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CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX

GARRET'S 24TH BIRTHDAY

JADE

Things are still crazy busy with Garret and me. WaveField Sports has really taken off and we’ve opened three more stores in California and are looking at expanding into more states. We already have stores in Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon, but are hoping to open a store in Colorado in the next year or so.

I’ve become a lot more involved with the business. Last spring, Garret asked if I wanted to help expand the women’s line of clothing and sporting goods and, of course, I said yes. I love all that stuff, and now I get to check out all the latest items before they come out and decide if we should carry them in our stores.

Owning a sporting goods store has expanded my interest in all kinds of sports. I’m not just running anymore. I’m doing other sports as well. Garret’s been teaching me how to surf and I’ve been swimming in our pool and I’ve even taken yoga classes. I used to think yoga was boring but I’ve come to like it. It’s helped me build strength and increase my flexibility, which has made me a better runner. I did a marathon last May just to see if I could run that far. I finished it, but I wouldn’t do one again. I like to run just to run, not to compete. And I no longer use running to escape my problems. Instead I use it to clear my mind and relax.

I’m still speaking to young women, but have had so many requests that I had to turn some down. It was getting to be too much travel. Plus, I’m trying to get more involved with WaveField and I can’t do that if I’m never around. So I cut back to just two or three trips a month, and when I’m home I do video chats with high school students and community groups. I absolutely love what I do. I can’t imagine a better job. It doesn’t even feel like a job. It just feels like what I was meant to do.

I used to wonder why bad things happened to me. Why I had to grow up in such a bad home with an abusive mother and not enough money for food. I used to wonder what I did to deserve that. Why I had to suffer when other people didn’t. But now, I almost feel like I was meant to go through that. Like I had to in order to get to the place I’m at now. And using my experience to help others has helped me get over the pain I felt from the hell I went through as a kid. It’s helped me heal and grow and become a stronger person.

“Hey.” Garret comes up behind me in the kitchen, his arms circling my waist. “Thanks for dinner.”

Tonight was his birthday dinner. I made him lasagna, like I did the first year we were married. Only this time, I didn’t actually make it. I ordered it from his favorite Italian place and just heated it in the oven. He didn’t want to go out. We love our house so much that we tend to stay in a lot. He cooks or we get takeout and then we eat outside on the patio, which overlooks the ocean. Living here is even better than the dream I had in my head. It’s amazing.

I turn to face him, looping my arms around his neck. “You ready for dessert?”

He smiles. “What are we having? Chocolate cake?”

I shake my head. “Nope.”

“Ice cream?”

“Try again.”

“Hmm. Those are my two favorite desserts. I don’t know what else to guess.”

I smile and step back until I’m out of his grasp. I’m wearing a strapless white sundress and I tug it down slowly until it’s down at my ankles. I step out it, and am left wearing just my lacy white string bikinis.

“This is dessert.” I spin around, showing myself off. “But if you don’t like it, there’s some ice cream in the freezer.”

His gaze sweeps over my nearly-naked body. I see the want in his eyes. The need. The desire. He’s been traveling the past two weeks and just got back before we had dinner. Two weeks is a long time for us to be apart. It seems like months since we’ve been together.

He steps forward, his arms enveloping me. “Damn, I’ve missed you.” His lips crash into mine as his arms tighten around me, bringing me closer. Our tongues tangle as our bodies press together. I feel his desire for me and it fires up my core. He lifts me up, our mouths still joined, and I wrap my legs around his waist.

“I can’t go this long without you,” he says as he carries me to the bedroom. “I missed you way too much.”

He lays me on the bed, then strips his clothes off, his eyes on me as he does. He slides my panties off and lies next to me, gazing at my body as his hand drifts over my skin. “I swear you look even hotter now than when I met you. How is that possible?”

I don’t usually compliment myself, but he’s right. Expanding my workouts beyond running has really reshaped my body. My muscles are more defined, my butt has more shape, and being out in the sun a lot has given my skin a golden glow.

Garret looks better, too. I thought he was hot when I met him, but back then he still had the body of a teen. Now he has the body of a man. He’s bigger, more built. And he still has those incredible abs.

He slips his hand between my legs and his mouth moves to my breast. My breath catches, and I close my eyes, savoring the feel of his touch. I’ve missed him, too. So much that I’m surprised we made it through dinner without ripping each other’s clothes off.

I reach down and feel him, stroking him.

“Jade,” he breathes out. “I’ve really fucking missed you.”

“I missed you, too.”

His hand continues to tease me as his mouth moves back up to my lips. We kiss, and it stirs up more want, more desire between us. But it’s more than just physical. It always has been with him. Whenever Garret and I are together like this, I feel the love he has for me. The love we share. I feel it in the way he touches me and kisses me.

His body shifts, covering me, and I feel the tip of him, then all of him as he pushes inside me. He gazes down at me. “I love you. I love you so damn much.” He leaves soft kisses along my cheek and my lips as he moves in and out in slow rhythmic movements.

I run my hands through his hair. “I love you, too.”

He keeps his pace steady, not wanting to rush this, but I crave the release as the tension winds tight within my core, continuing to build as he moves inside me. I feel his muscles tense, his hand gripping my hip as he drives harder and deeper. My whole body responds, quaking beneath him as my release finally erupts in powerful waves. I grab hold of him as it does, and then I relax, my arms and head falling back on the bed.

Garret softly kisses my forehead and my lips, then his movements speed up again and he continues until I feel his body shudder and come to rest over mine.

We lie there for several minutes. My body is warm, still filled with sensations. That might’ve been the best sex we’ve ever had. Or maybe it’s just because I haven’t been with him for weeks.

“I actually do have a real dessert for you,” I tell him.

“I don’t need it. That was more than enough. That was amazing.” He moves off me to the side.

I take my spot under his arm, looking up at him. “It was even better than normal, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah. I mean, it’s always amazing but that was—shit, that was beyond amazing.”

“Did we do something differently?”

“I don’t think so.” He runs his warm hand up and down my arm, which is lying over his chest. “Maybe we’re just getting better at it. We should practice more so we just keep improving.”

“I agree, but to do that, you have to be home more.” I say it jokingly, but his traveling does bother me. He’s been gone way too much.

“Yeah, I need to figure out my schedule. Try to cut back on the travel. But you know, you can always come with me.”

“I will. But I like being home. I like this house and being here with Grace. I just wish you could be here, too.” I lay my head on his chest. “Garret, I don’t want you to become your dad. I mean, I don’t want you to get so into your work that I never see you.”

“Jade.” He waits until I look at him. “If you want me to cut back at work, I will. Just tell me. I’m trying to make this company a success, but sometimes it’s hard to stop. I’m competitive and driven to succeed and sometimes that takes over. I need you to stop me from letting that side of me get out of control. The past few months you’ve been busy, too, so I just kept working. But we need to find the right balance between work and this. Us.” He kisses me. “Because us is the most important thing.”

“I don’t want to tell you what to do.”

“When it comes to work, I need you to. I need you to tell me to slow down. Otherwise, I can’t stop myself. I’ll keep pushing myself to make this company grow.”

“But that’s what you should be doing. Growing the company. Making it a success.”

“It’s already a success. It doesn’t need to be the world’s largest sporting goods company. It doesn’t even need to be nationwide. We don’t have to keep expanding.”

“But isn’t that what you want?”

“Not if it means not seeing you. Talking on the phone isn’t good enough. I married you so I could see you every day. So you could fall asleep in my arms. So I could wake up every morning and see your beautiful face.” He brings my hand to his lips and kisses it. “And make you breakfast. By the way, what exactly do you eat when I’m not around?”

“I kind of skip breakfast when you’re not here.”

“See? That can’t happen.” He lays my hand back over his chest and rubs my arm. “What should we do, Jade?”

“I just miss you. I miss you when you’re gone, but I also want you to do whatever you need to do for the company.”

“I don’t care about the company. I mean, I do, but I don’t care enough to let it come between us. I can hire people to do what I’m doing. The traveling. The sales calls. I don’t need to be the one doing it. In fact, I shouldn’t be doing it. That should be someone else’s job. I should be doing the higher level stuff.”

“If you did, would you be home more?”

“I can be home as much as you want. We own the company. And it’s private so we don’t have to report to shareholders. We make the rules.”

I lie back on my pillow, pulling the sheet over me. “You need to make this decision, Garret. It’s your company.”

He shifts onto his side, gazing down at me. “It’s our company. Yours and mine.”

“I know, and I love the store. And I love being involved in it and seeing it grow. But I also love you . And I miss you, Garret. I miss you a lot.”

“I miss you, too.” His hand cups the side of my face and he leans down to kiss me. “Jade. I’m sorry that I even let it get to this point. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking. We worked so hard to be together and now I’m never here with you. We built our dream house and you’re living here all alone.”

I’m glad he realized this because I didn’t want to be the one to say it. I don’t want to hold him back from achieving his goals, just like I wouldn’t want him holding me back from mine. But this constant traveling he’s been doing is getting to be too much. I never see him.

“So here’s the deal,” he says. “Tomorrow I’ll call HR and have them work on getting some people hired. And I’m done traveling without you. If I need to go somewhere, you’re coming with me. But there’s not going to be much traveling anymore because I’m cutting way back. I want to be here. With you. Not flying to different cities. Staying in hotels.”

“Are you sure this is what you want to do?”

“I’m positive. I don’t like being apart from you. In fact, I hate it. Like I said, I just got caught up in the drive to succeed. To expand to other states and keep growing the company. But once you start down that path, it never ends. It’s never enough. I promised myself that I would never let work take over my life and I’m keeping that promise. We have plenty of money. I don’t need to work so hard. I don’t need to travel. What I need,” he kisses me, “is you.”

I kiss him back. “Are you saying I might see you every day now?”

“Every day. And I’m going to try to start working from home. You’ll see me so much you’ll be sick of me.”

“What about your trip tomorrow?”

“I’ll send one of my sales guys. I don’t need to be there. In fact, I’m taking tomorrow off. Shit, I own the place. I’m taking the whole damn week off.”

I smile. “What are you going to do with all this time off?”

He presses his lips to mine as he slips his hand under the sheet and brings me closer. “I have some catching up to do with my gorgeous, hot, beautiful wife. Unless you’re busy.”

“I could use some time off.” I run my hand over his smooth hard chest. “You sure you don’t want your birthday dessert? I got you an ice cream cake.”

“Later. I like the dessert I’ve got right here. You feel so damn good I may not leave this bed until tomorrow.”

We have ‘dessert’ again. And again a few hours later.

Tonight was a wake-up call for us. Actually, it was a realization for Garret. He realized how much he’d been working and how his life was becoming what he always said he didn’t want. He never wanted to end up like his dad, working all the time and missing out on life. But I think for a moment, he saw himself turning into that, and that’s all it took for him to decide to end the long hours and the travel and to start down the path we’d talked about. The one where we’re together, in the home that we built.