I laughed and conceded, “If I have to.”
“Yes, you have to, or you could stay and meet them this afternoon.”
Even if that sounded appealing, I couldn’t because I was seeing my little brothers today at their foster parents house today. “I have a family thing today.”
“You never talk about your family,” she said, hinting for information about them.
“There’s not really much to say about them.”
“When are you going to let me meet them?”she asked.
I tried to dodge answering her question. “Why don’t you let me make it through meeting your parents first? They’re the ones that really matter. Then we’ll go from there.”
“Your family is important, too,” she disagreed. “I want them to like me.”
I kissed her on the nose. “Who wouldn’t love you?”
She smiled and said, “Hold that thought.” She got up to the bathroom and I took the same opportunity while she was out of bed. Luckily, Claire had provided me with a new toothbrush last night and I used it again to rid myself of morning breath.
She was waiting for me in the bed when I returned and I pulled the covers back and climbed in next to her. She snuggled up to me and I wrapped my arm around her, pulling her against me and nothing in the world seemed more perfect than this moment.
I looked at Claire’s clock on the nightstand and it was after eleven o’clock. I had under two hours until my appointed visitation with Harley and Ozzy and I needed to go home to get ready. “I really want to stay in this bed with you all day, but I have somewhere to be soon so I have to go.”
“The family thing?” she quizzed.
“Yeah. I have to be there at one o’clock.”
“I’ll agree to let you go on one account,” she countered.
I was definitely interested in hearing this. “And what’s that?”
She slightly lifted her eyebrows and said, “Kiss me so good I won’t be able to stop thinking about it the rest of the day,” she dared me.
“Oh, I can do that,” I said as she raised up and turned to meet me halfway.
My mouth found hers and she teased me as she playfully nipped at my bottom lip with her teeth, then gently sucked it with her mouth. She didn’t intend for it to be anything other than chaste, but even her innocent kisses drove me crazy with desire.
I rolled on top of her to take control of our kiss and realized too late I wasn’t in command of my body when I felt a heated yearning for her. I kissed down her neck and argued with my mouth when it wanted to go lower, but lost the argument when my lips trailed kisses down between her br**sts. I heard her gasp and felt her fingernails press into my back.
I slid down and worshipped her body with my hands while I lifted her shirt to kiss her tiny waist and flat stomach. She whimpered and wiggled beneath me and I realized I was teasing her worst than she had me the previous night.
I stopped to look at her face. She lifted her upper body and propped on her elbows waiting to see what I would say. “What is it?” she asked.
“I’m sorry. I got a little carried away,” I confessed.
She fell back against the pillow and blew out a deep breath. “Ya think? You did that on purpose to teach me what it felt like to need a minute.”
“I didn’t mean to go that far. Really. I’m needing a minute here, too, you know?”
I groaned and collapsed on the bed beside her and we both stared at the ceiling in silence. When I looked back at the clock, it was eleven-thirty and past time for me to go.
“I have to go, Princess. I can’t be late.”
“I know.”
I got out of bed and walked over to where my clothes were folded on her dresser. I dropped the pajama bottoms I borrowed and pulled on my jeans and shirt while she watched me from her bed.
She looked ready to bust out laughing. “What?”
She laughed and said, “I wondered if you were a briefs or boxers man.”
“And now you don’t have to wonder anymore.”
“Nope. I don’t have to wonder anymore,” she agreed.
I sat by her on the edge of her bed to put on my shoes. When I finished, she slid over and put her arms around my waist with her head against my back. “I love you,” she whispered.
I turned my head and whispered over my shoulder. “I love you, too.”
I took her hand around my waist and lifted it to my lips for a kiss. “I gotta go, Princess.”
She got out of her bed to walk me out the door. “Turn the alarm on when I’m out the door, okay?”
“I’ll be fine and my parents will be home soon so don’t worry.”
“I know, but now it’s my job to worry about you because you’re my girl.”
She smiled and said, “I love it when you call me that,” and hugged me to her tightly before I left the woman I loved to go see the brothers I also loved.
* * *
I pulled up at the Stevens’ house a few minutes before one and saw Harley’s and Ozzy’s faces pressed against the glass of the big window in the front of the house. As I walked toward the house, the boys came running out yelling, “Jessie, Jessie,” and met me in the yard, nearing tackling me to the ground.
I stood on the lawn with a kid hanging on each leg and I squatted down to hug them. “Happy birthday, guys!”
“Did you bring us presents, Jess?” Ozzy asked while he was repetitively patting my shoulder to get my attention.
“Of course I have gifts for my birthday boys. You know I wouldn’t forget.”
“Where are they? I want mine now,” Harley informed me.
“Harley, I know you’re excited, but what do we say about patience?” I reminded him.
“A man who masters patience can master anything,” he sang in a knowingly voice.
The Stevens seemed like a nice family and I was grateful for them providing Harley and Ozzy with a stable home, but I admit it irritated me to have to ask permission to spend time with my own brothers since I was the one that had parented them since their births four and five years ago.
“I need to talk to Mr. and Mrs. Stevens first, and if it’s alright with them, I want to take you out for a little while.”
The boys pulled on my arms, dragging me toward the house. “Ask them now cause I know they’ll say yes.”
I went in the house and spent a little time with Mr. and Mrs. Stevens and they were very complimentary about the boys’ behavior. When I asked permission to take the boys out for the afternoon, they agreed to allow me three hours with them and I thought the park sounded like a good idea.