A cheer went up from the downstairs bar as they walked back into the Hotel Saint-Denis. “Get a room!” someone shouted.
Charlie’s face ignited. Well, what did she expect? After all, they’d been making quite a spectacle of themselves right outside the plate glass window.
“Working on it,” said Jake.
And within minutes, they were alone in a beautiful French country–style room with a king-sized bed, and she was seeing Jake without a shirt on for the first time since they were teenagers. What had been cute once—fine—had filled out to magnificent.
He smiled as her mouth dropped open at the sight of his muscular chest, perfect six-pack abs, taut belly. And his arms. Dear Lord, those biceps. “C’mere,” he said.
Her mouth had gone dry; her legs trembled. Really, a torso like his should be illegal. She was definitely going to lick his collarbones.
“Gonna make me come get you?”
“Huh?” She’d been staring at him like the village idiot. “Oh. Yes.”
So he did. “I like your dress, Charlie,” he said softly, “but I’ll like it better on the floor.” He stepped behind her, moved aside her hair, and kissed her neck. Then, with the rasp of her zipper, the dress puddled around her feet and she stood there in her high heels and not much else.
Feeling bare, feeling exposed. That’s right—she should concentrate on what was wrong with her body, so that she didn’t lose all control and climb him like some sex-starved orangutan. Gnaw on his triceps.
“So beautiful,” he said.
“Who, me? Ha. I’ve gained eleven pounds—”
“Shh. I love every last one of them.” He ran his big hands down her arms, then over her stomach, hips, thighs, and . . . oh.
Was this really happening? She vaguely recalled that there was a reason it probably shouldn’t . . . but for the life of her, she couldn’t think of it right at the moment.
Jake pulled her against him, snug to his chest, and she thought she might pass out from the pleasure of touching him, really touching him, after all these years. His chest felt so warm and decadent against her back. His fingers threaded through her hair, sending frissons of pleasure radiating from her scalp to her whole body. Jake’s lips brushed her neck. Every nerve ending she possessed awoke with joy.
Then he pushed her onto the bed, and undressed her completely.
They were no longer teenagers. Charlie was no longer worried that her dad would come rolling down the hallway to discover them, or that her mom would pop nosily out into the garden, armed with her knitting needles. Granddad wasn’t there to clean his gun.
They were no longer teenagers, but she felt as if they were, because it was new, even after all these years. Because the waiting and the heartache and the separation amplified the experience. And because he was Jake Braddock, her first love.
Afterward, she fell asleep in his arms, wishing she could stay there forever. It wasn’t until she woke at 5 A.M. that cold, hard reality hit. The town council meeting was at ten. The meeting during which she had promised her grandfather she would stand in his stead and threaten Jake’s livelihood—because she’d never asked someone else to do it. The meeting that she’d somehow never said one word about to Jake.
Oh, dear God. Charlie sat bolt upright, clutching the sheet to her overabundant chest. And what are you going to do about it now, huh? Write him a sweet little note? Sure. That’ll do the trick. No hard feelings.
She looked down at Jake, his face unguarded and relaxed in sleep. Dark stubble had made an appearance overnight, making him look wonderfully dangerous and disreputable. Even his thick dark eyelashes were sexy. Something very much like a smile curved his lips.
She bit down on her own foolish smile, which had come unbidden. What were you thinking, Charlie? How could you have let this happen?
She cast about for ways to get out of this situation. She could just not go. Pretend to be ill. But she pictured Granddad’s reaction—if he got furious, would he have another heart attack? A stroke? God forbid. And she’d promised him that she’d attend the meeting. Make his case. A promise was a promise.
She could wake Jake up right now and try to explain to him. Apologize in advance. But she knew that wouldn’t come close to solving anything. And he was sleeping so peacefully.
Charlie slipped out of bed and slowly got dressed. What to do? She was undecided until the very moment she opened the door.
Coward.
She couldn’t just sneak out and then blindside him at the meeting. That was simply unforgivable.
She shut the door again. She leaned her forehead against it. Then she turned and walked to the bed, feeling as if she were headed for the guillotine. She sat down next to him.
“Hey,” he said, opening his eyes. He yawned, pushed a hand through his unruly dark mop of hair, and smiled at her. It broke her heart. “Want to order blueberry pancakes? Lots of butter and syrup? A split of champagne with fresh orange juice for mimosas?”
“Jake, I have to tell you something,” she said.
“Well, don’t look so damn serious about it. And why do you have clothes on?” He grinned and reached for her. “Let me fix that.”
She shot off the bed and backed away. “Jake.”
The smile disappeared from his face. “What?”
“I, uh, wanted to tell you this before now.”
“Okaaay. Out with it, then. You’re secretly married? You’re having an alien’s baby? You’re—”
“I’m going to be at the town council meeting this morning,” she blurted. “Instead of my grandfather.”
He stared at her.
“Presenting for him. His case against funding the fire department. I intended to find someone to go in my place, but with everything going on . . .”
Jake’s face went completely blank.
“Because obviously, he can’t, being still in the hospital. I . . . just wanted you to know.”
“You wanted me to know,” he repeated, swinging his legs out of bed.
“Yes.”
“You sure as hell didn’t seem to want me to know last night,” he bit out.
“Jake, last night wasn’t planned—by either of us.”
“No, it wasn’t. But this, this has been planned now for how long?” His voice was quiet, his tone deadly.
When had Granddad first asked her again? Charlie tried to remember. “He asked me a few days ago. I said—”
“A few days ago.”
“I said no. I was very clear. But then he brought it up again, and when I said no again, he got so upset that he literally had a medical episode.”
“And you never thought to mention it to me?”
“It just happened—and there hasn’t been the right opportunity!”
“You mean you didn’t have the nerve to tell me.”
Charlie looked away. “No.”
“But now, just hours before I have to defend my right to make a living, now is the perfect time for this information. Beautiful, Charlie. Really. And after last night.”
“Jake, I don’t want to do this.”
“Then why are you doing it?”
“I tried to say no, and Granddad freaked out—”
“So what? You’re an adult. Not a child. Why do you keep letting your parents and your grandfather make your decisions for you?”
“That’s not fair!”
“It’s absolutely fair.” Jake got up and hunted down his pants. “You made a choice twelve years ago—you chose them over me. And now you’re doing it again.” He stuffed one leg into the trousers.
“Excuse me? Who did I choose to stand with yesterday evening when I threw the drink in Uncle Theo’s face? I stuck up for you! I told them we all owe you an apology . . .”
“Yeah, and where is that girl today? Who the hell are you? How can you defend me one day and attack me the next?”
“I’m not going to attack you. I’m going to stand there as his proxy and deliver his report.”
“You could have said no!”
“I tried. You don’t understand—Granddad literally started having a heart attack when I refused him!”
“How convenient.” Jake stuffed his other leg into the pants and yanked them up.
“It was terrifying, not convenient!” Charlie shouted. “I had to get the nurses, the doctor. It was real.”
“And what we have isn’t real. That’s crystal clear to me as of right now.” Jake grabbed his shirt.
“Jake. Please. That’s not true.”
“Why are you even telling me this?”
“Because I needed to be honest about it.”
“Honest.” Jake let out a short, unamused bark of laughter. “Are you really using that word? You, Charlie, have to be the most two-faced person I’ve ever met!”
“Again, that’s not fair. I could have taken the easy way out and left this morning—”
“Congratulations on your nobility. I have nothing else to say to you.” Jake had buttoned his shirt and was now stuffing it into his waistband.
“Jake. Listen to me. Granddad has been lobbying against the fire department for the last decade, and nothing has ever come of it. Nothing will come of it this morning, either.”
Jake shoved his feet into his dress loafers, grabbed his jacket, and shoved his socks into one of the pockets. He palmed his keys, strode to the door, and flung it open. “Tell yourself whatever you need to, Charlie. We’re one hundred percent done—so knock yourself out, babe.”
And then he was gone.