She shattered, everything within her crumbling as she screamed. Some distant part of her mind wondered if she’d ever be the same again. It should have scared her, but it didn’t.
“I’m sorry, Jake.” Guilt flickered through those hazel eyes, making Jake grit his teeth and clench his fingers on the steering wheel just to hang on to his control.
Dayna regretted sleeping with him. It pissed him off. A lot.
Baring his teeth at her in a rough semblance of a smile, he tried to pretend it didn’t matter. “So you’re going to try to get back together with him when you get home?”
“I was happy with him.”
And that sent him over the edge. He snorted. “Oh, give me a break. You are so bored with your life you don’t even know what to do with yourself.”
Her eyes widened with shock and then narrowed in anger. “I am perfectly happy—”
“If you’re so fucking happy, Dayna, why did you spend last night in my bed?” He arched an eyebrow at her, daring her to contradict him. “If you were so in love with that jackass, you would never have slept with me, let alone come more times than I could count.”
“So now you’re calling me a slut?” Her face went ghostly pale, and then angry splotches colored her cheeks.
“You’re about as far from a slut as possible.” He shook his head, wanting to shake her and then take her over his lap and spank her. The thought of spanking her brought vivid memories of the night before roaring back, and his cock hardened in an instant. Shit. “You’re so uptight, I’m amazed you unwound long enough to get off, let alone that many times.”
She shoved the passenger door open. “Gee, if your morning-after routine is always this sweet, it’s no wonder you end up dropping so many of the women you’re always juggling.”
“That isn’t true, and you know it.” Sam had always done the one-night-stand thing, but Jake was more of a serial monogamist. Dayna knew about his parents, knew why he’d never been one to sleep around on a woman. So now it was his turn to glare, and before she slammed the door, he spat, “Besides, I didn’t hear you complaining last night.”
No, she’d screamed, clawed at his back, and begged for more. He watched her disappear into Rainbow’s cabin as he backed out of the driveway. Damn, this morning had started out with such promise and gone to hell the moment Dayna had gotten out of his bed. It made him want to snarl. He’d been waiting for years to peel back the layers of the good girl, knowing underneath the cool exterior he’d find fire hot enough to incinerate. Even then, she’d blown his expectations out of the water last night. He wanted more. Everything inside him craved it.
Crave. He paused, his insides tightening. His father had craved his mother, and look where that had landed him. No, Jake would never love or need a woman like that. He jerked his chin to the side. He wasn’t his father, and he knew Dayna was leaving. He knew exactly what he was doing. This wasn’t about needing her, it was about sex, pure and simple. Great sex with the sexiest woman he’d ever had the pleasure of fucking.
Now that he’d had her, he wanted more. She thought it was a mistake? Too damn bad. He knew exactly how good it was with her, and he was determined to get back in her pants as often as possible until she left. He grinned, rolling his shoulders as he turned down Main Street. Every storefront in the downtown area was decked out in twinkling white Christmas lights, including the shop he’d opened four years ago—Taylor Ink. He drove past, glancing in at the darkened interior. It was closed right now. He would open again for shortened hours a few days after Christmas but wouldn’t go back to regular hours until New Year’s Day.
So, until Dayna left, he had nothing better to do than her. Plenty of time to focus on loosening her up. It would be good for her to let go a little, and amazing for him to slide his hands over that smooth, creamy skin. And as a tattooist, he knew world-class skin when he saw it.
He also had a few very intriguing ideas on how to strip her of a little bit more of that control of hers. He stroked his fingers down the steering wheel, imagining her curves under his palms. Hell, he could do whatever he wanted with Dayna, and there was no danger of things getting deeper. He wasn’t her type, and she sure as hell wasn’t his. There was plenty of chemistry, but she wanted a nice guy. Hopefully not a dickhead like Nathan, but a nice, established guy. If possessive jealousy fisted in his gut, he ignored it. That just wasn’t how things could go with Dayna. No, it was just some carefree fun. She needed some of that, and he was more than willing to help her out.
This was the safest risk he’d ever taken.
It had to be because he knew exactly what loving a woman could do to a man. It could eat him alive. Jake’s shoulders stiffened, the muscles tightening as ugly memories he didn’t want came rushing in. He shook his head. No woman was worth what his mother had done to his father. She’d left his dad, left them both, when Jake was six—Toby’s age. When she’d skipped town with another man, Jake’s father had crawled into a bottle and never managed to drag himself out again. Jake had watched his old man get drunk and stay drunk every single day until the day he’d wrapped his truck around a telephone pole. Jake had been eighteen and two weeks out of high school.
Yeah, his dear old dad had been a great example of what not to be. Jake never wanted to let a woman close enough to hurt him like that, but he also didn’t wanted to be like his mother—a cheater. When he was with a woman, he was with her. After seeing what his father had gone through, he didn’t believe in infidelity. He might not want forever with one woman, but while his affairs lasted, he didn’t stray. He had fun, they had fun, but Jake was always the one to walk away. Always.
It wasn’t that he didn’t let anyone in. He had the Sharps. They’d been his family since he was twelve years old. He’d do damn near anything for them, but he could love them without risking his soul. That suited him just fine. He had the best of all worlds.
Sucking in a breath, he shoved the old ghosts aside and focused on how amazing his life was now and how mind-blowing the next week was going to be. A smile formed on his lips as the image of Dayna’s slim body arching in pleasure came to his mind. He was one lucky bastard, and he knew it. Whistling tunelessly, he made the turn that would take him out to the lake…and his house.
4
“I like this one! No, this one!” Toby ran in a frantic zigzag pattern through the Christmas tree farm. Tugging her notebook out of her bag, Dayna checked the tree farm off her to-do list for the day. Toby had insisted they couldn’t get a tree until Dayna was there to help pick it out. She grinned, footsteps crunching through the snow as Jake, Sam, and she followed the boy. She filed away little bits and pieces of the day to go in her next book. Maybe she’d talk to her editor about a holiday story.
She drew in a deep lungful of cold, crisp air, looking out over the little town spread across the mountainside below her. Snow blanketed the ground, fat flakes drifted in lazy swirls from the sky, and icicles decorated the edge of every roof. It was picturesque. She’d forgotten how pretty this area could be—she’d always focused on how much she wanted to get away and start her own life. She rolled her eyes at herself. She’d done such a stellar job with her life lately.
All her efforts had been focused on not thinking about breaking up with Nathan yesterday and not thinking about what she’d done with Jake last night, but it was all crashing in on her now. The pain of losing something she’d wanted so much. The self-loathing for losing control. The guilt. Her stomach heaved, and she swallowed hard to keep down the lunch she’d had at Rainbow’s. God, she really was worse than her mother. At least her mother was thoughtless; Dayna knew what she was doing and did it anyway. Self-disgust crawled through her.
“Dad, look at this one!” Toby poked his little head out from behind a Douglas fir and then disappeared again.
Sam laughed. “Hey, rugrat. Wait up!”
Dayna tucked her scarf tighter around her neck as she watched her brother slog through the ankle-deep slush after her nephew. Toby looked just like
Sam had at that age. Same eyes, same smile, same endless energy. She chuckled. Her brother deserved to have to deal with it from someone else.
Their footsteps had faded before she realized they’d left her alone with Jake. Rainbow had eschewed the delights of wading through the snow looking for a tree to stay home and cook dinner. Dayna tensed when she felt the heat of Jake’s muscular body envelop her from behind. “Just the two of us.”
She swallowed, but her mouth had dried, and she couldn’t make a sound emerge from her tight throat. Goose bumps rippled down her limbs, heat flooding her body. The sensation was a sharp contrast to the chill of snowflakes catching on her eyelashes and kissing her bare cheeks and lips. She shivered.
A loud crack followed by a dismayed shout sounded to their left as a tree trunk snapped and an evergreen went down. A red-faced man emerged from the branches shaking his fist at a woman standing beside the tree. His voice slurred the way only copious amounts of alcohol could manage. “You stupid cunt!”
Jake growled and shifted in their direction when the woman planted her palms on her ample hips and snapped back. “Well, if you’d let me call for some help, it would have been fine. You can just do it all by yourself if you’re going to talk to me like that.”
She turned and flounced away while Jake pulled Dayna into the trees away from the still cursing drunk. Dayna tensed, worried for a moment that the drunken display might remind Jake of his father—one of the few things that could put Jake in a really dark mood. He was willing to drink in bars and at his house, but she’d never seen him drunk in the middle of the day. The few occasions she’d met his father, he’d been soused, regardless of the time of day. Jake was usually careful, except for last night. Looked like they were a bad influence on each other.
Clearing her throat, she tried to lighten the moment. “Well, Merry Christmas to him, too.”
Jake coughed, shrugging his tense shoulders in an obvious attempt to shake off the moment. He offered her a tight smile. “You know, I’ve never understood using cunt as an insult.”
“Why not? It’s certainly derogatory.” She winced.
His dark blond brows rose, and his grin widened to a more genuine one. “Yes, but why would I use a word that describes the happiest place on Earth as an insult? He might as well have said, ‘You stupid Disneyland.’”
A laugh exploded out of Dayna at the incredulous look on his face. No matter how long she’d known him, it constantly amazed her what came out of Jake’s mouth. Tears welled in her eyes as her fit of giggles wouldn’t stop. She wrapped her arms around her belly, trying to contain the chuckles, but she ended up slipping in the snow. It just made her laugh harder as Jake caught her from behind to keep her on her feet. “Oh, my God. I can’t believe you said that.”
His hands cupped her hips from behind, pulling her back against his chest. His voice lowered to that silken purr he’d used in bed. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you all day.”
Just like that, the laughter strangled in her throat as molten heat spread through her limbs.
“Don’t say that,” she whispered. All her regrets came crowding back in. What was she thinking to have a drunken one-night stand with her brother’s best friend? She should slap his hands down and step away from him. But she didn’t. Her insides had begun melting the moment he touched her, and her thoughts centered on the pressure of his fingers through her clothes, the memories of those big hands sliding over her naked skin. She dropped her head forward, her hair swinging into her face. “Don’t—”
“Why? It’s true.” He nuzzled the nape of her neck, pushing her scarf out of his way. Fire exploded through her at just that light contact. Her breath caught. She’d never reacted to anyone the way she was reacting to him. How had this happened so fast? She’d never thought of Jake this way. He was Sam’s best friend, he was every shade of wicked, and he was simply not the kind of guy she ever got involved with in any way. Until last night. It was like a switch had flipped, and now there was nothing she didn’t notice about Jake. His dark, masculine scent, his deep voice, the heat of his touch whenever he brushed up against her. Which was often.
“Last night was fun.” His breath heated her skin when he spoke. “Don’t you agree?”
“Fun.” She huffed out a laugh, a cloud erupting in the cold air. “That’s not really my style. You’re not my style.”
Kissing her neck lightly, he flicked his tongue over her skin. “You tried me and fun on for size last night. We seemed to fit then.”
“Temporary insanity?” Her muscles were loosening, molding her curves against his harder planes. They fit perfectly even through the bulk of their winter clothing. He was right about that. Her body clamored with the need to try him on for size again, her sex dampening as the craving twisted tight within her.
“Your insanity is my gift from the world. I must have been a very good boy this year. Thank you, Santa.”
She glanced over her shoulder at him, arching an eyebrow. “Did you actually just say ‘good boy’ in reference to yourself?”
Winking at her, he slid one hand around to her lower belly and pulled her back until her ass rubbed against his erection. “Hey, I’m a successful local business owner. I pay my taxes. What else do you want?”
Her mouth formed a moue. “Honey, you’re a tattoo artist. That hardly makes you a choirboy. Face it, you’re a very naughty man.”
“You know firsthand.” His hips moved subtly against hers, and her lips fell open as she sucked in a shuddering breath.
“Yes, I do.” God, was he naughty. They were in a Christmas tree lot. There were children nearby, including her nephew. And she was ready to turn in his embrace and beg him to fuck her. No. She wouldn’t let that happen again. One night was stupid but understandable. More than that was unacceptable. She forced herself to focus on the arms wrapped around her. She pried one off her waist and spun away.
Her fingers slipped on his arm, pushing up his sleeve enough to see the whorls of ink on the inside of his wrist—the symbol for infinity with her family’s first initials twining around it. Jake had designed the art and tattooed his own arm almost a decade before. He’d added Toby’s initial to the design and done Sam’s forearm at the same time a few years ago. Then her mother had asked him to add it to her ankle to celebrate her retirement. Dayna was the only adult in the family without the tattoo—Aunt Rainbow had had him put it at the top of her impressive cleavage on her sixtieth birthday, and she used it as an excuse to flash people whenever she wanted. A wry smile curved Dayna’s lips and shook her head. Rainbow loved causing a spectacle.
Turning his wrist, Jake caught her hand and her attention. He pulled her around until she faced him, offering up a smile that made his handsome face flawlessly gorgeous. “What could it really hurt, Dayna? Go a little crazy for the whole week, not just the night. It doesn’t have to mean anything other than two healthy, single adults enjoying some incredible chemistry.”
He stroked his thumb over the pulse point in her wrist, just above the edge of her glove. She swallowed, fighting a shiver. His gaze locked with hers as he brought up her captured hand, brushing his soft lips over her skin. That wasn’t where she wanted that talented mouth. Her hormones did a little tap dance at the thought of his lips against hers. He was an amazing kisser. He didn’t rush; he savored the play of their mouths together. Insidious heat wound through her, flushing her cheeks. She stared at his mouth, remembering. “Jake.”
He was reaching for her, his features tight with lust, when Sam’s voice sounded through the trees. “Hey, you two. Toby found the one he wants. He’s standing guard so no one else claims it.”
“I’ll bring my truck around,” Jake called back. He gave Dayna a final, heated glance before he turned toward the entrance of the tree farm.
Her breath whooshed out, relief and regret twisting tight inside her. Turning on legs that felt too weak to hold her, she followed the sound of Toby’s high-pitched giggle until she spotted her brother and nephe
w next to a Scotch pine. “Oh, it’s beautiful. You’re such a good tree picker, Toby.”
He beamed up at her, wrapping his little arms around her leg to hug her. “This is gonna be the best Christmas ever, Aunt Dayna.”
Sam’s phone beeped, and he pulled it off the clip on his belt. “Damn.”
“What’s up?” She looked up at him.
He shook his head. “Just got a text message. One of the other bartenders has a pregnant wife, and she just went into labor. We knew it was coming soon, so I’m going to have to go in and cover the last half of his shift.”
“Do you need me to take Toby?”
“Nah, I can drop him off with Rainbow on my way.” He scooped up his son and tucked him under his arm like a football. “You stay with the tree so Jake can get the right one loaded. We’d never hear the end of it from the rugrat otherwise.”
“No problem!” she called over her nephew’s squeals of delight.
“Thanks, sis. I’ll pay for it on the way out.” He kissed her cheek and headed for the entrance. He waved Jake in the right direction from the main road as he passed.
Dayna grinned and shook her head. The smile widened at the rumble of Jake’s big red pickup truck as he navigated the narrow muddy track that ran through the trees. That was one pretty piece of machinery he had there. One of the farm’s workers sat in the passenger seat. The skinny teenager hopped out to guide Jake as he did a three-point turn to back the truck up to the tree. Then he cut the ignition and stepped out.
The two of them pulled a chainsaw out of the bed of the truck, and Dayna pointed at the right tree and got out of their way. The manly men could get sticky tree sap all over themselves as they cut it down. They didn’t need her help. She hopped in the driver’s side of Jake’s truck to escape the chill wind.
Within ten minutes, the tree was loaded and tied down. The teenager waved off a ride as he went to help another customer. Jake tugged open the door and leaned his shoulder against it. “You’re in my seat.”
Under The Covers Page 4
