Page 12 of Moving to Love
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As Jeremiah watched her talk to her son, his mind reeled. She was a beautiful person, inside and out. He had learned so much about her this past year. She was caring, loving, and a great mom. She loved her friends and family, and she would do anything for those she cared about. All she asked in return was honesty and fidelity. She had been lied to and cheated on during her past two relationships. She had major trust issues that lingered with her.
He wanted to give her a good life. He had thought of little else while he was waiting for the right time to make his move. She was the kind of woman he’d always wanted to be with. His past relationship with Barbara, his boys’ mother, had been pure hell. It hadn’t been a relationship; it was casual sex when either of them needed it, and then she had gotten knocked up. She was a biker bitch all the way. Crass, coarse, rough around the edges, and too made up, too over the top—too everything. Thinking about it now, he couldn’t see how he was even remotely interested in her to begin with. She was nothing he wanted at all.
Jeremiah finished a text and walked over to Joci. “Everything okay?”
She put her phone back in her purse. “Yeah, it’s good. How about with you?” Her lips quivered into a smile. “I have to ask one last time, are you sure about…this? Me?”
Jeremiah nodded his head, “I’m very sure. How many times have I asked you out over these past ten months? Did you think I asked you out because I didn’t want to go out with you?”
“No. I…it’s just, you could have any woman you wanted—except maybe Mrs. Wilkes.” Joci smirked. Getting more serious, she said, “I’m just…nervous, that’s all.”
Stepping closer, Jeremiah reached up and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. Releasing it, he slid his hand to her nape and gently circled his fingers against her neck.
“Mrs. Wilkes is enamored with Gunnar. I’m enamored with you. Let’s go.”
She took a deep breath and looked into his eyes. Before she could answer, he said, “I just want to spend time with you and get to know you better. I want to share myself with you, and I want you to share yourself with me.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I can’t change on the drop of a dime. I’ve lived with this fear and these trust issues for so long; I don’t really know anything else.”
Jeremiah’s green eyes clashed with her gray ones. He wanted to change that for her, for them. He slid his hand to her cheek and rubbed his thumb where a tear had been not long before.
“I want you to come home with me to my house. Since you’ve eaten dinner already, I thought we could have a glass of wine. We’ll be able to sit and talk uninterrupted there.”
Joci took a deep breath and smiled. “Okay. I’m… A glass of wine sounds great.”
Jeremiah took her hand in his. He felt a shudder run through her and watched her eyes. She never moved her gaze from his.
“I have my truck out back. Let’s go.”
They walked hand in hand through the store and out to the garage area of the shop. They went out a side door to Jeremiah’s truck, virtually unseen, even with all of those people milling about. He opened the passenger door and motioned for her to get in. She looked at him with her head cocked to the side, and he smiled at her.
“Too late to change your mind, Joci. You’ve let fear keep us apart for a long time. Time to live a little.”
Chapter 8
Joci climbed into his truck. Jeremiah walked around and got in. He took a long look at her. She peered at him as a smile spread across her face, and he winked. That one wink shot right to her private areas and made her wetter still. If that was even possible.
She was going home with Jeremiah. She could hardly help herself after he kissed her. Oh. My. God. She was going home with Jeremiah.
He started his truck and put it in gear. As he started driving away from the building, he put his right hand on Joci’s leg and gave her a little squeeze. Joci looked down at his large hand on her thigh. He had great hands. Big, strong hands and fingers. Her leg looked positively small under it.
After almost a year of thinking about this, dreaming about this, fantasizing about being with him, it was going to happen. It felt dirty, the way they were driving away, knowing what they were going to do—almost like a booty call.
“Hey, what are you thinking about?”
Joci looked up at Jeremiah and sighed.
“I feel like a…a tramp…leaving with you. I’ve never done anything like this before.”
Jeremiah shrugged his shoulders. “I’m sorry. I was going to ask that I swing by and pick you up, but Gunnar wanted to ride and have dinner, and I didn’t want to intrude.
“But,” Jeremiah continued, “I want to see if we can forge a relationship. I’ve known that this past year you were scared, so I get that. A few months ago, when we started over, I wanted you to get to know me and know I’m good. I think you want a relationship with me, too. We don’t owe anyone an explanation—we’re adults.”
Joci sighed and looked out the window. He was right, of course. She did want more but was afraid of it. She was afraid of falling for Jeremiah and having him hurt her the way Keith and Derrick had. She wasn’t sure she could trust anyone again after that. Trusting Jeremiah was going to be difficult. She saw the way women looked at him and sighed when he walked into the room.
