“What does that mean? That maybe if I’m lucky Gabriella’s grandfather doesn’t know? No wonder they haven’t spoken to me today.”
“They’re trying to behave,” Lizzie explained. “Gabby’s mother threatened that if they said anything about it she would tell their husbands what they really do when they get their hair done.”
Addy looked to Gabriella for an explanation.
“When my cousin Eva moved back to take over the salon, apparently she brought her knowledge of Pinterest with her. They sit around with spotty Internet connections gawking at silver foxes.”
Addy laughed. “Seriously? That was enough to keep them quiet?”
“Only on Elpitha.” Gabriella shook her head. “Eva said she makes sure to only show them PG-rated boards, but still.”
“Hope they don’t catch wind of my Cocks I Want to Rock Tumblr page.”
They all laughed.
“Wait.” Siena grabbed Addy’s arm. “Do you really have that?”
“I can’t go on Tumblr,” Lizzie said. “Everything you search ends up being naked people and sex, sex, sex.”
“Why do you think Addy likes it?” Gabby teased.
“Maybe you should distribute that site address,” Sally said shyly. All eyes turned toward her. “What? It’s no secret that I haven’t been with a guy since I lost my husband.” Her husband had been killed in a skiing accident several years earlier, leaving her to raise Rusty, her teenage son, alone.
Lizzie hugged her. “Blue told me about everything you and your son have been through. I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you. It was a long time ago. I can hardly believe how many years have passed.” Sally smiled, but Addy could see it was forced. “I’m okay, really. But I wasn’t kidding about that site address. You know, until I’m ready to climb back on that horse.”
“I think Gage’s saddle is ready and waiting,” Siena said, and immediately clamped her mouth closed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”
“It’s okay. I know…” Sally nibbled on her lower lip. “That situation is complicated. He and Rusty are close, and there’s a lot to consider.”
“You could try stalking, like Addy did. That seems to have paid off for her,” Gabriella teased.
“Stalking?” Addy snapped.
“When I first met Duke, remember? You were checking out Duke and you got sidetracked. I think you said you spent twelve hours checking out his ‘hot brother Jake’ on Facebook.”
“Oh God, Gab! I did!” She’d spent hours looking through pictures of Jake caught midclimb as he scaled a mountain, or with an arm slung over one of his brother’s shoulders, or tending to a campfire, or a hundred other outdoor activities. In every picture he was paying attention to something or someone else, as if the actual photographs meant little compared to the task or person he was with.
“But I’m not a creepy stalker or anything. You know that,” she insisted.
“We know,” the girls said in unison.
“You two have been flirting for months,” Siena said. “I was surprised you two didn’t catch flames that first time we all met for drinks. Remember, Gabriella? I was afraid we’d have to call in Cash’s fire department to break out their hoses.”
“I remember Jake wanting to break out his hose,” Addy mumbled, and they all laughed. “Now that my sex life is out on the table, can we forget about it, please?”
“Do you want to forget it?” Lizzie asked. “Because it took me and Blue a year to get together and when I finally gave myself permission to go out with him, that was it. I was a total goner, and there was no turning back.”
“That’s a good point,” Sally said. “There are some things that aren’t meant to be taken back.”
“I’m not wired to be a goner over anyone,” Addy insisted, although as she said it, she was no longer sure how she was wired.
“Everyone’s wired for love.” Lizzie tucked her dark hair behind her ear, and her eyes turned serious. “I didn’t think I had a chance at love since I hosted the Naked Baker webcast. I mean, what guy wants a girl that prances around nearly naked on the Internet to earn money to put her little sister through college?”
“Blue,” they all said in unison.
Lizzie smiled. “Yeah. I’m so freaking lucky. That man…God, my man is so…”
“Did you have a point?” Siena teased.
“Oh, right. Yes.” Lizzie looked at Addy. “I don’t know why you think you’re not wired for love, but I’ve known you a few months now, and you’re one of the most sensual, kindest people I know. You’re smart, funny, you don’t take crap from anyone, and you’re obviously gorgeous.” She wrinkled her nose. “Sensual? I don’t know if that’s the right word, but you’re it. The total package. You’re obviously wired for everything, but love won’t come until you let it.”
“It’s not like I don’t want love,” Addy said. “I mean, I’ve never found a man who made me want to see him more than once, but it’s not like I don’t want love. I’m not purposefully keeping myself closed off from it. I just don’t experience the same feelings that other people do.”
“So, you felt nothing when you were with Jake?” Siena asked.
“No. I mean, yes, I felt something.” Addy didn’t want to have this conversation. She was still struggling with what she felt and whether it was real or imagined.
A knock sounded at the bathroom door and they all turned. Gabriella opened it and her mother peeked her head inside.
“Addy, sweetheart, you have a visitor.”
Chapter Six
JAKE KNEW HE was taking a big risk by showing up at the dress shop where Addy and the girls were doing whatever girls did before a wedding, but he was bound and determined to set the record straight and let Addy know he was done playing by her rules. He stood in the front of the shop feeling like a cross between an animal in the zoo and a game show contestant. A group of Gabriella’s relatives were watching him from the other side of the shop, whispering and waving and giving him the thumbs-up. He smiled, waved, crossed his arms. Their eyes dropped to his biceps, and he uncrossed his arms, feeling oddly self-conscious.
He heard Addy’s determined footsteps fast approaching and his pulse kicked up. She looked beyond gorgeous in her tight little shorts, with her hair fluffing out behind her, but her squinty eyes and tense posture had him seriously questioning why he’d thought this was a good idea.
“Jake?” she said with hushed urgency. “What are you doing here?” She settled a hand on her hip and glared at him.
“Can we talk for a minute?” He hiked a thumb over his shoulder toward the door. “Alone?”
She glanced at the women, who turned away in mass, acting as if they weren’t hanging on their every word.
“Fine.” She walked past Jake and right out the door—and she kept on walking.
“Hey,” he said, falling into step beside her. “Sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to talk.”
“I asked you to do me one favor.” She stared straight ahead as she crossed the dirt road. “One simple thing, Jake. All I asked was that you not make this awkward. And you show up at the dress shop?” She stalked down a path behind a row of shops and stormed up a grassy hill.
Jake followed, getting more annoyed by the second. “I’m done playing by your rules, Addy.”
She laughed. “My rules?”
“Yes, your rules. What did you expect me to do? You wouldn’t even look at me this morning.” At the top of the hill she stomped across the meadow. He kept pace with her. The sounds of the ocean faded, replaced with the sounds of her heavy breathing and their feet tromping through the long grass.
“Doesn’t that tell you something?” They were in the middle of the meadow, surrounded by tall trees on either side, the town too far behind them to see. “They know, okay?” Her eyes slung daggers with each venomous word. “Every woman in that shop knows that we were out all night going at it.”
He cursed under his breath, a surge of protective urges exploding in his
chest. He was going to wring his brothers’ necks.
“Don’t even act like you care.” She turned and stormed away again.
“Goddamn it, Addy. Slow down and talk to me.” When she didn’t, he grabbed her arm. So much for treating her like a lady, but she was not making it easy. He looked down at her, annoyed and beyond attracted to her despite her angry scowl. “Is that what you think? That I don’t care if you’re embarrassed? Because I do fucking care. I care a whole hell of a lot more than I’m comfortable with.”
She stared up at him and wrenched her arm free. “I’m not embarrassed.”
Addy never lied, at least not that Jake could remember, which was why the unfamiliar tone of her voice stopped him cold. “You’re a sucky liar.”
She rolled her eyes, her go-to move when she had no response. Jesus, now he was reading her mannerisms? She really had gotten under his skin.
“It’s my fault,” he reluctantly admitted. “I told Blue and Gage, but I didn’t think they’d tell anyone.”
“You told them?”
“They kind of guessed, but…Fuck. Yes, okay? I’m sorry. But they swore they wouldn’t tell anyone.” Guilt sat like lead in his gut. “I’m sorry.”
She turned away, breathing so hard her shoulders visibly rose and fell.
“Look, Addy,” he said in a softer tone. “You’re right. Normally I wouldn’t give a damn who found out, but with you I do.”
She huffed out a pithy laugh.
“What the hell? Do you really think I wanted all those women to find out?”
She shook her head, still not facing him, and said, “It wasn’t your fault. Sally saw us walking back to my room this morning, and she said something, and someone caught wind of it. And then I told Gabriella.” She turned, arms crossed, with an apologetic smile.
He blew out a breath of relief. “If you told Gabriella, then you’re just as floored by whatever this is between us as I am. Talk to me, Addy. You’re so pissed off. How could I have fucked this up already?”
She squared her shoulders. “There’s nothing to fuck up.”
That was a hard pill to swallow, because it meant last night had affected him far more than it had her. But when he stepped closer, heat blazed between them. Her eyes darkened, and her breathing shallowed. This was not one-sided. She stared at his chest as if she wasn’t ready to face the truth.
“We’re playing by my rules this time, Addison.” He tucked a finger under her chin, lifting her face so she had no choice but to meet his gaze. “There may not be anything to fuck up yet, sexy girl, but we both know there could be. Be my date for Trish’s wedding.”
“Be your date? You don’t date, Jake, and I think we both know that I don’t either.”
Needing a barrier between thoughts of her with other men, he crossed his arms. Her eyes went to his biceps. Damn he liked that. He flexed his muscles, earning a soft laugh that sounded a hell of a lot sexier than the snappy attitude she’d been giving him. He stepped closer, settling his hands on her hips. She was so petite he wanted to protect her, though as she’d flatly pointed out, she didn’t think she needed protecting. Another hard pill for him to swallow.
“Go out with me, Addy. Let me take you to the wedding like a real date.”
“Why? As some sort of one-upmanship with Niko? He’s a really nice guy, by the way. You shouldn’t look at him like you want to throttle him.”
He took a step back and paced. “So now you’re into him?”
“No, I’m not into him. I’m just saying he’s a nice guy.” Her eyes traveled along his torso, hitching at his chest. “Too nice for me.”
That brought him to a stop. “How can a guy be too nice for you?”
“Nice is predictable. It’s pretense. I want real.”
Her eyes sparked with a challenge he didn’t hesitate to accept. He tugged her against him, brushing his whiskers over her cheek. Her body shuddered against him as it had last night. “You want me, Addy,” he said in a low voice beside her ear. “I’m as real as a man can get. And I want you. Don’t fight it.”
She pressed her hands flat against his chest but didn’t push away. It wasn’t much, but he’d take it.
“That’s just a twisted girl hangover.”
He laughed. “I think I’ve had enough women to know if I was prone to girl hangovers or not.”
Her scowl returned. “Not helping.”
“Come on, sexy girl. What’s wrong? Did I ruin you for all mankind? Because I’m totally down with that idea.”
“You wish, and don’t call me that.” She pushed from his arms.
“Oh, I’m calling you that.” When she didn’t respond, he said, “You’re trying your damnedest to treat me like you don’t want me, but I hear what your body is telling me far louder than the words you’re saying. So if I’ve pissed you off, you’d better speak up.”
She looked away.
“This is bullshit, Addy. You don’t hide behind silence. You take shit by the balls and fling it against the wall. I have no idea why you’re so mad. You wanted me last night. Didn’t you?” His gut twisted. He couldn’t imagine he’d misread her desires.
“Yes, okay?” She strode toward him and poked him in the chest—hard. “But I didn’t know it would open goddamn Pandora’s box. Thankfully, I’m leaving for the mountains, where I’ll completely forget about whatever this is. And you’re going back to your life of a different woman every night.”
He grabbed her finger and pulled her against him again, ignoring her struggle to be set free. “You want me, Addy. Admit it.”
She lifted her chin, eyes narrow. “So what? You were a good fuck.”
“You feisty little minx. You’re so small, and so beautiful, and you’ve got a mouth on you that could make a trucker blush.” He framed her face in his hands as he had last night, and that all-consuming heat swallowed him again. “I happen to really dig that filthy mouth of yours.” He cocked a grin. “You were a good fuck, too.”
She fisted her hands in his shirt. “Jake.” She probably meant it as a warning, but it came out like a plea.
“Go out with me, Addy.”
“Why?”
“Because you’ve gotten under my skin and messed with my head. Whatever this is, it’s not going away, and we both know it. I want to get to know you better.”
She looked at him skeptically.
“And then I want to fuck you again, the same way you want to fuck me. Only this time we’re doing it in private, and you’re not going to scramble away first thing in the morning.”
He lowered his mouth to hers, kissing her gently at first, giving her a chance to pull away. When she tightened her grip on his shirt, he took the kiss deeper, sliding his hands to her ass and holding her against him. She went up on her toes, grabbing his chest so hard she snagged a few chest hairs, but he didn’t care. He’d take whatever she had to give.
“I love your filthy mouth,” he said between kisses.
She panted as he kissed her neck and sealed his teeth over the pulse point that had been taunting him for the last twenty-four hours.
“God, Jake…”
“You’re mine this weekend, Addy.”
“We’re not a thing.”
He sank his teeth into her skin and she cried out. When he didn’t relent, she moaned, pressing her body against him.
“God, what you do to me,” she whispered.
He wanted to lay her down in the grass, strip her bare, and take her every which way until the sun fell from the sky and the stars came out. And then he wanted to start all over again, until she lay spent in his arms. But he wanted something even more than he wanted another hot fuck. He lifted his face and looked deeply into her eyes. Pure, unadulterated lust stared back at him.
“Say yes, Addison. Go with me tomorrow to the wedding.”
“Fine, but we’re not a thing.”
“Mark my words, sexy girl. We will be.”
ADDY LAID HER black minidress on the bed and set her cute black strap
py sandals beside it. Her sandals would be easy to kick off once they hit the beach for Trish’s bachelorette party. She chose her favorite silver dangling earrings and silver knot necklace and set them on the dresser. She had just over half an hour to get ready before Gabriella got there to walk down to the party with her.
She went into the bathroom and undressed as she peered out the open window, inhaling the salty sea air and taking in the beauty of the ocean waves rolling along the sandy shore. The sun was just beginning to set, leaving ribbons of orange and gold in its wake. As much as she hated that she was leaving tomorrow, it was probably for the best. Not only did she have a full night of packing and preparing for her trip ahead of her, but she’d been so close to scaling Jake like a mountain today, she needed to get to the bottom of what she was really feeling for him.
She turned on the shower, glad the guys were having their own bachelor party. She didn’t trust herself to behave around Jake. He’d thrown her for a loop when he’d shown up at the dress shop, and even more so when he’d asked her out. Other than their sexy banter and relentless flirting, it wasn’t like they had a deep relationship. It had always been cursory. Hadn’t it? She stepped into the shower thinking that over and remembering the intensity in his eyes when he’d asked her to be his date. Was he that jealous of Niko? Needing to bang his chest like a Neanderthal? Or did he really feel something more, as he’d claimed?
Closing her eyes, she tipped her head back, letting the warm shower wet her hair and slide along the length of her body. She remembered the feel of Jake’s legs rubbing against hers as they made love on the bluff and the strength in his grip when he clutched her hips. Memories of his strong fingers teasing her nipples made them rise to taut peaks. She opened her eyes and turned, allowing the water to rain down her face and breasts, trying to quell the ache between her legs that always followed thoughts of him. But the water felt like his mouth, warm and wet. Closing her eyes again, she drew memories of his passionate whispers she’d been purposefully suppressing. You feel so good, sexy girl. So good I want to fuck you all night. She loved his dirty talk, his raw passion, and his forceful nature. Her fingers slid between her wet lips, dipping inside as she recalled more of their torrid night. The memory of his mouth between her legs, licking and sucking, made her fingers quicken, stroking the magical spot that brought her up on her toes. Remembering the sharp graze of his teeth over her clit, her other hand moved over the same sensitive nerves. Lust pooled and pulsed between her legs, her orgasm stirring just out of reach. She bit her lower lip, squeezing her eyes shut with the memory of his cock buried so deep inside her she felt every thrust in her chest. She could still feel his arms holding her so tight she could barely breathe as he found his release, chanting her name—Addy, Addy, Addy.
Rescued by Love (Love in Bloom: The Ryders): Jake Ryder Page 7