by Zoe York
“Would you have gone all caveman and carried me back to your den?”
Maybe. Not answering seemed the safest bet.
Her face softened and she almost smiled. With her lips. Her eyes were still dead serious. “What were you afraid of hearing?”
Anything that might make him lose control. Anything about her being with someone else, which made him a total hypocrite.
“I wish you’d stayed.” She licked her lips, leaving a shiny wet path that he wanted to feel against his skin. “Maybe it’s time for you to stop hiding from the fact that I’m a grown woman.”
Deja vu washed over Jake and he shook it off. They’d had this conversation a dozen times in his imagination. He wasn’t going to blow his chance to have it for real. He glanced down at those damn pointy nipples for a second before dragging his gaze back to her flushed face. “I’m painfully aware of that fact, gorgeous. Have been for eight long years, I promise you.”
She crossed her arms like she knew exactly where he’d looked and she wanted him to look again. He ignored the sweet swells her arms plumped up on offer for him and stared her in the eye instead. Which was good, because her next words slashed through his gut. “I wasn’t a woman eight years ago.”
And right there, crackling between them, was the truth of why he’d fought this for so damn long. “You looked like one. And I kept my hands to myself.”
She leaned in, lips parted. Still wet from where she’d licked them. God, he wanted to taste her more than he wanted his next breath. “I didn’t want you to.”
— FIVE —
HEAT radiated between their bodies—almost close enough to touch. Not close enough at all. Dani’s mouth was dry, her palms were clammy, and if someone came down that hallway in the next few minutes¸ she couldn’t be sure she wouldn’t knock them out.
“I’m getting that message loud and clear,” he said roughly. “I hope it’s not too late for me to tell you that I heard what you said at Ryan’s. What you’re saying now. You were right. I should have found a right time a hell of a lot sooner than now.”
“I’ve been really mad at you,” she admitted.
“I know. With good reason. But you’ve got my attention now.”
“Because I flirted with Matt?” She lifted her chin. Please let the answer be no.
“Because you’ve always had a slice of it. Always. Now I’m blocking everything else out.”
She felt more than saw him lift his hands and oh-so-tentatively cover her hips with his long, capable fingers. Hands that could build houses and defend a nation. Hands she’d only had on her body once, in the most innocent of ways. How could he doubt she wanted him to hold her? “I want more than a moment in the back of the Hedgehog.”
“You’ve got it.” He touched her hips, almost tentatively, but there wasn’t anything weak in the way he held her. Just slow, like he was giving her time and space to tell him to stop. That wouldn’t happen.
“But you were right about one thing.” She swallowed hard. This was difficult to admit. “I don’t think we should tell anyone. Not yet. Not until we know…what this is between us.”
He studied her face for a moment, then lowered his head toward hers. This time he didn’t pull up short and kiss her forehead. He ghosted his lips past hers, a hot brush of breath sending a shiver through her body as he pulled her tight.
“Come home with me,” he rasped against her cheek. Against the base of her belly, she felt the swell of his erection and as she slid her hands up his hard, broad chest, his heart thumped against her fingertips. God, she wanted to. They needed to be alone, and for more than a few minutes.
But her entire family was a hallway away. They’d both been drinking…
“I can’t,” she whispered, arching into him. “Not tonight.”
He sighed, clearly thinking through the same logistics. “When?”
“I’m working tomorrow night. I traded a shift to get New Year’s off for the wedding.”
“Breakfast?”
“At the diner where everyone knows us?”
“Come to my place. I’ll cook,” he said, like he planned to do very naughty things with food. She didn’t object—in principle.
But real life meant other considerations needed to weigh in as well. “I’ll need to take a nap before my shift.”
He nudged his nose against hers. “Then we’ll take a nap together.”
Hot, molten lava poured through her body at the promise of curling up in a bed with Jake. She couldn’t suppress a small moan, and Jake pulled her even tighter against his body. He glanced in each direction down the dark hallway, then pulled her to the far end, right next to the emergency exit. He settled his back into the corner and pulled her against his body. They were mostly in shadow, but his face was close enough to hers that she could see him clearly.
The look on his face made her want to strip off all her clothes. “I was jealous, you know.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck, melting into him. “It was nothing.”
“My brother touched your ass. That’s not nothing. And Truth or Dare? That was evil.”
She could feel his fingertips pressing just below the waistband of her jeans like possessive brands. “Zander was there too. It was completely innocent.”
“Did Olivia lure me out tonight to watch that?”
Were the shadows deep enough to hide the flush that crept across her cheeks? “Maybe.”
He edged one hand higher on her waist, sliding under her t-shirt, finding bare skin. He stroked back and forth, back and forth, raising goosebumps that she could feel all the way down to her toes. All the while he stared at her like they had all the time in the world.
“At some point they’re going to notice that we’re both missing.”
“I want to kiss you first.” He said the words quietly, but with a burning intensity.
She pressed up on her toes, bringing her mouth to within a hair of his. “Then kiss me.”
He groaned and nipped at her lower lip.
— —
It was hard to think with Dani pressed against him. His cock strained at the fly of his jeans and his heart felt like it was going to thud out of his chest. And he was afraid once he started kissing her, he wouldn’t be able to stop.
“Should we wait?” She pulled back a bit, but no way was he letting her go.
He tightened his hold on the hips that had fuelled so many of his fantasies and spread his legs enough to tug her right into his body. “God, no.”
He needed more hands for this. He wanted to touch her everywhere. He skated his palms up her sides, his dick pulsing as his fingertips grazed her bra on the way to her face. Shaking with equal parts nerves and restrained need, he cupped her chin, bringing their mouths together. He wanted it to be sweet and memorable, but at the first hot lick of her tongue, he was lost.
With a growl he shoved his hands into her hair and deepened the kiss, tasting as much of her as he could find. He dove deep with his tongue, satisfying that primal need to be inside her, stroking against her tongue as she hungrily sought her own satisfaction in the same way. He cupped the back of her neck with one hand as he sent the other one in search of her hip again. He couldn’t get her close enough, not where he needed her, so he spun them around, sliding her against the wall at the same time as he fit one of his thighs between hers.
Dani wrapped her arms tighter around his neck. Her breasts pressed into his chest and he’d just shifted his body enough so he could get his hand between them when the swinging door clapped. She recognized the sound before he did, because she shoved him back and squirmed past, darting into the unlit staircase just before someone with heavy footsteps stopped behind him.
“Jake?”
He recognized Zander’s voice. Instead of turning around, Jake leaned against the wall. He was still reeling from that kiss, and painfully aware that his body was still playing catch up to the change in plans. “Hey. Beer’s gone to my head a bit.”
“You seen Dan
i?”
He shook his head, a million thoughts thudding through his brain. He’d seen her, felt her, tasted her. And now lied about it all. Not the way to start a relationship.
Behind him, Zander cleared his throat. “You want a drive home? I was hoping we could talk more.”
Jake needed to sober up, fast. And get rid of the hard-on that wouldn’t die. He turned slowly, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Sure thing. Let’s go get me a Coke and you can tell me what you’re thinking.”
As he followed Zander down the hall, Jake resisted the temptation to glance back. He might have been the first to voice concern about what others would think, but Dani had been clear—for now, whatever was between them was secret.
She came out to the bar area a few minutes later, her cheeks still pink and her gaze very much not on him. She headed straight for Matt, an action that he understood even while it scraped him raw. Instead of staring at her, he turned back to Zander and pretended to care about his questions about security system providers in the area. “Yeah, there’s a market for more expertise, sure. The options here are basically the national alarm companies.”
“I’ve got a buddy who moved to Fort McMurray and he’s got a good business set up. I’m going to visit him in the spring…” Zander kept talking, but Jake drifted away again. Dani and Matt were heading back to the table now—and they were holding hands. Was she trying to kill him?
But when they sat, she took the seat opposite from him, and Matt sat on the other side of Zander, eager to get in on the security chatter. Jake let them go at it and pulled out his phone. He knew he was being rude, but he couldn’t concentrate on anything right now.
Something nudged his leg, and he jerked his gaze up. Dani smirked into her glass and slid her foot higher up his leg. He scrolled to her name in his contacts list and tapped out a message. That’s playing with fire.
Her phone vibrated in her bag and she pulled it out. Then she yawned as she looked at the screen, even as her toes hooked behind his knee. She set her phone down without responding and grabbed a handful of pretzels before turning to her sister-in-law to start a quiet conversation about the wedding.
He slid her another look, and this time she nudged the bowl of pretzels across the table at him. She blinked at him innocently as she ever-so-slowly raked her foot down his calf. She was playing footsie with him. And it was giving him another hard-on.
“Whatcha thinking about, Jake?” Dani waved a pretzel at him and he jerked his head as if to say, bring it. She lobbed it through the air with decent aim for someone who claimed to be tipsy, and he snapped his hand up to catch it.
“Just planning my day tomorrow. Important breakfast meeting.”
“Oh yeah?” She smiled, a little quirk of the lips that made him want to toss the table aside.
“I thought you were taking the week off?” Matt helpfully interjected, leaning between them to grab the bowl of pretzels.
“Change of plans. This is a meeting I’ve been trying to land for a long time.”
“Sounds like a great opportunity,” Rafe added, and Jake decided there were definitely six too many people at the table. Since he couldn’t very well tell them all to fuck off, he yawned, mimicking Dani’s earlier faked gesture.
“It will be. I’m going to bring my A-game. Listen, I’m zonked, and if I’m going to come back in the morning to get my truck, I should get going.”
Tom shook his head. “Zander can drive your truck. I’ll follow you guys and then collect him from your place.”
Dani nodded vigorously. “Sounds like a plan. That way you can put all your attention in the morning to your…meeting.”
He flushed at the way she hesitated, then lingered on the last word like it was something filthy. Jesus. He hid his face as he pulled on his coat. He tossed some cash on the table, then made his goodbyes without looking anyone in the eye.
Zander talked about his security business ideas the whole way home, and Jake gave him as much of his attention as he could muster. Anything to avoid thinking about the man’s little sister, and all the attention she wanted him to pay to her the next morning.
— —
Dani went home with Rafe and Olivia instead of Matt, although it didn’t really matter. They drove back to Pine Harbour in a caravan. She thought she’d gotten off scot-free, but when Olivia pulled up in front of the Minelli house, Rafe got called in by their mother to grab another tray of leftovers. And Olivia took that opportunity to snag Dani’s jacket sleeve, holding her in the car.
“What the hell happened with you and Jake tonight?”
Dani pressed her lips together. “Nothing.”
“The eye-fucking across the table was scorching. I’m a little turned on, I gotta tell you.”
“Ew, don’t.” Dani sucked in a ragged breath, then lied to her best friend. “Just more of the same push-me, pull-me routine.”
Olivia gave her a weird look. “I don’t know. Something is changing between you guys.”
Yeah. Now she knew what Jake’s erection felt like. “Wouldn’t I tell you if something did?”
“Maybe. Maybe not if it was big and scary and right before my wedding.” Her friend offered a nicer smile than Dani deserved. “Whatever you’re doing, or not doing…I suggest you don’t go anywhere near each other in public again for a while. A few more performances like that and even the biggest dunces would sort it out.”
Dani made a noncommittal face as Rafe returned to the car and she made her escape.
She found her parents sitting in the kitchen having a late-night cup of coffee with some fresh biscotti. “Is this decaf?” she asked her mother, slipping the cup from Anne’s hands.
“It is.” Her mom offered her cheek and Dani dutifully kissed it before taking a big sip. Then she handed the mug back.
“You kids have fun tonight?” her dad asked.
“You know Zander’s close to forty, right?”
Her mother gasped and her father laughed.
“Bite your tongue, Daniella,” Anne said. “He’s thirty-six. And I was practically a child bride.”
“Total double standard, then, that you still call us kids.”
“Says the woman still happily living at home. You’ll understand when you have children.”
“Someone has to eat all the food you make. Do you want me to move closer to work? That would be easier for me…”
“Shush, that’s enough teasing.” Her mother stood and smoothed her hand over Dani’s cheek. “You’re on night shift tomorrow?”
Dani willed herself not to blush. “Yes, but I’m going in the morning to pick up some last minute bachelorette party supplies. I’ll nap at the station.”
“I don’t know why she needs another bachelorette party.” And just like that, Dani watched her mom go from loving to…something less than loving. It saddened her that her mother never warmed to Olivia.
“She doesn’t. But Pine Harbour doesn’t have a ton of entertainment options, so we’re using the excuse to drink some wine. Don’t worry about it.”
“You don’t need to take it like that.”
“Well, you didn’t need to say it like that, either, right?” Dani kissed her dad on the head, then gave her mom a one-armed hug. “I’m off to bed. Love you both.”
She took a shower, then crawled into bed. When she couldn’t fall asleep right away, she reached for her phone. Jake’s message still displayed on the screen, and she swiped in. How early is breakfast served at Casa Foster, anyway?
His response came immediately. Your brothers are still here, or I’d say right now.
That’s tempting.
You need your rest, gorgeous.
Oh yeah? For what?
I can’t type that out in front of your brothers.
Should I call you instead?
A minute later her phone vibrated in her hand and Jake’s name lit up the screen with an incoming call.
“Hey, you.”
“I stepped outside. Of my own house in the m
iddle of winter.”
She smiled to herself. “Poor baby. Sounds cold.”
“Cold is the last thing I’m feeling right now.”
“What exactly is on the menu tomorrow morning?”
“You.” His voice—and words—did spectacular things to her insides. Wicked, impossible things. “How early can you get here?”
“I’ll probably wake up at seven.”
He asked her a few more questions, about what she liked to eat and how long she’d need to nap in the afternoon. It was a surreal conversation, planning a date with Jake after all this time, and she couldn’t help but worry that it wasn’t actually going to happen. He’d get cold feet and she’d wake up to a text of regret. But his voice was thick with anticipation, a rich wash of eager words spilling through the phone lines, and when they hung up, she hugged her phone close and shut her eyes. Morning couldn’t come fast enough.
— SIX —
DANI had a permanently packed overnight bag, for when she got stuck at work unexpectedly in a winter storm, or on the rare occasion she was asked to work split or back-to-back shifts. And since she lived with her parents, any social sleepovers had to happen somewhere else.
But this was different. For one thing, she didn’t know for sure that she’d need her toothbrush. Or a change of clothes. Dawn broke over the horizon as she left the house, reminding her this wasn’t a typical date.
On the other hand…it was Jake. And he’d kissed her last night. Pressed her against the wall and urged her to ride his thigh. It was a safe bet they weren’t going to have coffee and croissants.
She’d woken up with a solitary butterfly fluttering pleasantly in her tummy. By the time she turned into his driveway, there had to be a billion of them, and they all seemed to be telegraphing serious reasons for her to have doubts about this.
What if after all this time, it’s awkward and weird?
What if we’re not sexually compatible?
What if it doesn’t work out?