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Four
Nikki didn’t sleep on the way back home, but this time, she sat quietly, listening to the two brothers’ conversation. It had been a strange and unsettling day. She wanted to spend time with Jake, but she was confused and worried. If she let him come around to see his daughter, Nikki might be tempted to sleep with him again.
Joshua had offered his brother a permanent, full-time, challenging opportunity, but Jake had turned him down. Wanderlust. That’s what it was. Jake didn’t know how to stay in one place, and he was far too old to learn new tricks now.
In the parking garage at Black Crescent, Joshua said a quick goodbye and ran upstairs. He was late for a meeting. That left Jake and Nikki standing awkwardly.
“Let me take you to dinner tonight,” Jake said. “We still have plenty to talk about. And I’ve missed you, Nikki.”
The raw honesty in his words seduced her more than anything. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I have to work.”
He scowled. “Are you blowing me off?”
She lifted her chin. “I’ll spend a couple of hours with Emma, and then I have to go straight to the diner.”
“I see.”
“How soon will you be leaving?”
His face reflected shock. “What do you mean?”
“You came home to see your father. That didn’t work out. I assumed you’ll be heading out again soon.”
“No.” He leaned back against a concrete pillar. “Are you trying to get rid of me, Nik? Is that what this is about? Are you afraid of what I make you feel?”
“I’m not afraid of you,” she said, the lie sticking in her throat.
He stared at her so long she began to get fidgety. “I’m staying for my brother’s wedding and my father’s trial. Both of those are soon. In the meantime, maybe you and I could reconnect.”
“Reconnect?” She parsed the word for meaning.
He straightened and took the few steps that separated them. “I want to touch you. Kiss you. Get to know you again. Atlantic City was only a start.”
When his lips settled on hers, warm and firm, her legs threatened to buckle. Just like five years ago, this sexy, desirable man knew how to cut the ground from under her feet.
She pulled away, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Words came tumbling out. Words she should have censored but didn’t. “I missed you so much, Jake. I fantasized about you. Wanted you. But you left me twice. Once fifteen years ago, and again in Atlantic City. Only a foolish woman would place a bet on a man who flits around the globe.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets, his expression stormy. “I couldn’t save you, Nikki. I couldn’t save us back then, so I ran. I couldn’t bear to stay in Falling Brook one more day. Everywhere I turned, there was another damn reporter. Digging. Poking. Prodding. Wanting every detail of our bleeding lives.”
“And yet you abandoned me to the wolves.”
He blinked. “Ouch. The old Nikki I knew wasn’t so harsh.”
“The old Nikki was a child, Jake. I had to grow up fast. It wasn’t fun, and it wasn’t easy. I survived, though.”
“Yes, you did. You’re an extraordinary woman.”
Something pulsed between them. Awareness. Need. He looked so sexy she wanted to climb him like a tree and never let go. If it had been only her, perhaps she would have rolled the dice. Taken a walk on the wild side.
The kind of selfish pleasure she had embraced in Atlantic City was not a choice now. She had her mother to look out for, and she had Emma to raise. Nikki’s wants and needs had to come in dead last.
“I should go,” she muttered, looking at her watch. “I’m sorry your father wouldn’t see you today.”
“Like I said, I’m not surprised.” He reached for her hand and squeezed her fingers.
“Think about it, Nikki. Not just me and Emma, but you and me. I want to spend time with both of you.”
“Because you’re bored and at loose ends?”
