Chapter Three
Jake had never been to the Blue Wall. The same could be said of most places in the town of Rosewood Bay. True, he didn’t live far from here, but he’d always gravitated to the other side of his town of Thornton and the neighboring areas. Rosewood Bay was all new to him.
The Blue Wall was a nice restaurant, cobblestone outside. One side of the building housed a bar with live music on the weekends, and the other was an upscale restaurant. As he waited for Phoebe in the hostess area, he took in the aqua-blue walls and enormous wall-size fish tank in the main dining area with interest. The décor lived up to the restaurant’s name.
“You could have been seated,” Phoebe said, coming up behind him.
He turned to face her, blown away by her beauty. “I wanted to wait,” he said, his gaze taking her in. The last two times he’d seen her, she’d been wearing a businesslike suit, her hair pulled back, either in a bun or a ponytail.
Tonight she was wearing a cream-colored sleeveless dress. She’d removed her shawl already and it was hanging over one arm. Her hair fell around her shoulders, light blonde framing her delicate features. And the dress itself was fitted around her full breasts, which were larger now than he remembered. His fingers itched to touch her, so he curled them into tight fists.
The hostess walked them to their table. Along the way, Phoebe stopped a few times for hellos, introducing him to people she worked with, was friendly with, or had sold a home to.
“I’m so sorry,” she said when they finally made it to their table. “I wish I could have walked by all those people, but it would have been rude.”
He grinned. “You haven’t changed.” He’d always enjoyed her outgoing personality and wouldn’t alter her nature a bit.
She laughed. “I guess not. I’m still a people person.”
Instead of a table, the hostess took them to a circular booth, and they ended up sitting side by side. Though he wouldn’t have minded staring at her from across the table, he enjoyed being this close to her, too. Her fragrant scent aroused him, making him grateful for the darkened ambience and the cover of the table over his growing erection.
“Your waiter will be with you shortly,” the hostess said, leaving them with their menus as she walked away.
“Everything here is good.” With a gentle nudge, Phoebe slid his menu toward him. “You can’t go wrong with anything you order.”
He opened the menu for a quick glance, choosing his meal and shutting it again. He wasn’t fussy about his food and he’d rather be talking to her.
“So.” He pushed the leather-bound book aside. “How have you been, really?”
“Good.” She smiled as she answered, evidencing the truth of her statement. “Life since I saw you last has been full of surprises, actually.”
He leaned closer. “Tell me everything.”
That pretty grin faltered but she obviously caught herself and managed another less-genuine smile. He wondered what was behind the sudden shift, but he didn’t have time to ponder for long, because she jumped right in to elaborate.
“Let’s see. I’d have to go back to the beginning. Shortly after we… after you left the Dawsons’, an aunt came and claimed me. Aunt Joy took me out of foster care along with my sister Halley, who’d been in another foster home. Do you remember me mentioning her?”
“How could I forget?” One of the things that had pained her was losing touch with her sister. She’d often talked about how much she wished she could find her. “That’s amazing,” he said of her aunt.
She nodded. “After ten years of being alone, I suddenly had a family again.” This time the smile reached her eyes.
He was happy for her because he knew that, despite her always cheery outlook, she’d been lonely inside, searching for love. And for the time they were together, he’d tried to give it to her.
Despite his inability to deal with most people, they’d bonded intimately. He’d wanted to be everything to her back then… because she’d been everything to him.
“It really was like a miracle.”
He shifted so he could look at her as they spoke, and his thigh brushed against hers. His skin burned where they’d accidentally touched, the heat going straight to his cock. Jesus. She still had a huge effect on him.
“Do you know why your aunt didn’t come get you before?” he managed to ask, glad his voice didn’t betray the desire coursing through his veins.
She nodded. “I do.”
“Hi, folks. Can I get you something to drink?” the waitress asked, interrupting the flow of conversation.
Phoebe ordered a glass of Chardonnay and he chose a beer on tap.
She waited until they were alone again before continuing. “My aunt told us a lot about my mother that I didn’t know.” She glanced down at her hands, which she’d laced together on top of the table. “My family is pretty dysfunctional,” she murmured. “It seems that after my mother married my father, my grandparents disowned her because he’d enlisted in the army and had no prospects for a future that they approved of.”
“That’s pretty damned judgmental,” he couldn’t help but say.
“You’re telling me.” A sad expression crossed her face. “A few years later, Dad was killed in action and Mom fell apart. She was holding down a job but she got hurt, began using painkillers, and became addicted. She began spending the nights in bars, and our little sister, Juliette, was born shortly after.”
She drew a deep breath and continued. “Instead of stepping up then, my mother’s parents, wonderful humans that they were, refused to help Mom out. Aunt Joy was eight years younger than mom, and her parents never even told her that her sister had had kids.” She shook her head, obviously still stunned by the story after all these years.
He couldn’t fathom what kind of parents turned their back on their own child. There was nothing Callie could do that would make him walk away from her. “So how did your aunt find out about you and your sister?”
She took a sip of water and met his gaze. “Mom was arrested for possession and intent to sell. She sobered up and called her sister to tell her that Halley and I were in the system.” She shrugged, as if it were that simple.
He placed a hand over hers, curling his fingers around her smaller one. “God. I’m sorry, Phoebe. For all of it.”
A long, lingering look passed between them, one that began as a sympathetic one and quickly morphed to a more heated sense of awareness.
“And here are your drinks.” The waitress returned, placing a glass of white wine in front of Phoebe and the beer before Jake, interrupting the heated, albeit quiet, moment.
“Can I take your orders?” the woman asked, pen and paper in hand.
Phoebe shook her head as if to clear it. “I’ll have the salmon and rice pilaf,” she said. “And what kind of vegetable do you have tonight?”
“Spinach? Broccoli?”
“Spinach,” she said, handing over the menu.
The waitress turned her gaze to his. “Sir?”
“The pork chop,” he said. “Baked potato and spinach.” He glanced at Phoebe and she laughed.
“The spinach is delicious,” Phoebe said.
He grinned.
“Thank you,” the waitress said, turning and walking away.
Phoebe met his gaze, the heated awareness gone. He hoped it wasn’t for good. The fact that there was still such a strong sense of awareness between them told him things were far from over. Nor did he want their relationship to be in the past.
“So let’s talk about you,” she said.
He shook his head. “Not so fast. Your story was just getting interesting. “How is Halley? Are you two close?” he asked, curious to know everything about her life.
She nodded, her eyes lighting up. “She’s incredible. You’d really like her.”
“I hope I get the chance to meet her, then. And you mentioned another sister?”
“Juliette.” True sadness crossed Phoebe’s face. “Mom gave her to her father in exchange for a lump sum payment and relinquishing custody.” Her lips twisted in disgust. “To this day, she hasn’t told anyone Juliette’s father’s last name or where he’s located,” she said wistfully.
Her mother had sold her own child. Son of a bitch. “You wish you could locate her, don’t you?”
She nodded. “Mom resurfaced about a year ago. Halley tried to trust her and got burned badly. She never had the chance to ask her about Juliette, not that Mom offered up the information, either.” She shook her head. “But… the good news is that Aunt Joy turned out to be great and I got Halley back, too.”
“And your grandparents?” he asked of the people who hadn’t deserved to have children.
“They passed away before my return.”
And good riddance, he thought.
“Now it’s your turn.” She lifted her glass and took a sip of wine, her small pink tongue coming out to smooth over her lips.
He wanted a taste of that tongue, he thought, then shifted in his seat, his thigh once again coming into contact with hers.
She let out a small exhale, one he noticed because he was hyperaware of her at the moment. Both her inadvertent touch and her reaction didn’t help his own state of arousal.
Ignoring his body’s response to being near her, he cleared his throat. “Me. What do you want to know?” To start at the beginning meant that he’d have to reveal the truth about what had happened to him in the intervening years.
He wasn’t as much embarrassed about his past as he regretted the choices he’d made and wished for a do-over in some ways. But then, who didn’t have things they preferred hadn’t happened? Some more than most?
“Are you sure you want to know?” he asked.
Her pretty green eyes grew intense. “I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t.”
He drew in a deep breath. “I spent time in prison,” he admitted, getting the truth out without beating around the bush.
She slowly lowered her glass to the table. “I know.”
Her words couldn’t have shocked him more. “You do?”
She nodded, biting down on her lower lip. “A little while after my aunt rescued me,” she said with air quotes around the word, “I wanted to find you. She told me she had no luck after the group home, but when I told her I ran into you the other day? She confessed that she’d lied. She discovered you were incarcerated and opted not to tell me.” She shook her head, tears in her eyes. “I just need to know why. Why would you end up in jail?”
He shook his head. “Stupidity?”
She waited patiently, so he went on, describing what had happened during one of his hotheaded moments. “I was at a bar with a few friends. A big guy hit on a woman who had told him to go away. He wouldn’t take no for an answer. I got in the middle, swung, the guy went down and hit his head. Knocked him out. He ended up in the hospital, needing surgery from the blow to the head. I was arrested for assault and battery. Given my record, no one really gave a shit that I was looking out for someone, you know?”
She reached out and took his hand, wrapping her fingers around his, offering comfort. “That’s awful.”
He rolled his shoulders in a lighthearted shrug he didn’t necessarily feel about the subject. Prison had been brutal. He’d had to watch his back and make sure he played it smart with the other inmates. Six months had never felt so long.
Then again, he knew things had happened for a reason. “I had a temper back then. We both know it.” Looking back, he could see his path to prison had been clear and all his own damned fault.
After his father had left, never to be heard from again, Jake had begun acting out. As a teenager, he’d graduated from mouthing off to his mom to cutting school, missing curfew, and ultimately getting in with the wrong crowd. He’d moved on to petty theft, minor drugs and lots of alcohol, and being dragged home by the police.
After one too many run-ins with the cops and the justice system, he’d managed to get himself pulled from his mother’s house and tossed into foster care. His mom had been beside herself, and he’d spent many of his adult years making his behavior up to her. So winding up behind bars hadn’t come as a surprise.
He was just damned grateful he’d ended up where he was today. “Six months inside taught me the importance of mellowing out when I was released. I learned to take a step back before jumping into the fray or acting on my angry impulses.”
Her eyes were still damp as she looked at him. He didn’t want her feeling sorry for him, and when she sniffed, one lone tear dripped down her cheek.
He reached out and swiped at it with his thumb. “Don’t cry for me,” he told her in a gruff voice.
“I’m just sorry. You didn’t deserve what happened. Not when you got thrown out of the Dawsons’ and it doesn’t sound like you deserved prison, either,” she said, her expression somber.
“I’ve dealt with it. Besides, it led me to a good place.”
She seemed to perk up at the proclamation. “How so?”
Just then, the waitress arrived and served their meal. While they ate, he told her about how he’d met Brent. “My parole officer liked me, go figure. So he introduced me to Brent Master, a man who took in kids like me, taught them a trade in construction.”
“That’s wonderful,” she exclaimed.
He nodded. “We just clicked. He was like the father I never had…” He drew a breath and forced out the next words because they had to be said. “And I married his daughter.”
Silence followed that declaration.
Using her fork, she toyed with her rice before meeting his gaze. “I’d hoped you’d find happiness,” she said at last. “But I admit, for the girl I used to be, it hurts to think of you with someone else.”
“What about for the woman you are now? Does she hurt to think of me with someone else?” he asked, deciding to push her a little. Because during the time he’d sat here listening to her, he’d been drawn back into her orbit.
There was something compelling about Phoebe, at least for him—her eternal optimism, genuine love of life and people, and her big heart, all of which had remained and grown since he’d seen her last. She’d fulfilled the promise of youth, and as a woman, she was special.
Her startled gaze met his at the pointed question. She bit down on her lower lip as she thought about how to answer him.
“Of course it hurts me to think about you with someone else,” she murmured at last. “You used to belong to me.”
He wondered if he could belong to her again or if too much time had passed. “It would hurt me to think of you with another guy. Has there been anyone serious? Is there?” he asked.
Her gaze hot on his, she shook her head. “No. There’ve been men… but no one who meant enough to me to…” She trailed off, wrinkling her nose in thought before continuing. “No one got past my walls. And despite how open I seem to be, trust me, I have them.”
He expelled a long breath he hadn’t been aware of holding, relieved he didn’t have to deal with the emotion of jealousy, sad that she had to cope with it on her end. But he couldn’t regret his time with Lindsay, not when it had given him Callie. Not something he intended to say aloud now.
Instead he reached out and squeezed Phoebe’s hand, and though the gesture wasn’t sexual, he felt a definite throb in his groin. They remained that way a few minutes, fingers intertwined, communicating without words, much the way they used to.
“It hurts to think of you behind bars, too,” she said again, so much pain in her words.
“Like I said, it forced me to grow up fast and to get my shit together. I can’t say that would have happened otherwise. It brought me to Brent, who taught me everything I know. It’s thanks to him that I have the chance at a solid future.”
“Well, I’m glad. You deserved that.”
He nodded. “How about we move on to lighter things? Tell me about how you got into real estate.”
She lit up at the subject of her career, pulling her hand from his so she could gesture as she began to regale him with stories of some of the funnier clients she’d had, the odd list of requirements some people had when buying a house, and she exhibited pride when it came to some of her more recent, larger sales.
“One day I’d like to open my own office. Get away from Harvey, my boss,” she said.
“What’s wrong with him?”
She wrinkled her nose. “He’s one of those men who makes you uncomfortable. He looks a little too long, doesn’t know the meaning of personal space, you know?”
He narrowed his gaze, his temper rising over the fact that she’d been subjected to some asshole’s bad behavior. “Did he touch you?” he asked, fingers curling into fists.
She shook her head. “It’s all been subtle innuendo.” She wrinkled her nose. “The man’s a pig.”
“Have you talked to anyone about it? An office manager? Someone?”
“No. He’s the owner. There’s no one to reprimand him, but relax. I can handle him.”
He hated the fact that she worked somewhere where she was subjected to harassment. “You shouldn’t have to put up with that.”
“It is what it is.” She shrugged, obviously unconcerned or at least used to it as a fact of life. “He owns the biggest real estate firm in the area. I’d be foolish to walk away.”
“Until you go out on your own, you mean.”
She grinned. “Maybe one day.”
The rest of the meal passed easily between them, but underneath was a lingering sexual awareness that had been there through the entire dinner.
She declined dessert, saying she had to get home because she had an early showing in the morning.
He paid the check and walked her out to her car, his hand on the small of her back. Being with her again felt good. Catching up made it seem like he knew her again.
He felt like something important had been returned to him tonight, something he hadn’t known he was missing until he’d gotten it back. Things between them definitely weren’t over, and if he had his way, this night would be the first date of many.
* * *
Phoebe walked out of the restaurant, Jake’s hand on her back, a touch that felt more like a brand. So many times during dinner, in spite of the seriousness of the conversation, she’d felt of an undercurrent of sexual awareness burning bright between them, and she was certain he’d felt it, too.
“My car is over there.” She pointed to her white vehicle parked beneath a light.
He guided her, pausing behind the trunk of her car.
“This was nice,” she said. “Catching up and talking.”
“I’d like to do it again,” he said, his smile pure sin.
A ripple of awareness trickled through her veins. “Me, too. I have so much more to share with you,” she murmured.
Dinner conversation had been heavy enough without her bringing up the fact that he had a son. Not to mention how public the restaurant had felt. But she was determined that he know and soon.
He leaned in closer and she trembled beneath the cooler air surrounding her.
“Tomorrow night?” he asked, pushing her for a fast second date.
Not that she’d thought this had been a date, but when it came to the two of them, the connection was obviously still strong.
“I can’t tomorrow.” She’d promised to host a sleepover for one of Jamie’s friends.
“Next Friday then.”
She laughed at his perseverance. “You’re persistent.”
“I am when I want something.” He paused. “There’s still something between us, Phoebe.”
She looked into his eyes and nodded, unable to deny the obvious truth.
“I’ll see you at the house during the week?” he asked.
“Yes.” Maybe then she’d find time to talk to him with no one else around.
He leaned in and kissed her cheek, brushing his lips over her skin. He lingered, his breath warm on her flesh, causing her nipples to pucker beneath her dress. Her hand came up to cup his forearm, steadying herself against the sexual tension between them.
His lips trailed across her cheek, and when she turned her head a fraction, his lips brushed hers. His lips were warm, his kiss gentle and way too brief.
He pulled back, leaving her wanting so much more. “Good night, Phoebe,” he said in a husky voice.
“Good night,” she murmured. With trembling hands, she reached into her bag to retrieve her keys.
He held open her car door and waited for her to climb into her car and drive away. And as she watched him disappear in her rearview mirror, her heart pounded out a rapid beat, and excitement and panic warred for dominance inside her. Because somehow, in her effort to understand the man he’d become so she could decide whether to let her son know his father, she’d managed to complicate an already sticky situation.
* * *
Unable to sleep, Phoebe sat on her back patio drinking a glass of white wine before bed. She’d needed to unwind after her dinner with Jake. After that kiss, so brief yet so intense. As serious as all the truths told and the confidences revealed tonight.
She needed to tell him soon. She couldn’t use the he’d-been-in-prison excuse to keep him away from his child, not when he’d owned up to his past mistakes.
She took a sip of wine and stared up at the starry sky, thinking of Jake and the man he’d become. He was so straightforward, so down-to-earth and full of self-knowledge and understanding. As for his time behind bars, her heart hurt for him, knowing it hadn’t been as easy as he’d led her to believe. Sure, it had led him to a better place, but the time there had to have been awful.
She admired his outlook, but the truth was she admired a lot more than what was inside him. He’d grown into himself physically. Handsome, dark hair, full lips. Broad shoulders, muscles in all the right places. And strong thighs. She knew because her own thighs had brushed with his during their dinner, and her entire body had sizzled at the hard touch of his leg against hers.
And when he’d leaned in and kissed her cheek and lingered before moving to her lips, she’d breathed in his masculine cologne and her nipples had hardened beneath the material of her dress.
But it was difficult to think of him as a man she desired when there was still so much emotional baggage between them. Not only did he have a child he didn’t know about, he’d been married. She didn’t know what he felt about his ex-wife, who’d wanted the divorce or why. What if he was still hung up on her? It would be foolish of Phoebe to want something that wasn’t possible.
And besides, she had a little boy to consider. Just because she still felt something for Jake didn’t mean she could act on it. After all, if he reciprocated and they got together but things didn’t work out, her son would find himself in the middle of his parents and that wasn’t fair.
Life would be complicated enough with Jamie getting to know his dad. Her own feelings and desires couldn’t factor into the equation.
* * *
After working long hours that included Jake’s crew beginning to freshen up the existing paint and moldings in the house, he called it a day. “Let’s start again in the morning,” he said to his men.
“Jake, what do you say we grab some dinner before we head home?” Gregg, his new foreman, asked.
Jake’s stomach grumbled and he nodded. “Sounds good.”
“One of the kitchen guys said there’s a good pizza place in town. Want to try it?”
“Sure thing.” The outside contractors had already finished and gone home, so Jake locked up the Renault place and followed Gregg by car into the town of Rosewood Bay.
The main street was an eclectic combination of storefronts, common to small, local beach towns, giving the area character instead of bland uniformity. Sal’s Pizza was on the corner, located by the barbershop.
He parked and headed inside, the delicious smell of garlic assaulting his senses. He met up with Gregg, and they ordered a large pepperoni pizza and sodas, then headed to the back of the restaurant to find a table.
The place was fairly crowded. The noise level was high thanks to a video game in one corner and groups of kids with their friends and parents at various tables.
Jake chose a table by the wall and took a seat, his back to the rest of the room.
“Man, I’m hungry,” Gregg said, sitting across from him.
“Same here. It’s been a long time since lunch.”
Gregg laughed. “Listen, I wanted to thank you again for the promotion. I’m sorry it came at JD’s expense, but it’s a great opportunity for me.”
Jake inclined his head. “You earned the position.” And he would have promoted him one way or another, never mind what his old foreman had done. “How’s your wife?”
“Very pregnant,” Gregg said with a shake of his head. “She’s due soon. Another reason this promotion came at the right time.”
They talked about the plans on the Renault place and other projects lined up for afterwards.
Jake glanced at his watch. “I’ll go check on the pizza,” he said. “Be right back.” He rose and headed up front.
The guy behind the counter handed him the drinks and told him that he’d bring the pie back to his table as soon as it was ready.
As he was walking back into the crowded room, a woman stopped Jake, getting into his personal space. “I think you should be keeping an eye on your child,” she said, pursing her lips in obvious annoyance.
He narrowed his gaze. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about but—”
“I’m talking about your son spilling his drink and nobody being around to help.”
Jake shook his head. “Ma’am, I’m bringing my drinks back for myself and a friend. I don’t have a child here,” he said, holding up the full cups in his hands.
She glanced at him, surprise etched on her features. “Oh! That boy looks just like you!” She pointed to a dark-haired boy who appeared about ten years old.
The child was wiping a spilled drink with a flimsy napkin, his cheeks bright red. He looked up and blue eyes just like Jake’s stared back at him.
“Jesus.”
“Jamie? What happened?” Phoebe’s voice traveled toward him as he watched her rush over. “I went to the bathroom for two minutes!” She pulled desperately at the napkins in the dispenser on the table, trying to clean up the mess.
“Sorry to have bothered you,” the woman who’d been lecturing him said.
Jake ignored her, his eyes on Phoebe and the ten-year-old boy… who looked just like Jake had at that age.
As if in slow motion, he made his way over to the table, bracing a hand on the edge to steady himself. “Phoebe?”
She swung around at the sound of his voice, startled eyes meeting his. “Jake.” All color drained from her face, answering any lingering doubt he might have had.
This boy was his son.