Trust in Me Read online

  Trust in Me

  Dee Tenorio

  Samhain Publishing, Ltd. (2013)

  * * *

  Rating: ****

  Sometimes falling in love is the easy part…

  A Rancho del Cielo Romance

  Locke Jackman is single, childless…and he has a bad case of empty nest syndrome. For years, as he fought tooth and nail to keep his brothers and sisters together after his parents died, his entire life was focused on his responsibilities.

  Now his siblings have all moved on with their lives, and there’s no one around to distract him from his overpowering attraction to his sister’s best friend. Their mutual desire is stunning…but then again, so are the secrets keeping them apart.

  Susie Packard’s nightmarish marriage taught her what happens when she gives in to her weakness for powerful men. Too bad the big, stoic frowner across the street—the one who sets her bells jangling just by breathing—has her in his sights.

  Try as she might to keep her emotional distance, Locke is determinedly knocking down all her walls. But as much as she wants to be the woman he needs, she knows better than most—passion may have its rewards, but every secret has its price.

  Warning: This book contains a hot, modern-day Viking seducing his way to the heart of his woman, a stubborn lingerie designer with a world of secrets and a very deep bathtub… Enjoy!

  Review

  "Looking for a fun, but sexy romantic read...? "Trust in Me" will fit the bill. I dare you to try and resist Locke Jackman."--Jennifer, RomanceNovelNews.com

  "TRUST IN ME is a perfect combination of humor and emotional intensity at its best... She hits all my sweet spots with one swing and leaves me wanting more as soon as I read the last word."--Pearl, Pearl's World of Romance

  Dedication

  For Lillie, who loved Locke first. He’d never be here without her.

  Prologue

  She felt like water, gliding across his skin. Sleek. Welcoming, molding to the planes of his body until all traces of his rough edges melted away. Her lips caressed his jaw, her breath a whisper that resonated to his bones. He couldn’t get enough of her. Her taste filled his mouth, tart and sweet. Some floral scent he didn’t recognize entwined itself into his veins, heating his blood, driving him to bury his face in her hair and breathe her in until he was drunk.

  She seemed just as hungry, just as desperate. Her hands coursed over him, stroking, pulling, demanding. Her touch sent fire down his chest, across the muscles he never gave much thought to but seemed to transfix her. She took a near-evil pleasure in making him tremble for her. Even now, maybe especially now, he quaked. The wanting—the need—raked through him, and he couldn’t wait any longer.

  Locke raised himself above her, cradling her slim body in his arms. He still couldn’t believe she was here, that she’d come to him. Not for this, he knew, even as his mind disconnected from every logical, fathomable reason he should never bring Susie Packard into his bed. Neither of them could have expected this. But here she was, her slim thighs wrapped tight around his waist, skin slick from the pleasure he’d already wrung out of her, lips swollen from his own and his name on her breath as he sank deep within her. He didn’t dare close his eyes, though the pleasure near blinded him, unwilling to miss a single second of what might just be the most incredible moment of his life.

  Her eyes, still glowing with that fire he only saw when she was looking at him, sharpened, and her brow furrowed. Her hands cupped his face, as if she were trying to smooth the lines of his possessiveness away. “Locke, no. Don’t look at me that way.”

  He levered himself up, inadvertently thrusting deeper as he captured her hands. He wasn’t a small man in any respect, and he knew he towered over her, glaring down. Slowly, his control straining to a fray, he stirred his hips against her. She arched, the tips of her teeth digging into her bottom lip, her gaze never slipping. Daring him, refusing to admit what he could feel in every touch of her fingertips. Her mouth. Her legs that tightened on him, making it impossible to move away. This meant as much to her as it did to him. Damn, stubborn woman wasn’t going to admit it. She rocked, trying to spur him on, but he kept up the maddeningly slow pace.

  She tugged, not to pull her hands away, but to bring him closer.

  “Tell me what you need,” he growled, unable to soften his voice, meaning it from the bottom of his soul. “Anything.”

  She stared at him for a silent, breathless moment…then shook her head.

  He clamped his jaw tight, his body shuddering as he stopped. She whimpered, but that was it. Taking this as far as she could, he decided. That was all right, he could play this game as long as she would. Longer. Because there was no way he could let her walk away from him again.

  Fitting himself over her, he knotted their hands together, placing them just above her head on either side of the pillow. A kiss, little more than a slide of his lips over hers, drew another whimper from her. The tight tips of her breasts trailed across his chest, tempting and inflaming him. He gasped in a shocked breath when her sex suddenly tightened around him, flexing as if to draw him deeper. Rippling until his eyes nearly crossed. He swore, but he didn’t thrust as she’d clearly planned. God, he wanted to, but the groan of frustration she gave was worth it. At least he wasn’t killing himself alone.

  He lowered his face to the curve of her neck, licking the salt from her skin, breathing her in again, an addict already, wanting her until he felt as if his entire body was on fire for her. Burning from the inside out to give her everything, to be her everything. If only she’d let him.

  She shook in his arms, quivering but not surrendering. “I can’t, Locke. I can’t give you what you want.”

  He lifted his head to meet her gaze, now nearly wild with painful truth. Or at least, what she seemed to think was the truth. If he kept holding back, he’d break something fragile between them. What, he wasn’t sure, because everything seemed fragile right then. Whatever it was, he couldn’t risk it. Wouldn’t. He closed his eyes, relenting.

  Her breath shuddered over him as her body relaxed. Accepting him, if only for now. She kissed his cheek—an apology? Gratefulness?—heading unerringly toward his mouth. Even so, she seemed to think she had to make the line she’d drawn as clear as possible. “Tonight doesn’t change anything. It can’t.”

  He stared at her, making sure she met his gaze before he shook his head. “Tonight changes everything.”

  Before she could argue—because she would—he took her mouth and let his control snap.

  Chapter One

  The desk had become her enemy.

  Susie stared at it grumpily from the threshold. She’d squeezed the smallest desk she could find inside what was originally a broom closet, along with a fold-up chair and its much-needed cushion. She could just open the door and work on her files, her designs, emails or maybe comparison shop. And since the little closet was just behind the register, she could do it while keeping an eye on the store. Most of the time, that was one of her favorite details about owning her own shop.

  Now when she sat down, all she could think about was the calendar on the blotter. Even the annoying emails she’d been getting from her catalog account the last few weeks wasn’t enough to distract her from all the X’s she forced herself to make as each day crawled past. Each week. Waiting for the inevitable cramping to start. The pain that went deeper than the agony of her body. She’d never meant to go through this again. Knew her heart couldn’t take another scar. But with each day that passed without the pain, without the inevitable…she began to feel the whispering tendrils of hope trying to wind around her. Which was odd for a woman who didn’t think she believed in such things anymore.

  But she’d never made it this far before.

  Three more days and sh
e’d be able to dream.

  She’d also have to tell Locke.

  Susie closed the door on the desk and pressed her back to it. She’d think about that in three days.

  “I didn’t know the bills were so scary.”

  Susie’s eyes opened so wide she had to scrunch them closed again to recover from the burning sensation. It also gave her a few precious seconds to bury the guilt she felt whenever she saw her best friend. Amanda Jackman, God love her, had been raised around too many males to know the signs that were right in front of her. A fact Susie had been ruthlessly capitalizing on as the weeks had passed. Not that she had any choice—her exhaustion had grown exponentially with her fears. She knew she should tell Amanda the truth, but there were just too many reasons she couldn’t. Amanda being Locke’s beloved baby sister the biggest one of them all. They might treat each other like the sister neither of them had ever had, but tempting Amanda’s loyalties wasn’t a risk Susie could bring herself to take. If Locke found out and she lost it…

  She, at least, expected the worst.

  Locke, on the other hand, would be destroyed.

  She disliked how well she knew that. Everyone at Shaky Jakes had bets running on what Locke would do now that the infamously full house of siblings he’d given up his youth to raise had emptied out so suddenly. In less than a year, he’d gone from presiding general over five brothers and a sister-slash-prisoner-of-overzealous-testosterone to a man alone in a giant house.

  Most folks figured Locke was desperate to run off and sow some long-dormant wild oats. That the last thing he’d want was someone else needing anything from him. Strange, at least to her, that anyone in this town could believe he’d go anywhere. Susie knew he wouldn’t abandon his family, their home or what all of it meant to him. Locke was a man grounded in his roots. If anything, he probably had no idea what to do with himself now that the apron ties were cut.

  She swallowed tightly. All but one…

  “Uh-oh, is it three o’clock already?”

  Susie finally looked at Amanda, wishing again the other woman didn’t share her brother’s pale blond hair and clear blue eyes. “What? Why?”

  “You have that green look you always get around three.” Amanda held out an open packet of crackers, sweet as you please. As if she always had a twelve-inch package in her back pocket for moments like these. “I read somewhere that if you have a little something in your stomach at all times, it’ll help kick the lingering effect of your…flu.”

  Susie stared at her friend narrowly. Amanda had been talking in a decidedly Shatner-like manner the last week or two, dropping hints Susie hadn’t wanted to give credence to. The obvious truth stung now. She knows… “Just read that somewhere, huh?”

  She can’t know. Not for sure. Not for three more days…

  Amanda’s smirk—the one she’d been wearing more and more lately, now that Susie thought about it—said way too much. “I also read that lightly salted crackers were best. Bland enough to get down without making you sick, and the salt makes the taste good enough to eat a bunch of them.” She rattled the bag like a pet owner shaking a bacon treat.

  Susie allowed herself a pleasant vision of sinking her teeth into her best friend’s wrist.

  “It’s better than all that gagging you do, don’t you think?”

  “I think someone needs to back up before I gag all over her shoes.”

  Amanda rolled her eyes, but she took an obligatory step backward. “Being stubborn isn’t going to help you get stronger, Suze.”

  “Being irritated isn’t making me stronger either.” On the other hand, the idea of not dry heaving in the back bathroom was too tantalizing to ignore. “Gimme the damn crackers.”

  Amanda’s big ole grin was just rude.

  “I hate you right now.”

  Amanda turned with a shrug, grin just getting bigger. “You always do at three. You’ll love me again at four. Why don’t you go lie down on the chaise? It’s quiet enough today.”

  Susie snorted. The chaise was an old rusted lawn chair she’d disguised with padding, fake velvet and brocade to inspire customers to bring in their significant others while they tried on her designs. It was more comfortable than the “office” door though, and Lord, she was tired. The clinic doctor she’d been sneaking appointments to under Amanda’s nose kept telling her that was normal, but it was hard to believe. There had to be something wrong. She’d never been tired like this before. A body shouldn’t drag like this…

  A body shouldn’t keep secrets like this either, but that hasn’t stopped you yet, has it?

  Biting back a sigh, Susie left the relative safety of her alcove and stepped back into the main store. Angled racks of lingerie stood in the center of the room, separated by color and style, while her personal designs filled the wall from the window front to the red curtain that created a private section in the back. Amanda liked to call that area the “naughty” section, while Susie thought of it as the “saving my ass” section. Since it was also where the chaise waited, that name took on extra meaning.

  She meant to just walk over to the back room, but because she was a masochist, she just had to look out the front window. Had to steal a glimpse across the small street to the sporting goods store. It was three, after all, and she knew he’d be there. Locke’s break, timed like a Swiss watch. Even before what had happened between them in the summer, he spent his breaks staring out the window, observing the small-town comings and goings, as if measuring whether the ebb and flow of human traffic would come his way. He probably had better knowledge of who went where on Main Street than all the busybodies in Shaky Jakes combined.

  Or, he used to.

  Ever since that night in his cabin, he’d been watching her shop instead. Waiting for her to look out and find him. She knew he was giving her the space she demanded, but she could see his patience was wearing thin.

  His steely gaze coursed over her hungrily, as if he couldn’t help but drink her in the only way she allowed. He looked as tired as she felt, the rugged lines on his tanned face having gotten deeper somehow. Strain pulled at the corners of his mouth, and she could almost hear the pull of cotton as his shirt tightened at his shoulders.

  One nod from her and he’d be there in her store. Any sign at all that she’d accept him and he’d come. Every day, he waited for it.

  Every day, she forced herself to turn away.

  He doesn’t deserve the baggage you’re hauling, girl.

  But in three days…in three days, he might just get it.

  She stared, fear inching its way up her spine, desire and exhaustion warring with it for space. How easy it would be to let Locke help her. He’d hold her if she asked. Offer his strength and his warmth without question. And it would be wonderful. More than wonderful.

  Until she needed room to breathe…

  Locke didn’t know how to do anything halfway. That just wasn’t the kind of man she knew him to be. He wasn’t offering her a warm body to hold on to, sex to satisfy but not fulfill. He wanted everything—someone to give his heart to, someone who could give her heart in return. Her soul. He didn’t understand. She didn’t have anything left to give away.

  I should have met you first.

  If only she had. There wouldn’t be so many cracked and broken pieces of her to try holding on to…

  “Exactly how long am I supposed to keep playing dumb here?”

  Susie jumped at the quietly exasperated sound of Amanda’s voice from the other side of the counter. Locke leaned forward, trying to see what threat had scared her. She shook her head, meaning only to assure him nothing was wrong, but that wasn’t how he took it. He straightened, his lips tight at the perceived rejection, but his eyes reminded her he wasn’t letting go. Then he turned and headed back into the depths of his store.

  Susie sighed, her heart aching as he disappeared from sight. She swallowed, forcing herself to face Amanda as if nothing had happened. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were playing.”

  �
��Cute. But I’m serious. How much longer do you think I’m going to just stand by and watch you twist my brother—not to mention yourself—into knots?”

  It’d be nice if she could dismiss Amanda’s concerns with an airy wave or a sarcastic laugh, but one glance and Susie could tell it wasn’t going to fly. As Jackmans went, Amanda was probably the most reasonable, but get a bone in her craw and she could be as resolute as Locke. Given the unblinking stare and the downward curve of Amanda’s normally very pretty mouth, Susie knew the bone wasn’t only in her craw, it was about to get shoved up someone’s ass.

  God, she just didn’t have the energy for this.

  Shoulders slumping, Susie closed her eyes and gave in to a different kind of inevitable. “Another couple of days, Mandy.”

  “Days? Susie, come on, what difference do a few days make? Can’t you see what this is doing to the two of you? Locke hardly speaks to anyone these days—”

  If anything could have made her laugh right then that would have been it. “Honey, your brother doesn’t talk to anyone if he can help it.” And yet everyone in town always knew exactly what he meant. Especially her.

  “Stop trying to be funny. This isn’t funny anymore, Susie.”

  She hadn’t been aware it ever had been. “It’s also not your business.”

  “That might have shut me down three months ago when I thought the two of you were going to work out whatever happened between you, but it’s clear you’re not. He’s my brother and you’re my best friend. I can’t keep letting you tear each other apart.”

  “We’re not—”

  “No? You’re a stressed-out mess who can’t concentrate and has taken cookie tossing to Olympic-training levels, and he’s hardly sleeping or eating anymore. The only thing he does do is wait for you to call him. Which you won’t do. That’s not Locke. He’s turning himself inside out, Susie, and I know he’s doing it for you. You need to talk to him.”