“What?” Lust and longing had muddled her brain. She felt drugged with it and shook her head to focus her thoughts. “What did you say?”
“Four weeks’ notice,” he repeated.
The words splashed over her like icy water. Wrenching from his hold, she scurried to the other side of the island. “I don’t understand.”
“You do,” he said, his gaze on her face. “After what happened between us...”
But that hadn’t happened! Didn’t he understand their unspoken agreement that Shay and Jace were different people than Birthday Girl and Jay? Except...except a moment ago she’d been a breath away from begging for his touch, his heat, his—
Embarrassment kindled her temper. “Wait. Let me get this straight. Are you firing me because of our night at the Deerpoint Inn? I don’t think that’s legal!”
He grimaced. “Well—”
“You’re letting me go because of a...of a personal choice I made on my own time?” She was aware of the outrage in her voice. “Because I went to bed with you?”
“Jesus, Shay.” He glanced behind him. “Can you keep it down?”
“No, I can’t keep it down,” she said, though she lowered her voice to an incensed whisper. “How dare you judge me?”
“I’m not judging. I’m—”
“What about you? You’re a single dad but that didn’t stop you from indulging in a one-night stand, seducing a vulnerable—”
“Vulnerable, my ass.” Jace strode around the island and had hold of her shoulders again. “Seduce, your ass.”
“What are you doing?” she demanded, trying to pull out of his grasp.
“Explaining to you the problem we have,” he said from between his teeth. “No, showing you the problem we have.” Then he bent his head and kissed her, his mouth hard and punishing and...
Beautiful. Masterful. Irresistible.
Shay’s lips surrendered to the pressure of his and then his tongue was inside, plunging to rub against her own, pulling back to toy with her, then sweeping back in again. Her body melted against the hard wall of his chest and she pressed her breasts to it and her belly to the heavy rise of his erection.
She tumbled into another bubble, still in Jace’s clasp. It pulsed around them like a heartbeat. It was a refuge. A private shelter. Their very own place. To anchor herself there, she tucked her fingers into the waistband at the back of his jeans. He grunted, low in his throat, and fed more deeply from her mouth.
Then, in an abrupt, desperate move, he pushed her away. Shay felt the counter at the small of her back, and she leaned there, panting. His golden eyes were molten and she felt his gaze like a touch as it moved from her mouth to her heaving breasts to the heated juncture of her thighs. Her muscles clenched there, and he groaned, as if he sensed that sweet spasm.
“You’ve got to see...” He sucked in a quick breath. “This is a problem.”
She crossed her arms over her chest to hide her taut nipples and trembling hands. “Just...just stop kissing me.”
He gave her a wry look. “’Cause that’ll work.”
“Jace—”
“No, I’ve made up my mind.” He pushed his hands through his hair. “I’m moving up the timetable.”
“Timetable?”
“I had a boarding school picked out for London come September. I know I was supposed to spend the next three months here, with her, with you, but obviously...” He shook his head. “I made a call. She can go to the summer session that starts in four weeks.”
Shay gaped at him. “You can’t do that.”
“Won’t she be ready? From those emails, I thought you said she was making great progress. Maybe I can get her another tutor at the school—”
“Jace, she needs time with you.”
His face settled into stubborn lines. “Look, I don’t know anything about her. I know even less about being a father and it’s obvious it’s too late for me to learn. Now that I’ve seen her, it’s clear she’s not interested in that kind of relationship with me anyway.”
“You can’t know what might happen over time—”
“A summer won’t help.”
“That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try.”
“No.” He forked his hand through his hair. “Don’t get me wrong. I don’t blame her in the least, but...but no.”
Shay wanted to scream, to cry, to throw something at him. Maybe if she quit now, walked out on the stupid man, he’d be forced to rethink his decision.
Or he’d retreat for four weeks and not engage with the girl altogether until it was time to pack her off to boarding school.
Still, perhaps it would be better that she go, especially as Jace had made it clear he wasn’t interested in being around her, despite that scorching, seeking kiss. Shay could return tonight to her own place. Wasn’t she accustomed to being alone?
A furtive movement over Jace’s shoulder caught her eye. London, dressed in her usual dreary black, her presence moving along the hall like a shadow.
The girl didn’t need to be ignored and left adrift, she thought, her heart aching. London needed an anchor. Something Shay had been providing the past months.
Four more weeks wouldn’t be so bad, she decided. She’d take that time to do what she could for the teen...while taking care to save herself from any unreciprocated wishes or impossible dreams.
* * *
JACE AWOKE AT DAWN. Jet lag was a bitch, and so was the cold, cavernous master suite. He yanked on jeans, a T-shirt and a pair of running shoes and let himself out the back door that opened onto the wide deck that wrapped around the house.
The air was still, the sky a pale, pale gray. The green of the fir trees along the shore was almost black against the nearly colorless canvas. Mist rose from the lake, obscuring its surface. Resembling flying ghosts, the vapor skimmed across the water then shifted, driven by a slight breeze to return like second thoughts.
Jace jogged down the steps to the sloping lawn that led to the narrow beach and the dock there. The wooden structure was painted a deep blue with matching canvas awnings, and consisted of a short rock staircase rising to a platform that loomed over the water. From it, a gangplank angled down to the wide berth that contained the sleek powerboat he’d bought with the house. It was neatly tied to metal cleats and bobbed gently.
Where were the keys? he wondered as an urge came over him to take the thing for a spin. He could already feel the power of it in his hands and beneath his feet, a convenient vehicle for whisking him away from the tangled complications in his life.
But hell, this was a lake, wasn’t it? A finite body of water that meant he was caught forever within its boundaries. Any trip would only bring him back to his starting place.
To London.
To Shay.
To those misgivings that continued to emerge from the troubled pool of his thoughts.
But no, damn it, he assured himself. He’d made a decision to cut this sojourn short. The right decision.
All he needed was a little caffeine to cement that certainty.
So he turned back to the house, only to find someone else was up, as well. In the kitchen Shay was at the counter. Once more she was occupied with the coffee machine,