Rescued by Love(9)

“Jake?” Blue called out sharply, as if he’d already said it a few times. “You in for the bachelor party?”

“What?” He turned his attention back to his brothers. “Tonight? Yeah, sure.”

“Sounds good,” Gage agreed.

“Good,” Blue said. “The girls are having their bachelorette party at the beach.”

When Jake thought of bachelorette parties, male strippers came to mind. Not that they’d find any of those here on the island.

That he knew of.

He glanced out the doors again, seeking the woman he had finally connected with, and was relieved to see her sitting with Gabriella again. She lifted her eyes, meeting his gaze for only half of a second before looking away, but in that short moment, heat blazed between them. He really needed to pull his shit together. It was only one night. One incredible, intense night. One of the best fucking nights of his life, and it had left him wanting more. Not just sexually, although he wanted so much more his cock was at half-mast just thinking about her. But the other things he wanted made him feel like a pussy, because they had nothing to do with sex. He wanted to talk to her, alone and stone-cold sober. She was so tough, so bold and challenging, and yet devastatingly feminine at the same time. Had she always been that way? She never talked about her family, and he was so close to his, it made him curious about what hers was like. Had she always been full of rebellion, or was stubbornness a family trait? And why was she taking that damn hiking trip alone? Other questions peppered his mind, too. Annoying shit, like why the hell did it take her so long to hook up with him?

“You and Sally were both late for breakfast,” Blue said to Gage, drawing Jake’s attention again. “Did you two finally get together?”

Gage rubbed the back of his neck with a pained expression. “What do you think?”

“Seriously? Dude, just make your move already.” Blue tightened a screw beneath the table.

Gage shook his head. “It’s not that simple.”

“Sure it is,” Jake said, thinking of Addy. “If you want her, tell her. If she doesn’t blow you off completely, then keep telling her until she either gives in or sends you packing.”

“That’s how you operate, Jake. That’s not my MO.” Gage set his coffee mug down and paced. All the Ryder men paced when they were faced with something they’d rather not talk about. “You’ve always moved from one woman to the next without ever looking back. I’ve never been that guy, and where Sally’s concerned, I never will be.”

I was that guy until Addy, apparently. “So…What? You’re just going to walk around with a hard-on for the woman you’ve been bat-shit crazy about since you moved to Colorado until some other guy gets through to her and takes the decision away from you?”

Gage’s jaw tightened. “What do you suggest? I mean, short of asking her to jump in my bed every night of the week. Because that hasn’t worked out so well for you with Addy, has it?”

If he’d said that yesterday, Jake would have wanted to slug him out of sheer frustration because it hadn’t worked for him. But after last night, Jake fought to keep the grin tugging at him from making its way across his face. And when memories of Addy in his arms came crashing in, there wasn’t a damn thing he could do to stifle the revealing emotion.

Blue rose to his feet and set the screwdriver on the table with a knowing look in his eyes. “You gonna clue us in or just flash that cocky-ass grin all day?”

Jake scrubbed a hand down his face to try to get a handle on his emotions, but for the first time in as long as he could remember, he wanted to talk about what it felt like to have a woman in his arms. More specifically, he needed to talk about what it felt like to be with Addy, because she was seriously messing with his head.

He stole a glance outside, catching Addy staring at him, and hell if his pulse didn’t ratchet up again. He lifted his chin and smiled, but she’d already turned away. That erased the frigging smile from his face.

“It paid off,” he said gruffly. “It paid off better than anything ever has, or at least I thought it did.”

His brothers exchanged a look he couldn’t read.

“You two finally hooked up?” Blue asked.

Jake nodded.

“So what’s the issue?” Gage asked. “Why do you look like a bug crawled up your ass?”

“Because she’s blown me off ever since.”

Blue chuckled. “Maybe you’re not as good in bed as you thought you were.”

Gage laughed, and Jake took a step toward him. Gage held up his hands in surrender. “Calm down. We’re kidding.”

Jake paced, even more frustrated having admitted to being with her, because he suddenly remembered she’d asked him not to brag. He wasn’t bragging, but it equated to the same thing. Chalk it up to being an accidental asshole.

“Was she on the same page?” Gage asked. “Or did you push so hard she had no choice?”

“Do you really think I’m that much of a douche?” The truth was, Jake had asked himself the same question a hundred times since they’d argued about him walking her to her room this morning. He’d come up with the same answer every damn time. No way. He’d given her plenty of chances to back out.

His brothers shared another annoying look.

“Christ,” Jake grumbled. “It wasn’t like that. We were totally in sync. One hundred percent.”

He wrung his hands together, shocking himself with the need to bare his soul. He trusted his brothers with his life, and if anyone would tell him he had his head up his ass or was barking up the wrong tree, it would be Gage or Blue. Duke would chastise him for hooking up with Gabriella’s best friend, and Trish would start planning their wedding. He had no fucking clue what Cash would say or do. Probably lecture him for not treating her like a lady. Cash was big on being a gentleman, whereas Jake was admittedly a player. He chewed on that thought for a minute, mulling over what it said about him and not liking the answer. He knew how to be a fucking gentleman. But if Addy wanted a gentleman, she sure as hell didn’t act like it. She was as much a one-night-stand person as he was.

If his mixed-up head was any indication, she was more of a one-night-stand person than he was. It’s the day after our one-night stand. We’re done. He was playing by her rules. Jake didn’t play by anyone’s rules. And based on his current state of mind, not even his own.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Blue asked.

He cleared his throat to try to bring his mind back to their conversation, but he no longer wanted to talk to his brothers about this. Not only because Addy had asked him not to—although that was enough to stop him from divulging anything more—but also because they weren’t the ones he needed to talk this out with. There was only one person who could help him get his head on straight. He needed to clear the air with Addy and find out why she was treating him like…like…

A freaking one-night stand.

“Hell no,” he snapped.

Gage patted him on the back. “She’s been all you could think about for months. It’s not surprising that she’s got you tied in knots. But you should be used to moving on, Jake. As I said, it’s how you operate.”

Jake scoffed to cover up the truth he wasn’t ready to admit. It was how he operated. Was being the key word. “Don’t go blabbing this to anyone. Especially not Sally or Lizzie. The last thing I need is Addy giving me hell because I told you two.”

He headed for the yard, intent on playing by his own rules and mentally preparing as if he were going on a search and rescue mission. Assessing his time in the field, or in this case, how long it would take to clear up this misperception of hers, that they were going to play by her rules. He gave it half an hour. But this was Addy. Stubborn, sexy, out-to-prove-something Addy. Okay, maybe it would take days, but he didn’t have days. He looked up at the sky, thinking about his next assessment, weather and resources. There was a storm brewing inside his gut, and a quick glance to his left placed his eyes on the bar. Plenty of resources.

Jake had yet to fail a mission. He had this.

As he scanned the grounds, he began putting together a game plan for getting Addy on board with playing by his rules, the first of which was that she was going to talk to him, like it or not.

But first he’d have to find her.





Chapter Five





ADDY AND GABRIELLA followed Lizzie, Siena, and a mob of Gabriella’s female relatives down the dirt road toward the dress shop in the center of town for Trish’s wedding dress fitting. Trish and her mother led the chatty procession. Prewedding excitement electrified the air. Addy felt like she was in a scene from Mamma Mia!, where the entire town fell into step as women joined the group along the way. Addy was glad to be invited. If she had to sit around on the bluff trying not to look at Jake for another minute, her mind would have exploded. She’d thought he was going to rip Niko’s head off when they were goofing around. As much as she liked and respected Niko and would never want anything to happen to him, she’d been unexpectedly flattered to know Jake was jealous. A little thrill ran through her with the realization that Jake was still thinking about her just as much as she was thinking about him. One night together was supposed to get him out of her head, not embed him in her every thought.