Twin Fantasies (14 page)

As Jake explained his idea to Jenna, that she stay with him in Montreal for a month to get to know him, she glanced at Ryan, gauging his reaction, looking to him for support.  Jake didn’t kid himself. It was going to be tough to convince her she belonged with him—probably impossible—but he had to try. He loved her too much. It’s not that he wanted to hurt his brother—Jake would do anything to make this not be what it was—but it wouldn’t be good for any of them if Jenna married the wrong man. As much as Jake loved Jenna, he had to believe she truly loved him, too.

JENNA CLUNG TO her purse as she watched the tall, dense trees pass by as Jake drove along the narrow private road.  What a mess. Although she and Ryan had been in a committed relationship for the past year and a half and she had accepted his proposal of marriage, she now had to deal with the fact that she was carrying Jake’s child. She was going to spend a month with Jake to consider the possibility of spending the rest of her life with him. A virtual stranger.  She had almost broken up with Ryan two months ago, and the event that had caused their relationship to turn around had turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. Now, Jenna realized she had to reevaluate her whole relationship with Ryan. She hoped that this month would give her some perspective, rather than add to her confusion.

Jake pulled into a clearing and parked in front of a cozy looking cedar home with a huge set of windows across the front. A lovely garden bright with pink and purple tulips and tall mauve and yellow irises curved around the front lawn.  This lovely, secluded hideaway would be her home for the next month.

The thought of spending an entire month alone with Jake made her a little uncomfortable. Sure they had chemistry, but did they have enough in common to make a life together?  Of course, that’s exactly what this month was supposed to help them figure out.

Jake opened the heavy oak door and waited for her to proceed inside. When they entered the house, they stepped right into\the kitchen, a lovely, large room with maple cupboards and a long counter overlooking a spacious living area with a couple of couches and an easy chair. The whole place was filled with sunlight. Cozy.

A tortoiseshell cat with a white ring around the end of its tail trotted up to Jake and rubbed against his legs. He picked it up and scratched behind its ears. The cat showed its pleasure by purring loudly.

“This is Sam.”

Jenna smiled widely. “Well, hello, Sam.” She petted the cat. “What a good boy.”

The cat’s golden eyes drifted closed and its head rested on Jake’s shoulder.

“Actually, she’s a girl. Sam’s short for Samantha.”

“Samantha?”

“Well, when she showed up at my door, wet and alone, I didn’t know if she was a he or a she, so I figured Sam would work either way.”

He put Sam down and she trotted along behind them as they walked through the kitchen doorway to the living room.  “You live here all the time?”

“Actually, I have a penthouse in the city, but I spend a lot of time here in the summer, and several weekends in the winter.  The cross-country skiing is spectacular.”

He led her into the living room and pointed toward patio doors on the right. “There’s a heated pool out back.” Through the glass, she could see a lovely kidney-shaped pool glittering in the sunlight.

“Come on, I’ll show you your room.”

She followed him down a hall to a bedroom on the right.  “My room?” she asked. She’d been worried he’d try to convince her to stay in his room.

“Yes, your room. Don’t get me wrong. I’d love you to move right into my room, and my bed, but I didn’t think you’d be comfortable with that idea.” He pointed to the end of the hall. “That’s my room. Anytime you want to join me, come right on in. Or, if you want me to come to you, just say the word. You call the shots here, Jenna. Whatever you want or need, you’ve got it.”

She stepped into the room he’d indicated was hers. A queen-sized bed filled the center of the room, covered with a duvet in a teal and sapphire abstract print with fuchsia as an accent.

Ryan placed her suitcases beside the tall light maple armoire.  She sat down on the bed, stroking the tightly woven cotton bed covering, amazed at the silky feel of it.  “You know, this is quite weird. I really don’t know you at all. You and I are strangers, yet we’ve essentially moved in together.”

He leaned against the edge of the dresser. “We’re not exactly strangers, Jenna. We’ve shared some very intimate hours together.”

“Yes, but I thought you were . . .”

Ryan.

She turned away, not wanting to think about Ryan and the pain she’d caused him. Her finger toyed with the piping along the edge of the tailored pillow sham.

“You know what I thought. The point is I only met you for real on Thursday. Now, it’s Sunday and . . .” She gestured around her. “Here I am.”

“That’s why I don’t want you to feel pressure to do anything more than spend time with me, and I don’t want to overwhelm you with that, either, so I’ll still be going in to the office every weekday. That’ll give you time to yourself.” He smiled. “Now, if you find you want to spend more time with me, just say so and I’ll arrange to be here full-time.” Jenna couldn‘t believe the difference between the two brothers.  Ryan could barely find the time to spend with her, and here Jake had only known her a short time and he was willing to take time off work, and on short notice, to be with her.  “Thank you,” she said.

He smiled. “My pleasure.” He stood up. “Would you like help unpacking?”

The thought of him helping her sift through her clothing, including her lingerie, made her uncomfortable.  “No, I’ll manage.”

He lifted her large suitcase onto a lovely big armchair by the window.

“I’ll let you get settled in then.” He started to leave but paused at the door. “Jenna, I just want to warn you.” He turned back to face her, his expression serious. “Although I don’t want to pressure you, I am a man, and I do want you.” He stepped toward the bed and sat down beside her. His spicy, masculine scent surrounded her.

“Maybe we only met officially on Thursday, but I feel like

I’ve known you a lifetime. And the reality is we have been intimate, more intimate than many couples who’ve been together for years.” He smiled. “After all, you shared your deepest sexual fantasies with me.”

She felt her cheeks flush.

He tipped up her chin and she gazed into his intense, deep blue eyes.

Heat flashed though her. Partly due to hormones, which she had in abundance with the pregnancy, but largely because of being so close to this strong, sexy man.  “Jenna, imagine acting out your stranger fantasy with me now.” He stroked his hands lightly up her arms, sending tingling awareness dancing along her nerve endings. “Imagine how much more real it would be since, as you say, I really am a stranger.”

Her eyes widened as she imagined his strong, masculine hands unzipping her dress, his fingers parting the fabric and stroking across her skin as he revealed her swelling breasts.  Her nipples puckered as she imagined his lips encircling each one and dabbing it with the tip of his tongue. A
real
stranger touching her so intimately.

It would be incredibly sexy. Oh, God, she couldn’t believe how turned on she was at the thought of having sex with Jake.  Of knowing he was Jake, a stranger, while he touched her, pleasured her, brought her to orgasm.

She wanted to stand up and tear off her clothes right now.  He kissed her hand, sending tingles up her arm, then he stood up.

“I’ll leave you with that thought.” He turned and left the room.

Heat continued to sear through her. Although he was a stranger, she knew from direct experience he would pleasure her beyond compare. He would be tender, adventurous, thorough in his lovemaking, and wildly passionate. Some part of her longed to feel his hands skimming over her. Actually, every part of her wanted that, except her head.  With her body thrumming the way it was right now, how would she resist her desire for a sexual encounter with him?  She remembered the elevator and how his hands had grasped her hips, how he had thrust into her. The image of his face in the elevator’s mirrored wall, contorted in pleasure as he climaxed inside her, after catapulting her into her own powerful orgasm.

Just how long would she last?

CHAPTER ELEVEN

JENNA SPENT A night of exquisite torture dreaming of Jake. Yearning for Jake. The fact that she was constantly horny because of her blazing hormones didn’t help.  Jake prepared a great ham and cheese omelet for breakfast, and served it with herbal tea. All through the meal, she stole longing glances at him. Watching him raise his fork to his mouth, then close his full lips over the food and slide them along the metal prongs, sent her senses into a whirl. When he caught her looking at him, he smiled, his midnight blue eyes glittering.

“So, Jenna, why don’t you tell me a little about yourself?” She glanced at him over her tea as she sipped, then placed the red stoneware mug on the table.

“Well, I’m self-employed . . . a computer consultant. I specialize in creating courses for software companies who have a product to sell and need to train their clients.” She hesitated, not wanting to bore him with plain old Jenna. She was a far cry from the Aurora persona he knew.  He smiled. “And what do you like to do for fun? Other than dream up sexual fantasies, of course.”

She felt her cheeks stain crimson. “Well, I. . . like to read.”

Boring.
“And . . . I like to dance.”

Oops. That scared off a lot of guys. Most men hated to dance.

“Sometimes I knit and crochet.”
Oh, yeah, like that’s more interesting.
What the heck was she thinking?  “That’ll come in handy with the baby on the way.” The insecurity she felt at revealing the everyday Jenna to Jake washed away as she remembered she was carrying a baby.
Jake’s
baby. His eyes glowed with warmth as he smiled at her, as though reading her thoughts.

“Maybe tomorrow I’ll take you out shopping so we can pick out some yarn together.”

“Really?”

She could never imagine walking through a quaint little knitting store with Ryan by her side, perusing the shelves of brightly colored yarns together. Yet she could imagine it with Jake for some reason, and it felt so . . . domestic.  “Then we could come back here and sit by the fire together.

Maybe watch a movie.”

Very
domestic. And she liked the feeling. But Jake was a virtual stranger.

She shifted in her chair. She should be having these feelings about Ryan, the man she’d been in love with for more than a year. The man she’d agreed to marry.

“Jake, why didn’t Ryan tell me about you?”

“What do you mean?”

“He never really talked about his family but. . . well, you’re twins. I would have thought he’d have said something about you. I thought twins were usually very close.” Jake nodded. “Ryan and I do share a close bond, but my brother has a very competitive nature.”

She rolled her eyes. “Tell me about it.”

Jenna had certainly seen that in Ryan’s approach to business and in the way he drove himself to succeed, but she saw it in other aspects of his character, too. Like the time they played mini golf with Cindy and her date. Ryan kept coaching Jenna on every hole to ensure she played her best, determined they would win.

“He always competed with me when we were kids,” Jake continued. “For grades, in sports . . . for girls.” Her eyebrows shot up. “He stole your girlfriends?”

“No, the other way around, actually.”

“You stole his girlfriends?” she asked in amazement. That would explain why Ryan had kept her and Jake apart.  “Not really. They j u s t . . . gravitated to me. Not that Ryan isn’t a great guy. It’s just that his intensity put a lot of girls off.  They just wanted to have fun.”

“And you’re the fun one,” she surmised.

Jake shrugged. “That made him a little insecure, I think.  Later, when the popularity of my first computer game accelerated, making my company a great success, he threw himself into his business with a vengeance. I told him I was just lucky—coming up with the right idea at the right time—but he took it as a personal challenge. The way he drives himself, I ‘m surprised he ever found the time to ask you out.” He smiled.  “But then, I ‘m sure he found you as irresistible as I do.”

She blushed at his compliment and toyed with her spoon.

“How did the two of you meet?” Jake asked.  “At a conference. Actually, on the plane—we were seated next to each other on the flight to San Diego. Later, we ran into each other picking up our baggage. When we realized we were going to the same hotel, we shared a cab.” “Was that the conference on Web site development techniques?”

She nodded.

“Man, I almost went to that conference. If I had, maybe you and I would have met back then instead.” “But you and I live in different cities. I probably still would have wound up with Ryan.”

He took her hand. “Jenna, I would never allow something as trivial as distance to keep us apart.”

She felt a tremor down her spine. If only Ryan felt that strongly about her. He lived in the same city as she did and yet she hardly ever saw him these days.

“What about you? I know you have a brother. Do you have any other siblings?” Jake asked.