Rough Edges (17 page)

Seeing red, he launched himself at Tony. They hit the ground and rolled in the dirt and grass, punches swinging, until they were both bloody and exhausted, which didn’t take long in the stifling heat.

“Now that I finally have your attention. Go get her, man.” With that Tony got up and limped towards the house.

Jake wiped at the blood that ran from his eye and lip.

Could he?

Could he risk fucking up her life for him?

Could he really keep going like this without her?

* * * * *

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Becca sat curled up on her couch and stared at the black screen of her TV. She had to give herself credit. She hadn’t called him, even though she would give anything to hear his voice. When he called that one time, she really thought that maybe he wanted to tell her how much he missed her. But the only thing he wanted to know was if Nick had been bothering her. His chilled voice was nothing like she remembered.

She wiped at her tears. God, how many more could she shed? She hadn’t cried this much over Nick or felt this desolate. This just proved how weak her feelings for Nick had been, regardless of how long she had known him. She’d known Jake not even two months and she felt like she was being turned inside out, every day, over and over, with no end in sight.

Only Summer knew the real reason for her melancholy. And she was ready to fly to Oklahoma and show him how Latina girls got even. Convincing her that no, stapling his dick to this thigh would not be a good idea, had been a challenge. Although, the idea had brought a brief smile to her face. Summer wanted to spend the week with her, but she had refused. She could do this. She could get through this on her own. Couldn’t she?

When her doorbell rang, she got up and grabbed Summer’s sunglasses. She was always leaving them here. She pulled the door open. “Summer, I should charge you for every time you leave—”

Breath left her lungs in a rush. Standing in her doorway was Jake. Looking worn and tired, his face unshaven and a backpack slung over one shoulder. He wore a rumpled black tee, jeans and a cap on backward. She had never seen anything more beautiful. Swallowing hard, she couldn’t get past the fact that he was actually here. Was her wishful thinking bringing him to life?

He leaned down and picked something up and handed it to her. Blinking, she realized it was Summer’s glasses. She couldn’t even remember dropping them. Taking them, her fingers brushed over his hand.

Their eyes met and she gripped the door to keep herself upright.

“Can I come in?” he asked.

She licked her lips and opened the door wider. As he walked in, her apartment shrank with his presence. Shutting the door, she leaned against it, unable to take her eyes off him.

It’d been one week since she had seen him and six days since she had heard his voice.

She was starved for him.

“Nice place,” he said, but he was looking at her, not her place.

She cleared her throat and said, “Thanks. Um, if you’re wondering, I haven’t heard from Nick, I guess he might be in jail. I don’t know—”

“I didn’t come here because of him. I came here because of you.”

Her pulse throbbed and she felt like she just swallowed a bag of sawdust.

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“You look good,” he said. His gaze stripped her bare and left nothing but her raw feelings bubbling to the top.

“Thanks,” she managed to say. “You look—”

“Like hell. I know. But it matches the way I’ve felt since you left.”

That shut her up and she sagged against the door.

He rubbed the back of his neck and said, “I have no right. I don’t. Especially after the way I treated you. You deserve better. So much better. And I don’t know what to say about that. Except, sorry.”

His image became blurry through her eyes that burned from staring at him. She was afraid if she blinked, he would disappear.

“You have every right,” she whispered.

“Let me finish. Before you decide for sure what you want. Let me tell you everything.” He dropped his backpack and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Hell, Bec. I’m not good at this and I don’t know how else to say it, other than just say it.”

“I think I need to sit down,” she muttered. She wasn’t at all sure what he was going to say, but if she didn’t sit, she would end up in a heap on the floor. Sliding into the corner of her couch, she curled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms about her legs.

He sat in a chair beside the couch, clasped his hands together and rested his elbows on his knees. The strain on his face pulled his mouth down and pushed his dark brows together. But the uncertainty in his eyes was what pulled her in. The man really didn’t have a clue how she felt.

He blew out a long breath and said, “There are a lot of things I’ve told you. But some I haven’t. Fuck, I don’t know how to say this.” He pulled his cap off, ran a hand back and forth through his dark hair making it stand up at odd angles, before slapping it back on. “I’m not a good man. I’ve done things I’m not proud of. I have anger issues. I have drinking issues. I have social issues. But dammit I want you.”

Her heart squeezed then expanded all at once and she opened her mouth to say something but he stopped her.

“No. Wait. There’s more.” She could tell how much this cost him, because his hands shook and he would only meet her gaze for mere moments before he would glance away.

“You need to know this. I hit a girl once.”

Her mouth fell open and the look on her face must have been something, because he paled then got up to pace. She couldn’t believe it. He was always standing up for women at clubs, for his mother, for his sister. She knew this, as sure as she was breathing.

“How? Why?”

“I was young, about nineteen. The one and only girlfriend I’d had. She fucked one of my friends, but that wasn’t why I hit her. Everywhere I went she would get in my 97

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face. Trying to pick a fight with me.” His arms fell limply to the sides, his face blank.

“It’s no excuse. I shouldn’t have hit her. But one too many slaps from her got to me.”

“She hit you?” she asked, a million different thoughts buzzing in her head. Jake was a big guy. Anyone, especially a girl, would have to be stupid to hit him.

He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. What matters is I hit her. That’s what I was arrested for.”

Outrage shot through her. “She pressed charges? She hit you first and she pressed charges?” He only nodded. “That isn’t right. You should have pressed charges.”

“I have anger issues. I know this. I deal with them the best I can. I shouldn’t even be here. I don’t deserve someone like you. But I…I can’t get you out of my head.”

Keeping the tears back by sheer strength of will, she tingled with emotion that rose up in her and flowed out. “Jake, I’m no angel.”

“To me you are,” he said quietly. “Pure. Innocent. I never was, but I can see it in you.”

Her tears fell. The naked misery in his eyes touched her on a deep level.

A muscle in his jaw clenched and he looked away. “I don’t want your pity, Becca. I didn’t come here for that.”

“I don’t feel sorry for you. I admire you.” She was glad it was his turn to look shocked. “You have lived through so much. Yet, you care about people, about their feelings.” She got up from the couch and moved toward him. “You wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

“I just told you I did. If I did it once, I could do it again. That’s what all the battered women’s pamphlets say. I know you’ve read them, because of your ex,” he said, his voice sounding rushed with an edge of panic.

When she took his hand in hers, his tremor slid all the way to her spine. “Jake, you would never hurt me. I think you would maim anyone who laid a finger on me.

Remember Virginia Beach?” she asked and looked up into his face.

“Every day,” he said.

“You were terrified of hurting me. Remember? No. You would never hurt me.” She stepped in closer, just scant inches between their bodies. “But would you love me?”

Feeling like he had been sucker punched in the gut, Jake lost all ability to breathe.

He could drown in her gaze and the way she looked at him with hope in her eyes and a hint of the smile he loved toying with her lips.

He placed his hands on either side of her face and lowered his head. Her gaze darkened and she licked her lips.

She was so small, yet held his whole world.

“Hell, yes, I love you.”

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He touched her lips gently, but she wouldn’t have any of it. Her tongue darted into his mouth and her hands wound tightly around his neck. It felt like an eternity since he had felt her body against his and his hunger for her consumed him. It drove him as much as her fingernails digging in his shoulders did.

She crawled up his body, forcing him to cup her ass as she locked her legs around his waist.

“God, Jake,” she said arching her neck back and grinding her hips against his erection.

Ever since their first phone conversation, his name on her lips had sent him right over the edge. He nipped at her neck and said, “Tell me what you want?”

“I want you in me. Now,” she said in small little pants.

Her hands slid into his hair and his hat dropped somewhere along the way as he tried to figure out where her bedroom was. It was damn hard to concentrate with a writhing sexy woman in his arms, especially when her nails raked under his shirt.

“Fuck me now,” she begged, her teeth tugged at his ear. “I can’t wait.”

He groaned, giving up with finding her room and fell to his knees. Somehow they got their shirts off and her shorts off. Her naked body lay sprawled for him, and what he thought looked like love shone from her eyes.

He was lost.

He claimed her lips and she tasted of wine, spicy and erotic. When her hand tugged open his jeans and encircled his dick, he thought he would explode. She stroked him and when he slid a finger into her wet slit, she rocked her hips in time. Hanging on by a thread, he pulled away, sat back on his heels and fumbled with his backpack to find a condom. Damn good thing it was right beside them.

She sat up, took it out of his hands and looked up into his face as she rolled it over him. It was fucking delicious the way her legs spread wide on either side of him, her sex open and dripping for him to see, her eyes heavy-lidded and glowing with lust.

He shoved her back and slid in with one solid thrust. She cried out in passion and arched her hips up to meet his. They fit together so perfectly, her pussy clenching tightly around him. He might be on top, but she rode him.

Owned him.

It shattered him, but he couldn’t deny it. And he was past pretending he could live without her. Here on her floor, behind her couch, he let it all go. She wanted him and he planned on being man enough to keep her. Regardless of his past.

Sweat slid down his spine as he drove into her relentlessly. Watching the rapture on her face fueled the intensity of his need for her.

“Jake,” she panted breathlessly and writhed under him. “I’m…”

His balls tightened when she said his name and he exploded as she milked him, draining him of everything he had. Dazed, his head dropped to her shoulder. His heart thumped hard in his chest as he wrapped his arms around his woman.

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He liked that sound of that…his woman.

Her fingers slid along his neck and he raised his head to look at her.

His favorite smile curved her lips and she said, “I love you, Jake.”

He blinked, unable to believe what he just heard. Hell, he had hoped—had thought—she loved him. But hearing the words staggered him.

He cupped her face and said, “Tell me again.”

Her smile widened and a happy light danced in her eyes. “I love you, Jake Korte.”

The second time amazed him as much as the first. For the first time in his life he felt like he had finally come home. He choked on emotion, sat back and pulled her into his lap. Burying his face in her hair, he inhaled the smell of mangos that lingered from her shampoo and sex that permeated the air. Raw possessiveness, something he had never felt, clawed its way around his heart. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for her.

Nothing.

Her small hands slid on either side of his face and she pulled back to look at him.

“Are you okay?” she asked, worry etching her features.

He nodded. “Yeah. I’m just trying to deal.”

“I’m not going to push you. I know how hard this is for you.”

“Babe, there’s nothing to push. If you want me, then here I am.” Her eyes widened in astonishment but he didn’t stop. “I love you. And I can’t pretend not to. Do I deserve you? No. But I’m here anyway. If you want me. I can’t make any promises that I’ll buy you the clichéd big house on a hill or that I will change. The only thing I know for sure is I love you and you’ll never have a reason to doubt that.”

“Of course I want you. Didn’t I just show you how much I want you?” Her smile was teasing but tears swam in her eyes.

“Why do you cry?” he asked and wiped at a lone tear that slipped down her cheek.

“Because. Women do that when they’re happy.”

She flung her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. Her naked body pressed against him was exactly what he wanted. He swept his hand down the curvature of her back and her little gasp brought a smile to his lips. Just another thing he loved about her, her instant response to his touch.

She released her tight hold on him, glanced down and laughed. “You still have your jeans on.”

“I can remedy that,” he replied and nipped at her neck.

* * * * *

Becca woke and stretched out her hand for Jake, but only found a warm spot where his body had lain beside her all night. She bolted upright, but then heard the shower running, relieving her of the panic that threatened to take over. Her body tingled from 100

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the memory of his touch. She had carpet burns, bite marks and sore muscles from the constant workout of the night before.

He loved her.

She could barely contain her squeal of joy.