When he unwrapped the gift, he stared at it, struck speechless. The photo captured the two of them in a tender moment from this morning’s cookie decorating effort. Before he went on duty and before he ended up scaring them all half to death.
Jake swallowed down a lump of emotion. The shared look between them spoke more than he could have imagined. He adored her and it looked as though the feeling was mutual.
“Say something. Anything.” Her voice was a whisper. “Jake, please.”
“I don’t know what to say.” He put the picture on the counter and opened his arms. Bella stepped into them, tucked her face into his neck and hugged him tight. “That is the most beautiful picture I’ve seen. Thank you.” Jake kissed the top of her head and she lifted her mouth to reach for his. Soft at first, he kissed her but she demanded more. Her lips moved against his, stirring his blood into a mix of emotions and need.
Footsteps came into the living room and then hurried away, followed by a soft chuckle. Jake broke the kiss. “Maybe we should take this somewhere more private. No peace around here for us, I’m afraid. What do you say?”
“Let’s go to my place.” She gave his bottom lip a nip with her teeth, sending jolts of electricity to his gut, then paused. “That’s if you’re sure you should be going out. I’d hate to be the one who drags you back to the doctors for overdoing things.”
Jake took her hand and pulled her out of the house. As they passed his father, he called out, “Going to have some private time at Bella’s. Dinner’s on the counter, help yourselves.”
Bella giggled and got in the car for the short drive to the fisherman’s cottage.
*
Snuggled up on the couch with a glass of wine for Bella and a soda for Jake, they talked. “David recognized you.”
She glanced at him over her glass. “The doctor?”
“Yep. His mother’s a fan apparently.”
Bella laughed. “That’s nice. We might have to see if they want to come to the dinner, then. Maybe give them a ticket as a thank you for looking after my hero. Plus, I have to make the most of this for Mari’s sake. She wants the exposure so I’m more than happy to play host if it means she puts the hotel on the map.”
“What about what you want? Would you miss it if you didn’t go back to Seattle? We haven’t really spoken about that. I think after the way you reacted today, it might be a good idea to at least talk about it and see if we can come up with ideas. Float a couple of options and see how we feel about it.”
“I don’t know, to be honest. I’ve worked so hard to get where I am. To throw it all away would be irresponsible on my part and to all the people that helped me along the way.” She bit her lip and looked at him. “But, I love being here with you, you know that.”
“That’s good to hear.” He sipped his soda and looked into the fire. “I want to be with you, Bella. I think we’re good together.”
“I agree. We just have to work out the logistics of it all. Once I redo the last show, I’ll be back here until my enforced break is over. Then there will be some tough decisions to be made.” She snuggled closer. “In the meantime, can we make the most of what we have?”
Chapter Fifteen
Bella opened her eyes the following morning and looked at the man sleeping beside her. Last night had been more than she could have hoped for. She smoothed his hair back from his forehead, looking at the swelling. The bruising had come up over his eye. He’d been so lucky it was only a case of stitches. No concussion, no major injuries. It could have been so much worse. She wondered what it would be like watching him go to work every day not knowing if he would return home. Was she ready for that yet? Her heart said yes but her head still had reservations.
The only thing that jarred right now though was that she had to leave him and get to work. So much to do for the dinner tomorrow night. And she had to chase up Russell. There was no way she wanted to let Jake go and that meant she had to organize her affairs, sort out her future to make it work the way she wanted it to.
Bella slid out of bed and hurried to the handkerchief-sized bathroom for a quick shower. She was dressed and sipping her first cup of coffee when Jake came stumbling out of the bedroom, a picture of rugged male sexiness in a pair of boxer shorts, his hair ruffled from sleep.
“Morning, sleepyhead.” She poured him a coffee, slid it over the counter to him. “I have to go, sorry. So much to do for the big dinner.” She put her cup in the sink. “If I can, I’ll call in tonight but don’t count on it. It’s going to be a late one with an early start again tomorrow.” Bella walked around the counter, leaned up for a kiss and slid her hands around his naked torso. It would be so much more fun to drag him back to bed but she’d promised her sister she would cook for Valentine’s Day and she wouldn’t let her down. It wasn’t her style. “How is the head feeling? Sore?”
“Hmm, yes. Got a thumping headache.” He lifted his hand and gingerly touched the dressing.
“Aspirin in the bathroom cabinet.”
“Thanks.”
“You can go back to bed. It’s peaceful here and no one will disturb you.”
“I can’t. I have to go into work today. Ben can’t deal with the station on his own. There won’t be anyone else that can help him out.”
“Jake, that’s not going to do you any good. You need to rest up.”
He gave her a resigned smile. “I promise to lay on the couch in my office unless we get called out, okay? I will behave myself.”
“Make sure you do. I have to go.” With reluctance, she stepped away, taking another long peek at him before she walked out the door.
At the hotel, Mari walked into the kitchen as Bella pulled the venison out of the refrigerator to marinate in her special concoction for the next twenty-four hours. “Someone looks happy with herself.”
“Life’s good. What’s not to be happy about?” She pulled the meat out and slapped it down on a cutting board before reaching for her knife to trim away the sinew and fat before she sliced it.
“Maybe someone is feeling the love a little bit?”
“Maybe.” It was hard to keep the heat from her cheeks. She tried to focus on the venison.
“Does he feel the same way?” Mari leaned on the counter, watching as Bella cut the meat into thick slices and layered them in a large dish.
“I’d say so. We talked late into the evening and I know he feels the same way about me. My heart is all his, Mari, but my head still has to catch up with it. We obviously have issues to deal with first. Finding the right solution may take time.”
“What are you going to do, Bella?”
“I’m going to marinate this meat and then I’m going to chase up my producer. I had an idea, which he’s sitting on, and I want to get things moving or I’ll have to come up with something better.” She proceeded to share the proposal with her sister.
Later that day, Mari took a call from the producer.
“Of course they can stay here, Mr. Woodall. Sorry, Russell. Yes, Bella did tell me that. Thank you so much for what you’re doing. We really appreciate the exposure.” Mari hung up the phone and squealed. “You did it, kiddo. You really did it.” She dropped the phone and threw her arms around Bella, dancing with glee. “My hotel is going to be on your show.”
“I was so scared you’d think I was taking over. I know I’m ultimately doing it for myself but…”
“Stop right there. You know I’d do anything to have you stay in Cherry Lake. So would Dakota. And if it means you don’t have to go back to Seattle to tape the last show over again, I think Jake’s going to be on that happy list. When you first suggested it, I didn’t hold out much hope. I’m so glad it’s all coming together.”
“Me too and I’m very grateful you don’t mind.” She wiped her hands over her face, the realization of what she’d done only now sinking in.
“So, did he say if he’s going to let you out of your contract?”
The one thing she wanted to know and he was making her wait
, dragging out the anguish. Would she have to go back to Seattle at all? That was the million dollar question she wanted answered more than anything. “No, he didn’t. Said we should focus on the program and make sure we get enough footage to make up for the last show or something before we deal with that. He started doing his usual producer talk about how great my show is and I didn’t get everything he said. My heart was pounding.” She closed her eyes, breathed heavily. So much had been riding on this and finally some of it was falling into place.
“That’s not fair. Keeping you hanging like that is plain mean.”
And didn’t Bella know it but since it was her asking for the impossible, she had to accept there would be challenges. “I’ll just have to roll with it and see what he comes up with. I still have time off before I’m supposed to go back to Seattle to start shooting the next season and I kind of get the feeling he’s going to make me wait. Drag out the punishment.”
“Oh well, at least it’s in the process now.”
“Yeah. Listen, can you please keep this to yourself? I don’t want to say anything to anyone in case it doesn’t go the way I want it to.”
Mari looked startled. “You’re not going to tell Jake?”
“I’m torn, you know? I know I should because it affects him as much as me but so much could go wrong. I don’t want to say anything in case it comes to nothing. Russell might be the producer but the studio bosses may not be keen to let me go, even if he is. It wouldn’t be fair to get Jake’s hopes up until I hear more.”
“Fair enough and it’s your business so I won’t say a word.” Mari pointed at the box of ready-to-go gift packs. “What’s that?”
“Cory wanted something to give to the class tomorrow for Valentine’s Day. He has his eye on a new girl in school who’s a bit shy. He didn’t want to make it obvious to everyone in case she got embarrassed.”
“So you made something for all of them?”
“Yep.” She continued to slice her venison. “He helped though. So did Jake.”
“Don’t you ever stop?”
Bella snorted out a laugh. “What’s the point? I have too much to do and life is short. I can rest when I’m dead.”
“No wonder Russell sent you away for a break. I didn’t realize you took on so much. What with the photo shoot for your book yesterday, prep for my dinner, you still had time to bake for Cory.”
Bella put down the knife. “Have a look at this.” She wiped her hands on a towel and walked over to the refrigerator, took down the print of her and Jake she’d pinned there so she could see him while she worked.
Mari took the photo and smiled. “You can’t let him go, Bella. You just can’t.” She held her hand over her heart. “That look he’s giving you is sublime. The guy is totally smitten.”
“Yeah, me too. And believe me, I’ll do the best I can but if they won’t let me out of my contract, I’ll have no choice but to go back to the city.”
“And leave Jake behind?”
“If I have to. His life is here even if he says he’ll think about moving. I can’t take that away from him.”
Mari slapped the photo down on the counter. “Don’t be stupid. You’ll never get back the kind of love you’ve got here. Trust me. I know what it’s like to walk away from someone when you think it’s too hard. If you leave him, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”
“But you ended up marrying Rake and having Noah. How could you regret that?” She took the photo, wondered if what her sister said was true.
“I don’t regret that part, of course I don’t, but I do regret being young and stupid and leaving someone else behind when things got rough. So scared about what I’d done that I thought there was no going back.”
“But you made it all work out. You were lucky.” Bella pegged the photo back on the refrigerator door. “I’m doing my best, believe me I am. But at the end of the day, what will be will be.”
“I might have been lucky in the end but in the process I hurt the family who took me in when my mother wasn’t capable of looking after me. They meant the world to me and I let them down. Don’t be that person, Bella. You might not be so lucky as I was.”
*
Jake rolled the water hoses back up into the truck and locked them in place. The fire had come dangerously close to the spot where he kept his boat moored at the Christmas tree farm. Now they had to find out who owned the burned-out and probably stolen car and inform them that it was a write-off.
Ben bent down and pointed out a gas can close to the empty beer bottles. “Here’s your culprit. Seems that someone decided it was a good idea to use the jetty and park up here for a few drinks after a joyride and burned the evidence. Just as well they didn’t break into the cabin. Some people never learn.”
“I know. Lucky we were called when we were. Would have hated to have seen the damage it could have caused the farm with someone throwing fuel around here. They’d be devastated if it’d gotten out of control amongst these trees. From what I understand, this stand is for next Christmas.”
“It’s good we got here in time then.” He looked at the damage to the old timbers of the jetty. “I think these will be fine. They still seem solid enough despite the charring on the posts.”
“Thank goodness. It’s a handy spot to have the boat moored.” Jake ambled over and stood looking out over the lake.
“Yeah, ’cause you spend so much time out here fishing lately.”
“I try, okay? With Cory training so much at the moment, I don’t get a lot of free time but I was out here last week and the week before that scraping the hull down ready to repaint before we launch it again and doing work on the cabin. You know you can use the boat anytime you like too, once she’s in the water again.”
“Did you bring Bella out all those times?”
“Maybe.”
Ben chuckled. “Did I tell you the wife bought tickets to the dinner at the hotel? Said we need a night of romance away from the children and what better excuse than when Bella is cooking?” He wiped soot off his hands onto his pants. “Not often we get someone as famous as her in town. With the way they’re making it a red carpet affair, how could I say no? That doesn’t happen often in this town.”
“Seriously? Red carpet. I didn’t know that. I guess I’ll see you there then.”
“How come? I thought Bella would be busy cooking. You’re not taking someone else are you?”
Jake shook his head, looked out over the lake. “No. She convinced me to come to dinner. Once the main course is on the table she won’t have to be stuck in the kitchen. Desserts will all be done in advance so we can have time together and in the meantime, I believe you’re at my table.”
“That’s good then. I’m looking forward to it, actually. The wife’s been singing her praises, watching her shows over and over. Said it’s to get into the mood of being around someone so famous and clever. I’m surprised she hasn’t mugged her in the street yet and asked for photos.” Ben turned and walked back to the fire truck.
“She does get stopped a fair bit but she’s pretty chill about it. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.”
Ben lifted his foot and rested it on a tire, leaned his hand on his knee. “How does it feel dating someone like her?”
“That’s the funny thing. I didn’t know who she was when we met so I didn’t manage to make a fool of myself. Just as well I guess.” Jake gazed at his boat and wished he could hop aboard with Bella and get away from the hype. Even though she seemed relaxed, her nerves were getting slightly frazzled.
“You going to go with her when she leaves?”
A hand squeezed his heart. “No. I can’t, not with Cory.”
“So what are you going to do?”
Jake opened the door and put his foot on the step, ready to climb in. “I don’t know. I honestly have no idea.” He climbed up, slammed the door behind him.
Last night he’d been in heaven sleeping with Bella in his arms. He’d panicked when he’d woken up alone, won
dering if it had all been a dream. But she’d been in the kitchen, ready to sneak out to work.
Jake had thought he led a busy life until he met Bella. She was constantly on the move, always busy with plans that would make most grown men cringe at the breadth of them. He didn’t know how she did it and wondered again why he’d bothered to get involved, knowing she was going to have to go back after her enforced vacation was over.
Because you couldn’t help yourself, that’s why. You fell in love with her before you tasted her food but once she started feeding you, you were smitten. Admit it. The years of looking after himself had made him jaded and he’d forgotten how much he loved a women’s touch in his life.
Not that he loved her for what she could do for him and the family, not at all. But that was how she’d initially wrangled herself into his heart. Once he realized how much he cared about her, it was too late to stop. His heart had already decided and his brain had no say in the matter.
Despite what she said about taking it one day at a time and hoping for things to work out at the end, it was going to end badly. She had her career and he had his son. They both resided in different states and there was no way it would work between them as a long-distance relationship. He had to break it off with her before he lost the will to make his own decisions.
After the big dinner, he’d take her somewhere quiet and explain why they couldn’t be together anymore. He couldn’t possibly compete with her current life, no matter how much he wanted to. It could only end in broken hearts if he continued to delude himself. Maybe one day she would see it for what it was – an amusing change to her normal high-flying life.
The rest of his day dragged on. On his way home, he debated whether or not to call in and see how she was going. She’d warned him she might not make it home early enough to see him and Jake didn’t know if he could sleep without setting eyes on her again. His heart and his brain were at war and it made him sick to his stomach.
The Moore Sisters of Montana: The Complete Series Box Set: Books 1-4 Page 27