Chapter Eleven
Phoebe dropped Jamie off at a friend’s house for dinner, then headed home for a meal of her own. She was in avoidance mode—avoiding work, preferring to research opening her own business, and avoiding Jake, claiming she had house showings in the evenings. She needed time and so she took some.
She’d already sat down with her aunt to discuss a business loan. There was Ward family money available, money handed down from generation to generation, and Aunt Joy wanted to give her the money as a gift, but Phoebe wanted to borrow and repay the loan without going to a bank or other lender. She had her pride and her business acumen and she would succeed. She just needed start-up money.
She was in the process of putting together a business plan, hadn’t signed any agreements with Harvey preventing her from opening her own firm, and she wanted to get away from the perverted bastard as soon as possible. She’d hire new agents unless any at Harvey’s firm came to her willingly. She wouldn’t actively poach.
She was deep in thought and notes when her doorbell rang. She answered without looking through the window, something she’d lecture Jamie for doing and something she’d beat herself up for later.
“Hello, Lindsay. Jake’s not here.” And she’d already made it clear she didn’t want to have anything to do with Phoebe. Although she had some nerve coming to Phoebe’s house.
“Actually I’d like to speak to you.” Lindsay shoved her hands into the front pockets of her jeans and rocked back and forth on her ballet-slipper shoes.
“Come in then.” Phoebe waved her to come inside.
Lindsay shook her head. “No, thank you. I can say what I need to from here.”
“Okay then.” Phoebe leaned against the doorframe and waited.
“I want you to stay away from Jake.”
Phoebe opened her mouth to speak, to tell her off, but Lindsay beat her to it.
“You have no idea what you’ve done, showing up like this. Before Jake saw you again, we were working our way back to each other.” Her hands shook as she spoke, telling Phoebe she wasn’t any more comfortable saying these things than Phoebe was hearing them.
Either that or she was lying.
Phoebe studied the other woman, who wasn’t meeting her gaze. “My understanding is that you two have been over for years,” Phoebe said. “In fact, you instigated the divorce. I’m not sure what kind of fantasy you’ve been building in your head but—”
“No fantasies. Jake is mine. Or he will be once you take yourself out of the picture.”
Phoebe stiffened at the preposterous suggestion. “Why would I do that? Because you asked me to?”
“Because you’re a mother and you know a little girl needs her father.” Lindsay started up the steps, coming closer, begging as she spoke. “Especially one who grew up with him around. It’s traumatizing for her to have her dad living apart from us.”
Phoebe rolled her eyes. “Lindsay, you can’t play me. You’ve been divorced for four years. Callie doesn’t remember a time when you were living together, so as a mother, I suggest you stop using your daughter to get back a man who doesn’t want you. He wants me.” She pointed to herself. “He loves me.”
Because she damn well loved him, and this woman wasn’t taking him from her. Nor was Phoebe backing off so Lindsay could get her way. As Phoebe spoke, she became even more certain of words she hadn’t even heard from his mouth. Yet. She sensed, because she hadn’t given him an opening to say them. She’d kept him at arm’s length, refusing to let him stay over, to become more of a family, because of her fears.
But with Lindsay here, putting her insecurities out there for Phoebe to hear, she realized how silly they were. Jake wasn’t leaving her for Lindsay, not now and not in the future.
“He’ll forget about you once he has his family back,” Lindsay insisted. “And your son will have his father the way he’s used to. As a part-time dad.”
Phoebe blinked, struck by the fact that this woman really believed her own words. “Lindsay, if I were you, I would seriously look in the mirror and ask yourself if this behavior is what you want to teach your daughter. To run after a man who doesn’t want you. How many times, in how many different ways, has Jake tried to tell you to back off? You just refuse to listen.”
“You’re wrong.”
“And you’re crazy if you think that, just because I left Jake, he’d come running back to you. He hasn’t done it in four years. What makes you think he’d do it now? But none of that matters because I’m not going anywhere.”
Lindsay looked stunned. As if she’d really believed Phoebe would do as she asked, and now that Phoebe had fought back, Lindsay didn’t know what to do.
“Umm… good-bye?” Phoebe half asked, half said, wanting to urge the other woman to leave.
Lindsay turned and walked back to her car, a sad woman who’d made her last stand.
Phoebe stared after her, stunned by the conversation but even more shaken by her own revelations. Courtesy of Lindsay, Phoebe realized she honestly, deep down believed Jake wouldn’t leave her for any reason within his ability to control. Her past insecurities had to remain in the past or she’d lose the opportunity for the very future she wanted.
Her sister had said love was worth the risk but only Phoebe could convince herself to believe it, and she was right. They both had a mother who didn’t know how to put the people she supposedly loved above all else, and Phoebe didn’t want to be like her, mired in sadness, losing the people she loved. Nor did she want to set the wrong example for Jamie, that it was okay to run from your fears. Phoebe had been afraid to embrace the future, but when Lindsay had all but challenged her to step aside, she’d stepped up and claimed what was rightfully hers.
Now she had to tell the man himself that she was through running away.
* * *
Phoebe pulled up to Jake’s house, nerves bouncing around in her stomach. She didn’t know why she was so antsy. She knew how the man felt about her, but letting go of her reservations and going all in, giving him her heart… that was a big deal.
But it was long past time.
She rang the bell and didn’t have too long to wait before he opened the door, shock registering on his face at the sight of her. In his faded jeans, hanging low on his hips, and a blue tee shirt that brought out the gorgeous color in his eyes, he was everything she wanted wrapped up in a sexy package.
Warm, caring, patient, hot, sexy, and a really good lover. She realized what a fool she was being worrying about a future she couldn’t control when she could have now.
“Phoebe, hey!” A grin covered his face as he let her in. Instead of easing her nerves, the tempting smile amped her up even more. “I’m happy to see you,” he said.
“I’m glad. Because the way I’ve been acting, I wouldn’t have been surprised if you were annoyed with me.”
He shook his head. “Never.” He gave it some thought and said, “Well, maybe a little. You’ve been a bad girl, avoiding me,” he said.
“Guilty.” She rolled her shoulders, embarrassed at being figured out. “Can I explain why?”
“Only if you’re ready.” His expression softened as he met her gaze, obviously aware this wasn’t easy for her.
“I am.” She’d already gathered her courage on the way over. “Past ready, and don’t think your patience hasn’t been noticed.”
“I admit it was wearing thin.” He grasped her elbow, and he led her to the old sofa, and they sat down across from each other.
She curled one leg beneath her and leaned in closer, his body heat and masculine scent making her aware of all she’d missed out on, keeping him at arm’s length. “Can I say something before I get into the whole explanation?”
He nodded.
“I know I’ve been avoiding you lately, but the reasons have nothing to do with my feelings for you. Those have always been steady and sure, even when I haven’t done a good enough job showing you how I feel.”
“And how is that?” he asked in a gruff voice.
She braced her hands on either side of his handsome face, looking into his eyes. “I love you, Jake Nichols, and I think it’s only right that I say it first. Because I’ve given you reason to doubt me.”
He grasped on to her wrists, holding on to her and not letting her go. “Let’s get one thing straight. I never doubted how you felt about me. I didn’t understand your skittishness, but I felt in my heart you’d come around. And make no mistake, Phoebe Ward, I love you, too.”
Her heart filled with warmth, hope, and happiness. “I knew that,” she said, her smile wide. “I just didn’t trust fate and life not to take you away from me again.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” He shifted, then pulled her into his arms so she was sitting across his lap. “And neither are you.”
He kissed her, his lips sliding across hers in the most seductive, slow glide. Like they had all the time in the world—because they did. She moaned into his mouth, arching against him, trying to get as close as possible.
He slid a hand up the back of her shirt, rubbing in circles against her skin. “Can I ask what brought on the change of heart?”
“Let’s just say I had a one-on-one conversation with your ex-wife, and in arguing with her, I did the convincing for myself.”
He stiffened against her. “You had a run-in with Lindsay? Where?”
“At my house.”
“I spoke to Brent about having a heart-to-heart with her. She should back off soon. I hope. Either way, I’m sorry you keep having to deal with her.”
“She’s part of your past. I can handle her. I realized we love each other and that’s stronger than anything Lindsay throws at us.” It was so simple. Once the words were out of her mouth, she’d realized she was behaving like the young girl afraid of losing family again instead of the woman invested in a good, trustworthy man. “Now can we stop talking about your ex and concentrate on us?”
She adjusted herself, straddling his lap and pulling his shirt off, tossing it onto the floor. As she reached for the button on his jeans, he shook his head.
“Not here.” Standing with her in his arms, her legs wrapped around his waist, he walked her back to the bedroom. “We’re going to christen my new bed.”
She looped her arms around his neck, holding on tight. “My pleasure.”
“It will be,” he said, easing her down onto the bed.
She smiled, her eyes on the bulge in his jeans. Her sex softened, pulsing and wet, knowing how much he wanted her. “Strip, Jake.” He grinned and did as she asked.
Soon he was naked and working on easing her denim down and off her legs. Together they removed the rest of her clothing and finally he came down on top of her, skin on skin at last.
She sighed at the feel of his hard, muscular body against her own. She needed to feel him moving, thick and hard inside her, of them joining together with no emotional walls between them.
He reached over to the bedside nightstand and returned with a foil packet in hand.
One she had no desire to use. “Jake? I’m on the pill,” she said, her eyes on his face. “And I’ve never had sex without a condom.”
“I’m clean. And if you’re suggesting me, you, bare, I’m all in.” He cupped his hand over her cheek and brought her face to his, kissing her with so much passion her heart burst inside her chest.
He eased up, bracing his arms on either side of her shoulders, grasped his cock in his hand, and set his hard erection against her core.
“Look at me when I enter you,” he said, breaching her sex with one smooth thrust.
She moaned, squeezing her pussy around him, and he shuddered, his big body shaking with need. “You feel so good,” he said in a rough voice. “And you want to know why?”
She arched, her nipples hardening, rubbing deliciously against his chest. “Why?” she practically purred.
“Because I love you,” he said and began to move, driving into her over and over, the sweet sensations building immediately. With the friction of his skin against hers and no condom as a barrier, she felt every ridge and long, hard inch as he slowly, steadily made love to her. And when her climax hit, it rippled through her, encompassing all parts of her body, heart, and soul.
As she lay in his arms afterwards, relaxed and sated, she felt as if she could finally breathe after all these years.
* * *
Jake sat on his deck at the end of summer. Phoebe brought a tray with plastic cups and lemonade in a pitcher, placing it on the outdoor table. Callie was on a swing hanging from the huge treated wood set Jake had installed in his backyard. Jamie pushed her on the swing like a good big brother until he got bored and moved on to throwing a baseball against a backboard with flexible netting.
“This is what I envisioned the first time I walked into the kitchen and looked out at this view,” Jake said, glancing at his children, then the woman by his side.
She was more relaxed than he’d ever seen her. It had been one month since she’d told him she loved him. Almost the same amount of time since she’d quit her job and had begun preparations to open her own real estate company in Rosewood Bay. Being happy agreed with her.
Being more carefree did, as well. It helped that Brent’s talk with Lindsay had accomplished its goal—that along with her confrontation with Phoebe. She’d actually apologized to them both for her behavior and had begun to make life easier when it came to him picking up Callie, and she’d stopped calling him for repairs she could hire someone to do.
He came up behind Phoebe and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Do you know how much I love you?”
“I should since you tell me every chance you get,” she said, sounding content.
He’d given a lot of thought to what should happen next, especially in light of Kane’s comments about waiting until Halley was ready for more. But Jake wasn’t willing to wait for each step in his and Phoebe’s relationship. He wanted her with him full time, and unlike Kane, he didn’t want the whole family here when he asked.
“So I have a question for you.” He kept one arm around her waist but reached into his front pocket with his other hand and pulled out a ring.
“Yes?” She leaned her head back against his shoulder for a brief moment.
“When I’m with you, wherever I’m with you, I have everything I want.”
“Me, too,” she whispered.
“Good. Then let’s make it permanent and full time. Will you marry me?” he asked, holding out the ring for her to see.
“Jake!” She spun around in his arms. “Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you.”
He slipped the ring on her finger, and she kissed him long and hard until they heard voices.
“Dad!” This came from Jamie.
Jake knew the boy was used to seeing Jake kiss Phoebe.
“What’s up?”
“Did you ask her?” Jamie wanted to know.
“Yeah, did you ask her?” Callie mimicked him.
Phoebe looked from the kids to Jake. “They know?”
He laughed. “I wanted Jamie’s permission. And if I told one kid, I needed to tell the other. She said yes,” he told them and was answered by resounding cheers.
Jake grinned. “Well, this is a”—he mentally cancelled out the word damn because of young ears—“really great day.”
After years of being a screw-up, of thinking he had no future, he now looked around, realizing how damn lucky he was to have the family of his dreams. And the woman he would have waited a lifetime for.