Our Time (17 page)

Chris was trying to find me some
better work so I wouldn't be surrounded by people smoking all the time and
bring that home with me, but there just wasn't that much available. The guys
were giving me a hard time because I called Jocelyn every chance I got, but
they were just jealous. They had met her a couple times when she brought me some
dinner and had all but drooled all over her. I told her that later on, when we
were snuggled up on the couch after putting Olivia to bed, but she didn't
believe me.

"You don't see yourself very
clearly then," I laughed. "You've got everything a guy looks
for."

"Oh really? And what is
that?" she scoffed.

"Well I could show
you," I said wiggling my eyebrows and moving my hand toward her butt. She
squealed when I squeezed a handful and we ended up making out for the next half
hour until she abruptly stopped and kicked me out laughing. That happened more
than I would have liked, but if anything, it only made me want her more and I
think she knew it.

It was now five weeks into our
newly discovered relationship and I was still holding back for her. Anything
about the future seemed to rattle her. I asked her what her plans were for
Thanksgiving and Christmas and she got a little distant afterward. Although it
wasn't causing any problems between us, I wasn't going to keep quiet for much
longer. She needed to talk to me, to trust that whatever she felt about our
future, we would get through together. I wasn't going anywhere and I was
nothing like that grade A asshole that left her.

Olivia alternated between calling
me 'Adoo' and 'Daddy'. I finally realized that she noticed Ella and Josh
constantly addressing Ethan as 'Daddy' and she was smart enough to figure out
that I was playing a similar role in her life. My heart melted when she said it
and I could feel the contentment radiating from Jocelyn each time. I thanked
Olivia quietly many times because I knew that she was only helping my case.

I kissed Jocelyn every
opportunity I got and touched her even more. Some days I was pretty much glued
to her and she didn't seem to mind. I just couldn't get enough of her. She didn't
understand how sexy she actually is, and I wanted to show her. She drove me
crazy some days when she just lounged around in her pajamas. She thought she
looked lazy and dirty when she did that, I thought it was the hottest damn
thing I had ever seen.

I hadn't pushed for anything more
physical, but we never really got a chance to see how far we were both willing
to go. We were constantly moving and when we weren't, we were with Olivia. It
was frequently on my mind, though, which didn't help my frustration at all.

I missed her like mad when I had
to work and when I went home, and when I woke up and didn't see her. Maybe I
was turning into a crazy stalker, but I didn't want to miss a minute with her.

I had picked up a couple extra
shifts over the last week to make up for the time I was planning on taking off
for the weekend and it nearly killed me. Mumford & Sons was coming to
Portland Friday night and I was going to surprise Jocelyn. She was always
listening to their music and after we first met and I found out she liked them,
I had planned on getting the tickets for her. She had always wanted to go to
one of their shows, but never got the opportunity.

Her birthday was another week
away, but I had other plans for her. Maddy was already planning on watching Liv
during the concert and I was hoping to have some time alone together afterwards
so I could talk to her without any interruptions and tell her what I wanted. I
didn't have it in me to wait any longer and even though I felt like I was being
a girl about it, it felt right.

Friday morning, I got up earlier
than normal and snuck into her house. Monty stalked down the stairs, ready to
attack if it was an intruder, but his tail wagged wildly when he saw me.

"You stay down here and keep
quiet, okay? I'm going to go see our girls."

He jumped up on the recliner and
curled into a ball, apparently content to have it all to himself. I snuck up
the stairs and peeked into Olivia's room. She was asleep in her crib with her
legs sprawled out and her tiny hands clutching the big elephant I had bought
her last week. I watched her sleep for a few moments and fought the urge to
lean down and kiss her little head. I didn't want to wake her, yet.

I silently made my way to
Jocelyn's room and found her asleep with her head nearly hanging off the edge
of the bed. I never figured out why she slept like that, but the several times
I had woke her up in the morning, that's how I would find her.

I glanced around the room that I
had been in many times over the last few months, but rarely alone with her. Her
dresser had a framed picture of Olivia when she was a year old and Monty
snuggled together and smiling up at the camera. At least, it sure looked like
he was smiling.

Above the dresser was a board
covered in the strips of pictures we had taken in the photo booth on the 4th of
July. Olivia was smiling and pointing toward the camera for some and had her
head thrown back in laughter for others when Jocelyn and I were tickling her.
Some were of her face up close to the camera because she wanted to see inside.
They both looked so happy in all of them and I felt a sense of pride that I had
succeeded in capturing the memory of that day.

I turned back to the bed and
glanced down at her night stand. There was a framed picture of her, Liv, Monty,
and me that we had a stranger take when we made a trip to the coast one
Saturday. I picked the picture up and studied it. We had spent the afternoon
playing Frisbee with Monty and building sand castles with Olivia and after we
got home that night and put Liv to bed, we spent the next couple hours out on
the patio talking and laughing. That was before I knew she had any feelings for
me and I had known then that she was it for me. It made my heart leap when I
realized she had most likely had the picture framed before then, too.

Tucked into the side of the frame
was a strip of booth pictures of just me and her. In every one, we were stuck
close together and she was smiling widely. I remember how I was feeling in that
moment. I had wanted to kiss her more than I had wanted anything before, but
all I could do was look at her. The last picture, I had pulled her onto my lap
and kissed her cheek right as the camera went off. Her eyes were closed and the
smile on her face was breath taking.

I set the picture back on the
night stand and looked down at her. She looked so peaceful and beautiful with
her hair splayed out behind her on the pillow. I walked around to the other
side of the bed and climbed in behind her, wrapping an arm around her waist and
pulling her away from the edge of the bed and into my chest. She immediately
snuggled back into me and the warmth of her body penetrated my clothes and
spread through me. I kissed the sensitive spot where her shoulder and neck meet
and inhaled her lavender scent.

I knew the exact moment that she
woke because her whole body stiffened for a split second at the surprise of
someone else in her bed, but she recovered just as fast. I nuzzled her neck
again and placed soft kisses along her soft, ivory skin to her shoulder.

"Good morning,
beautiful," I whispered against her skin.

"Mmmm, good morning. I like
waking up like this."

"Good." I ran my hand
down her arm to her hip and caressed the sliver of skin peeking out between her
tank top and boxers. "Your skin is so soft." My heart was thumping
violently against my chest and I was struggling to stay in control. The things
this woman did to me without even trying.

"Mmmm, your lips are
soft," she said sleepily.

I was still kissing a path
between her neck and shoulder and the feel of her so close to me sent all my
blood rushing downward. I pulled my hips back so she wouldn't feel the twitch
in my pants and possibly freak out.

"What are you doing here so
early?" she asked. "Is Liv awake?"

"No, she's still asleep. I
was planning on making you both some breakfast so it could be ready when you
woke up, but I kind of got distracted."

She chuckled and turned in my
arms making her tank shift up, exposing more skin, and I couldn't help but
follow it with my fingers. I softly stroked her skin and leaned in to kiss her
lips.

"Oh no, I probably have
horrible morning breath," she said and brought her hand up to cover her
mouth.

I grabbed her wrist and stopped
her, no way was I going to let morning breath delay this any longer. "I
really don't care, I just need to kiss you right now." I covered her mouth
with mine and parted her lips with my tongue. She resisted for a moment, but
gave in when I returned my hand to the skin peeking out above her hip. The
small whimper she made caused me to get hard to the point of pain and my hips
moved forward of their own accord. She gasped right before her soft body
pressed tighter to mine.

Her hands made an electric path
from the nape of my neck to just below my shoulder blades while I moved my hand
to the soft, warm skin at the small of her back and marveled at the feel of all
the silkiness beneath my fingers and her sensual curves pressing against me.
She belonged in my arms, fit so perfectly.

She always smelled good, even now
first thing in the morning, and I swore I could taste her for hours after
kissing her which never helped with any of my thoughts and was more than a few
times pretty embarrassing while I was at work. She lit a fire in me that no one
else could and it showed no signs of burning out. Ever. Everything about her
made me crazy in love with her.

I deepened the kiss and started
to shift myself above her. I needed to be closer.

"Mommy, up."

I froze at the sound of that tiny
voice and reluctantly pulled my mouth away from hers. Olivia was at the side of
the bed and was attempting to pull herself up by gripping the blanket tightly.
Monty was right behind her and, amazingly, lifted her bottom with his snout to
help her up. Jocelyn and I were trying to catch our breath still, but I moved
back to the other side of the bed as Olivia climbed on top of her with a
giggle. Her hair was a mess and there was a dry drool trail across her cheek.

She was perfect.

"Mommy, seep?" She
looked over at me and smiled, "Daddy, shh," she whispered and pressed
her tiny little finger against her lips.

I leaned over and kissed the top
of her head while she rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath in and out. Her
bottom lip poked out as she looked down at her mother. I questioned my plans
for the night and leaving her for the concert. I would definitely miss her
every second.

"Good morning, love. Did you
sleep well?" Jocelyn asked softly and pulled herself up to a sitting
position with her back against the headboard. She was a little flushed from our
make out session and it reminded me of the first morning I saw her. Her cheeks
were rosy then, but this blush made her glow. I couldn't read how she felt
about it, if she was going to stop me anyway or if she would have let me touch
her more, kiss her everywhere.

"Moneen…" Liv started
talking about all kinds of things that made her excited and no one but her
could really understand. She pointed at different objects around the room and
named them, the gibberish seemed to be getting a little clearer as if she was
really saying the correct words and her facial expressions were so
concentrated. She was growing up fast and I could only imagine how bittersweet
it had to be for Jocelyn. "Mommy seep en Monnee seep en Daddy seep."

"Yep, we were all sleeping,
but now we are awake. Are you hungry?"

"Eat nana," she said
excitedly and clapped her hands.

"Oh babe, I don't think we
have any bananas this morning." Jocelyn was climbing out of the bed and
turned to me with a shy smile and winked, not helping with my attempt to calm
down.

"I have some bananas,"
I said, but then I was currently in a situation where I would need a minute to
compose myself before standing up and she knew it.

"Well," she chuckled,
"I'm sure you do." She sashayed over to her closet and grabbed her
robe from the door. I gaped at her, but couldn't for the life of me take my
eyes off of her butt. I was extremely disappointed when she covered herself
with the robe, hiding that beautiful curvy frame.

"I really do. I just need a
minute and I can go and get them."

She smiled widely and blushed
again.

"You aren't helping, by the
way," I said and wasn't expecting my voice to be so rough. Just looking at
her made my chest hurt and my fingers twitch.

She laughed as she made her way
over to me and stood just inches away. I reached my hand out to rest on her hip
and pulled her a little closer as she leaned down and kissed me hard, but
backed away after just a couple of seconds making me groan rebelliously.

"Well, hurry it up." I
watched her turn and glide back across the room to a waiting Olivia and Monty,
but she swayed and stumbled at the door and had to grab the frame for support.

I shot out of the bed and hurried
over to her, "Whoa, you okay?"

She was still gripping the frame
and had the heel of her hand against her temple. Her fingers were shaking. I
placed my hand at the small of her back and she took a deep shaky breath. She
was really pale and the look on her face made my stomach roll.