Nobody But You(30)

“Someone dying?” Jacob asked, not moving an inch.

“Just me.” She sighed. “That was my alarm reminding me to call my sister.”

“You set an alarm for that?”

“We talk on her days off when she needs a moment from her kids.”

“At least you call her,” he said, something in his voice. But his eyes were closed, so she couldn’t tell what.

“Feel free to talk to her now,” he said, his chest rising and falling with his slow, even breath.

She loved the sound of his morning voice, rough and gruff. An octave lower than usual. Heart-stopping. As was the sight of him in the bed, covered only by a sheet that had pooled low on his ripped abs. She blew out a sigh and reached for her phone.

“Oh, my God,” Brooklyn answered. “I was having the best sex daydream about Chris Evans!”

“Sorry to interrupt that,” Sophie said. “Hard to compete with sex and Captain America.” Then she realized what she’d said and slid a look at Jacob.

He was paying her no mind, seemingly not listening. In fact, she thought maybe he’d drifted off to sleep.

“Listen,” Brooklyn said. “Dad’s birthday is coming up. I thought we could do a surprise b-day visit.”

“Are you kidding? Dad hates surprise visits.”

“No, he doesn’t.”

“Yes, he does,” Sophie said. “Remember the time I flew home for Father’s Day and brought him a kitten because his therapist had mentioned it’d be good for him to have something to take care of?”

“Well, who’d have guessed he was violently allergic?” Brooklyn asked.

It’d been a disaster of epic proportions. “At least I called nine-one-one in time to get him an epi shot before his throat closed up completely,” Sophie said on a sigh.

“And you did try to make it up to him by sending him and Mom to dinner the next year at that new fancy restaurant downtown,” Brooklyn said.

“You mean the time they got stuck in the elevator and the paramedics and firefighters had to rescue them? No. No more surprises, not from me.”

Brooklyn laughed, and Sophie laughed a little, too, but deep inside she couldn’t help thinking that she was tired of always being the joke in the family. Then someone yelled “Mom” in the background of Brooklyn’s call, followed by a bellow of “wipe me!”

Sophie laughed, genuinely this time.

“Please come visit?” Brooklyn asked.

Sophie sighed. “Yeah. I’ll come.” When they disconnected, she tossed her phone aside, flopped back to the bed, and stared at the ceiling.

Jacob peered down into her face. “I can see the wheels turning.”

“I don’t want to be like this,” she said.

“Naked?” He stroked a hand from her belly to a breast.

“No,” she said, and snorted, rolling to her stomach so she wouldn’t feel so…exposed. “I don’t want to be like this to my family. The one they laugh at.”

He palmed a butt cheek, squeezed. “Then don’t.”

She craned her neck, cutting her eyes to his. “You make it sound easy.”

“It is,” he said in the way of an alpha man who’d never given a single damn about what anyone thought of him.

And maybe there was something to that. Maybe she was holding herself up to an impossible standard, like to Brooklyn, who was a really great person but had a very different life from Sophie. Different life, different needs.

And what are my own needs exactly?

Her alarm went off again.

“You have another sister to call?” Jacob asked.

“No, that’s my get-my-ass-ready-for-work alarm,” she said, and got out of bed.

Jacob came up on one elbow, hair mussed, eyes heavy-lidded and sexy, the sheet slipping down to his lean hips, watching in amusement as she raced around putting on her clothes, swearing a little when she hopped into her sweatpants and nearly fell over.

“What’s today’s temp job?” he asked, smirking, the sexy ass.

“I’m going to be a sous chef for a lunch shift. The regular took a few days off.”

“Really?” He looked impressed. “You’re a chef?”

She shrugged. “I love to cook. And I’m good at it.”

“What restaurant?”

She hesitated. “Cooking tacos at Paco’s.” Where the hell had she kicked off her shoes?

“The Mexican taco truck that parks at the City Building?” Jacob asked.

“Yep.”

He stared at her for a beat and then laughed.

She stopped looking for her shoes and went hands on hips. “I know you’re not laughing at me because I’m as white as they come and everyone else at Paco’s…isn’t.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he said, and got out of bed.

Naked, he stalked her, catching her up against his dresser, pinning her in, nuzzling his face against hers until his mouth brushed her ear. “Think of me today,” he said in a voice that was pure sex.

“Wh-what should I think of?”

“About where my mouth was a few minutes ago,” he whispered, and slipped a hand between her legs.

Her knees wobbled. With a chuckle, he caught her. “I’ll be thinking about how good you tasted.” He sucked her earlobe into his mouth, and she shivered.