Chapter 2
EDEN WOODMAN
I’m staring daggers at the car that has been a pain in my butt since I got it as a junior in high school a decade ago. A car I haven’t been able to get rid of because there’s always something more important that needs my attention.
I kick the tire and wince.
“Ouch!” I squeak. “I guess these aren’t steel-toed boots,” I mutter under my breath just as someone clears their voice behind me. I turn and look up and up and up, my eyes widening as I recognize the sexy man in front of me. “Jacob,” I whisper.
“Eden.” His full sensuous lips twitch. Almost like he thinks I’m cute or something because he more than likely saw me kick my car.
Stop fawning over your brother’s best friend!
a voice shouts inside my head, but I ignore it.
I can’t help it. If it makes me a walking, breathing cliché so be it.
There is something different about Jacob than any other man I have ever met.
“Jacob,” I whisper again and blink. Jacob is my oldest brother, Reed’s, best friend from the Army.
Unlike us, he wasn’t born and raised in Moonlit Pines but moved out here while I had been gone on what my mom likes to call ‘my little adventure’.
Not only is the man sexy as sin, but he’s so sweet, I’m sure he could give you a toothache.
Again, very unlike any other man I’ve ever met.
Our paths somehow never crossed until two months ago.
Sure, I heard all about him from my brother.
Especially when Reed was serving in the Army.
I’d hear tidbits here and there about things they got into while deployed, and I wasn’t all that surprised when my growly brother’s buddy moved to Moonlit Pines while I was gone.
Reed, even though he’d been somewhat of a recluse before he met his wife Cami, had a gravitational pull to him.
But that was it.
Jacob was just the name of some guy who was friends with my brother. A new resident of our small mountain town. Until two months ago, when I moved back to town after trying to spread my wings and crash landing on my face.
Like a knight in shining armor, he showed up to help me move my things into the small place I rent. He even stayed long after my brothers left to help me assemble some furniture I bought.
“What’s wrong with it?” Jacob’s square chin juts toward my old hatchback Honda Civic that most definitely seen better days.
“I’m not really sure.” I shrug. “I think it’s the battery,” I answer, unable to look away from him.
He looks good today. Really good. His beard is full but nicely trimmed, and even though his hair is a little long, the way it curls at the ends, I have to admit it’s working for him. My fingers itch to touch the damp strands. Maybe tug and pull on them while he…
“Pop the hood, and I’ll check it out,” he offers like a gentleman, and I feel myself start to swoon.
“Oh, are you sure?” My eyes drop to his arms. He’s already rolling the sleeves of his maroon Henley up his forearms.
“Of course, Eden. Anything for you.” He winks. Winks at me! I smile hoping I don’t look like a schoolgirl with a crush. As gracefully as I can manage, I walk to the driver’s side of my car and open the door, leaning in to pop the hood.
“Try and start it up,” he instructs, and I do as he asks, but the car doesn’t purr to life. It doesn’t make a sound. Not one peep.
“Okay, take the key out!” he shouts gruffly. The sound of his voice alone has goose bumps coming alive on my skin. I slip out of the car and walk toward him.
His body is bent, and I can’t help but take a moment to admire him.
He’s got large masculine hands and forearms that make you think about being pinned down below him, holding on to the muscles of his broad back.
Jacob is tall with a runner’s body. A little lanky, but from what I can tell completely ripped.
He tinkers with one thing and then the other under the hood of my car with confidence.
As if sensing me, he looks up, and his hazel eyes connect with my blue ones.
“I think you’re right.” He winces. “It could be the battery.”
“Oh.” I lick my bottom lip, not sure what to say next. Without thinking, I wave at him realizing that I haven’t even said hello yet. “Hi.” I smile at him. It hits me that he’s here. He’s at my place, and my heart stills in my chest. “Did Reed send you?”
Or did you come to profess your undying love? My silly heart wishes.
“He cares.” Jacob shrugs one of his thick, muscular shoulders, and I have to swallow back a moan.
Why is he so hot? And why is my luck this bad?
Not only is the man seriously attractive, but he’s sweet and funny. I only spent time with him that one day two months ago but to say he left a lasting impression would be an understatement.
The last two months have felt like they’ve dragged by so slowly I wanted to rip my hair out.
I mean, I could have sworn I saw him here and there around town when I went to work at the local beauty salon, but every time I did a double-take to check if it really was him, he would be gone.
I told myself it was my imagination conjuring him up.
Wishing and hoping I would bump into the man who I wanted to ask Reed about maybe getting his number, but I knew how overprotective my brothers were and didn’t want to deal with the drama that might cause.
“I’m glad he called you,” I admit, ignoring my way too pale skin probably brightening up a couple of shades of pink.
“Oh yeah?” His brow rises with interest.
“Yeah.” I find myself nodding. “I’ve wanted to reach out, but I didn’t have your number—"
“You wanted to reach out? To me?” My eyes never leave his. I can’t believe how surprised he seems by this.
“Yeah. I wanted to, umm, ask you to dinner.” Maybe be the father of my imaginary children. The thought jars me, but I shake it off. “You know, to thank you.” The excuse tumbles from my lips easily.
“Thank me?”
“For helping me set everything up. Moving all the boxes. And then you even stayed later to help me build furniture,” I remind him, trying not to feel a little hurt by the fact he doesn’t seem to remember. Does that mean he has a whole slew of women he randomly helps?
“Oh.” Is that disappointment I hear? “That was no big deal.” He shrugs, and my shoulders slump over.
“Oh. It wasn’t a big deal?” I repeat, mostly to myself.
“I don’t mean that in a bad way.”
“No, I get it.” I shake my head and put on the best smile I can manage. “I’m just Reed’s little baby sister. You were just pitching in.” I ignore my heart that’s currently breaking.
“Eden—"
“And now you came to pick me up because my brother asked you to, right?” He was here out of obligation, not because he had some kind of secret crush like I have for him.
“Ede—"
“You should head on over to their place.” My smile widens, but I know he doesn’t believe it.
“Angel—" I step back and pinch the bridge of my nose.
“I had a headache earlier, probably from an early appointment. You know how it goes, not enough sleep. Or coffee.” I’m rambling, trying to sound convincing. The best bet here would be to try to get out of going to Reed’s place. He and his wife are hosting a pre-Christmas get-together.
“Honey—"
“Apologize for me, will you?”
“Fucking hell,” Jacob curses then pulls me toward him faster than I knew was humanly possible.
“Eden.” The scratchy tone in his voice makes my nipples tighten harder, and it has nothing to do with the cold chill in the air from the upcoming snow we’re going to get.
“You’re Reed’s little sister. Don’t you know what that means? ”
“That I have a pain-in-the-ass older brother. Well, I have three of those, but you know that, don’t you?” He chuckles and shakes his head.
“No. It means, you’re off limits, beautiful.” Beautiful. Wait? What is he saying? I’m off limits? Does that mean he wants me like I want him?
“Because I’m related to Reed?”
“And because you’re way too young for me,” he rasps. I watch, fully captivated by the way his Adam’s apple rises and drops heavily. Like he hates having to say the words as much as I hate hearing them. But then again, it’s probably wishful thinking on my side.
“Right. I mean…” I look down at the ground.
His boots are worn and scuffed, and for some reason, I find that sexy as hell.
“I’m probably not your type anyhow, right?
” I make a face. “Don’t answer that.” I don’t need to know he probably dates women who look incredible in a bikini.
Not that I can’t rock one as a size eighteen.
I do. But the women he dates are probably a lot smaller.
“I should go inside and, umm—"
“Go to dinner with me.” His hand squeezes against my hip and I blink. Did Jacob actually ask me out?
“What?”
“Your brother’s place.”
“Dinner?”
“He really wants you to be there.”
“Oh.” Of course, that’s what he’s talking about. Disappointment is a bitch, but I have learned how to live with it. Sometimes it’s just part of life. “Fine.” I shrug, putting my best foot forward. “Let me just grab a Tylenol for this head—.”
“Do you mind if I try something?” he asks, cutting me off mid-sentence.
“Try something?” I question quietly, trying not to let my sex-deprived mind take one too many wrong turns. Why does everything he says sound dirty? Hopeful wishing.
“To help your head.”
“Oh! Uh, sure.” I ignore the feeling of my pale skin turning a shade of red. My body braces, unsure of what to expect as his hands cup my face. His touch is firm but gentle, and I can’t help but let my eyes close as he rubs my temples.
“Where’s the pain, angel?”
“Hmm?” I sigh contently. I could happily have him touch me for the rest of my life.
“The pain, honey. Where is it?” he murmurs. For some reason, probably my imagination playing games with me, he sounds like he’s closer now. But I don’t open my eyes to check.
I don’t want to risk it. With eyes shut I can pretend he’s close, staring at my face with longing that matches my own. “Temples,” I whisper. “And between my eyes.”
“Not enough water,” he mumbles, almost to himself. “You had an early appointment?”
“Yeah, a color correction,” I share. “And then extensions and haircuts,” I ramble willingly because I swear his hands could get anything out of me.
“Did you eat this morning?” his voice rumbles deliciously, and I let myself imagine things I shouldn’t.
Things like him actually being concerned about my wellbeing.
Not because I’m his best friend’s little sister but because he wants me.
I shrug unable to string two words together and when he tsks.
‘Bad girl’, it doesn’t help the road trip my thoughts go on.
Dirty thoughts pop into my head. Bad girl.
I don’t mind the nickname. One that would lead to sinfully filthy places that maybe end with me calling him daddy.
“You need to eat every morning,” he keeps talking, unaware of how my imagination flares to life behind my eyes.
I’d be kneeling in front of him, wearing a tiny, pleated skirt I bought thinking of him.
“You also need to have water with you. Especially when you’re around all those chemicals,” he scolds.
“Okay, Daddy,” I whisper. A smile plays on my lips until I realize I just said that out loud.
My eyes pop open, and I notice his hands are no longer rubbing my temples.
No. They’re just holding my face, a dark expression on his face.
“Ha, ha,” I try to play it off like I was teasing instead of literally having a dirty fantasy in front of him.
“Right.” He clears his throat and drops his hands. “Better?”
“What?” I blink, trying to focus on his face while I tamp down the sheer embarrassment of calling him daddy.
“Your headache, baby. Is it better?”
“Oh,” my voice squeaks, and I wince. I’m terrible at this. This is why I am single at my age. Because I look like I do, and my tastes, well, they’re different. There is something in me that craves to be protected and babied. Spoiled and cherished.
“Eden, talk to me.” His deep voice makes more goose bumps come to life on my skin, and I can feel my face start to turn red. Or redder, as the case is.
“Yeah.” I cough. “A whole bunch. Let me get my purse from inside my car, and we can get going.” I hurry off, not bothering to look at him. Jacob probably thinks I’m some kind of pervert now. I can’t believe I called him daddy!
Great.
Just my luck. Like usual, my mouth got the best of me.