by Stella Rhys
At that point, I gripped the edge of the table. “Jackson – can you let me out?” I nodded out of the booth, losing my breath. I needed air, to be somewhere else. Jackson groaned, handing me my phone, which just happened to be ringing – Sloane.
“Sure, but try to cut her off after a few minutes. We have company, Lara.”
“I will,” I agreed hastily, taking my phone as I climbed out.
But outside the restaurant, leaning against the brick wall, I hit ‘Ignore.’ My throat had been closing since I spotted Jake. I was in no mood to talk to anyone. I had half a mind to hail the next cab I saw and go home. I couldn’t handle another minute of this absolute nightmare.
“Tara.”
I jumped when I heard Jake’s voice next to me. My body stiffened when I turned to see him walking toward me in a simple white button-up and fitted jeans. I hated the fact that he looked so good. It made it hurt all the more as he stared at me with a look of contempt.
“Look, I wasn’t the only one lying last night – Max. And what’s this about you flying in just this morning?”
“Yes, I lied about when I got to New York. I needed a week to myself before all the madness started and as far as I know, my lie was nothing compared to yours.”
“Look – I am very sorry that I put you in a terrible position by picking you of all people that night, but trust me, you don’t know the half of what’s going on between me and your brother right now so please, spare me of the judgment.”
“I’m sorry, but that might be difficult considering you’re fucking engaged,” Jake hissed, closing the gap between us. “As in about to get married, so what the hell are you doing coming home with me? Do you have any idea how much Jackson loves you? I never met you before today but I can assure you, I’ve known every last detail about you since the day you met my brother at Sofie Winter’s party. He talks about you constantly – he’s fucking crazy about you.”
My anger mounted. “You’re right. He’s so fucking crazy about me that he cheated on me with Sofie’s nineteen-year-old daughter,” I shot back, my lip curling with satisfaction as Jake literally backed down, his tight shoulders falling a couple inches. He stared at me.
“What?”
Before I could answer, the bow-tied host peeked his head out of the restaurant. The smile he directed at me faltered a bit when he spotted Jake at my side. “Oh. Um, Mr. Kinsley requested that I come out and find you, Miss Pierce. He said that your drinks are ready.”
I managed a polite smile back, thanking him before he disappeared back into the restaurant. I walked ahead of Jake. “Don’t come back at the same time.”
“Hold on.” He started after me. “Jackson slept with Gabrielle Winter?”
I cut my eyes at Jake, grabbing the brass handle of the front door. “Yes. And in case you haven’t heard, she’s been missing for the past three months,” I muttered before returning inside.
Chapter Fifteen
I was beyond happy to leave Jackson alone with Jake after our lunch in SoHo. Through our faked pleasantries, I could see that Jake was dying to get me alone again – dying to hear more of what I’d told him outside. But all I wanted was to go home, crawl into bed and hug my pillow while contemplating whether or not to tell Sloane.
“That’s fine, go home, babe. Jake and I have a lot of catching up to do. And we’ll probably be out late,” he squeezed my waist. “We haven’t gone out together in ages.”
I managed something of a smile. “You boys have fun then.” As he whispered a sweet goodbye in my ear, I stared past his shoulder at Jake. He didn’t glare anymore, or look at me with anger. His green eyes glinted, staring intently at me with a look I couldn’t read. My lips parted as I gazed back, Jackson’s hand all the while sliding down to my backside. I flinched, closing my eyes for the second that he gave my ass a firm squeeze.
When I opened them again, I saw Jake’s lip curl before he turned on his heel to start walking away.
~
I still couldn’t escape the thought of Jake when I got home, so in hopes of distracting myself, I invited the girls over for some wine and trashy reality TV. It was Sloane, Emily Rocha and her younger sister, Piper, best known in our circle for her racy underwear ads, which graced billboards in both SoHo and Times Square.
They were barely through the front door when the topic of Jake was brought up with squealing excitement.
“I heard the wild Kinsley is back in town!” Sloane said, setting a bottle of Amarone on the kitchen counter. I stiffened as I plated our paella but recovered quickly enough to cock my head curiously at her, a playful smile on my lips.
“Aren’t you engaged?” I teased convincingly. “And what do you mean the ‘wild’ Kinsley?”
“Well, you know. He’s the one who escaped the boys’ crazy world and moved to a bunch of different tropical beaches to surf his sexy heart out. And yes, smarty-pants, I am engaged. But the key to a long-lasting relationship is harmlessly flirting with other people! Just not sleeping with them.”
“Yeah,” I laughed nervously as I reached for the red wine. “So did you guys ever meet Jake?” I asked Emily and Piper. I knew Sloane never had – she had moved to New York two years before me but Jake was long gone by then.
Emily nodded vigorously as I opened the bottle. “By the time I met him, I was already with Erik, which was good because one look at that man and your brain just goes, ‘Take me! Throw me over those man shoulders and take me however you want!’”
My laugh was real as Piper tossed her blonde hair back and snorted. “Em, you’re not even drunk yet.”
“What? He’s hot. He’s very different from our boys. He like… rejects the whole buttoned-up society thing. He used to always come to the galas with like messy hair and a full beard. One time, Jackson and Erik were bugging the hell out of him to come to one of Sofie’s big parties, and he showed up in his gym clothes. Like, sweaty hair, white T-shirt and basketball shorts. I thought Sofie was going to have a heart attack but she was totally fine with it.”
“Because they were thin basketball shorts and when he moved certain ways, you could see the outline of his dick,” Piper said.
“Piper!” Emily scolded. “I wasn’t going to tell that part of the story.” She took a big gulp of wine. “Just kidding, I totally was. But I was going to wait till Lady Prim and Proper got drunk so she wouldn’t mind the inappropriate language.”
“Give me some time, I’m getting there,” Sloane sipped her drink like a lady.
I giggled, working on my own glass of wine as I listened to my friends banter. Talking about Jake with the girls was less painful than I imagined, perhaps because their boozy gossiping made it feel like any other girls’ night. Emily and Sloane went back and forth for several minutes before Piper, finishing her drink, interrupted abruptly.
“So, this Jake – is he single?” she inquired, cocking a dark blonde eyebrow.
“Girl, he’s only ever single,” Emily answered.
“Man-slut?” Piper asked.
“Work addict,” Emily corrected before turning to me. “I heard the boys hired him as the architect for the new restaurant in the Monarch hotel. Isn’t that why he’s in town?” she asked.
I blinked. “Yes. Something like that,” I said, though I hadn’t known this at all. But it did make sense. Jake was an architect and the hotel’s opening had been delayed several months because they couldn’t find the right person to build its restaurant. Apparently now, that person was Jake. “I guess that means he’ll be in the city for longer than just a visit,” I realized aloud.
“Oh, that’s perfect! We should definitely have him come to Labor Day weekend. Piper’s been desperate to find a new boyfriend!” Emily squealed. Piper rolled her eyes like a teenager.
“I’m not desperate. Just horny as fuck.” She flicked her eyes at Sloane and smirked. “Sorry for the language.”
Sloane laughed it off nervously, but her telltale lash flutter meant that she was rustled. Emily clapped loudly.
All three girls stared at me, waiting for an answer. I swallowed, trying to find a mild way to describe him. “He’s a good-looking guy,” I finally shrugged with a laugh. “Tall, tanned. Muscles. Any woman would go for him.”
Piper slid her empty glass over for me to refill. “What about you?” she lifted a skinny eyebrow. I managed a smile, silently jeering myself for what I was about to say.
“Oh, I don’t count. He’s my fiancé’s brother,” I said.
Chapter Sixteen
I awoke that night to the sound of glass shattering in the kitchen.
I jolted up in bed, instantly breaking into a cold sweat. My arm reached to wake Jackson but all I got was a handful of cold sheets on his side of the mattress. Shit. My eyes darted to the clock on his nightstand. Two-fifteen in the morning and I was home alone, an unidentified noise flashing me back to the night I’d come back from Sofie’s party to find a strange man in my room. After all, the police had never found him. Perhaps he was back for more – back to make sure I didn’t remember what he looked like. Please, please, please, I prayed as I slipped out the bed, hoping to God that I had just imagined the sound. I was looking around my room for a heavy object when I heard a drunk, gravelly voice.
“Fuck, that’s gonna hurt tomorrow.”
My jaw clenched.
Jackson. My fingers balled into fists at my sides as I abandoned my search for a weapon and stormed downstairs, ready to snap at him for scaring the shit out of me. Our home had been broken into just eight weeks ago. My heart still wasn’t ready for other bumps in the night. My pulse racing, I rushed into the kitchen.
“Jackson. What the hell just hap – ”
I stopped midsentence when instead of Jackson, I saw Jake standing there, leaning casually against the counter. He wore the same white shirt as before but now it was half unbuttoned, a hard line of muscle peeking out. I froze, unblinking as I watched his glassy eyes slide down from my face to my body. Only then did I realize I was wearing my sheer nightgown – a flimsy, black thing that ended just below my crotch. Clearly drunk, Jake let himself stare at me for several silent seconds. “God fucking help me,” he finally muttered, laughing bitterly to himself.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest and keeping my distance. He laughed but before he could say a word, Jackson stumbled out of the bathroom.
“Babe! You’re up!” he cheered jovially. I realized then that he was somewhere between hammered and blackout drunk because under normal circumstances, he’d put on a face a shame and show some kind of respect for my wrath. Instead, he held out his arms for me to walk into, completely oblivious to my mood. “Get the fuck over here, sexy. Whoa, hey, wait. Jake’s here,” he said as if that weren’t totally obvious. “You can’t walk around like that.”
I stared, in disbelief of the situation. “Or I’ll just go back to bed. Just make sure you don’t break any more glasses.”
“No, come here and have a nightcap with us, babe.”
“I don’t think you need a nightcap, Jackson,” I said. As he bent over to pick up a shard of glass from the floor, I let my eyes snap back at Jake. He seemed to detect it because his gaze returned leisurely from my body to my face. I knew I was visibly fuming and it only got worse when he dared to crack a dirty little smile. What the fuck.
“I’m going upstairs, Jackson.”
“Babe, wait.”
I turned back around as Jackson wobbled on his feet.
“Jake needs something to sleep in, can you get him one of my T-shirts?”
I stared at Jackson for a hard second before turning back around. “Fine.”
I was barely up the stairs when I heard Jackson plod over to the sitting room, throw his body onto the couch and pass out. Within seconds, he was snoring the way he only did when completely obliterated. I paused in the hall, listening for Jake. My stomach twisted ten seconds later when I heard his footsteps coming up the stairs.
Hastily, I made my way down the hall. But I heard Jake’s voice before I made it to the bedroom.
“Lara.”
I turned rigidly, trying not to visibly tremble as I watched him come toward me, his stride steady, strong despite his drunkenness. My eyes fluttered to disguise the fact that they’d traveled briefly down to the front of his shirt, its cotton straining to fit across his muscled chest.
“I’m going to get you some clothes,” I murmured when he reached me, nervous and unsure of what to say. His gaze floated down to my hair, which I’d fanned over my breasts. “Don’t,” I murmured warningly.
He brought his reluctant eyes back to me, running a heavy hand over his jaw. “Trust me. I don’t want to find you this fucking irresistible.”
“Jake – ”
“I know,” he interrupted me with frustration. “I need to stop. You’re going to be my brother’s wife. I can’t think about you or look at you or want you. I know all of that.”
His words hung in the air as I swallowed. “Yes,” I finally said. “I’m glad you know. Let me get you pajamas so you can get to bed. The guest room is down the hall from the kitchen.”
I disappeared into the bedroom and thanked God that Jake didn’t follow. But when I returned, he still stood there in the hall, thick lust visible in his green eyes. I looked down. My hair had shifted out of place from sifting through Jackson’s closet. Cursing, I moved to cover my breasts again but the ends of Jake’s lips twisted upward.
“Nothing I haven’t already seen. Or touched.”
“We’re not going to talk about that night again, Jake. In fact, we shouldn’t even think about it.”
“I’d love that but every time I pass the stairs in my apartment, I think about all the sounds that came out of your mouth when I made you come. The first time and the second time.”
My heart pounded like a hammer. “Jake, why are you doing this?” I demanded. “Are you okay with all of this? The fact that you fucked your brother’s fiancée?”
His eyes went steely. “No. I’m not okay with anything, Lara. I don’t know how to take any of the news that you told me today, especially since Jackson hasn’t said a word to match your story,” Jake answered through gritted teeth. “I have no clue what to think and it’s driving me fucking crazy because all I do know is that we had sex before I knew who you were and now I can’t stop fucking thinking about it. I can’t stop wishing to touch your body. I can’t stop wishing to be buried inside you again because you felt fucking unreal. I’ve been trying to erase the thought of you from my head but I can’t. You’re the most perfect thing I’ve ever laid eyes on. And I figured, shit, it was for the best when I woke up the next morning and you were gone. I thought I could stop this infatuation before it grew into something that would take over my mind but I can’t even do that now because here you are. Engaged to my brother.” The hollow of his cheek twitched as his jaw tightened. “I’m always going to hear about you. I’m always going to see you. And every time I see you, I’m going to have to remind myself that I can’t look at you or touch you the way I did last night and I know it’s going to drive me fucking insane.”
His words had me reeling and I told myself it wasn’t because I felt anything similar. “Jake,” I started, my breath so shaky that my teeth chattered. “Look… you’re drunk right now – ”
“Stop.”
“You’re not thinking straight, you’re – ”
“I know exactly what the fuck I’m thinking, Lara. I’m a grown man. I know when I’ve had something different. Something I’ve never had before. And I know from the look on your face that you feel the same way too, so don’t stand here and try to – ”
“Please – what do you think you know about me?” I challenged angrily. “What do you think it is that I felt that night?”
“Something more than just two stranger
s fucking on the floor,” Jake hissed at me. “I dreamt of you the whole night and thought of you the second I woke up, Lara. Look me in the eye and tell me it wasn’t the same for you.”
“It wasn’t,” I lied.
He shook his head at me, somehow knowing better. “I made you feel better than anything you’ve ever felt in your life.”
That’s not true, I told myself. That’s not true, that’s not true. That’s just not true. If I repeated it enough, I might believe it. Speechless, my chest heaved. “I’ll show you to the guest room,” I finally said, hoping we could somehow drop the entire conversation. Walking past him and down the stairs, I heard him follow, quiet until we were past Jackson, past the kitchen and headed down the hall.
“Tell me it felt different, Lara.”
I ignored him, my throat tightening. Once I was inside the guest room, I beelined for the bed, slamming Jake’s change of clothes onto the end of the mattress. I wanted to spin around and snap something at him. I wanted to shove him and tell him never to mention the other night again.
But instead I held my breath, sensing him standing right behind mine. The heat of his chest was on my back. I cursed my body as I felt something ripple up the back of my thighs. Anticipation. I had felt the same thing last night going up the stairs – before he’d grabbed me and thrust his hands between my thighs, letting me rub myself against him.
“Jake,” I breathed a warning when I felt his hands on my waist. But he ignored it. He buried his face in the curve of my neck, desire rumbling from his chest as he pressed his torso against my back. I gasped when I felt his erection jump between our bodies, my fingers curling with lust into Jackson’s T-shirt and shorts. Don’t, I told myself. But the only thoughts circling my head were about feeling Jake inside me again.
And without thinking, I bent over. Right away, Jake thrust his hips against me, rubbing his hard cock against my ass. I closed my eyes and rolled my head back, dizzy with arousal as I heard him grunt. Biting my lip, I bent further until his erection pressed flat against my pussy. “Oh God,” I breathed, grinding against him, ripples of pleasure shooting through my body. My sex throbbed so hard against him that I knew he could feel it through his jeans because he groaned, louder and louder until he suddenly ripped his body away from me.
