Page 39 of Jobe

Jobe turned and allowed Penny to hug him as well. Nodding to his mom, he walked with Penny out to the back deck for a rare moment of privacy.

“Mrs. Dunn, I assume that you have some fears about this. I hurt your daughter once and I know I lost your trust with that. I don’t blame you at all. In fact, if I’m lucky enough to ever have a daughter and someone hurts her as badly as I messed up? I’d pound the shit outta ‘em.”

Penny nodded, her genuine smile still in place. “Ah know. But ah prayed ya coul both fin hap-e-ness agan.”

“I won’t go into all of the details, ma’am, and Mackenna can tell you those as you want them, but suffice it to say that when I broke things off, I truly wasn’t in my right mind. The choice seemed right at the time, but it took a while…and honestly, some counseling, to help me see that I was just reacting to a fu—um, messed up situation.”

“Sometime, love ha to fin its own way,” Penny acknowledged.

Just then Mackenna walked out onto the porch, seeing her mother and Jobe deep in conversation. “Hey, you two. Is everything all right?”

Penny stepped over to her daughter, hugging her close and said, “It is now.” Winking at Jobe, she moved inside.

Mackenna walked to the edge of the porch and leaned her hip against the railing as she turned to watch the man in front of her. He did not move. He just stood. Staring.

“You’re beautiful, you know?” he said, softly.

Ducking her head, she smiled as she heard him step closer. And closer. Until his boots were directly in front of her shoes. Lifting her head, her eyes were in line with his massive chest before moving up to his square jaw and beautiful eyes. His muscular arms came to the railing on either side of her, pinning her in.

“Are you okay? With us, I mean?” he asked, concern etched on his face.

She realized that he was suddenly insecure. A smile curved the corners of her mouth as she nodded. “Yeah. I am.”

“Baby doll, everything happened kind of fast and—”

She put her fingers to his lips, shushing him. “Jobe, I didn’t have sex with you just to forget about work.” She glanced to the side for a few seconds before looking up, blushing. “Well, okay, I kind of did. At first,” she quickly added. “But it’s really been building since you came barreling back into my life.”

“So initially, I was just a body?” he said, rubbing his nose along hers temptingly close to her lips.

“Yeah, soldier boy. You got a problem with that?” she purred, jutting out slightly to allow her breasts to just barely rub against his chest.

“No,” he growled. “As long as I’m the only one you come to when you need someone to fuck the stress away.” He captured her giggle in his mouth as he devoured hers, stepping forward until their entire fronts were pressed together, knees to chest.

She soon felt the evidence of his approval and started to move her hand between them to palm his crotch.

With a swift motion, he grasped her hand, stilling it. “Oh no, baby doll. You do this and I’ll be sporting the biggest hard-on you’ve ever seen as we walk back into my mom’s kitchen.” He stepped back, to give his body a chance to cool, as he continued to hold her hand.

Looking back up, she said, “Jobe, just so you know—all kidding aside, I did need you to take away the stress of work, but it was you I needed. Not just anyone, but you. I…I think it’s always been you.”

“Ya’ll coming back in for dessert or just having it out there?” Joseph called out, startling them.

“We’re coming, pop,” Jobe said, throwing his arm around her. Looking down at her sparkling eyes, he said, “Come on, doll. Let’s get mom’s dessert before we go home and have some of our own.”

* * *

A few days later, Jobe took Mackenna to the Alvarez picnic—an event that occurred whenever the group felt the need to let off steam and have fun. As they pulled up to the riverside park, she tucked her long hair behind her ear in a nervous gesture. Reaching over, he took her hand in his, giving it a gentle squeeze.

“You okay, doll? You know all of these people already.”

“I know, but…well, it’s kind of different now,” she replied as she turned to face him. “Have you told them? About us, I mean?”

“I haven’t said anything officially.”

Her expression was one of confusion as she cocked her head to the side and repeated, “Officially?”

Ducking his head, he explained, “Well, let’s just say that for the past couple of days, I’ve been grinning a lot more than usual.”

“Hmm,” she replied with a smile. Sucking in a huge breath, she said, “We’d better go. Several of them are looking over at us.”

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