As the oldest, Jake had been the one his mother sent to collect his dad on nights when he was too drunk to make it home on his own. Jake would make the twenty-minute trek from their ramshackle house into town and eventually coax his father to follow him home. He’d always tried not to make eye contact with any of the other customers or bartenders; he didn’t want to know who was on hand to witness his dad’s sloppy end to any given night.
Now he was surprised to find the smell didn’t cause a reaction in him. Maybe it was because Millie was so close that the scent of her shampoo wafted up to him, covering the smells that evoked so much shame from his past.
One of the nurses waved them over to a couple of tables in front of the bar that had been pushed together. He made introductions and noticed that Millie’s nervousness seemed to settle as she spoke with a few of the women. He recognized Natalie Holt and remembered that she was part of Millie’s new group of friends.
He took a beer with his good hand when it was handed to him but didn’t do more than sip on it. He’d never be much of a social drinker thanks to the memories he had of his father.
He sat with a couple of the other docs from the hospital. Lana Mayfield scooted a chair next to his after a few minutes.
“So what’s your plan?” she asked when the people around them started in on a heated debate about the Broncos’ prospects for the upcoming football season.
“Enjoy the evening,” he answered, purposely misinterpreting her question. “Toast the happy couple.”
She shook her head. “Come on, Jake. Your ankle is healed, and from everything I’ve seen, there won’t be permanent nerve damage in your hand. I want to know what’s next for you.” She slid her hand along his shoulder, leaning so close that her breast pressed up against his arm. He could smell the hint of alcohol on her breath. “I’d like to be a part of your future.”
He flexed his fingers around the bottle of beer on the table in front of him. As much as he’d wanted his hand to get better, he was ignoring the signs that pointed to a full recovery. As long as he could use his injuries as an excuse, he didn’t need to deal with the decisions he’d have to make.
“It’s complicated, Lana.” He caught Millie looking at him from where she stood nearby with Natalie, but her gaze snapped away. “I’ve got to think of my daughter and what’s best for her.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I thought the grandparents were willing to take her.”
“We’d agreed to that, yes. But things can change.”
“You haven’t changed, Jake. I don’t believe it. You were the most single-minded person I’d ever met. You knew you wanted to be a doctor, how you wanted to practice medicine, and you made it happen. You’re not the kind of person who settles down. You need the pressure and excitement to really feel alive.” She pressed closer to him. “We both need that. We’re two of a kind, you and me.”
He doubted that. He moved his chair back, extricating himself from her awkward embrace.
“Anybody want to dance?” Natalie suddenly stood next to their table, Millie held at her side by Natalie’s hand clamped around her wrist. “The DJ’s just getting started.” Her eyebrows rose as she glanced between Jake and Lana, disapproval clear on her pretty face.
Millie kept her head turned toward the dance floor.
“I wasn’t much of a dancer before the accident,” Jake admitted. “I think I’ll pass.”
“Are you sure?” Natalie tilted her head toward Millie. “Might be worth giving it a try.”
“We’re in the middle of a private conversation here,” Lana told them, her eyes narrowed on Millie. “Discussing important hospital business. Doctor business. Neither of you would understand.”
He was about to argue when Natalie leaned forward. “It doesn’t take a medical degree to understand that you’ve got a stick lodged—”
“Come on, Nat.” Millie tugged at her friend. “Let’s go dance.”
Damn. He ground his teeth as they walked away. He knew Millie had silly hang-ups about being in the company of people who were better educated than she, not that it mattered one bit to most people in Crimson. He didn’t think Lana had been purposely cruel, but she was a snob. Jake couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed what an irritating trait that was before now.
Maybe he wasn’t a great dancer, but if it meant an excuse to get close to Millie, he was willing to give it a shot. She looked beautiful tonight, wearing a pale patterned blouse and a short denim skirt with sandals that laced around her ankles. Her skin glowed from the shimmery lotion that Brooke liked her to wear. He appreciated it for an entirely different reason and wanted the chance to touch Millie, to be close enough to have her scent invade his senses once again. He pushed back from the table before Lana’s next comment stopped him.
“Looks like your nanny found a partner without you.”
Millie and Natalie were dancing with a group of men—tourists, by the looks of their clothes. One of the guys—dark-haired, from what Jake could tell—took Millie’s hand and twirled her as a popular country song rang out over the speakers. Jake took another drink of his beer and turned back to Lana, but his gaze kept straying to his lovely nanny on the dance floor.
After a few songs, Natalie, Millie and their entourage went to the bar for drinks. He saw the man lean into Millie and her laugh in response. She looked happy, fun and so full of life. This was where she was supposed to be, he realized, not stuck in the house with him and Brooke every night. This was the first time he’d seen her free-spirit side in action.
Soon the group around them had expanded. Jake realized that for all Millie’s worry about fitting in, he was the one left on the outside. Too serious, too quiet. Just like he’d always been.
Lana never left his side, however, and after a while his head started to pound from her relentless hinting about their “possible future” together. Millie and the others had returned to the dance floor and he wasn’t about to watch her enjoy herself in someone else’s arms for a minute longer.
“I’m going to grab some air,” he told Lana, standing.
“I’ll go with you.” Her smile was suggestive.
“That’s okay. I’m not great company right now.”
Before she could argue, he turned away. He wouldn’t leave Millie here until he made sure Natalie would bring her home, but he needed to clear his head first. He hadn’t seen how much Millie’d had to drink but was pretty certain the group had done at least a couple of shots.
He tried to keep his eyes focused on the exit, but his gaze slid to the dance floor once again. Through the crowd he caught sight of the dark-haired punk pulling Millie tight against his body. Jake was about to look away when he noticed the look of distaste on Millie’s face. She shook her head and squirmed away but the guy held her tighter, bending to whisper something in her ear. She shook her head, the disapproval turning to fear in a split second.
Which was as long as it took Jake to change course, muscling his way through the other people on the dance floor. He pulled the man away by his shoulder, narrowly resisting the urge to punch the guy’s smug face.
“What the—” the man sputtered as Jake put his arm around Millie, leading her away.
She looked up at him. Tears shimmered in her eyes. “You don’t have to...”
“Let’s go.” Jake moved as quick as he could through the bar’s customers toward the front door. He could tell Millie needed to get away.
The guy stepped in front of him, giving Jake a little shove. “Dude, she’s with me. Find your own girl.”
“Maybe you should take no for an answer, buddy. She’s not with you anymore.” Jake tucked Millie to his side, away from the man’s grasp. “Get the hell out of my way.”
“She wanted it.” The man tilted his head toward Millie. “Some of them like it a little rough, you know.”
A tr
emble rolled through Millie and he heard her give a little sob. That a jerk like this could bring her to tears infuriated Jake. And when the man reached for her, Jake’s temper snapped. Without thinking he reached up and slammed his fist into the guy’s face.
A searing pain sliced through Jake’s arm. By instinct, he’d thrown the punch with his right hand. His injured hand. He sucked in a breath, trying not to let the pain take him down.
The man staggered back a few steps then steadied himself. He would have come at Jake, who was at a definite disadvantage with Millie plastered against him and the throbbing of his splinted hand.
But the bouncer from the front door wrapped his meaty arms around the guy. “Go on, Dr. Travers,” he said to Jake. Jake recognized him from the clinic—he’d brought his mother in to be treated for a stomach infection last week. “I’ll take care of this joker.”
Jake made it out of the bar and a few steps down the sidewalk before he let go of Millie and doubled over in pain. He muttered every curse word in his vocabulary then gently flexed his fingers. At least they weren’t broken.
“Oh, no.” Millie was back at his side in an instant. “You hit him with your bad hand. What were you thinking?”
Jake straightened, taking deep gulps of the cool evening air. “I thought he was hurting you. That you were scared to pieces. I thought I was rescuing you.”
“Who said I needed rescuing?” Her words were sharp but her tone gentle. She lifted his arm, cradling his hand in hers. She drew her fingers along his, raising them and kissing his knuckles that were already swelling. He felt a tear drop onto his finger and slip down the inside of his splint.
“Millie.”
She shook her head, wiping the back of her sleeve across her face. “I’ll drive home.”
“You’ve been drinking.”
“Fine.” She kept her gaze averted from his but didn’t let go of his hand. “You drive.”
They walked to the car in silence, and the pain in his hand subsided to a dull ache.
He unlocked the car and opened the passenger-side door. Millie let go of his hand to climb into the Explorer.
“Millie, look at me. Please.”
She turned, her emotions cut off from him.
“What happened back there?”
“You could have done permanent damage to your hand,” she snapped. “It’s not totally healed, Jake.”
He shook his head. “On the dance floor. When that guy held on to you. Your reaction...”
“It was nothing. He freaked me out, that’s all. I could have handled it.” She bit down on her lip and Jake let it go because if there was one thing he didn’t want, it was to make her cry again.
The ride home took only a few minutes. Millie looked out the window the entire time, her hands clasped tightly together in her lap. When he parked, she was out of the car like a shot, practically running up the front walk.
He trailed her into the house, expecting her to retreat to her bedroom, where she knew he wouldn’t follow. Instead she went to the kitchen and, without flipping on a light, took one of Brooke’s animal-shaped ice packs from the freezer. She returned to him, and he hissed as the cold touched his swollen skin.
“There was more to that than you being freaked out.” He tipped up her chin. “You were scared, Millie. You should never be frightened of a man in that way.”
He saw her swallow as she blinked several times. Damn. He hadn’t wanted tears.
“It was my fault,” she said after a moment, her voice just a whisper in the quiet house. “I led him on.”
“You danced with him. I saw you. There was nothing more to it than that.”
“I gave him ideas.”
“Watching you floss your teeth would give a man ideas.” That earned him a wisp of a smile. “It doesn’t mean they get to act on them. You deserve to be cherished, Millie.” He paused, unsure of how much to reveal. Then because the pain was clouding his mind, her scent was wreaking havoc on his senses and because the dark added some bit of protection, he added, “I would cherish you.”
As she watched him, he saw in her eyes the same desire that coursed through him. But as much as he wanted to act on it, Jake held back. She was fragile at this moment, and he needed to be the kind of man who wouldn’t take advantage of that.
So he began to move back, to leave her in peace as she’d once requested.
But when she rose up and brought her lips to his, all thoughts of leaving her alone vanished. He couldn’t have pulled away from her at that moment if his life depended on it.
* * *
He let her choose. After what had happened to her at the bar, Jake didn’t press her for more than she could give. He said he would cherish her and she believed him.
For that and so many other reasons, she wanted him.
She hadn’t meant to lead the guy on in the bar. She’d only wanted to dance, get lost in the moment and try to drown out the disappointment she felt that Jake was spending his time with Lana. But Millie knew that sometimes men took more than she offered, felt as if they were entitled to more than she was willing to give.
Not Jake. It was virtually impossible for him to want more from her because she was ready to give him everything. That thought made emotion unfurl inside her chest. She pressed closer to him, wanting to lose herself in his strength, only to jump back with a gasp at the ice pack she held between them.
He took it from her hand and tossed it aside. She lifted her chilled fingers to the pulse beating in his throat.
He shuddered then bent to kiss the center of her palm. “Millie,” he said in a husky tone, “I want you. All of you. But only if it’s what you want, too.”
“Yes.” The syllable came out on a whoosh of air.
He lowered his mouth to hers, taking control of the kiss, deepening it then drawing back. He interlaced their fingers and led her through the darkened house down the hall to his bedroom.
Her eyes darted to Brooke’s empty bedroom across the hall. Jake turned when she hesitated. “You can stop this at any time, Millie. Just walk away.”
She didn’t want the night to end, so she stepped forward, her hands splaying across his chest, and pushed him into his bedroom. His arms lowered to her waist and he lifted her as if she were no more than a child.
The feel of being in his arms, the safety and power of him, was all she’d imagined and more. Millie trusted him, perhaps not with her heart but definitely with her body.
He took the few steps to the bed and, stripping the quilt away, lowered her onto the sheets. Kneeling beside her, he undid first one sandal and then the next. He removed his splint then smoothed his palms up her bare legs to the backs of her knees, tickling the sensitive skin there.
She wiggled on the bed, unused to feeling so vulnerable in front of anyone. “I can handle this part.”
“Let me,” he said with a sexy smile, leaning forward to trail his mouth against her skin at the edge of her skirt.
Millie felt need and desire fan to life even brighter inside her. When he tugged the skirt down past her hips, she shut her eyes, unable to meet his gaze.
His fingers skirted the edge of her panties and she sent up a silent prayer of thanks that she’d at least put on decent underwear for the night. He began to work on the buttons of her shirt.
“Millie, open your eyes. Look at me.” His voice was husky and low.
She took a breath and met his hot stare. “I’m not used to this kind of attention,” she whispered, trying to make a joke, but her voice caught on the last word.
“You should be. You should be cared for and worshipped. You are smart, clever and beautiful both inside and out.” He spread the shirt open and she shivered as air touched the heated skin of her belly. “You deserve so much more than you’ve allowed yourself to have, Millie.”
; “Hey, Pot, meet Kettle,” she answered without thinking. Then she could have kicked herself. Here was a man trying to make proper love to her, and thanks to her thrumming nerves, she was joking. Talk about looking a gift horse...
Jake threw back his head and laughed. “Come here,” he told her and she rose to kiss him as he pushed the shirt off her arms. She could feel him smiling against her mouth but soon the kiss turned hot and needy again.
His fingers worked the clasp at the back of her bra and she clamped the front of it to her chest. Even though the lights were out, moonlight streamed in from the window. Millie felt suddenly exposed in a way she hadn’t expected.
“Do you want to close the blinds?”
Jake nipped at the underside of her jaw. “Nope.”
She gave him a little push. “Well, I’m not going to be the only one without my clothes on here.”
He sat up and shucked his shirt over his head.
Heat radiated off his body, all sculpted lines and muscle. Two fading scars crisscrossed one shoulder, reminding her of what he’d been through. When she reached out to draw the tip of one finger down his chest, a tremble passed through him. Jake was holding himself back for her, and her heart opened to him because of it.
She moved forward, letting her bra drop as she molded her body to his. His touch turned possessive and hot and her body responded to him in the same way. His tongue traced the edge of her nipple before he took the peak into his mouth. Millie slid her fingers through his hair, urging him up to kiss her once more. They tangled together in the sheets, learning the nuances of each other. He continued to whisper sweet words to her, this Jake so different from the serious, sometimes emotionally distant man she’d first met.
He didn’t leave any part of her unexplored, using his fingers then his mouth to bring her to the edge of desire. Millie wasn’t totally inexperienced. She’d had a couple of boyfriends and understood sexual attraction. This was something totally different, so much more than she’d ever felt with a man.
Just as she thought she couldn’t take any more of his teasing touch, he lifted away from her, taking a condom from the nightstand before he wrapped her in his arms again.
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