Closing her eyes, Tessa gave in to the all-consuming passion that was rioting through her. With Jake, it had always been like this. One touch, one look, one word and her body lit up with fire, burning only for him.
She could feel his heavy breath coming in short pants fan across her face, and her lips tingled with anticipation. He rested his forehead against hers, and she opened her eyes. His large brown eyes staring back at her sent a delicious tremor racing through her.
“Jake,” she whimpered in need.
His strong jaw tensed as his name left her lips and his fingers clenched, holding her tightly in place.
“Fuck,” he grunted loudly as he pulled away from her and was out of the car, slamming the door behind him.
Tessa blinked several times in shock. The next thing she knew, he was at her side of the car swinging her door open. When she looked up at him, his gaze was unreadable. She wasn’t sure if he was pissed off or if they would be continuing their ‘moment’ inside the house.
Realizing that there was only one way to find out, Tessa placed her feet on the side bar and then prayed that her shaky legs would support her as she stepped down onto the driveway. Her prayers were answered and she was able to stand. Jake shut the door and started up towards the house. She followed, taking in his broad back as his long legs carried him in measured strides.
He’d always had a lean, athletic build as a teen, but now his body looked as though it had filled out in all the right places. She could only imagine what he looked like beneath the layers of clothes he wore. She’d seen glimpses of his arms, his neck, and all it had done was make her eager to see more.
Hopefully, when they got inside, she would.
Jake silently opened the door and motioned for her to go inside. She did. As she passed him, her shoulder brushed against his chest, and just that innocent, fully clothed contact had her on the brink of exploding.
Moving inside, she only made it a couple of steps before she heard Jake say from behind her, “Goodnight.”
Spinning around, she saw the front door closing, leaving her alone. She watched as the deadbolt turned, locking into place. Reaching out, she held on to the staircase railing as she listened to Jake’s key pull out of the lock and his heavy-booted footsteps as he walked back down the path.
She slumped against the wall and slid down until her butt hit the tiled entryway. The loud engine of Jake’s SUV roared to life. Then the sound slowly faded.
As she looked around the dimly lit, mostly empty house, tears began to slip down her cheeks. Not because Jake hadn’t come in and they hadn’t made love tonight. As much as she wanted him, she knew that was probably for the best. No, she was crying out of grief. For the life they lost. For the life they could have had.
Chapter Fourteen
‡
Jake’s head was pounding so hard he thought there might actually be a demolition crew smashing in the walls of his brain. He tried to swallow but his mouth was dry like he’d eaten an entire bag of cotton balls. His stomach was knotted in pain and nausea. His whole body ached.
A groan escaped him as he rolled to his side and struggled to open his heavy-lidded eyes. A sliver of sunlight shone in brightly through the small, parted space in the dark drapes covering his bedroom window. Even that tiny amount of light caused him to squint and immediately regret his decision to open his eyes at all.
Harsh sounds of a bell ringing and raucous knocking thundered down his ear canal. Lifting his arm, which felt like dead weight, he pulled a pillow over his head to try and mute the offending noises.
Lying perfectly still on his back, Jake took in steady breaths in hopes that the nausea rolling through him would pass. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt like this. It had to be when he’d been in college.
“Wake up, Sleeping Beauty,” his brother’s voice boomed.
“Go away,” Jake said into the pillow that was still covering his face.
He heard two steps, some fabric rustling, then another two steps before the only thing that was protecting him from the harsh realities of the world was yanked off of his face.
Jake hissed as he rolled his head to the side to try and avoid the intense rays of sunlight shining brightly through his now wide-open window.
“Get up,” Eric commanded. “Meet me in the kitchen. We need to talk.”
The blurry outline of his brother turned and Jake watched the dark figure leave his room. Eric was usually not such an asshole, but the past couple of days his brother had definitely been displaying a-hole-like tendencies. Jake wanted nothing more than to tell his brother to kick rocks and go back to bed, but he knew that Eric wouldn’t leave and it would just draw out this little meet and greet. So even though his entire body was screaming in protest, Jake sat up and carefully lowered his legs off the side of the bed.