hoping that this place would work its magic.
It was a great wreck of a house, but it was part of their history together, part of who he’d become. It deserved better than to be consumed by the elements and left for some errant campfire spark to take hold of and burn down.
He’d mortgaged his future to buy it, cashing in his investments, selling his sports car to buy a secondhand SUV. He’d even sold his house in Wicker Park and took up residence in a tiny one-bedroom in a seedy neighborhood, just so he could afford the mortgage and taxes.
It left little for renovations, but Jake felt it was worth the risk. Although, he still hadn’t told a soul he owned it. His father would probably blow a gasket and his mother would never understand. But he had an ally in Caley.
“There are only two things I ever really wanted in my life. And this was one of them,” Jake said.
“What was the other?” Caley asked.
“You,” he said with a devilish grin.
JAKE LOCKED THE FRONT DOOR behind them and returned the key to its spot beneath the window. Caley watched him, her mind flooded with memories of their childhood. She couldn’t count the number of days they’d spent at the Fortress. It had been a magical place, a place all their own.
It was sweet of him to remember, she mused. Even when things had been difficult between them, Caley had been able to count on Jake. As teenagers, they’d argue and pout, but he’d always be the first to come back with an apology—a gift of something he’d found in the forest or a plan for a brand-new adventure or just a silly joke that would make her laugh.
It wasn’t difficult to understand why she’d been in love with him all those years ago. When she was with him, she felt as if she were the most important person in his world. And she felt that way now. There was an honesty between them, a respect that she’d never felt with any other man.
When he stepped back to her side, she wrapped her arms around his waist and pushed up on her toes, dropping a soft kiss on his lips. “Thank you,” she said.
“For what?”
“For bringing me back here.”
Jake slipped his hands around her waist and drew her closer, his mouth covering hers. The kiss was quiet and gentle, his tongue caressing hers in a slow, seductive way.
It was as if they both finally knew that being together was inevitable. There was nothing stopping them anymore. All day she’d been thinking about this, about what even one kiss would do to her. If a kiss could devastate her defenses so easily, what would a night in bed do?
Suddenly, Caley wanted to find out. She didn’t need to weigh the consequences of what she was about to do because she didn’t care anymore about consequences. All she cared about was sharing herself, completely, with Jake.
“Would you like go back to the inn?” she asked.
“I thought we could walk down to the lake,” Jake said. “There’s something else I want to show you.”
“I want to go back to the inn,” Caley said. “With you.”
He stared down into her eyes, an odd expression on his face. Then a slow smile curved the corners of his mouth. “We don’t have to go back there,” he murmured.
“We don’t?”
He pulled her along the porch, circling the house until he’d reached the side that faced the lake. She saw the small log building about thirty yards from the house, connected by a covered walkway. They’d called it the Guardhouse when they were kids, but now Caley knew what it really was—a summer kitchen. When they reached the front door, Jake pulled out his keys and unlocked the padlock.
“You have your own key?” she asked.
Jake opened the door. “Yeah. It comes in handy since I own the place,” he murmured.
Caley gasped, not sure that she heard him right. “You own this cabin?”
“No, I own the whole thing. The house, the property, the rotting dock and the roofless guest cabins. The musty furniture and that old moose head over the fireplace. It’s all mine.”
Caley glanced around the small cabin. A drafting table was set up near the window and a small cot stood in front of the fireplace. She walked over to the table and stared down at the yellowed plans spread out there, recognizing the facade of the main house. They were covered with yellow sticky notes in Jake’s handwriting.
Caley felt her heart warm, suddenly understanding the deeper reasons for their visit. This was his home. And he wanted her approval. “I can’t believe this is all yours,” she said. “How did you get it?”
“I was in New York for a seminar and I decided to look up the lady who owned it. I had the name from the tax records. We had tea and I told her about how much I loved the place and how I used to sneak in here. And she agreed to sell it to me, with the provision that I bring it back to what it was in her childhood. I made a promise and I intend to keep it. And when it’s finished, she asked that I invite her grandchildren to stay now and then.”
“Why did you bring me here?”
“It’s our place,” Jake said. “I thought you should see it again. Because you’re my oldest friend and you’d appreciate it.”
Caley slowly unzipped her jacket. “I don’t want to be your friend right now,” she said, dropping the jacket on the rough plank floor.
He reached out and rubbed her arms through her shirt. “Maybe I should start a fire.”
Caley sat on the edge of the cot and watched as he crumpled newspapers up beneath the grate in the old stone hearth. He tossed some smaller logs on top, then grabbed a match and started the fire. They both stared into the flames as they licked at the dry logs. Soon, a gentle heat was radiating through the room.
“Do you stay here often?” she asked.
“When I come out from the city,” Jake said. “It’s harder in the summer since my folks are in town. Then, I have to stay with them. In the winter, no one knows I’m here. I work on the house. It’s quiet and I get some of my other work done, too.”
“I’m used to having so many people around,” she said. “I can’t imagine getting anything done with all this silence.”
“Sometimes silence is nice,” he said, leaning forward to kiss her.
She reached for the buttons of her shirt, and Jake drew a ragged breath. Pressing her hand to his chest, she felt his heart pounding beneath her fingers. Caley was breathless, as if the anticipation itself was exhausting.
“Are you sure you want to do this here?” he asked. “Conditions are a little rough.”
“This is perfect,” Caley said. In truth, she’d always dreamed that it would happen this way with Jake, in some secret spot where no one would ever find them, in the back seat of his beat-up Cutlass or on a secluded beach in the middle of the night.
Jake reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out his wallet, then retrieved a condom. “I guess we’ll need this,” he
