“Yep,” Pop grunted at me as he began to paddle us back toward land.
“They’ll never let me see her again.”
“Did you use condoms?” he asked as we tugged the boat onto the shore. He stared into my face.
“Pop,” I complained, “we didn’t–”
“They’ll let you see her again. In the daylight. Where you can’t do any snuggling.” He started to whistle as we walked to our house.
That was a damn shame, because cuddling with Katie…that was the highlight of my summer.
The next day, Katie was cleaning the bath house with a toothbrush, while I hammered nails into the dock. It was like we were on opposite ends of the earth, and I couldn’t even tell her I was sorry for getting her in trouble.
26
Katie
I’m in the middle of the best dream ever. A warm body is wrapped around mine, one arm beneath my head where I’m using it as a pillow and the other is wrapped around my middle. My dream lets me enjoy it, bask in it, and roll around in it until I get all tangled up in comfort and want. Until I blink my eyes open.
Immediately, fear floods my heart as I wake up and realize there’s really a warm body in bed with me. “Cole?” I mumble.
“No, I’m warm,” Jake mutters from behind me. “So are you.”
Jake’s hand roams across my hip and up my side. “Just a bad dream,” I say. I wiggle my bottom. I really have to pee. “Go back to sleep.”
“Mm,” he hums. He rocks his hips and presses against my bottom. Then he stiffens and pulls back. “Sorry,” he says with a tiny laugh. “Forgot where I was for a second.”
God, I have missed the feel of a man behind me in the early morning hours. During that time before kids wake up, before the house starts to stir, before anyone needs anything from me, Jeff and I used to enjoy the quiet, and enjoy each other. Sometimes it was rushed and sometimes it was slow, but it was always there. It was always mine. This, what I have with Jake, it’s not mine, and I know it very well. It’s stolen. It’s like contraband that I’m keeping and using for my own purposes. I try to squeeze out from under his arm, but Jake wraps me up tighter and pulls me back against him.
“Don’t go,” he mutters close to my ear. His lips press against my shoulder, and I arch my neck to give him better access.
“Jake,” I whisper.
“Katie,” he whispers back, and his chest rumbles with laughter against my back. “Just shut up for two seconds and let me hold you, okay?”
“Okay.” I settle back, despite the fact that my bladder is seriously complaining. I turn my head and press my lips to Jake’s upper arm, and he slides his palm up my side, beneath my shirt. I lay my hand over his and he chuckles.
“I think I just got slapped,” he says.
“If I wanted to slap you, I’d slap you, Jake. I just wanted to slow you down.” I kiss his upper arm again. “I’m not ready for all that, and neither are you.” I stare at the wall in front of me.
But then, an unfamiliar noise reaches my ears. There’s stomping. Hard shoe strikes against the hardwood floor. The door suddenly flies open.
“Whoops,” a man’s voice says from the doorway.
I lay a hand on my chest. It’s Adam. “Oh, my God, you scared me.”
“Who’s in bed with you?” Adam asks.
I sit up and smooth my hair back. “It’s just Jake,” I say. Jake sits up behind me and drops his feet over the side of the bed.
Adam hitches his shoulder in the doorway and crosses his arms. He grins. “Morning, Jake.”
“Adam,” Jake grunts. He bends over and pulls his shoes on. He slept in his clothes, and so did I. “So good to see you at…” Jake tips his wrist to look at his watch. “…zero-dark-thirty.”
“I wasn’t aware that my daughter would have company so early in the morning. My apologies.”
“Jake’s not company. He’s just…” I look at him and shrug. “He’s just Jake.”