Adalyn was in trouble. Beth was running away and Jake was running right into the middle of everything, unprepared.
How did he know where to go? Had he been keeping in touch with them? Would he come home?
Please let him come home safely.
***
JAKE PARKED HIS Harley in Sydney’s driveway. He took a deep breath and the cool morning briskness stung his lungs.
He wasn't sure what he was going to say to Sydney when he opened her front door. He grabbed the box of muffins he’d picked up at Mrs. Calvert’s bakery. That hadn’t been his intention when he’d awoken in a panic, left the house and driven out of town. A few miles out his brain kicked in and asked him, Where the hell are you heading Jake?
When he didn’t have an answer with no leads to follow, he'd turned around.
It was still early. Sydney was an early riser but he hoped she wasn't up yet and he could sneak in like he had never left. Only he had a box of muffins. He felt like he wasn’t going to win today no matter what he did.
He unlocked the door with his key. His key. He'd always had a key to her house, as a friend. A friend. That’s what she wanted. Wasn’t it?
He shook away the thoughts and pushed the door open.
The house was quiet.
Sydney’s slim body leaned against the living room archway, sending his nieces and nephew a loving stare. The small hands that had pulled him away from her neck the night before, now cradled a mug. He wished he was that mug. He wanted to wake up beside her every morning and watch her slip into the silk robe that was now pulled around her body. He wanted to gaze into those sexy, sleepy eyes. They could cuddle. He wanted to cuddle with Sydney. They could have morning sex. Lord knew he wanted to have morning sex with her.
Jake shut the door with a little thud to snap away those thoughts.
Sydney looked surprised to find him standing in her doorway. She stepped away from the arch and stared at him as though she didn't believe he was really there.
He held out the box. “I stopped by Mrs. Calvert’s and picked up some breakfast.” That was half the truth.
Her grateful smile was beautiful. “Thank you.” How could she smile at him and thank him after the way he’d treated her the night before. His tone, his words had all been harsh and mean.
She didn’t move and neither did he. They were wrapped in the quietness of the early hour and he enjoyed every second of it, relaxing him, comforting him and he was felt like the day was getting better. Then she shook her head, as if waking her from the daze, and quickly took the box into the kitchen.
He followed and Sydney set a steaming mug of coffee on the table for him before sitting on the opposite side and pulling the muffin box open. She ripped pieces off and eating little bites, watching him closely.
“You're leaving today, aren’t you?” she finally asked.
“Yes.”
Her sad eyes fell to her hands ripping apart the muffin now with no intentions of eating it. “I will watch them while you are gone,” she offered.
He knew she would, but as she said the words he felt a wave of relief a wave of love for this woman. He wanted to apologize for the way he’d treated her the night before but the topic of Adalyn just seemed easier.
“I have to find Adalyn, whether she is alive or...” He couldn't even say it. He couldn't envision his sister, like his mother, a drug attic and alcoholic, or worse yet dead. That wasn't the woman he’d left at the station.
Sydney's chair scraped across the floor as she pulled it beside him. Her hand touched his knee and heat scorched through the denim to his skin. “What can I do to help?”
Why was she so good to him? “I don't know where to start looking. But I think Mia will.”
“You will have to ask her.” Sydney grinned. “She doesn't trust me.”
He chuckled and nodded. Mia had made it clear Jake was the only one she wanted to talk to.
“I need someone to watch the Cliff House if I’m not home tonight.”
“Joan will do it.” Joan never watched the night crew, so he might have to call Devon to manage it while he was gone. Devon had done a great job while they were gone and he didn’t know how long he would be gone this time. He didn’t even know where he was going yet.
“She will be pissed.”
“She will understand.”
Would she understand as the lady on the boat the past weekend of as the step-mother he had growing up? “She never understood. Why would she now?”
“She always understood. Stop looking at her like an angry teenager and you would see she was just a mother protecting her family. Even you and Adalyn. In her own way.”
Once he had seen her that way, but that was such a long time ago.
“I need to go home, shower and change.”
“Didn't you bring clothes?”
He’d forgotten. He nodded.
She wrapped her hand around his and stood. “You can use my shower.” Her shower. He liked the sound of that. He would like it even more if she stayed with him.
Jake didn't object to her guiding him out of the kitchen. He grabbed his bag from the hallway, not letting go of her hand, not wanting to. He knew where the downstairs bathroom was−through her bedroom.
The unmade bed taunted him as they passed where Sydney had slept the night away, unaware of the gruelling lack of sleep he had endured. His body longed to lie beside her. He was so exhausted, if she’d offered a rest with her at that very moment, he would have crashed against her unmade sheets and wrapped his arms around her.
Sydney let his hand go once they were inside the bathroom and started digging through the linen closet, pulling out towels which she neatly set on the counter.
He dropped the bag at his feet.
She turned and clasped her hands together sending him a shy glance. “So,” she said slowly. “Oh there's shampoo and body wash.” The words rushed out of her mouth and she pointed in the shower. “So I guess that's it.” She dropped her hands sucking in a deep breath and started out of the room.
As she passed him, he slipped his hand around hers and she stopped instantly. Her side pressed against his, creating a heat wave between them.
Sydney’s eyes closed and her lashes shadowed her skin. He watched her chest rise with a deep inhale.
He wanted to apologize for the night before, but the words would just not come out.
“She is my sister.”
“I know that. I understand. I’m not the same young girl I was then and you wouldn’t be the man you are today if you didn’t go look for them.”
He turned her to face him, leaving his hand wrapped around hers. His free hand ran up the silk sleeve, stopping on her warm throat. The front of the robe had opened revealing the light pink silk tank top and shorts.
She stared up at him with so many emotions it was hard to distinguish them. If only his face told her everything he felt, it would make life so much easier.
Then like someone else was taking over his body, more words he’d never spoken came out. “You're my family. I don't know if I've ever told you that.” He knew he hadn’t. “But you are my best friend. You've always understood me when no one else even came close. You've always stood by me. When I came back I was young and my dad had just died...I should have said sorry to you then. I should have done so much more than I did. Because you were my only friend. I'm sorry about last night.” Finally he could say it. “The way I man-handled you. No one should ever touch you like that. My glares, my tones, everything, Syd. I’m sorry. I don’t blame you for asking me to leave.”
A smirk pulled up the sides of her lips. He did not know what part of his apology amused her. “I would hardly call it man-handled.” She was giving him an excuse for his behavior and it was inexcusable.
He hadn't noticed she'd moved her free hand. It was now touching the side of his face.
“Stop punishing yourself. Your throat is pulsing like you're going to throttle someone...yourself. I didn't stop because you were man-h
andling me.”
He was afraid to ask why. Was it because she didn’t want him? He had to know.
“Why did you stop?”
Chapter Twenty-Four
SYDNEY TOOK A deep breath of air and all that filled her nostrils was the smell of Jake.
“Because you were venting.”
He looked hurt. “Is that your word for man-handling? Venting?”
“No. Oh, my gosh, Jake. No.” He was always so hard on himself and the horror she watched flash in his eyes made her forget the deeper reason.
She hugged him.
He was reluctant, but her arms stayed around his neck until his found her waist and she felt the weight of him fall against her. His head rested on her shoulder. His squeeze tightened. He whispered another apology through her hair.
“Last night was a lot,” she whispered back. “It was scary...it still is...and you were so upset. You were angry, scared and sad. I know it might sound silly to you but we waited all this time and then after the shower on the boat...it just felt familiar.” She sucked in a lungful of strength. “I thought you needed to sleep it off is all. I didn’t want you to leave, but I didn’t know what else to say. I didn’t want to be your venting post.”
His body stiffened. He pulled away and she was afraid he was going to walk away. Instead his hands cupped her face. “You are not my venting post. You are my support. You are my courage. You are sunlight on the darkest of my days. And I would never take you to bed without the intention of more.”
Where was all this coming from? The words were beautiful. Butterflies swirled in her stomach at his confession and she smiled.
“That was beautiful.”
He grinned, lightening the mood around them. “Don’t get too attached to it,” he teased as his warm hands roamed down her neck and touched her shoulders.
“I wouldn’t dare. Besides, it was a little sappy for me.”
He chuckled at her insult. “This is why I don’t talk.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh, so you do know that you are not a talker?”
He shrugged. “I’ve been told a few times.”
“You should do it more often. Look where it gets you.” Sydney slowly moved her hands to her shoulder and slipped her robe away. It fell to the floor. His hands immediately grazed her bare shoulders.
“Hmm, this is nice.”
She laughed and tugged at his shirt. He ripped it off letting her hands roam.
He kissed her then, softer, wanting and needing like the beginning of a brewing storm. No man-handling. His hands roamed under her shirt and against her bare skin.
No interruptions, she pleaded.
She knew he still needed a shower so she moved their melted bodies and reached in to start the warm water, but he stopped her.
He lifted her around her back and under her knees just as he’d done the night before they had been interrupted. He didn’t need any instruction this round, and took her to her bed lying her down.
“I want to do this right with you.”
She pulled him down to her lips. “It’s about time,” she teased.
***
SYDNEY TOWEL-DRIED her hair and slipped into a floor length summer dress before making her way down the hall.
They’d also ended up in the shower after lovemaking and she couldn’t begin to explain how wonderful it was. Sydney could still feel his fingers touching, his lips caressing, and his eyes roaming her body. She turned around feeling like they were still gazing at her. But he wasn’t behind her.
She shook her head, almost laughing at how silly she was being. Their lovemaking had been the most thorough body wash her skin had ever experienced.
She felt amazing. She felt alive. Jake was all in and the unity felt complete. She felt like dancing down the hall and spinning at the bottom of the stairs...
Joan's serious face halted her dance steps. Her arched eyebrows would have touched the ceiling if they weren't attached to her face. She eyed Sydney up and down suspiciously, taking in her wet hair and goofy smile.
Get it together. Sydney sobered. Too late.
“Where's Jake.” The accusation was clear and very different then when she’d passed them on the boat. She’d expected this reaction in the first place from Joan. There was no point in trying to hide the truth from her when Jake would be walking out any minute with damp hair, answering her allegation.
“He's dressing,” she said, quickly passing Joan to find something to occupy her hands with when really she wanted to scream and fall backwards into a pile of leaves like a child. It was July. There were no leaves. Maybe into a pool of water? Maybe just back into the shower with Jake...
“Where?” This woman always possessed a way of saying anything regardless of whether it was her business or not. Sydney loved her to the moon and back, but she could see why her and Jake butted heads. He was private: she was nosy.
“Down the hall.”
“In your bedroom?” She made the sentence sound so dirty.
Sydney nodded.
“Was he in the shower too?”
“Joan,” Sydney hissed, not mean but with a warning of surprise. She shouldn't be surprised.
“Well?”
“Well what?”
“You know what.”
She couldn't deny it. She didn't want to deny it. She was ready to step up with Jake. “Yes.”
Joan shook her head disapproving. “Sydney what are you doing?”
What I should have done a long time ago. She didn't answer.
“He will hurt you. That is what Jake Stow does. And do you want to drag Haylee into this? He’s her uncle. Do you want to mess that relationship up? Do you want to mess up the relationship you have with Jake? A sexual relationship will unquestionably mess up everything that you have worked so hard to maintain. He will hurt you.”
Sydney spun around. “Enough!” Her voice was so loud they both looked across at the sleeping children. They did not stir.
Where was all this coming from? It must be Beth’s visit jumbling her thoughts. Beth’s visit was jumbling everyone’s thoughts!
“That's not who he is. He will not hurt me. He would never hurt Haylee and deep down you know that. You invited him to Hastings Port. You saw us about to...” She flung her hands in the air, not wanting to say the exact words. “...on the boat and you said nothing. Because you know Jake, you love Jake and he loves you. I can see it even if you two can’t.”
Joan’s anger dropped and she looked sad. Sydney didn’t know what to think. Was she comparing him to his father? What had Henry done to Joan to make her not mistrust Jake so much?
“He will leave you for them,” she finally said. “I don’t know what it is about those Stow men, Sydney.”
Joan sighed and practically collapsed on a chair. It didn’t look like she had slept well either. It was a houseful of exhausted and confused people with emotions and feelings flapping around like a flag on a windy day.
“He will always leave you for them.” That’s what Sydney feared! She hated hearing the words from someone else’s lips. They made them so much more realistic and terrifying. Especially from Joan who looked like she was reliving a scary time in her life.
Sydney pulled a chair in front of Joan and took her trembling hands in her own. Joan was shaking her head so slowly it was hardly moving.
“Jake is so much like Henry. He’s strong, he’s determined, he is cautious and he loves his family unconditionally.”
That sounded just like Jake amazing.
“I know where you three were going that night.” Joan’s voice turned to ice and Sydney swallowed hard. “I know what Kyle got into his head, but you don’t know why, do you?”
Sydney shook her head. Sydney remembered Kyle pounding on her dad’s door, saying he was going to get Jake back. He gave her the option to come or stay home. She didn’t think twice about climbing into that car.
“He found out the truth.” The truth? The truth about what? Sydney didn’t dare ask. “Me and Kyl
e had a huge falling out. He was furious and when he took off, I called Henry. I knew he was going to you. Jake loved you and you loved Jake. Kyle knew if Jake saw you he would come home.” Sydney remembered by the time they got to the car Henry was in the driver’s side and he wasn’t happy, but he agreed to go. He agreed to drive. Then there were all the accusations and the yelling. They never clearly said anything and Sydney couldn’t even remember what passed between them. She only remembered the crash.
“Why are you telling me all this now?”
“I love you Sydney. I love Haylee. I even love Jake.” Joan snorted, but Sydney already knew she did. “I want you to be happy and I know Jake makes you happy. I have watched you two for ten years try to ignore your feelings and finally, I thought, ‘This boy is good. This boy has grown up, he’s left that part of his life.’ I thought. ‘He’s good for Sydney. He is good for Haylee.’”
Sydney squeezed her hands. “He is good for me Joan. He is good for all of us.”
Joan ignored her. “Then Beth showed up and it was like I was looking at Henry. I’ve been where you are and I know he makes you feel safe...special, but in the end, they win. In the end he will fight for them until his death.” Joan looked up at her. “Like Henry.”
“Wasn’t it worth it? To love Henry and have him love you as long as he could?”
“Yes.”
Sydney breathed in relief.
“But you’re still young, Sydney. You could have a guy that won’t chase after demons in his past.”
Sydney didn’t want that guy. Sydney wanted Jake.
“Thank you Joan for sharing with me. I respect your opinion, but I don’t want another guy.”
For the first time in ten years, Sydney knew with all her heart that Jake was the man she couldn’t live without.
“I know.”
“It doesn't have to be me or them,” she said.
“I’m scared for you.”
“I’m scared for Jake. You should be too. You know what he’s getting into, don’t you? You know what this is about and you’re afraid he’s going to get hurt.”
Lakeshore Love: The McAdams Sisters (By The Lake Book 3) Page 16
