TRUSTING JAKE: MONTGOMERY HEROES OF ALASKA

by Becca Monroe

  When I finally made it to work, Mary smiled when she lifted her head from her morning paper to see me rushing in. My hair a mess and a frazzled look on my face. Mike and Jake glanced toward the door when I stepped inside, holding up my hand in Mary’s direction.

  “I’m sorry I’m five minutes late. The heater’s out again, and then I used all my firewood, so I didn’t sleep worth a toot.”

  Mike laughed and sipped his coffee. “Who says toot?”

  I glared at him, but smiled, making it far less intimidating than I intended. “Apparently, I do, Mr. smarty pants,” I said.

  Mike threw his head back and laughed. “Oh wow, Delaney! Vicious name-calling will never do,” he joked.

  While Mike teased me in his typical friendly manner, I smiled, but my heart ached a little when Jake ignored me entirely and turned away. I was hoping after our interaction over my chocolate Kahlua cake recipe, he might be more friendly, but I guess it was best things stay cold between us. Part of me would always wonder why he disliked me.

  Mary stopped me on the way back to get changed. “That cake is mouthwatering,” she said. I smiled and turned to the counter where only one piece remained. My eyes widening.

  “It’s not even seven am and it’s almost gone. Who ate it?” I asked.

  She motioned to Mike and Jake’s table. “Jake came in this morning saying how great it tasted and so Mike tried it, two pieces. Then Sam, then myself. Jake had another one, Herb and Evelyn had a piece. I need you to make another one so we can get in on the menu ASAP. After Herb and Evelyn left to go to the station, Josh called angry he didn’t get any and his team is stopping by for dinner once they are off-shift tonight. They want some. Maybe you should make two,” she said.

  This news brought on a sense of accomplishment. Sure, it was just a cake, but it was something I loved, cooking for people. It’s something I made a good living at when I was back in New York. Which seemed like a lifetime ago. I was happy everyone loved the cake and wanted more. I nodded, gave Mary a quick one-arm hug, and stepped to the back to get changed.

  Jake

  I turned away and took another bite of my breakfast when Delaney smiled, trying to hide the grin forming on my face. Why did she always have to be so adorable? Keeping my distance was becoming increasingly difficult. My thoughts regarding Delaney betrayed me more and more each day, no matter how I attempted to stop them altogether.

  Six months ago, momma informed my brother Josh and me that she hired a woman to work at the restaurant full-time. She was new to town, needed work, and mom needed the help. According to momma, she’d hired a delightful girl that she liked and that’s all we needed to understand.

  Josh and Mike loved her. Hell, everyone in town loved her. But for me? Not so much. Okay, that isn’t entirely true. Delaney was a sweet enough person. A little younger than me, always smiling at everyone, yet standoffish, which I empathized with. She was cute. Okay, again with the half-truths. Stunningly beautiful would be a more accurate description. I’m not exaggerating when I say there were moments when I saw her, I would lose my breath.

  Sorry, as you’re probably beginning to understand, I have some issues with my feelings about Delaney Newcomb. When I say issues, I mean I haven’t verbalized to anyone how much I like her. Not one person in Kodiak knows that she’s all I dream about and desire. Trust me, it’s probably best for both of us if it stays a secret.

  I have some demons, things that someone like Delaney shouldn’t ever have to deal with. She probably thinks I hate her, and that is what she will continue to believe, regardless of how many cold showers I need to take to ensure she stays out of my bed.

  Mike shook his head, casting a disapproving glare my way. “What?” I asked, knowing that I didn’t want to hear the answer.

  “Why couldn’t you say hello to her?” he asked. “I get you have a little crush on her, that’s why you distance yourself, but you shouldn’t be rude.”

  I smirked at his insinuation and how it was both accurate and wrong. “There’s no crush.” That wasn’t a lie. What I was feeling toward Delaney was far more than a crush, but I needed to keep that to myself.

  Mike shook his head, a little exasperated. “Hmm, no crush. So what’s your problem with her?”

  I swallowed a large gulp of coffee and raised an eyebrow at him. “I don’t have a problem with her, but I don’t want to get to know her either. She’s hired help, that’s it. Delaney’s nobody to me.”

  Mike glanced behind me, and his eyes went wide. Delaney stood there, coffeepot in hand to freshen up our mugs. She feigned a smile and set the pot on the table. “I’ll just leave this for you guys to warm up as needed.” Her sweet voice broke on the last word, and I saw the tears forming in her eyes before she turned and made a beeline for the backroom.

  Tossing my napkin on the table, I sighed under my breath. “Shit.”

  He shook his head in disgust. “Man, that was a dick move.” Mike wasn’t happy. “I’m heading over to the gym and you need to fix that. You don’t have to like her, but saying stuff like that isn’t who you are.”

  Just as Mike was leaving, momma came stomping out of the back. “One of you boys care to tell me why Delaney is wiping tears out of her eyes in the office?”

  Mike pointed to me. “All Mr. Casanova over here, mom.”

  Her glare turned towards me as I flipped Mike off.

  She stomped to my table, smacked me in the back of the head, and took a seat directly across from me. “Jake Montgomery, I did not raise you to be a jerk to women who are just trying to make a living! What’s wrong with you?”

  Shrugging my shoulders wasn’t a good idea, but truthfully, I couldn’t justify what I said about Delaney. Not only could I not justify it, but I didn’t even mean it. “I didn’t expect her to hear that conversation.”

  “If you have to say it in private, you shouldn’t say it at all,” momma said.

  I nodded in agreement because she wasn’t wrong. The issues I had with Delaney weren’t her fault. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry to me, you apologize to her. That girl doesn’t need any grief from you. She’s the best worker I’ve ever had in this place. Everyone adores her, and I consider her almost like a daughter to me.”

  Momma had to notice me wince at that. Of all the ways I pictured Delaney in my dreams since the day I met her, none of them were sisterly.

  “Apologize to her and then figure out how not to be a jerk to her for the rest of her time here.”

  “Rest of her time here? Is she leaving?” I didn’t tell momma, but the thought of Delaney leaving and never seeing her again had my insides all twisted up.

  “Suddenly, you care?”

  I shrugged again, trying to hide the fact that I cared far more than I should. “Not really,” I lied. “I just find it odd that a woman would move up here just to stay for a few months, then leave. Where is she from again?”

  Mom stood and pointed her finger at me, which always meant she was serious. “I don’t believe I ever said where she was from.”

  She looked toward the office area, then back to me. “Make this right. She’s a wonderful girl. It will mortify Josh to hear how you are treating her. He’s on leave until after Thanksgiving, today’s his last duty for a while. I should call him and tell him how you’re behaving.”

  I raised my hands in surrender. “Okay momma, okay! The next time I see her, you have my word that I’ll apologize.”

  She turned and walked away. “Great! You can do it right now! I sent her down to the basement to gather what she needed to bake some more of those cakes. You’ll find her down there. Get a move on, Mike will need you at the gym soon.”

  A smile crossed my face. “All right, momma, I’m going.”

  You didn’t say no to Mary Montgomery. The woman was a force for all things good, so when she said you should do something, she was right. She waved a hand in the air, and the couple sitting at the counter laughed after witnessing our exchange. Yep, I w
as a 32-year-old war veteran who does what my mom says. What can I say? The woman means everything to me.

  Momma, Josh, and I moved to Kodiak when I was five years old, so it quickly became our home. Our dad stopped being around, which wasn’t a bad thing. I was young, but I was old enough to understand him being gone was a positive for us. Momma never talked about him and I never did either, even to the counselor she sent me to when we first moved. We were in a new place and Josh and she appeared happy most of the time. That was all I cared about.

  Mike became my second brother. We met in kindergarten and became blood brothers in our freshman year of high school. Blood brothers sound overly dramatic, but we literally poked our thumbs with a sharp hunting knife and took the oath of brothers. He came to live with us after his parents passed away in a car accident when he was fifteen, sealing the brotherhood between us even further. We even let Josh join our little faux coven. The three of us were inseparable. Brothers at home, and on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan.

  Josh chose a somewhat different route, as a pilot for the Coast Guard, and after doing a stint in Florida and Hawaii for a few years, he ended up right back here in Kodiak. That made momma and Josie happy. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention Josie. She’s important to all of us, a little sister type to Mike and me, but her connection with Josh was always different. Josie centered and calmed his wild spirit in a way nobody else could. There’s more to their story, but we can get into that later.

  The Army received 14 years of service from Mike and me, multiple war and peacetime deployments, and we loved the life. But everything changed during our last mission when we lost four of our teammates and we both almost died. War was a nightmare, but trying to put the pieces back together in your head and heart post-war proved extremely difficult.

  We leaned on each other and our other brothers in service. It got us through the darkest times, now we were living the good life. Multiple business ventures, building our dream homes, and living life well… And single. Delaney forced me to question that last part, but I had no intention of letting her know how much she affected me. At least that was my plan.

  Delaney

  The basement always creeped me out, but at least it got me away from Jake for a few minutes to gather myself. No heat in my place, not sleeping well, and not hearing a word from Kelly yesterday was taking a toll on my emotions. On a typical day, I would ignore Jake’s disregard for my existence, but today hearing him say I was nobody to him hurt me in a way I didn’t understand.

  Everyone in town knew Mary and her boys. They had been here for over twenty-five years, and the community valued them as much as they seemed to appreciate it. Josh was a wonderful man and always so kindhearted to everyone. He was a Coast Guard pilot, based out of the Kodiak station assigned to a Search and Rescue team. Mary, I swear, was my guardian angel in human form. She let me work for tips under the table, and she seemed to understand without an explanation from me, why I couldn’t use a social security number.

  Every time I tried to get the courage to explain, she told me there was no need to rush. I would share when and if I could. She never judged me or demanded I give her information, she just trusted that I was an honorable person trying to make my way. I thanked God for her every day. Jake proved more difficult.

  He absolutely despised me. I would love to tell you what I did to cause him to have such powerful feelings of hatred for me, but I don’t understand myself. Kodiak had become my home, and I loved it more than I ever thought I could love a place, but I wouldn’t be able to stay here forever. Eventually, my past would come calling, and I would need to leave. My money was holding up for now, but I had to figure out a long-term plan.

  In a few months, Jake Montgomery would mean nothing to me. Until then, I would ignore how handsome I thought he was or how much I wished I knew what it felt like to have his arms around me. They looked like the safest place in the world to be. Why I felt drawn to him in that manner, when my past held such horrible intimate memories, always surprised me. I wish to God I could stop it.

  My hands went to my head in frustration. You need to get your head in the game, Delaney. Where did I put my list? Ah, there it is!

  “Do you always talk to yourself when you’re alone?” The sexy sound of Jake’s voice sent chills down my spine.

  I set the list of supplies on the table and continued to scan the shelves for them without turning his way.

  “Can we talk?” He asked.

  “Why? You clarified that I’m nobody to you. Do you make it a habit of talking to nobodies?” I paused, trying to figure out why he was down here. “Ah, I get it, Mary was less than pleased with you, so she sent you down to apologize.” I rolled my eyes, even though I still faced away from him. He had no business coming down here and apologizing because his mom sent him to do so. It was infuriating.

  “I probably shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry.”

  “Probably?” That was it! I whirled around to face him and ran smack into his rock-hard chest. “You!” Why is Jake standing so close to me? For the love of God, someone needs to tell me why his body feels so strong and perfect underneath my hands.

  Jake

  God, she smelled like strawberries and vanilla, and my arms instinctively wrapped around her when she stumbled into me. Our eyes locked, and I could have sworn desire flashed in her gaze. Well, desire mixed with a little anger. “I shouldn’t have said that, and I apologize.”.

  She stared at me long enough that my body responded to her being in my arms. The feel of her hands on my chest, the way her fallen curls shaped her face, the brightness in her eyes, her breathing that seemed to become more rapid the longer I held her close. All of it was too much. Delaney was perfect and everything I couldn’t have in my life. I needed to remind myself of that.

  My arms slowly released her, and I stepped back. “Will you please accept my apology?” My voice sounded needy, and I hated how badly I wanted her.

  Her eyes moved over my body, and a confused look replaced the desire that was present just moments before. “Delaney?”

  I lifted my arm to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear when my hand brushed against her cheek. The closer I was to her, the more I needed to touch her. Her arm went up in a defensive motion and she cowered down, covering her face in her hands. Fear.

  For the second time in two days, she was afraid of me. “Delaney, hey,” I whispered, as I moved closer, but she stepped back, attempting to catch her breath.

  The fake smile she plastered on her face bothered me. She was genuine in the care and communication she showed towards others. This reaction wasn’t her. At least, I didn’t think so.

  “I’m sorry. Last night I made the horrible decision to watch a scary movie. I guess it affected me more than I thought,” she said, her voice shaky. “We’re fine. Thanks for the apology, but I need to get these supplies up. Can you carry those canisters upstairs for me?” She asked, pointing to a shelf across the room, then turned her back to me.

  Her hands were shaking, her voice quiet and scared, and my concern was growing. I’d done everything in my power to avoid private moments and conversations with her. I kept my distance, but right now all I wanted to do was wrap her in my arms and offer comfort. Terror was seeping out of her, and that brought back so many memories of things my mom lived through. I was young when my dad and she were still together, but there were two things I remembered, mom’s constant fear when he was home and her strength when we left.

  “You sure you’re okay?” I intentionally kept my voice low, so I wouldn’t spook her.

  She set the list down on the shelf and took a deep breath, still facing away from me. “Yes, I’m fine. I haven’t been sleeping with it getting colder and the heater out in my place. That’s all. Thanks again for the apology.”

  Now I was more concerned about her physical wellbeing. “The heater’s out?”

  “Yes,” she said, still not meeting my eyes.

  I sighed and crossed my arms over my che
st. “You can’t have your heater out in the winter up here.”

  She stomped her foot on the ground, as though my words just frustrated the hell out of her, but she didn’t want to curse. It took everything in me not to grin at how cute she was right now. “Thank you so much for that life-altering piece of information. I’m aware of that, but I can’t get it fixed right now.”

  She was giving me the same attitude I had thrown her way for the past six months. I couldn’t blame her for not trusting me, but being afraid of me was unacceptable. I’d never given her a reason to believe I would ever hurt a woman, her or otherwise.

  “After the gym closes, I’ll come over and fix your heater,” I said.

  “No!” She spun around, adamantly refusing my help.

  My eyebrow shot up in concern, but I kept my voice neutral. “What’s the matter?” I asked.

  The shocked look on her face told me she was just as surprised as I was by her outburst. She was on edge, and I hated I was the reason. “What’s the matter, Jake?” She asked.

  I nodded.

  “You hate me. From the moment I arrived in Kodiak, you’ve flashed me dirty looks anytime I walk into a room, dismissing me as if I don’t exist. There’s never been a time that we’ve shared a conversation or had coffee because you avoid me. You barely tolerate my existence, and today you confirmed that with your comment to Mike. Now you come down here and apologize, only because Mary forced you to. Then I fall into you, you wrap your arms around me and do that thing you do! Now you want to come over to my house, rummage through my personal things, and fix my heater? Do you really have the nerve to ask me what’s wrong?”