Jake couldn’t back down now, so he put on his best poker face instead.
Nora sat down at the table and expertly started shuffling the cards while she waited for Jake to take the seat opposite her. As she shuffled the cards from one hand to the other, Jake started to wonder if he stood a chance with this woman… at cards, that is. Either she put on a really good show, or Jake was in for a world of trouble, he realized as he sat down.
Nora swiftly dealt the cards and then looked expectantly at Jake. This was her first time playing strip poker. “So, how does this work? Do we ante up a sock right off the bat or do you only take something off when you lose a hand?”
Jake was dumbfounded. He’d never actually played strip poker before, either. “House rules,” he said, acting confident. “The winner gets to choose which article of clothing the loser takes off.” That sounded like a good plan, he thought.
“Alright,” she said, in complete agreement with that arrangement. After all, Nora had no intention of removing any of her clothes.
At first, Jake thought he’d let her win the first hand, so she wouldn’t be the first to be forced to take something off. As it turned out, he didn’t need to be so kind. Nora’s poker skills became evident to him almost immediately. She won the first hand, laying down a full house to easily beat Jake’s two pair.
“I’ll go easy on you,” she said excitedly following her first victory. “You can start with your belt.”
Jake stood up and slid the belt off, laying it on the table between them.
His competitive nature was kicking in. As he sat back down, Jake looked at Nora intensely, trying to wear down some of her confidence. He looked her up and down, hoping to make her uncomfortable and throw Nora off her game. “Yep. I think I know what piece of clothing I’m going to make you take off when I win the next hand,” he said with certainty.
Nora raised an eyebrow, unaffected by Jake’s remark and even more determined to win every hand. “We’ll see,” was all she said as she handed the deck to Jake for the next deal. Nora won the next hand, as well, laying down four-of-a-kind to beat Jake’s straight. As compensation, she kindly requested Jake’s button-up flannel shirt. Unfortunately, Nora’s hopes of seeing Jake’s rock-hard chest evaporated quickly when he began unbuttoning the shirt, revealing a cotton t-shirt underneath.
After five more hands, Jake’s confidence was completely shattered. He lost every hand. Nora sat across from him, grinning. Her delight was evident as Jake handed over his t-shirt. Nora added it to the pile of clothes, which now included the belt, both of his shirts, both socks, and a pair of jeans. Jake sat across from her in nothing but a pair of boxer shorts.
“Well, I think I’m the clear winner here,” Nora said happily, not wanting to push it too far. “Shall we call it quits?”
“I would appreciate that,” Jake said gratefully. He reached out across the table, then, to take his clothes back.
“Uh, uh,” Nora cautioned him, teasing. She grabbed the clothes in her arms and stood up. “These are my winnings. You don’t get them back.”
Naturally, Jake chased after her. Nora squealed when Jake caught her from behind and wrapped her in his arms. Holding the clothes out, she struggled to keep them away from him. “You can’t have them,” she said, liking this little game. She was determined not to give the clothes back and thoroughly enjoyed Jake’s effort to retrieve them.
With Nora in his arms, though, Jake forgot about the clothes. “That’s not what I want,” he whispered huskily into her ear. Nora stopped struggling, then, and turned to face him. In his eyes, she saw an intense burning desire. She felt it, too. His dark blue eyes captivated her. Lost in his gaze, Nora found herself letting go of her inhibitions and choosing to give herself to Jake.
“What is it you want?” she asked, barely a whisper.
“You,” he said as his mouth closed over hers. Distracted, Nora let go of the clothes and they dropped to the floor. The taste of his lips ignited a passion inside Nora she’d never felt before. She wanted him like she’d never wanted any man. And she knew in that moment, if Jake wanted her, too, she would give herself to him completely, right then and there.
The spark between them was intense, maybe too intense. If the kiss lasted even a second longer, he wouldn’t be able to control himself. He wouldn’t be able to stop. He had to be certain this was what she wanted.
“Are you sure about this?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said, deepening the kiss.
It felt so right holding Nora in his arms. Their bodies fit together perfectly, he realized, as he ran his hands through her hair, lightly touching her neck and then tracing the length of her collarbone. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever known and by far the most intriguing. His lips moved naturally from her mouth to her neck then her shoulder. He wanted to taste her, every bit of her.
When his hands moved down to her waist and gripped the bottom of her blouse, Nora let him pull the shirt up over her head. She heard the sharp intake of Jake’s breath as his gaze moved downward and he realized she wasn’t wearing a bra. Instinctively, his hands moved toward the soft flesh. He kissed her, hard. He left her breathless and wanting more. Nora moaned from the sensation as a warmth spread throughout her body. An ache, a longing, began to well up inside of her.
“Jake…” His name barely escaped her lips.
“Yes?” he asked, his voice husky with arousal.
“I want you…” she whispered.
“I know.”
Nora’s heart raced when he picked her up in his arms and carried her to the bed. Laying her down, Jake stripped off the rest of his clothes and stretched out beside her. He needed to touch her and to taste her. He needed to be one with her.
Expertly, Jake brought Nora to her climax. Clinging to Jake, her entire body shuddered as waves of pleasure coursed through her. When Jake found his own release, he collapsed on the bed next to Nora and pulled her in close. He planted a kiss on her forehead and then rested his own head next to hers. In the aftermath of their lovemaking, they fell into a contented sleep while the rain beat steadily down on the roof.
* * *
“Is that the sun?”
“Yeah. The storm let up a couple hours ago.”
Nora sat up and looked around the room. Jake stood by the stove, adding another piece of wood to the hot coals. A narrow beam of light streamed in through the window and Nora caught a glimpse of blue skies outside.
“What time is it?” she asked.
“I’d guess somewhere around 4 a.m.”
Nora groaned and pulled the covers back over her head. “Ugh. It doesn’t get light out this early at my cabin.”
“That’s because you have a mountain blocking the sun for the first three or four hours of the day,” Jake said, chuckling. “Just think how much more wood you could chop with those extra hours of daylight.”
Still under the covers, Nora rolled her eyes. “Maybe I’ll find me a big, strong lumberjack to do all that stuff,” she teased.
“A lumberjack is fine, but what you need is a fisherman. Someone who will put food on the table.”
“What good is that if I freeze to death?”
Jake laid down next to Nora and wrapped his arms around her. “I’ll keep you warm,” he said softly, sincerely.
“I suppose I could settle for a fisherman… if he chops wood on the side. But he’d also have to clean the fish, do all the cooking, and wash the dishes afterwards.”
“That sounds perfectly reasonable. And what would you do all day?”
Nora thought about it for a minute. “Hmm. Something completely useless.”
“You could learn to knit,” Jake suggested.
“No.” Nora smiled. “You’re missing the point. If I learned to knit, then I could make hats and scarves and things we could use. It has to be something useless.”
“You could stay in bed all day and be my sex goddess.”
Nora smiled and then shoved him playfully. “Be serious,�
� she said. “I’m thinking I could sit on the shore and draw pictures of whales swimming in the inlet.”
“Ah, but that could be useful, too. You’d be a local artist and you could sell your drawings to the tourists in the summer. Tourists love that sort of thing.”
Nora laughed then. “You haven’t seen me draw. Believe me, nobody’s going to buy stick-figure drawings of whales, local artist or not.”
Jake laughed, too, and pulled her tighter into his arms.
Nora quickly fell back to sleep, but Jake laid there for a long time watching her. What was it about this woman that he found so irresistible? She was the most incredible woman he’d ever met. He didn’t know what had brought her to him, but he knew one thing for certain.
“I’m going to marry you,” he whispered softly, lightly kissing her forehead.
As Nora drifted off to sleep, she thought she heard Jake say something. Did he say he was going to marry her? No, she couldn’t have heard it right. That would be crazy. They’d only known each other for a month. Surely she was dreaming.
Chapter 17
“I don’t want to leave,” she said, looking around the cabin one last time. Their night on the mountaintop had been magical. For Nora, it marked the end of her old life and the beginning of something new with Jake. She wanted to stay up there, where the rest of the world didn’t exist, where it was just her and Jake.
“You say that now because the sun is shining and everything looks so beautiful from up here,” Jake said. “But don’t forget last night. Storms like that make it dangerous.”
“I was thinking of last night,” Nora said, blushing.
Jake smiled. He understood. While the storm had raged on outside, they had made love for the first time… and the second time.
“And now we have to head back to reality,” he said.
Nora’s smile disappeared. Jake noticed her changed demeanor instantly.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing,” she said. It was only when Nora thought of going back down the mountain, back to her cabin, that she remembered the advertisement listing her property for sale. She’d meant to cancel the ad, but she still hadn’t gotten the chance. She would have to take care of it when they got back into town. She smiled at him, then. She was glad she’d decided not to sell the property, happy she would be staying in Heron... with Jake. “I think I’ll take a walk down by the lake before we leave.”
She turned and walked out the door, leaving Jake to finish cleaning up. The rule for using the cabin was to leave it in better shape than you found it, and that’s what he was going to do. The bed was made, the floor swept, and the woodpile restocked. Jake left the remaining olive oil in the pantry, along with the other food, then he shuttered the cabin and made sure everything was secure.
Fifteen minutes later, he emerged from the cabin. He saw Nora down by the lake, walking barefoot along the pebbled shore, dipping her toes in the cool water. She held her shoes in one hand and reached down and touched the surface of the water with the other. Jake leaned against the porch railing and silently watched her, amazed at how beautiful she looked at that moment, not wanting to interrupt her explorations. Intuitively, Nora turned and saw him and she smiled at him. Jake’s heart leapt at the sight.
Leaning down, Nora put her shoes back on and then trotted toward the cabin. She was happy there, and it felt great. She walked over to Jake and took him by the hand. “I had a great time last night,” she said, standing up on her tiptoes to kiss him.
Jake grinned. “So did I,” he said. He turned and closed the final shutter on the cabin. Everything was secure. “Are you ready to go?”
“No,” she said with one last longing smile at the lake. “But I guess we have no choice.”
Jake understood. They’d spent an incredible night together. For a day, it was as if there was no one else in the world. They were two souls connected, alone on a mountaintop. It had been unlike anything he’d ever experienced in his life.
“It’s not over,” he said, looking into her eyes. “It’s just beginning.”
He took her by the hand, then, and led her away from the cabin, back toward the mountain trail. The trail was much more treacherous this time, after the heavy rains of the day before, so they took their time going down the mountain. It wasn’t just the slippery mud slowing them, but also the thought of leaving the cabin behind. They were both reluctant.
About one-third of the way down, they encountered a problem. The trail was washed out where water and mud had flowed down the mountainside. A muddy slope about eight feet wide cut the trail off completely.
Jake stopped a few feet short of the mudslide, assessing the situation. They needed to get across, there were no two ways about it. If they veered off the trail even a little, it would be too easy to get lost. But the mud was slippery and there was no way they would be able to cross without slipping.
“What are we going to do?” Nora asked, looking at Jake for guidance. He’d grown up there, so surely he knew how to get across.
“Give me a second to figure it out,” he said. There were a couple rocks that looked solid enough to hold their weight. Jake decided to jump across, using the rocks as footholds to bridge the gap. He made it across easily, then turned to help Nora get across.
She jumped over to the first one and stopped to get her balance. Then she prepared to make a second jump. But the rock beneath her gave way and began sliding downward. Nora lost her balance and fell to the ground.
“Nora,” Jake hollered her name as he reached out and tried to grab her. But he was too late. All too quickly, she slid down the mountainside. She couldn’t stop herself as she slid downward 20, 30, 40 feet.
When she came to rest, Nora lay at the base of a large tree. She didn’t dare move, scared if she did, she would slide further down the mountainside. Her right ankle throbbed and even through the sock Nora could see her ankle was swollen. She must have twisted it when she fell.
Nora was in a tight spot, and she knew it. She couldn’t even see the trail anymore. She couldn’t walk, and even if she could, getting back to the trail would be nearly impossible with the slick mud.
“Nora,” Jake hollered desperately as he left the trail and made his way through the lush undergrowth down the hillside. He couldn’t see how far she’d plunged and his heart raced as he dreaded the worst. He shouldn’t have let her attempt the crossing. He should have figured out a different way. He called her name again, hoping beyond hope she wasn’t too badly injured.
Jake’s voice echoed through the trees and even though Nora couldn’t see him, she knew he was coming for her. She’d never been so happy to hear another person’s voice.
“I’m here,” she said, her voice creaking. Jake didn’t hear her and he called out her name again. Blocking out the pain and summoning up all of her strength, Nora hollered as loud as she could. “Here,” she hollered. “I’m here.”
That time, Jake heard her and his heart skipped a beat. She was alive. “I hear you,” he hollered back, the relief evident in his voice. He still couldn’t see her, but at least he knew where she was. “Stay where you are. I’ll come get you.”
When he spotted her, he realized that getting her back to the trail was going to be difficult. He spent the next half hour figuring out how to get to her. First he hiked back up the slope until he found a decent path to descend. Then he slowly made his way down at an angle toward Nora. Wedging himself against a tree, Jake reached out and took her by the hand and pulled her across the mudslide toward solid ground.
“Thank God you’re okay,” Jake said, helping her stand up. Nora stood, placing all of her weight on her good ankle. “You are okay, right?”
Nora nodded, trying not to show her pain. “I think so.”
Jake smiled as relief flooded through him. Then he grabbed her up in his arms and kissed her, long and hard. He had been so scared for her, but now he had her back in his arms. She was safe, even if she was a little battered up.
> “I’m so sorry,” was all Jake could say as he showered her with kisses on her cheeks, her eyelids, her mouth. “It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have let you try to cross like that.” He couldn’t stop apologizing.
“It’s okay,” Nora tried to reassure him. “I’m okay.” But he saw her wince even as she said the words. She was obviously in pain, and the sight of her pain cut him to the core.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Where are you hurt?”
“I sprained my ankle,” Nora admitted. “I don’t know if I can walk out of here.”
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll get you out.” Then he picked her up in his arms and carefully made his way downward, working his way back toward the trail.
In spite of the pain, Nora couldn’t help but notice how strong he was or how carefully he carried her. The hike back to the trail would have been difficult for a single person. Nora couldn’t imagine how hard it must have been for him to carry her over the uneven terrain and through the thick undergrowth. But he never wavered. His strong arms held her securely and his steady feet never slipped a single time.
When they reached the trail again, the going got a little easier for Jake, though he still had to be careful with each step. He didn’t want Nora to suffer any more hurt, especially at his hands.
As soon as Jake reached the boardwalk, Nora insisted he put her down. Even though her ankle was still killing her, she suspected Jake was getting tired. He’d been carrying her for well over an hour, across difficult terrain.
Against his better judgment, Jake agreed to let her try walking, but he instantly regretted it. He watched as Nora limped along the long, narrow boardwalk stretching through the trees toward town.
“Let me carry you,” said Jake.
“No. I can do this,” Nora insisted.
Jake, who only reluctantly let her walk on her own, stayed by her side, ready to catch her at any time. They made it about 50 feet before Nora’s ankle gave under her weight and she stumbled forward. Jake quickly caught her and wrapped an arm around her waist to support her. He knew she didn’t want him to carry her, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t help. Wincing at the pain, Nora allowed Jake to steady her, grateful she hadn’t fallen flat on her face.
Water's Edge (Alaskan Frontier Romance Book 1) Page 22
