by Penny Dee
My heart ached.
I missed her.
And it was ridiculous.
I told myself I was crazy. That after four days together, my feelings toward her were irrational. Hell, they were downright crazy talk. But no matter how much psychoanalysis I put myself through, my feelings remained the same—I was really into her.
A girl joined us. Her name was Leila and she was beautiful. And clearly interested. We had met a couple of times through Josh but we’d never gone there and it was obviously something she wanted to change. Josh departed, clearly leaving us alone because of some pre-arranged request by her.
She curled her bare arms around me. “Welcome home, Jake.”
I looked down at her. “Thanks.”
She licked her lips and ran a finger up and down my arm, fluttering her eyelashes up at me as she gave me some serious come-fuck-me-eyes.
Maybe that was the answer. Get over my feelings for Mackenzie by getting under someone else.
And damn, this girl was gorgeous.
There was only one problem: the thought made me sick to my stomach. Why? Because I didn’t want anyone else.
Yeah, but the girl you want doesn’t want you.
A wave of fatigue washed over me.
“I’m going to take a shower,” I said, untangling myself from Leila’s arms.
“Maybe I can come and help.” She threw me an inviting look—one that left no question as to what she wanted from me. And, damn, did I mention she was gorgeous? Long lashes fluttered again. “You know, I could help you with those places you can’t reach.”
The old Jake would’ve been in there like dynamite.
Then I thought of Mackenzie and how she’d walked away and my gut ached with loneliness. A loneliness I could no longer bear.
Maybe the old Jake was right.
Maybe the love ‘em and leave ‘em attitude was the safest of all.
Because the new Jake was miserable.
* * *
Mackenzie
I clutched my cell in my hand as I spoke quietly and quickly into it. “I have no time but I need a quick debrief.”
On the other end, Meg chuckled. “Where are you?”
“On a plane to New York.”
“I thought you were in Canada? With the hot hockey player.”
I grimaced as I thought about Jake and how I left him back at the cabin, and turned closer toward the little window of the jet. “I was but then I flew to Texas.”
“And now you’re on a plane back home?”
“Well, it’s a Gulfstream jet, actually. Johnny Pepper is flying me to New York for a meeting with Jake.”
“Johnny Pepper?”
“Oil billionaire. He owns the Galveston Fury.”
“Oil billionaire. Private jet. Hot hockey player—I want your life.”
“No, you don’t. Because I’m a horrible person.”
“Uh-oh. What happened?”
When I paused, Meg put two and two together.
“You slept with him!” she exclaimed, excited. And I swear I could hear clapping.
I sighed. “I did something terrible.”
The clapping stopped. “Oh, honey, what happened?”
“We were snowed in. There was a fire, and wine . . . not to mention a near-death experience . . . and Jake is such an incredible person—”
“So what’s the problem?”
“Me. I’m the problem. We made love all night and then . . .”
“And then?”
Remembering the look on Jake’s face as I drove away I squeezed my eyes shut. He would never forgive me. “I just left.”
Saying it out loud was like just a big reiteration of what a cold-hearted bitch I was! My chest tightened with regret.
Again, I sighed. “What’s wrong with me, Meg?”
“You panicked.”
“I ran away,” I corrected her and another wave of guilt washed over me. “Because I’m a coward.”
“Hey, that’s my friend you’re talking about. You go easy on her.”
We were quiet for a moment as I fought with the ache in my chest. I missed Jake. I was falling in love with him and it hurt to be so far away from him.
What had I done?
“What are you going to do?” Meg finally asked.
I fought with my feelings in some attempt to maintain some kind of professionalism. It didn’t matter how I felt about Jake. It didn’t matter that I longed to be back in that little cabin with him. It didn’t matter that I ached to be in his arms again. To inhale his warmth and protectiveness, and the intoxicating scent of him. Because I had a job to do. And I owed it to him.
I had made a commitment. And a bet. To get him back on the ice. Not just to him. But also to Garrick and my father. This was, after all, business.
I straightened in my chair. We should never have complicated things.
I should never have complicated things.
I had to get my head back in the game. It wouldn’t be fair to Jake if I didn’t.
“I’m going to do what I set out to do,” I said.
“Which is what?”
I sighed because my heart wasn’t in it anymore. “I guess I’m going to make him a star.”
* * *
Chapter Twenty-Five
Mackenzie
We arrived in New York early. I had called Jake numerous times throughout the previous evening and during the flight, but he wasn’t answering. He was hurt. Or pissed at me. I got it. But we had to put our personal situation behind us if we wanted to get him back in the pros. I needed him to be ready to dazzle the eccentric billionaire who was his ticket back into the league.
While Johnny and his entourage took care of business on the other side of town, I took a cab to Jake’s loft. When I knocked no one answered but when I tried the door it was unlocked, so I walked in.
“What the hell?” I said when I saw the state of his apartment. It was like a keg party had exploded in the lounge room.
I called out Jake’s name but my voice was an unanswered echo.
I cast an eye around me, stunned by the empty bottles of champagne, wine and liquor, and the upturned chip bowls and crushed beer cups, and felt a growing unease unfurl in my stomach. Cheetos crunched beneath my feet as I walked through the kitchen toward the bedroom.
“Jesus Christ!” I barked when I almost went butt-over-head thanks to an ill-placed sex toy on the floor. I grabbed onto the doorframe to the bedroom to regain my balance. Farther down the hall, a naked sex doll lay on her back, her legs out wide and her fake mouth frozen in a permanent O. Someone had drawn a giant penis on the side of her face in permanent marker.
Seriously, what the hell had gone on here last night?
I shook my head, trying to dislodge my confusion as I turned the doorknob and opened Jake’s bedroom door.
I don’t know what I expected to find when I opened that door. But seeing Jake in bed with a naked woman wasn’t it. Not even close. And I likened it to being slammed in the stomach with the business end of a hockey stick.
Twice.
He was lying on his back, the sheet pulled down to his waist and revealing a perfect six-pack that rose and fell with every breath he took. The beautiful brunette next to him had a body to die for with killer legs and even more killer boobs—this I could tell because as she lay there unconscious everything was on display. And when I say everything, I mean everything. Girlfriend favored a wax of the Brazilian kind.
I tried not to notice just how hot and delicious she was, but it was kind of hard not to notice when everything was up in my face.
They must’ve really exhausted themselves the night before because neither of them moved when I yanked open the blinds. That thought alone was enough to make my stomach clench with raging jealousy.
Picking up a discarded pillow from the floor, I aimed it at Jake’s head.
“What the fuck—” He sat up abruptly, looking dazed, but then seeing me standing at the foot of his bed, the surprise on his fa
ce settled into a dark irritation.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, his jawline tense.
“I’ve been trying to get ahold of you since yesterday afternoon and all morning,” I said accusingly. My eyes shifted to the brunette next to him. “But clearly you’ve been busy.”
He followed my gaze and almost jumped back in surprise when he saw the woman lying very naked in the bed next to him. For a moment I thought he didn’t expect to see her there, but then realized I was the one he didn’t expect to see in his bedroom. Obviously he knew she was there. He’d fucked her there.
Again my stomach clenched. This time more painful than the first.
The woman stirred and lifted her head. Seeing me in the room didn’t appear to concern her because she didn’t even bother to try and cover herself.
Why wouldn’t she cover herself? Girl, put it away.
But she didn’t. Instead she turned to Jake. “Is she your wife?”
Jake shook his head and without removing his eyes from me he replied, “Worse. She’s my agent.”
The resentment coming off him was like a furnace.
Right, asshole. Because I’m the one lying in bed with some naked girl I just stuck my dick into.
I matched his resentment because the jealousy lighting up my insides was raging out of control. But then I remembered why I was there and how I was indeed his agent and nothing more. So I buried my jealousy beneath a façade of professionalism, only too aware that it would return with a vengeance when I tried to drown it in red wine later.
“Can we talk?” I asked.
Jake seemed determined to keep hating on me. He folded his arms across his broad chest, making those biceps twice as big. “Talk away.”
My eyes shifted to his guest and then back to him. “Alone?”
The brunette didn’t need him to say anything. She climbed out of bed—doing nothing to cover her nakedness—and headed for the door. “I need to pee anyway.”
Silently I watched her leave the room, fully aware that Jake’s penetrating stare hadn’t left me. When she closed the door behind her I swallowed deeply trying to dislodge the hurt in my throat.
Alone with Jake, it was harder to keep my emotions in check.
“I suppose that was for my benefit,” I said, trying to sound professional. But it was damn near impossible to keep the hurt out of my voice. Especially under the scrutiny of Jake’s beautiful eyes. I could feel him still looking at me. Studying me. Watching me as I slowly unraveled in front of him.
Damn him.
Damn him for being such a beautiful, amazing jerk.
Even though he hadn’t done anything wrong. Technically.
I was the one who had pulled away in some insane attempt to keep things professional between us. I was the one who had stopped this from going any further, even though my heart and soul was desperate for more.
But clearly I had been right in resuming a professional and not a personal relationship with Jake. And, apparently, he was happy with the arrangement, too, because two seconds away from the cabin and he had already stuck his dick in someone else.
I scurried to regain my composure in front of him.
No matter how I played this, it was going to suck.
* * *
Jake
How did I tell her nothing happened between me and Leila? That when she’d hit on me at the party I hadn’t been able to do what usually came second nature to me. That all I could think about was her. Mackenzie fucking Eden. That when I closed my eyes all I could see, think and feel was her. Her eyes. Her smile. Her smell. The way the dimples on either side of her lips flickered when she spoke. Her—fuck—her everything! She had turned me into a fucking psycho. I wanted her so bad it was killing me. But I couldn’t have her. She had made that perfectly clear and I was at a loss of what to do.
Basically, I was screwed.
And not in the way I wanted to be.
Truth was, I had taken a sleeping pill to get some sleep while the party went on outside my bedroom door. I had no idea Leila was even in the bed next to me until I woke up to find Mackenzie in my room looking like she’d just walked in on some kind of orgy. The last I had seen of Leila before now was when she had been making out with a guy and a girl in the kitchen.
My first instinct was to defend myself. Explain what had happened. I knew it looked bad. But then some part of me wanted her to think something had happened—after all, she didn’t want it, so why would it bother her? Faced with a little competition, maybe she’d realize how she really felt about me.
Then I remembered that I was actually an adult and not a teenager and mentally told myself to grow the fuck up.
But now my girl was in front of me, angry as hell and . . . was she holding back tears?
I ripped off the covers and went to her. She was hurt and she was about to cry and I wasn’t going to let her. Not over something that never even happened.
As I reached her, her eyes went as round as saucers.
“You’re wearing clothes,” she whispered as the first tear broke on her cheek.
I looked down at the sweats I was wearing. “Yeah. I put them on before I went to bed last night.” I raised her chin so she would look at me. “Alone.”
“But that girl—”
“She must’ve come in during the night.” I looked her right in the eye. “I was just as surprised as you were to see her lying there.”
She gave me a doubtful look. I knew it sounded lame, but it was the truth and if there was one thing I hoped Mackenzie knew about me after four days trapped in a snowed-in cabin together, was that I wasn’t a liar.
I took a step back. “Want to tell me why you care either way?”
She looked up at me and bit her bottom lip. But instead of words, Mackenzie did the last thing I expected her to do . . . she gave into her tears.
Not waiting a moment longer I pulled her into my arms and held her against my chest, long enough for her tears to stop. God, it was good having her in my arms again.
Pulling back I looked down at her and carefully wiped her tears away. There was so much I wanted to tell her. How the four days trapped in the cabin with her had been the best four days of my life. How I missed everything about her. How my bed felt cold and empty without her, even though we’d only spent four nights sleeping side by side. How I couldn’t stop thinking about her and how much I wished we could go back to that cabin and lock ourselves away from the outside world. How I wanted more than anything to peel every item of clothing from her body and spend the evening exploring every lovely inch of her body with mine.
But I didn’t. Because when I opened my mouth to speak, she closed it with hers. Her mouth sealed over mine, her tongue sliding past my lips to hungrily dance with mine. I saw stars. Real stars. Because she felt and tasted so good, and because more than anything in the whole world my heart wanted this kiss. Instinctively, my hand went up to cup her jaw to hold her face to mine as our kiss deepened and roared into life.
She moaned and it got me so hard I actually flinched with need.
Breathlessly, she pulled away. Light danced on her wet lips as she asked, “You really didn’t do anything with that girl?”
Her need for reassurance surprised me. But it also lit me up from the inside because it could only mean one thing. She wanted to be with me. I was more to her than just her client.
I pulled back to look into her beautiful face and gently ran my thumb across her cheek.
“You’re the first woman I’ve been with in almost a year, Z. You think I could come back here after the best four days of my life and just fuck someone else? Give me a bit more credit, baby.”
She smiled through her tears and the sight of those dimples on either side of her glorious mouth sent me over the edge. I pulled her to me again and kissed her hard. Again, desire flared between us and I walked her backwards pressing her up against the wall as our kiss deepened.
But forever the sports agent, Mackenzie broke off our kiss.
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“As much as I want this, you have to get ready,” she said breathlessly. She looked up through lashes and her blue eyes gleamed with desire. “Johnny Pepper is wait—” she gasped when my fingers slid between the denim of her jeans and the tiny lace panties she wore.
I dropped my lips to the smooth flesh of her neck and trailed kisses up to her ear. “You want me to stop?”
“I think I will die if you do,” she whispered. And then my fingers moved lower to slide through the moist, soft folds of flesh and she gasped.
“Tell me to stop,” I whispered against her ear. As my fingers slid into her she moaned and dear God, she was wet. So damn wet. My balls tightened and my cock went as hard as steel, and begged me to do something about it.
“Oh, what the hell,” she moaned and all thoughts of Johnny Pepper and sports contracts were forgotten as she fiercely kissed me. Her kiss was deep, and long, and so full of promise it was dizzying.
Within seconds, I had her out of her clothes and in my bed. I kicked off my sweatpants and I climbed over her as she lay naked and glorious amongst my sheets. God, I was so hard and so damn happy to see her, it wouldn’t take long. I buried my face in her neck and sank my lips against the smooth plane of her throat, my mind dizzy with the intoxicating scent of her skin. She wrapped her strong legs around my hips, pulling me closer so all the good parts of me were touching all the good parts of her. It was a move that almost brought me undone. My body screamed at me for release.
And then she moaned my name and that was it. That was all I needed. With one thrust I was in her, and dear God, it was the most fucking amazing feeling I’d ever known.
And because it was so damn amazing, I came undone pretty fast. But it was okay, because Mackenzie came undone even faster. Within minutes she was writhing beneath me, clutching my ass as if she could somehow get me deeper into her and begging me to fuck her harder. And then she cried out, over and over, as she came all over my cock.
It was more than I could stand. Her tight pussy. The moaning. The scratch of her nails down my back. The fact that I was so into this girl I didn’t know what to do with myself. I shot into her like lightning, and I’m not even ashamed to admit it, because, Jesus Christ, I was so in love with her I didn’t care about anything else in the goddamn world.
