Twenty-Four Hours (Shattered Boundaries Book 1)

by Anthony, Carolyn

  Alex sighed and shook his head. “Hence, getting to know you better. My God, you’re beautiful,” he blurted out. When her head jerked up and back, Alex dipped his head. “I’m sorry, but I’ve wanted to say that for a year now. I didn’t want scare you off.”

  Eve chuckled the compliment away. “I do give off that vibe, don’t I? The don’t approach me, I’m a bitch vibe?”

  Alex’s eyes widened, and Jake suppressed the impulse to cave in the side of his face.

  “Not at all. It’s just before tonight, you seemed...distant. You were friendly enough, but never really warmed up to anyone. Is it because someone’s waiting for you back home? Is that why you stayed so closed off?”

  Jake jolted as if he’d just been tazed. This is gonna suck...

  Eve took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Her head tilted slightly to the right and she looked up at the jolly-blonde-fucking-giant.

  “No,” she said softly. “Waiting for me?” She scoffed, making Jake’s chest ache. “He’s definitely not waiting for me. But he is there. He’s always there…” She sighed. “Being in New York, where he’d never, ever come, was easier for me. But now I have to go home, where he’s only an hour or so away. A little harder, but I’ll be fine.”

  “He hurt you that bad?” Alex asked, as Jake noted the drop in his tone. Dude was genuinely concerned about her, and that pissed him right the fuck off. Asshat was looking for more than just getting goodnight laid. But that was too fucking bad, because now he’d heard it. She’d just confirmed she still wasn’t over him. The breath Jake had been holding came barreling out.

  “Alex, it’s a long, complicated story. Trust me, three days isn’t enough time to cover it.” She laughed, but Jake didn’t miss the pain edging her tone. “Let’s just say, I don’t think he ever meant to hurt me. Not intentionally and we both knew I was coming here. That aside, I’m not ready to invest that much of myself into anyone right now. I have my job waiting for me in LA. That will keep me busier than I was here.”

  Alex shook his head and stepped closer to her again. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry you were hurt. It’s his loss, Eve. If he let you go, he never deserved you in the first place.”

  Eve took a step back, her spine stiffening. “I—I appreciate you saying that, I do, but like I said, we have a long story with a complex history. Ja—he’s a good man and he’s lost more than most people will in a lifetime. I want him to have a good life.” She shrugged. “Not everyone gets the happy ending. I’ve come to terms with that, but it’s not like I’m giving up on life. I just need more time.”

  “How much time, Eve?” Alex pressed. “I have frequent flyers miles up the ass.”

  “Another time, another place, you and I...who knows. We’ll just have to settle for friends if that’s okay with you. Long distance friends.” She laughed and singled out her house key.

  Take the hint, you big motherfucker, or your ass is going through that wall.

  Jake didn’t move a muscle as Eve put a hand on Alex’s forearm.

  “Thank you again for tonight. It was lovely and I enjoyed getting to know you better. I know you’ll be a brilliant therapist.”

  Alex grinned and nodded. “Okay, Eve. I hear you. At least give me a hug, research partner.”

  “Of course.” Eve chuckled and went into that dickfuck’s waiting arms.

  Alex’s grip tightened around her. He rested his head on top of hers for a second and closed his eyes.

  Jake’s face grew too hot and just as he was about to blow cover and crush that dude into tomorrow, Eve pulled away.

  “Drive safe, Alex. I learned a lot working with you this past year,” she said, putting the key in the door and turning so Jake had a solid profile of her beautiful face.

  “Me too. You be safe.” He nodded to the door. “Go ahead. Lock the door behind you.”

  Eve gave him a brilliant smile, the one Jake had seen in his dreams for the past two fucking years and she softly closed the door behind her.

  Jake watched Alex place a hand on the door for a second, before turning around and walking back down the long hallway.

  Once he was gone, Jake stood for a minute before moving out from the darkened apartment alcove. He leaned his back against the wall opposite Eve’s door.

  He couldn’t blame the dick. Eve was easy to love, but she hadn’t let him in. Hadn’t let him kiss her and seemed uncomfortable when he’d touched her. Both motherfucking times. She’d even defended him at one point. Loyal to the bone that woman, even when he didn’t deserve her loyalty.

  Cracking his neck to both sides, he stepped in front of her door for the second time. He’d considered flowers, but discarded the idea as too corny and not him. How do you say, “I’m sorry for fucking with your head and your heart for the past two decades” with roses or lilies? You didn’t. You manned the fuck up and owned your shit. On a deep inhale, Jake gently rapped on her front door, before stepping back.

  Scampering feet shuffled across what sounded like a hardwood floor.

  “Just a second!” Eve called from behind the door. “Alex, I—” the door flew open. Eve’s eyes widened. Gasping, she put her hand to her throat. She gripped the doorknob with the other as if needing something to steady her.

  Jesus Christ, was it possible for one woman to get even more beautiful? Her jet black hair had grown longer, falling to her waist in sexy waves. She’d clearly been hitting the gym, because her bare arms and legs were toned and cut, but she was still lean and lithe. That kissable mouth and those sinful fucking lips formed a perfect O. Her striking blue eyes misted as she shook her head back and forth.

  Jake let the grin he’d been fighting since that front door flew open spread across his face.

  “You still owe me four hours, baby.”

  * * *

  Nonononono. NO!

  Eve stared at the gorgeous face that had tormented her in one way or another for most of her life. Heart rates weren’t supposed to pound as fast or as loud as horse hooves in a full heat at the Kentucky Derby, but apparently they were capable of doing just that.

  Dear God, even two years older, he was still the most handsome man she’d ever seen. Couldn’t he have at least put on like a hundred pounds? Developed a beer gut or something?

  The faint traces of grey throughout his dark hair only made him look more distinguished. His beard had grown in since the last time she’d seen him and he’d put on a considerable amount of muscle, but those dark, penetrating brown eyes were still scalpel sharp and laser beam intense as they scalded every inch of her body they landed on.

  Just the sight of him after so long brought back that familiar ache between her thighs and unfortunately sparked a glimmer of hope that she’d convinced herself she’d extinguished a long time ago.

  Not happening!

  The clammy skin on her throat dampened under her palm.

  “Jake,” she choked. “What—” She cleared her throat and forced herself to meet his gaze. “What are you doing here?”

  Anchoring both hands on either side of the door frame, he smirked down at her. “Two years ago, you promised me twenty-four hours. I only got twenty. I’m here to collect.” His hands dropped and he took a step forward.

  Fiery pinpricks shot across her skin and she put both hands out, stopping him from coming any closer. She made damn sure she didn’t touch him, because if she did, she didn’t trust herself not to wind up in his arms. That said, she wasn’t the same woman who’d run out of that hotel room. She’d changed. Her life had changed. She was stronger now.

  Straightening her spine, she loosened her death grip on the doorknob. “You came all the way to New York, which you hate, to collect the hours we lost? Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds?” She ignored the fact that while her head was forcing logic, her body jumped to life, instantly catapulting her out of her vow of celibacy.

  His
head tilted to the side and his eyes took a slow run down her body.

  Dear God, please let the padding in this bra do what I paid an obscene amount of money for it to do!

  “Eve...we need to talk, baby.”

  She squared her shoulders and pulled at the bottom of her shirt. “I think we’ve said everything that needed to be said, don’t you?”

  “Not even close. Nice shirt by the way.” He grinned as her cheeks blazed and she glanced down her body.

  For the love of God! She was wearing his Navy water polo tank top, which she usually slept in, a pair of loose white boxers that hung off her hips, yellow knee-high socks and her green Grinch slippers, with giant puffy Grinch heads on top. Yes, stuffed Grinch heads! Thank the good Lord the knock came before she could wiggle out of the bra.

  Unbecoming attire aside, she focused on the gorgeous problem standing in front of her.

  “There are phones, Jake. It would have saved you airfare and time.” She hoped that sounded as assertive as she’d intended, but when he just smiled and his eyes dropped to her mouth, she highly doubted it.

  “You changed your number,” he said softly. His voice alone heated her skin as if she were freezing and had just been dropped into a bubbly warm Jacuzzi.

  “Like that would stop you if you really wanted to talk to me.” She knew Jake had government level clearance and once he set his mind to something there would be no stopping him. She’d bet her degree if she pulled contacts up in his phone he’d have her number, because he obviously had her address.

  “It wouldn’t. What I have to say needs to be said in person. Are you gonna let me in or you gonna leave me standing in the hallway?”

  Let him in? Good God, no. Hallway was much safer.

  “Here. Say what you need to say right here.”

  “Where it’s safe?” He crossed muscular arms over his chest and rested a shoulder against the doorframe, jacking up the sleeves of his flannel. Some kind of writing of what had to be a new tattoo stuck out under the thick band of his watch.

  “Absolutely,” she insisted. The tone of his voice...God, that damn voice. His voice was hot buttered rum heating her from the inside out. It had been so long since she’d heard it. Jake had been the last man she’d been with. The last man she’d kissed, touched, had any physical contact with and no other man measured up, which was the most unfair reality ever. She wasn’t about to let him know this fact though.

  “Okay, honey. Here then.” He stood in her doorway, looking sexier than any man had a right to look.

  “Well, go ahead. I’m listening.” She crossed her arms over her chest, too, not only hoping to look as confident and calm as he did, but also hoping he wouldn’t see her nipples had tightened so hard the padding in the bra was quickly proving it wasn’t worth the mint she’d dropped on it.

  “Let me ask you this, Eve. Why would I fly all the way to New York to see you?”

  “You’re going to play the rhetorical question game, Jake? No. Tell me or leave. Evasive isn’t your style. At least at one point it wasn’t. Go back to that.” If he was here to tell her something, he was damn well going to say it and not make her guess. He’d made her guess about his feelings for her long enough. She deserved more than that.

  “Baby, I’m here for you.”

  The apartment got quiet—deafening, impending, deep-shit quiet. That echo chamber of non-stop thud-thud, thud-thud, in her ears had to be her heartbeat, because all outside noise had just muted with that statement.

  Whatever part of the brain responsible for interpreting words people say, forming a coherent response and then voicing said response, malfunctioned. Baffled, she stood there seconds, possibly minutes, contemplating his words. What the hell did he mean? Irritation barreled right past stunned.

  “You’re here for me for what, Jake?” she demanded. “To escort me home to LA? To pop in and ass-end my life up once again? What exactly do you mean by you’re here for me?”

  Penetrating brown eyes locked to hers and slammed the brakes on her heart performing properly. Dear God, he was serious.

  “Let me in, Eve.”

  She knew better. There was no question she knew better. If she let him in... No. He didn’t hold the power he’d always held over her anymore. She’d prove to him she was over him. That he couldn’t just show up and fuck up her life. Glancing up at him, the tilt of his lips made the heat pool lower in her core.

  Okay, so maybe she overshot with the being over him assertion, but she’d been doing an exceptional job of faking it. At least until she’d opened her goddamn door.

  You can do this!

  Stepping aside to allow him entrance, she waved a hand inside. “Come in. But only for a little while. I still have to pack.”

  He walked in and stood just short of the closing door.

  Eve took the long way around him into her little kitchen. “Coffee?”

  “Yeah, honey. Coffee’d be great.” He took a seat at the stool under her counter as she moved around on the other side.

  “Do me a favor, okay? If you’re here to talk, drop the endearments.” Because if he kept it up, the Jake-proof armor she’d built up over the past two years would crash down around her. Defenseless was not something she could risk around him—might as well throw fresh chum to a shark. “Talk, Jake.”

  The audacity of him just showing up got to her before he could get word one out. With a huff, she slammed the coffee can down a little harder than intended and moved to stand in front of him, feeling somewhat bold and safe with a countertop between them.

  “You know what? No. Me first. I have a few questions for you. Most important, how is Maddelyn? Is she better? Is she doing okay now?”

  Please. Please let his daughter be okay.

  His steely eyes that missed nothing softened at the mention of Maddelyn’s name. He sighed and leaned both forearms on the counter.

  “Yeah, she’s good. You were right. When we took her in, she eventually admitted she’d started cutting. From what we found out in therapy, she’d only done it a few times.” He dropped his head for a second before looking back at her. “She stopped therapy months ago. She’s doing great.”

  In that moment, Eve wanted to hug him. Let him know she was genuinely relieved his daughter was healthy again, but she resisted the urge. Nodding her head, she looked back down at the can and started scooping out the coffee.

  “I’m happy to hear she’s better, Jake. That’s wonderful news.”

  Reaching across the counter, his hand covered hers mid scoop and every muscle from her fingers to her face quivered.

  “Eve, stop shaking.” He soothed. His thumb stroked across the top of her hand and damn it all to hell, she calmed, as she always did whenever he touched her. “Thank you for asking about Maddie. If it wasn’t for you—”

  Now she met his eyes and jerked her hand out from under his. “I had nothing to do with it. You or Kelly would have caught it soon enough. You’re an amazing father and you’ve always spoke highly of Kelly as a mother. It’s one of the things I lo—you’ve always put your girls first. It’s one of your best attributes.”

  Jesus Christ! Do NOT use the word, love, in any context around this man! Focus Eve!

  He stood and slowly walked around the counter to her.

  “Ja—Jake,” she stammered. “I really need you to sit back down. Please.” The coffee was going to be black sludge, but she didn’t care. She kept adding more grounds the closer he came.

  “Eve, look at me.” He stopped about a foot away from her.

  Forcing as deep a breath as her overworked lungs could handle, she put the scoop down and turned to him.

  “We caught it sooner rather than later, because of you. Because you trusted me with something deeply personal.” He shook his head and glanced at the floor before meeting her eyes again. “You were strong when I wasn’t. You opened my
eyes. Maddie’s my baby—I didn’t want to believe it. You leaving was a wakeup call.”

  Eve shook her head, jammed the overstuffed filter in the cradle, and flipped on the machine, one hand on the counter, the other on the top of the coffee pot.

  “Come on, Jake. Let’s be honest and take Maddelyn out of the equation for a second. You were going to let me go at the end of your little twenty-four hour time limit. We both know that now. I was temporary to you. A moment.”

  His hand covered hers on the counter again, this time squeezing hard.

  A searing heat instantly flared throughout her entire body and her eyes jumped to where they touched. The tan skin of his hand in brilliant contrast with her pale one.

  “But when it came down to it Eve, if you remember, I didn’t make that call and you were never a moment to me—never temporary. I wanted both you and my life. You saw what I couldn’t and you let me go to deal with my daughter undistracted.”

  Eve lifted her gaze to his. “You were never mine to let go. I left because it was the right thing to do. Maddelyn, your girls come first, always. But I let you go for me too,” she whispered.

  She pleaded with whoever was listening upstairs to hold the fissuring dam behind her eyes at bay. “I couldn’t wait for you anymore. The emotional wrecking ball I’d become was too much for both of us—even you couldn’t deal with me. Since I was old enough to actually know what I felt, I’ve been waiting for you in one way or another. That had to end. I’m not perfect and I carry my share of the guilt about getting involved with you when I should have waited, but I deserve better than just being someone’s distraction, an afterthought.” Jesus, she actually said the words out loud. The tightness in her chest loosened the slightest bit.

  His warm hand moved up to her forearm. “Is that seriously what you thought you were to me? Christ, baby. You were never that.”

  “Words, Jake. Your actions spoke differently. That’s not good enough for me anymore.”

  “No, love, it’s not. It never has been. You deserve much better than that and if I made you think that’s all you meant to me—”