Traded

by Lorhainne Eckhart

  “Would this be the same ‘nothing for me to worry about’ that I heard from your brother Samuel?”

  Jake gritted his teeth hard and was positive his jaw cracked. Samuel was the last person he wanted to talk about. “Leave it alone, Logan. Samuel’s not my favorite topic right now.” He sat on the white duvet and leaned over to untie his sneakers, then kicked them off. He pulled off his sweaty socks and tossed them to the floor. He needed a shower, and he needed to get off the phone.

  “What happened with Jill?”

  Logan really wasn’t going to leave it alone, and Jake should’ve known that. He should just tell him enough so he could get off the damn phone and get in the shower and get back to his brooding.

  “What do you want me to say, Logan? You were right. I fucked up. I haven’t seen Jill since before Christmas, after I asked her to marry me. She said she needed space, I thought I gave it to her, and then it dragged on and on. I called, and apparently she’s back with Samuel. What more can I say?” Maybe that was enough that Logan would leave it alone and stop asking.

  “Well, shit.” He heard some muffled curse as Logan pulled the phone away.

  “I take it Samuel didn’t tell you Jill’s with him,” Jake said. He didn’t know why he wanted to know, but he did. He couldn’t help the morbid curiosity any more than he could drive past an accident and not slow down to get a better look. He wanted to ask Logan about Samuel and Jill, how she was doing, where they were, but he was afraid of knowing they were happy, that she was happier without him.

  “No, but I knew something was up with both of you. I was worried—am worried. Someone coming between two brothers, my brothers…it’s not okay, Jake. She shouldn’t be with either of you.”

  He wanted to yell at Logan that she belonged with him, that he was right for her, she was a perfect fit for him. He wasn’t ready for anyone to tell him that they didn’t belong together. His wounds were still fresh, and he wondered when he would be able to get through the day without her image popping into his mind every five or ten minutes. It was exhausting, maddening.

  “Jake, is there anything I can do?” Logan sounded as tired as he was.

  “No.” He wished there was. He wished a lot of things, but he didn’t know what the right thing to hope for was anymore.

  “I want to say don’t worry, that it will get better. You need to talk to Samuel. You two can’t let this come between you.”

  “Well, sorry to disappoint you, Logan, but it already has.”

  Logan sighed on his end, then growled in frustration. Jake recognized the sound well and was positive that if Logan had been in the same room as him now, he’d have taken his shoe and smacked him on the back of the head.

  “I know you, Jake, maybe better than you know yourself. You’re hurting, and you feel betrayed. But you need to ask yourself something. How long were you in love with your brother’s girlfriend before he pulled that dumbass move, and then you swooped in like a knight on a white horse to rescue her? You were just biding your time, loving her from afar. I didn’t realize it until now, but you walked into this with your eyes wide open.”

  He couldn’t believe Logan was saying what he wouldn’t admit to himself. It made him sound like such an asshole, and he wasn’t. But then, listening to Logan and the way he put it, he sounded pathetic, as if he were the one responsible for his broken heart.

  “That’s not fair, Logan. It just kind of happened.” Bullshit. He shut his eyes. He couldn’t even make himself believe that it had been okay anymore.

  “Jake, Samuel has always been a prick with women. I’m not saying what he did was okay. He treated her like crap, but you crossed a line when you started up with her. What did you think was going to happen when you consoled her? I mean, you’re not chopped liver. Take a look in the mirror. You have women falling all over you, wanting to be with you, and you take a woman who’s vulnerable and hurt? Of course she fell into bed with you. It was never going to work. It couldn’t have. Call your brother. Work it out with him.”

  “No.” He shook his head as if Logan could see him, but he was thousands of miles away in another state. For the first time, Jake needed distance from his family and everyone he knew. “Listen, I got to go. I need to shower, and then I have to meet a realtor to look at some places.”

  “Fine, but we’re not done talking about this.”

  He said goodbye to his brother and tossed his cell phone on the bed before dragging himself into the shower.

  He was changed into a pair of jeans and a yellow t-shirt, his hair brushed back, tucked behind his ears. It was getting long enough that he could probably tie it back. He glanced in the mirror at his face and the five-day beard starting to grow. He could probably add an earring diamond stud and change his image from stable, dependable Jake to reckless bad boy. It was a good idea, one he was seriously considering.

  Chapter 8

  She should have been watching where she was going, head down in her pencil skirt, blazer, and pumps as she hurried from the courthouse where she’d just picked up the divorce decree for one of their clients. Normally, it would have been couriered, but for whatever reason the courier they normally used had forgotten to pick it up, and her boss needed to have it for the client today. So here she was, rushing the few blocks back to the office of Gabel and Sons, but it was only the one Gabel—Jennifer, the daughter—who was left to run the show. Why she hadn’t changed the name, Chris didn’t know.

  Chris bumped into someone’s large chest. Hands grabbed her shoulders before she fell, but she dropped the envelope, and her glasses were knocked sideways.

  “Whoa, there. Are you okay?”

  She pushed up her glasses, looking up at Jake Wilde’s square jaw. As he lifted his stylish black shades, his amazing eyes were filled with humor. Did he ever look good. His dark hair was brushed back, and she loved the rough, “hadn’t shaved in a few days” look, especially when it surrounded full lips that she imagined would be absolutely sinful to kiss. Then she realized, as he frowned, that he didn’t recognize her. Or maybe he was trying to place her.

  “Sorry, I wasn’t looking,” she said. “How are you?” She swallowed and let him squat down to pick up the envelope.

  “Didn’t recognize you in those glasses,” he said. “Cute.”

  She wondered whether his smile was his game face or genuine. She’d had enough practice using hers, but she didn’t know Jake well enough to know whether he too had a flashy, practiced smile.

  She pushed the dark-rimmed glasses up her nose again when they slipped down. “I usually wear contacts except at work.” She took the envelope from him. “Thank you, have to get this back to the office. Just picked it up at the courthouse and I was trying to hurry.”

  He looked over his shoulder, down the street, then back to her. “Are you walking?”

  “Running, actually, just a few blocks from here to the office. Just need to drop this off and then I’m done for the day.”

  Of course his gaze went right to her pumps, his eyebrows rising in amusement. “Runnin’ in heels, impressive. Why don’t I walk with you, since you’re probably the only friendly face I know here in Phoenix?” There, he did it again, smiled, and her heart gave a little hiccup. Bad, bad idea. He was in love with someone else.

  “Sure.” Why did she say that? She could hear the lecture coming in her head, so she shut it down and started walking. Jake was right beside her, and he put his hand on the small of her back to move her around some corporate suit who almost walked into her, glued to his phone, texting away. It felt so good. Dammit, that was not a good thing.

  “So what are you doing down this way?” she asked. She realized he had slowed down to walk with her, another gentlemanly gesture.

  “Looking at some places to live, apartments, but they weren’t really what I was looking for. Hey, you don’t want to tag along, do you? I have a couple condos to look at and wouldn’t mind another opinion, another set of eyes.”

  She should say no, go home and lo
ck the door and stay far, far away from Jake Wilde. After all, her heart was still smarting from her own failed relationships. “Sounds like fun. Let me just drop these off and grab my things.”

  Jake walked her to her office, where she delivered the envelope to her boss and grabbed her purse from her desk. She could see him taking in the earth tones of the small one-woman office as she waited. Then he opened the door for her, letting her out first.

  “I parked around the corner. Was actually on my way back to my truck when I ran into you.” He glanced down at her pumps, the three-inch heels her feet were starting to ache from. “You okay to walk a few blocks in those?”

  “Right as rain. I’m a girl who loves heels. I have no problem walking a few more blocks.”

  It was really hot outside, and she was glad she’d worn her white sleeveless blouse. At the same time, she was glad she’d left her legs bare. She could feel his attention on her, the glances down as they walked. There was something about a man’s attention that made her feel good.

  His SUV was parked on the side of the street, and he opened the door again for her, touching her elbow as he helped her in. She slid onto the leather seat and shut her door. The girl he was still pining over was such an idiot. Chris wished it was her Jake was pining for. To have a man love her that much was all she wanted.

  “So where to first?” she asked, unable to think of what to say when he started the SUV.

  He pulled out into traffic, driving with ease, a man in control, in charge. He lifted a folded paper from the console and handed it to her. “There are two condo listings there. The realtor is meeting me at four thirty a few blocks from here. The other is across town. Would be a commute, but she says it’s worth it. We’ll see. So how have you been?”

  “Good, I’m good. You?”

  “Great.” He didn’t add anything.

  This was going to be awkward. She wanted to ask about the girl who had him so twisted up inside, but at the same time she didn’t want to know. “So we’re just two lost souls looking for a place for you to live.”

  He actually smiled, something genuine. He had a really nice smile. “You surprise me, Chris.” He shook his head. “You’re a breath of fresh air.”

  “Well, I try to be.”

  He slowed down and signaled, looking out her side. “I think this might be it.”

  Chris checked the address on the paper and noted the big block lettering on the side of the condo building. It was concrete and glass, nice. There was even a doorman out front. “Wow, looks nice from the outside.”

  Jake pulled up in front and climbed out. He said something to the doorman, who hurried over and opened Chris’s door. “This is it. The realtor’s already here.” He held out his hand, and she slipped hers into it. He didn’t let her hand go right away. His was large and warm and so male. She trembled and then worried whether he’d noticed.

  “What floor?” Had her voice squeaked?

  He winked at her. “Eighteenth. Come on, this will be fun.”

  Chapter 9

  Jake really wasn’t in much of a mood to go apartment hunting. He hated it. It was just one of those things he needed to do, as he couldn’t live in a hotel forever. Although it was comfortable, he needed to have his own place. Having Chris tag along actually made the mundane task much more enjoyable. What surprised him more than anything was how much he enjoyed being around her. Not only was she easy on the eyes and easy to talk to, she seemed to understand him in a way no one else had. And she made him feel good. That wasn’t something a woman had done in a long time.

  They’d looked at both condos that had been lined up by the realtor, and each two-bedroom condo was different. One was older and furnished in earth tones, fifteen hundred square feet, with a nice walk-in kitchen, two full bathrooms, and underground parking. The second, which the realtor saved for last, was farther away, with floor-to-ceiling glass windows, a penthouse with a chef’s kitchen, a walk-in shower Jake could have had a party in, and a private gym downstairs with an indoor lap pool. Unfortunately, it was unfurnished, which meant buying furniture, which wasn’t something he was too keen on doing.

  “So which one are you thinking of taking? They’re both nice, but…” Chris prodded him from where she was belted in on the passenger side. He could see how she hoped he’d pick the second. He’d seen her response: Her eyes had come alive as she raced through the empty condo—the creamy white, the glass. She’d even kicked off her pumps, and as she walked on the plush white carpet, she’d worn a look as if she’d died and gone to heaven.

  “I like the second, but I wasn’t intending on going furniture shopping.”

  “Shopping is fun, and just think of it as buying what you want and getting the place to look exactly the way you want it instead of someone else doing it for you. That second one, don’t forget, has a lot of perks, namely the gym and the pool, both of which I’m sure you’d get a lot of use out of. You wouldn’t have to find another gym to work out in.” She sounded so excited.

  And she was right. He’d fallen in love with the second place until Jill’s image came out of nowhere, sucker punching him. For a minute, he’d found it hard to breathe, thinking of her, picturing her there with him as he walked into the master bedroom, thinking about how much she would have loved the view, looking out at the skyline.

  “And that kitchen, did you see that, Jake? Wow, the gas stove alone. The cupboard, that walk-in pantry, that huge center island…what you could make in there!” Her voice rose when she got excited, and she talked with her hands.

  “You like to cook?” he asked, curious. Jill cooked some, but Jake had done most of it, and of course he could find his way around a kitchen.

  “Love it, and baking, too.”

  “Really, are you any good?”

  “Oh, yeah, I am. You should try my lasagna, and I make a mean pot roast, apple pie, jambalaya… It’s a good thing I don’t have a kitchen like that or someone to cook for, or I’d spend every waking minute in the gym having to run it off.”

  He couldn’t imagine that. She had a great body, slim—perfect, really. “I’d love to try your cooking sometime, give you free access to my kitchen anytime you want. It would be a hardship, but I think I could handle it.” He couldn’t help teasing her.

  “Sure I will. Anytime, it would be a pleasure.” She brushed her arms, and he noticed her shiver.

  “You’re cold.” He turned the air conditioning down. It was perfect for him, but he liked a cooler temp. “So how about I take you out for dinner for helping me out? You turned a day of looking at places into something fun.”

  “Okay.” She had relaxed, sitting in the passenger side, and he took in her smart-looking glasses. They looked cute on her round face—and darn sexy. “Dinner sounds great.”

  Jake pulled up to his hotel and parked in front. He noticed the way Chris appeared confused, her brows crinkled. “This is your hotel, isn’t it?”

  “It is, food’s great. I don’t know Phoenix like you do, but I know the restaurant here, and I know it’s good.” He started to get out, and she touched his arm.

  “Jake…” She stopped. He wasn’t sure what she was going to say, but then she shook her head and went to open her door. “Sounds good.”

  Chris was already out of the SUV when he came around. He handed the doorman his keys and then put his hand on Chris’s back, opening the door for her and then following her inside. He didn’t miss the way she shivered when he touched her. That wasn’t something she could hide. But then, Jake found being with her so easy, so refreshing. She was only a friend, though, a very hot and sexy friend. He couldn’t help wondering what kind of underwear she had on under that slim skirt that hugged her ass and the fitted shirt that covered her generous bust like a second skin. She was a knockout, and he didn’t miss the turned heads of men as they passed. But Chris didn’t seem to notice. What he realized was that when she was with him, he had all her attention. He liked that a lot.

  They were seated in a nice cor
ner table out of the way at the back of the restaurant. The waiter put the cloth napkins on their laps, which was something Jake didn’t think he’d ever get used to. Chris had a startled look on her face as if this was something new to her, as well. They were handed menus and a wine list. Jake wasn’t much of a wine drinker, but maybe tonight he’d make an exception to celebrate his new place.

  She was biting her lip as she looked over the menu. Maybe she didn’t like what was there, but he didn’t think she was a fussy eater.

  “Chris, do you know what you want?”

  She looked up, and her cheeks pinkened. “Um, it’s pretty expensive, Jake. The salad is almost twenty dollars.”

  So that was it. She was worried about the cost. Jake had just assumed she knew he was buying, but then, they weren’t dating. Sometimes lines got blurred. “Don’t worry, I’m buying.”

  She folded her menu closed and stared at him across the table. “Jake, that’s really nice of you, but I can pay my own way. You don’t have to—”

  The waiter arrived and asked if they were ready to order.

  “What do you recommend tonight?” Jake asked.

  “The prime rib is very good, sir.”

  “Chris, how does that sound?”

  She offered a tight smile. He could tell she wasn’t entirely comfortable, but she nodded.

  “Great. Two prime rib, and what red wine do you recommend to go with it?”

  The waiter pointed out a moderately priced Malbec, and Jake ordered that.

  “You drink wine?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I do.” She seemed almost tense again, and he wasn’t sure what that was about. He wanted her to relax. He enjoyed being with her.

  When the waiter left, Jake said, “So tell me about yourself, Chris, your hopes, dreams…” He really did want to know what made her tick. She was amazing.