And all of it meant love.
Minutes passed. Perhaps even hours. The only sound in the room was their recovering breath and the sparking embers of the dying fire. When Jacques came to his senses, he rolled them over so Rainey lay on top of him, knowing he had to be crushing her with his spent weight.
And when he did, she gripped his shoulders, resting her cheek on his chest as though she were loath to let him go. Jacques smiled in the gathering darkness of the room. He tightened his arms around her.
There would be no letting go.
He dragged his fingertips delicately down her back and watched as goose bumps broke out over her arm.
“Are you cold?”
She tilted her chin up so her eyes met his, and she shook her head. The sight of Rainey, naked and gazing up at him from his bare chest was just about the sweetest in the world. His grin was irrepressible.
“Are you hungry?”
She gave a coy shrug, her eyes never leaving his. “The thought of food is tempting, but I don’t think I ever want to leave this room.”
His laughter shook her body as it rested on him, and the sensation made them both giggle.
“I have credits on my Uber account I can use for UberEats,” he said, still teasing his fingers up and down her back. “We don’t have to go anywhere.”
She arched an intrigued brow at him. “You do?”
He nodded.
Rainey gave him skeptical smile. “But we’d still have to get dressed to meet the driver.”
Jacques shook his head slightly. “I would have to get dressed. You will stay right here.”
“That’s hardly fair — especially since you’re paying for it,” she argued, frowning. “I should get dressed and meet him.”
This time his head shake was more adamant. “You will do no such thing.”
Rainey lifted her head in challenge. “And why not?”
He leveled her with his gaze. “Because you look more beautiful and enchanting in this moment than any woman in history. Even clothing could not shield your post-coital glow.” He spoke with a teasing tone, but he was absolutely serious. “I refuse to let any other man see you like this.”
“Post-coital glow?” she parroted, blinking at him.
“You should look in the mirror. Your cheeks are rosy. Your lips flushed. Those curls of yours are seductively mussed.” He touched the pad of his index finger to each spot as he named it. Already, he could feel the stirring of his desire. There was no way he’d share this Rainey with the rest of the world. “When you think about it, I’m really doing a public service. Your beauty is lethal.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, but there was no hiding the pleasure his words had given her. This was an argument he’d clearly won.
“So, what do you want for dinner?” she asked, conceding without admitting defeat.
He shrugged. “I don’t care.”
But his stomach betrayed him with a rumbly growl.
Her answering smile was faux innocence. “It sounds like you care. Are you dreaming of Chinese?”
“I’ll get whatever you want,” he said evenly, though his stomach growled again at the thought of wanton soup and General Tso’s chicken.
“Let’s get Chinese,” she said, mirth lighting her eyes.
I love you.
The words nearly leaped from his lips, and his cock stiffened anew. She was the perfect woman. The perfect woman for him.
An hour later, they were sprawled across the bed, a feast of Chinese takeout now decimated before them. Rainey had insisted on reclaiming her robe, and without a shred of shame, Jacques had gone down to the Copper House lobby to claim their food in his drawstring pajama shorts and T-shirt.
The UberEats driver hadn’t even given him a second glance — Jacques guessed that everyone ordering UberEats showed up at the door in their pajamas, but he’d run into Willard on the way back to their room, and the older man had given him a solemn nod of approval though it wasn’t even a quarter to seven.
Rainey got up to clear the near-empty takeout boxes, and Jacques tracked her movements across the room.
“Come back.”
She dropped her chin and gave him a teasing stare. “I’m just cleaning up.”
“I’ll clean up. You stay here.” He knew how ridiculous he sounded, but after chasing Rainey for so long, Jacques was only too aware of how short the night would be and how fragile their new bond was.
Not because his ties were weak, of course. But because he knew Rainey had been exceedingly brave all afternoon. And at some point, she’d likely feel some doubts about how quickly things had changed between them.
Jacques intended to hold the ground he’d gained, and he felt instinctively that he needed to keep her close to do it.
“You are insane. Do you know that?” she asked, clearly exasperated, but she came back to bed all the same, leaving cellophane fortune cookie wrappers and an empty carton of fried rice there in the middle of the bed. Jacques leaned forward and collected these items and moved them to the nightstand beside him.
He sat back against the headboard and pulled her into the crook of his arm. This. This was how he wanted each day to end. No matter where they were. No matter what they did. Jacques wanted the day to close with Rainey tucked against him.
He reached over to the nightstand again, plucked up the TV remote, and handed it to her. Rainey eyed him but made no move to switch on the TV. Archie, sensing that the bed was no longer a dining table and that he wouldn’t be kicked like he’d nearly been during their lovemaking, jumped on the mattress and turned around twice before settling down.
“I don’t get to clear the dishes, but I do get to choose the channel? Is that right?” Rainey asked, disbelief dripping from her words.
Jacques suppressed a chuckle but said nothing.
“It’s every woman’s dream,” she breathed in mock awe.
He narrowed his eyes at her teasing. “Just don’t pick something stupid.”
Rainey arched a brow. “And what would be stupid? I need an example.”
Jacques shrugged, giving more attention to the way her hazel eyes sparked with amusement than answering her question. “I don’t know. House Hunters.”
Rainey gasped. “I love House Hunters.”
His eyes rounded, but before he could speak, Rainey’s horrified expression teetered, and her smile won out. “Just kidding. I hate reality TV.”
“What do you like?” he asked, wondering if he could guess before she answered.
She shrugged beneath his arm. “I usually read, but—” she said, reaching over to the side of the bed and pulling out the little sack that carried her yarn and hooks. “—if I want to crochet, I sometimes put on Gilmore Girls.”
“Why Gilmore Girls?”
Again, the shrug. “Because it’s nostalgic, and comfortable, and I’ve seen every episode already, so I don’t have to pay too much attention.” Her cheeks pinked. “Besides, I’ve always had a thing for Jared Padalecki.”
Jacques blinked, savoring the chance to tease her. “The guy from Supernatural? He was in Gilmore Girls?”
Rainey mimed a horrified gasp. “Of course! How could you not know that?” Then she narrowed mischievous eyes at him. “You know, you’ve got a little of that Dean-Forester-Sam-Winchester thing going for you.”
Jacques nodded, his expression deadpan. “I see how it is. You’re into me because of your lifelong Jared Padalecki crush.” He forced his mouth into a grim line. “I don’t feel cheap at all.”
Sputtering a laugh, Rainey swatted him on the elbow. Before she could withdraw, Jacques tagged her hand and brought it to his lips.
Rainey pretended to ignore him. Blushing, she flicked on the TV, flipped through about four channels, and then shoved the remote back at him. “Here. You take it. I’m good with whatever. Besides, I should have finished these by now.”
Jacques frowned. These could have only meant the lacey crochet band she held that was about two inches wide. The yarn s
he used was a pale green that reminded him of pistachio ice cream.
“And what are these?” he asked.
She looped her index fingers through the ring and held it up to him. “Well, sometime tomorrow, I hope they’ll be a pair of beach shorts?”
He could only blink. Shorts made out of yarn?
His confusion must have shown on his face because she reached over to the nightstand and took up her phone. “Here. Look. I’m making these.”
Rainey pulled up a picture, and Jacques nearly choked on his tongue. The lacey shorts in the image had maybe a one-inch inseam and a scalloped edge that fell just barely below the pattern model’s butt cheeks. And if that weren’t skimpy enough, the intricate pattern left finger-sized holes all over the front and back, rendering a peep-show of skin.
“Y-you’re going to wear those?”
She looked at him as though she were waiting for him to say something more, and when he didn’t, she said. “Um… yeah. I’m going to wear them to the beach… with my bikini bottoms.”
Jacques swallowed. She was going to wear them. To the beach. With her bikini bottoms.
In full view of other men.
“When are you going to the beach?” Clearing his calendar and booking a beach vacation suddenly seemed absolutely critical.
Rainey’s eyes swept the ceiling as though the answer hung from it. “Well, we were supposed to go to Laguna Beach in June — we started planning it when Mom and Kendall moved — but with Holi’s health…” She looked back at him, a frown tugging now at her brows. “I don’t know what we’re going to do.”
Jacques didn’t need to be told that she wasn’t just referring to the beach vacation. He tightened his arm around her.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do,” she said, again, her voice sounding hollower this time. She leaned her head back against his shoulder, clearly needing comfort.
“It’ll be okay,” he said. And he meant it. He didn’t know what would happen to Holi, but he’d be by Rainey’s side whenever it did.
His phone rang then, the silent buzzing competing with the white noise of the television, but Jacques made no move to answer it.
“You should get that,” Rainey said, straightening up.
Jacques shook his head. “It can wait.”
But Rainey frowned. “What if it’s Gloria trying to reach us?”
He picked up the phone and saw the name on the display. “It’s Kate,” he said. “I’ll call her back tomorrow.”
He tapped the side button to dismiss the call and set the phone down. Glancing back at Rainey showed him her fresh disappointment.
“Why won’t she help us?” she said, her voice a plea.
Jacques gathered her in both of his arms and pulled her against his chest. “I don’t know. But give her time. It’s just been a few hours, remember?” He thought of the way Ray had snatched up his business card. Intention had been written all over his face. “And don’t underestimate your little brother. I don’t think we’ve heard the last of him.”
Rainey tipped up her face and gave him a sad smile. “He’s really a neat kid,” she said, conviction clear in her voice. “I’m sorry I blew it with Gloria, but I’m not sorry I met him. I got five minutes with him, and that was enough to show me how special he is.”
Then she giggled in his arms. “He wants a Labrador retriever.”
Her happiness at the memory made him smile. “Oh, really?”
“Yeah, he had this book in his backpack all about labs.” Her smile grew. “He showed it to me.”
“He likes to read. What a surprise.” Jacques tried to bite down on his smile, but Rainey’s arched brow at his sarcasm made it impossible. Then he sobered. “He’s going to want a relationship with you. He’s going to bug the shit out of his mom until she reaches out to you. Just give it time.”
Relief and something like hope filled her eyes, and Rainey nodded. “Thank you for saying that. It makes me feel better.”
Jacques released her and tipped his chin at the bundle of yarn she still clutched in her hand. “You should finish those,” he said. “June’s just a few weeks away.”
She looked down at the band of yarn and back at him. “Yeah, but I doubt we’ll be able to make the trip.”
Jacques shrugged. “Then you and I will go. I’ve never been to Laguna Beach,” he said. “Besides, if you think I’m letting you wear those without me, you’re crazy.”
“Letting me?” She elbowed him lightly in the ribs, but she suppressed a laugh.
“Yeah, you can’t wear those if I’m not around to chase off all the other guys who are eyeing those see-through shorts.” He was joking. Sort of. If she went to the beach without him, he wouldn’t mention the shorts again, but Jacques knew he’d be thinking about them the whole time she was gone.
Her jaw dropped. “They’re for the beach. They’re supposed to be see-through.”
“That’s exactly why I want to be there,” he said, tickling her in the ribs in return.
She squealed and batted his hand away before he could do it a second time.
“Wouldn’t want to miss that.”
She narrowed her eyes at him in mock exasperation. “You’re impossible.”
In response to that, Jacques nuzzled her gorgeous hair and planted a kiss on her neck.
Rainey pursed her lips and tried not to smile. She picked up her crochet hook and worked it through one of the stitches in her band of yarn. Then she deftly wrapped the string of yarn around it and pulled it through, making one loop. She repeated the step until she had two loops, and then she drew more yarn through those.
Clearly, his kiss hadn’t been enough to disrupt her focus. And since no one could call Jacques a quitter, he tried again. Her crochet hook paused mid-loop this time.
With the third kiss, she tossed her work over the side of the bed and fell into his arms.
Chapter 26
By nine o’clock the next morning, they still hadn’t heard from Gloria, and while Jacques continued to tell her not to give up hope, Rainey’s gut said otherwise. She’d made herself call Ash and brief him on their ill-fated visit, and he’d shared her disappointment.
Otherwise, the morning had been close to perfect. Archie had woken them at seven for breakfast, and as soon as they’d taken care of him, Jacques had scooped Rainey up and tossed her —squealing mid-air— onto the bed. By the time they’d emerged from the Bluegrass Room and made their way down to breakfast, they were ravenous.
The delicious spread had momentarily distracted Rainey from the sense of dread she felt about the return trip home, but after the meal was over, she found it hard to pack, and she dragged her feet as they loaded up the car.
Jacques’s eyes were on her as they’d left the B&B, but it wasn’t until they’d been on I-65 for thirty minutes that he spoke up.
“What’s wrong?” His hand closed over hers before he lifted it and settled both on his knee. The comfortable intimacy of the gesture touched her, and it soothed one of the two fears she tried to keep at bay. But, no matter what, heading home meant she’d have to face both eventually.
Going back meant her time with Jacques — both precious and unforgettable — would be coming to a close. He’d been sweet and surprisingly territorial when she’d shown him the pattern for her beach shorts, going so far as to suggest they take a vacation together, but would that really happen? Their time on this road trip had been an oasis from reality. Indeed, Jacques’s real life had continued to chase them if the number of missed calls from Kate were any indication.
But Rainey tried her best not to feel melancholy about it. She told herself to enjoy the remaining hours she had with him. Make some memories. Stare at him until her eyes hurt. Kiss him and touch him and inhale his scent.
She started by squeezing the hand that held hers. “I’m just dreading going home,” she said, honestly. “I don’t know what I’m going to say to Holi.”
His brown eyes softened on hers. “Just tell her the truth.
You did your best.”
Rainey shook her head in frustration. “I just feel like there’s more going on with Ray’s mother than I know. Why would she hate my dad so much if he supported them all that time? I mean, Larry said it was three years, right? Until she told him to stop?”
A crease formed between Jacques’s brows, but he hid it from her when his eyes went back to the road. “There was a moment yesterday when I thought you got through to her.”
Rainey fast blinked. “Wh-what do you mean?”
“It was when you said… I think it was when you said you were glad Ray had another father.” Jacques shook his head. “I can’t be sure, but she looked… I don’t know… appreciative.”
Rainey thought about the little brother whom she’d met once and already loved. If he had a father in his life who was there for him, who protected him, and gave him all the love a boy could have, Rainey was grateful. Ray deserved that. Everyone did.
And it wasn’t something Ray would have gotten from Dylan Reeves. Rainey found herself wondering what life would have been like if her parents had divorced sooner. If her mother and Kendall had found each other sooner. Would she have been able to call her stepfather dad? Would she have grown up knowing that kind of love?
Would it have made all the difference in the world?
She hoped it would make all the difference for Ray. And judging by how curious and outgoing the boy was, how willing he was to speak his mind and make connections, Rainey could see that he was growing up with confidence and strength. Clearly, he hadn’t grown up waiting for the other shoe to drop. Wondering if his family was on the brink of dissolution every time his dad came home late.
Rainey sent up a silent prayer that Ray would never have to suffer the kind of loss she’d endured with John Lee’s death, but she also suspected that if he did, he’d have the support he’d need to see him through.
She would have liked to explain to Gloria how lucky she was that Dylan Reeves wasn’t a part of Ray’s life. And at the same time, she wanted to punch her father in the teeth for letting him go.
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