“Hey!” Emma objected. “No cookies for either of you for a month.”
The leopard in Jake scented genuine camaraderie, an honest shock at his out-of-character behavior and real laughter. He didn’t know how to react. A part of him wanted to join in the laughter, to share in the moment the way Emma did, to have fun. Hell. This silliness was fun. He didn’t know how to react, or even what to say, so he just grinned, waved them back to work and kept her walking toward the house, slightly uncomfortable that his work crew had seen him acting so childish, but still feeling a small glow.
“I’m never living that one down,” Emma said, smacking his chest. “I can’t believe you dumped me in the horse trough.” She smacked him again. “And you spanked me. Sheesh, I’m not two, you know.”
His palm immediately dropped to the enticing curve of her bottom, rubbing caresses. “I couldn’t resist.”
She made a face. “I don’t think that was an apology.”
“No? Imagine that.”
She reached behind her and removed his hand. “And now you’re just being a perv.”
He bent his head until his lips brushed her ear. “Not a perv, Emma, an opportunist.”
Emma kept her head bent. He kissed her often, touched her often, but never with that lingering, possessive hint to his touch. Was it her imagination because she was suddenly so aware of him? Because he’d kissed her senseless with his birthday thank-you? She had to get a grip. She was so out of sorts, so restless and moody lately.
She told herself as she lay in bed at night, unable to sleep, that she missed a man’s touch, the feel of his body. She definitely missed Andy. He’d been nothing like Jake, so different it was nearly impossible to find any common ground with the two of them.
Andy had been fun loving and uncomplicated. He didn’t harbor obviously painful secrets. There was no intrigue about Andy at all. He was exactly what you saw—open and honest and ready to help anyone. Not closed off emotionally, as Jake was. He trusted people, and always thought the best of everyone. Jake trusted no one and expected people to double-cross him at every turn. Andy had boyish good looks and charm, where Jake was all hard edges, a brooding, dangerous man who exuded sex from every pore, a man in every sense of the word.
Jake rarely smiled, he barked orders and he was so protective the children could barely move without bodyguards getting under their feet. She doubted if Andy would have noticed danger even if it hit him in the face, let alone simply imagined it or suspected something or someone was out to hurt them. Andy took it as his right that she would cook and bake and do all the little things she loved doing for him, where Jake always seemed shocked and even a little wary of any kindnesses done for him. He noticed everything she did, and often didn’t seem to know what to say or do in return—but he noticed.
Jake’s hand wrapped around the nape of her neck. “You’ve gone away again, Emma. You’ve been doing that a lot lately.”
She managed a quick, reassuring smile. “I know you’ve got work to do this evening, Jake. You always do. But I made you a cake. I thought after dinner you could do the birthday thing with the kids. They’ll make a terrible mess, but they’ll love it.”
She couldn’t keep the anxiety from her upturned face. She shouldn’t have told the children they were going to have a birthday party with him, but she’d been planning his surprise for days and they’d seen the preparations. She held her breath.
“Emma, do I let you and the children down often?”
She hesitated, unsure how to reply. He did everything for her and for the children. “Of course not, Jake. You take care of everything.” That at least was honest.
He moved closer to her, trying to surround her shivering body with heat as they stood together just outside the kitchen. “I’m not talking about things like that. You have a look on your face, like you think I might ignore the party you planned. Do I do that? Not be there for you and the kids emotionally? I don’t mean to. If something is important, you need to let me know. I’m not very good at the family thing. I don’t really know what I’m doing half the time, so I follow your lead.”
Emma took a breath and let it out, suddenly wanting to cry for him. He could do that in one heartbeat, with one revelation of his past, make her feel his vulnerability, his absolute, single-minded resolve to learn how to live in a family. She hated hurting Jake. He really did try with them, and maybe it was only with them, but every evening he was home, he tucked the kids in their beds and definitely seemed to enjoy the family dinners. He just wasn’t home often. He always asked about the children when he called, always wanted every detail, but he didn’t participate that much in actual hands-on parenting.
“Emma.” He said her name quietly, his hand on the doorknob. “If blowing out candles and watching Kyle and Andraya make a mess is important to you, or to them, then of course I’ll be there.”
“Thanks, Jake,” Emma said. “I think Kyle and Andraya will have fun.”
Jake opened the door and allowed her through. “You’d better grab a hot shower. Susan can watch the little ones while you get cleaned up. I do have some work to do in my office before dinner, but if I get tied up, just come get me.”
Emma glanced at her watch. “I’ve got a telephone repairman coming any minute, Jake, and we needed to fix the phones in your office as well. I’m sorry, I didn’t think you were going to be home until this evening.”
“What’s wrong with the phones?”
Emma frowned. “I don’t know. There’s an echo I don’t like. Joshua thought the squirrels might have chewed on the lines, so I’m having everything checked, starting in the house and working backward. He shouldn’t be in your office long. I’ll get him out as soon as possible.”
“Have Joshua do a security sweep as soon as he leaves,” Jake cautioned. “And have him stay with the man at all times.”
She stuck her chin in the air. “I’ll stay with him at all times. I’m perfectly capable of looking after the house.”
“Joshua isn’t looking after the house,” Jake snapped, his eyebrows drawing together. “He’s looking after you.”
“We’ve had this conversation a million times, Jake. I’m not two. I don’t need looking after. It’s my job, not Joshua’s.”
Jake opened his mouth and closed it. She had the most sexy, stubborn look on her face he’d ever seen. His body reacted with a hot flair of need, a need to conquer, a drive to change that look to submission, compliance, hunger even. Few people ever argued with him or stood up to him, but Emma had no problem at all giving him her opinion.