Her Fill-In Fiancé (18 page)

“An—” Sophia tried to keep her jaw from dropping, but doubted she'd hidden her shock. “I—I had no idea.”

Hope gave a shaky laugh. “Of course, we tried to keep our relationship a secret and thought we'd succeeded. We should have known better.”

Sophia could almost hear the tumblers falling into place, Hope's revelation the missing key to the past. “Amy found out.”

The older woman nodded. “I don't know how, and it hardly matters. She knew. She was furious, and she had every right to be. Just like you have every right to be furious with me now.”

The whirlwind of emotions spinning through Sophia made it almost impossible to settle on only one. “I—I don't know what to say.”

“Carl and I knew back then you were telling the truth about the break-in. That Amy was the one responsible. We should have gone to the police right away. Instead, Carl and Marlene covered for Amy, and you took all the blame. I am
so
sorry, Sophia.”

“So the offer to run the shop, that's what? Some kind
of compensation?” Hurt, anger and disappointment took turns, striking out like a three-headed monster. “I lost my best friend, my father quit his job! I felt like the whole town turned against me and my only choice was to leave my family and the only home I'd ever known. But, hey, I get the keys to The Hope Chest as a consolation prize.”

Stricken by the accusation, Hope whispered, “No, that's not it—that's not why I offered. I meant what I said. I thought you were the perfect person to take over when you first started working here.
Before
the break-in. And maybe trying to make up for what happened is a part of it, but I wouldn't ask if I didn't think you'd love running the store.”

Everything happens for a reason.

Her father had been talking about his own life, but didn't his words apply here, too? Hadn't the years she'd spent away from Clearville, away from home and family, made her appreciate what she had even more?

If she'd never left town, if Hope had offered her the store five years ago, would she have realized what an amazing opportunity it was? Or would she have always wondered if there wasn't something more somewhere else?

Lifting the lid of the jewelry box, the tinkling melody began to play. A song that brought to mind Kansas, witches, shiny red shoes, and a land over the rainbow…

There's no place like home.

“I think you're right,” Sophia said as the notes faded away. “I think I would love it.”

Already she could picture the cradle set up in the corner, not on display, but in use as she brought her baby with her to work each day.

Hope's smile was tremulous but filled with her usual spirit. “I know you will, but if it helps you decide, we could give the arrangement a trial period. Say, for six months? Until your baby is born?”

 

After swearing Hope to secrecy on two counts—about her offer for Sophia to run the store and about Sophia's pregnancy—Sophia drove the other woman home. Although she'd already locked up for the day, she couldn't resist driving back to town where the shop—
her
shop?—waited.

“And don't forget,” Hope had reminded her, “the apartment upstairs will be ideal once the baby comes. I think that hand-carved cradle would be perfect up there.”

Sophia hadn't seen the upstairs apartment in years, but from what she remembered, the two-room unit with its tiny kitchenette and living space might be perfect for the two of them. Staying in Clearville would mean finding a place to live. As much as she loved her parents, she didn't want to move back into their house. She needed to make a home for herself and her baby.

She ignored the hollow spot in her heart, the empty place only Jake could fill. Would he be part of that life? She longed to talk to him about Hope's offer and the woman's revelations about Amy's motives for the break in, but she hadn't seen him all day. She missed him; one day apart and she missed him terribly.

Lost in her thoughts as she headed toward the shop, Sophia gave a startled apology as she bumped into someone coming out of the jewelry store next door. “Oh, I'm sorry…” Her words drifted away under Marlene Leary's icy glare.

“Do watch where you're going next time,” the older woman advised.

Only a few days ago, Sophia would have ducked away from Marlene Leary's scorn, and even though her head was still reeling from Hope's revelations, Sophia felt…free. She'd always wondered why Amy had done what she had, but she hadn't realized how much not knowing had weighed on her. But now, everything made sense.

Knowing didn't change what Amy had done; it certainly didn't make it right. But Sophia could sympathize with what her friend must have been going through. Vandalizing The Hope Chest hadn't been another prank or a stupid dare. It had been a cry for help—one Amy's parents had smothered for the sake of their own reputations.

Marlene had already walked away when Sophia called out, “You're going have to get used to running into me around here, Mrs. Leary.”

Amy's mother slowly turned. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Hope has asked me to take over the shop. It's a trial period for now, but if things work out—”

“No!” Marlene's heels clacked on the boardwalk as she marched back to face Sophia. “You can't move back here.”

“This is my home. This is where my family lives.” Clearville might be a small town and some of its residents held on to the past too long, but Jake was right. Sophia couldn't imagine raising her child anywhere else.

He'd convinced her to stay. Now the only question was, could she convince him to do the same?

“And what about Amy?” Marlene demanded. “This is her home, too! She hasn't come back—not once! And if you're here, she'll never—”

Her words cut off, but another piece of the puzzle fell into place. “Is that what you think? That if I move back, Amy won't come home? I've been gone for years, Mrs. Leary. I'm not the reason Amy's stayed away. But if you're worried, you can tell her I forgive her.”

“
You
forgive her! You're the one who caused the whole mess in the first place.”

Marlene had made the same accusation before, but the force behind the words, behind the woman herself, was missing, and Sophia could only feel sorry for her. The lies the
Learys had told might have protected the family's good name and saved their marriage from scandal, but the deception had cost them their daughter.

“I forgive her,” Sophia repeated, “and I understand.”

Color leached from Marlene's face. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“It's time to let go of the past and move on.” Too much time had happened to think she and Amy could ever be close again, but Sophia didn't want to be any part of the reason for her not to come home. “Tell Amy I've missed her. She was my best friend.”

 

As Jake pulled up to The Hope Chest, he parked in the spot next to Sophia's little red car. Finding her vehicle wasn't enough to calm the worry building inside him. Sophia should have been home hours ago. The lights in the shop were out and the
Closed
sign on display in the front window.

Her parents had reassured him nothing bad ever happened in small-town Clearville, but Jake wasn't a small-town boy, and when it came to Sophia, he wasn't taking any chances. When his calls to the shop had continued to go straight through to the recording of Hope's voice asking him to call again another day, he'd grabbed his keys for the drive into town.

He'd told himself on the way over that the Pirellis were right. He was overreacting and Sophia had likely gotten caught up rearranging Hope's newest finds into another eye-catching window display, but as he walked toward the shop, he could see his own reflection in the darkened glass. Sophia wouldn't be working without the lights on. Still, he tried knocking on the front door, his unanswered pounding quickening his heartbeat. Where was she?

“Sophia!” His voice seemed to echo throughout the cool summer night.

Nothing. No lights flickering on, no movement or sound from inside.

Most of the other shops along the small boardwalk looked equally deserted, but maybe Sophia had walked down to visit Debbie or one of the other shopkeepers. He'd taken a few steps toward the bakery when he glanced back at The Hope Chest and noticed something he'd missed.

A small rectangle of light shone in an overhead window.

Jake recalled Sophia telling him about an upstairs apartment, and he breathed a sigh of relief. She'd gone upstairs, probably to hunt for some treasure Hope had stored up there, and lost track of time.

He'd noticed an outside staircase when he'd helped unload Hope's furniture delivery, so he circled around to the back of the store. She probably had a perfectly good explanation for where she'd been, but Jake knew he wouldn't relax until he saw for himself that Sophia was okay.

He worried about her. About Sophia and about the baby. But seeing her in Clearville, surrounded by her family, was supposed to erase that worry, wasn't it? Hadn't that been the plan all along? Jake would convince Sophia this was where she belonged, and then he'd be free to go back to his own life, his conscience clear, his concerns assuaged.

But with each step that brought him closer to Sophia, Jake feared walking away wouldn't be so easy. Her family might be in Clearville, but what would happen when
he
was back home? When he wasn't there each morning to see her at breakfast? To stop by the shop in the middle of the day? To come home at night and listen to the events of her day?

What then? he wondered even as he realized the question wasn't so much what would Sophia do without him as how could he live without her?

T
he curtain inside the window fluttered, and the door opened before Jake had the chance to knock or turn and run from the realization hitting him like a punch to the gut. Or more accurately, a blow to the heart.

He was in love with Sophia.

Her short, dark hair gleamed beneath the faint porch light, and she wore a ruby-red blouse over a flared black skirt. The bright color made her skin glow, or maybe it was something radiating from inside, because he hadn't seen her so happy since they first met. She met his gaze with a huge smile, her dark eyes full of joy and free of the shadows that had haunted him since he told her the real reason why he'd been in St. Louis. The sight of it threatened to break through all his defenses, to snap the restraints of his control. He fisted his hands at his side to keep from pulling Sophia into his arms and pushing his way into the apartment beyond.

In the end, none of his valiant efforts at control made a
difference. Because it was Sophia who grabbed his arms, Sophia who pulled him into the apartment, shutting the door behind them and locking out the rest of the world.

“You'll never guess what happened,” she was saying, but Jake could barely concentrate on anything other than the knowledge that for the first time in a long time, they were completely alone.

“Hope wants me to run the shop. Not just while she's recovering, but from now on.” She held out a hand as if to keep him from getting carried away. “It's only a six-month trial for now but…”

As her announcement sank in, Jake figured Hope had stipulated the time limit to make Sophia more comfortable and not because the older woman had any doubts. Sophia loved working at the shop; he'd seen it in the way she carefully arranged a faceted crystal vase amid a dozen other vases, how she'd stepped back for a better view before moving close again to situate the piece a fraction of an inch, unwilling to settle until she found the perfect place.

He didn't need to take that step back to know Sophia had found her perfect place.

“Hope says she's lost her love for the shop, but I think—well, I think it's probably a number of things. Anyway, she says she wants to do more traveling, to look for antiques all over the country instead of only at local estate sales. It'll be great for her and great for the shop.”

Excitement glowed in her cheeks, growing even brighter as she kept talking. “And look at this apartment. She says I can move in as soon as I'd like.” Sophia waved a hand around the small place, a clear reflection of Hope's tastes with its shabby-chic living room, a combination of white wicker furniture and floral pillows, and the country casual kitchenette beyond. “Hope had been using the space for extra storage, but as soon as she heard I was coming home, she
hired someone to clean everything out. I don't know how she does it,” she said, touching the ring she wore on her middle finger, “but Hope just seems to know when things are the right fit.”

And Sophia was the right fit for the shop. Jake was as certain of that as Hope. And this was exactly what he'd wanted for Sophia. For her to see that raising her baby in her hometown, surrounded by family and people who loved her was the best thing for the both of them.

His job was done; it was time for him to move on because that was what he did. He reunited families, completing the circle but was careful to always stay on the outside. He couldn't risk getting caught up in wanting to fit in where he didn't belong. He hadn't risked it, not since he'd failed so badly with Josh and Mollie.

“Jake?” Sophia called his name, her dark eyes soft with emotion as if she could see through him as clearly as she'd seen through the glass window. As his gaze locked with hers, he remembered her brother's words from the night before.
Guys always do stupid stuff to impress the girl. It's a rule.

It was a rule Jake had been doing his damnedest to break. He knew what Sophia had been trying to do the night before, what that walk down a very bumpy and bruised memory lane had been all about.

From the moment he met the elder Pirellis, Jake had instantly admired and respected the couple. No one could spend more than a few minutes with them before realizing the love and caring they had for each other and their children. Jake might not have had the best childhood, but that didn't mean he couldn't recognize good parents when he saw them. And he saw everything good in Vince and Vanessa Pirelli.

But Sophia had also showed him what was
real.
Her parents weren't superhuman; they couldn't keep their children wrapped in a protective force field so no harm ever came to
them. They weren't able to turn back time to keep accidents from happening or capable of waving a magic wand and instantly healing all wounds any more than he could have with Josh.

But could he really believe that he wasn't a bad father? That if Josh's accident made him a bad parent, then he would have to hold the Pirellis and every other parent up by that same standard? A standard
no one
could pass?

“Sophia, I—”

His voice broke off as words failed him. There was so much he wanted to say, but he couldn't grasp hold of the storm of emotions swirling inside him.

And Sam was right; there were some rules a guy couldn't break. But impressing Sophia really wasn't on Jake's mind as he bent down in front of her. Showing her what he couldn't find the words to express, he pressed a kiss against her stomach and the baby nestled inside. A baby he wanted to be his in all the ways that counted.

“Oh, Jake.”

Tears trembled on her lower lashes, but Jake pulled her into his arms before they had a chance to fall. As his mouth claimed hers, tasting all the sweetness, all the warmth, all the welcome that he'd missed, he swore he would never make her cry.

He'd spend the rest of his life making her happy, proving to her again and again that the trust she placed in him was as safe and secure as the child in her womb. The thought was firmly planted in his mind, but his body was edging too close to spinning out of control. Especially when Sophia rose up on tiptoe, her hands clutching his shoulders, her breasts soft yet sensitized against his chest, her hungry kisses tempting him beyond all reason.

She tasted like the mints sitting by the register at Hope's
shop—a combination of cool and hot, sweet and spicy—and if he didn't stop now…

“Sophia, wait.” He broke away from her kiss, from the soft sounds of need she made in the back of her throat. Her skin was flushed with passion, her lips swollen and tender from his kisses, her eyes so dark Jake thought he might get lost in their depths forever—

He swallowed hard. Sophia had already had one man take advantage of her during an emotional moment, and there was no way in hell he was going to do anything to make her think he was anything like that SOB Todd Dunworthy.

Still cupping her face, his thumbs brushing the corners of her lips, unable to completely break contact, Jake said, “Sophia, I can't.”

A puzzled frown twitched her eyebrows, and he couldn't blame her for that confusion. Not when his body had already made it blatantly clear how much he wanted to. How desperately he wanted
her.
But then her expression cleared as she gazed up at him in that knowing way of hers, as if she could see right through him to all the empty places inside. As if she knew just how to fill them…

“Then let me.”

His strangled laugh turned into a groan when her hands slipped beneath the hem of his shirt to find naked, needy skin. He still had it in mind to be noble, self-sacrificing, to see to Sophia's pleasure and not his own for this, their first time together. But she made that all too impossible because it wasn't
her
pleasure Sophia was after, but his…

Jake wasn't sure how they made it to the bedroom; all he knew was that when Sophia tumbled him backward, her eyes lit with laughter and arousal, he didn't hit the floor but instead sank into a snowy white quilt. Not that it would have mattered, he thought dimly as he rolled over, cradling
Sophia beneath him. She was all the softness and comfort he would ever need.

Sophia had stripped off his T-shirt somewhere along the way, but some moments were meant to be savored. Like the slow slide of one button after another, revealing more and more of the heated flush on Sophia's skin. By the time he reached the final button on her shirt, Jake didn't have to part the material. The rapid rise and fall of her breathing did the job for him, allowing him to concentrate on removing the lacy bra beneath.

She was perfect. Gorgeous. More beautiful than he'd imagined. He murmured the words against the softness of her skin as he took her breast in his mouth. Sophia cried out, her hands fisted in his hair as she urged him on. Her skirt was little more than a ruffle of material easily off and away. His jeans were a little more of a challenge with Sophia's eager, arousing fingers making his own clumsy…and shaking.

Eventually he threw them aside, desire pounding through his veins, urging him on…but not yet. Not until he pressed his mouth against the slight swell of her belly without the barrier of material in the way. He felt her muscles clench and tremble against his lips. Before long, Jake hoped to feel the flutter and movement of the baby inside, and he knew…capturing Sophia's gaze as he rose up to sink into her softness, he knew that, no matter how impossible, the baby—like its mother—was his.

 

Sophia gazed up at Jake, her heart still pounding, her body still trembling, as he brushed the hair back from her eyes, his expression as tender now as it had been wild only moments ago.

I love you.

The words rose up, almost as impossible to stem as the
tide of pleasure that had washed over her again and again as Jake had moved inside her, but she ruthlessly fought them back. It was the last thing Jake wanted to hear, and the first thing that would make him run.

He'd told her over and over that he wasn't a family man, and while she didn't believe it, Sophia needed time to change his mind. Time she wouldn't have if she scared him off after their first night together.

“Sophia,” he began, his gaze—so serious, so intense—sending panic racing through her.

No, no…not yet! Terrified he was ready to start laying the groundwork for his way out of town so soon, she jumped in, desperate to hold on to some small piece of him that might one day grow into something more.

“Look, Jake, it's okay. Neither one of us expected this, not really, and it's a lot to take in. I know everything's happened so fast. You have your job in L.A. Your home and your family.” When he would have protested, she touched her fingers against his lips. “They still
are
your family, Jake.”

“So what are you saying?” he asked, his expression and the face she gazed at so intently during moments when she felt closer to him than she'd thought possible now an enigmatic mask. The molten fire in his golden eyes had hardened to cool metal, but Sophia forced herself to continue. She
couldn't
give up now. She had to at least try.

“My parents' party is in two days and after that—”

After that Jake was leaving.

It was the deal they'd made, but Sophia wanted to hold on as tightly as she had while they were making love and never let him go. She could already feel the cracks in her heart, hairline fractures threatening to break into gaping fissures as Jake pulled away.

Tears scalded the back of her throat, but she forced a smile. “I'll be busy at the shop, and you have your work to
get back to. But we can call and, maybe, in a few weeks, if you have time between cases, we can make plans to see each other.”

“See each other,” he echoed, his voice stiff and emotionless, and Sophia had the sudden feeling that she'd handled this all wrong.

She loved Jake so much, and she didn't care what kind of father figures he'd had; she knew the kind of father he would be. But she didn't want to push, didn't want to move too fast. After one night together, she couldn't possibly expect him to turn his whole life on end simply because she'd decided there was no place like home. She wanted to give Jake time. She would be willing to wait as long as he was willing to try, taking baby steps, until the three of them could be a family together.

“Yes, see each other,” she repeated, but with less certainty this time. She was trying to make this as easy as possible, asking for as little as she could bear to take, but was even that too much? Did Jake want to make a clean break and cut all ties when he left? Instead of a beginning, would tonight end up being the beginning of the end?

Heartsick, she waited for him to reject everything she was offering. Instead, after an interminable silence, he took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay, that's—okay.”

Relief poured through her, leaving Sophia weak and trembling, her nerves as shaken as if she'd completed an emotional marathon. But the rush of triumph was missing even as Jake leaned forward, capturing her with his golden gaze a second before he claimed her lips in a possessive kiss. She reached out, but he was already pulling away.

Clearing his throat, he said, “We should get back to your parents' house. I think I got them a little worried when I couldn't get ahold of you.”

“Oh, sure,” Sophia blinked. The rush to get back home
wasn't what she'd expected. Not when they could have spent more time alone together at the apartment. But as Jake stepped into the bathroom to give her a moment's privacy to dress, she repeated her new mantra as she gathered her shirt and skirt. Slowly pulling on each piece, she couldn't help but think of the rush and fervor of Jake stripping the clothes off her body.

But that moment was gone, and so too she feared was that passionate, soul-stealing side of Jake.

“Baby steps,” she whispered with a glance at the closed bathroom door as she finished dressing. But when Jake silently walked her to her car a few minutes later, Sophia couldn't help feeling they'd somehow taken those steps in the wrong direction.