Free Born to Be Wild: Welcome to Paradise, Book 3 by Elle Kennedy

felt Jake’s hot gaze boring into her back.
    “You’ve got the sweetest ass, Bree,” he said in a husky voice. “Remember that weekend your parents went away, a few weeks before graduation?”
    Sheer lust slammed into her. She nearly keeled over, her legs shaking as she slid on her jeans.
    Jake chuckled. “You do remember. Should we try that again tomorrow?”
    Anticipation trickled through her, intensifying when the memory of Jake’s cock buried in her ass burned into her mind. She hadn’t let any other man do that to her. Hadn’t trusted anyone to.
    Why did she have zero reservations when it came to Jake Bishop?
    Deciding not to dwell on that, she slipped into her bra and V-neck sweater, shot him a mocking smile and said, “We’ll see.”
    She heard him chuckling as she left the bedroom. Downstairs, she puttered around in the kitchen, gathering up ingredients and setting them on the enormous work island in the center of the room. As she prepared two turkey sandwiches, her gaze was drawn to the photograph on the other end of the counter, tucked behind the cordless phone cradle and a basket filled with keys and knick-knacks.
    It was a shot of Nate and his wife at the lake. The couple gazed at each other rather than the lens, and the mutual adoration in their eyes brought a pang of longing to Bree’s heart. Nate and Charlotte were so completely in love, and like her and Jake, they’d been involved in high school only to go their separate ways. But Nate and Charlotte had found their way back to each other. Just like her and Jake.
    Scratch that, it wasn’t like that at all. She and Jake had found their way back into bed, but a relationship between them wasn’t in the cards, same way it hadn’t been back then.
    Truth was, the recklessness Jake possessed was a turn-on between the sheets, but not in real life. As a lover, he was off the charts. As a husband, a partner? He came up short. Bree wanted a man she could count on. A man she could talk to. Unfortunately, Jake didn’t do the talking thing—case in point, they’d spent the last three days together and he still hadn’t told her a single detail about his life. He’d been the same way in high school, vocal as hell when it came to sex, but perpetually tight-lipped about his feelings.
    “You’re frowning,” came Jake’s gruff voice.
    She turned to see him standing in the doorway. Bare-chested, barefoot, wearing a pair of gray sweatpants that hung low on his hips. Lord, his body was spectacular. He turned her on something fierce, and she couldn’t help but wish their connection went beyond purely sexual.
    As she swept her gaze over his muscular chest, she noticed several scars marring his sleek, golden skin. The puckered white circle above his left hipbone looked particularly nasty, causing concern to wash over her. “How’d you get that scar?” she asked. “The one on your hip.”
    “Just another battle scar. Why were you frowning?”
    His dismissal of his war wounds bugged her, but didn’t surprise her. “I was just thinking,” she answered, focusing on the task of spreading mayonnaise on two pieces of bread.
    “About what?” He crossed the room and flopped down on one of the tall-backed stools by the eat-in counter.
    “You,” she said honestly. Slapping the sandwiches together, she placed them on two plates and slid one across the countertop.
    “Thanks,” he said, before tackling the sandwich with enthusiasm. He shot her an expectant look as he chewed. “So…thinking about me, huh?”
    Bree sat on the neighboring stool. “You haven’t told me anything about your life. Are you on leave at the moment?”
    He responded with a noncommittal shrug. “Sort of.”
    “What does that mean?”
    “It means…yeah, I guess I’m on leave.”
    His tone was so vague she fought a spark of irritation. “When are you leaving Paradise?”
    “Not sure yet.”
    With a sigh, she focused on eating. She shouldn’t be surprised that Jake was still so