Page 394 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
"I'm falling hard. It's scary." She searched his face, finding nothing but strength and acceptance.
"Everything worth racing after usually is." He brushed his thumb over her lips and took a shaky breath. "It's not fear though, baby. It's exhilaration."
She nodded and moved up to meet him as he leaned down to consume her in his warmth, his hold, his deliciously hot kisses.
CHAPTER 11
JAKE
Jake woke to the sound of his brothers arguing over something in the living room the next morning. He reached for Kari, but found her gone.
"Baby?" He sat up and realized the door to his bedroom was open. Landon and Clint were rarely up early, and seeing that their trucks weren’t out front last night when he and Kari got back, he had to assume they'd gotten in really late.
What the hell were they doing up, and even more so, why were they being so insanely loud?
Getting up, Jake reached for his jeans crumbled up on the floor by the bed. He shivered and pulled them over his legs before grabbing a long-sleeve t-shirt from his bag and pulling it over his head. He walked down the hall as a smile crept up his face. He couldn't wait to see his brothers. It had been too damn long.
"Dude, get your ass back. You know he's going to want at least three pieces." Landon turned and got down into position. "I will fuck you up, good."
"Landon Jackson Isaac. Watch your mouth." Jake's mom walked into the kitchen and put her hands on her hips as Jake stood over to the side, his finger to his lips to tell her not to give him away just yet. Kari was nowhere in sight.
"Sorry, Mom. You'd be proud of me. I was trying to protect-" Landon yelled as Clint rushed him, picking him up and carrying him toward the living room.
Jake's mother jogged after them. "You boys stop it. You're not kids anymore. You're going to break something and then I'll be forced to whoop your grown asses."
The scene before him was very much a representation of his raising. Someone was always getting their ass whooped in his house, but usually it was his dad handing out the whoopings.
He grabbed a plate and stole the last three pancakes and three pieces of bacon. He shoved one in his mouth and moved toward the living room, grabbing the syrup and a fork on the way.
"He doesn't need three pieces. He's getting old and fat," Clint grunted as he pressed Landon to the ground. "You're just scared of him."
"Old and fat? Oh, hell no." Jake put his plate down and moved across the room, pulling Clint off Landon and body slamming him to the couch before tickling the hell out of him.
For a big, buff, tough guy, he curled into a ball and started to scream. Clint hated, more than anything, to be tickled. It was his kryptonite, and Jake was happy to use it any time he needed to.
"You ass," Clint cried out between his laughter.
Jake kept after him until someone popped his butt pretty hard. He moved back and turned, ready to attack until he saw it was his mom.
She put her hand on her hip and cocked her head to the side. "Oh, yeah? You think you can handle me?"
"No, ma'am. Of course not, Momma. I thought you were Landon." Jake chuckled and walked back over to his plate as he tried to slow his racing heart.
"Damn, I've missed you. You sorry fucker." Landon wrapped him in a tight hug before he could get to his food and picked him up off the ground.
"Not as much as I have." Clint wrapped both of them in a hug and squeezed.
Jake groaned as his back popped. "Stop. Shit. I'm old and fat, remember?"
"Boys! Watch your mouths." Their mother grumbled something and turned to walk back into the kitchen. "I swear you would think the three of you were raised in a barn."
Clint and Landon moved back, and Jake smiled so hard his cheeks hurt. "Damn. You guys look great. Where are the punk ass kids I left back here a few years ago?"
"All grown up, man." Landon rubbed his chest as his eyes moved across Jake. "God, man. Why didn't you come visit? Feels like I'm seeing a ghost."
"Shut the fuck up." Jake reached out and patted his brother's face. He was going to get emotional if he wasn't careful.
"Pussies." Clint popped both of them in the chest as his mother called him out from the kitchen.
