Too Far Gone (In Too Deep #2) (2 page)

Chapter Three

Lara

Days after the news came out, detectives made their rounds throughout Lyle and Sofie Winter’s social circle.  But they were bored, almost apologetic by the time they got to Jackson and me.

“We did see from phone records that Gabrielle often conversed with her parents’ friends.  We also noted a few flirtatious text exchanges between her and several of Mr. Winter’s friends and colleagues.  There were none between Gabrielle or Mr. Kinsley here,” the detective said to my surprise as he nodded at Jackson, “but we did see that Gabrielle used to message you, Miss Pierce.  About personal issues.  Boys she liked – in and out of school.”

I stared, recalling maybe a handful of texts she had sent me after a dinner a year ago, during which Sloane and I had played big sister and told her how to handle a crush. 

“Had she spoken to you since then about any boys or men who were angry with her? Maybe she rejected them or cheated on somebody?”

I stared into space as he mentioned cheating.  How had Jackson’s phone number not shown up at all? They’d spoken on the phone at
least
once before.  There was a voicemail to prove that. 
What the fuck?
I tried desperately to wrangle my thoughts and return to the real world, especially as two detectives stared me down in my own living room.  But it was dawning on me suddenly that Jackson should have looked guilty to these investigators awhile ago.  After all, he was the last number to appear in Gabrielle’s outgoing calls.

At least he should’ve been.

“Miss Pierce? Did you hear our question?”

My eyes fluttered up to the detectives.  “I’m sorry – yes, I heard.  But no, she hadn’t spoken to me about any boys since,” I answered hastily.

“Grasping at straws here,” I heard the younger detective mutter before they got up off our couch.  “Well, thank you for your time.  And if you do remember anything, please keep us informed.”

Jackson burst out laughing once were gone.  “Did you hear that? They were talking about where to get lunch the second they got into the elevator.  They don’t give two shits about Gabrielle.”

“And you find that funny?”

“No, babe.  I find
them
funny.  They’re idiots and they’re wasting all our time.  Now Caleb and I have three huge meetings to cram into two fucking hours because those clowns wanted to feel productive today,” he said bitterly.  But in an instant, he erased the sneer from his face and came closer to me, cupping my elbows.  “And I can see they’ve got my baby all rattled,” he murmured, kissing my forehead.  Instead of pulling away, I reminded myself that I needed to soften toward Jackson.

Or at least appear to.

I had no idea how I’d prove Jackson guilty but what I did know was that I had to have him trust me again.  Slowly but surely, I had to let him win me back and feel as if we could really talk again.  Perhaps I could ask him about the man he’d hired to break into our home.  Perhaps I could bring his guard down enough so that he didn’t take his phone into every room with him.  I didn’t know exactly what information I’d get from him and how, but I knew that it would be a million times easier if we were back on speaking terms.

So instead of shrink away, I let him kiss my forehead.  I even kicked it up a notch.  Looking up at him from under my lashes, I shyly took Jackson’s hand, his eyes gleaming with a mixture of surprise and excitement as my fingers entwined gently in his.

“Baby,” he breathed eagerly, stroking my cheek.  “Are you okay?”

“Just stressed out,” I whispered.  “This whole thing is just… overwhelming.”

“I know, but we’ll get through it.  You have me.  Regardless of what you think every time we fight, Lara, I’m here for you.  Everything I do is for you,” Jackson murmured, gazing intensely at me as he held my cheek.  “Do you understand that, baby?”

“Yes,” I swallowed, blinking wide eyes at him.  “I do.”

A slow grin spread his lips.  “Christ, I love those words coming from your mouth,” he hissed before pulling my rigid body in for a kiss. 
Do it,
I told myself, forcing my limbs to relax in his arms, willing my lips to soften against his and return the passion.  Relaxing my chest into Jackson’s, I parted my lips for his tongue and let him back me up against the wall.  There, he held my jaw and kissed me deeper and harder than ever, with a ragged hunger I’d never felt before. “Tell me we’re good again – are we good again?” His desperate question breathed hot into my mouth.

I wanted to spit it back.

But instead, I curled my fingers against the wall behind me, scratching brick as I nodded.  “Yes,” I answered just as the concierge phone rang at our door – Caleb waiting downstairs with the car.  I thanked God for the bailout as Jackson tore away from me cursing.

“Christ, I want to fuck you so bad right now,” he growled, cutting his eyes to his watch for a second before burying his face in my neck and groaning into my skin.  “I have to go.  I have to go,” he said, mostly to himself.

To my relief, he had his jacket and tie on in a flash.  But at the door, he grabbed me by the waist and grinned.  “All the crazy fucking drama’s making me think I deserve to pull the trigger.”

Startled, I blinked.  “The what?”

“For our trip,” Jackson replied lightly, referring to our annual Labor Day weekend in Easthampton.  “We always rent that same place so Caleb and I were thinking about going bigger this year.  Different house.  Oceanside.  Pool, tennis court, outdoor bar.  It’ll be the break we all need,” Jackson murmured, leaning in to kiss me.  When he pulled away, a naughty smirk twisted his lips.  “Plus, there’s the perfect master bedroom for us.  All you can see out the window is water.”  He ran his hand down my backside and pulled up the hem of my skirt.  “Not that we’ll be doing anything in there but fucking.”

I stared at the door as he grabbed a handful of my ass, groping hard as he trailed wet kisses along my neck. 
Yeah, no, Jackson,
I thought as I forced a soft giggle from my throat.
  Absolutely fucking not
.

Chapter
Four

Jake

It was my first year joining in on the annual Labor Day weekend in Easthampton so Sawyer gave me the rundown.  “Couples get the biggest bedrooms.  Single guys like you and me get last dibs, especially since single
girls
like Piper and her friends get priority before us,” he said as we both stood holding beers in the foyer, planted next to our suitcases and waiting for Piper and her friend, Gia, to finish picking their room.  “Speaking of those two, I call dibs on Gia.  Something about that accent, man.  I don’t know where she’s from but I want to hear her say my name.”

“Alright, Sawyer.”

“I mean not in a sexual way.  Though also, in a sexual way.”

I laughed.  “Yeah, well, she’s all yours.”

“Right, you’ve already got your girl.”  He tapped his bottle against mine.

“She’s pretty forward but I wouldn’t call Piper my girl,” I said, lowering my voice as she and Gia came bouncing down the stairs.  Sawyer eyed me as he swigged his beer.

“Yeah, man, I wasn’t talking about her,” he said knowingly before snaking a smooth arm around Gia’s waist and escorting her into the next room.  As hot as Piper looked coming toward me in a red bikini top and the shortest shorts I’d ever seen in my life, I could hardly pay attention.

It was dawning on me suddenly that Sawyer knew that I was sleeping with my brother’s fiancé.

“Hey, you.”  Piper jabbed a finger into my chest.  “So.  Whatever’s on your mind, I want you to stop thinking about it,” she murmured, a devilish grin on her lips as she lifted my T-shirt and ran her hands over my abs.  “’Cause we’re on vacation, I’m wearing my new swimsuit and there’s a very big pool that you should be watching me splash around in right now.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.  And now that we’re all trapped in this house for the weekend and Sawyer has obviously claimed Gia, I’m kind of hoping you’ll do something besides give me that sexy fucking smile when I basically throw myself at you,” Piper grinned, running the tip of her tongue across her lower lip.  “’Cause if you need it spelled out, Jacob Kinsley, I’ve been hoping to see you naked since you got into New York.  And since it’s never taken this long for me to get a guy in my pants, here’s a little head start for you to make a move.”  My eyebrows shot halfway to my hairline as Piper lifted the triangles of her bikini to flash me her breasts. 
Fuck
, I cursed myself as I felt my eyes instinctively linger.  “Thought you’d like them,” she simpered, taking my hands and clamping them over her chest.  Tightening her fingers around me, she made me squeeze her.  Hard.  “Mmm
. 
That was nice,” she closed her eyes and purred before tossing my hands off her body and covering herself back up.  “Now come with me to the pool.  My tits look a thousand times better when they’re wet.”

I watched her go.  I knew it was a blow to her ego but I didn’t follow.  I could hear voices coming from outside the door – Jackson and Caleb, which meant Lara and Sloane weren’t far behind.

“’Sup, brother,” Caleb greeted me hastily the second he got in.  He was halfway up the stairs by the time Jackson burst in, chasing him and swinging a leather duffel.

“You fuckin’ fuck, you can’t claim a room without putting your luggage down!”

“God, they’re fighting over the biggest room,” Sloane groaned as she came in and kissed my cheek.  “Jake, darling, can you help Lara carry the suitcase that Jackson dropped because he’s an immature child? I’d help but my arms aren’t strong enough to hold anything but a drink,” she said before disappearing into the kitchen.

But before I could even go outside to help, Lara came through the front door in a tan sundress, the sunlight behind her beaming against her glowing skin like a halo. I stood back and watched her as she pulled a large suitcase into the house, shaking her long hair out of her eyes.  When she finally looked up, a mischievous smile curved her pink lips and suddenly, my need to touch her jumped through the fucking roof.

“Hi,” I smiled.

“Hey there, dirty boy,” she said with a teasing lilt in her voice.  Somehow, the sound alone got me hard.

I laughed as I watched her almond eyes scan the room for anyone within earshot.  “Excuse me?”

“I saw what you did through the window.  Groping the living hell out of Piper Rocha.”

“Is that what I was doing? If I’m not mistaken, she flashed me and then put my hands on her.”

Lara smirked.  “But you enjoyed it.”

“Are you jealous?” I teased.

“Irrationally so, yes.”

“Well, I’d be happy to even things out.” Closing the gap between us, my eyes dipped down to her breasts.  A white bikini top held them underneath her dress. It took all the strength in my body to resist from ripping everything off and running my tongue over every inch of her body.

“Jake, don’t look at me like that,” she scolded playfully.  “Not here.”

“I can’t help it.  I haven’t stopped thinking about you all week.”

She bit her lip back.  “Same here, believe me,” she whispered, drawing in a deep breath.  “Every night, every morning. I wish it was you next to me.”

I muffled a groan with the end of my fist.  “And you look so fucking gorgeous right now, it’s killing me.”  I watched the strap on her sundress fall as she nervously tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.  My fingertips savored every stroke against her warm skin as I pulled it back up, making her shudder.

“Jake,” she whispered nervously.  “Everyone is here.  And now is not the time to let Jackson see us like this.  Not when we’re both trying to get closer to him again.”

“I know,” I sucked a breath between my teeth as I watched her.  Her breath was jagged now.  I could tell from the way her chest rose and fell under her dress, over and over, her breasts straining hard against its stretchy fabric and driving me fucking insane.  At this point, my gaze was so heavy on her that it would’ve been impossible to tear away if Jackson walked right into the room.  “Christ, I don’t know how I’m going to survive this weekend.  You have no idea how fucking bad I want to touch you right now.”

“I want it too.”  Her whisper was half-moan. 
Fuck me
.  That pained sound coming from her lips was the most torturous pleasure I’d ever heard.  The groan that rumbled from my chest only made her whimper.  She touched the corner of her eye.  “I miss you,” she finally whispered.  “I just want to feel you again,” she surrendered, losing it.  She sounded so pitiful that I nearly swept her straight into my arms.  But in this full fucking house, that was the last thing I could do.  “I know it’s only been a week since we were at your apartment but it’s felt like a thousand times longer and it hurts so bad when I can see you but I can’t touch you.”  She closed her eyes.  “I just want to feel you again.”

“Lara – ”

“Just touch me right now,” she breathed desperately.

I put my hands on her, cupping her neck, pressing her to the wall.  She melted right into me, the sweetest relief sighing from her mouth into mine.  But I tasted her lips for barely a second before Piper’s voice rang out.

“Jacob Kinsley!”

Lara exhaled torment as I jerked away.

“Oh, hello.”  A dripping wet Piper smiled at Lara when she returned to the foyer, leaning in to kiss her cheek.  “Don’t mind me, I was just coming here to fetch your asshole brother-in-law,” she drawled, narrowing her lake blue eyes at me before darting them back to Lara.  “Look away, doll.  The singles are at play,” she said, wrapping my arms around her waist and pushing my hands down to her ass.  Rubbing up against me, I knew she could feel my hard cock under my jeans.  “Jesus,” she breathed in awe before resuming her vixen voice.  “Sweetie, there are a lot of things I can do to help you with that,” she whispered just as Jackson came back downstairs to announce his victory in claiming the master bedroom.

I could see the need still blooming in Lara’s cheeks as Piper dragged me toward the French doors.  Like a masochist, I looked over my shoulder as Jackson went to her, smoothing his palm over her ass and giving it a squeeze so hard it jerked her whole body.  I could hear him telling her to take her dress off before joining us outside.

“Man, if you don’t hit that at least twice a day this weekend, I’m disowning you,” he joked, nodding at Piper when he took the poolside seat next to mine.

Despite feeling my heart slam against my ribs with every beat, I managed to give him a laugh.  And despite every muscle in my body aching to touch Lara, I sat back and let Piper straddle me, her wet hair dripping onto my chest as she whispered a million things in my ear that I couldn’t hear over the question I couldn’t stop asking myself. 
How the fuck am I going to survive this weekend?