Page 16 of Halloween Hottie
“I guess it’s safe to say that you’re winning the breakup,” I joke, needing to make conversation to keep myself in check.
Elizabeth let out a quiet laugh. “I knew I was winning because I didn’t have to deal with his lies anymore. I mean, I could be holding a red pen and he’d swear up and down that it was blue. There was just no winning with him.”
“Sometimes we have to learn the hard way. Maybe that’s all he was. A lesson. Now you know what you don’t want when it comes to a relationship.”
She unzips her boots and takes them off, dropping them into the floor. My mind immediately goes to how she’s innocently undressing on the bed.
“Yeah, I mean, I don’t think that was a lesson I needed to learn the hard way. I already knew I didn’t like lying. But I guess I just didn’t see things clearly before. When we were dating, he would tell me these stories, and of course I believed them all. It wasn’t until we were a year into the relationship that I started catching on. I told him I knew he was lying and that if we had any chance of working, he had to stop. He agreed, but it was just another lie. Breaking up with him is the best thing I did. I actually enjoy my life now.”
She sits settles onto the bed with her back leaning against all the pillows, and she pulls one into her lap to hold as we talk. “I mean, there was an adjustment period, but now that I’m settled, I do enjoy my life.”
“Yeah, that adjustment period is hard. I remember after my wife passed, it was like I didn’t know what to do with my time anymore. We um… we bought a house after we got married. We were planning on living in that house the rest of our lives, raising our family there. But then when she got sick, we sat down and talked about everything. We knew she wasn’t going to grow old in that house, and I knew that it would be more than I needed, so we decided to sell it to be able to afford her medication. That’s when we moved into the apartment above the bar. So I’d go down and work and go back and forth between working and checking on her. Then when I was done for the day, I’d go back up. The two of us would hang out, watch TV, talk, have dinner. But then when she was gone, and I was back to working at the bar, I kept having this urge to go up and check on her.”
“That must have been really hard. I can’t imagine,” she says, shaking her head.
I nod. “It was, but it just takes time. You almost have to retrain yourself.”
“My situation is nothing like yours. You had real loss. I only lost a bad relationship. You lost something real. I hope that never happens to me, but if it does, I pray that I’m as strong as you are. You’re a really good guy, Jake.”
I shrug. “I’m just doing what I have to. I feel like most people in my position would do the same thing.”
She tosses the pillow to the side and curls her legs beneath her as she moves closer to me. “Tell me about her. What did she look like? What did she like to do?”
I smile. “She was small. She was barely over five feet tall, a hundred pounds soaking wet. She had long blonde hair that was always wild and crazy with curls. She had dark brown eyes that were like chocolate with swirls of caramel. She was extremely fair-skinned—she couldn’t go outside for twenty minutes without getting a sunburn. The moment I saw her, I was immediately drawn to her.” I laugh. “She reminded me of Tinkerbell, like she was my own little fairy.
“She was big into reading, too, that’s why, when we went to college, she had plans on being a kindergarten teacher. She loved kids and couldn’t wait until we had some of our own. We were broke college kids, so we couldn’t afford a real wedding. We ended up just going to the courthouse and then having a party at our apartment afterward. When we finally graduated, she got a job at the grade school as a kindergarten teacher, and my grandfather passed away, leaving me the building I turned into the bar. I was tired of my nine to five job and she pushed me to open the bar. She knew it had always been a dream.
“So, that’s what I did. I opened the bar, and we bought our house. She had only been working at the school a couple of years when she got sick. That was a hard time for us. I was angry, pissed, sad, and depressed. I kept thinking, Why? Why did I deserve this? Then somehow it all changed, and I realized that this wasn’t about me. It was about her. And instead of giving into what it was causing me, I focused everything on her, made sure she was taken care of. She was the only reason I had to live. So when she was gone, I had to find a new reason to live.”
“And that’s when you buried yourself with working at the bar?”
I nod. “I needed something to focus on, to dedicate my time to.”
“You’re stronger than you even realize, Jake.”
I look over at her and see her blue eyes glistening with fresh tears. My story moved her to tears? Something is pulling us closer, and I feel too weak to fight against it, too raw and exposed. I think back to that kiss we shared on the dance floor, how my body responded to her, and it only makes me want her more. I wet my lips and lean in, pressing my mouth against hers.
Her lips automatically open for me and her tongue finds mine. Her hands move up and wrap around to the back of my neck, her fingers lacing into my hair and gently pulling and tugging against the root. My hand lands on her hip, and I gently squeeze.
I pull away only a fraction. “I haven’t been with anyone since my wife,” I confess.
Her eyes open and lock on mine. “It’s okay. But if we’re sharing secrets, I’ve never had a man make me come.”
I smirk. “Well, I can guarantee you won’t be able to say that much longer.” I pull her mouth back to mine and something shifts between us.
My other hand lands on her hip, and I pick her up and set her into my lap. Her hands fall between us and circle around to my back. I move mine up to cup her cheeks, hold her to me while I deepen the kiss. My body comes alive and my dick hardens, pushing against her through my pants. The moment she feels it pressing against her, her hips grind against me and a soft moan leaves her lips.
That sound is like electricity, and it swims through my veins, lighting every nerve ending. I spin us around, placing her on the bed as I crawl up her body. My hips settle between her parted thighs and our kiss gets a little faster, a little deeper.
Her hands come between us, and she starts unbuttoning my shirt. I trail my lips away from hers and over to her cheek, jaw, and ear. I nip her earlobe and scrape my teeth down her neck, pressing soft kisses until I get to her collar bone.
She manages to unbutton my shirt and pushes each side of it over my shoulders. I remove my hands from her as I pull the shirt the rest of the way off and toss it into the floor. My lips find her neck again, and her hands press against my chest, moving down to my stomach and roaming back up. Her fingers graze my nipples, and they harden with excitement. Slowly, second by second, I’m losing control of myself. I’m completely lost in her. Right now, with my lips on hers and her body pressing against mine, nothing else matters.
The only thing I can even think about is sliding into her tight, hot body and not leaving until she begs me to stop.
Chapter Nine
ELIZABETH
