NextMoves by Sabrina Garie Page B

Wade. She’d make it all work.
    “I knew we could count on you. Evening, Jocelyn, Jared.”
    “My job’s on the line. That’s why he couldn’t look at me,”
Jared said as soon as Myron was out of earshot.
    The caisson song burst out. “That’s my dad’s ringtone. I
need to get that then we’ll discuss this.” She spent the next twenty minutes
talking her dad out of a panic attack and into taking his medication while
trying to ignore the scowl that had taken root on Jared’s face. One problem at
a time.
    The situation with her dad under control, she stroked her
fingers along Jared’s cheek. “I’m sorry, babe. Now why would you think your
job’s at risk?”
    It took several caresses for his face to soften before he
answered. “Sports and special programs are usually the first to go with the
number of cuts they’ll have to make to balance a budget with a shortfall that
size.”
    “Not in Madison. But I’ll raise the money. Everything will
be fine.”
    “Joci, I don’t lack for job opportunities. In fact, I have a
couple of offers for the next academic year, one back in Texas, another in
Virginia, close to your brother.”
    “You want to leave Madison?” Talk about getting kicked while
you’re down. Her body was one big bruise.
    “No, but I love my work, babe. I am my work.” God,
she loved him for that, for the miracles it brought her daughter and other kids
like her. She would not want him to give it up but she also knew the economy
here well. If he lost his job, there would be little else for him.
    “If I had to, would you come with me? You’re clearly ready
for a job change.” Another punch to the gut. Madison was all she’d ever known.
She was in love with Jared, but this was her home. Her life was here.
    “Joci?” His voice was angry, tinged with desperation.
    “I don’t know, Jared. It took me years to build a world for
Kylie. My dad needs me. It’s just so sudden.”
    “That doesn’t make what’s between us any less real. Would
you follow me if I had to take a job elsewhere?”
    “This is not a decision we have to make. I’ll raise
the funds. Let’s go and enjoy having the house to ourselves since Kylie’s out
for the evening.”
    Jared agreed, but she noticed hollows under his eyes she
hadn’t seen before and couldn’t read. He held her close as he guided her to the
car, his fingers digging into her arm. His hand played with hers during the car
ride home, sometimes squeezing harder than usual as if he wasn’t sure she was
there. She’d remind him how there she was when they got to the house.
    * * * * *
    At home, Jocelyn headed for the kitchen. “I’ve got some open
Chardonnay in the fridge,” Jocelyn said after they hung up their coats. She
filled the glasses to the top and placed them on the solid oak dining table in
the kitchen. A little liquid comfort to help cope with a life that was
spiraling out of control. Jared moved them to the counter. “Babe, I have a much
better way to make that stress disappear. Get naked.”
    He discarded his clothes as quickly as she did and stood in
front of her. His thumbs softly traced over her brows, along her cheek, and his
mouth followed, kissing farther down her neck, licking her collarbone.
    With soft kisses, he urged her down on the kitchen table.
His finger dipped in the wine and he brushed it over her lips and watched her
lazily lick it off. Wineglass now in hand, he coated his finger with wine and
let her suck it off. Her tongue swirled around it while her hands kneaded her
breasts. The darkening of his eyes and the throbbing of his cock offered just
reward for her efforts.
    He spilled a few drops of wine onto her chest. His tongue
guided them down her breast to her nipple. She arched into his mouth as he
suckled her tenderly then savagely. The coolness of the wine soothed, the heat
of his mouth burned and she couldn’t get enough of either. He drank from her
nipples until the wineglass had only drops left. Swigging those, he