Real Kind of Love

by Sara Rider

  He finished dressing quickly and headed out for a jog. He kept it short since the morning sun was even hotter than the day before, and his body was still recovering from yesterday’s stupid race with Mike and Andrew, but his brain could have used a few extra miles to wipe away the memory of Clem’s body.

  He still didn’t have any clarity by the time he came back to the cabin and jumped in the shower, but she wasn’t anywhere to be found. He cleaned himself up, dressed, and headed over to Darlene and Frank’s cabin, figuring she’d gone over there for breakfast.

  She was helping Olive flip pancakes when he approached. He had no doubt her relaxed smile was genuine as she ladled a scoop of batter onto the portable griddle. He was probably an ass for thinking the glow on her face had anything to do with him after she’d dismissed him so readily this morning, but he couldn’t help but feel a swell of pride. He came up behind her, slipped his hand around her waist, and kissed her cheek.

  Not because he wanted to be convincing to her family. Because he couldn’t stand the thought of not having his lips on her.

  She leaned into his touch like she was molded to fit next to his body. “Circle, heart, or dog?”

  “I was kind of hoping for a pancake, to be honest.”

  She let out a sweet laugh. “I know. Olive and I are practicing our pancake shapes, but so far I can only successfully make a circle, a heart, and a dog.”

  “I’m trying to make a Yoda head, but it’s not going so well. My YouTube tutorial keeps stalling because the reception’s so bad,” Olive added.

  “I’m not quite so ambitious, but I think my hearts are getting pretty good,” Clem added. “So what’ll it be?”

  “Surprise me.”

  She dropped a scoop of batter onto the griddle with a flourish, then pointed her finger at him. “No peeking.”

  He liked this playful side of her. She twisted her lips in concentration the same way she did the other night when they played Scrabble—not that he’d let her know about that particular tell—while casting him occasional glances. After a few short minutes, she slid the pancake onto his plate. “Here you go.”

  “Thanks. It’s a nice…” he examined the oblong shape and took his best guess, “…heart.”

  “It’s supposed to be a beer bottle.”

  He could barely hold back his laugh. “It looks like bathtub with a tumor.”

  She narrowed her eyes.

  “Maybe cat with no ears wearing a tiny hat?”

  She leveled her spatula at him. “Just eat it, Jake.”

  “Gladly.”

  She thrust the bottle of Aunt Jemima’s Extra Buttery toward him. “Here. You don’t want to forget your syrup.”

  “Don’t want to forget anything,” he said before he could stop himself.

  He didn’t know if it was possible for her skin to redden even more, but he decided that finding out was exactly the kind of challenge he’d be up for this week.

  “Ooh…” Olive cooed. “Innuendo.”

  Jake raised his eyebrows. “Anyone ever tell you your vocabulary’s too big, kid?”

  The teenager preened. “All the time! My ninth-grade teacher, Ms. Witherspoon, says I’m perspicacious and incorrigible.”

  “I’ll have to take her word for it.” He finished loading his plate with the heart-attack inducing food, grateful he’d already gone for a run this morning. They weren’t even halfway through the week, and he still couldn’t quite parse together the physics of how Clem’s family had brought this much food in just three minivans.

  After serving everyone her bizarrely shaped pancakes, Clem took a seat next to him and dug into her food. She ate without reservation, something he’d always appreciated about her. She was quiet, sometimes shy, but she didn’t hide away from the small pleasures in life. She was incredibly sensual, in the purest meaning of the word. Every experience, whether the biting into a pastry or running her hand through the water while they drifted along on the boat the other day, was something she relished. Just like every little touch seemed to drive her wild last night.

  Shit. He needed to get his mind out of the gutter before he did something stupid.

  “What are you two sweethearts going to get up to this morning?” Darlene asked.

  He finished his bite of back bacon and smiled. Darlene’s schedule indicated the morning would be dedicated to painting leaves and rocks for a nature collage, and he was pretty sure they’d be skipping that particular activity. “Whatever Clem wants.”

  She smiled brightly at him, and he realized he meant it. He would have given her the moon if she asked.

  “You should check out that hike you missed out on yesterday,” Andrew said. “We didn’t make it to the waterfall with the kids, but it’s worth the extra effort.”

  “Sounds good,” Clem said.

  One of the little twins crawled toward Clem and laid her blond head in her lap. “Will you take us with you, Aunty Clem? Please?”

  Andrew stood up and tickled the kid until she let go of Clem’s thighs. “Not a chance, Millie. Your legs need to be another foot taller before you can make it.”

  Millie rose up on her tiptoes defiantly, which only made her dad laugh. “No fair. Why do the grownups get to do all the fun stuff?”

  “Marcy Jones told us there’s always treasure hidden behind a waterfall,” Ellie added.

  “She knows things. She’s in the third grade!”

  Jake shook his head. He didn’t have a lot of experience with kids, but he was pretty sure the twins were exceptionally adorable, and quite possibly exceptionally troublesome.

  They finished up breakfast listening to Frank explain different techniques for building a campfire. Jake offered to help with the dishes Chastity had taken into the kitchen to clean. To his surprise, no one rejected his offer, giving him a strange sense of relief as he made his way up the short flight of steps to the back deck and into the kitchen. Feeling like a freeloader was already uncomfortable, and the fact he and Clem were lying to her family only amplified his unease.

  He’d spent so much of his life blindly taking what he wanted, not caring if he deserved it. Not caring who paid for it. It wasn’t enough that he refused to be that person anymore. He needed to atone for that greed and make sure he’d never allow himself to fall into the trap of becoming that person again.

  The cabin Clem’s family rented was more than twice the size of the one he and Clem were staying in, though it looked more like a family-owned place than a pristine vacation rental. Wood paneling lined the walls and the furniture was worn, rugged, and straight from the seventies.

  Chastity was pouring soap into the sink while running the faucet when he came in.

  “You want me to wash or dry?”

  She silently handed him a dishtowel in response, a clear sign he needed to work a little harder to win over Clem’s suspicious older sister. At least he’d made some headway with the rest of her family.

  Not that any of that mattered, he reminded himself. This was all over after a week. Just because they were starting to treat him like family didn’t make it real. Neither did last night.

  Chastity handed him a plate, then turned to face him, resting her hip against the counter. “Why are you really dating my sister?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’re not her usual type.”

  He set the plate inside the cupboard. “Maybe that’s a good thing.”

  “I’m not so sure.”

  He dropped the towel onto the counter and waited for her explanation.

  “The last guy my sister dated was a jerk who stood her up on Valentine’s Day to attend a comic book convention with his buddies, even though she would have loved to have gone with. The worst part is, she didn’t even dump him after that. They only broke up because she caught him stealing cash from her wallet a couple weeks later.”

  Tension wound down his limbs, curling his hands into fists.

  She crossed her arms, and he had no doubt she was studying his body l
anguage in that moment. “None of the guys she dated before were any better. But you’re different. I just don’t know why yet.”

  “I’m not perfect, but I have no intention of hurting Clem like that. Ever.”

  “You say that, but you’re rich, you’re good-looking, and so far I’d classify your social skills as refreshingly normal.”

  “Already told you I’m not rich. As for the rest, there’s more than a few people who would disagree.”

  Chastity shook her head. “We were about to stage a dating intervention with Clem after all her disasters. We had a date set up for this week with one of our clients at the shop. An actual nice guy with a good job who wouldn’t treat her like crap. And then she tells us she’s going on a romantic getaway with a new guy we know nothing about. At first, I thought she was just trying to get out of being set up by lying about being in a relationship. You know, faking the whole thing just to avoid having to make small talk for a night.”

  Shit. He grabbed a wet coffee mug from the rack and wiped it dry, not wanting to give anything away.

  Chastity followed his cue and went back to the dishes still lingering in the sink. “But then I saw her this morning with her freshly boinked face.”

  The cup slipped from his hand and crashed against the laminate counter. He caught it before it tumbled to the floor.

  She gave him a half smirk as he picked the now-detached ceramic handle off the ground, and opened the cupboard beneath the sink so he could toss the broken mug into the garbage bin. “I’m her oldest sister. I know what she looks like when she’s angry, when she’s heartbroken, and when she’s just had great sex. What I don’t know is what she’s doing with you. She can barely muster the energy to talk to most guys, so how did she break through all that awkwardness and insecurity to ask out a guy way above her league? Are you just some mega Red Zephyr fan trying to get an early spoiler? Because I promise you that if she won’t spill to me, there’s no way she’ll spill to you.”

  He hadn’t expected to feel so much anger so soon after the best night of his life, but the nonsense Chastity was spouting ignited his fury. How could the woman claim to know Clem so well and yet be so clueless about her? Chastity was talking about her like she was a child instead of a smart, successful, grown woman. And he sure as hell wasn’t okay with that.

  Jake ran his hand along his stubble-covered jaw, searching for the right words. “You obviously don’t know your sister as well as you think you do.”

  She crossed her arms. “Really?”

  “I’ve never known someone as incredible as Clem. Just because she’s shy doesn’t mean she isn’t witty or interesting or fiercely intelligent. I wasted way too much time watching her from afar. She’s the kind of woman I’ve dreamed about, and it took me until now to get the courage to do something about it because the fact is, she’s the one who’s way out of my league. Hell, I’ll probably never be good enough for her, but I’m going to try my best to be the man she needs because she deserves nothing less. But one thing I do know is that she’s smart enough to figure out for herself what she needs. And if you can’t see that, then no, you really don’t know her at all.”

  “You’re serious?”

  He hesitated for a split-second. Was he? Hell, he didn’t even know where that outburst just came from, but he was damn certain Clem deserved a man who felt that way about her and right now his job was to convince everyone he was that guy. “Absolutely.”

  “Then I guess it’s a good thing you’ve got the rest of the week to prove it.”

  The front door opened and shut with a clatter, interrupting Chastity before he could respond.

  Clem walked into the kitchen with a sunny smile on her face. “Hey, I came to see if you two needed some help.”

  Panic hit him square in the chest. The last thing he needed was for her to overhear him professing his goddamn infatuation with her.

  “I think we’re all done,” Chastity said.

  “Great. Up for that hike, Jake?” There was no hint in her voice to suggest she’d heard anything. No trace of concern or awkwardness on her expressive features.

  “Yeah, sure.” Relief dulled some of the pressure of his heart pounding in his chest, but he wasn’t in the clear yet. No matter how well he hid it from her, Jake was going to have to face the truth that he’d meant every single one of those words.

  14

  Lying wasn’t Clem’s strong suit, something that had become increasingly obvious this week, but learning to hide her emotions was a fundamental survival skill growing up in her family. It was the only way to protect herself from the sensory overload that came from having every feeling echoed back with ten times the potency. She’d figured out by the time she was in kindergarten that crying over a skinned knee would lead to a hospital trip, and getting excited about a new cartoon on Saturday mornings meant she would find her entire room redecorated in that theme. She knew she ought to be grateful that her family was so supportive and caring, but sometimes it felt like their enthusiasm was so big, there was no room left for her own.

  So she swallowed her real feelings. Every time. Just like she was doing right now. Her casual smile was anything but easy as she swatted at a mosquito trying to feast on her left earlobe. Playing it cool after the most incredible night of her life was hard enough, but it was almost impossible after accidentally overhearing the words Jake spoke to her sister. The words that she desperately wanted to be true. The words she knew couldn’t be.

  Not after he warned her he wasn’t capable of feeling that way.

  She needed to do a better job of protecting herself. One night with him and she was already willing to throw herself back into a situation guaranteed to break her heart.

  At least this time she’d actually gotten some great sex before destroying her self-confidence.

  Mind-blowing, earth-shattering, ruin-her-for-all-time sex.

  She groaned as the memory sent a rush of heat between her thighs.

  She picked up the pace along the overgrown path toward the waterfall in an effort to ward off the throbbing desire. Hopefully Jake wouldn’t mind, though she doubted he would tell her if he did.

  For the last half hour, they’d walked in blissful silence, with only the sounds of the rustling estuary and occasional bird chirp filling the void. The fresh air and lush surroundings were exactly what she needed to restore the balance inside her chest that had been knocked off its axis ever since her privacy had been so horribly violated by the break-in. She’d been so consumed by work lately that she’d been neglecting her deep, spiritual need to feel actual dirt beneath her feet. To breathe in the fresh scent of the towering pine trees.

  Jake seemed to sense her need for quiet as they walked, just like he instinctually noticed everything she desired since they’d gotten here. He was perfect, but that’s because he was faking it. She had no idea if he even liked hiking. For all she knew, his internal monologue right now was just the words “fucking mosquitoes” repeated over and over again.

  She pressed back a long branch sticking out into her path, careful to not let it swing back like a whip and smack him in the face. Their eyes met, and though she couldn’t quite read his expression, she was pretty sure he wasn’t thinking about mosquitoes.

  Curiosity took hold of her, shoving aside her better judgment. “What?”

  “Nothing. Just enjoying the view.”

  Her cheeks heated before she realized he was probably talking about the scenery. “Yeah, it’s really pretty here.”

  “Clem.”

  Her breath stilled. How did he manage to capture complete control of her body and mind just by saying her name? “Yes?”

  “You know exactly what view I’m talking about.”

  She brushed a bit of dirt off her back pocket. “I suppose I can understand your fascination with this old pair of khaki shorts. They were my mom’s from back in the day before I stole them. The random splotches of paint everywhere make them a dead ringer for a Jackson Pollock.”

&n
bsp; “You’re getting confused between the frame and the actual work of art. It’s the not the clothes holding my attention.”

  She nearly made a self-deprecating joke about the size of her ass, but it didn’t come. Not after he’d made her feel like a goddess last night. She cleared her throat and said, “The only thing I’m confused about is whether we need to turn left or right at the fork up ahead.”

  She passed him the hand-drawn map of the unmarked trails Andrew had scrawled on a napkin for them. “I think we’re supposed to go left.”

  “Why don’t you lead? I’ll hang back and enjoy the view this time.”

  “You saying you’re planning to stare at my ass for the rest of the hike?”

  “Fair’s fair.”

  “Jesus, Clem. I’ve never met a woman like you before.”

  “Less talk, more booty shaking.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “And get those knees up real high when you walk.”

  He laughed and moved forward at a swift pace.

  Twenty minutes later, they’d traversed a section of trail so rough, her ankles were covered in small, red scratches. But it was worth every drop of blood when they came to the clearing where the brook cascaded heavily into a small pool of water surrounded by moss-covered rocks, curling ferns and bright green vines.

  “Wow,” she sputtered.

  Jake slipped his backpack off his shoulder and passed her a bottle of water. She flipped the cap and sucked back a huge gulp, thirstier than she’d realized after the hike.

  She handed it back to him and watched him press the opening to his lips. There was no sense to the spike of desire that erupted inside her from that image. Hell, there was no sense to any of her reactions to the man. Everything he did set her off like a firecracker. His mouth had been all over every part of her body, but something about the way he casually shared that blue Nalgene water bottle was more sensual and intimate than anything they did in bed last night.