He was too stunned to do anything but gawk at her as she hurried around the SUV and climbed inside. Julie's enthusiastic wave caught his attention, and he bent his head so he could see her better and waved back. He kept waving even after the vehicle pulled away and turned out of his driveway onto the street.
What the hell had that been about? Tina had seemed almost rational. But she also acted like she wanted to forge some sort of relationship with him again. His life would be a lot more tolerable if they got along better, but he prayed she didn't think he was interested in her as something besides his baby's mommy. He didn't love her anymore, and he knew without a doubt that he'd never be able to love her again. Not after Amanda had showed him that his passion could burn just as brightly with someone who made him feel good about himself. Tina had been a beautiful trophy, and for a while it had been enough to be referred to as the guy with a hot wife, but she'd always made him feel bad about himself, as if he'd never be good enough to make her happy no matter how much he tried. Amanda was so different. She seemed to think he was just fine the way he was and that her happiness was her own responsibility and not someone else's. Even though she hadn't said she loved him yet, he believed that she did. He knew he loved her.
Jacob grinned when the woman he loved pulled into the driveway and stopped directly in front of him-missing his toes by less than a foot. Amanda climbed from the car and peeked at him over its beige top.
"Is it safe?" she whispered.
His grin turned wicked. "Depends on what you mean by safe."
Now that Julie was back with her mother, possibilities for sexual adventures with Amanda were limited only by their imaginations, vitality, and bendiness. She circled the car, and he lost all power to resist her.
He pulled her against him, whirled them both around, and pressed her against the side of the car, holding her there with his rapidly hardening cock against the beckoning warmth between her thighs. His fingers clutched at her hair as his mouth crushed hers in a devastating kiss. Her hands slid up the back of his T-shirt, nails digging into his flesh. He had a mind to fuck her right there against the car. He might even have gone that far if the sounds of a gunning engine and screeching tires stopping just short of ramming the back end of Amanda's car hadn't yanked him out of his lust-fueled daze.
"I knew you were seeing someone!" Tina shouted as she jumped out of her SUV. "I knew it. Did you fool around with your little whore in front of Julie?"
Jacob instinctively shifted Amanda behind his back to shield her from Tina's wrath. He could feel Amanda trembling as she clung to his shirt with both hands.
"Hi, Aunt Mander!" Julie called from inside the car.
Tina stopped in her tracks, her furious gaze shifting from Jacob's face to the car parked in the driveway. Her jaw dropped, and for a minute Jacob was certain her head would explode as her face turned from a shocking red to a violent purple.
"You're sleeping with my sister?" Tina blurted. "My sister?"
"It's none of your business," Jacob said calmly. His belly was churning itself into a massive knot of anxiety, and he was pretty sure Amanda was going to shake herself to pieces if she didn't stop trembling so hard behind him, but what he did with Amanda wasn't Tina's business. He refused to deny what was going on between the two of them just to make Tina happy.
Tina's arm shot out, her fingers bent into vicious claws. Jacob threw up an arm in defense, but Tina didn't grab him. She went after Amanda.
"How could you?" Tina screeched, yanking Amanda out from behind Jacob.
"Ow!" Amanda protested, throwing off Tina's hold before Jacob could intervene. "Calm down."
"I'm not going to calm down," Tina yelled. "I'm going to fucking kill you."
Amanda stepped back to avoid an incoming blow. Jacob didn't understand why Tina was attacking Amanda and not him. He tried to catch Tina's flailing arms to prevent her from hurting someone.
"Will you stop?" Jacob said, grabbing Tina's left wrist in an iron grip. He trapped her right arm against her side as he wrapped his arms around her from behind. She struggled against him, lifted one leg, pressed her foot against the door of Amanda's car and shoved. Jacob had to take a couple of steps to regain his balance, but he didn't release her. "Have you lost your mind?"
"How can you do this to me?" Tina railed at Amanda, who'd taken a defensive stance with her back against her car, her arms in front of her body and her hands clenched into loose fists. "You know I still love him!"