That made her smile, albeit grimly. “How do you know I didn’t?”
“Because you’re smart, resourceful, and determined. If you’d wanted to kill him, he’d be dead. And there wouldn’t be a body.”
Surprised again, she laughed. He got her. “You should remember that,” she said, and started to walk off.
“You’re being cautious.”
“I’m trying,” she said. “Join me, won’t you?”
“Where’s the fun in that?”
She stared at him. “Is that what we’re doing? Having fun?”
His gaze met hers and held for a long moment. “Among other things.”
She gulped.
“What are you afraid of?” he asked quietly.
“The list is long.”
He shrugged. “Try me.”
“Fine,” she said, ticking off the bullet points on her fingers. “Getting hurt. Trusting again.” She stopped and shook her head, feeling way too exposed.
“I’ll never hurt you,” he said. “Ever. We’re both in this, eyes open. We know what this is and what it isn’t. I’ll never hurt you,” he repeated, taking a step closer. “And you can take that to the bank, Sophie. I’m a lot of things, but a liar isn’t one of them.”
Her brain was on overload. It was just too much to process. “I’ve gotta go.” It took a moment for her feet to obey her brain, but eventually she did walk away, thinking, Holy cow, he was potent. She needed to remember that and stay out of his force field range.
A few minutes later she got to the checkout just as Jacob was walking out the door of the store. The clerk was staring at his ass. “That is one fine specimen of man,” the woman said, taking a long sip from her bottle of water like she was parched. “I mean what kind of woman wouldn’t follow that man anywhere, no matter what job he lands for himself?”
“He’s got a job,” Sophie said. “He’s military—”
“I mean after the military.”
“Maybe he’ll come back to doing what he’s doing now, lake patrol.”
The clerk stared at Sophie for a beat and then burst out laughing. “Honey, that man’s as hot as they come, and badass to the core. But he don’t wear no badge.”
Sophie blinked. “He’s not lake patrol?”
“No way. No how.”
She thought of how they’d met, when he’d made her move The Little Lucas that night. And the second night…Or when she’d asked if he was on duty…He’d let her make a fool of herself. I don’t lie, Soph, ever…Funny, but she’d actually believed him. Which made her the ass, not him.
Chapter 13
Sophie grinded her teeth as she unloaded the royals’ groceries in their mansion, cooked their dinner, and left. She’d told Jacob she’d bring him some dinner, but now all she wanted to do was roast him over an open fire.
That night she didn’t go to his dock.
Or the next night.
The following morning she was called in to work for a local florist. The owner was Alexa, Lucas’s sister. Not wanting to turn down the work, Sophie hoofed it over there.
Alexa sat behind the counter. Once upon a time she’d been nice and kind to Sophie, but that had stopped during her contentious divorce. Alexa didn’t greet her, just pointed to the huge bouquet on the counter. “Needs to get up to the resort, like, ten minutes ago. You’re going to have to rush it.”
“To rush it, I’ll need to borrow a car,” Sophie said.
Alexa sighed. “You haven’t gotten your own car yet?”
“I had my own car,” Sophie said. “Your brother stole it.”
“My brother bought it. You divorced him, Sophie. You don’t get to have your cake and eat it too.” But she pulled out a set of keys. “My Lexus. Take better care of it than you did your husband.”
Biting her tongue, Sophie took the flowers and the keys. She glanced at the order slip and was shocked at how much Alexa was charging these days. She got the niggling thought that she could have supplied the flowers far cheaper and with better service too.
She drove up to the resort, and carrying the flowers, made her way to the offices and asked for Kenna Kincaid, to whom the flowers were addressed, along with a card that said simply:
Give me another chance…Best, Mitch
Men, Sophie thought with an eye roll, and had to laugh to herself when Kenna Kincaid came out of an office and approached the bouquet like it was a lit fuse.
Seemed she wasn’t the only one with man troubles.
“Hell,” Kenna muttered. “It’d better not be from—” She let out a whoosh of air when she read the card. “Shit. It is.”
Sophie smiled. “I’m guessing these flowers aren’t going to get your guy out of the doghouse.”
“He’s not my guy, although he lives in the doghouse.” She picked up the flowers and dumped them into the trash bin on the side of the counter. “Don’t take that personally,” she said.
“Nope,” Sophie said. “I’m just the delivery girl. Is Mitch as big a jerk as my ex?”
Something crossed Kenna’s face. Guilt? “No,” she said finally. “He’s not a jerk at all. We had an accidental one-night thing not too long ago and…well, he’s just way too sure. And I’m not sure. I’m planning on keeping him on his toes for a while until I sort stuff out in my head. That’s the secret, I think, keeping a guy on his toes.”
“Seems safer to do without,” Sophie said. “Smarter too.”
“Maybe.” Kenna shrugged. “Probably. But I’m not all that smart when it comes to men.”
“Hear, hear,” Sophie said, and turned to go.
“Oh, wait. While you’re here, can we book your services for the Wounded Warriors event?”
“Yes, of course,” Sophie said. “Just call the temp agency.”
“You’re still with them? I thought maybe you were running your own gig.”
Sophie felt something shift from deep within her. “No,” she said slowly, thinking how much the idea, one that had been lurking lately, appealed to her. “I’m not running my own concierge service.” She paused. “Yet.”
Kenna smiled. “Keep me up to date on that.”
“Oh, I most definitely will.” Sophie started to go, then hesitated. “Listen, I know Jacob’s hugely private, but there’s someone I bet he’d love to see at the Wounded Warriors event.” And then, hoping she wasn’t crossing a line, she told Kenna about Chris Marshall, how he’d been injured in the same explosion that had killed Brett.
Kenna didn’t speak for a long moment, and Sophie took a step back. “You know what? Scratch that. I shouldn’t have said anything. I—”
“Shut the front door.” Kenna grabbed her hand, lifting her face to Sophie’s. Her eyes were misty. “I’m so very glad you said something,” she said fiercely. “If Chris Marshall’s stateside, my brother Hud will find him.”
Sophie nodded. “Thanks.”
“No, thank you.” Kenna’s voice was soft and a little watery. “It’s so good to have him back, you know? But he’s still struggling with it a little bit. We could use all the help we can get to reach him.”
Before she could ask what that meant, a guy came out of one of the offices wearing a cop uniform, and Sophie’s mind stuttered to a halt.
Jacob.
He glanced at Kenna and then at Sophie with a polite smile, and she instantly realized her mistake. This was Hudson Kincaid, Jacob’s twin. She let out a shaky exhale.
Hud’s eyes warmed. “I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to give you a jolt. I forget that I look just like him.”
Looked like him. Smiled like him. Sounded like him…
Except their eyes were different. Hud was charming and…open. Jacob’s eyes were shuttered, and though he could just as easily charm when he chose to, Sophie got the impression he didn’t choose to all that often.
“How’s he doing?” Hudson asked.
Remembering that night they’d demolished that bottle of Scotch, when Jacob had told her about not being sure how to reconnect with his famil
y, she met Hud’s eyes. “Maybe you could ask him.”
“That’s not a great idea,” Hud said.
“Why not?”
“Interesting question,” someone said behind them.
Jacob.
He’d come in the door so stealthily that none of them had noticed. But Sophie was noticing now, big-time. He stood there in some seriously sexy guy jeans and a black T-shirt that only a few days ago would’ve made her want to spread him on a cracker and gobble him up.
But she was mad at him.
He stood there arms crossed, face carefully neutral, and she realized she wasn’t the only mad one.
“Since when do we gossip about each other?” he asked Kenna and Hud.
Not mad, Sophie realized, but…unhappy, frustrated…sad? She’d never seen him anything less than one hundred and ten percent confident, but here, with the people he should have felt the most at home with, he was off his axis. Dammit. Dammit, that made her want to hug him.
Kenna bit her lower lip and looked at Hud.
Hud hadn’t taken his gaze off Jacob.
Say something to make him feel welcome, Sophie found herself wishing. Anything.
Hud’s mouth tightened. “Since one of us vanished without a word.”
Sophie’s heart fell a little bit.
“We had plenty of words,” Jacob said. Still acting neutral. But he wasn’t, and how the hell was it that only she could see it?
“Before maybe,” Hudson said. “Not since.”
Jacob nodded his head in agreement.
Sophie’s chest felt too tight. She wanted to step in front of Jacob, face down his siblings, and yell, “Don’t you know coming here was hard for him? That he just lost someone near and dear to him and he needs you?” But she didn’t. Couldn’t. It wasn’t her place.
And besides, she was holding on to her own mad. By a thread.
Kenna blew out a large sigh and looked at Sophie. “I’m so glad I don’t have a penis. It seems like such a handicap.” She turned back to her brothers. “I don’t care about before. I care about now.” She came around the counter and gave Jacob a kiss on the jaw, having to go up on tiptoe to do it. “And in my opinion, now is looking pretty good.” She turned to Hudson. “Yeah?”
Hudson’s gaze never left Jacob. “It’s looking up anyway.”
Jacob headed over to Sophie, pulling her aside. “Hey. What are you doing here?”
She schooled herself not to melt because, hello, she was still mad at him. “Delivering flowers to Kenna.”
Both Hud and Jacob did a double take.
“From who?” Hud asked.
Kenna sighed. “It’s no big deal—”
“Who?” Hud asked again.
“Mitch,” Kenna said, and seemed satisfied when both Hud and Jacob narrowed their eyes.
“Why?” they asked her in unison.
Kenna laughed in delight. “Ask him,” she said. “Maybe you could do it together.”
“I’ll do it,” Hud said so darkly that Sophie actually felt a little sorry for this absent-but-clearly-about-to-die Mitch.
It was another two hours before Sophie was off work. She’d paid for a day pass at the campground, but when she got to the boat at North Beach, she had a ticket because the pass apparently wasn’t good for the dock she’d chosen. Furious, she left the dock and walked along the embankment above the beach. She was exhausted and pissy. She was spoiling for a fight and knew it. Just as she knew who she wanted to fight with—Mr. Not Lake Patrol.
The smarter thing would be to get back on the boat, go lie down, pull the covers over her head, and sleep until a better day came along. That’s not what she did. She headed toward the first cabin.
Jacob’s.
That’s when she heard it, a rhythmic thunking. She recognized the sound as someone chopping wood. Her dad had chopped wood. They hadn’t needed it much, since the Dallas winters were usually mild, but he’d found comfort in the mindless work. Or so he’d said. Sophie had never seen it lift his depression. But then again, nothing had lifted his depression, nothing had ever made him happy, and she had a deep-seated fear of ending up that way, never happy.
She knew her dad’s depression wasn’t his fault, but that hadn’t stopped her from being profoundly affected by his condition. There’d been no more smiles and cuddles. No more love or even basic interest in her life other than to express disappointment. She told herself she understood. He was ill. He’d suffered. She got it.
But deep down, she didn’t really quite get it. Inside she was still that pathetic little girl looking for her daddy’s approval.
And if that didn’t put her in a mood…And it didn’t stop her from making her way to the edge of Jacob’s property, where she found Mr. Not Lake Patrol himself.
He wore those sexy jeans, now so low-slung from his steady, economical movements that they were just about indecent. His entire body swayed with easy grace as he wielded the ax, his broad, smoothly muscled back moving so fluidly that she found herself sitting right there on the wild grass embankment above the beach. Because her feet hurt, she told herself, and kicked off her heels.
She needed a break, that’s all, and she leaned back on her hands to watch. In spite of her pissiness, all that hot and sweaty man flesh made her a little gooey inside. The only thing that could’ve improved her view would’ve been a Scandal-size glass of wine and a big bowl of popcorn.
Jacob stopped and swiped his brow, and then tensed and turned, finding her in one sweeping glance. It was as if he’d felt her the same way she always seemed to feel him, and at the realization, she froze.
Damn.
She really had no idea what drew her to him. Okay, scratch that, she knew. He had a way of looking into her eyes and really listening when she spoke that made her feel…important. But he was also dark and brooding and so effing sexy he set her every nerve ending on fire with just one look.
When was the last time that had happened? Never, that’s when.
Too bad she wasn’t planning to forgive him.
Ever.
Once a jerk, always a jerk, and she knew that firsthand, thank you very much. Been there, bought the T-shirt, been raked over the coals.
Jacob lifted a hand to shield his eyes, presumably to get a better look at her. His other hand came up in a wave.
She sucked in a breath and didn’t wave back. No way, no how. Lucas had been charismatic and charming too. She wasn’t going to let her guard down, or relax.
You were pretty relaxed after having him buried deep inside you…
She sighed. It didn’t matter what kind of a man he was beneath the sexy skin.
It didn’t.
Not from the moment he’d let her think he was something he wasn’t.
Chapter 14
Jacob had been chopping wood for about two hours, using some of