Nobody But You(56)

She wondered what else he knew and felt her face heat.

He chuckled, for a minute the sound so much like Jacob that she blinked. And then he was gone.





Chapter 20



Jacob sat on his porch watching the sun set over the Rocky Mountain peaks and Cedar Lake. It was his first break in days. Kenna had been saying she’d been sinking, drowning in all the prep for their upcoming events.

He’d honestly believed it was her way of forcing him to interact at the resort, to be near everyone.

Including Hud.

But he should’ve known better. Kenna was about as up-front and frank as a woman could be. If she had a problem, everyone knew it. There was no hidden agenda with her, no pretending to be something she wasn’t. She was truly overworked, and once Jacob realized that, it was easy to jump in and help her.

As it was, they’d been working night and day to pull off the Wounded Warriors weekend, which would provide a day of water and land sports for injured veterans and their nondisabled family and friends from all over the country. It was a hell of a lot of work, and he was good with that.

But for now he sat there watching the deep, dark night sky, his brain tired.

“You okay?”

Sophie. He’d heard her coming. She had a fondness for high-heeled sandals that made her legs look like they were ten miles long. Smooth, sleek, toned— Don’t go there, soldier.

He stood up as she came into view, standing before him with a soft smile. “Hey.”

He found he couldn’t talk, couldn’t breathe until he’d pulled her in and buried his face in her hair. The feel of her, warm and soft in his arms, felt so f*cking right. Able to breathe again, he finally said “hey” back.

She’d burrowed in as well, setting her head on his shoulder and letting out a little sigh like maybe he was her happy place.

With her curvy, warm body pressed up against his, he realized she was most definitely his. “Missed you,” he said.

“Me too.”

“You missed you too?” he teased.

She pulled back to look into his eyes. “You know what I mean.”

“Maybe I want to hear it spelled out.”

Her smile faded. “I missed you, Jacob.”

He let out a rough breath. “Scared me there for a beat.”

She stared at him. “If you knew how much I missed you, you’d still be scared.”

Knees still a little weak, he sank to the porch swing.

With a small smile, she sat, mimicking his body language by slouching down a little so she could eye the sky. “You know, I never really realized what a great view we have here. You don’t know what you’ve got until you go anywhere else, where the smog and city lights minimize the stars. It’s amazing.”

“I know,” he said. “There’s no place like Colorado.”

“You’ve been all over the world,” she said.

“I know.” He tipped his head back and stretched out his arm. “This place does it for me.”

“I met your mom today,” Sophie told him, pressing her face into his throat. He smelled so good—he always did. “She’s…well, she’s pretty damn great, but you already know that.”

“Yeah,” he said quietly, turning his face to press it into her hair, like maybe he thought she smelled good too. “She tell you what a punk I was?”

“Was?” she teased.

He smiled into her hair and squeezed her. “Smart-ass.”

Laughing softly, she cuddled into him. “Hud was there too. For a minute I thought he was you. But then he smiled at me and I knew.”

“We smile differently?”

“Well, when you’re looking at me, you do.” She winced with embarrassment. “His smile is nice, but when you smile, it’s…”

“Not nice?”

She gave him a mock slug to the gut. “It’s just not the same kind of smile you give me, that’s all.”

“How’s it different?”

She bit her lower lip.

And he laughed.

She slugged him again, not so lightly this time. “You know!”

“You mean because I smile at you like I’m thinking about being buried deep inside you, so deep that you’re whimpering for more, begging me to ‘please, Jacob, please’ in my ear?”

“I don’t beg!” But she blushed because they both knew that she did.

Grinning wide, he caught her hand before she could hit him again. His reflexes were good. She knew that had been conditioned into him, a necessity with the life he’d lived. But it served him well.

Rising to his feet, he scooped her up and threw her over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry and then turned as if to take her inside.

She hung over his back, giving her a great view of his spectacular ass, which she smacked.

“Remember,” he said, palming her ass in his big hand. “Paybacks are a bitch.”

That absolutely shouldn’t make her quiver in excitement. “What are we doing?” she demanded, ruining the effect by being breathless.

“Going to make you beg.”

Oh boy…





Chapter 21



The next morning Sophie awoke to find herself wrapped in Jacob’s arms. They were face-to-face and she’d used his biceps as a pillow and the rest of him as her personal heater.