“Who says we’re going to get in an argument?” Jacob almost had to jog to keep up with my pace.
“Experience. The topic. The possible explanations.” My eyebrow lifted at him. “Take your pick.”
“Fine, I’ll cancel the spa.” He pulled out his phone. “Did you have something else in mind?” His tipped smile settled into place as his eyes ran down me.
My dress was a rumpled, dirty mess, and I felt like the rest of me kept with that theme. Jacob was looking at me like there wasn’t a flaw on me though. Not a single one. That was one of the things he’d always done well—made me feel special when he looked at me like that. It might have only been for a moment, and they might have come few and far between, but for however long it was, I knew I meant something to him.
“Maybe one of our rooms?” he suggested.
“Jacob, please don’t make me regret my decision to leave with you.”
“Regret your decision to leave Matt for me?” His voice wobbled once.
“Regret my decision to leave with you to have this discussion.”
My response didn’t seem to appease him, but his jealousy where Matt was concerned ran deep. He could catch me merely making eye contact with his twin brother and go off. I didn’t want to think about what would happen when I told him what had happened between us. Way, way more than making eye contact.
“Shit, Cora. I’m an asshole.” He rubbed his forehead as we wound up the path toward the hotel. “I’m sorry about last night—I’m sorry about suggesting that again right now. I should have realized you’d need some space and not been so forceful. I was just so relieved to see you. So desperate to be close to you.”
“There are more ways to be close to a person than sex.”
A few heads turned as we came in the lobby, probably because I looked like I’d just played a game of tag with the storm. Jacob ground his jaw when he noticed, then he slid out of his jacket and tucked it over my shoulders. He quickly led me back toward the elevators, his hands just barely curved around my shoulders.
“What did you have in mind? I’m game for anything. Just please, give me a chance to work this out?” He spun me around before touching the up button, waiting.
“I want to go on a hike. There’s a good one farther inland that passes by an old sugar plantation. I was planning on doing it when we came down here, and here we are.” I shrugged, waiting.
“A hike? In this weather?” Jacob blinked.
“The weather isn’t that bad. Some rain and wind. I’ve hiked in worse.”
“A hike?” Jacob repeated, like it wasn’t computing.
“I like to hike.”
“Since when?”
I shifted. Jacob had never accompanied me on any of the hikes I’d gone on. I’d asked plenty of times at first, but had gotten to a point where I didn’t ask anymore because I already knew his answer. “Since I was thirteen and went on my first hike in the Everglades.”
“And you went on this first hike that started your lifelong love affair with the hobby with whom?”
He knew. From the darkness bleeding into his eyes, I knew he knew.
“Matt took me,” I said, trying to keep all emotion out of my voice. God knew it wasn’t easy, not with everything happening between Matt and me. Not with everything I thought he had been about to say to me out there.
“Of course he did.” Jacob bit back whatever he was going to say right after that. Instead, he took a few slow breaths then hit the up button again. “Why don’t you go get changed for this hike? I’ll wait here and see if I can find a cab to drive us.”
When the elevator door chimed open behind me, I barely noticed. Had Jacob just gone along with my hike suggestion? Without so much as a few rounds of debate? Had he just suggested he wait here so I could have my space instead of being an opportunist and coming to my room with me? Hoping for a little time delay between wardrobe changes?
When he lifted his brows, waving toward the open doors, I guessed I had my answer.
“I’ll be right here,” he said, backing up to lean into the wall.
When the doors closed behind me, a million things fired in my mind. Some about Jacob. Some about Matt. Some even about me and deciding what I felt for these two men in my life. Who did I think I loved? And who did I really?
I didn’t take long to change, exchanging my dress for a pair of shorts, a tee, and some hiking boots that Matt had gotten me a few years ago when I’d told him I wanted to hike part of the Pacific Crest. I’d never gotten around to it because it was across the country and even a part of it was a serious time commitment, but every time I tied the boots on, I thought about that vision. The possibility of turning a dream into a reality.
Ten minutes later, the elevator doors opened on the first floor to reveal Jacob in the exact spot I’d left him. There wasn’t a drink in his hand that hadn’t been there before, already half gone. His eyes weren’t wandering the scene like they were trained to do. He was staring at the elevator like he hadn’t blinked since I’d left.
“I like it. Rugged chic.” Jacob motioned at me in my hiking digs, pushing off the wall like he was about to pull me into his arms. He stopped at the last minute, as though he knew I wouldn’t welcome it.
“You might want to change too,” I suggested when I realized he was wearing a nice pair of shoes and light slacks. “The trail isn’t crazy extreme, but it’s not an easy one either. Plus, it will probably be muddy and stuff could have fallen onto the trail from the wind.”
Jacob glanced out the bank of windows at the entrance. “Yeah, there’s this thing known as a tropical storm swirling around us. Maybe not the ideal conditions to be hiking.”
I waved it off, zipping up my rain jacket just in case. If nothing else, it would cut the wind. “It’s not bad.” He fell into step beside me as I moved toward the exit. “Sure you don’t want to change?”
His head shook. “I’ll be fine. A little dirt won’t kill me.”
There was a cab waiting for us out front, so after we crawled inside, I told the driver what trail to head to and we took off. I couldn’t help staring out the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of Matt. I was eager to get this conversation with Jacob over with for more reasons than just getting answers and deciding where to go from there. I was eager to get it over with so I could get back to Matt. Get back to whatever it had been he was about to say to me.
Because I was pretty sure I knew. Because I was pretty sure I felt the same way, even now, after what had happened over the past few days. Three days. It felt like years instead of days.
Jacob pulled my buckle across my lap when I didn’t move to fasten it. Then he reached for my hand slowly, like he was giving me time to pull it away if I didn’t want him to hold it. I kept it where it was, letting his hand fold around mine.
“When I found out what happened . . . when I realized what I’d done . . .” He paused, staring out the front windshield. “I wasn’t sure if I’d ever see you again.”