Chapter 17

Jasina opened and closed her mouth several times, but she couldn't form any words. All she could do was nod and scooted over on the side she normally took, biting her bottom lip. This was awkward as hell. He was purposely messing with her that had to be the only explanation. Jasina wasn't going to question it though as she stood up, pulling the comforter back and slid in the bed, leaving her shorts on since this was her ex-husband after all. Though normally, Jasina either slept with a tank top and panties or a nightgown.

Mark had started sleeping in boxers when Arielle was big enough to run and crawl into his bed with him. Though she didn't do that anymore except during thunderstorms when she was woken up by the thunder. Therefore, he was back to sleeping in the nude. He hooked his hands in his jeans, watching her trying not to watch him and inwardly chuckled, this was actually kind of fun. Slowly, he slid them down, hearing her exhale, guessing she'd noticed the black boxers and snorted, crawling into the bed.

The bed was huge, though there was a slight problem. Jasina had to sleep on her left side and that faced Mark. Sighing inwardly, Jasina got comfortable, and closed her eyes, her hands tucked under the pillow, her hair fanned out over it and the rest flowing down her back. She wasn't tired, but knew Mark was and wasn't going to keep him up. He hadn't brought the photo albums with him anyway. Jasina couldn't believe she was actually in the same bed as her ex-husband, wondering when she entered a Twilight Zone.

Mark wasn't comfortable with her facing him, it made him feel like he was being stared at. Sleeping alone for so many years had done that to him. He rolled over so he was staring up at the ceiling, folding his arms beneath his head. "You're not going to sleep, are ya?" He asked conversationally, already knowing she wasn't. He didn't think he would be either.

"No, but I can try." She replied softly, her voice barely above a whisper, and snuggled further into the pillow. She felt him shift and sighed, slowly opening her eyes and just looked at him. "You're not tired?" She asked, watching as he shook his head, and bit her bottom lip. "Then why did you insist on coming up here to go to sleep?" Jasina was confused and threw the comforter off, beginning to get up so she could go back downstairs to look at some more pictures or something. She felt restless.

"Because I know if I don't try to sleep I'm going to stay up all damn night and be a bear in the morning." He pulled her back down, rolling over and pinning her beneath him. "Why can't you sleep? Besides the obvious fact you're uncomfortable here." Mark stared down at her, feeling her curvy body pressed against his. He didn't remember her having some of these curves...being clean had done wonders for her figure.

Having him this close was making her head spin as Jasina tried focusing, staring into those eyes again. Those damn eyes. "I'm not uncomfortable, first of all." She said, loving the feeling of his rock hard body against hers. It'd been so long...no, she couldn't think like that! She had to breathe, though his scent was overtaking her. "I'm restless." She said in a softer voice, her stomach tightening slightly and she could feel the desire rushing through her body. "Why can't you sleep besides the fact that I'm here?"

"It's just the fact that you're here, no other reason." He said conversationally, shifting so he wasn't crushing her under his weight. "Well...that and I'm kinda worried about seeing Arielle in the morning." He pulled a face. "I don't know what to do with a girl who's...PMSing it." Maybe he'd make chocolate chip pancakes in the morning.

"So THAT'S why you insisted I stayed." Jasina started laughing softly, ignoring his grimace, and shook her head. That desire quickly went away as she patted his shoulder gently, comfortingly. "Don't worry, Mark. PMS isn't as bad as it seems. Just have chocolate and Pamprin for her cramps. I know she's going to be in a lot of pain because I was when I was her age." Jasina shivered, remembering when she would be sent home because her cramps hurt her so badly. She hoped that wasn't the case with Arielle.

Besides the obvious male discomfort on this very feminine topic, Mark wondered if he should be keeping notes. "You know what'll come next? Bra shopping." He groaned, already picturing it. Arielle holding up bra after bra after bra, asking him which one. "Oh dear lord..." He dropped his face, hiding it in her shoulder. "Shoot me, just shoot me."

Jasina was giggling harder now and ran her fingers through his hair, loving the feeling of it as it slid from them gently. "I will be taking her bra shopping." She told him, trying to set his mind at ease. "I'm warning you now, if she's anything like me physically and woman wise, she's going to start sprouting them before she's thirteen. I was a size C by the time I was that age." When his head popped up from her shoulder, Jasina nodded with a sigh. "Poor girl, she's gonna have her mother's figure and cup size probably." She actually grimaced. "Hopefully she won't go past a D cup. I stopped when I was about eighteen..."

"Maybe my genes will kick in and she'll be tall enough to support them." He grunted, trying not to picture his baby girl, his innocent little angel, his baby with a pair of… "Damn it, Jasina, knock it off." He groaned, clamping a hand over her mouth. "No more, I'm going to go buy a shotgun first thing in the morning and a chastity belt, they still sell those, right?"

Jasina was laughing hard against his hand as she managed to move his hand away, the amusement clearly shining in her eyes. "If my mother ever tried that, I would've shot her." She stated, raising a slow eyebrow. "You're not putting a chastity belt on our daughter, Marcus." She smirked when he growled, knowing how much he loathed his full name. "You can buy a shotgun, though if you shoot one of the boys she'll bring home, I'm going to have to hurt you."

Technically, he could do whatever he wanted too and there wasn't a damn thing Jasina could do about it, but he didn't feel mean enough to point that out. "I'll be shootin' Gary first." He said thoughtfully. "Gary is the boy that hangs out with her and Toni, the boy who apparently thinks wearin' bells on his boxers is a fashion trend." He was STILL wondering just how Arielle knew that tidbit, deciding he and Gary would be having a chat soon.

"You're being overprotective." She pointed out, shaking her head, knowing she wouldn't be able to change his mind.

She knew cooler heads would prevail and Mark would see that he would be pushing his daughter away if he chased away all of her friends that were male. She decided not to point that out though or the fact that Arielle had to grow up sometime. That's the last thing he needed to hear as she simply laid there, letting him rant and rave, finding it both cute and amusing.

His mind strayed off his daughter and onto the mother, literally. Now that he was paying attention to the woman underneath him, those curves were beginning to walk back into his train of thought. "Sleeping in your clothes...Do you want a shirt or something? This way they'll be fresh in the morning." He almost said something along the lines of 'sleeping in that bra can't be comfortable, let them swing free', but...that wouldn't have gone over well all things considered.

"I didn't want to impose." She softly replied, smiling when he stood up and walked over, getting her another shirt and tossed it at her. "Thanks." She muttered when it landed on top of her head and proceeded to pull it over her head. She slipped her shorts off while under the comforter and managed to get her tank top off without showing him anything, but part of her stomach, smoothing the shirt down. It went to her knees, as always, and felt him rejoin her in the bed, making sure to keep her legs covered and away from his. "Thank you."

"Not a problem." Mark grunted, laying back down, drawing the covers up to his chest, flipping onto his stomach. Then his back, then finally his side. It was so damn odd to be sharing a bed. Especially with the one person he never thought he'd want back in his bed. How funny life could be sometimes. "Don't you have a boyfriend waiting on you somewhere?" He asked out of the blue.

That caught her off guard as Jasina laid on her left side, facing him, wondering how she was supposed to tell him... "There's been no one else, Mark." She softly said, deciding the truth was best, and closed her eyes.

Of course he didn't know about the two years of rehab she went through or the fact that she'd been so hopped up on drugs that she didn't want to destroy another man's life. She figured saying all of that might ruin the peace between them and kept it to herself. He would find everything out eventually as she inhaled the shirt and pillow. It smelled like him and that made her smile.

"Woman, are you- you're sniffing my pillows?" Mark began laughing, moving to grab the pillow from underneath her head, sniffing it. "Smells like me." He grunted, passing it back to her, arching an eyebrow. "Sorry. Not used to a woman in here I guess. Maybe I should start lighting candles or something, eh?"

Jasina blushed as she shook her head, snatching the pillow back. "No, I love your scent." She stated, her cheeks flaming hot by now and buried her face in the pillow. 'I did not just say that!' She thought frantically, curling up with the comforter to hide herself from more embarrassment. Judging by the house, she knew he didn't have another woman in his life, which is why she didn't ask him. Though then again, he might think of it rude or conceded if she didn't. "You don't have a woman waiting on you?"

Mark was still chuckling over her confession. Loved his scent? He always thought he smelled like a garage, but then again, that was him. Women were weird creatures. Especially this one. He popped an eye open to see her hiding under the blankets, reaching out with one hand to pull them off of her, laughing when she snatched out her hands for them.

"Not that I know of." He drawled. He wasn't about to tell her he'd had a few flings, that was none of her business for one. Two, they never lasted more than a month and he had never allowed any of them to meet his daughter.

"You asked me, I was just returning the favor." She informed him, snatching the blanket back over her before laying down again.

It was really surprising he hadn't found anyone, but then again, she had broken his heart. Sighing gently, Jasina closed her eyes, her arm resting on top of the comforter, her legs curled slightly. She could never lay stretched out, it drove her crazy. Not to mention she was in her ex-husband's bed wearing his t-shirt and she was fighting the urge to pounce on him. She pushed a strand of hair from her face and rubbed her eyes, letting out a small yawn, knowing she still wasn't tired. If anything, her body was alive and on fire, though Mark didn't need to know that. She would be going through hell tomorrow at work, that much was certain.

"Okay, enough talkin', we both got to work tomorrow." Mark also had to find a way to go to sleep so he'd stop thinking about her, not in the mood for a cold shower because, honestly, that's what she was beginning to do to him. Damn it. So much for happily divorced. "Good night, Jasi." Yawning loudly, he rolled over so his back was facing her, grunting and moved long enough to get rid of the damn boxers, laying back down and sighed contentedly.

"Night Mark." She whispered, biting her bottom lip, seeing he had removed his boxers and, for the first time in her life, Jasina had moved to lay on her right side. She couldn't stare at his bare back, see those muscles ripple...she bit into the pillow before bringing the comforter over her body fully, hoping she would eventually drift off to sleep. That wasn't likely to happen, but she could hope.

When she did eventually drift off to sleep, it was long after Mark already had. He rolled over sometime in the early morning, groaning softly and tossed his arm around her, pulling her back against him. Mmm...This dream came with a warm, soft body. When Jasina woke up, she was going to find herself trapped under a massive thigh, her back to a broad chest and a hard-on digging into her back.