Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?

by Jami Davenport

  “What is that? Willie Nelson in a dog suit?” Jake asked when Harlee entered the room. He pointed at the “animal” sitting on Harlee’s couch. It studied him with as much disdain as he studied it. “The thing got shorted a leg, too.”

  “That’s Igor.”

  “Igor?” Jake took note of the hump on the dog’s back. “How appropriate. But what is it, and how did it get in your house?”

  “He’s a miniature poodle buffalo, and he knocked on the door last night seeking refuge from the cold.”

  “A poodalo? And you invited him in?” Jake bit his lip to suppress a grin.

  “No, he invited himself. Now he won’t leave.” The twinkle in her eyes contradicted her serious expression.

  “Did you ever think of picking him up and throwing him out?”

  “He growls at me.”

  “Doesn’t he need to go outside to pee or something?”

  “Not yet, we’re in a standoff or a hostage situation. I’m not sure which. I think he’s got his hairy little legs crossed. He seems to know if he goes outside that I won’t let him back in.”

  Jake raised his eyebrows. He doubted that. He truly did. He heard the fondness in her voice. The woman was a sucker for strays. Maybe that’s why she liked him.

  Jake sniffed the air and wrinkled his nose. “He stinks.”

  “I know. I wanted to give him a bath, but he snarls at me every time I try to pick him up.”

  Jake grinned. He’d take care of that. Get ready to meet your master, Igor. “You get the sink ready, and I’ll grab him and throw him in.”

  “Teamwork, huh? Takes two grown people to wrestle a ten-pound rat into submission?”

  “Yeah. I think so.”

  “Don’t let him bite you.”

  “I have no intention of being bitten by a hunchbacked poodle with BO. I’ll muzzle the little shit if I have to.”

  By the time they finished, Jake and Harlee were wetter than the mutt. Igor snarled at them but never actually followed through. His bark might be worse than his bite, but his smell had them both beat.

  Once they took him out of the sink, he spun himself dry by shaking his body like a jackhammer. Jake laughed at Harlee as the water splattered her clothes. He leaned forward to wipe a splotch of soap from her nose. Her sapphire eyes reeled him in like a helpless salmon on a hook. For a moment, they both stilled. Even Igor stopped his shaking. He sat down on his haunches, cocked his head, and perked his ears. Add voyeur to Igor’s list of vices.

  Forgetting about the dog, Jake moved closer, unable to resist those plush red lips. She leaned into him. His arms formed a band around her waist. Her sweet breath feathered his chin as she looked up at him.

  “You’re a little thing.” The top of her head barely cleared his chin.

  “I’m five-foot-three.”

  “And I’m six-eight.” He grinned at her. Her petite body appealed to him, brought out primitive male instincts he never knew existed. She felt right in his arms, all small and warm and female.

  “Well, I am five-three.” She stood on tiptoes, and her hair tickled his lips. Jake chuckled.

  “Do you think this is a good idea?”

  “I don’t give a shit. I’m tired of thinking. And you?”

  “I don’t give a shit either.” To prove her point, she curled her arms around his neck and tried to pull his mouth down to hers. “Kiss me, big guy.”

  “Kiss you?” He chuckled. “Now why would I want to do that?”

  “Because if you don’t, I’ll drive you insane.”

  He’d vouch for her ability to do that and then some. He tunneled his fingers in her silky golden hair and bent his face to hers. She smelled like his mother’s flower garden in the spring. Their lips touched. Hers were soft and pliable and yielded to his firm insistent mouth. She tasted of hot raw sex, the same stuff pounding through his veins. Her lips parted, and his tongue sneaked inside and explored her mouth as intimately as he’d like to explore other locations. She tasted rich and homey like the stew simmering on the stove.

  Starting slow and sweet, the kiss built in intensity. The power of it consumed him. Fire licked at his soul. Her tongue teased his, advancing and retreating in an enticing rhythm that imitated another rhythm he sure as hell wanted to try.

  He’d rather kiss Harlee than have sex with most other women. The feel of her tongue slipping into his mouth, wrapping around his tongue, and sliding over his lips made him harder than a teenage boy behind the bleachers with the head cheerleader. He slipped his hands under her shirt and slid them along her smooth skin. Damn, she felt like satin under his rough, calloused hands.

  His tongue plunged deeper and his hands crept higher. With a flick of his wrist, he freed her breasts from her bra and cupped them in his hands. She writhed against him as he massaged and squeezed them. Her moans of pleasure taunted him, drove him further. He needed to see her. She protested when his hands left her breasts and then helped him remove her shirt followed by her bra. He gazed at her in reverence. He’d never seen a more beautiful woman. Never.

  “Damn, you’re gorgeous.”

  “Take me in your mouth.” Her throaty whisper sucked the remaining breath from his lungs. He knelt down and took one of her aroused nipples in his mouth while he rolled the other one between his fingers. Her nipple was as hard as his cock. He sucked it between his teeth and held it gently. His tongue slid over the tip, back and forth. She whimpered and dug her fingers in his hair to press him closer. He sucked deeper and harder, stroking his tongue strongly against the brown tip. He pinched her other nipple, and she begged for more.

  “Oh, God. Jake, give it to me. Give it all to me.”

  Not a problem. That’s exactly what he planned to do.

  Her cell rang and yanked him from his lust-filled haze.

  “Don’t answer it,” Harlee panted.

  “Don’t worry.” Jake admired his handiwork on her breast, wet and swollen from his mouth, just like her lips. He switched to the other breast and gave it the same treatment. The frigging phone rang again, interrupting his concentration once more. As if that wasn’t enough, Igor decided he didn’t like being ignored. He yapped in his shrill voice and danced around them. Then he wrapped his little paws around Jake’s leg and fastened to him like Velcro.

  “Shit.” Jake muttered under his breath. The horny mutt was humping his leg. “Look, buddy, one horny guy in the room is enough.” He tried to shake the little rat off, but the dog held on tighter.

  “Jake, don’t hurt him.”

  “What?” Hurt him? Hell, the rat would be lucky if he escaped with his sorry little ass intact. The phone started ringing again for the third time.

  Harlee pushed away from him, slipped her shirt over her head, and scooped the poodle up in her arms. Holding Igor in one hand, she cradled the phone in the other. Igor looked over his shoulder. Jake could swear the little shit was grinning.

  Jake stood in a state of sexual confusion and arousal. That damn dog just stole his woman and his entertainment for the evening. He didn’t take kindly to that. Even worse, he hated to admit the rat may have done them a favor.

  Jake slumped on the couch. Feeling sorry for himself, he sulked over the turn of events. Things weren’t going his way, and he didn’t like that one damn bit. Finally, Harlee put down phone and sat next to him.

  “That was Bridget.”

  “What did Bridget want that was so damned important it couldn’t wait?” he groused.

  “She was looking for you. I told her I didn’t know where you were.”

  “Oh, fuck.” Jake threw his head against the back of the couch and stared heavenward. Igor crawled on his lap and curled into a little ball. “She called you for that?”

  “Uh-huh. And she apologized for her part in Thanksgiving dinner.”

  “Bridget? Not a chance in hell. She never admits responsibility for her actions.”

  “She did this time.”

  “Then Mom guilted her into it, or Dad threatened to cut her of
f.”

  “Oh, I’m sure she didn’t act on her own.”

  He eyed her suspiciously. Were those two conspiring against him? “Does she call you often?” He kept his tone neutral.

  “No, she’s never called me before.”

  “Good.”

  “Don’t you want us to be friends?”

  “No,” he said much too quickly. Her hurt look forced him to fabricate a reason. “She’s a schemer. You don’t want to get caught up in one of her crazy plans.”

  “I don’t?”

  “No, you don’t. Trust me.” Especially when that plan involved the Rosehill development.

  Harlee cuddled closer to him and laid her head on his shoulder.

  “What am I going to do with you?” Jake put his arm around her and turned his head to gaze into her eyes. They reminded him of a clear mountain lake in the Pasayten Wilderness on a warm summer day.

  “You’re doing it. And you do it so well.” She gave him that coy look through lowered lashes. This woman knew all the moves, yet he liked to think that they weren’t just moves when she used them on him.

  “I mean besides that. You know this isn’t a good idea.”

  She stiffened. “Because I’m not the type of woman you’d have a relationship with?”

  “No. Because you are exactly the woman I want to have a relationship with. But you work for me. Not to mention that we have some serious differences of opinion on certain issues. Harlee, all things considered, it’s an invitation to disaster.” As disastrous as it might be, he couldn’t deal with the alternative—not touching her, holding her, or kissing her. He wanted it all, and he wanted it with her. Not that he knew what “it all” entailed.

  “Do you want to stop?”

  “Hell, no, but…” But what? He didn’t know. He didn’t want to stop. He wanted to go, go, go, till neither of them had any breath left in their lungs or sweat left in their spent bodies.

  He’d never felt so confused or frustrated.

  Jake stood up abruptly, dropping Igor to the floor. Igor glared with indignation and stalked off. “Let’s go for a walk. It’s a beautiful night.”

  They pulled on their coats and gloves and ventured into the night followed by Igor, who made a beeline for the nearest tree.

  Jake reached for her hand and surrounded it with his larger one. They walked in silence through the camp buildings to the water’s edge. The view spread out before them. Stars twinkled in the clear cold night and a full moon illuminated the cove. Water lapped lazily on the beach. If only this cool night would cool his engine and kick his brain in gear.

  “Do you feel how special this place is?”

  He felt her eyes on his face. Jake nodded but didn’t speak. He knew where this conversation was headed. His defenses shifted to full alert as he waited for her next move. Just great, kick this guy while he was down or was that up?

  “Jake, how can you develop this with a clear conscience?”

  “I knew that was coming.”

  “Well, tell me, how can you? Doesn’t it bother you to destroy all this beauty?”

  “I’m not destroying it. In fact, what I plan will allow others to enjoy it, not just a select few.”

  “Those who have the money to afford it.”

  “It all comes down to that camp, doesn’t it?” Jake stared down at her, his hands squeezed her shoulders.

  Harlee met his questioning gaze. He resisted the urge to look away. She saw too much, knew his vulnerabilities and his weaknesses. In his experience, a person with such powerful knowledge often used it against him.

  “That camp saved my life.” She looked away and spared him from being the one to give in first.

  “How did it save your life?” He hated asking the question, but he needed to know the answer.

  “I went to that camp as a teenager. My foster parents at the time sent me there. Not because they thought it’d help but to get me out from underfoot for a couple weeks. It changed my life. Not a big-bang change. More subtle than that. I was a wild kid. Looking for a way to belong, to be accepted. I just wanted someone to love me. God knows, my mother never did.

  “My mother drank and slept around, a lot. That’s why they took me away from her so many times I lost count. Sometimes her boyfriends weren’t the type to have around a young teenage girl. When she didn’t have a boyfriend, we were homeless. I didn’t know which was worse—life on the streets or fending off some slimy guy’s advances.”

  Jake’s family looked like saints compared to that, even if they had disowned him for a while and refused to pay for his college. In their own strange way, they’d made those choices because they loved him.

  “How did it change you?”

  “I met Rose. She invited me back the next summer to be a camp counselor. I stayed with her after the camp closed for the summer and finished my senior year of high school. She showed me a different way. She gifted me with the love of horses. After graduation, I drifted for about a year. Then I came back here. I worked for her, took care of her horses. Pretty tame stuff considering where I’d been headed.”

  Jake didn’t want to know where that might have been. He hated the thought of Harlee out there in the world with every strike against her. He pulled her into his arms and held her. That weird protective instinct kicked in again. Her tough-girl shell didn’t fool him. Underneath, he sensed a vulnerability that came from a life of disappointments in herself and those she’d trusted. He didn’t want to be one of those people. Yet, he feared he would, especially when it came to this camp.

  She twisted her head to see his face. “Jake, I’ve seen the paperwork, taken the calls from the contractors. You’re not renewing the camp lease as of January first, are you?”

  “No, we’re not, Harlee. You know that. I’ve told you all along.” Annoyance crept into his voice. “The buildings are slated to be torn down after the first of the year.”

  “Once you do that, there won’t be any turning back. The camp will be gone forever.”

  “Yes. I know. You aren’t changing my mind on this. I’ve warned you about that, and I mean it. It’s not up for discussion.” As much as he’d like to make her happy, he couldn’t pass up this opportunity. He’d do anything to make a success of this project.

  “Jake, there are some things in life more important than money.”

  “Not in my family.”

  “You’re not like your family.”

  “You’re wrong. That’s exactly what I’m like so you’d be wise not to forget it.”

  The hurt in her eyes broke his heart and irritated him all the more.

  “What do you want from me, Jake?” Her question caught him off-guard. “Are you just lonely? Is your bed too cold at night? What?” Bitterness crept into her voice and ruined the good feelings between them.

  “I…I…” He didn’t know how to answer that.

  Harlee wrenched out of his arms. He suspected that in her younger years, she’d been a goodtime girl. Shame washed over him and wiped out the warm feelings like the surf wipes out footprints in the sand. He was judging her based on her background and appearance. He, of all people, should know better.

  “Harlee?” He touched her cheek and felt such tenderness that his throat constricted. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.” Harlee smiled a sad smile.

  He looked off in the distance then brought his gaze back to hers. “I like being around you. I’m just struggling because I know it’s not good to want more when I write your paycheck.”

  “That’s true. It’s not.” She plunged in the dagger. “Especially when you’re taking away something that means so much to me.”

  He stiffened and withdrew from her, not just physically, but at a deeper level.

  “Fine, we’ll keep it on a professional level.” He kept his expression unreadable.

  “Good. It’s for the best.”

  “You’re right, and I know better.”

  She might be right, but he never wanted her to be so wrong i
n his life.

  Chapter 10—Bartender by Moonlight

  “So have you gotten Goldie in the sack yet?” Brad grinned at his brother then took a bite out of his hamburger.

  “Since when did my sex life become this family’s concern?” Jake growled a warning even though it was hopeless. Only the strong survived in his family. The weak were used for cannon fodder.

  “Since when isn’t it?”

  “His attitude answers that question.” Bridget stole the pickle from Jake’s plate. Jake glowered at her as she chewed it with gusto.

  “Sure does.” Brad joined the lifelong ritual of raiding baby brother’s food and copped a fry from Jake’s dwindling lunch.

  “It’s a miracle I didn’t die of starvation growing up.”

  “We did our best to get even.” Bridget reached for the pepper.

  “Get even, for what?”

  “You can’t be that dense.”

  “I can. I’m a guy. Enlighten me.”

  “You really don’t get it, do you?” His sister leaned forward. He recognized that expression. She was going for the jugular. “I used to be so jealous of you.”

  “I still don’t know what you’re talking about.” His sister didn’t usually make sense. Today was no exception.

  “You were always the favorite.”

  “Me? Are you crazy? I was an accident, a mistake, an afterthought.” Jake snorted with disbelief. The chemicals they’d put on her head this morning at the hair salon must have seeped into her brain.

  Bridget and Brad started laughing, sharing some private joke between twins. “He is dense.” Brad shook his head in disbelief.

  “You’re both fucking crazy. I was never the favorite.”

  Bridget rolled her eyes. “You were the spoiled rotten baby boy. They gave you everything. You cried, they came running. You got in trouble, they were there to get you out. You got kicked out of school, they got you back in.” Bridget helped herself to Jake’s soda.

  “No way.”

  “Oh, yeah.” Brad scowled as Jake moved his plate out of range. “Who did they wait up for on weekends until he finally chose to come home?”