After a little bit, she gives me a squeeze and slides her warm hands up the bottom of my shirt. I feel her lean down and then I feel her lips kissing and licking up my spine. I can feel her smiling against my skin. As she moves higher, I tense. My back is off limits, for now. Someday soon, baby, I’m going to tell you about how I missed you so fucking badly, I needed you etched into my skin permanently to even make it to the next breath.
I turn around so that my stomach is at her face, and she looks up at me and presses her lips against it. "Evie," I breathe. I still feel guilty about my words earlier, and I feel like I should pull her up to me and stop her from proceeding with what I see in her eyes, but try as I might, I can’t bring myself to do it. As we make eye contact, a live current rushes between us and blood rushes downward, hardening me immediately. I want to make sure that she’s okay with this.
But when she smiles up at me and goes down on her knees, unbuttoning my jeans, my mind blanks and it’s sweet relief. She takes my zipper down and pulls my jeans and boxers down my legs, springing me free. I feel the cool air against my erection and I want her mouth on me so badly, I ache. "Put your mouth on me, please, Evie," I beg, all rational thought gone.
She looks at me with big, dark eyes and then leans into me and licks the underside of my erection. Oh God, oh God.
She takes me in her mouth, fluttering her tongue across the underside of my cock, and then sucking gently, and I can’t help the involuntary thrust of my hips. She owns me right now and I love giving myself to her completely. The relief in being able to lose control to her is overwhelming.
Her hair falls over her face and I brush it aside and hold it there, wanting to watch. The physical sensations are incredible, but the visual of Evie’s lips stretched around my cock is so exciting, I already feel spikes of pleasure racing through my belly, tightening my balls and making me groan involuntarily.
As she takes me fully in her mouth, she looks up at me and I feel a burst of pre-cum. She takes the base of my erection in one hand and starts sucking me rhythmically, and I’m completely at her mercy.
"Oh, fuck! Evie… your mouth… Like that!" I grind out, my voice heavy with lust.
I push my hands all the way into her hair, pulling it at the roots and holding it back from her face so I can see more of her. She moans and keeps sucking and stroking with her mouth, her eyes closed now.
I feel myself jerk in her mouth, and I can’t help thrusting my hips toward her face, out of control with the pleasure and the sight of her taking me in, her lips stretched around my length.
I don’t want it to end but I’m so far gone, I can’t hold back. "Oh God! I’m gonna come, baby," I warn her, but she doesn’t take her mouth off of me, which makes the orgasm that was building hit me hard and fast, pleasure exploding as I jerk again and again in the grip of her warm mouth.
I groan through it, watching her as she swallows all of it, milking me in her mouth until my body stills.
"Holy fuck."
She tucks me back into my pants, smiling up at me. I’m bleary eyed and disoriented. What just happened? The buzzer from the front desk sounds. I shake my head, confused, as she looks up at me. Oh right, our food. We both simultaneously look at the door and then back at each other and both burst out laughing.
**********
After we’ve eaten and I’ve showered, I take her back to the bedroom and return the favor from earlier. It’s just her and me – and for just tonight, none of the other bullshit matters. We’re just Evie and Jake, a couple falling in love, or in my case, already deeply in love, enjoying the comfort and pleasure our bodies can give. Afterwards, I lay satiated and happy on the bed after another mind-blowing orgasm.
I smile up at the ceiling, pondering on the layers of my love for this girl. "What’s that for?" she asks, smiling over at me.
"I knew it’d be like this with us," I say, grinning now.
"You did, did you?"
"Yup. Knew it the first time I kissed you." On our roof, eight years ago.
That kiss had blown my mind at the time. I had anticipated kissing her for so long, but still, the way the air seemed to sparkle around us when our lips met had taken me by surprise. I realized then that my connection to Evie went beyond my love for her. I loved her deeply, yes, but there was also something purely physical and electric that sizzled to life when our bodies touched. I didn’t know at the time how rare that is, but I know it now.
She smiles back at me and leans up and kisses me gently on the lips. "I’m gonna go clean up. I’ll be right back."
She finishes in the bathroom, and I pull on my boxers and t-shirt and get in under the covers.
When she gets back, she pulls on her underwear and tank top and slides in next to me, taking her spot in my bed. I spoon her from behind and put my arm around her, cupping her breast possessively, in what has become our sleep position. She looks over her shoulder at me and smiles, and I lean forward and kiss her, and then lean back and put my leg over her hip.
She pushes back against me. "Your leg is too heavy. It’s making me feel trapped."
"You are trapped. I’m going to keep you here in my bed indefinitely, trapped under my body, having my way with you."
She giggles. "Indefinitely? We’ll need to eat at some point."
"I have a half a pack of gum in my bedside table. We’ll cut each piece into tiny portions and ration."
"You’d live on rationed gum to have unlimited sex with me?"
"Not just sex. I like everything we do in my bed… the snuggling, the talking, the sniffing." I stick my nose in her neck and inhale and she giggles. "I just want you with me twenty-four hours a day. Right here."
"Aw, that’s so sweet."
I pause. "But mostly sex. Mostly for the sex."
She laughs and pushes my leg off of her, and turns around still smiling. She snuggles into me and I wrap my arms around her, kissing her on the top of her sweet-smelling head. I don’t know exactly how long it takes me to fall asleep, but I know I do it smiling.
CHAPTER 24
I’m just finishing up my P.T. when Doc walks in the gym. My physical therapist, Mark, is already working with someone else, and I’m on my own, doing a few extra exercises to help my range of motion.
"Looks like you’re just about back to normal there."
I stand up, pulling a small towel around my neck and taking a drink from my water bottle. "Yeah, I am. I feel good. Patched up inside and out." I grin.
He smiles back. "All packed up?"
"Yeah." I run my hand through my hair, landing on the scar on the back of my head. "It’s gonna feel weird to leave this place. I almost feel like I started a new life here. And now I need to go out there and start over again."
"Not start over. Just continue on. I’m not worried about you." He smiles and claps his hand on my shoulder, squeezing it before pulling away.
I blow out a little puff of air. "I’M worried about me. What if I screw this up, Doc?" And by "this," I mean all of it – the company, Evie, the rest of my life.
He shakes his head. "You won’t. You know why?"
"Why?" We’ve started walking out of the gym and turn down the hall toward my room now.
"Because when a person is on the right path, they know it. And, Jake, you’re a survivor, a fighter. You’ll fight to stay on the path you’re on now. The path that you know you’re MEANT to be on. Did anything about the last eight years feel right to you?"
I take a deep breath. "No. Not a single thing."
"You get that feeling again, you turn the other way, okay?"
"Yeah. Okay, Doc."
As we walk, I think back over the last eight years… arriving in San Diego, so much hope… that first horrifying week, hating myself every fucking day after that.
A visual of myself veering off a path laid out in front of me flashes through my mind.
I think about high school. I think about how differently I was received in that school in California than I had ever been in any sch
ool before that – first as a kid who got free lunches and then later, as a foster kid. I think about liking how that felt and hating myself for liking it. I think about trying out for sports and being good at them, getting popular, girls liking me. I had dozens of so-called "friends" and yet not one of them really knew me. Always a thread of misery running through my heart. Always a loneliness I couldn’t completely shut out, always a longing I could never fill. I think about drinking at parties, doing drugs if they were there. I think about how when it came to sex, anyone could have me, which in some fucked up way, meant that no one had me. All those rich kids seemed to live that way too, passing each other around, living for the next party. But I was the worst of them all because I knew better, because I was a fucking sell out. I realize now that although I didn’t have much in Ohio, the one thing I did have was hope, and once that was gone, despite the fact that I finally had every material possession imaginable, I had nothing. Nothing at all.
I think of moving out of Lauren and Phil’s house, going to college, but still carrying around that self-hatred that would never let me get enough of a finger hold to climb out of the pit of despair that I was constantly in. And so I made all the same mistakes then that I had made in high school. I had meaningless relationships that only made me feel more miserable, always trying to claim something back, but never knowing exactly what. I drank when it got so bad I didn’t know what else to do, and finally, the straw – Seth. Roaring out of that driveway on a mission of death. I could admit that now. And Evie, God, Evie. Missing her every second of every day and hurting so damn bad because I knew she’d never forgive me. But maybe, just maybe I had been wrong. I was going to find out. I was finally strong enough to find out. Please, please don’t let it be too late.
We stop in front of my room door.
"You know I’m only a phone call away, right? If you need anything – anything at all, you pick up that phone and you call me."
I feel emotion well up in my chest. Goodbyes suck. And this man has changed my life in a profound way. "Yeah."
He smiles. "Okay."
I pause for a minute and then say, "Doc, I just… Shit, this is hard." I pause and run my hand through my hair as emotion overwhelms me. He waits me out. He’s always been good at that. "I wanted to say, you know, I never had a father. At least not one that taught me how to be a man. And I know you’re my doctor, but you’ve been more than that for me. The other doctors here patched me up but you… you saved my life."
He clears his throat and squeezes my shoulder again. "You did all the hard work, kid."
I nod, clearing my throat too.
"Go finish packing. And Jake?"
"Yeah?"
"Go get that girl of yours." He grins at me and walks away.
CHAPTER 25
I plan a trip to San Diego to meet with company lawyers about what Lauren has set in motion. Anger encompasses me when I think of what she’s trying to do. She has no interest in running the company. She never took an interest in it once in all the years I’ve known her – not until it was something that she could hold over me. Her motives are transparent. But unfortunately, her manipulative reasons won’t matter in court. I need to talk to my lawyers and find out if she’s come up with something that might hold any water. I doubt it, but I owe it to all my employees and board members to be fully briefed on this situation.
I haven’t seen Evie in two days and I’m craving her, so this trip pisses me off for more than one reason. She mentions to me that she’s cleaning the penthouse this week if it’s occupied, so first thing Tuesday morning, I get an idea and swing by the Hilton on my way to the airport to rent the penthouse until Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday night seems an unacceptable amount of time to wait to see her. I’ll have to take the red-eye back but that’s okay.
I meet with my lawyers on Tuesday, and we go over Phil’s will, including the timing of the change. The lawyers feel confident that Lauren doesn’t have a leg to stand on, but the fact remains that it will still be expensive to defend, and could drag out for quite a while. I clench my jaw, thinking of all the unnecessary time I’m going to have to spend in San Diego, away from Evie, working through this bullshit. I think of all the time I’m going to have to spend with Lauren in a courtroom and across a table from her and her lawyers. It’s exactly what she wants, and I feel like punching my hand through a wall at the thought of her manipulation. Can I just get on with my fucking life already?
I didn’t give the office the name of my hotel this time so at least I know Lauren has no way to pay me a surprise visit. I only check in to a room at all because I don’t feel like hanging around the airport until midnight when my flight leaves. I need to have some dinner and sleep for a couple hours if I’m going to be awake enough to surprise Evie. I smile with the thought.
Evie’s at work, but I text her and let her know that I’m done with my meetings and checked in to the hotel. I order room service and take a long, hot shower. There’s a knock on my door just as I’m pulling on some clothes. I freeze, my t-shirt halfway over my head. There’s no way... I walk over to the door and look through the peephole. It’s room service again. When I open the door, the teenage waiter starts rolling a cart in with a single, covered plate in the middle. "Ah, I didn’t order anything. You must have the wrong room."
"He looks at his ticket. "Jake Madsen, room eight forty-two?"
"Yeah. But I really didn’t order anything."
"Someone else called this in, sir."
I furrow my brow. "Okay. Ah, well, thanks." I grab a twenty out of my wallet and hand it to him.
"Thanks!" he says, looking at the bill and ducking out the door.
I lift the cover off the plate and there’s a pile of warm, chocolate chip cookies. Evie. A grin takes over my face. Just as I’m replacing the lid, my phone rings, and I see Evie’s name on the screen.
"Hey, baby," I answer.
"Hi." I can hear the smile in her voice. "What are you doing?"
"Missing you."
"Did you get my delivery?"
I grin. "Yeah. The sheets are all smeared with chocolate and crumbs. And I’m still left dissatisfied."
She laughs. "I’m sorry. I thought they’d be a satisfactory stand in for me."
"Uh uh. Not even close. Any chance a cart is going to roll in with you on it next?"
She laughs again. "I wish. What time will you be back tomorrow?"
"Not until late."
"Oh. Okay." She sounds disappointed. I smile to myself.
"How did your meetings go?"
"Pretty well." I sigh. "I didn’t mention this because it’s just another example of my dysfunctional relationship with my mom but... she has some issues with my father’s will. It’s what she was meeting with the board about in Cincy. I met with company lawyers today to find out if she has a case at all and what it’s going to take to fight this in court."
"Oh. Jake. That’s... I’m sorry. What does she want out of it?"
"Essentially, she wants control over the company, over me. But my lawyers are confident that she’s not going to get it. Still, I’m going to have to be here more than I’d like." I don’t succeed at keeping the bitterness out of my voice.
She pauses. "Maybe I could come with you once or twice, if I’m not working during one of your trips. You know, to support you. If you think it would help... " She trails off, sounding unsure.
Emotion wells up in my chest and I’m quiet for several beats. "Jake?" She asks quietly.
"You’d do that?
"Would I do that? Yes, of course I’d come with you–"
"Support me."
She’s quiet for a minute. "Of course I’d support you.
I let out a harsh exhale, and something deep inside warms and softens, seeming to unclench, like a muscle that has been held in a perpetual cramp. "I don’t deserve you, Evelyn Cruise."
"Probably not. Those cookies were also meant to serve as a warning of what you’ll be stuck with if you don’t treat me right. A l
ifetime of chocolate stained sheets and dissatisfaction."
I laugh, and we continue to talk about what she’s been doing for the last couple of days, including making dinner plans for us with her friends Nicole and Mike. After a little while, I can hear in her voice that she’s fading, and so we say our goodnights.
On Wednesday morning, when I arrive in Cincinnati, I barely have time to stop home and shower before changing and driving straight to the Hilton. I use the keycard I was given yesterday to enter the penthouse.
When I hear three loud knocks on the door, I don’t answer. I stand in the doorway between the bedroom and the bathroom and wait. My heart picks up in excitement as I anticipate Evie appearing in the bedroom doorway. I make some quiet noises so she’ll know someone is here.
"Hello?" she calls out and I just grin, not answering.
The minutes drag as I hear Evie doing something in the other room. I crane my ears, listening to her quiet footsteps on the plush carpeting, stuffing my hands in my pockets and waiting, suddenly feeling a little nervous. How will she react to this surprise?
I see her peak around the doorway, a walkie-talkie in one hand and a bottle of some type of cleaner in the other.
I keep grinning as she spies me, a look of shock first and then pure happiness fills her face.
She drops the items in her hands and launches herself at me, letting out a little shriek of happiness as I catch her. I laugh in surprise and spin her around as we both laugh and kiss. Evie, Evie, my girl, my heart. I imagine that this is what it would have been like if I had come for her when she turned eighteen. For just a minute, I pretend that we’re just two kids who had a rough childhood but were lucky enough to find each other, and now it’s just her and me against the world, starting over. Our whole life is in front of us – no secrets, no guilt, no shame.
She takes my face in her hands, laughing against my mouth as she kisses me again and again. I kiss her back with just as much passion, spinning her once more. Everything about her feels like home. The only home I’ve ever truly had.