“No, just Shane. I didn’t see him much while I was growing up, though. My parents divorced when I was very young and Shane went with Dad.”
Jake squeezed Jenna’s hand and she welcomed the warmth.
“I’m sorry. That must have been very hard on you.” She nodded. “It was. I missed Shane a lot. And I missed Daddy.” She’d missed being a family. Her heart ached at the unwelcome emotions welling up inside her.
Jake leaned close to her. “And you want to make sure that your baby doesn’t suffer that same fate. Not having a father.” She nodded, unable to speak.
Jake slid his arm around her shoulders. “Jenna, I will always be there for our child. Always. I promise.”
AFTER BREAKFAST, THEY carried their plates into the kitchen. Jake put the dishes in the dishwasher but Jenna insisted on washing up the skillet. Finally, he agreed and disappeared for a few minutes. He returned as she was wiping the counter.
--- “All finished, I see. Good. I have a surprise for you.” She dried her hands on the towel that hung on the oven handle. “What kind of surprise?”
“Come on. I’ll show you.”
He took her hand, enclosing it in the warmth of his, and led her into the living room.
A package sat on the couch, wrapped in gold foil with a bright red ribbon, a bow, and a small card labeled JENNA taped to the top.
She picked it up.
“Go ahead and open it.”
She pulled off the ribbon and unwrapped the shiny paper.
Inside, she found a long, thin box with a cellophane window. Her gaze traveled the length of the translucent purple, vaguely cylindrical shape of the item inside. It had a bulge on one side. “What is it?” she asked just as her gaze followed the short curve outward then sharp change in direction over the mushroom-shaped end. Like the head of a man’s penis. “It’s a vibrator.”
It slipped from her fingers, then landed on the couch and bounced to the floor. Her face burned hotly.
He chuckled.
“It’s okay, Jenna. I ‘m not suggesting anything kinky. I just
wanted to let you know I’m serious about not pressuring you to have sex with me. I don’t want you coming to me because you’re sexually frustrated. You should only come to me because you want to be with me.”
He leaned over and picked up the box from the floor. The
vibrator.
She stared at it, not quite knowing whether to take it from his hand or wait until he put it down. Something about touching it at the same time as he was touching it felt a little too intimate, especially considering what she would do with it. What he knew she would do with it. What he probably imagined her doing with it.
Her face flamed hotter.
“I’ve . . . never actually used one.”
“Really? A woman with such lively sexual fantasies? Well, let me show you.”
“No!” she yelped, jerking back slightly.
“I don’t mean actually . . .” He laughed. “I’ll just show you what the buttons do.” He opened the package, then slid the thing out. He discarded the thin clear molded plastic packaging surrounding it and held up the purple device. “This part is obvious,” he said, indicating the penis shape that made up the bulk of the apparatus. He tapped the bulgy thing that curved out along one side. His finger moved along it, to where it narrowed to a small, delicate-looking tip. He tapped the end. “This is for clitoral stimulation. Here, give me your hand.” She drew back a little as he reached for her right hand, then realized she was being silly and allowed him to take it and rest her finger on the tip. It was soft and pliant. “Stay there for a second,” he said and pressed a button near the base. A whirring sound started and she felt a vibration against her finger. Light, delicate. She could imagine it brushing lightly against her clitoris. Heat washed through her womb and her nipples hardened, pushing against the confines of her lace bra.
He indicated the column of four buttons and pointed to the second button from the top. “This one changes the vibration.” He pushed it and the vibration increased, thrumming through her finger and up her arm. He shifted her finger to the tip of the penis. Oh, God, she’d started to think of the thing as a penis. Embarrassment encouraged her to pull away, but fascination kept her planted to the spot, allowing him to touch her finger to the long, purple penis, designed exclusively for a woman’s pleasure. Her damnable nipples thrust harder as though trying to escape their lace prison. “You see, you can feel the vibration in the shaft, too.” She sucked in a breath as she imagined that long pleasure shaft deep inside her, vibrating the length of her vagina. His eyes glittered in amusement at her obvious enthrallment. “Now, watch this.” He pushed the third button and the shaft started to spiral around in circles. She snatched her finger away, but her gaze stayed fixed on it, moving around and around. “It’s designed to hit the G-spot. The woman at the Secluded Hideaway said it gives quite an intense orgasm.” “Secluded Hideaway?”
“It’s a store.” He turned off the vibrator. The spiraling motion stopped. “They specialize in women’s sexual items.” He’d actually discussed this device with a woman in a store? Jenna would never do such a thing. She rather admired that about him. If only she were so relaxed about sexuality. “They have a full line of sex toys, lingerie, even women’s erotica. I bought a couple of books so you could try them out. On the side table.”
She noticed three books on the table beside the couch. She picked up the top one.
“Virtual Love?”
“You work with computers so I thought you’d like the virtual reality theme.” He smiled. “And in the first scene the woman is captured by a pirate. I remember you mentioned something about a pirate that first day.”
Oh, man, this stranger knew way too much about her.
More even than Ryan, at least in this area. “I figure you can read the book to get interested, then use this while I’m at work and I’ll never know.” He winked. “Unless you tell me about it.”
“For not wanting to pressure me into sex, you certainly want me to keep thinking about it.”
“Jenna, sex is healthy. I want you to have an outlet for sexual release. I can certainly be that outlet, but, as I said, I don’t want you coming to me just for that reason. If you and I make love, I want it to be because you want to make love with me. Do you understand?”
She nodded.
“Don’t you realize that if I wanted to hurry you into my bed . . .”He picked up the device as he talked and waved it in front of her. “I wouldn’t provide something like this. I’d give you the books and hope you ‘d get all hot and bothered, letting it build up good and strong, with no other way to release it. “Now, that said . . . “ He stepped closer to her. “I am a man and I do want you, so don’t let embarrassment keep you away.”
AFTER JAKE LEFT for work, Jenna put the books and the
thing
in the drawer in her bedside table and forgot about it. Actually, she tried to forget about it, but over the next few days, she opened the drawer and just stared at it several times a day. She actually pulled it out once and considered trying it, but what if Jake came home early for some reason? She’d be too embarrassed if he came in while she was using it, even if her door was closed. He’d probably be able to hear it. Five days after arriving at Jake’s, she sat on the living room side of the eating counter, her elbow on the counter and her face resting on her hand as she watched Jake prepare a fabulous dinner.
Oh, man, he was sooo sexy in his gray shirt with the top three buttons open, revealing the slight sprinkling of hair across well-defined pecs. He’d discarded his tie within moments of entering the house after his day at work. His pleated charcoal dress pants accentuated his trim waist. He wouldn’t let her help prepare dinner, using her pregnancy as an excuse to make her sit down and relax, though he did let her sip cranberry cocktail from a wineglass and watch. Over the past few days, she’d found herself staring at him often, a stranger with a familiar face. Now, however, she found herself noticing the differences between Jake and Ryan rather than the similarities. Ryan hated to cook and when he did, he followed a recipe to the letter, or prepared something from a box. Jake seemed to fling in spices at random with a quick sprinkle or two from various hand-labeled bottles. He had a stand in the kitchen window with a variety of fresh herbs growing in small pots.
Jake glanced up at her as she stared at the plants.
“Do you like to cook, Jenna?”
She grimaced, her gaze gliding around his gourmet kitchen, with the brass-bottomed pots hanging from the ceiling, the complicated-looking appliances on the marble countertop, and the fancy utensils in a ceramic stand by the six-burner stove and double oven.
“Not like you obviously do. I cook because I have to eat, that’s all. I love to bake, but the results are too tempting, so I don’t do it very often. Just for
the holidays.”
Baking Christmas cookies was one of the rare childhood traditions she remembered that included Shane. Whenever he had visited Jenna and their mom over the holidays, the three of them baked fancy-shaped cookies and decorated them with colorful sugar, icing, and sprinkles. Shane had particularly liked the silver balls made of sugar and Jenna had loved the glittery red and green sugar.
Jake smiled, his eyes twinkling. “I can just see you in this kitchen, your face smudged with flour, as you help our son or daughter cut shapes out of cookie dough.”
Her hand slid to her stomach. She sensed the life growing inside her and maternal warmth washed through her. She longed for that day.
“And what would you be doing?” she asked.
“Basting the turkey, of course.”
She grew misty at the lovely family image that triggered in her mind. Their child laughing as flour plumed in the air after the bag dropped to the floor. Jake laughing as he swept the little one into his arms and twirled him around. Just like her daddy had done with her—before he’d left.
A happy family. Christmastime together.
Her heart ached. She wanted that so much. From everything she knew of Jake, she was sure he’d be a fabulous father. And a wonderful husband.
“Why don’t you pick a movie for us to watch after dinner?” he suggested.
“Okay.” She shifted off the stool and strolled to the shelves along the wall beside the huge high-def TV on the main wall. She dragged her finger along the spines of the DVD cases. Judging from his collection, he liked different movies than Ryan, or rather a wider variety. Ryan liked sci-fi thrillers and -movies with military espionage as the theme. Jake seemed to like those, too, but he also had comedies, mysteries, fantasy, drama, and some offbeat flicks. Her finger stopped on
Run, Lola, Run,
a fast-paced character-driven German film where a young woman repeated the same forty-five minutes trying to save her boyfriend’s life several times, allowing her to learn more about herself and the people around her. She skimmed along farther and stopped at the old movie
Bell, Book, and Candle
with Kim Novak and James Stewart, a movie about a witch in New York who casts a spell on a man but accidentally falls in love with him, losing her powers. It was one of her absolute favorites.
Also among his collection was
Paternity
with Burt Reynolds. Her cheeks heated as she remembered that this movie was the one that had given her the idea of wanting to act out the fantasy of having sex with a stranger. There was a funny scene in the movie where Burt Reynolds did exactly that with the heroine to make sex between them more exciting.
Jenna’s fantasy had never been about having sex with an actual stranger, but about spicing up her sex life with Ryan by pretending to be strangers.
She pulled out the movie and stared at the back, not really seeing it. Now she thought about sex with an actual stranger. A stranger who was becoming very familiar. Well, why not? Jake had explained to her that Ryan was giving her this chance to get to know Jake. Ryan knew there was a high probability of Jenna having sex with Jake. She knew that because she’d drilled Ryan on the question. He had been reluctant, but had agreed when she ‘d said to be fair she should be able to explore that side of her and Jake’s relationship. She hadn’t really intended to do it. After all, she and Jake already knew they were compatible sexually. As she stared at the movie in her hand, she thought about the fact that she was already getting to know Jake. Soon, he wouldn’t be a stranger at all. That was good, but a little devil voice inside her screamed that her opportunity to try sex with a real stranger, in the only way she would ever consider it, was fast slipping away.
“How did I know you’d be a fan of that movie?” Jenna’s gaze slashed to Jake, standing in the doorway from the kitchen with a steaming casserole dish in his oven mitt-covered hands. God, how did the man manage to look so sexy in kitchen attire? She jabbed the movie back onto the shelf. He raised an eyebrow and smiled knowingly. The beef stroganoff he’d made was absolutely delicious. After the meal, they settled on the couch to watch a comedy she quickly selected from the shelf, not paying much attention to anything about it except that it wasn’t
Paternity.
Sam curled up on the couch beside her.
Unfortunately, she’d selected
American Pie 2,
which she’d vaguely mistaken for
American Beauty.
The movie turned out to be a sexy teen movie about college friends looking for sex. During the scene where two young women pretended to be lesbians to tease the guys, Jenna found herself surreptitiously glancing in Jake’s direction, wondering if this was one of his fantasies. Didn’t all men want girl-on-girl action? Certainly the moviemaker seemed to think so; one character hiding at the window accidentally transmitted his description of what he saw across the radio waves and every man in the county seemed to be drooling over the situation the main characters found themselves in.