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If whatever existed between him and Charlie was going to continue he didn't want any bad blood between him and her family. “Are we good then? Or is this going to be a problem?”
“We're good.” Sean slapped him on the back before lifting his box and starting toward the house. “A reporter stopped at Quinn's Hardware asking questions about you,” Sean said before disappearing down the stairs around the side of the house that led into the basement.
And today just keeps getting better. “Just me?” Jake wondered if Marcy Blake made that stop before or after her stop at the Victorian Rose.
Sean dropped the case he carried and motioned for Jake to do the same. “At least while I was there she only asked about you, but I left before she did. Why?”
Jake heard a trace of the threatening tone from before return to the other man's voice, and he wondered if Charlie realized just how protective her brother could be. He doubted it.
“She stopped here this morning,” Jake said as he headed back outside.
“And Ma was a wealth of information,” Sean said before Jake could comment any further.
“You could say that.” Once again he felt guilty for dragging Charlie and her family into this new scandal.
“Leave it to her. She just doesn't know when to stop.”
The need to defend Maureen O'Brien's behavior fueled Jake's next comment. “It's not her fault. Marcy Blake could get a corpse to talk. That's why she's so good at her job.”
Sean stopped near his truck and leaned against the side. “Ma means well, but she likes to talk, always has. I hope she didn't say too much.”
“Nothing that Marcy couldn't find out from some other source.” Jake reached for another box. “But you should be prepared for other reporters if and when Marcy writes about Charlie coming to Newport with me.”
Sean groaned and pushed away from the truck. “Great. Just what we need. More chaos around here.” He pulled the next case off the tuck bed. “On second thought it might be good for busines
s,” he said after a minute. “After people read the President's son stayed here they might figure it's good enough for them too.”
Sean walked toward the house. “Hey, maybe I should put a plaque outside the room you used. Billionaire playboy Jake Sherbrooke slept here. What do you think? Maybe I could charge a premium for that room.”
Jake heard Sean laugh as he disappeared down the basement stairs. Guy's got a strange sense of humor, Jake thought following him down. “Always glad to be of service. Do you want me to sign it for you?”
“I like the way you think, Sherbrooke.”
It took a few more trips to empty the truck but eventually all the boxes were stacked in the basement.
“You want a beer?” Sean asked closing the door to the storage room in the basement behind him.
He wanted to find Charlie and pick up where they'd left off in the gazebo, but sharing that information with her brother was out of the question. “Sounds good.” Jake followed Sean to the opposite side of the basement.
“Do you play?” Sean asked as he opened the door to the refrigerator.
Since the pool table stood between them, Jake assumed Sean was referring to pool. “A little but not since college.” He accepted the ice cold bottle Sean handed him.
“I don't play much anymore either. But before we started the bed and breakfast I used to play in a league. Now I get together with a couple of guys maybe once a month to play.” Sean took a long swallow from his beer. “You up for a game?”
He doubted it would be much of a game. He'd never mastered pool, but in this instance that would be a plus since it meant the game would be over all that much sooner. Grabbing a pool stick off the wall, he approached the table. “Rack them up.”
***
Much later that evening Jake laid in bed staring at the canopy above his head. He could feel Charlie's slow even breathing next to him as she slept, and he couldn't help but marvel at how right it felt to have her by his side. A part of him wanted to press a pause button and keep them just like this forever. He'd learned a long time ago how rapidly situations could deteriorate and loathed to see that happen between Charlie and him. He didn't know how far their relationship would go, but he wasn't in any rush to see it end. Something he knew could happen if the media threw their relationship into the spotlight. While Charlie insisted she could take anything the media tossed at her, he knew from experience that it could be far worse than she imagined it.
Although if anyone could handle it, he suspected it'd be Charlie. She wasn't one to take BS from anyone, and she didn't hold anything back. If Charlie felt a certain way she let you know it.
Even though he knew she could take care of herself, that didn't stop him from considering the different ways he might be able to protect her from unwanted media attention. He figured in the worst case scenario he could hire a private body guard to keep an eye on her. His family had done it in the past before his father took office and the Secret Service became a regular part of his family's life. They'd most recently done it when Callie's identity came out. If he did hire protection, Jake knew Charlie would hate it. Not that he would blame her. There was nothing fun about having someone follow you twenty-four seven. He shuddered at the memory of what it'd been like with the Secret Service following his every move. Thankfully the only time he interacted with them now was when he saw his father.
Jake rolled onto his side so he could look at Charlie and once again he marveled at the beauty sleeping next to him. Sure he'd been with beautiful women before, but Charlie's beauty was natural. It didn't need enhancing from makeup or fancy hairstyles. With his hand he brushed a few pieces of hair off her check and tucked them behind her ear. As if dead to the world she didn't stir as he let his fingers linger on her cheek. Part of him wanted to wake her, but he held back. Instead he climbed out of bed and tossed on a pair of shorts. He knew it'd be awhile before sleep returned so he pulled out his laptop and tackled his latest emails.
Chapter 11
