Chapter 69

Jon gathered the woman in his arms just a little closer. He’d slept a bit but it had been restless. Each time he woke he found himself searching for Tessa instead of rolling over and letting himself slip back under.

Even now he didn’t want to let her go. Beyond the physical there was also the connection and the laughter, both of which had been lacking in his life.

So much of the last five years had been about touring and his new ventures with the Soul and now Project Home. If he kept himself busy enough then the mess at home wouldn’t matter. If he was away, then his world wouldn’t crumble…it had always been waiting for him before.

But that hadn’t worked. His world had fallen apart; he just hadn’t been there to see it go. He tucked Tessa back against him and curled around her, sliding his leg between hers as they often slept. He couldn’t even explain the irrational fear that kept him from telling his family.

He’d been worried about telling the kids he was seeing someone new, even though that word wasn’t quite right. What did he call her? Girlfriend? Friend? Especially since he’d already told Jake that she wasn’t his girlfriend and the kid had a steel trap memory. He’d royally fucked up there and that was so unlike him. He thought things through from every angle, but with Tessa there was a new angle almost every day.

Of course he also thought that Dorothea would be his be-all-end-all when it came to relationships. Being forty-four years old and divorced had been easy. Lonely at times perhaps, but he was used to being alone. Now he was forty-four and dating again, but throw in love and he couldn’t seem to wrap his mind around it. Everything with Dot had been comforting and calm. The only time they’d been crazy was through their teen and early twenties. She’d been the one to ground him, the one to make him sit and think things through.

Tessa made him think, but not about himself for the first time in too many years to name. From questioning something as simple as getting a Christmas tree for his children, to as complicated as starting over again. He needed to take everyone into consideration, not just himself.

He willed the sleep to come, but could only stare out at the deep dark of night as it slowly brightened into day.

She stirred against him, her inner clock unerring as always. Her nails scraped along the hairs of his forearm and he sighed at the normalcy and the sweetness of her. The way she touched him just out of sleep amazed him. It was almost as if she wasn’t really positive he’d be there. He burrowed his chin into that sensitive spot between her neck and shoulder. “Morning,” he said.

She stretched a little and groaned when his hand smoothed over her tummy and pulled her flush against the erection that never seemed to ease around her. When he nudged the head of his cock against her entrance she opened for him with a sigh. Taking him into her as she always did, with strength and softness.

The pace was slow and unhurried, their bodies fluid with the slow climb to release. He reached around to find her slick for him already or still, it just didn’t seem to matter. They started their morning with a soft, slow ride.

Her name was both a whisper and a prayer as he shuddered through the oddly draining orgasm. He didn’t remember falling asleep, but he must have and he frowned when he found the bed cold beside him.

He rolled over and winced. His will may have been to go all night long, but his body wasn’t entirely happy with him for the follow through. He blinked away sleep and swore when the clock came into focus. “Shit,” he struggled out of the covers and stumbled into the bathroom.

Richie and his daughter were going to be there at 12:30 and Ava didn’t need to see him looking like warmed over shit. He stopped rushing when he noticed the taped note on his mirror.




Jon-

Have a lovely day with your family today and say Hi to Richie for me okay? Work will be non-stop but I’ll try to call you if I can.

I’ve had a tradition at all the stores I’ve worked for. There will be a special Christmas Eve reading tonight. Bring the kids if you like, but don’t feel you have to. I know you want time with them.

I’m sure we’ll talk, but if something happens and we don’t…I’ll be heading to Nichole’s parents for Christmas Eve and Day, but I hope to see you sometime tomorrow night if you can manage it.




Love,

Me




He tapped the Soul stationary against his lips and folded it in half. She was getting a little too good at sneaking out of bed in the morning. He closed himself into the shower and scrubbed down.

Making Christmas work was going to be a trick that was for sure. Part of him wanted to start a new tradition with her and the kids at the same time. What could be better than the age-old tradition of storytelling? It was something truly near and dear to his heart. He’d talk to Richie and see what he thought.

Ten minutes later he had a cleanly shaven face and a towel at his hips. He brushed his teeth and quickly blew his hair dry. Donning a heavy weight green turtleneck sweater he stepped into jeans and shoes and flew down the stairs.

Lotti met him at the bottom. “Would you like some coffee, Mr. Jon?”

He followed her into the kitchen and nodded when she turned back to him. “Do we have everything ready for tonight?” he asked and headed into his office, grabbing an envelope from his desk.

Lotti nodded when he came back into the room. “I’ve got a pot of sauce on simmer for you and Mr. Richie and the children. There are enough sausage and meatballs for everyone. Mr. Richie called and told me he would take care of the rest.”

She handed him a mug and he fell into a chair. Jon laughed. Richie did love the domesticity of the holidays. And he wasn’t a bad cook, either. He stood and grabbed a To-Go mug and dumped his coffee, refilling it to the top.

Jon put down his mug and turned to Lotti. He put his hands on her shoulders. “You make sure you have a good time with your kids and the grandkids okay?” He grabbed the envelope off the counter and simply raised an eyebrow when she started shaking her head. “C’mon are we really going to argue about this every year?”

She sighed. “You’re much too generous.”

“All I did was bump your tickets to first class.” He knew she wouldn’t open the envelope in front of him. She didn’t need to know that he’d also added in a bonus. Loyalty was far more important to him than even her superior skills as a house keeper. She went above and beyond for all the weekends the kids came to stay and dealt with his pain in the ass as well.

“Merry Christmas, Lotti.”

She hugged him, pulling away with a few tears in her eyes. “You know I love working here,” she said and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “You give those kids a big hug and kiss for me.”

“I will, you enjoy your vacation. Make sure those kids wait on you for the two weeks, okay?”

She just laughed, but they both knew she’d be the caretaker whether at his house or her kids. He grabbed his mug and headed out the door glancing at his watch. By the time he picked up the kids and got back to the house Richie would be there, even with airport traffic.



~




Tessa glared out the window at The Insider crew that refused to leave. She’d have thought that the gossip shows would have better things to do on Christmas Eve than to stand guard over her store. Wasn’t there a charity benefit with famous people at it? Hell, even the Red Bank Choir had to be more interesting than waiting to see if Jon might come into Chapters.

“Stop shooting daggers out the window, the customers are starting to get nervous,” Nic said in a stage whisper.

She instantly put a smile on her face, hoping that they wouldn’t look too close. She’d been tempted to call Jon about it, but was determined to deal with it on her own. She’d just have to get used to the press crawling around. In fact, she shouldn’t be surprised that they were camping out in the first place.

It had been on the news for God’s sake.

And she was a Jovi fan, so she knew all about the media wildfire when even a small mention was made about Jon and a woman. She just never thought she’d be the woman. She slid the books in the bag and smiled at her customer. “Have a nice holiday.”

The next customer came up and she automatically smiled. “Did you find everything today?”

The woman’s genial smile brightened in wattage. “Actually I did. I love the store! To be honest,” she lowered her voice, “I only came in here because I heard that Jon Bon Jovi comes in here.”

Fighting not to roll her eyes, Tessa kept the smile pasted on her face. “Mr. Bon Jovi has been very kind to us here. His kids enjoyed one of our Sunday Storytimes.” She’d settled on the half truth. It was how she’d met the man.

Her eyes glittered and sharpened. “Really?”

Tessa nodded. “Would you like to sign up for one of our Chapters Frequent Buyer cards? It’s free and when you spend one hundred dollars you get fifteen percent off your next purchase.”

The woman nodded, but the glimmer hadn’t died even with her schpiel which usually got rid of even the most annoying customers. “Absolutely,” she leaned forward, “Tell me, is he really as delicious in person?”

If she was a stupid person she would have said, oh yeah that and more. Because there really wasn’t any way to easily describe how he took over a room. Even with the awe quotient gone, Jon was an intense man. And his eyes packed a punch that even the most jaded woman couldn’t deny. “He’s a lovely man, and very polite.”

The glimmer turned to a gleam and Tessa swallowed back a flood of distaste as her brown eyes sharpened. “So is it true then, you are sleeping with him?”

Her stomach jumped, but she was sure her face stayed bland. “Exactly what part of, “he’s a lovely man,” made you come up with me sleeping with him?”

“Because we all know that’s woman talk for it’s none of your business. And seriously I’m spending eighty bucks in your store. The least you could do is give me some scoop.”

“I don’t need your business that badly,” she said smartly and pushed the books aside.

The woman’s genial smile faded to the polished bitch she probably was. “Of course you don’t, darlin’. You’ve bagged yourself a millionaire. At least for this month.” She looked her up and down. “You’re pretty enough, but do you really think a man like him will be satisfied with an older woman like you? Especially when there’s a pool of younger, hungrier woman who’d love to snag him?”

She nearly rose to the bait, the anger burned the back of her throat like acid. “That will be eighty-five dollars and sixty-three cents, unless you’d like me to void the transaction.”

The woman eyed the books on the counter, then Tessa again. Her smile cool and professional, “Well it is Christmas,” she handed over her credit card. “Saves me a trip to Borders.”

Tessa swiped the card and bagged the books, her smile as fake as Jon’s during a bad interview. “Have a lovely holiday.”

“Oh you too, honey. I’m sure you’ll get at least a lovely bauble out of the deal. I hear he only buys the best.”

She drew her hands beneath the counter forced her fingers to unclench.

“Breathe,” Nic said gently. “Just breathe.”

Her jaw ached as she unclenched and hoped she didn’t look like a manic doll on pain killers when the next customer came up. “Hi, did you find everything you needed?”

The distracted woman just nodded and started digging into her purse. Tessa fell back into the rhythm of ringing and small talk as the hours flew by. Luckily she wasn’t cornered by another reporter through the rest of the morning hours.

Escaping back to the floor when her two cashiers came in, she spent the rest of the afternoon re-shelving and helping customers, letting Nichole run the front where she was best. She escaped to her office around three and simply put her head down on her desk. Her stomach told her she needed food, but the thought of fighting the retail world had her cringing. She hadn’t felt right raiding Jon’s fridge before she left that morning.

As it was she was wearing her clothes from the night before, borrowing only a button down shirt from his closet before she left. Trailing her fingertips over the absurdly fine silk of the red shirt she imagined it looked far better on her man.

Sitting back in her chair she clasped her hands over her growling stomach. Her man. It felt weird to say it, even in her own head. In less than a month she’d gone from a single woman with thoughts only on her career and building her business to being in love with a man as intense and consuming as Jon.

Her intercom buzzed, “Hey Tess, Channel 7 is on the phone for you. They want to know if they can come in and cover the Christmas Eve reading you’re doing tonight.”

Tessa’s fingers tightened over her stomach. She picked up the phone. “Seriously?”

”Yeah, they think it’s cool that you’re doing it on Christmas Eve.”

“Slow news day,” she muttered. “Sure, I’ll talk to them. What line?”

“Two.”

“Okay, thanks Nic.” She picked up the line, “This is Tessa Donovan, how can I help you?”

She listened as the PR rep quickly and efficiently went through his spin on the Christmas Eve read and how it would both support the local area businesses and show how wonderful it was to keep the age-old communication of storytelling alive.

The fact that he didn’t mention Jon or his being there sold her on the first try. And hell, free publicity didn’t hurt either. She thanked him and prayed that she didn’t look too wilted by the end of the night.

With a sigh she picked up the phone once more and dialed Jon’s cell.

“Hey,” Jon said after the second ring.

“Hey yourself.”

“Hey Jake, why don’t you help Uncle Mookie with the tinsel.” Jon said away from the phone, “Sorry about that.”

“That’s okay. I take it the kids have arrived safely.”

She heard the happiness in his voice as he sighed. “Yeah, I picked them up around noontime and we’ve been decorating ever since. They love the tree.”

Her heart did a nice slow roll at the pleasure in his voice and the simple gratitude that was there without it being said. “I’m glad we left it a little un-decorated for them.”

His voice lowered and she heard him walk into another room. “I think I would have enjoyed using the tinsel in other ways.”

Her heartbeat tripled and she swallowed back a groan. “I’m not quite sure who you’d be hanging it on you or me.”

He laughed, his voice low and intimate, “Oh definitely on you. I like things to sparkle on my woman.”

Where laughter should have been, all she could hear was the reporter’s voice in her head. “I’m sure you’ll get at least a lovely bauble out of the deal. I hear he only buys the best.” And she tried to shut it out, but it was too late.

“What’s wrong, Tessa?”

Shit! She’d taken too long to answer. Shit! “Nothing, it’s just been really crazy here.”

“Why don’t I believe you?”

She sighed. He really needed to know anyway, especially if he decided to come out to the reading that night. “I’ve had a few…well, reporters camping outside.”

“Oh hell, I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault-“

”Of course it is, if I hadn’t come in there then you would have only had to deal with the regular Christmas bullshit.”

Her stomach plummeted. “If you hadn’t come in, we’d never have met. I wouldn’t trade that for fifteen news vans taking up half my parking lot.”

He didn’t answer right away and she inwardly cringed. “Look, Jon-”

“I love you, Tessa. We will figure this out, I promise.”

Every time he said the words, her heart nearly tripped out of her chest. She couldn’t decide if she was stupid or just lucky to have him in her life. “I was mostly calling to warn you in case you were thinking of coming in for the reading tonight.”

“I’ll be there, even if I have to fight a fleet of reporters in with my kids.”

“Why don’t we skip the fleet and have you guys come in the back door?”

“Your plan is better.”

She finally felt a genuine laugh bubble up. “It’s a good thing I love you.”

His voice leveled. “It’s more than I deserve.”

“Yeah, well that’s best left alone right now. You’ve got a house full of kids including that tall handsome one that I should leave you for.”

“Don’t say that too loud, Richie would probably take you up on the offer.”

“Then you better keep in line, mister.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Ahem, that’s Miss thank you very much!”

He just laughed and they hung up. With another big sigh she rose out of her chair and slid back out into the craziness that was Christmas Eve in retail hell.