Page 56 of Steel & Jenna
Jack and Mr. Zarin were both wearing track suit bottoms—and nothing else. Their feet, chests, and arms were bare. Jenna had seen Mr. Zarin without a shirt when they’d gone to the beach over the summer. There was no denying he was a very fit man for his age. But damn. Looking at him in the summer sun versus in the chilled fall dusk… Wow. Justwow. The man’s abs had abs.
Then there was Jack. He’d gone through two growth spurts since they started dating. Last spring he’d grown four inches and then he shoot up even more in the last month. She’d grown a little, too, but only an inch, while Jack was now over six feet tall! After Mrs. Zarin had overheard Lilly say that she’d never had a doorframe marked with her height, the bathroom Lilly and Jack shared now had a ruler painted to the frame and pen marks to show Jack and Lilly’s heights.
Between the running, weightlifting, and eating properly, Jack’s young body was…pure yumminess. Jenna might be biased, but then she had a right to be. While his abs might be not as defined as Mr. Zarin’s, she had a sense of ownership of them. Maybe it was because she’d watched them form over time or that she knew she would be the only woman who would ever touch them as her fingers longed to do now. Jack’s body was…hers.
Moisture pooled between her legs as she watched Jack and Mr.Zarin attack each other. Even though the ground was near frozen, they were not wearing shoes. Was it wrong of her to admire their bodies while questioning their sanity?
Both of them had a bamboo stick in each hand. Jenna had seen them practicing with them before and knew they were a practice tool used in Filipino Martial Arts. If she remembered correctly, Jack had called them ‘escrima sticks’. However, when she’d seen them with the sticks before, they’d been moving slowly, going through the drills sometimes facing each other and sometimes side-by-side. She knew that Mr. Zarin had learned to use them from his time in the Marines.
Now, though, they werenotmoving slowly. They wereattackingeach other, moving all around the yard in quick, awe-inspiring motions. Even with Jack’s growth spurts and added muscle, Mr. Zarin was still bigger and taller. Jack was quicker, though, and younger. He was obviously the less trained of the two and Jenna had to wonder if Mr. Zarin was holding back. As they sparred, Jenna saw Mr. Zarin’s mouth moving, like he was still instructing Jack. Every once in a while, Jack would nod. He was entirely focused on Mr. Zarin and the sticks that were coming at him nail-bitingly fast from Jenna’s perspective.
The yard itself wasn’t huge, with a fence that separated the Zarins’ property from their neighbors. A shed Jenna knew was Mr. Zarin’s work area was to one side and a swing set had been added after the Zarins’ church had gotten a new playset donated. The small back porch had a grill and a lounge set, which were already missing the cushions in preparation for the winter. Walking stones cut through the grass that lead from the back steps to the shed.
When Jack tripped and started to fall backwards, Mr. Zarin sprang forward and caught him by the forearm. They laughed and then Jack righted himself. Mr. Zarin patted Jack on the shoulder before pointing behind him to the window where their audience was watching in rapt fascination.
The smile on Jack’s face when he saw that Jenna was one of them had her heart stuttering in her chest like it was their first time meeting. She hoped she never lost that feeling.
“Well, that’s the end of that,” Lilly huffed as she got up off of the chair. “He’s going to be too distracted by you now to keep going.” She righted herself. “It was fun while it lasted though.” Then her eyes narrowed. “What did you do to your hair?”
Jack barely registeredMr. Zarin’s chuckle. “Go get your girl, son. I’ll clean up here.”
Jack ran. Bolting across the yard, over the stones, up the stairs, and through the back door into the kitchen. Fuck, he loved Fridays. Loved Saturdays even more. Sundays, well, they had good and bad mixed in, but he would still take them because they had Jenna.
She was wearing a cute little Eskimo-like outfit with a white, wide shoulder sweater, a fur covered vest, jeans, and fur-lined boots. Christ, she was a vision.
He pulled her immediately to him, needing her in his arms. To feel her and know that she was back where she belonged…and to hide the erection he was now sporting. His exercise clothes did absolutelynothingto hide his growing problem. It was something he’d had to fight to control over the past year. At least jeans somewhat hid the issue, but sweats and nylon pants had no hope whatsoever.
The warmth of having her back in his arms made him barely register the temperature of the house. He was a sweaty mess after Mr. Zarin had put him through his paces for the past couple of hours. Mr. Zarin was trying to help Jack build calluses on the bottoms of his feet, which was why they did most of their backyard workouts in bare feet. That definitely took some getting used to, but Mr. Zarin promised his efforts would pay off eventually.
Jack pulled Jenna against him, his mouth going over hers. Her warm palms seared against his cool skin at the small of his back, causing Jack to shudder against her. Their tongues danced together as if they were greeting a long lost friend. There was nothing but Jenna. Her taste, her smell, her warmth, it was all-consuming. He was completely enraptured.
To the point where he hadn’t even realized he’d spun them around and had her pressed up against the back door until there was a tapping on the glass beside her head.
Jack picked up his head and spotted Mr. Zarin standing out in the cold. He was wearing a light sweat jacket, zipped partly up.
‘Impatient’ would be the best word to describe the expression on his face.
Jack leapt back, pulling Jenna with him. She had her face covered with her hands and Jack knew from the way her body was shaking against his that she was both embarrassed and amused that they’d been caught getting carried away.
Mr. Zarin opened and closed the door. “Jenna,” he said sweetly as he passed them. The look he gave Jack had an unspoken warning.
Jack shrugged, unapologetically. There was no ‘controlling’ himself around Jenna. She was his kryptonite.
Mr. Zarin just shook his head and kept going. From the living room, Jack heard, “Daphne, my love, the chili smells amazing. How soon until dinner’s ready?” Jack couldn’t hear Mrs. Zarin’s answer, only her muffled voice. Then Mr. Zarin said, “Good. I have time for a shower.”
Jenna slowly stood up off of Jack’s chest. Her lips were swollen and her cheeks were still pink. He ran a comforting hand through her hair to?—
Jack paused. Herhair!Putting his hand on her shoulders, he moved her back so he could get a real look at her. Her beautiful flaming orange hair that was usually down to the middle of her back was now…
“What the fuck?” he demanded, pulling on the ends as if he could make them longer again. Her once long locks were now cut to just below her ears.
She touched her head on the other side of her head from his hand subconsciously. “Do you like it?”
“I… I…” Christ, what the fuck was he supposed to say? She was beautiful. Nothing could change that. But, well, he’d loved her hair. Loved the length of it and how it felt when he bunched the thick locks up in his hands. How he ran his fingers through it like a makeshift comb. How it blew uncontrollably in the wind and got caught in his mouth as they were walking along the beach. “I mean, I…” The shorter hair wasn’t abadlook, per se. It just wasn’t a look he would have chosen for her. “It’s just… I don’tnotlike it… Only,” he swallowed.
Suddenly Jenna sputtered out a laugh. She nearly doubled over from laughing so hard. “Oh God, I’m going to pee my pants! Your face! You should have seen your face!”
Jack crossed his arms over his still-bare chest. He loved hearing Jenna’s laugh, even at his expense, but he was more confused than infatuated right now. “I don’t get it. What’s so funny? Did you cut your hair as a prank or something?”
