Turning her head, she looked at him and gasped softly when she saw he was already looking at her. “Jake,” she whispered, but had no idea what else to say.
Reaching out, he cupped her cheek, caressed it. She leaned into his hand, loving how rough his skin felt against hers. She’d always loved that about him, the fact that he worked with his hands and they were so large and rough. It’s funny how up until this moment she hadn’t realized how much she missed that.
“You staying at the house tonight?” he asked, his voice no more than a whisper too.
She shook her head. “I think we’re coming back tomorrow. I’m supposed to stay with everyone over at my aunt’s place tonight.”
He stepped in closer and Mallory’s eyes fluttered shut at how warm and wonderful he felt. “Don’t,” he said, his breath warm against her cheek. “Come home with me.”
Her body arched against his and she almost moaned with pleasure at the gentle contact. “I…I can’t.” Pausing, she moved slightly against him. “I should have left already.”
Jake’s mouth moved against her cheek, gently nipped at her ear. “You’re a grown woman. You don’t have a curfew. Stay with me.”
There were a million reasons why she shouldn’t.
Opening this door with him could only lead to heartache again.
His mouth moved down the slender column of her throat and Mallory’s head slowly fell back to give him more access. It felt so good…so wonderful…so right…
“Mallory,” he sighed as his arms slowly banded around her.
He continued to kiss her throat, her jaw, until his lips covered hers and then she was lost. There was no way to fight it and it didn’t matter that this wasn’t a good idea or how it would be that much harder to go back to her life in New York, away from him. For tonight, she needed him. She needed this.
Jake said her name again–it was a breathless plea and Mallory responded with her own breathless “Yes.”
Taking her by the hand, Jake carefully led her through the dark across the deck. He stopped to pick up her purse and handed it to her. “Text your mother so she knows you’re safe,” he said before making his way down to the pier.
Pausing, Mallory did as he requested before following him down. At the door to the boathouse, she stopped.
“Here,” she said, reaching out for the door knob. “I want to stay here with you.”
With nothing more than the light of the moon, she saw the confusion written on his face. “It would be a lot more comfortable up at my place.”
She moved in close and placed soft kisses along his jaw. “Maybe later. But for right now, I want to be here. Please.”
Reaching around her, Jake opened the door and slowly backed her inside. Once the door was closed behind them, Mallory refused to think of the past and didn’t give the future a second thought. All she focused on was the here and now.
She kicked off her sandals as Jake peeled her blouse off. His hands immediately went to the button of her pants as hers snaked under his t-shirt and slid their way up over his chest. They kissed as they moved in the tiny space and they laughed as they bumped into things, but they never stopped moving–never stopped touching.
By the time she was naked and sprawled out on top of the oversized sofa she had always loved, and Jake was kneeling between her legs, she thought she’d go mad with want for him. She didn’t want him to go slow, didn’t want to spend too much time thinking about what they were doing.
Reaching up, she wrapped her hand around his nape and pulled him down for another searing kiss. He kicked his jeans off and Mallory helped slide his boxers down. And when they were skin to skin from head to toe, she let out a moan of pure pleasure.
He said her name as his mouth moved over her body.
She said his as she wrapped her legs around him.
And when their mouths and bodies finally joined together, there was no need for words any longer.
5
It was after midnight and Jake sat back on the large sofa and watched Mallory scramble around getting dressed like she couldn’t wait to leave.
Not the greatest moment for a man’s ego…
When she was close enough for him to touch, he reached out and snagged her hand. “Hey,” he said softly, “come back to the house with me.”
She looked confused for a moment and then must have realized he meant his house. It was something they’d never done before–during that entire summer, they’d never spent an entire night together and all of their more intimate times had been here in the boathouse.
“I should probably go,” she said, not looking at him.
Not letting go of her hand, he gave another gentle tug. “Why?”
Now she did look at him. “What do you mean why? It’s late and we’ve…” She motioned toward the sofa. “You know. So…I should leave.”
Ah…now he was getting it. Standing, he let the blanket that was covering him fall to the floor as he pulled her into his arms. “Here’s the thing, Mal, there’s no curfew and no one’s waiting on us. I’ve got a house two minutes away that we can go to and crawl into bed and stay there all night.” Placing a light kiss on the tip of her nose, Jake held his breath and waited for her to tell him why it wasn’t a good idea.
And waited.
And waited.
Was it possible they were on the same page here?
Slowly, he stepped away and began his own search of his clothes and began getting dressed. They may have already had rounds one and two here in the boathouse, but the thought of finally having Mallory Westbrook in his bed for a whole night had him more than ready for round three.
Once he had his jeans on, Jake scooped up his shirt and found Mallory was still standing in the same spot. Okay, maybe she wasn’t completely on the same page.
Yet.
Moving in close again, he kissed her cheek as his hands smoothed up and down her bare arms. “Please.” It was one word and he thought it would be more powerful than a lengthy explanation of why she should come home with him.
“Okay.”
That clearly worked.
Hand in hand, they left the boathouse and carefully made their way back up the pier and across the property to his house. Neither spoke other than for him to whisper for her to be careful as they navigated through the yard debris. Once they were in the house, Jake offered her something to drink which she readily accepted.
Now that she was here with him, he felt nervous and unsure of what he was supposed to do or say. The obvious move was to kiss her senseless and lead her into his bedroom, but…there was something about this moment that carried a lot of weight.
Reaching over to her, he took her purse from her hands and put it on the kitchen counter. Then he took one of her hands in his, led her into the living room and sat them both down on the couch. The entire back wall of the room was made of sliding glass doors so they had moonlight once again as their only light. When Jake looked at Mallory, he saw her studying him curiously.
“What?” he asked quietly.
“I thought you would have led us right to the bedroom,” she said, just as quietly.
He shrugged. “It was my first instinct but I thought it might be nice to sit and talk for a bit. We haven’t done that in a while.”