by Calinda B
“Old habits do die hard, stud, like…”
“Jace!” someone bellowed.
He thought he’d heard her say “like trusting you” but he wasn’t sure.
“Hold up, baby, something’s doing in the yard.”
“Jace! Get over here! There’s a fire!”
“Fucking hell. I’ve got to run, baby, there’s a fire.” Without waiting for a reply he quickly raced to the dock to see his boss’s classic wooden boat lit this way to Sunday with flames.
Chapter 27
My need for love outweighs my reason. I can’t live without him. She’d been soaring, intoxicated since their night of lovemaking. And then he’d withheld information from her - again. Is it always going to be like this? She parked behind the bar with an angry sigh.
Once she’d arrived, she threw her purse and jacket into her cubby, tied her apron with a tight knot around her waist, determined to stay here, stay in Seattle, stay away from Jace Savage.
When she’d stepped onto the floor, she groaned. Shit. Billy! In my section! She marched up to his booth and snarled, “What the hell do you want?”
“Happy to see you, too, love,” Billy said. “You remember Simone? Jasmine?”
The two women raised their hands weakly at her, looking extremely uncomfortable.
“And this is Ray, an associate of mine.”
“Hey, beautiful,” the guy with too perfect hair, too tan of a face, and a beast of prey’s white teeth said.
“What do you want to drink? Give me your order so I can get away from you.”
“In a pissy mood, Zoé?” Billy said.
“Nothing a good fuck can’t cure,” his predatory friend said.
“Go to hell,” Zoé said. “Now give me your order.”
“We’ll all have dirty martinis,” Billy said.
“Sounds perfect. Dirty drinks for dirty, scumbag people.” She started to drop the order pad in her pocket when Billy grabbed her wrist.
“You’d do well to be nice to me, bitch.”
“Let go of me,” she hissed.
“I could make things go down a whole lot easier for your boyfriend. He’s in big trouble.”
“Ha! He told me about your bogus claim. Now get your filthy hands off me.”
Billy frowned slightly, before his face froze into a hard, cold mask. “I doubt if he told you everything.”
A man in the booth next to Billy’s looked at her with concern in his eyes.
“I’m all right,” she said to him. “I’ve got this.”
He nodded and turned back to his conversation.
“Let go of me, you pervert,” she hissed at Billy. “Before I call my manager.”
Billy drew his hand away her.
She rubbed her red, discolored skin.
“So. Did he tell you about having sex with a fifteen year old?”
“You’re full of shit, Billy.” She tried to keep her voice low so none of the other patrons overheard her.
“Did he?”
“Yes,” she lied. “He tells me everything.”
“I doubt that very much. It happened today. When I caught them, he threatened to slit my throat. Slit my throat, can you imagine that? The guy’s got a temper, that’s a fact. I was only minding my own business, checking on my yacht. And here he was sullying the sheets of my master suite with an underage girl. Tsk, tsk.”
Zoé stood speechless, her brain suddenly fogged. “You’re lying.”
“Ask him yourself. Oh, wait. You talk about everything. I’m sure he’ll volunteer this juicy bit of information.”
Sharon hustled past Zoé. “Chop, chop, Zoé, we’re slammed.”
“What?” Zoé said, looking up. “I’m on it, Sharon,” she called to her manager’s retreating back.
Without another word she stalked away.
At the bar, she threw the order over the counter. It drifted, benignly, toward the floor on the other side.
Devon hustled over, stooped down and retrieved the tab. “Wow, Zoé. Having a bad day, or what?”
“I wasn’t. Now I am. Look who’s in my section again.” She jabbed her thumb over her shoulder in Billy’s direction.
“I keep telling you. We can take care of him.”
“Believe me, if I wasn’t so scared of getting caught and the moral implications, I’d consider it.”
“What’s he doing that has you in such a twist, girl?” Devon asked, pouring the ingredients for the martinis into his shaker.
“Oh, living. Breathing. He’s nothing but trouble.”
“You got that right.”
She eyed Devon with a sudden stab of guilt. She’d actually been about to quit. Since she started working here, two years ago, Devon had been her good pal. She’d miss him if she were gone. “Actually, I should thank him. I think he inadvertently did me a favor.”
“Yeah? What’s that?” He deftly poured the cocktails into four martini glasses, adding a swizzle stick of olives to each glass.
“He may have kept me from making a terrible mistake.”
Devon set each glass on her tray. “What kind of mistake?”
“I was about to move in with Jace,” she blurted, placing her palms over her face. The sting of shame bruised her cheeks.
“Wow. Isn’t that the guy you just met?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s kind of sudden. Do you love him that much already? Do you even love him at all?”
“No! Yes! I don’t know. Tell me what to do, Devon.”
“No can do, love. That’s not my department.” He picked up his ever present cleaning cloth and began wiping down the wooden bar. “Everyone’s different. My girlfriend and I practically moved in together on day one.”
“You’re kidding! Really?” She found that encouraging.
“Nope, not kidding. We just clicked. But some couples take their time. You have to move at your own pace.”
“That’s just it. Ours is moving at super-sonic speed. It terrifies me at times, thrills me at others.”
“Sounds like a relationship to me.”
Sharon zipped behind Zoé. Zoé lifted a hand in acknowledgement. “Chop, chop, I know, I know.”
“What if I’m making a big mistake, though?”
“Only one way to find out.”
“How?”
“Move in with him. It doesn’t work, move out. Life should be simple that way. You try something, learn a little, have some fun, move on.”
“You sound like Jace.”
“Then he sounds like my kind of guy.”
Sharon whizzed by again. “Zoé! Get your tail moving.”
“What if I can’t trust him, though?”
“Now that,” Devon said, “is another matter altogether.”
Chapter 28
At ten fifteen in the morning, Jace sped into Zoé’s driveway, slammed on the brakes, leapt from the truck and sprinted to the door. He pummeled on the door with his fist. “Zoé! Open up the goddamned door. I know you’re in there!” He waited a few seconds before starting the assault again. “Goddamn it, Zoé, open up, so help me God.”
The door swung open. She glared at him, her eyes swollen and puffy, her long, disheveled hair swirling around her face. “Stop it! You keep that up the neighbors will call the cops.”
He pushed past her, threw the door shut with a thundering crash. “Why haven’t you answered my calls? Tell me. Why?”
“I didn’t want to, that’s why.” Zoé crossed her arms over her lovely breasts, staring at his chest.
Jace looked around at all the unpacked boxes. Books, plates, cups, pillows and sheets were strewn around the once tidy living room. “What the fuck is this? Why aren’t you packed?”
“I’m not moving in with you, that’s why. I changed my mind.” Her brown eyes met his, flashing with fury.
“Oh, yes, you are.” Jace’s chest heaved. He ground his teeth together and took several deep, calming breaths. “What the fuck did I do now that I don’t know about?”
> “You tell me. But first, get away from me. You’re too close.”
“Oh, I guarantee I’m not close enough,” he said in a low voice. “I’ve fucking missed you, woman. Feel how much I’ve missed you.” He ground his hips into her.
“No,” she said, squirming.
“I know you’ve missed me, too, I smell it on you.”
“Goddamn you, Jace, get away from me.” She wrenched her head to the side, trying to avoid looking at him.
“Look at me.”
“No.”
“Baby, look at me.”
“No!”
“Baby. Eyes. Up. Here.” He said each word slowly and distinctly until her gaze met his. “Tell me you haven’t missed me and I’ll go.”
Her head began to turn away. “Go away.”
He gently placed his fingers around her throat and jaw and turned her face toward his. “Tell me you don’t want me.”
“I don’t want to look at you,” she said, her eyes wild with both fear and longing.
“And yet here you are, looking at me. Actions speak, baby.” He bent his head to connect his lips to hers, delighting when she yielded to him, moaning softly into his mouth. He reluctantly drew away from her and leaned his forehead on hers. “Fucking hell, woman, I’ve been dying over there. I had to take care of Marni, my boss’s boat got torched, I tried to call you…why didn’t you answer my calls?”
“Your boss’s boat got torched?”
“Yeah. It’s still salvageable but it’s pretty damaged. We think it was O’Reilly.”
She chewed her lip in response.
“So tell me, baby,” he said, putting his nose on her cheek and nuzzling her. “Damn, you smell good.” He took a long, deep inhale of her clean fragrance. “Tell me why you didn’t answer my calls or texts. Baby, please.” His voice came out like a husky growl. He slowly ground his hips against her belly, pleased to hear her softly whimper in response.
“You tell me,” she said, her voice a whisper.
“How can I tell you what I don’t know?”
She writhed, trying to get away from him.
“Baby, talk to me,” he said, fingering the side of her silky soft cheek.
“It was Billy,” she blurted. “He came into the club last night.”
“Fucking hell,” Jace said, all the energy draining from his body. “What did he say?”
“He said you threatened to slit his throat.”
“He what? And you believed him? You think I’m capable of that?”
“And he said you were caught having sex with a teenager on his yacht.”
“Goddamn it, Zoé! And you believed him?”
“I wondered, yes.” She cast her eyes away from him.
“Baby, you have got some serious trust issues if you believe Billy O’Reilly’s bullshit. Why do you always think the worst of me?”
“Because you are wild and uncontrollable and I’ve never been that way. Not since…” She let out a sob. “Not since I lost my brother! I’m scared I’ll lose you, too. If I let go and love you, I’ll lose you.”
“Oh, baby. Please don’t cry.” He sucked the tears from her face, stroking her cheeks with his thumbs. “You’ll never lose me.” He looked deeply in her brown eyes. “That’s why I called you yesterday. Right before the fire. I was going to tell you but then I wondered what you’d think of me when I told you Billy’s cockamamie story. I hesitated. Then, after we got the fire out, I had the night from hell, dealing with Marni, going crazy because you wouldn’t pick up the goddamned phone.”
“Why would he make up something like that?”
Her beguiling gaze made him want to throw down his heart, his soul and everything he was made of at her feet. “Because he’s Billy O’Reilly. The guy’s a sociopath. That’s what he does.”
“Who’s the teenage girl?”
“Her name is Lila. She’s my neighbor and she also babysits for me. She stopped by to get advice from me about dating. I told her to wait. She’s only fifteen. I wanted to flay the eighteen year old who asked her out.”
“Feeling a bit protective, were you?” She smiled and bit her lip.
“Hell, yes. I’ve known Lila since she was a little kid.”
“So why would he say he could pin underage sex on you?”
“Because the guy’s full of shit. He’s got a twisted mind. Lila was helping me detail his goddamned yacht. She snooped in his closet, found the suitcase I told you he dragged out of that warehouse, and then she opened it before I could stop her. It was filled with sex toys, guns, money and, I suspect a shitload of drugs. He snuck up on me and caught me while I was poking through the contents after Lila had left.”
“Why would he leave that on the boat, knowing you were going to work on it?”
“It was a setup, no doubt. He said my fingerprints are all over the suitcase, which they are. Said he was going to tell his lawyers. I told him Lila’s were on there, too, and that’s where he got the idea to pin drugs and underage sex on me. It’s pretty fucked up.”
Zoé closed her eyes. “Jace,” she said, under her breath. “I’m sorry. I feel so stupid right now. I knew he was full of shit but I got scared.”
He placed his finger under her chin and tipped her face upward. “Look at me, baby.”
She looked right and left.
“Baby, eyes up here.”
Her eyes trained on him, blinking back tears.
“Oh, baby, more tears? It kills me when you cry.” He used the edge of his shirt to gently wipe her face. “You can’t do that to me. Ever again. Don’t ever block my calls.” Fear of losing her ripped through him like machine gun fire.
“I got scared, Jace.”
“I know you did, baby.”
“I got scared, thinking I was about to make a terrible mistake by moving in with you.”
“Shhh,” he said. He pulled her against him and embraced her tightly in his arms. His heart pounded in his chest, knocking against hers, conveying what words could not.
She sobbed and clung tight to him. “I don’t know what to do with you, Jace,” she mewled into his shoulder.
“Yes,” he said, “you do. You’re just afraid to do it. You want to love me, baby, I know you do. I want to love you, too.”
“But you don’t trust me.” She wiped her teary eyes against his shoulder.
“What did you say?”
She turned her gorgeous face up to his. “You’ve got to trust, me, too. I told you - I’m big enough to take all of you, each piece. I get scared when I think you’re withholding from me. I get scared that you think I can’t handle it…that I can’t handle you.”
His heart ricocheted inside his ribcage, bashing about like a caged animal. “Is that what you think I’m doing? You think I’m afraid to tell you things because I think you can’t handle it?”
“Aren’t you? Didn’t you tell me yourself you withhold stuff because you’re scared I’ll judge you and push you away?”
He released his grip on her, pushing a long strand of her golden brown hair from her eyes. “I guess I did. Busted.”
Her brilliant brown eyes glistened with tears and ferocity. “I want you to trust me, too, Jace Savage. If I’m going to move in with you, it has to be an equal partnership.”
“There’s nothing equal about it when it comes to you.” Seconds ticked by as he studied her, his cock springing to life inside his jeans. He took her hand and placed it on his erection. “Feel what you do to me. You make me completely fucking crazy.”
She palmed him tentatively, looking up at him with big doe eyes, lips parted.
“You’ve destroyed any reason I possess.” He took her hands, lacing his fingers with hers and he dipped for another taste of her delicious mouth, claiming her, entering her with his tongue. He drew back a millimeter, murmuring into her lips, “Don’t ever block me. Promise me. If I call, you answer.”
“I promise,” she said into his mouth.
“I don’t believe you,” he said, slowly guidin
g her backward.
“I promise,” she said, more insistently this time. Her pulse throbbed in her neck.
“I still don’t believe you.” He pushed her against the wall, trapping her hands over her head, circling his hips against her yielding flesh. “Promise me. Convince me you mean it.”
She spread her legs, grinding against him. “I promise, Jace.”
“Say it. Say the words. I’ll never block you again.”
“I won’t block you,” she said, her legs opening to him. “Ever again.”
“You need me, I’ll answer the fucking phone.”
Her eyes closed, mouth parted, panting.
“Say it.” He pressed her into the wall, surrounding her.
“You need me, I’ll answer the fucking phone.”
“Dirty mouth,” he said with a smile.
Her eyes flew open, flashing fury. “You need me, I’ll answer the fucking, goddamned phone.”
“That’s better.” He pressed his lips tenderly on her mouth and kissed her softly. “We never got to finish our kissing practice,” he said quietly. “I say we do a kissing marathon. Half the night kissing…the other half…” He nudged her with his stiff cock. “After you move in with me.” He gave her another long, lazy kiss, savoring her vibrating groan into his mouth.
“Is that going to be the carrot that I’ll follow to get me to Port Townsend, Jace?” she asked, looking oh, so, succulent and sexy.
“No, this is the carrot,” he said, grinding his thick erection into her. “That’s just one of the many ways I get to show you how much I love you.”
Chapter 29
At five in the evening, Zoé and Jace pulled up to his Aunt Molly’s house in Jace’s truck laden with boxes of essential stuff. They’d have to return tomorrow for the rest.
“It’s sure pretty over here,” Zoé said, eyeing a bald eagle soaring overhead.
“I can’t wait to show you everything I love about this region,” Jace said. “And find new places together,” he added, reassuring her.
Zoé picked up his hand and kissed it, as she’d done countless times since they left her home in Seattle. Then, she turned and stared out the window, biting her lip, anxious over what she’d left behind and what lay ahead.
