Page 53 of Someone to Call My Own
“It doesn’t feel like home to me either,” Jon said when I brought it up to him that night. “I feel more at home in Blissville than Hyde Park too.”
“My house doesn’t afford an amazing view though,” I told him.
“Oh yes, it does.” Jon dropped a sweet kiss on my nose and added, “I’ll be happy as long as you are the first thing I see each morning. Your sexy body and tender heart are my home, Em. Where you go, I go.”
“What about your job?” I asked him. Vibe was a thriving club that would need his attention.
“Michelle has done an amazing job of running things while I’ve been home with you. I have every confidence she can run the club with very little input from me. I’ll still pop in there a few days a week during the day to conduct staff meetings and make sure everything is running smoothly, but I don’t need to be there in person every single night. Vibe was Nate’s dream, and it’s time that I find my own.”
By the time mid-March rolled around, I was strong enough to go back to my home and start living again. Each scan and test showed that I was healing beautifully. I had very few side effects, and they became less and less noticeable as time passed. Memphis had already settled into his new place on Maple Lane the week before, and I was eager to see it and talk about his plans for his comic book and vinyl record store. I wanted Jon to move with me, but I was afraid it was too bold of a move or too soon. I searched for ways to bring it up the night before I planned to return home but kept chickening out.
Jon pulled a suitcase out of his closet and started packing it with his clothes. I perked up when I noticed he was taking a lot of things, not just a few pairs of pants for a weekend stay. “Do you mind if we keep this house? Maybe use it like a vacation home or something? Especially when we come to the city for ballgames andtheater.” I didn’t miss the change in pitch at the end. I smiled because he was answering the questions I was afraid to ask. Jon looked up from packing when I didn’t answer right away. How could I with that joker grin spread across my face?
“I think that’s a great idea.”
The next morning, we loaded his trunk with the things he wanted to take to my… our house. He didn’t take the exit for the interstate like I thought he would but drove to an empty park instead. Spring was on the horizon, but it was still a bit nippy to hang out in the park. I looked at him with a raised brow, and he pointed over to an ornate park sign that read:River’s Edge.
My mouth fell open in shock, and I got out of his car. I walked straight to the bench that I sat on when I last talked to River. I sat down and rubbed my hand over the smooth wooden planks. What did it mean? Were my psychic abilities still intact? It wasn’t abnormal that I’d gone a few months without a vision, so I wasn’t sure what to think. I heard Jon walk up behind me. He came around the other side of the bench and sat down.
“This park was my first revitalization project to honor my brother.” He ran his hand over the golden plate that read:In Loving Memory of Nathan Thomas Turner.“Nate loved this city and thought she had potential to be the finest one in the Midwest. Since his death, I’ve had two goals: honor him by revitalizing his city and make sure he got justice. Gabe and his team took care of one of them, and I’m still working on the other.”
“It’s beautiful, Jon. He must love it too, and that’s why River brought me here for our final chat.”
“You think it’s the final one?”
“I do,” I said nodding slowly. “There was a finality in his voice that was never present before our chat here on this bench. You know what? I didn’t feel sad. I felt happiness and fondness for the memories we shared, but I sat here for a long time after he left, and all I could think about was the new memories I couldn’t wait to make with you.”
Jon pulled me to him for a long, tender kiss as the nippy breeze whipped around us. I stopped feeling the chill the second his warm mouth pressed against mine. His teased my lips apart and slipped his tongue between them to learn my mouth like it was the first time.
“Mmmm, you taste like caramel, coffee, and cum,” Jon said when he finally pulled back. God, his dirty talk never failed to turn me inside out, leaving me horny and breathless. He rubbed his nose against mine. “You ready to start making those memories together?”
“Here?” I asked, looking around the park. “It’s a bit chilly, isn’t it?”
“I’d never let anyone watch us together,” Jon said with a growl. “I meant other, non-sexual things.”
“Yes, as long as the sexual things can be tossed in on occasion.”
“Oh, baby, there’ll be plenty of that,” Jon said hoarsely. He put his mouth against my ear and told me the naughtiest, dirtiest things he planned to do to me in the months to come.
I held out my hand, and Jon entwined his fingers with mine. “I’m ready,” I said eagerly.
I’ll be honest; I wasn’t sure how I would react to life in Blissville, and not just because of the size of the town or Emory’s house. I had lived in various-sized towns and cities throughout the US, and some of my humble abodes I would classify as squalor. I madly loved Emory, and I wanted to be with him, but I’d never attempted a relationship of any kind before, let alone moved in with someone. I had always been more than a little selfish because my downtime was minimal, and I wanted to spend it doing things that made me happy or at least made me feel good.
A month into my new life, and I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. There I was, happily strolling down the street holding hands with the man I loved as we made our way to the newly expanded coffee shop in the center of Blissville. The Brew had become Books and Brew with the addition of a bookstore inside the space.
“I’m so happy for Maegan and Milo,” Emory said. “They’re such lovely people.”
“Who are they again?”
Emory looked at me and rolled his eyes. “The people who own Books and Brew.” Emory had missed their grand reopening and was eager to check out the revamped space. He’d explained that their coffee shop was one of four window fronts in their building. The other three had been empty and “sad-looking” for quite some time. “Maegan and Milo knocked down a wall on one side to add a bookstore then renovated the space directly to the right for Maegan’s new venture called Curious Things.”
“How curious?” I asked.Are we talking sex toys kind of curious?
Emory playfully jabbed me with his elbow. “Antiques, knickknacks, china, and other things she finds at estate auctions. She’s had an online store through eBay for a few years and decided to turn her passion for antiques and oddities into a brick and mortar retail space,” Emory said. “No whips, shackles, floggers, or cuffs.”
“Huh.”
Emory stopped walking and looked at me. “Is that a good ‘huh’ or a disappointed one? Something tells me it’s the latter.”