Текст книги "His Temporary Fix"
Автор книги: Sofia Grey
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One night is all it takes...
Holly Jacobs loses her heart a little too easily. Never again. But when she meets the sexy soldier on the beach, Holly knows she’s in big trouble. Zack Winter is gorgeous and in pain, and when he kisses Holly, all of her resolve melts away...
Zack is on short-term leave to attend a funeral, and he’s walking a fine line. The loss is unbearable...and he’ll do whatever it takes to distract himself from it. Especially if it means a night of searingly-hot sex with Holly Jacobs. Only his brilliant idea isn’t exactly going according to plan.
One night isn’t nearly enough. But if it goes much longer it might end in broken hearts…
Table of Contents
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Discover the Love at the Beach series…
Crash Into Love
Discover more Entangled Select Contemporary titles…
One Sinful Night in Sao Paulo
Some Like it Sizzling
Playing with Fire
Broken Honor
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 by Sofia Grey. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.
Entangled Publishing, LLC
2614 South Timberline Road
Suite 109
Fort Collins, CO 80525
Visit our website at www.entangledpublishing.com.
Select Contemporary is an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC.
Edited by Lisa Bone
Cover design by Louisa Maggio
Cover art from iStock
ISBN 978-1-63375-386-0
Manufactured in the United States of America
First Edition October 2015
To the unknown guy I saw in the shallows one evening. You gave me a story. Thank you.
Chapter One
Gwen and Lily were big dogs. I still didn’t expect them to knock him over.
The man stood there, ankle deep in the sea, staring out to the horizon and the rapidly setting sun. I’d given him a cursory glance when I walked onto the beach. It was the wrong time of year for holidaymakers and the wrong time of day for the usual dogwalkers and exercise-lovers. It would be dark in half an hour, maybe less with the way the clouds filled the sky.
I’d let the girls off their leads and, as usual, they’d bounded straight for the shallows while I stuffed their chains into my pocket. That’s when I noticed him. There was enough light left to see he wore army-style camo pants and jacket. Boots. A cap pulled low. I noted all this in the two seconds that I had before Gwen and Lily decided they wanted to make a new friend.
There was a playful woof and Gwen nudged him with her shoulder at the same time as Lily reared up and hit him in the small of his back. Poor sod didn’t stand a chance. He crumpled at the knees and dropped to the sand, landing with a splash in the shallow water while the dogs bounced around him.
I ran the few yards, shouting “Gwen, Lily, heel.” They ignored me. By the time I reached him, the guy had sat up, a dazed expression on his face. He looked young, not much older than me, with dark eyes in a tanned face and what I figured was several days’ worth of rough stubble. Hot in a rugged, edgy way.
He tugged off the cap and ran a wet hand through short dark hair, and I caught a glimpse of dogtags on his chest. His gaze flicked up to me, and the breath caught in my throat. I’d expected to see anger, but instead, he looked lost.
Dropping to a crouch by his side, I tried to grab the girls before they did further damage. “I am so sorry.” Gwen barged into me, the force knocking me forward onto my knees and almost into his arms. Could I be any more embarrassed? “They don’t normally behave like this.” I grabbed at their collars, but they danced out of reach. Of course. “They must like you.” Jesus, how lame. I cringed when the words left my mouth, but it drew a hint of a smile from him.
“I guess.” He shoved at the wet sand and scrambled to his feet¸ then held out a hand to me. It would have been rude to refuse, so I let him help me up. His grip was strong and sure, albeit wet and sandy, and I tried not to stare at his sodden trousers. Lift your eyes, Holly. Muscles were clearly defined under his T-shirt, and the jacket did little to hide the breadth of his shoulders.
I focused on catching the dogs and managed to grab Lily on her next pass. Before she could wriggle free I clipped the chain to her collar. Now for Gwen, always the rebel. “I’m sorry,” I repeated into the silence. “I had no idea they’d do that. Are you okay?”
I got the distinct impression he wasn’t listening. He glanced first at his hand, then at his boots. “It’s gone,” he mumbled. “I’ve fucking dropped it.” He hunkered down and swished around in the shallow water. “Help me. I can’t lose it.”
Holding Lily securely, I bent down beside him. “What are we looking for?”
“A bracelet.”
I peered into the water. The light was fading fast, and our chances of finding anything were slim at best, but I caught a glimmer of something near my foot. I swooped to grab it before the next ripple shifted the sand, and my fingers closed around smooth metal. A silver link bracelet with blue stones and a flat silver plate with a name engraved. I squinted to read it. Marie?
“This one?” I held out the piece of jewelry and even in the semidarkness I saw his eyes light up and a smile break out across his face. Wow. I thought he was hot before, but he was actually gorgeous.
“Thank you.” He closed his fist around it and held it close to his chest. Marie must be his girlfriend. Or wife. Even a baby daughter. My imagination ran riot.
“It’s very pretty. Does that say Marie?” I should have slunk away at that point, but the desolation that flooded his eyes kept me locked in place.
“Marnie.” It was just a whisper. He swallowed hard. “Her name was Marnie.”
There’s always that moment where you have to make a choice. To walk away or to get involved in someone’s problems, and God knew, I’d been tangled in too many people’s issues already. But how could I walk away? He looked as though his entire world had crashed down around his feet. I’d beat myself up for it later, but right now, I had to stay. “That’s a beautiful name. Your girlfriend?” Was. He said her name was Marnie, my subconscious shrieked. Past tense.
He hesitated. “My sister.”
What could I do? Say I was sorry for his loss and then walk away? The new Holly would. She’d offer a polite smile, murmur some meaningless words of condolence, and leave without a backward glance. I took a deep breath and gripped Lily’s lead a little tighter. “Sometimes it’s easiest to talk to a complete stranger. Do you want to talk about her?” He hunched his shoulders and stared at his boots again, and I took a step forward. “My name’s Holly. Holly Jacobs. My parents died young, in a car crash, so I know a bit about loss.”
I’d known him all of two minutes. I’m not sure why I was so intent on making him talk to me, but when he met my gaze and gave a tight nod, I felt absurdly pleased. “Zack Winter.” He raised the fist with the bracelet. “It’s her birthday next week.” He grimaced. “Would have been her birthday. I was about to post it to her when I got the message. She was twenty-two years old. Twenty-fucking-two.” His eyes flashed, with pain or anger, I wasn’t sure. “So tell me, Holly Jacobs. Do you know how it feels for your baby sister to die before she’d barely lived her life?”
“No.” I kept my voice calm. “My younger brother is very much alive, although two weeks ago he very nearly killed himself in a car accident. On the same stretch of road where Mum and Dad died. When I found out, I couldn’t decide if I wanted to hug him or finish him off.” Silence fell between us, and I wondered if I’d been totally insensitive. “Do you want to come back to my place and get a drink? I’m only five minutes away.”
Chapter Two
Zack stared at me for a long moment and then scrubbed his hand across his face. “I’ve got a bottle of vodka if you want to share it.” He jerked his chin up the beach toward the two rental cottages on the edge of the sand. “My place is closer than yours.” He hesitated. “The funeral’s tomorrow. I wouldn’t mind the company.”
I nodded. “We can sit on the deck, and the dogs can stay loose.” Why didn’t I walk away? He may have been a stranger, but he was hurting, and I couldn’t leave him to suffer alone. And there was something else, some indefinable quality in him that sang out to me. Tall, strong, and brooding, he reminded me of a rough sea, of immense power barely leashed beneath a veneer of civility.
We turned and set off across the sand, and I whistled for Gwen to follow us. For once she did as I wanted. I knew the two rentals, and I’d known the landlord for years. Jas now lived in Gran’s old house up the street, where we’d spent our school holidays as children. I’d always loved this quiet beachside community, but as a retreat, not as somewhere to live full time. I dragged my mind back from my own problems and followed Zack up the wooden steps to the deck of the smaller cottage. Letting Lily run free again, I sank onto one of the wooden chairs and watched Zack moving around the kitchen. He flicked on a recessed light, grabbed a bottle from the fridge, and then opened and closed several cupboards before finding two glass tumblers.
There was enough light coming from the kitchen to cast a soft illumination over the deck. Zack sat opposite me, face half hidden in the shadows, as he lined up the glasses and cracked open the bottle. I waited until he’d poured generous measures and then picked up a glass and clinked it against his. The vodka was strong and aromatic, and I sipped with care while Zack took a large gulp. For once, I was at a loss for words. Maybe just being here, offering him some silent company, would be enough?
Lily and Gwen jostled their way up the stairs to flop at my feet, and I wondered how long I should stay out before Jas grew concerned. I didn’t have my cell phone with me. I’d stormed out rather than arguing with him again.
“They’re nice dogs. Crossbreeds?” Huh? The sudden conversation took me by surprise. Zack jerked a thumb toward Lily. “Looks like she has some golden lab in her.”
“They’re Heinz 57,” I murmured.
“What’s that?”
I glanced up to see puzzlement on his face. “My bad. It’s a phrase the English use for a mixed breed. Heinz makes fifty-seven varieties of stuff, apparently.”
He nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense. Did you ever think of obedience classes?”
My cheeks heated. “They’re not mine. I’m just walking them. For my brother. He’s got a broken leg from the accident.” Yeah, Holly, tell him your life story next.
Zack shrugged. “Maybe you should suggest it. It’d only take a few weeks.”
I had to laugh. “It’d take a bit more than that for these two madams. But to be fair, they behave for Jas. Mostly.” I took another sip of the vodka and rolled the spirit around my mouth. Zack poured himself another measure and tilted the bottle toward me. I shook my head in reply. “Could I be really cheeky and use your phone for a moment? I left mine at home.”
“Sure.” He dug into a pocket and produced an iPhone, unlocking it before handing it over to me.
I tapped out Jasper’s number and waited for him to answer. My eyes were drawn to the man lounging in the chair opposite. He stared into his drink as though it held the solution to all of life’s problems. One half of his face lay in shadow, light playing across the other. His cheekbones were strong and clearly defined under a fuzz of stubble. He was quite simply the most beautiful man I’d ever seen, and I swallowed hard as I tried to rationalize my attraction to him. How many times had I done this? Felt sorry for someone and handed over my heart, only to have it shredded and dumped back at my feet?
Jas answered, sounding sleepy, and I quickly explained that I’d be a while, that I’d stopped to have a drink with a friend. Call done, I slid the phone back across the table to Zack, and he picked it up and flicked through some menus.
“This is her. Marnie.” He turned the phone to show me a picture of a young woman with a shy smile, peeking around a big tabby cat she held in her arms. He had the same dark eyes and hair as his sister, although her locks tumbled to her chin in wild curls. “This was taken last year when I came back on leave.” He took a slug of vodka and replaced the phone on the tabletop, Marnie’s picture smiling up at us. “It’s the last time I saw her.”
I sipped my drink for courage before asking the question burning inside me. “What happened?”
He was silent for so long, I figured he wasn’t going to answer, and I was about to apologize when he spoke again. “She fell down the stairs and broke her neck. It was only six steps into the cellar. She’d gone for firewood. Her asshole boyfriend was out and didn’t find her until later.” He rubbed his thumb over her image. “How fucking stupid is that?”
“You didn’t like her boyfriend?”
“He was a jerk. Not good enough for her.” Anger simmered in his voice. “I have this mental image of her lying there calling for help, and nobody knowing she was hurt.” He slammed his empty glass onto the wooden tabletop. “I hope it was quick.”
Before I even thought about it, I reached across and placed my hand on his arm. His gaze leaped to mine and my heart turned over at the pain in his eyes. “She’s beautiful. Tell me about her.”
With a shaking hand he poured another slug of vodka into his glass. “We came here on holiday once, as kids. Camping somewhere near here.” He took a thoughtful sip of his drink. He still spoke clearly, despite the alcohol. “Marnie said she always wanted to live near the beach. She loved the sound of the waves.” He shifted position and leaned toward me. “Do you think it would be crazy if her ashes were sprinkled into the water?”
Chapter Three
“I did that. For my mum and dad.” I let go of Zack’s arm and tangled both hands around my glass. “I had this romantic idea of sprinkling them under the tree at the bottom of our garden. It was a cherry tree that mum planted when they moved in. In practice, it wasn’t a great success.”
“Oh?” Zack watched me, the intensity of his gaze making me shiver.
“I was only twelve. Jas would have been seven. The containers were bigger and heavier than I thought and, when I tried to tip them both at once, it was a disaster. The ashes went all over our feet, Jas was crying, and then a gust of wind blew them in our faces. What can I say? It wasn’t the way I’d imagined.”
As I’d hoped, I could see Zack fighting not to smile. He buried his amusement in a long swallow of vodka. How much could the man drink?
“It’s okay if you want to laugh. I’d say go for it with Marnie’s ashes, but stand upwind of them.”
“Thanks.” His voice was gruff. “I have to say, this isn’t how I’d imagined spending tonight.”
Me neither. His words were a timely reminder of my own plans for the evening and the knowledge I needed to get back to Jas soon. I knocked back the last of my drink. “I know it’ll be horrible tomorrow, but hang in there. Where’s the service being held?”
He shrugged. “Dunno. Somewhere local. I’ve got it written down. My mum made all the arrangements, including renting this place for me.”
“You don’t live round here?”
“Uh-uh.” His dark gaze pinned me to my seat. “I live wherever I’m deployed. Right now that’s just outside the Bamiyan province.”
“Afghanistan?”
He nodded. “I go where the army sends me.”
A few minutes longer wouldn’t hurt. “How long have you been there?”
He lifted his glass and examined it, as though surprised it was empty again. “This is my third deployment.”
My knowledge of Afghanistan was limited to what I’d seen on TV and in the news. Kiwi soldiers fighting alongside English and American. Soldiers dying. I tried not to shiver again. “What do you do?” It came out as a breathy whisper.
Zack stared at me and then leaned across the table. He reached out with his free hand and slowly, with all the time in the world, traced one finger across my knuckles. A dark ripple of lust fired through my veins, and I swallowed hard. Don’t do this. Don’t make this mistake again. I couldn’t move, even if I’d wanted to. “So, Holly Jacobs. Do you get hot at the idea of keeping a lonely soldier’s bed warm?”
No! Zack’s lazy voice made every nerve ending tingle, and my mouth forgot how to form words. He skated a rough fingertip over my knuckles some more. “Are you serious?” I asked.
“You’re a beautiful woman. You can’t blame me for trying.”
Like a bucket of ice water, his words jerked me back to reality. I tugged my hands back and slapped them onto the tabletop and then pushed to my feet. Not again. I’ll only end up getting hurt. Gwen grunted and lifted her shaggy head, and I sucked in a deep breath. “Thanks for the drink.” With trembling fingers I dug into my pocket for the leads. I had to go, to get away from his hungry eyes and his seductive touch.
“I’m sorry.” He hung his head. “Please don’t go.”
You can’t blame me for trying. The words rang in my head. “I have to.”
“I’m a rifleman, infantry.” I hesitated, and his eyes lifted to scan my face. “I’m a dick. I’m rude, and I’m not even nearly drunk enough to sleep yet.” The words rasped out of him. “But I’m very glad you came to sit with me. Thank you.”
Common sense screamed at me to round up the girls and go, but I ignored it and stayed where I was, my feet rooted to the wooden deck. “I accept your apology, but I can’t stay.”
Zack sighed and then scrubbed a hand over his eyes. “Let me walk you home?”
From insensitive ass to gentleman in the blink of an eye. “It’s a short walk and I have two giant dogs. Really, what could happen to me?”
“Please.” He stood up and jammed both hands in his pockets. It would mean spending five more minutes with him. I could resist him for five minutes.
I shrugged and tried not to be pleased. “Okay.”
He behaved as though perfectly sober, clipping the leads to the dogs’ collars and walking down the steps with them, back onto the sand. I let him take charge of the girls, amused at how they suddenly behaved themselves.
“It’s all in the voice,” he murmured. “You need to speak firmly to them, and they’ll do anything you want.” Unbidden, the idea of Zack doing whatever I wanted swam into my head. With an effort, I pushed past it.
“I think they prefer guys.”
Dark eyes flashed at me, the corners of his lips tugging up. “I prefer girls.”
He’d be a right charmer if things were different. Yeah, if he wasn’t in mourning for his sister, chimed the diligent voice in my head. Don’t even think of getting involved. That should be my new mantra.
We walked in a friendly silence up to the road, and Zack stopped. “Which way?”
“Left.” The grass was soft beneath my sandals, and damp blades brushed against my toes. I dawdled, unwilling to rush. “I don’t live here. Like you, I don’t actually have a home at the moment. I’d been living in England, but I’m here to look after Jas. He just needs me for a few weeks until he’s more mobile, and then I’ll go back.”
“No boyfriend or husband?”
“Not anymore.” I kept my voice brisk and sought a change of subject. “How soon do you go back?”
“A few days.” Gwen and Lily, sensing they were near home, lurched forward and caught him by surprise. He pulled them back with a confidence I never had. “I could give you some handling tips if you like. While I’m here.”
Did I want to risk seeing him again? “Won’t you be busy?”
“Not too busy for you, if that’s what you want. Think about it.”
We arrived at Jasper’s house and I stopped, Zack following suit. “This is it.” I held out my hand, expecting him to pass over the dog leads, but he stood there and stared at the sprawling cottage.
“I’ve been here before. When I was a kid.” He frowned. “I thought there was more space, though.”
“Gran sold off most of the section when Jas and I moved in. These other houses are built on what was her land.”
He huffed out a short laugh. “Looks like I was destined to meet you, Holly Jacobs.”
