Taming Blake (A New Adult Romance): The Complete Trilogy

by Eve, Charlotte

  Looking back on it now, my fate was sealed the moment his eyes locked onto mine.

  So much had changed since that moment, but there was one thing that definitely hadn’t ...

  Oh no.

  Because as luck would have it, right at that moment, I was wearing the exact same unfashionable white blouse, dowdy black pencil skirt and sensible Mary Janes that I’d been wearing for that very first meeting.

  I paused on the front step, taking a deep breath of the cold night air.

  You can’t stand here all night, Jessica.

  My hand trembled as I reached out to open the front door, and with each step further into the house I took, I felt the tension and nervousness bubble and swell inside me.

  What does he want?

  Why is he here?

  How the hell did he even find me?

  I heard his low, warm voice coming from the kitchen. And then, to my surprise, I heard another sound, something even stranger: my Mom and Pop both erupting in laughter.

  I stuck my head gingerly into the kitchen, where three smiling faces turned to greet me.

  “Sweetie!” Mom cooed happily. “Why don’t you come join us? Blake here was just telling your Pop and I about the time he went pike fishing. It’s fascinating stuff.”

  I couldn’t quite believe the scene laid out in front of me. They were sitting around the kitchen table, Mom, Pop and Blake, sharing coffee and home-made cherry pie, like three old friends. And instead of one of his usual crisply tailored suits, Blake was dressed in exactly the kind of outfit that would fit in, here in Glenbrook Falls. A simple homely green and blue plaid shirt, tucked into his trusty old Levis. And wait, were those cowboy boots on his feet?!

  This has got to be a dream.

  I let my hand fall by my side, giving my thigh a surreptitious little pinch, but no, unreal as this all seemed, I was definitely awake. I shook my head, still unable to quite fully take in what I was seeing, but there was nothing for it.

  I pulled up a chair.

  I could feel those cold grey eyes locking back onto me immediately, and at first I couldn’t quite meet them, scared of what might happen if I did: scared, I guess, of how quickly and easily I’d fall back under his spell.

  But it was too much.

  I felt their pull; I felt him urging me to meet his gaze. And when I finally did, shooting a quick nervous glance at him, his face broke out in a surprisingly warm, welcoming smile that knocked me completely off-guard.

  “Hey,” he murmured, almost shyly.

  “Hey,” I replied, shy and awkward too, both of us like nervous blushing teens on our very first date.

  “Well, don’t keep us hanging, Blake!” Pop interrupted. “How did it turn out? Did you catch it, or what?” I thought Dad would hate a guy like Blake, but instead he seemed happy and animated, laughing and joking, slapping the table and urging him to continue.

  And as Blake continued his tale of pike fishing (When the hell was he into that?), I felt an incredulous smile spread across my face, realizing that once again there was more to him than I’d suspected — because here he was, showing that he could fit in with anyone, even my crazy old folks …

  “You didn’t tell me he was so nice, Jessica!” Mom stage-whispered in my ear, still loud enough for the whole table to hear.

  “Mom!” I replied, the very picture of embarrassment, my face turning scarlet.

  “So, Jessica,” Blake said, turning to me once more, “I’m still waiting for the grand tour of Glenbrook Falls.” As he looked at me and spoke those words, I realized that, yep, he really was here: here in my parents kitchen.

  And I couldn’t help but smile. The very idea of Blake wanting to see this tiny town seemed ridiculous to me.

  “Well, you’d better be quick kids,” Mom cut in. “Dinner’s on the table in an hour. And that includes you, Blake!”

  Oh my God, was that Mom flirting with him?!

  “Of course, Mrs Clark,” he smiled warmly. “It’s been too long since I had a real, home-cooked dinner. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I promise I’ll have Jessica home in plenty of time.”

  And with that we were getting up and heading back out into the street. But as weird as it was with Blake sitting there talking to my parents, I became even more nervous as I wondered just what he might say once we were finally on our own together, after everything that had happened …

  §

  We walked in silence for a little while, as if neither of us wanted to be the first to speak. I found myself thinking back to the last time I saw him — when I interrupted his evening with Juliet. How could I forget? Not to mention the look of his disbelief on his face when I told him about Alex. And I felt that confident voice rising up in me, and this time I took control of the situation. I had to speak. I wanted to.

  “Why are you even here?” I snapped, maybe a little more confrontational than I’d intended.

  At this, Blake put his arm softly on my shoulder, stopped on the sidewalk, and gently turned me to face him. I saw something new in his face — humility perhaps?

  “I’ve come to apologize, Jessica,” he said quietly and sincerely, his eyes fixing onto mine.

  I could feel the tension mounting between us, and for a brief moment I thought he might take my face in his hands, or grab hold of my waist, or even lean in to kiss me – any of the usual ways in which Blake could disarm me, and make me forget the world. But this time he remained motionless, both of us staring hard into each other’s eyes, our frosty breath mingling, the snowflakes falling softly into the empty space between us.

  “I should never have doubted you,” he continued, his voice quiet with sincerity. “It took me a while to believe Alex would do something like that, something so … appalling. Let me explain, Jessica. I’ve known him a long time, he’s been something of a mentor to me, and I’m sorry to say that when I looked back on his behavior, over the years, I realized there was always something slightly uncomfortable about the way he treated young women.

  “I doubt you were the first person to have found herself in that situation through no fault of her own. Alex has been allowed to get away with this for far too long because of his money and his power. But trust me, his luck has run out. When I confronted him about it, you know what? He didn’t even try to hide it. He didn’t even think he’d done anything wrong …”

  I could hear the anger rising up in Blake’s voice, and he looked away into the dark for a moment, obviously recomposing himself.

  “But you have to believe me, he won’t be doing anything like that again in a hurry … Not to you, or anyone. When I found out what he did, I wanted to hit him, knock the grin right off his smug face. But I know you wouldn’t have wanted that.”

  I shook my head. Blake was right. Even though what Alex did was totally unforgivable, I also didn’t believe in meeting violence with more violence, and I felt glad that Blake had recognized the importance of that.

  “But fist or no fist, I certainly got my message across,” he continued. “And I need you to know, Jessica, that I respect women, and no women should have to go through what you went through with Alex. I’m so, so sorry. You should expect an apology from him very soon. And I don’t think he’ll be making any moves on anyone else for a while either. But if he does …”

  At this, Blake gritted his teeth and shook his head again.

  “Well, God help me if I’ll be able to hold myself back a second time.”

  “Thank you,” I said, impulsively reaching out and touching him gently on the arm.

  As his eyes met mine once more, I knew that he was truly sorry: both for what happened to me, and for doubting me. And by driving all this way to see me, delivering his apology in person, he’d shown just how much he cared about me and how important it was that he told me he was sorry. And of course, I forgave him. I missed him so much, and I felt grateful to have him back in my life, even just for an hour.

  Oh, Blake. I want you now more than ever.

  But do you still
feel the same way?

  But first, there was something I needed to know.

  “How was the last party?” I asked, trying to keep my voice cool and nonchalant.

  Blake looked confused for a moment, then his face softened and he let out a laugh. “The last Friday of December was Boxing day, Jessica. There was no party …”

  “Oh,” I said, a little embarrassed.

  “But I’m not gonna lie,” he added a moment later. “New Year’s Eve was pretty wild.”

  I knew what he was insinuating. But to my surprise, I found I didn’t care so much about that. Blake had come all the way here, for me. That obviously stood for something.

  I turned and began walking again in the direction of Main Street, Blake catching up a few moments later.

  “I’m excited to finally set eyes on the famous Glenbrook Falls,” he said warmly.

  “Well, you’d better look carefully,” I joked back. “It’s so small, if you blink, you might miss it …”

  Sure enough, we’d soon seen the entirety of Main Street: both sides of it. I tried to hurry Blake past Sylvia’s, but he insisted on stopping and spending way too long admiring and complimenting a stupid window display I’d thrown together. Before long, we were right back on the corner again.

  “Where to now?” he asked, slipping back the cuff of his heavy overcoat to reveal a rather not-something-you-see-everyday Rolex. “We’ve still got a little while till dinner.”

  “Well, if you really want to see everything, I’ve got an idea,” I replied.

  §

  From up there in the bleachers, the football field looked absolutely beautiful: covered in a pure white layer of untouched snow. We sat together for a moment, taking in the view, the old high school buildings behind the field looking exactly as I remembered them. And even though we’d been quiet for a little while, I felt comfortable with Blake now; all my anger from earlier had subsided, replaced by a new gentle comfortableness.

  “You’re gonna think this is silly,” I began, turning to smile at him, still finding it so strange that he was here, here in Glenbrook Falls with me, “but I’m kind of living out a teenage fantasy right now.”

  “How do you mean?” he asked, puzzled.

  “Well,” I continued, aware of just how corny what I was about to say next was, “I guess I was always more what you might call ‘studious’ rather than popular, and I didn’t really mess around that much with boys before I went to college … Well, all the popular girls, they’d always be talking in the locker room of nights when they’d been taken up to the bleachers by guys after school. And … I never had that experience.”

  “I don’t believe it,” he grinned back. “You’re telling me you weren’t Queen Bee of this place?!”

  I laughed and shook my head.

  “No, but I’m guessing things were very different for you, right?” I said.

  “Actually,” Blake said, his face falling serious for a moment, “you might be surprised.”

  I wanted to ask him more — I realized that I still knew so little about his past, about how and where he’d grown up, what kind of a boy he’d been — but there was something about the intensity of his silence that kind of scared me a little, and I found myself unable to find the words.

  “Well, I’m glad I can finally help make your fantasy a reality,” Blake continued after a pause, a playful new look in his eyes. “So what do you think they did when they got up here, those high school girls and boys? Did they fool around perhaps?”

  I felt my pulse quicken, those grey eyes piercing me right to my center, that sensual mouth I’d kissed a thousand times curling into a suggestive smile, and even so, I felt as nervous and skittish as if I’d never been kissed.

  “Maybe,” I whispered, closing my eyes, waiting expectantly.

  And when I felt his lips touch softly against my own, I shivered — not from the cold but from how right this moment felt.

  Oh Blake, I’ve missed you so much.

  He pulled away and held my face in his hands for a moment, his eyes boring into mine as if to communicate just how much he’d missed me, too.

  We smiled at each other.

  “You know what?” he said. “I could kinda get used to small town life, if this is what it’s like.”

  “Well,” I joked, “I’m not going anywhere. And the way you’ve worked your magic on them, I’m sure Mom would be over the moon if you decided to move into the spare room! In fact, I’m sure they’d even give up their bedroom for you, the way you charmed them both ...”

  At this his smile grew wider and his eyebrows raised, as if he knew something I didn’t.

  “What?” I asked, confused.

  “You really don’t know, do you?”

  “Know what?”

  “When was the last time you checked your emails?”

  “I don’t know …” I sighed, knowing that the truth of it was that I’d been completely avoiding my ‘real life’ — the life I’d left behind in New York — ever since I’d returned here. I’d not even turned my iPhone on. But why was he bringing that up now? Couldn’t we just have this perfect moment, without all that real world stuff and nonsense crashing back in, ruining everything? But Blake seemed weirdly insistent, as if he wouldn’t let this go.

  “Why do you care?” I replied, honestly confused.

  “Well,” he said, unable to keep the huge smile off his face. “Let’s just say that a little bird told me …”

  Another pause. This was excruciating.

  “What?!” I urged him, ready to grab him by the shoulders now and shake the information right out of him if he didn’t tell me soon.

  “You got the job, Jessica!” he said excitedly, unable to keep it from me any longer. “You remember? The restaurant pitch? You got it!”

  Ohmygod!

  I felt stunned. I just didn’t know what to say. I knew Blake wasn’t the type to joke around like this, so he had to be telling the truth.

  I’ve got the job! I’ve made it, and all on my own, too!

  The excitement hit me in a rush and I threw my arms around him, kissing him hard once more, feeling the hot tears of relief rolling down my cheeks as I realized that everything I’d been telling myself these past weeks wasn’t true. I wasn’t a failure.

  And as the news sunk in, I felt myself becoming more and more excited. I was going to go back to New York. I had a job. And here was Blake.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  “For what?” he whispered. “I was nothing to do with this, Jessica. You did this all on your own.”

  “Thank you for coming to tell me,” I said. “For pulling me out of my self-imposed exile. It all seems a little silly now, how long I’ve spent hiding here ...”

  Kissing him there on the bleachers, the snow falling all around us, our passion heating us up, I realized that there was something else I was excited about.

  I ran my hands down his chest, feeling the taught hardness of his torso beneath that shirt, then further down, finding him hard and ready for me. But as I began tugging at his belt buckle, his hand gently closed over mine, stopping me.

  “No, no, no! I promised I’d have you home for dinner,” he said with a cheeky grin.

  §

  I just couldn’t get to sleep that night. For one thing, I knew that in the morning I was to return to New York with Blake. And secondly? Well, it was the idea that Blake Matthews was in bed, right here in my parent’s house in the spare room.

  I turned over onto my other side, my single bed suddenly feeling so small and constricting, my pink and grey checked flannel pajamas so silly and childish when my whole body was yearning now for this man who was right here in the same house as me, just down the hall …

  It was too much.

  I pushed off the covers, feeling my body tingle with anticipation as I slipped out of bed and tiptoed across the room, careful to avoid the creaking floorboard right in the middle that had always alerted my parents to the fact that I wasn’t asleep.
<
br />   On the landing, I heard the soft sounds of their snores. Holding my breath, I tiptoed past their room and down the hall, feeling my heart begin to drum with every step that took me closer to the spare room, where Blake slept.

  At the door to the room, I paused, taking a final deep breath before pushing it slowly open and peeking gingerly inside. Bathed in milky blue moonlight, I saw his unmistakable figure beneath the blankets on the creaky old single bed, and he was so still, I was unable to tell whether he was awake or asleep.

  I didn’t dare speak to check, knowing my Mom’s super-human ability to somehow detect even the slightest late-night sound. So instead, I just tiptoed over, my body trembling with expectation as I reached Blake’s slumbering form, taking in the subtle beauty of his perfect features once more: his closed eyes, his parted lips.

  I leant forward to kiss him, but just at that moment his eyes shot open. “You took your time,” he whispered, but I quickly put my finger to his lips to silence him, my eyes widening as I nodded towards the doorway, to indicate the fact that my mom and pop were sleeping just next door.

  He seemed to get the message, falling silent once more. I leant in to kiss him, shivering with excitement at what we were about to do — another teenage fantasy finally fulfilled.

  I slipped out of my PJ bottoms, letting them drop to the floor, then climbed gently on top of him, pausing for a moment, my heart hammering as the bed let out an almighty creak, then pulling the sheets tight around us.

  It was then that I realized with another shiver of excitement that he was completely naked, too.

  I reached down between his legs to find him hard and hot, guiding him gently inside me, kissing him hard to stifle a gasp as he shifted his hips, filling me up, stretching me so wide.

  And like that, he took me, so slow it was delicious, his hips barely moving as he slid himself in and out of me, the heady silence so erotic, just the faint shiver of my breath the only sound.

  His eyes locked onto mine as he began to gently increase his thrusts, almost as if he wanted me to make a noise and despite myself I began to whimper, the pleasure building inside me.