Dawn of Forever (Jack & Jill #3) (21 page)

Sunny moaned into his mouth. He slowly rocked into her, vying for every bit of friction he could get. Within seconds she responded to him, meeting him thrust for thrust, rocking her hips and sometimes circling them, searching for that right spot. He didn’t have to search, he was there, waiting on the precipice while praying to God she hurried up.

“There …” she murmured, breaking their kiss as she arched her back and squeezed her eyes shut. “Oh dear God … there …”

He rocked into her three more times, milking her orgasm, then grunting on the final thrust as he came.

They both lay still, breathless. After a few minutes he sat up. Kneeling between her legs. She winced.

“Is that …
me
?” She stared at the crotch of his jeans.

Looking down, he rubbed his thumb along the dark, wet spot. “Yes, some of it’s you … but I think I’m leaking through as well.” He grinned. “How did that feel?”

She covered her breasts with her hands, her whole body flushed nice and rosy. “Like nothing I’ve ever felt before.”

“Good?”

Sunny nodded, looking anywhere but directly at him or his wet jeans.

“I’m going to give you more of that … for the rest of our lives. I promise.”

Jones

J
ackson made no
guarantees to Luke, but he said he’d contact Knox and casually fish for information without making it sound like he didn’t have a clue as to the whereabouts of his sister. It wasn’t much, but Luke took it. He had to jump at any and all possibilities, including looking for clues to places she might be. Ryn suggested they talk to AJ’s son, Cage, who was at his dad’s place for the weekend to go through everything.

“Follow my lead,” Luke said to Lake as they knocked on AJ’s front door.

She shook her head. “That’s what you said when we stood on Jude’s front stoop.”

“I did. And then thirty minutes later you were talking about your accident and my wedding day.”

“Sorry, but it’s hard to keep my leg a secret, and I’m pretty sure Jackson already knew you were going to marry his sister.”

“Just …” He sighed.

“Got it. I’ll let you handle it.”

The locks clicked and a young man opened the door. Luke gave Lake a tight-browed glance after she made an indecipherable noise.

“Hi.”

“Hi. Cage, right?” Luke asked.

He nodded, looking at Lake.

“I hope we’re not disturbing you. We’re friends of Jillian’s. Could we talk to you about her and your dad for a few minutes?”

Cage shook his head. Luke hadn’t anticipated that.

“Oh. Sorry, are you busy? We could come back later.”

Cage shook his head again, jaw clenched. “It’s too soon. I … I can’t talk about him or them or … it’s just too soon.” He cleared his throat.

Luke nodded. Cage’s pain was palpable. It was too soon. He would have to let the son be a dead end for a while.

“I understand. Sorry for your loss.”

Cage nodded once.

“Mind if I use your restroom before we hit the road again?” Lake smiled.

“Lake you can—”

“That’s fine,” Cage replied before Luke could finish his protest.

“Thanks.” She rested her hand on Luke’s arm. “Why don’t you go fill the car up with gas and get me a coffee.”

The tank was full and he never knew she was a coffee drinker.

“Please.”

“O-kay, but I won’t be long.” He gave her a warning look that, of course, she ignored.

*

Lake leaned her
shoulder against the wall to balance as she pulled off her boots. Winter weather made it impossible to hide her prosthetic leg when she had to take her boots off in people’s homes. Socks would have been a good idea, but she didn’t wear socks with her Uggs.

She glanced up after removing them. Cage stared at her feet.

“I lost my leg.” It wasn’t like her to state the obvious, but the tall, hunky blond with dimples jumbled her thoughts.

He smiled. It was a melting smile, the kind that could melt a girl’s heart, the kind that led her to believe he would make it through the loss of his father.

“I didn’t mean to stare.”

“I didn’t mean to state the obvious.” She grinned. Some awkward-girl personality hijacked hers. Lake reminded herself that they were in fact discussing her missing limb. It wasn’t flirting. No one flirted over prosthetics. Too bad.

“The bathroom is around the corner.”

Lake needed the bathroom reminder since she didn’t really need to use it. “Thank you.”

After shutting the bathroom door, she rested her hands on the edge of the sink, looking in the mirror at the flushed face of a girl who hadn’t given a second glance to a guy since her accident. “He’s gorgeous, Lake. Stop thinking stupid shit about a gorgeous guy that lives a million miles away and oh yeah … he’s naturally going to be attracted to gorgeous women with all their limbs intact.”

After flushing the toilet and running the water for a few seconds, she gave her reflection an affirmative nod for the needed pep talk and reality check.

Upon opening the door, the large manly form leaning against the opposite wall brought her out of her skin. “Oh God! You scared me.” She pressed her hand to her chest.

“Sorry.” Cage smiled.

Why was he standing there? Had he heard her talking to herself about the “gorgeous guy?” She stood tall and swallowed her pride, which was easy to do because there wasn’t much left if he
had
heard her.

“Better see if your boyfriend is back.”

“Boyfriend? Oh, no. No, no, no.” She shook her head. “Luke is my brother. Seriously, we look identical, except I have long hair, boobs, and a prosthetic leg.” Closing her eyes, she bit her lips together. Someone needed to tape her mouth shut. “I’m sorry. We met like two seconds ago and I can’t stop reminding you that I have a fake leg, and to humiliate myself even more I actually mentioned my boobs. I’m just going to go. Even if he’s not here, I’ll just wait outside.”

Cage smirked. Hands crossed over his chest, he seemed to enjoy the
Lake is an Idiot
show. Her plans to ease him into talking about his father and Jillian derailed the second she stepped into the house. There wasn’t enough time to back up and steer the conversation in a different direction.

“You live around here?”

Lake shook her head. The less she said the better.

“Are you from New York too?”

Another place she’d never been.

“Yes. Have you been there?” Telepathically she willed him to say no. The last thing she needed was someone wanting to compare favorite places and things to do in New York.

“Yes, but only in transit with the team.”

“The team?”

“I play football.”

“Oh, that’s cool. Which team?”

“Cornhuskers.”

Lake nodded. “What position?”

“Quarterback.”

She tried not to react to the gorgeous guy confessing he played quarterback for a major college football team, but her eyes widened a bit anyway.

“Are you good?”

Cage shrugged. “I don’t know. Some people think so.”

“I ran cross country and played volleyball in high school. My mom thinks I should do something with the Special Olympics.” She twisted her lips for a moment. “But I don’t know. It’s been a crazy year since the accident. Some days I still struggle to climb stairs.”

He gave her a slight nod.

“Well, I’d better see if Luke’s here and let you get back to … your stuff.”

He looked down, scratching the back of his head. “Yeah, my dad wasn’t a collector or any sort of packrat, but my parents were divorced. I’m his only child and my grandparents live in Portland, so I guess it’s my responsibility to decide what to do with everything. It’s all mine now, including the house. The funny part? I don’t want any of it.”

“My brother’s fiancée died a year ago. Her stuff still hangs in his closet. It’s just stuff, but there has to be a finality to get rid of it. I bet you’ll feel it when the last thing is removed from here and someone else buys the place. The ‘stuff’ is the epilogue. The story is over, but part of it lives on like a ghost for just a few more pages. What’s left at the end of the epilogue?”

“Nothing.”

Lake cocked her head to the side and narrowed her eyes. “Depends on how you look at it.”

“And how would you look at it?”

“I’m not sure yet. My boyfriend died in the accident that took my leg. When I came out of my coma the funeral was over, his parents had cleaned out his apartment, and some other person lived there. I turned the page after the final chapter only to find no epilogue. The author of my life sucker punched me.”

“Some would say the author of your life is God.”

“And I’d agree. But no amount of faith can truly comfort a grieving heart that can’t make sense of such tragedy. I didn’t lose my faith, but I did feel like God sucker punched me. No epilogue. But he’s God so I’ll probably forgive him some day.”

Cage chuckled. “I’m sure he’ll be grateful.”

She tore her eyes away from his smile and those dimples. “I’m sure he’s waiting.” She pulled on her boots. “Sorry to have disturbed you. We were just looking for Jillian. Her brother doesn’t know where she is and thought you might have heard from her. But we’ll find her.”

Lake opened the door.

“What’s your name?”

She turned. “Oh, sorry. I guess after fifteen minutes of talking about my disability, my boobs, and my anger at God, it might be nice to have a name to use when you tell your friends about the crazy chick that stopped to use your bathroom. It’s Lake.”

“Nice to meet you, Lake. I’m sorry. I have no idea where Jillian is or might be. And for the record, this has been the best fifteen minutes I’ve had in a long time, so I think when I tell my friends it will be about this hot girl that stopped by and how much I hated to see her walk out the door because really … the
best
fifteen minutes.”

Luke honked the horn. She cursed him behind her smile. Gorgeous quarterback guy just called her ‘hot girl.’ Her destiny stood before her and she had to leave. Maybe he would never forget their fifteen minutes together and come search for her in
New York
.

Dammit, Jones!
Her mind quoted Jessica.

“The feeling is mutual.” She began to shut the door then poked her head inside. “Cage?”

He turned. “Yes?”

“You want to know what comes after the epilogue?”

“What?”

“A new book filled with endless possibilities.”

He grinned. Yup, the guy would definitely come look for her. In. New. York.

Dammit, Jones!

*

Luke drummed the
top of the steering wheel with his hands. He was tired of driving around the block.

“You didn’t need to honk the horn.” Lake slipped in the seat and slammed the door shut.

“So what did you find out?”

“He’s gorgeous. He plays quarterback for the Cornhuskers. Oh … and I think he loves me
and
my prosthetic leg.”

Luke pulled out and stopped before shifting into drive, giving her the hairy eyeball.

Lake’s smile morphed into a frown. “He said he doesn’t know where she is or even could be.”

Another dead end. Luke hoped Jackson would find out more helpful information from Knox. The most unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach kept his mind on Jessica and the belief that she was in some kind of trouble or sending out an SOS that only he could detect.

All they could do at that point was wait, so he headed back to the hotel. Lake rubbed the top of her leg, staring out the window.

“Your leg bothering you today?”

“No.” She stilled her hand. “It’s just habit. That’s all”

He detected disappointment in her voice. “I have no doubt that you’re right.”

Lake glanced at him. “What? That it’s a habit?”

“No. I have no doubt that you’re right about Cage. I’m sure he does love you and your leg. Any guy would be a fool not to.”

She smiled and moved her hand to his leg. “We’re going to find her, Luke.”

He nodded. They would find Jessica. He just wasn’t sure what shape she would be in when that time came, or if she’d still be Jessica at all.