Hard as Stone (Passion in Paradise: The Men of the McKinnnon Sisters) (26 page)

“I think you do
know, you’re just avoiding talking about something that makes you
uncomfortable,” Jacob countered, crossing his arms over his chest as he faced
her.  “I bought a house in Paradise, Harmony, because I wanted to be near you. 
It would be kinda hard to deepen a relationship with somebody that called
Atlanta home, wouldn’t it?  I plan for you and Heaven to be spending a lot of
time here.  The house should reflect everybody’s taste, not just mine.”

Harmony’s heart
warmed as she realized that he was making an effort to include both her and her
daughter in his life.  “You’re right.  I guess it was just a surprise to hear
you referring to something as ours even if it was something as abstract as
style.”

“Get used to it,”
Jacob recommended softly.  “We’re in this together, Harmony.  We’ve been
together for some weeks now.  You, me, and Heaven.  That isn’t going to
change.  Especially after tonight.”

Harmony shivered at
the whisper of dark, erotic promise she heard in his voice.  “So, you don’t
mind me making arrangements for an overnight sleepover for Heaven,” she
surmised with a mischievous smile.

“Not at all,” Jacob
replied as he moved toward her.  “Although, I didn’t just bust my ass putting
down pink carpet in the upstairs bedroom for no reason.  Eventually, Heaven is
going to use that bedroom, but I’m pretty sure she’d appreciate having a bed in
it first.  I’ll take care of that this week.  She and I can go pick out one
that she likes while you’re working one afternoon.  You’ve got a planning
meeting for the Baker wedding on Wednesday, don’t you?  And while we’re on the
subject of Heaven, she told me that she wants a puppy.  I’m thinking German
Shepherd but I’ll compromise on a chocolate Lab if you insist,” he informed her
graciously as he looped his arms around her waist and tugged her against his
lean body.

Wait.  What? 
Harmony blinked up into Jake’s thoughtful face.  Maybe she hadn’t heard all
that correctly.  “Would you repeat that?” she asked, staring at him as she
tried to process the words he’d just uttered.  Pink carpet
and
a puppy? 
No, she had to have misunderstood him somewhere along the way.  He couldn’t
have just said that not only had he chosen a pink carpet for a room he’d
already labeled as her daughter’s, but that he intended to obtain a pet for her
as well.  Had she somehow hit the fast forward button on her life?  When had
everything begun moving at warp speed?  Not that she necessarily minded the
thought of things moving forward with Jake, but had she missed an important
relationship memo?

“Which part?” Jacob
asked easily, running his hands over the firm swell of her bottom as he dropped
a kiss against the side of her neck.

Uhmmm, all of it,”
Harmony breathed, twisting her head to the side to allow his lips better access
to his skin.  “Let’s start with the pink carpet.”

“Heaven picked it
out last week on one of the afternoons I picked her up from daycare.  Tuesday,
I think.  You were working on the Barlow’s anniversary party,” he informed her
between gentle nips to the column of her throat.  “She was torn between purple
and pink.  She chose the pink in the end… mostly because it matched all her
Barbie’s clothes,” he said as though it were a reasonable argument.

“Jake,” Harmony
groaned, placing a hand on his chest and shoving gently.  “You don’t put
decorating decisions in the hands of a four-year-old girl.”

“First, she’ll be
five in a couple of months.  Second, why
wouldn’t
I let her choose? 
It’s gonna be
her
room.”

“When she’s here,
sure,” Harmony replied, shaking her head to clear the cobwebs.  “But when she’s
not, you might want to use that room for something else.  Are you gonna want to
be in that room if it has
pink
carpeting?  The same goes for getting her
a dog.  It’s all fun and games for her when she’s here, but
you
are left
with the responsibility of an animal at the end of the day.”

Jake’s hands froze
in their exploration as he drew back enough to give her a hard look filled with
equal parts irritation and displeasure.  “You’re completely missing it, aren’t
you?  I’m not sure if you’re doing it on purpose or not, but I gotta say it’s
pissing me way the hell off right now,” he warned, tightening his fingers on
her hips before he lifted her body to plant her ass on the kitchen counter,
bringing them eye to eye.

Clutching his
shoulders as she found her balance, Harmony met Jake’s glare with one of her
own.  “I’m pissing you off?  Why?  For pointing out the obvious?”

“For not seeing
that I plan for both you
and
Heaven to be spending a lot of time here
once this place is completely furnished.  And by a lot, I mean
all
of
it, Harmony,” he growled, bracing a fist on either side of her thighs as he
leaned toward her.  “I don’t want a part-time relationship.  I want a full time
partnership.  That means I’m going to want you living here.”

Harmony’s eyes
widened.  “You barely know me.  You can’t be suggesting…”

“I know you,” Jacob
retorted angrily.  “I know what I’m saying scares you.  I know the thought of
sharing your life with me terrifies the hell out of you.  I know you’ve been burned
before.  That’s why I’ve been moving slow and careful with you, but I’m not
getting any younger, Harmony.  I want a home.  I want a family.  And I want
those things with you and Heaven.”

Harmony’s eyebrows
lifted in surprise.  “You call that slow and careful,” she all but yelped at
him, shoving at his broad shoulders as she tried to scoot off the counter. 
“You’re about as tactful as a whore in Sunday School, Jacob Stone!”

Stepping between
her spread legs, Jake held her squirming body still as he fought not to laugh
at her theatrics.  “Calm down and settle,” he ordered against her temple,
holding her firmly against him.

“I could have
gotten on board with the pink carpet.  I might even have been able to wrap my
mind around a puppy.  Maybe!” she railed, smacking his arm as she spat each
sentence. “But dropping the bomb that you want me and my daughter to move in
with you just takes the cake!”  Jerking her gaze to him as she heard a low
chuckle escape his mouth, she shook her head furiously.  “Are you laughin’ at
me?  Trust me, I don’t find any of this funny, Jake!”

“I’m not laughin’
at
you, darlin’.  I’m just a little amused at our situation.  See, I thought
I’d been real clear from the outset about what I wanted.  Are you honestly
gonna tell me that this is a surprise, babe?” he asked, capturing her frantic
eyes with his and holding them.  “Look me in the eye and tell me that you
didn’t realize that I was in this for the long haul.  I told you weeks ago that
I was staying in Paradise because of
you
, Harmony.  And in the last
month, I’ve gotten as wrapped up in Heaven as I am in her momma.  Where the
fuck did you think this was going?”

“I don’t know!”
Harmony exploded in a burst of temper.  Seriously, this is
not
the
conversation she’d seen happening tonight.  “Tonight, I’d hoped that it was
leading to the bedroom, but I hadn’t thought too far beyond that.”  Really,
she’d
just
finally worked up the courage to get intimate with a man
again after years of celibacy, and now he wanted
more
? 

“Oh, the bedroom is
definitely our destination for the evening, sweetheart,” he agreed with a slow,
wicked grin.  “But a night stolen here and there isn’t gonna satisfy me,
Harmony.  I’m a selfish bastard. I want everything you’ve got to give me.  Your
beautiful body is only part of that.  Oh, it’s a gorgeous piece, but I want the
heart and mind, too. ”

“Jesus, Jake,”
Harmony muttered weakly, her head falling against his shoulder as she sagged
against him.  “It’s all or nothing with you, isn’t it?”

“Told ya, baby. 
I’m a selfish bastard,” he whispered, wrapping his arms around her.  “The good
news is that I’m
your
selfish bastard.  Yours and Heaven’s.  And I’ll do
whatever I need to do to keep you both safe and protected and to make sure you
never doubt that you’re both loved and wanted.”

“I don’t know
anything about you,” she whispered into his neck as her heart did a tap dance
in her chest.  What Zeke had said earlier in the day resonated in her brain. 
None of them really knew
anything
about Jake.  She didn’t know if he’d
ever been married or if he had any allergies or if he slept on the right or
left side of the bed, for God’s sake.  How the hell could she even consider
living with a man she knew next to nothing about?  How could that ever work
between them?

He tilted his head
for a second, then said, “No, I’ve never been married, I don’t have any
allergies that I know about, and I sleep on whichever side is closest to the
door.”

Closing her eyes,
Harmony grimaced and burrowed her face against the space between his neck and
shoulder.  His familiar woodsy scent mixed with sweat and man comforted her,
relaxing a little of the tension that hand taken up residence in her back.   “I
said all that out loud?” she asked in a tiny voice.

“You did,” he
acknowledged against her ear.  “And to answer your last question, this thing
will work between us because I won’t let it
not
work.  We’ll find our
way a day at a time, darlin’, but we
will
find it.”

“Jake, I’m not
sure…”

“Do you feel safe
with me, Harmony?” Jake asked bluntly, cutting off her doubts with a question
that cut straight through the bullshit to the heart of the matter.  “Tell me.  Right
here, right now, in this moment, do you feel safe sitting here in my arms?”

Lifting her head to
stare into the dark depths of his eyes, Harmony swallowed.  Did she trust him? 
It was a complicated question, but she knew instinctively that Jake wouldn’t
see it that way.  For him, the answer would involve a simple yes or no.

Nothing was ever
that easy for her.  Not after the mistakes she’d already made in her life.

Truthfully, yes, in
this moment, she did feel entirely safe with him, but she couldn’t deny that
there were a lot of unknowns when it came to Jacob Stone.  Her parents had
taught her and all her sisters to always go with their guts and trust their
instincts.  She’d ignored that advice once and ended up married to a complete
asshole.  When she looked back on her life with Tanner, she’d always known he
was broken in a way she’d never be able to fix, but she’d ignored those
feelings and dove headfirst into a marriage she wasn’t ready to be in.  She’d
refused to acknowledge those doubts she’d had about him.  She’d buried her head
in the sand and paid a heavy price for that stupidity.

Now, everything
about Jake felt completely right, but she was afraid to trust those feelings,
terrified that it would lead her down an ugly path again – only this time,
she’d be dragging a completely innocent passenger along the road with her.  Did
she dare take that chance when both her and her daughter’s hearts were at risk?

As if he could read
her mind, she felt his hand slide against her jaw.  “Don’t get us confused,
darlin’.  I am
not
the man that hurt you all those years ago.  Don’t
make me pay for his mistakes.  I’m askin’ you, do you feel safe with
me
?”

“Yes,” she whispered
huskily.  “I feel safe with you, Jacob.  Safer than I’ve ever felt with anybody
in my life.  But, that scares me.”

“Don’t be scared, Sweetness. 
It’s good,” he murmured, capturing her lips for a kiss filled with sweet, hot
promise.  “I want you to let that feeling soak into you because you’re always
gonna be safe.  You and Heaven.  I’m gonna keep you that way.  I want you to
concentrate on that, Harmony, because it’s a promise from me to you.  I know
you want answers to questions you haven’t asked yet, and I’ll give them to
you.  I swear, I’ll answer each one of them in as much detail as you want. 
Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” she
echoed him, tilting her head to the side as she drew back an inch.  “Why
tomorrow?  Why not now?”

“Because tonight is
for us.  It’s ours.  Just you and me with nothing between us.  Tomorrow
morning, I’ve got some business to handle, but when I get back, you and I can
sit down and I’ll tell you anything you want to know about me.  Tonight,
though, no questions.  Tonight, we focus on what we feel, Harmony.  And I plan
on you feelin’ an awful lot, darlin’.  I swear it’ll be good between us.  You
know that because it’s
already
good between us,” he promised against her
ear, his voice gravelly with his need for her.  “I’m gonna love you long and
slow.  Sweet and so deep, baby, that when it’s over you’ll feel like I’m a
permanent part of you.  You’re gonna feel so much that all those questions
you’ve got won’t matter because all the answers will be in my touch.  Now, tell
me, can you do that for me?  Can you let me answer all those nagging questions you
have right now with my mouth and my lips?  My hands and my cock?  Can you be my
patient, sweet girl just a little while longer?” he asked, punctuating each
question with tiny, whisper light kisses against her cheek…her chin… her neck. 
“Can you trust me that much, Harmony?”

Harmony held her
breath as his low, deep voice caressed her and his request hung in the air. 
Then, she took the biggest leap of faith she’d ever taken.