A Reason to Stay (Oak Hollow) (6 page)

Giving his head a good shake to empty it of those thoughts, Jake wrapped a towel around his waist and padded into the bedroom. Ellie was standing at the window, looking out. Her hair was tousled; curls flying about all over her head and trailing down her back. The sheet wrapped around her body clung to her curves, emphasizing her plump, round
bottom. Jake felt himself harden instantly, causing the front of the towel to protrude slightly. God, she was beautiful.

Quietly he stepped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. To his great pleasure she back into him instantly. Her softness collided with his hard chest and her crazy hair tickled his nose as she snuggled into him. He was so consumed with the feel of her that it took him a moment to realize what she was staring at out the window. But when it finally registered a bubble of happiness exploded in his chest.

It was raining. No, it was storming! It was a huge, thunder and lightning, wind blowing so hard it was raining sideways, can’t see three feet in front of you, there is no way a moving company will work in this weather, kind of storm.

He couldn’t believe his luck. Someone upstairs was looking out for him today. Okay, so maybe to most this bad storm would be a cause of worry, but to him it meant one more whole day with Ellie. A whole day of lovemaking, if he could convince her. A whole day to try to figure out where he fit in her new life. A whole day to figure out how to tell her how much he loved her.

Jake took a deep breath before speaking in an effort to keep the joy out of his voice. "Looks like you won’t be moving today."

"Nope."

"I guess we’ll have to find something else to do, won’t we?"

Jake leaned in and nuzzled her earlobe with his lips. The hard shaft pressing into the soft flesh of her ass made it clear what he thought that something should be. But it seemed Ellie had something else in mind.

"Yeah, eat." She turned in his arms and laughed at the abashed look on his face. "Don’t look like that! I used a lot of energy up last night; I need sustenance!"

Jake grinned. "Well, I guess if it will keep you from passing out on me later. I like my ladies to have plenty of energy and spunk in bed."

The moment he said it he wished he could take it back. How could he be so stupid? She was going to think she was just another fuck to him. He knew she thought he slept around way too much, that women were little more than playthings to him. And he had just put her in that category. But she was so much more than that. Why the hell did he have to open his big mouth?

"Oh God, Ellie, I didn’t mean it that way."

Ellie smiled, but her expression had lost the fun of moments ago. "I know you didn’t, Jake. But we do need to t—"

Jake placed a finger over Ellie’s lips, silencing her. "Shh, don’t say it. I know we need to talk, but it can wait. There is no way you’re going anywhere in this weather, so you’re stuck here until at least tomorrow. There will be plenty of time for talk; can we just enjoy being together for now and analyze all this later?"

His stomach was clenched so tight he felt as if he’d been punched. This couldn’t all be over so quickly. He needed the rest of the day with her. Hell, he needed the rest of his life with her, but right now he’d take what he could get.

Ellie’s smile widened and Jake’s stomach unclenched and his heart did a flip-flop. Damn! Would her smile always make him feel like he was floating? He sure as hell hoped so.

"Okay, we’ll talk later," Ellie said. "Right now I need to take a shower; I’m smelly and my hair is scary. And you are going to fix me breakfast."

"Well, how can I refuse such a polite order? How does a nice fluffy western omelet smothered in cheese sound?"

Ellie’s grin was impish. "With toasted cinnamon-raisin bread?"

Jake laughed heartily, "You aren’t demanding, are you? Of course with toasted cinnamon-raisin bread."

Ellie laughed and started off towards the bathroom, squealing when Jake stepped on the edge of the sheet, causing it to slip off, giving him a full view of her naked body. She blushed at his openly appreciative look and hurried into the bathroom.

After she’d left the room, Jake pulled on a pair of shorts and headed downstairs to make breakfast.

He quickly threw together two delicious omelets. As he began slicing the homemade cinnamon-raisin bread, his thoughts drifted back to Ellie. She knew him so well. That was one reason he loved her so much. No other woman would know that there was always fresh raisin bread in his house. Growing up, his mother had made it for him every week. He was the only one in the house that would eat it, but she made two loaves every Saturday. He loved the stuff so much that when he’d bought this house, his mother had bought him a bread maker and taught him how to make it himself.

Only Ellie knew that. A pain shot through him. He couldn’t lose her. She was his best friend, the only person who truly knew him. Not to mention the fact that he’d had the best sex of his life last night. He was going to have to tell her how he felt. Even if it meant moving to Chicago, he would do it. He would do anything to make Ellie his wife. Now he just had to ask her. Jake was buttering the toast when he heard Ellie come down the stairs, enter the living room and call out, "I’m going to call the moving company to reschedule." He didn’t answer. He didn’t want to think about her leaving. He continued getting the breakfast together.

A few minutes later she called out from the living room again. "Jake, I need a pen and paper to write this stuff down."

"In the desk, top drawer," he called back, automatically. Picking up the plates of omelet and toast, he headed towards the kitchen table. He froze in his tracks. The desk. "Ellie, wait—" he yelled, but it was too late.

He heard her voice, strained and bewildered, from the other room, "What the hell?"

"Oh, shit." he muttered. The plates hit the table with a loud clatter, spilling egg and cheese and toast as he dropped them and ran towards the living room.

Her world was crashing down around her. She’d
tried with all her might to look at last night with a logical mind. She’d kept telling herself that one night would be enough, that she would take the memory of their lovemaking with her and not wish for more. But, now, at this very moment, she knew her heart hadn’t been listening. Deep in her heart she’d been secretly hoping that Jake would wake up this morning having magically seen the light and fallen in love with her.

She’d been a fool. Jake might be in love with someone, but it sure as hell wasn’t her. She was holding the proof of that in her hand.

Ellie choked back the sobs that threatened to overtake her. The deep sadness that filled her was a bottomless pit. It was hard to believe she’d been happier than she thought possible just fifteen minutes ago.

She had even sung in the shower. Even with the storm raging outside, the sun had been shining in her soul. Anything had seemed possible. Then she’d come downstairs to call the moving company. If only she could go back five minutes and not have opened the desk drawer, to not have found that ring box. She wished she hadn’t dropped the box while looking for a pen, and even more she wished the box hadn’t opened, spilling out its contents.

Now she sat holding her Grandmother’s engagement ring in one hand and a note written in Grammy’s neat script in the other. The words from the note swirled in Ellie’s brain but her mind felt so fuzzy they seemed more like gibberish. She read the note again.

“
My dearest Jake, you have always been a grandson to me. That is why I am giving you this ring. It has been passed down from generation to generation and I wanted it to stay in the family. I can see the love in your eyes and know it is time to pass this to you so that you can put it on your true love’s finger. I know she loves you as much as you do her. Treat her well, and don’t forget to cherish every day you have together. Love, Grammy.
"

"Oh, God!" Ellie groaned. How stupid could she be? Even Grammy had known Jake was in love with someone, but his best friend had been completely oblivious. No wonder Grammy had encouraged her to start dating. She’d known Jake was in love with someone else and that Ellie would always be just a friend.

Grammy’s words echoed in her ears, "Ellie, honey, if I were going to spend as much time with a handsome young man as you do with Jake, he’d be my husband. Not just my best friend."

Ellie couldn’t count the number of times Grammy had said those words to her in her last few weeks alive. She should have been putting all of her energy towards getting well, but instead she was trying to beat a little sense into Ellie’s thick skull. Could she have known how Ellie really felt about Jake?

Ellie shook her head. No, she was sure Grammy hadn’t known. But she had known about Jake being in love with someone. She knew that once Jake committed to someone else there would be little room left in his life. So she’d tried to warn her granddaughter.

Ellie had tried to heed the warnings. She’d quit her job, packed up all her stuff and was moving hundreds of miles away. But she’d been stupid. She couldn’t resist her hormones for one night, and now the pain that had been aching in her heart for so long, the pain of not having Jake, had finally exploded. The pain was so intense her body actually physically ached with it.

"Ellie, I can explain."

Ellie jerked around to see Jake standing a few feet away. Seeing him shot a white-hot bolt of fury through her. Yes, she’d been stupid last night. She’d risked her heart when she had known she shouldn’t. But she hadn’t known he had someone else.

He had.

In all of her years of knowing Jake she’d never known him to cheat, or lie, or in any other way purposely cause harm to a woman. But now he had. He’d held her in his arms. He’d touched and caressed her body, making her feel things she’d never felt before. And it had all been a lie. The sad part was, it wasn’t a lie to her. Making love to Ellie had been a lie to someone else. And he’d made her a part of that lie. Ellie, for the first time in her life, was the other woman. Her stomach churned, and she was suddenly glad she hadn’t eaten breakfast yet.

"You can explain?" she shot at him, the venom in her voice surprising them both. "What can you explain? Oh, I know, I bet you can explain why, in those weeks when I was searching frantically for this ring, you didn’t tell me she’d given it to you. You can explain that you just let me assume it had been lost or stolen and she hadn’t wanted me to know."

She flung the ring box at him and went on, the rage within her building. "Or maybe you can explain why Grammy would give you the ring instead of me? Well, no need. It’s all here in her letter. She obviously thought you a better candidate to actually use the ring than me. Why waste such a beautiful ring on a granddaughter who is so fat and hideous no one would ever want to marry her when she could give it to some stranger off the street."

Ellie saw him flinch at her last words and knew she was being unfair. Jake had been as much of a grandson to Grammy as Ellie had been a granddaughter. Jake would have done anything for her, and quite often had. His own grandparents had died when he was a baby and Grammy held a special place in his heart.

But Ellie couldn’t help herself. She couldn’t feel the remorse she should. The vile words tasted like acid on her tongue, yet she kept flinging them at him. Wanting him to feel a measure of the heartache she was feeling.

“Or maybe you can explain about last night. You can explain to me why you fucked me last night, knowing you were about to propose to another woman!"

Jake’s eyes widened in confusion. He opened his mouth to speak, but Ellie held up her hand, shushing him.

"Save it. I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to hear how you think you can charm your way out of this one, Jake. Grammy’s note is quite clear. There is someone. The wild ladies man has finally settled down. But you haven’t, have you? Or was I just one final fling before you popped the question? One final fuck just to say you did?"

Ellie ignored the stunned expression that marred Jakes features. She kept on her tirade, afraid that if she slowed down for even a minute she would start crying. "Who is she, Jake? Who is the woman you made a fool out of by fucking me last night? Besides me. My God, I can’t believe I spent so much of my life loving you, believing in you. You’re nothing but a snake, just like the rest. Here you are with a woman waiting for you to propose, you even have the ring, and you spend the night fucking me. Twice. Oh, God!"

The last sentence was a strangled gasp as a realization struck her solidly in the stomach, causing her to double over.

"We didn’t use a condom. Oh, God. How could I have been so stupid? I could be pregnant and he’s going off to marry some other woman. Oh, Ellie, you are one stupid assed chick!" She was no longer yelling at him, but muttering at herself as she rocked on the sofa, holding her arms over her stomach. She couldn’t believe the situation she’d gotten herself into.

"Ellie." Jake put his hand on her arm.

Ellie shot up. "Don’t touch me. Don’t ever touch me again!"

She knocked his hand back with such force he stumbled back onto the couch. Taking advantage of the moment, Ellie flew past him and out the door. She had to get away from him. Once she was outside, she wasn’t sure where she’d thought she would go. They were miles from town, her car was at her house, and it was storming.