by Zoe York
“You’ve totally lost me,” she’d said for what felt like the tenth time, but probably was the first one she’d said out loud.
“Come on.”
He’d bundled her up and they’d headed back beyond the fence that she’d always assumed was the border to his property. Apparently not.
And now he had all of their brothers hard at work. Plus some of his crew. Being a builder had its perks, apparently. One of them being drool-worthy abs, and another being a lot of power tools.
The women were sitting on a large landing halfway down the newly built stairs descending to the lake from the top of the hill. The landing functioned like a deck, and Dani had carried two chaise chairs down to it in the name of comfort for her pregnant friend. That she also got to sit and ogle…well, just her fiancé, because most of the other good-looking men below were related to her.
But Jake was definitely ogle-worthy all on his own.
“You okay there?” Olivia laughed and pressed her cold bottle of lemonade against her neck.
“This is the first summer I haven’t had to avert my eyes around him. I’m going to be disgusting in my appreciation for a good while yet.”
“You guys pick a date yet?”
After months of dancing around the details, because nothing had felt quite right, once Jake came up with the idea of building a dock, all the rest fell into place. She even had her dress ordered.
“We’re thinking last weekend in August. Just need to finalize a caterer and make sure we can get tents rented.”
“If you can’t rent them, I bet he’ll just build them.” Olivia pointed to where Jake was barking orders like a drill sergeant. Which he was. It made Dani laugh.
“Jesus, you even find his bossiness a turn on?”
Hooking a finger over her sunglasses, Dani tugged them off her head and onto the bridge of her nose. Everything Jake did was a turn on. It would be best for everyone if she had some privacy as she ate him up with her eyes.
— —
Running water and girly scents greeted Jake as he entered their bedroom. He found Dani in the bathroom, filling the rarely used tub.
“Taking a bath?” he asked drily. He didn’t mind—hell, he wanted to watch—but it wasn’t like she’d busted her very fine ass all day installing a dock.
“It’s not for me, silly. Strip.”
He didn’t need to be asked twice. He dropped his swim trunks on the tile floor and padded across the room. She patted his butt and pointed to the water. “In you get.”
Snagging her wrist, he worked his other hand under her shirt. “Join me,” he muttered, kissing that spot on her neck that always got her going.
“Can’t. I’m babysitting tonight, remember?”
That worked for him. “Tell me more about your dirty babysitting fantasies.”
She giggled as she pulled away. “No, for real. I told you, Ryan has a…well, he wouldn’t call it a date. But he’s going out, and he asked me to watch the kids instead of their grandparents, so I’m assuming he doesn’t want them to know that he’s going out. Ergo, a date.”
Jake tipped his forehead against Dani’s. He did remember now. Damn. “Do we know who the mystery woman is?”
“Nope. Still a secret.”
“What time do you need to be there?”
“An hour from now, but I wanted to—”
“Nope, that’s long enough. Strip.” He twirled his index finger in a circle, pleased to see she didn’t bother fighting.
“You know at some point we’re going to have to stop going at it like bunnies, right?”
“Not any time soon, I hope.” He licked his way down her neck, already half hard and ready to be inside her. “God, you taste good. Shirt off, please.”
Her whole body shook with laughter as he shoved her t-shirt up and mouthed over one of her nipples.
“What? I said please.”
“Sure.” She wiggled out of her shorts and climbed into the tub, holding out her hand in invitation. “You coming?”
“After you.”
They made short work of getting clean, then Jake leaned back, pulling Dani backwards with him. He knew he didn’t have a ton of time, so he worked efficiently, teasing all the places that got her hot and bothered without spending enough time in any one place to finish her off. He liked fingering her best, that slippery slide into her pussy the best feeling on earth as far as giving went. Her riding him beat it all, of course. But turning her on with just the touch of his fingers…that was a power trip. He could do a lot with his hands. Build houses. Fire a sniper rifle with deadly accuracy. Comfort friends in need.
But everything paled in comparison to this connection they had.
“I love you,” he said, his voice thick with emotion, and she echoed the sentiment, arching out of the sudsy water under his touch.
He couldn’t wait to make this woman his wife. He’d build a hundred docks if she wanted. She’d thought she was being stubborn and difficult over the early months of wedding planning, but Jake hadn’t cared. He loved that Dani waited until the right answer presented itself. She didn’t settle, ever, and that made the wait all the more worthwhile.
“How do you want me?” he asked with a groan as she rocked her ass against his now rock-hard cock.
“Like this.” She lifted up again, tipping her hips down enough to welcome him into her body, and then they were groaning together as she stretched around him. “So good,” she panted, and it really was.
At this angle, he wouldn’t last long, so he resumed his teasing and stroking. The bubbles helped him slick his hands over her breasts and down her belly to her clit, then back again, but on the next pass, she clamped her hand over his as he reached her pussy. She held their fingers there and he rocked his palm back and forth over that nub of nerve endings as she touched where they were joined. Then she stroked lower, her fingertips glancing over his balls, barely able to reach as they drew tight, his orgasm coming on hard and fast. Water sloshed all around them as she swivelled her hips, taking all he had to give her and then some as she found her own pleasure against his hand and around his erection.
“Wow.”
He wasn’t sure which one of them had said it, or maybe they both did at the same time. Either way, that had definitely been wow. He couldn’t feel his legs and his vision was sort of spotty, but he was suddenly a big fan of bubble baths. “We should use this thing more often.”
“Mmm hmmm.” Dani slowly extracted herself from his grasp, then peered over the edge of the tub. “Or…”
He couldn’t muster enough energy to move. “Did we flood the floor?”
“Just a bit.”
“Worth it.”
“Let me guess… the builder is confident in the waterproofing membrane he laid down under these tiles?”
The builder didn’t give a fuck at the moment, but as a matter of fact… “Yeah, he is.”
“I’m pretty confident in his abilities, too.”
“Dirty girl.”
“You love it.” She climbed out and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “You crashing soon?”
He might fall asleep before he got out of the tub. “Yep.”
“K. I’ll see you when I get home.” Her voice grew distant as she disappeared into the bedroom, and he slowly followed after draining the tub. He stepped gingerly on the bath mat, then on the trail of towels Dani had tossed on the ground to sop up the water. He flipped the switch for the fan, gathered up the wet towels and lay down new ones before crawling into bed and passing out.
— —
Dani couldn’t stop smiling the whole way home. She still didn’t know who the mystery woman was—Ryan had left and returned on his own. And he hadn’t been gone that long, didn’t smell like perfume or have any lipstick marks on his collar, or any other obvious sign that he’d been with a woman. But there’d been a softness in his face that made her heart sing. She bit back all the questions she had for him. If he wanted her to know, he’d offer the information freely.<
br />
And Ryan didn’t want anyone to know that he was on the road to happiness again. She got that.
It still made her smile.
She parked in the garage, then walked through the house, locking up and turning off the lights. As she usually did if she was the last one up, she stopped at the fireplace and looked at the double selfie she and Jake had taken the day they’d gotten engaged. Everyone else had left, and the snow had started falling. Outside, a blizzard raged, and inside they’d been nothing but smiles for each other. Jake had cracked open a bottle of wine while Dani documented every step of the process on her phone.
“Give me that,” he’d said gruffly.
“Baby, I want to remember ever single moment,” she’d protested.
He’d just given her that smile, the one that undid her every single time, and stretched his arm out in front of them at the same time as he pulled her close. “My wife,” he’d whispered just before pressing the button, and the expression captured on her face made her do a secret happy dance every time she looked at the picture.
Turning off the light, she glanced back at the mantle one last time before climbing the stairs.
She crawled into bed, kissing Jake’s back as he snoozed away. “My husband,” she whispered, feeling blessed beyond words.
THE END
Thank you for reading Jake and Dani’s book! If you enjoyed it, please leave an honest review where you bought it. Reviews help new authors be found by readers.
Want more Pine Harbour? Turn the page for an excerpt from Rafe and Olivia’s book, and a sneak peek at Ryan’s book!
THE PINE HARBOUR SERIES
Love in a Small Town - Rafe & Olivia’s story
Love in a Snow Storm - Jake & Dani’s story
Love on a Spring Morning - Ryan & Holly’s story
(expected Spring 2015)
AN EXCERPT FROM
LOVE IN A
— SMALL TOWN —
PINE HARBOUR #1
HE brought wine and a winning smile. She was in trouble.
“Nope. We’re not opening that.” She shook her head as he grinned and stepped inside. The temperature outside was dropping and he was wearing a leather jacket she hadn’t seen before over jeans and a white t-shirt. He looked good. They didn’t need to add alcohol to the mix for her to feel unsteady about what was going to come next.
And it wasn’t them, together, in an orgasm-fest for the ages. What happened Friday morning could not be repeated. Not when she’d made up her mind about moving forward with her life in a way that didn’t involve Rafe Minelli and his future conquests.
If he wore that jacket around town, there would be a lot of conquests in his near future. Hot damn.
“Then put it on your wine rack or something. I didn’t want to come empty handed.” He handed it over but didn’t let go right away. He pressed the bottle into her hands and stared at her intently as if he was trying to unlock her secrets.
She was only hiding two things. One she was just trying to work up the courage to share. The other—that he still melted her from the inside out with his chocolate brown eyes and stupid dimple—was locked in the vault.
This wasn’t the first time he’d come over since moving out, but it had been at least nine months. He’d taken the Christmas lights down and replaced the weather-stripping on the front door, and she’d given him a stiff thanks at the door. So he hadn’t seen—
“You painted.”
“Yeah.” Because the warm yellow had reminded her too much of him.
“By yourself?” He turned around slowly in her living room, formerly their living room, an inscrutable look on his face.
“It was pretty easy,” she muttered. He’d taken half the furniture, which left a lot of room to move stuff around and create bare walls.
“I like the beige.” He was totally lying. Taupe, oatmeal, canvas … didn’t matter what she called it, he’d never wanted any neutral colours in their space.
“Have you made any other changes?”
“Uhm, I tiled the backsplash in the kitchen.” She pointed the way, which was stupid. They’d bought the house together. He knew where the kitchen was. Had made her coffee in it almost every morning for three years, even if he was gone before she woke up. Had perched her naked on the counter and knelt in front of her, licking—
“Looks good.” He glanced back at her, his gaze lingering on her pink cheeks for a moment. “A lot of good memories in here, huh?”
He couldn’t know what she was thinking, not exactly, but her breath caught in her throat nonetheless when he patted the counter. “Come here.”
She shook her head in short, choppy movements. Nuh-uh. They needed space between them. Loads of it.
“I’m not going to bite, Liv.” His voice was low and rough, like he was actually promising to bite her all over.
“I’m not so sure about that,” she teased as lightly as she could.
He gave her a long, hard look before smiling ruefully. “Yeah, I wouldn’t take that bet. So what’s for dinner?”
And just like that, the mood shifted. “Beef stroganoff and a salad.”
He kept his distance as she worked on the salad, flipping through a newsmagazine on the table. When she pulled a bottle of salad dressing out of the fridge, he moved to take it from her. She noticed the pile of opened mail at the same time he did and cursed under her breath.
“What’s this?” He fingered the red flagged letter from the hydro company and she winced.
“It’s nothing. I just forgot to pay that bill.” She watched as he flipped the letter over and frowned.
“Three months in a row?” The incredulous look on his face told her he didn’t buy her excuse. “It says here they’re cutting off the power tomorrow.”
“I paid it last Wednesday,” she mumbled. “It’s fine.”
“The whole balance?”
No, just the minimum, but he didn’t need to know that. “It’s fine,” she repeated, swiping the mail from the counter and dumping it in the nearest drawer.
He shook his head. “Obviously not. I’ll give you some—“
Tight, angry words shot up her throat and she swallowed them back, holding up her hand instead. “No.”
“Liv, this is still my house, too. If the costs are too high—“
“Then it’s time we sell it. That’s the only conversation we’re going to have about money, okay?”
He clamped his mouth shut and leaned back against the other counter, crossing his arms. “I don’t want to sell.”
Even though it was her plan, deep down she didn’t want to either. Hot, sweaty memories of the night they moved in flooded her mind unexpectedly and she turned to the sink so he wouldn’t see the pink of her cheeks or the bright tears in her eyes.
“Where would you move?”
Pine Harbour didn’t have many rental options. Rafe lived in the only apartment building. There were two units above his mother’s cafe but that was obviously out of the question, and any house would be out of her price range.
He figured out her plan just as she opened her mouth to confess, and from the sound of his voice at her back, he was pissed. “You’re leaving.”
“It’s for the best,” she whispered. She couldn’t hang around to see him move on, and it didn’t matter that he’d almost kissed her. Twice, both times acting like you were an oasis in the middle of a freakin’ desert. Didn’t matter, she reminded herself, because they’d scorched enough earth in their divorce that really getting back together wasn’t going to happen. If they kissed, and oh god did she want that more than her next breath, they’d tumble into bed. And on the other side of a torrid love affair with her ex-husband stood her ex-mother-in-law, ready to brand her as a hussy and drive her out of town.
She wouldn’t be pushed. If she left, it would be with her head held high. Rafe needed to not kiss her, end of story, and the only way that was going to happen was if she put some significant geographical distance between them. She cleared her throa
t and raised her voice enough to claim bravery, however false it might be. “I moved here to be with you. We’re not together anymore. It was a mistake to stay after the divorce.”
“You have friends here,” he rasped, and she wanted to turn and look at him. Wanted to soak up the hungry, needy look she imagined was scrawled across his face and pretend it was enough to pull them back together.
Keep reading Love in a Small Town right now!
THE PINE HARBOUR SERIES
Love in a Small Town
Love in a Snow Storm
Love on a Spring Morning (expected Spring 2015)
Turn the page for a sneak peek at Ryan’s story!
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COMING SOON:
LOVE ON A
— SPRING MORNING —
PINE HARBOUR #3
A dead wife. Two jobs. Three kids. And a burning desire to crawl into the bottom of a bottle and never come out.
Ryan Howard has zero interest in the movie being filmed in Pine Harbour or the high maintenance stars staying in the cottages at the end of his lane. He's just barely holding on to the raw remains of his life and the fantasy world being concocted around him is, as far as he's concerned, a complete waste of time and energy. The one bright light in his life is an intern on the set, Holly Cresinski, and their quiet conversations at the end of the day on his back porch.
Hope Creswell hates her life, too, which is entirely unfair because she’s blessed beyond measure. She’s at the top of her career and surrounded by people that mean well. But Ryan makes her laugh, and cry, and before she can explain her double life, he kisses her.