by Robyn Grady
“Australia. Sydney.” She chose a fat strawberry from the fruit platter. “My family’s still there. Well, my father and his wife and their kids. My oldest brother and his wife, too.”
“And the rest of the clan?”
“My other brothers are in the States now. Actually, the middle one lives here in LA. He’s engaged to someone who grew up in Oklahoma so he spends a lot of downtime there. The other brother’s in New York.”
“Hey. Small world.”
“Wynn’s a dyed-in-the-wool workaholic. Although, now that he has Grace in his life, I’m sure that’ll change. Or I hope that it does.”
In the middle of topping up coffee cups, Jacob hesitated as a chill rippled over his scalp. He shook it off. Found a smile.
“Wynn? That’s an unusual name. I’m putting a case together at the moment. The defendant, if it gets that far—” which it would “—his name is Wynn.”
“Wow. How about that.”
He nodded. Smiled again. Yeah. “How about that.”
Seeming to read his mind, Teagan laughed. “Don’t worry. It couldn’t be my Wynn. He keeps his cards close to his chest, but a libel suit? He’d have said something about that. Social media would be all over it.”
“We haven’t submitted yet. No one knows.”
Teagan reached for another berry while Jacob finished his second cup of coffee. She hadn’t spoken about her family the previous night and hadn’t gone into much detail now, not that he’d been particularly forthcoming in that area, either. Admitting that his background was weird was the tip of a Titanic-size iceberg. His childhood had been beyond toxic.
But right now he was more interested in Teagan. And Wynn.
“So what does your brother in New York do? We might know each other.”
“How many Wynns have you met again?”
He grinned and conceded. “Only one, and that’s on paper.”
“So you couldn’t know my brother.”
Ha. Right.
Still...
“What did you say he does for a living?”
Teagan gave him an odd look, like, “maybe drop this.” And he would, as soon as this was squared away, because the back of his neck was prickling now. Could be nothing, but he’d learned the hard way to always pay attention to that.
“Wynn works for my father’s company,” she said. “Or an arm of it. All the boys do.”
The prickling grew.
One arm of a family company? “Sounds as if your father runs a big enterprise.”
“It’s big, all right. Out of college, I decided to do my own thing. I didn’t want any part of the drama.”
“You’re not estranged from your family, though.”
Her eyebrows snapped together. “God, no.”
“Everyone went to that wedding?”
“Everyone was there.”
“So you’re all close.”
“We’ve had our differences, between my brothers and father particularly. Too much alike. Although, as they get older, it’s not as intense. And, yes. We are close. Protective.” She pulled the lapels of her robe together, up around her throat. “That’s the way it is with our family. We can say what we want about each other, but anyone throwing shade from the outside needs to brace himself for a smackdown.” She set her napkin on the table. “What about you?”
Jacob was still thinking about Wynn and family companies with arms in Sydney, LA and New York.
He tried to focus. “Sorry? What was that?”
“Your family, Jacob. Do you have any siblings? Nieces or nephews?”
“No siblings.” As far as blood went, anyway.
“So, it’s just your parents and you?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s complicated.”
Her laugh was forced. “More complicated than mine?”
Shrugging, he got to his feet. Teagan got to hers, too.
There were questions in her eyes. Doubts about where he’d come from, who he really was. Okay. Let’s see.
His A-hole father had jumped ship before Jacob was in school, right before Mom had screwed up monufreakingmentally. As a teenager, he’d gone off the rails and literally crashed before lucking out and finding a buoy at just the right moment.
But that was a lifetime ago. So forget about the past and concentrate on this. On now.
Jacob took her hands and stated the glaringly obvious.
“I had a great time last night.”
Her expression softened. “Me, too. Really nice.”
When he lifted her hand and pressed his lips to her palm, every fiber in his body sat up and took notice.
“You smell so good,” he said. Like vanilla.
“It’s called soap.”
“I skipped the shower. Didn’t want to wake you up.”
She tilted her head and gave him a teasing look. “I’m awake now.”
His gaze roamed her face...the thousand different curves and dips he’d adored and kissed long into the night. Then he considered their backgrounds again, and that yet to be filed libel suit. He thought about his Wynn, and he thought about hers.
It didn’t matter. At least, it didn’t matter right now.
Leaning in, he circled the tip of her nose with his and murmured, “That robe needs to go.”
Her beautiful eyes smiled before she unraveled the bulky tie at her waist. A second later, the robe lay pooled on the floor and they were headed for the bedroom again.
Four
All six shower nozzles were well placed and set to warm and ready. Add two large, soapy hands indulging every part of her body, and Teagan was riding the fast track to Take Me Now. Or was that Take Me Again? Evidently, Jacob Stone’s sole purpose in life was to leave her feeling completely satisfied. Totally adored.
Who was she to complain?
But there were things she wanted for him, too, and precious minutes were flying by. There was no time to lose. So she slid a palm down over that ripped six-pack and curled her fingers around the part of him that so badly wanted to play.
His jaw grazed her temple as he groaned.
“Please say we’re not leaving today.”
“We have maybe an hour.”
When she tightened her hold and slid her hand all the way down his shaft, he groaned again—deeper this time.
“An hour’s not enough.”
She grinned. “We’re not doing that again.”
But when he backed her up to the marble wall and slapped his palms against it high on either side of her head, Teagan seriously wanted to reconsider.
As she continued to work his erection, he lowered his head and tasted a line from the slope of one wet shoulder to her neck. By the time he reached her earlobe, he’d begun to move along with her, falling into the rhythm, his pelvis slowly rocking in time with her stroke. When she’d built up the tempo enough, he gripped her hand and buried his face in her hair.
“Tea... Christ...you’re killing me.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
Not.
“You know I’ll get you back.”
She whispered in his ear, “You’d better.”
Being naked with Jacob Stone set her on fire. As long as their bodies were touching, she felt completely consumed. It was helping to elbow out some of those memories from breakfast.
She didn’t care that she was a vegetarian and Jacob loved his meat, or that he wanted to save her from walking out this morning wearing an evening gown. What hadn’t sat well was their conversation about family.
He’d asked questions, which she’d answered. But he wouldn’t let up about Wynn. Yes, it was an unusual name, and she was certain Hunter Enterprises’ lawyers had dealt with libel suits before. Sometimes reporters needed to dig around in the dirt to uncover the truth.
Of course, the media should be responsib
le when sharing information, but Wynn was the poster boy for ethics—thorough and principled to the point of driving people nuts. Nothing anyone might say, or try to bring against him in a court of law, could ever change her opinion on that.
But now, as Jacob’s mouth began working its magic again in a feverous kiss, Teagan pushed all that other stuff from her mind. This slice of time was about filling the well. About being human and truly feeling again.
When his lips left hers, he took his time searching her eyes while she pledged to memory the chiseled angle of his jaw and how water dripped off the tip of his nose. She wanted to remember the way he was looking at her now, like he would do anything to never let her go.
“We wasted too much time sleeping last night.” Droplets fell from his black lashes as his gaze burned into hers. “I need to be inside you.”
It was a statement of fact. A heartfelt plea.
Yes, I want that, too.
Just one problem.
As compelling as this moment was, safety came first.
Obviously, Jacob agreed. “Condoms are in the bedroom,” he said.
“So we should turn off the faucets.”
“Or we could go with something else.”
She grinned. “Something new?”
“There is nothing new. There’s only better.”
He edged them both around, swapping places while coaxing her to about-face. With his shoulders propped against the wall and that rock-hard body cradling her back and behind, he began nuzzling her neck, caressing her breasts, while one hot palm slid down her front. But when he reached her scar and stopped, she pressed back against him and stiffened.
He kissed the crown of her head. “That’s been there a while. Must have hurt.”
“I fell off my bike in middle school.”
“We should compare battle scars sometime. I’ve got a couple of whoppers.”
As he talked, his hand slipped lower and a finger curved between the apex of her thighs.
Jacob was back to his old tricks, concentrating solely on her. And as he began to tease and gently rub, she forgot about childhood accidents, the fact that time was running out, or anything else that might interfere. She only wanted to concentrate on the outgoing tide and look forward to being carried away.
All too soon, she was trembling and contracting inside. There was a sense of friction building...of everything else blurring and fading away.
His words were warm at the shell of her ear.
“This was a good idea.”
“Don’t...” She swallowed, caught her breath. “Don’t talk.”
Pinpricks of heat were flying together, joining and compressing until finally her hips bucked forward, her head rocked back. And before all that intensity came close to burning out, she climaxed again, higher and brighter and, yes, just that bit better. Still touching her, loving her, he wrung out the last spasm until she couldn’t stand. Couldn’t think. She was officially mindless.
Unreservedly his.
But as he scooped her up and carried her to their bed—curled up in his arms, dripping wet—Teagan knew this wasn’t over yet. Jacob Stone wasn’t done with her. Not even close.
* * *
Nothing was ever perfect, but if Jacob had to come up with something darn close, these hours spent with Teagan would be it. And as much as he had enjoyed the previous night—the talking, the dancing, the mind-blowing sex—this morning’s installment in the shower had blown that all clean away.
Now, after making love again, they were lying together, face-to-face, nose to nose. As she looked into his eyes and he looked back, he could only think of the slice of time they had left. Bottom line: he wanted to see her again. But, unless his guess was wrong—and that wasn’t likely—this liaison was about to wind up, not for now, but for good.
The finality of that goodbye hinged on something he needed to say. Something she wouldn’t be able to look past. And, frankly, neither would he.
“We need to go,” she said, her gaze lingering on his lips. His insides gave a kick that was a whole lot of desire but even more regret.
He exhaled. “How are we going to do that?”
“We get off this bed and say goodbye at the door.”
“I don’t like that plan.”
“Okay. You stay here and I’ll pick up my things on the way out.”
“That won’t work, either.”
Her eyes glistened as she smiled. “I think we’re out of options.”
He came closer and brushed his lips over hers. “Not quite.”
Drawing back, she gave him a playful, admonishing look. “We don’t have time for another shower.”
“No?”
She laughed softly. “No.”
“Okay. Get ready for Stone’s option number two.”
He leaned up on an elbow, resting his jaw in his palm as she pushed to her feet and turned to face him.
Waiting, she cocked her head. “I’m listening.”
Looking at her awesome nakedness, he was stuck.
“Yeah. I forgot.”
Smiling, shaking her head, she headed for the bathroom. “And don’t you dare follow me.”
He spoke to her through the open doorway. “The walk of shame.”
She called back. “What about it?”
“I, for one, would love to see you in that gown again. But we can call one of the boutiques in the lobby and have something in your size sent up. Shoes, too.”
Easy. Done.
“That’s sweet, but I don’t need an Edward Lewis.”
Jacob was on his feet, still figuring that out—Edward who?—when she returned to the room. She was wearing the T-shirt he’d peeled off before they’d flipped on the shower faucets. It almost came down to her knees.
Striking a hands on hips model pose, she asked, “How do I look?”
“Like a goddess.”
She blinked and then laughed, but he’d never been more serious in his life. Which made this even harder...what had to be done. They needed to have one more conversation. Better that she found out now, and from him.
While Teagan searched for her shoes, he pulled on his drawstring pants and then rummaged around in his bag for a shirt, which turned out to be a starched business number. Even when he headed off to chill with the Rawsons for a couple of days, he packed one—along with a dark blue jacket and dress pants. That’s what lawyers did. Those who ran a firm on Lexington Avenue, at least.
Teagan had slung her heels over her shoulder. She was ready to go. But before she could say another word—It’s been nice...see you next wedding—Jacob spoke up.
“I’ll walk you to your hotel room.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I want to.” He looked down at himself, his mismatched clothes, his bare feet. “We can do the walk of shame together.”
“I’m a big girl. I don’t need anyone to hold my hand.”
“Then hold mine.” When she gave a maybe not look, he added, “I won’t beg. Unless I have to.”
She surrendered a smile. “Okay. But remember, we have flights to catch.”
He held up one hand and put the other out, horizontal and palm down. “I swear on the Bible. Best behavior.”
Her brows pinched and for a moment he thought she was going to say he was trying too hard. Maybe, but not to make an impression or to cling. He liked Teagan, more than any woman he’d known, but he didn’t have a stalkerish bone in his body. When he finally said what needed to be said, he wanted Teagan to be in the position of power. In her own space. Closing the door in his face if need be.
Moving out of the bedroom, she collected her gown and evening bag while he found the key card. They took the elevator to her floor and made their way down the hall. After she’d swiped and stepped inside, he did it.
He came clean.
“I need to ask you something,” he said. “Confirm...something. Your surname. It’s Hunter, isn’t it?”
Her smile was tight. “Jacob, I told you that last night when we met.”
“I, uh, didn’t catch it.”
“It’s okay. All’s forgiven.”
Rubbing his temple, he muttered, “I wish.”
“What was that?”
“I didn’t realize it until we spoke over breakfast. About your family. About your brother. Wynn Hunter.” All your cards on the table now, bro. “He’s the Wynn I’m looking to sue.”
Teagan’s shoulders slumped. Finally, she exhaled. “What a crap note to finish on.”
Crap was right. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry that you want to take down my brother? Or sorry that you didn’t share this with me before the shower?”
“The last one.”
“That’s what I figured.”
But she appeared calm, as though he’d admitted to liking baseball more than hockey. Where was the name calling? The face slapping? He wanted to sue the pants off her brother, for Pete’s sake.
“I thought you’d be more cut up about it,” he said.
“Oh?”
Maybe he hadn’t been clear. “I intend to decimate Wynn when I get him on the stand.”
“I assume that’s what clients pay you for.”
He dragged a hand down his face, shifted his weight. “You told me how close your family is. When news of this hits, when your brother receives the verdict...it will affect the entire Hunter conglomerate.”
Again. Totally unruffled.
He lowered his voice. “I don’t play around in a courtroom, Teagan.”
“Thanks,” she said. “Got it.”
Then it hit. Her reaction.
Well, of course.
“You’d already worked it out,” he said.
“When you said the case hadn’t been filed yet. Before we shared that shower.” Her mouth hitched to one side. “I didn’t want to spoil things, either.”
“So you’re not mad?”
“I told you. I grew up with the constant drama of big business. Everything’s about control and making sure you’re top dog. Kill or be killed.” Leaning against the doorjamb, she sighed. “No, I’m not mad. I’m just over it.”
