Isn't It Time (25 page)

Within minutes of leaving Jack, I was already regretting my
decision. I was smiling and shivering as I drove, reliving memories of the
night before and already missing Jack’s touch. New relationships were always
thrilling, but it had never been like this.  Because this time, the love was
already there – and what a difference that made. There was all of the
excitement and none of the uncertainty. I knew exactly what I was getting into
and to say I was overjoyed would be understating things.

I stopped myself from calling Jack - because wanting to hear
his voice so soon after I left him seemed a little too needy – but I was
bubbling over with the urge to share my happiness.

“Call Mom,” I commanded my car’s Bluetooth device.

“Angie! Hi!” My mom’s voice was high-pitched and borderline
squealy when she answered on the first ring.

“Wow. You sound like you’re in an awfully good mood,” I told
her. “What’s up?”

“Nothing. I’m just feeling extra happy today.”

She was feeling extra happy?  That had a suspicious ring of
familiarity to it.

“You know!” I accused.

“Yes!” There was nothing borderline about her squeal this
time. “Peggy called me. Your father and I are thrilled. Ecstatic. On cloud
nine. Tickled pink…”

“Mom!” I was laughing as I interrupted her stream of
synonyms.

“What?” I could hear the smile in her voice and I pictured
her pacing around the house as she talked – the way she always did when she was
pumped up about something.

“Don’t you think it’s just a little weird that my parents are
so happy to find out I just got caught in bed with some guy?”

“Oh, please. Jack’s not ‘some guy’.  My God, we’ve been
waiting for years to hear this news!”

“You have?”

“Well of course. The very first time your dad and I saw you
two together, we knew you were perfect for each other. Then we had to wait
practically forever for you and Jack to figure that out.”

“Then why didn’t you ever say anything about it?”

“None of our business. You know we would never interfere in
your personal life.”

“Well, that’s true. And I appreciate that.”

“No problem. Are you happy?”

“Happy? No.” 

“What?” Her shocked whisper made me smile.

“I’m thrilled. Ecstatic. On cloud nine. Tickled pink.
Elated. Euphoric. Overjoyed.”  I added a few more adjectives to her short list.

“Brat! You scared me.”

We both laughed as I pulled into my driveway. “Seriously,
Mom. I’ve never been happier. I don’t want to be too premature, but I see good
things in my future.”

“I’m so glad.”

“Me, too. But we’ll talk later. I just pulled into my
driveway. I have to pick up some stuff and get back to Jack’s house.”

“Okay. We’ll all have to get together soon.”

“Not
this
weekend, we won’t,” I said.

“No, I would imagine not,” she said dryly. “Let me know when
you get tired of each other and are ready to come up for air.”

“Okay. See you in a couple of years, then.”

She laughed at that – even though I was serious. “Love you,
honey.”

“Love you too, Mom.”

I disconnected the call and heard the beep of an incoming
text.  I pulled my phone out of my purse and looked, even though I was pretty
sure I knew who it was from, and saw two texts from Jack.

Jack:
 
Love you. xoxo

Jack:
 
I miss you. Hurry back.

The smile that hadn’t left my face all morning widened. I
guess I shouldn’t have worried about looking needy.

Me:
 
I miss you, too. At my house. Screw the gym
and the housework. Getting my clothes and the groceries and I’ll be back soon.
Everything in the vicinity of my lady lips is all aquiver. xoxo

I picked up my purse and got out of the car. I hadn’t even
reached my steps when he responded.

Jack:
 
Now I’ve got some quivering
going on. Hurry. Hurry. Hurry. xoxo

I was still laughing as I walked into my house and my phone
beeped again.

Jack:
 
And bring the macaroni and cheese.

Me:
 
Yes, sir. Do you need anything else?

Jack:
Just you.

I felt a warmth that started around my heart and then spread
to every part of me – right down to my very soul. I regretted every second of
every day I had spent away from his side and I just knew we would never be
apart again.

Me:
You’ve got it. Always. See you soon.

After hurriedly changing into clean clothes, packing up the
macaroni and cheese, and racing through the grocery shopping, I was finally
pulling out of the parking lot of the grocery store when I spotted a silver BMW
convertible pulling out behind me.  I might not have paid attention, except
that I had seen that same car, parked on the street a few doors down, when I
came out of my house earlier. I had noticed it then because I thought it was a
nice-looking car but I had never seen it in the neighborhood before.

I signaled and he followed me into the left-turn lane.  I
was beginning to feel a bit nervous and checked the rearview mirror to see who
was driving the car. Between the sun and the tinted windows, I couldn’t make
out anything but the vague outline of the driver, gender unclear, who seemed to
be alone in the car. 

I left him behind when I made my turn and he was stopped by
traffic, but a block later I spotted him again, two cars behind me.  I didn’t
want to make too much of it – it could just be coincidence – but I hadn’t
forgotten the danger that might be lurking, so I turned onto a side street to
see if he would follow me.  He did.

Shit.  I wasn’t nervous anymore – I was flat-out scared.  I
took a couple more random turns and he followed me every time, hanging back,
but still visible.

I circled around the subdivision I was in and pulled back
out onto the main street. And when he followed, I did what my dad had always
told me to do if I was ever in this situation: I drove to the police station.

I made a right turn into the parking lot of the police
station and watched the BMW drive on past.  I pulled into a parking space and
sat there for ten minutes, shaking, while I carefully inspected the traffic
going by and the cars in nearby parking lots, but he seemed to have
disappeared.

When I was feeling a little calmer, I called Jack and tried
not to freak him out.  Of course, he freaked out anyway. He was insisting I
should stay where I was and he would come and get me but I felt whatever threat
there had been was gone.

“Jack, really – I’m sure everything’s okay now. I only
called to let you know what was going on…just in case.”

“Jesus. Don’t say that.”

“Look. I’m fine. I don’t see him anywhere. And if I do, I’ll
drive right back here and go in and talk to the police.”

“Shit. I shouldn’t have let you go off by yourself. That was
stupid. I’m coming to get you.”

“No, don’t.  I’m leaving here right now and I’ll stay on the
phone with you all the way back to your house. Okay?”

He sighed into the phone before agreeing and I drove off. 
Just in case the guy was still around, I took a circuitous route, not wanting
to lead him to Jack’s house, but I never saw him behind me and I finally
relaxed completely. Ten minutes later, I was right where I wanted to be – back
in Jack’s arms.

I was perched on top of the bar in Jack’s basement wearing
nothing but a sheer black bra and a matching thong. I was overheated – and not
only because I had just finished stripping, at Jack’s request, while Lady
Gaga’s
Bad Romance
boomed out of the speakers.

I wasn’t the sexy, sultry type and I didn’t even try to be.
He sat in a chair and grinned while I played it for laughs, singing to him and
shaking everything I had in his face. I rubbed myself against him and licked
his neck, dancing away from him and wagging a finger whenever he tried to touch
me.

I had managed to gracefully rid myself of my jeans and
shoes, never missing a step – and I laughed out loud at how tickled my parents
would be to discover all of the money they’d spent on twelve years of dance
lessons was being put to such good use.

As the song was ending, I straddled Jack’s lap and kissed
him aggressively. His hands were all over my ass and he returned the kiss just
as aggressively until it wasn’t so much a kiss as a hot battling of tongues. I
rubbed myself up and down against the hardness straining the fabric of his
jeans and was so turned on I couldn’t think of anything but getting him inside
of me.

When I unzipped his jeans and freed him, he stood without
breaking the kiss and supported my weight with one arm under my ass and the
other across my back. My hands were in his hair and my legs clenched around his
waist - and I continued to rub against his abs, desperate for friction - as I
held on.

Jack kicked a stool out of the way and set me down on top of
the bar. I tightened my legs and pulled him in even closer. Marvin Gaye started
singing
Let’s Get It On
and Jack’s hands slid up my face and into my
hair as he gently pulled his lips away from mine.

“Slow it down, baby,” he whispered against my temple. “We’ve
got all day.”

I whimpered in protest but then he was kissing me again -
slowly, seductively, sweetly – and I fell easily into the rhythm and the
emotion of his kiss. I slid my hands beneath his shirt, pushing it up, needing
to feel his skin against mine. He raised his arms and allowed me to take it off
of him and drop it on the bar before pulling me tightly against him and
bringing his mouth to my ear.

“I’ve always wanted to eat your pussy while you were sitting
on this bar,” he murmured into my ear.

God! There was something about the changed timbre of his
voice when he said those kinds of things that made my whole body shiver, and I
nearly climaxed on the spot. “Well, don’t let me stop you,” I said.

He was smiling when he turned his head and licked across my
jaw and down my neck. His hands moved up my back and unhooked my bra and he
slowly slid the straps down my arms as he kissed his way down to my breasts.

I arched back, thrusting my breasts forward and tangling my
hands in his hair.  A movement at the patio doors caught my eye and I yelped,
slapping my hand across my chest to catch my falling bra.

Jack jolted and pulled me to him protectively before
twisting his neck and looking towards the door.  “Jesus Christ,” he muttered. 
He grabbed his shirt from the bar and pulled it down over my head.  I slid my
arms in the sleeves and straightened into it as Jack zipped his erection back
into his pants with a wince. He gave me a quick once over to be sure I was
covered before turning away from me. The silence in the room was deafening when
a click of the remote stopped the music and he walked away to let Finn in.

I slid from my seat and snagged my jeans from the floor,
moving behind the bar to yank them on.  I crouched down out of sight and
reached under Jack’s shirt to re-hook my bra, peeking up over the top of the
bar just in time to hear Jack say, “Jesus Christ, Finn – didn’t your mother
ever tell you to call before stopping by?”

“Hey, I tried.  And I also rang the doorbell twice.” He
stepped inside and glanced over at me.  I straightened up from behind the bar,
not wanting to look as if I was hiding – even if I was - and felt myself blush.
Then he looked back at Jack and smirked. “Just friends, huh?”

Jack gave him a scathing look. “Things change. What do you
want, Finn?”

“I’ve got some information for you.” He strode over to the
bar and plopped himself down right in front of me. “Hey, Angie,” he said with a
wink.

“Hey, Finn.” If my greeting was less than enthusiastic, it
was because I was mortified, wondering exactly how much he had seen before I
had seen him. Another blush heated up my face and I wasn’t able to look him in
the eye.

Jack came around the bar and stood next to me, his arm
around my waist and a possessive hand on my hip. “Do you want a beer?” he asked
Finn.

“No, thanks. This isn’t going to take long.  I’ve just got a
few questions about this information I have then I’ll let you two kids get back
to what you were doing.”

I blushed again, then blew out a breath and told myself to
get over it.  People had sex all the time. So what. In Finn’s line of work, he
probably saw a lot more of it than the average person. I imagined him skulking
about in the darkness, hiding in bushes and peeking in windows, camera at the
ready, as he tried to catch cheating spouses in the act. The vision made me
giggle and two sets of questioning eyes turned in my direction.

“What’s funny?” Finn asked.

“Oh. Nothing at all, really. I was just wondering if your
work put you in this position often. You know, looking in windows and catching
people in the act?”

Jack snorted and Finn laughed. “Actually, yes. It’s just not
usually so easy. Most people close their blinds.”

“A good tip,” I said, looking pointedly up at Jack.

He squeezed my hip and kissed my forehead. “I’ll try to
remember that,” he said.

“Thank you,” I said primly and he and Finn both laughed.

“So what’ve you got?” Jack asked as we turned our attention
back to Finn.

Finn pulled a small notebook out of his jacket and flipped
through it. “I’ve been keeping an eye on Heather’s house, but I haven’t seen
her leave it. And the blinds are always closed.” He winked at me again before
continuing. “I found the owner of the house. Guy by the name of Paul Gaines. Is
that familiar to you?”

Jack and I looked at each other, then shook our heads. “No,
never heard of him,” Jack said.

“Okay, well, he lives down the street from his rental
property so I went to talk to him. Older guy, probably in his late seventies,
and very talkative. He told me only Heather’s name is on the lease but she has
a boyfriend who works out of town. Said he shows up every couple of months,
stays for a week or so, and then leaves again. Said his name was…” he paused
and looked down at the notebook. “Robert Tierney. Does that name mean anything
to you?”

I shook my head again. “No, not me.”

“Me neither,” said Jack.

“Well, I’m not really surprised.  If she’s using a fake
name, he probably is, too.  Mr. Gaines said there was something about the guy
he didn’t like. Said he couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but the guy made
him nervous.  He also said he’s in town right now.”  He gave a significant look
to Jack.

“Shit,” I said.  Chances were good that this Robert Tierney
was back because he had been told the money was gone. And I didn’t expect he
was going to be too happy about that.

“Have you seen the guy?” Jack asked.

“Not yet, but I’ve got someone else watching the house for
me when I can’t be there. I’m sure he’s going to show up soon. We’ll try to get
a picture when he does and see if you recognize him.”

“Did the landlord happen to mention what kind of car he
drives?” Jack asked.

“No, but I can find out. Why?”

Jack explained what had happened earlier with the silver BMW
and Finn jotted down a few notes as he questioned me about it. “Okay,” he said
as he closed the notebook and put it back in his pocket. “I’ll let my guy know
to keep an eye out for that car and I’ll do the same. In the meantime, Angie,
I’d strongly suggest you stay here as much as possible and don’t go anywhere
alone.”

“She won’t,” Jack said.

“No. Definitely not,” I agreed.  The earlier incident had
scared me enough to ensure I wouldn’t be taking any unnecessary chances. 

Finn stood up. “Well, I’m out of here. Places to go, windows
to peek into.”

I smiled at him and Jack laughed as we came around the bar
and walked him to the door. Finn turned and shook Jack’s hand, and then mine.
“Have fun,” he said with a wide grin. And then he was gone.

Jack locked the door and closed the blinds before turning
back to me. “
Coitus Finnteruptus,
” he deadpanned.

I grinned, then pulled off his shirt and tossed it at his
bare chest. “Correction,” I said. “
Cunnilingus Finnteruptus.
”

Jack was right behind me and we were both laughing as I ran
across the room and got my ass back up on the bar.