26. Jake
TWENTY-SIX
JAKE
Eight weeks.
The number stares back at me from the computer screen. I need only one more part for my picking robot to be complete, and that part is on a container ship in the Pacific somewhere. Peaches are in now. I need my robot to work now . The whole point of being at Rossetti’s Peaches this summer is so I can get this final project out of the way before my last semester starts.
It was for nothing. The last part won’t be in until peach season is long gone.
But it will be apple season, and that means one thing: going home to test the picker.
I tug at my hair and rest my elbows on the lab table. “Fucking bullshit.” My stomach hurts, and a dull ache forms behind my eyes.
This was not the plan.
I’ve hardly been home since my last stint living there, and it’s been better that way. My stepdad, Art, is such a dick, and my mom just puts up with it. I have no idea what she sees in that asshat. And because of that, it causes all three of us to fight.
I don’t want to fight with my mom, so I don’t go home. Now, I’m going to have to.
Eight weeks is on the low end for the expected delivery, so I’ll have to find a way to get away from school long enough if the part comes in later.
I’m deflated driving back to the bar, and my only consolation is that Darcy waits for me there.
But when I enter the delightfully dingy bar, I’m greeted by an unwelcome sight. That little red dress is swinging around Caleb, the gray bow in her hair flying behind her. She’s laughing and giving him the most loving looks.
Logically, I know I have no reason to be jealous. I was the one in Darcy’s bed last night. I was the one kissing her in the hayloft today. She was the one asking me what our deal was.
But I still don’t like it. She looks like she’s in love with him and even if I know that’s not possible, my blood simmers.
I feel a little stupid wearing this cowboy hat indoors at night, but it’s per her request. I take it off as I sit at the bar, noticing Darcy’s phone next to her purse on the bar top. She’s got a few stickers on her phone case: a little West Virginia, a black cat, and the logo for the hockey team she used to work for.
The phone inches toward me as it rings, each round of buzzes bringing it closer. She’s obviously not in a place to answer it, so I pick it up to silence it.
When I do, the screen almost sends me into shock. The call gets kicked to voicemail and a message flashes on the screen.
Rob (14)
Her ex has called her fourteen times. What right does he think he has to talk to her after what he did to her? My fist clenches and my jaw pops when I shift it forward. What I wouldn’t give to punch this dickhead in the face. I recognized Darcy’s reaction to his messages. It was borderline PTSD, a zero to sixty anxiety response. I can’t let this guy keep fucking with her.
I don’t realize I’m still holding her phone until it buzzes in my hand.
Landon Mitchell
We miss you on the team. Let me know if I can do anything to get you back
Wait, the Landon Mitchell? I don’t even know much about hockey and I know that name. Darcy’s on a texting basis with some major big deal hockey player, and she left that life behind? She had a whole life that I know so little about, because until yesterday, she was keeping it from me.
But when her phone buzzes again, I remember why she wouldn’t want to talk about it, and why she left.
Rob’s name pops up on the screen.
He took so much from her. A career she loved. Her self-confidence. Her power.
And that ends right now.
I swipe to answer the call and walk out the door of the Legion. “Hello?”
“Who the fuck is this?” comes a nasally voice on the other end.
“Doesn’t matter. What does matter is that Darcy told you to leave her alone, and you’re still calling.”
“I asked who this is and you’re too chickenshit to tell me? Is this fucking Landon? I always knew you wanted her. Couldn’t be happy enough with your wife, could you? Had to go after mine.”
This is that jealousy Darcy was talking about—being paranoid she was somehow cheating with the players on the team they worked for.
“Man, I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. This is Jake.”
“Who?” he demands. “Why are you answering my fiancée’s phone?”
First, my part didn’t come in. Then, Darcy’s dancing with Caleb. Now, this uncle fucker is coming after her. I snap.
“She’s not your fiancée, asshole,” I growl. “You hurt her, and you’ve lost the right to any of her time. Make this the last time you contact her, or you’re going to have a lot bigger problems than losing your fiancée. Got it?”
He’s still yammering when I hang up, go to his contact, and block his number. I brace my head in my hands and draw a deep breath before going back inside.
A humid blast of air conditioning prickles the back of my neck as I look to the dance floor, finding Darcy laughing at something Caleb said.
I guess nice guys do indeed finish last.
I return Darcy’s phone to the bar along with my hat and sit, flagging the bartender down for a Coke.
A gentle hand lands on my shoulder. “Hey, cowboy. You’re looking lonesome.”
Darcy plops herself down on the stool next to mine, her eyes bright.
I force a smile. “You having fun?”
“Well, I was. Then my favorite cowboy came in here looking all sexy but also like his dog just died.”
“Nah. Just kind of tired,” I say, and guilt rolls through me. I probably fucked up in talking to Rob, but Darcy needs some peace. I can’t watch him keep tormenting her.
I don’t want her life to turn out like my mom’s, where some guy makes all the decisions for her and she just goes along with it.
“Wanna go home?” she asks, her hand on my knee and looking concerned.
This woman cares about me, and I about her. I’m wasting time letting the people around us determine how things are going to be between us.
“I think I asked you to save me a dance,” I say, holding my hand out.
“You did,” she says, slipping her fingers into my palm. “Night’s not getting any younger. And you better wear your hat or I will.”
I smirk. “You know what happens with the hats, darlin’.”
She gives me her best innocent face. “Wear the hat, drive the truck?”
I smooth my hand over her ass as we turn for the dancefloor, giving it a squeeze and a pat. “That’s exactly it.”
The song’s not really good for two-stepping or slow dancing, so we bop around with Caleb, Becca, and Brianna. We spin each other around, goofing off by holding hands all together. The tension I felt after talking to Rob and getting the bad news about school dissipates, and I’m just having fun.
She’s fucking starry-eyed as she whirls to lock her hands behind my neck, kicking up one heel. “Did I earn my kisses now?”
I wrap my arms across her lower back. “Even if you hadn’t, all you have to do is ask. I can’t tell you no.”
Her eyes widen and her brows lower. “You told me I had to be good and do my work before I got more. Don’t gaslight me.”
I rub my nose to hers. “Well, there’s something to be said for building the anticipation.”
“Tease,” she accuses just before I lower my lips to hers.
“Look at that,” I say as we pull apart. “Such a lip slut, begging for kisses.”
Darcy slaps my chest and I cackle. “You’re worse than a pest, Jake Warren.”
A good two-stepping song comes on and I spin her twice, her hair twirling around, before I lower her into a dip. “But you love it.”
“Quit running your mouth and dance.”
Darcy’s a whirlwind of joy, with her uninhibited, glowing eyes, laughing whenever our faces are close, and her body feeling perfect under my hands. She’s a natural dancing with me, our chemistry so easy. I don’t have to shove her anywhere because she just goes and there are a few spots where she leads me.
I twist her into my body, and the way she looks up at me decimates me.
I want her. Need her. Want to press against her so hard that I lose track of where she starts and I end. We need to get out of here.
When I dip her at the end of this song, I take the liberty of running my hand up her thigh, and I want to eat the way she sighs when I graze my lips over her chest, collarbones, and neck.
“Scandalous,” she whispers when we’re face to face again.
A peek over her shoulder reveals something a little more scandalous. “Um. I thought Becca had a boyfriend.”
She looks quickly, then does a double take. Brianna has Becca pinned to the wall by the bathrooms, making out like no one’s around. Darcy’s gaze snaps to the bar, where the bartender looks on.
“She does. They’re all interested in broadening their horizons.”
My eyebrows go up. “That’s Becca’s boyfriend?”
Darcy laughs. “Yep. I don’t think we have to worry about giving Bri a ride home.”
I lean down to her ear as we sway to a standard every country fan knows: “Strawberry Wine.” “That’s alright. More of you for me.”
Darcy guffaws. “Wait, did you think you were the one getting a three-way?”
I’m honestly shocked by how casual Darcy is about this. I can’t say I’ve never had my opportunities, but she’s so nonchalant. “I didn’t know three-ways were on the menu tonight. I just meant I’m glad I don’t have to share you. I don’t like people playing with my toys.”
She quirks a brow. “And yet, you were the one playing with my toys, and that was fine. That’s what we call a double standard, cowboy.”
I hang my head. “Yes, okay, I was curious. Sue me. The thought of you getting off is hot. Very hot.”
“Yeah, well, can’t say I’ve never thought about what you might do when you think about me.” Her gaze goes devilish. “How many times have you touched yourself and thought of me?”
“Every day,” I admit, and it’s true.
Her stare is relentless. “Since when?”
I pop my jaw forward, trying to maintain my composure. “Since the night we danced in the kitchen.”
She smirks. “Knew it. I ordered that vibrator the next morning.”
“Fuck,” I groan. “We’re not going to make it home at this rate.”
Darcy grins and goes up on her toes to grab the top of my hat. She lifts it and places it on top of her own head, smoothing my hair with her fingers. She tucks her lower lip into her teeth and giggles as I adjust it on her head.
“That mean you’re driving the truck home?” I ask.
“Drive the truck. Muck the stalls. Ride the cowboy. I’ll do any of them if you’re going to be there.”
My fingers slip into her hair when I take her mouth, her hand locking behind my neck while the other rests on my heart. She smiles against my lips and that sweet little detail has me wanting to lock her down for life, no matter what it takes to make that happen. Her breasts press below my pecs, her body’s heat setting off a wave of her soft perfume.
I break away from her but stay close, our breaths mingling. Her eyes are still closed, and I look down on perhaps the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen: Darcy surrendering to me.
“Come back,” she whispers, her dazed eyes popping open to find mine.
“So bossy,” I tease.
And that’s when we really go for it. I step my legs wider and back into the wall behind me, letting Darcy lean into me. She laps at my lips and when I dive back for her, my hat teeters on her head. I take it off and hold it against her lower back so I can focus on kissing her.
She’s a mountain spring. Those tiny clouds over the trees in the morning. The dark before the dawn and the first rays making light of the sky. Earthy and ethereal, wild and, most importantly for this moment, mine.
I don’t realize I’m getting carried away until a cheer erupts when I clutch her hip bone and grind myself against her. Darcy pulls away with a giggle.
“Take me home, cowboy.”
I nod, but don’t let her out of my grasp. “I might need you to stand here for a second.” My gaze flicks between us to my tented jeans.
Darcy’s fingers slip into my belt loops as I put the hat back on her. “Did I get you all riled up?”
“Only the beginning,” I chuckle. “But stop touching around it or I’m unzipping right here, putting you on your knees, and showing you what it really means to have a daddy.”
She laughs and spins, leaning her backside into me.
I lower my lips to her ear. “You’re asking for it, darlin’.”
She shoves the hat over my crotch. “I’m going to say goodnight to everybody and get my purse. Then you can do whatever you want to me.”