by Liliana Hart
“This is not exactly how I imagined this moment,” Jake said, laughing at the absurdity of it all.
“Eve, look at me.” He lifted her chin, so her eyes met his. He could see the nerves, the fear, and through it all, the love. “I love you, too.” He kissed her gently. “See, that wasn’t so bad.”
“Yeah, piece of cake.”
He chuckled at the dry tone of her voice. “Now sit back and relax. This is a night I’ll want you to remember.”
“I’d think it would be pretty hard to forget. Where are we?” Eve asked, realizing they were headed in the opposite direction of her house.
“I told you. We’re going to have a late dinner, and then I’m going to take you home and make love to you until exhaustion sets in.”
Home. It seemed her home was with Jake.
“That sounds wonderful. I’m starving,” she smiled, a feminine smile full of mysteries and promises.
Jake nearly swallowed his tongue and put his foot down on the gas pedal. Maybe they’d stop at a drive-through instead.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The ringing of the doorbell halted Eve’s path to the kitchen for more desperately needed coffee. Jake had been true to his word, she thought with a smile. She’d gotten very little sleep the night before, and now she was reduced to daydreaming and a caffeine addiction.
The doorbell rang again before she was to the door.
“Coming,” she called out.
She was glad she’d done away with the original screeching cat doorbell that she was told was the original from when the house was built. Original or not, it hurt her ears and frightened every animal in the neighborhood. She was perfectly content with the soft tones of a Major third.
“Detective Rosenberg,” Eve said, surprised.
“If I could take a few minutes of your time, Dr. Lovegood, I’d appreciate it.”
“Of course. Please come in. I was just about to make fresh coffee. You’ll join me?”
“Yes, thank you.”
Eve almost laughed at the desperate look he got in his eyes when she mentioned coffee. Poor guy must not get a decent cup very often. She moved around the kitchen easily, though she was less than competent in the space, and set cups and saucers on the table as well as the coffee cake that Gretchen had left from her baking the day before.
“Do you have any leads on who caused the explosion?” Eve asked, sitting across from him.
The kitchen door opened before he could answer her, and Jake walked in. They’d started work on the carriage house and gazebo earlier in the week, so he spent most of his days alternating between there and his office. Since George was the one that did most of the hands-on work, Jake was more often seen in a suit and tie meeting with clients than he was in jeans and flannel shirts like he was today. Eve couldn’t decide which one she liked him in more.
“Detective,” Jake acknowledged, nodding his head and heading over the sink to wash his hands. “I saw you pull up and thought you might have news.”
“Yes, I do. I was just about to tell Dr. Lovegood that we’ve caught the man responsible for the explosion. He also confessed to writing the notes and following her to and from work.”
Eve’s mouth fell open in surprise. This was the last thing she’d expected to hear. Jake came up behind her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. She could tell by the pressure of his fingers that he was just as surprised as she was.
“How did you catch him? Who was he?” Eve asked.
“We followed the news,” he said vaguely. Before Eve could ask more questions he jumped in with the details. “We noticed a series of articles about you and your husband over an extended amount of time. Most of them weren’t very flattering to you and seem to speculate heavily on your relationship. The articles seemed personal and not at all newsworthy.”
“So you’re saying a reporter caused all this so he’d have a story?”
“That seems to be the case. He thought a story about America’s favorite love doctor being stalked by a psychopath would make good copy, but he said you didn’t give him the reaction he was hoping for since you had a man around the house. The explosion was simply to get your face and the story of your marriage back on page one of the paper. It seems he was a big fan of Steve Slater’s.”
“Most people were,” she said, her face blank. Jake rubbed the tension from her shoulders and she leaned her head back against him. The more she was with Jake, the less her past seemed to matter. She was healing.
“Well, the man’s behind bars and I doubt he’ll be able to find a job for another newspaper after this stunt. I just wanted to let you know,” he said, draining his cup of every drop of coffee and shrugging into his coat. “We won’t need you to testify since he made a full confession, but you will need to sign a statement that verifies his confession.”
“Yes,” Eve said, shaking herself back to reality and seeing the detective to the door. “I’ll do that.”
“Thanks for the coffee.”
Eve shut the door behind him and turned into Jake when he put his arms around her. “It almost seems as if it were all a dream,” she said, burrowing into his scent, a combination of soap, aftershave and sweat.
“It’s over now. I thought you’d still be sleeping.”
“I made myself crawl out of bed. I didn’t think your ego needed another boost. How is it you can still look good after that little sleep?”
“I have good genes. What can I say?”
“Speaking of Ruth…”
“Were we?” Jake asked, kissing her forehead and backing her towards the room they’d been sharing.
Her brain immediately went foggy at the first touch of his lips.
“You were saying.” He pulled the covers back on the bed and nudged her down easily. The protest she made in the back of her throat when he didn’t follow her down made him smile.
“I have a week off before the Christmas Eve show. I thought I’d take Ruth Christmas shopping. I know exactly what I want to get you.”
“She’d like that,” he said kissing her once more. She was addictive, more than any drug. He thought of the ring he had locked in the safe in his office and knew it didn’t matter what Eve gave him for Christmas. Nothing could be more precious than the gift of her love. Now all he had to do was talk her into marriage.
He watched as sleep claimed her.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The unusual cold weather they’d received the first two weeks of December disappeared by week three. It was sixty degrees and noses sniffled and forecasters shook their heads at the fickleness of Texas weather.
The ring was burning a hole in his pocket. Jake lifted the lid of the little velvet box and stared at the shimmering stone with pride. She would wear his symbol of love for the rest of their lives, and even then the diamond would last for generations.
He looked around the house he’d come to think of as his own. Blood, sweat and a few tears that he’d never admit to had gone into a home that he and Eve would share. Raise their children in. The house needed love, laughter and little feet pounding up and down the stairs.
He planned to propose Christmas Eve. The scene was set in his head. The hearth would be lit and the tree lights would be ablaze. There’d be wine and he’d make love with her on the rug in front of the fireplace.
The slam of a car door had him snapping the lid of the box closed and shoving it in his pocket. He looked at his watch and figured it was Ruth and Eve returning from their shopping trip. His grandmother had been thrilled at the idea of getting some shopping done, but if he knew his grandmother, and he did, he also knew that Eve would probably need a large glass of wine after the excursion.
He headed out the kitchen door, assuming they’d need help with the heaps of shopping bags he was sure Eve had in her trunk, and stopped dead in his tracks. It wasn’t Ruth and Eve, but someone from his past. Someone that had always held part of his heart.
“Melissa?” Jake asked in surprise, a grin splitting his face.
She rested against the hood of her car, aware of the picture she made since posing was her career—a stunning blonde with eyes blue as the ocean in a winter white cowl-necked dress that stopped at mid calf. A black belt rested at her hips and knee high black leather boots added an extra three inches to her already substantial height. She was glad to be away from New York, from the cameras and makeup artists. She looked at the man she’d loved her entire life and smiled. She was eight years younger, and he was still the only man she’d ever let into her heart.
“I can see you’re still quite the conversationalist,” she said, twin dimples making an appearance. “Don’t you at least have a hug for your favorite cousin?”
Jake leaped across the yard with a war whoop and swooped her into a spinning circle while hugging her close.
***
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been shopping with someone that could keep up with me,” Ruth said, leaning her seat back in the Miata. “I could still go for hours.”
Eve thought of aching feet and begged God for mercy. She’d been exhausted after the first four hours. Ruth was an indescribable force of energy that could be bottled and sold for a fortune.
“You’re not tired, are you, girl?”
“Nope, I could go for hours,” Eve lied with a straight face.
“Good. I want you to have plenty of energy to seduce my grandson tonight. I would never want it to be said that I came between a woman who was trying to get in her man’s pants.”
“Umm…”
“Stop all those blushes. You’d think you’d be over all that by now, especially since you talk about sex in front of millions of people every day. What’s wrong with a little gossip between women after all that?”
“Nothing,” Eve said, smiling. “Nothing at all.” She thought of the puppy that she’d bought for Jake, a Golden Retriever that would be eight weeks old Christmas day. She’d give him his childhood.
“Now, about my great-grandbabies,” Ruth began, but Eve’s attention was on her house. Actually it was on Jake and the woman he was holding onto like she held the secret of life in her cleavage. She went numb as she parked the car and got out slowly.
Ruth came around to stand beside her, but Eve didn’t see the smile on her face, she was too busy waiting for Jake to notice her presence.
“Would you look at those breasts?” Ruth said, nudging Eve in the ribs. “I’ve been thinking about buying myself a pair, but I hear they’re dreadfully expensive.”
Eve carefully blanked her face when Jake looked up and caught her stare. His arm stayed around the woman, and Eve could tell he was only half listening as the woman babbled on. The look he gave her told her nothing. There was no guilt on his face, but it looked something closer along the lines of hurt. She was the one who was hurt. She’d loved him. She still loved him, even after this betrayal. He wouldn’t get a reaction out of her, and she wouldn’t tell herself “I told you so,” no matter how tempting it was.
“Eve,” Ruth said, with another nudge. “Did you hear what I said?”
“Yes,” she answered, mechanically.
“It’s a shame hers are real. Some women have all the luck.”
“You know her?” Eve asked, curious.
“Of course I know her. She’s my granddaughter. But she didn’t get those puppies from my side of the family. No sir.”
Eve felt shame wash over her and snapped her head back to Jake, but his expression was as blank as hers had been a moment ago.
“Let’s go see how long she’s here for. You’ll like her, Eve. Jake practically raised her since her parents took lessons from Jake’s on how to abandon your only child. I should have beaten my boys more when they were younger, but I made up for it by raising two amazing grandchildren.”
Ruth pulled Eve along behind her with enough force that she had no choice but to follow or be dragged. The kitchen was warm, and Gretchen had left plenty of food to be eaten for dinner, but the cold that had invaded her body ever since she’d pulled up to the house hadn’t left her.
Jake’s introduction of Melissa was stilted and formal, and he didn’t greet her with his usual kiss. The air was ripe with tension, but Ruth and Melissa didn’t seem to feel it as they caught up on things.
“Eve dear, you’re looking a little pale,” Ruth remarked. “It looks like you couldn’t keep up with me after all. You should have told me when you got too tired. I have a tendency to get blinders on when I see a shoe sale.”
“No, I’m fine,” Eve protested. “But I think I will go lie down for a while. I’m glad to have met you, Melissa. You’re welcome to stay for as long as you’d like. There’s a guest room next door to Ruth’s if you’d like, or you can take your pick of rooms on the upper floors.”
“What about the tower room?” Melissa asked excitedly.
She was so young, Eve thought with a smile. Not much younger than Eve in years, but in innocence they were lifetimes apart.
“The west tower is my office,” she said, “but the east tower is a small bedroom.”
“Sold,” she said with a laugh.
Eve smiled in return at the girl’s exuberance. She couldn’t help but respond to someone so honest and open. But reality crashed back with a bang when she caught Jake’s stare. She slipped out of the room and up the stairs to her bedroom, the room they had loved in just the night before. Why did it seem like a lifetime ago?
She stiffened when she felt his presence behind her, but she deliberately made herself relax.
“I’m sorry, Jake,” she said, turning to face him, so he’d know that she knew she’d been wrong not to trust him.
“Sorry’s not good enough, Eve.” His face was unforgiving—hurt and angry.
“I made a mistake,” she said, her own hurt coming to the surface. Anger was the only way she knew how to deal with it effectively. “I’ve apologized, but the evidence was pretty damning when I drove up. What was I supposed to think? You haven’t exactly had the best track record when it comes to women.”
“You were supposed to trust me. Period. It’s what I would have done because love and trust go hand in hand. You haven’t figured that out yet,” he said, throwing his hands up in frustration. “You say you love me, but I don’t think you know how to love. You’re so caught up in the absurdity of a marriage you despised to look to the future, to see what real love is.”
He swore at himself as he watched the color drain from her face. “I’m not him, Eve. And you’re not the same person you were when you married him, though you’re trying damned hard to hold on to her. I love you, but we have nothing until you can figure out what you want for yourself. I won’t stand by and listen to your declarations of love when you doubt who I am as a man.”
She didn’t break down until he closed the door quietly behind him. Her chest was crushed by an invisible weight and just breathing was a labor in itself. She dropped to her knees on the floor and curled into herself when the tears started to fall.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Eve did her best to go downstairs as if nothing was wrong. Her eyes were gritty and swollen from the tears she’d shed, and her heart felt as if a piece was missing since Jake hadn’t slept in the house the night before. She’d gotten so used to him being there that it felt empty now that he was gone.
She almost went back upstairs when she saw Melissa in the kitchen. She didn’t feel like being social, no matter how nice the woman was.
“Good morning,” Melissa said, automatically pouring a second cup of coffee for Eve while she was up. She’d noticed Eve’s swollen eyes the moment she’d walked into the room, and the look of devastation on her face was so heartbreaking that she wanted to do nothing but comfort the woman.
Men. They did nothing but cause trou
ble, she thought. Even if the man in question was her own cousin. It was exactly why she was going to focus on her career and stay as far away as possible from the species.
Jake was an idiot she’d decided the night before. She would have thought the same things that had gone through Eve’s head if she’d seen the man she loved holding onto a strange woman as familiarly as Jake had been holding her. She’d told him so too the night before when he’d so stubbornly walked away from a woman he was obviously head over heels in love with.
Melissa brought Eve the coffee and set down across from her. “Jake said he’s going to be away for a while. He’s got some loose ends to tie up before he can take off for the holidays.” She felt satisfaction as Eve’s spoon clattered against the side of her cup at the mention of Jake’s name.
“That’s fine,” Eve said as though the thought of being without him for the rest of the week, much less forever, didn’t faze her a bit.
“I want you to know that I think Jake’s an idiot,” Melissa said, taking Eve’s hand. “I told him so.”
The sympathy she saw in Melissa’s gaze was almost Eve’s undoing, but she kept the tears at bay. “No, he was right to be angry. I didn’t trust him, and if I’m going to love him I have to trust him, no matter what the circumstances.”
“That’s phooey,” Melissa said.
“Phooey?” Eve asked.
“Gran bet me a thousand dollars I couldn’t stop cussing. I’m a master at it. I’m told it’s a lost art to be able to do it properly, but it’s Gran’s fault I started in the first place. I never would have heard those words to begin with if she hadn’t taken me to the horse races when I was thirteen. I thought Jake was going to strangle her for exposing me to something like that.”
Eve smiled with her and thought it was sad that Jake had been the one to be concerned for the child when her parents hadn’t bothered.
“Anyway, it’s not like Jake bent over backwards to give you the right impression of our relationship. He’s just as much at fault as you are. He expects unwavering trust, but there’s only so far that can take you before you have to start explaining yourself.”
