Page 159 of Jesse's Girl
“Where are the groceries?” I ask, feigning innocence.
“Fuck the groceries,” he puffs out as he kicks off his shoes. His gaze is locked on my tits as he peels off his T-shirt.
I drink in the quick rise and fall of his chest, the muscles rippling beneath his skin. My lips part with hunger. “Okay, but fuck me first.”
He blows out a laugh. “You win this round,” he concedes, raising his brows and pointing at me. “But you play dirty too.”
“Hmm.” I tap a finger against my chin. My eyes travel south as he slides his shorts down, and I lift the vibrator out from under the blanket. Switching it on, I catch the fire that flares in his expression when it starts to hum. “I regret nothing.”
I squeal when he dives for the bed, greedily pulling the heat and weight of him down on top of me.
He crushes his lips against mine, his tongue sweeping into my mouth with eager strokes. Breaking the kiss, he looks down at me and brushes the hair back from my forehead.
“Don’t you ever threaten to start without me again,” he says, still panting slightly from the run. “I almost walked into a fucking lamppost.”
37
JESSE
The street market is buzzing. Easily half of Lennox Valley has turned up to check out the food trucks and sidewalk sales. Riverside Avenue is closed to traffic and every shop on the street has some kind of offering out front.
As we wind through the humming crowd, I grip Ada’s hand, lifting our arms to let a little girl run between us. Her screeching is more or less incoherent, but I catch something about mini doughnuts. Ada smiles over her shoulder at the kid. Following her gaze, I watch as the girl, who must be about Hazel’s age, slams into the thighs of a barrel-chested man holding a toddler. He stoops to hear her request with the tired patience only a father could possess.
I interlace my fingers with Ada’s and pull her along to the next set of stalls. Her hand is warm and her thumb brushes over mine. I love that we can be like this. Together. In public.
No more hiding. No more rules about not touching. Because I fucking love touching her and, now that I’m allowed to do it openly, I want to do it all the time. I’d stop in my tracks in the middle of this crowd to make out with her if… wait, why am I not doing that right now?
I stop and pull her into me, smiling at the wide-eyed confusion that blooms in her features. “Jess,” she breathes. “What the f?—”
“Ugh, you two are barf-level adorable,” a familiar voice calls out. I spin around to find Katie and Dimitri approaching us from the doorway of the Gareth Mason Art Gallery.
“Hey!” Ada says, slipping out of my arms to give Katie a hug. “You’re not asleep! Or at work! Who are you?”
Katie laughs. “I know, right?”
“Hey,” Dimitri says, lifting his chin at me with a genuine smile. “Good to see you again, man.”
“Likewise,” I say, shaking his hand.
“Oh, hey, Jesse… I should introduce you to Jude—my boss. Pretty sure he’s still around here somewhere,” he says, taking in the crowd over his shoulder. “I’ll see if I can flag him down. I know he wanted to ask you more about that grazing rotation thing you told me about.”
“Sure, that’d be great,” I say. Since deciding to stay in Lennox, I’ve been texting with Dimitri quite a bit about the homesteading project.
“What’s going on in there?” Ada asks Katie, gesturing to the open door of the gallery, which hums with soft chatter.
“Silent auction,” she replies. “It’s a fundraiser for the hospital, so I thought I’d check it out. Pretty swish shit up for grabs. I put a bid on a night at this bed-and-breakfast… Starscape Manor, I think it’s called? Looks gorgeous.”
“Oh, that’s where Kai had his wedding,” Ada says, glancing at me.
“Shut up!” Katie exclaims. “Is it amazing there? Did you get to go inside?”
“Uh, yeah,” she replies, a hint of color rising in her cheeks. “We went inside.”
Fuck, we sure did.
Her eyes snag on mine again, and we share a private smile.
“Speaking of going inside,” I say, rescuing her before Katie notices anything, “did you wanna?” I tilt my head at the gallery.