The Courage to Try His Hand

Thirty seconds after Jake rang the bell to Lavender House, Josie opened the door.

And when she did, Jake froze.

“Hello, Jake,” she said. “I’ll just get my coat.”

Jake didn’t move.

This was because the vision of her was burning itself on his brain and he was enjoying the feeling.

Then she turned and he got her back.

And Jake didn’t move again.

This was because the vision of her back was making his cock get hard and he was fighting the feeling.

She was in a dress that was an unusual shade of yellowish-green satin, like the color of an apple. Thin straps, a diagonal neckline that had a flap of material falling down her front. The top fit her snug, accentuating every line and curve. The skirt caught at her hips, somehow turning into panels that ended in a spiked hemline, the spikes brushing her knees.

But the back…

Fuck.

There was no back.

It bared her from shoulders to the top of her ass.

Jesus.

Her hair was up again, this time in curls arranged in a bun at the side of her neck. All Josie, it was elegant. But, unlike Josie, it also was almost playful.

And fucking hot.

Even as much as he liked her hair, he’d prefer to see it as it was in that picture he had of her.

Down.

But not blowing in the breeze.

Spread on his pillow.

And he liked that dress a fuckuva lot but he’d like it more on the floor by his bed.

From top to toe, she was the shit. Maybe especially her toes seeing as their nails were painted fuck-me red and they were exposed in shoes that were a mess of very thin, dark silver straps. So many straps, the fuckers had to be zipped up the back.

And the heel was tall and lethal.

He had no fucking clue how she could walk on those things.

But she did, gracefully this time, no tripping. He watched her do it and he watched her grab her coat from a chair in the hall. This finally spurred him to move.

Which he did, right to her, taking the coat from her.

“Got this, Slick,” he muttered, shaking it out and rounding her to hold it up for her to put on.

Her face appeared startled when she looked over her bared shoulder at him but he looked away from her face, and her bare shoulder, then he couldn’t find anywhere to look because all of it was too good.

Finally, she stuck her arm through the hole, he got her other one in and he settled the shiny silver coat on her shoulders, covering her.

Thank fuck.

He had no idea how he was going to have dinner with her wearing that dress without dragging her to his truck then taking her back to Lavender House and probably fucking her on the floor of the foyer.

Then again, when she’d walked on her classy high-heeled boots, wearing her classy shades, that scarf blowing in the wind yesterday, he’d thought the same thing and he’d managed it.

He’d do it again.

Somehow.

She grabbed her purse and turned to him.

“Ready,” she said softly, her sweet voice as it always was, from the very beginning, cultured but melodic.

“Right,” he muttered and grabbed her hand, moving them to the door. “House locked down?” he asked.

“Yes,” she answered.

“Great.” He was still muttering as he moved her out the door.

He stopped her, released her hand, dug in his pocket for the keys and used his own to lock the door behind them.

Then he grabbed her hand again and walked her to the truck.

“You look nice,” she noted.

“Thanks,” he replied, distracted, thinking about her ass in his truck. More to the point, thinking about reclining his seat and dragging her ass over to his side and what he’d do with it when he got her there.

On this thought, a thought that wasn’t helping him keep his cock from getting hard, he opened her door for her as she asked, “Where are we going?”

“The Eaves,” he answered, pulling gently at her to maneuver her in his truck.

But she’d stopped dead so he looked at her.

“That’s very expensive, Jake,” she whispered.

“Babe, you’re you,” he replied. “And you’re you in that dress. Where the fuck else would I take you?”

He saw her draw in a soft breath, and that was sexy as fuck too, making him wonder how he could make her do that with his hands, or his mouth, before she luckily took him from this train of thought and pointed out, “You took me to The Shack yesterday morning.”

“And gave you the best omelet in the county.”

“This is probably correct,” she murmured as if to herself, her doing this reminding him she could be cute, which finally made him grin.

“It’s definitely correct. Now get your ass in the truck.”

She looked into the truck and hesitated a second before she put her fucking fantastic shoe on the running board and he put his hands to her waist to heft her up.

He got her ass in the seat and she looked at him. “Thank you. I wasn’t sure I could get up on my own.”

“Well, you’re there, Slick,” he noted.

She opened her mouth to say something but he stepped out of the door, ordering, “Buckle up,” before he slammed it.

He moved around the hood, hauled his ass in at the other side, buckled in and started her up.

He sent them down the lane and did it deciding to get the tough stuff done first.

“I’ll be over tomorrow, first just me to box up Lydie’s stuff, and then some guys are comin’ over. I’ll be around about ten. They’ll be around at eleven. You gotta know what you want done with the den by then, babe. I’ve got a place to store Lydie’s furniture. You want it sold, I’ll get Con on putting it on Craig’s List. You got a use for it and decide you want it back, just let me know.”

“All right, Jake,” she whispered.

“That’s done,” he replied. “But just sayin’, the boys are over hauling furniture around, you’re gonna have to feed them. You don’t have to go whole hog. Pizza is good.”

“All right,” she said, louder this time. “And thank you. I don’t know what to say about all you’re—”

He gentled his voice when he cut her off with, “You don’t have to say anything, Josie.”

He heard her sigh and pointed the truck toward town.

“If you like, the kids can come over,” she offered. “The Fletchers are coming for dinner tomorrow night but I can make enough for all of you.”

“Not sure Reverend Fletcher wants to break bread with the owner of the local strip club,” he replied.

“Oh,” she whispered, then again louder, “I hadn’t thought of that.”

“We’ll come over Monday night. Con’s off work and Ethan’s been talkin’ your meatloaf up. Con’s feelin’ left out.”

“I would enjoy meeting your eldest child but I can’t do Monday night. Maybe we can do Tuesday?”

“Can’t do Tuesday. Con’s workin’,” he told her. “What do you have on Monday night?”

“I’m having a drink with Boston Stone at the Club.”

His chest seized and his hand tightened on the steering wheel as his lips forced out, “Come again?”

“I know,” she stated even though he didn’t know until she gave it to him, “It’s irritating.”

He looked her way and saw she also looked irritated. Then again, as polished as she was, Josie still tended to let it all hang out.

He looked back to the road and asked, “He on you about selling the house?”

“He’s told me he’s given up on the house,” she shared. “He wants to”—a pause then, with frustrated emphasis—“get to know me.”

Jesus. Shit.

“He’s makin’ a play when your Gran just died?”

“Yes, and he isn’t easy to put off. So I’ll put him off face to face.”

No, she wouldn’t.

Jake would put him off.

Therefore, he declared, “I’ll deal with it.”

He felt her eyes on him. “Pardon?”

“I’ll deal with it,” he repeated.

“How?”

“Don’t worry about how. Just know it’ll be done and me and the kids’ll be over Monday night.”

“I…” Another pause then, “Maybe I should phone him and be clearer about how I feel about not wishing to get to know him.”

“Babe, what’d I say?”

“What did you say?”

“Yes, what’d I say?”

“I don’t—”

“I’ll deal with it.”

She fell silent.

He simmered.

Boston Stone, fucking dick.

Jake barely knew him but from this shit, he knew he was a fucking dick.

That said, the man was perfect for her. All his money, his class, his power. It wasn’t surprising Josie caught his eye. He had the money to get the best of everything and he was the kind of guy who had it in him to know exactly what the best was. And he didn’t have to know the guy to know he frequently indulged in both, what with the asshole lording his shit all over town.

She decided to change the subject and he knew this when she asked, “What are the children doing tonight?”

“Amber, pouting because she had a date with Noah that she had to break because she’s grounded. She also has no access to the phone so that means she can’t call his ass and talk with him in her bedroom for hours like she normally does. Ethan’s probably eating a shitload of crap so he’ll have a stomachache that’ll wake him up at about two in the morning, which means my ass will be up at two o’clock in the morning. And Con’s always got his old man’s back. In order to look after Ethan and make sure Amber doesn’t do anything that’ll get her into more trouble, one of his girls is comin’ over rather than him takin’ her out.”

“One of his girls?” she asked.

“He’s got five. Steady.”

There was a heavy pause before, “How can he have five steady girls?”

“No clue how the kid manages it, Slick, just know he does. That doesn’t mean those five get along and like sharin’. Just know they put up with it whatever Con does to make ‘em do it.”

“I do not see good things in the future about this, Jake,” she declared. “Women don’t like to share. This détente may last for a while but it won’t last forever.”

“He’s got his hand in the candy bowl and he’s keepin’ it there, he’s gotta deal with the pain when someone bitchslaps him to pull it out.”

“A difficult lesson to learn,” she murmured.

“Conner’s like his dad. He learns by doin’ or, in some cases, by fuckin’ up and tryin’ to be smart enough not to fuck up the same way again.”

He knew he had her eyes again when she protested, “But people are involved, in this case girls and their hearts, and they might get hurt.”

He looked her way to see she was looking at him and he gave her a shake of his head before looking back to the road. “That’s the difficult part, Josie. A man’s any man at all, the first woman he hurts, he learns not to do that shit again. Good he learns at seventeen rather than twenty-five when shit might count.”

She said nothing to that for some time and Jake had pulled off Cross Street and onto the coastal road when she spoke again.

“When did you learn that?”

“How do you think I got married three times?” he answered.

He sensed he again had her eyes when she asked, “Pardon?”

“Learned early. Not at seventeen but saw a girl, had a girl on the side my sophomore year in college. They found out about that shit, it did not go down very well. I felt like a total fuckin’ asshole mostly ‘cause I was. The look on my girl’s face. Fuck.” He shook his head at the road. “Never forget that look, honey.”

“And how did this lead you to getting married three times?”

“Didn’t want to see that look again, got no clue how to get shot of a woman so I find I got her ring on my finger instead of seeing her in my rearview.”

“You…” she paused and her voice was higher pitched when she went on, “married women instead of ending things with them?”

He grinned at the road. “Never claimed to be Einstein.”

“Indeed you haven’t,” she murmured.

“How real do you want it?” he asked.

“How”—another pause—“real?”

“Honest. Straight up. How much of that can you take?”

“You’ve been astoundingly open already, Jake.”

He glanced at her again before looking back to the road and asking, “We gettin’ to know each other?”

“Yes.”

“Are you mine?”

A shocked, “Pardon me?”

“Did Lydie give you to me, babe,” he explained.

“Well…yes.”

Fuck yes.

There it was.

She was his.

“Then you’re mine,” he stated. “And that means you’re my kids’. And that means we gotta dig in there and give each other shit. So we shouldn’t hide and anyway, I got nothin’ to hide. I did what I did, made stupid decisions, fucked up, I’m still standing, my kids are healthy and happy. Not countin’ Amber pouting and being an occasional pain in the ass, Con serial dating and Ethan mourning the only grandmother he’ll really ever know.”

There was another pause before, quietly, she began, “His other grandmothers—”

“My ma’s dead, babe. So’s my dad,” Jake told her. “His mom’s dad is also gone and her mom lives up in Bridgewater. Sweet lady but a little whacked. She’s a hoarder, doesn’t leave her house and I don’t want my kid in a house like that. Plus, it isn’t exactly close. They talk on the phone. That’s all he’s got.”

“I’m sorry to hear of this, including about your parents, Jake,” she said, voice still soft.

“We deal, Josie,” he replied in the same tone.

He didn’t ask about her parents.

This was because he knew her father was dead. He’d asked his cop buddy, Coert, to look into it because Lydie asked him to and Coert found that shit out. He also knew her uncle was alive. And he knew her mother was off the grid, probably buried so deep under whatever identity she took when she escaped Josie’s assclown of a father, if she was alive, she’d never surface, even though her motherfucker of a husband was long gone.

Bitch should have taken her daughter.

But the bitch left her daughter to a monster.

“Would you like to, well…share about how you lost your parents?” she asked carefully.

He didn’t hesitate before he gave it to her.

“Dad, aneurysm. Right at work. Sixty-four. A few months from retirement it hits him, he’s down. Gone. Ethan was born three months later.”

“Jake,” she whispered but said no more.

Jake did.

“Ma died when Eath was nearly two. He doesn’t remember her. She had an infection, didn’t catch it, thought it was just bein’ tired ‘cause she was sad she lost Dad. By the time she looked into that shit, it had done a number on her heart. Too much damage to repair. Few months later, she just slipped away. Amber was tight with her, though. Like with Lydie, she took it hard.”

To this, he got nothing.

When he continued to get nothing, he turned his head and saw she was looking out the side window.

He looked back to the road.

Fuck, he was a dick.

“Josie,” he said gently. “I’m sorry, baby. I shouldn’t have gotten into that shit.”

“Life happens, Jake,” she replied quietly. “And you’re just being”—she hesitated— “real.”

Too real.

“We’ll stop talking about that.”

She said nothing.

He drove on.

Finally, she broke the silence. “So, being, erm…real. Your wives?”

Terrific.

Now he got to give her not him being a dick but instead being an idiot.

“Donna, the first one, loved her. Probably shouldn’t have divorced her. She wanted it, I didn’t get it, but I gave it to her.”

“That sounds odd,” she noted when he said no more.

“It was,” he agreed. “To this day, I still don’t get it but what I get pisses me off so I try not to think about it.”

“You don’t have to share,” she offered.

That made him grin.

“Babe, laid myself out already. Too late for that.”

“Indeed,” she murmured but he heard a smile in her voice too and he looked at her to catch it.

He got a glimpse before returning his eyes to the road and he was glad he took that shot.

She was pretty normally. When she smiled though…

Jesus.

“Though, I don’t want you to get angry,” she went on.

“Too much time has passed, not worth it to get angry anymore,” he told her.

“All right,” she replied and he went for it.

“We fought, not all the time, but that shit happens,” he told her. “And honest to Christ, don’t know what was up her ass but something was. She got her teeth in it and wouldn’t let it go then wouldn’t let anything go then wanted to let me go. How I remember it starting was she wanted a new car. I couldn’t afford a new one so I bought her a used one. It was better than the one she had so I thought she was good. She didn’t. Told me I never listened to her. I told her I did but we couldn’t afford a brand new car. She got shitty, kept bein’ shitty, kicked my ass out. Lost her man but got herself a new car.”

“That’s ridiculous,” she snapped, suddenly pissed and he fought back the grin. But he had to admit he liked it that she gave him that emotion.

“That shit happened. She tried reconciliation. What we had was good, so I tried with her but seein’ as that shit kept comin’ up for me and pissing me off, it didn’t work. She threw away a marriage, a family, for a new car. Not down with that.”

“I heartily agree,” she declared and at that, he didn’t fight the grin.

He gave into it.

“Still, life led me to eventually gettin’ Ethan outta it, wouldn’t have had him with Donna so I guess shit works out the way it should.”

“Yes,” she agreed.

This was breathy and he didn’t know why. But he liked the way it sounded.

“Mandy, number two, was the shit,” he kept going. “Loved her too. She was all over me, all over bein’ stepmom to my kids. Put a ring on her finger, she wanted me, realized, 24/7, she couldn’t hack kids. She took off. Just one day came home and she was gone. Got the divorce papers in the mail. Haven’t seen her since. Good news was, I didn’t have her ticket, but the kids did so it rocked my world but they were glad she was gone.”

“That, well…rocking of your world sounds unpleasant.”

Jake shook his head at her words and the way she said them.

Fuck, half the time with her and the way she talked, he didn’t know whether to laugh or kiss her.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t do the last and didn’t think she’d appreciate him doing the first so he did neither.

“It wasn’t, honey, but don’t worry. Got over it quick, her hauling ass like that. Not cool. Figured, in the end, she was like that, I got off clean and did it fast, so I did all right.”

“And the last?” she prompted when he stopped talking.

“Sloane, Ethan’s mom.”

“Yes.”

“And you’re down with real?”

A pause then, “Yes, Jake, I’m down with real.”

He grinned again at the way she said that then stated, “She was fuckin’ fantastic in bed.”

When he said no more she asked, “That’s it?”

“No,” he answered. “She was unbelievably fuckin’ fantastic in bed.”

“I, um…well, that is to say…it doesn’t sound like you wanted to end things with any of these women.”

“You open your eyes, you see signs. You keep ‘em closed, you don’t see dick. Lookin’ back, every one of them gave me reason to throw in the towel before things got legal. I didn’t see it because I wasn’t man enough to look for it.”

Again, he got silence for a long time before she said, “I don’t know much about these matters, Jake, but I would think it would make a man less of a man if he was in love and he didn’t have the courage to try his hand.”

The courage to try his hand.

Fucking hell.

She kept going.

“Therefore, outside of Ethan’s mother, who you didn’t claim to love, you just followed your heart and I find that very manly.”

Followed your heart.

Fucking hell.

“Jake?” she called when he was silent.

“Yeah, baby,” he answered quietly.

“I…” Another pause and then, “Are you all right?”

“Laid it out, it was ugly, you went gentle,” he replied, reaching out and finding her hand. He gave it a squeeze and finished, “Appreciate that, honey.”

“Well, you’re welcome,” she murmured and it took her a second but she squeezed his hand back.

He kept hold of it, resting the back of his on the sleek silk over her soft thigh and her hand again squeezed his, reflexively this time. He figured he knew what this meant but he didn’t let her go even as they hit The Eaves and he turned into the parking lot. He only let her go when he stopped the truck outside the front door.

He put it in neutral, opened his door and jumped down. Rounding the hood, he pulled open her door.

“I’ll let you out here. Place is always packed. I find a spot far away, don’t want you walkin’,” he explained.

“That’s kind, Jake. Thank you,” she replied and undid her seatbelt.

When she turned to the door and cautiously put one of her shit-hot shoes to the running board, he put his hands to her waist. She put hers to his shoulders and he pulled her down, setting her on her feet.

He let her go, she dropped her hands but he grabbed one and walked her to the front door and through it.

Once he had her out of the cold, he lifted his other hand and squeezed the side of her neck as he squeezed her hand in his, bent close and said, “Be back.”

Her blue eyes held his and she murmured, “All right.”

He grinned at her and took off.

He was assaulted with the vision of her in that dress when he returned. Obviously, they’d taken her coat.

He was still dealing with her and her dress when she turned her eyes to him near on the second he came through the door, her lips tipped up, her eyes for some reason bright, and she said, “I inquired. Our table is ready.”

Then she held out her hand to him.

Christ.

It hit him in that moment in a way he knew he’d never forget that he could take that hand and she could lead him anywhere. Just tip up her lips, turn those eyes to him and hold out her hand and he’d go straight to hell with her and do it smiling.

He knew the idea was fucked.

He also knew no one grieved like she did for Lydie without feeling deep. He knew she wasn’t giving up the house, something that would break Lydie’s heart—and his children’s. He knew she was looking after a dying woman she barely knew so her husband could have a break. He knew she was the only person who seemed to pierce even an inch through the web of teenaged girl drama Amber had woven around herself. He further knew that his daughter was a vegetarian for a day and then she gave that stupid shit up, definitely because of Josie. He knew she helped his son with his homework. He knew he gave her all his fucked up shit with women and she made it sound like he was a knight in armor on a white horse. And, last, he knew she knew she’d fucked up with him and she didn’t even leave it for a day before she hauled her ass to him and apologized.

She was wrong. With Donna and Mandy, he’d been blind.

Now he had his eyes open and he liked a fuckuva lot what he was seeing.

He strode forward and took the hand she was offering. Then he pulled it up and tucked it to the side of his chest, his eyes going to the hostess.

“As the lady said. Spear,” he said to the hostess.

She nodded, grabbing some menus. “Of course. Please follow me.”

He held Josie close as they walked to their table. It was not lost on Jake that never, not once in his life with the women he’d had in it—and some of them had been good ones, all of them had been good-looking—had he ever felt the pride he felt walking through that restaurant with Josie at his side.

When they made it to their table, one he liked, which was in the middle of the restaurant so everyone could see him and the woman on his arm, he let her go only to pull out her chair.

He settled her into it and watched as the hostess flicked out Josie’s napkin and Josie sat back with practiced ease to allow it to be placed on her lap.

Jake grabbed his own, not about to have the hostess do the same with him.

They were handed their menus, told that their server would explain the evening’s specials and the hostess slid away while a busboy came in and filled their water glasses.

Josie looked up at the kid and murmured, “Thank you.”

It was then she turned even brighter, totally shining eyes to him.

When she did, Jake felt his chest seize for the second time that night, but this time it was an altogether different kind of feeling.

The busboy left and Josie leaned into the table immediately.

“Gran and I have been here three times,” she announced.

Fuck.

He watched her closely, wondering if he misinterpreted those bright eyes and it was about tears, not happiness.

“I love it here,” she went on. “We came twice for my birthday, once for hers. It’s one of my favorite restaurants anywhere.”

Well, that was good.

She smiled a big smile, a smile that lit up her face and exposed her pretty white teeth.

His gut clenched.

He’d seen her smile. But never like that.

It was phenomenal.

“I went to Breeze Point and Gran and I would go there too, more often as it’s not as expensive. And I went by myself. It wasn’t a terrible experience but it made me melancholy and not simply because that odious man approached me,” she shared, still smiling.

It was then she gave it to him.

“But now I’m in a lovely frock, you look very handsome in your suit, you’re very gallant which is most charming, and we’re at a fabulous restaurant where I’m certain we’ll partake of an excellent meal. And it doesn’t make me feel melancholy because I know Gran would be happy we’re here enjoying this…together.”

She reached out, grabbed her water glass, took a sip from it and put it back, returning her eyes to Jake. All through this, Jake, still dealing with her smile and her words, couldn’t think of fuck all to say.

“Now we get to make a lovely memory here. Isn’t that marvelous?” she asked.

“Yeah, babe,” he forced himself to answer.

She kept dazzling him with a smile a moment before she continued rocking his world.

“Thank you for giving this to me. It means a great deal.”

“You’re welcome, honey,” he whispered.

And that was when something else hit him.

Since he’d first seen her, she was covered in a cloak of grief. She carried on day to day, but it was still smothering her.

Now, she was happy.

And he gave her that.

Shit, fuck, but that felt good.

He watched her tip her head to her menu and murmur, “I wonder what their specials are. They always have something quite splendid on offer with their specials.”

“Live it up, Slick, whatever you want,” he murmured back and she tipped her head again, gave him her shining eyes and another dazzling smile.

He grinned at her then he grinned down at his menu.

He’d not made his choice when a waiter arrived at their table and Jake watched with confusion as the guy put a glass of champagne in front of Josie.

“Good evening,” he said as Jake looked from the glass, to Josie studying it, to the waiter. “That’s from the gentleman at the bar,” he explained, smiling and tipping his head toward the bar.

The waiter went on, asking Jake’s drink order but Jake looked beyond Josie, who was looking over her shoulder toward the bar, and he saw him.

Fucking Boston Stone.

And the fucker had the balls to send a drink to the woman sitting at Jake’s table.

“Sir?” the waiter prompted and he cut his eyes to him.

“Bud. Bottle if you got it,” he ordered curtly.

“Of course,” the waiter replied. “Would you like to hear the specials?”

Jake looked to Josie to see her now glaring at the glass of champagne.

“Come back,” he said.

“Of course,” the waiter murmured then slid away.

The instant he did, Jake knew how irritated Josie was because she didn’t hesitate telling him.

“This is beyond the pale,” she hissed. “Utterly tactless. I’m at a meal with a gentleman and he sends a glass of champagne only to me? That is not done. It’s exceptionally rude not to mention arrogant. Does he honestly think this will impress me? If he does he’s very wrong.”

After she delivered that, Jake rose from his chair, tossed his napkin on the table, reached across it and nabbed her glass of champagne.

He rounded the table, his eyes on his target, his blood hot in his veins, and only stopped when he felt her hand curl around his.

He looked down at her to see she’d paled and was now looking concerned.

“Jake—” she started in a whisper.

“It’ll be okay, baby,” he assured her. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

Then he pulled his hand from hers after giving hers a squeeze and prowled to Stone.

He put the glass on the bar beside Stone and growled, “Outside.”

He didn’t wait to see if Stone followed him. He might not know Boston Stone but he knew the kind of man he was. Even though he knew Jake could take him, and not just because Jake had two inches and thirty pounds on him, he wouldn’t take the hit to his manhood that would be keeping his seat when he was called out.

Jake wasn’t wrong. When he got outside, Stone was there. The asshole rounded him and they faced off, Jake going first.

“You got stones,” Jake clipped.

To that, the motherfucker grinned. “Is that a pun?”

“I’m not bein’ funny, asshole,” Jake bit out. “Seriously? Sendin’ a drink to the woman sittin’ across from me at my table?”

“I bought the entire bottle but I’ll drink the rest. I’m relatively certain Dom Perignon would be lost on you,” Stone replied, his voice smooth, his words snide.

Jake let that slide. What Boston Stone thought of him did not factor. Not now and it never would.

What factored was Josie having a good night, smiling bright and then a minute later being pissed because of this jackass.

“Josie’s got too much class to lay it out for you,” Jake returned. “But on the way here, she told me about the drink she’s supposed to have with you. She also told me she didn’t want that drink. We talked about it and decided I’d lay it out for you. And now that I got that opportunity, here it is. She’s not into you, man. Let it go. And heads up, a woman like that with class like that, the shit you just pulled doesn’t do anything for her except piss her off.”

“We’ll see Monday night if Josephine is into me.”

Jesus. Was this guy deaf?

“You didn’t hear me,” Jake returned. “You won’t be seein’ shit ‘cause, if you show at the Club, she won’t be there ‘seein’ as she’ll be makin’ dinner for me and my family.”

Annoyance chased across Stone’s face before he hid it and lifted his chin. “It appears she’s in the mood to go slumming but a woman like that always comes around when that particular thrill is gone.”

What was with this guy?

“She’s just lost her grandmother, asshole,” Jake reminded him.

“And in times of sorrow, it’s good to turn your mind to other more pleasurable things and, when she gives me the opportunity, I’ll enjoy turning her mind to just those things.”

“Christ, honestly?” Jake asked. “I told you she’s not into you. Do you seriously think your dick is that big?”

“I’ve never been a man to compare. We don’t have that in common. We don’t have anything in common, Spear. Except for the fact that both of us know precisely how fuckable Josephine Malone is. And I wouldn’t have believed it possible but tonight, seeing her in that dress, proved she’s even more fuckable. If you have the stones, my suggestion, get in there and do it fast. Tonight. Before your charms wear off. But please, not against the wall of the foyer of Lavender House. That’s where I’ll be taking her our first time.”

Jake’s vision went red but he didn’t have the chance to say a fucking word.

This was because she came at him from behind. And he was so pissed and focused he didn’t hear her heels on the pavers. He just felt her shoulder as it hit his arm then she slid in front of him and he watched Josie pull back a hand and slap Stone hard across the face.

Stone’s head jerked to the side and Jake moved. Wrapping his fingers around her wrist, he pulled it down and around her belly, yanking her back to his front then stepping them both back as he wrapped his other arm around her chest.

But now, she was focused.

“You cad,” she snapped and Jake lost his fury instantly and had to clench his teeth to stop himself laughing at her ridiculous insult that, even ridiculous, was fucking cute because it was pure Josie. “How dare you!” she kept at him. “You’re…you’re…unspeakable,” she finished on a hiss.

Stone’s face changed entirely, his eyes on her, his lips murmuring, “Josephine—”

“Do not utter another word,” she warned angrily. “I’m afraid I must inform you that with your behavior tonight and the things I just heard you say, I’ll not be meeting you for a drink Monday. Indeed, I’d rather not see you again in my life. Have I made myself clear?”

“It’s unfortunate you heard that, Josephine, but allow me to—” Stone started.

“Actually, I find it quite fortunate,” she cut him off to declare. “I simply thought you were arrogant and insensitive. Now I know you’re much more and none of it is good. Alas, what’s unfortunate is that Jake and I were having a lovely evening. The first lovely evening I’ve had since my grandmother died, and you cast a pall on that. However, with the likes of you, it’s easily forgettable so we can put the unpleasantness that is you behind us, return to the restaurant and continue enjoying our evening.”

Listening to this, Jake was making a mental note not to piss Josie off when she pulled from his arms but caught his hand.

“Come, Jake. Your beer has arrived and I’ve just discovered I’m in dire need of a martini.”

She tugged on his hand.

He grinned at her then grinned at a frowning Stone who was giving Josie a dark look Jake didn’t like all that much. Then again, the asshole could do nothing. She was lost to him even more than she was before. It didn’t matter he was loaded and could send a glass of Dom Perignon to her table. He’d ceased to exist for Josie.

On that thought, Jake kept grinning as he let her start to pull him toward the restaurant.

But when she turned, she wobbled on her high heel so he jerked on her hand to send her flying his way. He let it go but caught her tight to his side with an arm around her back as he swallowed down a bark of laughter when she muttered an infuriated, “Drat!”

“Just keep on keepin’ on, baby,” he whispered. “You leveled him. And it wouldn’t matter what you do in those shoes. You’re gonna look good doin’ it, he’s got no chance, so it’s all good.”

He negotiated her up the steps and reached out to open the door for her when she declared, “That man is a toad.”

“That man is in your rearview mirror and what’s down the road is a martini and a fuckin’ good meal.”

He heard her draw in a breath as he pulled her through the door, then she said, “Indeed.”

He gave her a squeeze and felt her arm slide around his back as he headed her to their table.

They only let each other go when he held her chair for her. She sat in it. Jake tucked her under the table and resumed his seat.

He was putting his napkin back on his lap when she again spoke.

“I was correct. You’re very gallant.”

He looked at her to see her eyes direct on him. “What?”

“I found what you just did to be both honorable and brave. I’ve never seen a man behave like that. Your acting when I was annoyed to handle that matter without delay was quite gratifying.”

He grinned at her and noted, “So, you’re giving me a compliment.”

She nodded once. “Indeed. No wonder Gran liked you. She always said that chivalry was fading alongside nobility and she thought that was a shame. She said those kinds of men are now very rare. She found one in you. I’m seeing more and more clearly why she’d give me you for, her knowing this, she’d want me to have it.”

Jake said nothing. This was because he was again frozen in order that he could fully experience her words searing through him.

“What I don’t understand is why she kept you from me,” she stated, her eyes sliding away and she began talking to the carpet. “However, that encounter was vexing.” She looked back to him. “So can I ask that we dispense with discussing anything that may be distressing and just sally forth enjoying the evening?”

Jesus, she was too much.

And too fucking cute being it.

Jake again grinned at her. “We can sally forth however you want, Slick.”

Her eyes flashed when he quit talking then he watched something move through her expressive face, settle in it, warming the entirety of her features, and finally she smiled.

He let that smile sear through him too then he saw their waiter out of the corner of his eye. He caught the man’s attention and jerked up his chin.

The guy hustled to their table.

“The lady wants a martini,” Jake told him.

“Vodka, with olives,” Josie put in.

“I’ll see to that right away,” the waiter replied.

“Then we’ll want the specials,” Jake added.

“Of course,” the guy nodded, bowing slightly. “I’ll return shortly.”

“Now,” Josie started when the guy moved away. “I’ll need to know if there’s anything Conner won’t eat so I can plan Monday’s menu.”

He reached for his beer, ignoring the chilled glass they’d provided, answering, “Con’s allergic to vegetables.”

He took a tug from the bottle and smothered another grin when he saw her big blue eyes get wide.

“That’s horrible,” she declared. “Allergic to vegetables? All vegetables?”

He put his beer back to the table and leaned into her. “Baby, it’s a turn of phrase. He’s not allergic to them. He just hates ‘em.”

“Oh,” she mumbled. Then her gaze grew sharp. “He should get past this. It’s not healthy not to have vegetables in your diet.”

“I’ll let you share that with him on Monday.”

She straightened her shoulders and stated, “I’ll do that without delay. It’s my understanding that young men continue to grow into their twenties. He’s far from small but if his diet was more robust, who knows what could happen.”

Fucking hell, she was the shit.

“Yeah, Josie. Who knows,” Jake muttered.

“Now, I’ve got the taste for steak,” she changed the subject. “What do you have the taste for?”

Straight up, he had the taste for cute, klutzy, classy pussy, eating her and listening to her moan.

He didn’t tell her that.

He said, “Waitin’ for the specials.”

She nodded and smiled.

He took her smile and gave her one back.

Then her martini arrived.

* * * * *

Jake sat in the window seat of the light room, legs stretched out up on the seat, ankles crossed, a glass of Lydie’s Scotch in his hand, his eyes to the moonlight on the sea.

Josie was down from him, curled up with her legs under her, body twisted, torso pressed to the seat back, facing the windows.

She’d given him a treat and taken off her shoes, making it the first time she was even slightly casual in front of him. She hadn’t let down her hair and after that night, he was thinking he really needed to see her with her hair down.

But this would come.

She was drinking some purple liquid from a snifter that came from a fancy-ass bottle and smelled like cough syrup when she’d handed him her glass after he asked what it was. He didn’t taste it. A sniff was enough to put him off and his expression must have told her that because she immediately took the glass from him but did it on a cute little giggle.

After asking him in for an after dinner drink, getting his Scotch, getting her drink and taking off her shoes, she’d led him up to his favorite room in the house.

It had been a good night and he knew this because he’d quit counting the times she smiled because she was doing it so often, he couldn’t keep track. She’d even laughed, mostly quiet and sweet, but once her shoulders shook with it.

What made her smile and laugh was his stories about the kids or the guys at the gym or how his dancers and bouncers were always dating, breaking up, acting out and trying and failing to hide that shit seeing as he had a no fraternization policy.

She’d also made him smile, relaxing more and more as the dinner went on and sharing about places she’d gone, things she’d done and the people she knew and worked with. Some of the names of recording artists he definitely knew. He even knew some of designers’ names.

The one thing that made him uneasy about this was the way she talked about it. She clearly enjoyed her work, liked and/or admired the people she worked with and it was obvious she loved what she did and the people she did it around.

In her globetrotting lifestyle with the fashion and music elite, he could see it would be difficult to settle in a small town on coastal Maine no matter how pretty the town was or how phenomenal her house was in that town.

She took him from his thoughts when she said softly, “Before it became too hard for her to negotiate stairs, Gran and I used to sit up here all the time.”

His eyes went to her to see she still had hers to the view and she kept talking.

“When I was young, I used to make up stories and tell them to her. I think she knew they were my daydreams but she never said anything. When I was older, we wouldn’t have to say anything at all. She’d sip her Drambuie, me my Chambord and we’d just sit here, staring at the sea, and we’d just be but in being we did it together.”

Jake said nothing, reading her mood and deciding she didn’t need a grief counselor or a conversationalist.

She needed a listening ear.

So he was going to give it to her.

However, he was wrong.

He knew this when she turned his way and caught his eyes in the dim light.

“Can you just tell me how you met?” she requested quietly.

“I’ll tell you anything you want, baby,” he replied quietly.

She nodded and Jake gave her what she needed.

“My gym was goin’ down,” he shared.

She tipped her head to the side and he kept going.

“To make a real go of that place, I need to offer boot camps, spin classes, aerobics and shit. In a town this size, a boxing gym is not gonna make a man a shitload of money. And it didn’t. Problem was, I had three kids to take care of and a wife at that time and I needed to make money. A friend of mine is a reporter for the county paper and when it looked like the gym was gonna go down, she made a big deal of it, hoping to get me more members. The Truck losin’ his gym. The kids losin’ their league.”

“The kids losing their league?” she asked.

He nodded. “Got a junior boxing league runs outta the gym. They train three afternoons a week after school and have matches on the weekends. There isn’t a shitload of kids in it but we always got around twenty or thirty. Makes no money, dues they pay barely cover equipment and it eats up gym time. Still, it keeps kids from doin’ fucked up shit and it teaches them discipline, gives them confidence, shows them it’s important to take care of their bodies, and gives them the means to stick up for themselves.”

“You never mentioned that,” she noted.

“Haven’t known you that long, honey,” he replied.

She nodded then said, “I’ve heard this ‘truck’ business and your gym is named that. What does that mean?”

“I’m The Truck.”

“Pardon?”

He grinned at her. “I’m The Truck, Josie. Used to box. That’s what they called me.”

She straightened in her seat. “You’re a pugilist?”

His grin got bigger. “Uh…yeah, I’m a pugilist. Used to be a pretty good one. That’s how I could make the paper, even if it was just the town paper. Started boxing early, just for a workout. Wasn’t into team sports and my dad wasn’t into havin’ a kid layin’ around watchin’ TV. Found it suited me. Liked bein’ in my head, havin’ it be about what my body could do but more, while my body was being challenged, I had to keep my head. You get trained, you learn your opponent, you have people drilling strategy in you, but when you’re in the ring, there are only two of you and the goal is pretty extreme. You gotta beat the shit outta the other guy so he doesn’t do it to you.”

When he stopped talking, she asked, “And you were a pretty good one?”

“Yeah.”

“How good?”

“Had a couple pay-per-view fights in Vegas. That good.”

She sounded adorably confused when she asked, “Is that good?”

He smiled at her again. “Yeah, Josie. That’s good. Boxed in college, had a trainer-manager approach me, ditched school my junior year, went all in. It worked. Got some big fights. Made decent money. Did some traveling and saw some nice places. It was good, exciting, I liked it and I loved to box. But you gotta do it smart and you gotta get out when it’s time to get out. Your body can’t take that forever. I got out, came home to Maine, used my earnings and opened the gym.”

“I still don’t understand why they call you The Truck,” she said.

“I’m called The Truck ‘cause I knocked out a kid in college three minutes into the first round. When the college paper asked him what happened, he said my right hook was like getting hit in the face with a Mack truck. It stuck.”

“I’m taking it that’s complimentary,” she guessed and that got another smile out of him.

“Yeah, babe. Very,” he confirmed.

He saw her teeth flash before she prompted him to get back to the story, “So, you were going to lose you gym…”

“Yeah. And Lydie saw the article,” he told her. “She came to see me. Not sure she wanted The Truck to keep his gym. It was probably more about the kids having their boxing league. But whatever it was, she came to offer me money to help bail me out.”

“Ah…” she murmured.

“Lydie’s Lydie, way she was, she got me to talkin’ and she got the whole story. Dad was dead. Mom was draggin’ and we’d find out not too long later she was dyin’. My gym was in the red and to put food on the table, I was a bouncer working nights at The Circus. We were livin’ in a two-bedroom apartment close to the wharf and that place wasn’t good normally, but it smelled like dead fish depending on which way the wind was blowin’. Donna was beginning to embrace her inner cougar so she was more interested in getting laid than having her kids during her custody times. This meant Sloane was up in my shit, not happy to have two kids most of the time ‘cause Donna was out carousing and a baby in that small pad.”

“Is this why she left you?” Josie asked.

“She didn’t leave me, babe, kicked her ass out.”

Her voice held surprise when she asked, “You ended things with her?”

He leaned her way. “With Sloane, finally learned how to do it. Life sometimes sucks and right then, it was suckin’ huge for me. I knew that apartment was shit. I didn’t like my family to be there either. Tight with my dad, loved my mom, not doin’ good with him gone and her goin’. I was not hangin’ on to the gym. I knew it had to go. It killed me. I love that gym. But my family was more important. I was workin’ two jobs, I’d drag my ass home at three in the mornin’, get up to open the gym at seven, crashin’ whenever I could. I didn’t want that and was tryin’ to find a way out. She wasn’t tryin’ to find anything but ways to ride my ass. When shit gets heavy, you stand by your man. You don’t drag him down when he’s already circling the toilet.”

There was a pause before she whispered, “This is very true.”

“I know it is.”

She kept whispering when she said, “I’m sorry she was that way with you, Jake.”

So fucking sweet.

“I was too at the time, honey,” he replied. “But the way she turned her back on me, but mostly on Ethan when she got her new man and set up her new life, not upset I’m shot of her.”

She held his eyes a long moment before she asked, “So is this when Gran offered you money to buy The Circus?”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “Place was a shithole. And Dave, the guy who owned it, was a dick. Paid the girls nothin’, sayin’ they made their money on tips. Had two bouncers on each night. Just two. For a club like that, that’s inviting trouble. Had girls behind the bar who couldn’t do shit should somethin’ go down. He still made money. A load of it. And when he was looking to get out, I knew, if I could buy it, I could turn it around, make a shitload more.”

“Therefore you told Gran this and she believed in your vision.”

Jake smiled again. “Yeah. She believed in my vision, Slick. Told me, I leverage the gym, she’d give me the rest of the money and, I could make a go of The Circus, pay her back along the way. Obviously I said no.”

She straightened and leaned toward him, sounding surprised when she asked, “You said no?”

“I said no,” he confirmed. “Taking pity money from an eighty-six year old lady?” He shook his head.

“But you eventually took the money,” she noted.

Jake nodded.

“I took the money. I said no about a hundred times first. The good part about this was, she was interested in me, she liked me, I liked her, and she kept at me. In this time, she met the kids, got involved in our lives, we liked her there, we kept her and she kept us. Eventually, she wore me down. I took the money, got a loan on the gym seein’ as I owned the building outright. I closed The Circus down for two months, me and some buddies fixed it up, reopened, paid Lydie back within a year. Paid off the loan on the gym within three. Got myself a four-bedroom house where my kids all have their own rooms. Life changed. Quit sucking. Got good. And Lydie was the catalyst for all that.”

“And that’s how you met,” she said softly.

“That’s how we met,” he replied just as softly.

She was still talking soft when she said, “I’m glad she was there for you, Jake.”

“I am too, honey.”

He watched her turn her head to the view before she said to it, “I just don’t understand how she could be so involved in your life, your children’s lives, and she never introduced any of you to me.”

This was the sticky part.

And it was a fucked up move, he knew it, but she was suffering so Jake waded into the mire.

He would deal with the blowback when, but hopefully only if it happened.

“Babe, she was all about you when you’d come to visit,” Jake told her and she looked back to him.

“Pardon?”

“She talked about you all the time. Thought the world of you. And when you’d come for a visit, she’d get real excited. She couldn’t wait. Not hard to see she missed you when you were gone and she missed you bad. So, my guess, when she had you, she didn’t want to share you.”

“We went to parties and I saw her other friends all the time,” she returned.

“Yeah, but I’m not exactly in her age group and my family isn’t exactly in her social set. We’re not invited to play bridge and we don’t go to church socials.”

“This is true,” she murmured.

“And I know from what she told me after you were gone that she did not live her life on the go, socializing rabidly like she always did until she couldn’t do it anymore. When you were here, she took a break. She gave her time to you and sucked all of yours in that she could get.”

This brought on silence until she broke it, saying quietly, “We consumed each other.”

“Come again?” he asked.

She looked again to the window. “When we were together, we consumed each other. I thought it was just me missing Gran. When I was with her, I took every moment I could get with her and in this house. Committing it to memory. I did that even before…” She trailed off then began again. “I did it even when I was a little girl. I loved being with her and I loved being with her in this house.”

“So maybe that’s why we didn’t meet.”

She looked back at him. “You and your children are not bridge cronies, Jake, but you meant the world to her too. I know this to be true. She has your picture on her nightstand.”

Jake had no reply to that.

Strike that.

He had one. He just couldn’t give it to her.

Not now.

“I could see, in the beginning maybe. But seven years?” she asked.

He bent a knee, leaned deep and stretched a hand out, catching hers. “I have no answers for you, baby,” he told her gently, none of these words sitting well because they meant he’d lied to her gently. “And, it sucks but she’s gone. This is clearly fuckin’ with your head but you gotta let it go because with her gone, you’re never gonna get those answers. Just settle in that it was whatever it was and she made it so we have each other now.”

“We have each other now,” she whispered.

“Yeah.”

Her hand turned in his so she could curl her fingers around and she held tight.

And when she did, she held his eyes and kept whispering. “I’m glad, Jake.”

He held her back just as tight. “Me too, honey.”

She gave him a small smile.

And on that, Jake decided it was time to go. Her in this mood made him want to find creative ways to guide her out of it and he knew which way that creativity would go.

He was not Boston Stone.

In the beginning, the minute he saw her in her big black hat and big black shades at the funeral, he’d felt the urge, definitely. A woman like that, few men wouldn’t.

Then again, he’d felt the urge long before that seeing her pictures, reading her letters, listening to Lydie talk about her.

He didn’t know about the will at the funeral but he knew where Lydie was leaning, what she wanted. She never said it flat out but that didn’t mean she didn’t make the message abundantly clear and she did this repeatedly.

But Jake didn’t figure Josie would want anything to do with a guy like him.

He knew differently in the parking lot at the club when he let her off the hook, telling her his tastes for women leaned elsewhere.

He didn’t lie. He liked big hair. He liked big tits. And he didn’t mind his women showing skin.

That said, he also liked ass and legs and curves in all the right places and high heels and melodic voices and thick blonde hair and big blue eyes and pretty much everything that made up her package.

She’d surprised him by exposing she’d go there.

She said he wasn’t her thing but he knew she lied.

But now was not the time for her to make those decisions. She lost the only person she was close to on this earth—he knew not only a grandmother but a savior. And he sensed she was at a crossroads. He’d be a dick to make a play while the first was fresh and the last was uncertain.

He’d wait.

She’d told him at dinner her shit for brains boss was not likely to show for at least three weeks, maybe longer.

So he had three weeks to get in there and during that time, he’d go gently.

So fucking her on the window seat in the room where she told stories to her recently deceased grandmother when she was a kid was not the way to go.

“I got furniture to move tomorrow, honey, so I best be hittin’ the road so I can hit the sack.”

Her hand flexed in his like she didn’t want to let him go and he liked that.

But she said, “All right, Jake.”

He downed the rest of his Scotch then got up, pulling her out of the seat.

She made it without taking a tumble. Then again, her feet were bare.

He held her hand down the spiral staircase, thanking fuck the thing was wide so he could do it, and he held her hand all the way to the front door.

He kept hold of it as he put his glass on a table at the side of the door, took hers and set it beside his. He also kept hold of it even as he slid his other one from the side of her neck to the back and pulled her forward, leaning in.

Then he kissed her forehead and moved back an inch to catch her eyes.

“Another good night, Slick.”

“Yes,” she agreed breathily, her eyes holding his and hers were not hiding the fact she didn’t want him to walk out the door.

Yeah.

He was her thing.

He wouldn’t have guessed it. Wouldn’t even think it was possible. Spent years not thinking it was possible.

But yesterday, she let him in. Calling him when a new wave of grief poured over her and he knew she did that shit the instant it happened with the way her voice sounded on her message and even later, when he called her back.

He just had to glide the rest of the way in, slow and easy. For her. For him. For his kids.

Like Lydie wanted.

Precisely like Lydie wanted.

“Sleep tight, baby,” he murmured.

“You too, Jake.”

He grinned at her and squeezed her with both hands.

Then he let her go, opened the door and walked out, ordering, “Lock this behind me.”

“Of course,” she replied to his back. Then she called, “Goodnight.”

He turned at the door of his truck and gave her a low wave and a smile.

She waved back.

Then she stepped back, closed the door and she was gone.

* * * * *

Jake heard the TV when he came into the kitchen from the garage.

He threw his keys on the counter and was shrugging off his suit jacket when Conner came in.

His eyes went to his boy.

“What’s her curfew?”

“It’s Saturday, Dad. We got until midnight.”

He bunched his jacket in a fist, walking further into the room and asked, “How many sundaes did Ethan eat?”

Conner grinned. “Three.”

“Terrific,” Jake muttered.

Conner leaned against the island and his grin died. “Just sayin’, Amber was a total bitch all night to everybody.”

Time to get her ass back to Josie. She might not have been sunshine and light after the last time she was with Josie, but at least that bought them having her quiet and reflective for a day or two.

“I’ll have a word.”

“Have twelve,” Conner replied. “Ellie got fed up with it. Told me she wanted me to take her home. Took a lot to talk her out of it.”

Jake wished he hadn’t. That would mean they’d make out and whatever the fuck they were doing in Conner’s car, not on Jake’s couch.

“Said I’ll have a word, Con,” he reminded him.

Conner nodded then grinned again. “How was dinner?”

“Josie’s the shit,” Jake replied, tossing his jacket on the island and moving to the fridge.

“You into her?” Conner asked and Jake came out of the fridge with a bottle of water and gave his eyes to his son.

“We havin’ a heart to heart while your girl is in there watchin’ TV?”

Conner’s grin got bigger. “Just askin’, seein’ as Ethan said she’s mega pretty.”

“You’ll see for yourself Monday night. We’re goin’ over there for dinner. And, heads up, she’s concerned you don’t eat vegetables. She’s a class act but she’s also Lydie’s granddaughter. Lydie’s been riding your ass for years about eating your greens. Josie laid it out for Amber within half an hour of meeting her. She won’t hesitate over vegetables.”

His son’s grin didn’t waver. “I’ll brace.”

Jake shook his head, moved to his boy and grabbed him around the back of the neck for a squeeze.

Then he let him go and muttered, “Get back to your girl.”

Conner lifted his chin.

Jake moved to the door to the hall but stopped, turned back and called his son’s name.

Conner turned to him too. “Yeah?”

“Pick one,” Jake said quietly. “Think about it, think long and hard and pick right. But cut the others loose. You’ve had your fun. Now it’s time to make a choice and cut the strings so you aren’t draggin’ them all with you only to eventually drag them down. You with me?”

Conner had no smile when he started, “But, Dad—”

Jake cut him off. “Trust your old man. A woman’s heart is fragile and it’s precious. Don’t be that asshole who kicks it around.”

He watched his son swallow.

“Now, you with me?” Jake prompted.

He hesitated, but only a couple seconds before Conner replied, “Yeah, Dad.”

Jake nodded. “Good. ’Night, Con.”

“’Night, Dad.”

On that, Jake went up to his room.