Tears filled her eyes and he wasn’t sure if he was helping or making matters worse.
“Where’s all this coming from?”
Those big beautiful eyes looked up at him and it made him want to move heaven and earth to wipe all the sadness and doubts away.
Then – finally – she told him about her conversation with Zeke. Jake guided them back to the sofa and they sat down as she spoke. Nothing about the conversation surprised him – old Zeke was normally pretty straightforward when he had something on his mind – but how much it upset Mallory bothered him.
When she finished her story, he felt like she’d left something out.
Something important.
But before he could ask, she told him.
“He asked if I was in love with you and I told him I was.”
For a moment, it felt like he couldn’t breathe. He was sure if he tried that he wouldn’t be able to. There had been women – girls – who’d said “I love you” to him before, but none of them affected him like hearing Mallory’s quiet admission. From the moment she’d come back to Magnolia Sound this summer, she’d been open and honest about her feelings so he shouldn’t be surprised she was telling him this.
And yet he was.
Nothing about their relationship was casual and everything about it was new to him – the way it made him think, feel, and act.
And it scared the shit out of him.
“I don’t expect you to say it back to me,” she added quietly. “Not unless you mean it. But…you wanted to know what was bothering me and…well…there it is.”
“Does it bother you – the fact that you…you love me?”
She looked at him quizzically before shaking her head. “No. It doesn’t bother me. I just didn’t like feeling like Pops – or anyone for that matter – was…pitying me because of it.”
“I don’t think anyone would feel that way,” he countered softly.
“Maybe. Maybe it’s my own insecurities.”
Twisting toward her, he cupped her cheek again. “Mal, you have nothing to be insecure about. What we have…it’s new. At least for me it is. I’m not going to apologize or try to tell you that you’re wrong about how you feel, but you also have to give me a little time to catch up.” He paused to collect his thoughts. “As for what happens in August? I don’t know. Neither of us can know until it’s here and we’re dealing with it. Even if I wasn’t going away to school, you are and I’d never ask you not to go back.”
“But what if…”
He placed a finger over her lips. “Don’t go there. It will only make you crazy. Hell, you don’t think I’ve got my own list of ‘what ifs’ going on in my head?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Do you?”
With a nod, he leaned forward, resting his forehead against hers. “Mallory, you’re this amazing and beautiful and sexy woman. Do you have any idea how much it bothers me to think about you going back to school and knowing all the guys on campus will get to see you every day and I won’t?”
Her soft gasp was her only response.
“When I think about you leaving…of not being able to be with you every night…it bothers me more than I thought it would. More than I thought it could,” he emphasized. “And that’s because you mean so much to me.” Pausing again, he let out a long breath. “I’m not going away to school to party and I’m not going to be living in a dorm on campus or anything – I’m going to be living with relatives – and my main goal is to get my education. You don’t have to worry about me, Mal, because it’s you that I want – that I need.”
“I hate this.” Her voice was no more than a whisper. “I hate that there’s a clock ticking on our time together. Like we can see the end before we even began.”
He smiled then and placed a soft kiss on her lips. “It can’t be helped and we both knew that going in. But…we can make the most of the time we have.” And when he kissed her again, it was filled with need and desire and he poured everything he had into it until Mallory melted against him.
Soon he was helping her take her dress back off and peeling her panties down her legs as he sprawled out on top of her.
“Hurry,” she panted, writhing against him. “I need you.”
He silenced her words with another kiss because he knew any minute, he would admit that he was in love with her as well and he wasn’t ready for that. Not yet. It was too soon and there were too many other things he needed to focus on.
But as she wrapped her legs around him and begged him to make love to her – there wasn’t another thought in his head except claiming her and keeping her.
Forever.
Don’t go there…
But he did go there in his mind. Time and time again. And as he loved her well into the morning, he found it was getting harder and harder to keep those thoughts to himself.
The sun was just starting to come up when Jake walked back into his own home and found his father sitting at the kitchen table. He was too old to feel any sense of shame or panic coming home at this hour, but he was curious as to why anyone else was awake this early.
“Hey,” he said, walking across the room and going directly for the refrigerator to grab some orange juice. The plan had been to grab an hour or two of sleep before heading over to Zeke’s to finish work on the pier.
Jonah Summerford looked up at his son with a sad smile. “I remember being able to stay out all night and then go to work for the day like it was no problem.” He laughed softly. “Now, if I get anything less than seven hours of sleep I’m almost useless.” He picked up his coffee mug and saluted his son. “Enjoy it while it lasts.”
Laughing himself, Jake poured some juice and sat down at the table. “What has you up so early?”
“Waited up for you last night, but…”
Raking a hand through his hair, Jake felt a little bad about his hours now. “Sorry. What’s going on?”
Without a word, his father slid an envelope across the table toward him.
He recognized the logo on the envelope immediately. Curiously, he looked at his father and then to envelope. “What’s this?”
“Just…read it.”
There was a sinking feeling in his stomach and a sense of dread had him by the throat. He pulled the single sheet of paper from the envelope and read.
And read it again.
And read it a third time until his head started to spin.
“I…I don’t understand…”
With a weary sigh, Jonah took a sip of his coffee and placed the mug back down again. “The scholarship you were awarded was…well…it wasn’t legit.”
“I can read that part, Dad!” he snapped and immediately apologized. “But how can something like this happen? The only way I was going to be able to do this – to go away to school – was because of that scholarship!” He looked at the letter again. “It says here how sorry they are but they don’t offer one damn option to help me out!”
“Your mother and I have been researching for days and…”