Nobody But You

by Jill Shalvis

  you tired?”

  He smiled, but his gaze remained focused on the towel he had covered her with and was now slowly sliding from her. “Never too tired for this.”

  A soft moan escaped her when he bent his head and let his mouth follow the trail of the towel. She might have whimpered as she found a secret stash of energy in reserve…

  Much, much later she found herself curled up in his bed, his arms wrapped around her. His lips were warm and soft against hers, and unlike their kisses earlier, this one was unhurried.

  “Hungry?” he asked.

  “I need sleep for tomorrow…” She looked at his clock. It was two thirty. “…Today,” she murmured drowsily. “The on-site boss is rumored to be a real hard-ass. If I go to sleep right now, I could still get six hours before any Wounded Warriors show up.”

  “You know what would be even better?” he asked, voice all bedroom husky.

  “Let me guess,” she said. “Five hours?”

  He smiled. “I like the way you think.” And then he rolled them, tucking her beneath him.

  Or four, she thought. She could definitely make do with four…

  Jacob woke up the next morning to the deafening roar of Sophie thinking too hard. She had her head on his shoulder, an arm and a leg thrown over him, holding him to the mattress, and if he wasn’t mistaken, she’d drooled in the crook of his neck. The thought made him start to smile, but it vanished when he realized that she was slowly inching away from him.

  Once again trying to sneak out of his bed.

  She was a horrible sneak. She had her hair in his face and nearly unmanned him with her knee, but because he was amused at her utter lack of skill, he let her get to the edge of the mattress before he said her name.

  She fell out of the bed.

  She immediately leapt back up and whirled, clearly looking for something to cover herself. He caught her expression, so utterly anxious, it quelled his amusement.

  “I’m sorry,” she gasped. “Did I wake you?”

  Pushing the fury at Lucas down deep for now, he rolled out of the bed and came slowly toward her. Halfway there, he scooped his T-shirt off the floor and gently dropped it over her head, smiling at her when her face peeked out and the hem fell to mid-thigh.

  Having her here with him like this made his heart beat faster, made him feel worth something, and he enjoyed every second he spent with her, even when they were bickering. Maybe especially when they were bickering. They had something here between them, something good. And he was pretty sure he could prove it to her. But if she needed to hide behind the sex until she felt safe, until she realized that he would never hurt her, that was fine. And damn if he wouldn’t make sure she enjoyed herself in the meantime, because even though he had the patience of a saint, he most definitely wasn’t one.

  Her hair was wild and crazy, and he stroked the beautiful mess back from her face and bent to kiss her.

  She put a hand between their mouths. “I haven’t brushed my teeth!”

  “Me either,” he said, not retreating but instead smiling into her adorably worried face. Then he stayed right where he was, their mouths a fraction of an inch from each other, separated only by her hand, waiting, letting her make both the decision and the move.

  She blinked once, slow as an owl, and then slowly lowered her hand.

  Taking the invitation, he gave her a short, sweet kiss. “Morning,” he said huskily, and then grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the bedroom.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, looking hot in only his shirt and bedhead hair.

  “Making you breakfast, which is what you missed out on when you played possum and then sneaked out the last time you spent the night.”

  “I didn’t sneak.”

  He gave her a knowing look, and she had the grace to blush. “Well, if I’d known breakfast was on the itinerary…,” she muttered.

  In the kitchen, he lifted her to sit on the counter and started pulling stuff out of his fridge.

  She watched with avid interest. “So you can cook?”

  “Bacon and eggs,” he said. “But my ability is born out of hunger, not raw talent.”

  She watched him start the bacon and then crack eggs into a bowl one-handed and gave a wolf whistle of appreciation.

  He grinned at her. “Guess I do have a talent.”

  “More than one,” she quipped, making him laugh. She’d recovered and was back to her usual sunny self, which he was beginning to get was just her invisibility cloak.

  “So…today,” she said. “And Wounded Warriors. I’m working beneath you.”

  He liked the sound of that. A lot. And at whatever she saw on his face, she rolled her eyes. “Don’t go getting any ideas,” she said. “No bossing me around.”

  “On the job? Never,” he said, turning the bacon and then flipping the eggs in the pan with a flick of his wrist.

  “Or in the bedroom,” she clarified.

  “I promise you’d like it.”

  She blushed, and he laughed softly. “I’ll show you sometime if you ask real nice.”

  She snorted. “Like that’s going to happen.”

  He shifted from the stovetop to between her legs, bending his head to meet her gaze head-on. “Your pace,” he said softly.

  “We’ve tried that,” she reminded him.

  “We’ll try harder,” he said, and kissed her.

  Not softly.

  When they broke apart for air, she stared at him. “I thought you said my pace.”

  “It is.” He grinned. “But I never said I wasn’t going to stake my claim or try to coax things to go my way.” He moved back to the stove and flipped the bacon and eggs onto two plates. He handed her one of them and then went to the cabinet for two glasses, which he filled with orange juice. “How about a new game?” he said.

  “Aren’t you tired of games?”

  “Humor me. This time we’ll just tell a truth.”

  She regarded him warily. “That doesn’t sound like a game at all.”

  He kissed her on the tip of her nose. “Now you’re getting it.”

  She narrowed her eyes as she considered this, along with the ramifications. He could read each and every thought as it crossed her face. Curiosity. Worry, because if this wasn’t a game, it meant he was serious.

  Which he was.

  Finally, she sighed. “What do you want to know?”

  He was a smart enough guy to get that she was the one for him. He was also smart enough to know that he was going to have to work his ass off for it. Because she wasn’t open to this. To them.

  To him.

  He was shocked by how much he wanted to change her mind. “You’re not scared of me,” he said, wanting to hear her say it.

  “No,” she said. “I’m not scared of you. But that wasn’t a question.”

  “I want to know what you are scared of.”

  She held his gaze. “Me.”

  “Why?” he asked.

  She stared at him. “I think I want to go first and ask you a question.”

  “Shoot.”

  She opened her mouth and went for the jugular. “You ever been in love?”

  Chapter 25

  Sophie held her breath for Jacob’s answer.

  He shrugged. “Thought maybe I was a few times,” he said casually.

  She didn’t know whether to be curious or jealous. She settled for both. “A few times?” she asked with what she thought was remarkable calm. She knew nothing about falling in love the right way and he’d done it a few times?

  “My second year in the army,” he said. “Jessica was one of our IT specialists overseas.” He smiled with the memory of this Jessica. “We toyed around at something for a while.”

  Yeah, definitely jealousy, she decided. “If you loved her, what happened?”

  “I said I thought I loved her.” He tapped a finger on the chin she’d jutted out, giving her a little smile. “How come you’re braced for a fight again? Was I supposed to pretend I’v
e never cared about anyone before you?”

  She blew out a breath. “No. I’m being ridiculous. Carry on.”

  He eyed her. “You sure you’re not going to try to kick my ass?”

  “Try?” she asked coolly. “There won’t be any trying. If I wanted to kick your ass, it’d be kicked, buddy.”

  He laughed. “I stand corrected.”

  “Jessica,” she said, and gave him the go-ahead gesture with her hand.

  He shrugged. “We were young and stupid.”

  “Stupid how?”

  He looked away. “Stupid.”

  Her gut sank. What if he’d cheated on this Jessica, like Lucas had cheated on her? She wasn’t sure she could understand it if he had, but she attempted to keep her cool. “Can you define ‘stupid’ with a word other than ‘stupid’?”

  He drank his OJ, taking his sweet-ass time about it too. “She didn’t see a problem with being young and stupid—uh…” He searched for a word. “Naked with every guy who turned his head to look at her. And since she was gorgeous, that was a lot of heads.”

  “Wait—she cheated on you?” she asked in shocked disbelief, pissed off for him.

  He laughed a little. “You’re good for my ego.”

  “No, but seriously. Have you looked in the mirror? Why would she cheat on you?”

  Slipping an arm around her waist, he palmed her ass on the counter and dragged her closer to him. “You want to beat her up for me?”

  Yes. “I think you’re capable of fighting your own battles,” she said, and wound her arms around his neck. “Did she hurt you, Jacob?”

  His answer was a soft smile and a kiss. “Not too much,” he said. “Because looking back, I know I couldn’t have ever given her enough of myself. I didn’t have it in me to give.”

  She wanted to ask him if he had it in him to give now, but she’d lost the right to ask that question. Boundaries. Knowing it, she tried to pull free but was easily tugged back in.

  “Not so fast,” he said. “You thought I was the one who cheated.”

  “No, I…” She sighed. “Okay, yes.”

  He didn’t looked thrilled at that. “I get that we’re all dicks. But we’re not all cheating dicks.”

  “I know,” she said.

  He nodded but didn’t look convinced, so she changed the subject rather than let him poke at the festering wound deep inside her. “You said you thought you’d been in love a couple of times,” she said. “Who else?”

  “Mindy. Three years ago,” he said, and smiled. “A sweet nurse in Germany I met when I was flown in with injuries.”

  She tightened her grip on him and Mindy was completely forgotten. There were lots of scars on his warrior body. She knew because she’d kissed every single one of them, several times over now. His life and the danger in which he’d lived it, terrified her.

  And he was going back to that… “Were they bad? Your injuries?”

  “I healed,” was all he said.

  Her heart actually squeezed so much it hurt. “I’m glad,” she managed. “What happened with Mindy? And don’t tell me she cheated on you, too, or I’ll go after the both of them.”

  He smiled. “No,” he said. “She didn’t cheat on me. But she did fall in love.”

  She stopped breathing. “With you?”

  “No. A good friend. She left me first though. So there’s that.”

  “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. He’d been hurt. He knew the pain of it, the realization of the fear that you were never enough.

  He leaned in a little so that their mouths were just barely touching, ghosting together with each word. “You get it now?” he asked. “Why I’d never hurt you that way?”

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  He gave her a little smile. “And anyway, I wasn’t supposed to end up with Mindy.”

  Her breath caught. “No?”

  “No,” he said, and kissed her again. When he pulled back, his gaze had gone all heavy-lidded and sexy, and she knew where that would lead, so she laughed and gave him a shove.

  “We have work,” she said.

  She watched lust war with responsibility in those dark eyes, and when responsibility won, she liked him even more.

  “You owe me,” he said.

  Her pulse kicked hard. “Do I?”

  “Oh yeah.” He kissed her lightly. The appetizer on the menu of Jacob kisses. “Tonight.”

  She stared into his serious eyes. “Tonight.”

  It took until 10:00 a.m. to set up for the Wounded Warriors event, and Jacob knew they couldn’t have done it without Sophie. He’d known from day one that she had a bossy streak a mile wide, but when she harnessed her power, miracles truly happened.

  They had an entrance area complete with portable wheelchair ramp rolled out, a huge canopy over what would be the lunch spread and another over the sign-up area where the veterans would decide if they wanted to Jet Ski, ride a tube behind a boat, or, if they were mobile enough, kayak or paddleboard.

  He and Kenna had arranged for the staff and the equipment, but it was Sophie and her iPad who’d mapped out the setup.

  With his mom’s “help.” Carrie had arrived, insisting she be given a job, and Sophie had taken her hand and kept her busy, aka out of trouble.

  Jacob was impressed. The woman had serious organizational skills, and before he and Kenna could so much as blink, everything was in place and ready to roll.

  “Man, she’s a force of nature,” Hud said, coming up to stand next to Jacob, who was watching Sophie direct the delivery of food coming in from the local deli.

  “Yeah.” Jacob watched as Kenna hugged Sophie.

  Carrie walked by and snorted. “Those two together are going to be trouble personified,” she said.

  Hud grinned at her. “Takes trouble to recognize trouble.”

  Carrie smiled at her son. “Is it like looking in a mirror?”

  Hud rolled his eyes at her as she moved on to go sit with Char, Gray and Aidan’s mom, who was working the entrance, accepting tickets.

  Jacob watched Kenna and Sophie. They clearly had a rapport. The two of them had become close, probably recognizing the wild and crazy in each other. Together they worked on the dessert section of the canopy, apparently sampling each and every kind of dessert. Their mouths were full and they were laughing at each other.

  “Just what Kenna needs,” Hud said. “A partner in crime.”

  Jacob slid a look his way.

  “What?” Hud asked.

  “Are we really doing this?” Jacob asked. “Small talk?”

  “Better than no talk,” Hud said with more than a little annoyed