My heart and soul have spent the last twenty-four hours trying to find a path for us. A way we could hold onto what I thought we were building. Never in a million years did I ever dream he’d say this. Because now … now there is no path to take. I’ve been teleported directly to the destination. No matter what has happened or will happen in the future, I’ll be Jake Maverick’s forever.
“I am madly in love with you,” I whisper as I blink back tears.
“Then will you let me inside? I’m about to drown out here,” Jake says softly and I laugh. It’s wildly jarring but so is this entire conversation, in the best possible way. I move to the side, and Jake’s giant body slips into my hallway. I close the door behind him and then I walk right up to him and wrap myself around his soaking wet body. My arms loop his neck and pull his lips down to mine but before the kiss can start, he speaks. “I love you too, by the way.”
“I got that message. Loud and clear,” I reply. He’s so wet and now I am too, and I don’t care. I kiss him, slowly, languidly, and it’s perfect, just like we are. He wraps his arms around me and hugs me tightly to his body, my feet lifting off the floor. My stitches start to ache and I wince against the kiss so he puts me down.
When our lips slip apart, he buries his face in my neck. “I have to let you go. We both need dry clothes now. And to talk about the whole Aspen thing.”
“Or no clothes. That’s always an option,” I tell him, my lips ghosting over the side of his long, thick neck. “And we can talk after.”
“See Tink, you’re full of good ideas,” Jake replies arms still holding me up as he walks us back to my bedroom.
We undress each other, and touch each other’s naked bodies, with a new level of intimacy. Because we’re both laid bare in so many new ways. And as we tangle in the sheets, the rain water making our skin slick, turning to sweat as we lead each other to climax with our hands and our mouths.
An hour later, I’m curled up beside him, my head on his chest listening to his heartbeat, and my fingers trail across his abdomen. My heart clenches every time it glides over one of the puncture-type wounds healing from the operation. If we stay together until we’re old and gray, I don’t know if that will ever stop happening, that pinch of gratitude and guilt.
“So… Aspen…”
“I know the baby isn’t yours,” I say and tilt my head on his chest to look up at him, hooking my leg over his massive thighs as I do. “Aspen and I talked it out.”
“All of it out?” Jake questions.
“Yeah. I … I think I forgive her,” I say quietly. “And I forgive you. I mean you don’t need it, actually. I understand you couldn’t violate her trust.”
“Thank you for understanding,” Jake says softly. “It’s her whole life that gets changed by this kid. And yeah, it would be mine too but only by choice. That’s how it is for men, so I couldn’t flip the switch on that change before she was ready. And I trust you, Terra. Even though you two had issues, I knew you wouldn’t say anything, but if I told you I was scared I’d lose what we were starting.”
“I’d have been hurt, angry, jealous. But I would have found my way back to you,” I confess, my voice a whisper. “I belong with you, Jake.”
“You do,” he pulls me up, closer to his face and kisses me. Our tongues tangle lazily. When he breaks the kiss, he reaches up and pushes my overgrown bangs out of my face. “Also, I belong to you, Terra. I always have even when I was too scared to admit it. A child wasn’t going to change that.”
“Are you sad the baby isn’t yours?” I ask, holding my breath because I don’t know what I want the response to be.
His hand stops making lazy circles on the base of my spine. His eyes hold mine as he speaks. “No. Terra, I’ve never wanted children. I would have been there for this kid one hundred percent if it was mine and I would have loved him or her, truly I would have. But I don’t feel loss because it wasn’t something I was hoping for or trying for. Does that make me an asshole?” He’s searching my face, nervous energy radiating off of him.
“Do you remember when I was almost kicked out of school because I refused to do that stupid baby project?”
Jake smiles. “The one where they gave us those creepy electric dolls that would cry and fuss and we had to pretend we were parents for seventy-two hours? And you refused to participate even though they threatened you with suspension and your mom grounded you.”
I nod. “I didn’t want kids back then. That was why I did it. I didn’t think it was fair to force someone to do something, to pretend they were a parent, when they knew in their soul that they would never be.”
“But you were sixteen.”
“Yeah. When did you know you didn’t want kids?”
“Always.”
“Exactly,” I climb up so I’m lying flat on top of him skin-to-skin. “In the end, they didn’t expel me because I gave them some five page research paper I wrote filled with the statistics and complications of women with lupus having children. Mom even ungrounded me when she read it. But that was just a convenient excuse. Fact is, I just never wanted them. I still don’t.”
He kisses me again, slowly, lightly, but it lights a fire in me anyway.
“Of course, that doesn’t mean I want to stop going through the baby-making motions.”
“Oh no, we shouldn’t stop that. It’s a good skill to have,” Jake says laughing. “We should practice it a lot as soon as the doc gives us the go-ahead, which better be soon, or I will lose my Terra-loving mind.”
He wraps his arms tighter around me. Holding me to his chest, he whispers into my ear, “You’re my everything, Tink. All I will ever need.”
And my heart wants to burst. I had no idea, none at all, when he walked back through the door of the lobster shack that he would save my life in so many different ways.
Epilogue
Jake
It’s usually fun working the town’s Halloween party. I remember my first couple of years when I started at the fire department in Ocean Pines it was one of my favorite events, like Illumination Night but better because the kids were adorable in all their costumes. There were a bunch of events in the center of town at the gazebo and the local businesses gave out candy. We did too from the firetruck and let kids sit in the driver’s seat.
But tonight … tonight was pure and utter hell. Because I was working seven p.m. to seven p.m., and at five o’clock the surgeon gave me the all-clear for full duty and all other strenuous physical activities. Including sex. And yeah, I asked it bluntly, because I wanted the answer to be clear. But there was no time to find Terra, who had had her appointment earlier in the day and was also cleared. So we had to wait another twenty-four hours.
Logan is off tonight but he shows up with River who is the absolute most adorable Han Solo I have ever seen. Of course he’s got his favorite sidekick, Chewie, with him and he’s dragging that Ewok stuffie I gave him as well as a little black bucket filled with candy already. “You should have dressed up as Leia,” I tell Logan who gives me a look that says ‘fuck off’.
“I told Daddy to be Jabba the Hut but he said no,” River informs me and I laugh and bend to scratch Chewie behind the ears.
“Your dad would be the best Jabba ever,” I announce and Logan’s ‘fuck you’ look gets stronger.
“Riv! Your grandpa is dressed up as a lobster!”
I lift my eyes from Chewie and my frustration at working turns to pure rage. Terra is walking across the street to the fire truck in a costume. She’s dressed up as Tinkerbell. But not the cute, goofy looking Tinkerbell she was dressed as at seven. She’s dressed in a much more adult version. Nothing too sexy, just a glittering short green dress and a pair of sparkling sky blue wings. She’s got on heels, and her dirty blonde hair is piled up in a little bun with sparkly makeup on her face, and she looks incredible. I want to lift her off those heels and fuck her against the side of the truck right this very second, which is absolutely not going to happen. Fuck my life.
“Ja
ke, babe, you look totally flustered,” she comments, pure fake innocence dripping off her words as she bats her eyelashes.
Logan groans. “Come on Riv. Let’s go see Grampy.”
“You look pretty Auntie!” River proclaims.
“That’s an understatement,” I reply.
Logan glares at me. “Do not have sexual thoughts about my sister in front of me.”
He growls it low enough and so close to my face that River doesn’t hear. I smile and reply. “Sorry. Too late.”
“Barf,” Logan takes River’s hand and Chewie’s leash and walks off toward the restaurant. Terra sticks around, smiling smugly at me.
“You are making the next twenty-four hours impossible,” I tell her.
I walk over to kiss her cheek but she puts a hand on my chest and stops me. “There’s time for that later. You have somewhere to be right now.”
“I do?”
“You need to head over to city hall,” she points to the big red brick building on the other side of the town square. “The battalion chief loves our lobster bisque, clam roll combo. He comes in once a month to grab it when he’s out this way meeting on committees in Portland. Yesterday was that day, and I couldn’t help but explain to him how one of his officers saved my life.”
“Terra…” I’m conflicted about the idea that she got involved in my work problems.
“He’s not from around here, Jake. He’s works in Augusta so he hadn’t seen Mrs. Green’s blog, and apparently you didn’t tell them why you postponed the first interview,” Terra gives me a brief but stern look of disapproval. “Anyway, now he knows and Aspen also called him and explained she was having a pregnancy emergency, and you came to help her over the interview and, well, he agreed to have an informal interview with you tonight.”
“I can’t … Are you serious?”
“She’s serious,” Captain D’Amato walks up beside us. “He’s here with one of the other battalion chiefs who would have also been at your interview, so get your ass to City Hall, first floor conference room, and have a little chat.”
“Like this?” I look down at my work clothes. They both nod.
“Go, Jake! There isn’t going to be a third chance,” Cap says in his sternest Cap voice. I nod and with one last look at Terra, who gives me an encouraging smile, I jog across the square.
The interview seems to go well, all things considering, but the rest of my shift is torture. I just want to be with Terra. The next evening, when it finally ends, I drive straight to Terra’s apartment as I call her on speaker phone. “Tink,” I say as soon as she answers. “It’s sex time.”
I hang up without giving her a chance to respond. I take the stairs to her place two at a time and not only did she get up, but she beat me to the door and has it open before I can knock. And she’s wearing that damn costume again. Holy shit.
“Any word on the interview?” she asks as my feet hit the landing.
“I told you last night. It went well,” I remind her. “It’s gonna take time to hear anything more, but I’m confident. And now let me thank you for making that happen. And for wearing this outfit again.”
I scoop her up and kick the front door shut behind us. I press her up against the wall and kiss her, my tongue sweeping into her mouth. I’m pushing my hard cock into her and she’s rocking back against it while she pulls at my shirt, trying to yank it off.
“You have to tell me if anything is too rough,” I pant. “We can go as soft and slow as you need.”
“What I need is to be fucked, long and hard, Jake,” she whispers against my ear before sucking the lobe into her mouth and giving it a little nip.
I move us off the wall and carry her into the living room, almost knocking myself out on all her sloping ceilings. This apartment is smaller than a clown car for a body as tall as mine, but right now it doesn’t matter, all that matters is getting inside her. I hate taking that costume off her because fuck, it’s hot, but I do. Because naked Terra is my ultimate fantasy.
I lay her bare on the couch and undress standing above her. She watches me with rapt attention and her fingers find their way between her legs. Watching her touch herself as she watches me undress is making my body turn to fire. I’m ready to explode just rolling on the condom. I crawl on top of her but after a long, deep kiss she pulls back. “Let me take the lead.”
I nod. She tells me to get up, I do, and she gets up too and then pushes me down onto the couch and says. “Lie down.”
Then she climbs on top of me and turns to face my feet and without hesitation, lowers herself down on my cock. I watch her ride me, and hold her hips, but she’s too far away, so I sit up, wrap my arms around her and cup both her breasts, rolling her nipples between my fingertips and peppering her back with kisses. Her hips move faster. I am tingling everywhere. I move one hand past her belly to her pussy and find her clit. She lets out the hottest little moan and her back arches and she comes. I can’t, I won’t, without seeing her face. So I pull out when her hips slow and flip her around and push her down on my cock again. I tip my head down and our lips meet and then our foreheads press together and I force my eyes to stay open as I come so I can see her. My girl. The one that got away, the one who let me come back.
Acknowledgments
Thank you to my husband, Jack, who refuses to let me give into imposter syndrome or fear. Love you. Thanks to my mom and dad for never telling me to go outside and play when I was a kid, holed up in my room reading or trying to write. And for taking me to Maine every summer of my life. Thanks to Sarah Jillain, AKA the Beast of Fryman, for being my confidant, cheerleader, beta reader and gut-check. Thank you to my agent Kimberly Brower for all she has done and continues to do for me on this wild journey.
Thank you to all the established, brilliantly talented indie authors who let me email them with a million newbie indie questions. I could not have done this without you Lex Martin, Sarina Bowen, Stephanie Kay, Rebecca Jenshak, Kat Mizera, Jami Davenport, Tiffani Lynn, DeAnna C Zankich and so many more I’m sure I’m missing because my brain is fried. But please know, if I missed you here I’m still overwhelmed with gratitude. Massive love to Jen Obirek, her man, and the late, great Lisa B. Kamps who answered all my firefighting Qs. Katie Kenyhercz, thanks for your amazing editing work on all my messy drafts. Claudia Fosca Stahl, thank you for lending me your sharp eyes. I am forever grateful. The hardest part of writing an 85k novel is the eight to ten sentences on the back cover so thank you to Romance Rehab for the blurb help. And Mignon Mykel at Oh So Novel, thank you so much for your cover magic.
Thank you to the readers – extra big shout-out to those who jumped on the ARC team - but all of you have given me the strength and courage to believe in my storytelling and share it. I hope you enjoyed Terra and Jake’s story and the Ocean Pines world. There is more to come…
Other books by Victoria Denault
Blindsided
The Hometown Players series
The San Francisco Thunder series
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The Fall We Fell: A Small Town Friends-to-Lovers Romance (Ocean Pines Series Book 1) Page 25