Rebecca Zanetti - Against the Wall

“The fire’s out, Sunshine,” Jake said, his eyes on Quinn and a sooty firefighter as they surveyed the damage from the porch. He shifted so he stood directly between the smoldering walls and Sophie, and she wondered if it were intentional or instinctive. “How are you feeling?”

“Better. I don’t think I inhaled much of the smoke. The baby should be fine.”

“I was worried about you.” Jake didn’t turn as he spoke.

“How did you get here so fast?”

“Poker night at Hawk’s. I was there when Quinn got the call.” Jake straightened as his brother approached.

“The fire was intentional.” Quinn didn’t waste any words as he reached Jake and cast a concerned gaze toward Sophie. “Most people know Mrs. Shiller is out of town.”

“You sure?” Jake lowered his voice.

“Yes. Typical Molotov cocktail through the front window.” Both men turned to study her—twin sets of deep onyx eyes with different expressions. Quinn was all cop, curious and hard. Jake’s expression spoke of something dark, something heated.

Yet one thing remained the same—both were pissed.

“What?” Sophie scooted to the edge of the vehicle, letting rain splatter against her legs. “You think this was on purpose?”

Quinn nodded. “I know it was. Have you noticed anything odd, anyone following you while you’ve been here?”

“I haven’t seen anyone following me. But…” She took a deep breath. “Somebody has left notes on the Jeep window for me.”

“Notes?” Quinn placed a restraining hand on his brother’s arm as Jake’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

“Um, yeah. Basically saying that the development was a bad idea.”

“And?” Jake growled it.

“And that I should get out of town.”

Jake swore under his breath while Quinn cast a glance around at the milling spectators on the street and nearby lawns.

“But I don’t understand, I mean, the commissioners denied the application.” Sophie’s temper stirred. “There won’t be a golf course.”

Quinn shook his head. “But the tribe has hired you to build a golf course.”

Sophie shrugged, wary of the fury on Jake’s face. This wasn’t her fault, damn it. She turned her attention to Quinn. “I still have the notes. They’re over in the suitcase I threw out the window.” The muscle ticking in Jake’s sooty jaw captured her gaze.

“Stay with her, Jake. Let me do my job.” Quinn stepped around his brother and headed for the still smoldering house.

“I want to see them,” Jake called to Quinn’s retreating back.

“I know,” Quinn tossed back over his shoulder, his legs eating the distance to the pile under the bull pine.

Jake’s eyes bored holes in her as his arms slowly crossed over his broad chest.

“I didn’t think it was a big deal.” Sophie answered his unasked question, snapping the words out.

The muscle in his jaw swelled. “How many notes?”

“Three.”

“When?”

Sophie was saved from answering when Quinn returned with her suitcase in one hand, the other pulling papers from beneath his jacket. Two dark, masculine heads dipped to read the notes in the muted light of the paramedic’s vehicle. Sophie shivered at the looks on their faces once they finished reading.

Quinn nodded at her. “Get her home. I’ll follow up with questions in the morning.”

Jake reached for her.

“No.” Sophie moved farther in the vehicle as lightning ripped across the sky.

“You’re coming with me.” Jake hauled her out of the vehicle and carried her to his truck, where a deputy finished loading her possessions into the backseat.

“Damn it, Jake.” Sophie fought the urge to kick him. Hard.

Jake didn’t reply as he started the ignition and pulled past the emergency vehicles onto the rain-drenched road. Sophie pouted in her seat, determined to ignore him. He drove several miles in silence before speaking. “If you weren’t pregnant, you’d absolutely be wearing my handprint on your ass right now.”

Her butt actually clenched. “Good thing you knocked me up, then.”

His dark gaze set a fluttering in her stomach. “Remind me to Google if spanking will hurt a pregnant woman.”

“You don’t scare me.” Which was a complete freakin’ lie. The guy was kind of scary…but he’d never hurt her.

“Why didn’t you tell me about the notes?”

“They weren’t really threats,” Sophie huffed back.

“So it wasn’t a big deal.” Sarcasm wove through his every word.

“Right. Frankly, I didn’t even think to tell you.” Her arms crossed over her chest as she watched the storm wage outside the truck.

“Really.”

“Yes, really.” Heat rose to her face. “This was just a quick fling, remember? A couple of weeks, then I was gone. Out of your life.”

“Once you discovered you were pregnant? You didn’t think to let me know someone was threatening you?” As they reached his home, Jake slammed the truck into park and turned off the ignition with a sharp twist of his wrist.

Sophie jumped out of the truck and headed for the house. She called over her shoulder, “They weren’t threats.” Yeah, she felt foolish for not reporting them to Quinn. But no way in hell would she admit it.

Jake followed close behind, his long strides putting her between him and the house. He pulled her to a stop, a feral glimmer in his eyes.

The fury of the storm was no match for the tempest rising inside her. “I didn’t think to tell you. This was never going to be permanent.”

“It is now.”

The rain smashed her hair against her face. “Wrong. We’re exactly like this storm, Jake. Fiery, hot, even crazy. But you know what? You know the problem with sizzling summer storms?”

“No, what?” Even through the rain, his voice carried the hint of danger. Of wildness that outdid Mother Nature.

“They blow over. You settle back to enjoy the lightning show, the clap of thunder, and poof, they’re gone.” She yelled above the rising wind. “Blue sky follows along meekly, too quickly.”

“We can’t have blue sky?” His white shirt plastered against tanned muscle.

“Us? No way.” The wind almost toppled her over. “You need to let me go, Jake.”

The wind whipped his hair around his face, giving him a formidable, almost primitive look. His ancestry blazed in full force as he stood tall and firm against the gale. “Let you go? I think that’s your fucking problem, Sophie.”

“Meaning?” Her boots sunk into the mud as she struggled to keep her footing.

“Too many people have let you go.” A quick swoop and she was in his arms, struggling against him with all her might as his strong body blocked the driving wind. “Your father, the bastard, left you. And the second your mother married, she dumped you in some school. Didn’t she?”

Sophie’s battle against the strong arms shielding her from the wind was in vain.

“And even Preston. Mr. Golden Boy with the Rolex. He left you here for me,” Jake said grimly.

She fought a shiver at the warm breath against her ear.

One broad boot kicked the door open. He dropped her to her feet and slammed the door against the storm, and his furious face lowered to within an inch of hers. “I’m not letting you go. What’s more, you don’t want me to.” Male outrage blazed through his eyes.

They stood staring at each other, dripping rain onto the stone floor and panting in uneven breaths.

“You are overbearing,” Sophie gritted out, fighting a shiver, fighting exhaustion.

“You’re an independent pain in the ass.” Jake ran a frustrated hand through his sopping hair. “One who has been through an ordeal and needs a hot shower and comfortable bed.” He held out a hand. “Truce? At least for the night?” His words contrasted with the hard glint in his eye. He was raring for a fight.

Sophie slowly took his hand, her energy gone. She wasn’t up to a fight. At least not right now. “All right. Just for the night.”

The low hum of male voices awoke Sophie the next morning. The night was a blur. She had taken a shower and then fallen asleep in Jake’s big bed before her head even hit the pillow. With a growl, she snuggled farther into the bed and tried to go back to sleep.

“Get up, Sunshine.” Jake suddenly filled the doorway. “I know you’re awake.”

“No.” The pillow muffled her voice.

“Yes.” Jake moved into the room.

“I need sleep,” she mumbled, her eyes still closed.

“It seems we’ve had this discussion before.” Jake chuckled. “Quinn is here and has questions for you. Get dressed and come on out.”

Sophie groaned.

“Unless you want him to interview you in here.”

Sophie glared through one slightly opened eyelid. “Fine. Just give me a minute.”

“I will. Get up, sweetheart. We have a lot to talk about.” He retraced his steps out of the room.

Sophie sighed and opened both eyes to muted tones of navy and tan and sensual paintings. Her possessions perched against the far wall; Jake must’ve brought them in earlier. She rolled herself to a sitting position before gingerly standing. The room spun and then settled. She headed for the attached bath.

A warm shower brought some life to her limbs, and she felt marginally better after dressing in comfortable jeans and her favorite Chimp Eden T-shirt. She yanked her curls into a ponytail and ran pink lip gloss over her lips, then headed out to face the men waiting for her. All three of them.

They sat in the breakfast nook in faded jeans and long-sleeved T-shirts, thick mugs of steaming coffee on the oak table. The sliding glass door framed thick black clouds rumbling across a grumpy sky. Mineral Lake sat dark and still, waiting to get pummeled. Colton twirled leather gloves in his hand, his gaze idly following a tree branch slamming against the house. Quinn stopped whatever he’d been saying.