"I don't like mommy when she's mad. She hit you." Julie sniffed her nose, and Jacob turned his face into Amanda's hair. His arm went around her back to pull her close. He-Jacob "Shade" Silverton-was leaning on her for support. She hoped she could always be there when he needed her.
"Don't cry, honey. Mommy isn't mad at you. She would never hurt you."
"I know. But Mommy shouldn't be mean to you. You're my daddy. I love you so much."
"I love you so much too, Julie. What your mom does and says to me doesn't matter as long as you love me. You make me feel all better."
"I do?"
"Yep. Now that I talked to you, I'm smiling again."
Amanda wiped at a tear. How could Tina even consider keeping these two apart? Julie would be devastated, and Jacob would likely die from a broken heart.
Julie giggled. "I like you smiling. How many sleeps until I see you next time?"
Jacob sighed and his hold on Amanda went slack. "Twelve," he said flatly.
"How many fingers is that?"
"All of them," Jacob said. "Plus a couple of extra."
"I'll just hug Lucky really tight every day and pretend she's you, okay?"
Jacob chuckled. "That is one lucky elephant."
"That's her name. Lucky. Just a minute!" she yelled at someone else before talking to her dad again. "Grandma says I have to get off the phone now."
"Do you feel better?" Jacob asked. "Not scared? You can call me if you're afraid or sad or worried."
"I'm okay, Daddy. Bye."
"Bye," he said. And then, "I love you." But Julie had already hung up.
"Are you okay?" Amanda asked, rubbing the center of his back.
"Yeah. It's just she means everything to me, you know?"
"I know." And his infallible love for his daughter was what made him irresistible to Amanda. His looks and personality, his passion and generous nature-she could have fallen for any of those traits. But his devotion to his little girl? That was what had Amanda head over heels in love with the guy. "You mean as much to her." And to me.
Amanda licked her lips and took a deep breath. She should tell him how she felt. She wanted to tell him. She wasn't sure why she was still holding back. Maybe because everything had happened so fast. She was a practical woman. She wasn't the type who fell for a guy in a week. But she'd known Jacob much longer than that. Maybe she'd been falling for him for years.
"Jacob . . ." she whispered.
"Let me fix up your knees," he said.
She sucked in a pained breath as he poured hydrogen peroxide on her scrapes. Way to kill a mood, Silverton.
He wiped up the liquid dripping down her calf with a hand towel and then lowered his head to kiss the inside of her thigh just above her knee. Amanda's breath caught at the intensity of the passion that small tender move sent swirling through her body.
Way to put me in the mood, Silverton.
"I'm so sorry I got you involved in this mess," he said.
She winced as he picked a small stone out of her scraped skin.
"Jacob," she said, "I am this mess."
He chuckled and slid both hands down her calf as he tilted his head to look up at her. "I guess you are."
She touched his face with her fingertips, her heart swelling.
"Am I worth it?" she asked.
"Tina's hatred?"
She nodded.
"Well, considering she already hates me . . ." He shrugged.
But she'd claimed to still love him. Amanda hadn't forgotten that shocking revelation. Had Tina just been saying it to cause a bigger stir or had she meant it? If she'd meant it, Amanda was sure things between herself and her sister were going to get a lot worse and would probably never get better.
"But does she really hate you?" Amanda lifted her gaze to meet his. "Or is she out of her head in love with you?"
"It doesn't matter. I'm in love with you."
He smiled at her expectantly, and she licked her lips. She knew what he wanted her to say, and she felt the words deep in her heart, but she was terrified of what Tina was capable of doing. Not to her, but to Julie and to Jacob. How could she protect them? "Jacob, maybe she'd calm down if we-"
He silenced her with a finger to her lips. "Can we not talk about Tina anymore?"
"I'm not sure you know . . ."
"What she's capable of?"
Amanda nodded.
"I'll figure out a way to handle her," he said. "But not right now. Right now I need you in my bed so I can feel what you're refusing to say."