Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Nelly
I can’t tell if Jake is angry or happy to see his uncle.
The three of us sit together at our table, where we’ve ordered dessert that no one is eating as Carl explains everything to Jake.
“So. Now you know why I’m here, and why I couldn’t return your calls.”
“I just can’t believe you two know each other,” Jake says, looking as if he’s had the wind knocked out of him.
“I understand if you’re angry with me, son.”
The way he calls Jake “son” tugs at my heartstrings. I never would have pictured this legendary G-man to have such deep ties to other people.
“I’m not angry, I just…wish you had stayed.”
“I decided I could be of more help this way.”
Jake shrugs. “It’s not about how much you’re helping. Wylie, Ennis, and I just missed you.”
I ask myself if I’m tough enough to avoid falling head over heels for a vulnerable cowboy. It’s becoming less and less a certainty.
“I hope it’ll make sense to you one day,” Carl says.
Jake chuckles. “Curly…my Uncle Curly is black ops.”
Carl corrects him. “Special Agent in Charge. She’s the operative. I’m supervising the mission to investigate potential federal crimes. In cases of religious cults, there usually are a lot.”
“Listen,” Jake says, “I’m not going to be upset about this. Frankly, there’s no time to waste on arguing about keeping secrets. But now that everything is out in the open, we have to work together.”
Carl nods. “I agree. And I’ll need the group to turn over all the documentation and intelligence you’ve gathered tomorrow.”
“I’ll arrange the meeting,” I say.
“First, you need to call Ennis and tell him everything you just told me. I think he’ll have a stronger reaction than I did.
When Carl leaves, Jake eyes my cheesecake.
“Are you going to eat your dessert?” he asks.
“Probably not.”
“Then dance with me.”
I take his outstretched hand, and he leads me outside to the patio.
“There’s no music,” I laugh, shivering against the chill evening.
Jake removes his jacket and wraps it around my shoulders. “Then let’s pretend.”
“People are going to stare.”
“Let them.”
He’s right. Let them stare at us, two happy idiots on a date. No past, no future, just two people enjoying the moment.
“Who is waiting for you in North Carolina?” Jake asks, hugging me close as we sway to no music.
“No one. My family’s all gone. I just like it there. It’s quiet and peaceful. I like being hemmed in by tall trees and dark woods. I don’t care for big open spaces as some people do.”
I catch him staring at my mouth as I talk. I wet my lips, and Jake angles his face down to meet mine in a kiss.
Kissing Jake makes time stand still. He’s deliberate and passionate, scrambling my thoughts and making the world disappear in a haze.
I moan at the feel of his tongue in my mouth, and I let my hands move over his broad shoulders.
I want nothing else but to get lost in this moment. Get lost in this man who smells like spicy soap and tastes like bourbon.
“Blondie.”
“Jake,” I say, breathless.
“We should go before we make a spectacle,” he says.
I whimper. “It’s a long drive back to Darling Creek.”
“I know,” he says. “That’s why we have a room here for tonight.”
“Jake, you didn’t have to do that.”
“Should I blow your back out in public again? Fine, I’m down.”
I shriek and whack him on the chest. “Let’s go.”
Upstairs, the room might be the biggest, nicest room I’ve ever stayed in.
Jake draws me a bath and rubs my feet while I relax in the tub.
When Jake said date, what he really meant was all of this.
He is the perfect man, I tell myself.
Except for the part where we’re totally wrong for each other. He needs more than I can give him. He needs time and attention that I can’t provide.
“I need to go make a call. You stay in the tub as long as you want,” he says, giving my foot a final squeeze.
His absence is palpable while he’s gone. I see what he’s doing. Jake’s making himself more than a distraction. More than an addiction. He’s making himself unforgettable. Soon, he’ll be boyfriend material, and I can’t have that.
I come out of the room wrapped in a towel to find Jake stalking toward me.
He presses his mouth to mine in a claiming, heated kiss, and I drop my towel.
Jake’s breath goes ragged as he kisses me, with me pressed up against the wall. My body lights up, eager for him.
He sweeps me onto the bed and proceeds to lick my nipple. The sensation sets me on fire.
He switches to the opposite nipple, and my thighs demand to lock around him. God. Why does he have to be so good at this? Why does every kiss, every touch have to be so memorable?
He pulls away from the kiss, looking ready to say something, but once again changes his mind.
“Jake, what is it?”
“I just fucking want you, Blondie. So bad.”
“You have me. Tonight, you have me.”
Blood rushes to my pussy as his mouth travels down the side of my throat.
“Jake,” I breathe.
“Blondie…look at you.”
He cups one breast as he ravages the other with his mouth.
“Fucking beautiful.”
I’m still full from dinner, warm from the bath, and now my body is hazy and tingly from all the attention.
Any other man would demand to know my real name right now. They’d probably try to bully it out of me. But not Jake.
Oh my god, I’m not falling for him. I like him. I like him a whole lot, but that’s it.
My brain scrambles as Jake’s kisses travel lower, over my belly, giving me so much attention there that it makes me wonder.
No one does that. No one gets excited by my small pooch, but he growls and continues to hold me close.
His arms are locked around my hips as his mouth finds the front of my pussy.
“Jake!” I cry.
“Let me taste you.
“Yes, Jake!”
He spreads me wide and crashes his mouth between my legs.
He nudges open my wet folds with his face, easily finding my aching clit.
I close my eyes and feel like I’m on a drug as I revel in him. His tongue slides through my wetness, slipping the tip into my cunt. His lips are teasing, kissing, and tasting my sensitive skin. The sucking of my clit is sending me to places I’ve never been.
My body jerks as he finds it again and again. He is gentle but fierce. Wild but knows exactly what to do to make me ache for more.
I come quickly, with my fingers tugging at his short-cropped hair.
“Come here,” I rasp.
He comes up to the head of the bed to let me look at him, to let me brush my fingers through his hair.
Jake’s chin is red from the rubbing. I run my finger over his glazed lips. I can smell myself all over him.
I want to lick him everywhere. His mouth, his chin, his strong chest.
“You’re amazing,” I tell him.
“I don’t know if I’m amazing,” he replies. “But I’m yours.”