She heard nothing.

But then again, she hadn’t heard him coming either. For such a big guy, he’d sneaked up on her several times now, and that made her nervous, very nervous.

Lucas had been big too, and also sneaky.

And sometimes mean.

Which was why Jacob’s obvious virility was a problem. He moved like a cat. A big, sleek, lethally sexy cat…

She froze at that. She backed up the thought and ran it by herself again. A big, sleek, lethally sexy cat…? No. No, no, no, no. Jacob was not sexy, not in the slightest.

Except he was.

The truth was, Jacob was so damn sexy she couldn’t see straight for all the wanting and yearning he’d caused inside her, and that was the biggest problem of all.

Did she want to rediscover herself and reclaim her sexuality? Sure. And if that happened, great. But she didn’t want more than that. She didn’t want to get emotionally invested, or worse, fall for him. Because falling was dangerous and made her stupid, and she’d made a conscious choice not to do either of those things ever again.

Chapter 5

When she was gone, Jacob stayed where he was. She’d made him smile. She’d made him laugh. The muscles around his mouth had pulled like they were rusty, and they were. Smiling had felt foreign and odd and…

Good.

“Sophie,” he said to the door, knowing she was listening. He could feel her nerves through the wood. It bothered him that he made her nervous. He wanted to make her smile. Maybe make her want him as much as he wanted her. But he didn’t want to scare her. “It’s considered rude to leave a guest out here drinking alone,” he teased.

She didn’t bite. The door remained firmly shut.

He couldn’t hear anything from the other side, but he was pretty sure her emotions could supply enough energy to light up the entire western hemisphere. Thinking about her reaction to the price of the Scotch, he stood and moved to the door. She’d seemed far more hurt than mad, and that sucked. “Come out,” he said quietly, knowing she could hear every word. “I’ll help you waste some more of the Glenlivet.”

Nothing but a very loaded silence.

Willing to wait her out, he sat again, leaned his head back, and watched the last of the day’s light vanish behind an entire spectrum of blues and purples streaking across the sky. Been a damn long time since he’d caught a Rocky Mountain sunset. There’d been a lot of “been a damn long times” here in Cedar Ridge since he’d returned.

And none of it was exactly comfortable.

The water slapped against the dock and the boat. Insects hummed. The air was scented with pine, and all of it evoked more memories than he knew what to do with.

He and Hud had ridden around this lake on their bikes. Made rope swings in trees and judged their own crazy entries into the water. Had climbed the peaks and camped out as often as they could. When they’d hit fifteen, they’d gone to work at the resort their father had deserted, making it their own. Had spent the next three years getting closer to their half siblings Gray and Aidan. And then Kenna, as well, once she’d come along.

He realized he was smiling again, though it faded when he remembered what had come next.

Him leaving.

Walking away.

He turned his head at the sound of someone approaching on the dock, a tall, pretty brunette in painted-on jeans shorts and a white tank top, her high-heeled sandals defying logic and gravity as they carried her to the boat.

She eyed the bottle of Glenlivet and her eyes lit up. “Is it a party?”

“Excuse me?” he asked.

She smiled, extremely friendly-like. “Is Lucas having a party? He didn’t mention it.” She looked around. “We have a long-standing once-a-week date here in front of the empty cabin. Where is he?”

He could almost feel Sophie stop breathing from belowdecks. Could imagine her green eyes narrowing, see the steam coming out of her ears. Damn, that would be hot. But that wasn’t why he did what he did. Nope. It was because he felt like he owed her one. “First of all, the cabin’s no longer empty. And second, Lucas…passed,” he told the woman.

“Like…gas? He passed gas?” she asked, confused. “That’s nothing new. He always does that.”

“Not gas,” Jacob said.

The woman stared at him and then gasped, hand to her chest. “You mean he’s…?”

Jacob nodded.

“That asshole!” she yelled. “He promised me a diamond bracelet!” Whirling, she went running—and loudly sobbing—up the dock.

Sophie stormed out. “Hey,” she said, every bit as magnificent as he’d known she would be, eyes flashing, all that wild red hair in uncontrollable motion around her face. “That’s my lie! You can’t lie about someone you don’t even know!”