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Ch6:The Rum Shack

Leah stood out on the balcony of her hotel room and inhaled. The sweet island air was intoxicating. From her balcony she could see the white sand beach and miles and miles of the brightest, more serene turquoise waters she had ever seen.

When she had visited Blake a few years back as a port of call on a cruise, she had only had a few hours to explore the island. She and her mother had taken a bus excursion that gave them a tour of just about the entire small island, from the lush inner island to the miles and miles of beaches.

The people were so friendly and the food, much like the food on the other Caribbean islands she had traveled to, was absolutely to die for. She had known then she would one day come back and stay for a longer period of time. She just didn't know that one of Blake's native sons, her archrival, would insinuate his way into her trip.

She exhaled and inhaled again remembering his scent that was still lingering on her since she spent a few hours close to him. Jacob Black.

Her wolf was deliriously happy. Leah just smiled almost ruefully and wrapped her arms around herself. If anyone asked her she would say that her wolf was a hussy for Jacob Black.

She still remembered the first argument she had ever had with him, when she was a sophomore in college and full of wide-eyed optimism. He cornered her in the forest demanding to know what she was, even though he already knew. His scent had always been appealing to her, she could never read him and he gave wolfish tendencies whenever she had seen him around so she knew he wasn't completely human.

He didn't stop poking at her nerves until she had phased in front of him almost snapping off his neck in the process. He was lucky he had phased seconds after or he would have been severely hurt because at that point all she saw was red. Leah threatened that if he thought about telling anyone else that she would kill him. She wasn't normally prone to phasing over something as petty as an argument with other people who would challenge her. But her intense reactions to Jake always kept her just a little bit off-kilter.

Hearing the knock on her door, she left the balcony to go and answer it. She couldn't contain the grin that crossed her face when she saw Jake there.

He had said he would give her a driving tour of the inner island and take her to his mother's rum shack that evening. She doubted that she would find her potential fling partner in the rum shack, but she didn't want to be rude. And she also didn't want to rule out the chance that her fling could be waiting to be found in Jacob's mother's rum shack.

She had put on a light and airy maxi-style sundress in bold shades of red, orange and yellow with some red, medium heeled strappy sandals. She had pulled her hair up in a quick French twist with some loose tendrils around her face to relax the look. She was glad she had taken the time to shower and dress up a little when she got a look at him.

He wore a short sleeved, cream silk shirt and perfectly pressed cream linen shorts with a very expensive pair of brown leather sandals. The cream of his clothing and the warm, earthy russet tone of his skin combined to make one amazing package. The short sleeves of his shirt and the length of his shorts revealed just enough of his very muscular arms and legs. The bit of skin that she could see hinted at more and more muscles and more and more delectable skin.

She blinked as she tried to rid her mind of the image of those toned, muscular and very fit arms and legs wrapped up with her own arms and legs.

What would that feel like?

She shook her head as she smiled.

She would never know.

"Hi," was the only word she could come up with.

"Hey." He stared at her and for a minute she felt like time had ceased to move. His almond-shaped eyes seemed to caress her. She could feel his eyes movement on her skin as they roamed her body. She felt her pulse quicken as she noted the subtle rise and fall of his massive chest.

"Are you ready to ride around some of the island?"

"Yes let me grab my purse and we'll be good to go. I can't thank you enough for this Jake. I know I'm not your favorite person. So it means a lot to me that you are willing to give me a tour and help me find my way around the island."

"Like I told you before, it's definitely my pleasure. We have a lot to catch up on." His smile seemed genuine, and it put her mind at ease.

She followed him to his convertible, and he held the door open for her. Once they started rolling they let the silence speak. She didn't trust what she might say, and she had no idea what he was thinking. The way he had looked at her a few minutes ago made her feel hotter than she had ever felt for any man, ever.

That was a big problem.

Massive.

No matter what kind of attraction they were feeling, there was still the fact that they didn't like one another. They may have called a tentative truce, but in reality she still didn't believe that he trusted her.

And she knew she would be a fool to trust him.

"If you look to your right you'll see one of the old sugar plantations. The government turned the mansion into a museum. And the land no longer produces crops for mass harvesting and sugar production. But tourists can come here and get the experience of chopping a piece of sugar cane, tour the old mills and refineries."

Leah smiled because she and her mother had toured the plantation as a part of their cruise excursion, and she had actually held a machete and chopped a piece of sugar cane.

"I did the tour during my short visit it was really informative. And the pictures and artifacts of the indigenous people…wow! What they must have gone through back then. It really breaks my heart." Leah shivered at the memory. Thinking about the way settlers had systematically murdered native island people and enslaved them to work on the island always made her sick inside.

"Yeah, there is a lot of rich and painful history on this small island." Jacob seemed a bit shaken by the cruelty of the history, as well. "Now, this area here is pretty much a small residential area. My mom and aunts have homes here. I had them built for them."

The homes were gorgeous. Some were built of white stones while others were coral pink and peach stones. They were one and two story homes with intricate island designs and were clearly meant to withstand hurricane seasons and look good while doing so.

"Did you grow up in this area of the island?"

"No. we lived in a much poorer section where mom still has her rum shack. No matter how much money I make and send her, that woman still won't give up her business." Jacob chuckled. "At least she took the house here and let me remodel her business. I wanted to build her a house near mine on the beach, but she wouldn't hear it."

"She sounds like my mom. My brother and his wife have been trying to get her to let them build her another house is Seattle, but she refuses to leave her little house in La Push. She's like, 'I worked my fingers to the bone to pay for it, and it's mine.'"

"Sounds like my mom. I had to build the house and have my sisters furnish it the way my mom would like it before she agreed to move into it."

"Our mom's seem to have a lot in common. I purchased a cruise for her a few years back—that was when I first visited Blake. Anyway, before that, she would never get on a plane and she darn sure wasn't getting on a boat and sailing across the ocean. She was of the, 'I was put on land and made from the earth. I'm going to stay on the ground until the good spirits see fit to have me returned back to the earth' school of thought. She wasn't trying to be in the air or in the sea." Leah laughed remembering her mother's colorful arguments about why the only thing she was getting in was a car and how she didn't totally trust those either.

"But I went and purchased a cruise for the two of us anyway, and my brother and I both talked her into going. Since she didn't want to see me waste my hard earned money she went. The only thing she couldn't stand worse than the thought of getting on a boat or a plane was wasting money. Now she takes at least one cruise a year, maybe even two. And my brother has my mom flying now. She's a regular jet-setter!"

Jacob chuckled at Leah's depiction of her mother. She sounded so much like his own mother. That woman had never stepped off of Blake because she refused to get on a plane or boat. Once again he felt a pang of guilt that came whenever he thought about her and the fact that he hadn't been with her when his gran had passed because he'd had a big merger to oversee at work.

"Looks like we both come from humble beginnings and have managed to do better for ourselves and our families." He wasn't sure how he felt about that.

The less he found himself identifying with the very tempting Leah Clearwater the better. She was probably the same as all the other scandalous women he had dealt with in the past, maybe even worse. She had actually beaten him before, and she might have done so by nefarious means. He still wasn't sure he bought the theory they had come up with on the plane.

Without proof of who took the picture and why, Leah and he had an uneasy truce, at best. He needed to keep that firmly in mind.

Jacob parked the car beside his two story home located on a private beach.

They had driven around the island chatting and had pretty much forgotten about the tour part of it. They were just riding, talking and letting the island breeze entice them with the possibilities that lay ahead.

"This is my home. I usually stay here when I visit. I don't get to make it back home often, but it's still nice to have a place that's all mine on the island." He turned to her and smiled. "Would you like a quick tour of my home before we go to my mom's spot?"

He could see that she seemed to be at war with herself as she tried to decide how she was going to answer his question.

He smiled as he watched her put one foot in front of the other, slowly.

Did she dare walk willingly into his lair?

Things were not going exactly as Jacob had planned. He had offered to show Leah around his small island in hopes that spending time with her would either get him to come to his senses and not want to pursue her or get her to see that the man she needed to be having an affair with was him. His mind fluctuated between the two, and he was determined to find some type of closure or solace in one or the other.

Her dress, however, wasn't helping him keep a clear head.

He never would have thought that something so long and flowing could look so damn sexy. But it was kind of low cut. And it did show her beautiful, long, elegant arms. And her hands… her hands with that neat and proper French manicure that gave no hint at all that when your eyes traveled to her pretty little feet you'd find blazing red nails on the toes sticking out of those sexy sandals.

Man, he had it bad.

He just hoped it didn't come back to bite him in the behind. And now he was inviting her into his sanctuary, a place sacred to him even though he barely ever came here, a place where the only other women who had ever set foot in had been relatives. He had a feeling the place would never be the same again once Leah stepped inside. But damned if he could stop his hand from reaching out for hers and leading her inside.

He let her walk slightly ahead of him and watched the gentle sway of her hips as she made her way through the entryway. He shook his head an again he wondered if he was doing the right thing. Maybe he should just call things off and let her fend for herself this week. No need to tempt fate and give Leah Clearwater the chance to get the better of him yet again.

He cleared his throat. "I don't spend a lot of time here at all. In fact, it's been several months since my last trip home, for my grandmother's funeral. The job kept me really busy. But I always knew I had this place to come to whenever I needed a break."

"I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your grandmother, Jacob." Leah reached out and stroked his arm.

She smiled at him as she looked around his home. "This place is absolutely amazing. How do you manage to stay away? If I had a place like this overlooking that beautiful beach, I would be here every single day." Leah walked around, taking in the sparsely decorated room.

He had gone for a minimalist design because the real beauty came from outside of the home. There were several open, airy areas and lots of windows. The furniture was all white with bold splashes of earth tones—from clay to deep mahogany—acting as accents. A white sectional sofa flanked the living room, and the walls were all off-white with a few select Caribbean-inspired paintings gracing them.

They walked through his home in silence. She marveled at various points along the way. Her eyes were appreciative, and her smile seemed to make the already bright and airy home even brighter. As he surveyed his home through her eyes, he couldn't help pondering her earlier question and wondering why he didn't make a point of coming home more often.

When they reached his bedroom she touched the king size mahogany four poster bed and grinned.

"Okay, that has to be the most comfortable looking bed I have ever seen. How do you manage to keep all this white clean? You must be some secret kind of neat freak because I know your wolf couldn't be this clean."

He grinned back at her feeling more at ease than he should have. It was on the tip of his tongue to invite her to try out the bed and see how comfortable it really was. He imagined her spread out on the plush white comforter. He knew if he actually saw her in his bed, they wouldn't make it to his mother's rum shack. So he tried his best to get the image out of his head.

"Actually, I'm not really that neat. I'm hardly here, and when I am here, the white furnishings make me extra careful."

She giggled. "That bed is so plush it makes you want to just dive into it, like a cloud or something."

He could see diving in all right, and it wasn't her into his bed but rather him into her.

He shook his head. "So, we should probably head on out to my mom's place. I should warn you, it's not very fancy. But the people are really nice and the food is the best you'll probably get on the entire island. There is a small dance floor and some nights she even has karaoke."

"Sounds like fun, especially the food part. I'm kind of a food whore." She rubbed her virtually nonexistent belly.

For some reason he held out his hand for her again, and she took it he felt the electric charge again. As they walked out his home hand in hand, he knew it was going to be a long week.

As soon as they walked into Jacob's mother's rum shack, Leah relaxed. It was jam-packed with people, and everyone was just casually having fun. Some people were at the bar having drinks, others were at tables eating, talking and playing cars. Some people were even on the very small dance floor swaying to the music that wafted from the back corner of the dance floor where a deejay was playing.

Judging from the fresh paint outside, the beautiful sign that read Sarah's Rum Shack and the artfully decorated interior, Jacob's mom must have let him spend a good bit of money on decorating and upkeep. The place was small but stylish. It wasn't the typical dive.

The color scheme and décor were warm and welcoming, with soothing greens and blues making up the bulk of the walls. The space was accented in bold oranges and reds. The tables, chairs and barstools were all a deep cherrywood. The floor was a bleach-blond plank that made the other colors pop. Pictures of various artists graced the walls. Some of them were signed, and a woman who must have been Jacob's mom was in some of them with the famous singers.

"Well, look what the cat drug in. I haven't seen this one since Jesus was a baby. How are you Jake?" An older gentleman with a mix of black and gray hair stood up as they entered and walked over. He shook Jake's hand and they embraced.

"Billy, it's good to see you, as always. I'm fine. It's good to be home. This is my friend Leah." Jacob moved aside so that Leah could shake Billy's hand.

"Hold the phone! My son brought a woman home? Get out! Well, I don't believe it!" A tall, plump woman in a beautiful tropical colored silk short set came running from behind the counter carrying a white terry cloth towel with her. "Brady, watch the bar while I go and check this out for myself, because I don't believe it."

"Sarah, you're going to embarrass the boy. No wonder he never brings any girls home for you to see." Billy shook his head as he made his way back to his seat at the bar.

"Mind your own business! This is my son. If I want to embarrass him from here to the country side of Blake, I can do it. I'm the one who went through a whole day of labor to bring him into this world." Jacob's mother smiled at Billy before turning her attention back to Jake and Leah.

Jake pulled his mother into his arms. "Don't start, ma. You know dad is the only one who can put up with your mood swings. If he gets tired of you, what other man will have you?"

Sarah squeezed Jake in her arms before popping him upside the head with her cloth. "How can you come here with your girlfriend and not give me any warning? You know I have to fix myself up to meet my future daughter in law—"

"Ohhhhhhhhhh noooooooooo!" Leah found the correction falling out of her moth before his mother could even finish what she was saying. "We are just friends… I mean, we're not dating or anything like that." She was shaking her head so profusely she hoped her French twist didn't fall out.

Sarah gave her a once over. "She's pretty though. Sweet enough, but not too sweet on you, it seems, my handsome son. Not too bright though… if she doesn't see what a catch you are!" Sarah chuckled and shrugged. "I like her though. If only she knew she's the first woman you ever brought here, so that must mean you have designs on her that she doesn't know about."

Sarah laughed a deep belly laugh that would have been contagious and made Leah join her if she didn't have a gut feeling the laugh was on her.

Jacob had turned to look at Leah when she blurted out her very loud "Ohhhh noooo," and Billy was watching her closely too. In fact, it seemed like all the eyes in the small rum shack were now firmly planted on Leah.

"Leah's just a friend, Ma." Jacob's voice was picking up more of the island cadence as he interacted with his mom. "I went to school with her and met up with her on the plane. She's a newbie, and I felt it was only hospitable for me to show her around our beautiful island. Everyone, this is Leah Clearwater from Seattle. Leah this is everybody."

Sarah eyed her son suspiciously. "Sure okay. If you say so."

She took Leah's arm. "So, Leah Clearwater from Seattle, come to the bar and let me chat with you for a bit. I need to learn everything I can about you just in case…"

"Ma…" Jake warned.

Sarah gave him a slight glare. "What? I just want to get to know the girl like I know all my customers here in my shack. Leave me alone before I kick you out."

Jacob laughed at that as he followed Sarah and Leah to the bar. "You wouldn't kick your only beloved son out of here."

Sarah laughed. "In a heartbeat, you rascal!" She reached out her other arm and pulled Jake along with her. She sat with them side by side at the bar and started walking toward the back room. "I'm going to fix you each a plate, and then I'm coming back to learn about Miss Leah from Seattle."

Billy moved from his previous seat and came and sat on the other side of Leah. The older man took a sip of his drink and then asked. "So how long you staying son?"

"I'll be home for two weeks. Long enough for you all to get good and tired of me." Jake chuckled.

Billy nodded. "That's good. It's good to have you back."

Jacob nodded, too. "Good to be back."

Sarah came out with two plates of steaming hot food that smelled heavenly. Leah tried to strategize a way that could tear into her food and still maintain some kind of cuteness but there was just no way. The scents of curry, cumin and spicy peppers assaulted her nose, and her mouth had to strike back.

She dug in right away. But at least she also got around to telling Sarah that the food was delicious and thanking her for it before she was too far gone.

"Nothing like a woman who can appreciate a good meal," Billy offered with a wide grin.

"Yes, I like Leah from Seattle," Sarah seemed to be studying her with appreciation. "So, Leah, you know my son from his college days, huh?"

Leah swallowed and wiped her hands on her napkin even though she wanted to lick the juices of the delicious food off her fingers.

"Yes, he was a little ahead of me. But we were both at SPU around the same time. We had a little rivalry going though. So we weren't exactly the best of friends." She took another bite of her food while she could.

"What? A woman on this earth who didn't like my baby?" Sarah let loose on of her laughs again. "Now, that's a first. This boy had had women and girls running after him ever since he was twelve, maybe even eleven." Sarah went behind the bar and fixed Jacob a drink. "What are you drinking Leah?"

"I'll take a Dandy in the bottle is fine." Leah noticed that both Sarah and Jake's eyes lit up when she asked for the island's locally brewed beer.

"Well look at her. Jake, I thought you said she was a newbie and didn't know anything about Blake! Look at how she's coming in here just as smooth as she pleases asking for our beer!" Sarah chuckled as she pulled out a nice frosty bottle of Dandy, opened it and placed it in front of Leah.

"What do you know about it?" Jake laughed. "Dandy may sound like a light and fun drink, but it's not like those weak newbie beers. You better watch yourself. We make them strong here."

Leah let her eye wander to his bulky and very muscular forearms and thought, you aint never lied.

"So, Leah, tell us a little more about how you know Jake. You met in school and you didn't care for him too tough, huh? What happened next, he wore you down and you dated for a while before breaking up, and then you saw each other on the plane and realized that you wasted too much time apart—"

Laughing, Jacob shook his head. "Ma, you need to lay off the soap operas. It's not even that deep. She's just a friend."

"Exactly! Really-really new friends at that…" Leah felt the need to clarify further. "I mean… well… we're just starting to build a friendship after years of not liking one another. I don't even know why he's being nice to me. I almost think he's setting up some kind of trap. That's what he did when we were in college and I ran against him for student government president."

Sarah's eyes went wide, and she pointed at Leah with her mouth open. "Hey, hey, wa-it! Are you the one who beat my baby in the election for student government president in college?" Sarah seemed to be momentarily awed. "Well, I never thought I would meet you. You had my son so distraught. He had never lost anything at all until he lost that election to you."

Leah took a swallow of her beer and gulped.

Uh-oh was all she could think as felt Jake stiffen beside her.

She hadn't known it had been that serious for Jake. She almost felt a little guilty that she had beaten him. Almost.

"Personally I think it was good for him to finally lose something. He needed to see that he didn't have to win all the time." Sarah opined.

"I don't believe this! My own mother…" Jake's eyes were wide with feigned shock. "This is a sad day, people of Blake, a say day, indeed."

Leah laughed. "Clearly, the universe had to send a little message to Mr. Overachiever and used me to do it."

Jake glared at Leah when his mother let out another belly-busting laugh.

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger." Leah placed her hands up in mock innocence before going back to her plate of food.

After she polished off the plate of rice and peas, fried flying fish and fried plantains, she couldn't help rubbing her stomach in satisfaction. "This food was amazing. You're going to have me coming back here every night for dinner! This probably the best food I've ever had, and I eat bunches, so that's saying a lot."

"Thank you, Leah. You can come back anytime you want. You're always welcome here. And call me Sarah. Now tell me, what can we do to make you like my knuckleheaded son? He's really hardheaded and can work your nerves more than a little bit. But I think you're just the one that can finally tame the so-called 'wolf'" Sarah let out another laugh and reached over to touch Jake's face lovingly.

Jacob allowed his mother to stroke his cheek, and Leah thought it was the most endearing thing she had ever seen. She smiled at the two of them. Mother and son, it was too cute!

When Jake looked at Leah, his eyes narrowed ever so slightly. If she wasn't so attuned to him, she might have missed it. His expression was a mixture of the desire she had seen a while back, a hint of irritation and something else she couldn't name.

"Well, Ma, if Leah thinks she's up for the task. I'm more than willing to see if she can really tame me." Jacob offered his sexy, cocky little smile-sneer thing along with that look of his.

This time she could clearly name the something else she saw in his gaze…

Challenge!

The only question was… was she really up for taking on his challenge?

Super long chapter couldn't stop writing for some reason. And I felt like Sarah never gets enough love in a majority of the stories so she got half the chapter. I had fun playing with her character.

Anyways I'm taking myself to sleep just wanted to update this.

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Hope you enjoyed the chapter :)

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