far—” which it would “—his name is Wynn.”
“Wow. How about that.”
He nodded. Smiled again. Yeah. “How about that.”
Seeming to read his mind, Teagan laughed. “Don’t worry. It couldn’t be my Wynn. He keeps his cards close to his chest, but a libel suit? He’d have said something about that. Social media would be all over it.”
“We haven’t submitted yet. No one knows.”
Teagan reached for another berry while Jacob finished his second cup of coffee. She hadn’t spoken about her family the previous night and hadn’t gone into much detail now, not that he’d been particularly forthcoming in that area, either. Admitting that his background was weird was the tip of a Titanic-size iceberg. His childhood had been beyond toxic.
But right now he was more interested in Teagan. And Wynn.
“So what does your brother in New York do? We might know each other.”
“How many Wynns have you met again?”
He grinned and conceded. “Only one, and that’s on paper.”
“So you couldn’t know my brother.”
Ha. Right.
Still...
“What did you say he does for a living?”
Teagan gave him an odd look, like, “maybe drop this.” And he would, as soon as this was squared away, because the back of his neck was prickling now. Could be nothing, but he’d learned the hard way to always pay attention to that.
“Wynn works for my father’s company,” she said. “Or an arm of it. All the boys do.”
The prickling grew.
One arm of a family company? “Sounds as if your father runs a big enterprise.”
“It’s big, all right. Out of college, I decided to do my own thing. I didn’t want any part of the drama.”
“You’re not estranged from your family, though.”
Her eyebrows snapped together. “God, no.”
“Everyone went to that wedding?”
“Everyone was there.”
“So you’re all close.”
“We’ve had our differences, between my brothers and father particularly. Too much alike. Although, as they get older, it’s not as intense. And, yes. We are close. Protective.” She pulled the lapels of her robe together, up around her throat. “That’s the way it is with our family. We can say what we want about each other, but anyone throwing shade from the outside needs to brace himself for a smackdown.” She set her napkin on the table. “What about you?”
Jacob was still thinking about Wynn and family companies with arms in Sydney, LA and New York.
He tried to focus. “Sorry? What was that?”
“Your family, Jacob. Do you have any siblings? Nieces or nephews?”
“No siblings.” As far as blood went, anyway.
“So, it’s just your parents and you?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s complicated.”
Her laugh was forced. “More complicated than mine?”
Shrugging, he got to his feet. Teagan got to hers, too.
There were questions in her eyes. Doubts about where he’d come from, who he really was. Okay. Let’s see.
His A-hole father had jumped ship before Jacob was in school, right before Mom had screwed up monufreakingmentally. As a teenager, he’d gone off the rails and literally crashed before lucking out and finding a buoy at just the right moment.
But that was a lifetime ago. So forget about the past and concentrate on this. On now.
Jacob took her hands and stated the glaringly obvious.
“I had a great time last night.”
Her expression softened. “Me, too. Really nice.”
When he lifted her hand and pressed his lips to her palm, every fiber in his body sat up and took notice.
“You smell so good,” he said. Like vanilla.
“It’s called soap.”
“I skipped the shower. Didn’t want to wake you up.”
She tilted her head and gave him a teasing look. “I’m awake now.”
His gaze roamed her face...the thousand different curves and dips he’d adored and kissed long into the night. Then he considered their backgrounds again, and that yet to be filed libel suit. He thought about his Wynn, and he thought about hers.
It didn’t matter. At least, it didn’t matter right now.
Leaning in, he circled the tip of her nose with his and murmured, “That robe needs to go.”
Her beautiful eyes smiled before she unraveled the bulky tie at her waist. A second later, the robe lay pooled on the floor and they were headed for the bedroom again.
All six shower nozzles were well placed and set to warm and ready. Add two large, soapy hands indulging every part of her body, and Teagan was riding the fast track to Take Me Now. Or was that Take Me Again? Evidently, Jacob Stone’s sole purpose in life was to leave her feeling completely satisfied. Totally adored.
Who was she to complain?
But there were things she wanted for him, too, and precious minutes were flying by. There was no time to lose. So she slid a palm down over that ripped six-pack and curled her fingers around the part of him that so badly wanted to play.
His jaw grazed her temple as he groaned.
“Please say we’re not leaving today.”
“We have maybe an hour.”
When she tightened her hold and slid her hand all the way down his shaft, he groaned again—deeper this time.
“An hour’s not enough.”
She grinned. “We’re not doing that again.”
But when he backed her up to the marble wall and slapped his palms against it high on either side of her head, Teagan seriously wanted to reconsider.
As she continued to work his erection,
