Lila's Thunder: The Almeida Brothers, Book One (6 page)

Lila’s head popped up as she continued to swipe the last of the grass from her jeans.
  “My jacket?”

Jack told himself to walk away, let it go, but he couldn’t.
  “Yeah… the black one with the… with the thing…”  He swirled his hand around the breast pocket of his suit as he pictured the ridiculous frilly thing that was attached to what would have been an otherwise perfectly fine blazer.

“Ah.”
  Lila nodded as she recalled her jacket with “the thing.” It had been the jacket she’d taken off in his office a week ago.  The thought of that day embarrassed her and she violently regretted the way she’d behaved.

“I don’t have it with me.
  It’s at the house.”  He was about to tell her that he’d bring it to her the next time he came by her place to pick up Chase and then remembered the present day.  He’d cut off all ties between her and Chase and, in extension, cut off all ties between the two of them, as well.

“It’s fine.”
 Lila waved, gazing off into the distance. “I didn’t really like it.”  Her eyes went back to him.

“I can take you to the house to pick it up.
  It’s just right up the street.”

“No.”
  Lila shook her head.  “Really.  Throw it out.”

He laughed, showing a set of perfect teeth.

Lila drank in the sight like water.  He didn’t smile enough.

“I’m not going to throw it out,” h
e said, his voice laced with amusement as his eyes explored her face.  “I promise I won’t bite.”  He took a moment.  “Well, I won’t bite first.”

“And if I do?”

“I might bite back.”

“You
might
bite back? All we do is bite, Almeida, of course you’ll bite me back.”

Jack’s head fell, attempting to hide the blush creeping to his cheeks.

Lila visibly wavered.  It was true. All they did was bite…but it
was
her favorite blazer. It had been an impulse buy at Marc Jacobs and she’d sworn that if she was going to pay the outrageous price-tag that she would wear that blazer until it fell apart.  However, the idea of spending more than five minutes alone with Jack shook her up so much that she was willing to take that financial hit, albeit painfully.

She was honestly afraid of what she might do if she found herself alone with him, again.
  After the altercation with Chase she was now more sure than ever that any funny business between her and Jack would end in nothing but disaster. And what if Chase had been right?  What if this was all just some big game to Jack and the only reason he’d really fired her was because he was jealous of she and Chase’s friendship?

It had been a hard accusation for her to swallow then
, and it was almost impossible now that she was looking Jack in the eye.  She didn’t know him as well as she could, but after five years she was sure she knew his heart, and she wasn’t ready to accept that he could purposely hurt Chase in any way.  He loved him far too much.  Lila wanted to tell Jack that Chase was in trouble with school, but didn’t want to overstep her bounds when they were finally getting along.

Watching him standing before her looking as sexy as he did wasn’t helping matters, either, and she could feel her
resolve slowly chipping away.

Jack sensed her giving in. “It’s on the coat hanger right next to the door. You won’t even have to cross the threshold if you don’t want to.” He motioned behind him with the flowers in his hand.
 “I’ll just visit my folks, then I’ll take you.”

Lila
tilted her head at him, her eyes rife with indecision. Why was he doing this?

Jack wasn’t leaving there without Lila.
  Period.  He’d decided it the moment he’d climbed out of his truck and saw her face.  It was only solidified when he’d realized she was curled up in the grass visiting with her sister, so open and vulnerable.  It had been like opening a book he was already fascinated by and being hit with a monster cliffhanger.  He was dying to know more and he was done taking no for an answer.

“Thin
k of it as a peace offering,” he said, wanting nothing more than to reach out and touch her.

Lila’s body spoke
the words that her mind fought. “Okay.”

He fished his car keys out of his pocket and held them out to her. “If you want to wait in the car…”

Slowly, hesitantly, Lila took the keys, every bone in her body rolling with chills when her fingers touched his.  He brushed the tips of his fingers over the back of her hand, lingering a second longer than just friends would, while holding her eyes.

Lila swallowed, unable to look away from his gorgeous face.
 It wasn’t too late to call the whole thing off, but as his hand fell back to his side and into his pocket, his eyes still on hers, she realized that she didn’t want to.

And she probably would bite first.

Chapter 4

They shared a quiet ride to Jack and Chase’s brownstone. As they walked up the steps on the quiet, tree-lined street Lila still found herself staring at it in opened mouthed awe.  She knew they’d inherited the five-story, single-family mansion from their parents five years ago. The last time Lila checked it was worth a little over seven million dollars. Chase didn’t like to talk about his parents and Jack wasn’t exactly shouting from the rooftops about them either, but Lila knew that their father had graduated first in his class at Harvard Medical, and their mother had been on the board at Goldman Sachs.  She felt like an idiot for never considering that their parents must have left a goldmine of cash for their only two sons.

She followed Jack up the steps to the front door, not missing how well those black slacks fit his long legs, before gazing back up at the brownstone. She had to take a deep breath as the memories flooded her.
  Apart of her missed Chase so deeply that being here saddened her.

Jack turned to look back while unlocking the front door, holding her gaze.
  As he held the door open for her, she found herself smiling at him, she stepping in.  He placed his hand on the small of her back, leading her to the foyer. Her skin warmed where he touched her.

Her eyes roamed as Jack closed the door and came up behind her. Vaulted ceilings and oversized windows gave
the home an open and airy feel. The sun shining in made the polished hardwood floors shine.  She took it in as Jack came up behind her.

His body emitted warmth. S
he felt like she was wrapped in it when he placed a hand on her arm while leaning over her.  He hadn’t been lying, the coat hanger was right next to the door and as she watched him finger it off of the hook Lila took a deep breath. He didn’t wear cologne, but his scent was intoxicating and utterly
Jack
-- a mix of soap and pure masculinity.  Her eyes fluttered shut for a moment then popped open when he spoke.

“Do you want to wear it today?”

She turned on her heel and caught the last seconds of a smile on his face.  He was back to his usual serious expression, and he would have been the picture of pure business if his fingers hadn’t been fiddling with the fabric of her blazer. He was nervous.  The thought made her smile as her eyes fell back to the blazer he held open in his hands.  She bit her lip and nodded, allowing him to circle behind her and slip her arms in the jacket.  After adjusting the fit his hands lingered on her shoulders, then slid slowly down her arms.  He took a deep breath and willed himself to get a grip, pulling his hands away completely.

They’d barely said two words to each other the entire ride there and he already had his paws all over her.
  The woman simply didn’t have a bad angle.  She was gorgeous when she was facing him and she was nothing to sniff at from behind, either.  Jack took in the sight of her round ass just inches from the zipper of his jeans.  He shoved his hands in his pockets to adjust himself and also to ensure that he kept them to himself.  He wanted to make sure they didn’t grow a mind of their own with the woman he felt he was constantly treading fine ice with.

She tucked her hands under her hair and fluffed it out from where it had been trapped inside of her jacket.
  He watched, entranced, as it fell in curly ringlets down her back, imagining those curls brushing her bare ass as she rode him slow. No, fast.  His hands went deeper into his pocket and he raised his eyebrows when she turned to him, attempting to appear nonchalant.

“You realize we haven’t gotten into a single argum
ent in the last five minutes?” she asked, her eyes growing wide.  “If I’m not mistaken I do believe that is a new record, Almeida.”

“Maybe you should sto
p starting stupid arguments,” he said, softly.

Lila’s eyes widened. “I never start them."

He didn’t miss a beat.  “You start them all.”

“You’re insane.
You can’t be serious.”

“I’m always serious.”
  He said seriously, before a smile began to work at his lips.

“As much as I would love to engage in a battle of wits with a graduate from
Harvard Law,
I don’t have that kind of time on my hands.  I have to be at the school in twenty minutes.”

“But school doesn’t start for another hour.”

She shrugged.  “It’s my day with the kids. I like to get there a little early.”

An
silent moment passed.  “The kids from your club, right?”

“Yep.
  Every Thursday morning.”

Jack could feel the way the ai
r in the room had thickened, how the mood had completely changed.  One minute she’d been almost joking with him, something they never did, and now she was rapidly closing off.  He knew why.  She didn’t trust him enough to talk about those kids.  Not after what he’d said to her the other day.  “Do you have time for a cup of coffee?”

She nibbled her lip and gripped the bottom of her blazer, watching as his eyes fell helplessly to her mouth.
  She released her bottom lip from the confines of her teeth and he licked his own as she did.  Her stomach jumped.

“I don’t know,” s
he said, somewhat anxiously. “You are the same age as me, after all.  Apparently I’m more inclined to accept coffee dates with the fifteen and sixteen year old variety.”

Jack clicked his tongue and craned his neck to the side, hol
ding her eyes.  “Don’t bite,” he whispered.

“You started it.”

He
hadn’t
started it, not at that very second, but in a way he really had.  He’d started it the day he’d accused her of ever hurting one of her kids, and now that he had her in his house he longed to return to that night on her doorstep and do everything differently.

As she began to look back to that night Lila was suddenly wondering what i
n the world she was doing in a house with a man who could so easily say something so awful to her-- and lusting after him while in his house, at that.

“I can see the wheels turning in there.”
  He reached out and tapped her forehead before putting his hand right back in his pocket.  “Stop it.”

She shook her head and wished every dis
tressing thought would fly right out of it.  If she could stop her mind, even for just one day, she would do it in a second.

His mind grew frantic.
  This conversation was taking a quick turn that he didn’t want it to take.  They’d been having such a nice morning together and he knew what was in order, but apologizing had never been his strong suit.  In fact, he hated it more than anything, even if it was desperately overdue. At that point he was sure he owed Lila a million apologies, having racked up his fair share over the years. He wouldn’t even know where to start giving her his very first one.

She opened her mouth to speak but he beat her to it. “I shouldn’t have said those things to you. I didn’t mean them.”
  He sighed and ran his hand down the back of his neck.  “I really didn’t, Lila.”

“So why did you say them?”

“I was pissed off.”

“Why?”
  She demanded.

“I don’t know.”
  He tasted the lie on his tongue.  “But I take it back.”

“You can’t un-say what’s already been said.
  That’s Lawyer 101. What the hell did they teach you over there at Harvard, anyway?”

“So do you just
want to fight now, or what?  There is no right answer is there? You just want to fight.” He turned his head to the side and tapping his cheek, inviting her.

She raised her dukes and threw a couple of fake punches into the air between them before dropping her
hands.  “Yeah I wanna fight,” she admitted, before sighing softly, allowing the smile she’d been fighting to begrudgingly appear.  “Coffee sounds good.”

Jack’s eyebrows rose.

She adjusted the purse on her shoulder and moved past him to the door.  “Let’s go, I don’t have a lot of time.”

He watched the back of her head as she passed him.
  “So now you’ll have a cup of coffee with me? Is this how you like it?  I have to start a fight with you every time I want something?”

Lila opened the door, flooding the foyer with light.
  She turned to him as she threw her sunglasses on.

“Don’t bite,” s
he whispered, waiting until he turned his back on her to lock the door before.  “And don’t make this all about you. People trust me with their kids and if I attempt to walk into Dalton without my morning coffee they might not come out alive.”

“Spoken like a true guidance counselor.”

Ten minutes later Jack was holding open the door of the Starbucks right down the street from Dalton and Lila was begrudgingly accepting his chivalrous offer.  As they walked up to the register, she adjusted her glasses on her face.  “Did we have to come to the one right down the street from the school?  I’ve told you how weird they are about parents and faculty.”

“What are they going to do?
  Sue me?”

Lila cocked her head at him as they approached the register.
  “Did you just make a joke?”

Jack feigned offense.
  “Hey, I’m a pretty funny guy.”

At that, she laughed out loud.

Jack stared at her in serious offense.  What the hell was so funny about that?  He waited for her hysterical laughs to subside with his mouth agape even as the barista on the other side of the counter  approached, eventually having to clear her throat to catch his attention.  Jack and Lila both looked to the blonde barista at the same time and only Jack’s smile remained as she handed him the dark roast coffee that she’d taken the liberty of making him.  “Good morning Mr. Almeida, here’s your usual, on the house.” She winked.

Jack took his coffee and smiled brilliantly at her.
  “Thank you, Jessica.”

“Wow, you run a pretty tight ship around here don’t you?”
  Lila asked, forcing herself to shut up when she heard the jealousy lacing her voice.

Jack could obviously hear it, too, because he was now giving her a look as he handed over his credit card.
  “What do you want to drink?”

“Triple-tall soy hazelnut latte, extra foam, half the sweetener,
cocoa powder on top.”

“Are you serious?” Jack asked, before looking back to Jessica.
  “Did you get all that?”

“I got it.”
  Jessica winked, again, dropping his receipt before proceeding to make Lila’s drink.

“Are you positive?
  Because I’m not even sure that was English.”  Jack looked back to Lila.  “You’re something else, Lila James,” he said, softly, leaning down to sign his receipt.

Lila watched him sign.
  “Did I mention that I get homicidal when I don’t have my coffee and that I work in a
school
full of
young children
?  I like my coffee the way I like it.”

His eyes widened as he completed his signature before sliding it across the marble counter.

Lila turned the receipt toward her, eying it softly.  “Explain to me how this signature says Jack Almeida in any way, shape or form.  And you’re talking to me about my English skills?  You can’t even spell your own name.”

“The weirder your signature is
, the harder it is to fake.”  Jack said matter of factly.  “There are some instances where it’s actually an advantage that people not be able to recognize your name in your signature.”  He tapped his temple.  “Think about it, baby.”

“So I guess they
did
teach you a thing or two at Harvard.  Worth every penny, that degree of yours.” She thought for a moment, and added, “don’t call me baby.”

He looked into her eyes and smiled.

Lila’s knees took on that all too familiar Jell-O texture and she had to place her hand on the counter to steady herself.

“Why
are you being so nice to me?” she asked.

“I’m a nice guy.”

She laughed out loud, again, throwing her head back as the cackles overtook her.

“Okay,
”  Jack said, dryly, staring off into space and snapping back to reality to take Lila’s drink from Jessica.  “Why do you always have to bust my balls?” he asked, following Lila out of the Starbucks and into the parking lot.

“I’m sorry, I’d hate to have to embarrass you in front of
Jessica
,” she said the poor girl’s name with distain.

It was Jack’s turn to laugh.

“You just piss me off,” she said, leaning against the side of his truck and crossing her arms.  “And I have no idea why.”  Her eyes traveled across the lot and caught sight of a blue pick-up truck with the window rolled down.  The man sitting behind the wheel was leaning out of the open window, watching she and Jack intently.  At first Lila gave the man in sunglasses just a passing glance, but when she saw he was staring at them, her eyes immediately snapped back.

The man behind the wheel jolted at Lila’s sudden and, clearly unexpected, attention.  He immediately started the truck and raced off.  Lila watched him go, confusion covering her face.