Chapter Nineteen
S age glanced at Jake as he drove up the road to the farm.
It was narrow and winding but that didn’t really explain why he seemed to be on high alert.
Then again, they were surrounded by dense forest, which meant that a deer, coyote, or fox could dart onto the road at any moment.
Her mind traveled to the woodland trail where Alice’s body had been found almost three weeks before.
It was about a mile and half from where they were. Jake had made a small stone memorial for Alice there. More apropos than the roadside memorial, she thought, wondering if she would one day be able to make that long walk to where Alice had died.
Jake pulled into the driveway. “Stay in the car for a minute. I want to check something out.”
She looked around. “Why? What do you see that I don’t?”
He scrubbed his hand along his jaw, the scratch of his beard on his palm audible.
It shouldn’t have been sexy, but for some reason, it turned her on.
Or maybe it was Jake and his protective instincts, the knowledge that he could kick the ass of whoever was out there.
No, that couldn’t be it. She was a Rosetti.
They’d been raised to look after themselves.
The Oreo cookies and her orgasmic moaning must have put her in the mood.
“A light where there shouldn’t be one. I saw it through the trees as I made the last turn.” He got out of the car, shaking his head when she followed suit. “I don’t believe you.”
“Did you really think you could pull that…” She lowered her voice several octaves.
“ Stay in the car, woman, while I catch the bad guy ? I took self-defense classes, you know. I bet I could—” Something hissed, and then a raccoon appeared out of the shadows, lunging in her direction.
She screamed and jumped back into the car, closing the door and locking it.
She crossed her arms, refusing to give Jake the satisfaction of meeting his amused gaze.
She heard him laughing as he rounded the farmhouse. She could handle his laughter. It was better than him mocking her with a reenactment of her performance.
In the distance, a coyote howled. Maybe it wasn’t that far away , she thought when the raccoon ran past the car and down the road with its babies, big babies, chasing after her. Good to know it had a reason to be overly aggressive that didn’t involve rabies.
At the sound of a text, she glanced at her phone. It was from Jake. It’s safe to get out of the car. I’m at the store. Dots came and went. Unless you’re still afraid of the scary raccoons.
“Ass,” she muttered and went to open the passenger-side door. In case the raccoons had left some of their friends behind in their hidey hole, she crawled over the console and got out the driver-side door.
Fast-walking around the farmhouse while watching for signs of wildlife, she hurried to the shed—also known as the store—as fast as her heels would allow, which wasn’t fast at all.
But she refused to walk barefoot through the lavender fields on account of the meadow voles.
She shuddered at the thought of the rodents and the raccoons and every other mammal, reptile, and insect that the farm seemed to attract.
Jake turned, lighting the way for her with his flashlight.
Then he stepped back, and she saw the outer wall of the shed.
Its dull gray, wooden exterior had been replaced with a painted field of vibrant lavender, swaying on a gentle breeze.
In the middle of the field, a beautiful silver-haired woman wearing a familiar straw sun hat and carrying a basket of lavender on her arm smiled at something in the field.
Sage followed the direction of her gaze and spotted a black tabby cat hiding among the lavender.
“It’s Alice and Max,” she whispered, reaching out with the tips of her fingers, pulling back before she touched her old friend’s face and smeared the paint. “It looks so real.”
“Your mother is incredibly talented. It’s beautiful.”
“You think my mother…” Sage picked up the lantern, inspecting the painting more closely. “It does look like her style, but look at the signature. J.R. ”
“J.R. is the street artist who’s been painting murals around Sunshine Bay.”
“The one Carmen was complaining about the other night? The artist who painted a mural on Surfside?”
“One and the same.”
“My mother wouldn’t…” Then again, maybe she would. She’d streaked her hair purple, bought a red Camaro with racing stripes, and was having sex with her sister’s ex-boyfriend, so hey, turning into Sunshine Bay’s Banksy wasn’t that big a stretch.
“The timing fits. You told her Alice was being cremated today, and then this appears. It’s her gift to you.”
“A gift to both of us,” she said, her heart bursting with pride and love for her mother. She took her phone from her pocket.
“What are you doing?”
“Calling my mother to thank her for the painting and to tell her how much we love it, of course.”
“You might want to hold off and think about it before you do. For whatever reason, your mom obviously wants to remain anonymous.”
“But why? Look how incredible this is.”
“I don’t know. Possibly because your grandmother is trying to have her arrested for destruction of public property.”
“I hate when you’re right.”
“I love hearing you admit that I am.”
She rolled her eyes. “The last thing we need is to give my family something else to fight about. I’ll just pretend we have no idea it was her. It doesn’t mean I can’t let everyone know about this incredible piece of art the street artist J.R. gifted us with and how much we love it, though.”
“It doesn’t, and it sounds like you plan on rubbing your grandmother’s nose in it.”
“You know it. I just wish I could rub my sister’s and my aunt’s noses in it too.
All you have to do is look at this to see how much love and thought my mom put into it.
How Cami can believe that same person could do anything as despicable as what she accused my mom of doing is beyond me.
I think I’ll start a campaign to have J.R.
given a community achievement award in recognition of their art beautifying Sunshine Bay. ”
Jake smiled. “There you go. Something else to add to your keep-busy list.”
“How did you know I have a list? Were you snooping on my phone?”
“Your phone won’t open with my face, but I didn’t have to snoop. You made lists for everything as a teenager, and you haven’t changed much.”
“I guess you’re not always right, because I don’t make lists for everything anymore.
” Just for important things, and she had a lot of important things going on in her life, including defending street artist J.R.
to her grandmother and her mother to Cami and Willow.
It was just a happy coincidence that they would both fit nicely on her What to Do While in Six Weeks of Purgatory list.
His lips twitched. “Do you know that when you lie, you scratch the right side of your nose?”
“I do not,” she said, surreptitiously lowering her hand back to her side.
“Okay, prove it. Show me your phone.”
“I wish I could, but I can’t. I have highly confidential emails on my phone.”
“Like what?” he said.
“Lawyer-client types of things,” she said, and glanced at her screen. “Oh wow, I didn’t realize it’s getting so late. Poor Max. He must be lonely with us gone for so long. You should take him for a walk,” she said, and with one last look at the mural, she headed for the farmhouse.
“Are you trying to get rid of me?”
“No.” Dammit, she moved her finger from the side of her nose to her ear and then realized he wouldn’t see. Her back was to him. “I’m just thinking about Max. Look, you see, he’s waiting for us.” She nodded at the window as they reached the front porch.
“He’s lying across the back of the couch like he does every day. The way you’re trying to distract me has me curious, though. You must have some interesting stuff on your lists.” He reached around her to unlock the door, his warm breath caressing her neck.
She shivered. “What are you doing?”
“Key seems to be stuck.”
She pressed her lips together and put her hand over his, turning the key and then the knob.
“Would you look at that,” she said as she walked inside, moving to the couch when Max lifted his head instead of immediately turning it when he saw her the way he usually did.
She tentatively reached out, stroking his beautiful coat.
“Jake, he’s letting me pet him,” she whispered, slowly lowering herself onto the couch in an effort not to scare him away.
“Maybe you should take him for a walk then.”
“Are you crazy? Did you see the size of those raccoons?”
“Do you hear that, Max? She’ll risk your safety just to get rid of me.” He sat on the other side of the cat, scratching behind Max’s ears, receiving a contented purr for his efforts.
“Don’t go for a walk then.” She nudged Jake’s fingers away as she tried eliciting a contented purr of her own. “I just thought it would be nice for you and Max.”
“You’re happy right where you are, aren’t you, buddy?” Jake toed off his dress shoes, looking as content as Max as he relaxed on the couch, stretching out his long legs. “Come on, tell me the truth. How many lists do you have on your phone?”
“You have a one-track mind. I have a list.” She kept her fingers busy removing her heels instead of scratching the side of her nose. “I’m never wearing heels again.”
Now, that was the truth. Although given the way Jake’s gaze had moved over her legs when she’d walked out of the bedroom in her heels earlier that day, she might make an exception on occasion. His gaze was just as intent as he watched her take off her shoes now. She released a teasing moan.
She was rewarded by the heat in the gaze that met hers. “I bet you a lifetime supply of smoked-bacon-wrapped Oreos that you have more than one list on your phone,” he said.
She swore he’d moved closer to her on the couch.
She could feel the heat from his body, smell his cologne.
The scent should be illegal. It had her thinking of doing things that…
she’d been thinking of doing to him on their fake romantic beach walk that she’d wished had been real.
Which might have been why her voice came out low and husky when she said, “Those cookies were orgasmic, but that’s not enough to entice me to risk the identity of my new celebrity client. ”
“What if I promise not to look at anything other than your lists?”
“Sorry, no can do.”
He leaned in and whispered in her ear, “What would entice you?”
She knew what would happen as soon as she said the words dancing on the tip of her tongue, and still, despite the consequences and complications, she said them. “Whatever you were going to collect from our bet?”
“Are you absolutely sure that’s what you want?”
“Yes,” she said, her voice breathless and needy, but she couldn’t bring herself to care.
Well, not until he lunged for her and began tickling her like he used to.
And just like she used to, she laughed. She sounded like a seal in heat, and that made him laugh, and then she could hardly breathe, too weak to tickle him back or yank his hand from just above her knee.
“Our bet was you get to tickle me?” she cried when he finally relented. “What kind of bet is that? We’re not seventeen.”
He grinned, pushing her hair out of her face. “No, but I got to hear your weird laugh again, and I got to touch you.”
“You wanted to touch me?”
“I did. I do. I want to touch.” He trailed his finger down her neck to her collarbone. “And kiss.” He pressed his lips just below his finger. “And lick.” He swirled his tongue just above her cleavage. “Every inch of you. But you have to be sure—”
“I’m sure, very, very sure,” she interrupted him.
“You didn’t let me finish. I don’t want to be just roommates with benefits, Sage. I want more with you, from you.”
She wanted him. She wanted this. She wanted more with him too. But… “I can’t leave my job, Jake. I’ve worked too hard to get where I am.”
“I’m not asking you to. I’m not even asking you to live in Sunshine Bay full-time. I want to explore the possibility of us, together, in a long-term relationship. I don’t want it to be just about sex.”
“It would never be just about sex between us. But just to say, I’d really like it to be about sex for the next twelve hours at least.”
Sage woke up the next morning in Jake’s bed. He had his phone in his hand and an apprehensive expression on his face that made her groan. “You are not the one who is supposed to have morning-after regrets. I am!”
He kissed her shoulder, his mouth curving in a smile against her skin. “I don’t have regrets. Do you?”
“I probably should, but I don’t.” She circled her own face with her finger. “What was with the look on your face then?”
He held up his phone. “The friend I had looking into creeper guy got a hit.”
“He’s in the system? Exactly how dangerous is he?
” Her eyes went wide, and she reached for her phone.
She’d forgotten to send her family the photo last night.
She’d planned to do it when she got back to the farmhouse, but Jake had pushed thoughts about anything other than him and what they were doing in her bed—and in the shower, and in his bed—out of her head. Several times.
“He’s not dangerous in the way you’re thinking.” Jake propped himself up on the pillow and put his arm around her shoulders. “You know how you said your sister was fanning the flames on the situation with your aunt and mom?”
She slowly nodded, not liking where this was going.
“This guy’s the match.” His arm tightened around her shoulders. “He’s your father, sweetheart.”