Hard as Stone (Passion in Paradise: The Men of the McKinnnon Sisters) (11 page)

Glancing around,
Jacob shrugged. “It’s got a few old-fashioned touches that I could live without
having.”

“Really?  Like
what?” Harmony questioned, turning her head to glance up at him.

“Well, the skeleton
key that came with this place is just an open invitation to a robber.  And I
haven’t quite figured out yet how I’m supposed to cram my 6’4” ass into that
tub in the bathroom,” he informed her with a low chuckle.

“Are you kidding? 
I think that tub is one of the best parts to this place,” Harmony returned with
a disapproving look.

“Well, since you
aren’t bigger than a minute, that tub would swallow you whole.  Me, on the
other hand,… ” he trailed off, gesturing at his long frame. “Let’s just say it
leaves something to be desired.  Thankfully, Mr. Hobbs didn’t mind the idea of
me attaching a shower to the tub.”  Letting out a sigh, he settled them both
deeper into the sofa.  “But on the whole, I agree with you.  I’ve enjoyed
staying here.  Besides, after staying a week at the Paradise Lodge in town,
this place feels like the Ritz.  I don’t think the owners of that motel have
upgraded the rooms since Carter was in office.  It still had shag carpets and a
lime green comforter on the bed.  Hell, there was a slot for quarters in the
headboard if you wanted the mattress to vibrate for Christ’s sake,” he revealed
with a shudder.

“Well, every town
has the requisite no-tell motel.  You got a firsthand view of ours up close and
personal.  Most traveling folks stay at the Holiday Inn they built right off
the interstate,” she explained with a grin.

“Then thank God I
decided against shining a black light on the mattress,” he muttered with a look
of disgust. 

“That probably
would have sent you screaming toward the door,” Harmony agreed with a nod,
before waving her hand around the room.  “You did much better finding this place.”

Jake watched her
face closely.  “Well, this place is only temporary.”

Harmony’s eyes
widened as her lips parted in surprise.  “Oh?  Is your vacation over already? 
Are you heading back for Atlanta soon?” she asked, feeling a sense of
disappointment at the thought of him leaving.  It wasn’t as if she’d imagined
this date really going anywhere, but she couldn’t deny that she’d enjoyed
spending time with Jake over the last month.  She liked having him as a friend
and had hoped that once he viewed the real estate properties the area had to
offer that he might settle here and open the security business he’d spoken of
in passing.  She would have liked seeing him around Paradise on a regular basis
a lot more than she was prepared to admit out loud.  Already, in the short
weeks she’d known him, she’d grown used to seeing his friendly face sitting in
her station day after day at the café.  Not seeing him at all would...would...well,
it would suck.  The thought of him leaving Paradise for good cued an empty ache
in her belly that she hadn’t been prepared to feel.

Her nervous energy
was obvious, especially to a trained eye like his.  After spending the last few
weeks watching her, he knew anxiety, Harmony style, when he saw it.  Her
biggest tell was in full swing right now.  She was twisting that mother’s ring
she wore on her left hand with enough force that he was worried she’d tear her
delicate skin.  Rubbing his fingers against the edge of the silky blue
dress, he asked, “Would it bother you if I left, Harmony?”

The shiver that
slid down her spine as his fingers traced a nerve-racking pattern against the
skin just above her knee was almost her undoing.  Shifting slightly,
Harmony whispered, “I don’t know.  There’s a lot of things on my mind
right now.”

“As long as I’m one
of those things, I can wait for the answer,” he responded, his fingers cupping
her smooth neck and turning her head to face him.  “Would it help you to
know that I’m thinking about sticking around for a while?”

“You’re going to
make Paradise your home?” she asked, her eyes widening in full surprise as she
turned fully, her body perpendicular to his on the sofa.  Why did that
simple thought make her happy, she asked herself as she watched his forehead
crinkle.  Don’t get attached to this man, her inner voice warned darkly,
visions from her past flying in her mind.  How many times had she trusted
Tanner only to have him make a fool of her?   But then another voice – that
sounded suspiciously like her sister Patience – yelled out for her to seize the
moment…and seize that man.

Watching as an
unnamed emotion flashed in her eyes, Jake chuckled as he stroked her supple
neck.  “Yeah.  Old Man Simmons gave up the deed on his old homeplace and
accepted the offer I made on the house and the land.  When I showed up with the
check today, he was happy to take my money.  It needs some work, but you
were right when you said it would make a gorgeous home a few weeks back.  When
I took a look at it, I could see myself being real happy there.  So, I guess
the fine, upstanding citizens of Paradise are gonna be stuck with me for a good
long while.”

“Why here? 
Why Paradise, Jake?”  she blurted out suddenly, the bold question more
than she could contain.  Part of her wanted to just revel in the moment
and enjoy the fact that he’d decided to stay here….but the much more cautious
part of her… the part of her that had been burned in the past… won out and
asked the question that had been bothering her for weeks.  What the hell about
the place she called home attracted a man like him?  Answers surrounding
questions about the mystery that was Jacob Stone had been in short supply, and
before she even entertained the notion of something developing between them,
she needed to know more about him.

A whole lot more.

“Why here? 
Why Paradise, Jake?”

 Oh, now that was a
loaded question that she asked him.  There were so many things he wanted
to share with this woman.  He wanted to be entirely honest and tell her about what
had brought him to Paradise - and to her doorstep, - but more than he wanted that,
first, he needed her to trust him.  He needed her to know that she could
rely on him and understand that this desire he felt for her wasn’t going
anywhere. 

From the moment
he’d laid eyes on her nearly a month ago, he had wanted her with an intensity
he’d never felt before.  Nothing had changed since then. But how did he tell
her that without sending her screaming into the night?

“Let’s just say
that I think I’ve found what I’m looking for,” he replied instead, burying his
fingers in her gorgeous thick hair. 

Her brilliant blue eyes
met his again, and he felt a twitch in his groin as his body responded to the
sheer beauty in front of him.  A mere second later before he could talk
himself out of it, he had captured her lips, plundering her surprised mouth
with his tongue.

Harmony gasped as
she found herself suddenly swept fully against him, his arm tightly pulling her
closer and his lips taking command of hers.  Rather than being scared at
the shift in control, she felt something akin to desire snaking through her as
her tongue slid tentatively against his.  In all of her time with her
ex-husband, she wasn’t sure that she had ever experienced something like this…a
fire that was building in the pit of her stomach and moving at lightning speed
to overtake her entire body just at the touch of his lips against hers.

“You know, you’re
really good at saying a lot, but never really telling me anything at all,” Harmony
muttered when he finally released her lips a moment later and lifted his head
to stare into her turbulent eyes.  “And while that kiss was a nice distraction,
I still want an answer to my question.  What made you decide to pick Paradise
to settle down?” she asked, scooting away from him on the couch and putting
some much needed distance between her and his lethal lips.

“I already answered
that question, Harmony,” Jake returned calmly, meeting her gaze with a steady
look.  “I found something I’ve been looking for here.  You.”

Shaking her head,
Harmony went into automatic denial, holding a hand up between them when he
would have moved in to steal another kiss. She needed much more than his sudden
declaration of need before she could trust.  “Then you’ve really chosen the
wrong place, Jake, if I’m what’s keepin’ you here.  I’m not looking for a
relationship.  Not with you.  Not with anybody.  This dinner tonight is a
fluke.  I don’t date.  I don’t plan on dating in the future.”

“Yeah, you
mentioned that,” Jake snorted, keeping his eyes trained on her paling face. 
“Care to cut through all the bullshit excuses you hand out for that and tell me
why that really is?” he invited her silkily even though his query was more of a
demand than a request.  “A pretty girl like you that acts the way you do…that
looks
the way you do… let’s just say that I know that you’re alone by choice, darlin’,
not design.  Why is that?”

“I…” Harmony
floundered, her eyes flying from his face to the door as if she was looking for
her quickest escape route.

“And while we’re on
the subject, maybe you’d explain why it is that every time I do something nice
for you, you get this look in your eyes like you’ve been sucker punched.  Gotta
admit, I love starin’ into those blue eyes of yours, but those storm clouds you
got behind your gaze are beginnin’ to worry the hell out of me.”

“Th-then stop
starin’ at me.  And stop kissing me, while you’re at it,” Harmony ordered,
glaring at him when he laughed. 

“Yeah, that won’t
be happenin’ any time soon, sweetheart.  I like who I’m lookin’ at way too much
to give up my new favorite pastime of starin’ at her.  And as for kissin’ you,
I’ll stop doin’ that when you don’t kiss me back.  Not a second before.  I like
your sweet taste, Harmony.  Won’t apologize for that, either.  You taste good,
baby.  Pure, innocent, but so damn fine that it makes my dick ache.   And just
so you and I are real clear with each other, you should know that I’ll be
waitin’ for my next chance to take a drink from those pink lips of yours, and
I’ll be stealin’ those kisses from you every chance I get.”

Harmony was slack
jawed by the time he finished speaking.  “I think it’s time for you to take me
home,” she finally managed to spit out as she bolted to her unsteady feet.

“I disagree, and
since I’ve got the truck keys, I get the deciding vote here,” Jacob denied,
catching her slim wrist in a gentle, but unbreakable grip and pulling her back
down beside him.  “First, we talk, Harmony.  Then, if you’re a good girl and
tell me what I wanna know, I’ll take you home.  Later.  Much later.”

“You mean that you
want
me
to talk, don’t you, Jake?  This
is
the part where you
want me to share my deep, dark secrets, right?” she snapped irritably as she
tried to jerk her arm away from him.  “Even though you don’t share anything of
consequence with me,” she added under her breath.  “How the hell is that fair?”

“I didn’t say it
was fair, but the things that I haven’t shared with you yet aren’t keepin’ us
from getting to know each other better, Harmony.  You can’t say the same, can
you?” he asked evenly.  When she remained coldly silent, he smiled.  “I didn’t
think so.  See, the things you don’t talk about are the same things that keep
you from letting me or anybody else get close to you.”

She turned her face
away from him to stare out the window.  “I don’t like talking about my past. 
It’s nobody’s business but my own.”

“Well, like it or
not, now I’m making it my business, too, babe.  I’ve already figured out that
somebody burned you pretty badly and that those scars run deep.  It’s why you
refuse to let any man become more than a passing acquaintance.  Start by
telling me about the guy that did that to you,” he suggested quietly, stroking
his thumb against the back of her wrist.  He could feel her pulse throbbing in
a quick staccato beat that let him know just how much she didn’t want to have
this discussion.  “C’mon, darlin’,” he cajoled gently.  “You’ll feel better if
you share the burden with somebody.  I’ve got strong shoulders.  Lay it on me.”

Harmony remained
stubbornly silent for several long minutes until she realized that the man that
still had his hand wrapped around her wrist was just as strong willed as she
was.  He was going to wait her out until he got the answers he wanted, damn
him.  And in that moment, she felt something break inside...something deep that
told her that perhaps letting him inside wasn’t as bad as she thought it would
be.  And in spite of his caveman tendencies, she realized that she didn’t fear
him.  Rather, she trusted him.  When it became clear that he wasn’t going to
release her arm, she muttered, “It’s an unoriginal story that I’m sure you’ve
already heard a thousand times before me, Jake.  Honestly, since you’ve been in
town more than five minutes, I’m pretty sure you already know most of it anyway.”

“Tell me about it anyway,
Harmony.  I want to hear your account of what happened.  Who put those shadows
in your eyes, sweetheart?” he asked as he slowly drew her against his body. 

“You already know
my ex-husband did that, Jake.  Everybody knows it.  It’s old news,” Harmony
replied through lips that barely moved as her stomach rolled and she shifted
away from him.   Any time she remembered the years she’d spent with Tanner
Suarez, this was the reaction it produced.  And she had no doubt that half the
town had already filled Jake’s mind with her sordid past.