Chapter 10

Charlie felt Jake's arm drop across her shoulders and she willingly snuggled close to him as he pulled her against his side. At their feet sat the remains of their late afternoon snack.

“I didn't mean to drag you into this. But you need to be prepared for what might come next.”

“Marcy Blake didn't get anything interesting from me. So relax.” Though he seemed more relaxed now than he had when she'd told him about the reporter's visit, she could still feel the tension in his muscles.

“You don't understand. She's going to paint you as the other woman. It won't matter that we met after Blair and I split.”

Charlie heard the anger and frustration in his voice, and she wondered who he was more upset with the reporter or himself. She sensed it was an even split.

“She'll put whatever twist she needs to sell more magazines.”

Charlie pulled away from his embrace. The setting sun cast his face in shadows but she could still see his incredible sapphire blue eyes. Normally his eyes were bright with a devilish look, but this afternoon they were hard and filled with anger. “Let her. I don't care. If anyone asks me, I'll tell them the truth.”

Jake gave her a pitying look as he shook his head. “You don't get it. People won't believe you.” he said forcefully. “I'm not even sure my parents believe me. When they see whatever twist that vulture puts on this story, they'll probably doubt me even more.”

Some of the anger left his voice only to be replaced by sadness. She understood the anger toward Marcy Blake and the media, but she didn't get his feelings toward his parents. When she met his family at the wedding they seemed close. “Why?” It wasn't any of her business, but she couldn't stop herself from asking anyway.

For a minute he looked away from her. She wanted to press him for an answer and had to bite down on her lip to keep quiet. When he turned back to her his mouth was tight and grim.

“You could say I've never been the dutiful son. They've always had this master plan for me and I’ve never followed it. Instead I've always gone out of my way to do my own thing. The one time they got their way is when they stopped me from joining the Navy, and I've regretted it ever since,” Jake said.

Charlie kept silent as he began to explain. Somehow she knew he didn't share information this personal with everyone.

“They'd deny it but I think they wanted to turn me into a clone of Dylan. When I went to college I did everything possible to separate myself from him. Got into the club scene. Showed up with a different actress or model all the time. Hit the casinos in Vegas and Monaco. The media picked up on it and my reputation as a playboy was born.”

She didn't want to believe him. It didn't fit with the man she knew.

Perhaps seeing the uneasiness on her face, he reached for her and pulled her close again. “I didn't sleep with all of the women I took to the clubs. I just created the image to show my parents I was my own man. But the media didn't know that. And my parents saw the pictures and made their own assumptions.”

She could understand how everyone would come to that conclusion. Even she had believed that Jake was the playboy Prince Charming the media portrayed. His parents knew the real man, though, didn't they? She didn't think they would just blindly accept what the media printed about him. However, convincing Jake didn't seem likely. So instead of trying, she switched the topic back to his immediate concern.

“It still doesn't bother me. Trust me I can handle whatever she writes.” Charlie leaned in and brushed her lips against his. A delightful shiver of desire ran through her at the brief contact and every inch of her body called out for his touch. Forcing herself to go slow she ran her hands up his forearms and over his well-defined biceps before making a path down his chest. As she moved her hands over his flat stomach she felt his muscles tighten. When she reached the hem of his polo shirt, she slipped her hands under and reversed her previous path. Under her fingers she felt his muscles bunch and tense. At the same time she heard the slight change in his breathing.

With her heart hammering in her ears she pushed Jake gently to the floor of the gazebo, their earlier conversation forgotten. As they kissed she felt his hand slip under her shirt and up her spine. His hands were callused from working outside but the roughness only seemed to intensify the experience of having his hands on her body again; an experience she didn't think she would ever tire of.

Through the thick haze of desire, she heard gravel crunching under tires. As if just awakening from a dream, Charlie remembered they were in the gazebo behind her mom's bed and breakfast. Not the best place for getting upclose and personal.

“Now might be a good time to go upstairs,” Jake whispered near her ear.

She could feel his uneven breathing on her cheek and she couldn't contain a smile. She liked knowing she could affect him just as much as he did her.

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

Charlie tossed the remains of their snack into a basket. Later she would wrap the leftover blueberry turnovers. Right now her body urged her to work fast and get to a place where they could continue what they'd already started.

With everything cleaned up, Jake helped her to her feet and they sprinted toward the back door. She assumed whoever had arrived would go through the front entrance. Only family used the door that led into the kitchen. She guessed wrong though and almost collided with Sean.

Sean remained silent as he glanced from Charlie to Jake then to the basket. “Need seconds that badly?” he asked finally.

“Something like that,” Charlie answered. She sensed her brother knew exactly where they'd been heading.

“Don't let me stop you.” Without another word he walked back toward his loaded pickup truck in the driveway.

From here she couldn't tell what all the boxes in the truck contained, but she guessed it would take Sean awhile to carry them all inside by himself.

Next to her Jake let go of her hand. “Need help?” he called out as if reading her mind.

Turning around to face them again, Sean eyed Jake for a moment before answering. “If you're offering, I'm not saying no.”

Her brain knew it was the right thing to do, and if Jake hadn't offered, Sean never would've asked. Still, disappointment washed over her. Removing boxes from her brother's truck was not what her body wanted to be doing right now. It wanted to be upstairs removing Jake's clothes instead.

“The bed isn't going anywhere,” he whispered in her ear, his warm breath caressing her cheek. “Your brother and I can take care of this if you want to go in,” he added before kissing her.

“Are you sure? I don't mind.” The more people working the sooner she and Jake could continue what they started.

“Jake's right. We’ve got this. Go on in.”

“Don't say I didn't offer.” Charlie didn't have a good reason to argue with her brother so she carried the remains of their snack and went inside.

JAKE WATCHED her walk into the house then joined Sean at the back of his truck.

“Gonna be around long?” Sean asked.

“Till Monday.” Jake pulled a large box out of the truck bed.

Sean reached for another as well but didn't pick it up. “Does Charlie know about your pregnant ex? If not I suggest you tell her.”

Jake didn't miss the threatening tone of the statement. He wanted to hate the guy for it, but if the tables were reversed he could see himself doing the same thing. How many times had he done similar things on Sara's behalf? More times than he cared to count.

“I don't want her hurt. Understand? And your arm wouldn't be the first I've broken on my sister's behalf without her knowledge.”

He didn't doubt Sean could do it without breaking a sweat either. Charlie's brother reminded him of a brick wall. “She knows everything O'Brien. Just for the record it's not mine.”

“Glad to hear it,” Sean said, his voice losing its menacing tone.

If whatever existed between him and Charlie was going to continue he didn't want any bad blood between him and her family. “Are we good then? Or is this going to be a problem?”

“We're good.” Sean slapped him on the back before lifting his box and starting toward the house. “A reporter stopped at Quinn's Hardware asking questions about you,” Sean said before disappearing down the stairs around the side of the house that led into the basement.

And today just keeps getting better. “Just me?” Jake wondered if Marcy Blake made that stop before or after her stop at the Victorian Rose.

Sean dropped the case he carried and motioned for Jake to do the same. “At least while I was there she only asked about you, but I left before she did. Why?”

Jake heard a trace of the threatening tone from before return to the other man's voice, and he wondered if Charlie realized just how protective her brother could be. He doubted it.

“She stopped here this morning,” Jake said as he headed back outside.

“And Ma was a wealth of information,” Sean said before Jake could comment any further.

“You could say that.” Once again he felt guilty for dragging Charlie and her family into this new scandal.

“Leave it to her. She just doesn't know when to stop.”

The need to defend Maureen O'Brien's behavior fueled Jake's next comment. “It's not her fault. Marcy Blake could get a corpse to talk. That's why she's so good at her job.”

Sean stopped near his truck and leaned against the side. “Ma means well, but she likes to talk, always has. I hope she didn't say too much.”

“Nothing that Marcy couldn't find out from some other source.” Jake reached for another box. “But you should be prepared for other reporters if and when Marcy writes about Charlie coming to Newport with me.”

Sean groaned and pushed away from the truck. “Great. Just what we need. More chaos around here.” He pulled the next case off the truck bed. “On second thought it might be good for business,” he said after a minute. “After people read the President's son stayed here they might figure it's good enough for them too.”

Sean walked toward the house. “Hey, maybe I should put a plaque outside the room you used. Billionaire playboy Jake Sherbrooke slept here. What do you think? Maybe I could charge a premium for that room.”

Jake heard Sean laugh as he disappeared down the basement stairs. Guy's got a strange sense of humor, Jake thought following him down. “Always glad to be of service. Do you want me to sign it for you?”

“I like the way you think, Sherbrooke.”

It took a few more trips to empty the truck but eventually all the boxes were stacked in the basement.

“You want a beer?” Sean asked closing the door to the storage room in the basement behind him.

He wanted to find Charlie and pick up where they'd left off in the gazebo, but sharing that information with her brother was out of the question. “Sounds good.” Jake followed Sean to the opposite side of the basement.

“Do you play?” Sean asked as he opened the door to the refrigerator.

Since the pool table stood between them, Jake assumed Sean was referring to pool. “A little but not since college.” He accepted the ice cold bottle Sean handed him.

“I don't play much anymore either. But before we started the bed and breakfast I used to play in a league. Now I get together with a couple of guys maybe once a month to play.” Sean took a long swallow from his beer. “You up for a game?”

He doubted it would be much of a game. He'd never mastered pool, but in this instance that would be a plus since it meant the game would be over all that much sooner. Grabbing a pool stick off the wall, he approached the table. “Rack them up.”

MUCH LATER THAT evening Jake laid in bed staring at the canopy above his head. He could feel Charlie's slow even breathing next to him as she slept, and he couldn't help but marvel at how right it felt to have her by his side. A part of him wanted to press a pause button and keep them just like this forever. He'd learned a long time ago how rapidly situations could deteriorate and loathed to see that happen between Charlie and him. He didn't know how far their relationship would go, but he wasn't in any rush to see it end. Something he knew could happen if the media threw their relationship into the spotlight. While Charlie insisted she could take anything the media tossed at her, he knew from experience that it could be far worse than she imagined it.

Although if anyone could handle it, he suspected it'd be Charlie. She wasn't one to take BS from anyone, and she didn't hold anything back. If Charlie felt a certain way she let you know it.

Even though he knew she could take care of herself, that didn't stop him from considering the different ways he might be able to protect her from unwanted media attention. He figured in the worst case scenario he could hire a private body guard to keep an eye on her. His family had done it in the past before his father took office and the Secret Service became a regular part of his family's life. They'd most recently done it when Callie's identity came out. If he did hire protection, Jake knew Charlie would hate it. Not that he would blame her. There was nothing fun about having someone follow you twenty-four seven. He shuddered at the memory of what it'd been like with the Secret Service following his every move. Thankfully the only time he interacted with them now was when he saw his father.

Jake rolled onto his side so he could look at Charlie and once again he marveled at the beauty sleeping next to him. Sure he'd been with beautiful women before, but Charlie's beauty was natural. It didn't need enhancing from makeup or fancy hairstyles. With his hand he brushed a few pieces of hair off her cheek and tucked them behind her ear. As if dead to the world she didn't stir as he let his fingers linger on her cheek. Part of him wanted to wake her, but he held back. Instead he climbed out of bed and tossed on a pair of shorts. He knew it'd be awhile before sleep returned so he pulled out his laptop and tackled his latest emails.