by Kiki Howell
"Ridiculously nice, in a mind-blowing sort of way, isn't it, miss," Jacob added, his low voice so close to a growl it sent shivers across her neck. "I somehow never get used to it myself. It tends to awe me no matter how many times I step into it."
He stopped talking abruptly, given his rush of words, only to look away from her with much the same haste to admire his own shoes. When she followed, the black loafers were nice, but nothing compared to looking at his face.
Shit, stop it! Just stop it! You are not going to carry on so about this guy. He's not going to be your savior. He can't be. Keep focused on...um...Ian, yes, Ian here. Your date.
"I thought you'd long become unimpressed with my wealth, Jacob," Ian stated, his good-natured teasing confirming them to be the best of friends, a condition she found, for some unknown reason, to begin to calm the sudden rush of butterflies in her stomach.
"I've grown used to it in a way, not surprised anymore, but not unimpressed either. Also, I must add, most of what you own is not to my taste, but not so much that I can't appreciate it for its beauty." Jacob followed with a boyish laugh after having stated the string of words in such a formal fashion.
"Jacob prefers his cabin out in the woods, where you can find him the few days I give him off from time to time. In opposition, the room I've given him to stay in on the other end of my penthouse, which tops the building I own, he didn't care for. Complained about so much, in fact, I let him redecorate it to his own caveman style" Ian said, as if a rebuff, still a light teasing, though the topic caught her interest.
"Oh, I'd love to live in a log cabin. In fact, my yoga studio is far outside of town in an old retreat house in a park. It is mostly wood floors, and walls, with great windows to view the woods that surround it," she nodded to Jacob.
Before he could answer back, Ian interjected, "How did you manage getting an old retreat house for your yoga studio? I did look it up."
"Persuasion. I'd gone to many a camp at this park growing up. I'm more the outdoor type over fancy private jets, no offense."
"None taken, but go on with your story," Ian said, though she caught herself looking at Jacob still and had to forcibly redirect her attention, much to her dismay, which unnerved her further.
"Well," she continued, trying to force her brain to form actual sentences, suddenly concerned with how she sounded, the impression she was making, "I found out through a friend that one old building, more just a large room that had a large entrance way to greet guests in, which had been built to be reserved for large gatherings, weddings, etcetera, because of it's location a bit off the beaten path, had not been used much in the past few years. So, I called up the park and made them an offer to rent it, at a reduced rate, for a year."
She stopped to catch her breath after the string of babbled phrases had escaped her, her cheeks flushing crimson again. She'd have physically kicked herself if possible. Instead, she attempted to realign her thoughts and continued on. She'd never found herself to be so talkative on a first date.
"Anyway, after some negotiating, they took my offer, let me hang a little sign on the door, and agreed to let me do some minor renovations before opening it up as a yoga studio. It has no direct access, as in you have a ten minute hike from the nearest parking lot to your car, but people seem to like the getting away feeling when coming to my classes. I specialize in a lot of restorative yoga along with meditation, although we do offer a few power flow classes and such here and there. While I have some regulars on monthly memberships, I get a lot of new customers, too, who have come to vacation in the park. Wow, sorry, listen to me go on. Get me started on my studio, and you will have to tell me to shut up."
"No, I'm impressed," Ian said, gesturing her toward the seats in the main cabin of the plane.
"I'm impressed that you have a fireplace along with a couch that looks comfier than the one I own, and several recliners in your plane," she offered, to return the compliment, worried she might have hurt his feelings not giving this impressive display of wealth it's due.
As she took a seat on the couch next to Ian, Jacob, who had taken one of the recliners, sitting forward, his arms on his massive thighs, interjected, "I would love to see your studio. Not that I know the first thing about yoga, other than I'm sure I can't bend that way, but still, the place itself sounds amazing." He stopped a second after glancing at Ian, before turning back to her to continue, "And, with that said, I shall butt out of your date, stop being the friend, and go back to just being a bodyguard. Enjoy your evening, you two."
"Thank you, Jacob," Ian said, amusement lighting his eyes as if to accuse them both of falling into Sylvia's plan.
Oh, hell no. Not that easy. This guy will not be my savior. I will not have one. I refuse.
Sensing a moment of animosity between the two, though slight, barely detectable to those who had not her gifts, or had not taken the time to refine them as she had, stopped her internal protests. She'd turned her body more toward Ian then, and had continued on in conversation with him for the remainder of the hour flight. It hadn't gone bad. The conversation had actually flowed easily. The appetizers and drinks served to them to hold her over until dinner had been phenomenal.
Actually, she'd have to admit, if only to herself, that so far, this had been the best fix up she'd been on in a long time. Not at all painful. Still, Ian was not her type exactly. But he appeared to be a genuinely nice guy. While they could carry on a conversation without issue, they had little in common. Open and accepting of others, they'd discussed and debated on different sides of issues without ever venturing toward argument. A rare trait in a man, especially one in a position of wealth, she assumed, though she hadn't met many, so she thought to dismiss the stereotype. In addition to the little they did have in common, she also could sense a mutual lack of attraction toward each other. This soothed the guilt she'd carried with her since agreeing to this preposterous plan. With every glance at Jacob, she wanted out of it before she became another check on Sylvia's list of successes. She refused to be that. She didn't want that. Sam found safety in focusing all of her attention on Ian when she could remind her wayward mind to do so.
To her dismay, out of the corner of her eye, she'd caught Jacob's subtle glances, catching them as if she could sense his attraction on the other hand. He'd spent the trip playing chess with another bodyguard he'd called Big Doom, or sometimes just Doom, which she figured had to be some sort of joke of a nickname that had stuck the way he used it, the specific inflection in the way he said the name.
At the end of their flight, a car and driver met them at the airport, another private one, though she'd been informed it not his this time but rather a friend's. Whisked away, by the time they pulled up outside of a rather secluded beach house, the hour had struck nine o'clock. She'd been warned ahead of time their dinner would be a late one. However, with the food on the plane so amazing, she wasn't what one would call hungry by the time they got there, but with the smell of the food being served to them the minute their asses hit the chairs, she figured she could always eat. Appetite had never been an issue for her. Besides, given the amount of classes she had taught that day, a teacher having called in at the last minute sick, she had earned every calorie she took in, not that she ever counted or cared really. She kept herself healthy, but being a lean, bendy yoga teacher had never been her thing. She prided herself on the fact that she made the women who came to her studio feel comfortable in their own skin, showed them that every body, regardless of size or shape, could benefit from the practice.
During the gaps in conversation at dinner, which had them seated at a table on a large deck overlooking the beach and ocean, she'd found herself finding Jacob over the overwhelming allure of the scenery. He stood, his back to them most of the time, looking down the beach, or out at the water She'd never felt more unsafe, not of an attack, but of her own thoughts, her own body. Both betrayed her where the man was concerned. While the ocean under the light of the moon, which danced over its waves, should have
been what took her breath away, she had barely noticed the beauty of the place. The sounds didn't soothe her at all either. Not tonight. The way Jacob's ass filled out the black pants he wore distracted her from what nature offered. The way his light white dress shirt clung to his muscles as the wind from the water blew it against him didn't help her plight. Honestly, sheer shock gave her pause as muscles had never really interested her before. Not that she couldn't appreciate a well-built body, just usually the guy owning them spoke, and she'd not wanted to touch them or anything.
She prayed that was it. Jacob had not really had much of a chance to talk to her, to ruin the attraction that tugged at her body's urges in ways she wished would subside. At this rate, by the time she made it home from this place, she'd be giving her toys a work out.
She'd dozed off staring into the fire on the flight back home from wherever it was they had been. Ian had evaded answering that question, she presumed because he assumed the mystic made him more desirable. By the time they'd reached the private airport again, a car with another driver, and two other bodyguards took her home.
After Ian had given her a small peck on the lips goodnight, Jacob had gone with him. They'd made another date, as in he agreed to have his secretary call her with the details, and she'd agreed to his terms per her agreement with Sylvia. To appease her mother, she told herself, though the flutters in her stomach at the prospect of seeing Jacob again, stole her sanity, her ability to rationalize anything in the ways she usually did.
As a means of self-defense, she continued to think through every man she'd met tonight whom Ian employed and who had muscles as this potential savior of hers apparently did. Any of them had to be a safer bet than Jacob. She had to force that sexy as sin panther from her mind. Besides, as most of Ian's employees were in his panther pride, most of them had muscles to spare, giving her many options to obsess through. At this point, she couldn't be sure if Jacob being her savior would be a blessing or a curse, but her gut feeling, the knot he'd left in her stomach, led her to believe the latter to be true.
Chapter Three
Sam stood beside Ian, only partially listening to the conversations going on around them. Instead, the decorations—linens and crystal on tables or flowers and ribbons hanging from everywhere else—caught her errant attention when she attempted to divert it to things other than muscle-bound men who attended this wedding in droves. Anyone could be him, anyone but Jacob.
After two weeks of dating Ian, rather platonically, she'd agreed to come with him to his cousin's wedding. While dates had gone along well enough, him always going out of his way to go over the top to impress her, taking the time to listen to her talk, and always being a gentleman, she got the distinct impression Ian wasn't all that into her either. Surely, from the emotions she could read from him, he felt the same. For now, she was good enough, a decent person to pass the time with. She didn't feel the guy would be crushed to lose her, other than for a way to pass the time. He seemed a genuinely good guy. He took care of all around him well, which was nice given the way he worked them all. He didn't demand, though, he asked, and no one ever said no. They didn't seem to want to.
All of these things made him a nice guy, a friend, but the attraction wasn't there. A few uneventful kisses were all he'd tried for, another indication he wouldn't care when they stopped dating. However, when asking her to this wedding, he did indicate he'd talked to Sylvia, who had encouraged him to continue dating Sam. He hadn't put this in a way that had made her feel bad, or even a charity case, so he had skills, ones that probably had made him such a success in business.
The only downside to these two weeks of dates had been her obsession with wondering who this savior could be, fearing who it would be. She'd found herself at constant odds with her own mind, fighting with herself about her attraction to Jacob. Whenever they'd gotten chances to talk, she found herself only wanting to talk to him more. Often, alone in the mornings trying to wake up or late at night trying to fall asleep, she'd remember conversations they'd had when Ian had received business calls, or some other immediate issue that couldn't wait. She'd actually grown grateful for Ian being so busy and having the opportunity to divert her attention to Jacob.
Standing here now, seeing Jacob standing just a few feet away, doing his duty, keeping an eye on Ian's surroundings, she let herself really look at the man. With the heated discussion going on around her, she figured no one could possibly notice her sidetracked attention from the man she'd come with. She could do two things at once anyway. She'd already figured out the gist of the conversation going down here.
While this was Ian's cousin, Trina's wedding, her parents were at odds with Trina's brother Jason for being in an interspecies relationship. Jason, a panther like Ian, of course, had been dating an eagle named Micah. She'd been around both groups now, Ian trying to mend fences in each to no avail. Right now, Jason stood to her right, all tan with chiseled cheekbones. With Micah to his other side, they did, even in human form, seem different, Micah being pale in contrast with a firm but leaner body and fair features. Still, they made a cute couple, she thought. Hell, she couldn't imagine what his family would say if Ian dared get serious with a witch.
As they continued to lay out plans to best win over the parents, she dared another look at Jacob. Her heart skipped a beat. Turned to the side, his longer black hair hung just past his shoulders, down for the day, yet slicked back and styled to go with his suit. Nothing, no amount of clothes, could hid his build, the thick muscles that roped beneath the material. Her body longed to be pressed against them, to feel the way his hardness would meld into her soft curves.
Her breathing coming in pants, she had to hide from the crowd around her. For just a few brief seconds, she let the realization come to the forefront of her thoughts that Jacob was the reason that she kept saying yes to dates with Ian. Feeling guilty, she turned that into anger aimed at Sylvia for putting her in this position on all fronts. She continued to date, longer than she had any other guy, a man she didn't like as a boyfriend, only as a friend. Safe, of course, still insanity prevailed there. And, she continued to go along with this ruse on the chance of seeing another man. Jacob captured her interest. She liked talking to him way too much. Plus, when they talked, she only wanted to touch in the worst way.
It couldn't happen though. She had to keep her distance. She would not let herself fall for a man. She wouldn't risk her heart on love, on someone else that life could take away from her. Yet, there were moments in his presence that she forgot her fears, ones that had paralyzed her for years, and let them be overridden by the possibilities of joy long term.
As a way to deal with this startling reality she'd hidden from herself, she went on the usual mental tirade of wondering who her savior could be if not Jacob. In her panicked mind, another option, another guy, any other guy around Ian would be a safer bet because she could still easily walk away, go on with her life as planned. If she let herself, she feared that touching Jacob would be her downfall. She'd fall helplessly in love, so out of character for the woman she needed to be.
So, checking off her mental list, something she'd gotten down to a science, she wondered about another of Ian's friends she'd met, one who didn't work for him, yet had been a bit creepy in her mind. In fact, this Will had sized her up upon their first meeting, not trying to hide the fact at all that he approved of Ian's current choice. He'd been a blockhead if she'd ever met one. So no, he had to be out, as he repulsed her. Sylvia couldn't be that far off her game.
That was it, wasn't it, at this point. Sam prayed that Sylvia, a woman with an impeccable record in matters of the heart and true life mates, would be off her game in regard to her. She didn't want to fall in love. She didn't want that in her life. Yes, she was attracted to Jacob, in a heart-stealing sort of way, but if she walked away now, made this her last date with Ian, surely she'd forget, in time, after just a few more sexual fantasies, that Jacob had ever existed, right? This had to be her and Ian's last date. In her mind, sh
e stomped her foot in front of the image of Sylvia, determined to call a halt to this whole insane setup and dating thing. She felt determined to end it tonight, right after her date to this wedding finished, no matter what anyone had to say about it.
She would never let her mother guilt her into this dating thing again. Right then and there, she followed that up by vowing to never talk to her mother's friend Sylvia again either. In the last few minutes, battling her own thoughts, her swirling hormones, she grew relentlessly determined to be Sylvia's best failure. Though to hear the woman speak, she'd never had one before. Goal in hand, in metaphorical, tightly clutched fingers, Ian's voice startled her, enough to make her gasp, realizing by the burning sensation that followed she'd been holding her breath. Again. The bad habit had become a frequent occurrence, as has immature thoughts of standing up to Sylvia and her mother. Of course, her teeth joined into ache, basically yelling at her for gritting them as well. With a sigh, she gave Ian her dazed and confused attention.
"Sam, honey, are you okay?" he asked, a look of genuine concern on his face, further breaking her heart for the series of thoughts she'd had once again, none of which favored him, this guy who had lavished attention and money on her while never anything but a gentleman. A nice, kind gentleman who didn't deserve this plan even if he'd agreed to it.
"Yes. I'm fine. Think I just need some air."
"Oh, good. Perfect timing then. I have a phone call I need to make, so Jacob can escort you outside."
Before she could protest, Ian had his hand on her back, escorting her toward Jacob who he'd simultaneously waved to come toward them with the hand he clutched his phone in. Seconds later, Jacob had fallen in step, his hand replacing Ian's on her back, her breath hitched despite the protest of her lungs. Jacob's hand caused a firestorm of her magic to swirl around his fingers. While she wondered if he noticed it too, a glance at him only showed his serious face looking ahead, scanning the area he took her into. To him, she was a job. He could be a savior, yes, and he would be, to just about anyone she figured. She didn't matter to him any more or any less than anyone else Ian would assign him to. Yet, the connection, the swirling energy tightening her core, making her wet with desire, threatened to prove her wrong. She so wanted to be wrong. Wait, no she didn't. She didn't know anything for certain anymore.