Crashing Into Love (2 page)

Shea held her hands up in surrender. “I know. I know. You’re done sowing your oats and wasting time. There’s only Jake Braden.
Jake, Jake, Jake
.”

Exactly. Jake Braden is the only man I want
.

Shea lowered her voice. “Fi, it’s been sixteen years since you dated him. Sixteen years. And rumor has it, he’s not the guy he used to be. You broke him, and you broke him bad.”

Like she didn’t know that? Fiona and Jake had dated for two years in high school and had planned to attend the same college, and then they were going to get married. Her life had been planned in a nice, neat package. She’d had every girl’s dream at her fingertips. Jake had been attentive and loving, and he wasn’t the least bit afraid of commitment. The Bradens were a loyal and kind family, and Fiona knew her life with Jake would have been stable and adoring. Jake would have followed his dream of becoming a stuntman, and Fiona would become a geologist, and they’d have lived happily ever after.

That was the plan.

Reality wasn’t quite as pretty.

On her mother’s insistent advice, Fiona had ended things with Jake two weeks before they were set to leave for college. She’d taken off for Penn State the morning after breaking up with him, unwilling to stick around for two weeks for fear of giving in to his pleas of staying together—and to see what she was missing. While Jake was hundreds of miles away, she’d buried herself in a new life, which included working her ass off to maintain good grades, sowing her wild oats—which was a ridiculous notion, because she had none—and finally, securing her graduate degree. It wasn’t until a few years later, after her career was settled and she slowed down long enough to breathe, that she realized the enormity of her mistake. She hadn’t been missing a damn thing. Jake was all she really needed.

And now here she was on a Tuesday evening, back where she’d ended things with him so long ago, wishing she could go back in time.

“Well, Shea. Maybe it’s time I put him back together.”

ALL JAKE WANTED was a cold beer and to hang with his brothers. They were all in town for the wedding of their youngest brother, Luke. He and his wife, Daisy, had taken off for their honeymoon yesterday. Jake had another week before he was expected on set for his next movie production. He’d given in to family pressure and had agreed to stick around to help his brothers Wes and Ross fix the roof on Wes’s shed instead of heading back to LA for what would have been a week of partying. Being back in Trusty made him anxious. He loved his family, but the town was about as big as his thumb, and he’d spent a decade and a half avoiding Fiona Steele. He knew from friends that Fiona was in town, and he didn’t need to run into her tonight.

Tonight it was just the guys. Their sister, Emily, had brought her fiancé, Dae Bray, to Luke’s wedding. She and their mother, along with their brothers’ fiancées, were going to Ross and Elisabeth’s house for a girls’ night, freeing up Dae and Jake’s brothers for a guys’ night out. He didn’t give a rat’s ass where they went as long as they didn’t run into
her
.

“Emily said she heard Fiona was going to Fingers in Allure, so we’re cool.” Wes grabbed Jake’s arm and dragged him across the driveway toward their eldest brother Pierce’s rental car, where Ross stood by the open door.

“Come on. It’s not every day we get to have a beer together.” Pierce lived in Reno with his fiancée, Rebecca. Ross, Wes, Emily, and Luke lived in Trusty, and Jake lived in Los Angeles. Nights out with his brothers were indeed a rare occasion.

“Fine, but I’ll take my car. Come on, Dae. You can ride with me.” Jake climbed into the driver’s seat of his rental Lexus SUV. He wanted to hang out with Dae and get to know him a little better anyway, and as long as Fiona wasn’t going to be at the bar, then he was cool with it. God knew he needed a drink—or six—after watching his siblings nuzzle up to their significant others all weekend. He loved them all, but he could take only so much of that lovey-dovey shit before he lost his mind. Give him a blonde under each arm and he was a happy dude.

A few minutes later Jake pushed through the front doors of the Brewery with one arm slung around Wes’s neck as he ground his knuckle into the top of his brother’s head. He pushed Wes away with a loud laugh. Wes smacked him on the back and pointed to the bar.

Music filled the air from the country band playing in the back. As the five men crossed the crowded floor to the bar, Jake spotted at least three hot babes he wouldn’t mind taking home for an hour or two. That was, if he were back home on his estate in LA. Picking up women in Trusty posed issues. He’d have to go to their place, which was good for a quick escape, but it was Trusty, which meant he’d leave a buffet for the hungry rumor mill in his wake. And Jake had no interest in feeding that frenzy.

He wouldn’t be going home with anyone but his brothers tonight.

Pierce ordered a round of beers and made a toast. “To Luke and Daisy.”

They clinked bottles, and Jake sucked down half of his. A hot blonde with hungry eyes standing on the other side of Ross leaned forward and caught Jake’s eye. He cracked his most effective panty-dropping smile and checked her out. Even if he had no intention of hooking up with her, a little eye candy was never a bad thing. Not too skinny, nice rack, and…He leaned back and checked out the rear view. Nice ass.

Ross grabbed his arm and turned his back to the blonde. “She’s been with half of the single guys in town.”

“Do I care?” Jake arched a brow.

“You sure as hell should.” Ross was the Trusty town veterinarian. He, like Jake and their other brothers, had never dated women from Trusty. It was easier to date women from neighboring towns and avoid the gossip.

Jake ran his hand through his thick dark hair and sucked down the rest of his beer, set the bottle on the bar with a loud
Ahh
, and motioned for another.

“Emily said you weren’t exactly picky,” Dae said. All of the Braden men were more than six feet tall, with dark hair and hallmark Braden dark eyes. Dae fit right into the tall, dark, and built-for-a-fight mold, although he wore his hair much longer than the close-cut styles Jake and his brothers sported.

“Life’s short, man. Gotta share the love.” Jake thanked the bartender for his drink and leaned his hip against the bar, allowing himself a better view of the tables and the dance floor in the back of the bar. “I don’t remember there being this many good-looking women in Trusty.”

Wes turned around and eyed the dance floor. “Your standards have gone to shit, bro.”

“Ouch, man. That hurts.” Jake laughed.

“Come on,” Pierce said. “Let’s get a booth in the back where we can talk.” As the oldest, Pierce was used to directing. Their father had left before Luke was born, and Pierce had stepped in and watched over them all. Pierce owned resorts all over the world, and there had been a time when Pierce matched Jake woman for woman—a playboy without any interest in settling down. But meeting Rebecca Rivera had changed all of that. Jake was the last single Braden, and he intended to keep it that way.

“Sounds good to me. I forgot how meat-markety bars are. Haven’t been in one for a while,” Ross said as he followed Pierce away from the bar.

Jake watched them take a few steps. They were a good-looking bunch, no doubt, but something about the way his brothers carried themselves had changed since they’d each entered couplehood. The sharp edges they’d honed hadn’t exactly turned soft—Braden men were alpha to the core—but Jake noticed less of a swagger and more of a confident, my-woman’s-waiting-at-home hitch in their gait.

“I’m gonna grab another beer. Meet you there in a sec.” Jake waved them off and eyed the blonde again. She was twisting her hair around her finger and eyeing him like he was a big old chocolate bar.
Oh yeah, baby. You can have a piece
.

She smiled and sauntered over. She arched her back and leaned in close, giving Jake a clear view down her sweetly low-cut blouse.

“Jake Braden, right?” she said in a heady voice.

“The one and only.” He held her seductive gaze, but hell if in the back of his mind he didn’t hear his brother’s words.
Your standards have gone to shit, bro
.

Standards. Jake wasn’t sure he had many of those left, and he liked his life that way. Uncomplicated. No ties to anyone other than himself and his family. He tossed back his beer and ordered another.

Blondie slipped her index finger into the waist of his low-slung jeans. Her eyes widened as she wiggled that finger against his skin, searching for drawers she wouldn’t find. Jake grinned.

“You’ve got quite a rep around here.” She glanced down at her finger, still hooked in the waist of his jeans. “Is it true that stuntmen do it rough?”

Jake leaned down and put his mouth beside her ear, inhaling the scent of her sweet perfume and letting her anticipation build before answering. He knew how to play the game. He was a master at it. Hell, most of the time he felt like he’d invented it. He did a quick sweep of the bar, readying to tell her just how good he could be—
rough and raw or gentle as a field of daisies
—when his eyes caught on Fiona Steele sitting at a booth near the back of the room and staring directly at him. His gut clenched tight.

Fuck
.

Blondie tugged on his waistband, bringing him back to the current situation, where he was leaning over a twentysomething blonde who may or may not have slept with half of Trusty. His brain was stuck. He couldn’t think clearly. Fiona was there, and she looked so damn good that he felt himself getting hard. If his dick were a guy, he’d knock the hell out of it. He’d done a damn good job of avoiding her for all these years—well, except last year, when in a moment of weakness he’d tried to find her the last time he’d been back in town. He never had found her, but he’d found a brunette from another town more than willing to take the edge off his pent-up frustrations.

He forced his eyes away from Fiona, grabbed his beer from the bar, and stalked toward the back of the bar without a word to Blondie.

“Hey!” Blondie called after him.

He kept his eyes trained on the back wall of the bar with one goal in mind, to find his brothers and drink himself into oblivion.

“Jake.”

He hadn’t heard her voice in years, and it still sent heat searing through him—and stopped him cold.
Walk. Keep moving
. His body betrayed him and turned to face Fiona Steele. His eyes swept over her flawless skin. Her sharp jawbone and high cheekbones gave her a regal look. Not in a pretentious way, but in the way of a woman so naturally beautiful that it set her apart from all others. His eyes paused on her almond-shaped eyes, as blue as the night sea. God, he’d always loved her eyes. Her face was just as beautiful as it had been when she was a teenager, maybe even more so. He shifted his gaze lower, to her sweet mouth, remembering the first night they’d made out. They were both fifteen, almost sixteen. She’d tasted like Colgate toothpaste and desire. They’d kissed slowly and tenuously. He’d urged her mouth open, and when their tongues touched for the first time, his entire body had electrified in a way he’d never matched with any other woman. Kissing Fiona had made his entire body prickle with need. He’d dreamed of her kisses, longed for them every hour they were apart. They’d made out between classes and after school, staying together late into the night. Her mouth was like kryptonite, stealing any willpower he’d ever possessed.

Until that summer afternoon, when that mouth he’d fallen in love with broke his heart for good.

“Jake,” Fiona repeated.

He clenched his jaw and shifted his eyes over her shoulder—not seeing anything in particular as he tried to move past the memory of losing the only person he’d ever loved. He’d spent years forcing himself to forget how much he loved her and grow the hell up, and in doing so, he hadn’t allowed himself to even say her name. And now he didn’t want to hear it coming from his lungs. Instead he lifted his chin in response.

“You look great. How have you been?”

Maybe no one else would have picked up on the slight tremor in her voice, or the way she was fidgeting with the edge of her shirt, but Jake remembered every goddamn mannerism and what it meant. Good. She should be nervous.

He knew he was being a prick, but years of repressed anger simmered inside him. The memory of the first time they’d made love slammed into his mind. He remembered the almost paralyzing fear and the thrill of it being her first time, and his. He’d worried that he wouldn’t last or he’d do something wrong, but his biggest fear had been that he’d hurt her. He turned away, trying to force the thought away. Little did he know that two years later, she’d be the one doing the hurting.

“Great, thanks,” he managed. It was no use. He couldn’t resist meeting her gaze again, and the moment he did, he felt himself being sucked into her eyes, stirring up the memories he’d tried to forget. He couldn’t look away. Not even when the memory of her dumping him all those years ago came back like hot coals burning him from the inside out. She’d stopped taking his calls, and though she’d returned his texts for the first day or two, after that it was like she’d vanished without caring that she’d ripped his guts out.

She shifted her eyes and he saw them lock on Wes. She smiled in his direction, then quickly looked away.

What the hell was that about?
Jake pointed his thumb over his shoulder. “Gotta go meet my brothers.”

“Oh.” Fiona dropped her eyes, breaking their connection.

Jake’s synapses finally fired and he turned away, catching sight of Shea waving from a booth to his left. She’d been barely a teenager when he’d left for college, as starry-eyed and naive as the day was long. He lifted his chin in greeting and stalked back to his brothers’ table.

“I’m outta here.” He felt the heat of Fiona’s stare on his back.

“What? You haven’t even had a beer with us.” Pierce smacked the seat beside him. “Sit your ass down, bro.”

Jake blew out a frustrated breath. “She’s here.”

Wes and Ross exchanged a knowing glance that made his blood boil. He got the feeling that they’d known Fiona was going to be there.
What the hell is going on?