* * *
Jake stood in the doorway, so struck by the picture of Sophie asleep in his bed that he couldn’t actually make his feet move forward. Yet again, he couldn’t do anything but stare at her, watch as her chest rose and fell slowly, her hair spread out across his pillow, her expression so serene.
His chest clenched tighter as he finally moved into the room. Her scent was already everywhere, wrapping around him, winding through him, drawing him closer.
Sixty seconds later he’d stripped his clothes off. All of them.
He wanted her. Badly. He hadn’t just wanted her since the moment he’d found her standing outside his front door, hadn’t just needed her for two and a half months, ever since they’d made love in the rental house in Napa. No, the truth was he’d wanted her so much longer than that.
He pulled back the covers, slid in next to her, and wrapped his arm around her waist to pull her into him, her soft curves fitting perfectly against him, her hips a soft, warm cradle for the erection that wouldn’t go away. Jake slid one hand into her long hair, breathing in her sweet scent.
It shouldn’t feel right to have Sophie Sullivan in his bed. But nothing had ever felt quite so right before.
“Good night, princess.” He whispered the words against the top of her head, pressing a soft kiss there. Sleep claimed Jake long before he thought it would, with the one woman he’d never thought he could have safe and warm in his arms.
Chapter Twelve
Sophie felt so safe, so warm, as she floated in that in-between space between sleep and coming completely awake. She knew exactly where she was, knew precisely why she felt so good. Jake was holding her, his arms curled protectively around her shoulders, with one of his hands splayed flat over her stomach beneath the T-shirt as if he were trying to protect more than just her.
And he was completely naked.
She could feel the rigid flesh of his erection against the small of her back, the hairs on his thighs against the smooth skin of her legs, and as desire swiftly stole through her, she couldn’t stop her half-asleep body from wanting to get even closer.
She’d assumed night would be her enemy, those dark hours during the seven days she’d promised. But now she knew it didn’t matter whether it was day or night, light or dark.
She was her own worst enemy.
Jake wouldn’t have to ask her for a darn thing. Just to be near him like this, if only to know the sweetness of his touch for a few seconds, she’d give up everything.
Obviously hearing her secret admission, Nice Sophie came completely awake inside of her and started yelling at her to protect herself from being hurt any worse than she already was. Nice tried to remind her of the pain she’d felt for two long months, tried to hold out those truths she’d made herself face the day before.
But Naughty Sophie, the part of her that had clearly been held down for way too long, wanted to go back to that place where Jake had been touching her, teasing her, taking her to heaven and back. She’d be careful this time. She wouldn’t be foolish enough to blurt out her love for him—or even to admit that she felt it—no matter how good he made her feel.
Of course, when Jake softly blew the hair away from her neck and pressed his lips to the sensitive skin there, it was inevitable that Naughty would win the battle over Nice. Rather than trying to fight it, knowing it was pointless to even try to pretend she didn’t want to be his lover for the next seven days, Sophie did what came naturally and arched her neck to give his mouth better access.
His low groan of pleasure rumbled from his chest to hers as he pulled her hips even more tightly against his, his hand never leaving her stomach. His tongue slid over her exposed neck and she shivered at the delicious sensation of being tasted. Savored. And when he blew over her damp skin, she felt the tips of her br**sts become sharp points of need. Her br**sts were more sensitive now, probably due to her pregnancy. And, oh, how she wanted his hand to move those few inches, up from her waist.
But then his mouth was back on her neck, nipping at her skin, causing a trail of thrill bumps in its wake before latching onto her earlobe, and the breath Sophie hadn’t realized she’d been holding whooshed from her chest as his teeth bore down on the soft flesh.
More ready for sex that she’d ever been in her life, she instinctively pressed her hips into his erection, trying to widen her legs for him, so that he could take her. But his thigh between hers held her captive.
“Jake,” she pleaded, barely awake and already begging.
“Shhh,” he soothed, and she might have pressed her case for quick and fast if not for the fact that he finally started moving his hand.
Sophie went completely still, not wanting to do anything that would make him stop the sinfully slow press of his fingertips over her belly button and then her lowest ribs. But even as she tried to hold still, she could feel herself trembling.
How long had she dreamed of Jake touching her like this? Like she was the most precious thing in his world? Like he’d never let anything hurt her? Like he’d slay all her dragons just for one more moment with her?
As his fingers skimmed over her skin, it didn’t matter that Nice Sophie was screaming at her to know better, to wake up and face reality. Naughty Sophie promised that reality could wait, and it would have to, because there was no way she could leave Jake’s arms now, not when he was so close to touching her—
His hand stilled just below the swell of her br**sts and she nearly groaned with disappointment.
“Soon,” he promised her, and the wicked intent in his voice—along with the shocking tenderness of his promise, had her toes curling against the tops of his feet.