Friday night, she lay awake staring at the ceiling again, trying to fall asleep. It was well past midnight when she finally dozed off.
Tap, tap, tap-tap tap…
Two bits.
Wait…
She rolled toward the sound and opened her eyes. A dark shape was outside her window. She sat up and bolted out of bed, ready to call for her father.
“Beth, open the window,” the man said in a hushed voice. He stepped back a foot and the moon illuminated his outline.
Oh my god… She pushed up the window, careful not to make a sound. “Jacob, what are you doing here?” They reached for each other and kissed over the windowsill. Oh my god…
He climbed inside without breaking contact. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she tilted her head to deepen the kiss, her tongue dancing with his. His scent enveloped her, an essence of home just as much as her bedspread or her father’s old recliner in the den.
“How?”
“Mum sent me to pack up the house, though I think she was just sick of me mopin’ all week,” he said around kissing her neck. His hands slid under her tank top.
“You were moping?” God, he was the sweetest boyfriend…
He thumbed her nipples. “Needed to be here.”
Their lips met again and her skin flushed with heated anticipation. When he started to lift her top, though, she broke away. “Not here. My parents,” she whispered.
“Come home with me.”
She nodded. He climbed out her window while she put on a tee and shorts over her PJs and slipped her feet into a pair of Keds. She placed a pencil under the window once she was outside so she could open it later and followed him over the fence. He caught her when she dropped down off the cement wall.
They barely made it inside before starting to shed clothes. Her tee and tank hit the floor together.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” she said, lifting his shirt over his head.
He cupped her breasts and bent his knees to kiss the tips, then yanked her bottoms down. Her shoes slid off with her shorts, leaving her naked in his kitchen. She needed him too much to feel shy, and took his face in her hands and kissed him again. He picked her up.
When she landed on a bed, it was in his room. He unfastened his jeans and dropped them to the floor. Aside from in the shower the morning she left England, it was the first time they were naked with a light on. He crawled onto the bed into her open arms.
It didn’t occur to her something was missing until she felt him start to slide in. “Condom!” she blurted out.
That oh shit look crossed his face and he pulled away. “Right!” He rummaged in the main compartment of his suitcase on the floor and came back to bed properly gloved.
“Now, where were we?” he asked, sliding home.
“Unh… Missed you.” She wrapped her legs around his hips.
“Missed you more.”
“Did not.”
“Did too.”
“Enough talking,” she said, and shut him up with her mouth. The pace of their coupling picked up while they made up for five days apart.
He didn’t last long, at least for them, and collapsed on top of her, panting on her neck. She whimpered and wiggled her hips, close to release but not close enough.
“Need something, baby?” he asked, though his hand was already snaking between them to rub her clit.
Her body tensed, then released wave after wave of pleasure. She bit his shoulder to keep from crying out in his ear. Warmth flooded through her and she felt the week’s tension fade away. If he let her, she could finally fall asleep.
Jacob had other plans.
Thank you for reading. Please drop Carla a review or message with your thoughts—they’re like virtual cookies. This series continues with Betrayed.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder...or forgetful. Jacob is attending university in London while Beth stays in Los Angeles. The tender long-distance relationship falls apart when she believes he betrayed her on the same day she learns her mother's cancer has returned. Sometimes love doesn't have a happy ending, at least not the first time.
Years after their relationship crashed and burned, Jacob is the world’s newest hot rock star, and running into him in a twenty-four-hour market is the last thing Beth wanted or expected. The biggest surprise? He has an offer for her she can’t refuse.
Betrayed is the second of five books in the My Once and Future Love Revisited series exploring Beth and Jacob’s relationship with all its joys, flaws, and heartache. New Adult Contemporary Romance saga.
DEDICATION
Thank you to Mrs. Johns for teaching me I could create, Celeste for being so supportive of this story, and “Tech Guy” for providing years of twenty-four hour tech support and love. Thanks also to Sotia for being a fan of this tale and encouraging me to keep going when words fail me, for being a sympathetic ear, and so much more.
A special shout-out to Pitizens, Purgatorians, and Divas. You know who you are.
And last but not least, thank you to all the fans of Beth and Jacob since April 2011. This wouldn’t be possible without you.
About the Author
Carla Krae lives in California with two crazy cats and a tech guy. Debuting in 2011, Carla is the author of the popular My Once and Future Love series. When she isn't writing love stories, she likes to dabble in fantasy. Carla also writes as K.C. Taylor.
Subscribe to the mailing list to learn about new releases. Find her on Twitter, Facebook, or her blog. A multi-faceted Q&A interview is available here.
BETRAYED
Chapter One
Bright light hit Jacob’s face. He squeezed his eyes shut tighter and rolled over to hide from the sun. Long hair tickled his nose. What the…?
Beth. As the haze of sleep cleared from his mind, he remembered the night before, and falling asleep sated and holding her. She’d rolled onto her side away from him, the sheet tucked under her chin. He reached up and pulled the drapes closed above his bed, shutting out the offending light, and cuddled up to her back.
“Mmm…what time is it?” she mumbled.
“Don’t know. Sun’s up.”
She squirmed her hips forward an inch. “Quit poking me.”
“Morning wood. Can’t help it.”
“Geesh.”
He grinned and snuggled closer again. Holding her was really comfortable. He could get used to this. “Will you be missed?”
“Nah. It’s Saturday.” She rolled partially onto her back. “We do our own thing in the morning.”
He kissed her nose. “Good. Rather sleep in.”
She smiled. “We were up late.”
“Mmm.” He put his head down on his pillow. “Starting to like this weekend trend, Miss Lawson.”
She rolled to face him. “Me, too.”
He’d keep her in bed until their stomachs made too much noise to ignore if she let him. They’d christened his bed in a hell of a fashion, only stopping when she couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer. He pulled the sheet over their bodies, wrapped his arms around her with her head on his shoulder, and that was the last thing he remembered. Fell right to sleep for the first time in days.
Her eyes were closed again.
“You asleep, love?”
“No,” she said, and yawned. “Sorry. Probably have morning breath.”
“Nah.”
She opened her eyes. “How long are you here?”
“Long as it takes to box everything up.”
“Are you going to miss the house?”
A fair question. He’d lived here more years than he hadn’t. “Some. I’ll miss climbin’ over your wall more.”
She smiled. “A lot of memories in two years. I’ll miss your mom being next door, too. You’ll both be so far away.”
He kissed her pout. “I’ll miss comin’ back to the ol’ place, no question. When I left for uni, I thought I missed England…and I did, but L.A. might tip the scale of home a bit more.” He laced their fingers together. “An
d now there’s you.”
“Jacob…”
He kissed her before she started crying, before he laid his heart out too soon, and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her closer. She moaned into his mouth, her hand clutching his shoulder. He loved her soft skin, especially when there was so much of it available to his fingers, and stroked her back, over her ass, and down her thigh. She curled her leg over his hip.
She broke away from the kiss. “Do you have any more…?” Her brows rose, and he caught her meaning.
“Don’t know.” He grinned. “Last night was intense.”
She smiled back, but her cheeks turned pink. “Uh-huh.”
“You okay?”
“Yeah. Sleepy. And hungry.”
He brushed her hair behind her ear. “Could see what’s around for breakfast.”
Her nose wrinkled up. “You can move.”
“I spend eleven hours on a plane and you want to be waited on?” he teased.
“Yup.” She popped the “p” at the end.
Now he was thinking about food, his stomach started gurgling. “Fine…but don’t think this’ll be a habit, missy.” He got out of bed and grabbed his jeans.
She watched him pull them on, her hands propping her head up on the pillow. Though he knew he was a good-looking bloke, it thrilled him to see her admire him so blatantly. Put a bit more cock into his walk. He left the jeans unbuttoned.
The refrigerator was mostly bare, his mother making sure she didn’t come back to a rotting kitchen. Too bad there was no milk for cereal…
Beth never thought she’d be naked in this bed listening to Jacob hum in the kitchen. Even through all the years of wanting him to kiss her, she never thought further than I’d trust him to be my first. Now, she was thoroughly twitterpated, and had sex over two nights with her best friend, the change in their relationship just hours shy of two weeks old.
Frea-ky.
But awesome. This week would’ve been a lot harder without him answering her calls.
Her bladder said it was time to get up, so she found her underwear and his t-shirt and used his bathroom. The girl in the mirror made her do a double-take. Her hair was a rat’s nest and she had a dark purple hickey on the side of her neck above her collarbone. There was no way of hiding that mark without wearing a turtleneck.
She walked into the kitchen and slugged his arm. “Are you trying to get me in trouble?”
“Hey! What are you on about?”
“This. I told you not to leave obvious marks.”
He touched it. “That’s a good one.” He grabbed the waffle that popped up out of the toaster. “Ooo, hot.”
“Dumb-ass. My dad is going to freak when he sees my neck!”
“Wear a scarf,” he said with his mouth full. “It’d be cute.”
She rolled her eyes and grabbed the apple he left on the counter. “I don’t have a scarf, or a short-sleeve turtleneck, or make-up thick enough to hide this thing. You realize you have to flee now before he kicks your ass.”
“Is he really going to notice with all that’s going on, Beth? A love bite’s a bit insignificant right now. Just hide it with your hair or something.”
“Mom will notice and she’ll tell him, and she’s smart enough to put two and two together if they know you’re in town.”
“What, you never made out in high school?”
“No.”
“Not ever?” He asked like he couldn’t imagine people existing with such a history.
She looked away. “Kissing you was the first time I kissed anybody.”
“Wow.” He took her face in his hands. “I’m honored.”
She blushed. “Shut up. No fair being sweet when I’m annoyed with you.”
He gathered her into his arms. “If it’ll make you feel better, I’ll take you shopping.” He looked down. “Are you naked under my shirt?”
“God, you have a one-track mind.”
“Didn’t answer my question.” His hands slid under the hem of the tee.
She batted his hands away before he could distract her with their talents. “Quit that. I’m mad at you.”
He grinned. “No, you’re not.”
Okay, she wasn’t mad, but definitely inconvenienced. The hickey was not a good thing to come home with and she wished she could hide out until it faded, which, with her fair skin, couldn’t come soon enough.
“Don’t wanna play, Jacob.” She sat on one of the dining chairs and bit into the apple.
Seeing her genuinely put out, his demeanor changed and became more contrite. “I’m sorry, love. I’ll remember next time.”
Guess it bothered her so much because it reminded her she was still a kid in some ways, and stuff like this was only the beginning of things that would chafe until she struck out in the world on her own. The dorm still awaited, but with Mom’s diagnosis… Well, she hadn’t decided if she could leave home, yet. On the one hand, she’d have freedom. On the other, she’d worry.
He touched her shoulder. “Hey, what’s going through that head, kitten?”
“Lots.” She rubbed her forehead. “Too much, lately.”
He moved a chair close to hers, sat, and put his arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him. “I’m here, okay?”
“I know. Until you have to leave.”
He didn’t reply to that and she didn’t ask him to. They sat cuddling until the mood settled and they could turn their attention back to food.
After breakfast, she wanted to get dressed, but needed a shower somethin’ awful. They went through a round of you go—no, you go and ended up with him using his mother’s bathroom and her using his. She braided her hair over the side with the bruise, which sort of concealed it.
“What would you like to do today?” he asked, leaning casually on the doorframe.
“Aren’t you supposed to box up the house?”
“Technically, but I think I’m allowed to spend a day with my girl.”
She’d never get tired of hearing that—my girl. “I don’t know…” She looked in the direction of her house. “Mom might need something.”
“We could go to the beach, take your camera, escape the heat a bit…”
That smile wouldn’t sway her this time. “Let me check in first.”
He sighed. “Alright.”
He plopped on the couch in front of the TV and reached for the remote. Rolling her eyes, she left through the back to climb over the wall again. No one was in her yard or showing through a window, so she dropped to the ground and hurried to her room. The pencil was where she left it, allowing her to get back inside. She dressed properly, then reached for make-up.
Caking on concealer hid the hickey a bit more, but not entirely, so she’d still need to be careful to keep her hair over it if she ran into her parents. She loaded a roll of film into her camera and left it on the desk next to her purse.
Her room was at the start of the hallway to the bedrooms. There was a bathroom between it and her brother’s old room, then Mom and Dad’s was at the end. She walked out to the front to check the driveway first. No cars, but one could be in the garage.
A note was stuck to the fridge:
Elizabeth,
We went to see the nutritionist for your mother’s new diet. Then we’ll stop at the store.
Dad
Okay, guess she wasn’t needed. New diet? Fighting cancer required specific food? Well, whatever worked. If eating powdered duck bills upside-down would kill the cancer, she’d feed it to Mom herself.
Beth left her own note about spending a few hours with a friend, grabbed her stuff, and left the house, using the sidewalk to get to Jacob’s this time. His door was unlocked.
“So?” he asked.
“They weren’t there.”
“Lucky me.” He turned off the TV.
She followed him to the garage where his mother’s car was stored. “Aren’t you going to lock the front door?”
“I’ll do it after I move the car. Have to put the lock on
the garage, anyway.” He pushed the garage door up. There was no automatic opener. He opened the passenger door for her. “Hold that,” he said, and dropped a padlock on her lap.
He backed the car to the end of the driveway, locked both doors, and pulled onto the street once it was clear, then tuned the radio to his favorite local rock station.
It was a half-hour drive to the beach he’d chosen, one of the little places you took stairs down to with some tide pools and a bit of sand. The only other person there was a diver going into the water just as they took to the stairs. The air was at least ten degrees cooler than inland and smelled fresher than at the sunbathing beaches. Though Beth wasn’t really a swimmer, the peace of the waves always called to her.
Jacob sat on the last step to take his boots and socks off. She sat two steps above him and pulled her camera out of her bag. He continued stripping down to a pair of black swim trunks. “Join me?”
She shook her head. “I don’t do the ocean.”
He shrugged and stood on the sand. “Your loss, love.” He took off at a run and dove into the waves, coming up again where the water was armpit high.
He was gorgeous wet in general, and here the sun was making his eyes crystal blue and glowing like beacons. She raised the camera to her eye and zoomed the lens on his face, now in profile. He dove into the waves again. The water was gentle today, not even making peaks. She wondered if he could see the diver under there.
She kept an eye to where her boyfriend was, but turned her camera to other subjects—a hermit crab, a couple anemones in a tiny pool, the carving of the cliff wall to the beach. Capturing nature in interesting ways fascinated her and she liked when a photo of something natural looked like it could be something else. Focused on the view through her lens, she didn’t notice he came up behind her until he shook his wet hair like a dog.
“Hey! Watch it!” She jumped away from him and shielded the camera.
“Should keep your ears open, love,” he said, grinning. “Give us a cuddle.”
Kissed Page 15
