away with the speed of sand in an hourglass.
“I just want to know why,” he said, toned shoulder muscles flexing beneath his dress shirt. How did a CEO maintain such incredible physique...and stamina? She had to remind herself that it hadn’t been enough, that she needed a man who would fight for her, no matter what anyone else thought.
“Did you think I couldn’t handle the news that you wanted to break it off?” he asked.
“I...” Across the street, KC noticed a group of familiar women strolling down the sidewalk. Black Hills was a relatively small town. Everyone knew most everyone else. Standing on Main Street talking with Jacob was the equivalent of standing on a stage. She needed to escape before someone started paying attention—
Or her mother and grandmother made an appearance.
“I just... Well, I didn’t know how to tell you I wasn’t interested anymore, actually.” Clunky, but the truth. Knowing she’d chosen the cowardly way out, she still forced herself to sidestep him, then back away. “And you never seemed to want to deal with any deeper stuff, so...really, Jake, I’m just, well, sorry.”
Then she turned and walked away, praying she could sidetrack her mother and grandmother before they proceeded to parade her baby down Main Street. She couldn’t let Jacob learn about his son that way. Because he’d take one look and realize the main reason why she’d disappeared, if not the whole truth. As much as his arm’s-length attitude had confused her, he didn’t deserve that.
Which meant instead of the months she’d convinced herself she had to introduce Jacob to his son, she only had a matter of days. And she probably needed to figure out how to do that sooner rather than later.
* * *
Jacob Blackstone was too good at reading people not to realize when someone was lying. KC Gatlin showed all the signs.
This afternoon she’d shifted from side to side, avoided answering directly and refused to look him in the eye. Much to his deep disappointment.
He’d anticipated that moment when their eyes would meet more than anything. He was still thinking about it as he sat with his brothers in a booth directly opposite the bar at Lola’s, sharing a platter of man food—wings and cheesy bacon-covered French fries—and alcohol. Jacob’s drink of choice had always been wine. His brothers ragged him about his caviar tastes, but Jacob refused to apologize for having the most refined sensibilities of the family.
KC was far from refined. She’d been the burn of whiskey his body had been waiting for. That was why he’d ached for her to look at him this morning. He remembered well the sparks that would explode inside him just from sharing her gaze. His long-dormant body craved another taste, like a kid craved Pop Rocks.
He’d never forget their first meeting. From the moment she’d taken the plane seat next to him, he’d been enamored. That first conversation had revealed intelligence and humor in a beguiling mix. When they’d landed at the airport an hour away from Black Hills, he’d offered to share a ride. From that moment on, whenever he’d been in town, he’d spent as much time at her place as Blackstone Manor, until she’d stopped answering his phone calls months later. When he’d come home for his grandfather’s funeral, she’d been nowhere to be found. The little house they’d spent so many enjoyable hours in had been sealed up tight.
He didn’t want to, was shocked that he couldn’t stop, but he’d hungered for her since that very first plane ride together. Time and distance hadn’t changed that, much to his disgust. Nothing about his obsession made sense. They lived in two different worlds. They had two very different personalities and approaches to life. Still, he wasn’t ready to let her go.
She’d been as wild as he’d expected, but she’d also led him to more genuine fun than he’d had his entire adult life. Quiet nights at home with a movie, cooking for two and sleeping in—oddities in his workaholic routine. No woman had interested him in any way beyond the physical. KC had interested him in every way.
She still did.
“Excuse me, guys.”
Leaving his brothers staring after him, he made his way around tables to cross the room. They’d been in their corner for an hour while KC tended bar, and she hadn’t looked directly at him a single time. Every second without that connection had itched below his skin until he couldn’t even concentrate on the conversation. He’d deliberately kept their relationship out of the local headlines, but Jacob was desperate enough to risk a little limelight right now.
Oh, boy. His attitude made him very afraid he might step into stalker mode now that the possibility of seeing her around was very, very real. Some days, thoughts of KC had made him feel as if he was losing his mind.
He braced himself for her special brand of sarcasm. Something that had been noticeably lacking this morning.
“Jake. What brings you in tonight?”
You. Jacob ground his teeth together. Not because the shortening of his name bothered him, but because hearing it said in KC Gatlin’s husky voice reminded him of evenings being soothed by her presence after an upsetting day with his mom. Reminded him of long nights between the sheets.
Far too distant memories.
“Do I need a reason? Can’t I just enjoy the opportunity to watch a beautiful woman work the crowd?”
For the better part of a year, such a simple comment would have had her eyes sparkling, those full, naturally red lips tilting into a luscious smile, her mouth ready and willing to talk back. But not tonight.
“You never came to watch me before,” she said, then dropped her gaze to the bar and started scrubbing, leaving him bereft once more. So she wasn’t gonna make this easy.
He settled on a bar stool, watching that compact body displayed to advantage in a tight T-shirt and jeans. She acknowledged the move with a quick flick of her lashes, then studiously avoided looking at him again.
Just the way she’d ignored his phone calls. For seven months. He should have moved on by now, but his obsession had only grown. Now this successful, accomplished businessman found himself hunting the woman he craved in the local honky-tonk, because, well...because the cravings had become unbearable.
It no longer mattered that he couldn’t figure out how she would fit into his life plan without wreaking havoc on it. She was the woman he shouldn’t want, but the one woman he couldn’t forget.
So he sucked up the little pride he had left and leaned closer. “You never did say where you’d been, KC.”
She paused, then dropped the towel and met his gaze head-on. One of the things that had long enticed him was the very moment those turbulent hazel eyes turned his way, letting him see the woman inside and her mood, based on the dominant color of the day. Blue for calm and sunny. Green for sultry and sexy. Brown for angry or sad.
On tonight’s menu: swirling milk chocolate. Wonder what he’d done to piss her off.
He’d never had a clue. They’d hooked up every time he’d come home to see his mother or take care of some business for his grandfather, until he’d found himself making up excuses just to return to Black Hills so he could see her. Watch her face while he talked with her. Sleep wrapped around her sweet-scented body. Hell, he’d even flown her out to Philadelphia once when he’d had to cancel his trip
