A Friend's Love

A Friend's Love Ch. 4

Note from the author:

I know there is some decent time between chapters, but I am working on the next parts already and going to make sure everyone knows what happens to Ryan and Jess!

Thank you everyone!

-James

***Thank you WokeUpOneDay for the editing***

.........

Ryan's phone buzzed and vibrated, sitting on his kitchen counter. He picked it up and saw that the screen said "Front Gate" on it.

"This is Ryan," he answered as he clicked the green answer button and put the phone on speaker.

"Good evening, Mr. Taylor. I have a Miss Jessica Larsen requesting access for your address," the guard at the front gate spoke.

"Larry? Is that you?" Ryan asked with elation.

"Yes sir!" The guard chuckled back on the phone. "How are you doing, sir?"

"I'm doing great! I didn't know you were back at work already! How's the little one?" Ryan asked, remembering that he sent Larry and his wife a huge gift basket a couple months back in congratulations for them having their first child.

"He's doing great sir," the guard replied happily. "Just growing like a weed!"

"That's awesome, Larry!" Ryan exclaimed while he was pulling out the bread from his second oven, "When you get a chance, send me some pictures of the big guy, I'd love to see how big he's gotten!"

"Will do, sir," Larry stated. "What should I do about your guest, is she good to come through?"

"Yes, of course!" Ryan indicated, smiling stupidly at his phone. "I'm cooking her dinner tonight. Let her through."

"Sure thing," Larry replied. "Have a good night, sir!"

"You too, Larry," Ryan reciprocated. "Tell Candice I say hi!"

Ryan hung up and put down the phone. He went back to stirring the pots and cutting the bread that he just pulled out of the oven.

About five minutes later, he heard the doorbell go off. At that moment he actually felt a little bit of nervousness and anxiety creep up inside of him. He felt his heart racing a little bit and his thoughts began to have some sort of self-doubt as he neared his way toward the stained glass French doors.

The feeling only lasted the 15 seconds or so that it took for him to get from the kitchen to the front door... but it was enough to make him question if he was doing the right thing. He knew he still needed to open that front door; he needed to see her and just talk to her. The history that the two of them had was too unique and too strong for anything to truly put a wedge into their friendship for any long period.

He paused for a second before opening up the door. He took a deep breath, undid the deadbolt, pulled down the handle on the doorknob, and opened it up. He swung the door open softly and looked outside.

He was greeted with a sight that, as far as he was concerned, froze all of time and space in its tracks. It was Jessica, with her shiny, highlighted, shoulder-length hair, her giant green eyes, and that smile that truly sparkled in the front porch lights. She had on a form-fitting emerald green and white summer dress with matching green wedges, making her stand a few inches taller than her normal 5'2" frame. She looked completely perfect. No other words could enter Ryan's psyche to describe her constitution other than perfect.

For a moment in Ryan's mind, even though it was only a split fraction of a second, the entire world and everything that it encapsulated just disappeared. It instantly evaporated into the vast, empty, abyss of the cosmos, and all that was... was Jessica. It was almost as if the last time he saw her didn't even really happen. It felt like this was the first time he was truly seeing her since he kissed her goodbye on that sultry morning he left her those years ago.

"Hi, Ryan," she smiled softly. "It's good to see you."

"Ahhh... Ummm..." Ryan paused to take a quick breath and bring him back to reality. "Wow, Jess! You look astounding!"

Jessica's smile grew larger as she looked down toward the ground in shyness. "Thanks, Ryan."

"Sorry," Ryan chuckled. "It's great to see you too, Jess. Please, come on inside!"

"Thanks," Jessica giggled as she followed Ryan through the door. He led her down the dark foyer and large living room toward the kitchen. "I would say you look good too but it's so dark in here!"

"Oh," Ryan looked back happily, "Alexa, turn on all interior house lights."

Suddenly every light in Ryan's mansion of a house turned on. All of his customizations, furniture, and decorations were on display for Jessica to see.

"Oh god," Jessica laughed as she covered her eyes to try and get acclimated to the new, brightly lit house she was in.

"Oh, my bad!" Ryan exclaimed in reply. "Alexa, set all interior lights to seventy-five percent."

The lights dimmed to a much more tolerable level and Jessica was able to clearly see in the light. She looked around the living room at all of the gorgeous art hanging up on the walls, and the more baroque/Gothic style of furniture and decorations.

"Ryan, this is awesome!" she shouted in astonishment, "Seriously, this is such an awesome, classic look to a modern house!" She then turned and looked at Ryan for the first time in the light and stepped back in shock. "Holy shit, Ryan!"

When she saw Ryan at the front door, she had the porch light in her eyes. She thought he had on another long sleeve shirt similar to the one he wore when she saw him last. But after looking at him in the light, she saw he was only wearing a stringer tank top. It was his chest and arm tattoos in the dark that made it look like he had on long sleeves.

"I thought you had on a long sleeve shirt!" Jessica exclaimed, "I didn't know you were tatted up like that!"

"Ohhh," Ryan said, looking down at the ink injected skin on his chest and arms. "Yeah I have gotten a lot of work done since I left for college."

Jessica just stood there looking at him, her eyes shifting from his chest to his shoulders and down his arms. At first this was making Ryan a bit nervous, thinking that she didn't approve of what his body looked like. But after a second or two, he saw a slight smirk quickly come across her face and then disappear just as fast. Ryan knew she was enjoying what she was looking at.

"So," Ryan paused as he held his arms out more to the sides and rotating a relaxed full circle around, allowing her to see that his tattoos went down his back as well, "what do you think?"

"Well..." she paused and looked back up into Ryan's eyes, her own showing a little lust, "I actually really like it. It's a good look on you! But don't think I didn't notice that you've almost doubled in muscle size since you left!" she giggled.

"Yeah I, uh," he paused again, "I got really deep into bodybuilding while I was in college and it just sort of stuck with me!"

"Well, you look good!" Jessica replied with a smile as her eyes wandered back down to observe his body again. As she said that, the timer went off for the other oven.

"Ohhh!" Ryan exclaimed smiling, "Let's go to the kitchen. I have to pull out the main dish!"

Ryan turned around and started walking to the kitchen with Jessica closely following behind. Unknown to Ryan, Jessica was in complete shock and awe at his tattoos and even more so his new physique. She watched him as he walked, seeing his back and shoulders tighten as his arms swayed, and watched the back of his arms thicken every time they would swing backward.

When they made it to the kitchen, Jessica's attention was directed to the amazing smell. "Oh my god," she elated, "what is that amazing smell?"

"Dinner," Ryan replied sarcastically, smiling back at her as he pulled out the clear glass dish from the oven.

"I know that butt hole," Jess clapped back playfully, "What's on the menu for tonight? Oh yeah..." she paused as she pulled out a bottle of wine from her purse. "I figured the least I could do was bring over some red wine to have with our dinner!"

She handed it to Ryan. He looked at the bottle and examining the label.

"Ohhhh, V. Sattui Cabernet Sauvignon... that's an excellent bottle for dinner!" Ryan smiled back at the gorgeous tanned beauty in his kitchen. "Thank you, Jess. You didn't have to bring anything. Just bringing yourself is more than enough for me!"

"Thanks, Ryan," she winked up at the broad man in front of her, "but I had to bring something. I felt it would be wrong to not contribute to dinner in some way!"

"Well thank you, Jess," Ryan replied softly as he headed to his bar to grab the corkscrew. "And for tonight's dinner I made Irish Champ, soda bread, Irish stew, and REAL corned beef and cabbage for us to eat!"

"Oh," Jessica replied excitedly, "I get to try some real Irish food from someone that lived there for years... I'm excited!" Then Jess giggled to Ryan, "We are actually going to eat the corned beef this time around, right?"

"I mean," Ryan laughed with sarcastic awkwardness, "we could skip it again if you want... but I don't think repeating that night right out of the gate would be in good taste."

"No, I want to actually have dinner with you this time!" Jess laughed back "Plus I actually am really hungry and dying to catch up with you!"

"Perfect!" Ryan grinned, pointing to his rather large dining room table "Go ahead and have a seat, I'll make your plate and get your wine for you!"

"Oh, and a gentleman still," she giggled happily "Thank you!"

Ryan poured her a glass of wine and prepared their dinners. They ate and talked for a long time about their combined childhood, their high school days, and how Tim had been texting and trying to call Jessica for weeks. They even talked about Ryan's parents.

Jessica was shocked that Ryan was able to discuss his parents, their lives, and what happened to them so openly and willingly. She noticed that his time away from home did essentially what she hoped it would do: let him grow up from his memories from home and be able to embrace them properly.

He caught up with Jessica's life since high school, and Ryan shared some of his adventures abroad. They talked for almost two hours and not only finished the bottle of wine Jessica had brought, but they were also drinking from another bottle that Ryan had in his bar. The night was winding down and slowly coming to an end.

"Well, I guess I better get out of your hair," Jess grinned at Ryan, "would you like any help cleaning up at all?"

"No," Ryan hesitated, "I'll take care of it all."

Finally, he knew he needed to ask an important question. He was hesitant and that nervous pit began to well up inside of him. Just like the night before he left for Ireland, the night where he finally told her how he felt, that same nervousness blossomed inside him like an uninvited guest in his heart.

"Ryan, what's up?" Jessica jokingly asked with concern. "You look a little off, the wine getting to you?"

"You know..." Ryan smirked, "I have to ask. It's been eating at me all night and I just need to a..."

"Yes," Jessica interrupted with a smile. "Yes I read your letters."

Ryan looked at her quizzically. "What did you think of them?"

"Well," Jessica paused to take a deep breath, "it was a lot to go through. I mean one letter per week for all those years was a lot to dive into with an open mind."

"That's understandable," Ryan replied directly.

"First off, I have to say you were right," Jessica stated, causing Ryan to look at her in wonder. "You were right about Tim. I asked him about my favorite song, scents, and movies, and that dumbass didn't know any of them. Two years and he didn't know jack shit about me... So that was just icing on the cake for me saying 'fuck it' and dipping out after he cheated on me."

"I'm sorry Jess," Ryan paused sincerely. "I feel bad that you went through all of that with him."

"Thank you, but I'm way better off without him," she smiled, holding back obvious anger toward him. "Also, secondly, you were right about you still being my friend. I took your advice and read the letters after seeing what a piece of shit he was and all I can say is I'm sorry for not calling you a friend when you came over. That was wrong of me and I'm big enough to admit it."

"I haven't stopped," Ryan replied, looking down at his plate with a somewhat hesitant feeling.

"You haven't stopped what?" Jessica questioned.

"Liking you," he replied looking up at her. "Jess I never stopped having those feelings for you. I had them when we were young, I had them in high school, I had them the night we did what we did, I had them all through Ireland, and I still have those feelings to this day."

"Wow," Jessica stuttered, "I really didn't know you still..."

"Of course I do, Jess," Ryan stated in a pleating fashion. "Like, yeah I have been hooking up with some women here and there, and have been living my life since I got back... but my feelings for you have never changed. My feelings for you and how I look at you are completely different from anyone else I've ever encountered in my life so far."

"So," Jess paused jokingly to wrap her head around Ryan's words, "what are you saying? That I'm too much to be around?"

"On the contrary," Ryan laughed happily, "I'm saying I would like to take you out on an actual date!"

"Ohhh?" She paused, somewhat stunned and trying to figure out what Ryan was saying. "Ohh! You're actually asking me out on a real date?"

Ryan laughed at watching her face changing at the realization. "Yes I want to go out on a real date with you!"

"Well shit, Ryan," she had a slight smile in amazement, "I don't know what to say..."

"Now I'm not asking for you to be my woman and freaking move right on in or anything like that," Ryan heckled back. "We are adults with our own lives, wants, desires, needs, and preferences. Also, you and I have changed a pretty decent amount since high school so it would take much more than just one dinner together to see if we even really want to be with each other in that light. So all I'm asking is for a simple date, to actually be able to take you on a date and see where it leads; if we want to have a second date and so on, or if it's even in the cards for us or not."

Jessica just sat there with a slight smirk, looking at her empty plate from the delicious dinner that Ryan had prepared for them.

Ryan looked at her as two trains of thought went through his head. The first being that she looked so incredibly radiant sitting there with him. How the light made her hair glow and that her skin was a rich and pure tan that could attract any man. Also that her lower-cut dress really exposed her gorgeous D cup breasts, making Ryan remember their last night together even more in-depth.

The second thought was of slight worry. She hadn't answered his question yet and she was just looking down with a faint smile. It was confusing to Ryan, to say the least.

"Ok," Ryan paused, laughing. Jess looked up at him. "You gotta give me something: a yes, a no, a perhaps, hell, I'll even take a grunt for a reply!"

"Oh," Jess laughed, realizing her brain drifted off, "I'm sorry, I was just thinking that it's ironic that I've never been properly asked out on a real date in my whole life, and the first person to do it is you, of all people!"

"Well," Ryan smiled, "I'm happy I got to give you a first for something!"

"That you did!" Jess giggled back "And yes, I would love to officially go on a date with you!"

"That's wonderful!"

Hearing Jess say yes to going on a date made him grow extremely happy. He felt he did a good job holding his excitement in, but Jess could tell that his cheeks grew a little redder as he was blushing.

"How about next Saturday evening?" Ryan smiled at the beautiful woman. "I can pick you up around six-thirty?"

"Perfect!" Jess exclaimed as she stood up from her seat, grabbing her purse from the back of the chair. "Where do you want to go for our date?"

"Oh, don't you worry," Ryan smiled as they slowly walked together toward his front door. "Leave that up to me. I'll text you and let you know if it's formal, casual, or something else."

"Oh, now I feel spoiled!" Jess joked.

"Yeah, yeah," Ryan replied sardonically.

When they made it to the door, Ryan opened it up and turned to tell Jess that he had a great evening, but he was interrupted.

She grabbed the back of his head as he turned toward her, pulled it down to hers, and pressed her lips against his. For a split second Ryan was confused, but after feeling Jess' lips against his, his mind raced with neon bliss. He raised his hands and caressed her face as their lips started to move with each other and their mouths opened up.

Their kiss turned into a rapidly heated exchange of urge, and lust. Their lips embraced one another and their tongues danced the dance as old as time with each other.

Nothing else mattered to each of them at that moment. They were experiencing each other in a way they hadn't felt in years and years. It encapsulated them, absorbed them, enthralled them into each other, and forced not just the world, but the entire cosmos to disappear away from them. All that mattered at that moment was the feeling they shared; the feeling of want and passion for one another.

Seconds turned to minutes, and minutes turned to nothing as time evaporated out of consciousness for Ryan and Jessica. All they felt in that moment was a reconnection that they both thought would never happen again.

Finally, Ryan had to end the kiss and pull away. He looked at the lusciously full lips and seductive green eyes softly staring back up at him. He smiled down at her as his fingers still lightly brushed down her cheeks.

"Why did you stop?" Jess asked with a playful grin.

"Because if I don't, then we both know where we will end up in the morning," Ryan chuckled.

"Oh, you don't want that to happen?" she joked back at him.

"Oh you know I do... but let's have our actual date first before we decide to go even further with each other." Ryan smiled, "Lord knows I want to carry you upstairs right now... but I only just started catching back up with you. I actually want to really learn who you are now and appreciate that first rather than simply cling to that old and dated friendship with youthful lust."

"Damn," Jess said pleasantly shocked, "that's actually a really good reason!"

They both began to laugh at Ryan's attempt at mature wisdom.

"Okay, okay," she replied again, giving Ryan one more hard kiss before walking out the door, "next Saturday at six-thirty! I'll see you then!"

She smiled back at Ryan as she walked to her car. Ryan could tell her smile wasn't just a look of passion or excitement; there was a look of actual happiness in her smile. That smile would have warmed Ryan's heart if he had enough blood pumping to it... All the blood pumped down to his cock, giving him the hardest bulge in his pants as well as the biggest case of blue balls he had felt in years!

"See you then Jess!" Ryan smiled back at her.

Jess got in her car and drove down Ryan's street, leaving Ryan filled with thoughts of happiness, lust, possibilities, and overall relief that their dinner together went as well as it did.

...............

"Look, son," James paused to chuckle aloud. "Yes we landed the contract but that's going to open up all new doors for problems to hit us."

"What do you mean?" Ryan replied laughing, "The only problem that we're going to face is a necessity for more space... which we have with our new building. Then the only other problem that I could see would be the actual manufacturing labor... which we have covered with our last recruitment session with all of the UNLV graduates. Trust me, big guy, we're good to go!"

"Well," James paused in agreement, "we did get ten new hires to the manufacturing side. I guess we can isolate them for a couple of months and have them solely focus on this contract first. Then we can throw them into the lion's den with everyone else."