But he was different from his father in one very important way. Jake was going to be there for Mandy where his father had failed his children in every way possible.
When Heather got out of the car to stand in front of him, he didn’t hesitate to put his arms around her. “I know it seems like I’ve been living my life a lot like my father did, and maybe to a certain extent, I have. But let me assure you, I’ll always be there for Mandy…and for you.”
“Jake—”
“I mean it, Heather. I’m not the irresponsible jerk my father was.”
Deciding that enough had been said about his notorious father and atypical family, he let his gaze travel from her silky hair swept up into a stylish twist, down the length of her black strapless cocktail dress, to her impossibly high, black heels. In L.A. they had a colorful phrase for those kind of shoes and he seriously doubted that she realized some women wore them to send a message that they were open to a night of unbridled passion.
Groaning, he raised his head to rest his forehead against hers. “Do you have any idea how sexy you are? How beautiful?”
Before she had the chance to speak, Jake teased and coaxed her mouth with his own until she granted him the access he sought. But he was completely unprepared and not at all disappointed when Heather took control of the kiss and touched her tongue to his.
At first tentative, her shy stroking sent electric sparks to every nerve in his being. As she gained confidence and engaged him in a game of advance and retreat, the sparks touched off a flame in the pit of his belly that quickly had him wondering if he was about to burn to a cinder.
The reaction of his body was instantaneous. He hadn’t become aroused this fast since his teens.
With his knees threatening to buckle and his head swimming from a serious lack of blood to the brain, he reluctantly broke the caress. If he didn’t put an end to the kiss, and right now, he was in real danger of making love to her right there on the steps of the veranda.
“Honey… I can’t believe… I’m going to say this.” He stopped long enough to draw some much needed air into his lungs. “Unless you’re ready to go upstairs with me—to my room, my bed—we’d better call it a night.”
He watched her passion-flushed cheeks turn a deep shade of rose a moment before she shook her head. “I’m sorry… I…not yet.” She suddenly clamped her mouth shut, then took a step away from him, then another. “I mean…no. That’s not going to happen.”
When Heather turned and fled up the steps, across the veranda and disappeared into the house, Jake reached up to unknot his tie and unbutton the collar of his shirt. Then, stuffing his hands in his pants pockets, took off at a brisk walk back down the long drive toward the entrance gates.
He couldn’t believe how the evening had turned out. He wasn’t in the habit of divulging personal information to the women he dated. It kept things from becoming complicated when he went his way and they went theirs.
But Heather was different. For reasons he didn’t care to contemplate, he wanted her to know all about him. And he wanted to learn everything about her. What had inspired her to choose her career? Did she have siblings? Were her parents still alive?
Shaking his head, he fell into a steady pace as he started back toward the house. He had no idea what had gotten into him. Yet as he got better acquainted with his only child, he had every intention of getting close to her mother, as well.
* * *
Checking on her daughter sleeping peacefully in her crib, Heather crossed the hall and, entering the bedroom she’d been using since Jake moved her and Mandy into the mansion, closed the door. What on earth had possessed her to take control of that kiss? And why had she the same as told him that at some point she would be ready to make love with him again? Had she lost her mind?
As she removed her heels and unzipped her dress, she thought about the details he’d shared with her about his family. There was a lot more to Jake Garnier than first met the eye or that he allowed people to see.
He was a self-made man who hadn’t always had an easy life. He’d been there right along with his twin brother to step in and accept the responsibility of raising their younger sister, while still managing to complete his education. That had been a monumental undertaking and she could tell that he wouldn’t have considered doing it any other way. He and his siblings had struggled to stay together and they’d made it. That certainly wasn’t something a self-indulgent playboy would do.
She slipped out of her dress and hanging it in the closet, took down her hair and changed into her nightgown. When she climbed into bed, she closed her eyes and hugged one of the pillows tightly against her.
The more she learned about Jake, the more she admired him. Considering she was finding it almost impossible to resist him, that was extremely dangerous. She couldn’t afford to let go of her preconceived notion that he cared little or nothing about anyone but himself. If she did, there was a very real possibility that she and her daughter would both end up getting hurt.
Lying there hugging the pillow, she must have drifted off to sleep because the next thing she knew, her daughter’s cries coming through the baby monitor awakened her. She tossed the pillow aside and, getting out of bed, reached for her robe. But the sound of Jake’s voice stopped her.
“What’s wrong, Mandy? Did my little honey bunny have a bad dream?” He must have taken the spare receiver to his room before he turned in for the night.
As she listened to him comfort their daughter, tears filled her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. It was clear from the tone of his voice that he loved Mandy, and Heather knew as surely as she knew her own name that he would be just as committed and protective of their daughter as any father could possibly be.
Without a second thought, she quietly opened her door and tiptoeing across the hall, watched Jake gently cradle Mandy to his bare chest. She waited until he put their sleeping daughter back in the crib, then walked out into the hall. “I appreciate your trying to let me sleep.”
Running his hand through his thick hair, he shook his head. “Too bad it didn’t work out.”
When they both fell silent, Heather found it hard not to stare. Dressed in nothing but a pair of navy silk pajama bottoms, he looked absolutely…yummy. She suddenly felt warm all over.
“Heather, are you all right?”
“I…um, yes.” She needed to make her escape while she still had the presence of mind to do it.
His slow smile said that he knew exactly what she’d been thinking. “I like the way you look, too.” Reaching out, he traced one of the thin spaghetti straps of her gown with his index finger. “You make turquoise look real good, honey.”
“I thought that was supposed to be…the other way around,” she said, realizing that she’d forgotten all about her robe when she’d heard Jake talking to the baby. “Isn’t the color supposed to complement the person wearing it?”
“Not in your case, Heather.” He trailed his finger down the strap to the gown’s rounded neckline. “You make everything you wear sexy.”
A shiver flowed through her when the tip of his finger lightly grazed the slope of her breast. “I’m…going back to…my room.”
He
