vacationers, everyone seeming intent on squeezing every last bit of fun out of the waning summer. Lakeview Boulevard was lined bumper-to-bumper with beachgoers’ cars.
Harper’s attention on what was happening outside the window was fractured slightly when Jacob received a call from Elizabeth. He’d told her that Elizabeth had gone with Regina back to Napa. Was his assistant calling because there was more trouble? He barely said more than five words to Elizabeth before he hung up. He opened his briefcase and pulled out a newspaper he’d bought at the airport in San Francisco. He began leafing through it.
“Look at all the cars and people,” Harper murmured.
“It is a holiday weekend,” Jacob said distractedly, frowning down at the newspaper.
“Is something wrong?” Harper asked him.
“No, not at all,” he replied briskly, folding up the paper and shoving it back in his briefcase. Jim had picked them up at the airport. Jacob opened up the window to the driver’s area of the car and spoke to him.
“Can you take us to Harper’s first? She’s going to run in and get some things to take to my place, then come right back out.”
Her heart jumped. Again, she had that feeling of being trapped between her desire and caution. She longed to be with him, of course, to indulge in the lush, sensual connection they shared. She wanted it
too
much. The velocity of their growing attachment to one another, the sheer power of it, left her vaguely panicked that they were on a path together that could only end in catastrophe.
And that didn’t even take into account that she was increasingly feeling like she wasn’t fully getting what was going on with her and Jacob . . . what was going on with
him.
“Jacob, I really should run some errands and check the mail,” she prevaricated when Jim pulled up to her townhome entrance. She leaned forward to hand Jim the clicker that activated the privacy gate. She looked back at Jacob when he grasped her extended hand, and was abruptly caught in his stare.
He’d dressed casually for their return trip to Tahoe in jeans and a forest green collarless shirt that emphasized his riveting eyes and broad shoulders. He pulled her hand into his lap and pushed a button, and the window between them and Jim silently closed. She didn’t say anything when he silently drew her against him, his hand at her lower back. She put her hands palms down on his chest and inhaled his scent, her logic about why she should resist his demands already melting.
He touched her hair. “It’s still the weekend. Still the holiday. Surely you can wait to do errands.”
She pressed her nose to his chest and inhaled, sacrificing her last remnants of resistance. His fingers moved in her hair, and she shivered. He slid two fingers beneath her chin and lifted it, so that she met his stare.
“Do you really want to go home?”
“No,” she whispered.
“Then why are you hesitating?” he asked, his brows slanting.
“It’s nothing.” She shrugged helplessly. It was hard to put her insecurities into words. “I just have this feeling—”
The sedan came to a halt outside her townhome. Jacob’s hold on her didn’t flinch.
“What kind of feeling?” he asked.
“That the faster we go, the more intense we are, the quicker it will end,” she admitted.
“You can’t know that, Harper.”
“I know I can’t,” she admitted, staring at his chest. “I told you. It’s just this feeling.”
“Of dread?”
She looked up sharply, stunned by his insight. “Yes.”
He nodded. “I think I know what you mean.”
“You
do
?”
“Yeah. But it’s like I said last night. We can’t go back. We can’t tread water. The only way to go is forward.” He caressed her cheek, and she instinctively moved her face toward his touch. “Besides. It’s not just dread, what I’m feeling. Far from it, Harper. Is it for you?”
“God, no. I wouldn’t be here, if it were. But aren’t you even a little worried
Harper’s attention on what was happening outside the window was fractured slightly when Jacob received a call from Elizabeth. He’d told her that Elizabeth had gone with Regina back to Napa. Was his assistant calling because there was more trouble? He barely said more than five words to Elizabeth before he hung up. He opened his briefcase and pulled out a newspaper he’d bought at the airport in San Francisco. He began leafing through it.
“Look at all the cars and people,” Harper murmured.
“It is a holiday weekend,” Jacob said distractedly, frowning down at the newspaper.
“Is something wrong?” Harper asked him.
“No, not at all,” he replied briskly, folding up the paper and shoving it back in his briefcase. Jim had picked them up at the airport. Jacob opened up the window to the driver’s area of the car and spoke to him.
“Can you take us to Harper’s first? She’s going to run in and get some things to take to my place, then come right back out.”
Her heart jumped. Again, she had that feeling of being trapped between her desire and caution. She longed to be with him, of course, to indulge in the lush, sensual connection they shared. She wanted it
too
much. The velocity of their growing attachment to one another, the sheer power of it, left her vaguely panicked that they were on a path together that could only end in catastrophe.
And that didn’t even take into account that she was increasingly feeling like she wasn’t fully getting what was going on with her and Jacob . . . what was going on with
him.
“Jacob, I really should run some errands and check the mail,” she prevaricated when Jim pulled up to her townhome entrance. She leaned forward to hand Jim the clicker that activated the privacy gate. She looked back at Jacob when he grasped her extended hand, and was abruptly caught in his stare.
He’d dressed casually for their return trip to Tahoe in jeans and a forest green collarless shirt that emphasized his riveting eyes and broad shoulders. He pulled her hand into his lap and pushed a button, and the window between them and Jim silently closed. She didn’t say anything when he silently drew her against him, his hand at her lower back. She put her hands palms down on his chest and inhaled his scent, her logic about why she should resist his demands already melting.
He touched her hair. “It’s still the weekend. Still the holiday. Surely you can wait to do errands.”
She pressed her nose to his chest and inhaled, sacrificing her last remnants of resistance. His fingers moved in her hair, and she shivered. He slid two fingers beneath her chin and lifted it, so that she met his stare.
“Do you really want to go home?”
“No,” she whispered.
“Then why are you hesitating?” he asked, his brows slanting.
“It’s nothing.” She shrugged helplessly. It was hard to put her insecurities into words. “I just have this feeling—”
The sedan came to a halt outside her townhome. Jacob’s hold on her didn’t flinch.
“What kind of feeling?” he asked.
“That the faster we go, the more intense we are, the quicker it will end,” she admitted.
“You can’t know that, Harper.”
“I know I can’t,” she admitted, staring at his chest. “I told you. It’s just this feeling.”
“Of dread?”
She looked up sharply, stunned by his insight. “Yes.”
He nodded. “I think I know what you mean.”
“You
do
?”
“Yeah. But it’s like I said last night. We can’t go back. We can’t tread water. The only way to go is forward.” He caressed her cheek, and she instinctively moved her face toward his touch. “Besides. It’s not just dread, what I’m feeling. Far from it, Harper. Is it for you?”
“God, no. I wouldn’t be here, if it were. But aren’t you even a little worried
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