Up All Night Long: From Lust to Love (Romance Anthology) (14 page)

Chapter 16

Jake walked into his small townhouse, the smell of spring flowers filling the air. He smiled at the sound of his brothers making fun of his cleaning habits somewhere in the recess of his memory. He needed to take a trip back to Texas soon. It had been three or four years, and though he talked to his mother and father every Sunday, he needed to see them. It was Bethany's fault... or maybe it was time to move past that. He pulled his shirt over his head and held it until he walked into his room, jumping and shooting it into the clothes hamper like a basketball.

"And the crowd goes wild... ahhhhhhh." He laughed and kicked off his shoes, bending over to grab them and throw them in the closet. He planned to go to the gym, but his mowing gig was only supposed to take an hour, and yet he'd been with Kari almost two. The gym would have to wait. Stopping in front of the mirror, he twisted, his muscles contracting. He ran his hands over his chest and yawned loudly.

"Getting soft, Isaac." He shook his head and walked back to the kitchen, wishing he'd have just asked her to dinner. He hated cooking alone. It was intimate, a sharing of something special, or so his mother and father always thought so. He sat down at a barstool near the kitchen and leaned back, his hands coming up to support his head as his memories swept him away.

"If you're not going to keep your hands to yourself, get out of here, Jon," his mother chided his father, the older man looking over at him and winking. Jake smiled and shook his head, his adolescent mind already knowing what was to come. His father was forever playful, forever looking for a way to get in trouble by his wife.

Her long dress was blue and the white apron she wore made the kitchen seem very homey. The smell of bacon and toast filled the air around Jake and he breathed in deeply, his older brother Kade walking in and popping him on the back of the head as his mother's laughter filled the air. Jake stood and walked to the edge of the kitchen, his twelve-year-old body thin and far too tiny for his liking. He looked down at himself and back up at his parents, his dad holding his mom tightly, kissing at her neck as she squealed and laughed.

"Don't just stand there. Come help!" she yelled at Jake.

He smiled as his father turned them around, holding his mom like a hostage. He looked over her shoulder with a challenging smile on his strong features. "Come and try, boy, but you'll never get her. She's mine!"

A maniacal laugh filled the kitchen, the drama only broken by Kade's teenage voice yelling from the hall as he passed. "You guys are dumb."

His mother frowned as his father looked over toward the hall. Jake took his chance and bolted for them, his father turning in time to move his mother and grab him, pulling him into the air and spinning him around as he kissed at his neck. Jake squirmed and fought against it as they wrestled in the air just behind his mother. She finally turned around and swatted both of them on the butt.

"Get out of here or pick up a spatula."

Jake's dad set him down and rubbed his back, his other hand reaching for a spatula. He popped Jake's mom on the butt and tossed the spatula to Jake. His mother turned around and balked.

"Young man, that is inappropriate!"

His dad joined in. "Yes it is, son."

Jake put the spatula down and rolled his eyes. "You know that was dad. Please..."

His parents pulled each other close again and went back to cooking together, his dad looking over as he made his way back to the chair he'd occupied earlier. "Make sure to find you a good woman to love you like your momma loves me."

His mom looked over and smiled too. "And make sure you guys cook together. It creates a bond when you do the simple things in life, baby."

He simply nodded, not caring about love or cooking or being close to someone else. He asked the one burning question that sat heavy on him at twelve.

"When's the food going to be ready?"

His hands pushed through his hair as hard emotions swam in his stomach. He hated the idea of wanting someone, but the desire to share his life with someone constantly pressed him from all angles. Being weak wasn't a choice and yet women had the ability to make the strongest of men fall on their faces, lose their jobs, their houses - their hearts. He ran his hands across his chest, Kari's smiling face filling his mind. The way the sun had set behind her earlier, her casual stance and comfortable clothes, stained his vision.

What was her story? What was her past? Was she running from someone or something or was it much simpler than that? Just wanted to move to Maine and finally got to?

Questions beat at him as he tried like hell to push back the desire to know her. Seeing her several times in the matter of a few days was weird. His mom would call it God's hand, but God had a funny way of bringing love into his life only to pull it violently back out.

"Not sure I trust you, Big Guy, but if it is you, just show me, okay?" Jake leaned back again, looking up at the ceiling and sighing loudly. Love would have to wait. Life would have to be put on pause. There were more important things pressing him at the moment.

"Yeah, like laundry." He chuckled and got up, walking to the bedroom to start working on getting more than a jockstrap clean for the upcoming trip.

*

Kari swirled the long noodles around her plate, the butter separating from the cream in her sauce and reminding her quickly how bad the meal was for her waistline. She looked up at her friends and her brother, the only person missing at the table being Jake. She smiled at the thought and stirred the contents of her plate again, swirling a noodle on her plate and lifting it to suck it down as her brother stared at her.

"Why you so quiet down there?" He nodded at her.

Sicily and Lisa stopped talking about killing off the only baker in town and looked down at her as she slowly chewed her pasta. Picking up the glass of red wine in front of her, she took a quick sip.

"I'm just thinking. This is really good, by the way. Your mad cooking skills have done it again." Kari smiled at Sicily.

"Stop diverting. You've barely said two words this whole meal. What's up?" Lisa asked, her own glass of wine half gone for the third time as it wobbled in her hand. Marc reached over and took the glass, winking at the rowdy redhead before setting it down and looking back to Kari.

"What's up with you?"

Kari shrugged. "I just wish I didn't want to get to know this new guy who keeps popping up everywhere."

"What new guy?" Marc's voice filled with tension.

"The hottie coach?" Sicily asked and waggled her eyebrows.

"Hell yeah, the hottie coach. Did I tell you he's our landlord, too?" Lisa laughed and turned to Marc as the look on his face turned from welcoming to a grimace of sorts.

"Your landlord is a
hottie coach
?" he asked, sitting back and wiping his mouth with the white napkin from his lap.

Kari shook her head and laughed. "He's a really good guy and yes, I did know. He stopped by today to mow, but helped me put together the swing instead. I figured you could mow before you leave tomorrow?"

Marc nodded, getting up to go to the small window in the kitchen. He leaned over the sink and turned back with a smile on his face. "Damn... it is together. How long did it take him?"

Kari sat back, setting her fork down. "He used the instructions, so an hour or so?"

"Instructions are for pussies." Marc shrugged as Sicily huffed at him.

"Anyway, why don't you just ask him out?" Lisa shrugged.

"Because she just called off her wedding two weeks ago. Time flies, yeah, but this was a really big deal. She loved Frank to and needs to heal," Sicily spoke up, filling in the holes in the conversation.

Marc and Lisa looked down at her, the look on her brother's handsome face showing that he wanted confirmation from her, not Sicily.

"Yeah, that's part of it. The other part is that this guy is everything I want physically. He's also funny and seems to be a great catch."

Marc pretended to gag as Lisa swatted at him. She turned to Kari and smiled, her expression softening. "Get to know him then. You don't have to be anything other than friends at first."

"She's right, Kari. Something is up for sure. You've run into him a million times over the last few days," Sicily added in.

"You're all right." Kari stood and reached for her glass. "I'm going to go outside. Just need some time to think by myself."

"You sure?" Marc asked as the other two girls looked at him, their expressions seeming to change his mind about going too. He held up his hands defensively and laughed. "Okay! I was just asking."

"We're here if you need us, sweetie." Sicily lifted her glass in the air. "To new beginnings?"

Everyone echoed their sentiments as Kari walked down the hall, through the laundry room, and out into the chilly early spring night air. She moved to her favorite spot at the far end of the wooden porch, the moonlight echoing along the water of the bay. A long sigh left her as several emotions swirled in her chest, her stomach tightening as fear dominated.

She set her glass down and leaned her forearms on the railing, leaning forward and letting the vision of watching Jake put together the swing fill her mind. Her chest ached at the thought of wanting to know him. He was too good to be true and yet to have someone so good looking and a
hometown hero,
and yet be single? There were skeletons in his closet.

"What if he's not interested in a friendship?" she asked the nature around her. "What if he's jaded like me? What if he doesn't find me pretty enough or interesting enough to try?"

She sighed again and pressed her forehead to her hands, a smile playing on her lips at the playful banter between them. Had she found her confidence, her self-worth again, the afternoon might have gone very differently. She would have used the time to win him over, to casually brush by him a little more than she did - to tease him.

A small laugh bubbled up in her as she lifted her head, closing her eyes and imagining him without his T-shirt, the thick ropes of his abs on display for her to enjoy, to touch, to taste. She bit at her lip, her fingers tingling at the images her mind worked to create. Standing there for a few more minutes, she tortured herself before walking into the house and yelling goodnight to everyone.

Kari walked languidly down the hall and pulled off her comfy clothes, chucking them in a pile with the rest and wrapping a towel around herself before heading to the shower.

The water was hot and the drumming of it pelting her skin gave her peace. She finished up and wrapped a big towel around herself, using the smaller one for her hair. She cleaned her face and brushed her teeth before heading back to her room. Kari closed the door and walked to the long windowed walls of her bedroom, pressing her warm hand to the cold glass as she looked out over the bay again. Beauty in nature like nothing she had ever seen before lay on display. A smile touched her lips and she wondered where Jake was, what he was doing.

She stepped back, the warm print of her small hand fading slowly from the glass. Her heart would heal from everything that happened with Frank, but maybe Jake was supposed to be part of that. A friendship couldn't hurt. If it turned into something more, great - if it didn't, that was okay too. She moved to sit on the edge of her bed, her thoughts of nothing but him. Tomorrow she'd find a way to learn something new about him. Whether that meant seeing him again
by chance,
or researching more about him at the paper.

One thing was for sure. So far, he was everything she'd ever wanted in a man. Whether knowledge would burst that bubble or open up a whole new future for her was a gamble, but wasn't love always? Wasn't life?

She pushed back tears of fear and excitement, and changed into her PJs before crawling into bed, her body curled up and facing the large windows. One small step at a time would be comfortable, less intimidating, and if things didn't work out as friends, then she would walk away before letting herself start to love him.

Start to love him... God I hope not.

His lips were soft, his mouth wet and warm as he kissed his way down her shoulder, looking over to smile at her. The depth of acceptance and love in his eyes stole her breath and she shuddered. He breathed in deeply, turning back to the skin just above her breast, the tip of his nose dragging toward her neck, his body pressed tightly to hers. The weight of his figure was more than she was used to, and yet it felt right - good. Security and belonging cloaked her in the moment, and his movements, so methodical and sensual, settled her mind and soothed her spirit.

"Beautiful," he whispered as his lips brushed by her ear, his hands on either side of her head, his elbows pressed into the soft comfort of her bed. He hovered just above her, using his nose to carefully rub hers as he stared at her. He was bold and confident, strong and demanding. He leaned down to kiss her and she arched her back, lifting her lips to meet his, not wanting to wait another second. She violently needed his offering of intimacy and where the moment was sweet and endearing, she knew the passion that lay beneath the subtleties of her own intent.