Redemption (Iris Series) (34 page)

“I can’t believe how fast it happened.  She closed down the place, and is re-opening in about two weeks.  I’m putting out daily bites about it on my blog for her.”

“Good,” he said nodding.  “Any news on the douchebag?”

She smirked then got serious.  “Catherine said he’s completely hit rock bottom.  His wife left him.  She said the last time she saw him he looked awful.”

He clenched his jaw.  “I want you to be extra careful, okay?  Even though you’re not the reason he failed, it was his attack on you that spurred all of these things into motion and brought his issues to light.  I wanna make sure we keep an eye on where he is and what he’s doing.  He said some pretty nasty things to you that night, and if his mental and emotional state is a little iffy right now, I want us to be more aware, okay?”

She felt such a sweet warmth as he spoke.  He wanted to protect her.  It was such a strange and wonderful feeling she wasn’t used to.  But she loved it.

“What kind of work do you have to do today?” he asked.

“After I work on the blog a little, I have to get food for the dinner tomorrow night so I can prep some.  Clean the apartment.  That kind of thing.  I don’t want to have to worry about that tomorrow.”

“What time do you want to have dinner tomorrow night?”

“They’re coming over around 6ish.  I’ll start with some drinks.  We’ll eat around 6:30 or seven.”

“Okay.  What do you need me to do for you today?”

She smiled.  “You’re doin’ it already.  Relaxing me, making me feel good.  Just knowing that you’re here helps me a great deal, champ.”

“Well, if that’s all I have to do, that’s easy.”  He kissed her with a growl then backed away.  “Do you want me to drive you to get food today?  That way you don’t have to lug anything on the subway.”

Her eyes widened.  “That would be
awe
some,” she said sincerely.

“Good.  How long do you need to do your blogging and stuff?”

“Not long.  Maybe an hour to get things posted and pick up the apartment.”

“I can help you with that.  There are a lot of tea lights to pick up.”

“I can’t believe you got little holders for all of them.  Very detail-orientated, JBG.  Again, I’m impressed.”

He snorted, his eyebrow raised.  “I’m an impressive kinda guy.  I was wondering when you were gonna realize that.”

She rubbed her nose with his.  “I wanna keep some of them out for dinner tomorrow.  Why don’t we meet up in a half hour, then we can go shopping.”

“Sounds good.  I’ll come down and get you at,” he leaned over and looked at the clock on the nightstand, “quarter to one or so.  How’s that?”

“Perfect.”  She kissed him on the nose, then hopped off his lap and started to clean up.

“I’ll clean up,” he said as he stood.  “You just go.  The quicker you’re done, the quicker we get to see each other again.”

She stopped and smiled, leaning up to kiss him and wrapping her arms around him.  “I love you,” she whispered.  She couldn’t seem to help herself.

He grabbed her and said, “Say it again.”

She smiled even brighter.  “I love you.”

He dipped her then said against her lips, “I love you, too.  Maybe I’ll come down closer to 12:30.”

She laughed again, knowing that it was only 15 minutes from that moment.

“I better get crack-a-lackin’ then.  Let me go, you beast.”

He pulled her back up, and as she turned he swatted her behind.  Apparently that was one of his favorite things to do.

She jumped and sauntered out the door.

……

At 12:35
pm, she heard the knock on the door.  She’d barely had enough time to use the bathroom, post one of Catherine’s teasers, and do a quick write up for one of Janie’s pizza recipes. 

She skipped to the door and looked through the peephole to see Jonathan standing on the other side.  She whipped the door open, and beamed up at him.

“Hi.”

He walked in with a gleam in his eye, closed the door then wrapped his arms around her. 

“How much more work do you have to do?”

“Dude, I only left you like 20 minutes ago.”

“And your point is…”

She laughed.  “My point is I still have a little more to do.”

He kissed her, his lips lingering for a moment.  When his hand reached to her head and sifted through her hair at the base of her skull, she figured she wouldn’t be getting much more work done.

She thought wrong.

He pulled back, with her still leaning forward hoping to prolong the kiss.

“I’ll clean up the candles.  You finish blogging.”

“Then we can do more of this?” she asked, taking a leisurely bite out of his chin.

He secured his hand to her head and lifted her chin so their eyes met.

“We’ll definitely be doing a whole lot more of this, baby.  Maybe I’ll even take you out to dinner first.  Now go finish up so I can have you for the rest of the day.”

She smiled, they kissed one last time, and she ran back to her computer to finish up.

Fifteen minutes later, the candles were cleaned up, her blog was updated, and they were on their way to the garage for their outing to get food.

They drove to a great Indian food market in the East Village where Ayanna bought a lot of her spices and special rice for various dishes she liked to make when trying to mimic Ammie’s recipes.  For the dinner with her parents, she decided to go with an old family favorite
, a fried potato dish with chicken curry.

Ayanna and Jonathan held hands as she walked him through the market, explaining the different spices and names.

“I love curry food,” he said.

“You do?” she smiled up at him.  “Well, that’s good, because that’s what you’re gettin’
.”

After she found everything she needed, they headed to a local market that sold organic produce and free range, steroid free chicken for the rest of the ingredients.

By the time they got home, it was close to 4pm.  She put everything away, led them to the bedroom and flopped down onto her still unmade bed from the morning.  They lay there relaxing, just looking at each other, touching and smiling.

“You nervous about tomorrow?” he whispered, stroking her hair.

“A little,” she sighed.  “We’re not a ‘let’s sit down and have a family dinner’ kinda family.  Plus I know Dev can’t always be himself around them which puts my back up a little.  I guess it’s gonna be what it’s gonna be.”

“Yup.  You can only do what
you
can do.  The rest is up to them.”  

She smiled at him then touched his lips with her finger.

“Have I told you that I like you?  A lot?”

“Not today, you haven’t.  Just that you love me,” he shrugged with an eye roll.

“I think you need to have your dirty little way with me again, Mr. White,” she purred.

“Hmm,” he said rolling so she was underneath him.  “What should I do with you?”

“Anything you want,” she said, her breath hitching at the hard evidence of his arousal grinding into her.

“Oh, you know just what to say, don’t you?”

“I’m no dummy,” she chuckled.  “I know exactly what to say to get what I want,” she said with a twinkle in her eye.

“Yup, you’re wicked smaht,” he said with a thick Boston accent.  “So,” he hummed, kissing her chin then her neck.  “I want to take you out to dinner.  Or a late lunch, whichever way you want to look at it.  Why don’t you put on something sexy and be ready for me to pick you up in an hour.”

“Mm, I like where your mind is going.  And I don’t need the full 60 minutes.  I can be ready in 45, champ.  I’m hungry again, so I could eat.”

“Awesome,” he said kissing her again.  “I’ll be back in 45 minutes then.”  He looked her in the eyes.  “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered.

She shook her head.  “No, you are.”

He smirked.  “No,
you.
” 

They both rolled their eyes at their goofy lovesick play fighting.

“I’ll see you in a bit, gorgeous.”

“You got it, sweetie.”  Then she grabbed his face and gave him a big smacking kiss.

He grinned and got up, then smooched his lips at her and left her to get ready for dinner.

……

Jonathan decided to take her to one of his old favorites in the neighborhood, a Mexican place that had killer margaritas and enchiladas.

She had decided to wear the dress she had worn on the date from hell with Eugene.  Jonathan commented on it, and she told him that she wanted to wear it so she could get rid of the bad juju associated with it.

When they were finally seated eating chips and salsa enjoying their margaritas, they spent some time just smiling and enjoying small talk.  Eventually, Jonathan brought up his mom again.

“What’s your schedule look like next week?” he asked.

“Janie and I have an event this coming Monday and Tuesday, and then another one next Sunday.”

“Could you get away for a quick trip?  Maybe Wednesday through Friday?  I want to take you up to Boston.”

Her eyes softened as she looked at him.  Then she reached her hand up to touch his cheek.  She looked away, biting her lip.

“What’s the matter?”

She shrugged, feeling insecure all of the sudden.  She hated it.

He put his drink down then scooted his chair closer to hers.  He reached out and pulled her in a little closer to him, wrapping his arm around her.  She rested her head on his shoulder. 

“What is it, Yan?”

She sighed.  “I’m not usually the kind of girl a guy takes home to ‘mama’, Jon.”

He forced her head up so she would look him in the eye.

“To me, you are.  Talk to me.”

“I’ve never met any of the moms of my exes.”

“Good.  I don’t want you to meet any of the moms of your exes.  I want you to meet the mom of your boyfriend,” he said, deliberately being obtuse.

They were interrupted briefly by the waiter bringing them their food.  Once their drinks were refilled and the waiter was gone, they slowly began to eat in silence.

Jonathan broke the silence first.

“I’m not going to lie.  I’m glad I’m the first boyfriend to ‘take you home to mama’.”

She sighed and put her fork down. 

“You said yourself I’m crunchy.  What if she doesn’t like me?  That’s a definite possibility.  I’m abrasive, I know.”

“You’re wonderful, loving, loud, funny, abrasive, crunchy, talented, brilliant, and beyond gorgeous.  What on earth could she possibly not like?”

She rolled her eyes.

“I’m serious.  You’re spicy and keep me on my toes.  I love that, and trust me, so will she.  My mom has a great sense of humor.  She’s been keeping the men in our family on their toes for years.  You guys are going to totally hit it off.”

“I’m not an insecure person.  But you’re different, Jon,” she said quietly.  “I want her to like me.  I don’t want to disappoint you
or
her.”

“How the hell could you disappoint me?  You’re the two most important women in my life, and I want you to know each other.”  He hesitated.  “Do you
want
to meet her?”

“Yes!” she said without question.  “I would
love
to meet her.  I’m just a little nervous.  It’s stupid.  Forget I said anything.  It’ll be fine.”

“It’s not stupid.  It’s how you feel.  I know you haven’t had a relationship like this one.  And I’m glad of that.  It’s natural for you to feel uncertain.  But you know what?  It’s Day 41, baby.  Time for new beginnings.  I promise you, she’s going to love you.  She really is.  You have nothing to worry about, Yan.”

She leaned forward and kissed him on the lips..

“Thanks, champ,” she whispered.  “I love you,” she sighed. “I’m usually not this whiny.”

He chuckled. “You’re entitled every once in a while.  So you can get away Wednesday through Friday then?”

She smiled and leaned back.  “Yeah.  I can get away.”

“Good,” he smiled back. 

They continued talking a bit about insignificant things and when dinner was finally over, they got home in time for Ayanna to prep for the dinner with her parents.  When she was done, they decided to spend the night at Jonathan’s place and
headed up. 

Finally settling in on the bed to watch a movie, they spent most of the time touching and talking, laughing and giggling.  Because they’d both seen the movie before, their touching started to become less playful and moved into the sexual realm very quickly.

While he rolled her onto her back, he murmured, “What kind of lovin’ would you like this evening, my little sex goddess?  Soft and slow?” he asked with just a breath while he positioned his lips at the shell of her ear.  “Or something a little more forceful – like a hard fast fuck?” he asked, sinking his teeth into the skin of her earlobe.

Her heart was fluttering at his words, knowing that whichever way she chose it was going to be pretty damn good.  She let out a little gasp at that last question and he took that as her answer because a moment later, he pulled her to the edge of the bed yanking off her lounge pants and thong in one pull.