Abby laughed, forcing him to take her arm. “I’m kidding. You’re Sara’s. You’re safe with me. I’m not the crazy one.”
“Hey!” Sage wadded up a napkin and flung it in the couple’s direction, just as Abby shot her the bird and disappeared out the door.
As soon as it shut behind them, their Mom and Sage both squealed, “Tell me all about him.”
Not a chance. “I thought you wanted us to leave you alone.”
Kas stopped icing the cake to give Sara a side-eyed glance.
“Oh, all right. Jeez! But there’s not much to tell. We met a few weeks ago, he asked me out, and here we are. You’re making too much out of nothing. Trust me. It’s not a big deal.”
Their mother’s gaze said she called bullshit, but thankfully she didn’t say it out loud for Sara to refute.
Sage, on the other hand, didn’t hold her tongue. “Not a big deal, my ass. You finally listened to me!” She shook her head at Sara’s failed attempt at a lie. “That man has dong-swinging power, little sis.”
A cute blush spread across their mother’s face, a deeper shade of the same one heating Sara’s cheeks. “I don’t even want to know what ‘dong-swinging power’ is.”
Sage poured more wine. “It’s the ability to—”
“Please don’t say any more.”
“Well, he wanted to devour Sara on the spot. And he didn’t succumb to my irresistible charm. That’s a win-win in my book.”
“Honey, making it known you’ll spread your legs for anyone is not being charming. It’s just being easy.”
Sara’s hoot earned her a halfhearted glare from her sister, but damn, score one for Mom.
“That was downright mean.” Sage stuck out her bottom lip in a pout only to ruin the effect with a laugh. “True, but mean. What can I say? Too many beautiful people, too little time.”
“Maybe so, but if we’re going to lecture anyone here on their love life, my vote goes to you darling daughter.”
“Too late. I hear the front door.” Sage ran out of the room, with Sara on her heels. Neither one of them wanted to be subjected to an interrogation by their mother.
They made it to the front door in time to intercept Maddie and her armful of stuff. Sage, however, was the only one of the pair of them that moved to do so. The sight that greeted Sara stopped her in motion. Abby rolled the empty wheelchair in, shaking her head, while walking behind her, Jacob held Tessa curled in his arms.
“Sorry, Maddie. I tried to put her in the chair after taking her out of her car seat, but the second she saw Jay, she refused any transport other than his arms, little flirt that she is.”
Sage sidled up to kiss the little girl’s cheek. “That’s because she takes after her favorite aunt.”
“Heaven help us if that’s true,” Maddie said. “The difference is, Sage Monroe, you just think you’re a princess. Tessa actually is.”
As great as it was to hear a little lightheartedness from Maddie, Sara paid the family jokes little attention. Jacob and Tessa held her captivated. The way he cradled her close to his chest while the family bantered back and forth, instead of seeking the first place to deposit her… she’d never seen that before from a stranger.
Although they tried to play it cool, it was obvious neither had any of her family. The air vibrated with restrained emotion. Sara closed the door, and her sisters left them alone under the guise of helping their mom. Sara forced her legs to move and led Jacob into the living room. “Tessa enjoys getting out of her wheelchair and watching everyone from the couch when she can. Do you mind putting her down next to me and sitting on the other side of her?”
He did as she asked, gently placing Tessa on the center cushion and waiting for Sara to sit before taking his place where she’d directed, his gaze never leaving the girl between them.
Though he continued staring after all three of them were seated, his stare wasn’t one of repulsion, or even curiosity. He looked almost… enamored?
And another one bites the dust.
Sara knew the feeling. It was impossible to not fall in love with the skinny little girl between them. Tessa had the biggest, most expressive blue eyes Sara had ever seen, and a radiant smile that enabled most people to look past the uncontrolled muscle movement that characterized her diagnosis. She leveled the full wattage of that smile straight at Jacob.
“Flirt.” Sara tickled Tessa’s side until the girl giggled.
Jacob watched the exchange, granting a smile of his own. “I’m not complaining. I’m the lucky man who gets to share his time with two beautiful ladies.”
Tessa fluttered her baby blues up at him in such a coquettish Sage-like way, it struck Sara again how old a soul resided behind her niece’s eyes.
“Sara, can you help us finish?” Her mother’s yelled request came on the heels of the slam of the back door and signaled Riley’s arrival.
As much as Sara wanted to stay exactly where she was, she raised her own voice, yelling back, “Meaning you want me to set the table as I’m not allowed near a stove?”
Sage’s head popped out from around the corner again. “Damn skippy. We all want to eat tonight.”
“You’re lucky that’s your baked ziti warming in the oven, smartass.” Sara wouldn’t chance ruining the heaven that awaited them, not even on a much-warranted retaliation of her own. “Come on, baby girl. Let’s go show those ingrates we can be useful in the kitchen.” Sara set the brake on Tessa’s wheelchair then bent down for her niece.
Jacob stopped her with a hand on her arm. “Go help your mom and leave Tessa here with me. I want to get the inside scoop from the girl who has your heart.”
Sara stared at him, not knowing what to say. He really had paid attention.
Damn Facebook and her oversharing.
Mistaking Sara’s silence for something else, Jacob cupped her face in his hands. “I’ll keep your niece safe. I promise.”
“I don’t doubt that you would, but do you know what you’re getting into? She’s not as fragile as she looks. I’m more concerned with how you’d fair.” Fear so profound Sara didn’t have to guess its existence rushed over Jacob’s face, tightening his shoulders. “Hey, don’t worry. I won’t hold it against you if you’re intimidated. You don’t have—”
“I’m not worried about myself.” Jacob shook his head as if to clear it. “Really. It’s a few minutes. I can’t hurt her in that short a time, can I?”
“Jacob, you won’t hurt her at all.” But he could very much claim Sara’s heart.
Incapable of speech, she rushed from the room. In one night, he’d made her feel more than others had during entire relationships.
She somehow needed to find a way to hide that from her family. They’d pick up on the emotions he brought to the surface in a heartbeat if they saw her face.
Sara paused outside the kitchen door, then turned straight toward the cabinets, hiding the moisture in her eyes while she collected herself and focused on her task.
The glasses came first, then plates and silverware.
She breathed easier once she finished setting the table.
As soon as she gave her attention back over to her family, though, any remainingthoughts of her own inner turmoil fled. Shadows of exhaustion left dark circles under Riley’s eyes. Sara poured iced tea from the carafe sitting on the counter and handed it over, then poured wine for the rest. “Ready for tomorrow?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be. I don’t think I could study any more if I tried. My brain actually hurts.”
“Go check out Sara’s eye candy and you’ll forget all about your brain pain.”
“Pay no attention to Sage,” Sara rushed to say.
But they all heard the tantrum from the other room at the same time. Tessa’s wail came on fast and furious and spurred Sara into action.
She hurried into the living room.
Though Jacob hadn’t moved, her niece thrashed in his arms on the couch, her head rocking from side to side in frustration—at what, Sara
could only guess.
Cerebral Palsy made it difficult for Tessa to coordinate movements with both sides of her body. While her left side typically remained nonfunctional, her right struggled to overcome misfiring signals from her brain, making her muscles seem to curl in on themselves and her moments at the best of times awkward. When she was having a tantrum, however, it took skill to be able to manage those movements without doing injury to Tessa or anyone around her.
“Hey, baby girl, what’s all this fussing about?” Sara knelt in front of the couch, intending to take Tessa from Jacob until the worst of it passed.
Jacob stopped her. “Let me. I think this is what she wanted, but I took too long to figure it out.”
Sure enough, as soon as Jacob rocked her back and forth, Tessa began to smile through a face stained with tears, her thrashing ending in an instant.
Sara sank back on her heels, unsure of what had just transpired.
“What are you doing? I thought you were needed in the kitchen?”
Jacob’s question surprised Sara as much as the sight in front of her. “Y-you want me to leave the two of you alone? Wh-what if she has another meltdown?”
“I think I handled this one okay, didn’t I?”
No, Jacob hadn’t handled it okay; he’d soared through the damn thing like the fucking Tessa-whisperer. “How… I…” What the hell was she supposed to say?
“I told you we’d be fine, and we are. Now go back into the kitchen and finish, woman. I don’t know about your niece, but I’m starving.” When Sara made no move to leave, he nudged her with his shoe. “Did I step in when Mr. Shriver yelled at you?” At the shake of her head, he gave her a pointed look. “Then why don’t you give me the same amount of faith here? We’re fine.”
Yeah, she could see that.
Still unable to speak, Sara stood and walked back to the kitchen, meeting her sisters and their mother at the door to the room.
“Holy fuck,” Riley said, still staring into the living room.
Sara turned back around to watch the duo herself.
Jacob still sat on the sofa with Tessa in his grasp, but now the little girl slipped down until her head lay in his lap and her feet rested where Sara had been when she’d sat with them. Laughing, clapping, and kicking, Tessa grinned while Jacob sang some up-tempo tune to her in Spanish.
Another one bites the dust, indeed. Sara had never stood a chance.
In agreement, their mother whispered in her ear with tears in her voice, “Say what you want, baby, but this thing with Jay? It’s a very big deal.”
Sage broke the spell. “Ever do the hula, Jay?” Though sniffles distorted her sister’s voice, her question rang out clear, as did her and Sara’s laughter at his nod.
Jesus take the fucking wheel.
“Want to sit on the beach before heading home?” Jacob leaned in, asking the question quietly as things wound down inside her mother’s house.
Sara wasn’t able to keep quite so quiet. “Absolutely!” She only stopped herself from bursting into song by biting her inner cheek.
God, girl. Tone it down a bit.
Her exuberance caused Sage to look over, giving an omniscient smile that very clearly said, “I told you so.”
Thank God, Sara had finally listened.
In order to restrain herself further, Sara kept her cheek planted firmly between her teeth, avoiding speech altogether as Jacob said their goodbyes and they settled in his jeep. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to mind her silence. He made no attempt at conversation while he drove, but he didn’t keep his distance. His fingers drew lazy circles on her leg.
Just that minimal amount of contact carried all the potency of him stroking her clit. Each glide of his fingertips stoked the flame of desire higher. She squirmed when he deepened the pressure, massaging his way from her knee to halfway up her thigh. On his third such pass, she tried to drag his hand higher, but he wouldn’t veer from his course, making her mindless with that small touch. By the time they arrived at Ocean Beach, all of Sara’s thoughts centered on him laying her out on the sand and pounding into her in time to the surf.
He opened her door and held out his hand. “Walk with me.”
“Okay.” Her body trembled with anticipation, awaiting the pull of an embrace that never happened.
Instead, he led her to the wall that separated the beach from the parking lot and removed his shoes. He waited until she’d done the same, then placed both pairs by the wall and took her hand. “What was it like growing up in a big family?”
Sara didn’t respond at first, needing a moment to slow her rampant hormones as she realized he’d been serious. He had no intention of doing anything other than walking the beach and talking.
A salty breeze whipped strands of hair loose from the tie at her neck. She let it blow free around them rather than try to confine it, eventually managing to answer and give in to her own curiosity. “Being a part of a large family has always been a mix of things. Wonderful. Horrible. Smothering. Lonely. And most of all, as you saw, crazy.” It surprised her that with as much as she’d wanted sex, the desire to learn about his life weighed on her more. “Does your wistful tone mean you’re an only child?”
Jacob nodded. “My parents divorced when I was four and neither remarried or had kids.”
“Four? Ouch. That had to be rough.” No wonder she sensed loneliness in him. “But you had other family around, right? Cousins, aunts, uncles?”
They’d shared snippets about themselves while they’d worked, but in addition to not talking about his past, he’d never shared much about his family life. Mostly they discussed his likes and dislikes when it came his turn to talk. She knew he preferred dark chocolate over white and that he hated seafood, but knew nothing about the people he loved.
“I had occasional visits with grandparents that rarely ended well.”
Sara didn’t realize she stared until he laughed.
“What’s wrong? Feel guilty for complaining about being part of a big family?”
“Yeah. No.” She shook her head. “Sorry. It’s just… where’d you learn to be so good with kids? Do you have any children out there I need to know about?”
“Fuck no.” Jacob shuddered.
Fear radiated off of him instantly. The same fear that had come when he’d first offered to watch Tessa alone.
“Hey, I was kidding.” But she couldn’t deny that his reaction bothered her. She ran a hand up and down his arm, trying to soothe him, even while mentally distancing herself. Was he one of those men who ran scared from commitment? Kids were a non-negotiable for her.
You’re an idiot if you’re already thinking about having the man’s babies.
The voice she heard this time wasn’t Christopher’s, but her own snarky conscious.
She was an idiot. Yet knowing that didn’t stop her from wanting clarification. She needed to know where he stood before she lost her heart completely. “Were you acting tonight with Tessa just to win me over?”
“What do you mean?”
“Your enjoyment of her. Was that an act?”
Jacob stopped walking and waited for Sara to look at him. “I like you, but I wouldn’t do that. I legitimately think Tessa is great. I had fun with her tonight.”
Had he? He’d certainly appeared to.
Yet his fear was so palpable, it clung to Sara, too.
She resumed the slow pace they’d set when they’d first stepped onto the beach and asked, “What about Mrs. Williams’ boys, then?”
“Are we having the same conversation here? Because I’m not sure where this is going. Who is Mrs. Williams?”
His confusion amused Sara more than it should, given her heart was on the line. She kept her tone neutral as she said, “Mrs. Williams is a customer. You played with her twins at the bank a few weeks ago.”
“Oh. Right. Um… she looked frazzled?”
Sara had to give Jacob credit. His answers weren’t quite what she needed to hear, but he didn’t hesitate to provide th
em.
On this issue, however, she couldn’t take any chances, even if it meant she frustrated him to the point he decided to take her home. His reaction to the thought of him having a child had been too intense for her to ignore. “Are you saying that you helped a woman out by entertaining her children, just because she looked frazzled? You? A person who doesn’t like kids?”
“Is that what this is about? Of course, I like kids. I never—Look—Dammit, I never said I didn’t like children.”
Okay. That held promise.
Still, though… “Maybe not, but it sure seems you have an issue with them.”
“I don’t have an issue with them. My issue is with me.” Hopelessness overpowered the fear in Jacob’s voice.
Its presence caused the part of her heart that had started falling for him to ache. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to push you.” Sara had wanted to assuage her worries, but not at the expense of his well-being. Making him frustrated was one thing, breaking him was another.
When he didn’t say or ask anything more, she walked beside him in silence as they continued toward the rocky ledge jutting out into the ocean. A few minutes later, she took his hand in hers again and brought it to her mouth for a kiss that asked for forgiveness.
He linked their fingers together.
Humbled that he not only didn’t pull away, but that he sought a deeper closeness with her, Sara turned the conversation back to a safer topic in an attempt to give him a breather. “I wasn’t complaining about being a part of a big family, you know. I love my sisters. Even Sage.” Jacob’s chuckle had her tightening her hold on his hand.
I’m sorry, Jacob. I really am.
Sara kept the repeat of her apology to herself, unwilling to send him back into whatever Hell he’d visited. Instead, she selfishly hoped they could continue the rapport they’d had prior to her cross-examination. “Did you know that Riley used to be lead singer in a local band?”
“Really? I would have assumed that fit Sage’s personality more.”
“It does, at least now.” Sara giggled. “But it doesn’t fit Sage’s voice. Good God, that woman is an awful singer.”
Morrow's Horizon (The Morrow Women Series Book 1) Page 17