Okay…maybe he didn’t know her as well as he once thought.
“Um…what?”
She moved to put some distance between them again and sighed. “I appreciate the invitation, but…”
“Look, can’t we put…you know…the past aside? For the next week or so that you’re undoubtedly going to be here, we’re going to be seeing each other.” He waited to see if she’d interrupt or argue, but she didn’t. “There was a time when we were friends, Mal, and I’d really like it if we could be again. Now more than ever, I think it’s important. I know Zeke would have wanted that.”
And yeah, he knew he was playing dirty, but desperate times and all.
It took less than a second for her to look away and pull her phone out of her purse. Reaching out, he put a hand on her arm. “C’mon, Mallory. Please.”
And then she did look at him and he hated what he saw–pain, sadness, and distrust.
He immediately stepped back and motioned for her to make her call and he went back to the kitchen to give her privacy.
Sitting down at the kitchen table, he sighed. What the hell was he supposed to do? They were going to have to get past this. They had a history long before they were involved and as long as he lived here and her family continued to live next door then…
What if it didn’t happen? What if now that Zeke was gone, Susannah and Georgia and whoever else was involved decided to sell the house? Then he’d never see Mallory again.
Then again, judging by how quickly she was looking to get away from him, he doubted she’d be too disappointed if that happened.
“Thanks, Mom. I’ll see you in a few minutes,” he heard her say just as she walked back into the kitchen. When she spotted him, she came to a halt and placed her phone back in her purse. “Um…I need to go back over to Pops’ place. I told my mother I’d meet her out front.”
He came to his feet and felt more than a little annoyed with the way she was running away. But then again, should he really be surprised? “You could have just told her to come here. There’s a lot less debris on my property and it would be easier for her to get in and out.”
“We did fine earlier. Really, it’s okay.” She walked over to the back door before looking at him again. “Thanks for the water and…I guess I’ll see you around.”
“Mallory, wait,” he said, going to her. This time he did reach for her and didn’t care if she looked shocked or not. “This is ridiculous!” Grasping her shoulders, he held her just close enough that he could feel the warmth of her body, but far enough that there was still some space between them. “I’m not going to spend the rest of my life worrying about you avoiding me or dealing with you refusing to talk to me! We’re adults, dammit!”
When she went to pull out of his grasp, he held on even tighter–his fingers digging into her skin. “Thanks for the reminder,” she all but spat at him. “I almost forgot how immature you think I am.”
Oh for the love of it…
This time when she went to pull away, he dragged her in close until they were chest to chest. “Stop it,” he growled. “That was a long time ago and we need to let it go!”
She glared at him.
“I’ve already let it go. You’re the one who brought it up,” she snapped, still wiggling and trying to move away.
He should have just let her go–should have just said goodbye and let her go on her way–but he couldn’t. Now that she was this close, Jake lost all sense of what was right and wrong, along with all sense of reason.
“More than anything, right now we should be doing our best to get along,” he said, forcing himself to ignore how good she felt against him–how good she smelled, how soft her skin was under his hands.
“Oh, please,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Don’t even go there. Our getting along has nothing to do with anything anymore.” Once more she tried to pull away from him and Jake could see how frustrated she was when he wouldn’t let go. “Dammit, Jake! Stop it!”
The only thing her movements managed to do was to put her firmly against him. Her breasts were crushed against his chest and they were both breathing heavily at the exertion. He stared long and hard at her and the only thing going through his mind was that if they were going to do this–if they were going to move on the way he said they needed to, then he needed to do this one last thing to get her out of his system.
He hauled her in impossibly closer and kissed her.
4
Mallory forgot to be outraged as she dropped her purse and raked her hands up into Jake’s hair.
It was better than she remembered–all of it–the silkiness of his hair, the way his hands ran up and down her back, and most of all, his kiss. She completely melted against him and reveled in the feeling of having Jake wrapped around her. The feel of his lips on hers, the way his tongue teased and tangled with hers…it was enough to make Mallory completely forget where she was.
He backed her up until they were out of the doorway, but they didn’t go any further. Once her back hit the wall, it was all she could do to keep from wrapping her legs around his hips and begging for more. It had always been this way–one kiss was enough to trigger a thousand sensations and it was amazing how her body still responded to his after all this time.
Hands roamed, tongues dueled, and still it wasn’t enough. She needed to breathe–needed to simply break the kiss and gasp for air–but she couldn’t make herself do it. The thought of losing their connection–even for a minute–was too great of a risk to take.
Unfortunately, Jake was willing to take that risk and when he broke the kiss and panted breathlessly against her throat, saying her name, sanity started to return.
What am I doing?
His mouth moved along her jaw. He gently bit her throat as he seemed desperate to keep his lips on her. There was a little voice inside of her telling her to stop this madness–to move away and get control of the situation. But then there was another little voice totally telling her to arch her back and press into him and let Jake keep doing what he was doing.
That was the voice she ultimately listened to.
When Jake bent and kissed his way down her throat to the vee of her blouse, Mallory silently prayed he’d simply rip the buttons apart so he could kiss her breasts–but he didn’t. Instead he kissed her over the fabric, but she felt his teeth scrape against her nipple and her knees practically buckled.
Opening one eye, she saw the sofa was less than ten feet away. They could be there in a matter of seconds, right? Maybe if she nudged him, she could get him to move so they could…
Her thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of her phone. It took a minute for her to gather her wits and make her body move away from his. She gently pushed him back as she bent down and picked up her purse, and clumsily fished her cellphone out.
Her mother.
Muttering a curse, she quickly answered. “Hey, Mom. Sorry. I’ll be out in a minute, okay?”
“Are you okay, Mallory?” her mother asked, concerned. “You sound out of breath.”
She looked guiltily at Jake, who was studying her with such heated intensity that she almost hung up on her mother so she could go back to kissing him. Her body moved of its own accord toward him when she heard, “Mallory? Are you there?”