I Only Have Eyes For You (20 page)

“My mom left when I was a baby, found some guy who could give her more than a cheap apartment and a lifetime of waitressing. She didn’t want anything to do with us. The next time she showed up, I was six. She needed money. Turned out her meal ticket was a loser, after all.”

Sophie couldn’t hide her shock. “What happened?”

“My dad kicked her back out. I was at school when it happened. Never even saw her. She was better off away from him. He was a drunk. Died when I was eighteen from liver damage.”

He was rattling off the facts like they were from someone else’s life, like they didn’t matter, like they didn’t hurt him. But she knew they did, that they had to have wounded him. Deeply.

How could it not hurt to have been raised with such neglect? Sophie had tried so many times in the past two and a half months to guard her heart against him. It was smarter. Safer.

But how could she be on guard against a boy who’d had a terrible childhood, but had turned into a wonderful man despite it all?

Somehow she managed to hold in her emotions, knowing he’d mistake sadness over how awful his childhood had been for pity. More food came just then, and after the waiter walked away, she reached for her fork as though everything were perfectly fine, while forcing a small smile onto her lips.

“And here I thought losing my kite made for a rough childhood.”

She nearly cheered when her comment surprised a laugh out of Jake and he began to eat as well. “Having all those brothers giving you anything you wanted must have been pretty tough, too.”

“Do you have any idea what it’s like to be guarded by six older brothers?” She made a face. “All the boys at school were too scared of them to come near me. I didn’t have my first kiss until I went away to college, if you can believe it.”

“If anything ever happened to you, they would never have forgiven themselves for not protecting you better.”

“I hate being treated like I’m breakable. I’m sick of everyone thinking all I am is some
nice
girl who can’t take care of herself.” She was on a roll now and couldn’t seem to stop herself. “I’m so much more than that, but no one ever wants to see it.”

“I see it, Sophie.”

Surprise had her fork clattering to the plate. “You do?”

“Of course I do. How could I not see how strong you are? How resilient. The way you adjust to changing circumstances that would give anyone else whiplash. You’re so much tougher than anyone would ever guess.” His mouth curved into a smile that stole what was left of her breath away. “And, on top of all of that, you just happen to be the sexiest woman I’ve ever known.”

She rolled her eyes. “You almost had me going up until that last part.”

“I almost ruined your brother’s wedding, you know.”

She couldn’t follow his train of thought, how they’d jumped from whether or not she was sexy to Chase’s wedding. “Ruined it? How?”

“I wanted to kill every man who looked at you in that pink dress. And there wasn’t a guy there who didn’t look, princess. All that blood in the middle of their party...” He shook his head. “It wouldn’t have been pretty.”

“But you never noticed me, not until the wedding when I wore that dress and had the makeup artist make me up.”

His eyes were dark, his face as serious as she’d ever seen it. “Trust me, I noticed you before that. Way before that.”

* * *

“Are you up for one more destination?” Sophie asked a little while later, when they were leaving the restaurant.

Attraction had buzzed between them as they ate the rest of their meal, and all he could think of was taking her to bed. Come midnight, when the day was officially over and he’d made good on his promise, he could finally touch her again. And oh, the ways he was going to touch her...

But when she gave him one of those beautiful smiles that had always made his heart beat faster and said, “There’s something I want to show you. It’s not far from here,” how could he not agree to whatever she wanted?

Hand in hand, he let her lead them down the waterfront toward a large gray building. She reached into her bag and pulled out a key card, holding it in front of the electronic lock. It clicked open and she pulled on the door.

“You’re showing me a swimming pool?”

She grinned again, saying, “Among other things,” as she pulled him toward the next set of doors, which led to the locker rooms and then, finally, the pool.

She kicked off her shoes and dropped his hand to reach for the hem of her sweater.

“Sophie? What are you doing?” It was a stupid question. He knew exactly what she was doing. He just couldn’t believe it.

“Getting undressed.”

Hallelujah!

She pulled her sweater off over her head, then quickly took off the top she’d been wearing beneath it. Her skirt came off next, until she was standing in front of Jake in only her bra and panties.

“Do you need help taking off your clothes?”

Didn’t she know he could hardly put together a coherent thought when she was standing in front of him looking that good?

“We’re not supposed to be here after hours, are we?”

She cheerfully shook her head as she reached for his T-shirt and started to pull it up. “Nope.”

She deftly pulled his shirt off, but when she put her hands at the top of his jeans, he had to know, “Have you done this before? With anyone else?” If she had, he’d hunt the guy down and beat him to a pulp. Sophie was his, damn it. She’d always been his, even if he’d never let himself get close enough to claim her until she’d shown up at his doorstep in Napa and seduced him.

Just as she was seducing him now.

“I’ve always wanted to,” she said as she worked his zipper down and shoved his pants off. “But you’re my first.”

And your last,
he thought as he tore off the rest of his clothes, shoes, and socks.

He’d promised her a full day with no sex and he’d made it this far. Skinny-dipping was going to kill him, but hell, even if he couldn’t touch her, he could still look.

“It’s not skinny-dipping if you’ve clothes on, princess. Turn around.” When she did as he asked, he brushed aside her long hair to unclasp her bra, then pushed it from her shoulders so that it fell to the ground. Moving to one knee, he hooked his thumbs into the sides of her panties next, sliding them all the way down her legs.

“Sophie,” he said in a raw voice, his mouth barely an inch from her luscious rear end, “you’d better jump in before I break my promise.”

“Not without you.” As she pulled him up to stand beside her, her eyes fixated on his erection. “I’m glad you like my skinny-dipping idea so much.”

Jesus, it was going to break him, getting in the water with a naked Sophie and not touching her. Not kissing her. Not making love to her.

But he’d do it, damn it, because he’d given her his word...and because he needed her to know how much he cared about her. Not just as a sexy woman, but also as the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

On three, they jumped in together and Sophie’s laughter was the best sound in the world as she splashed up from beneath the water. The next thing he knew, she had wrapped her arms and legs around him and he was holding her up in the water.

Oh man, was she soft. And wet.

He wanted to run his hands over every inch of her skin.

The way his erection was throbbing against her belly, it wouldn’t take more than the slightest shift of her in his arms to be inside all that heat. If this was her way of testing him, he would dig deep to prove to her that he was up to the challenge.

Even if it killed him.

“It’s been a perfect day so far,” she whispered into his ear just as her tongue licked out against his earlobe, “except for one thing.”

He could barely get out the words, “What would make it perfect?” when he wanted her so bad he was about to lose it with nothing but the feel of her naked curves bobbing slightly in the water against him.

“This.”

Sophie bit down on his earlobe just as she impaled herself on him.

“Now,” she said on a gasp, “it’s perfect.”

Finally, he was able to give in to the shocking pleasure of kissing the sweetest mouth he’d ever tasted. Lips so soft, so warm, as they parted and aroused, taking and giving in equal measure. He could feel her strength, her lithe muscles as she wrapped herself tighter around him and used the strength in her thighs to ride him in the water.

He’d thought she was too fragile, too easily breakable for him, for his needs, for his past. But she met every thrust in equal measure, met every stroke of his hand across her gorgeous skin with her hands on him.

For so long he’d wanted her, and every time they came together he only wanted her more. He’d never get enough of her passion, the way she all but vibrated with desire in his arms as she opened herself up to him.

He’d told himself he didn’t need anyone, and especially not her. But he’d been wrong. A liar of epic proportions.

Because there was nobody he needed more. No one who would ever fill his heart—and soul—the way this beautiful woman in his arms always had.

She lowered her head to his shoulder, her lips and tongue and teeth moving against his skin. He could feel how fast, how frantic her heart was beating against his. He had to grip her hips tighter, had to hold her closer as he drove deeper inside her warmth, coming closer and closer to heaven with every stroke of hard flesh against soft.

She gasped out his name and as their combined sounds of ecstasy rebounded off the swimming pool’s walls, unbelievable pleasure blurred with pure love and became one and the same.

Chapter Nineteen

Sophie woke up sprawled across Jake in his bed. Her head was resting right over his breastbone, his heart a strong, steady beat in her ear. She vaguely remembered curling up against him after they came back from the pool and falling asleep, but at some point in the middle of the night, she must have wanted to get closer, and just climbed on top of him.

Not, she figured, that he minded being her new mattress much, if the enormous erection pressing into her stomach was any indication. That made two of them who didn’t mind it, she thought, as all that hard male muscle beneath her quickly brought her from sleepy to aroused in a matter of seconds.

For all the years she’d dreamed of being in bed with Jake, those visions had always been of Jake touching her, Jake kissing her, Jake making love to her. Yesterday at the pool had been the first time she’d ever taken the lead with sex.

She’d loved it. But even more than that, she’d loved the way he’d begun to share pieces of himself with her the previous night. Their physical connection was undeniable. Could their emotional connection become just as strong, too?

Was there a chance that Jake would keep letting her in, bit by bit, until he actually shared his whole heart—and soul—with her?

She ran her fingertips over the strong muscles of his shoulder, tracing the veins and sinews just below the surface of his skin. Sophie feathered her fingers from collarbone to bicep, wanting to memorize Jake from feel alone, already putting together a mental map of his masculine perfection. She was also glad for the chance, at long last, to really study the tattoos on his tanned skin. What, she wondered, did each one of them mean? Jake wasn’t a man who did anything without a reason, and she couldn’t imagine the tattoos had been painless. Regardless of how tough he acted, he was flesh and blood like anyone else.

Being able to touch Jake at her leisure like this was such a gift. But it wasn’t nearly enough to whet her suddenly ravenous appetite for more. She didn’t just want to know the contours of his body with her hands, she wanted to feel them all against her lips, wanted to know the taste of him on her tongue.

She shifted her head so that she could press her lips to his breastbone. His body was so solid, so strong. He smelled so good and he tasted even better, still faintly covered in the chlorine from the swimming pool. She shifted again, just enough to lift her head from his chest so that she could lick him, barely managing to hold back a moan of pleasure as she laved his slightly salty skin. No wonder men were so fixated on women’s breasts. Already, she was an addict, could spend hours with her mouth on him, her tongue, her teeth all vying for superiority.

Slowly shifting her weight, she moved her legs to either side of his hips and let her weight fall to her knees on the mattress so that she could kneel above him and feast her eyes. That was when she realized his dark eyes weren’t closed.

“You’re awake?”

His mouth curved into a sexy smile. “Do you actually think there’s a guy alive who could sleep through that?” His hands curved over her backside, gently squeezing the soft flesh there. “I’ve been awake since you made me your body pillow a couple of hours ago.” He chased his words with the slow drag of his hands from her hips to her waist.

“Poor baby. I should make those sleepless hours up to you, shouldn’t I?”

His eyes lit with surprise—and heat—at her soft words, just a beat before his fingertips skimmed the bottom of her rib cage and his hands curved over her breasts. She wanted to keep focusing on him, on the heady adventure of exploring his body, but when he touched her like that she couldn’t keep her spine from arching her deeper into his hands. His shaft was hugely erect between her thighs and her body moved into position over it as though they were connected by magnets, so that she could glide over him, back and forth, until her breath was coming fast.

“God, I love to watch you come. Do it now for me, princess. Ride me all the way there, just like this.”

Every time she was with Jake, she disappeared deeper and deeper into the sensual spell he wove around her. She’d never thought she could be this woman, one who brought herself to climax while her lover urged her forward, had never imagined she would break into the swim center to skinny-dip with him.

Then again, she’d never felt this safe before, had never had a man look at her as though she was the only person in the world who mattered.

The intense appreciation in his dark eyes sent her hurtling over the edge. As she ground her pelvis into his, as his fingers played over the taut peaks of her incredibly sensitive breasts, Sophie wasn’t
nice
anymore. She wasn’t
naughty
either.