Ridge Creek Reunited (Ridge Creek Duology)
Page 24
Letting a huge breath of air go, I relax and start to wipe the tears from my eyes. He wants me to stay. I’m okay. It’s all okay. I honestly don’t care about Patricia. I also presume that Stephen Bradford is doing cartwheels right now because in one foul swoop, he’s gotten his payback on Patricia for stealing his daughter and he’s also solved his Elizabeth problem.
I realize something else he said. “Who is we?”
Smirking at me, Jake’s eyes narrow as he studies my face again. “Don’t miss much do you?”
“Just tell me who makes up the Royal we and it’ll be the last you hear of it from me.”
“It’s a big we,” Jake mumbles as his eyes drift to his phone. “I don’t want to go into the nuts and bolts and I don’t want you knowing who shot which arrows, but I can give you names. Your father is the main one.”
“My father? Really. After what happened yesterday…”
“That was a setup sweetheart. Your father knew Elizabeth had a staff member in his house and that they’d installed cameras. The plan was only ever gunna be that we put you in front of the camera and then got you the hell out of there. We needed Elizabeth confused. Confused enough to warrant her flying down to find out direct from Patricia why you were sitting on your father’s patio. It worked.”
“But Patricia didn’t even know I was there,” I muse as I digest this new information.
“Didn’t matter,” Jake continues. “All that mattered was that Elizabeth thought Patricia knew you were there and she went to get the facts herself.”
“It still doesn’t make sense,” I add, “How did you know Elizabeth would race to Melbourne?”
“It was never a definite but we had to take someone who knew Elizabeth very well’s word for it. Someone who used to work for her and she was stupid enough to cross.”
“Who was that?”
“Anton Angel,” Jake chuckles. “He’s a good man.”
“Anton? Anton, Anton? The man you had a conversation with?”
“That very man,” Jake chuckles. “You can imagine his relief when I offered to take you Green Housing. It freed him up a bit. Gave him some free time to pursue other endeavors. Endeavors we’d discussed during our conversation. Poor guy had a lot on his plate. Especially considering he was the only man that knew enough about Elizabeth Bradford for Stephen to trust to keep you safe from her. Big job.”
“And Zane, I assume Zane is in all this somewhere, especially since he’s ‘walkabout’.”
Jake suddenly looks confused. “Well actually… no.” Lifting his hand to scratch at his chin, he considers my words. “He’s got nothing to do with it. Emma, yes. She’s been sourcing information for everyone. But Zane, no. He’s just walkabout.”
“So what next? What should I do?”
“That,” Jake says as he leans forward to press his lips to mine for a brief second, “Is up to you. You can sit for a few days, watch the news. Get the lie of the land and then walk into a police station somewhere if you want. Emma reckons she can make something up that will cover you. Suddenly left the country to go to a Tibetan retreat or some such crap. Didn’t know what had happened. Get back to find everyone dead and your life upside down. You could then claim your house and do whatever you like with it.”
“Is she serious? That’d be a funny story.”
“Don’t ask me, you need to talk to her about that one. One thing I do suggest however, don’t bring me or Ridge Creek into it. We don’t need any unwanted exposure to police scrutiny, news vans or any other nosy bastards for that matter.”
I nod my understanding instantly. Of course I would never do anything to put Jake at risk.
Ever.
“Stephen also believes he can gag the press to a certain extent. Keep your picture off the television as much as possible, help things blow over faster.”
“That all sounds great except for the fact that I don’t think I want to go back. Going back means dealing with my old life and means I might suddenly become a person of interest as a Bradford. I don’t want that. I just want to live the quiet life with you,” I announce firmly as I realize I’ve decided this once and for all. Seriously, what is the point of going back. Nothing really. There’s a house that’s stuck in limbo with no owner but perhaps Emma can come up with something. A will perhaps?
Realizing I don’t need to decide right now, I lean my head against Jake’s shoulder. “I’ve been having a bad month,” I mumble. “Surely this is the last of it.”
“I fuckin’ hope so,” Jake agrees a little too quickly as I once again realize the poor guy has had to put his own life at risk for me once again. I also realize that I’ve changed so much in the past month that I barely even recognize myself. Which as far as I can see, means I am winning.
“Did you like the way I barely even flinched when you told me two more people were dead?” I grin up at him. “And I only got upset when I thought I had to leave? Now I’m gunna have to practice my game face in case I ever come under police interrogation. Check this one out. It’s the grieving daughter…” I put on what I think is my most solemn face ever and watch as the edge of his lips twitch with amusement.
“Oh and this can be my, ‘Did you know your boyfriend was growing drugs’ face,” I add quickly as I change my expression to a look of surprise.
“Arianna,” Jake growls a warning and gives me a dangerous look. “Don’t even think shit like that, you might make it happen.”
“Sorry, couldn’t help it.” I become contrite. “But perhaps you need to think about working on your game faces too?”
“I don’t need to work on my fuckin’ game faces Arianna. I’ve been doing it for years.”
“I know that…” I giggle as I wonder if he’s getting offended now or he’s just putting a game face. With Jake it’s hard to tell.
“In fact, I have a game face on right now,” he says as he leans in close to my face and I feel his hot breath whispering against my face. His eyes are shiny and the brightest green I’ve seen them yet. He looks hard and lethal. Like he’s about lean forward and snap my neck.
It’s so sexy.
“You do,” I smirk back at him.
“I do,” he agrees slowly staring at me with an intensity that makes my whole body start to ping and my blood temperature rise instantly. I even start to pant.
“Huh,” Jake grunts suddenly and moves back away from my face looking surprised.
Instantly disappointed that he didn’t keep coming at me, I sigh and knit my brows. “Huh, what?”
“Huh, you didn’t even flinch,” Jake says looking impressed. “Once upon a time if I’d have looked at you like that, you’d have just about pissed yourself.”
“I would not have just about pissed myself!” I screech and swat at his bare chest.
“You so would have,” he continues looking dead serious. “You would have done that frozen rabbit thing you normally do and then your eyes would have gone all glassy and dull looking. This time you didn’t even flinch. In fact you looked more like you wanted to eat me.”
“I do!” I smirk at him as I start shifting in his lap and sliding one of my hands down his chest towards his crutch.
“Huh,” he says again as he throws his weight back against the couch to give me better access. “I’ve created a monster.”
“Your very own,” I murmur as I stay my course and move my eyes to lock on his.
Instantly the color of Jake’s eyes change to their amazing dark and dangerous green and his eyelids droop in that very sexy way as he looks back at me. Watching in fascination, my fingers find the top of his cargo shorts and slowly travel sideways to find the button.
Grasping it between my forefinger and my thumb, I’m about to pop that sucker open when Jake suddenly moves.
Like lightning.
Grabbing my hand, he yanks it away from his button and throws it above my head. His other hand then moves even faster to grab me by the waist, lift me, flip me around and the next thing I know I’m laid flat on
my back on the couch, Jake smothered on top of me.
“This weekend’s all about you,” he growls as he moves to lower his face down to within a centimeter of mine. “Which means I’m gunna fuck you till you scream, then I’m gunna take you for another bath and do some more shit that’ll make you scream even more. Then you can tell me how you wanna spend the rest of your day, because all my business in Sydney is now done and I’m all yours.”
“Mm,” I muse as I stare up at him in anticipation knowing that what is about to happen is going to good.
So fucking good.
“I love the sound of that,” I murmur as I lift to meet his face and run my tongue around the seam of his lips. “But I think you might be surprised by what I want to do after you’ve finished having your wicked way with me.”
Responding to my soft tongue against his lips, I feel his body shudder. “What do you want to do?” He murmurs as I feel his hand tugging at the knot on my dressing gown.
“Go home to Ridge Creek. Get my dog and spend the weekend at your house. Just you, me and Pierre. Sleep, eat, fuck and cook. Then you can take me for a ride on your bike somewhere and show me something pretty. A waterfall or a mountain or something. I just want to ignore the world and just be a normal couple having a normal weekend.”
Freezing for a moment I watch as Jake’s eyes soften and a soft smile settles on his lips. “Really?”
“Really.”
“You don’t want to do the tourist thing here in Sydney? Take in the big city?”
“Fuck no, I’d rather get some fresh air and find out more about my new home, Ridge Creek.”
“Perfect,” Jake agrees as he finishes untying my belt and slides his hand straight down to exactly where it needs to be. Within an instant I forget everything we’ve been talking about as Jake once again works his magic to make my world perfect.
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About the author
C L Green grew up, and still lives near Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.
She currently lives on a small farm on the outskirts of Ballarat with her partner Damian, her son Lachlan, her Arabian horses and her Golden Retriever dogs.
When not writing, reading her Kindle, riding horses or spending time with her dogs, you are likely to find her camping on the side of the mighty Murray River.
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Discover other titles by C L Green:
Ridge Creek Duology
Ridge Creek
Ridge Creek Reunited
Standalone Titles
Natural Attraction