“Grasping at straws here,” I heard the younger detective mutter before they got up off our couch. “Well, thank you for your time. And if you do remember anything, please keep us informed.”
Jackson burst out laughing once were gone. “Did you hear that? They were talking about where to get lunch the second they got into the elevator. They don’t give two shits about Gabrielle.”
“And you find that funny?”
“No, babe. I find them funny. They’re idiots and they’re wasting all our time. Now Caleb and I have three huge meetings to cram into two fucking hours because those clowns wanted to feel productive today,” he said bitterly. But in an instant, he erased the sneer from his face and came closer to me, cupping my elbows. “And I can see they’ve got my baby all rattled,” he murmured, kissing my forehead. Instead of pulling away, I reminded myself that I needed to soften toward Jackson.
Or at least appear to.
I had no idea how I’d prove Jackson guilty but what I did know was that I had to have him trust me again. Slowly but surely, I had to let him win me back and feel as if we could really talk again. Perhaps I could ask him about the man he’d hired to break into our home. Perhaps I could bring his guard down enough so that he didn’t take his phone into every room with him. I didn’t know exactly what information I’d get from him and how, but I knew that it would be a million times easier if we were back on speaking terms.
So instead of shrink away, I let him kiss my forehead. I even kicked it up a notch. Looking up at him from under my lashes, I shyly took Jackson’s hand, his eyes gleaming with a mixture of surprise and excitement as my fingers entwined gently in his.
“Baby,” he breathed eagerly, stroking my cheek. “Are you okay?”
“Just stressed out,” I whispered. “This whole thing is just… overwhelming.”
“I know, but we’ll get through it. You have me. Regardless of what you think every time we fight, Lara, I’m here for you. Everything I do is for you,” Jackson murmured, gazing intensely at me as he held my cheek. “Do you understand that, baby?”
“Yes,” I swallowed, blinking wide eyes at him. “I do.”
A slow grin spread his lips. “Christ, I love those words coming from your mouth,” he hissed before pulling my rigid body in for a kiss. Do it, I told myself, forcing my limbs to relax in his arms, willing my lips to soften against his and return the passion. Relaxing my chest into Jackson’s, I parted my lips for his tongue and let him back me up against the wall. There, he held my jaw and kissed me deeper and harder than ever, with a ragged hunger I’d never felt before. “Tell me we’re good again – are we good again?” His desperate question breathed hot into my mouth.
I wanted to spit it back.
But instead, I curled my fingers against the wall behind me, scratching brick as I nodded. “Yes,” I answered just as the concierge phone rang at our door – Caleb waiting downstairs with the car. I thanked God for the bailout as Jackson tore away from me cursing.
“Christ, I want to fuck you so bad right now,” he growled, cutting his eyes to his watch for a second before burying his face in my neck and groaning into my skin. “I have to go. I have to go,” he said, mostly to himself.
To my relief, he had his jacket and tie on in a flash. But at the door, he grabbed me by the waist and grinned. “All the crazy fucking drama’s making me think I deserve to pull the trigger.”
Startled, I blinked. “The what?”
“For our trip,” Jackson replied lightly, referring to our annual Labor Day weekend in Easthampton. “We always rent that same place so Caleb and I were thinking about going bigger this year. Different house. Oceanside. Pool, tennis court, outdoor bar. It’ll be the break we all need,” Jackson murmured, leaning in to kiss me. When he pulled away, a naughty smirk twisted his lips. “Plus, there’s the perfect master bedroom for us. All you can see out the window is water.” He ran his hand down my backside and pulled up the hem of my skirt. “Not that we’ll be doing anything in there but fucking.”
I stared at the door as he grabbed a handful of my ass, groping hard as he trailed wet kisses along my neck. Yeah, no, Jackson, I thought as I forced a soft giggle from my throat. Absolutely fucking not.
Chapter
Four
Jake
It was my first year joining in on the annual Labor Day weekend in Easthampton so Sawyer gave me the rundown. “Couples get the biggest bedrooms. Single guys like you and me get last dibs, especially since single girls like Piper and her friends get priority before us,” he said as we both stood holding beers in the foyer, planted next to our suitcases and waiting for Piper and her friend, Gia, to finish picking their room. “Speaking of those two, I call dibs on Gia. Something about that accent, man. I don’t know where she’s from but I want to hear her say my name.”
“Alright, Sawyer.”
“I mean not in a sexual way. Though also, in a sexual way.”
I laughed. “Yeah, well, she’s all yours.”
“Right, you’ve already got your girl.” He tapped his bottle against mine.
“She’s pretty forward but I wouldn’t call Piper my girl,” I said, lowering my voice as she and Gia came bouncing down the stairs. Sawyer eyed me as he swigged his beer.
“Yeah, man, I wasn’t talking about her,” he said knowingly before snaking a smooth arm around Gia’s waist and escorting her into the next room. As hot as Piper looked coming toward me in a red bikini top and the shortest shorts I’d ever seen in my life, I could hardly pay attention.
It was dawning on me suddenly that Sawyer knew that I was sleeping with my brother’s fiancé.