Nobody But You(87)

“Hell no,” Jacob said. “I’m good now. You?”

Instead of answering, Hud held out his hand, fisted.

Throat suddenly tight, Jacob bumped it with his, and then they went through their age-old complicated handshake by rote, his body still having the muscle memory to do it without thinking.

And then they hugged.

Hud squeezed him hard. “You f*cking come back this time, and I mean right back—you hear me?”

“I will.” He turned and sought out a view of Sophie.

Hud’s gaze followed. “What are you going to do there?” his twin asked.

Jacob didn’t take his eyes off of her. “The right thing.”





Chapter 32



Sophie felt Jacob long before she saw him. As always, that sense of awareness came in the form of a tingle at the back of her neck. She lifted her head, and her gaze locked on to his.

She was still sitting at the back of the ambulance wrapped in a blanket when he crouched at her side and put a steadying hand on her thigh.

“Hey,” he said quietly, eyes warm. “How are you holding up?”

“Great.” Even if she had to bite her lower lip and look away or lose it, because the look in his eyes said he was there for her.

But he wasn’t.

He’d made that clear.

And damn. Damn if that didn’t have a tear sliding down her cheek. She swiped at it angrily and stopped breathing so she wouldn’t break into sobs.

But Jacob didn’t back up. Instead he shook his head at her and gently ran a thumb beneath her eye. “I’m going to ask you again,” he said. “How are you holding up?”

She sucked in a breath. “You mean other than the boat is essentially gone and so are all of my things and—” She broke off before she could say the rest. And you’re no longer mine…

“You’ll get insurance money and find a place you love. It’s a new start.”

She stared at him, resentful. “Since when do you see the glass half full?”

“Since you taught me to.” Without warning, he rose and scooped her up with him.

She gasped. “What are you doing? I can walk!”

Ignoring her, he turned to the paramedic. “She’s all good, yeah?”

“All good,” the paramedic said with a thumbs-up.

With a nod, Jacob turned and strode up the deck and toward his cabin, where some of the best memories of her life had taken place. “Jacob, put me down.”

He did. On his bed. He set the keys to the cabin on the nightstand. Then he sat on the edge of the bed, a hand on either side of her hips as he leaned over her. His shoulders eclipsed the sight of the room behind him, leaving nothing to look at but him. Dark jaw set. Dark eyes serious. “I have to go,” he said quietly.

Huh. Turned out her heart could break in two over and over again. She looked away. Or tried. But his broad shoulders took up all of her view. Stupid broad shoulders. “So you’ve said,” she managed.

He brought her face back to his. “I have to, Soph,” he repeated.

“There’s nothing wrong with my hearing.”

“It’s not that I want to go,” he said.

“You’re the one who made the call.”

“I signed up for this. It’s my job and my duty, and I’ll finish it. I want to finish it.” He pulled her to him. “And then I’m coming back.”

Her gaze flew to his as she tried to pull back, but he just held on to her. With those big, warm, strong arms around her, it took her a moment to speak calmly, but even then she shoved her face into his throat first so as not have to look at him. “I’m sure that will make your family very happy,” she whispered.

With a rough sound of…regret?…he slid his fingers into her hair and pulled just enough that she had no choice but to look at him again. “My family’s not the only reason I want to come back,” he said.

“What else is there?” she managed.

For a long beat he said nothing, and she thought that was it, the end of the conversation.

But then he spoke, his voice lowered to the tone that always reminded her of when he was lusciously deep inside her, whispering naughty nothings in her ear.

“Thirty seconds,” he said.

She blinked. “What?”

“I saw the flames on the boat and knew you were in there. It took thirty of the longest seconds of my life to run from my driveway down the dock to the boat and find you alive and kicking.”

Her breath caught, but she wasn’t sure what to say to that, so she tried something new and kept her mouth shut.

“I keep getting these pictures of you in my head,” he said. “You lying in my bed, your hair a wild disaster all around your face.”

“Hey.”

He smiled. “I love the way it smells—”

“It smells like smoke.”

“Shh. I love how it clings to my stubble.”

She liked where this was going, but she kept still just in case she was wrong. Because it wouldn’t be the first time.

“And when you’re truly pissed off,” he said, “it gleams like fire. Just like you.” He pressed his face into her hair and squeezed her hard. “Christ, Soph, you scared ten years off my life today.”