Henry gaped at Jill. But she kept her head down, not meeting anyone’s gaze. She put a huge forkful of pasta into her mouth.
“Ahh, how the tables have turned, kid,” Jason chuckled.
“We just played games and stuff, hung out.”
“Was your mother at home?”
He made a choked sound. “No, she was at work.”
“Mom, stop. Enough with the third degree. We just hung out. I was going to tell you.”
Lainey gave them both the once-over.
“Now…” Jill sat back and gave Jase and Lainey the same once-over. “Maybe you two would like to tell us what you’ve been up to since the shop closed. Perhaps making hot and spicy…” She paused long enough to make Jase squirm and wonder what she was about to say. “…spaghetti, because this is
not
Batallio’s and the pasta is downright soggy.” Jill looked into Jase’s eyes and he knew that she was completely aware of exactly what was going on.
Lainey giggled at his side. “Caught. And I was going to use the ever-so-believable
‘we were just hangin’ out and stuff’
excuse.” Lainey studied Henry who still fidgeted.
Jill pushed her chair back. “Good one, always a reliable explanation. But the difference is we were really just hanging out, not cookin’.” Her expressive eyes, much like her mother’s, widened for a moment. “Thanks for supper,
Jase
. Come on, Henry, we should check the school site and see if our history teacher has posted any homework assignments.”
“I know old Westlake is a ball breaker, right?” Henry said, picking up his plate and following Jill, who seemed eager to get away.
Jason threw his arm over the back of Lainey’s chair. “It would seem we have fooled no one.”
Lainey shrugged. “Maybe it’s better this way. It’s all out in the open. This way Jilly can get used to things being different. And so can I. And you can get used to me having a kid. I get the impression you haven’t dated many women with kids.”
“Is it that obvious?”
“Mmm, you just have to get used to being second, for a little while. Jill comes first. I’ll tell you that right now.”
“Oh,
I
got that. And it shouldn't be any other way. I’m a big boy, I can take it.”
“I know you’re a big boy.” She bit her lip. Her eyes turned warm as she twisted in her chair, facing him.
“Why Ms Clarkson, I’m beginning to think you are insatiable.”
“Is that a problem?” she asked insinuating herself between his knees. He opened his legs wider to allow her closer. She stared at his lips waiting for an answer.
“Problem? No, that’s definitely not a problem,” he said as she wound her arms around his neck. Aggressively, she kissed him until the kids squabbling in the next room made her come up for air.
“Time and privacy seem to be the predicament,” Jason said, smoothing his hand over her back.
Lainey took a deep cleansing breath. “So crawling into your lap right now is probably not a good idea?” she purred.
An impatient noise escaped him. “It’s a fantastic idea. Let’s go back to my place and I’ll just let you have your way with me.”
Lainey made a humming sound in her throat as if she might’ve liked that idea.
“Hey, Mom?” Jill’s voice cut into their banter.
Sighing reluctantly, Lainey moved away from Jason, putting an appropriate amount of space between them. “Yes, Jilly?”
“You heard from Dad in the last couple days?”
Lainey harrumphed. “No.”
Jill poked her head into the room. “I’ve sent him several different texts for three consecutive days and nothing. He always answers my texts.”
Lainey shook her head. “Who knows, Jill? Maybe he lost his phone. Perhaps he broke it. Have you tried shooting him an email or you could just call him if you’re worried about him.”
“I’m not worried. It’s just weird.” She slipped back into the other room with Henry.
Lainey got up and started clearing the plates. Jason stood and helped, carrying the empty containers to the garbage.
“She’s worried,” Lainey said.
“Or she just wanted to bring up her dad in front of me,” Jason hedged.
“You think?” Lainey’s nose crinkled prettily.
He shrugged. “She kinda laid it on the line for me while you were on the phone.”
“She did?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m sorry. Are you mad?”
“Of course not. She loves you. She doesn’t want some joker coming in here and hurting her mother.”
“Are you a joker?” Her question was teasing but her eyes were not. He knew that she was asking that instead of going right to the hurting part.
“I told you I’m a teacher, not a comedian.” Everyone was worried about Lainey, which he understood. But he was getting a little concerned about himself. What if he was the one to get hurt here? He’d never felt this way about any woman. And it had happened so fast, so instantaneously for him. From the moment he’d met her he’d wanted to know more. And now that he knew more, he wanted it all. She had him thinking about things that he’d never given a second thought to. Like marriage and kids. Like forever.
“I can see that. You’re looking very serious right now. I’m going to ask you the most hated question that a woman can ask a man. What are you thinking?”
“Eww, sharing feelings. I think I wanna shudder.”
Lainey waited.
“Do you keep in touch with your husband?”
“No. We only talk about Jill if I have to speak to him at all. Or whatever lawsuit or papers he’s had drawn up. Yeah, so mostly through our lawyers and through Jill.”
Lainey piled the dishes into the sink and started the hot water, pouring some dish soap around in a big circle.
“You were with him a long time. Right out of high school? Got the old twenty-two on the ankle.”
“We got married right after high school and then I got pregnant with Jilly.”
“Is that what you told people?”
She blinked up at him.
“I’m willing to bet you walked out of that high school with a diploma in one hand and Jill already growing inside you,
then
got married.” A slight nod confirmed it. Jason leaned against the sink. “Wow. You’ve never been with anyone else, have you?” Not even the cop that her ex had accused her of sleeping with.
Lainey shut off the water and gazed out of the window into the darkness. “Not until a few hours ago, no, I’ve never been with anybody else,” she said quietly.
Jason inhaled deeply and exhaled heavily.
Well fuck
! How the hell was he supposed to compete with that? Thad was her first love and lover, father of her child, a marriage, a whole fucking lifetime together. Jase should just face it now. He was the rebound guy. He was doomed.
Lainey laid a hand on his stomach and neared him. “Is that a problem? I thought guys liked it when a girl wasn’t well used. You seem appalled by that fact that I’ve only been with one man.”
Jason folded his arms around her back and pulled her even closer. “No, that’s not it at all.”
Her face fell. “Was I not good?” Her gaze darted around his face.
“Come on, you were there, do you honestly have to ask me that? You were fantastic. You are fantastic. We were fantastic together. I wanna do it again right now.”
Her face lightened then pinkened. “Then what is it?”
“I just don’t know how I’m supposed to compete with what you had with him? You had a whole lifetime with the guy.”
Lainey was so shocked. Jason seemed like the most confident man in the world, but he was worried that he couldn’t compete with history. “You’re right. We had a lifetime. And he killed it. The only good thing left of our union is Jilly. There is nothing left but sad memories. Besides it’s not a competition. We’re just getting to know each other, right? Making some new memories.” And strangely enough, remembering Thad didn’t seem to hurt as much with Jason standing there.
“Getting to know each other? You don’t have sex with just anybody, Lainey.”
“That’s my daughter talking.”
“And me, too. You just said yourself you’ve never been with anybody else. That’s a lot for a guy to have to live up to. You’re expecting this to go somewhere.”
Lainey lowered her gaze. Her face and ears grew hot, waiting for the brush-off to come, when she felt his finger under her chin lifting, forcing her to face him. “I want this to go somewhere too,” he acknowledged.
“You do?” she breathed as her heart raced. His dark eyes searched hers before he lowered his head taking her lips. This was a sweet kiss, not the hungry all-consuming combustible kind of kiss they usually shared, but all the more potent with the sentiment and emotion behind it.
Jason ended the kiss. She stared up at him and his insides melted.
Fuck
!
I’m falling in love with her
.
What the fuck
?
How do I stop myself from doing this
?
He had to tell her the truth. Before someone else did. Or, worse, she found out on the Internet or from some magazine.
“You two are worse than teenagers, Dub.” Henry sauntered into the kitchen like it was his own. “You gonna stand there all night and look at her or are you gonna kiss her already. Geez, J-Dub, have I taught you nothing?” Henry reached into the fridge and took another soda.
Jason never took his eyes off Lainey. “I’m waiting for her to kiss me. Remember? She promised.”
“Go for it, Ms C, or he’ll never teach another class without stumbling over his own tongue for an hour and a half. It’s torture.”
Henry vacated the room but she didn’t kiss him. “What are you waiting for?” Jason asked.
Slowly she raked her teeth across her full bottom lip. “I’m afraid if I start kissing you now, I’ll never stop.”
His eyes almost crossed. Jason pulled her against him. “I wanna take you home.”
Her arms tightened around him. “That sounds perfect.”
But their night wouldn’t end the way either of them wanted. He took a deep breath. “Let’s get these dishes done and I’ll go home.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of them. But you don’t have to go.”
“I need to go. Or I will not be held responsible for my actions.”
She made a choking sound. “Then I’ll walk you out.”
“G’night, Jill, Henry,” Jason called.
“G’night, J-Dub.”
“Goodnight, Mister Westlake,” Jill retorted, coolly.
Jason held Lainey’s hand as she walked him to his Porsche. Jason leaned against it and pulled her into his arms. “Christ, I haven’t had to say goodnight like this in… I don’t know how long.”
“Maybe next week, when Jill goes to see her father, we can spend the whole weekend together?”
“Was that a question?” he asked, sardonically. “Hell yeah!” He kissed her goodnight until his heart raced and he had another raging hard-on. She clung to him until finally he set her away from him and got into the car. “I will see you tomorrow.”
Jason decided on his way home, he’d tell her the truth on their weekend alone.
Chapter Eleven
At lunchtime the next day at school, Jason checked his phone for messages hoping there would be one from Lainey. When he saw her name on the screen, his stomach jolted and he had to smile at his own weakness for this woman.
“Can you meet me for lunch?” he read out loud.
Ah, hell yeah,
he texted back.
Almost immediately a response popped up.
Meet me at your place in ten?
I’m there,
he wrote and hightailed it out of the school.
Lainey was already there waiting patiently in the driveway when he pulled up. God she looked beautiful. How did she just keep getting better and better-looking? Today she wore a classy double-breasted navy dress with gold buttons, almost military style, her dark hair done in a loose knot. He wanted to get his fingers into it.
Jason unfolded his tall frame from the little sports car. “Hey, beautiful.” Snagging her around the waist, he pulled her to him before taking her lips in a long hot kiss.
When he finally came up for air she breathed, “Well, hello, handsome. I think you just squished our sandwiches.”
He shrugged. “That’s okay.”
They walked up to the front door and he unlocked it. The minute they were inside and the door shut, she was back in his arms, kissing him madly. He was just about to tackle the buttons down the front of her dress when she started to sink down in front of him. Unfastening the button and fly of his tailored pants, she had them open before he could blink. Impatiently, she worked them over his hips and released his swollen cock to the air.
“God, Lainey, what are you doing to me?”
“Shh, I’ve been thinking about this all morning,” she confessed as she licked her lips, then slid them, warm and firm, around the head.
She pushed him back against the door.
Fuck!
She’d been thinking about
this
all morning? She’d been thinking of giving him head? Thinking about his dick? Sucking it? His thoughts as well as what she was doing to him were going to make him come way too soon for his liking.