Claim Me Now (Heron Harbor Book 2)

by Lea Nolan

  “I’m so sorry. I wish I could fix this.”

  “I just hope you’re right, and the new owner bans her from the building soon, and I’ll get to work for Kiara. It’ll still be terrible, but hopefully a little less. Hey, I saw a memo Kiara left on Tiffany’s desk last night that was interesting.”

  Raven froze in place. Her charley horse throbbed deep in her calf. She’d taken a few pills before Brilla’s bath that’d dulled the pain, but it was coming back strong now. It served her right for wearing these stupid boots again. “What was it?”

  “I only saw it for a second before Tiffany covered it with some papers, but it was an employment agreement between her and the new owner. But here’s the thing. The new owner’s shell company isn’t Sun Co—S.U.N.—like the thing in the sky. It’s Son Co—S.O.N.—like a boy child.”

  Raven bit her thumbnail as she considered this new tidbit. “Huh. That is interesting. Of course, it could mean nothing at all.”

  Chapter 10

  Jack was on the sofa in the living room, reading an article on his tablet, when Raven limped into the house from the back deck. Whatever she’d done outside had made her injury appreciably worse. “What is going on with your leg?”

  She shed her coat, then rested her hip against an armchair, and tugged off her right boot. “I hate to admit it, but you were right about working in these things.”

  Surprise, surprise. “The sandbags?”

  “Yes,” she conceded reluctantly as she yanked the boot from her foot. “I’ve got a spasm in this calf that’s killing me. It calmed down earlier but flared back up.” She removed the second boot, then moved to the back of the chair and leaned into a lunge, attempting to stretch out the muscle. “Thanks for not saying you told me so.”

  The words had been on the tip of his tongue but rubbing it in didn’t feel right when she was in such obvious pain. Instead, he tried to focus on the positive.

  “Is that working?”

  A little whimper escaped Raven’s lips. “I don’t know. A little? Probably not.” She dropped her head in frustration against the chair.

  “Come here.”

  She eyed him suspiciously. “Why?”

  “Because I can help.”

  “How?”

  “By stretching the muscle and massaging it out.”

  Raven paused, considering his offer. “I can do it myself.”

  Jack shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

  One of the few lessons his father—the biological one—had taught him was that you couldn’t save people from themselves. Jack turned back to the article he’d been reading on the latest rash of mergers and acquisitions but couldn’t resist a few furtive glances in his peripheral vision.

  Raven adjusted her stance, allowing a deeper bend in her knee, then sank against the cushioned arm of the chair, defeated. Next, she tried squatting like a baseball catcher before lying on the floor and pressing her foot against the wall.

  Jack had to hand it to her. She was working awfully hard to get nowhere fast.

  He couldn’t resist. “How’s that working for you?”

  Raven shot him a glare. “Don’t you have anything better to look at?”

  Actually, he didn’t. Even wracked with frustration and discomfort, she was beautiful. He could watch her all night. But since that would undoubtedly sound super creepy, he instead said, “Nothing more entertaining.”

  She narrowed her gaze. “Ha ha.”

  Sitting up, he set his tablet aside. “I really can help you.”

  Raven clunked her head against the floor. “What do I have to do?”

  He gestured to the cushion beside him. “Lay down on the sofa.”

  She forced herself up from the floor and hobbled over.

  He rose to his feet. “Do you have any lotion?”

  “There’s a tube in my tote bag in the hall.”

  “Get comfortable. I’ll be right back.”

  He found the bag just where she’d left it, but unlike last night when he’d reassembled its spilled contents, digging through it now felt wrong. Instead, he picked up the whole thing and set it on the floor beside her on the couch. “I didn’t feel right going through it.”

  She smiled. “Thanks. I appreciate that.” She dug around inside and gave him the hand cream.

  Jack pointed to her lower legs. “I’m going to need you to lift those. So I can sit and do what I need to do.”

  “Oh. Right.” She bent her knees, suspending her feet in the air while he sat. The cushion caved beneath his big frame.

  A small smile curled the sides of his mouth. “You can drop your legs now.”

  “Yeah. Okay.” She laid her calves across his thighs.

  Her legs were warm against his lap. His palms skimmed the denim covering her legs. Her thighs fit right there in the hollow of his hand, like she was made for him. “It’s the right one?” She nodded, and he rolled her pant leg over her calf, and tenderly drew his fingers over the muscle.

  Raven uttered a soft humming sound. “Your hand is so warm.”

  “That’s good. It’ll help relax this muscle.” He gently probed it with his fingers. A hard knot lay deep inside its center. “Jeez, it’s really tight.”

  She winced. “I know. It’s killing me.”

  “We’ll work it out. Don’t worry.” He lifted her right leg and flexed her foot upward toward her shin.

  Her hands fisted the sofa cushions. “Ow.”

  “Breathe through it.”

  “But it hurts.”

  “That’s because there’s a cramp in it.”

  She arched a brow. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

  “I was a high school All-American in Track & Field.”

  “Oh. So then, I guess you do.”

  He relaxed her foot and gave her a few moments to breathe, then flexed it again, this time pushing it a little bit farther.

  She sucked in a huge gulp of air. “Yowch.”

  “Exhale.” He said gently as he pressed her foot an extra centimeter or two toward her shin. “What did you do out there to make this flare up again?”

  Raven forced out the last of her breath. “I must have stomped a bit when I was pacing.”

  “That must have been one hell of a call.” He released her foot, letting it relax. “If it upset you that much, it’s probably contributing to this charley horse.”

  She pressed her eyes with her fingertips. “It was about work. Or my ex-work.”

  Jack made a soft understanding sound. “Trying to get your old job back?”

  “God no, that ship has sailed. A former co-worker wanted my advice about her corrupt new boss.”

  “Ah, corrupt bosses.” Jack was all too familiar with the trope. “What’d you tell her?”

  “There wasn’t much I could say. She needs the job, so she’ll have to suck it up. At least until I find a new gig and lure her away.”

  “So you’re not above revenge. I like it.” Jack could feel the spasm beginning to loosen. He flexed Raven’s foot again, this time pressing the heel of his palm against the ball of her foot.

  Wincing, she dug her head into the throw pillow beneath her neck. “These are terrible people. They deserve whatever they get.”

  Jack chuckled. “Wow, remind me not to get on your bad side.” He stretched her foot a couple more times, then reached for the lotion, slathering his palms with a thick coat. “So, this is why you smell like lavender and vanilla all the time.” He lightly stroked his fingers against the tight muscle.

  “I do?”

  He nodded. “It follows you everywhere you go.”

  “Is it awful? I hate it when people reek like that.”

  “No, it’s nice. I thought it was perfume.”

  She shook her head. “Just hand cream.”

  “Well, it suits you.”

  “In what way?”

  “It’s classic and refined. But not fussy.” His palm pressed harder against her calf, warming the muscle.

  She made a ti
ny purring sound. “What about me says any of that?”

  He shrugged. “It’s just my impression.”

  “If you’re going to say something like that, you should provide the evidence to back it up.”

  Jack couldn’t decide if she was playing coy, fishing for a compliment, or if she was honestly oblivious to her own charms. Raven exuded sexuality. Surely, she was aware of how she affected men. There was a reason she was the center of attention this morning in the diner, then later at the pizza place. She was a stone-cold fox, and any one of the men on Heron Harbor would give their eye teeth to be with her. He was the lucky bastard with her legs sprawled across his lap.

  If she wanted to play this game, he was in.

  “You’re here for the weekend. You could wear whatever you want—yoga pants, a holey concert T-shirt, hair tie, whatever. But you put yourself together as if you care.”

  Raven glanced down at her clothes. “This is a plain red sweater and jeans. Arguably classic. Definitely not refined.”

  His fingers pressed against the weakening spasm in her calf.

  Raven’s lids fluttered closed, and a deep, satisfied moan escaped her lips. “Oh, yeah, that’s the spot.”

  The sound stirred his insides. “But you know how good you look in those clothes. And how hot you looked in the other jeans earlier today with those boots.”

  Her eyelids opened. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Like hell, she didn’t.

  “Then maybe I should tell you how every guy in that diner watched your ass as you walked by after taking that call from your sister.”

  “They did, huh?”

  He nodded and pulsed her muscle with his fingers. “And when you sat down, they looked like they wanted to fight me for you.”

  “Even the old ones?”

  He nodded. “Even that guy with the walker.”

  Raven laughed. “You’re ridiculous. Mr. Benson is half-blind.”

  “He sees better than you realize. He and his buddies weren’t just interested in your backside.”

  “Let me guess, my boobs were involved, too.” Her chin tilted as she looked down at her chest, which had the added benefit of causing her breasts to rise a tiny bit higher.

  Jack’s eyes lingered on her sweater and its perfect shape. “They are pretty spectacular. But that’s not what I was referring to.”

  She grinned. “Oh, well, then I need to hear this.”

  “When you walked back in the diner, your hair was a little wind-blown, your cheeks flushed from the cold. You looked beautiful. And a little wild. Kind of like you’d been sexed up. A man would’ve had to have been all-the-way blind to have missed you.” Fuck, the front of his pants was starting to feel tight.

  Raven’s brow pinched. “I’d just spoken to my sister.”

  “About what?” He’d have bet ten thousand dollars Raven had told Wren about the kiss she’d laid on him the night before.

  “It doesn’t matter.” Her answer came too quick, and with too much defensiveness, for their conversation to have been entirely Jack-free.

  Oh yeah, Raven and Wren had talked about the kiss. And judging by the pink flush rising on Raven’s chest, she’d told Wren she’d enjoyed it.

  “Whatever your conversation was about, it brought out the best in you. You really did look gorgeous.”

  Raven’s long, beautiful eyelashes blinked. “Thank you, I guess. But that was all Mother Nature and the wind coming off the ocean.”

  “She had nothing to do with your ass. Is it wrong to admit I noticed it as you walked out to take that call? But maybe that’s why you wore those jeans in the first place.” His fingers tightened on her calf.

  Raven propped herself up on her elbows. “As hard as it might be to believe, women don’t select their outfit each morning based on how many men it might turn on.”

  “They don’t?” he teased.

  Raven shook her head with a brazen smile. “If I wanted to turn you on, I’d be much more direct.”

  What he wouldn’t give to know how this gorgeous woman would make her wants clear. He swallowed hard. “Hypothetically speaking, how would you do it?”

  Without a word, Raven sat up, shifted her hips a quarter turn, then swung one leg over his thigh. Perched on his lap, straddling his enormous legs, she gripped the back of his head with both hands, leaned down, and set her mouth on his.

  Holy shit. He hadn’t expected this, but hell yeah, he’d go with it.

  Thank fuck for ballsy women.

  Jack’s hands wrapped around Raven’s ribs, and he leaned into the kiss, giving her back just as good as he got. Their connection was fiery and intense. His mouth explored hers for what seemed like hours until he was drunk on her taste and the smell of her skin.

  Need swelled inside Jack’s chest. He wanted more of this gorgeous woman. His fingers explored, caressing her breasts, as he dipped his head to run a trail of kisses down her neck, then on to the area exposed by her neckline. Jesus, her breasts were exquisite. Round, firm, yet soft.

  He nudged the sweater slightly with the tip of his nose and licked the swell of her breast. Raven shuddered and tugged at his hair. A grin curled his lips. He’d caused that reaction. He turned to the other breast and did the same thing, eliciting a similar response. He’d learned something new about her, something he sure as hell wouldn’t forget. Raven grasped his chin with both hands and kissed him again, like she couldn’t get enough. Turning her head slightly, she skimmed the length of his stubbly jaw, then licked his neck, and nuzzled the small hollow below his ear.

  Finally, she pulled away. “Direct enough for you?”

  His breath was ragged. “Loud and clear.”

  Raven’s attention turned to the cushion beside them. “Um, we have company.”

  Brilla was perched on a pillow, head cocked, one newly sheared ear flipped inside out, and God as his witness, he’d swear the dog was eyeballing Raven.

  “I think she’s staring at me,” Raven whispered.

  He was not about to lose this amazing connection because of a dog.

  He snapped his finger and pointed to the makeshift bed he’d dragged into the living room. “Go lay down.”

  The dog gave a quick, snappy bark.

  “She is not impressed,” Raven said.

  Oh, hell no. He didn’t put up with sass from employees. He sure as hell wasn’t going to put up with it from a dog. Jack pointed to the rain-splotched sliding glass window and lowered his voice. “Dog, do you want to go outside in the storm?”

  Brilla’s ears flattened against her head before hopping off the couch and curling onto her bed.

  “Good girl,” Jack said, then turned back to Raven. “Now, where were we?”

  Raven smiled. “We were making each other very hot.”

  “Right.” He laughed and ran his fingers over her backside.

  “I have a confession to make. I’ve been thinking about kissing you all day.” She dragged her fingers through his hair.

  “I’ve been thinking about kissing you since last night. It took me forever to fall asleep.”

  Her lip caught between her teeth. “I’m sorry?”

  “I’m not. This weekend was supposed to be horrible. Kissing you is a definite improvement.”

  “Why was it supposed to be horrible?” She reached to brush back a stray curl that had fallen on his forehead.

  Talk about a buzz kill. The last thing he wanted to discuss was his fucking disaster of a professional life.

  He clasped his fingers in hers. “Can we focus on this instead?” He glanced down at her, still perched on his lap.

  She grinned. “Happily.”

  “Great. Because I can’t remember the last time that I had such a great time making out with someone.”

  “It doesn’t have to stop at just making out.” Raven rolled her hips against his length, and holy fuck, it was all he could do to not take her straight upstairs to his bedroom. His body was more than ready to sleep with her—and
she could feel it—though his mind was a different matter.

  “I’m not so sure that’s a great idea.” Fuck, he couldn’t believe the words had left his mouth. He wanted this woman like crazy, but this wasn’t a typical hookup. There were extenuating circumstances to consider.

  Raven’s head tilted to the side. “Why not?”

  He winced. “What about Lark?”

  “What about her?” She laughed.

  “She and I are friends.”

  “And she and I are sisters.”

  “Won’t it make it weird?” Jack asked.

  “For whom?”

  “You two? Don’t sisters have a code where they don’t screw each other’s friends?”

  Raven blinked. “What TV shows have you been watching?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. I just thought that was a thing.”

  She laughed. “It’s not. At least not for my sisters and me. Will it ruin your coffee dates with Lark if you and I have sex?”

  “I don’t think so,” Jack said.

  Raven crossed her arms. “You don’t think so, or you know so?”

  Jesus, fuckwit, get your shit together.

  Jack nodded. “I know so.”

  Raven smiled. “Great. Let’s get to it.” She yanked off her sweater and tossed it on the sofa.

  Her black lace bra nearly caused his heart to explode.

  He placed his palm on her chest. “Wait.”

  Raven stared hard at Jack, trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with him. In all her sexually active years, she hadn’t encountered a man who’d found so many reasons not to have sex. She knew he wanted her—the proof was in his pants, located conveniently under her hips—but something was holding him back. “What is going on?”

  “I don’t have any condoms. I wasn’t expecting to spend the weekend with anyone.”

  She laid her hand on his. “Not a problem. I’ve got plenty.” Her motor was humming, and she didn’t want it to idle.

  “Ah. Okay.” Though the look on his face said otherwise.

  “If you don’t want to do this, it’s all right.” It’d be a crushing disappointment, but she’d survive. She made to move off his lap.