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The resentment he felt toward his parents whenever he thought about this crept through him. He loved them both and knew they loved him but their disappointment in the decisions he made cut him deep.
“They had it all figured out. My parents sent me to boarding school when I was fourteen. They wanted me to go to either Yale like my grandfather or Harvard like my father for undergrad and then Harvard for my MBA. After that I would join Sherbrooke Enterprises. And then eventually I'd transition into politics. That's been the basic life map for every Sherbrooke male for the past hundred years.” Jake found the truth just spilled out as he spoke to Charlie. Unlike so many people he spent time with, he didn't feel as though he needed to omit details to protect himself.
The corners of her pale pink lips turned downward in a frown. “You went to boarding school at fourteen?”
“Choate Rosemary Hall in Connecticut. My father and grandfather went there too. My mom wanted me to go to Eton in England like Dylan but my father refused. I still remember the arguments they had over it.”
“So which did you choose, Yale or Harvard?” Charlie reached across the table and took his hand.
“Neither. Went to Cal Tech. About as far away from an East Coast Ivy League school as I could get. Got my undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering. Worked for an engineering firm out in LA for a few years before moving to Virginia.”
Compassion and understanding spread across her face. Even though she hadn't said it, he knew that she understood why he'd made the decisions he had. Most people assumed he'd been rebelling against his parents, and to some extent he had. Yet there had been much more to his decisions than that. He'd been trying to prove to himself that he had some control over his future. That just because his last name was Sherbrooke he didn't have to follow the path so many in his family had.
“I left the engineering firm a few years ago to start the foundation.” It was one of the only decisions he'd made as an adult that he was proud of.
“Do you ever regret not becoming a SEAL?” Sometime during his explanation she came to stand next to him and now she placed a reassuring hand on his face.
Jake averted his gaze and focused instead on the city skyline, “Every damn day.”
Leaning closer she spoke in a tone filled with respect. “If you had, who knows what all those people your foundation helped would've done.” Her v
oice dropped to almost a whisper. “And we might not have met.”
Jake was floored by the feelings her words and gentle touch evoked in him. They were so unfamiliar. Sure he'd desired plenty of women and enjoyed their company but he'd never felt such an emotional connection to one before. Of all the women he dated never had he confessed this regret. None of them had ever shown any interest. Most were more interested in what he could give them or what being seen with him meant. It didn't appear as if Charlie cared about either.
Pushing back his chair Jake pulled Charlie onto his lap. “I'm glad we did,” he said before lightly kissing her. Like it had earlier, desire hot and heavy swept through his body the second his lips touched hers. When she wrapped her arms around his neck and wiggled her sexy bottom in order to get closer, he instantly became hard. Thoughts of tossing her over his shoulder and finding the closest bed ran through is mind. How would she react if he did?
Raising his mouth from hers, he kissed a path down her neck. “Do you want to see the rest of the yacht now? We didn't check out the bedrooms, or would you rather have dessert?” he asked his voice low and purposefully seductive.
“Depends, what is the chef planning?” Charlie asked with a trace of laughter in her voice. She didn't wait for an answer. Instead she slid off his lap giving Jake the only answer he needed.
Anticipation surged through him as Jake led her to the largest of the bedrooms below. Just as he expected, the room was prepared for them. The lights were dimmed and the sheets on the bed were neatly turned down.
“Where were we?” Charlie moved close to him and began to caress the back of his neck.
Rather than give her a verbal answer, he walked her backward and then eased her down onto the queen-sized bed. “Does right about here seem right?” He brushed his lips against hers as he spoke.
A soft moan escaped Charlie and she slipped a hand under his shirt searing a path up his back to his shoulders. Not needing any further encouragement, Jake stood and pulled his shirt up over his head. Then he reached for Charlie’s, intent on doing the same thing to hers. The sound of the beeping intercom on the wall halted his progress.
For half a heartbeat he stared at the offending box on the wall. “What the hell?” Slowly his brain registered what the sound was and stood.
This better be an emergency. With more force than necessary, Jake jabbed the talk button with his index finger. “Something wrong Captain?”
“I'm sorry to disturb you Mr. Sherbrooke. There is a disabled yacht just off our port. It's taking on water.”
Frustrated Jake raked his fingers through his hair. “Get them on board and make sure you alert authorities. I'll be right up to greet them.” Grabbing his shirt off the floor, he turned to Charlie who now sat upright on the bed. “We'll have to continue this another night,” he said brushing his lips against hers one last time.
A devilish smile formed on her face. “I'm going to hold you to that.”
***
By the middle of the following week more than half the town had power back and things were inching their way back to normal. Fewer and fewer people needed help every day, so Wednesday Charlie found herself helping her mom around the bed and breakfast. Two of the families who had been staying at the Victorian Rose left that morning and their rooms needed cleaning. Charlie doubted there would be paying guests anytime soon but the rooms still need to be prepared.
Working on autopilot she stripped the queen-sized bed in the Revere Room. Would she be getting Jake's room ready for a new guest soon too? With conditions in town improving she figured he wouldn't be sticking around much longer. He'd already been here a week and a half. How much longer would he feel the need to stay? Not once during their conversations did he mention how long he typically stayed in the field or when he planned on returning to Virginia. And they'd had plenty of talks since their dinner together the previous weekend. In fact he seemed to go out of his way to get time alone with her.
Charlie pulled the fitted sheet across the mattress and thought back over their talks. They seemed to discuss everything from books and music to sports and politics. They didn't always agree, but she found that she enjoyed their conversations and heated disagreements.
Their conversations weren't the only things she liked either. Charlie figured she could be kissed by Jake for the next hundred years and not tire of it. The man could kiss. She'd never considered herself a romantic, yet when his lips came in contact with hers it was like something out of a movie. Everything around her faded away. Warmth and tenderness swept through her body as a deep longing settled in her soul.
