Page 62 of Fairy Tale Lies
Jacob came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder. She set the watch aside, placing her hands on his and leaning back.
“Can I ask you something?” Since her talk with Will, she had a ton of questions.
His chest rumbled with light, quiet laughter. “Why do you even ask? Your imagination scares me too much to let it run wild. What do you want to know?”
Her pulse quickened, nervous her prying would upset him. He kept his emotions locked and buried, but learning he was the family’s caretaker was unexpected. She wanted to know more.
“That day at Belle Isle, you told me you lived with your brother and father to help each other. I assumed the house was your father’s. Will says it’s yours…”
Jacob sighed and grabbed the closest chair and sat, pulling her onto his lap. “Ah, now I understand the serious faces earlier. Will issucha gossip. It’s no big deal or secret. My dad needed help. I had it to give.” Jacob shrugged. “My mom loved this house. So much of her memory’s here. To lose the house would be to lose a piece of her.”
Compassion threatened to overwhelm Greta; she had to blink back tears. His selflessness and strength, in the midst of his heartbreak, was incredible. Her admiration grew, and she was at a loss for words for the second time that night.
She let her kiss express what she was unable to voice.
Jacob accepted her lips and deepened the embrace, though before losing herself to his touch, she leaned back. Resting her hands on the sides of his face, she peered into his eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me? Or about helping your brother?”
“Damn. You two were having one hell of a heart to heart. Did Will also tell you I’m claustrophobic? Or the time when I was twelve and was caught trying to steal a pack of gaming cards?”
Greta exhaled a breath of laughter. “No. Guess you interrupted us before we got into more of your criminal past.”
“What a shame,” he muttered.
She laughed quietly, asking, “Seriously, why not say anything? Why, when we talked, did you leave out huge chunks of your life?”
Jacob’s shoulders sagged, and he ran a palm back and forth over his jawline. The gesture shouted agitation. “Our backgrounds are oceans apart. Do you honestly think I want to bring up drugs, arrests, and foreclosures to remind you of this?”
“Do you imagine these things don’t touch the wealthy? We merely have better means to hide them or get help. My uncle, on my mother’s side, has been battling an addiction to prescription drugs for years. I’m sure he’s not the only one. Wealth allows us to hide our secrets better. Hearing what Will told me didn’t make me respect you or your family less. The opposite. You should be proud of what you’ve done.” She slid her hand resting on his shoulder to his chest. “I admire your heart and the way you care for those you love.”
“Listen, I’m happy Will’s life is getting back on track, but don’t give me more credit than I deserve. He did the hard work. He chose to pull his life from the chaos and destruction. All I did was offer a little financial help when he was ready.”
Before she could respond, Jacob caught her lips and muttered against them, “Can we forget the past and focus on the now? Like, how much I’ve missed you. I’m thinking of selling Rework and asking for a position as a mail clerk at Swift. Maybe I’ll get to see more of you.”
~ * ~
Greta’s throaty laugh mixed with her fragrance of lilacs and woman curled around Jacob. The combination was heady. He wanted more.
For weeks, he’d tried to convince himself he was merely attracted to her beauty and hidden passion. It ran much deeper.
He couldn’t remember the last time, if ever, a woman had gotten under his skin this thoroughly. The mixture of intense affection, the promise of love, combined with desire, was new. She’d be his undoing, and he was powerless to stop his growing devotion.
He wasn’t ready to voice any of this out loud. Instead, he showed her through touch. He kissed her gently, trying to make her understand he loved more than her body.
Greta deepened the kiss and shifted to straddle him. Tenderness became blistering desire when her slender legs encased his torso. He clasped her lower back, bringing her closer. When she rocked against him, his mind went blank with need.
He grasped the hem of her shirt, taking it off. She tugged at his T-shirt. He took the hint and yanked it off, tossing it over his shoulder to land with hers. Returning to her soft skin, he explored her curves and contours, ending at the lacy cups of her bra. He nudged aside the delicate material to capture her nipple between tongue and teeth, savoring the taste and the throaty moan of his name from her breathless lips
“Are you now admiring my heart?” she asked with a heated giggle, that became a moan when he unclasped her bra and ran his tongue along the underside of her breast.
“Yes. I’d like to admire every inch of your body with my mouth.”
“I don’t know if I’ll survive it. I need you too much. Please don’t make me beg.”
Her blunt words and the longing behind them was all the pleading he required. Jacob stood, slipping an arm under her bottom for support. With his free hand, he reached around Greta and shoved aside the many items on the desk. Setting her on it, he parted her legs and pressed in close. She wrapped her legs around him again, and their lips crashed together with equal urgency.
The layer of clothes between them was too much.
He needed more of her against his overheated flesh. Grasping the waist of Greta’s skirt, she lifted enough to allow him to remove it, leaving her in barely-there white lace panties.
