A Christmas Temptation by Karen Booth

Author:Karen Booth [Booth, Karen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781488092381
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-11-01T06:00:00+00:00

Seven

Jake hadn’t talked to Sophie in two days, and it was eating away at him more and more with every passing minute. He hated the way they’d left things the other day. He didn’t enjoy being the guy who doesn’t trust, but that was exactly who he was. The mere idea of another buyer in the mix, the thought that Sophie might have gone back on her word, had made him so anxious he was practically sick.

That reaction was ingrained, planted in his childhood when the two people he counted on more than anyone, his mother and grandmother, had betrayed him. His mother by making an empty promise to find them a better life and come back for him. His grandmother by never extending a single loving or caring gesture, made all the worse when it was clear that Jake’s mom would never return. Any hope of hugs and I love you were gone by then, replaced by reprimands and a never-ending guilt trip. He was a burden—a mouth to feed and more laundry to wash. He was no longer a boy. He was a creature. He was something to be tolerated, and he felt the shame and betrayal to this day. He’d learned to live with it, but it would always be there.

That was why he doubted his ability to live up to what Sophie wanted, needed and deserved. No matter how much he’d learned to ignore his scars, the aftershocks still turned up. Every time he made a knee-jerk reaction to feeling deceived or misled, he knew it had all started when he was a kid.

Still, he didn’t want to make excuses for himself. His past might have made him skittish when he was younger, but he was thirty-two. He had to get his act together, and there was only one woman he could imagine doing that with—Sophie. If he wanted any chance at having a future that went beyond work, work and more work, he had to make things better with Sophie, even when the news of a second buyer for Eden’s had knocked him back on his heels.

He was going to start with her assistant.

“Sophie Eden’s office. This is Lizzie.”

“Lizzie. Hi. It’s Jake Wheeler.” Jake rose from his desk and closed his office door. Audrey was a fantastic assistant, but she was nosy, and if she learned that his previous attempts to get Sophie’s attention had turned into a romance, he’d never hear the end of it.

“Mr. Wheeler. Ms. Eden is on a call right now.”

“Actually, I need to talk to you for a minute.”

“Ms. Eden has instructed me to put you through if you’re on the line. If you want to wait a moment, I can get her.”

Jake grinned. This was the glimmer of hope he’d needed. Sophie had called off the guards at some point. Maybe not today or yesterday, but she’d still done it. “No, Lizzie, I don’t think you’re listening to me. I need to speak to you.”

“Oh. Okay.” She sounded genuinely surprised.

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