Clover (2 page)

And Jake looked fun. Tan and lean and hard and completely and totally adorable, yet sexy at the same time. She'd promised herself this was the summer,
her
summer, to reward herself for all the sacrifices. Of course that was before her dad had told her she couldn’t go hang out on the beach with Lexy for two months, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t make the best of the situation she was in.

Yes, she had to work. But that left her plenty of time for other activities and, until her car dumped her on the side of the road, she'd had no idea what she was going to do with her free time. Since Jake clearly wasn’t a serial killer like she originally feared, why not spend it with him?

Twelve Years Earlier

Jake was too old to suck his thumb and he knew it. He was going into second grade, which made him officially a big kid. Somehow, though, that didn’t make it any easier to listen to his parents fight.

At least right now they were yelling at each other and not at him, but that would change when he told them he had to go to the bathroom. He didn’t know how much longer he could wait and they’d been driving forever.

He studied the clock on the dash. He’d been trying to figure out the whole time thing. That was something a second grader should know. He wasn’t good enough to tell the exact time, but he knew they’d been in the car for at least two hours. When he’d asked where they were going, his dad had just yelled at Jake’s mom about not telling him. Then they’d started fighting for real and he hadn’t asked again.

“We’re here,” his dad announced as he pulled into a long gravel driveway. The bumps made Jake feel like he was going to pee his pants, so he held his legs tighter together and hoped that, wherever ‘here’ was, it included a bathroom.

They stopped in front of a house with a wide porch. A woman stepped out of the front door at the same time that his dad turned off the engine. Jake looked back and saw a cloud of dust rising off the gravel.

His dad got out of the car and said, “Come on, Jake. Come meet your Aunt Tammy.” His mom waited in the car.

Jake climbed the stairs to where the woman, he guessed Aunt Tammy, stood with her arms crossed over her chest. She glared at Jake’s dad. Her eyes softened a bit when she looked at Jake, but she still made it clear that she didn’t want him there any more than he wanted to be there.

Jake stuck out his hand like he’d been taught and said, “Hi, I’m Jake.”

She shook it and said that it was nice to meet him. He didn’t know if she meant it or not.

“Here’s his bag, Tammy,” his dad said from the bottom stair. He stretched far enough to set the bag on the porch next to Jake.

The woman glared again, but didn’t say anything. Finally, Jake’s bladder couldn’t hold out any longer. If he didn’t find a toilet now, he was going to pee all over the porch. The woman looked angry enough as it was.

“Excuse me, can I use your bathroom?” he asked with his best manners.

“Sure.” She pulled the door open and pointed. “See that hall? It’s the first door on the right.”

“Thank you.” He ran with his hands cupped over his crotch.

He peed for at least five minutes straight, and when he came back out, his parents were gone. The only sign they’d even been there was the small suitcase sitting on the porch next to his aunt. She stared down the highway at something he couldn’t see.

He knew that raising a fuss wouldn’t help and was more likely to earn him a pop to head than anything else. He sucked in a breath and wiped his nose on his sleeve. A few tears escaped before he could stop them. He flinched when he felt his aunt’s hand on his head, but she just ruffled his hair and picked up his bag.

“Come on, kid. Let’s get you settled.”

Chapter 3

Present Day

Clover stared at Jake’s profile. She couldn’t believe the changes she saw. She rested her hand on her own thigh in a way that let her fingertips brush against Jake’s leg. She left it there and tried to ignore the flush of heat and excitement the small gesture created in her. Jake blushed when he looked at her hand, then smiled at her like he couldn't quite believe his luck.

“You’re just home for the summer?” Jake’s voice cracked in the middle and he cleared his throat. Clover suppressed a giggle. She loved that she was having an effect on him.

“Right. I start at University of Portland this fall.” She didn’t really want to talk about school. It was one more reminder that he was three years younger than her.

“Oh, I thought you were finishing this past year for some reason.”

“I did,” she answered.

“She graduated with honors.” R.J. was strangely proud of her academic accomplishments. Not that he showed any of the same interest in his own.

“Really? I totally figured that would happen. So why are you...” Jake let the question trail off.

“Starting work on my Master’s program. What about you?”

“I’ll start my second year at Chemeketa in September.” Chemeketa was the community college in Salem where he grew up.

“What are you studying?”

He shrugged. “I dunno yet. Getting the core stuff out of the way right now. I’ll figure out what’s next when I get there, I guess.”

“That’s good.” She didn’t think it was good at all. She’d had her whole life planned out by the time she was sixteen. She tried to imagine what it would have been like not to have a clear vision of her future when she started college. She couldn’t.

Jake smiled and said, “I wish I was more like you. You always look like you know exactly where you’re going and how you’re going to get there.”

She laughed. His compliment made her uncomfortable. He obviously thought she was special and she didn’t feel that way at all. “Except for a few minutes ago when my car broke down.”

Jake laughed and nodded. “True, but I’m being serious. Maybe later you can help me figure out which direction I should be going.”

She nodded but didn’t answer directly. That was a lot of responsibility and she wanted to go back to being flirty and fun.

“Thanks for picking us up. We would have been walking for hours.” She had more to say, but forgot whatever it was when she looked into Jake’s eyes for too long. R.J. made a vomiting noise, effectively breaking the connection. She elbowed her brother in the gut.

“It's no problem.” Jake divided his attention between Clover and the road. “Your dad would have picked you up though, I'm sure.”

R.J. snorted and Clover said, “Not a chance.”

“But he's going to get your car?”

“At some point. But there’s no way he would stop working just to save us from walking. Have you met my dad?” Clover's dad loved his kids, but he was driven when it came to his career. If they were in danger, he would drop everything to help them, but he wouldn’t leave just to save them from a little walking.

When he’d nixed her vacation plans, Clover had begged him to let her spend the summer with him, as an internship of sorts, but he'd refused. Just like every year before, he wanted her to earn her own money. He helped her make investment choices with it, walked her through the decision making, but so far he wouldn’t let her anywhere near anyone else's portfolio.

“What about Brandon?”

Brandon was her dad’s farm manager. Her dad loved the idea of living on acreage, but was practical enough to know that he earned a great deal more as an investment banker than a farm. Besides, he killed houseplants. No way could he cultivate fields of crops. Still, he hated the idea of his land going fallow. Brandon, on the other hand, had the knowledge to run a profitable farm. However, he lacked capital. Shortly after they relocated to southern Oregon, her dad struck a deal with Brandon. He’d been part of the family ever since.

“It’s summer.” Clover would have expanded the explanation for anyone else, but Jake knew how crazy it could get on a farm in the summertime.

“Oh.” Jake shook his head and glanced at Clover's hand. It grazed the edge of his leg every time they went over a bump.

“Dude, you're going to miss the turn.” R.J. pointed out the road Clover usually took on the way into town. If Jake didn't take this one, there were three others that would take them to the same place. They all took about the same amount of time, so she didn’t know why R.J. even said anything.

“Right.” Jake's foot hit the brake a little too hard and Clover lurched forward. Trucks this old only came with a lap belt and she hadn’t bothered to put it on when she got in. She was going to kill R.J. if she went through the windshield because he felt the need to screw with the groove she was building with Jake.

Jake slid around the corner, his fingers so tight on the wheel his knuckles turned white.

“Sorry about that.” He laughed nervously and glanced sideways at Clover.

“No problem.” She smiled then, freer than she'd felt in far too long. Jake's crooked smile made her want to take chances. She decided that she didn’t care that he was younger and moving through school without a rudder. A lot of people did that, even her dad. He loved to tell the story about how he’d had no idea what he wanted to do until he was doing it. He’d majored in general business and never went further. He’d lucked out when a friend’s father offered him a job right out of school.

Encouraged by the knowledge that so far Jake wasn’t much different than her dad and her dad was the best man she knew, Clover gave up her last reservations about Jake. She turned up his radio and danced in her seat the rest of the way to the pool.

As soon as they pulled into the parking lot, R.J. jumped out of the truck and yelled, “Later losers,” and ran into the building. Unlike Clover, he was going to swim, not to work.

“What time are you off?” Jake asked. He opened the driver’s door just like last time.

As she climbed over him to get out, she lingered with her legs straddled on either side of his lap. She rested there with her hands against his bare chest. The skin was smooth and firm beneath her touch.

“Supposedly four, but I'm not sure now. My boss may want me to stay late.” She fished her phone out of her bag and offered it to him. “Give me your number just in case?” She tried to sound sweet, but she didn’t feel particularly sweet with the suffocating heat closing in on them.

She should have moved off Jake while they talked, stood outside the truck, maybe. She could hear her father in her head telling her to “act like a lady, for God’s sake!” But Jake’s chest was bronzed and rippled when she brushed the backs of her fingers against it. Unlike last time, she didn't have her baby brother there as an audience. As much as Clover knew she should move, she wanted to stay right where she was even more, and so she did.

She fought the urge to roll her hips against him. She may have known him for years, but she hadn’t known him
that
well. When they were kids, they played together, but that changed when she hit high school. She was only three years older than him, but it felt like more. He was starting middle school when she started high school and that distinction made all the difference in the world.

“You're kinda killing me here.” Jake looked at his lap. Clover followed his gaze to find her skirt stretched tight and scrunched up higher than what could be considered decent. She laughed with nervous energy and her body moved as she did it. Jake groaned and she felt him grow harder. Now she definitely wasn’t moving any sooner than absolutely necessary.

“What do you mean?” She held perfectly still then, frozen in place by his grip at her waist and his pleading gaze. Was it a bad idea to be this close, this exposed, in the middle of a busy parking lot? Definitely. The odds of her dad hearing about this moment were dangerously high. Yet Clover couldn’t bring herself to look away. She was captivated by the intensity in Jake’s eyes.

“Jesus.” He let his hands drift down to her hips and tightened his hold. He didn’t want her to move any more than she did. “This. You. Here.”

She could feel him straining against the confines of his Levi’s and she fought the urge to grind down against him. This was nuts. It hadn’t been that long since she’d had sex. Certainly not long enough for her to forget herself and act all crazy in public. She wasn’t
that
needy.

She debated kissing him then, and God knew she wanted to, but she decided against it. If she started, if she gave herself even the smallest taste of his lips, she'd likely never stop. She'd unzip his pants and not let him go until she came. Nothing about that sounded smart.

As much as she liked this new version of Jake, Clover didn’t need her daddy to hear from the local gossips about her acting like a whore in the public pool parking lot. She’d already given them too much fodder by sitting on his lap for so long. Besides, she needed her job, even it was crappy. If she didn't get inside soon, her boss would fire her. That simply wouldn't do.

She held her phone in her hands. The spot where Jake’s number should go was blank. She showed him the screen. “I still need your number.”

He left one hand on her hip, and used the other to type in his number while Clover held the phone. His eyes darted between her and the phone. His fingers flexed and released rhythmically, massaging her thigh and pulling her skirt even tighter.

“There.” Jake returned his hand to her hip and Clover began to wonder how she would ever get out of his truck.

“I gotta go,” she whispered.

“I know.” Jake’s grip on her tightened slightly.

They stared at each other for several long moments and she felt like she was on a precipice, waiting for something to happen. She watched a bead of sweat roll the length of his cheek. When it dropped to his chest, she wiped it away with her thumb.

“You’ll pick me up?”

Jake nodded slowly. “At four.”

She kissed him lightly on the cheek because she couldn't resist taking
something
away with her, and the taste of his salty skin and the rub of afternoon stubble against her lips had to be enough.

“Don't forget me.” Clover let herself out of the truck and ran for the door without looking back.

She managed to avoid her boss as she went through the office part of the swim building to the locker room. She changed in record speed, checked the pool assignment, then hauled her ass out to her tower.

And that's when all her good luck turned to crap. Her boss, a beautifully muscled man who spent far too much time in a tanning bed, sat at her tower. He wore his mirrored sunglasses and a disapproving frown. For a guy who loved to be tan, he hated to be in the actual sun.

“I'm so sorry, Vince.” Clover greeted him the only way she could, begging for forgiveness. “My car is sitting on the side of the highway right now.”

“How'd you get here?” He stepped out of the seat and almost smiled. He was a year or two younger than her dad and it gave her the creeps. Still, the smile meant maybe she wasn't as deep in shit as she feared.

“A friend happened to drive by. He rescued me.”

“I want you to stay to make up the time.” Vince didn't step back when Clover climbed into the lifeguard chair and his body grazed against her. All the leftover happy, buzzy feelings she had from the ride with Jake were overpowered by the ick factor of bumping Vince's barely contained erection as she took her place at the tower.

“Of course. Whatever you want.” Clover knew the moment the words were out and Vince's mouth curved into a predatory smile that she'd said the wrong thing. There was no good way to fix it.

Vince removed his glasses and looked into her eyes. She imagined it was supposed to be seductive, but it was mostly nauseating. She wasn't looking for a fill-in daddy.

“I'm glad to hear you say that, Clover. I'm sure we can work something out.” He patted her foot and her skin crawled. Unfortunately, Vince took it to be a sexy shiver and extended the contact. He left his hand on her foot for a few extra seconds and smiled that creepy smile again. “Come see me before you leave.”

Clover hated, hated, hated that she knew he was picturing her on her knees with his dick in her mouth. Not that long ago she would have been oblivious. Life was simpler when she had no clue how disgusting some men were.