Nobody But You (8 page)

That was when Penny flung herself at him.

Jacob barely caught her and let her hug him for what felt like a damn long time. Finally, with a sigh, she pulled back and sniffed, swiping at a tear. She pointed at Jacob, her mascara slightly smudged. “If you leave and don't come home when you're finished, I'm coming after you myself, you hear me?”

“I hear you,” he said quietly, his chest feeling tight. For years, his life had depended on his instincts, and they were honed sharp. Survival had been harshly ingrained. Emotions had no place in that life.

He'd gone a whole lot of years purposely feeling nothing. And then Brett had died and had set off a tsunami of all he'd been holding in. He wanted to be here and was gratified Aidan, Gray, and Penny were receptive to that, but Hud hadn't said a damn word.

And it was Hud he needed to hear from the most. He forced himself to look at his twin.

Hud's eyes were closed. Once upon a time that wouldn't have mattered. They'd been able to read each other blind. They'd shared everything. But Jacob couldn't get a bead on him now to save his own life. “Where's Kenna?” he asked, hoping to give Hud a minute.

Aidan and Gray exchanged looks.

“What?” Jacob asked.

“She's got plans,” Aidan said. “She had to leave.”

“Or she's pissed at me,” Jacob said.

“Or that,” Aidan agreed.

“Don't sweat it,” Gray said. “She's always pissed at one of us. She'll come around.”

Aidan nodded.

Hud still didn't speak, making it clear that Kenna wasn't the only one pissed at him. “I'll go see her in the morning.”

“That'd be good,” Penny said softly, not missing the silent and tense exchange between Hud and Jacob. “She could use some one-on-one time with you, I think.”

Awkward silence while everyone divided a look between Hud and Jacob.

“So we playing darts or standing around holding hands?” Hud finally asked.

Penny sighed. She didn't say anything, but the sigh spoke volumes, mostly that she thought men were ridiculous.

“Crickets,” Jacob said decisively, and palmed the darts.

“Now, see,
that's
what I'm talking about,” Gray said, slinging an arm around Jacob's neck, hooking him in. “Crickets. Kincaids play crickets.” He jostled Jacob. “Missed you, man.” And with that simple sentence slaying Jacob straight through, Gray let him go, snatched the darts, and stepped up to go first.

Jacob didn't move, couldn't. “So…we're good?”

“Yeah,” Aidan said. “Though you're still a dumbass.”

Gray nodded.

Penny beamed.

But Hud didn't speak, didn't give any indication that he'd heard Jacob's question at all, and Jacob knew.

They weren't all good.

S
ophie dreamed about hot, drugging kisses and Jacob's warm, hard, perfect body. She woke up at the crack of dawn overheated, and for a bonus, also sporting a splitting headache. Thank you, Scotch.

Not.

No, scratch that. She blamed Lucas. For everything.

Feeling better about reassigning the blame, she pulled on sweats and did the only thing she knew to do. She walked to McDonald's, because nothing fixed a hangover like a carbo-load of greasy hash browns and pancakes.

She doubled the order and walked to the lake, making excellent time because she was hungry. She was on the dock when her phone rang with a number she didn't recognize. “Hello?” she answered warily.

“Sexy Sophie…”

She sighed. “Hey, Jimbo.”

“How's it shaking, babe?”

“Terrific, great, couldn't be better.”

He laughed.

And she sighed again. “Okay, so I know I told Brooklyn to give you my number, but it was a weak moment. I don't think I could ever really go through with this sort of thing.”

“Trust me, sweet cheeks, it's easy. All you've gotta do is be encouraging. And maybe let out a few moans here and there.”

“Encouraging?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Talk 'em through it. Tell them what you're wearing—that's always a conversation starter.”

Sophie looked down at her sweats. And they weren't the cute Victoria's Secret kind of sweats either. More like the Walmart midnight shopper kind. “Well…”

“Lie,” Jimbo said, reading her mind.

“And the encouragement part?” she asked.

“Just say stuff like…” He affected a woman's voice. “‘Oh, I've been hoping you'd call. I've been bad, so very bad. I need a spanking,' and then you throw in a ‘Thank you, sir, may I have another' and you're golden.”

She was nearly boggled right out of her hangover. “You're kidding, right?”

“I never kid about business.”

“But…people don't say any of that stuff in a real life, do they?”

He just laughed. “Look at it like it's an acting job, all right? It's all just a gig. Like playing
Fifty Shades
with your boyfriend. And don't even try to tell me you haven't done that.”

If Lucas had tried to play
Fifty Shades
with her, she'd have killed him and no one would have ever found his body. And thinking about Lucas reminded her that even thinking of phone sex as a job was all his fault, making her groan.

“Yes!” Jimbo said with glee. “Just like that, only a little louder. Also, it helps if you pant a little. And add in a soft, helpless whimper once in a while, like you're totally into it.”

Sophie sighed and nearly fell overboard when Jimbo laughed and yelled, “Yes! That's it, baby, just like that. Come on, give me just one little ‘do me harder!' and I'll know you're ready for the big league.”

There was no way she was going to do this, but she had to laugh at his enthusiasm for his job. Must be nice to love what you did for a living. “People can't be serious about this.”

“As a heart attack.” But he was laughing, too, teasing her. He knew she wasn't going to really take this job.

And because he was being a good sport, and because she was hungover and feeling a what-the-hell 'tude, she teased too. “Oh, Jimbo, I've been a very, very bad girl,” she said in her best frog-in-throat, can't-catch-my-breath voice, throwing in a ragged, broken moan that might have sounded like a cat in heat. “Please, sir, I need a spanking.”

She waited for his laugh, but it didn't come. In fact, there was nothing but static. “Hello?”

“Da-aaaamn, woman.” He sounded seriously impressed. “You're a natural. You sure I can't talk you into this? I mean, there ain't no insurance coverage with this gig or anything, but I could get you some good, cold, hard cash.”

Sophie managed a laugh that hurt her aching head, and disconnected. That's when she felt it, a disturbance in the force field. She'd felt it the other day, too, an odd tingle of awareness as she slowly turned and, yep, found Jacob standing on the dock only a few feet away, staring at her.

He was in board shorts and a T-shirt, snug across his shoulders, loose across his abs, looking like an ad for Hot Lake Living. If she hadn't known better, she'd say he looked surprised as hell behind his dark lenses and stern but sexy mouth, but she did know better. Jacob Kincaid didn't do surprised.

What he did do was stealth. She hadn't even heard him coming. “How do you do that, walk on the dock without a sound?”

“‘I've been a very, very bad girl'?” he asked.

Shit on a stick! Her brain raced for something to say, anything. “Wow,” she said. “I didn't peg you for having a drug problem.”

He arched a brow. “So you didn't just also moan, ‘Please, sir, I need a spanking'?”

“Okay,” she said. “Fine, you caught me. I'm a porn star. I know, it's a huge disappointment, right? Get in line behind my mother.”

He smiled.

“Hey,” she said. “I could totally be a porn star if I wanted to be!”

At that, he out-and-out laughed. And if she hadn't been hungover as shit, hot and sweaty from the walk for food, and maybe still a little turned on from last night, she might've been able to find the humor in this. Instead, she narrowed her eyes. “Was there a reason you were eavesdropping on me?”

“Is it eavesdropping when you're having public sex?”

“I wasn't—” She cut herself off and took a deep breath. “I wasn't having public sex!”

“Asking for a spanking, then. I especially liked the ‘please, sir' part.” He shifted closer and then closer still, so that he blocked out the early-morning sun with his broad shoulders and she could see nothing but the dark of his eyes. “I'll be happy to put you over my knee,” he said in a voice of pure sex. “If you asked real nice.”

“Bite me,” she said, even as her pulse raced.

“That too.”

“Argh!” She slapped a hand against his chest. “You're annoying as hell—anyone ever tell you that?”

His lips twitched. “Not exactly the ‘thank you, sir, may I have another' type, I see.”

“In your dreams.” Deciding to ignore his sexy ass, she boarded the boat and sat, digging into the hash browns. “Oh, my God,” she murmured, this time in sheer pleasure. So good.

He just stared at her. “Are you having sex with the hash browns now? Do you need a moment alone with them?”

She flipped him the bird.

He grinned and boarded, sitting next to her without asking.

“Is that all you men think about?” she asked. “Sex?”

“No.” He paused. “Maybe.”

Outwardly she rolled her eyes. Inwardly she quivered.

“Who were you on the phone with?” he asked.

“My sister's got a friend who has a…lucrative business out of Vegas. She knows I need more work, so she told the guy I was looking. That was my audition.”

“Define lucrative business.”

“Phone sex.”

“No,” he immediately said.

She stared at him in disbelief. “I'm not taking the job. Although I have no idea why it would matter to you.”

She never even saw him coming. All she knew was that in the next heartbeat, he'd slid a big hand to the nape of her neck and pulled her in and kissed her.

His mouth didn't feel stern now. It felt warm and giving, and she made an utterly involuntarily helpless little murmur and pressed against him, seeking more, seeking things she hadn't even realized she wanted.

And then suddenly his mouth was gone.

She staggered back a step and stared up at him. “Wha…?”

“Do you know now?” he asked in a low, sexy voice. “Why it would matter to me?”

She bit her lower lip.

“Do you, Sophie?”

She closed her eyes and then opened them and pointed at him. “You are a big complication, you know that?”

“Ditto, babe.” Reaching out, he lightly tugged on a strand of her hair. “Thanks for sharing last night.”

“I didn't mean to,” she said. “I didn't mean to drink that bottle at all.”

He smiled. “I meant you. Thanks for sharing some of you.”

“Oh,” she said brilliantly, both annoyed at him for making her talk about it and also oddly pleased and moved by him saying so.

“Don't look so surprised,” he said. “I like you. I like you a lot.”

If him saying thanks for sharing had stunned her, this just about paralyzed her. And then there was the way she reacted to his body, his touch, his voice. She offered him one of her two bags.

Sitting back, he opened his and peered inside, breaking into a smile. “Hash browns and pancakes,” he said reverently.

She took a deep breath. “For the hangover,” she managed, maybe a little more defensively then she'd have liked.

“My favorite,” he said. “Even if I don't have a hangover.”

“Bastard,” she said, and reached out to snatch the bag back, but he held it out of her reach.

He smiled. “I'll let you keep the boat moored here tonight.”

“Two nights,” she said instantly. Hell, she might be a sucker for a hot guy, but she wasn't stupid.

He smiled. “Two,” he said so easily she wished she'd asked for a week. She opened her mouth and then hesitated.

“What?” he asked.

“We're really not going to talk about it?”

“You wanting a spanking?” he asked. “Sure, but I'm much more an action guy than a talker, so…” He patted his knee.

She narrowed her eyes. “Try it and you'll be walking funny. Forever.”

He laughed. And dammit, he had a really great laugh.

“And I meant the kiss,” she said.

Jacob was quiet for a beat, and she started to get more than a little annoyed. That annoyance kicked up a notch when he finally spoke.

“Thought it best to leave it alone,” he said, calm as you please. Like maybe he hadn't been driven nearly as crazy as she by said kisses.

I like you. I like you a lot…

Confused, unsettled, she got to her feet, but he did the same, wrapping an arm around her to halt her progress. His eyes, intense and hungry, fixed on her mouth. Her skin came alive with hot pleasure, and her bones liquefied. He kissed her then, deep and hungry and powerful, his hips sliding against hers.

He was hard. For her. And at that realization, the stupid boat, her money troubles, her entire screwed-up life all faded away.

It was like she'd never been kissed before him. Like a dormant part of her had been waiting all her life for this one kiss to wake her up.

His fingers slid beneath the hem of her sweatshirt, settling against her bare midriff. They were long and callused and warm. She could feel the latent, easy strength of him, at rest now, but she was very aware that beneath his surface was a power she didn't understand and wasn't sure she could handle.

She could also feel his palms just beneath the curve of her breasts. He was waiting for something. He was waiting on her, she realized. This big, alpha guy wasn't going to make a move unless she gave him a sign that she wanted him to.

And oh, she wanted. That wasn't the question. The question was…did she trust her own judgment right now? Honestly, she didn't know, which must have shown in her eyes, because with a small, wry smile, he pulled free. “Looks like you have yet another choice to make,” he said. “You'll let me know when.”

“When what?” she asked, her voice raspy.

“When you're ready for me.”

We're ready. We're ready
, her good parts screamed.

But her brain wouldn't shut up.
It's too fast. You don't want to be just a hookup
.

But why not?
her good parts argued.
You tried love and got kicked in the teeth! Let's try something new. Let's try him
.

She was still just staring up at him when he playfully tugged a strand of her untamed morning hair and said, “We'll have to play another round of three truths and a lie sometime.” He smiled. “Unless you'd rather play
Fifty Shades
.”

“Seriously,” she said, even as she felt the heat of her blush rush up her face. And if she was being honest, other parts too. “Walking funny for a very, very long time.”

He grinned.

She pointed to the food she'd given him. “Consider that payment for today's parking pass. I'm going to want a receipt.”

He laughed and surprised her by hauling her to him again. She hadn't realized she was chilled, but at the way he touched her, something deep inside her warmed. Then her thought process derailed completely, when he kissed her again, slow, deep, hot. She felt immersed in him, in his scent, the feel of his hard body against hers, the sound of his breathing…the feel of his heartbeat beneath her hands.

“Receipt received,” she murmured, dizzy with desire, so much desire. She licked her lips, wanting a last taste of him, though it wasn't enough.

Not even close.

It'd been so long since someone had touched her like she was so sexy he could do nothing else, like she was worth something, like she meant something to him. She knew there was more to life than a sexual connection, but sometimes a sexual connection was good, really good. God, she needed this, needed him, and she decided right then and there not to let herself worry about what-ifs or later or anything but
now
. Especially because now was all she had. The rest of her life was in complete flux. And Jacob…well, he was here for his family and that was it. He too had only the now. It was perfect. And how often had anything in her life been perfect? “Jacob?”

“Yeah?”

“
When
,” she whispered.

He stilled for a beat, searching her expression. She hoped he found everything he needed to know there, because she'd lost her words. All she had was that hunger and need burning her up from the inside out.