JakesWildBride (17 page)

The doorbell rang.

“Oh my gosh.”

“We’re cursed.”

She giggled.

“We’re fresh out of ex-fiancées. I wonder who it could be?” he said with resignation.

“We could pretend we aren’t home.”

“They probably heard you scream.” He teased.

“They couldn’t possibly....”

“The windows are open.”

“Oh my gosh.” Lilah crossed her arms over her breasts and looked around with a wild look in her ocean blue eyes.

Miss Priss was back.

Lilah frantically pulled her dress back over her breasts and shoved the buttons back into their holes. "This is getting to be ridiculous," she murmured. "I've never had this problem before."

“Good thing we didn’t take all our clothes off.” Jake grinned at her. In that moment, he looked happy.

She softened. The bell rang again.

Lilah flushed wildly and hopped off the island. She smoothed down her hair as she walked to the door.

The bell rang again.

Jake followed her. “Doesn’t anyone in this town call before they come over?”

Lilah opened the door. Peggy stood there, her finger on the bell ready to push again.

“Peggy! How lovely to see you.”

Jake came up and put his hand on Lilah’s shoulder, squeezing gently.

“What’s wrong?” Peggy asked sharply. “What did he do to you?”

Lilah patted her hair, then slid her hand down her dress. Had she not buttoned her dress properly?

“You’ve been crying,” Peggy accused. “You never cry.”

“I’m the anti-Christ again,” Jake whispered in her ear.

Lilah ignored him. “Won’t you come in?”

“What’s he done to you?” Peggy glared at Jake.

Lilah understood that Peggy had something against Jake. But still, to assume he had hurt her just wasn’t right. “Jake wouldn’t hurt me.”

Peggy looked suspiciously between the two of them.

“My Gosh, you look like you think he brainwashed me or something.” Or something. Lilah turned to look at Jake. He was turning her into a sex slave. Lilah smiled lazily. She liked it.

Jake looked at her and she let her feelings show. She stared into his eyes for another moment. She’d been cheated out of her after sex, afterglow three times in a row.

“You want me to leave you two alone?” Jake broke her gaze, and gave her shoulder another squeeze. His hand was heavy and solid against her.

“Yes,” Peggy snapped.

Jake waited for Lilah’s assent. Based on the way Peggy was acting, that was probably a good idea. Lilah nodded. “Please.”

Jake sauntered up the stairs. “Call if you need me.”

Lilah smiled slightly. He was always looking out for her. He’d offered to stay even though it was obvious that Peggy hated his guts.

Lilah watched him go, admiring the stretch of denim against his buttocks. Oh my. He had a prime body. She fluttered a hand over her face. “Is it hot in here?”

“Only between you two,” Peggy said disgustedly.

“How about a glass of lemonade?” Lilah said brightly.

Peggy waddled toward the kitchen table. “Sounds good.”

Lilah hadn’t really thought about the wisdom of going into the kitchen until she paused in the doorway. She kept her eyes averted from the island in the center of the room.

“So what brings you here?”

“I came to check on you.” Peggy lowered herself gingerly into one of the padded wicker chairs at the kitchen table. And suddenly Lilah wasn't embarrassed.

She stared at Peggy’s hugely rounded stomach. Oh, how she wanted to be big like an award-winning pumpkin one day. Maybe it had taken her a day or two to realize how much she wanted this baby but she did now. The urge to rub her stomach was overwhelming. But instead, Lilah brought the lemonade to the table and slumped down into a chair.

“I’m...fine.”

“You sound fine, liar.” Peggy gulped down some lemonade. “What’s wrong?”

When Lilah didn’t answer, Peggy said fiercely, “Don’t let him hurt you.”

“Hurt me?” Lilah frowned. “What do you have against Jake?”

Peggy hesitated.

Lilah felt the need to defend him. “Jake has been wonderful, Peggy. I owe him so much.”

“Stop that. He’s trouble.”

“He is not.”

“He is.”

Peggy looked so distressed that Lilah said, “Forget it. This isn’t worth upsetting you over.”

Peggy relaxed. “You’re right. After all, in a few days he’ll be gone forever.”

Lilah started with guilt.
Maybe not
.

“Lilah?”

She didn’t say anything. Just because she was positive she was pregnant wasn’t enough proof to go telling anyone about it.

“Jake is leaving soon. Right?”

Lilah bit her lip.

“Oh Lilah, you can’t let him stay. He only wants to hurt Tom. I know it.”

“What?” Surprise had Lilah lifting her head. She certainly hadn't expected that.

“I didn’t want to tell you about this but--” Peggy stood dramatically. “you’ve left me no choice.”

Lilah figured she was better off staying silent.

“I dated Tom when he was in high school. Did you know that?” Peggy prowled around the little family room attached to the kitchen.

“Uh, no.”

“Well I did. He was a sophomore and I was in eighth grade.”

“What does this have to do with Jake?”

“One night--” Peggy looked as if she were going to start crying. Then, she let the words out in a rush. “I cheated on Tom.”

“With Jake?” Lilah was shocked. Then another thought occurred to her. “You were having, you know, with Tom in eighth grade?”

“No silly.”

“So then you and Jake didn’t….”

“No! We just kiss--"

”On second thought, don’t go into details.” Jealousy ate at her. Jake had kissed Peggy.

“Do you still want to be friends with me?” Peggy asked in a small voice.

“Of course. Why would you ask that?”

Peggy rubbed her back slowly. “Sometimes you have such impossibly high standards that I’m afraid if I do something wrong, you won’t be my friend anymore.”

“Truly?”

“You’re so good all the time. You never cuss, you never say bad things about people, you’re kind to everyone.”

Lilah said dazedly, “I struggle every day to be proper and not wild.” To be proper like her daddy and aunt had always preached.

“Lilah you are so far from wild, it’s laughable.”

Lilah tried to take everything in. “What about getting married to Jake?”

“Well, there I think you snapped. But it was kind of nice to realize that you’re human too.”

Peggy waddled back over to the island. She had no idea how human.

“Even so, everyone knows it’s Jake’s fault.”

“It’s not Jake’s fault,” Lilah said sharply.

“Don’t you see? It’s just like high school.”

Lilah wasn’t sure how this was like high school, but she figured Peggy would get to the point in a moment.

“Jake only married you to take you away from Tom.”

“Peggy that is so far from the truth. He is a nice guy.”

She shook her head, with conviction. “No, he isn’t.”

“So what happened after that night?” Lilah asked casually.

“Hmmm? Oh, Jake left town about a week later. And I broke up with Tom. I just didn’t feel right after.”

“So Jake left town.” Jake had left town. A week after he’d betrayed his best friend. He’d run away. Lilah couldn’t blame him. But it set up a pattern she wasn’t crazy about. He’d run away after Brandi had broken their engagement.

He didn’t want a baby. She knew that. It didn’t take a genius to figure that out. What if he ran from Lilah?

“Oh.” Peggy’s distress snapped Lilah back into focus.

“What’s wrong?” Lilah jumped up.

Peggy gestured to the puddle on the floor. “My water just broke.”

Lilah freaked. What did she know about babies?

“Jake!”

***

“I hope she’s okay.”

Jake watched Lilah pace the floor of the waiting room. Finally, he snagged her hand and pulled her into the plush cushioned chair beside him.

“She’s done this three other times, I’m sure she knows what she’s doing.” Jake wasn’t about to add to her fears by commenting that this labor thing sure took a long time.

A tiny frown of worry wrinkled Lilah’s brows and she bit softly into her bottom lip.

He was a sick man. All he wanted was to soothe her with a kiss. Preferably a long, steamy one that involved both of them naked.

Instead he brushed a stray hair away from her cheek. Her 'never neat' bun was in more disarray than normal. Lilah’s ocean blue eyes looked at him with worry. And he didn’t want her to make the next leap into worrying about their baby.

He could think of only one way to distract her. He leaned closer, until he was a fraction of an inch from her mouth. “I want to kiss you.”

Her eyes widened. He watched her mouth form the words,
Oh my
.

Jake suppressed a grin.

Then she licked her lips, and he tamped down the urge to follow through with his statement. Jake leaned closer, forgetting why this was a bad idea.

“We’re in a public place.” Miss Priss straightened her back. “With half the town here.”

 Damn if he wasn’t starting to seriously like Miss Priss. “You’re right,” he said gravely.

“I am?” The wistful tone in Lilah’s voice surprised him. Then she straightened again. “I am.”

“How about we take a walk?” Jake pulled her to her feet and ignored all the interested stares they were attracting. He didn’t want Lilah to feel self-conscious.

Jake kept Lilah’s hand firmly clasped in his. He liked the feel of it. The smoothness of her palm, the softness of her skin and how small and fragile her hand felt in his.

Jake rolled his eyes. He was losing it.

As they passed Peggy's hospital room, they heard her swearing at her husband. Lilah stopped mid-saunter. “Oh my gosh.”

That made Jake think about him and Lilah and sex. And Jake relaxed. Thinking about sex was okay. It was normal. Fine.

“That was Peggy.” Lilah’s eyes rounded at the language coming from her best friend’s mouth.

Jake grinned. He sure didn’t envy the beleaguered Peter. “Yes it is.”

Peggy started maligning Peter’s parentage.

“Oh my gosh.”

Jake started to sweat. He loved it when Lilah talked dirty. They had better start walking faster or he was going to lose it.

Jake tugged Lilah along at a good pace. They zipped around the hallways, the smell of antiseptic and baby lotion drifting in the air. He spoke before thinking. “This smell reminds me of my father’s office.”

“Oh.” She turned toward him. “Did you spend a lot of time there?”

He could count on two hands the number of times he’d been in the good doctor’s office. “I was a healthy kid.”

“Didn’t spend much time there, hmm?”

“Uh, no.”

“Would you rather not be here?”

Trust Lilah to pick up on all that he didn’t say and be worried about him. It made Jake smile. “I’m fine.”

Lilah bit her bottom lip. “But if it’s a bad memory--" Her eyes widened. And he knew exactly what she was thinking about. So was he. The last bad memory she’d helped him dispel was new powerful memory of its own.

Jake groaned. How was he supposed to ignore this temptation? How was he supposed to ignore this need inside of him to show her how much her worry for him meant? He only knew one way to show her.

Not in public. Jake opened the door to a storage closet and yanked Lilah inside. Before the door was even completely shut, he had her pressed up against the shelving as he devoured her mouth with his.

Lilah sagged against the shelving and clutched his shoulders. “Oh, Jake,” she breathed.

Jake dug his fingers into her hair, anchoring himself to her, as if he held onto her everything would be okay. The feelings inside him so huge, so overwhelming.

His mouth gentled on hers. Jake smoothed his hands over her shoulders and down her curved waist. She was wearing another dress. This one was lavender with white and yellow daisies. He should hate it. But even the way she dressed was growing on him.

And then another thought struck him. Jake pulled away from her and staggered back against the other set of shelves. Christ. He was in love with her.

“Jake?” She reached out to touch him and he jumped back.

No. He had to be wrong. He didn’t want to be in love with her. Jake stared at Lilah like he’d never seen her before.

“Oh my gosh.” Lilah’s hands went to her hair and she started shoving pins back in to try to put her hair back together. “I can’t believe we just did that.”