Hang Tough (12 page)

After Tobin left the Hale ranch, he'd driven over to Streeter's. His dad and brother's attitude toward Streeter concerned him as much as their barbs that Olivia was constantly sick. Streeter's truck wasn't there and no one came to the door. Tobin made a mental note to call him before he left for New Mexico next week.

Do you really see yourself getting in your truck and driving away from everything familiar just to prove a point that you can?

His doubts had been getting stronger the past two weeks. Everything from questioning his cognitive ability in an industrial setting to whether he'd saved enough money to live on if he didn't nail the interview and had to go to plan B.

So maybe that was a sign to postpone the interview another week or two. It'd give him two more weeks' worth of wages as a financial cushion. Or a better option was to suggest a Skype interview. That made the most sense, especially if they knew he was still dealing with a family crisis. Besides, what type of company in this day and age expected a potential employee to travel for a job interview?

A family-owned company like HTL expects it. It was spelled out in the pre-interview process that a face-to-face meeting is mandatory. You signed the paperwork agreeing to their interview parameters.

His cell phone chirped and he picked it up to look at the caller ID. Not a number he recognized but he answered anyway. “This is Tobin Hale.”

“Hello, Mr. Hale. This is Richard Leckband. I'm the employment relations coordinator at HTL in Albuquerque.”

Speak of the devil.

Tobin exchanged banal pleasantries about making his acquaintance. The tightness in his shoulders after dealing with his father and now this, multiplied by a factor of ten. Technically he was supposed to be in the HTL offices in less than a week. Chances were good this guy called to
confirm appointments and didn't have the authority to authorize an extension.

But it wouldn't hurt to ask . . . would it?

Before Tobin could jump in, the guy said, “The reason for my call, Mr. Hale, is regarding your interview next week. I'm letting you know that interview has been cancelled.”

Not what he'd been expecting. “Cancelled? Why?”

“The position you were interviewing for has been filled.”

“Excuse me?”

“The position you were interviewing for has been filled,” the guy repeated in a monotone. “We hope this schedule change hasn't inconvenienced you.”

Inconvenienced you.
That's how this ended? After a two-and-a-half-month interview process? What would've happened if he'd turned his life even more upside down for a chance at this job?

How was that even possible?

He'd given notice to his current employer, for Christsake.

He'd turned down two other job prospects in Omaha and Kansas City.

Maybe it wasn't too late to reapply to those places.

But his heart wasn't in it.

Because that's not where your heart is these days.

“Mr. Hale?” the voice on the line prompted.

“Sorry. Just mentally rearranging my schedule since I'll no longer be driving twelve hours to New Mexico.”

“We appreciate your interest in HTL. As always employment opportunities are listed on the website. Have a pleasant day.”

It was one thing to turn down a job offer; it was another thing to get passed over.

He swung into the Hardee's drive-thru lane in Rawlins and ate in his truck, feeling more adrift than he had in a while. He should head to
the Split Rock and talk to Renner about this latest development, but he really just wanted to take off his boots and chill for a bit.

When he pulled into Garnet's driveway, he didn't see her car, but Jade's vehicle was parked up front.

No beautiful strains of the violin greeted him when he entered the house. In the entryway he ditched his boots and socks. Then he peeled off his long-sleeved shirt.

He was so focused on grabbing a beer out of the fridge that he didn't notice Jade sitting at the kitchen table until he'd popped the top off and turned around. “Whoa. Sorry. I didn't see you there.”

“That's because I'm hiding.”

He swallowed a mouthful of beer. “Why?”

“I'm debating on whether champagne or a big slice of carrot cake would improve my mood.”

“Have both.” He shrugged. “I won't tell.”

“And here's where I confess . . . I already
had
both. Now I have guilt on top of my crappy mood.”

When Jade stood and erased the distance between them, Tobin almost swallowed his tongue. She wore boy shorts and a New York Yankees baseball jersey. She looked fucking adorable.

“What made your day so shitty that you're drinking alone?”

“I talked to my dad.” She pulled the elastic band from her ponytail and shook out her hair, completely oblivious to him eyeing her with lust. Or maybe she was doing it on purpose. “Why are you drinking in the afternoon?”

“I got a call from the place in Albuquerque.”

“What's in Albuquerque?”

Tobin realized they hadn't discussed his leaving—except Jade had briefly mentioned it the night he'd told her the reason he'd agreed to move in with Garnet. But that had been two weeks ago.

Be honest; it hasn't been on your mind since before you kissed Jade when you figured out the attraction was mutual.

“A job. I was supposed to interview there next week.”

“Why is this the first I've heard of it?” she demanded.

“It's not. You questioned me about me leaving more than once the first few days you were here.” He sipped his beer. “Did you forget?” He braced himself when he saw the flash of anger in her eyes because she had forgotten.

“It wasn't like
you've
brought it up since we've been together doing”—she gestured distractedly—“whatever this is.”

Tobin lifted an eyebrow. Before he had a chance to respond, she snapped off another retort.

“So why are you telling me that they called you? Because you're leaving?”

“Nope. They called and cancelled the interview.”

“Oh. Did they say why they cancelled?”

“They already filled the position. I assume the fact I asked for an extension on my final interview dissuaded them from hiring me.”

She frowned. “Why did you ask for that?”

Tobin took a swig of his beer. “You know why.”

“No, I don't.”

“Fine, we'll play it that way. I asked for an extra week for a family emergency when Miz G asked me to move in. It's been three weeks and I've yet to see a moving van.”

“That's because there aren't any coming.”

He froze. “What?”

Jade went to jam her hands in her back pockets—something she did when she was nervous—and realized she didn't have pockets, so she fiddled with her hair, which was another show of nerves. “Did I ever tell you that my dad planned to pack GG's house up and ship her and her stuff off? No. That was all my grandma's paranoia.”

“But you . . .” He closed his eyes and scrolled through those first few days, when any discussion between them turned into an argument. When he tossed out accusations . . . that she never confirmed.

But she hadn't denied them either.

Fuck. He drained his beer and turned around to set the empty bottle next to the sink, keeping his back to her, bracing his hands on the counter.

How had this gotten so fucked?

Because you're a fucking idiot.

“Tobin?”

“What?”

“Talk to me. Please.”

“What do you want me to say? That I lost out on an opportunity that would've been great for me because I'm a sucker? That once again, when I thought I was doin' the right thing . . . it turned around and bit me in the ass?” He allowed a bitter laugh to escape. “Don't they always say nice guys finish last? When the fuck am I ever gonna learn that?”

“I'm sorry.”

He grunted.

Her hand, soft and warm, glided up his back. “What can I do?”

“Nothin'.” Tobin expected her to walk away. He didn't expect her to wrap her arms around his waist and press her cheek into the middle of his back. He closed his eyes and gave himself a moment to remember why he was so crazy about this woman.

This sweetness.

This affection.

This connection.

“I'm sorry,” she said again. “I hate that you were caught up in this. I hate that I believed you had ulterior motives when it came to my grandma.” Her arms tightened around him. “I really hate that you're feeling one of my very favorite things about you—the fact you are the real deal, a nice guy to the core—is somehow a flaw. It's not.” She sniffled. “It's
so
not.”

“Jade—”

“Let me finish. As badly as I feel that you missed a chance to put your advanced degree to better use than what you're doing now, I'm not sorry you're not leaving. Not at all.”

His heart raced.

“If anyone should go, it should be me. Whatever purpose I was supposed to serve by being here . . . is done. I told my dad earlier today that Grandma is fine living on her own. She has friends. She's part of a community. She has everything she needs right here. You were right. GG doesn't need me or my dad messing that up for her. She doesn't need me for anything.”

“I need you.” He surprised her as much as himself when he said that out loud.

Jade didn't retreat. “You don't have to say that.”

He tried to look over his shoulder at her. “Darlin', why would I say something I didn't mean?”

“Because you're a nice guy.”

Tobin slowly turned around. He framed her beautiful face in his hands and bent down until they were eye to eye. “I'm not that fucking nice.” Then his mouth crashed down on hers.

The kiss was hot and wet. Fierce. Full throttle from the first thrust of his tongue.

But Jade wasn't passive; she unleashed the tiger, proving her appetite for him was as voracious as his was for her, making the sexiest, neediest fucking moans he'd ever heard.

What little restraint he had snapped.

A kiss wasn't going to be enough. Not now. Not when she plastered her hot, curvy body to his so completely a piece of sheet music wouldn't have fit between them.

He palmed her ass and picked her up, loving how perfectly she fit against him, how easily he maneuvered her petite form, how willingly
she gave everything over to him. Even in moments such as this, when his passion held a rougher edge, she trusted him.

Hunger, the likes of which he'd never known, clawed at him. His cock throbbed. His hips began to thrust and grind, searching for hers.

Without breaking the kiss, he pinned her against the first wall they'd stumbled into.

Jade arched into him hard, her arms entwined so tightly around his neck she practically choked him as she fisted her hands in his hair.

Fuck yeah. He wanted her primal passion. This raw mating.

His body bolstered hers, freeing his hands. No gentle caresses. No teasing touches. He shoved his hands under her shirt, searching for those sweet tits. He growled in her mouth when he cupped the soft swells and felt her rigid nipples stabbing into his palms.

She rocked up every time he squeezed the flesh.

Passion heated her skin, filling his lungs with her scent, making him wild. He wanted the taste of her coating his tongue as he thrust into her. One hand twisted in her hair as he used the other hand relentlessly to tug her stiff nipples or stroke her clit.

“Tobin,” she said on a soft gasp when he broke the kiss to scrape his teeth down the side of her throat.

When he sucked on the hollow between her collarbone and her shoulder, she shuddered.

“You're so fucking sexy you make me crazy,” he gritted out between openmouthed kisses. He lowered her body slightly, aligning the rigid length of his shaft with the notch between her legs.

By the second grinding thrust, he heard “yes, yes, yes” even through the whoosh of white noise in his ears.

Tobin blinked the sweat from his eyes as he flexed his pelvis, his mouth frantic to taste her. To feel her pulse thrumming against his lips in the same fast rhythm as his heart. To yank up her shirt and gorge on the smooth flesh of her chest, feeling her nipples pebble beneath his stroking tongue.

Every time his voice rumbled nonsensical words of need or he whispered words of worship across her damp skin, she trembled and moaned and writhed against him.

Fuck. He wanted—needed—her to come apart in his arms like this. Fully clothed, with nothing but his mouth on her skin and his voice in her ear.

“Jade,” he rasped against her throat. “Spread your knees and press up against me.”

She gasped when he started to move side to side.

Tobin fastened his mouth to hers, swallowing her groans when he randomly pinched her nipples, keeping her on edge as he alternated sides and the amount of pressure.

He kept kissing her in what had become the hottest kiss of his life. Their mouths open, their tongues searching, their breath shared in short damp bursts. Grinding his cock into her, creating friction exactly where she needed it.

Her body began to shake.

That's it. Give it to me.

When the orgasm hit, Tobin pressed her body so tightly against his that he felt the contractions of her pussy—through her clothes and his—as she came undone.

With his mouth on hers and that continual rocking motion, he didn't stand a chance of not following along right behind her.

“Fuck.” His head fell back when he started to come, each jerk of his cock a hot burst of pleasure despite the pinching sensation in his balls. He had to slam his hand against the wall to keep himself upright.

Jade's teeth scraped up and down the cord in his neck as he rode out his climax.

He was so damn dizzy . . . and sticky. It'd been a long time since he'd dry humped his way into going off in his jeans, but fuck if it wasn't better than anything he'd had in years.