The Final Chase (Final Love Book 2) (12 page)

Chapter Twenty-two

As we inched closer to the lodge, I felt like a total badass. I turned the machine off and was surprised when Jake hopped off and scooped me up, carrying me up the stairs and into the house.

“What? Are we crossing the threshold here?” I laughed at the ridiculousness of him carrying me into the house, and then up the stairs.

“Gotta make sweet love to my woman now,” he winked at me and I was smiling from ear to ear.

I expected him to take me into the bedroom for round two, but instead we were heading into the spare bedroom. My eyes zeroed in on the mirror and my whole body shook from the memory of his words about that mirror.

He set me down facing the full-length freestanding mirror and stood behind me. I looked a little like a hot mess. A hot mess that had been deliciously screwed on the hood of a sexy car. Softly his fingers unzipped me, then slowly, with both hands, he moved my sleeves down, baring my breasts, then my navel, before the whole dress pooled around my toes.  His chest rumbled behind me, making me hyperaware of the intimacy of this moment. My eyes met with his as they committed my body into memory.

“I need to see you,” I whispered to him. His eyes flew to mine before he slid off his tattered shirt and jacket. I felt so small standing in front of him. You could see his chest, arms, and sides silhouetting around me. 

“So beautiful.” His lips touched my neck, warm breath caressing my skin. My hands went to his head. Holding him there against me.  There were no words that could be uttered to improve this moment. His hands ravished my breasts, teasing my pink tips, then flowing along the little curves of my waist. When his finger brushed against my clit, my nails dug into his thick brown hair. He teased me gently, making my hips move towards him, needing everything he had to give me.

Goosebumps rose over my skin when his other hand left to undo his slacks. We were completely open to each other, both baring our skin and souls. No boundaries. His mouth licked down my spine and back up. My hands joined his, lacing them together as he moved over my body as one.  When he placed my hands against the sides of the mirror stand, I knew this moment was going to be life-changing. One strong finger ran down the line of my spine and slowly moved back up. I shook with need but stayed silent, my eyes trying to find the man silhouetted behind me. All the lights were off in the house, but I could see him by the moonlight coming in through the window.

I felt him prod my entrance and wiggled for him to take me again. It was all I wanted. He and I, like this. I felt my heart clench and my brain clicked.  I’d known this man for not even a week, and he proved to be everything I didn’t even know I wanted. He was the perfect match for me. No matter how hard I wanted to fight it, I was falling in love with him. Our eyes met and in that second I knew my thoughts were written on my face. He could see it. He growled and pushed into me, my toes lifting up to keep myself rooted on him, just as he said they would. My head dropped from feeling a shiver course through me, and my insides clenched.

“Eyes,” he commanded, and I gave my gaze back to him. I expected him to go full force into me but I was wrong. Slowly he slid out to the tip then back in. The pace was so slow, it was like a sweet torture. With every thrust, I inched closer and closer toward the mirror. Gasps of my breath filled the room, mixed with a lion’s roar outside the window. The soundtrack to my new life. He pulled completely out and turned me around, lips melding to mine with uninhibited need. He walked us backwards until the back of my knees hit the bed and I went down onto my back. Jake was there with me, sliding into me without haste. 

That night Jake Wild made love to me. He was my everything. He’d seen it all, and he was giving me all he had.  Sweat, groans, and tangled sheets were burned into my memory. We fell asleep wrapped in our embrace of acceptance. This was love; we were love.

When I woke in the morning, the sun was shining and there was a glass of water, a croissant, and a note on the nightstand. I couldn’t feel my legs again, but this time I knew it was because there was a Binksie lying on them. I reached over to the note and read the cursive letters. Jake had lovely penmanship.

Had to take care of an emergency. Have breakfast, take a shower, and join me at the wolves. Time to meet the pack.

Always something happening at the rescue. It was never ending, in a wonderful way. Jake was helping creatures that needed him. He was acting as their voice, when they had no words.  I took a sip of the water and grabbed the pastry. Lying back on the pillow, I ate my pastry and smiled like a goof about how my life was taking a sharp turn I had never expected.  I guess I should thank my niece for this change. If it were not for her party and the damn wallaby, I wouldn’t have run into Jake.  Maybe a nice shopping trip with her auntie would be reward enough.

Soon I felt sated from the bread and more than a little excited to see Jake again. I blew Binksie a kiss before nudging him off my legs. He looked at me with those piercing serval eyes, but politely moved. Naked, I checked the windows to see that Jake had closed the sheer curtains, but still a little paranoid, I wrapped myself in the sheet and ran to the bathroom in Jake’s room.  Grabbing my phoneme saw I had notifications from a few people, but knew my salon wasn’t open yet and I wanted to be in my little post-glorious-night ignorance. I turned on some music, since I did almost everything listening to music, and jumped into the shower. He had such a nice shower.

Chapter Twenty-three

I had just finished washing the conditioner out of my hair and started brushing my teeth when another tune I hadn’t heard in a while started playing.

I looked at my phone like it was some sort of mind reader. First
Stacy’s Mom
and now this.  But as the voice of Akon started to mix in with the shower’s steam I couldn’t help but give into it.

I started mumbling the words to
I Just Had Sex
by Lonely Island as I finished cleaning my teeth. I spit out the paste just as the chorus started and I sang along with the ridiculous lyrics to this song about having just had sex. Which I did. Which made me put my Cammy flair into it because it was fitting. 

My toothbrush was my mic. I gyrated, and rolled my hips. I sang to the people of the world that had just had sex, like me, making a mental note to sing this song at karaoke one night. I closed my eyes and did what I did best, giving the performance my best.  I was just finishing the final high notes when I had a feeling I was being watched.  My eyes opened, toothbrush mic still dangling above my tilted head, to Jake standing against the door jamb, watching me. AGAIN.

“Do you have cameras watching me so you won’t miss any of my private performances?” I mean, seriously. He caught me every time!

“Just great timing,” he chuckled. I washed my face and put my toothbrush in its new shower holder before exiting the shower, turning off my phone before another song could snare me in its grasp.

“Great timing, my ass. You’re a secret agent, spying on innocent girls while they sing and dance. Creeper.” I was teasing.

“Especially ones that sing about having sex, and that it felt so good.”  Cue embarrassment. Yep, I was totally singing like a fool, naked, about having sex.  My cheeks grew warm, but I tried to pull off a kick-ass come back.

“Yeah, well, my fingers are pretty talented, so they deserved some praise.”  Nailed it. I pretended to drop the mic in front of his face. He was smiling at me, obviously not at all bothered by my posturing. He was like a proud little peacock, standing there.  I grabbed my towel and dried off, changing the subject so I wouldn’t dig another embarrassing hole for myself.

“I thought you were waiting by the wolves.” I walked into the room and started getting dressed while Jake watched me.

“My watch alarm went off that the cameras caught you doing a dance, so I got here as quickly as possible.” He was fighting back laughter and I wanted to die. Once I was fully clothed in a pair of cute tan shorts, my boots, and a blue T-shirt, I turned to him.

“Okay, let’s go, smart ass.” I walked out of the room and down the stairs. I knew he followed behind me but I was on a roll so I kept on walking, out of the house and towards the wolves’ area.

“So what happened this morning?” I asked him as we came to a stop.

“Bobcat got shot in the leg by a punk with an arrow. The parents of the kid brought it to us. We have a rehabilitation area, so Doc fixed it up and put it in a temporary home for now. We’ll release it in a week or so, whenever Doc says he’s good to go.” His arms circled around me from behind, and like a cat doused in water, I lost all of my fight.

“Oh, I’ll have to make it a pretty toy or something.” And the crazy thing was, I meant it. I wanted to bring a little joy into that poor kitty’s life.

Over the next hour, Jake introduced me to the wolf pack. There were seven of them. The top dog, if you will, was bonded with Jake and listened to him. But there were some that kept their distance. Most of the animals at the rescue were completely hands off. For a select few, Jake or Derek could get in the habitat with them. One of the wolves growled at me, and I might have peed a little. Well, that was a lie, but it made me jump enough that I could have!

We left the wolves, and went to go check in on the new bobcat. She was doing well. Very skittish, but she hadn’t really had any human contact, so I couldn’t blame her there. We kept walking and checking on all the animals, making sure the workers didn’t need anything from us, then went to go get my precious baby, Casey.  Jake carried the wiggly kitty back to the lodge and I talked to her, telling her about how Jake and I finally got together, and I was going to see her as much as possible, even when she went into her big kitty habitat. Her big blue eyes watched me, and I swear I saw a wink, so I know she got me.

When we made it back to the lodge, Jake got everything set up for Casey, making sure nothing breakable was in her reach and covering all the furniture, because those claws of hers were starting to do some damage. I ran up the stairs to check those notifications on my phone, but got distracted watching Jake put a baby gate on the stairs. Cute.

I could see him doing that for his babies, so they wouldn’t fall down the stairs. His kids. My kids? Having kids with Jake wouldn’t be so bad. He would be a really good daddy. I smiled as I turned to go get my phone, feeling all sorts of jitters from thinking about Jake as a daddy.

“Holy hell!” I was shocked at how many notifications, calls, and emails I had missed. Were zombies attacking and I didn’t know about it?

Rayne, my sister, my mother, the salon, Mary. Everyone had tried to reach me.  Even though I should have read everyone else’s stuff first, I read Rayne’s message. What if something happened to the baby?

Rayne- Babe. You need to read this.

There was a link below her text. I clicked on it to see the headline

Sorry, Ladies, Jake Wild is finally taken.

Uh, say what?
I kept reading.

Notorious millionaire, and bad boy gone animal rescuer has been scooped up by a saucy redhead.

As you know, women all over the country have been waiting in the wings ever since Jake gave up his New York bad boy image and traded it to help exotic animals in Southwest Florida.

Son to Bernard and Lenora Wild, Jake lived up to his name of being exactly that, WILD.As the oldest child of four, his net worth was over fifty million and counting. But then one day, he traded that life of luxury to help animals in need—which only made the female population swoon even harder.

Jake was seen at the local Aquarium Gala with the redhead, then was spotted dancing at the club Yimka with said woman as well, before they sped off in his Shelby GT 500.

Who is this mystery woman who has apparently tamed the Wild man himself?

I sat there staring at the article with wide eyes and confusion. There was a horrible picture of us together, dancing sweetly. Someone must have taken it on the sly.  Jake Wild, bad boy, millionaire.

They had to be wrong. Jake was so down to earth, although he had to be a little on the nutty side to want to be around my bag of crazy. But, seriously, besides the GT, he drove a truck that looked okay, but not millionaire worthy.

Although, he did run this place, and it kind of made sense. I think he said the care and feeding of just one tiger alone was ten thousand a year. And the rescue sat on 200 acres. I’m sure he got donations, and other state assistance, but if he was loaded, then he would be able to take care of most of it himself.

All these little dots in my head started connecting. What happened at the Gala, the car, piece by piece, things I had overlooked were making sense. I glanced through the rest of my notifications to see they were all about Jake and me. Nobody had died. Yet.