by Jill Shalvis
really great person but had a very different life from Sophie. Different life, different needs.
And what are my own needs exactly?
Her alarm went off again.
“You have another sister to call?” Jacob asked.
“No, that’s my get-my-ass-ready-for-work alarm,” she said, and got out of bed.
Jacob came up on one elbow, hair mussed, eyes heavy-lidded and sexy, the sheet slipping down to his lean hips, watching in amusement as she raced around putting on her clothes, swearing a little when she hopped into her sweatpants and nearly fell over.
“What’s today’s temp job?” he asked, smirking, the sexy ass.
“I’m going to be a sous chef for a lunch shift. The regular took a few days off.”
“Really?” He looked impressed. “You’re a chef?”
She shrugged. “I love to cook. And I’m good at it.”
“What restaurant?”
She hesitated. “Cooking tacos at Paco’s.” Where the hell had she kicked off her shoes?
“The Mexican taco truck that parks at the City Building?” Jacob asked.
“Yep.”
He stared at her for a beat and then laughed.
She stopped looking for her shoes and went hands on hips. “I know you’re not laughing at me because I’m as white as they come and everyone else at Paco’s…isn’t.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he said, and got out of bed.
Naked, he stalked her, catching her up against his dresser, pinning her in, nuzzling his face against hers until his mouth brushed her ear. “Think of me today,” he said in a voice that was pure sex.
“Wh-what should I think of?”
“About where my mouth was a few minutes ago,” he whispered, and slipped a hand between her legs.
Her knees wobbled. With a chuckle, he caught her. “I’ll be thinking about how good you tasted.” He sucked her earlobe into his mouth, and she shivered.
“I can’t cook and think about sex,” she said. Liar, liar…
“Try. You can practice right now. What are you thinking about right this minute?”
How his amazing tongue had made her squirm in the very best of ways. How even remembering it made her squirm again. “Are you fishing for compliments on your technique?” she asked. “Do I need to stroke your fragile ego?”
“Not my ego, but if you’re looking for something to stroke—”
She pushed him. With a laugh, he released her. “Have a good day making tacos. They have the best tacos in the state.”
“Yep,” she said, “and today’s are going to be the best in the nation.”
“I’d never bet against you,” he said. “And now I know what I’m having for lunch.”
She found herself staring at him with a dopey smile.
“You know,” he said, “you’re pretty cute when you’re being nice.”
“What am I when I’m not nice?”
“Hot as fuck.”
Something went through her at that, something warm and…dangerous. He believed in her, without question, when he had no reason in the world to do so.
I’m yours for the duration…
And for the first time, she wondered just how long that could possibly be.
Jacob watched her go, watched her run up the dock to her boat. Feeling like maybe his heart had shifted in his chest, he rubbed it.
What had just happened?
Either he’d been hit by a Mack truck or he’d been flattened by one Sophie Marren. He’d just experienced the hottest, most erotic sex of his life, and he was pretty sure he wasn’t going to get a repeat. Which made him pretty much screwed, because it’d been the best thing to ever happen to him.
Fifteen minutes later she rushed off her boat, heading up to the road. She was wearing skinny jeans rolled up her calves, a halter blouse, and damn, a pair of FMPs.
He shook his head, smiling. Her glass was definitely half full. And here was the thing. He always saw his as half empty. He was in a dark place and just trying to survive, and yet here was this crazy hot woman who was his opposite. She was funny and light and…the highlight of his entire day.
And somehow, even as screwed up as he was, he knew that much. Maybe they weren’t opposites after all. They’d found lots of common ground in his bed. And at that, memories assaulted him, the length of her curvy body undulating beneath his, arching up as he cupped her breasts in his hands.
“Better bring your A game tonight,” she yelled over her shoulder as she got into…a cab.
The one and only cab in town.
That made him laugh as he sat on the porch and ate the breakfast she’d brought him hours before. It had long gone cold, but he didn’t care. Hell, compared to some of the shit he’d eaten, this was a five-course meal. Halfway through, he pulled out his cell phone and did what he’d been doing every single week for the past nine years.
He called his mom.
She answered on the second ring. “Darling, you’re an hour late on your check-in. Everything okay?”
“Yes, sorry, just got detained.” By the best sex he’d ever had. He looked down at the McDonald’s food and shook his head, still having no idea what the hell he thought he was doing with Sophie.
“Well, I know I’ve taught you that it’s rude to be late,” his mom said. “Now I’ve got to write you a note for school and for your teacher. Make sure to also apologize in person.”
Jacob leaned his head back against the railing of the porch and let the early-morning sun bring him some warmth. “I plan to apologize to everyone.”
“You’re a good boy,” she said softly, warmly. “And, honey?”
“Yeah?”
“You sound different this morning. More…relaxed.”
When he closed his eyes, he could still see Sophie naked and over him in his bed, head back, mouth open, the sexiest little whimpers escaping her while she rode his tongue. Yeah, he was most definitely feeling more than a little relaxed.
“Is it a girl? Because if so, you tell her that you can’t afford to be distracted right now. You have grades to pull up.”
He pressed his fingers into his eyes, a knot tightening in his chest. “I know. It’s going to be okay, Mom.” Even if he didn’t know how.
“Well, I know that,” she said, and paused. “Honey? I sure wish you’d undo our pinkie promise.”
The one where he’d convinced her not to tell Hud that he’d been checking in with her every week for the nine years he’d been gone and that he’d managed to visit at least once a year on leave. “Someday,” he said.
Carrie sighed. “Love you, baby.”
“Love you, too, Mom.”
“Don’t forget to do your homework!” she said, and hung up.
Jacob blew out a breath and closed his eyes. The nurses had assured him she was physically healthy and doing fine, but no one could tell him when or if she’d ever figure out she was living in the past most of the time.
Shaking it off, he stood and stretched for a minute or two and then went for a run along the lake, heading north. Hell, maybe Carrie was the lucky one, not having to live in the moment, in the present, facing life’s harsh realities every day. He wouldn’t mind the same once in a while.
Five miles later he found himself at the resort. Unable to help himself, he walked around, refamiliarizing himself with the place that seemed at once exactly what he remembered and yet so different.
They’d grown, he’d realized. The day lodge had once housed the cafeteria and several shops, but now those shops had been pulled out and sat in another building adjacent to the lodge. The outside eating area had a beautiful overhang to allow shade, and the huge north wall of the place was no longer just a plain wall.
A mural had been painted on it. A huge mural that had been done like a gorgeous 3-D tapestry, depicting the brand of Kincaid family that was the five siblings: Gray, Aidan, Hud, Kenna, and…himself. Bigger than life.
He was still standing there staring at himself wh
en Kenna came up to his side. She didn’t say anything, but he could feel the emotions coming off her in heavy waves. He drew a deep breath as he stared straight ahead, just as she was doing. “I know you’re mad at me,” he said. “And you have good reason. I shouldn’t have left like I did. And I shouldn’t have stayed away.”
She didn’t say anything, and he realized with a hot poker-like stab of pain to the gut that she stood there silently, tears pouring down her face. Gutted, he closed his eyes. She’d been sixteen when he’d left, and he’d known her for only a few years before that because his dad, their dad, was an asshole. But Jacob had known damn well that Kenna had worshipped him.
And she was crying.
She never cried. Once she’d broken her arm riding on Hud’s shoulders on his skateboard and hadn’t shed a tear. She’d crashed on Devil’s Face skiing and broken her leg. She’d become a world-champion boarder. And she’d had a very public meltdown.
All without shedding a single tear.
“Kenna,” he whispered hoarsely, devastated when he turned his head and found her big eyes swimming with emotion that nearly drowned him.
“I loved you,” she whispered, and punched him in the gut.
Chapter 11
Nice right hook,” Jacob said.
“I’ve got a left hook too,” Kenna said, her voice still broken. “And unless you want to see it, start talking.”
He turned to face her and—very carefully—put his hands on her arms and pulled her in.
She resisted for a beat and then stepped in to him, burrowing deep with far less hesitation than he’d shown, slipping her arms around his waist and pressing her face to his chest. And then her shoulders started to shake and she slayed him dead.
Her overwhelming emotions spilled onto him, making him remember everything he’d so carefully buried. Walking away from those he loved so thoroughly that he’d lost them. Then losing Brett, and everything he’d shoved so deep he’d hoped to never feel again came barreling back, stealing his breath. All he could do was hold on.
Finally she shoved free, swiped a hand under her nose, and jabbed a finger into his chest. “You just walked away, like…like I was nothing to you.”
He shook his head. “No,” he managed. “Not like that. Kenna—”
“You never even looked back! I mean, how could you do that, Jacob? You devastated me and I’m so…” She blew out a breath and tossed up her hands.
He took one of her hands and pressed it against his chest.
She stared up at him, slowly letting her fist open to set her palm over his heart. “Mad,” she whispered. “I’m so mad at you.” She paused. “But I’m also so very, very, very, VERY glad to see you.” She shoved him again. “How could you?”
He didn’t budge, which made her let out a sound of frustration. “And what the hell did they do to you? You’re built like one of the Avengers now.” Just like that, she threw herself at him again. “Were they mean to you? Did you get hurt? Are you okay?” She lifted her head. “Why didn’t you want us at your six, dammit? We’re family. We’re all we have.”
He was a man who’d learned how to react quickly, function under the worst of circumstances, and survive everything that was thrown at him.
But none of his training had prepared him for this. He had no idea what to do, so he let her cry, let her hit him a few more times and yell at him, too, until she just threw herself at him and held on for a long, long time.
When she finally pulled back, she took a moment to wipe her nose on his shirt—like she used to do when they skied together, and it made him laugh past the lump in his throat. And when she lifted her head and gave him a watery smile, he knew the storm had passed.
At least for now.
“I’ve gotta go,” she said. “Got a board meeting. And since you’re here, guess what. You do too.”
“Hell no,” he said immediately.
“Hell yes.”
He crossed his arms over his chest, but she stared up at him, eyes narrowed. Once upon a time she’d been one of his very few weaknesses. She’d been able to get him to do whatever she wanted, drive her off the mountain when she needed an escape, stand up to her crazy mother when she needed backup, buy her the clothes she’d needed to compete on the ski team when she couldn’t…Those things had been easy for him.
But this, facing everyone he’d wronged…
“For me,” she said.
Damn. They both knew he’d never been able to deny her a single thing. He blew out a breath. “If I go, no more tears?”
She swiped at her eyes. “Gone.”
“No more yelling at me?”
“Well, I wouldn’t go that far,” she said demurely. “You’re bound to piss me off again.”
“No more punching me,” he said firmly.
“Oh, like you felt a thing.” But she shrugged. “Fine, no more tears and no more punching you. And you—” She stared up at him, smile gone. “No more leaving without saying good-bye, without a plan to come back. Without a plan to keep me and the rest of us in your damn life. You hear me?”
“The people in China can hear you.”
She rolled her eyes. “Tell me about the cabin you’ve leased.” She smiled when he went brows up. “People talk. I drove by last night actually, but you weren’t home. I saw you have a boat in your slip. You didn’t have to buy one. We still have ours. It’s moored at South Lake Campgrounds right now, but we’ll be moving it to the north shore for several upcoming lake events we’re running.”
“It’s not my boat,” he said. “It belongs to Sophie Marren. I’m just letting her moor there while she figures out where she can live on the lake without paying fees.”
“Wait—really? Sophie Marren’s living on her ex-husband’s boat?” She grinned. “Serves that asshole right.”
“You know him?”
“Yeah, and soon enough, so will you. Lucas Worthington’s our new attorney for the resort. We needed a high-profile, bottom-feeding, soul-sucking lawyer to help us outthink Dad and the mess he left the resort in.”
“Mess?”
She sighed. “You’ll see soon enough.”
Right. One problem at a time. “Sophie was married to Lucas Worthington?” Jacob had gone to high school with the guy. He’d been class president, taken the debate team to three state championships in a row, had enough charisma to light up everything on this side of the Continental Divide. He’d used that charisma to his benefit, sleeping with more girls than all four of the Kincaid brothers combined.
And that was saying something.
“Yeah, and he raked her over the coals too,” Kenna said. “How’s she doing? I thought maybe she’d left town.”
Jacob thought about how Sophie had looked striding up to that cab to get to work earlier. Strong. Beautiful. Determined. Gutsy. “She’s not cowed by this, and she isn’t going anywhere.”
Kenna stared at him.
“What?” he asked.
“So you and her…?”
“No.”
She arched a brow but wisely didn’t say anything more. In fact, she made him love her all over again when she changed the subject. “The meeting’s at two. I’m keeping you in my sights until then.”
“I’ve got a thing for lunch,” he said.
“No problem,” she said. “I’ll come with.”