Chapter 148 - One Step Closer

“Stay with… with you?” Cate repeated in a small voice. “At your… house?”

“Yes,” Jon replied softly, hardly daring to breathe. He watched her closely, praying he wouldn’t see a flash of panic in her eyes. Cate was clearly stunned by his declaration, but she wasn’t freaking out… yet. She stared back at Jon, her lips parted and her eyes open wide. He could almost see the wheels turning in her mind as she processed what he had said.

“Cate…” He broke the silence hesitantly. “Baby… I want you to stay with me in California.” He paused another second, then gave her a gentle smile. “You brought me to your home. Now I want you to be in mine.”

Cate blinked at Jon’s words, then parted her lips to speak. She hesitated again, then finally found her voice. “But Jon… I would be there for weeks… months. Not just for a weekend,” she protested weakly.

“So?” Jon moved one hand to cover hers and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Baby, you don’t want to stay in a hotel for weeks or months. Why not stay at a real house… a home. My home. You could relax, have peace and quiet. A sanctuary away from all the L.A. craziness.” His voice was soft and soothing, as if he was coaxing a frightened animal to eat from his hand. “We could come home to each other, Baby. Keep each other sane in that wacked-out world.”

Jon paused again, watching Cate’s face. Her lips trembled as she considered his words, then the corners of her mouth curved ever so slightly upward. Jon smiled and slipped his arms around Cate, again gathering her against his chest. “C’mon, Baby. I have way better beach access than anyplace else you could stay,” he teased gently. “And I know for a fact you look dynamite in a bikini.”

He chuckled softly. “Not that you’d have to wear one…” His blue eyes sparkled as he pulled his head back to give her an impish grin when she looked up at him. “In fact, clothes are optional on Bongiovi Beach. In fact, they’re optional in the whole damned house.”

Cate couldn’t stop a smile from spreading across her lips at Jon’s naughty tease. “Well…” she said reluctantly. She somehow felt she was imposing if she accepted his invitation, despite the fact that he had been the one to engineer this entire scheme in the first place.

“Please, Cate,” Jon said quietly, turning more serious. “I want to wake up with you every morning. I want to go to sleep holding you every night. I need you there with me.”

Cate looked into Jon’s sparkling blue eyes and felt herself falling once again. “Okay,” she agreed in a whisper. She just couldn’t deny him, though butterflies fluttered furiously against the walls of her stomach. She gazed at Jon for a moment, then dropped her head and shook it slowly, her cheek brushing his chest. A smile of wonderment touched her lips.

“What is it, Baby?” Jon asked, watching her.

“Damn. You sure know how to turn a girl’s world upside down, don’t you?” Cate lamented with a soft chuckle.

Jon responded with his own throaty laugh. “I guess I do. But I believe in the grand gesture. It has rarely failed me.”

“I bet not,” Cate smiled, raising her eyes back to his. “But Jon… please… just try to understand.” This is a big adjustment for me. I’m used to being alone. I may be a lousy roommate.”

Jon chuckled again. “That’s okay. Apparently I suck to live with too. Don’t worry; it’s a big house. We’ll have our own space. Though…” He leaned down until his lips hovered just centimeters from Cate’s. “I have a feeling I won’t want to be away from you at all.”

Cate felt a tingle wash over her entire body at the feel of Jon’s warm breath on her lips, just before his mouth found hers. She sighed as he kissed her sweetly, letting her body relax against his.

As the kiss gained heat Cate shifted in Jon’s embrace, turning on her hip and sliding her hands up his chest. She pulled her lips away from Jon’s for a moment to let out a soft purr of contentment before moving her lips to his ear. “I can’t believe it,” she whispered against his hair.

“What’s that, Baby?” Jon breathed in response.

“This. All of it. You. It’s….” Cate broke off, unable to find the words to express the overwhelming emotion she was feeling.

“It’s meant to be, Cate,” Jon interrupted gently. “It’s fate, Karma, predetermination, divine intervention… whatever you want to call it. But I believe you came into my life for a reason. And I’m damned sure not letting you go.”

Cate pulled her face back from Jon’s to give him a searching look, her eyes glittering. “Good,” she whispered before she touched her lips to Jon’s. She kissed the crooked little smile that curved the corner of his mouth, then slipped her lips along his jaw and down the side of his neck as her hands roamed up to splay over his hard pecs, between their bodies.

With a happy groan Jon tilted his head back, exposing his neck to Cate’s lips. His hands moved downward, gliding over her buttocks to her thighs, then sliding back up again over her smooth, warm, bare skin as he slipped the soft fabric of Cate’s jersey up to her hip.

“Ohhhhh……. Baby…..” Jon groaned as his hands cupped Cate’s ass, his strong fingers flexing against her tight glutes.

Cate purred in response and curled her fingers against Jon’s chest, raking them downward, catching the points of his nipples with her short nails. Jon gasped in surprise, the deliciousness of the sensation muted by the thin cotton of his tee. “Jon,” she asked silkily. “You don’t really want to watch a movie, do you?”

“Nuh-uh,” Jon answered, sucking in his stomach as Cate’s fingers trailed down his abs, tracing the ridges under his t-shirt. “Do you?”

“No,” Cate breathed, sliding her hands under the edge of Jon’s shirt and pushing it upward toward his pecs.

Jon responded by levering himself slightly forward and reaching behind his head. Grabbing the back of his collar, he dragged the t-shirt up and off his torso. A flick of his wrist sent it sailing over the coffee table.

Cate grinned at the quick, smooth movement. “Damn. You’re good at that,” she observed. “Almost like you’ve done it before?”

“Who, me?” Jon replied in a faux-innocent growl. “Nah….” He started to raise the jersey further up Cate’s back until she stopped him by abruptly sitting up between his legs on the couch. She couldn’t explain why, but she was suddenly very, very nervous.

“Ummm…. I need more wine,” she murmured in excuse, her heart pounding as she turned away from Jon.

Jon gave her a confused look. “Baby, I just brought you a refill.” He nodded toward the glass on the coffee table. He could read her discomfort in her expression. What the hell?

“Oh.” Cate looked at the table, her eyes settling on the plate holding the last crumbs of the grilled cheese sandwiches. “Uh… let me take this to the kitchen. I’ll be right back.” She leaned forward and snatched up the plate in one hand and her wine glass in the other, then swiftly dismounted the couch. She gulped in a mouthful of wine as she hurried toward the kitchen.

Jon watched her go, his lips parted in surprise. He didn’t know what had just happened. He didn’t think he had done anything wrong….

Jon turned on the couch to look over its back, through the pass-through into Cate’s kitchen. Her back was to him as she set the plate in the sink, then took another drink from her wine glass before setting it on the counter. Bracing her hands on the edge of the counter on either side of the sink, Cate lowered her head. Jon could see her back round slightly as she drew in a slow, deep breath.

She’s nervous, he realized. How could that be? After the intimacy they had shared over the past twelve days, how could Cate still think of him as some sort of idol or fantasy or larger-than-life being? She had as much as told him he was no longer that to her; he was just a man. Jon frowned as he tried to figure out what had suddenly given Cate a case of the nerves.

It only took a minute for the obvious answer to occur to him. So much had happened over the last few hours; Cate was finally beginning to think about how her life would change. It was a delayed reaction to the shock of the afternoon’s surprises. It had to be. With a little smile at his deduction Jon raised himself from the couch. He picked up his wine, then strolled into the kitchen.

Setting his glass on the counter beside Cate’s, Jon moved up behind her. “Hey,” he said gently, his voice a honeyed purr. His hands slipped around her waist. “You okay?”

Cate raised her head at his words. She drew in another deep breath and let it out slowly, then opened her eyes. “Yeah,” she responded after a moment’s hesitation. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Jon stepped closer to Cate, pulling her gently back against his chest. He smiled as he kissed her hair. “Wanna tell me?”

“I just… I…. I don’t know…” Cate tried to explain but couldn’t sum up why she suddenly felt so strangely anxious. The feel of Jon’s lips on hers, his hands on her body, his warm flesh against her skin… they were all wonderful. She wanted him, most definitely. She knew she could have him in an instant. But she was afraid to go further.

Jon dropped his chin to her shoulder, his arms tightening around her. “I sprung a lot on you today,” he murmured apologetically, his lips next to the delicate lobe of her ear.

Cate shook her head at his assumption. “It’s not that. It’s… you’re… you’re not supposed to be here.”

Jon’s eyebrows arched in surprise as he felt a little stab of pain in his heart. “Why not?” he asked softly, keeping his voice even. He moved his fingers lightly over her taut abdomen, gently stroking over the slick fabric of the jersey.

Cate grimaced at her words. “I mean, it’s not that I don’t want you here… ‘cause I do…” She broke off helplessly, sighing with exasperation at herself. She closed her eyes and sucked in another long breath, then blew it out while she counted to ten.

Jon scarcely breathed while he waited for Cate to continue. There was obviously some other emotional roadblock confronting her, another hurdle preventing her from relaxing with him tonight, from giving in to her desire. He shook his head slightly as he wondered what it could be. She had been so free, so uninhibited last night at the villa.

Suddenly it hit him. At the villa….

“You mean I’m not supposed to be here, in your home,” he said quietly. Shit. She may have brought him home, but she wasn’t really letting him in.

Cate nodded silently, dropping her head. She stood still for a moment, then turned to face Jon. He loosened his arms to allow her to turn inside their circle, but didn’t release his embrace. She raised her eyes to his and he saw that they were sparkling with moisture. Jon waited silently, searching her gaze.

“I’ve never done this before,” she whispered. “You’re the first.”

Jon smiled. “You mean you’re a virgin?” he teased gently. “Ummm, Baby… I don’t quite think so.”

He was rewarded with a nervous little smile and a soft chuckle from Cate, breaking the tension. “No, I don’t mean that…. I mean…” She took another deep breath. “You’re the first man I’ve brought here, to my home.” She gazed at him for a long moment, pleading with her eyes for him to understand.

“Since your divorce,” Jon finished softly for her.

“Since I moved here.” Cate corrected him in a whisper.

Jon’s heart swelled and his eyes moistened at her confession. He dropped his head forward until their foreheads touched, giving her a sweet smile. “It’s an honor,” he replied in his own gentle whisper. “Thank you.”

The hitch in Cate’s breath betrayed her emotion as a relieved smile curved her trembling lips. She tipped her face forward until her lips brushed over his, giving him a whisper of a kiss before pulling back to look at him. “I’m sorry. I feel so stupid,” she admitted, a slight blush tinting her cheeks. She cast her eyes downward, smiling sheepishly as she shook her head slowly.

“Hey.” Jon raised a hand to hook a finger under her chin, tipping her face back up to his. “It’s not stupid. It’s how you feel. I understand.” He gazed at her for a long moment, watching her beautiful eyes swirl sapphire and midnight. “We can take it slow,” he added, his voice dropping to a husky whisper.

Cate nodded again. “I do want you,” she admitted softly. “I’m just… well…” She took another deep breath and let it out on a soft sigh. She looked Jon in the eye, steeling her nerve. “I haven’t had a man in my bed before. Not this bed. Not here. Not in my new life.”

She could see from Jon’s smile that he understood. Cate let out a sigh of relief, her body relaxing with the release.

Jon slipped his hand to Cate’s cheek, tilting her face toward his. He captured her mouth again with gentle lips, giving her a long, slow, deep kiss. With a small whimper Cate responded, melting against Jon’s chest and sliding her arms around his waist.

A full minute later Jon broke the kiss. “So… we don’t start in the bed,” he murmured with a little smile.