After dinner, Jess and I walked around town for a little while opening up to each other about everything in the nooks and crannies of our lives. I knew so much about Jess, but I enjoyed hearing more stories about her life before living in the States, how she met Sierra, and more about her previous nanny jobs.
Our relationship had its rocky moments, and I wasn’t sure we went about everything in the correct order, but I also wasn’t certain that we would have ended up together in Australia if they didn’t work out in the way they did. If we didn’t fight and I didn’t lose her, then I wouldn’t have had the motivation to leave the job that had a stranglehold on my life.
With the way I was working, I would have been a tired-looking sixty-year-old who missed out on his only child’s life. Gina would be off and married with her own kids, and I’d be left with nothing. Now I had Jess. And I had the opportunity to be there for Gina when she needed me most.
“Let’s get out of here,” I said to Jess, unable to hold in what I really wanted to say.
Once we were inside our house, I took Jess out on the terrace. We gazed out at the ocean for a few minutes before she started to shiver.
I was running out of time for this perfect moment. “Jess, I want to tell you something.”
“What is it?” she asked, expectantly.
“I love you.”
She blinked several times.
“I’ve wanted to tell you that for some time. Then Gina goes and does it first, so I had to wait a little while.”
After Wendy died, I never thought I’d say it again to anyone but Gina. I never wanted to either. Until I met Jess. And I didn’t want to hold back anything from her.
Jess laughed and wrapped her arms around my neck. “I love you too, Noah. So much.”
I dropped my lips to hers and lifted her off the ground. My body screamed for her, and I started to walk inside.
Jess wrapped her legs around my waist as I closed the glass door behind us.
Her breathing intensified as we kissed. When I reached the stairs, I lowered her to the ground. She remained on her toes as she broke the kiss.
“Now, let’s make this official,” I said, leading her up to our bedroom.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Jess
My body buzzed from Noah’s words. He loved me! I knew he did, but hearing it was different. And for some reason, his admitting that to me made me want him more than I ever did before.
Once we reached the bedroom, I started to kick off my heels.
“No,” he said. “Leave them on.”
I stood in front of him. With the extra height, I didn’t have to reach up as high to get to him. Our mouths crushed against each other and we kissed passionately. Noah’s tongue was soft and slow against mine. The shift from our usual lovemaking was distinct. Usually, we couldn’t wait to get our clothes off of each other, but I wanted to take this slow. Gina was safe with Mom for the night, so we didn’t have to rush or try and keep our voices down.
Noah pulled me against his body. My nipples were already hard and sensitive against him.
His cock grew hard against my leg, and I reached down to gently move my hand over it.
Noah groaned into my mouth. “You don’t know what you do to me, Jess.”
I tightened my grip on him, just a little more. “I think I do.”
My mouth watered for him and I pulled him in for another kiss.
His hands moved against my back, slowly tugging at the zipper, traveling down from between my shoulders, all the way down to my butt.
His cool hand slipped inside of my dress. I shivered at his touch. He moved his hands to either side of the zipper and pulled. The sleeves fell off my shoulders, and the dress crumpled at my feet. I kicked the dress away and stood in front of him in only my underwear and a pair of high heels.
Noah took a step back and looked at me appreciatively.