One Timer: An Nashville Assassins Novel Page 6

  I press my lips together as I close my eyes. “Okay.”

  “Okay,” he says, and I swear his face is bright with happiness. I don’t have to see it to know it’s true. “Can I take you away when I get back?”

  “Away?”

  “Yes, I want to go away, just us. No distractions.”

  I lick my lips. There is no answer other than “Yes.”

  When Jakob said he wanted to take me away, I really didn’t think he was serious about the no-distractions part. He was. We’re in the middle of nowhere, and I’m pretty sure the only signs of life here are bears. I’ve never been to Gatlinburg before, but it’s beautiful. Stunning, really, but I wish there were a Target around. The closest thing is a gas station, and it’s twenty miles away. Jakob came prepared, though, with food galore and card games. Yes, card games, because we’re teenage girls at a sleepover. Or maybe I’m being bitter because he’s beaten me twelve times at Uno.

  “Uno,” he says, all proudly.

  I glare. “You win. I quit.”

  He laughs. “You’re such a sore loser. Come on!”

  I change the color to yellow, and this guy puts down a yellow card. His last card, winning the game. Bullshit. I shake my head, throwing down the cards, but before I can complain, he takes me by my ankles and pulls me to him like I don’t weigh anything. Once he has me in his lap, he kisses me ravishingly, and I fall into the kiss. I always do. He holds me by the back of my neck, his cock brushing against my center. When we aren’t playing card games, we’re playing with each other, and that part of the no distractions is really nice.

  He tears his mouth from mine and sloppily kisses down my neck. He settles in the crook of my neck and runs his tongue along the hollow part. “Erik and I played all the time. That’s how I’m so good. I used to let him win, though.”

  I lean into his head, cradling it as my eyes fall shut. “Can’t let me win, huh?”

  “No way. I gotta show off.”

  I snort. “You’re such a pain.” I inhale his scent, my body going lax against his. “Your brother is the same age as my sisters. We should hook them up.”

  He laughs. “Which one?”

  “Probably Reese. Piper is too soft for someone like Erik.”

  He nods. “I wouldn’t know. I’ve never met them.”

  I grin against his forehead. “Well played.”

  “I know,” he says simply, kissing my neck. “I think this is the perfect time to ask if I can take you and your family out to dinner when we get back.”

  I move my lips along his brow as I tighten my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck. We’re basically one big ball, and I refuse to move. “I know my mom would love that. She’s been begging to meet you since Elli told her I was dating you.”

  I feel his lips curve. “Elli always has my back.”

  “Yes, it’s annoying,” I tease, and he laughs. “Speaking of, apparently dinner with her family did not go well for her and Shea. Her family, minus her dad and uncle, are real pieces of work. They treat Elli like she’s basically a fat cow. It’s annoying as shit. She’s perfect.”

  Jakob kisses my neck. “Funny, I think you’re perfect.”

  I nuzzle my nose into his hair. “I am far from perfect. You, of all people, should know that.”

  “How so?”

  “I won’t get where you are.”

  “You are where I am. See? You’re in my arms.”

  He kisses up my jaw.

  “You know what I mean.”

  “I do, and my position on the subject stands.”

  I exhale heavily. How is he so confident? So sure of us? I bite my lip as I thread my fingers through his hair. I didn’t want to bring this up, but the more I think about it, the more I need to know. “Elli told me that Shea told her you’ve been in a lot of relationships.”

  “You talking about me?”

  I set him with a pointed look. “She also said Shea told her you talk about me constantly.”

  He shrugs. “He isn’t lying.” He pulls back to look at me, a sly look on his face. “And yeah, I have been. I told you how many women I’ve been with—”

  “No, I know, but I didn’t realize those were all relationships. Did you love them?”

  His eyes search mine. “To be honest, I thought I did love them. But I know, after meeting you, that wasn’t true.”

  “How so?”

  “It’s different now.”

  Our eyes are locked as I ask, “What makes this different?”

  “You,” he says as simply as taking his next breath. “I swear to you, Harper, I’m not fucking with you when I say I saw you and I was done for. I know you just wanted sex. Hell, I knew that going in, but I didn’t care. I knew this would be more. You gotta admit, that first time, something exploded between us.”

  I could admit it, but I won’t. As I stare into his eyes, all these feelings start to suffocate me. I know when we get back, he has to leave again, and it’s killing me to know he won’t be in my arms like this. I know I should keep this light, but it actually stopped being light weeks ago.

  “I think it was you who exploded.”

  He chuckles against my skin, setting me on fire. “Of course I did. You drive me crazy.”

  “That’s been my plan all along.”

  His fingers glide up around my waist, dancing along my skin as he sucks on my neck. When he pulls back to look at me, I cup his cheek, and he leans into my hand. His eyes are dark and set on me, drinking me in. He’s so damn handsome. He has stubble dusting his jaw, and his hair is longer than it’s ever been, falling into his gorgeous green eyes. I lean my head into his, and he cuddles me closer. “When we get back, I want you to meet my parents and Erik.”

  I kiss his nose. “Might as well have a huge dinner so we all can meet everyone.”

  “I’m down,” he says without skipping a beat. “Name the time and place. We’ll make it happen.”

  I grin. “You’re serious.”

  “Like a heart attack.”

  “What if they don’t like each other?”

  He laughs. “Who cares? I like you, and you like me. So there.” The certainty he has in us makes me confident. I want to be scared, but how can I when he’s looking at me like this? Like the world is in the palm of our hands. He slides his nose against mine and along my top lip. “I found our song.”

  I eye him. “Our song?”

  “Yeah, like how Shea and Elli have one.”

  I fight back my grin. “Is it good?”

  “I think so,” he says, and then he pulls out his phone. When he pushes play on the screen, I immediately recognize the song. Gavin DeGraw’s “More than Anyone.” I love this song. I’ve heard it so many times, and I even saw him in concert. It’s a beautiful ballad, professing that he’ll love her more than anyone else. As Gavin DeGraw sings with the soul only he could have, I rest my head against Jakob’s shoulder. He holds me to him, running his hand up and down my back as the song plays. No one has ever given me a song and especially not one like this. I feel as if I’m on cloud nine. This one is special, super romantic, and I can’t stop myself from loving it. I don’t ever want to.

  Man, all my emotions are firing like crazy right now. I feel so damn good.

  I press my lips to his as his hands slide up my back, pulling my shirt up my body. When he pulls it off, he grins at me before capturing my lips once more. Since I’m not wearing a bra, he cups one of my breasts gently, squeezing it and loving my tit with his fingertips. When he trails his lips down my jaw to my neck, I lengthen my neck for him as he licks down my throat. I feel him growing underneath me as I lean back so he can nibble at my chest. He licks around my nipple before biting it gently. I cry softly, my whole body on fire as I arch into his mouth, needing more. He kisses the center of my chest and down lower before I use his shoulders to stand.

  He watches as I push down my shorts, and he very quickly unfastens his jeans, releasing his cock. I hover over him and lower myself down onto him, and he fills me to the hilt. On my feet, I raise myself up and down on his cock, making him slip deeper and deeper as my ass slaps against his legs. He holds on to my waist, his head falling back as I quickly drop my pussy onto his cock. It’s hitting all the right spots, and when I come, I shatter. I collapse onto him, needing the breather, but Jakob doesn’t do breathers. He rolls us over, pushing my legs above my head before fucking every single breath out of my body. He pounds into me, each thrust deeper and harder than the last.

  I can hardly breathe from how he must think I’m Gumby, but I don’t dare complain. Each thrust sets off lights behind my eyes, and I’m thankful we’re in the middle of nowhere. I’m screaming like he is breaking me, and to be honest, he just might be. I’m too far gone to even need to care. I want this. I crave this. All of him. I love it.

  When he stills inside me, filling me, he lets out one hell of a moan before falling on top of me. My legs somehow move to his hips and wrap around him before I nuzzle my nose into his neck. I move my lips up his neck to his ear, cuddling deeper as I close my eyes, our heartbeats pounding together. As he wraps his arms around me, holding me so close that we may as well be one, I realize something.

  I don’t want him to ever let me go.

  “Jakob.”

  He glides his lips along my cheek, kissing the side of my mouth. “Yeah, kiska?”

  I sigh softly as our noses meet, and he stares into my soul. “I think I love you.”

  His face breaks into a wide grin, his eyes so soft, so full of promise. “Kiska, you don’t think you love me. You do love me.”

  Now, I’m the one grinning. “How do you know?”

  “Because I love you. Have loved you and will always love you. You really have no choice but to feel the same.”

  His mouth captures mine then, and my soul sings for him.

  I think it always has, but I’m finally listening.

  In a Relationship

  Jakob

  “My mom is in love with you.”

  I laugh. “Of course she is,” I chuckle as I head up the stairs of the hotel where we’re staying. I was going to go out with the guys for lunch, but Shea is being a baby. He’s all caught up on Elli and convinced she’s going to meet someone else and leave him. For as much as he talks about her confidence being shitty, he should realize his is shitty too. That girl is in love with him; she isn’t going anywhere. “How about your dad?”

  “He’s on the fence. He says you seem obsessed with me,” she says in a teasing tone.

  “And? Shouldn’t he want me to be obsessed with you? Doesn’t that mean I will die before I let anything happen to you?”

  She sighs very loudly. “Stop. I love you. You don’t have to keep wining and dining me.”

  I snort. “I’m not wining and dining you, Harper. I’m telling the woman I love that she means the world to me.”

  I hope she’s smiling. I hope her face is that sweet color that drives me wild. “Well, I love you. Think of something gushy, and that’s how I feel.”

  I laugh. “You gotta do something to make me believe it,” I tease.

  She barks out a laugh. “Like what? I gave you head all weekend. My TMJ is killing me. I mean, that alone should tell you I’m into you.”

  “Or you’re into my cock.”

  “Well, duh,” she laughs, and I chuckle. I took the stairs so I could talk to her before I got to the room. I know once I walk into the room, Shea is going to distract me, so I wanted to get in my time with Harper before she has to go shoot a wedding. She’s always so busy but still makes time for me. Since our trip to the mountains, things have been amazing. When she said those three words I’ve been feeling for a while, I was breathless. Now I crave them. I love knowing how much she cares about me, and each day, she lets me know a little more. It’s been really good.

  I honestly didn’t think she’d let me meet her parents, but she took me up on getting both our families together. Of course, our moms love each other. Our dads talked golf, while our siblings just sat there. I swear Piper has a thing for Erik, but Harper thinks he has something for Reese. Erik said it was neither; he’s too focused on breaking into the NHL. He wants to play pro, and I don’t blame him. When you get involved with a girl, she can take over your life. Harper has done that for me, and I don’t know if Erik could handle the all-consuming love that Harper provides me with.

  “What about your parents? Did they like me?”

  “Harper, be real. My parents absolutely adored you. My dad says you’re the one.”

  She takes in a sharp breath. “He said that?”

  I laugh. “Yeah, kiska. He loved you. So did my mom, Erik doesn’t care one way or another, but he thought you were cool.”

  “Piper and Reese said I need to marry you.”

  “I wouldn’t complain,” I say, to which she groans.

  “I’m just now admitting I love you. Relax there.”

  “Hey, we’re one step closer.”

  She snorts. “You’re insane.”

  “Yup, insanely in love with you.”

  “Jakey,” she groans. “Stop. You make me feel all giggly.”

  “Good,” I say, overwhelmed with all the feelings coursing through my body. “Listen, I gotta check on Shea. He’s butthurt over Elli.”

  Harper laughs. “Why?”

  “He thinks she’s gonna cheat on him or something insane.”

  “What the hell?”

  “Yeah, new relationship and all.”

  “I don’t think that about you,” she says simply. “I trust you.”

  “Exactly, because we’re in love.”

  She groans more. “Bye, Jakob.”

  “Bye, kiska.”

  I hang up with the biggest grin on my face. When I reach the hotel room I share with Shea, I push the door open to find him sitting on the bed with his computer. He looks up at me and furrows his brows. “I thought you went out with the guys.”

  “Nah, thought you needed to talk.”

  Shea looks up, confused. “Huh?”

  “You know, talk? Where your mouth moves and words come out,” I say, falling onto my bed.

  “Shut up, asshole. I know what talking is. I just don’t know why I need to talk.”

  I shake my head, a small smile on my face. He’s got it bad, and it’s cute. I like that he doesn’t know how to handle what he is feeling. I think it’s because it reminds me of Harper.

  “Dude, you’re moody as hell lately. I don’t know what your problem is, but let it go. Did you and Elli get into a fight or something?”

  “No, I just… I don’t know.”

  He does know. He just needs a little push. “What’s going on with you, dude? You don’t call to go out anymore, and you are always with her. Is it really that serious?”

  “Yeah, it is.”

  “Really?” I ask, curious as to how he is going to handle this.

  “Things are different now, Jake. I’m not the guy I was six months ago.”

  I laugh loudly. “Well, no shit, Shea. I knew that, but are you seriously for real about her? I mean, we all know I’m for real about any girl I get involved with, but are you?”

  He just nods. “I am. I love her.”

  There it is. With a grin filling my face, I say, “Good. You’re getting older. You need to settle down.”

  He cringes, his whole body involved in the motion. “I never said anything about marriage, Jake.”

  I pull my computer out from under the bed. Figure I can play some games or look at some naked pictures of Harper. She sent me a few a while back, and when I miss her, which is basically all the time, I look at them. Makes me feel closer to her. “You didn’t have to. You love her, so it will be just a matter of time. Since this is the one and only girl you have spent more than a day with.”

  Shea just shakes his head. “You sound like my mom.”

  “She’s a smart woman,” I remind him with a nod. I love Shea’s mom. She’s a hoot. But his dad, man, he is a blast. He’s taken us fishing so many times, and he treats me like I’m his son. It’s nice. I bet Harper would love them; they’re just like my parents. A grin pulls at my lips. It’s cute that she was worried if they liked her or not. They didn’t stop talking to her and gushing over how gorgeous she is to her face. How else could they say they liked her?

  She’s so silly.

  When my phone sounds, I look down to see a notification from Facebook.

  Harper Allen says she’s in a relationship with you.

  I jump up, my computer going one way as I shout loudly.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Shea yells back.

  “I need my phone!”

  He points to the TV, where I had set my phone right beside Shea’s.

  “Ah, thanks!” I yell, picking it up and calling Harper. I can hear it in her voice that she is about to be difficult.

  Calmly, I say, “Hey there.”

  “Hey,” she says cautiously.

  “I saw your status.”

  “So? It means nothing!”

  “Oh no, you don’t. Don’t deny it, baby girl. I saw it.”

  “Well, still. I just figure…may as well change it. You know, for the sake of everyone else and because we are in a…relationship, I guess. I mean, I love you.”

  I laugh hard. “I hate to say this, baby, but I told you so.”

  “Whatever. I gotta go,” she says shortly, but I’m on cloud nine.

  “Okay. Love you.”

  She sighs sweetly. “I love you more, Jakob.”

  As I hang up, I’m grinning from ear to ear.

  I’m so winning at life right now.

  With the puck on my stick, I move it back and forth as my team sets up. This game is an all-out war. We’re fighting for the number one spot in our division, and with a win here, we’ll make it. Apparently the Blues don’t want to help us out and just lose. Nope, they want to be assholes and come at us like they’re gonna get in first. They aren’t even on anyone’s radar. When Welch hits the ice, I rocket the puck to him and head toward the blue line. Shea is there, yelling, “Dump! Dump!”