Too Hot to Handle: A Boys of Summer Novel (13 page)

“What the fuck!” Jake swore in astonishment as Nikki raised an eyebrow, obviously waiting for an explanation. She held the panties as far away from her as possible by the tiniest fraction of her fingertips, as if afraid to touch the material.

“Where the hell did they come from?” he asked in outrage, wondering if this was some kind of joke.

“They were under the seat,” Nikki said, her voice like ice.

“I have no idea how they got there,” Jake said truthfully. Frantically his mind went over the last couple of weeks, trying to remember if his car had gone unlocked and some crazy fan had gained access.

But she was already getting out, and when she spoke, her voice was thick with pain and emotion.

“I can’t do this,” she said, her eyes sparkling with unshed tears. “Whoever you’re having sex with, go be with her. I want no part of this.”

“Whoa, wait a minute. What the hell you are talking about?”

But she was already heading for the door, and he had to position himself in front of it to block her way. “Nikki, you’ve got to believe me. I don’t know how those got there.”

She had dropped the offending undergarment in the driveway, and the puddle of red seemed to scream from the black asphalt. Both of them stared at the scarlet splotch of lace.

“In a way, that makes things worse.” Her eyes met his, and he saw the pain in their beautiful blue depths. “You have so many girls you can’t keep track. Listen, it’s my fault. I knew this about you before we ever got involved. I don’t know why it upsets me so much now, but it does.”

“Nikki, listen to me. It’s not what you think.” Urgency knotted his stomach. “You’re right—in the past, I wasn’t any angel. I admit it. I dated a lot, fooled around, too. But with you, it’s different. I swear I don’t know how this happened. Maybe I forgot to lock the car and some fan put them in there. Stuff like that has happened before. I honestly don’t know.”

She stared at him as if weighing his words. “Jake, I realize you are used to casual relationships. And maybe the girls you dated didn’t mind if you were with them one night, and someone else the next. But that whole idea repels me. No judgment; I just can’t do it.”

“Nikki,” he said as he slid a hand behind her neck and tipped her face up to his. “I’m sorry. We should have had this conversation a while ago. But as much as I was called a serial dater, I am not sleeping with anyone else. It’s something we should have talked about, and made sure we were both on the same page.”

Her mouth dropped in astonishment. “You aren’t? But when you broke our date, I just assumed that’s what you were doing. I know you acted like that was ridiculous when we were on the road, but we never discussed it. And then tonight, you were late…”

He laughed wryly, realizing he’d been a moron. He’d let her stew in her own fears, when a few simple words would have changed everything. He realized this was a woman he couldn’t take for granted.

“Okay, you got me. I changed our date because a girl I used to know was in my condo when I got home. She’s the sister of a buddy of mine, and was obviously under the influence. I couldn’t let her drive in her condition, and couldn’t get a car service, either. Now that I think about it, she sat in the passenger seat when I took her home. She probably pulled that stunt, hoping to cause a problem just like this.”

And that was most likely the truth. Tonya was just crazy enough to think that hiding her panties in his car would either turn him on or turn off another woman. For a moment, he cursed his own stupidity forever getting involved with her in the first place.

Yet a real fear rose within him. He couldn’t lose Nikki now, not over something like this.

She seemed to relax against the door, but she didn’t look entirely convinced. “I never see you on Saturdays. I realize I don’t have any right to question you—”

“Of course you do,” he said softly, his hand stroking the soft skin of her throat. “We are dating, and you are sleeping with me. You most certainly have the right to talk to me about anything that’s bothering you. In fact, I wish you would have brought this up sooner. I was late tonight because I’ve been helping out a kid who lives in the neighborhood close to my hometown. His name is Joaquin.”

“What?” Nikki appeared confused. “How…Was it someone you knew?”

Jake shook his head. “No. He broke into my car and was trying to steal my iPad. My initial reaction was to call the cops until I realized how young he was. Then I discovered he grew up very close to where I did. The town was nice when I was young, but it’s gotten rough in some areas. The kid needed some help, so I’ve been picking him up and letting him work for my mom. Saturday is usually the best day.”

Her mouth fell open and her expression changed entirely. “Oh Jake, I’m sorry. I feel like an idiot.”

“No, it was my fault. With my rep, I can’t blame you for thinking what you did. So can we go to dinner now? I’m really hungry.”

He couldn’t help the cocky grin that appeared when she nodded sheepishly, or the flood of relief he experienced when she headed back toward the car. He didn’t question his feelings; he’d just experienced a sense of desperation when he felt her pulling away. Vaguely, he realized this no longer had anything to do with the bet.

It had to do with her.

Glancing at the red panties, Nikki kicked them to the curb.

Jake chuckled, picking them up as cautiously as she had and tossing them into the waste bin. He joined Nikki in the car and gave her a smile.

“All okay?”

She gave him a smile that he would never forget. “More than okay. Let’s get going. I hope we are going somewhere good, hotshot. I’m famished.”

He’d chosen Braddock’s Tavern for dinner, a cozy little place in the neighboring town of Medford. The building dated back to the mid-1800s, and retained a lot of historical charm with the brass doorknobs, shuttered windows, wooden porch, and comfortable bar. Original documents relating to the building hung on the walls, and the planked floor and rustic furnishings added to the feeling of an earlier time.

They opted to eat in the pub instead of the more formal dining room. Jake had left the decision up to Nikki but was more than pleased with her choice; he liked the more casual environment better than the fussier room with its linens and crystal.

“Any idea what you want?”

Nikki shook her head. “Maybe it’s because I’m so hungry now, everything looks good.”

When the bartender approached, Jake ordered drinks and a couple of appetizers to get them started. Putting the menu aside, Nikki gazed across the table at him.

“So tell me more about Joaquin. That is, if you feel comfortable.”

“Nikki, I want you to be able to ask me anything. The only way we’re going to be successful as a couple is to communicate. I don’t know what you’re thinking, so you have to tell me. Promise me.”

She nodded. “Okay. I will. And you too.”

“Sure thing. So yes, Joaquin lives in some condos in Lindenwold. Are you familiar with the area?”

“A little.” The appetizers arrived, and she indulged in the shrimp cocktail while Jake helped himself to the oysters.

“The condos are rehabbed apartments. They’re not in great shape, and a lot of them are rentals. Joaquin lives with his mother and wants to help her with the expenses. He really is a nice kid. And he’s got a hell of an arm; I think he could pitch.”

“Jake, that’s amazing. So what kind of work is he doing?”

“He’s only ten years old, so I’m not having him do any heavy construction or anything. My mother has a handyman for that sort of thing. But she does like to garden and can’t handle the heavier work, like shoveling holes, raking the leaves. That sort of thing.”

“And you’re teaching him to play ball when you’re done?”

Jake nodded. “He has a lot of natural ability. I’m thinking if I just spend a little time with him, mentor him, I could keep him out of trouble. Without a father, and living in a tough part of town, he’s vulnerable. I was late tonight because someone had broken into their place.”

“Oh my God,” Nikki said as their food arrived. “Now I really feel like a jerk.”

A slow smile curved his lips. “Good. I guess that means you owe me?”

“Maayyybbee,” she teased, but the expression in her eyes gave him the answer he needed. “If we go back to my place later,” she said suggestively, “I’ll make it up to you.”

Jake grinned as they dove into the food. He’d learned something today that six months ago wouldn’t have been on his radar. He needed to build trust with Nikki as carefully as he had with Joaquin.

Jake didn’t mind at all—she was more than worth it.

On the drive back, instead of heading for her townhouse, Jake pulled into a secluded wooded area beside a lake.

Night was beginning to fall, and the first stars appeared in the deepening sky. The moon peeped from behind a fringe of lacy clouds, and the lake water shimmered with the reflection of the lights above.

“What are you doing?” Nikki asked in confusion as he turned off the car, leaving the CD player on. Beautiful classical music filled the night, along with the sounds of nocturnal birds and insects.

“Parking. You know, like high school,” he said, turning toward her. “Okay with you?”

Nikki shivered at his words and nodded, especially when he pulled her into his embrace. A mix of emotions swelled within her: excitement at the idea of parking like teenagers, anticipation, and something deeper that she couldn’t dare name. Yet as his lips pressed burning kisses along her throat and collarbone, snippets of their evening’s conversation came back to her.

He wasn’t sleeping with anyone else. The relief she felt poured through her like golden liquid warmth. She didn’t realize how much her suspicions had been bothering her until he directly addressed her concerns.

And to find out he was mentoring this young boy who had stolen from him…that, too, was wonderful. So much for Jake being nothing but a party boy; he had demonstrated he had something they used to call character. He saw a troubled youth stealing from him and instead of seeking retaliation by calling the police, he had taken the boy under his wing. He was using his precious free time to help this child, and was even teaching him to play ball.

Nikki didn’t know a lot of people who would have gone to those lengths for a child who wasn’t even related to them. The attraction she felt for Jake was magnified tenfold by discovering this other side to him.

So when his mouth took hers, she returned his kiss with a passion and intensity that seemed to surprise him. Yet as he eased her back onto the seat, he slowed things down.

Real slow.

Deliciously, dangerously, beautifully slow.

“Tip your seat back.” His voice was rough.

Nikki obeyed him, stunned when he began to inch down the zipper on the front of her dress until it reached her waist. “Jake,” she whispered, swallowing hard. Her breasts, clad in ice-blue silk, thrust out as he gently moved the material aside, and her nipples were rock hard. “Someone might see us.”

“There’s no one here,” he said, placing her hands at her side. There was a console in the car between them, and he had shifted his position so that he was facing backward, toward her.

“Keep your hands on the seat,” he ordered, as he tugged down the silk of her bra to fully expose her in the moonlight.

She closed her eyes, hot desire coursing through her. For someone like her, who was used to calling the shots, it was a very different experience to turn control completely over to him. And yet, she found to her chagrin that it was freeing. For once she could do nothing but experience, to accept this gift he was giving entirely for her pleasure.

So she did. His cool fingers barely touched her breasts, making her ache for the contact. She tried to move into his hand, but he stopped her immediately.

“Don’t.” His voice was sultry, commanding, intoxicating. Nikki had no choice but to surrender to his sweet, agonizing torture.

Yet she couldn’t stop squirming as he continued to stroke her with a featherlike touch. Her breasts were bound in her bra, forced upward by the underwire, almost like an offering to him. And he took full advantage.

She nearly jumped out of the seat when she felt his mouth on her, circling one nipple while his hand teased the other. Then he was blowing where she was warm and wet, moving to the other breast as she moaned out loud.

“Jake…”

“Shh,” he whispered, those cool, clever fingers continuing their sensual assault. His thumbs circled her, making her impossibly harder, and she wiggled in the leather seat, moaning with sexual desire. She never knew she could be so aroused in this way, and she no longer cared that they were in the parking lot; none of it mattered except—

One of his hands slid down to her knee. Nikki inhaled sharply as he began to caress her leg.

“Keep your eyes closed,” he murmured. “Just feel.”

The sensation of his palm against her thigh was coarse like fine sandpaper against her silken skin. That in itself was incredibly stimulating. He stroked the inside of her leg gently, brushed between her legs, and then caressed the other.

He was driving her insane. He continued to tease her…thigh, feather touch, other thigh…mean
while his other hand continued to palm her breast. She was being deliberately aroused above and below, and the exquisite torture made her arch against his hand in an effort to find release…

“Ohhh. Plleeaassee.”
She was writhing, whimpering with need. Her back arched as she sought desperately for more contact. “Jake…”

“Okay,” he said, hearing the urgency in her voice. “I had originally planned just to get you all hot and bothered before we got home. But I guess I did my job too well…”

To her utter gratification, he finally slid his hand between her legs. She came immediately as he cupped her, feeling her flesh pulse against the heat of his palm and the scratchy lace of her panties.

It was beautiful. As she lay there in the stunning aftermath, feeling her body shatter into a million pieces, she was lost in the world of pure sensation. She didn’t know if it was the buildup, the pent-up emotion of their argument earlier, the naughtiness of being outside in a car, or if it was Jake.

Maybe all of the above.

Her thighs finally relaxed against the cool leather seat, and belatedly she realized that her dress was wide open and she was fully exposed to his gaze. She started to cover herself, when he stopped her, his mouth reaching for hers.

“You look so damn beautiful there, in the moonlight, all dizzy from sex.”

His kiss was gentle, yet coaxing. Nikki sighed, her arms coming up around his broad shoulders. She felt him move the fabric of her dress even farther apart while he softly stroked her silky skin once more.

Unbelievably, her body began to respond again. This time, he stopped before it went too far. But he took her hand and placed it on his trousers, just below the waist.

“See what you do to me,” he said roughly.

Nikki’s lips parted and she realized he was hard, fully aroused. The playful part of her wanted to tease him the way he had her. So she unzipped him, feeling his sharp intake of breath as she exposed him, her hands grasping his long, thick shaft.

“Nikki,” he whispered helplessly, his fingers sliding into her hair as he tasted her.

The knowledge that she could make him so hot was incredibly appealing as well as arousing. His eyes closed as she slid her hand up and down the full, hard length of him, her fingers softly touching the head. When he groaned, she leaned forward and kissed him there, her tongue flicking gently over his most sensitive place.

“Nikki,” he warned, pulling back suddenly. She noticed his jaw was clenched, and it took him a full minute to recover enough to zip up and sink back into the driver’s seat. He struggled for breath, and to regain some measure of control, while she discreetly assembled her own clothing.

“You’re going to pay for that,” he said with a grin as he started the car. But she could hear the excitement in his voice. “Wait till I get you home.”

“I can’t wait,” Nikki said. It was the kind of threat she could get used to.

When they got to the townhouse, he made good on his threat. In spite of his level of arousal, he continued to take things slow, determined this time that they both fully enjoy the experience.

She stood in the bedroom in her bare feet as he undressed her. Nikki felt strangely cherished as he slid the dress from her body and let it fall into a puddle at her feet. Clad in her bra and panties, she started to reach to turn off the light, when he stopped her.

“No,” he said softly, his hand cupping her underneath her breast. “I want to see you. You are so damned beautiful.”

She shivered at his words, and then remembered what he said earlier. They would never make it as a couple if they didn’t communicate. Was that what they were? A couple?

A warm emotion rose inside her at the thought. She reached for him and unbuttoned his shirt, pressing kisses on his naked torso.

When she got to his belt buckle, she took her time, cupping him as she released him from his trousers. She was rewarded with a threatening look and a quick change in his breathing. He stopped her before she could continue her sensual torment, and he picked her up and flipped her onto the bed, over a couple of pillows.

Before she could react, he had her panties down to her knees. Nikki gasped in pure pleasure as he stroked her in this position, his hand on her naked bottom, caressing her with his palm. She was facedown on top of her mineral-blue silk quilt, her bed pillows propping her behind high in the air. She was still wearing her bra, but even that felt incredibly sexy as the lace scraped against her tender breasts.

“Jaaakkkee…” Her arousal built quickly, and she opened her legs as wide as she could with the panties still on, mentally begging him to touch her there, where she ached for him.

Jake gave her what she needed, sliding his hand between her legs. Nikki gasped in pure, astonished pleasure. But just as she was about to climax, he plunged inside her.

She came immediately, and felt him explode a few minutes later. Her contractions still gripped him as she heard him cry out, throwing his head back and thrusting deeply into her warm wetness.

They lay in each other’s arms, spent from the encounter. Nikki gently stroked his chest, feeling incredibly relaxed, pretty, safe, and secure. It still amazed her that this incredible man, for the time being anyway, was hers. She realized that their discussion earlier, when he had formalized their affair as a relationship, made her feel more relaxed. And although it scared the hell out of her, she was determined to enjoy every moment they had together.

Jake went to the bathroom, and when he returned he cuddled with her once more. “You okay?” he asked softly.

Nikki rose up on one elbow, eyebrow arching. “Fishing for a compliment?”

Jake laughed. “What if I am?”

Even though he was grinning, there was something sincere in the way he looked at her, as if genuinely concerned with her answer. She shrugged, acting as if bored.

“I guess it was okay…” she said teasingly, but when his brows arched, she couldn’t keep up the joke. “Come on, you know it was amazing.”

“That’s what I want to hear.” He rose from the bed and pulled on his trousers. He looked over his shoulder at her. “I’d better get back. We have an afternoon game tomorrow.”

“Yes, the Atlanta series.” She reached for her robe, which he had tossed conveniently at the bottom of her bed. “Want to stay for a drink?”

His smile was slow and languid. “Just water. I don’t drink and drive, and I’ve got a forty-minute ride ahead of me.”

“You have all kinds of hidden scruples,” she said, but she smiled as he followed her downstairs and she poured some water.

He lifted one of the glasses and toasted her. “Ever think it’s you that’s the good influence?”

Of all the things he could have said, she wasn’t expecting that. His comment floored her. Her heart stopped, and it was difficult to take a breath. “No,” was all she could manage. She shook her head. “Not at all.”

The grin was back, but this time his smile warmed her to her bare toes. “Then I guess you aren’t as smart as I thought you were. Good to know.”

He tossed back the drink, kissed her soundly, and left.