Letting Go

Chapter 4

Jake’s Point of View

She seems a little less nervous than when I picked her up. She has moments where she seems completely fine, but I see the anxiety taking over her again. I hope she’s nervous-excited, and not miserable. I need to lighten the conversation to get her to get out of her head, so she can relax and enjoy herself. And Moon goddess sent the perfect douchebag to help.

“Did you hear that guy?” I ask, wide-eyed as I motion my head towards a table not too far away. Perfect timing because my girl could use a laugh. She smiles and shakes her head. 

“That guy is trying to pick that girl up… he just said ‘I’m jealous of your heart because it’s pumping inside of you and I’m not,” I say wide-eyed. 

“What?” she giggles and looks over to the table without hesitation, and we see him walk away from her, and the woman has a sour look on her face. 

“Did he actually think that was going to work?” I chuckle.

She studies him, “Yeah, I think he did. Look at the way he’s carrying himself, he looks pretty confident… Wait… look!” She places her hand on her mouth, trying to conceal her laughter and shock. He's giving it another go.

He struts his cocky douche ass to another table where 2 women sit chatting with each other. 

We both listen intently, “Well that’s it. I’m filing a complaint against Trip advisor.” he starts.

One woman narrows her eyes, “O-kaaay,” she says  

“They didn’t have you listed as one of the best places to eat out around here,” he finishes. A look of disgust is etched into both women's faces, and they quickly tore him to shreds for his comment, and rightfully so. 

 Mora looks at me, using her hand to shield her face, “Oh my gosh,” she cringes and then giggles. “He’s literally the worst!” 

There she is. Smiling and brightening up the whole damn place. “He really is. He’s unbelievable,” I shake my head. 

“What’s the worst line someone's used on you?” I ask. I want to keep her laughing and relaxed. 

“I went out on this overnight spa retreat a while back, with the girls and we spent all day getting pampered and in the evening Josie really wanted to go out dancing, so we all went out. I was at the bar getting a drink and this guy said ‘Twinkle twinkle little star, let's have s*x inside my car,” and then he winked at me. Ugh,” she cringes.

“A line that smooth, I’m surprised he didn’t sweep you off your feet,” I joke. 

“I know, right? What about you?” she asks with a broad smile.

“Hmm, there was one woman that said ‘I lost my keys, can I check your pants.’ ” 

“Very bold of her,” she chuckles.  

“Definitely, but for the most part I think women aren't as… bold as that guy,” I smirk.

Soon our appetizers are brought out, and she seems to be in the moment with me, and out of her head. Thankfully, because no matter how much she might like me, if she just feels nervous and anxious around me, why would she want to do this again? 

We spend the evening talking about all sorts of things, including our girls. It feels good that she loves Ellie and I love Marley. It’s important if we take this as far as I think we have the potential to. 

Now that she’s relaxed, we enjoyed the rest of our evening like we normally would have. Well not completely. I flirted shamelessly. I know I told her we would go as slow as she wants, and I stand by that, but now that I know she has feelings for me, and I’ve made my feelings known, it feels impossible to not flirt. Especially since she seems to enjoy it. If I saw I was making her uncomfortable and she wasn't having a good time, then I would cool it. But she seems to be enjoying it just as much as I am. There is no denying that we have chemistry and that we get along well. 

Mora refused dessert, which didn't surprise me. She doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth, but I know she loves ice cream.

“Want to go get some ice cream at ‘Moo cow cones’?” I ask because I’m not ready for this to end. It’s surreal. I’ve wanted this for so long, and now that we’re on an actual date… I’ll do anything to prolong this moment.

“Let me just check with Liam,” she says and grabs her phone. She texts away, and a few minutes later her phone dings. She lifts it off the table, and I see her lips curl into a small smile. She texts something quick and looks up to me with those big beautiful green eyes of hers. 

“Liam said he’ll put her to bed if I’m not back before he is,” she smiles and I can’t contain my smile either. She’s obviously having fun because she had the opportunity to bail and she didn’t.

“Perfect,” I beamed. 

I pay the bill and extend my arm for her, and I lead her out to the car. 

Moo cow cones is a specialty little ice cream shop and they make their own flavours, and they are incredible. We’ve taken the girls a few times in the past after playdates. 

Inside we stand looking at the menu. “Let me guess, carrot cake with cream cheese frosting?” I ask. She’s gotten the same flavour every time I’ve been here with her. She giggles, “It’s so good,” she coos. 

“I think I’m going to get the marshmallow smores concoction.”

“You always get something different,” she muses. 

“Variety is the spice of life,” I say with a small nudge. She chuckles, “I’m more of an ‘if it ain't broke don’t fix it,' sort of girl,“ she adds and nudges back into me, but when she looks up at me with those eyes that I love so much, we both seem to get lost.

I’m staring at her with the biggest smile, while she holds my gaze. I see her cheeks start to turn pink, and I love that I have this effect on her, because goddess knows, she affects me. It takes everything in me to not wrap my hands around her face and kiss her, to not pull her into me. I tend to be very physical, so this is difficult. I care about her, and I want to show her that.

“Sir, are you ready to order? Sir?” I look ahead and see the man working is talking to me. Damn, we both got caught up there. 

“Yup,” I nod. We ordered, and Mora tried to pay for our ice cream. Hell no!

“Have you tried this perfection yet, Mr. Variety?” she teases. “I have not. I’m not a huge carrot cake fan,” I admit.

“It’s better than carrot cake, try it,” she says, reaching across the table, holding her ice cream to me. I take a lick, and she watches me with the cutest little smile. 

“Okay, it’s actually good. This is better though. Live a little,” I smirk and reach over with mine. She hesitates and then looks at me as she takes a lick. f**k, I don't think that was supposed to be erotic but damn! It was. I try to play it cool like the blood isn't rushing to my c**k. 

“Well?” I ask, taking a deep breath, trying to calm myself.

“It’s good, but it's not trusty reliable carrot cake,” she says with a small blush. Did she realize what she did to me? 

Under no circumstances am I allowed to have an erection on this date. I need to change the subject and fast.

“So… do you want to get the girls together this weekend? Maybe take them to the park? Or we can hit up the Zoo?” I ask. 

“Sure. Marley has been asking to get together with Ellie since they were together last weekend,” she chuckles.

“Not to get too ahead of myself here, or add any pressure, but I think the girls would really like it if this worked out,” I admit.

“Totally. Did I ever tell you that Marley and Ellie were convinced we were mates about 6 months ago?” she smirks.

“What? No!”

“Yeah, do you remember when you both were going to come over for lunch about 6 months ago, and there was a security breach, so I watched Ellie for a while?” 

“Uh-huh,” I remember vividly. I was disappointed that I didn't get to spend the afternoon with Mora, and I had to go tend our borders because there was a breach. Filthy rogues tried to get in.

“Well, the girls ambushed me, asking if we were second chance mates. I guess they saw something between us. I told them we weren't, and the look of disappointment on their faces was kind of heartbreaking,” she explains with a small pout, and I’m f*****g beaming. Our girls want us to be together, and I’m crazy about Mora. We talked comfortably as we ate our ice cream, and I tried not to watch Mora eat hers. 

Finally, when we left, I ordered 2 quarts of cotton candy for our girls. Their favourite! 

As we walk out, I open the door for Mora, and she surprises me when she reaches for my hand. “You didn’t have to get ice cream for Marley. That was really sweet of you,” she says. I bring her hand up to my lips and kiss it. “I love Marley. I want to make her happy too,” I admit. She smiles wide and cuddles into my arm as we walk back to the car. 

I'm in shock at her display of affection. I want to pull her into my arms and hold her and kiss her. I hold off though because she needs to lead the way when it comes to the physical stuff. At least until I know she’s comfortable.

I get the car door for her, and when we get to her place, I see Liam’s truck is in her driveway and the light is on. I jog around the car to get her door and give her a hand to help her out. I walk her to the door, with her hand in mine, and I can sense she’s nervous all of a sudden.

“I had a lot of fun tonight,” I started.

“Me too.” 

“Can we do it again? Soon?” I ask, studying her. She’s looking at our hands.

“Yes. I’d like that. Thank you for everything,” she says, and looks up to me and gives me a small smile. 

I bring her hand that's in mine to my lips and give it a kiss. 

“It was my pleasure. I’ll text you tomorrow?” I ask.

She nods, and I let go of her hand. I hand her the quart of ice cream in my other hand for Marley.

“Goodnight, beautiful,” I smile, and start to walk back to my car. As I open my door, I look back, and she’s leaned against her front door watching me and smiling. Her hand comes up, and she waves goodbye, and then she slips inside. So f*****g cute.

Mora’s Point of View

I slip inside and then stand leaned up against my front door, taking in all the feelings I’m having. I’m excited for what this could turn into. I was so nervous when he walked me to the door, I was scared he was going to kiss me. I wasn't sure if I was ready. When he started to walk to his car without a kiss, I felt relief but only for a second. Then I started to wish that we kissed. I’m nervous, but I’m not going to know if I like it or not until I do it. I feel really attracted to him physically obviously. He’s gorgeous with his large hard body, those gorgeous hazel eyes and a smile that turns my insides to mush.

“How did it go?” my thoughts are interrupted by Liam.

“Oh, Hey! It went really well,” I beam and he smiles broadly. “I’m glad, you deserve all the happiness in the world, Mora.”

“Thanks, Liam! How was the dance?” 

“Oh, it was awesome. We danced our butts off and had lots of fun. She told me I was her favourite uncle too,” he brags and wiggles his tie and I can’t help but laugh. 

“Like you didn’t know that already,” I roll my eyes playfully and he smiles even broader. 

“See you for brunch in the morning. I’m glad it’s Jake you’re dating. He’s a good guy, but I’ll f*****g kill him if he hurts you,” he finishes with a broad cheery smile. Like he didn't just threaten to kill him.

“Thanks. Maybe I should warn him,” I joke.

“Oh no need, I already did,” he deadpans.

“You already told him what exactly?” I ask, narrowing my eyes.

“Just that I’d kill him if he ever hurt you,” he answers plainly, without a hint of humour.

“You didn’t?” I grimace.

His face scrunches up, “Of course I did,” he rebuts and he looks at me like I’m crazy. Yes, I’m the crazy one.

“Don’t scare him away,” I warn him firmly. He puts his hands up in surrender. 

“Hey, he’s been warned. I won’t warn him again. He just needs to be good to you and my little Mars bar, and we’ll never have a problem. Goodnight Mora,” he smiles.