28. Chapter Twenty-eight

Chapter Twenty-eight

Jake

Clara's big date was a movie in the park. She'd asked me to pick her up in my car so she could wear a dress, and fuck if it wasn't a treat. We were late because I'd had to pin her against the passenger door and touch her through the thin fabric of her sundress. I'd done the same when we'd arrived at the park, sucking on her neck as I stroked her smooth thighs and toyed with the elastic of her panties next to her pussy.

Getting enough of her seemed impossible. Since Nellie had found me at the house two weekends ago, I'd slept at Clara's most nights I didn't have Sage. Each time I saw this woman, my heart jammed itself in my throat—and that wasn't me.

Except…with Clara, it was.

I laced my fingers between hers and led her through the rows of people on blankets and in lawn chairs. Back to the Future had just started playing on a big screen set up for tonight. We found a good spot to spread out our own blanket by the trunk of a grand old tree with widespread gnarled roots. Marty McFly wasn't much more than a speck from back here, but we both knew the movie well enough it didn't matter if we couldn't see every detail.

I sat with my back against the tree and made room for Clara between my legs. She leaned against me, her head on my chest, and all was right with the world. I could kiss her temple and forehead and stroke my fingers along her soft stomach and sides.

"I didn't plan this well, did I?" she whispered.

"I think you did all right. I'd rather be back here, alone with you, than stuck in the middle of everyone. This is nice."

"Yeah," she sighed. "It is, isn't it? Peaceful."

A movie in the park hadn't been on my radar, and I'd been dubious when Clara suggested it. But fireflies darted here and there in the dark, and my girl was curled against me while a classic movie played. The air was cool, and she was warm. Peaceful was one way I'd describe it. Even with hundreds of people around us, we were in our own quiet bubble. Quiet was rare for us, with our kids and jobs. This…this was needed, and I intended to feel every second of it.

"Mmm." Her hair smelled like oranges mixed with sunshine. I nuzzled the side of her head, breathing her in. "I told Sage I'm seeing you."

She turned her head and tipped it back to look at me. "Did you? I'm surprised."

"She pushed the subject, and I found I wanted her to know."

"What did she think?"

"That I need to wear fancier clothes to keep up with you. My own daughter would choose you over me in a heartbeat, and I don't even blame her."

That made her laugh. "She doesn't even know me."

"Yeah, and you think it'd change if she did? You're incredible. Plus, you're a Rossi, and Sage dreams of having her own motorcycle. She probably thinks you'll hook her up."

"Ah, a motorcycle girl. I love her already."

She didn't mean it in a real way, but those words coming from her mouth had me holding her tighter and pressing a kiss to her lips.

"Think you'll let Nellie ride a motorcycle one day?" I asked.

"Hmm…if she wants to. I'd be a big hypocrite otherwise. I'll teach her how to ride responsibly, the way my dad had with me. He drilled safety rules into my head until I was saying them in my sleep." She shuddered in my arms. "I can't think about letting my baby drive away on a bike."

"It goes fast. Feels like Sage was born yesterday, and she's a whole teenager now."

"Do you think you'd have more kids if you found the right person?"

I froze. A hundred thoughts whirred in my head, all too jumbled to grasp the right thing to say. There was no right answer to a question so out of left field.

"Clara, what the fuck?"

She shot up and twisted around, alarm evident in the drop of her jaw and brightness of her eyes. "What is it?"

I rubbed my forehead, taking a breath. "You're asking me about meeting the right person when I'm holding you in my arms. You don't think that's something I'd take offense to?"

She blinked at me as rapidly as my heart stuttered in my chest. "I didn't mean to offend you. I—"

"Just don't take me seriously, do you?" I reached around her to grip her hair at the base of her skull. "Because I'm a few years younger than you? Is that still a hang-up? Tell me what it is so I can demolish your reasoning."

"I take you seriously, Jake. I wouldn't have you in my bed or around my daughter if I didn't. But I know most things aren't forever, and you and I already have a lot of obstacles and baggage between us. It isn't crazy for me to think you and I are part of each other's story but won't be at the end. That doesn't mean I'm not into you or don't want to be with you. I do."

I shook my head. "I thought I was a pessimist. Jesus, that's some dreary shit to have in your head. Can't we ride this out and see where it goes without thinking about the end?"

"Jake…" She touched my face, stroked my beard. Then she gently described the hell she'd gone through. "The way you're protecting Sage from being hurt? I have to do the same for myself. You wouldn't have recognized me three years ago. I was utterly decimated, and I mean that in a true sense. Everything I thought I knew was false. The life I'd planned was gone in a blink. Breathing was difficult—and that was automatic. Doing anything I had to put thought into was impossible. Nellie was the only reason I kept going, and even that was touch and go. I can't go through that again. I know myself, and I won't survive it. My heart was pummeled far too hard. It can't withstand another round. The damage was far too catastrophic."

This was the first time she'd truly opened up about her ex and the wreckage he left behind, but it wasn't the first time I felt violent toward him. What he'd done to this woman was a crime in itself. We couldn't even have a night out without his shadow darkening it.

I was not that man. He might've destroyed her trust, but she had to see we were not the same. It wasn't her fault, but it still pissed me off. What he'd done had colored how she saw the world—including how she saw me.

I slid my hand from her hair to her throat, cupping her beneath her jaw. "I can't make promises of forever. I can promise, no matter what, I'll never lie to you, and I'll always be gentle with you. I'm not him . I won't add more scars."

"I know you're not him. I swear, I know that." Pushing up to her knees, she held my face in her pretty hands. "I do feel safe with you, but I can't help protecting myself. There's nothing you need to do to prove yourself to me. I don't know if I'm stuck like this or need more time."

I got her. She was coming from a place close to where I'd been—blindsided and left behind. Hers was on another level of hell, but I still got it. If we'd tried this a few years ago when my guard had been at full strength, we would've never gotten past the bedroom. Putting my ego aside and truly thinking about it, Clara was being a lot more vulnerable and open than either of us gave her credit for.

"We have time, sweetness. I can be as patient as you need me to be."

She swallowed hard against my palm. "Thank you for that. But if I say stupid shit, call me on it. The last thing I want is for you to think I question your integrity or motives."

"I have no problem calling you on your shit. I think you know that by now."

That broke the tension around us. She snorted a little laugh. "I guess that's true. You don't have trouble speaking your mind."

"Even when I'm wrong."

She giggled. "Especially then."

With a growl, I grabbed her around the middle and yanked her into my lap. Lowering my face to her neck, I nibbled and licked while she squirmed and dug her nails into my hands locked at her belly.

"Jake," she breathed, "stop eating me in public."

"No one's watching." I touched my lips to the side of her neck. "Your skin is the finest feast I've ever had, you know that? After our first time, I thought about your skin for months."

"Thank you…so long as you don't plan to make a suit out of me."

I kissed her neck again then put my lips to her ear. "You never know."

That got her giggling again, and the sound made my chest fill. This woman might've thought she'd been torn up and put back together wrong, but with a laugh like that, light as an afternoon breeze and carefree, she was just right.

After a minute or two, she turned her head, her mouth grazing my cheek. "Should I get off you?"

My arms tightened. "Never."

"But"—she moved her soft ass over the bulge in my jeans—"you're hard. This can't be comfortable."

"Mmm."

"That's not an answer." Leaning forward, she reached behind her and flipped open my button. Then her hand snuck inside my jeans and wrapped around the head of my cock.

"Jake." My name was a plea. A request for an unmet need. Asking permission. A sigh of desperation.

"Do what you need to do." She should've known I'd always give her what she needed, no matter where we were or who was around.

Shifting, she unzipped my fly and freed my cock so it was nestled between her thighs. If anyone glanced at us, they'd see her sitting on my lap, her skirt spread across her legs, nothing else. But no one was looking, not when the idiotically villainous Biff was chasing Marty on the big screen.

Clara sat like that for a minute then she slid her panties to the side, and I held my breath as she slowly took me inside. Fully seated, she leaned against my chest, and we exhaled together. Her pussy held me in a snug, hot embrace, and her body was soft and relaxed in my arms.

"Like that?" I murmured next to her ear.

"Yes," she breathed. "Is this okay for you?"

I laughed softly. "Being inside you is always more than okay."

I felt her smile more than saw it. "I mean, we're in public. Anyone could see."

"No one's going to see." I kissed her temple. "You feel so fucking good."

She hummed in agreement, nuzzling my beard. "I could stay like this all night. The connection I feel to you…it's more than this. But this…"

Her fragmented sentences made sense to me. I got it. I felt it too. "I know, Clara."

Our bodies' physical connection was an outward mirror of the deep, visceral emotional bond we shared. Both were pleasure. Bliss. Something neither of us had discovered with anyone else. She didn't need to say it for me to know that was true. If I'd had anything like this before, I would have moved heaven and earth to keep it.

Her fingers stroked my arms in a hypnotizing rhythm, lulling me to another plane where only we existed. Sometimes, she wiggled or shifted, and it made me jump inside her, but for the most part, we were still in each other's arms. Simply together.

We stayed like that until the characters got to the school dance. The happy ending was approaching, and as much as I would've liked to stay until the end, my patience was at its limit. An hour of being deep inside Clara had been exactly what I needed, but now, I needed more.

Hand in hand, we ran to the parking lot, our blanket abandoned under the tree. I'd parked in a fairly dark area, but at this point I didn't give a damn about privacy. My need for her was so strong I might've taken her under a spotlight.

As soon as the door was closed and locked, Clara straddled my lap, taking me deep again. We didn't stop to savor it. I gripped her by the waist, holding on to her as she fucked herself on my cock. She drove down hard, bouncing on me with the same frantic desperation strumming through my veins.

It didn't hit me until that moment we weren't using a condom, and it barely gave me pause except to acknowledge how incredible her skin felt sliding over mine. Raw, without a barrier between us…just like it should've been.

And holy fucking Christ was I going to come fast. Clara was taking what she needed, moaning my name, riding me like I was the answer to every question she'd ever had.

"Oh, Jake," she moaned. "I'm—I'm—"

"Me too," I gritted out. "Take it. I've got you."

"Yeah. You do."

The second she got there, her head fell back, and she vibrated in my arms. I followed her over, pulling her pliant body to my chest and releasing the groan of a man so near death he could taste it. That was what it felt like when I fell into the abyss of pleasure and came inside her tight, perfect pussy. A death and rebirth. I wouldn't be the same after this. After her . Something clicked and shifted within me. I couldn't pinpoint it yet, but when my mind was straight, maybe I'd be able to.

What I knew with certainty? Being with Clara had changed me, and it was undoubtedly for the better.

Everything was better with Clara around. I had no idea where the road was going to take us, but maybe it didn't matter. Like Doc Brown told Marty McFly, maybe where we were going, we didn't need roads.