by Casey Hagen
He brushed a wisp of hair under her knit hat and kissed her forehead. No, no, no, not the forehead. There was no defense for that.
“Whatever you want…”
“Come on.” She practically dragged him into the shop and past the F350 and the Jeep, to his car on the end. “Jeremy said there’s just one part and it will be here first thing in the morning. You’ll be able to return to Brentwood with it.” She slid her hand over the hood and leaned back on it and winked at him. “Before you take it away, we should make a memory on it.”
“You, Jack, are trouble.” Deft fingers parted her leather jacket, exposing her collar bone.
She closed her eyes as his lips roamed her sensitive skin. She would miss this after a year. Had she ever felt that way before? No, she hadn’t. Men had come and gone with not much more than a ripple. She had never had a broken heart, never longed for anyone, never had a man touch her in a way that left a permanent mark on her soul. Not until now. Not until Lathan.
One year. She would let herself have him for one year and then she would walk away and build that armor right back up again and, hopefully, one day, he would find someone who fit in with his life, someone able to support him and devote her time to him.
Just the idea of another woman loving him, touching him, having a life with him, brought swift punch of pain, because, as much as she hated to admit it, she had already fallen.
Letting him see it would only make her vulnerable, so she masked it. “Lathan, shut up and get on this damned hood.”
He walked his hands over the hood on either side of her. “Yes, ma’am.”
She kicked off her shoes and shimmied out of her pants while he nibbled at her neck. He pulled back and whisked way her shirt, bra, and underwear with deft fingers and quick movements, leaving her stripped bare to his hungry gaze.
He lifted her, sliding her higher on the hood and planting her feet wide, on each side, just above the headlights. She’d never been so exposed, but the way his eyes had gone stormy and his breathing grew ragged told her that he loved the view.
He never took his eyes from her as he removed his clothes, revealing inch after inch of perfectly tan skin, muscled torso, lean hips, and God those thighs. Her nipples tightened. Her sense of touch became heightened. Her palms tingled with the slide of smooth, waxed paint beneath her hands. Sliding back, the cool hood startled her, against her naked ass. Gliding her feet over the hood tickled.
If he didn’t make a move soon she was going to lose it. Or kill him. She hadn’t decided.
“Lathan?”
“Yeah.”
“You want to hurry it up?”
“I want to take this nice and slow.” He picked up her foot and grazed the inside of her ankle with his lips. By the time he got to the inside of her knee, he had added his tongue, making her whimper.
“Someone likes that.”
“Who? Your mother?”
Lathan yanked his head back. “Gross, Jesus.”
Jack couldn’t help it. She laughed until her eyes burned with tears. “That’s what you get. Don’t gloat. It’s not attractive.”
“Lesson learned.”
Lathan tugged her leg back to his eager mouth. Lips and teeth worked her inner thigh, going higher and higher, finally landing in the center of her, banishing all laughter. Crying out, she locked her hands in his hair and held him to her. Bless him, he took the hint and in just minutes, with her shaking legs over his shoulders, she screamed her release.
He lifted his head and gave her satisfied smile. “You showing up to tow my car was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Crinkles formed around those baby blues and, shit, she would swear her heart sighed. “Get up here and show me.”
He crawled up, first one knee, then the other. Settling in, right at the center of her, he locked his fingers over the edge of the hood where it met the windshield and slid in hard. “Shit!”
“What?” she said on a gasp. He was stretching her, hitting all of her sensitive spots, making it almost impossible to speak.
“My knees just sank into the hood.”
“It’s okay; we have a body shop, too. I know the owner, he’s the best.”
He lifted a knee as if he intended to climb down. “Damn it!”
She grabbed the back of his hair with her fist. “Lathan, don’t you dare stop this. You owe me. You can’t change what happened, so keep your damn knees planted in those dents and finish what you started.”
She pulled him in, kissed him hard and, smart man that he was, he did exactly as she told him.
The next day, Lathan stood at the front of his car with Jeremy. Jeremy scratched his beard and turned to him. Never in his life did he have to struggle with embarrassment the way he did under the curious gaze of his fiancée’s brother.
“So, what happened to the car?”
“Well, last night, your sister and I…”
Jeremy held up a hand and closed his eyes. “Gross, guy. Are those knee prints? Seriously, are you asking me to fix knee prints you made on the hood of your car while banging my sister?”
Lathan pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. “Yeah, unfortunately, that’s what I’m asking.”
“Four more days.”
“Four days? Come on, how hard can it be?”
“It’s going to take at least a day to block out what I’m looking at. Day two I’m going to fight the urge to kill you. Day three I’ll start, but I won’t put in a full day because you nailed my sister on your car. The end of day four, it’s yours.”
“It’s not like your sister is a virgin.”
“No, she’s not, but I’ve never had to the see the handiwork of her sex life. You’re lucky I’m not billing you for my therapy.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah, shit.”
An hour later, Jack’s shift started and, since Lathan was curious what a full day for her was like, he decided to ride along. Her first day back showed no mercy. Rain fell off and on all day. With the drop in temperature, that meant he spent most of the day cold and uncomfortable.
They stopped for two flat tires. She received three calls for illegal parking tows. They were eating chicken and avocado wraps in the truck when a call came in for a serious accident just outside of Placerville. They arrived to a fifteen-passenger van dangling over the edge of a bridge.
Pride filled Lathan as he watched Jack take each problem head-on with confidence. The firetruck on the scene had secured the van while rescue teams had rescued the people trapped. With the last person pulled to safety, Jack secured the van with a winch so the firetrucks could release theirs.
People had gathered around the scene to watch the rescue. The least injured sat in clusters on the side of the road, wrapped in blankets while EMT workers assessed their conditions. With the way the front of the van was crushed in, he had to wonder if the people in the front seat were even alive.
Sobs, squeals, and chaos filled the air. “What do we do now?” Lathan asked Jack.
“We have to wait for the EMTs to clear the area and then I pull it over.”
“You can’t do that now?”
“Not with this many bodies around. It’s too dangerous. If my line snaps, which is highly unlikely, but if it did, it would turn into a forty-foot-long whip flying through the air.”
Two EMT workers passed by with a little girl, likely seven or eight, on a stretcher. She was crying hysterically. “We might need to sedate her.”
“I hope not; it will make it difficult for them to assess her injuries at the hospital.
Jack stopped the EMT workers as they passed. “Hey sweetheart, shhhh, it’s okay.” Jack ran her fingers over the little girl’s long blond hair. “What’s the matter?”
“My-y te-ddy,” the girl sobbed with her hands stretched into the air.
Jack looked up to the EMT workers. “Did you guys look for it?”
“Briefly, but with the van in that position, none of us was going in after it.”
Lathan didn’t like the look of challenge in Jack’s eyes as she assessed the van again.
“Give me a minute,” Jack said as she took off toward the van.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Lathan asked, running alongside her.
“I’m going to get her teddy bear.”
Lathan grabbed her arm to stop her. “Oh, no, you’re not.”
Jack glared down at his hand and shook him off. “It’s not up to you, Lathan.”
“You’re going to be my wife.”
“So what? That means I need to cease being me? Because I can tell you right now, I’m going to continue to do my job as I see fit, married or not. Now, move out of my way.” She shoved past him and before he could so much as reach out, she had reached the van and begun shimmying her way through the back that had to have been cut open by the Jaws of Life.
Her feet disappeared inside and the air lodged in his seized lungs. The van shook and pitched. A grinding noise came from the tow truck. For all he knew, these were normal movements and sounds, but all he could think about was what would happen if the winch failed and that van went over. All for a teddy bear.
She couldn’t take unnecessary risks like this. She was going to be married. She had a family and would soon have more. She was being selfish, and they were damn well going to have a talk about it when this was all over.
The van pitched again and the firefighters rushed to hook their winch back on. Just as they got the cables connected, Jack’s arm popped out the back with a small brown teddy bear clenched in her fist. She locked her gloved hands on the jagged metal and dragged her body out. With a slight limp and what looked like a large cut in her jumpsuit, she delivered the teddy bear to the young girl, who immediately quieted down.
“What’s your name, sweetheart?”
“Lizzie,” she whispered.
“It’s nice to meet you, Lizzie. These nice men are going to get you all fixed up, so you need to be brave, okay?”
“Okay.” The little girl nodded.
He stood by while she winched the van up over the side of the guardrail. She was fine, but he wasn’t. He was mad as hell, scared, and wanted to throttle her for taking such an unnecessary risk with her life. He bit his tongue and kept his mouth shut while Jack dropped the van off at the junkyard. He stewed in silence all the way back to her house. Her shift had ended, Kurt having come in to relieve her. The minute they were alone, all the fear, anger, and anxiety bubbled over and he lost it.
“What the hell is wrong with you? Why would you take a risk like that?” He paced her living room, the churning from envisioning the hundreds of ways her stunt could have gone wrong pouring out of him with every angry word.
Jack peeled off her dirty jumpsuit and tossed it in the laundry room off the kitchen. “Because it was the right thing to do. That accident stole something from her today, but I was able to keep it from stealing a whole lot more.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Her parents were in the front. They didn’t make it.”
Lizzie was orphaned and, in a way, so was Jack. Shit. “Putting your own life at risk isn’t the answer.” His phone started going off in his pocket. He cast a quick glance at the screen. Kim. His argument evaporated as his mind switched gears. He shook his head. No, he wasn’t getting distracted from this.
Jack crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows. “Important call?”
“No. Listen—” His phone started going off again. Kim, again. “Jesus.”
“Take your call. I’m getting a beer.”
He clicked the answer button while following Jack into the kitchen. “Hello.”
“Lathan, thank God I finally reached you…”
“Kim, this is a bad time.” He hadn’t missed the way Jack’s shoulders stiffened. What were the chances that Gina had filled Jack in on Kim? He hadn’t told his family much about her, but Gina knew everything.
“I’ll make it quick. Look, I think I was hasty in turning down your proposal, and I was hoping we could talk about it.”
“All of a sudden you want to marry me? Why?”
“Well, I think we could make a good life together. We fit well, socially. I think in time, maybe we could become more involved with some of the more elite residents of Brentwood, or not. I don’t know. I just think we can work past our differences. Compromise.”
Bone-deep weariness settled into him. He stepped into the living room and dropped into Jeremy’s chair. He felt Jack’s eyes on him. Well, good. She needed to hear this.
“Kim, do you love me?”
“Well, I have affection for you.”
“Not the same thing. You don’t love me and I don’t love you.” He looked Jack square in the eye. “In fact, I’m in love with someone else.” He’d never intended to tell her this way. Hell, he didn’t quite realize how true it was until he watched that van shift, not once, but twice. She was going to give him shit for it, but yeah, he had gone and fallen in love with her.
“Is this about that woman I heard you’ve been running around with? Really, Lathan. I didn’t realize how desperate you were, but I’m here now, and I’m willing—”
He hung up the phone, powered it off, and slid it into his pocket. “That’s not the way I wanted to tell you,” he said with his head propped in his hands.
“You shouldn’t have said anything at all. It doesn’t change anything.”
His head snapped up. “What do you mean it doesn’t change anything?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “This isn’t going to work.”
“What are you saying?”
She slid the engagement ring off of her finger and set it on the arm of the chair. “I’m saying I can’t marry you.”
He eyed the ring, but refused to pick it up. “We had a deal.”
She propped a shoulder against the door frame looking unaffected. “A deal that’s causing a whole lot of trouble for both of us. It’s better this way.”
“Better for whom? Your father, the school I need to finish funding? Who is it better for?”
“I’ll take care of my father. You should talk to your parents. See if they’ll remove the stipulation. You might be surprised. Leave the attitude out of it…and the guilt.”
“This is bullshit.”
“I’m not going to argue with you. I can’t. You need to go.”
He reached for her, but she pulled away. She wouldn’t look him in the eye.
“I never took you for coward, Jack.”
That got her attention. Her arms fell to her sides, her nails dug into her palms, and those olive eyes of hers shot daggers at him.
He headed for the door. With this hand on the handle, he turned back to her. “I’m going to be in waiting for you, in my parents’ backyard, under that ridiculous trellis, a week from Saturday at 3 p.m., you hear me? Because for once, I’m not doing this to make everyone else happy, I’m not settling for less; I’m waiting for what I want and I want you.”
“Lathan—”
“No. I don’t want to hear it. I know you love me. You won’t say it. You’re scared to death of it, but I know it’s in there. I’ll be waiting for the brave woman I know you are, if you can find her.”
Against his better judgment, he turned the door handle and walked out of Jack’s house, and prayed that he hadn’t just walked out of her life.
9
Jack managed to hold back the tears while Lathan stood before her, but the minute he walked out that door, they streamed down her face. He’d attacked her armor over and over until it evaporated, and it sucked. Her hot and itchy skin felt stretched too tight. Her house, a place that had once been her safe place, felt marked. Marked by him.
Exhausted, sore, and with her skin scratched and scraped, she filled her claw foot tub with warm water, crawled in, and let it all out… The fear that they wouldn’t be able to keep her father in the Stony Hollow; the hurt that Lathan might very well end up with Kim, whoever the bitch was, and forget about Jack completely; the heartbreak that he would never touch her again, kiss her lips, or worship her with those long looks and loving eyes that didn’t find her lacking when every other man had.
With her hair towel pressed against her face, she cried until her body had lost the energy to even shake with the sobs. The water had cooled, her skin had wrinkled, and finally, when she thought she had exhausted all the tears, she hoisted herself out of the tub, and slipped on her terrycloth robe.
When she opened the door into her bedroom, her brother stood there, just waiting. Apparently she had more tears, because they fell the minute she laid eyes on him: Her protector, a certified pain in her ass growing up, and the one person she could count on day in and day out.
“Should I take a bat to his car?”
She snorted through her tears. So, her sense of humor hadn’t completely died with her broken heart. “No.”
“Too bad. I guess I have to finish fixing those damn dents then.”
“Yes, you do. Do me a favor? Arrange for him to pick it up when I’m not home.”
He nodded and slid his hands into his pockets. “Anything you want. Do you want to talk about it?”
“Maybe in a bit.”
“Okay, in the meantime, get those damn fuzzy pajamas of yours on; I’ve got a surprise for you in the living room.”
She threw on her flannel PJs; it was finally cold enough for her to wear them, and they were her favorites. She secured her hair in a knot on her head and joined her brother in the living room where he had an old Atari set up. He covered the coffee table in all of her favorite snacks: Combos, Twizzlers, and Smartfood. He skipped the beer and brought in Sprite. They played Pac Man and Break Out, and gorged themselves on junk until she had exhausted herself to the point where she had no choice but to sleep.
At four in the morning she rolled out of bed, her eyes gritty and swollen, and washed her face. She looked like hell. Day one without Lathan. This would be the worst of it. How the hell had she gotten in so deep in just a handful of days, she would never know, but she would never let it happen again.
Two days later, she was eating a ham and swiss on rye over the kitchen sink when Jeremy came with news. “Lathan is picking up his car tomorrow at 4 p.m.”
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