Twenty-Four Hours (Shattered Boundaries Book 1)

by Anthony, Carolyn

  2

  The one kiss that inevitably bound them together.

  The spray of the shower hitting tile carried through Eve’s open bedroom door and throughout the tiny apartment. Rummaging through her refrigerator, Jake ran a hand through his fucked-to-shit hair and over his beard. Did the woman not eat? Christ. They needed food after that reconnection.

  He pulled out a drawer and found a block of Jarlsburg Swiss cheese—and grapes. Grapes, cheese, and melon. What the fuck? They were ordering in. He pulled out his phone to look for local restaurants that delivered.

  The shower squeaked off and he glanced up at her bedroom doorway then around the small apartment. Labeled boxes were lined up perfectly along one wall, five deep in five columns. Her OCD was still in full effect. There wasn’t a lot of furniture to move, just a desk, a sofa and that bitchin’ lounge hassock—most useful piece of furniture in the place.

  Had she secured a place to live? Knowing Eve, she had, but in LA? She hated LA. Not like they’d had a lot of time for catch up over the past two hours. He’d overheard in the hallway that she’d gotten in at a partnership, but other than that, he had no intel. No idea where she was going once she hit LAX.

  Dinner first.

  Jake intended to Google restaurants in the area that delivered when the soft steps of Eve’s bare feet padded across the main room. She looked...at peace. Comfortable. She’d put on an old pair of sweatpants with UCSD down the left leg and a tight Vee neck T-shirt that barely hit the low riding waist of her pants. Running a comb through her wet hair, she had the faintest hint of a smile on her rosy face. She looked up and her eyes met his.

  Her shoulders dropped, but she smiled wider when she saw him by the refrigerator.

  “I know. I know. There’s nothing in the fridge and you’re starving, right? Remember I’m leaving, so don’t get all huffy and puffy because the fridge isn’t stocked. We’ll call this restaurant I always go to down the street, okay? They deliver.”

  The woman was gonna kill him. “Baby, if you weren’t leaving, how stocked would this fridge be?” He opened the door and waved a hand inside. “I see all the Eve basics—cheese, grapes, melon and diet ginger ale. Please tell me you’ve been eating more than this. Where’s the goddamn meat? Protein—damn, honey.”

  She rolled her eyes and took a seat on the stool across the counter from him.

  “Jake. You don’t get to lecture me. I eat. You know I eat. I just eat a little differently than I did before. About a month after I got here, I started working out religiously. Sexual frustration—remember? I needed an outlet. A focus other than work.” She glared at him before chuckling. “I do protein shakes, and eat pretty clean, but I do eat. So stop worrying. I’m good.”

  Was she serious? Protein shakes? Yeah...not happening.

  “Where’s the closest store? I’m cooking and you’re eating every fucking thing I put in front of you. Trust me.” He shoved his arms through his flannel and buttoned his pants, keeping his eyes on her the whole time. “You’re gonna need the fuel.”

  She jumped off the stool and nearly knocked him over as she hugged him. “No stores, Jake. Just order something, okay? I don’t want you to leave.”

  He rested his hands on her shoulders. The hint of anxiety in her tone was the first clear sign since he’d been here that she hadn’t fully let go of past insecurities. She always got edgy after sex, silently dreading the moment he would leave. There was no need for that fear anymore. He’d never willingly leave her again.

  “Eve. I’m not leaving. I’m going to the store, love.”

  Her eyes locked to his and she wrapped her arms around his waist with her head on his chest.

  “Please. Just order in.”

  What could he say when she was in front of him all warm, wet and pouty?

  “They better have meat, dammit. None of this sprout and seaweed shit.” He handed her his phone and she smiled up at him. “Call ‘em. I’m gonna jump in the shower.” Kissing her forehead, he squeezed her to him before walking to the bathroom. “Hey, get me—”

  “Yeah, yeah. A cheeseburger, fries and an orange soda. Got it. Now go away.” She waved him off. “Hey. Here’s your phone. It’s locked. I’ll get mine.” She met him at her bedroom door and reached out with his phone.

  “Zero, one, one, six,” he said, nodding down at the phone.

  Eve cocked her head and raised her shoulders.

  “The code, baby. My lock code.”

  Her eyes widened and she glanced back down at it. “January sixteenth. The first day we spoke on the phone? Three years ago?”

  “Yep.”

  “Not very stealthy of you, Mr. Spec Ops.”

  “No need to be. The work phone has a different security protocol.”

  “Ah, of course it does.” She tilted her head to the side and shoved the phone into his pants pocket, her breasts rubbing against his chest. “I don’t need your phone. Thank you though.”

  With a pivot, she turned to her small table by the door and grabbed her own phone.

  “Eve. I have nothing to hide. You can use my phone.”

  Keying in her lock code, she glanced up at him, ear to her phone.

  “Privacy is privacy, Jake. I don’t need your lock code. You asked me to trust you. I’m doing that. If I felt the need to go through your phone, you wouldn’t be standing there. In fact, if I ever get the urge to go through your phone, we’re done—I won’t live that way. Get in the shower, babe. Now I’m starving.” She leaned up on her toes and kissed his cheek. “Hello? Hey, Chris. Yeah, it’s me again...”

  Jake leaned a shoulder against the doorframe and studied the changes in her. The woman he was staring at now was the same woman he’d always known, but there were definitely changes. Positive changes. She wasn’t censoring every word out of her mouth. No signs of tension in her muscles as she moved around the apartment with a subtle, but sexy, swagger, like she was finally comfortable in her own skin, a trait she’d unbelievably lacked before. New York had been good for her. Almost like she’d grown into herself. She stood by the window, looking down at the street while she talked to some dude named Chris, who obviously knew her well, because she had to explain the cheeseburger and fries order.

  He wanted her to trust him though, and deep down he knew she still didn’t. That hint of insecurity confirmed what he’d suspected. She clearly trusted him as a man, as a lover, but he wanted her to trust him with all of her. Lost in thought, he hadn’t noticed she’d gotten off the phone until she was standing in front of him.

  “What’s wrong?” She ran a hand up his chest to rest on his shoulder.

  “I need you to trust me, Eve.”

  “Jake…” She sighed. “I do.”

  “Not fully.”

  She pressed her lips to his and pulled back, framing his face. “Get in the shower.”

  “Okay, baby.” Kissing her forehead, he turned, walked into the bathroom and ran the water. What the hell did he expect? It’d been two hours. Like she was supposed to forget the past two decades of hits, misses and heartbreaks? Of course, she’d need some time to see he was serious. He groaned and yanked off his wife-beater and pants, got under the water and let the hot jets pound his back. Patience, especially when it came to her, wasn’t one of his better attributes.

  Even the talk they’d had, before they’d ended up naked, as intense as it had been, hadn’t been awkward. It had been like when they’d first reconnected—straightforward and honest. Being with Eve was easy, as if they’d never been without the other. She brought him a sense of home. One of the things he’d missed, not the most, but a close second. They could talk for hours or just lay holding each other without a word and it was comfortable. A rare thing to actually share silence with another person and be content. They had that. She had an easy nature and let her guard down with him as long as he was open with her. When he shut her ou
t, she disappeared on him. A protective mechanism, he understood this because of their past, but that’s what he couldn’t have.

  Yeah, once she’d been convinced he was serious and genuinely there for her, for them, she’d opened up to him in a way she never had before. It wasn’t just her self-confidence in general, it had been confidence in what she wanted and needed as a woman, her sexuality. She’d owned that tonight, where she never had before, denying what he knew in his gut she needed, but had never trusted him with.

  She’d asked him to show her everything she’d never experienced sexually and while he was all over that, he recognized how good they were together physically, Eve didn’t. She hadn’t had enough experience to know the pull of a strong sexual bond. Their chemistry was something even he, in all his experience, hadn’t had before. Maybe it was because they got along as friends so well. Maybe it was because there were no more secrets between them, or that they’d known each other so long. But beyond this unique thing they shared, something didn’t sit right about her absolute surrender tonight, and now that he could actually think beyond his cock it bothered him. Was it just their sexual chemistry driving her? He wanted more than that. He wanted all of her and that began with her trusting him with more than her body. He knew it would take time for her to trust him. She needed actions now, not more words.

  And when in the good fuck had he turned into a chick?

  Fuck me.

  He cranked the water off. Dinner must have come already, because the smell of burgers and fries had him tugging on shorts and a T-shirt in record time as his stomach grumbled.

  Walking out of the bedroom, he ran his hands through his wet hair.

  “Shit, that was fast.” He took a seat next to hers at the counter.

  She laughed at him. “Fast? You’ve been in there for a half hour. I’m surprised the hot water lasted. It usually goes out pretty quick. How lucky are you that I saved the clothes you gave me?”

  “Seriously. I thought you might have burned them.”

  “I considered that, but then I remembered I’m not in high school and they do make awesome pajamas.” She rolled her eyes at him. “You are lucky. Eat, babe.” She pushed a cup of lemonade in front of him. “No orange. I went with your other go-to.”

  “Chicken salad? That’s it?” He complained looking at her container. “That’s all you’re eating?”

  “Yes, Jake. Chicken salad, but I got us dessert.” She winked at him.

  “Is it maple?”

  “Better. Chocolate.” She giggled and sat down beside him to eat. “I missed this. I missed eating with you.”

  “Me too, baby. We’ll catch up.” He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed the top. She had the softest skin he’d ever felt, like plush velvet against his lips.

  “Okay.” She grinned, but didn’t look at him.

  Jesus, the cheeseburger was like a fuckin’ steak. He was famished. When he glanced over at Eve, she was pushing a piece of chicken around on her plate.

  “Talk to me, love.”

  Her shoulders rose and fell as she continued staring at the salad.

  “Where do we go from here?” She turned to him. “How does this work?”

  Jake pulled her stool closer to his and turned it so she faced him.

  “Eve, do you trust me?”

  Waving a hand at the hassock, she smiled up at him.

  “Obviously.”

  “No.” He put both hands on her knees. “I know you trust me that way, do you trust that I’m here to start a life with you?”

  Her shoulders dropped the slightest bit and she glanced down at the floor for a second.

  “Yes, but it’s only been two hours, Jake. I need more time and I’m—frightened. I’m scared once we get home and you go back to San Diego...” She shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “I get you’re scared and I know we’ve gotta log some time here, but I meant what I said earlier. You’re mine. You’ve always been mine.”

  She tilted her head to the side. “Can I ask you a question?”

  “Anything.” He looped her wet hair behind both ears.

  “What would have happened if I hadn’t wanted this? If I hadn’t wanted to try. That was a possibility. You had to know that coming here.”

  He nodded and framed her face. “I did, but that doesn’t change how I feel or what I want. I’d have dealt with it.”

  “Okay.” She sighed and turned her head back to the counter.

  “Eve.” He exhaled deep, unbuckled his watch and laid it on the counter. “Time for show and tell, baby.” He moved his stool away from the counter.

  She turned her stool around to him, her eyebrows pursed together. “What do you mean?”

  “You asked me earlier if I lost my mind in that tattoo shop... Do you remember the hotel room, when I had you kiss a piece of paper? I had you do it a few times.”

  She chuckled. “Yes, you even made me reapply the lipstick and do it until you had it the exact way you wanted it.”

  “What you said was right. At the end of twenty-four hours, I’d planned to let you go. Let you get on with your life here in New York. We both knew I couldn’t leave and you deserved more than an absent man. I wanted you to be happy. I knew the risk of losing you to someone else. That said, if that had happened, a part of you—what we’ve shared together—would always be mine. No matter who else came into our lives, if we were fated to be apart, we’d still be tied to each other.” Jake rested both hands on her knees.

  Eve raised her hands and framed his face. “I felt the same way. If I had to move on with my life, which eventually I hope I would have been able to do, I know in every part of what makes me…me, I’d never love another man as I do you. Ever.”

  Jake flipped his wrist over and laid the top of his hand on her thigh. “I had this inked a week after you left the hotel two years ago.”

  * * *

  Eve stared down at the tattoo on the inside of his wrist. Adrenaline exploded, barreling through her body with the force of an avalanche plummeting down the side of a mountain. A pressure close to pain, thumped against her temples. When it became too intense, it fractured. She fractured. The breakdown happened quick, as quick as whatever measure of time lies between seconds, and streams of tears flowed down her face to land atop his wrist, right in the center of a permanent replica of her lips.

  The tattoo was the exact color of the lipstick she’d worn two years ago. She still had the tube. Hadn’t worn the color since that night—put into the Jake-box along with everything else that reminded her of him. She’d boxed it all up, but couldn’t manage to part with any of it. Three black scripted words she didn’t know framed the kiss—για πάντα συνδεδεμένο, written in Greek. They mirrored the heavy black tattoo on his opposite inner forearm—μολών λαβέ, “come and get it.”

  “That’s—” She smoothed a finger around the plum-red mirror image of her kiss, down to the pronounced V of her top lip. “Those are my lips. It’s my—it’s my kiss,” she whispered, before glancing up at him. “What’s the Greek around it mean?”

  Jake reached for her, drawing her off her stool and helping her up to straddle his lap until their faces were a breath apart.

  “Forever bound. It means forever bound, baby.”

  Eve pulled away and grabbed his wrist, maneuvering his hand between them, while Jake steadied them both on his stool. Her wet eyes frantically searched his and her lips parted slightly.

  “Why? Why would you permanently put this on your body? Knowing there was a chance I could have said no?”

  Jake gripped her chin to hold her still and gently nipped at her bottom lip, before slipping his tongue inside. When she began to respond, he broke the kiss.

  “I only have the initials of females permanently mine on my body—Maddie and Kelsie are my daughters, my blood.”

 
He nodded to his wrist, now resting between them.

  “This, I had done knowing it would either be a tribute or a memorial. May not be my right, but it’s my claim. A part of you, of this rare, fucked up and beautiful thing that’s lived between us since we were too young to name—that would always belong to me. If you threw me out right now that wouldn’t change. You’d still be bound to me until they burn my ass and spread me out over the Pacific.”

  Eve went mute, her tongue grew heavy, her throat became so dry it hurt to swallow against the sandpaper-like lining. Coming to New York was a grand gesture on Jake’s part, but tattooing her lips with those words? It was a pledge. A permanent pledge that he valued her, what they shared, honoring the longevity of it.

  She hadn’t been just a moment to him.

  It wasn’t her name, but it was a part of her, forever on his body. His commitment to her, to the intense love between them, and he did it whether or not she decided to be his? It was better than her name, because it gave her a choice to acknowledge the claim he had on her and the love he was offering her.

  Moments. Important moments in life were funny things. In this moment, that unstable rumbly quake ready to hit whenever she was with Jake, the fear of him leaving and having their short time together be the last time she saw him, the fear of giving into him in a way she craved but denied out of sheer self-preservation, died. It just…died. She felt—clean. Cleansed.

  And something else roared awake.

  In place of the ever-present insecurity she’d experienced with him almost from day one, was a heat, a deep seated need, a drive to let the woman who only made short appearances with him out. Loose. Free.

  Wrapping her legs around his waist tighter, she hiked herself up higher in his lap. Tilting her head, she kept her eyes on his as she licked along his full lower lip. When he smiled, she took it between her lips, the whiskers of his beard tickling her cheek. As he tilted his head to deepen the kiss, she looped her hands around the nape of his neck and leaned back, rubbing her core against his hardening erection.

  He grabbed her hips, driving her down against him, and pulled her to him by the front of her shirt.