Deceived (Free Indeed Book 2), page 16
“Oh my God.” Cara breathlessly exclaimed. “Oh, she’s beautiful!”
“I checked the perimeter of the house and didn’t find any footprints or other signs of human interference. So it looks like our only intruder is this little lady.”
“Oh the poor thing!” Cara gushed as she reached out and took the entire bundle from his arms. “She must be freezing. Don’t you worry, sweetie, we’re going to get you all warmed up.”
“She’s got a pretty bad gash on her back near her leg,” Jake cautioned as he stepped inside and shut the door behind him. “She tried to run away from me, but didn’t get too far with that injury.”
“Aww, poor baby. I’m glad she wasn’t able to get away from you, though. She could have frozen overnight or starved out there.”
“Hey there darlin’,” Jake cooed in a soft voice gently brushing his hand across the little furball’s head.
Well if that wasn’t the hottest thing she had ever seen. Her insides were literally turning to mush as she watched him love on the little kitten. If she thought about it, her insides pretty much turned to mush whenever she was around him. And it’s not just because he was really a great all-around guy or the fact that he could make her laugh. It was because he was him.
Oh my God, she was falling in love with Jake. The realization washed over her without warning.
Fuck.
Her mom would be rolling over in her grave at her choice of word, but she’d just have to forgive her. Because the word selection was definitely needed at a time like this.
She wasn’t even sure when it started happening. Maybe when he bought her those silly, sappy t-shirts. Maybe when he made excuses to get Paul to pull the car over so he could pick up her favorite chocolate or coffee. Maybe it was when he held her that night Paul had tried to attack her in the motel. Or maybe it was the moment he carried in a hungry, shivering kitten bundled up in his own coat. But somewhere in the crazy messed up nightmare of a road trip, she had started to fall in love with the man. And that realization, while it lit up her soul with happiness, it also scared her to death.
Hell, now was the worst possible time to fall in love with a man. Fate sucked. It sucked big time. All she ever wanted was to finish her degree, get a normal every day (legal) hacking job, meet a nice sexy guy who could make her laugh, and get together with her mom on the weekends to talk about all of it.
Then that plan flew right out the window, and she had felt—lost.
Now Jake came along and all of a sudden she felt found again. Even more, she felt alive again, like life had given her a second chance.
A smile spread across her features as Jake threw her a grin and said, “I’m gonna get some food and water together for her. Then maybe we can give her a bath and get her clean enough to see what we’re dealing with in regards to that wound.”
“Good plan,” Cara replied as she turned to follow him into the kitchen.
Damn, she had a lot to process, but a little sweetie needed her attention first. Somehow she knew it would be much easier to help out the kitten than it would be to figure out what she was going to do in regards to her heart.
Chapter 15
Cara sat on the living room couch basking in the smell of frying bacon and freshly brewed coffee with her borrowed Chromebook on her lap. Behind her, Jake was puttering around the kitchen after insisting on making her breakfast while she lounged on the couch softly petting Zoe.
The sweet little kitten had made it through the night and Cara would swear she had more life and energy in her than the day before. This morning the cat had even had some milk and tuna for breakfast. Granted, she hadn’t eaten a lot, but she picked through some and what she did eat she managed to keep down, so that was a plus.
There was still a lot of reason to worry, though, and Cara was afraid Zoe would need more care than she could provide. But at least the cat was warm, hydrated, loved, and named. The little furball had a much better chance at survival now than it had prior to Jake rescuing it. For that she was grateful.
She gave the kitten’s neck a little scratch as she typed and clicked away at the computer. Any time now, they were expecting Gideon to make his move against Allie, so Cara was searching for any information that may help them when the time came.
“Well, Paul’s been a very busy boy,” Cara muttered as she stared at her screen. “After unsuccessfully trying to kill me, he still found time in his busy day to do a little attempted B&E over at Allie’s apartment.”
“He broke in?” Jake questioned from across the room.
“Sure tried to,” Cara replied. “Police report shows a masked man followed her home and tried to attack her. Then when she managed to make it to her apartment, the mugger attempted to break inside.”
“Please tell me Allie’s ok,” concern laced his tone as the spatula froze mid-flip of the bacon.
“Yep, the assailant was chased away by a friend, Jason Conners.” Well this was an interesting turn of events. “Oooo, Allie has a man-friend named Jason,” Cara looked up to toss him a wink. “This definitely requires more looking into.”
Cara pursed her lips in concentration and started tapping away at the computer. Finally getting the information she was looking for, she said, “Here he is. Attractive, a couple of years older than Allie, owns his own ranch that he inherited from his deceased parents, and apparently, he’s listed as Allie’s point of contact on the police report. For both phone number and address.” Her head lifted and turned to grin a big smile at Jake over the back of the couch. “Way to go, Allie. You go girl!”
Jake laughed at her support of the younger woman’s foray into the dark side. Being unchaperoned with someone of the opposite sex was a huge sin as far as the people from Free Indeed were concerned. The fact that Allie had this Jason as her point of contact was very promising indeed. “She certainly deserves some happiness after everything she’s been through, that’s for sure.”
Cara turned back to her computer as Jake returned his attention to the bacon in front of him.
“How’s my injured squatter doing today?” Daphne’s annoyingly catty voice suddenly invaded the small space causing Cara’s body to jerk upright. The woman barged through the front door without a knock, which ok, so it technically was her house, but it was still not cool. The blonde woman’s eyes flitted around the room before landing on Cara lounging on the couch.
“Just checking in to make sure I don’t need to call the coroner yet.” The words were abrupt as always. Cara still wasn’t sure if a small part of Daphne actually cared about her, of if she should instead worry about Daphne secretly poisoning her coffee creamer. The woman was an odd one, that’s for sure.
“Still kickin’,” Cara simply replied and threw a sarcastically sweet grin on her face just to annoy the other woman.
“Good. Bye.”
Daphne spun on her towering pink pumps to leave but jerked to a stop when she caught sight of Jake watching them from the kitchen spatula in hand.
“Who are you?” Accusation filled her tone as she stopped short and stared, realizing that there was a man in the room. Not just any man either, but a hot sexy Adonis leaning over a skillet full of bacon, which based on her negative two sized waist, she probably hadn’t eaten in her entire life. Well that just gave her two things to drool over then.
Her attention spun back to Cara, “Um, you can’t invite your boy-toys here. That’s just rude and so inappropriate.”
With an annoyed eye roll back at her, Cara responded, “Oh for Pete’s sake, Daphne, he’s not my boy-toy. He’s my friend, and he’s here to make sure I’m ok so you don’t have to and can get on with your day of shopping, socializing, and bitchiness guilt free.”
“Harumph,” came back her disgruntled reply as she crossed her arms over her chest and shot Cara a piercing glare.
Unfortunately, Zoe chose that exact moment to lift her tiny head from the blanket to see what all of the fuss was about.
“What is that?” Ice laced her voice as she pointed her long manicured finger at poor Zoe, lying cuddled up in a circle in the middle of a blanket. One would think she had just received a knockoff Chanel handbag at her birthday party, the disgust was so evident in her voice.
Without waiting for an answer, she continued, “Oh my God, you can’t let a cat in here...I’m allergic!”
“Pretty sure you won’t be symptomatic from the main house,” Cara muttered back. Well wasn’t that just peachy. If she didn’t have enough reason to dislike the woman, this was the last straw. People who didn’t like baby kittens couldn’t be trusted.
“Oh no, oh no!” Daphne waved one of her hands wildly in front of her face. “I just know I’m breaking out right now. I can feel hives spreading all over my body.”
“Daphne, you need to relax,” Cara tried to calm her down. “You’re just as plastically beautiful as ever, just like Barbie. Why don’t you just go back to the main house, and I’ll take care of the issues here?”
“Get that thing out of my guest cottage!” Disgust dripped from her tone as her face scrunched up in anger.
With a roll of her eyes at what she was quickly realizing was typical Daphne drama, Cara stood up to the other woman. “It’s not a thing...Zoe’s a cat, and she’s injured. She’s got a pretty bad gash down her back, and based off of how skinny she is, she’s extremely malnourished as well.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Daphne cut her off with a wave of her hand, “but somewhere in this conversation did I mistakenly give you the impression that I care?”
“Oh excuse me, for mistakenly thinking you might actually have the teeniest, tiniest bit of an actual heart in that oversized boobed chest of yours.” Cara countered with a huff. The woman was being ridiculous. “Nope, guess they had to take it out to make enough room for your breast augmentation.”
Daphne stood there gaping at her until she finally regained control of her mouth and screeched, “Let me make myself perfectly clear. Either you get rid of that—that disgusting rodent, or I will get rid of YOU!” When the final word left her mouth, Daphne smoothly spun on her five-inch designer heels, which was impressive in itself, and with her snooty little nose high in the air, marched her butt out of the cottage. The slam from the front door closing echoed through the small space in goodbye.
Gah! That woman was so infuriating. What kind of horrible person would abandon an injured animal? And not just any animal, but a precious and sweet cat who loved nothing more than pets and cuddling. There was no way that blonde bitch was human.
“Wow.” Jake’s voice broke through her fury and snapped her attention back to her current surroundings. “Your friend’s, uh, really something.”
At his amused tone, her eyes flared, “What kind of a monster would toss a starving, injured baby animal out? She is an absolutely horrible human being, and I hope zombie kittens invade her fancy schmancy house and claw her eyes out before feasting on her face!”
A laugh burst from Jake from across the room. It was such a wonderfully sexy sound that it broke her out of her furious tirade. He pushed the skillet back off the burner and stepped around the island as he made his way to where she was sitting. The couch shifted as he sat down next to her and then took both of her hands in his own.
“It’s going to be ok, Cara,” he stated calmly massaging her palms gently. “Zoe actually does need medical care that we can’t provide for her. I saw there’s a shelter in Serenity, we’ll just drop her off there to get the help she needs, and it will appease Daphne at the same time by getting the cat out of her house.”
“I can’t.” With a big sigh, she continued, “I already looked into the shelter yesterday. Yips & Wiggles run by Dory Danvers. Apparently, she’s really good at what she does if her degrees have anything to say about it.”
“What’s the problem then?”
Cara sighed, “Allie works at the shelter. When they hired her, I got a hit on her employment application. That was how I found her in the first place. I can’t drop off Zoe there. Paul’s going to have that place under surveillance, for sure. What if he sees us marching up to the front door? He could sneak up and kill me before I even knew he was there. And you certainly can’t take Zoe inside, Paul will probably think you’re trying to make contact with Allie or tip her off. We can’t take that chance. Not when this is all so close to being over.”
Jake gave her hands another reassuring squeeze. “It is almost over, baby. And you’re right. It’s better to be safe than sorry. We’ll drop Zoe off anonymously. We can make her nice and cozy in a box, I’ll bundle up in a coat and hat, and we’ll leave her by the back door.”
Pursing her lips, Cara looked down at the cat sadly. “I’m so sorry, sweetie. You deserve better than to be part of a ding dong ditch.”
A gentle pressure on her hand brought her attention back to Jake. “We’ll stay hidden but close until we know for sure that someone found her.”
“Ok.”
At her dejected tone, a soft look covered Jake’s face. “Baby, you’re breaking my heart.”
“I don’t want to let her go,” Cara sniffed. “But I know Zoe needs medical care that we can’t give her, so I know it’s the right thing to do.”
With a quick tug, Jake pulled her body towards his own so that she fell into his lap. He settled her in comfortably and held her as she brought both arms up to encircle his neck. She lay her head against his strong, solid chest and just stayed there quietly absorbing his strength. He used one of his hands to rub soothing circles into her shoulder as he held her close.
“I’m so glad you’re here with me,” Cara whispered softly into his chest. “I don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t here and it was just Gideon and Paul. I’d probably be dead right now.”
“No.” The word held no room for disagreement. “You’re a survivor. One way or another, you would have survived. It’s who you are.”
“I wish I had the confidence in me that you do,” Cara laughed softly.
“You should,” Jake simply replied, using one hand to gently tilt her head back, so she was staring up into his bottomless eyes. “I wish you could see you as I see you,” his words came out soft, almost reverent. “Then you couldn’t help but see what a brave, kind, considerate, smart, funny, and amazing person that you are. And I am a lucky man to have gotten the chance to know you.”
His words settled into her heart and made warmth spread throughout her body. In all honesty, he was the one who was a good person, and despite how circumstances threw them together, she was so glad to have met him.
Her hand slowly rose to meet the scruff on his cheek. His face was in need of a shave and the day’s growth of hair felt rough against her palm, but she loved it. It was so manly and sexy, and she loved the feel of it under her fingers. Her eyes traveled past the strong line of his jaw, up his cheekbones, until they once again stared directly into his eyes.
Damn. They were staring back at her with such a deep intensity that she felt she was going to drown in them. How could one man make her feel so much? One man, who technically, had a part in her abduction, even if there were extenuating circumstances. His deep gaze penetrated her own, but he didn’t move. Her mind flashed back to what they had started in the motel room but never got to finish. She knew he didn’t want her to feel pressured or intimidated in any way, but dammit, she wanted him. She needed him. It felt like her insides were going to split right down the middle if she didn’t kiss him right this second.
Her hand continued upward until it tangled into his hair. When it reached the back of his head, she pulled him ever so slightly toward her and then raised her body to meet his in a sweet, tentative kiss. It almost couldn’t even be considered a real kiss. More of a touch really at the side of his mouth. Just a gentle pressure they held for a couple of seconds before pulling back.
Her eyelids fluttered open, and she saw raw desire staring back at her from Jake’s gaze. A second later, his lips were back on her, kissing her fully on the mouth. It was heaven. Pure unadulterated bliss.
A sigh escaped her, and his tongue took the opportunity to invade her mouth. Softly at first as it explored and darted in to taste her tongue, then with more intensity as it tangled with her own. Cara kissed him back just as passionately, her fingers threading through his hair and holding tight. With a tilt of his head, he penetrated her mouth even deeper as he leaned his body into hers pushing them both down until her back rested on the couch with him above her.
One of his hands reached up to caress her cheekbone before trailing down to settle along the side of her neck. The other dragged slowly along the side of her chest until it finally stopped at her waist and kneaded the soft skin there.
God, it was amazing kissing him, but she wanted more. She needed more. She needed him or else she was going to go crazy with want. A soft moan broke free of her lips just as his hand dipped beneath the edge of her shirt and gently crept up her chest taking the shirt with it, past her ribcage, until his fingers danced along the bottom edge of her bra.
“Cara,” his mouth pulled back ever so slightly so he could whisper the words, “I want you so much right now, baby. It’s driving me crazy inside how much I need you.” His lips lowered again to hers in a featherlight touch. Pulling back once again, Jake took a deep breath before leaning forward to rest his forehead against her own. Eyes closed tight like he was exerting an enormous amount of energy just to keep himself under control, he released the breath he had been holding.
“Baby, if this isn’t something you want, just say the word. I don’t want you to feel pressured or obligated to feel anything for me. God, that’s the last thing I want. But if you only feel a small fraction of what I feel for you—God, baby, I feel like my heart is going to rip out of my chest if I—”
