“Are you hungry?”
She nodded. “Okay, let’s go see what’s in the kitchen.”
I took her hand more for my comfort than any specific need. It wasn’t far from where we stood in the great room with everything open.
The refrigerator was bare. All the leftovers were gone. There wasn’t anything thawed I could cook. But there were a few options.
“How about grilled cheese sandwiches and soup?”
She gave me a vigorous nod.
When Axel got off the phone, he came over to the counter across from me and folded his arms to rest there.
“Can I borrow your car?” he asked.
I eyed him and he glanced at Jamie, who was too close not to overhear anything we said.
“Why?”
I bent down and reached for a skillet. When I sat up, he mouthed 911.
Fortunately, he didn’t have to explain more. Over the last few years, there were nights we spent hours on the phone. Axel didn’t sleep much. Something in his past created nightmares that made sleep difficult for him. During those talks, I heard all about the trouble he’d bail his brother out of. Usually it had to do with women and their boyfriends or husbands they’d completely forgotten to tell Diesel about. Then again, when a lead singer of one of the hottest bands in the world singles you out on stage, I think a lot of women develop amnesia.
“I hadn’t planned—” When he looked over at Jamie, who was watching us intensely, I stopped what I’d been about to say. “Fine. But I’ll call you.”
That was code for when I need you back, you better come.
He nodded and held out his hand to Jamie. “It was nice meeting you even though you broke my heart.” He winked at her after she took it. Cue in more giggles from her and then he was gone.
“He’s funny.”
Again, I said nothing about her easily spoken statement. Clearly, she’d been rattled earlier. Maybe what Axel said was true. What had happened while I was away? Had Jake really meant his statement about Tara and jail? I wanted answers but didn’t know how to ask. I wouldn’t quiz Jamie. She was calmer now and she was too young to be so worried about adult things. But asking Jake wouldn’t be easier considering we were both pissed at the other.
He’d kissed me, but it had felt desperate. We needed to talk and hopefully by the time he got back with Ford, we would both be in the mood to calmly listen to each other.
Jamie had just finished eating when Ford walked in muttering and Jake behind him. She leaped off the chair and ran to her father as if she hadn’t seen him for as long as she hadn’t seen me. What the hell was going on?
10
Jake
I caught Jamie and wrapped my arms around her.
“Sorry I wasn’t here this morning when you woke up,” I said in her ear and then kissed her cheek.
Her little arms tightened around my neck and a lump formed in my throat.
Dad was still grumbling. Jacque had been right. He kept talking about a poker game, debt owed, and Mom. None of it made sense to me. I left him striding over to the office muttering to himself and kept an eye on him. I didn’t want him to disappear again.
“Did you eat dinner?” I asked my daughter.
“Yes.” She pointed at Honey.
I wasn’t sure of my reception. I met her eye. Then I put Jamie on her feet. “Why don’t you find a movie for us to watch?”
She bobbed her head and skipped to the coffee table to pick up on the remote. When the TV flipped on, I walked into the kitchen on the other side of the massive island to put as much distance between my daughter and me. I didn’t want her to accidently overhear one word that was said.
I stopped three feet in front of Honey. “I’m sorry.”
All her anger from before was gone. When she didn’t call me a rat bastard, I stepped forward.
“Stop,” she said softly. “We can’t. Besides, I plan to contact the agency to be reassigned.”
“Honey,” I pleaded.
She continued to shake her head. “I know you don’t want to be with Tara, but I don’t think you’ve given her enough of a chance and I can’t be here to witness it. Jamie needs—”
“Jamie doesn’t need a mother like her in her life, especially when that mother tries to rape her father.”
That word rape sounded foreign on my tongue, but it was the quickest and easiest way to explain what had happened.
Honey looked on the verge of laughing until she noticed my impassive face. She stepped closer to me after a glance in Jamie’s direction.
“What happened?”
The fact her fist balled brought joy back in my heart. Maybe there was still hope after all.
“She drugged me and I woke up with her trying to ride my dick.”
Honey gasped and covered her mouth. “But how did she manage to drug you?”
I stepped closer still. Less than a few inches separated us.
“She brought me a beer wanting to clear the air. I hadn’t touched it and didn’t plan to. Then Dad came out and let it out that he’d caught her sleeping with a ranch hand we had at the time when I was deployed. He caught them right about the time I came home on leave and Jamie was conceived.”
Her eyes doubled in size, putting two and two together. “She admitted it?”
I nodded. “After I told her to leave, she dropped that little nugget about you being married and showed me a headline.” I shook my head. “I should have questioned it. Instead, I drank that beer down, so messed up over the two bombs she’d dropped.”
She clasped my hands and I met her eyes. “No. I mean, yes, I wish you would have asked me about it instead of accusing me. But I’d be heartless not to see how all of that dumped on you would have clouded your judgement.”
I lifted our joined hands and kissed her knuckles. “I fucked up.”
“She fucked up.” She stopped and looked over toward the TV. Jamie was still scrolling through channels. “I’m glad she’s not here. I couldn’t be responsible for what I might do. When did this happen?”
“Last night, technically. I called the cops and subjected myself to making a statement and having my dick swabbed for traces of DNA and my semen because I don’t know if I—” I held her gaze, hoping she could forgive me for what had happened. “I had to go through that so it’s on the record. I don’t care what Jamie’s DNA says. She’s mine. And they’ll have to take her for my dead cold hands before I give her up. And no way do I want her to have any custody.”
She blinked and I couldn’t believe that Tara’s shit had clouded my judgment. I knew Honey wouldn’t lie to me like Tara would.
“You did the right thing,” she said, then she lifted on her toes, looped her arms around my neck, and kissed me.
I clutched her hips and dragged her even closer, needing this contact. But then I let her go because there were things I needed to know.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were married?” I asked.
Fire sparked in her eyes, but it quickly cooled. She glanced away a second as if to decide how to explain.
“Technically, I was never married. That’s what an annulment is.”
If she waited for a reaction, I waited for her to continue.
“How did you meet and get married, technically?”
I tried not to sound flippant. I just wanted to understand the backstory. The guy obviously wasn’t out of her life. If she was in mine, I wanted to understand the nature of their relationship.
“It was dumb. We were in Vegas for a bachelorette party for a girl that had graduated nursing school with me. She was marrying a doctor and he’d gotten her into the VIP section of this ritzy nightclub. Our rooms were in the same hotel. I’d brought Ashlyn and we figured why not get drunk. We wouldn’t need a cab. And the band showed up.”
She stopped like that was possibly the end. “How did you end up married?”
She shrugged. “It’s honestly kind of foggy. I think it might have been a dare. Well, at least to me it felt like a joke
and we were just playing around.”
“So you and Axel just got married.”
“No, not just me and him. Ashlyn married Diesel too. Something about the brothers wanting to marry best friends.”
She tossed her hand in the air as if dismissing that.
“You’re still friends, so why didn’t you stay married?”
She looked at me like that was a dumb question.
“He’s a rock star and I’m not,” she said.
“So?”
I couldn’t help pressing her. I had to know if there was any chance she had feelings for this guy.
“So,” she said with exaggerated slowness. “He likes traveling the world and I like going on a short vacation and coming home.”
“That’s it?” It felt like a flimsy excuse. “You seem like you get along well.”
“We do,” she said. “He says I’m real. I’m the only person in the world who doesn’t want something from him because when we divorced he tried to offer me a settlement.” At my raised eyebrows, she clarified. “I told him we’d been married a day. He had his accountant figure out what portion of his money I should have based on a day and it was an unreal amount of money. I didn’t want it.”
“What about his brother? His flesh and blood didn’t want the best for him?”
“His brother wanted him to do the band thing. Axel only wanted to write music even though he has a great voice and can play most instruments. He compromised and writes all their songs, but he chose to play drums so he could be as far behind the band as possible.”
That gave me pause because I was starting to respect the guy. I had to give him one thing for having great taste in women, but Honey was mine. I’d talk to him about that later.
“So where’d he go? When I didn’t see your car, I thought you’d left anyway.”
“He borrowed it.”
“Good.” I took her hand. “Let’s watch a movie with Jamie.”
11
Honey
Jamie sat between Jake and me, curled against my side, knocked out. I hadn’t watched all of it because I’d made Jake and his dad grilled cheese sandwiches. I’d also placed an online order for groceries.
When my phone buzzed with a text, I eased Jamie over to lie on her sleeping dad. Everyone but me had dozed off.
As silently as I could, I opened the front door and stepped out onto the porch. Axel was there. He held out my keys.
“Where have you been?” I whispered.
He sighed. “I’m not going to lie to you. I never have.” That sounded ominous. “After I dropped my brother off, I went back to your grandmother’s.”
“Why?”
I wasn’t mad and she enjoyed his company, but I was curious.
“After meeting little Jamie, I saw how truly important you were to this family. I’d hoped you’d change your mind about moving out.”
I blinked. “Thirty-second rule?”
He’d mentioned how he’d sized up Jake in that time. Had he also done the same with Jamie?
He nodded. “That little girl loves you too. And whatever happened between you and Jake, you guys needed to work it out.” My words to Jake about Tara were being tossed in my face. “And I wanted time with Grams.”
I couldn’t stop the lift of my lips at the corners. “You wanted a home cooked meal, didn’t you?”
He grinned like he wanted me to see all of his teeth. “I like her company and her advice.”
“And what advice did you need?”
His bright white smile dimmed some. “On how to let go of hope.”
I reached up, cupped his cheek, and drew him down so our foreheads met. “I’ll always love you.”
“Like a brother?” he asked.
“Like a brother.”
When he leaned in and kissed my cheek, the door opened. I knew who was behind me. I didn’t move away because we’d done nothing wrong. Instead, I combed my fingers through Axel’s hair before ruffling it.
I jumped back, giggling when he slapped my hand away and tried to fix it.
“Gotcha,” I said, lighting the moment.
He ran his hand over his hair a few times and it fell back into place. Then his eyes lifted to the man behind me.
“I should go.”
I could no longer deny my feelings toward Jake when he said, “You don’t have to. You can stay for the night or however long.”
Axel gave me the I told you so look. “Thanks for the offer, man. But my roadie followed me.”
He pointed to a car off in the distance I hadn’t noticed. It wasn’t running, that was how I’d missed it.
“Well, don’t be a stranger. You’re welcome at any time. Though I have to warn you that when my daughter turns twenty-one, she won’t be marrying a rock star.”
I hadn’t heard Jamie tell her father about meeting him. I guessed while I was cooking, she’d shared that story with him. Axel gave Jake a thumbs-up with a wicked wink and laughed.
I went in for another quick hug and said, “Call me anytime.”
He nodded and walked off into the dark, which out in the country is absolute. Except for the porch light there was nothing but the moon and stars to light his way.
Jake came over and wrapped an arm around me as I watched the car Axel got in disappear down the lane.
Then Jake turned and our eyes connected.
“Marry me, Honey.”
Okay, that was the last thing I expected him to say and for a second I could do nothing but gape.
He filled in the silence. “I know it’s soon, but I’ve never felt so sure in my life about anything. When I thought you were leaving for good, I knew I never wanted you to go… ever.”
“Tara?”
His head slowly drifted from side to side. “I thought about it for sure. But it was more out of obligation. We’d been together so long, it was almost expected. And I think now, I must have realized that something wasn’t right between us. She’d wanted me to stay, but I left for the military anyway.”
When I still said nothing, he added, “You don’t have to say yes now. But it’s what I want. And a side bonus, it’s what Jamie needs. She loves you just as much as I do.”
I didn’t know what to say and I could see that hurt him, but he tried to hide it.
“Sugar—”
As if he didn’t want me to say no, he cut in.
“Do you think you could put Jamie to bed, while I help Dad?”
I nodded. We went inside. Jamie was out like a light and I cradled her in my arms and took her to her room and got her tucked in.
Jake was still with his dad when I made my way to my room, looking at the suitcase still on the bed. Had I really been about to leave?
The thought had me hugging myself.
“You all right?” Jake’s drawl startled me as he filled in the doorway like no other man could.
He didn’t wait for my reply. He kicked the door shut and stalked toward me. He lifted his hands to either side of my head to tangle in my hair. He bent and slanted his mouth over mine in an explosive kiss like the one that had my knees weak earlier today.
Passion was the spark that made me give into the stroking of his tongue, consumed with need for him. His big, calloused hands slid down my back, over my hips to cup my ass. He brought us tighter together than a dart on a bull’s-eye as his growing erection pressed hard against my belly.
A growing pressure inside me forced me to act. I rolled my hips to grind against him. He answered with a growl into my mouth.
“I need to fuck you.”
I gave my agreement with a nod. Those strong arms of his lifted me up and I wrapped my legs around him. We didn’t have far to go, two steps and he dropped me like a stone on the bed. He hooked his thumbs in his belt loops and just stared at me with hooded eyes.
Mouth suddenly dry, I licked my lips and let my eyes fall to the bulge in his pants. I edged up on my forearms, not sure why he stopped.
Then he reached up and pulled his shirt over his
head in one swoop. “I need to take a shower first.”
Now that was a plan I could get on board with. “I’ll join you.”
He shook his head. “No. If you do, I won’t be able to stop myself and we need to play it safe for now.”
Talk about total deflation. Even the sight of his ass in those jeans as he disappeared into my bathroom couldn’t take the image of what Tara had done to him out of my head. I fell to my back and stared at the ceiling. I wished I’d slapped the woman the first time I met her instead of shaking her hand. Worse, I couldn’t imagine what Jake was thinking. I made up my mind and went into the bathroom anyway. Just because we needed to play it safe didn’t mean we couldn’t play.
“Sugar,” I said, like a curse or maybe a prayer.
He was gloriously naked and soapy from head to toe. His ass was on fine display. When he heard my voice, he turned. I held up a foil package I had in my stash and walked into the shower with him. He snatched it from me and used his teeth to open it.
All I could focus on was his soft lips and how he’d used them on me in the past. I had to clench to stop from exploding with just the thought of the things he did to my body. But even though that didn’t do it, when he scooped me up, pressed me to the wall, and thrust into me, that did. I came hard and fast, spasming around him. He stopped and groaned into my now wet hair as warm water sluiced over me.
And then he began to move with earnest. He sucked on my neck, nibbled on my ear, biting at my lips as he worked us both up. I would have multiple orgasms before the night was over. But my second came on the heels of his. He drove into me so deep, I felt his cock pulsing inside me. When I began to come, he jerked a few more times, prolonging both of our pleasure.
However, Jake wasn’t done. Out of the shower, he laid me gently on the bed. Crawling between my thighs, he settled there and used his tongue in all the ways his dick had done minutes earlier.
After coming three times, I was boneless and soon fell asleep.
12
Jake
Honey’s bed was a lot smaller than my king. I woke up with a stiff neck and gently unwound myself from my sleeping beauty. She didn’t stir as I got to my feet. I tilted my head left and right to stretch my muscles out. Then I left the room, knowing my day would start soon.
Sugar: A Single Dad Romance (Honey Book 2) Page 5