Pushing to his feet, he leaned his palms on the table, his eyes skating around it. “Who’s up for crashing the bachelorette party?”
“Hell, yes.” Boone high-fived him. “Man, I love you guys, but I sure as hell would rather have your sister in my arms than sit around drinking and talking shit.”
“Are there any single women at this party?” Cage asked.
“No,” Jake answered without hesitation.
Gage shot him a curious look. “Technically there are.” He turned an intense stare on Cage. “But you don’t want to go there.”
Cage held up his hands. “No worries. Lucky and I’ll go hang out at the bar.” He snickered. “Oh, wait. You’re too young.” He ruffled his younger brother’s hair and bumped fists with Boone.
“Seriously? Y’all are going to ditch me?” Lucky spotted a group of girls walking by the patio. “I’ll catch you losers later. I see a few ladies who are in need of my company. They just don’t know it yet.”
“Behave,” Boone called after him.
Cash said something, but Jake was already too far away to hear him. He jogged across the street and down the road toward the beach. The flames of the girls’ bonfire came into view before his eyes adjusted enough to make them out. As he ran down the beach, he zeroed in on Addy’s slim figure, with curves so perfect she could grace the cover of any magazine and a beautiful face that made him smile and ache at once. She stood at the edge of the water, her dress flapping around her thighs, her hair whipping like a wild mane.
“Jake? Is everything okay?” Trish called out as he jogged by.
“It’s about to be.”
Addy turned at the sound of his voice, and he swept her into his arms and kept on running.
“Jake!” she shrieked. “What are you doing?” She laughed as she tried to push free. Something dug into his chest.
The other girls cheered him on as he slowed to a jog, carrying Addy toward a secluded spot he’d found during his run with Cash. He snagged the pen that was digging into his chest from her hands and shoved it in his pocket.
“I should throw you in this water for denying we’re a thing.” He rocked her in his arms as if he were about to toss her into the waves, and she threw them around his neck, shrieking at the top of her lungs. “What’s the matter? Afraid of a little water, sexy girl?”
“Do it!” Gabriella hollered, and so began a chant from all the other women. “Do it! Do it! Do it!”
“Don’t, don’t, don’t. Please don’t,” she begged.
Jake inhaled the sweet lavender lotion he’d helped her apply to her beautiful naked body just a few hours ago. He could still feel her smooth skin against his hands, could still hear her sweet noises of restraint as she kicked him out the door before she could give in to skipping the party and letting him devour her. Because of that, he hadn’t gotten to walk her to the party, but the time they’d shared had been even better.
“I should toss you in just to show you how much your rules suck.”
“You wouldn’t dare.” She tightened her grip around his neck.
He swung her again, and she shrieked, clinging to him like a monkey to a tree. Perfect. “Are we a thing?”
“Jake!” She buried her face in his neck. “Please don’t. Please?”
He should demand she give in and tell him what he knew was true, but she looked up at him with wide, pleading eyes, sparking the need to take care of her again. The feel of her body against him, her hot little hands on the back of his neck, and her beautiful face within kissing distance had him quickening his pace to get her alone.
“Jake! Put me down! Where are you taking me?” She poked him in the chest. “Hello? Do you hear me? Put me down!”
He shifted her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and slapped her on her ass.
“Hey!” she protested with the sexiest laugh he’d ever heard.
“You need a man who can put up with your shit and slap your ass.”
A trail of claps and whistles from his brothers, who had finally made it to the beach, sounded out behind them.
She laughed, and it was music to his ears. He repositioned her, cradling her in his arms, and brushed his lips over hers, laughing when she pressed hers into a defiant line.
He was done.
He was hers.
He debated tossing her in the water just to prove they were playing by his rules this time, but he finally had her back in his arms again. The last thing he wanted to do was let her go.
Chapter Nine
JAKE HADN’T SAID a word in the last ten minutes as he carried Addy down the beach. He’d walked so far the bonfire was a mere spark in the distance, and he showed no signs of stopping. “Do you really think being a Neanderthal is the way to win me over?” Addy asked.
He didn’t answer, just continued walking, staring straight ahead. His pecs danced against her side as he tightened his grip.
“This big, tough, silent thing you have going on is really annoying. You can’t just abscond with me and think I’ll be okay with it.”
He shifted a narrow-eyed stare her way, then looked straight ahead again, his thick brows hooding his vigilante gaze.
“Jake, seriously. At least let me walk.” Not that she wanted to walk, but despite how incredible it felt to be snuggled against him, being carried made her feel ridiculous. She suppressed a smile, watching his body tense up, and she took a moment to study him. There was nothing pretty-boy about Jake. His skin was slightly weathered, as if he spent his days facing harsh winds and blazing sun, which she knew he often did when he was on rescue missions. His features were symmetrical, his jawline chiseled and squared, with an ever-present tan and a coarse dusting of whiskers. Her stomach dipped at the memory of his coarse whiskers against her inner thighs.
He turned up the beach toward a long ridge of large rocks. The lighthouse blinked slowly in the distance, and the languid pace of the fading beam made her realize how fast and hard her heart was pounding. He scaled the boulders without missing a step, expertly cradling her against him.
“Jake?” she asked softly.
He stopped atop a large rock, his gaze dialing down to concern, the wind making his thick hair stand up.
“Where are we going?”
He ground his teeth together again and continued traversing the rocks to a patch of sand and grass just beyond. He knelt, setting her carefully on the ground, and sank down beside her. He pulled his knees up, leaned his forearms on them, and gazed out at the water as if he hadn’t just kidnapped her.
She looked around, digging her toes into the pebbly sand beneath her bare feet. She’d left her sandals with the girls, but she didn’t care. The rocks formed a barrier from the wind sweeping up the sand, blowing only the tips of long tufts of grass. She followed Jake’s gaze to the dim golden haze of the lighthouse reaching into the darkness and reflecting off the inky water. The starless sky was tinted a dusky shade of blue. Sitting there in the dark beside the only man who had ever challenged her, who understood that she needed a man to put up with her shit and spank her ass—and God, did she ever—felt romantic. Even the way he’d kidnapped her was romantic. Either she was losing her mind, or she really was falling for him.
“It’s beautiful here,” she finally said.
He dropped his gaze to the sand, tilting his face toward her. The moon caught his eyes, bringing out a thin ring of green around the edges. She’d never noticed it before. All this time, she’d been too swept up in his alpha hotness to notice. What else had she missed?
“You’re beautiful, Addy.”
She lost her breath at the unexpected compliment spoken so tenderly it sounded strange coming from such a big man. She swallowed hard and couldn’t help studying him again, searching for signs that he was kidding or this was just another wicked flirtation. But what she saw wasn’t either of those things. It was honesty.
He smiled. “Expecting to see someone else?”
“Kinda. Yeah,” she said, glad to have found her voi
ce. “I don’t…”
“You don’t get it? Or…?” He leaned closer and ran his hand up her calf, his gaze turning hungry.
There was the man she knew. The sexually driven, demanding one she expected.
“You are beautiful, Addy, but that’s not why I’m into you.” He cupped her cheek, his eyes moving slowly over her face, the demand in them fading away, throwing her for another loop.
She felt shy as he studied her, causing an avalanche of emotions she was nowhere near prepared for. Her breathing quickened, and her skin prickled with awareness of everything—the chilly air sailing over her skin, his faint musky cologne mixing with the salty scents of the sea, the feel of his rough hand caressing her leg, and the way he was looking at her, which felt far more intimate than anything they’d done to each other in the last twenty-four hours.
The minutes ticked by in interminable silence, amping up her anticipation as she waited for him to say more.
“Do you not get it, Addy, or was there something else you were going to say?”
She looked away to break the spell he’d cast, but a soft press of his fingers on her chin brought her eyes back to him. She couldn’t even begin to remember what she was going to say, and that rattled her, too. He’d kidnapped her. Carried her off like he owned her. She should be livid. The woman she knew herself to be would never put up with that. That woman would push to her feet and stomp away, refusing to be manhandled or manipulated in any way. But her eyes found his again, and her resolve to prove her independence lessened, and that brought another rush of emotions. Fear? Discomfort? Excitement? She wasn’t sure, but it was unsettling. She curled her fingers into the sand, willing herself to push through her confusion.
“I’m not going to fall at your feet because you made a grand romantic gesture.” Grand romantic gesture? Geez, she was really going for that goner status.
His jaw went tight again. Did he have to look so hot when he was angry?
“Why are you so stubborn? I didn’t bring you out here to be romantic. Jesus, Addy. That’s not me. Romantic.” He uttered the last word under his breath, like a curse.
“Why, then?” She didn’t mean to raise her voice, but the roller coaster of emotions had taken its toll, and there was no stopping the words flying from her lungs. She pushed to her feet. “I’ll never be a mindless woman you can tell what to do, or fawn over for that matter. You’re barking up the wrong tree. I take what I want and move on. I’ve never hidden that about myself. I’ve got things to do, and no one is going to stop me from doing them.”
Tears of frustration burned in her eyes as he rose beside her, towering over her, and placed his hands on her upper arms, holding her just tight enough to make it clear that he wasn’t going to let go.
“I swear you’re deaf as a doorknob.” The words flew harshly from her lungs, but inside she crumbled a little with each one as she struggled against her lifelong need for independence and her desire to be all in with him.
He stared down at her without saying a word.
“Are you going to say anything, or just hold me hostage?”
“I’m waiting until you’re done ranting.”
“Ranting? That’s an asshole thing to say.”
“Is it?” His stare was brutal. “Because I think an asshole thing to say is more like, ‘Get off your fucking high horse. I have no interest in fawning over you or any other woman.’” He loosened his grip on her arms. “I’d like to see the guy who believes he can tell you what you can and cannot do.”
“You want something, Jake,” she spat. “Maybe it’s not to fawn over me, but it’s something.”
“Yeah. You, Addy. I want you.”
Crumble, crumble, crumble…Crash!
“I told you this earlier and you’re too stubborn to even consider it. I like your pushy, smart-ass ways. God knows I might regret admitting this, but you’re the only woman I’ve felt anything for. Ever. We’re not kids, Addison, and you’re not clueless. We click. We’re good together. I get you. So what is really going on? Why are you fighting it?”
She dropped her eyes, unwilling to allow him to see the emotions he was unearthing inside her, each one stacking up on top of the last, building pressure like a shaken-up soda bottle ready to burst. She closed her eyes for a beat, trying to sort through a response, to figure out how to describe what she felt, when his words finally sank in. You’re the only woman I’ve felt anything for. Ever.
Lifting her chin to meet his gaze, she felt like she was looking at him through new eyes. Gone was the pissed-off alpha who wanted to get his way, replaced with a guy who was pouring out his soul. Guilt pressed in on her along with something far more weighty. If what he’d said was true, then he really did get her.
“What do you mean, I’m the only woman you’ve ever felt anything for?”
“Exactly that,” he said sternly. “I fuck. I take. I get rid of my stress through sex. But never in my life have I wanted more, or cared where the women I’d been with went next—or who they’d been with before me. But I can’t get you out of my frigging mind. When I think of another man’s hands on you I want to tear them apart limb by fucking limb. But it’s more than that. Ever since the day I met you, I’ve thought about you every fricking day, and not just about sex. Although my mind’s an ocean of dirty thoughts where you’re concerned. I tried to lose myself in other women, which I shouldn’t admit, because you can totally use it against me, but it’s true. It didn’t work. You were right there, front and center in my mind. And then you finally take me up on my offer and we connect, Addy. We connect on every level. You joke, you push, you…” He raked a hand through his hair and sighed. “You’re just like me, Addy. You talk dirty. You like it rough and tender. You push boundaries. I get turned on just thinking about kissing you. Kissing you.”
I do, too. She clenched her teeth, disbelief holding her words in.
“And tonight? I wanted to walk you to that party, but not to fawn over you. I wanted to spend that time with you. To walk to the beach and talk like normal people. To get to know you—beyond the sex, beyond the flirting. I wanted to treat you like you deserve to be treated. Like a lady.”
“I’m hardly a lady,” she said too sharply.
“Bullshit. And I fucked that up big time in too many ways to count. But my intentions were solid, Addy. You drive me out of my mind, and that’s…” He released her arms, turned away, and said, “It’s scary as shit.”
Scary? The man who faced the most harrowing rescue missions a person could imagine and refused to acknowledge the meaning of the word danger where his own safety was concerned was scared? Hearing his confession was like being pummeled by waves and sent tumbling over the ocean floor. She was drowning in it, unable to swim to the surface. She sank down to the sand, staring blankly out to sea.
He moved into her line of sight and crouched before her. With the dark sky at his back, he looked even more powerful, more confident and alluring, than ever. His penetrating gaze challenged and enticed her. She’d never looked for her equal in a man, but Jake was just that. Unyielding. Dirty talking. Boundary pushing. He was the epitome of alpha—the leader of the pack. The one to mate with every female. Her stomach twisted at that, but wasn’t that who she was, in the female version? What he’d just said made her believe he didn’t want that anymore. The question was, did she?
The sounds of the sea fell away, and all that was left was the sound of his deep, confident voice. “You know that moment when you hook up with someone and you experience those first few seconds of what the fuck am I doing?”
Swallowing the unexpected shame that came with her answer, she nodded.
“That what-the-hell moment?” he clarified. “It didn’t happen with you.”
They both fell silent. Jake was breathing hard, as if he needed a moment to wrap his mind around what he’d admitted, just as she did.
“So, what did happen?” she asked in a shaky voice.
Jake shook his head, and when he spoke it was lo
w and gravelly, like it was hard for him to admit. “The instant our bodies came together…Damn, Addison, just thinking about it makes my chest—” He banged his fist over his heart with a pained expression. “I remember the warmth of your skin, the way your face fit so perfectly in my hand, like the rest of our bodies. As if we were the only two people on earth who could fit so well together. Everything was different—every thought, every urge.” Taking her hand in his, he said, “I know we’re right for each other, Addy, and I’ll spend every minute we have proving that to you.”
“I’m leaving tomorrow.” I’m leaving tomorrow? That didn’t even come close to a worthy or appropriate response to all he’d revealed, but her head was spinning. And her heart—an organ she’d spent no time considering in the past—was beating so hard she could feel it pulsing in the space between them.
“I know. I wanted to talk to you about that, too.”
“I’m going, Jake.” The knee-jerk response came out too fast for her to stop it.
“I’m not asking you not to go. Jesus, Addy. Give me a chance. I just want to be sure you’re safe when you’re up there. Why is that so frigging bad?”
The frustration in his voice brought a thread of guilt. Another emotion she didn’t have a lot of experience with. She took a moment to gather her I’m-not-changing-for-any-man rebellion and focused on the one thing she had to know.
“Was all that stuff you said true?” The heart she’d never paid any mind to suddenly morphed to glass, fragile and vulnerable, terrifying her even more as she awaited his answer.
His eyes never left hers. “Have you ever known me to lie?”
She shook her head, and an image of him cradling her glass heart formed in her mind. Her own confession vied to be set free, but fear trapped it in her throat.
He lifted her hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it. “We’re a thing, Addy. Even if you say we’re not, you can’t escape us any more than I can. When you leave here, you’re going to think of me. Of us. As often as you breathe.”
Rescued by Love (Love in Bloom: The Ryders): Jake Ryder Page 10