by Elle Kennedy
Double whoa.
“Touchy much?” Jake said dryly.
“Yeah, touchy much.” Cooper snuffed out his smoke and wrapped both hands around his mug. “Look, I’m sorry. I’m having a crappy morning and it’s not even nine o’clock yet.”
“My morning’s not so hot either.”
They fell silent, sipping their coffees, until Cooper let out a soft curse. “I do like her, okay? Actually, I more than like her. I’m in love with her, man.”
Jake’s eyebrows shot up.
Cooper chuckled. “Pretty fucking shocking, huh? But it’s true. I love everything about that woman. Every neurotic, aggravating inch of her.”
“Have you told her?”
“Nope.” Cooper shook his head. “She doesn’t want to hear it, man. She’s all about appearances, and she cares way too much about what her snooty family thinks. They’d never approve of her being with someone like me.” He snorted. “Piss-poor construction worker who lives in a fucking shack? The mayor would skin me alive before letting me touch his princess.”
Jake knew all about snooty families. Whenever he’d encountered Bree’s parents in town or at school events, they’d looked down their noses at him, speaking to him as if he was a speck of dirt beneath their expensive shoes.
“Why don’t you give her an ultimatum?” he suggested. “You or her family. Make her pick.”
Cooper gaped at him. “Clearly you know nothing about women, Bishop. Ultimatums always backfire. That shit causes even more problems. Best I can do is keep talking to her, try to make her see that we’re so good together she’d be crazy to give this up.”
You don’t talk to me, Jake.
Discomfort wedged in his chest. Hell. Maybe he didn’t know anything about women.
But he did know that snapping at Bree first thing in the morning was not the way to ensure she spend more time with him.
Annoying as it was to admit, he wanted more time with Bree. The woman had a calming effect on him. She was smart, kind, incredible in bed. Being with her was…well, nice. Easy. And considering how out of sorts he was feeling at the moment, nice and easy was exactly what he needed.
Bree had just finished buttoning up her coat when Jake strode through the front door. Her heart did an involuntary flip, which annoyed the crap out of her. She was supposed to be angry with him for being such a closed-mouth grouch, but his sheer sexiness distracted her. His sweat-soaked T-shirt plastered to his broad chest, outlining his tight six-pack and defined pecs. His cheeks held a ruddy glow from his run, and the serious amount of scruff he sported made her skin tingle as she remembered how that thick stubble had felt scraping over her inner thighs.
Last night had been amazing. Not just the sex, but falling asleep with Jake, their legs tangled together as he spooned her with his hard, masculine body. It was the first time they’d ever done that, and as Bree drifted off to sleep, she’d felt so utterly contented.
But then Jake had gone and ruined everything by shutting her out this morning.
“You’re leaving?” There was a chord of disappointment in his husky voice.
“Yeah. If I go now, I might still make it for breakfast with my folks.”
He stepped closer, his big body dominating the front hall. “I thought you cancelled that.”
“I did.” She shot him a pointed look. “But I figured you wouldn’t be in the mood to have breakfast with me.”
His gray eyes twinkled. “And miss out on the omelet you promised? No way.”
“Jake—”
“Stay.” His tone became urgent. “Please, Bree, stay. I’m sorry I practically bit your head off before, but I promise, I’ll be a perfect gentleman from this point on.”
She snorted. “Yeah, right. You are the furthest thing from a gentleman, Jake.” But to her disgust, she was already undoing the buttons of her pea coat.
His eyes followed the movement of her fingers and a smile stretched across his sexy mouth. “I’ll gather the ingredients while you hang up your coat.”
She watched as he bounded off with a spring to his step, wondering when she’d become such a pushover.
When she entered the kitchen, Jake had done what he’d promised. A carton of eggs sat on the counter, along with a cutting board laden with green peppers, mushrooms and red onions. Jake grabbed a cheese grater from one of the cupboards and glanced over at her. “Should I get anything else?”
“No, it’s okay. Sit. I’ll do the rest.”
Bree puttered around for the next ten minutes and prepared breakfast, while Jake sat on a stool and watched her, his gray eyes tracking her every move. When that brooding stare of his started to make her uncomfortable, she finally shifted her attention from the stove and fixed him with an irritated scowl.
“What?” she demanded.
His corded throat worked as he swallowed. “You were right,” he said gruffly. “I don’t talk to you.”
Shock spiraled through her, but she recovered quickly. “I know I’m right. That’s why I said it.” She busied herself with cooking, lifting an omelet from the pan with a spatula and setting it on one of the plates she’d stacked by the burner.
“I’m surprised you put up with me for three whole months back then.”
His soft words had her turning around to look at him. Something that resembled vulnerability flashed in his gorgeous eyes. “Why did you?” he pressed.
“Because I thought I loved you,” she confessed.
His gaze flew to her face. “You did?”
“Yeah. But…then I smartened up.” She scooped up the second omelet, then shut off the burner and joined him at the counter. “I realized that love is more than just hot sex. It’s about…connecting. Sharing. Intimacy. We didn’t have that.”
A long silence fell over the room. Bree concentrated on her breakfast, unsettled by the route the conversation had taken.
Next to her, Jake ate quietly, stopping every few seconds to sip his coffee. He didn’t try to continue the discussion, didn’t even look at her as he devoured his food. Mr. Strong and Silent was back, which didn’t surprise her. Jake was nothing if not predictable.
“I was honorably discharged from the army, Bree.”
Or maybe he wasn’t.
She nearly dropped her cup, stunned by the raw torment that sliced into his rugged features. “What? Are you serious?”
He nodded, looking so miserable that she shuffled the stool so she could slide closer to him. “I could have re-upped, but I didn’t.”
“Why not?” she asked in bewilderment.
“Because my head wasn’t in it.” He shifted around to face her. “I’m in a fucked up place, Bree. Thinking about things I never thought I’d have to think about. Trying to make sense of my life. Make sense of what I did wrong.” His broad chest heaved as he released a breath. “When I saw you at the auction, I was looking for a distraction. That’s why I pushed so hard for us to…you know, do what we do best.”
“We were always pretty skilled at distracting each other,” she admitted wryly.
His pained expression returned, and she reached out to trace the hard line of his jaw. “What did you mean about doing something wrong?”
“I…made a mistake. On my last mission.”
“A mistake,” she echoed.
“I can’t say much about it. Not because I don’t want to talk,” he added quickly. “But because it’s a security issue. My unit was ordered to deal with a terrorist problem. Can’t tell you where it went down, or who it involved, but I can say that the mission didn’t exactly go as planned.”
Bree reached for his hand, rubbing the calluses on his large palm. The torment in his eyes made her heart constrict. She didn’t push him to go on, but when he did, she couldn’t help but feel a rush of joy that he was willing to confide in her.
“The target wasn’t alone when my unit ambushed the cave he was holed up in.” His breathing went shallow. “His family was with him—wife, two young kids. They were caught in the crossfire.”
Bree gasped.
“But not before one of those kids blew my man’s head off,” Jake choked out. “Kevin Daniels. He was a rookie, only twenty-three, and it was his first op. During all the chaos, one of the target’s kids, a boy—couldn’t have been older than nine—got hold of an AK47 and aimed it at Daniels. I had a clear shot, but…fuck. He was a kid.”
Jake slammed his hand on the counter. Plates and cutlery rattled. A fork clattered to the floor with a metallic ping.
Both she and Jake ignored it.
“I hesitated,” he confessed, his voice barely above a whisper. “I didn’t take the shot, and the little bastard released a round into Daniels’s face.” He muttered a savage curse. “My bullet got the kid in the chest as Kevin’s body was hitting the ground.”
“Oh, God.”
Bree’s heart thudded as she stared at Jake’s guilt-ridden face. She couldn’t even imagine what he was feeling right now, or what he’d felt in that cave, watching his fellow soldier die and then being forced to kill a child.
As her chest tightened with sympathy, she hopped off the stool and wrapped her arms around Jake’s massive shoulders. “I’m sorry you had to go through that,” she murmured.
His body went limp in her embrace. The short bristles of his hair tickled the bottom of her chin as he buried his face in her breasts. She wasn’t sure how long they stayed in that position. When Jake finally lifted his head, Bree’s arms ached from holding him so tight.
His gray eyes glimmered with regret as he looked up at her. “I know I’m not the easiest man to spend time with. I’m moody and dominating and sometimes I’m just a big fucking jerk. But…” He released a ragged breath. “The week’s not over, and I’m not ready to say goodbye to you yet. Don’t bail on me, Bree.”
Her heart nearly somersaulted right out of her chest. With Jake gazing at her with that lost little boy expression, she was a total goner.
“I won’t bail,” she said softly.
He shot her a sheepish smile. “And if I’m being an asshole, or an idiot, feel free to point it out. If you feel like I’m not…I don’t know, sharing enough, just tell me. I promise you, as long as we’re seeing each other, I’ll try and tone down my asshole-ness.”
Her lips fluttered in a smile. “I’m going to hold you to that.”
Chapter Eight
By the time Friday night rolled around, Bree was wondering if the real Jake Bishop had been replaced with some kind of sweet-talking, lovable robot Jake. The past three days had been absolutely surreal, and although she’d spent every night at his house, there’d been a lot more than hot sex on the agenda. They’d eaten dinner together. Walked by the lake. Bundled up under a fleece blanket and cuddled in the bed of his truck. They’d even watched a documentary about the Green Berets, during which Jake spoke in length about life in the military and regaled her with stories about the hell week he’d endured during basic training.
Strange, how the man wouldn’t shut up now that he’d agreed to start talking.
Tonight, he’d decided to launch into a game of tell-me-everything-about-yourself, which involved him hurling nonstop questions in her direction, as if he truly wanted to get to know her better.
“Favorite food,” he ordered as they lazed on the big leather couch in Nate’s living room.
“Any kind of pasta.”
“Movie.”
“Don’t have one. I never have time to watch movies.”
“Favorite flower.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Tulip?”
“You asking or telling?”
“Telling, I guess. To be honest, I don’t think about flowers too often.”
She leaned her head against the arm of the sofa and stretched out her legs. Jake immediately captured her socked feet and brought them into his lap, stroking her heels with his warm hands. Bree almost purred in delight. She loved the way he touched her in that confident, skillful manner.
On the other end of the couch, Jake leaned forward to swipe his beer bottle from the oak coffee table. He took a long swig, then resumed the interrogation. “Favorite music genre?”
“Country.”
He made a face. “Seriously?”
She grinned. “What can I say? I love having a raspy-voiced cowboy crooning to me about lost love and broken hearts.”
“I didn’t know you were such a romantic.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”
Gray eyes glimmering with heat, he slid across the couch and pulled her into his lap. “I know you like it when I do this,” he murmured, and then he cupped her chin with his hands and brought her mouth down to his.
The kiss sent a jolt of desire to her core. She instinctively parted her lips to grant his tongue access, and Jake spent the next several minutes kissing her senseless. He swirled his tongue over hers, then retreated, nibbling her bottom lip before peppering kisses along her jaw. Bree tilted her head so he could kiss her neck, whimpering when he sucked that sensitive spot right beneath her ear.
As his mouth traveled over her feverish flesh, leaving goose bumps in its wake, he slid his hands underneath her tank top and cupped the bare breasts beneath it.
“I know you like it rough,” he added as he flicked her nipples with his thumbs. “And that if I pinch your nipples like this—” he pinched, hard enough to bring a sting of pain, “—you’ll make that little growling sound in the back of your throat.”
Was she growling? He pinched those rigid buds again and from the crooked smile that lifted his mouth, she knew she must be making that sound he spoke of. But her pulse was drumming in her ears so loudly she couldn’t be sure.
“Makes me wonder about the kind of sounds you’d make if I dragged it out, tortured you for a bit.” His touch grew gentle, fleeting, and his smile widened. “Let’s find out, shall we?”
The next thing she knew, she was flat on her back, while Jake quickly removed every scrap of clothing from her body.
Once she was naked, he wrenched off his T-shirt and sweatpants. When his boxers came off, Bree’s gaze slid to his groin, to the thick erection that rose to slap his washboard belly. She reached for him, but he swatted her hands away.
And then he proceeded to tease the living hell out of her.
His tongue devoured every square inch of her body. Swirling over her collarbone. Tickling the swell of each breast. Dancing around her belly button.
Ribbons of heat unfurled inside her, washing over her skin, settling between her legs and the tips of her nipples. The scrape of his stubble on the top of her mound had her hips thrashing. The warmth of his mouth as he neared her wet slit made her moan. Her muscles tensed, craving relief.
“Jake,” she squeezed out. “No teasing. I need…”
“This?”
He captured her clit between his lips and suckled.
Bree’s ass shot off the couch.
Chuckling, Jake grasped her hips to steady her, then resumed his torturous ministrations. He teased her with his tongue, drawing out her pleasure. Every long, lazy lick brought her closer to the edge. When he pushed one finger inside her, her inner muscles greedily clamped around it, and her hips began to rock in a desperate rhythm.
Her brain went hazy, her body hummed, but just as the first flutters of release threatened to break the surface, Jake stopped what he was doing. And laughed.
“Not yet,” he said mockingly.
The pressure between her legs was so unbearable she thought she might actually die, but Jake refused to take pity on her. Instead, he brushed his tongue over her clit one last time, then climbed up and covered her body with his.
Bree moaned when she saw his face. Taut features, silver eyes glittering with arousal. He must have rolled on a condom during his sensual assault on her sex, because he was already sheathed when he slid into her in one achingly slow stroke.
The cushions squeaked as he started to move, but the pace he’d set was too freaking measured. Long, languid thrusts, filling her only
to withdraw before he could hit that sweet spot deep inside.
“More,” she begged.
“No,” he muttered.
His restraint impressed the hell out of her. From the hungry look in his eyes, she knew he was dying to quicken the tempo. Dying to explode, just like she was.
But he dragged it out, his hips thrusting and releasing so carefully that beads of sweat broke out on Bree’s forehead. When she tried to wrap her legs around him, he reprimanded her by biting her neck and withdrawing completely.
“Damn it, Jake…please. Please, please, please.” Great. He’d reduced her to begging. Begging, for Pete’s sake.
A deep laugh rumbled out of his chest. “You know, sweetheart, I think I like tormenting you.” To punctuate that, he plunged his cock into her again and rotated his hips in a slow, sensual circle.
Bree was in total agony. Every nerve ending in her body crackled with impatience. Her breasts, crushed against Jake’s solid chest, felt full, achy. Her nipples were harder than icicles. And the throbbing between her legs refused to cease. The feel of Jake’s cock filling her, stretching her, was too much. Too good.
“Jake…God, I need to come.”
She expected another taunt, but what she got was a cheerful “okay”.
And then he thrust so deep that the pressure in her core shattered and an orgasm more powerful than any she’d ever experienced sent her soaring.
She might have blacked out for a bit because when she opened her eyes, she was no longer on her back but draped over Jake’s big, strong body. His hand tangled in her hair, stroking the silky strands, and a wide grin played on his sexy mouth.
“You’re back,” he teased.
Bree blinked. She shifted her head and noticed the spent condom on the coffee table. “Did you come?”
“Sure did.” He rolled his eyes. “I guess I should be insulted that you failed to notice, but you were moaning and thrashing all over the place, so I’m not surprised.”
