My Once and Future Love (55 page)

“Good morning, Jacob,” Mum greeted him. “Did
you sleep well?”

“Not really.” He went straight for the
coffee.

“Did something happen last night?”

“No. I just slept at a weird angle. So, get
it over with.”

“Hmm?” she questioned innocently.

“The grilling, Mum. I know you want to know
every detail.”

“Do you still love her?”

“Yes. Don’t think she believes me, yet.”

“I’m not surprised, though it isn’t your
fault, dear. She doubts her ability to keep your attention.”

He turned to her. “Did she tell you
that?”

“Darling, I’ve known her for thirteen years.
She doesn’t have to tell me when I know you both. Be patient, and
honest, and it will turn out fine.”

“Sometimes, it’s so easy, and other times...
I thought once we were together again it would just…work.” He
sipped from the mug again, then added more sugar. “But I can’t read
her like I used to.”

“We all have to work at our relationships,
Jacob. You might have learned that lesson earlier in life if you
hadn’t been playing the field.”

“I
did
do the work, Mother. I wasn’t
the one who ran.”

“But since? You’re a good man, Jacob. Too
good, to keep pretending you are
just
a rock star.”

“That only went on for a couple years
when--”

“When you tried to pretend you weren’t in
love with the girl right next to you. Communication is crucial,
dear.”

“You didn’t see how she was, Mum. It took a
car wreck to crack that wall and she’s still holding back.”

He rinsed out the mug in the sink and left
the kitchen.

****

I woke up at eight o’clock the next morning
like always and padded into the en-suite bathroom to begin my
routine. After I came down and ate, Jacob took me for a walk on the
beach.

“I was surprised to see you up before me,” I
said.

“The sun was already up by the time I peeled
myself out of that theater chair, so I hit the coffee and chatted
with Mum instead.”

“Oh. You slept in the screening room all
night? No wonder you look stiff today.” Now I felt guilty for
sneaking out.

He waved it off. “Nothing a soak in the spa
can’t cure.”

“Did your mom ask a lot of questions?”

“A few. Had some insights, too. The Atlantic
looks different than the Pacific, doesn’t it?” He paused to
consider the more true-blue tint of the waves.

“Different color, yeah. Probably all the kelp
back home. Is she okay with us?”

“Fine. I get the impression she wanted it to
happen a long time ago.”

“Everyone keeps saying that,” I muttered.

He glanced at me, but didn’t follow up on my
remark. “You know what the first time was I thought you were
cute?”

“Huh?”

Okay,
random…

“Halloween. All the other girls were wearing
the skimpiest thing they could get away with, and you were a hobo
clown. I admired that. Took balls.”

“One day that year people laughed
with
me. God, I hated high school!”

He nudged me. “Wasn’t so bad.”

“For
you
. You had popularity the day
you walked on campus. I was a math nerd. I went to dances only
because I
worked
them. I’m not even telling you what I got
voted senior year.”

“You graduated with high marks, got into a
good school…”

“Sure! It was easy to be salutatorian when I
had no social life. I had nothing else to
do
. I work my ass
off, that’s what I do, and I feel guilty for taking a vacation when
I haven’t had one in
years
. How messed up is that?”

He grinned at me. “Feel better?”

“How can you want me? I’m a neurotic control
freak with only one friend and you’re…
you
!”

“Glad that’s settled, otherwise, I’m wearin’
another bloke’s pants. Okay, okay, listen… You confuse the hell out
of me sometimes, but you’re perfect the way you are. And I don’t
belong on a pedestal, Beth. Yeah, I’ve had a bit o’ luck here and
there, but I’ve got my issues, too. You’ve witnessed most of them
first hand.”

“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to rant. I guess
thinking about high school got my blood boiling. They really aren’t
fond memories.”

“All of it?”

“Okay, the parts with you weren’t so bad,” I
conceded.

He grinned wider. “That’s my girl. Hey,
without Geometry class, we wouldn’t be here right now. And I
wouldn’t be kissing you.”

Like before, now he was allowed to kiss me,
he did it a lot. I could forget anything for his kisses. “Yum.”

He smiled brilliantly. “
Ditto.
My turn
to share?”

I nodded. We fell into step on the beach
again.

“Alright. By the time I was five, we lived in
the house behind yours. When my dad passed five years later, Mum
couldn’t bear to stay, so she moved us to England to live with her
family, but she didn’t sell the house. Four years later, we went
back--”

“But you came to my school as a junior.”

“I’m gettin’ to that. She put me in private
school for an education more like I’d been used to. I came to your
school because I got expelled.”

Whoa.
My eyes widened in surprise.
“What
for
?”

“Mischief and mayhem. Repeated violations of
the dress code. Final straw was gettin’ caught smoking on campus.
Mum wasn’t goin’ to pay for me to ‘act like a hooligan’, so public
school was my punishment.”

“What’d you do all that stuff for?”

He shrugged. “Usual pissy teen angst. I’d
finally gotten used to London, made friends, and she uprooted me.
Took her a while to catch on to the school crap, as I wasn’t doin’
it at home. I got ratted out.”

Explained a lot. “What would have happened if
you got in trouble at our school?”

“Dunno. I couldn’t bear havin’ her look at me
like that, so disappointed… Took me a bit to straighten out, but
that’s where your brilliant tutoring came in.”

I rolled my eyes. “You didn’t need my help
understanding the work. You just needed to
focus
. I can’t
imagine you wearing a uniform.”

“
Hated
it. I may have put away the
bleach and chains, but have I ever come across as
preppy
?”
He shuddered.

I giggled. Imagining Teen-Jacob in a prep
school uniform was a funny visual.

“Did you stay here before or after the move?”
I asked.

“After. I think it was easier for my mother
to go back to her old life.”

“Do you miss your dad?”

He shrugged. “Barely remember him. I miss the
idea, sometimes, I suppose.”

It made sense. “Thank you for telling me.” I
slid my hand into his.

He smiled. “You’re welcome.”

We walked around the neighborhood until
lunchtime. It was so nice being out in public where no one
recognized Jacob, or if they did they didn’t care. Sad that we
couldn’t have this all the time, but like he said before, I
couldn’t ask him to quit singing—if he ever did, it would have to
be because he wanted to retire. Vivian went out after lunch, so we
were alone for the afternoon except for the house staff.

“Want to join me in the pool?” Jacob
asked.

“Too cold to swim.”

“Not in a heated pool in a heated room. Or we
can turn on the Jacuzzi.” He caressed my arm. “Unless you’ve gotten
too soft for a few laps.”

Ooo, tricksy man, poking my competitive
streak. “
You
can soak in the hot tub. How do you think I
rehabbed my leg?”

“Then I’ll meet you there in a few minutes.”
He kissed me, then walked to his room.

Door to my room shut, I went to my luggage to
find a suit. Celeste helped me find a few modest pieces I could mix
and match in addition to a wetsuit. I changed into a swim tank and
pair of board shorts with a bikini bottom underneath. They were
solid navy blue, except the shorts had racing stripes on the sides.
Not sexy, but functional for water sports. The unsexy was my goal
today

Jacob was already in the pool when I got
there. With a glass ceiling, the room was bathed in autumn
sunlight. He swam to the edge and folded his arms on the deck while
I found a spot to set my towel.

“You put your glasses on.”

“Contacts come off underwater. Have to be
safe in case you dunk me.” The big room was cool to my bare arms,
so I headed for the steaming spa.

“Not joining me?” He swam over.

“I don’t do laps on vacation. Unlike you, my
abs don’t bring in a paycheck.”

He hoisted his body onto the wall between the
Jacuzzi and pool.
Yummy
. “Hey, it’s my voice that pays the
bills.”

“More like your pretty face,” I teased.

He rolled his eyes, dangling his feet in the
bubbling water. “They can’t see my face on the radio.”

“True…but all those beauty products in your
bathroom aren’t for your vocal cords.” I got water splashed in my
face. “Hey!”

He slid into the hot tub. “Poke fun at your
own risk, baby.” Mischief sparkled in his baby blues.

Uh-oh
. I scrambled out to dive into
the pool and escape, but he caught me around the waist before I
could step on the deck and pulled me back into the Jacuzzi. Damn,
he was fast. If I didn’t get loose he was going to tickle me into a
helpless gasping ball of nerd.

“What were you saying, love?” The fingers of
one hand dug into my ribs.

“Let me go.”

“But you wiggle and squeak. It’s cute.” I
jerked away from his index finger.

“I’m not a squeaker toy, Jacob.”

He chewed on the side of my neck, I shrieked,
and he gave me a look. “Sound like one.”

I glared at him. “You suck.” His arm was too
strong to break out of without hurting him.

“Admit defeat already?”

“Are you going to pick on me all
vacation?”

“Oh, don’t look so put out. You like being
caught.”

“I like being held. There’s a
difference.”

His hand slid to massage circles into my low
back. “Like this?” That always made my body pliant and he knew
it.

“Better.” My eyelids fluttered closed.

He nuzzled my shoulder and neck, breathing
I love you
into my skin, and I turned my head to kiss him,
too impatient to wait for him to get there on his own. Being us, I
was straddling his lap with my tongue down his throat and his hand
was up my shirt when we heard:

“…
Thank you, Joseph. I’ll ask them what
they prefer for supper
.”

We sprang apart; I was at the other side of
the tub in seconds.

“Déjà vu,” Jacob muttered. “Have a good
outing, Mother?”

She came around the corner in a cunning
sweater set and slacks, her hair slightly windblown. “I did, but
the details would bore you. The cook is asking about tonight’s
supper, so…”

Jacob looked at me and shrugged. “We’ll trust
your judgment, Vivian,” I said.

She sighed. “Guess I’ll ask them to surprise
us…unless you would like to go out this evening?” We shook our
heads. “Alright. An hour should give you enough time to clean
up.”

“Yes, Mum. Thank you.”

She smiled and left, heels clicking on the
cement. I dropped my head in my hands and groaned, feeling eighteen
again.

“Don’t think she suspected anything, Bethie.”
He waded over to sit next to me.

“Stop grinning like that. Almost getting
caught by your mother is not funny.”

“Sure it is. You’re just as red as you were
nine years ago.”

“Oh, god…”

He rubbed my shoulder. “Relax…the heat of the
water is a perfectly reasonable reason for your pink skin. Now
where were we?”

“Cool it, horndog.” I stood and stepped to
the railing to climb out.

“We have an hour, love…plenty of time to
finish what we started and change clothes.”

“There will be no
finishing
,” I said,
rubbing my legs dry with my towel before wrapping it around me.

“Fine…your rules, your show.”

Nodding, I left the pool room and went
upstairs. The devil on my shoulder known as Celeste called me crazy
for walking away, but I didn’t want our first-again-time to be in a
stranger’s house with his mother nearby.

Chapter Eighteen

Saturday was rainy and cozy, and we spent the
time with Vivian. Sunday, Jacob took me into Southampton to browse
and shop. It wasn’t until I turned in for the night that it
registered what Monday would bring.

I barely slept more than forty-five minutes
at a shot.

Early Monday, we boarded the jet again. He
still wouldn’t say where we were going. I soon figured out it was
west, but after six hours in the air, I gave up pestering him for
the destination and took a nap.

I woke up in Tahiti. Mystery solved, then,
right?
Nope
. Another forty-five minute plane hop, then, a
blindfolded short boat ride. Putting my trust in him to lead
me…wherever…took effort. But, he didn’t let me trip or fall once. I
heard a set of doors opening, then he finally removed the
blindfold.

“Oh, my God…how did you get this on short
notice?”

We stood in an elegant living room, decorated
colonial-style and the walls paneled in wood, a door to each side,
and sliding glass doors in the back. A ceiling fan spun above our
heads.

He wrapped around me from behind.

“The doors lead to the bedrooms. Take
whichever one you want. I want to show you something first,
though.”

He led me to the sliding door, opened it, and
walked out onto the deck. The bungalow came with a private small
infinity pool and garden.

“There’s a giant pool for the resort, but I
figured you’d prefer less of a crowd.” He turned me to face him.
“So? How’d I do?”

I pulled his head down and kissed him, hard
and quick. “It’s amazing. I’ll never doubt your vacation skills
again. What time is it here?”