Chapter 5
Five
A s Jakob led Lani through the entryway of the Wulf home, which led to the open living area and kitchen, his nerves almost got the better of him. One of the things he used to do when on auditions was talking too much. It was one of his nervous tells. Right now, he wanted to babble his head off.
Why was he so bloody nervous? This wasn’t the first time he’d romanced a woman. He didn’t have trouble getting attention from women. Money and power were aphrodisiacs to many people. Add in the fame from his career, and he knew it attracted a lot of women. But Lani was different. She had known him for a decade and could see through his BS. He didn’t even know what he planned by inviting her back to his house. He had just wanted to get her out of the situation that was causing her pain.
After they both slipped off their shoes, Lani followed him down the hallway.
“I’ve always loved this house.”
He knew she had been there a couple of times. But it was one of the older homes along the beach, so they had not built it. There was a good chance that Lani knew the previous owners. There wasn’t a lot of beachfront property for new homes on Oahu. You either bought a well-established home or would have to buy one and tear it down to build another one.
“The view is peaceful. It’s one of the reasons I paid a fortune for my condo. If I was going to be in Honolulu with all the traffic and tourists, I wanted a view of the water.”
Her shoulders were no longer scrunched up, and she smiled softly. “That’s better.”
She glanced at him, then she looked back out the windows. “What is?”
“You no longer look stressed. You’ve been off since you picked me up at the airport today.”
Her smile dimmed a little, and he didn’t like that one bit.
“Maybe it’s just you.”
He snorted. “I would have agreed if you didn’t seem so at peace right now. I mean, you are with me.”
Another glance, this one from the corner of her eye as her mouth curved. Oh, damn, the woman was going to kill him with those looks. “You did promise me cheesecake.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “That’s something I like about you, Lani. You know just how to put me in my place. “Do you want some coffee with your cheesecake?”
“Normally, I would say no, but since I have to stay up for a meeting tonight, it might be a good idea.”
He nodded and pulled out the French press and the electric kettle.
“Do you want me to help you?”
Her soft, lyrical voice jarred him for a second. He looked over to find her standing just to his right, less than two feet away. When had she gotten so close? Lani could be quiet. She was only about five-four in her bare feet. For a woman who could be so vibrant, she sure could sneak up on him. Damn, but the woman was pretty. She had always captured his attention, and every woman he had dated from the time he’d met Lani had failed to live up to his attraction to her. The truth was, he hadn’t had a lot of genuine relationships. Most of them had been contractual. That was one thing the network had promised him. No expectations in his personal life. They would not get into his personal business if he didn’t do anything illegal or morally corrupt.
“Jakob?” Her brow furrowed. “Are you okay?”
Great. He had been staring at her like an idiot. “If you could get the plates down, I’ll grab the cheesecake.”
She nodded and offered him another smile. Turning, she moved to grab the plates, and he tried not to notice the way her dress tightened across that word-class ass of hers. He failed miserably, mainly because his unruly dick kept getting in the way. It made sense since most of his blood had emptied out and headed straight to his groin. Thankfully, he had turned away from her before she could notice that he had been ogling her.
Once they got their coffees and plated up the cheesecake, they moved to the lanai.
“I miss being this close to the water.”
He frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“I moved out of the house. I didn’t feel comfortable with Royal there.”
“I can imagine that. The woman leaves a lot to be desired.”
She said nothing to that. Instead, she forked up some of the cheesecake. The moan that vibrated out of her throat sent his pulse racing. That one little sound sunk down deep inside of him, and well, a chap could only be so controlled. There was a good chance his cock would be imprinted with his zipper.
“That is the best cheesecake in the world,” she said. She smiled at him, but it faded as he continued to stare at her. “What? Do I have something on my face?”
He shook his head as he continued to stare at her.
“What?”
“Do you happen to know how sexy you are?”
“Don’t mess with me.”
He cocked his head to the side and studied her.
“You don’t.”
“Listen, I get that I’m not the type of woman you go for.”
Now, what the hell was she talking about? “Rubbish.”
Her cheeks were pink, and she was looking everywhere but at him. “Listen, let’s not talk about this.”
“No, we will talk about it, because what you said is rubbish.”
The sigh she released told him she wasn’t happy. He didn’t care. He opened his mouth to demand an answer. Before he could, though, she answered him.
“You date tall blondes with more attributes than I have. You have a type.”
That was what the studio had wanted to see him with. Also, his former publicity manager. She had been adamant that he date what she said was the vision of American beauty.
“Can I let you in on a secret?”
“Sure,” she said as she forked up another piece of cake. Thankfully, she didn’t moan this time.
“Most of those women were contracted dates.”
She frowned. “They were supermodels. And there was that one pop star.”
Who had been lovely, but she hadn’t really wanted to date him any more than he had wanted to date her.
“Yes. Supermodels who wanted to be seen.”
“Are you trying to tell me those women only dated you because they were paid?”
He snorted. “No. I mean…look at me. I am a Wulf.”
Her mouth twitched. “And you’re so modest.”
“Mutually beneficial.”
“Oh, hmm, so you never slept with them?”
“Not all of them.” And in the last six months, he’d had one brief encounter with a supermodel that had told him he couldn’t ignore his feelings for Lani any longer. “You want to tell me why you and Rick broke up?”
“Please quit pretending you didn’t hear my conversation with Rick.”
He hadn’t heard all of it, but he had heard enough to want to beat the shit out of the bloke. Though, Lani being free made his mission to win her heart easier.
“Fair enough. I didn’t hear everything, but what I want to know is why your brother seems to not realize you broke up?”
She shrugged, but she didn’t look at him. Instead, she stared at her plate as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. He reached out, slipped his finger beneath her chin, and gently urged her to look at him. It was always dangerous touching her, even with the tip of his finger, but he was done playing it safe with Lani. When he saw the tears, worry set in. Was she still in love with Rick?
“We broke up about six months ago, but my brother has not noticed.”
He blinked. “A man who works for the company—is the face of your company—was your boyfriend for what—a year?” He waited for her nod. “Seriously?”
“I kept attending functions without him, but Ben never seemed to notice. At first, I chalked it up to his wedding preparations, but when he had his engagement party, and Rick wasn’t with me, Ben didn’t seem to notice.”
That was so not like his best friend. Again, he needed to figure out what was happening, but less than seventy-two hours before the wedding, it would be hard to corner his friend.
“I will admit that I took perverse pleasure that he hadn’t noticed. I kept a daily tally for a while.”
“Does Royal know?”
“I’m sure of it.”
Yeah, there was a chance she did, and a woman who was as mean-spirited as Royal was, there was a good chance she did all of that on purpose.
“Are you still hung up on him?”
He waited for the answer, knowing there was a chance it could crush him. She didn’t seem happy to see Rick at dinner.
She chuckled. “No. I’m sad I’m not as close as I once was with my brother, but maybe that’s normal. Both your siblings are married now. Did that happen with them?”
He wanted to say yes just to ease her pain, but he couldn’t lie to her. Not anymore.
“No. If anything, it’s worse. My brother sends daily baby pics.”
He pulled out his phone and showed her a pic of his niece, Maria. She smiled. Her whole face lit up when she stared down at the little diva who had Jakob twisted around her little chubby fingers.
“And I wish Jules would stop sending me daily rundowns of her pregnancy symptoms.”
“No, you don’t.”
“You’re right. Well, sort of. Jules went into detail about delivery, and, seriously, it was disgusting.” He shivered. She laughed, and he felt as if he had won the Oscar, the Golden Globe, and a SAG all at once. That little chuckle meant more to him than anything at the moment. It left his heart lighter, knowing he had made her laugh. “I’ll be seeing them probably on Sunday.”
“I understand you ditched surfing tomorrow?”
They planned a day at the beach for the guys in the wedding party. “That’s early in the morning. I have a tele meeting with my agent, and I need to catch up on some business for Wulf Industries.” But he couldn’t let his earlier worry go. “Are you sure you’re over Rick?”
She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Yes. Sadly, I’m not sure how into the relationship I was in the first place. When I learned about Rick screwing all kinds of groupies, my ego hurt more than my heart. That should have told me something.”
“Your ego?”
“Yes. There’s one thing I can’t take, and that’s anything that makes me look stupid.”
He could understand that. She’d graduated as valedictorian of her high school, and he knew she’d graduated at the top of her class for her undergraduate studies and law school.
“So, you saved me from dealing with Royal, Rick, and Sienna.”
“That and I was ready to get out of there. The flight was starting to drag me down, and Royal and her friend were annoying.” It had been apparent that Royal had decided to use her friend for two things. One to embarrass Lani. More than likely, she hoped that Lani would lose her cool and storm out. That’s how he knew Royal didn’t know Lani.
Her second plan was to get him interested in her vapid friend. They were both talking about the famous people they knew all through dinner. Jakob didn’t get it, but maybe people not in the industry would be impressed. He wasn’t just an actor. His childhood had been filled with playdates with royals. True royals. Being famous didn’t make you more important than other people.
“You have no idea,” she said. “But I feel like I owe you. I mean, I’m getting cheesecake out of the deal, too.”
He blinked. Had he ever met a more beautiful woman? He didn’t think so. He knew many movie stars and models, and yes, they were pretty. But Lani, her beauty came from within. It only enhanced her physical beauty more.
And in that instant, he knew exactly what he wanted.
“You don’t have a plus one?”
She shook her head. “The truth is, I’ll be so busy at the wedding I probably won’t be able to sit down.”
“Be my date.”
Silence greeted his comment.
“I don’t need pity.”
The anger that vibrated in her voice set his alarm bells off. “No. We can help each other. You know Royal has some kind of idea that I want to meet one of her idiot friends. Rick wants you back, apparently.”
She snorted. “No chance of that.”
He cocked his head to the side. “So we can both act as buffers. You save me from the Insta girlies, and I save you from Slick Rick.”
Her mouth twitched. “That does sound nice. I have too many things to worry about. I don’t want to have to mess with his idiocy.”
“So, we can pretend to be each other’s plus one. Do you think you can handle it?”
She frowned at him. “What do you mean?”
“If you get seen with me a lot over the next couple of days, there might be gossip.”
She rolled her eyes. “Sure. And they will just say you are hanging out with your best friend’s little sister.”
He should be awarded an Oscar since she didn’t seem to understand the depth of his interest.
“To make it work, we have to sell the story.”
She cocked her head and stared at him. “What are you after?”
“We need to seem to be interested in each other. Even just a little bit will keep Rick at bay. And let’s face it, those friends of Royal are all intimidated by you.”
Another snort. “Have you been drinking?”
“You really don’t see how insanely amazing you are?”
Her breath caught. “Don’t be nice to me.”
Jakob laughed. “That’s a first.”
“I can’t handle it, Jakob. I hate games, and if this is some kind of insane game you’re playing with me, just stop it. I don’t want to be friendly, then have you flip that switch again.”
He blinked. “What the bloody hell are you talking about?”
“Never mind.” She said as she quickly rose. “I have the early morning meeting and the stupid fitting, so I’ll see you at the rehearsal dinner.”
She was practically running away and leaving her extra piece of cheesecake behind. His first reaction was to stand there and stare at her like an idiot. Then, he hurried after her. He caught her right before she escaped through the front door.
“Hold up,” he said, grabbing her hand before Lani could put on her shoes. “What the hell, Lani?”
She was looking anywhere but at him again, so he pulled her closer. He could feel her pulse thrumming in her wrist. Slipping a finger under her chin, he gently urged her to look up at him. Wariness filled her golden eyes. He had never seen another woman with her eyes. They pierced right through his soul.
“What’s going on? You don’t run from a fight.”
Not that he wanted to fight her. Fight for her, yes. Although, he wasn’t ready to reveal that.
“It’s been a tough few months.”
Pain and exhaustion filtered through her voice. He would have come sooner if he had known this was happening with her brother. Of course, when one is walking around with his head up his arse, it was hard to pay attention to what needed to be done. Lani needed support.
“I shouldn’t have…just, let’s forget all that.”
Fragile. That’s a word he never thought he would associate with Lani Kingston. Something was going on that she wasn’t telling him about.
“This wedding… I’m happy for my brother, even though Royal isn’t someone I would pick for him.”
“Agreed.”
“But if I say anything, it will put me at odds with my brother. Thankfully, I got him to agree to a prenup.”
“He was going to marry her without one?”
She nodded. “But I got them both to sign. Still not as strong as I would have liked. It was better than nothing.”
“How did you get that woman to agree to it?”
“I said she was protecting her assets, like her endorsements.”
The Kingston Surfing empire was massive. “She believed you?”
She shrugged. “She’s not smart.”
He threw his head back and laughed again. “See, that’s what is amazing about you. You get people to do things they normally wouldn’t. And I bet you made her think it was her idea.”
Then he sobered. “We can let people draw their own conclusions about us, but I’m not playing a game.”
She stepped back from him. He wanted to advance and pounce, but he held onto his control—barely.
“Are you going to turn on me?”
“Turn on you?”
“You’ve been…rude to me for years.”
It was the only way he could keep his hands off her. Neither of them was ready for that revelation.
“I was a dickhead.”
“Uh…agreed.”
He nodded. “And right there. I’m so sick of the bullshit that goes along with my job…with my family name. I know that you’ll be honest with me. Ben used to be like that, too.”
Her smile faded. “Yeah.”
“Either way, it would be nice to be with the one other person who understands what a FUBAR this marriage will be.”
She blinked rapidly, her eyes glistening. Jakob had never seen her cry, and he did not like it. His chest hurt at the site of her unshed tears. Then, before he could say anything, she straightened her shoulders.
“Okay. You got a deal.”
“But just in case…”
Wariness clouded her eyes. “What?”
“Maybe a kiss…you know, just in case.”
“In case of what?”
Good question. She was frowning at him, but he still wanted to jump her.
“Those girlies…they are tenacious. I heard Lucas Reynolds had one of them sneak into his house once. She was filming herself in his kitchen cooking like he had invited her there.”
Her eyes widened. “I hadn’t heard about that.”
“He made sure it didn’t make the news. Our agents work for the same agency.”
And Lucas had signed to be in Jakob’s new show. He had only met the guy once, but that story had come up.
“Oh. Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Are you forgetting something?”
“Oh, yes,” she said, her eyes lighting up. Then she slipped around him and headed back to the kitchen. He was playing second fiddle to cheesecake.
Before she could reach the counter, he took her hand and tugged her back.
“Why are you acting so weird around me? It’s just a kiss. You need to be comfortable with my hands on you.”
“There’s no need. Remember? You said we would just let people make their own conclusions about us.”
“No one will believe you’re hanging with me if you shake when I touch you.”
She was now. She shivered against him.
“I’m not scared of you.”
“Funny, it sure feels like you are.”
She looked up at him, her gaze locked on his. “It’s embarrassing to say, but just know it isn’t that I’m afraid of you.”
“Disgusted by me, then,” he said, leaning down and pressing his body closer to hers.
“No.” Her voice was a whisper, and her gaze was on his mouth.
He should think of something witty to say, but he couldn’t think of anything at all. His mind was blank. All he wanted was a taste.
She rose to her toes as he bent his head further, their lips meeting halfway.
Her mouth was soft and tasted of every temptation he had ever had. First kisses could be awkward, but this felt perfect. He wanted more…he wanted it all. But he knew he could only push so far. Scaring Lani off wasn’t his plan.
Jakob pulled back from the kiss. Her eyes fluttered, then opened.
“I don’t think we’ll have a problem.”
With considerable effort, he released her and took a giant step back.
“Yeah. Not a problem.”
She took the cheesecake and walked down the hall. He saw her to her car, wanting nothing more than to pull her back into his house and take another taste.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said.
“Yeah.” She started the SUV and said nothing else before driving away. Jakob watched until the gate to his house slid closed behind her taillights. With his hands in his pockets, he wandered back into the house, thinking that a cold shower would be his best action.
He kept watch through binoculars. Lani was still in the house with Jakob Wulf. Anger slipped through him, burning his gut. She shouldn’t be with that man.
His phone vibrated in his pocket. He wanted to ignore it but knew his partner would keep calling.
“What the hell was that mess?” his partner demanded. No, hey, how ya doing? Is everything okay with you? Just a demand.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He did, though. Lani wasn’t doing what any of them wanted her to do. That was the crux of it. Worse, she seemed to be slipping away.
“Want to tell me about the brakes on her car?”
Silence greeted his question, and he had his answer.
“I was worried.”
“That she wouldn’t die soon enough?”
That was the problem with his partner, who always rushed to grab the money.
“She doesn’t have to die. She just needs to go away.”
How his partner’s voice trembled over the words told him what he needed to know now. Lani dying was the ultimate goal.
“Stop fucking up.” then a dial tone.
He wondered when he got into the business of killing women but had a bad feeling that is precisely what he was doing.