I broke from Shelly to go pull Cal into a bear hug.
“Congratulations, Papa,” I sniffled into his shirt.
“Thanks, Sash,” Cal responded happily. “We were totally surprised, but couldn’t be happier.”
We all milled around, hugging, crying, and enjoying this joyous occasion, when the we noticed the waiter standing off to the side waiting to take our dinner order.
“Sorry,” Cal said when the waiter caught his eye. “Does everyone know what they want to eat?”
We all got the hint and found out way back to our chairs so that we could order our food.
Once the waiter left to put in our orders, I relaxed into my chair, sipping on my martini and listening to my friends’ conversations.
“So, how did your date go last night?” TJ was asking Brock and Gaby.
They looked at each other and Gaby giggled before turning back to TJ and saying, “It was really good … although Brock might think differently.”
Brock placed his hand over hers on the table and said, “I already told you, I had a great time.”
“What happened?” I asked, intrigued.
“Well,” Gaby began, “Brock showed up at my house to pick me up for dinner as planned. He even brought me flowers.”
“She made me cupcakes,” Brock added, causing TJ to turn to me and say, “You all know the way to a man’s heart, don’t you,” referring to me bringing him cupcakes on his first night at my place.
“But … we never made it to the restaurant,” Gaby said, drawing out her story. Gaby always did have a flair for the dramatic.
“Why not?” I asked, indulging her.
“Because my mom called from work and said that Gwen had missed her ride after play practice and was stuck at the school. She asked me to go and get her.” Gwen was Gaby’s younger sister; she was still in high school. “Brock was totally understanding, and we went to pick up Gwen. We ended up taking her out for burgers and then a movie. So, the night didn’t turn out quite as planned, but it was still a lot of fun.”
“Gwen’s a good kid, we had a good time,” Brock replied sweetly. I liked him more and more every time I saw him. I looked around the table and saw that everyone was looking at him with approval. Well, everyone except for Scott. Scott looked like he wanted to stab Brock in the face with his dinner knife. Brock either didn’t notice, or didn’t care.
“It was really sweet of you,” Gaby said, and I nodded in agreement.
Brock smiled down at her, obviously smitten, then turned to TJ, as if he’d just remembered something.
“Oh, TJ, I forgot to mention this before, one of my clients has a nice little one-bedroom, furnished place over his garage. His son used to live there, but has moved, and my client is out of town a lot, so he was thinking about renting it out. To have someone on the property. H
e said if I had someone I could trust, that he’d be willing to give him a deal on the rent. It would be month to month, but it’s a good little place,” Brock said as he laced his fingers with Gaby’s.
“That sounds great, thanks,” TJ responded. “I’d love to check it out. Everything I’ve looked at within my price range has been in shitty locations.”
My stomach clenched and the joy I’d been feeling suddenly left me at the thought of TJ moving out. We only had another week left before he said he’d be gone, but I couldn’t deny the fact that I was hoping he’d have to stay longer. In such a short amount of time I’d begun to look forward to coming home to him at the end of each day, and the thought of coming home to an empty house was no longer as appealing as it had been. Plus, I wasn’t ready for our new relationship to end. I enjoyed being with him, not just sexually, although there was no doubt that the sex was fantastic, but my favorite part of the day was laying in bed with him and talking.
Shit. I chewed my bottom lip as I realized the direction my thoughts and feelings were heading. Will I be able to go back to being just friends with TJ once this last week is over?
I was startled out of my thoughts when TJ said gruffly in my ear, “I can’t wait to chew on that later.” I scraped my teeth across my lips one more time, then licked it slowly with my tongue, smiling when I heard TJ’s sharp intake of breath.
I was going to have to make sure I soaked up every last moment I had with TJ, before our time was over.
Chapter 19 – TJ
I laid quietly in Sasha’s bed, my eyes roving over her sleeping form. She was laying on her stomach, with the sheet covering her from the waist down, leaving the top half of her body bare. Her creamy skin was on full display, causing my fingers to tingle and my lips to ache, but I contained those urges, allowing only my eyes to caress her body. Her hair was strewn about, half covering her face, so I could only see her full and pretty lips.
I looked over at the clock and decided that I was going to have to wake her up. We were quickly running out of time, and I wanted to do something fun today. Just the two of us.
I eased up onto my knees, throwing one over the side, so I was straddling Sasha. I didn’t want to crush her, so I hovered slightly over her, bearing the weight on my shins. I ran my hands lightly up her back, stopping at her shoulders, then slowly began kneading her back. She shifted slightly, then grunted, alerting me to the fact that my plan was working. I continued to massage her neck and shoulders, moving down her back, rubbing and adding pressure when I felt knots. When Sasha moaned loudly, I knew she was awake. I stilled my hands and leaned down to kiss her on the back. “Good morning.”