The stranger’s smile was all for Tori. “I got in last night, much too late to call you. Do you have time to talk now about framing the canvases and finalizing the details of the brochure for the show?”
There was a familiarity between the man and Tori that irritated Jake. His perfect white teeth and charming smile made Jake clench his jaw. Hadn’t he decided that walls between him and Tori were a good thing? Hadn’t he decided it was better if they both kept their distance?
Tori glanced at Jake as if she wondered how long he’d be staying. Then she introduced him to Peter Emerson.
She didn’t explain what Jake was doing in her gallery, just mentioned he was a friend. About Peter, she said, “Peter’s one of my stars. I found him last year. We sold out at our first showing.”
Jake remembered seeing the canvases with Emerson’s name as he looked through her inventory and checked the building for obvious flaws a burglar could take advantage of. There were none. Emerson’s paintings, though, wouldn’t be hanging in his living room.
“I saw some of your work back there.” Jake nodded over his shoulder. “You’re the artist who paints images in mirrors and lakes and the like.” Some of them were downright weird, but then, Jake was no art connoisseur.
“Yes, I do. It’s my trademark. Tori saw the promise in it. Since she did, I can take time off to paint, rather than work as an accountant all year and dread tax season.”
Emerson and Tori exchanged a look of mutual admiration that Jake found disturbing—as disturbing as her smile, the brush of her hair along her cheek, the curves that were always subtly emphasized by her flowing clothes.
He needed to get back to working with his hands, not pretending he was a detective again. Last night after Phil called Tori, the old adrenaline had kicked in. All his senses had gone on alert. He’d realized he remembered how to be a detective. He just didn’t think he’d ever want to be a detective again.
“I’ve got to be going,” he said now, moving toward the door.
“Jake?” Tori’s voice stopped him. “Thanks for coming in with me this morning. I appreciate it.”
“No thanks necessary. Your gallery’s as secure as it can get without an armed guard. Hopefully, the thug who broke into the jewelry store is on his way somewhere else.”
After a nod to Peter, Jake left Tori’s gallery, eager to finish the work on Tori’s house so that he could find balance in his life once more.
To Tori’s dismay, when she, Nina and Barbara arrived at Nina’s on Sunday, Nina announced, “I see Jake’s here with the boys.” Her friend hurried up the steps and threw open the door.
When Tori had called Nina about getting together with Barbara, Nina had insisted Barbara join them when they went shopping. Then they could all have supper together afterward—at Nina’s house. Tori had assumed Nina’s mom would be taking care of the twins.
“Where’s your mom?” Tori asked lightly, wondering if Nina was trying to throw her and Jake together on purpose. If so, it was going to be very awkward.
“She had the chance to spend the day with a friend in Albuquerque, so I asked Jake to take the boys.”
Going into the kitchen, Nina looked out the back door. “Uh-oh. Charlie’s here, too.”
“Uh-oh?” Barbara asked, picking up on Nina’s tone. “Don’t they get along?”
“They don’t know each other yet,” Nina said with a sigh. “Jake is protective of me and the twins, and he hasn’t decided whether or not he likes Charlie yet. I think it’s a territorial thing. Men.” She shook her head as she called out the back door. “We’re home. Anybody ready to order pepperoni pizza?”
While the boys stayed outside, Jake and Charlie both came into the kitchen. There was obvious tension between them.
With a grim line to his mouth, Charlie said, “I finished working on my car early. I came over and told Jake I could take the boys to the park, and he could do whatever he wanted. But he insisted—”
“I didn’t know if you’d want Charlie to take the boys off on his own. We’ve never discussed it.”
“I trust Charlie,” Nina told him softly.
“Next time I’ll know.”
“I promised Ricky and Ryan I’d play catch with them,” Charlie said. “If you don’t have any objections, I’ll do that now.” His cool attitude was directed at Jake, and he left the kitchen abruptly, letting the screen door bang shut behind him.
“How was your shopping trip?” Jake asked the three women, apparently not wanting Barbara to feel uncomfortable with the family tensions zipping around her.
Barbara rubbed the small of her back and Tori suggested, “Why don’t you have a seat?”
Nina took a pitcher of lemonade from the refrigerator. “We helped Barbara pick out a few outfits for college. It was fun. Made me wish I was ten years younger.”
“You’re not old,” Barbara protested. “You could still go to college if you wanted to.”
Tori had been glad to see that Barbara had felt comfortable with Nina right away. Apparently Jake could see that, too.
The teenager turned to him now. “Nina said you were her coach when Ricky and Ryan were delivered.”
“Yes, I was. It was an experience I’ll never forget.”
“My husband was out of town a lot,” Nina explained to Barbara. “Mama was no help at all and got all beside herself as soon as I went into labor. She couldn’t even find the suitcase I’d packed. Jake was a great coach. He kept me focused and didn’t let me give up when I thought I couldn’t push another time.”
“Just thinking about it scares me to death,” Barbara admitted. “My mother doesn’t even want to be there.” She shook her head as tears came to her eyes. “She acts as if I’m not pregnant. She acts as if I’ve got the flu and it’ll soon be gone. I guess it soon will be,” Barbara added wistfully.
It was moments like these when Tori’s fears gripped her the hardest.
Jake’s gaze locked with hers, and she could see that he knew what was going through her mind. What if Barbara never signed those final consent papers? What if her mother was pushing her to give this baby up, but deep in her heart Barbara didn’t want to do it?
“If I find a birthing class like you and Nina recommend, will you be my coach?” she asked Tori.
“I’d be glad to be your coach.” Tori couldn’t refuse. At this point she had to support Barbara any way she could.
Silence settled over the kitchen for a few moments until Jake broke it. “The boys were getting hungry. Maybe I should place the order for that pizza.”
After the pizza arrived and they all sat outside at a large picnic table, Tori munched on her slice, observing the family dynamics. She and her mom had led a quiet life after her dad had left. With her mother working long hours at a law office, their time together was limited. Tori had always wondered what it would be like to be part of a large family, to have a sister to share secrets with, a brother to climb trees with. Watching the twins’ antics, as well as Nina trying to keep peace between Jake and Charlie while also trying to include Barbara and Tori in all the conversations, Tori felt a sense of belonging overtake her that she didn’t understand. Realistically, she didn’t belong here with them. Maybe she felt bonds because of her renewed friendship with Nina and her connection to Barbara.
The sense of belonging transformed into something else entirely whenever Jake’s gaze met hers. Then she felt as if she’d been stung by something powerful, something she wasn’t sure how to handle.
Nina gathered the books she’d collected on childbirth, and Barbara left after finishing her pizza. When the boys ran to their room to get a game, Nina and Charlie talked quietly in the kitchen. Tori found herself alone out back with Jake.
“She’s probably trying to unruffle his feathers,” Jake said almost to himself. He moved to the edge of the deck and stood under the scraggly shade of a piñon pine.
Tori’s sandals sounded on the wood planks as she slid her hands into the pockets of her red capri pants and joi
ned Jake at the edge of the deck where they couldn’t be overheard. “You really didn’t think Nina would want Charlie to take the boys anywhere?”
“She’s only known the guy two months. I wasn’t sure how to handle it. It just seemed better to err on the side of caution. If anything ever happened to Ricky or Ryan…”
“If Charlie really cares about Nina, he’ll be glad you’re looking out for her and the boys.”
“I guess that’s one way of seeing it.” Jake’s shoulder brushed hers as he angled himself toward her, and she felt the excitement of standing so close. His body was hard-muscled and solid. She always felt very feminine standing beside him.
Changing the subject, he asked, “Do you think Barbara’s mother is forcing her into giving this baby up for adoption?”
After Tori thought about it, she shook her head. “I don’t think she’s forcing her. Barbara has a mind of her own. But her mom’s lack of support has played a part in it. If she had been willing to take the baby and care for him while Barbara went to college, I don’t know if she’d be giving him up.”
“You’re still worried that she’ll change her mind.”
Quick tears welled up in Tori’s eyes. “I’m praying she doesn’t.”
Jake’s gaze was tender as he looked down on her. Then the tenderness changed, becoming need and longing as they both remembered their last kiss.
Tori told herself she should look away. She should move away. She should distance herself from whatever had started twelve years ago, from whatever was happening now. But it was as if a magnetic field surrounded Jake and drew her into it—drew her into him. It immobilized her, mesmerized her, made the atmosphere around them absolutely hum.
The smell of piñon intertwined with the spice of Jake’s aftershave. The sudden fire in his dark eyes took her breath away.
“Tori,” he growled low in his throat, as if he was fighting the same kind of forces she was and losing the battle, too.
When his arm went around her, she didn’t even think about resisting. As his head bent to hers, she raised her chin, knowing full well she was telling him she wanted his kiss. The warning bells in her head couldn’t have been louder. Her own good sense urging her to move away couldn’t have been more certain. Yet the primitive drumbeat pounding in her heart, the hungry need in Jake’s eyes, the ache deep inside her that had been there as long as she could remember, overshadowed reason and warnings she didn’t want to heed.
The moment Jake’s lips settled on hers, the earth as she knew it spun. There was no north or south or east or west, only the dizzying height of being at the top of a mountain with Jake. Maybe that was why she wanted his kiss again—because it took her someplace she’d never been. It took her to a peak she’d never climbed. It took her out of herself and into him.
As his tongue breached her lips, her hands went to his shoulders and she held on to him as if he was the center of all the intoxicating sensations whirling inside her. She’d never felt so much a woman. She’d never been with such a virile, sensual man. He tasted her as if he didn’t want to miss any bit of her flavor. He swept her mouth as if she were a new world he wanted to conquer. When he slid his hands up into her hair and brought her even closer he let her feel the arousal inflaming them both.
This time when he withdrew he did it slowly and reluctantly. He was breathing hard and it seemed to take him a few seconds to right his world. “We’re combustible.” He gave a frustrated shake of his head as he dropped his arms to his sides and took a step away so their bodies weren’t touching. “But we can’t let this play out.”
“Jake…”
He shook his head before she could put what she was feeling into words. “I’m not into relationships and commitment and responsibility for someone else’s happiness.”
His assumption that she expected a kiss to lead to a lifelong commitment made her angry. “And you think I am? I’m not,” she stated defiantly. “I know men don’t know how to stay. I know they make promises they never intend to keep. I know what it felt like when my father walked out. I know what it felt like when my husband walked out. Do you think I’d ever want to experience that kind of pain again? Do you think I could ever trust a man again?”
After a deep breath, she warned him, “Don’t make assumptions about me, Jake. Maybe we are combustible. Maybe we have chemistry. Maybe we’re both just looking for a distraction because our lives are a little complicated right now. I was a starry-eyed teenager once, but I’m an adult now, and I know there’s no place called Camelot.”
She stepped away from him before he could back any farther away from her. “I’d better leave. Then neither of us will have to deal with this chemistry that’s just too messy to handle.”
He caught her arm as she turned. “You’re a beautiful woman, Tori. You deserve more than I can offer you.”
Pulling out of his grasp, she shook her head. “You’ve read me all wrong, Jake. I’m not looking for anything a man has to offer. I’m going to have a baby, raise my son and work at making a good life for us both. That’s all I want and all I need.”
Then, convincing herself that everything she’d just told Jake was the absolute truth, she turned her back on him and went inside.
Jake waited at the local pancake house early the next morning, considering what he was about to do. When Phil Trujillo walked in, the considering stopped and he knew he couldn’t let Nina get into a relationship like the one she’d had with Frank. Not if he could help it.
The two men greeted each other, and Phil said, “It was good to hear from you. But you know I can’t talk about the burglary case, if that’s what’s on your mind.”
“No, that’s not it.”
Phil gave him a curious glance as the hostess walked them to a table. After a quick scan of the menus, they placed their orders.
“So how have you been?” Phil asked. “Rumor has it now that you’ve moved back you might want to look for a job with us.”
“Rumor has it wrong.”
Phil cocked his head. “Then what’s this about?”
“My sister is dating someone. I want to make sure he doesn’t have anything in his past she should know about.”
“Do you have reason to think he would?” Phil asked.
“No. But she’s a widow now, and the man she married had gambling debts she never knew about. She had to use his life insurance to pay off the credit card cash advances, a loan at the bank and the IRS. I don’t want her setting foot into another mess.”
“I can understand that.”
Jake slid a piece of paper across the table. “Here’s his name, birth date and car license number.”
“That’ll do it. She knows or doesn’t know you’re doing this?”
“Doesn’t know. She’ll be mad as hell if she finds out.”
Phil nodded. “No need for her to find out if this guy’s on the level. I’ll see what I can come up with.” He gave Jake another long look. “Sure you don’t want to talk about coming back to police work? What happened in Albuquerque wasn’t your fault. You do know that, don’t you?”
“That’s what people tell me, but I don’t believe it.”
“So you’re going to stay in the handyman business?” Phil’s tone was wry.
“I don’t know about that, either. A high-school friend of mine just opened a lodge in Crested Butte, Colorado. He wants me to come up, look around and maybe invest as a partner.”
“Trading the Sangre de Cristos for the Rockies. Is that something you really want to consider?”
“The truth is, nothing feels right. Until it does, I’m not going to complicate my life even more by making the wrong decision.” Ever since Tori Phillips had come back into his life, the wrong decisions were tempting ones. In the past, he’d become involved only with women who didn’t want a commitment any more than he did. Although Tori had declared otherwise, she wasn’t one of those women.
When the waitress brought their order, Phil smiled and pointed to his chocolate-chip panc
akes topped with whipped cream. “Now this is what life should be about.”
Jake understood what his friend meant. Unfortunately he rarely took time away from work, from thinking about the past, from wondering about the future, to enjoy a breakfast of chocolate-chip pancakes.
Maybe that would have to change.
Chapter Five
Tori took the day off on Friday and let Loretta and Mary Beth cover for her at the gallery. It was one of the advantages of being the owner. She’d stayed home to sort through the baby things she’d already bought, to see if she’d forgotten anything important. When she finished with the painting next week, she’d have the furniture delivered.
After she washed and folded infant T-shirts and terry playsuits, she hung festively patterned, blue-green curtains in the bathroom. Placing matching rugs on the floor, she not only thought about the baby who would be coming into her life, but Jake. She’d walked away from him in frustration and exasperation on Sunday evening, knowing he was right, wishing their backgrounds had been different. Her reaction to him and to his kisses still caused turmoil she couldn’t banish.
From the work he’d done for her, it was easy to see he was a perfectionist. The tile work was absolutely beautiful. Hand-painted white tiles with Native-American designs alternated with blue and green. Floor tiles were a light shade of rust, bordered by blue-green. The medicine cabinet had been hung perfectly, and the light fixture above it was just the right height. All Jake’s work showed painstaking attention to detail.
Yet his life was unsettled and his future a question mark. His feelings about relationships and commitment were implacable. Still, his words didn’t ring quite true. He did know how to commit. He was committed to his family. At least, he was committed to them while he was living in Santa Fe. Maybe, just like Dave and her father, he could be here today and gone tomorrow. Maybe that was what he’d been trying to tell her.
It was late afternoon when Tori heard the clink of her mailbox lid closing. Retrieving the mail from her porch, she brought it inside, riffling through the advertisements and legal-sized letters. She stopped when she came to the one with Jake’s return address. Setting the others on the kitchen counter, she opened his and saw it was a bill for the work he’d completed. Just a bill.
Their Baby Bond Page 6