Janet Evanovich - The Grand Finale

Jake grabbed her by the nape of her neck. “I saw that smile. You’ve got a mean streak in you, Lingonberry Knudsen.” His thumb massaged small circles on her neck just below her ear, and his muscled thigh grazed against her denim-clad leg. He put his mouth to her ear and spoke in a husky whisper. “She wouldn’t really stay here forever, would she?”

“Mmmmm,” Berry purred. “Mmmmaybe.”

“And what about you?” Jake asked. “Will you stay forever?”

“I have a plan,” Berry whispered.

Except The Plan was hazy when she was pressed against Jake like this and his thumb was doing those magical circles on her neck. The Plan seemed more like an idea she’d once had. The plan she had at the moment involved nibbling on Jake Sawyer’s neck. Lord, he smelled good. Masculine-like musk cologne and campfire.

Her eyes opened wide. Crap. Hold the phone. Sawyer didn’t smell like campfire. He smelled like her charcoal-roasted couch!

Jake stopped the massage and grinned at her. “Changed your mind?”

Berry blinked at him. “What do you mean?”

“For a minute there, you looked like you were contemplating nibbling on my neck.”

“Jeez.”

He stepped closer, backing Berry up against the foyer wall. “Just to get the record straight, I think I should tell you that it’s okay for you to nibble on my neck any time you want. It isn’t as if we’re strangers, you know. After all, you’ve seen me in my underwear.”

Berry stared at him in stoic resignation. They were back to his underwear. This was never going to work. He had an evil sense of humor, he read minds, and he gave her a hormone attack just by lowering his voice an octave. “I think I should go home,” Berry said, inwardly wincing when her voice cracked on the word home.

Jake shook his head. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. Where’s your sense of adventure? Don’t you want to be bold, like a red geranium?” His voice was teasing, but his eyes were serious, and the sexual tension stretched taut between them.

Berry gnawed on her lower lip. “Geraniums aren’t in bloom yet. And neither am I,” she added. “We’re out of season.”

Jake moved two inches closer, and Berry felt the panic rise in her throat as the tips of her breasts crushed against the wall of his chest. Oh, Lordy, she thought, he’s going to kiss me again. He’s going to plant those incredible lips of his on mine and melt the soles of my sneakers. She didn’t know whether to close her eyes and pray it didn’t happen, or leave her eyes open so she wouldn’t miss a single thing. Jake lowered his mouth to hers before she had a chance to make a decision, and gave her a short, gentle kiss.

“Are you blooming, yet?” he whispered against her lips.

“No,” she said. “I’m not even nearly blooming. I’m not going to bloom until I’m good and ready.”

He ran his finger across her lower lip and tangled his hand in her hair. When he kissed her this time it was with barely checked passion. He broke from the kiss and held her at arm’s length when he heard Mrs. Fitz come thumping down the stairs.

“Wait until you see the upstairs, Berry. It’s wonderful,” Mrs. Fitz exclaimed. “You can see forever from the third-floor windows.”

Mrs. Dugan followed her. “Not much furniture in this house. No window shades. I can’t live in a house without window shades.”

Jake gestured to the cartons stacked along the dining room walls. “There are extra linens in one of those cartons. We can tack a couple sheets up for tonight.” He zipped his jacket and opened the front door. “I guess I’d better go buy some toothbrushes.”

Mrs. Fitz, Mrs. Dugan, and Miss Gaspich perched on the edge of the couch, their eyes glued to the television set, their mouths slightly open as they watched the last few minutes of Ghostbusters. Scattered in front of them were the remnants of supper: Styrofoam hamburger cartons, a few ketchup-soaked French fries, five empty milkshake cups, and a large bakery box containing one lonely doughnut.

Berry sat on the rug, her back resting against the edge of the couch. A gigantic marshmallow man had just appeared on the screen, and Berry decided he didn’t seem nearly as menacing as Jake Sawyer stoking the fire in the Franklin stove. Jake wore jeans that seductively clung to the most mouthwatering butt Berry had ever seen. Definitely not the butt of a chemist, she concluded. It would be a sin to hide that butt under a lab coat. Jake Sawyer had the butt of a pirate. A rogue butt. Her eyes glazed over in silent appreciation while she memorized the contours and speculated on the hidden details. When Jake stood and stretched, she quickly transferred her attention to the movie.

She sensed, rather than saw, Jake moving toward her. His knee grazed her shoulder, and Berry knew if she turned her head she’d be staring into the intriguing bulge behind his zipper-the one part of his anatomy that was possibly more perfect than his butt. Don’t look! she told her eyes. You know what trouble you got into last time you ogled that bulge!

He nudged her again with his knee, more firmly this time, pushing her forward a bit. “Scoot up,” he whispered.

Before Berry knew what had happened she felt him slide behind her, sandwiching himself into a sitting position between her and the couch, trapping her between his legs. She inched forward, but he wrapped an arm around her waist, holding her secure against his chest. His voice hummed softly into her hair. “This is nice.”

Nice? Nice was a little bland for what she felt. What she felt was more like wow and holy Toledo. Unfortunately, this was not the time for wow feelings. Her life was complicated enough. She could barely hold her own between the Pizza Place and her studies, and it kept getting worse. First the ladies, then the Jeep, now the fire. Jake Sawyer was pretty darn fabulous, but he was not part of The Plan.

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Berry said.

“Shhh, the movie. You’ll disturb the ladies.”

Berry looked to the ladies but found them engrossed in the heroics of Bill Murray. She wriggled within Jake’s grasp, attempting to free herself.

“Lord, Berry, now you’re disturbing me,” Jake said. “Will you stop sliding around? This is going to get embarrassing.”

She carefully relaxed into his chest and sat perfectly still, not wanting to encourage anything, but secretly enjoying the intimacy. His steady heartbeat vibrated throughout her body, rain had begun to splash against the dark windows of the cozy Victorian, and the marshmallow exploded.

Mrs. Dugan’s eyes shone with excitement as the credits rolled across the screen. “First time I’ve ever seen that movie. It’s a wonderful movie.”

Mrs. Fitz agreed. “It was a treat.”

Jake eased away from Berry. “Speaking of treats, I have some goodies to distribute.”

Two minutes later he returned from the kitchen with an armful of shopping bags.

“Mrs. Fitz, this belongs to you,” Jake said, handing her a bag. “Mrs. Dugan, here’s your loot.” He handed a bag to Miss Gaspich.

“Lipstick!” Mrs. Fitz announced. “He bought me lipstick. And a nightgown.” She held it up for inspection. “It’s a pip.”

“Here’s the toothbrushes.” Miss Gaspich smiled shyly. “This is better than Christmas. We got slippers, and face cream, and hairbrushes.”

Berry looked at Jake. “You’re awfully good at buying women’s toiletries.”

“I have four younger sisters. I know all about girl things,” he told her proudly.

Miss Gaspich stifled a yawn, “I can’t wait to get into my nightgown and climb into bed.” She looked questioningly at Jake. “Where is my bed?”

Jake stuffed his hands into his jeans pockets. “I have four bedrooms, but only one bed. I suppose the most sensible arrangement is for you ladies to use my king-sized bed. Berry and I will sleep downstairs.”

Mrs. Dugan narrowed her eyes. “You’re not planning any funny stuff, are you? I won’t put up with hanky-panky.”

“The thought never entered my mind,” Jake said. “Berry can sleep on the couch, and I’ll rough it on the floor. I have some sleeping bags upstairs.”

Mrs. Dugan pressed her lips together. “I suppose that will be all right, but I’ve got good ears. You better watch your step.”

Jake’s face creased into a good-natured smile. “Yes, ma’am.”

Berry watched the women climb the stairs. “That was really nice of you to get lipstick and moisturizer for them. It’s been a long time since they could afford those luxuries.”

“You haven’t opened your bag.”

Berry studied the pale lavender bag on the coffee table. It was smaller than everyone else’s bag, and it was from an expensive shop catering to fancy lingerie and expensive perfume. It was a bag designed to hold silk teddies and lacy thongs. “I’m afraid to open it. Is this something extravagant?”

“Sleepwear.”

She extracted a small bottle of perfume that she suspected cost more than a replacement for her Jeep. “There’s only perfume in here.”

“Yup.”

“Everyone else got flannel nightgowns.”

“Isn’t there a nightgown in there?”

Berry searched the tiny bag. “No.”

Jake stroked her cheek with his fingertip. His eyes grew dark. His voice turned alarmingly husky. “You’re so beautiful with your unruly blond curls and silky peaches-and-cream skin. You should wear nothing to bed but a dab of perfume.” His hands traced the slender column of her neck and rested in a caress on her shoulders. “I have a confession to make. I’m in big trouble here. I’m having heart problems.”

“Good Lord. What kind of heart problems?”

“Heartache, heartthrob, heart flutters. I feel like the Grinch at Christmas-you know, the part where his heart grew two sizes in one day. I thought my heart was going to burst when I saw you for the first time, lying on the ground beneath that big old oak tree. You looked like a crazy modern-day wood nymph.”

Berry’s eyes flew open. “Crazy?”

“For crying out loud, you were flat out on a pizza.” He grinned at her indignation and cuddled her close to him. “Maybe someday you’ll develop heart problems, and you’ll come to me wearing just the perfume.”

“Not anytime soon,” Berry said. “I have a plan.”

“I’m not liking the plan,” Jake told her.

He curled his fingers in her hair, holding her head captive while he lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her slowly and gently.

It was like being drugged, Berry thought. Once he was this close to her she was a goner. Her thinking slowed, and her heart rate accelerated. At the first touch of his tongue, her stomach tumbled. He was pressing himself into her belly, holding her against him so she couldn’t escape the feel of him wanting her.

“I’m going to tell Mrs. Dugan on you,” Berry murmured halfheartedly.

“Mrs. Dugan doesn’t scare me.”

“Oh, ha!”

“Okay, maybe a little.”

There was a pattering of slippered feet upstairs and a fit of obtrusive coughing. “We’re going to bed now,” Mrs. Fitz called down. “Anybody need anything from the bedroom?”

“Yes,” Jake yelled back at her. “Be right there.”

Moments later he returned to Berry with two sleeping bags draped over his arm and a large royal-blue silk pajama top in his hand. He dropped the sleeping bags on the floor and held the pajama top up for Berry’s inspection.

“My sister Amy gave me these pajamas last Christmas. She has an enhanced image of bachelor existence.”

“Mmmm?”

“I’d prefer you wear only the perfume to bed, but if you’re the shy type you could start out in these.”

Berry took the pajama top and narrowed her eyes. “To begin with, where’s the other half? You only brought me the top.”

“I thought the bottoms would get in our way.”

“Read my lips. I am not going to bed with you.”

“You would have if Mrs. Fitz hadn’t interrupted.”

“A moment of weakness. It won’t happen again. And anyway, you don’t know that for sure. Maybe I’ll just sleep in my clothes.”

“Don’t you think that will be uncomfortable?”

Berry couldn’t think of anything more uncomfortable than sleeping in Jake’s silky pajamas. The very idea gave her a lust attack. She chose one of the sleeping bags and laid it the length of the couch.

“They zip together, you know,” Jake said.

“Not tonight, they don’t.”

Jake started to get undressed.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Getting undressed for bed.”

“Aren’t you going to turn off the light? Aren’t you going to wear pajamas? Don’t you have to brush your teeth, or something?”

“Nope.”

“Terrific.” She jumped into her sleeping bag and turned her face to the back of the couch.

“I thought you liked watching men undress,” Jake said, smiling, enjoying the moment.