He was including Lucy. It didn’t all together surprise me, not after seeing him with her and seeing how good he was with kids, but considering that he had asked me out and thought of her too..? Oh, fuck. Yes, it was true. I loved this rocker. “That sounds like fun.” I whispered.
“It’s a date then.” He paused, as if he wanted to say something more. Instead, he just murmured, “Bye, sweetheart.”
I stood there with the phone pressed to my ear for almost a full minute before I snapped out of my daze. I was in love with Jesse Thornton. Crazy, obsessive love. The kind that would make me stupid and heartsick, but I really didn’t care anymore. I wanted this. My heart needed this.
With a dopey smile on my face I lifted the tray and carried it up to Emmie’s room. She was just barely dozing and opened her eyes when I walked in. She tried to sit up, and I hurried to set the tray down on the bedside table so that I could help her get comfortable. I fluffed pillows and arranged them behind her then put the tray across her lap.
I sat with her while she sipped the broth from the chicken soup and nibbled on the toast. She devoured the sorbet and even asked for more when her bowl was empty. When I returned with her second serving, she looked better. She was sitting back against the pillows rubbing her hand lovingly over her stomach, murmuring to it. “She’s kicking up a storm again.” Emmie told me with a happy smile that made her light up from the inside out.
“Good.” I sat the dish on her tray.
I stayed with her until I heard the Escalade pull into the driveway outside. I had the tray in my hands when the front door slammed shut and footsteps came running up the stairs. Seconds later Nik appeared in the doorway, his face pale and his unique blue eyes looking wild. “Em?” he croaked out.
“I’m fine, Nik.” She rushed to assure him. “Layla has taken great care of me.”
I gave him a small smile as I moved by him, but he grabbed my elbow stopped me. I looked up in curiosity because I felt his fingers trembling. He blinked a few times then looked down at me. “Thank you, Layla,” he whispered.
It bothered me that they all found it hard to believe that someone had taken time to make sure that Emmie was taken care of, that anyone other than the five of them would want to take care of them. I found myself repeating the same thing I had been saying all afternoon. “Don’t thank me. She’s my friend.”
I didn’t think he heard me because he was already moving toward the bed, so I closed the door behind me and took the tray down to the kitchen. The refrigerator door was open and Jesse stood there pulling out a beer. Without questioning myself, I set the tray on the counter and then moved up behind him so that I could wrap my arms around his waist from behind. “Hey,” I murmured, kissing his left shoulder blade.
Jesse turned and pulled me against his chest. I didn’t hesitate when he lowered his head and started kissing me. My lips welcomed his, letting him in to taste me just as I wanted to taste him. The hand not holding the beer gripped my ass and pulled me even closer, right up against the ever growing evidence of his need for me. I moaned, loving how much I could affect him with just a kiss.
When we pulled apart, neither of us could catch our breaths. “What time does Lucy get home from school?” he demanded, his voice sounding rough.
I glanced at the watch on my wrist. “Her bus gets here in about thirty minutes.”
His eyes darkened, and I had learned that it was a sure sign that he was about to devour me. “That’s plenty of time,” he growled. His beer disappeared and then I was in his arms, my legs wrapped tightly around his waist.
For such a big man, he moved quickly. Before I could even guess where he was taking me, we were in the laundry room. He sat me on th
e edge of the washer and started tugging on the hem of my shirt. My own fingers were busy working on his fly, anxious to get his big, beautiful cock free so that I could look, touch, and taste him.
My bra went flying. and then he was jerking my pants down. I lifted my hips enough to help him, and then he was on his knees. I bit my lip to keep from screaming when his tongue plunged inside of me. My fingers gripped his smooth head and held him close while he ate me until I was on the very edge.
Trembling, I pushed his head away. “You, Jesse. I need you!”
He licked my arousal from his lips, some actually dripping from his chin, a testament to how much I needed him. “Is it still safe?”
I knew what he was asking, was it still safe for him to go bare. I didn’t even think about it. Nodding, I reached for his silk covered, steel erection and positioned him at my opening. “Fuck me.” I breathed in desperate need.
He stilled just as the head of his dick slipped inside. “This is not fucking,” he whispered. “Tell me you understand that.”
“Yes.”
“Say it,” he commanded, sliding another inch inside of me in slow torture.
I licked my lips. “This isn’t fucking.”
Another inch. “What is it then, Layla?”
I was caught in those mesmerizing eyes of his, as they swirled with need and darkened with an emotion I was just coming to accept. “Making love,” I whispered.
“Why is it making love?” he demanded in a voice filled with so many different things that it made my head swim trying to figure them all out.
“Because I love you,” I assured him, and this time it didn’t terrify the hell out me when I admitted it.
“Say it again.”
“I love you, Jesse.” He slammed all the way inside of me, making me cry out in pleasure.
Fingers tangled in my hair, pulling my head back enough so that he was looking into them. It felt as if he could see to my very soul. “I love you, Layla.” His words were like a promise, one that I hoped he would never break.
Jesse
Making love to Layla was a do or die kind of thing. If I didn’t make love to her I felt like was going to die. Sure, it was a fast and hard loving, but it was in no way a causal fuck in the laundry room. It would never be causal with me and Layla. It would never be fucking.
I thrust into her again, whispering that I loved her against the shell of her ear. She answered me with a muffled cry against my chest, her nails bit into my back was a delicious pain filled pleasure. I wanted to take it slow, but time was against it us, and I pumped in and out of her at piston speed. Her moans filled the room, my heavy breathing loud in my ears.
With each thrust I felt the inner walls of her pussy clamp down harder. I felt my balls tightening, telling me that I was close. It felt so good to be bare inside of her that I couldn’t control myself. I wanted to fill her with my come, the thought alone making me ready to burst.
“Jesse!” She screamed my name and I covered her mouth with my own to drown out her cries. I felt her pussy flood with her cream, quickly followed by her inner walls convulsing with spasm after spasm. Each one milked me of my own release, and I bit down on her lip to keep my shout inside.
For a few minutes, I just stood there, holding her, kissing away the hurt I had caused by biting her. I tasted her blood on my tongue and raised my head to inspect the damage I had caused. There was a tiny cut on her bottom lip, blood beading on it. I licked it away, distraught that I had hurt her like this. “I’m sorry.”
She grinned. “Don’t be. I liked it.” She sucked the lip into her mouth. “That was amazing.”
“Yes it was,” I agreed and reluctantly stepped back. There was a stack of towels on the folding table behind me and I took one to wipe her clean of our combined fluids before doing the same to myself. When we were clean, I tucked my dick back into my boxers and jeans and helped her put her bra back on.
“Do you think anyone heard us?” she asked when she was dressed.
I shook my head. “Nik will still be with Em. Drake and Shane didn’t come home with us.” Drake had gotten a text from Lana before I had even called Layla. She was having car trouble, and he and Shane had gone to help her. I hoped that the thing was unfixable. Maybe then Drake could talk Lana into letting him buy her a new car and I could get Layla her own. I hated for either of them to drive that old Corolla.
Layla combed her fingers through her tangled hair. “I need to get Lucy off the bus. Are we still on for dinner?”
“Definitely.” I pulled her close for a quick kiss, loving the way she sighed and leaned into me. “I need to grab a shower and then we can go.”
“Me too.”
“I’ll come over in about an hour then,” I promised her and let her go when she pulled away. Before she could open the door, I stopped her. “Layla?” I needed her to understand something. It was important that she knew. When she turned back with a question in her chocolate brown eyes, I told her the truth. “I love you, Layla.”
I saw something like relief flash across her face, and I knew that I had guessed right. The two times I had told her I loved her had been in the heat of the moment with me buried deep inside her. She probably thought that I said that to every girl I had sex with. “I’ve only ever said that to one other woman, baby,” I informed her. “And she’s upstairs with one of my best friends.”
“I love you too, Jesse,” she told me. “I’ve never said that to another guy, ever.” With a smile, she opened the door and walked away, leaving me standing there with the feeling that I had been kicked in the ribs.
It took me a few minutes to get my heart under control again after her confession. I missed her already, so I rushed upstairs and jumped into the shower. I rushed the process, skipping a second shave for the day just so I could get to her sooner. I made sure that my shirt didn’t have any holes and my jeans were a pair of the newer ones that Emmie had bought me. It was bad that I didn’t buy things for myself, but I would have to learn to change that with what I had planned for the future.
When I was dressed, I went down the hall to check on Emmie. Layla had worried me to death when she first told me that Emmie hadn’t been feeling well today. Every time she was sick, I got flashes of the time she ended up in the hospital from dehydration. She could have died if Axton hadn’t been there to help her.
I knocked on the closed bedroom door then walked in. Emmie was lying on her side with Nik tucked behind her, holding her close. When she saw me she smiled. “Hey.”
“How are you feeling?” I asked, leaning over to kiss her cheek.
“Tired. Those meds the doctor gave me make me sleepy, but at least I don’t feel like throwing up.”
I rubbed a hand over her swollen stomach before dropping a kiss on it through her sleep shirt. “I’m taking Layla and Lucy out for some dinner. Want me to bring you guys back anything?”
Nik shook his head. “I’ll just grab a sandwich.”
“Layla already fed me.” Emmie yawned. “Go, have fun.”
I nodded, but didn’t turn for the door right away. I needed to talk to Emmie about my plans, but I wasn’t sure if now was the best time. If I was really honest with myself I was scared of what her reaction was going to be. I didn’t want to upset her. Not now, not ever. “Em…”
Her eyes were almost closed, but they snapped open. She must have heard something in my voice, and she reached for my hand. “It’s okay. I know…” Her chin trembled but she gave me a smile. “We can talk more tomorrow.”
“Love you, Em,” I whispered, dropping another kiss on her cheek.
“Love you, Jesse.”
Chapter 15
Layla
Two weeks passed in what felt like the blink of an eye. Each day was much like the same, and I always went to bed with a smile on my face.
Nik and the guys didn’t go into the studio the rest of the first week. He was glued to Emmie’s side, making sure that she didn’t get out of bed for long. By that weekend she was
feeling much better without the aid of the anti-nausea medication and her feet weren’t as swollen as they had been.
I liked having all the guys around during the day. I made them breakfast and lunch, did their laundry, and they kept me smiling all day long. Shane with his wicked sense of humor, Drake with his quiet sincerity, and Nik with the way he was so tender with Emmie. Then there was Jesse, who seemed to be there every time I turned around. Not that I was complaining about that.
He would sneak up behind me while I was doing dishes, or cooking. Those sweet little kisses to my neck and shoulder never failed to make me wet. His whispers of “I love you” or “I need you” and even “I want you now” made me so happy I thought I was going to burst apart at the seams with it. More than once he had cornered me in the laundry room while I was working. Each time he left me spent yet still needing more.
In the evenings, he had dinner with me and Lucy. Lana sometimes joined us, and sometimes Drake joined us too. After dinner, if we were home, the three of us would walk on the beach. Lucy gathering shells and other little treasures, while Jesse and I walked hand in hand behind her. After Lucy was tucked into bed, we sat on the couch watching television together. It felt like we were teenagers because we always ended up making out. When he left me each night, it was reluctantly on both our parts. I wanted to sleep in his arms, and he wanted me to be sleeping there too.
At the end of that first week he took me out, just the two of us. We had dinner at some wildly expensive restaurant. The food was rich and delicious, the atmosphere sinfully romantic. After desert, he pulled me out onto a dance floor and held me close while we moved to the light tunes of a live jazz band.
“I love you, Layla,” he whispered against my ear.
Tears stung the backs of my eyes. “I love you, too.” I felt his smile as he kissed my temple. We continued dancing for several more songs, and then he pulled me out the door and into the Escalade that was already waiting for us outside.
What followed was more intense than our first night together. We didn’t go back to his friend Tom’s house but to an exclusive hotel just outside of LA. Our suit had candles lit all around the room when we walked inside. Soft music played in the background. Jesse closed the door behind him then lifted me into his arms.