by Karen Booth
“At Christmas?”
“Sure. You know, people who weren’t able to celebrate with their own families, for whatever reason. She never wanted anyone to be alone, but especially not on that day.” Sophie hopped over to the pantry and got a box of water crackers then took a small silver serving tray that was tucked back in a cabinet. “What about you? Do you still go home to San Diego?”
Jake brought his findings from the refrigerator. “I’ve never gone back.”
“What? Never?”
“Aside from a business trip a few years ago, I haven’t gone back.”
Sophie leaned against the counter and stared at him, trying to understand what could possibly keep a person away from home. “But that’s where you grew up, right?”
“It is. But I don’t have deep ties to it. It’s just a city.”
“What about your family?”
He cast his sights down at the floor for a moment. “I don’t like to talk about it. We should get you back to someplace where you can sit.”
Sophie’s brain and mouth were now engaged in a tug-of-war—she wanted to ask more questions, badly, but the tone of Jake’s answer made it clear this was not a topic he cared to discuss. “Okay. The champagne flutes are in the bar in the sitting room.”
Jake carried their impromptu meal on the tray, while Sophie improved her one-foot mode of travel, again using the wall for balance.
“How’s the injury?” he asked.
“It’s throbbing a lot less, so I guess that’s good.” Sophie stopped at the bar, which was right inside the entrance to the room, and with both glasses in one hand, she hopped back to the couch. “This is really going to suck if I can’t wear cute shoes to work. It’s a big part of my look.”
Jake sat next to her and peeled the foil from the champagne bottle. Sophie had forgotten what nice hands he had—large, but nimble. “I noticed. Those shoes you were wearing the other day were pretty spectacular.” He popped the cork perfectly, leaving only a tiny wisp of fizz escaping the bottle.
“You noticed?” she asked as he filled her glass and handed it to her. Of course, she’d remembered the way he’d looked at her. She remembered every time he admired her so openly, mostly because it hadn’t happened very often.
“How could I not? You have amazing legs. The shoes were the very sexy icing on the cake.” With his own glass filled, he turned to her. “To Eden’s. Come what may, I wish you nothing but success.”
She was painfully aware of her own wariness as a smile crossed her lips. She found it hard to believe that he truly wished her business well. It was in his own interest for her to fail. She took a sip of champagne to dull the reality. The pop of golden bubbles tickled her nose, leaving her light-headed, although it might have been more the effect of Jake than the champagne. “You’re smooth, Jake. No wonder you’re so successful.” She reached over and nabbed a cracker from the box, taking a bite.
“I am not smooth. I’m just me. And I didn’t feel smooth in your office the other day. I felt like a bungling idiot.”
She laughed quietly. “The flowers were a bit over the top. Beautiful, but a bit much.”
He shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. “A big miscalculation on my part, but I was trying to get your attention.” Jake reclined and draped his arm across the back of the sofa, tempting her to relax in a similar fashion, but that would only put her in a position to curl into him. She didn’t trust herself.
“You got my attention with the sneak attack of the comment about the kiss. I never saw that one coming. You caught me completely off guard.”
She could only imagine what the surprise on her face had looked like at that moment. It had been the very last thing she’d thought he would bring up, made all the more powerful by the sheer magnitude of the memory. That first kiss had been so momentous it was as if her entire world shifted. Since then, it had only become more cinematic in her head, a movie that clicked by frame by frame and filled her with both happy thoughts and bad memories whenever she revisited it. The jubilation when their lips had first met and she finally had her taste of the man she’d wanted for so long? She still couldn’t wrap her head around how good that had felt.
“If it makes you feel any better, I never planned on saying that to you, especially not in your office. It was about the most unprofessional thing I’ve ever done. I guess that just shows you what a disadvantage I was at that day.”
Sophie downed the last of her champagne. “You’re never at a disadvantage. You knew it would put me off my game.”
Jake finished off his first glass as well, then poured them each a refill. “I only said it because I was standing there trying to figure out how to remind you that there had once been a time when we got along great. And I looked at you and the instant I saw your lips, I thought about the kiss. You can’t deny that was a kiss for the ages.”
“I don’t deny it. At all.” The flood of warmth in her body that came from thinking about the kiss only made her angry. And you threw it all away.
“I still think about it sometimes.”
Sophie narrowed her sights on him. Was that an actual blush of pink on his cheeks? “You do?”
“Well, sure.” He took another drink and leaned forward, placing the glass on the coffee table. When he sat back, his hand brushed hers, which was planted on the sofa between them. He pulled his away, leaving her nothing but painfully aware of his effect on her. An instant of touching and he’d stoked the fire inside her, the one that had always burned brightest for him. “Don’t you?”
Of course she did. How could he be so clueless about what it had meant to her? She still thought about that kiss and everything that had come after it. She’d thought about it more in the last few days than was probably healthy. “I know what you’re doing. You’re reminding me of the good and glossing over the bad.”
“I’d like to think I’m taking advantage of a chance neither of us ever knew we would have. We’re in this beautiful house together. The snow is coming down. There’s a fire crackling away. We’re drinking champagne and enjoying each other’s company.”
Was that all this was? What did he want from her? The truth of it, not just what he’d said to make himself look good. Her head was filled to the brim with contradictory answers to both questions. She wanted Jake just as much as she’d wanted him all those years ago. She wanted him as much now as the night he finally gave in. That night was sheer heaven—dozens of tightly held fantasies brought to life. She would have given anything to revisit that feeling, when the world and future felt wide open.
“I should go to bed.” She steeled herself and got up from the couch. She had to save herself before she did something dumb and embarrassed herself. It would be too easy to give in to his touch and give away what little power she had.
“You sure? It’s early.”
“I’m sure.”
“Let me help you up the stairs.” Jake stood and offered his arm.
She should have refused it, but the truth was that she wasn’t entirely steady. Mentally or physically. “Okay. But I need to get back on my own two feet tomorrow.”
“There’s no reason to push it. You have time.”
As promised, he helped her up the stairs. Not a word was uttered. Jake was performing his duty and Sophie was too busy dying on the inside. Why did she have this weakness for him? And if she was meant to suffer with that for all eternity, why did he have to come waltzing back into her life? It didn’t seem fair. Why couldn’t she find a regular man, one to whom she was attracted a normal amount, one she could count on to stick around?
“Thank you,” she said when they arrived at her bedroom door. “I can take it from here.”
“I can help you to the bed.”
Sophie closed her eyes and wished for strength. “I’m fine hopping my way around.”
She let go of his arm, but his ha
nd immediately went to her shoulder. “Sophie, wait.”
Her eyes clamped shut again. “What?”
“Downstairs. I thought we were having a good time.”
“We were.” She swallowed hard and looked at him, wondering if she had the guts to be truly honest and say what needed to be said. “But then your hand touched mine and I started to lose my mind.”
“I wasn’t trying to make a move, if that’s what you’re suggesting.”
“Then why even bring up the kiss? Why mention it in my office the other day?”
“Because I have incredibly fond memories of that moment. I guess I don’t see the harm in being open about the way I feel about it.”
Sophie’s knees wobbled. If she needed any evidence that she acted erratically when it came to Jake, that reaction was absolute proof. “I don’t want you to hide your feelings. But it would be nice if you could acknowledge that when you’re traipsing down memory lane, you’re digging up an awful lot of painful things for me.”
Jake nodded slowly, taking it all in. “I never want to make you feel bad. That’s not my intention.” His hand was still on her shoulder and his thumb brushed back and forth. “Maybe now is the time to talk about it. Were there things you wished you’d said to me then that you want to say now?”
Sophie unleashed a breathy laugh, if only to relieve some of the pressure built up inside her. How do you tell someone in a single breath that you’re mad at them, but you still want them? How do you tell a man that if he wanted you, you were exactly dumb enough to forgive him? “I lied when I said it was fine that you wanted to go back to being friends. I wanted more then. A lot more.”
“Oh.” His forehead crinkled with concern and more than a bit of genuine confusion.
“Honestly, I thought you were being stupid. But I also wasn’t about to argue with you. I didn’t want to have to stand there and make a case for your liking me. That’s not how it works.”
“I’ve always liked you. I still like you. But it feels like you hate me.” He inched closer, almost imperceptibly, but Sophie would have noticed if a single hair on his head had shifted. She was that hyperaware of everything he did.
“I don’t hate you. I want to, but I can’t.”
Now it was his turn to laugh. “That bad, huh?”
She stared up at the ceiling. “Yes. I’m pathetic. I look at you and all these old feelings rush back like they never went away. I’m in the same room as you and I want you just as badly as I did before. Maybe more.”
Jake slowly slid his hand from her shoulder down the back of her arm, stopping at her wrist. He rubbed the tender underside with the pads of his fingers. Back and forth in a lazy yet steady rhythm that made Sophie dizzy. The man’s hands were magic. “So we’re in the same boat. I wanted you the instant I saw you in your office the other day.”
“You did?” Red-hot heat flooded Sophie’s cheeks. Her breath caught in her chest.
Jake looked right at her with those intense green eyes of his. She felt a little like he was looking right through her. He cupped the side of her face with his hand. It took every ounce of strength not to smash her body against his.
“It’s not just because you’re beautiful, either. It’s more than the big brown eyes and perfect skin and beautiful hair. It’s more than your unbelievable body. It’s the spark that’s inside you. It’s the crazy things that come out of your mouth.” He swiped his thumb across her lower lip, sending want through her. He inched closer until they were standing toe to toe, now cupping the back of her neck, his fingers curling into her nape. “I loved being able to carry you. I loved having my hand brush yours and seeing the reaction on your face. It all made me want more.”
Sophie stared at his full lips. Did she have the nerve to say what she wanted to? If she said something daring and it led them to bed, could she live with it if he rejected her again? Surely that was the path before them right now. She might get a night with Jake Wheeler, but she’d never get a lifetime. “Why should I believe you?”
He reached down for her hand and then did something Sophie never expected. He took it and threaded it under his sweater, holding her palm flat against the center of his chest. “Do you feel my heartbeat?” he asked.
Indeed, she did. She also felt the warmth of his skin and the firm muscles of his chest. She didn’t have words, so she nodded, never taking her eyes off him.
“Good. Now feel how it changes.” He raked his fingers through her hair and pulled her closer, planting his lips on hers. He took his time with the kiss, soft and sensuous, silently begging her tongue to tangle with his. All the while, he kept her hand pressed hard against his chest.
Sophie closed her eyes, leaning into him, wanting to keep her hand pinned between their bodies. She curled her fingers into his chest, but she never let her palm move. She felt what he wanted her to. His heart was thumping wildly. She was doing this to him. He really did want more.
“See what I mean?” He kissed her cheek softly, then her jaw and finally her neck.
“I do,” she whispered, tilting her head to one side to grant him full access, thinking she might reach her peak from this alone. His mouth on her body felt so impossibly good.
He gathered her hair in his hands and pulled it to one side, leaning into her ear. “Told you I wanted more.”
“That’s what I want, too.” It felt so good to say it.
Jake swept Sophie up into his arms and made the quick journey to her bed, laying her down on the butter-soft bedding, still rumpled from her nap. She scooted back and curled a finger, wanting him closer, wanting his body weight on top of hers.
He reached for the hem of his sweater and pulled it up over his head. Sophie sucked in a sharp breath. She loved Jake’s chest, and after eight years she was not disappointed. He’d clearly spent much of that time at the gym. He was muscled and taut, with contours that just begged to be explored. He sat on the edge of the mattress and stretched out next to her, lying on his side, kissing her like this was everything he wanted. His hand slipped under her cardigan, pushing it from her shoulders. He rolled to his back, pulling her along with him. She straddled his hips and wrestled her sweater from her arms, tossing it to the floor.
“I love that you’re already dressed for bed, but I want to watch you take off your top.” Jake’s voice shook Sophie to her core.
She crossed her arms and peeled the garment up the length of her torso. She hadn’t been wearing a bra that whole time, and her nipples, already hard from the simplest of Jake’s touches, became impossibly hard when the cool air of the room hit her skin.
Jake groaned his approval and had his hands all over her, cupping both breasts and squeezing. With a tug, he urged her to lower herself until he had one nipple in his mouth. His lips were soft on the firm bud, but his tongue was insistent, swirling in circles that made Sophie feel as though she was already about to burst. She rotated her hips back and forth, rubbing against the firm ridge in his pants. Another gravelly affirmation came from his throat, and Sophie closed her eyes as he moved his mouth to her other breast, repeating those same mind-blowing moves.
As amazing as this all was, she wanted him naked, and if she were being honest, these pajama pants she was wearing were getting in the way, as well. She slid back on his legs, unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans while he tucked his hands back behind his head.
“Feel like you need a rest?” she asked, only half joking.
“No. I just like watching you.”
She smiled and tilted her head to the side, her hair falling across her shoulder. She peeled back his jeans and his black boxer briefs, until they were just past his hips. As soon as she wrapped her hand around him, she knew exactly how hard he was for her. She would have been lying if she’d said it didn’t make her immensely happy to know that she could still have this effect on him.
His eyes were closed, his head fitful on the p
illow and his back arching as she took long, firm strokes with her hand. “That feels so good,” he muttered.
Another smile crossed her lips. She loved pleasing him. “Yeah?” She lowered her head and pressed soft kisses against the flat plane of his stomach, keeping her grip and caressing.
“I want you, Sophie. I want you now. But I don’t have a condom with me. I didn’t exactly plan for this.”
She loved the subtle begging tone of his voice. “I have a few in my bathroom.” She hopped down and traipsed into the bathroom, opening a drawer and getting what she came for.
“I’m not sure if I should be happy that you’re so prepared,” Jake called from the bedroom. He was sitting up on the edge of her bed when she returned. His jeans and boxers had thankfully landed on the floor.
“I hate to break this to you, but there were other men in my life after you.”
He gave in to his adorable frown. “I’ll pretend that you didn’t say that. Now come here.”
Sophie stepped between his legs, still wearing her silky pajama pants, but nothing else. Jake gripped her hip with one hand while untying the tie at her waist. He poked a finger beneath the waistband and loosened it until her pj’s slumped to the floor.
Standing before him, totally naked, she was struck by how surreal this all felt. She’d never thought she’d ever have Jake again. Not once had she dared to truly believe it could happen. And yet here he was. Looking so handsome she could hardly comprehend it.
He lowered a hand to her knee and dragged his palm up the length of her thigh, turning inward as he went. When his fingers found her center, Sophie dragged in a deep breath and held it, waiting to see what he would do. His other hand pulled her closer until her knees were pressed against the mattress, while his fingers moved in determined circles and his mouth, wet and hot, traveled all over her stomach.
Sophie closed her eyes and let her head drop back, giving in to the sensation, letting Jake take her wherever he wanted to take her. She combed the fingers of one hand into his thick and silky hair, rubbing his scalp, wanting him to feel even a small measure of the pleasure he was giving her. The pressure was building in the most delicious way, but she couldn’t deny that she wanted all of Jake, not merely his hands or his mouth on her body. She wanted them joined.
