They climbed up the back steps to the house and Jake opened the door for her and followed her inside. She froze after only a few steps and he walked right into her. “Oof!”
Mallory gasped and then turned, blushing adorably. “Sorry. I just…everything looks so different since I was here last.”
Jake stepped around her as he walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out a couple of bottles of water, handing one to her. “When I bought the place from my folks two years ago, everything was seriously outdated. So this became my weekend project. I do a little something here and there.” He shrugged, opening his water. “Kind of like a labor of love. And besides, the place really needed it.”
She nodded but didn’t comment, taking a long drink of her water instead.
He motioned for her to sit down and noticed she was still curiously looking around. “You can walk around and check it all out if you’d like. Besides the kitchen and living room, I turned one of the bedrooms into an office and just started on the main bathroom.”
Without looking at him, Mallory walked around the living room. She touched the built-in bookcases he’d made and ran a hand over the new mantle over the fireplace. While the structure of the house was good, he knew the décor left a lot to be desired. This was still the furniture his parents had from when he was growing up and someday he’d replace it, but for now it was fine and functional. He figured she was looking around and redecorating the room in her mind and it made him smile.
“You think I should go with a sectional in here or a sofa and loveseat?” he asked, stepping into the space.
“A sectional,” she said without hesitation. “Something light and, knowing you, you’re going to want an even bigger television over the fireplace, right?”
Laughing, he nodded. “It was going to be a Christmas present to myself this year.”
“I went to visit Sam a couple of months ago and his TV seemed to fill up an entire wall!” she said, laughing with him. “I questioned him on it but then he proceeded to educate me on the importance of the big screen. Needless to say, I don’t love it from a decorating standpoint, but I understand it from an entertainment one.”
“The funny thing is I don’t watch a lot of TV, but when I do, I guess it will be nice. Although, for years I got by with this one and ones much smaller so…I’ll live if I never upgrade.”
Mallory moved around the room, looking at the framed family pictures he had on the bookshelves. “I don’t know about that. I think you should fill your home with things you want–things that make you happy.” She paused and moved over to the other built-in and examined those pictures. “Just last week I was looking around my place and thinking how I wish I could go on decorating it over and over. Or maybe just get a second place to decorate because I love to do it.”
“I remember,” he said softly and Mallory turned to look at him, her eyes a little wide. Shrugging, Jake went on, “I remember how much fun you had working on Zeke’s office and then the boathouse. You spent a lot of time that summer shopping for the perfect pieces of furniture and the perfect paintings and accessories.” He chuckled. “At the time I thought you were crazy, but I couldn’t argue with the finished product. It all looked great.”
Neither moved for a minute and once again, Jake had to wonder if he should have just kept his mouth shut. Then again, they couldn’t just pretend their past didn’t happen. It did. They had a history together and there were memories he was unwilling to never mention again.
No matter how uncomfortable it may make her.
Finally, Mallory said, “Thank you.” She walked back through the kitchen and then down the hall to his office. She stood in the doorway and Jake followed. “Did you make the desk yourself?” Her lips twitched with amusement.
“Um…yeah.” Truth was, it was a plastic folding table with a piece of plywood over it. He didn’t really need anything more, but he supposed a real desk might not be a bad investment. “I found it down in the garage and it does what I need it to do.”
She shook her head. “I do like what you did with the walls. The color is great and it’s impressive how you did built-ins in here without making them look the same as the ones in the living room. I didn’t realize carpentry was your thing.”
He shrugged again. “Don’t get me wrong, designing and building on a bigger scale is always going to be what I want to do, but I love projects like this and how I can personalize it exactly the way I want.”
For a minute she went completely still and then seemed to sway on her feet. When she looked ready to fall, Jake stepped in and put his arms around her. “Mal? You okay?” he asked frantically.
Placing a hand on her forehead, she nodded. “I skipped breakfast this morning and I think it’s really catching up with me.” She didn’t move away from him right away, but did fumble for her purse. “I should probably call my mother and ask her to come back and get me. It’s well after lunchtime, but I’m sure Aunt Georgia has something I can throw together.”
“Have lunch with me,” he blurted out before thinking it through. Her shocked expression didn’t deter him. “I haven’t eaten yet and was going to make a sandwich or something. You’re more than welcome to join me.”
He had forgotten just how expressive her face could be. Then again, he also knew how polite Mallory was and knew that even if she didn’t want to have lunch with him, she wouldn’t turn him down.
“Thanks, but…I think I’ll just call Mom and go grab something with her and the family.”
Okay…maybe he didn’t know her as well as he once thought.
“Um…what?”
She moved to put some distance between them again and sighed. “I appreciate the invitation, but…”
“Look, can’t we put…you know…the past aside? For the next week or so that you’re undoubtedly going to be here, we’re going to be seeing each other.” He waited to see if she’d interrupt or argue, but she didn’t. “There was a time when we were friends, Mal, and I’d really like it if we could be again. Now more than ever, I think it’s important. I know Zeke would have wanted that.”
And yeah, he knew he was playing dirty, but desperate times and all.
It took less than a second for her to look away and pull her phone out of her purse. Reaching out, he put a hand on her arm. “C’mon, Mallory. Please.”
And then she did look at him and he hated what he saw–pain, sadness, and distrust.
He immediately stepped back and motioned for her to make her call and he went back to the kitchen to give her privacy.
Sitting down at the kitchen table, he sighed. What the hell was he supposed to do? They were going to have to get past this. They had a history long before they were involved and as long as he lived here and her family continued to live next door then…
What if it didn’t happen? What if now that Zeke was gone, Susannah and Georgia and whoever else was involved decided to sell the house? Then he’d never see Mallory again.
Then again, judging by how quickly she was looking to get away from him, he doubted she’d be too disappointed if that happened.
“Thanks, Mom. I’ll see you in a few minutes,” he heard her say just as she walked back into the kitchen. When she spotted him, she came to a halt and placed her phone back in her purse. “Um…I need to go back over to Pops’ place. I told my mother I’d meet her out front.”
He came to his feet and felt more than a little annoyed with the way she was running away. But then again, should he really be surprised? “You could have just told her to come here. There’s a lot less debris on my property and it would be easier for her to get in and out.”
“We did fine earlier. Really, it’s okay.” She walked over to the back door before looking at him again. “Thanks for the water and…I guess I’ll see you around.”
“Mallory, wait,” he said, going to her. This time he did reach for her and didn’t care if she looked shocked or not. “This is ridiculous!” Grasping her shoulders, he held her just close enough
that he could feel the warmth of her body, but far enough that there was still some space between them. “I’m not going to spend the rest of my life worrying about you avoiding me or dealing with you refusing to talk to me! We’re adults, dammit!”
When she went to pull out of his grasp, he held on even tighter–his fingers digging into her skin. “Thanks for the reminder,” she all but spat at him. “I almost forgot how immature you think I am.”
Oh for the love of it…
This time when she went to pull away, he dragged her in close until they were chest to chest. “Stop it,” he growled. “That was a long time ago and we need to let it go!”
She glared at him.
“I’ve already let it go. You’re the one who brought it up,” she snapped, still wiggling and trying to move away.
He should have just let her go–should have just said goodbye and let her go on her way–but he couldn’t. Now that she was this close, Jake lost all sense of what was right and wrong, along with all sense of reason.
“More than anything, right now we should be doing our best to get along,” he said, forcing himself to ignore how good she felt against him–how good she smelled, how soft her skin was under his hands.
“Oh, please,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Don’t even go there. Our getting along has nothing to do with anything anymore.” Once more she tried to pull away from him and Jake could see how frustrated she was when he wouldn’t let go. “Dammit, Jake! Stop it!”
The only thing her movements managed to do was to put her firmly against him. Her breasts were crushed against his chest and they were both breathing heavily at the exertion. He stared long and hard at her and the only thing going through his mind was that if they were going to do this–if they were going to move on the way he said they needed to, then he needed to do this one last thing to get her out of his system.
He hauled her in impossibly closer and kissed her.
4
Mallory forgot to be outraged as she dropped her purse and raked her hands up into Jake’s hair.
It was better than she remembered–all of it–the silkiness of his hair, the way his hands ran up and down her back, and most of all, his kiss. She completely melted against him and reveled in the feeling of having Jake wrapped around her. The feel of his lips on hers, the way his tongue teased and tangled with hers…it was enough to make Mallory completely forget where she was.
He backed her up until they were out of the doorway, but they didn’t go any further. Once her back hit the wall, it was all she could do to keep from wrapping her legs around his hips and begging for more. It had always been this way–one kiss was enough to trigger a thousand sensations and it was amazing how her body still responded to his after all this time.
Hands roamed, tongues dueled, and still it wasn’t enough. She needed to breathe–needed to simply break the kiss and gasp for air–but she couldn’t make herself do it. The thought of losing their connection–even for a minute–was too great of a risk to take.
Unfortunately, Jake was willing to take that risk and when he broke the kiss and panted breathlessly against her throat, saying her name, sanity started to return.
What am I doing?
His mouth moved along her jaw. He gently bit her throat as he seemed desperate to keep his lips on her. There was a little voice inside of her telling her to stop this madness–to move away and get control of the situation. But then there was another little voice totally telling her to arch her back and press into him and let Jake keep doing what he was doing.
That was the voice she ultimately listened to.
When Jake bent and kissed his way down her throat to the vee of her blouse, Mallory silently prayed he’d simply rip the buttons apart so he could kiss her breasts–but he didn’t. Instead he kissed her over the fabric, but she felt his teeth scrape against her nipple and her knees practically buckled.
Opening one eye, she saw the sofa was less than ten feet away. They could be there in a matter of seconds, right? Maybe if she nudged him, she could get him to move so they could…
Her thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of her phone. It took a minute for her to gather her wits and make her body move away from his. She gently pushed him back as she bent down and picked up her purse, and clumsily fished her cellphone out.
Her mother.
Muttering a curse, she quickly answered. “Hey, Mom. Sorry. I’ll be out in a minute, okay?”
“Are you okay, Mallory?” her mother asked, concerned. “You sound out of breath.”
She looked guiltily at Jake, who was studying her with such heated intensity that she almost hung up on her mother so she could go back to kissing him. Her body moved of its own accord toward him when she heard, “Mallory? Are you there?”
Another curse. “Yeah, sorry. There’s a lot of debris back here and I’m trying to be careful. I’ll talk to you in a minute, okay?”
“Okay. Take your time. I’m enjoying the air conditioning in the car,” Susannah said with amusement.
Hanging up, she slid the phone back into her purse and took a step back toward the door. “Um…I need to go.”
Jake took a step toward her and Mallory wished he wouldn’t. The closer he got, the more she wanted to just reach out, grab his shirt and pull him to her.
“You should have let me drive you home,” he said, his voice low and gruff.
She shook her head. “No. It’s better this way. I…we…this shouldn’t have happened.” Looking over her shoulder and out the door, she knew she needed to go. “She’s waiting so…”
It happened so fast that she never saw it coming. Jake grabbed her and kissed her one last time. It was so sudden and intense that it left her feeling dizzy. He steadied her before stepping away. “This isn’t over, Mal. I thought it was…thought we could just do that and prove there was nothing there, but…”
She held up a hand to stop him. Yeah, she knew exactly what he was going to say and already knew she couldn’t argue it. It was true. There was still something there between them, but it was just physical.
Just as it had been all those years ago.
The physical part of their relationship had never been the problem
It was the emotional part that never seemed to work.
And it clearly wasn’t working right now either.
“I can’t deal with this right now, Jake,” she said. “There’s so much going on – so many things I have to focus on and…I…I just need to go.” And before he could do or say anything else, Mallory was out the door and making her way quickly and carefully across the property to meet her mother.
A few minutes later, she breathlessly climbed into the waiting car. “Sorry.”
Susannah studied her daughter for a long moment. “Are you okay?”
Mallory nodded and wished they’d start driving. “I’m starving, actually, and feeling a bit light-headed. Please tell me Aunt Georgia has something I can put together for lunch.”
“There’s all the makings for sandwiches and plenty of snacks.” She glanced over at Mallory again. “Are you sure that’s all this is? Hunger?”
Now that was a loaded question. But rather than say anything, she nodded.
“You saw Jake, didn’t you?” It wasn’t a question.
Why deny it? Watching the scenery go by as they finally pulled out of the driveway, she replied, “Yeah. I was down on the pier and he came down to make sure I was okay.”
“Well that was nice of him.”
Mallory wasn’t so sure she could agree.
“How was he doing?” her mother asked. “I saw him yesterday and he was really…well, I think he’s taking the loss just as hard as the rest of us. He and Pops were always close.”
“He seemed fine.”
“Hmm…”
That had her turning her head. “What? What did that mean?”
“What did what mean?”
“Your little hum.”
Her mother shrugged. “It was nothing.”
<
br /> “Mom…” she whined.
They drove in silence for a few minutes until Mallory thought she’d go mad. It wasn’t until they were parked in Georgia and Beau’s driveway that her mother responded. “There was a time when Jake Summerford was your entire world,” she began. “You kept that secret hidden from me fairly well before the two of you became a couple and well into the relationship.” She paused. “Sometimes relationships–romantic ones–don’t work out the way we want them to. And in the case of you and Jake, I think it was a case of bad timing. But now more than anything it’s important to remember you’re friends who are both grieving over the same thing–the person who meant so much to the both of you. Maybe it’s time to stop looking at all that went wrong with the two of you and focus on helping each other now when you both need it.”
It was the last thing she ever expected to hear from her mother, who had always been very supportive of her feelings. “I don’t think Jake and I were ever really friends, Mom. I think I just happened to be his neighbor’s great-granddaughter who he saw once a year.” It hurt to say it, but she’d come to grips with it a long time ago.
Or at least…she thought she had.
Beside her, her mother shrugged. “I can’t answer that for you, Mallory, but I think the coming weeks are going to be hard on everyone and maybe you should try to put any hard feelings aside where Jake is concerned. He…well…I can’t even imagine how he must have felt when he found Pops.” She shuddered. “And then he had to take on the task of calling us and breaking the news…I’m telling you, I wouldn’t wish that sort of thing on anyone. And through it all he’s been incredibly gracious and helpful and...”
“I get it, Mom. I do. It’s the worst situation I can ever imagine for anyone. My heart breaks for him having gone through what he did and I promise I’ll be more considerate of his feelings.”
“That wasn’t quite what I was saying…”
“No, no…I get it. I have been kind of bratty where he’s concerned these last several years and if I had just been more mature, I would have come to visit Pops back in June like I always did. Now I missed out and I’ll never get to…” She cursed as the tears started to fall. “I really wish I could stop crying all the damn time!”
Remind Me Page 6
