The Heart Series: Complete Boxed Set (47 page)

My eyes scanned the room taking it all in, from the red painted walls that were the ideal shade, to the rich, black leather sofa’s that looked perfect for hours of snuggling. The highly polished dark wooden floors were a dramatic improvement from the ingrained carpet that had been there before. The walls that had always stood bare were now filled with black and white prints of our time together. Joel’s trophies were now proudly out on display, and there stood in the corner was a large, dark wooden bookcase, which now housed all my favourite books.

I spun around grabbing Joel’s face and kissed every inch before my mouth found his. He soon kissed me back with so much emotion before finally breaking free. “How did you find time to do this without me knowing?”

He smiled and a flash of guilt crossed his face. “I kind of lied when I said I was doing extra shifts, in fact I took a week off so we could really get stuck in. Elijah, Sam, Mike and your dad mainly helped, but I did rally some of the guys from football to come and paint. Your dad has been brilliant. I said I wanted to pay for some things but he told me no, he said the greatest way he could ever repay him would be to take care of his beautiful daughter.”

Tears filled my eyes, I couldn’t believe the love that filled the room. It was everything I ever hoped for to have Joel and my dad in my life.

“Hey, I hope those are happy tears?” His face scrunched with concern, but I didn’t provide him with an answer, instantly crashing my lips against his, telling him over and over how much I loved him between kisses.

Joel guided me through the rest of the house to reveal each room had the ideal colour scheme and furnishings. I couldn’t have planned it better if I’d done it myself. When we got to the last room in the house Joel smiled. “Are you ready to see our room?”

I nodded staying silent, slightly hesitant in case Elijah had gone wild, after all his sex talk I hoped he’d kept it reasonably to my taste.

Joel pushed open the door, and my breath hitched as I took in the beautiful surroundings. The walls were painted in a rich, deep purple, adorned with black and white pictures of Joel and I in various poses. They were shots that had been taken over the last summer and magnified so they only revealed certain angles of the photograph. They were very art-like, and I knew Elijah was behind it all, he was just unbelievable. Then my eyes focused on the bed with a silver headboard, entwined around the metal were flowers and butterflies, almost identical to the frame that resided by my bed. It was perfect, and my eyes filled with tears at the thought of how much effort Elijah had put in to make this my dream home.

“What do you think?” Joel asked, his lips pressing sweet kisses along my neck as the air left my body.

I leaned back against him before I lost complete control. “I want you so much,” he whispered, his kisses becoming more urgent as he teased my skin.

A soft moan escaped me, god, I wanted him too, more than ever. “I need you, Joel.” I’d barely gotten the words out when he spun me around crashing his lips against mine. He lifted me and I made to wrap my legs around his waist, but then screamed with the sudden pain that ripped through my leg.

“Oh god, Iz, are you okay?” He placed me down on the bed, his eyes scanning my face with worry.

I grabbed his shirt, dragging him down on top of me. “I’m just a little sore, but it’s not stopping me from being with you.

A look flashed across his face with the internal struggle of which decision to make. But I wasn’t waiting a moment longer.

“I want you to help me christen the bed.” I raised my eyebrow teasingly, watching the smile spread across his face.

“Oh I think I can help you with that.”

I giggled at the look he shot me, it was one filled with so much hunger it sent shivers through every part of me.

I groaned the moment his mouth touched my sweet spot, his lips sucking against my skin. I lifted my chin to give him more access as he slowly began to undo me.

“Do you like that, baby?”

I moaned my reply, words were not needed right now. His lips vibrated against my skin with laughter.

“I need you, Joel,” I whispered. He pulled away and his eyes darkened with lust as he saw the need in my own.

“Do you want me to take care of you, baby?”

“Yes,” I breathed, closing my eyes.

I felt the bed shift when Joel pushed himself up. Then felt warm hands graze against my skin when he slowly removed my trousers then underwear. He groaned when I spread my legs, quickly placing a cushion to support my injured leg.

“Are you comfortable, baby?”

“Joel, please . . .” My voice now filled with so much need. I just wanted him so much. His warm hands caressed my skin, and his lips kissed their way up my thigh until they reached that special place. My eyes rolled back taking in every sensation of complete pleasure. My fingers weaved into his hair as his tongue continued its sweet torture, undoing me like so many times before. I panted hard as a wave of ecstasy ran right through me, filling every pore.

“Oh god . . .”

My hands gripped his hair tighter, my eyes screwed tight in concentration. My body climbed higher and higher, he was officially killing me but what a way to die.

“Joel . . . Joel . . .”

Oh god, it felt good to scream again, without fear of my mother bursting through the door.

Moments later he resurfaced like the cat that got the cream while I lay panting trying to get my breath back.

“Did you enjoy that, baby?” Amusement spread across his face. He already had his answer.

He knew he was good.

“Mmmmm okay.”

“Only okay? Are you sure about that?”

He stroked his nose against mine teasingly as I tried to maintain a straight face. I failed almost instantly, feeling my mouth break out into a grin.

“It was good but I want more, I want you now, Joel.”

Lust ignited in his eyes, and he moved away dragging off his T-shirt. I sat up wrenching off my own top, quickly depositing my bra on top of the pile.

His eyes zoned in on my breasts, and he instantly bit down on his lip as his fingers began to undo his jeans.

“Is your leg okay, Iz? Do you need me to—?”

“Joel, please, all I need for you to do is get your sexy bum over here and be inside me already.”

I flopped back down hearing him chuckle, moments later the bed dipped and his body pressed into mine.

“Demanding little thing, aren’t you?” he remarked, placing soft kisses over my face.

“I am when it comes to you.” My lips quickly sought out his as he sunk deep inside. I groaned in delight enjoying just how good it felt.

He started torturously slow, his tongue entwined with mine while he picked up the pace, rocking inside me. My fingers glided down his back, resting on one cheek while my fingers squeezed tight.

“You sure like squeezing my bum, don’t you?”

I chuckled at his words. “Of course, it’s like a peach.”

“Well the other cheek is getting lonely, do you want to help me out here?”

“I wouldn’t want one cheek to get jealous of the other.”

“Yeah, it could get nasty.”

My fingers uncurled from Joel’s hair to work their way down until they rested on the other cheek. I squeezed it extra tight just to make up for it.

“Now that’s better.”

“Are you sure I haven’t hurt its feelings?” I pouted in a jokey way, but Joel quickly pounced and sucked my lip into his mouth. His thrusts become more urgent, and my fingers dug into his skin as I panted hard.

“Iz, I’m not going to last . . .” The strain was etched across his face. I could see he was struggling to maintain control.

I was close, so close.

He changed position giving me the extra friction I needed.

“Izzy,” he yelled, thrusting one more time before finally taking me with him.

We shouted out together, and he flopped down onto my chest. Our slick skin now pressed together. His breath ticked my body as we came down from our high.

“God, baby . . . that was.”

“Amazing.” I chuckled.

“Well, I think we can say we christened the bed.” We both laughed together.

Yep, we’d certainly done that alright.

“I could lie here forever,” I panted. I really could. Every part of me deliciously ached, and I was happily spent.

Joel lifted up his head, his teeth grazing against my chin before kissing my swollen lips. “We can’t, baby, your dad is visiting in just over an hour.

I pouted but I knew deep down I wanted to see my dad, to thank him for his generous act of kindness.

My fingers caressed Joel’s cheek, and he leaned into my touch.

“Joel, are you okay living here? I know it hasn’t been the happiest—”

He cut my words off with a kiss before slowly pulling away. “It isn’t that home to me anymore, it’s ours and now I get to fill it with so many wonderful memories with you.”

Wow, he really knew how to make my heart melt.

“I think we just had our first one.” I teased, shooting him a wink.

“Oh there’s going to be plenty more of those.”

I couldn’t have smiled harder if I tried.

He moved away and I frowned, instantly mourning the loss of his body against mine.

“Where are you going?” I asked slightly annoyed, pushing myself up onto my elbows, watching him head out the door.

“Just give me a few minutes, baby, and then we’ll christen the bath.”

I flopped back down, watching his peach like bottom exit the room.

Yep, we were creating a hell of a lot more memories, and I for one couldn’t wait.

The knock at the door instantly brought a smile to my face. Joel gave me a quick kiss before releasing me to answer.

I took a few breaths, trying not to cry but I knew the moment I looked into his eyes it would be inevitable.

His face broke out into a giant smile the moment our eyes locked together. “Here’s my favourite girl in her new home.”

A sob erupted from me, and I flew into his arms, almost knocking the wind from him. “Oh Dad . . . thank you so much, what you did it was just . . .”

“Shhh,” he soothed. Pulling me in tighter, the tears now flowing freely.

There weren’t enough words to ever thank him enough for all he had done.

After I managed to compose myself, I untangled myself and we walked back inside. Joel instantly stood up, walking over to shake his hand. “Hey, Geoff.”

“You taking good care of my baby girl, Joel?” My dad’s voice was laced with humour but had an edge to it like he meant business.

Joel’s face instantly lit up. “Of course, she’s my number one priority.” His eyes sought out mine, and we exchanged a look that needed no words.

“Good to hear,” he said instantly breaking our moment. He laughed, pulling me down to sit next to him on the sofa while Joel headed off to make some drinks.

“I really like him, Iz. He’s a good guy. He’s worked tirelessly to get this place ready for when you finally got your cast off.”

Oh the guilt.

I felt like an even bigger bitch for jumping to stupid conclusions. I needed to make it up to him even more, not that I wouldn’t enjoy doing so myself.

“Hey, are you okay? Are the headaches . . .”

Oh shit.

Heat filled my cheeks at being caught thinking of all the amazing things I would be doing to thank Joel later.

Concentrate Izzy.

“Yeah, I’m fine . . .” Thankfully Joel spared my blushes by walking through with the tray loaded with coffees and all kinds of chocolate biscuits on the plate. My face lit up and I made a mental note to raid that chocolate cupboard later, but by the looks of it Joel had us well stocked. That wasn’t a surprise, he was as big a chocoholic as me, we were equally matched in that respect.

“So did we do a good job, Iz?” my dad asked smiling, but he had already got his answer.

“Amazing how you pulled it off without me every suspecting a thing.” I narrowed my eyes at them both in a joking way, and they both grinned.

“Ahh, but we had our secret weapon.” My dad winked at Joel, and he laughed.

“Well Elijah will take most of the credit, we did all the hard work but he was the one that gave us your vision.”

“Yeah, the guy should be a poker champion with that face; he’s so good it’s scary.” My dad shook his head in amusement, sipping on his coffee.

He was right, Elijah did have the perfect face for acting, but damn I thought he would have been different with me. But I guess his heart was in the right place, and he was doing a good deed. I definitely owed him a spray tan or two, which I knew he would quite willingly take as payment.

“So was he his usual self?” I smiled at my very words. I could only imagine the kind of ranting and raving that usually went on when he put his interior skills to good use.

“What do you think?” Joel asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Oh I had a good enough idea.

My dad chuckled. “Yeah, that was pretty funny to watch, at one point he kicked off at Joel, and well I was pretty sure by the end only dogs could hear him.”

My eyes snapped to Joel, and he gave me that shrug I knew only too well. I leaned over out of hearing range of my dad and whispered, “I’ll make it up to you later.”

A huge grin spread across his face. “Well, he was really, really bad.” He shot me a wink and I smiled, rolling my eyes. He was just playing on it now, but I would get him back later.

“So when are you both going to come out to Australia to let me show you what Sydney has to offer?”

Joel’s face dropped along with mine, that wouldn’t be happening anytime soon. We were just and so managing to run a home, fancy holidays were not high on our agenda.

“I think it will be a while just yet . . .” I muttered awkwardly.

Joel’s eyes dropped to the floor, I could tell he was feeling bad at the lack of money situation. No doubt berating himself for our lack of funds.

“What if I said I’d pay for you both to come over, you wouldn’t have to spend a penny, you could stay with us. I want you to meet Kay and the girls, you’d love them all.”

“I can’t ask you to do that, Geoff. You’ve done more than enough, but Izzy can go,” Joel offered.

My eyes flashed to his in a ‘yeah that’s not even an option’ way. He frowned at my reply before I had even spoken the words, but my dad got in there first.

“Joel, I think we both know Izzy won’t go without you. If it’s the money then please, I want to spoil you both. You’re family too, I want you to be apart of everything. If it makes any difference, Mike has agreed to come over as well. Please I want all my family together. I’ve missed out on so much.” He quickly bowed his head in an attempt to try to mask the unshed tears.

I grabbed Joel’s hand giving it a squeeze, he smiled softly and the frown gradually left his face. My dad had won him over with his emotional display. There was no way Joel would refuse after that. He gave me a quick nod of approval before I turned back to my dad.

“We’d love to accept.”

His eyes swept up to mine and he grabbed me, pressing me into a hug. I felt his cool tears trickle softly against my neck, and I knew in that moment we’d made him happier than he ever thought possible.

He moved away chuckling, quickly swiping away the tears. “How about coming over in time for Christmas? I’ve missed so many.”

His words made me frown, my mother wouldn’t be happy that I’d be gone for the big day. “Dad, I can’t do that to . . .”

“Your mother is fine about it, I asked.”

“Really?” Had he spoke to the same woman? As her answer in my head would have been far different.

He chuckled at my face. “Yes, I asked, and she agreed to let me have this one Christmas.” His hands cupped my face, and his eyes bore deep into mine. “That’s if you want to.” There was a look of hesitance there in his eyes, but my smile soon changed his expression.

“Umm of course, as long as Joel’s with me, then it’s a yes.”

I turned to face Joel, looking hopeful, but I needed to hear the words.

“Sounds good to me.”

I almost leapt on him, kissing him with every breath in my body. He’d made me so happy. It wasn’t easy for him to accept anything easily, he had always felt a deep sense of pride of doing things himself. But this was something he was giving me, and I loved him even more for putting me first.

“Okay, calm down, you two, Dad in the room, remember?”

We both instantly pulled away laughing. Well that was slightly embarrassing. We turned to see him nodding his head slightly, but with a huge smile on his face.

“Well, now you’ve made your old dad happy, I’ll go. I’m meeting up with Mike shortly and a few of his friends, we’re going to have a five aside match.”

Joel’s eyes lit up, and I could see it had instantly sparked his attention.

“You can come too if you want, Joel?”

Joel looked slightly conflicted, football was his kryptonite.

“Go if you want, I’m fine here, I’ll sit and read.” I motioned with my eyes that it was fine, but he shook his head.

“No, I’m staying with, Iz. It’s our first night and well . . .” A huge smile spread across Joel’s face.

Oh god.

Subtle Joel. Subtle.

My dad’s eyes widened in horror. “Well, I don’t need to hear another word, give me a kiss, Iz, and then I’m off.”

His eagerness to leave was almost laughable. “Bye Dad, we’ll maybe see you tomorrow?”

He shook his head smiling. “Of course, that would be great. Anyway I’d better go and let you . . . yeah, bye.”

He quickly patted Joel on the back, probably making the fastest exit ever.

Why couldn’t Joel have a poker face?

I needed Elijah to give him lessons.

Joel finished seeing my dad out before coming back in grinning. “Well then, what do you fancy doing now?” 

I rolled my eyes at his eagerness, my dad was barely down the path, and he was about to jump me there and then. “You know you could have gone to football, I’m not that kind of girl.” I didn’t want him to think I was one of those possessive kinds of girls, keeping tabs all the time. I wanted him to have boy time too, after all I got a little cranky when I didn’t get enough Kindle time.

“Hey I know, if I’d wanted to I would have, but I much prefer the kind of work out I’m going to have with you.” His eyebrows rose in such a teasing way that instantly my body flushed in anticipation of what was ahead.

“Got anything special planned?” I teased with a smirk. I was pretty sure I would be in for a treat either way.

“Oh plenty to make this a memorable night, care to join me upstairs?”

He didn’t have to ask me twice.