She's All Tied Up: Club 3, Book 2 (33 page)

He would have said more, but for once Carlie interrupted him. She was done playing it cool. “You have more than fences to mend, Jake,” she blurted. “Try mending my heart. Because it feels like you dropped one of your huge, nobody-can-lift-them-but-Jake weights on it.”

He stared at her, his gaze burning with something beautiful, something that drew her helplessly closer. It looked like wonder. He moved too, so that when she breathed in, it was Jake—his skin, that sexy cologne, his warm breath. His hands settled on her waist, the box crinkled between them, the corner poking her in the belly. She scarcely felt it, lost in that look.

“Jesus, baby.” His deep voice shook a little. “I’m so fuckin’ sorry. I’ll do whatever it takes. You gotta know that.”

Only Jake would apologize with the F-word.

“You swear, Marine?” she whispered around the butterflies in her middle. They didn’t feel bad this time. They felt like hope, enveloping her heart with wings.

He nodded once, his square jaw implacable. “Semper Fi.” With one last look, he set her away from him. “Now, you have a jar or something? I’ll put your roses in some water. You get your coat or whatever you wear over a gorgeous getup like that, and let’s go. We got people to impress.”

It wasn’t a request; it was an order.

“Yes, Jake.” Carlie let the butterflies wing her into the kitchenette for a vase, then into her bedroom for her wrap and clutch. All the way, her feet hardly touched the floor.

Jake’s flowers included a wrist corsage of blush rosebuds nestled in green leaves on a stretchy silver band. Carlie waited while he slipped it over her left hand and then turned her wrist wonderingly. “That’s a really nice corsage band,” she said, her eyes wide as she examined the fine silver links.

He shifted, looking almost uncomfortable. “It’s a bracelet. Something to remember the night. Our first date.”

“Thank you,” she breathed.

He nodded. “You ready?”

“I’m ready.”

He locked the front door for her, and she walked down the stairs on his arm. Two of her neighbors, a pair of middle-aged women, were out walking. They stopped to watch Carlie and Jake, and smiled. “Don’t you two look fabulous,” one of the women said.

“Thank you, ladies,” Jake said, and their eyes glazed over at the sound of his deep voice.

“Out for a special night?” the other asked meaningfully.

Carlie opened her mouth, but Jake beat her to it. “Yup,” he said. “Our first real date.”

Carlie looked up at him, amazed that he was sharing this with strangers.

“And now if you’ll excuse us,” he added. “We need to get goin’.”

“Have fun,” said one.

“Boy,” muttered the other. “My first date with my husband was a Bruce Lee double feature with popcorn at the old Baghdad Theater.”

“Mine was to a college basketball game. Our team lost, and he spilled soda all over my new sweater.”

Jake looked down at her and grinned, his hard face crinkling. “Got them beat.”

She giggled, and his arm bunched under her hand, his eyes warm.

In his truck, both their phones rang at once. Carlie’s call was a text from Daisy.
R U going?

Yes
, Carlie texted back.
Talk 2 U tomorrow
.

Yay!!! Have fun!

Jake put his phone to his ear, listened, then said, “Yes, we’re goin’, and I’m not answering the phone anymore tonight. Good-bye.”

They shared a quick look, and then both of them smiled.

“Fuckin’ junior high,” he muttered, but he did not sound unhappy.

Carlie laughed quietly. Then she sat back and enjoyed being chauffeured in a very nice, nearly new, big truck by a man who drove with skill and competence. The cab was neat, without the clutter some guys let accumulate, she enjoyed sitting up higher than the cars on the road, and it smelled like Jake, clean man and spicy cologne, which was the best part.

The Hotel Revillion in downtown Portland was tucked away on a side street off Broadway. With a brick-and-marble facade, waist-high pots of flowers on the sidewalk and a uniformed doorman, it was elegant in an old-fashioned way. A venerable Italian restaurant sat next door, a Middle Eastern café had moved in across the street, and an import business and two small bars took up the rest of the block.

“My brother’s wedding reception is going to be here this fall,” she told Jake as they walked through the large but hushed lobby.

“You settle with the bride?” he asked, looking as if he really cared.

“It was a misunderstanding,” she said. “Caused by my mother.”

“She hard on you?”

Carlie shrugged. “She is who she is. Thinks if I could just do things her way, my social life would blossom in ways I’m not really interested in. It's hard to convince her of that. Let’s just say I’m learning to ignore her.”

Jake stopped in the open doors of the ballroom, through which they could see a crowd of people in evening wear, the men in tuxes, the women in long gowns, laughing and chatting, drinks in their hands.

“That’s good. ’Cause I gotta tell you, I’m with the most beautiful woman here tonight, hands down. And there’s no way in hell she needs to change to be more like anyone else.”

Watching with satisfaction as she blushed, he walked her into the ballroom.

The evening was definitely the most fun Carlie had ever had at an EbiTeck event. Her buzz of heady pleasure revved into gear when she and Jake walked in. Heads turned, conversations paused and more people turned to see what their partners were looking at. Carlie watched as her male colleagues’ eyebrows went up in surprise and her female coworkers’ eyes widened, their mouths opening in awe and appreciation. It was not limited to them, either. There were a number of people she didn’t know who also stared.

“Sorry,” she murmured to Jake. “After I mostly attended stag for the last two years, you’re my third date in a row for a company function. Fresh meat for the EbiTeck gossip mill.”

“That it? Thought it was your dress.”

She smiled, because his gaze was full of appreciation. The magnificence that was Jake was the other factor, but she suspected he wouldn’t appreciate her pointing that out.

“There’s my boss,” she said. “Let’s go say hello, and then we can get a drink.”

This social nicety taken care of, Jake procured them drinks—a glass of white wine for Carlie and a bourbon on the rocks for him. Then she had the fun of introducing him to her EbiTeck friends, all of whom were lurking, attempting to look casual while quivering with eagerness.

Not to her surprise, Jake didn’t talk a lot. But she noted that he managed to ask questions that let others talk happily while he listened, nodded and interjected occasionally. He also didn’t stray from Carlie’s side as many of the men did, off in groups at one end of the bar to bond over team sports, autos and their golf games. Instead he made it clear he wanted to be with her. This did a lot to soothe the jagged edges of hurt still lingering in her heart.

They sat with Gigi and her long-time partner, a tall, athletic woman with short blonde hair and smile lines, Yvonne and her husband, and two other couples.

At the last moment, Savoy came gliding through the crowd to claim the two seats to Carlie’s right. He was clad in a startling chartreuse Nehru jacket with black piping, and black slacks. His partner, a quiet man with a nice smile, wore a more traditional tux.

“Hello, everyone,” Savoy caroled. “This is James. James, my fabulous coworkers.”

Savoy rattled off everyone’s names. The two men sat, and, under cover of Jake answering a question from Gigi about his gym, Savoy turned to Carlie, his eyes wide.

“Sugar, look at you,” he breathed. “Is this the Jake of whom we have heard so little but wondered so much?”

Carlie nodded, smiling but wary. Savoy could be irrepressible. “Yes.”

Savoy gave Jake a once-over that said this was not his first look of the evening and gave a low growl under his breath. “Honey, that man is sex on a stick. When you’re finished with him, can I have a taste?”

Carlie rolled her eyes at him. “Since he’s straight, I’m not sure he’d agree to that.”

Savoy made a moue of regret, one graceful hand over his heart. “I am crushed. Stamped out like a cold cinder on the hearth of passion.”

“Stop it,” Carlie said, flicking his leg with her thumb and forefinger. “He’ll hear you. And so will your date.”

Savoy reached back to pat his partner’s arm without looking. “Oh, James knows I’m a shameless flirt. He’ll forgive me.”

“Carlie,” Gigi interrupted, leaning forward. “You’ve been working out at Jake’s gym, haven’t you?”

Carlie turned back to Jake and blushed hotly at the twinkle in his eyes. “Yes, I have,” she said. “It’s very well-equipped. You should try it.”

Gigi nodded. “We just may.”

When the conversation shifted, Jake leaned over, his mouth close to Carlie’s ear. “You think I’m sex on a stick too, baby?”

She groaned. “Oh, you heard Savoy’s every word, didn’t you?”

“Yup.”

“Well,” she said demurely. “I’ll say this—you have a very big stick.”

He laughed, a deep, rich sound. Under the table, his hand closed over hers and squeezed, warm and strong. Carlie grinned to herself.

Then Jake’s hand slipped up to encircle her wrist, and hot, secret awareness jolted through her. He was cuffing her, claiming her. She stared down at the tablecloth that concealed their hands, pressing her thighs together to quell the hollow yearning there.

Jake leaned close, his warm breath stirring the hair at her temple. “Look at me, baby.”

The chattering voices of her coworkers and their dates faded to a babble in the background. Slowly, taking as much time as she dared, Carlie lifted her gaze, up over the breadth of crisp black-and-white cloth, following the gleaming studs in his shirt front, one, two, three to his firm chin, the wide curve of his mouth and higher, past the crease in his hard cheek that said he was holding back a smile, and finally up to meet his eyes.

She lost her breath at the adamant glitter in their depths. A look that said she would belong to him again, and soon. That she already did.

He squeezed her wrist, his grip gentle but firm. Finally he released her, his own gaze slipping down over her face to linger on her lips. She licked them nervously and his smile unleashed, the corner of his mouth kicking up. Oh, she was totally giving herself away, and, being an attentive dom, he wasn’t missing anything.

“All right, you two, it’s time to eat.” Savoy leaned in, standing between their chairs. “Unless you’d rather get a room. I hear they have them here.”

Carlie straightened with a jerk, her cheeks flaming. Jake merely stood, looming over Savoy, who stepped back, dark eyes wide.

“Thanks,” Jake said dryly. He gave Savoy a look that made his amusement clear, but also that he would not tolerate much more.

He gestured for Savoy and his date to go first, then pulled out Carlie’s chair for her. He set his hand on the small of her back as they walked toward the buffet line. That gentle, heated pressure occupied so much of Carlie’s consciousness, she barely managed to concentrate on holding the plate Jake handed her.

The dinner was delicious, prime rib and salmon, with a bounty of hot and cold dishes on the side. However, Carlie’s nervous excitement took a toll on her appetite.

Jake watched with a frown as she set her fork down with her plate still half-full. “You’re not eating much, baby.”

“I’m fine.” She sipped her wine. “Just not very hungry.”

He eyed her closely, then nodded, accepting if not approving. “Just don’t keep this up. Don’t want any of those sweet curves to disappear.”

Then he smirked at her, probably because she was gaping at him. This was the first time in her memory anyone had castigated her for eating too little. Well, the second, if she counted him telling her to eat her chicken at Zellaby’s.

“Did you see Gerry?” Gigi asked Carlie quietly when Jake had returned for a second helping from the buffet line.

Carlie shook her head.

Gigi smiled. “He was here. Disappeared when you and Captain America walked in. Wonder why?”

Carlie shrugged innocently.

“That’s what I thought,” Gigi purred with an appreciative look at Jake. Yikes, hadn’t taken her any longer to figure out it was Jake who hit Gerry than it had Savoy. Carlie wondered how many other people here were putting two and two together. From the warm look in Yvonne’s dark eyes when she looked at Jake, it wasn’t hurting his ratings. Of course, no one here but Carlie knew that Jake was also a man who liked to tie women up and do kinky things with them. That would raise some eyebrows.

Over chocolate mousse topped with white chocolate linked wedding rings, Martin rose and said a few words about his lovely wife and EbiTeck, thanked everyone for coming, and then it was time for a local band to play. They started mellow, but after a short break, pumped up into some classic rock and roll.

“You want to dance?” Jake asked.

“Sure,” she said, surprised.

He turned to her on the dance floor. “Didn’t know I could, did you?”