"That?" he said. "It's all bullshit. I know it. You know it."
I gave him a look. "Well, I'm glad you think so."
"Why?"
"Because," I said, "less competition."
"Luna." His voice grew tender. "Don't you know? There is no competition."
My breath hitched. "Really."
He spoke into my hair. "And there hasn't been any for a long, long time."
I smiled against him and shivered as the dampness of his clothes burrowed its way into mine. "You know what I am?" I asked.
"What?"
"The most selfish person, ever."
"Why's that?" he asked.
"Because you're freezing. And you probably want a shower. But…"
"But what?"
Determined to lighten his mood, I gave a playful tug at his shirt. "I want you naked for other reasons."
For a long time, he said nothing. But then, when he finally spoke, the darkness had disappeared, leaving a smile in his voice that warmed my heart. "Oh yeah?"
Suddenly, almost before I could process what was happening, my feet left the ground as he swooped me up into his arms. "You want me naked?" he said, heading toward the bed. "What about what I want?"
Laughing, I pressed my cheek against his damp T-shirt and reached up to lace my fingers behind his neck. I heard a soft thud as one of my shoes hit the carpeted floor.
Jake stopped moving to look down. "Well, that's a start."
Deliberately, I flung off my other shoe, wincing as it almost crashed into the nearest nightstand.
"Nice," Jake said, cradling me closer as he moved toward the bed. Reaching it, he stopped. And then, counting as he went, he swung me forward once, twice, and three times, finally sending me tumbling amid laughter onto the mattress.
"Wait," I said through fits of giggles. "You're still not naked. This is so not fair."
With a crooked grin, he reached for the hem of his T-shirt. He lifted it a couple of inches, but then let go. He glanced down at his feet. A moment later, he kicked off his shoes.
I stifled another laugh. "Your shoes? Seriously? Is that really the best you can do?"
His gaze travelled the length of me. "How about you?" he said. "Is that the best you can do?"
Oh, he was so gonna pay for that.
On the bed, I sat up, tucking my legs underneath me. With a single hand, I reached up to toy with the neckline of my plain white blouse. It had lots of tiny buttons, straight down the middle. With a deliberate slowness, I started at the top, popping them open one-by-one as Jake watched with smoldering eyes.
When I finished with the last button, I stopped. Technically, the blouse was fully undone, but in truth, I had shown him nothing. I gave him a saucy smile. "You want more?"
Some of the color had returned to his face, making him look less like a pale statue and more like the guy I loved. His lips were parted, and his gaze was hungry. "You know I do."
I let my gaze zoom in on his T-shirt. "That's funny," I teased. "Me too."
His mouth twitched for the briefest instant before he reached for the hem of his still-damp shirt. Slowly, he lifted it upward, inch-by-inch, revealing those washboard abs, his broad chest, and those finely cut shoulders covered so perfectly in muscle and ink.
When his shirt finally hit the floor, my mouth was dry, and my core was on fire.
His body was glistening, and his hair was still damp. Suddenly, I longed for a camera, because I wanted to remember him just like this – wet, tattooed and half-naked. Or, better still, I decided, I could replay this scene over and over again in real life, as many times as he would have me.
I just hoped it was a lot.
For a long moment, our gazes remained locked. And then, his broke, drifting downward to caress my body in a way that felt nearly physical.
He flicked his head toward my blouse. "Your turn."
I ran a finger down the center of my unbuttoned blouse, nudging aside the fabric to expose the slimmest hint of bare skin, along with only the center portion of my lacy white bra. I stopped to give him a mischievous smile. "Does that count?"
"Not a chance."
"Hard-ass." Still smiling, I shrugged out of the blouse and let it fall onto the bedspread behind me. "How about now?" I asked.
His gaze drifted to my bra. "Only if you keep going."
Reaching behind my back, I unfastened my bra. Sitting up, I placed my hands over my breasts and dropped one shoulder, and then the other. The shoulder-straps fell aside, leaving only the cups in place, still covered by my hands. "How about now?"
His gaze was on fire. "Not by a longshot."
I looked down at his jeans. Damp and dark, they clung to him, showing off his long legs, his trim waist, and yes, because I was looking for it, the bulge that had grown noticeably bigger since I had started undressing. "What about you?" I asked.
"What about me?"
Keeping my hands in place, I gave a little shrug. "It seems to me, I'm doing a lot more undressing than you are."
He gave a slow nod. "You know what?" He smiled. "You're right."
And then, almost before I knew it, he lunged forward, tackling me onto the bed in a gentle tumble that somehow ended up with me cradled in his arms, with his hard chest pressed against my bare back.
I laughed as my hands fell free, and the bra slipped from my breasts. "That's not what I meant," I protested.
His voice was all innocence. "No?"
Before I could respond, I felt a cool finger at my left nipple. Whether from the temperature difference, or just the fact it was him, it practically jumped in response, hardening into a tight, hungry knob that made me whimper, longing for more.
"So," Jake continued, cupping both of his cool hands over my warm breasts. "You really expect me to fight fair?" Slowly, he spread his fingers and then, just as slowly, tightened them back up, capturing the tips of each nipple between his expert fingers.
I heard myself moan as I ground my hips backward, feeling his hardness surge against the back of my skirt. If only I had taken off more clothes. What the hell had I been thinking?
He gave my breasts a tender squeeze. "So here's the question," he said. "Do I finish undressing you? Or…" I felt a hand leave my breast and drift lower to hike up my skirt.
My answer was a half-moan, half-sigh. "Or what?"
"Or." He yanked my panties down my thighs. "Do I take you right here, like this?"
Oh my God. How did someone answer that?
I felt a hand drift up my leg. On instinct, my thighs parted as far as the panties would allow. Soon, I felt his cool touch exactly where I wanted it – on that hot knob of pleasure that was practically begging for attention.
"Well," he said, giving me a gentle stroke.
I ground forward into his touch. And then, I ground backward into his erection. I wanted both. I was almost too breathless to answer. "Well what?"
"Should I undress you?" His hips surged forward in a playful threat. "Or just take you?"
I was practically panting now. "Take me."
I made a motion to turn around, feeling like I should do something to move things forward. But he held me tight and gave me the best reason to stay still – another stroke against that special spot, and another, until I was slick and quivering with need and excitement.
I felt his body shift, and his hand briefly abandoned me to unbutton his pants and shove down his jeans. Soon, I heard them hit the carpet. Desperate to have him, I shoved down my panties and kicked them off to who-knows-where.
A moment later, his hand was back, teasing and toying as he wrapped his body tight against my back. When his erection found my opening, I pressed my hips backward, moaning as his hardness found my softness and filled me nearly to bursting even as his hand continued to coax double the sensations out of my warm and willing body.
As we continued to move, I heard his voice in my ear, whispering, coaxing, claiming until I was utterly lost to everything but him. When at last, we shuddered together into th
at special place between heaven and Earth, I wanted to laugh with joy.
With no one else had it ever been like this – tender and fevered, rough and gentle. He was my own crazy set of contradictions. He was everything that he seemed, and yet, nothing that he seemed. In a hundred years, I'd never figure him out.
But in that moment, I just prayed I'd have the chance to try.
Chapter 30
Later, after round-two – or maybe round two-and-a-half, depending on how I looked at it – we were tangled together under the covers. Blissful in his arms, I couldn’t help but laugh, at least a little.
He was stroking my hair. "What is it?" he asked.
I burrowed deeper into his arms. "So much for being reformed."
"Reformed?" In his voice, I heard the hint of a smile. "How?"
With him so near, it was hard to think, much less put those thoughts into words. But I gave it a shot. "Growing up, my sister was always the responsible one." I sighed. "But me? I was always like, 'What sounds fun now,' you know?"
"Nothing wrong with that," he said.
"Well sure, nothing's wrong at the time. But what happens when the fun's over, and you're right back where you're started?"
"Who says the fun has to be over?"
I tried to smile. I didn't want the fun to be over, especially where Jake was concerned.
Images from the last couple hours danced across my mind. No matter what happened next, I'd have those memories forever. Maybe it hadn't been the smartest thing, but it was the only thing. That had to count for something, right?
Still, I felt myself frown against his skin.
"Baby, what is it?" he asked.
With a sigh, I sat up to look at him. "It's just that I still have no idea what's going on. Earlier, I started to ask, but, well, I guess you could say I got distracted."
In fact, looking at him lying there, bare-chested and tousled-looking, I was getting a little distracted now. It wasn't helping.
Grabbing a nearby blanket, I sat up and wrapped it around me. Determined to keep a clear head, I pushed off from the bed and wandered, barefoot, to the hotel window. I looked out. Once again, I zoomed in on the construction site, dimly lit, but clear enough.
"If you weren't watching me," I said, "what were you doing here?"
From behind me, I heard him move. Soon, I felt his arms close around me as I continued to gaze away.
"The truth?" he said. "I was watching for a friend."
"Who?"
"The guy who sent that text."
I turned around to give Jake a perplexed look. "What text?"
"Remember that morning I picked you up? At Maddie's place?"
I couldn't help but tease him. "Picked me up? Or dragged me out of there?"
In his gaze, I saw no hint of humor. "I had my reasons."
"Which were?"
"That text I showed you," he said, "you remember what it said?"
Actually, he had shown me a series of texts. As I nodded, bits and pieces of those messages came rushing back to me.
Looking for a girl from your old neighborhood.
To settle a score.
She stole something. I need to get it back. ASAP.
By now, I knew which "something" they meant – Rango's little black book, except, according to Jake, it didn't actually belong to Rango, but rather to Rango's boss. Who he was, I had no idea.
Supposedly, the book had account numbers, passwords, financial notes, that sort of thing. In truth, I hardly looked at it. All I had really wanted were two things – the passwords to Rango's social media accounts and to make Rango squirm.
"The guy who sent that text?" Jake said. "He's not someone I'd like you to meet."
I shook my head. "But you said he's a friend?"
"He was," Jake said. "These days, I wouldn't count on it."
"Why not?"
"Because I sent him packing."
"What do you mean? Like you told him to get lost?"
"No," he said. "Like I told him you were shacked up in Barbados with some banker."
I couldn't help but laugh. "A banker. Really?"
"Hey, it happens," Jake said.
"But why would you do that?"
"Because I wanted him away from you." His voice hardened. "And lying to the guy? Believe me, that wasn't my first choice."
I felt my brow wrinkle. "Then what was?"
He gave a laugh devoid of any real humor. "To kick his ass. Or worse." He shook his head. "But it wouldn't have been smart."
"And sending him to Barbados was?"
"It's a twelve-hour flight," he said. "Hard for him to find you when he's a mile high."
"But I'm still not following."
"Alright, let me back up," Jake said. "My friend – let's call him Bob – he hears about a bounty on a missing book. He starts digging and learns that Rango has access to the owner's house, where the book is kept."
"So he knows that Rango took it?"
"He suspects," Jake said. "Big difference. But anyway, he digs some more and learns that Rango has this ex-girlfriend who's been giving Rango a hard time on the internet, posting things under Rango's accounts. So Bob gets to thinking, 'Maybe Rango took the book, and the ex took it from Rango.'"
"Me?" I gave Jake a dubious look. "That seems like a pretty big leap, don't you think?"
"For most people? Maybe. But not Bob. He has an instinct for these things. He knows that Rango's a douchebag …" Jake hesitated.
"Are you expecting me to disagree?" I asked.
"Just checking," Jake said. "Anyway, the way Bob sees it, it would be just like Rango to write his own passwords in the boss's book."
"Like peeing on another dog's hydrant?" I asked.
"More or less."
"So about your friend, you think he came back here? To Detroit?"
"Maybe," Jake said. "Maybe not. But I'm sure as hell not gonna take any chances."
"Because you think he's still looking for me?"
"I don't know," Jake said. "But he's good at finding things, people too."
"And you don’t want him to find me?"
"No," Jake said. "Not alone, anyway."
Well, I guess that explained why he had dragged me to his penthouse and tried to keep me there. But it didn't explain everything. "Why not just give him the book?" I asked.
"Because," Jake said, "there's no guarantee he'll give it back to the owner."
I shook my head. "Why wouldn’t he?"
"He might get more money from someone else."
"Like who?"
"People you don't want to know."
"Where's the book now?" I asked.
Jake glanced toward the far end of the room, where I spotted a dark jacket draped over an easy chair. "It's over there."
"So what are you gonna do with it?" I asked.
"The plan is to get it back to the owner, and you off the hook. But it's complicated."
"Why?" I asked.
His voice grew deadly serious. "Giving it back, that's not the complicated part."
I felt the color drain from my face. "But getting me off the hook is? Why would it be? I wasn't the one who took it."
Jake gave me a look.
I cleared my throat. "Well, not from the owner, anyway."
"Don't worry," he said. "I've got this. I've got some friends, they know the guy. It'll be fine."
Looking at him, that wasn't the only thing worrying me. "Can I ask you something?"
"What?"
I crossed my arms tight around myself. How to put this? "If it hadn't been for that book, or your friend, or whatever, would you have even looked me up?"
"The truth? No."
My heart sank. "But why not?"
"You know why."
I considered all he had told me, not just here, but at his penthouse. "Because you were afraid of hurting me?"
"Hurting you, dragging you into my shit." He gave a hollow laugh. "Ruining your life."
"And now?" I said. "Do you regret it? Finding
me, I mean?"
"No." He moved closer to wrap his arms tight around me. "Yeah, the stuff with my friend, the book, all of it, it explains why I showed up. But do you know what it doesn't explain?"
"What?"
"Why I can't let you go."
Chapter 31
When I woke, he was standing by the bed, dressed in the same clothes that he'd been wearing the previous night. As for me, I was wearing what I had fallen asleep in, absolutely nothing. I felt myself smile. The last time I'd looked, he'd been wearing nothing too.
How long ago was that?
Sunlight filtered in through the hotel windows, making me squint as I gazed up at him. "What time is it?" I mumbled.
He smiled down at me. "Still early. Not yet eight."
I turned and groaned into my pillow. Technically, it wasn't that early, but considering that I'd been asleep for only a couple of hours, it felt like the middle of the night, sunlight or not.
When I felt the mattress shift, I turned to look. Jake was sitting on the edge of the bed, gazing down at me with an expression that made me want drag him back under the covers.
With a sleepy hand, I reached out and touched his shirt. It was still damp. Perplexed, I moved my hand to his thigh. So were his jeans.
I shivered under the warm covers. "You put on your wet clothes? Why?"
"They were the only ones I had."
"You didn't bring any luggage?"
"Nah," he said. "I wasn't sleeping here. Remember?"
"Oh. I guess." My brain wasn't quite awake yet. "But, aren't you freezing?"
"Nah, not a big deal. I've got some stuff in the car, so…" He let the sentence trail off as he tucked the covers tighter around me.
"So, where are you going?" I asked. "Should I get dressed?"
He shook his head. "You stay. I've got to run out for something." His voice softened. "You go back to sleep. I'll be back in a few hours. Then we'll figure things out." He glanced toward the door. "Want me to bring you back anything?"
"Just you," I said.
"I'll give you a call if I'm running late." He leaned over and brushed his lips against mine. "Don't go anyplace, alright?"
I had to smile. Where would I go? I made a show of closing my eyes. "Not unless I sleepwalk."
His hand brushed my cheek, and a moment later, I heard the door open and shut behind him. Snuggling deeper under the covers, I felt myself smile. For someone who'd just lost her third job in one week, I felt surprisingly content.
Jake Me Page 11
