Never Too Late

With every passing second we stood by his truck in the rain, the more soaked I became. My shirt was clinging to my skin and my hair was plastered to my forehead, I was sure that I resembled a drowned rat but that didn’t stop Jordan from gazing down expectantly at me. “Well?” He tugged gently on my hand. “Are you going to come to the house tonight?”

“Hmmm,” I shrugged. “I was actually thinking about running to Sev to grab some wings or something, I didn’t have much for supper, my tummy is growling.” I pulled a hand from his and placed it on my stomach, smiling when Jordan’s gaze rested there too.

“Yeah…umm…” he mumbled something I couldn’t pick out but when I asked him what it was, he shook his head and told me that he was feeling hungry as well. “Why don’t you pick some thing up for the both of us and meet me back at my place? By the time you get there, I’ll have Jenna in her bed so I’ll be yours for the rest of the night.”

As badly as I wanted to make a comment in him being ‘mine’ for the rest of the night, I let it slide. “That sounds like a plan,” I grinned. After a quick conversation about what he felt like having, we said ‘bye’ and I took off towards my car.

I was going over what could possibly happen once I got to Jordan’s that I didn’t notice that the car parked beside me on the passenger side was Eric’s until I heard Mike’s voice asking me what I was looking so happy about. I told him nothing but he didn’t believe me at all. As I stood in the rain, peering over the roof of my car, Mike asked me again what I was smiling about. “Are you doing bad things with my brother?”

Laughing, I told him no. “I’m just going to Sev to grab something to eat and then…”

“You are going to do bad things to my brother.”

“No!” I rolled my eyes. “I’m just staying at Jordan’s tonight; he doesn’t like the idea of me driving the highway this late when it’s raining.” It sounded so fake when I said it but I knew that it was true, even if Mike didn’t believe me.

Which he didn’t. “Yeah, right,” he chuckled. “I’m willing to bet if it wasn’t raining, my little brother would still be begging you to stay in town.”

With a smile I told Mike to mind his own business before hopping into my car and speeding out of the parking lot.

Twenty minutes after I left the hospital, I pushed open Jordan’s front door. Even though I wasn’t living there any longer, I felt the same feeling of belonging as I did every single time I use to walk through that door and I realized that I missed feeling that way. It feels like home.

“Home?” I stopped dead in the middle of his kitchen. Did I really feel that way? Or did it have something to do with the fact that I was letting myself feel things for Jordan that I’ve been burying deep since we were in school? I didn’t have time to explore that further, footsteps in the hall told me that Jordan was coming my way.

“Hey,” he smiled at me as he turned the corner. “I just finished getting Jenna settled down – she woke up when I put her in her crib – I think Heather is going to kill me if Jenna’s cranky when I drop her off tomorrow.”

“She knew you were going to the hospital when she let you take her,” I pointed out.

He nodded and then told me that he was going to take a quick shower. “If you want to toss your wet clothes into the washer when you change, I’ll wash and dry them along with mine.”

While Jordan showered, I brought the food into the living room and set it on the coffee table along with some napkins and a couple cans of Pepsi. After turning on the TV and picking a DVD – Shanghai Knights – I wandered down the hallway to my old room, which Jordan had turned into a guest room after I moved out.

I had just slipped my wet jeans off when I heard the bathroom door open and listened as Jordan went to the washer with his clothes and moments later the water was running into the washing machine. I wasn’t really thinking, I didn’t even realize that I had left my door open until I was in the middle of sliding my damp panties down my legs and heard Jordan cough. “Anna…hum…”

My eyes widened and my hands froze at my knees. From my bent over position, I stared up at him standing in the doorway, gawking at me. “Jordan!” I squeaked shoving my panties to the floor as red stained my cheeks.

“I didn’t…” he started defensively but stopped when I gave him a dirty look; he didn’t like that. “It’s not like I’m the one who left the damn door opened,” he snapped as he spun around and stomped down the hall towards the living room.

As quickly as I could, I pulled on a dry pair of panties, gathered my wet clothes and went to the washer with them. Once my clothes were lying with his, I hurried down the hallway, trying hard to hide the embarrassment that I felt at being caught with my panties down.

The living room was darker than it was when I left it a few minutes earlier; Jordan had turned off all the lights except for the small lamp by the couch. When I came into the room, he glanced at me but didn’t say anything. “Listen,” I started, I was going to apologize for the dirty look but he held out a can of Pepsi to me and motioned towards the cushion next to him.

Grabbing the food from the coffee table, I sat down next to him and took the pop. “Thanks,” I mumbled as he pressed the play button on the remote.

We were about ten minutes into the movie when I finally turned towards him. “I’m sorry.”

His hand stopped in mid lift, the potato wedge that was on a trip to his mouth, dangling as he turned to look at me.

“I know it wasn’t your fault, it was mine, I didn’t think.” I felt my cheeks turning red again as I thought about it. “I was just embarrassed for some reason.”

For the longest time, he just stared at me, his eyes roaming over my face, searching my expression as if he was hoping to find something. I’m not sure if he found what he was looking for but he did smile and tell me that it was ok. “It’s just not how I imagined seeing you with your panties around your knees,” he joked.

“Jordy!” I poked him in the ribs and he laughed as he turned back to the TV and food.

I’m not sure how long it was after we finished the food that I started to fall asleep, only to catch myself and jump. I did this a few times before I finally stopped fighting it and fell to my side on the couch with my feet resting on Jordan’s lap.

It wasn’t long after I was comfortable lying down when Jordan nudged my legs off his and grabbed the blanket that hung over the back of the couch. “Move ahead,” he told me as he leaned to his side and started to pull himself up behind me. In a couple minutes, Jordan was resting comfortably behind me with his arm draped around my waist as we lay under his blanket.

The next thing I remember is his soft voice calling me, telling me that the movie was over and it was time we went to bed. I know I said ok but I guess I didn’t move because moments later I heard him curse as his arms slipped under my legs and back.

“What are you doing?” I asked him sleepily.

“Just wrap your arms around my neck,” he mumbled as he lifted me off the couch.

“Ok,” I buried my face against his neck and groaned. “You smell…yummy.” I took a deep breath and groaned again. “So manly and…yum.”

“I’m going to ignore you,” he informed me but I could feel his pulse in his neck, I knew his body wasn’t ignoring me.

When he entered the guest room, he crossed to the bed and carefully placed me on the sheets. “Anna,” his eyes were closed as he sighed my name. “Babe you have to let go of my neck.”

“Do I?” I asked innocently as I stared up at him. His eyes flew open, his gaze locked with mine. “Why do I have to let you go?” I questioned. A moment passed and I found my gaze traveling from his eyes to his mouth and back again. “Jordy?”

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and reached behind his head and gripped my hands as he brought them down to the mattress. When he opened his eyes again, I bit my lip at the raw desire reflecting there – I thought for sure he was going to kiss me, I parted my lips in anticipation but the kiss never came.

“29 days,” he bit out as he shoved away from me and disappeared out the door.