Chapter Fourteen
Abigail
It was another two hours before I heard anything from Jacob. Dinner was prepped and stored neatly in plastic covered bowls in the refrigerator, waiting for me to start cooking.
I tried everything to distract myself—reading, online shopping, and researching potential schools to finally finish my degree, but I couldn't focus on anything, my mind glancing off every occupation and ricocheting back to worry over my mother.
I'd ended up in the home gym, trying to run off my nerves on the treadmill, something I almost never did. I hated the treadmill, which is why it worked so well to slow down the merry-go-round of fearful thoughts in my brain.
When I was occupied with hating the burn in my legs and the sweat trickling down my spine, I couldn't worry as much about my mother.
No news is good news. If anything were wrong, Jacob would have called right away.
Telling myself that didn't help.
Eventually, my thighs turned to jelly, and I left the gym to take a quick shower. I was dressed again and pulling a comb through my wet hair when I heard the click of the lock on the front door. The comb fell from my hand, and I raced to meet Jacob.
Coming to a halt in the foyer, I searched his face for any sign that the caller had been telling the truth. He didn't make me wait.
"She's fine," he said. "Your mother's condition is unchanged. The call earlier was a fake. I'm sorry I didn't let you know right away, but it got a little crazy when Griffen went to check on her."
"But she's all right?" I asked.
Jacob stopped in front of me, looking down to meet my eyes. I couldn't read the expression on his face. His silver eyes were soft. A smile played over his lips. He cupped my chin in his hands and lowered his head.
What was he doing? Was he going to kiss me? As crazy as it might sound, Jacob had never kissed me. He'd touched every inch of my skin. We'd had our mouths all over each other, but we'd never kissed.
Kissing was for lovers.
I held my breath as his lips grazed mine, so gentle I wondered if I'd imagined it, before they were back, pressing harder this time.
He tasted like mint and some undefinable flavor I knew was simply Jacob, and when his tongue slid across my lower lip, I opened my mouth to him, helpless to resist. I let out a gasp as his hands dropped from my face to grip my hips, dragging me closer.
The thick cock I knew so well pressed into my belly through his suit and my thin robe.
Arms tightening around me, he pulled me flush to him, my breasts pillowed against his chest, my head tilting back as his mouth took me, the kiss flaring from sweet to hungry in a heartbeat.
The brush of his tongue against mine, the taste of him, made my head spin. He kissed me with his whole body, turning me to pin me to the wall of the foyer, to cage me with his body while he claimed my mouth.
My head spun. I thought I'd gotten used to Jacob's passion. This is something else, something new. This wasn't sex or lust. I raised my hands to his shoulders and held on for dear life, my lips moving under his, matching his need and his hunger.
He'd never kissed me before, and I didn't know if he'd ever kiss me again. I wanted this.
The kiss ended as quickly as it had begun. Jacob loosened his arms and stepped back, prying his lips from mine between one breath and the next.
His mouth beside my ear, he said, "I'm going to go change before I tell you the rest. I'll be right back."
Then he was gone.
I watched him disappear down the hall, still staring after him once he was out of sight, my knees shaking. Between the treadmill and that kiss, I didn't think I could walk.
I guess I didn't have to worry about Jacob being mad. No, now I had something new to worry about.
Why had he kissed me? I hadn't known how much I'd wanted it until I felt his lips on mine. That kiss had been less controlled, more Jacob, than anything he'd done with me.
I wanted that from him, but now that I'd had a taste, I wasn't sure I could bear it when he took it away.
Reminding myself, yet again, that we did not have a relationship and I could not, under any circumstances, fall for him, I peeled myself off the foyer wall and went to the kitchen to pour Jacob a glass of wine.
Deciding it was safer not to mention the kiss, I handed Jacob his wine when he got to the kitchen and asked, "So, what happened?"
I tried to ignore how appealing he looked in a pair of cut off sweatpants and a T-shirt with the logo of Syndrome from WGC, his family's gaming company. My head was still spinning, and I could taste him on my tongue.
It was too much. Being kissed senseless by devastatingly handsome, suited Jacob was bad enough. I might never recover from that.
I couldn't transition into drinking wine with casually magnetic down-time Jacob. I was too flustered to think.
Before he could start talking, I said, "Do you want dinner? Are you hungry?" I needed something to do.
Sending me an unreadable grin, he said, "I could eat."
Jacob was being odd. I ignored my uneasiness in favor of finding out what had happened.
Taking pity on me, Jacob said, "Griffen went to check on your mom to make sure she was all right, but also to see if anything was out of the ordinary there. Cooper put men on him to see if anyone was watching the facility or watching Griffen."
"And?" I asked, taking the chicken, vegetables, and sauce I'd prepared from the refrigerator so they could come to room temperature while I warmed up the wok.
For a man who didn't cook, Jacob had a lot of equipment in his kitchen. Even a rice maker, which looked like it had never been used before tonight. There was a lot about my current circumstances that made me uncomfortable, but I loved this kitchen.
"First," Jacob went on, "Griffen confirmed the call was a fake. They don't have that number on file, they know who Rachel Porter is, and they know to call my office line or my mobile if there's any trouble. They did not call anyone today because your mother is fine."
Relief speared through me. I was delaying the inevitable, but every day I didn't have to face losing my mother was a good one, no matter what else might happen.
Embarrassed that I'd been taken in so easily, I said, "I'm sorry I—"
Jacob cut me off. "Don't be sorry," he said gently. His voice was kind, almost tender. I couldn't help looking at him in confusion.
Jacob could be a lot of things—bossy and commanding, mind-spinningly and panty-meltingly sexy, even dismissive and short-tempered. Gentle, kind, and tender were all new.
I wasn't sure I was equipped to handle this Jacob. This Jacob—casual, sweet Jacob—was way too close to dream-boyfriend Jacob for comfort.
Proving my point, he said, "You have one weak spot, Abigail. One. You don't seem to care at all about your own self-preservation, but anyone who knows you is aware that you'll sacrifice anything for your mother. It's how the Jordans trapped you in the first place. It's the only reason you're here."
He looked away from me when he said that, his silver eyes shifting to pewter.
"It's not," I started to say, then stopped.
It was the reason I was there. We both knew it. If it hadn't been for my mother, I never would have consented to an arrangement like this.
I was attracted to Jacob, even more so now that I knew what sex with him was like, but if it weren't for my mother, I would have demanded more from him than this.
I fell silent, willing him to continue his explanation, to get us past this incredibly awkward moment.
"Sweetheart," he said softly.
And what was with calling me sweetheart? He called me Abigail, sometimes Miss Jordan—never Mrs. Jordan—but sweetheart was new.
It sent a giddy flutter through my heart even as my head rejected it as a line or a meaningless endearment. I was not Jacob's sweetheart. Jacob didn't have sweethearts.
"You answered the phone because you were scared and you didn't think. You know it was dangerous, which is why you told them you were Rachel. That was quick thinking, by the way. They may think it was you who answered the phone, but they don't know."
"It was still foolish," I admitted.
Jacob shrugged. "Everyone does foolish things. Don't be so hard on yourself."
"You have someone going to visit my mom for me?"
I'd been wanting to ask him about that since he mentioned it on the phone. Yep, sweet Jacob was going to kill me. He shrugged again.
"It seemed like a good idea. I wanted someone who was used to the facility, and who they were used to visiting your mother.
I also wanted first-hand reports—not from the staff—about your mother's condition and quality of care.
Both of which are excellent, by the way, all things considered.
I would have expected it, given what the place costs, but Griffen says they're taking very good care of her and the staff is top-notch. "
"I know," I said. "They're the best. That's why my father put her there, and every place else I looked at after he died—" I shook my head. "I just couldn't bring myself to take her out."
"You played it off on the phone," Jacob said.
"But they were definitely hoping you'd take the bait, because Cooper's guys clocked at least three of Big John's men waiting around the facility to grab you if you showed up.
They noticed Griffen, but they didn't make a move on him.
We're not sure if they know who he is and why he was there. "
"Big John is losing patience, isn't he?" I asked, dumping vegetables into the sizzling wok, avoiding Jacob's eyes.
He came up behind me, wrapping his arms around me and resting his chin on the top of my head. My heart squeezed in my chest at his casual tenderness. We'd done plenty of touching, but he'd never held me like this.
I couldn't remember the last time anyone had held me like this. Tears gathered in my eyes. Horrified, I blinked them back.