Fastball (14 page)

“You know the saying,” he continued. “Drive
for show and putt for dough. Well, I can’t putt worth a damn and
Nate’s not exactly Phil Mickelson, either. You’ll probably mop the
floor with us.”

Maddie let out a husky, sexy laugh and Jake’s
spirits soared.

He lined up his putt, barely able to
concentrate, and rolled it an inch outside the cup on the right.
“Wind blew it wide,” he said with a joking sigh, and she laughed
again.

Yeah, they were definitely on a roll now.

Maddie studied her putt from every angle,
crouching several times to get a better read. He loved her
intensity and wondered if she would be that focused in bed. If she
was, he had no doubt she’d make the top of his head blow off. He
couldn’t take his eyes off her, watching her every move and quietly
reveling in the fantasy that she just might end up with her sweet,
naked body underneath him after all.

But right now she’d tuned him out, calmly
stepping into her putting stance and stroking the ten-footer
straight into the center of the cup for a birdie. She let out a
little celebratory whoop and Jake strode over to offer a high-five.
To his delight, she gave his hand an enthusiastic slap, accompanied
by a happy grin.

Which kind of indicated how pathetically
smitten he was if a small gesture like that could so easily fire
him up. “Great birdie, Maddie.”

Her eyes lit up with a beautiful sparkle.
“Maybe I’ll have a shot at you guys after all,” she crowed.

You’ll sure as hell have a shot at me—any
old time you want one.

Jake stuck close to her as they headed to the
next tee. Neither made a move to rejoin Nate and Martha, who were
already in the carts and driving ahead.

* * *

Maddie felt like a crushing weight had been
lifted from her shoulders. She and Jake had somehow spoken easily,
like friends, and it hadn’t been nearly as frightening as she’d
been imagining these past few days. And both he and Nate were
making it easy for her to let go her anxiety. They’d been keeping
up a steady stream of ridiculous, entertaining banter, acting
pretty much like goofy frat boys. It was hard not to laugh at them,
and that went a long way toward easing the tension she’d felt since
spotting Jake at the first tee.

And it touched her that Jake was being so
careful with her, going out of his way to treat her with a gentle
courtesy.

Maybe what Martha had said was right. Maybe
she was over-thinking everything, worrying too much about some
decision that might well never have to be made. Maddie had always
been a meticulous planner, the farthest thing from a
live-for-the-moment type of person anyone could find. But sometimes
she got so wrapped up in planning for the future that she forgot to
live in the moment. As her mom had so often reminded her in the
days before she fell ill, that was a sure-fire way to let
opportunity go to waste.

She blinked away sudden tears at the thought
of her mother, whose life had all but slipped away. Her mom
couldn’t have fun or laugh anymore, couldn’t experience the
excitement or comfort of a man’s touch, or understand the
terrifying joy of following one’s heart. Of living for today, no
matter what that day might bring. Maybe it was time for Maddie to
do what her mother couldn’t do anymore.

Stop being afraid, and experience as much
happiness as she could.

She glanced at Jake, who stood behind the
tee, a smile tilting up the corners of his firm, sensual mouth as
he watched her. A new energy flowed through her body. She
would
have fun—she would enjoy the day, starting right at
that moment.

As she stepped onto the tee, she gazed down
the long, narrow fairway of the par-five third hole. It was rated
the toughest hole on the course, and unless she could hit a long,
straight drive to the corner of the dog-leg, she would end up with
a difficult second shot and little chance of a par. Maddie
cautioned herself to be extra careful not to over-swing, as her
ball had a tendency to slice when she did.

She drew the driver back, paused for an
instant at the top, and then whipped the club down at a powerful
steep angle. As she raised her head and caught her first glimpse of
the flight of the ball, she groaned. Just what she’d told herself
not to do—over-swing. She’d hit the ball with tremendous force, but
as it rose, it started to fade off quickly to the right. It
disappeared deep into the thick trees that lined the right side of
the fairway.

“Crap,” she muttered under her breath. She’d
be lucky if she didn’t get lost forever in that thicket. It was a
good thing her smartphone had a compass app.

“You’ll be taking a little nature walk with
that one, Maddie,” Nate hooted. “Let us know if there are any bears
lurking in those woods.”

Jake gave her a sympathetic grimace, then
followed Martha and Nate to tee off in turn. Maddie took a deep
breath, trying not to come off as a spoiled diva. She’d find her
ball, or not, and concentrate on hitting her next shot, whatever
that might be. After all, it
was
only a game, even if two of
the best athletes on the whole darn planet were watching her.

Martha stopped the cart at the point where
they thought Maddie’s ball had gone into the stand of trees. Martha
offered to help locate the ball, but Maddie shook her head.
“Thanks, but you might as well go over and find your own ball.
That’ll save time.”

Martha had hit her drive into the much less
dense bush on the other side of the fairway, and hers hadn’t
penetrated nearly as deeply as Maddie’s.

As Martha cut across the fairway, Maddie
picked her way into the trees, brushing the smaller vegetation out
of the way with her six-iron. The course had been carved out of
what had once been thick forest, and this particular area had been
preserved in its original state. It was so dense and canopied that
light barely penetrated. The farther she stepped into the gloom,
the less Maddie harbored illusions about finding her wayward ball.
But she never liked to give up without at least a couple of minutes
of searching. That was too easy, and she didn’t do easy.

As she edged deeper into the trees, poking
clumps of leaves and other debris with her club, she heard
footsteps behind her. Thinking Martha had changed her mind and
followed to help, she turned, around. “Martha, I don’t think—”

But it wasn’t Martha following her. It was
Jake.

She swallowed as her heart jammed up into her
throat.

“I thought you could use some help,” he said
with an easy grin. “Besides, Nate said there might be bears in
these woods. I didn’t want you to get eaten.”

Maddie felt her jaw drop, then she clamped it
shut, cursing the flush of heat that surely turned her cheeks a
bright red. Would she ever stop acting like an idiot around this
man? Okay, he’d obviously made a sexual innuendo, but that didn’t
mean she had to respond like a teenage girl.

She nodded brusquely and turned away, poking
at some underbrush as she glimpsed something white, but it turned
out to be a small chunk of white cardboard from a pack of candy or
cigarettes. After a few more moments, she turned back toward Jake.
He continued to poke away at the underbrush with his club.

“I don’t think it went in any deeper than
this,” she said. “Since we haven’t seen it by now, I’d say it’s
time to give up the quest.”

She took a step toward him, and at the same
moment Jake stepped forward, too. He was just inches from her now,
towering over her with that powerful, uber-masculine body of his.
Maddie froze, staring up into his intense blue eyes as he seemed to
search for words.

He finally let out a growl of frustration.
“Maddie, I don’t know what to say right now, so I’m not going to
say a damn thing.”

Before she could react, he reached out and
swept her into his arms. Gasping, she instinctively dropped her
club and reached her hands up to his brawny shoulders to keep from
losing her balance. It was a brazen move on his part and she knew
she should push him away and give him hell. But she couldn’t find
the strength to do it.

Because she didn’t want to.

Finally capitulating to the yearning that had
been gnawing at her for days, Maddie let out a sigh and wrapped her
arms around his neck. Jake lifted her straight up off her toes and
kissed her hungrily. She squeaked at the sensation of helplessness
as she dangled off the ground, but as his lips devoured hers, she
melted against him, opening her mouth to the thrust of his probing
tongue. The heat and strength of his body engulfed her. She felt
wrapped in him, fused with him, all sense of separation having
vanished in an instant.

It was terrifying and wonderful, and really,
really stupid.

Without breaking the deep kiss, Jake turned
and gently pushed her back against the big oak directly behind her.
The pressure of his muscular body as he pinned her to the tree
trunk sent ripples of excitement and anticipation coursing through
her limbs. She was trapped, held tight between the unyielding tree
and Jake’s frame, which felt only slightly less hard. Without
thinking, she surrendered to the intoxicating moment, the heat in
her body intensifying exponentially. She wanted to push herself
against him until there wasn’t even the tiniest gap between
them.

Action followed thought as she wrapped
herself around him. He growled his satisfaction into her mouth,
slipping his hands down to cup her bottom, nudging her into the
thick length of his erection. Maddie felt something deep inside
seem to give way. The wild feel of him against her and his deep,
devouring kisses combined in a tidal wave that burst through every
internal barrier she’d constructed against him. The wave flowed
through her, around her, inside her—dragging her to a place of
freedom. Blessed, unrestrained freedom.

She whimpered, straining up to his mouth,
wanting more. He knew exactly how to caress and taste her, how to
savor. His hands—strong, sturdy hands—knew how to gently move her
body, to touch her in all the places she longed to be touched. When
he cupped her breast, his fingers finding the hardness of the
nipple through her soft knit shirt, she shuddered and drew his
tongue deeply into her mouth. Jake moaned softly, running his hand
down her back and over her ass, tilting her pelvis into the heat of
his erection. It pressed through the lightweight material of her
skirt and panties, rubbing her
right there
, and she hungered
for more.

Much, much more.

“Hey, you guys, I know you’re working hard in
there to find that ball, but if you don’t come out soon we’re going
to have to call in the rescue dogs!”

Nate’s shout from back in the fairway
shattered the spell, and they broke apart, panting. Jake’s head
whipped around in the direction of Nate’s voice, and his lips
actually pulled back in a feral growl.

God, as if her knees weren’t already weak
enough.

“Give us a couple of more seconds, okay?”
Jake yelled back.

Maddie slipped past him, picking up her club
and adjusting the skewed brim of her visor with trembling hands.
She was shaking so hard she dropped the club, but Jake snagged it
before it hit the ground.

He handed her the club, wrapping her fingers
around it. “Don’t drop it.”

Now he sounded amused, and she scowled up at
him. But he reached up a finger and brushed it lightly across her
cheek, and the butterflies in her stomach took flight again.

“Before we go back out, I just want you to
know one thing,” he said softly. “I have never felt anything so
good and so right before in my life.”

She gave a jerky nod and started back through
the woods, Jake falling into step beside her. After several failed
attempts, she finally cleared her throat and found her voice.

“You’re an incredible man, Jake,” she said,
wincing at the quaver in her voice. “And you know I want you. My
body just told you how much.”

She stopped, seeing Nate and Martha only a
few yards ahead in the fairway. Turning to Jake again, she knew she
had to tell him she wasn’t ready to do what they both had so
desperately wanted moments ago. Now that she’d given in to him, let
him touch her like that, she even more clearly perceived the danger
he posed—to both of them.

“But I can’t have…an affair with you,” she
managed, even though it killed her to say the words. “I’m sorry,
but surely you see now why we can’t.”

Now Jake was scowling. “No, I don’t. I—”

Maddie turned away abruptly, cutting him off.
She made her way back out to the fairway to rejoin Nate and Martha,
refusing to look back at Jake.

And feeling like she’d just smashed something
very precious into dust.

Maddie spent most of the night tossing and
turning in bed, obsessing about the golf tournament and the
heartbreaking encounter in the woods with Jake. Now, as she packed
for the short trip from Philadelphia to Massachusetts, she could
barely concentrate long enough to organize what she needed to take
with her. She cursed both Jake and Nate for putting her in that
position in the first place.

And she cursed herself for her weakness in
letting Jake kiss her and touch like that. It felt like her body
had betrayed her. To be brutally honest, she’d been blown away by
the incredibly hot embrace that breezed right past her carefully
guarded defenses.

She stuffed toiletries into her bag, glancing
around the small but pretty bedroom in her modest apartment in a
close suburb of Philadelphia. Maddie liked her life. She liked it a
lot, and it had been a long, hard climb to get where she was now.
But Jake threatened everything she’d worked so hard to attain, and
she was certain now that she had to put distance between them,
physically and emotionally.