Chapter Twenty-Nine
Emily
After a quick shower, I slip on my extra uniform and fix my hair. The pallor of my cheeks and the bags under my eyes belie how far I am from that teenage girl who pinched her cheeks and jogged down the stairs to see Jake that Christmas. I don’t even look like the same girl.
I close my eyes. I may not look like her, but I keep doing the same foolish things. Jake has only been back a few weeks, and I’m following him around like an eleven-year-old girl with a crush.
My cell phone rings, dragging me out of my doldrums. “Hey, Ruby.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, but it’s been a long day already, and there are still hours left of my shift.” I click the speaker button and lay my cell phone on the sink. As I twist my hair back on top of my head, I maneuver the black hair tie to hold everything together.
“So, it’s true that Jake found a baby this morning?”
“Yes.” I retrieve the phone and cut off the speaker, so Dale doesn’t hear the other end of my conversation. He’s butted into my personal life enough as it is.
“Is it his?”
“He claims it’s not.”
“Good. Do the police know who the mother is?” His denial seems to be enough for her.
“No, not yet. Jake is looking into it.” I push the door open and step out of the bathroom. I don’t have to search for Dale to know he’s asleep in one of the recliners. His snoring is a dead giveaway.
With two teenagers at home, the second he sits down, he’s asleep. They keep him busy with school and sports activities.
The crazy thing is, the second we get a call, he’s wide awake. I wish I could shut the world off and re-engage that quickly.
“I can’t believe it. It’s crazy to think someone in Brookhaven had a baby and left it outside the police station.”
“Yeah, it is.” I’m not going to pretend to understand it. I’ve wanted to be a mother since I was a kid.
“Let me know if you need anything. I know it couldn’t have been easy to be the one called in to check the baby out. At least, she’s safe.”
“Thank you. I’m good.”
“Em….”
“Fine, I’ll let you know if I need anything.” Meddling people around here.
“Is that all that’s bothering you?”
“Yes.” I roll my eyes as I march toward the kitchenette. I need that caffeine. “Nothing else happened. I’m assuming that you heard Jake and I were kissing.”
“Making out.”
“Jesus. Maybe I do want to move to the city because the gossip in this town is ridiculous. No, I wasn’t kissing Jake. Or making out with Jake.” She chuckles, which eases some of the tension from my shoulders.
When I walk through the threshold. I stop in my tracks, finding Jake leaning against the counter with his hands shoved into his pockets. Watching me. “I need to go. I’ll talk to you later.” I hang up before she replies. “Is something wrong?”
“I want to apologize.” He shoves off the counter.
“Don’t.” I raise my hand to ward him off. “You don’t need to apologize. You haven’t done anything–”
“I believe I do. Somehow, I’ve done something that’s given you the impression that I’m interested in Amanda, and that couldn’t be further from the truth. I didn’t go home with her last night or bring her to my place.”
“Right. Well…” The hair on my arms stands as he strides closer. “I should check on Dale.”
“And for some reason, you seem to think that I don’t find you attractive.” He cups my face and tilts my head back until I don’t have a choice but to close my eyes or be brave and meet his stare straight on.
I brace my shoulders and inhale. Holy fuck. The heat in his eyes makes my legs quake. When he licks his lips, his gaze dips to my mouth.
“Don’t. Let’s pretend like nothing happened and go back to ignoring each other.”
“No.” His fingertips tighten on my skin. “I need you to listen to me for a second. Just listen, and if you don’t believe me, then I’ll walk out of here and we can go back to pretending there’s nothing between us.”
My heart skips a beat. The raw vulnerability on his face gives me pause, so I wait.
“I didn’t go to Amanda’s place when I was back that Christmas either. I haven’t been with her since we broke up back in high school.”
“But–”
“Just listen for a second.” He’s too fucking good-looking for his own good.
“Fine.” I fight the urge to roll my eyes.
“That’s better.” The corners of his lips curve upward, and my toes curl.
He could say anything to me, and I’d fall for it. It’s pathetic, but I can’t stop the inevitable from happening. He’s the kind of guy who knows exactly what to say to a girl to get her to believe him.
“She did contact me that weekend, but I told her I wasn’t interested.
Kaleb and Spencer might’ve thought I was going to see her, but that’s not why I left.
I left because if I spent another second there, I’d have punched Spencer in the face for coming on to you.
I knew his reputation and had spent the day trying to convince him that you were too young for him. ”
He strokes his thumbs along my cheekbones as his minty breath fans across my face. The heat from his body warms me until my cheeks feel flushed.
“It doesn’t matter anymore.”
“Yes, it does.” His thumb caresses my bottom lip, stopping me from speaking. I glance toward the next room, but there’s no sign of Dale. “I told him that because I wanted you for myself.”
“No, you didn’t.” I jerk backward, rocking back on my heels. He lets me go only to wrap his hand around the back of my neck and tuck a strand of hair behind my ear with the other.
“Yes, I did.”
“No. You. Didn’t.” Anger swirls through me at his words. How dare he make fun of me. “I don’t want to be placated or treated like a child.” I jerk out of his grip and cross my arms over my chest. “Just because you feel sorry for me or something is not a reason to play games with me.”
“I’m not playing any games.” He rakes a hand through his hair as he paces in front of the kitchen cabinets.
“I was there. I know you weren’t interested in me.”
The door to the kitchenette shuts as Dale flips on the television in the adjacent room. If I weren’t so pissed off, I’d be embarrassed yet again. But I don’t have enough energy to devote to an audience.
“You don’t have any idea what was going on in my head.” I back up as he stalks toward me until my back hits the wall. “I ignored you because I wanted you, and your brother would’ve had my nuts in a sling if I didn’t handle things right.”
He places his hands on either side of my head, caging me in with no escape. When he leans down, his breath feathers across my skin. “You were beautiful. Sexy.” His lips brush against my ear. “Ripe for the picking. I’d never wanted anything as strongly as I wanted you in that moment. Until now.”
This can’t be happening. His tongue flicks below my ear, causing my nipples to tighten until they’re poking against my bra. He rocks into me, pressing his hardness against my lower body.
Oh, my God. This is happening. His lips trail along my jaw and down the column of my neck. My entire body ignites at once as I place my hands on his chest. The beating of his heart against my palm is hard, fast, and erratic, a perfect match to mine.
“What do you say, Em?” He nibbles my earlobe. “Can I finally kiss the girl that I’ve fantasized about for years?”
When his eyes meet mine, my stomach clenches. No one has ever looked at me like this. I slide my hand around his neck and pull his mouth down to mine. “Yes.”
“About damn time.” His lips crash against mine, and fireworks explode in my head. What am I doing? This is Jake Thompson.
Fuck it. I stand on my tiptoes and whimper as his tongue slides along the seam of my lips, diving inside. He tilts his head, digs his fingertips into my skull, and takes my breath away.
Holy hell, this man can kiss. My knees buckle as his touch sends off a million sparks inside of me until it feels like I’ve already had an orgasm I’m so weak.
He nips my bottom lip, and my clit twitches. No. No orgasms yet. But fuck if I’m not close.
His eyes dance as he tilts his head and studies me. “Besides, everyone in town already thinks we’re hooking up, and I’d hate to miss the opportunity.”
His cocky grin makes me want to slap him, but I’m not an idiot. This is my one opportunity to experience the fantasies that’ve been robbing my brain of intelligence since I was fifteen.
“Come over tonight.”
“What?” I blink as his words penetrate the haze in my head.
“Come over tonight. I’ll fix you dinner. By the time you get off tonight, you’ll be exhausted. Come over, and I’ll spoil you for once.”
“I have to stop by and see my mom after work.”
He kisses the tip of my nose. “I’ll stop by and see her before my shift is over, so when you get off, you can come over and not have to worry about anything.”
My heart clutches in my chest. This isn’t real. It’s a dream. And when I wake up, I’m going to be in the deepest, darkest depression.
“Please.”
Just go with it. Don’t fight it. If you fight a dream, you’re going to wake up exhausted. “Okay.”
“Good.” His eyes twinkle as he leans down to kiss me again. Before his lips touch mine, he pulls back and frowns. “I hate to ask because I don’t want to ruin the moment, but I have to.”
“Okay.” See, it’s already turning into one of those nightmare dreams. I straighten my spine and prepare for the blow off.
He rubs a hand over his face. “When I was watching the security tape, I didn’t see anything at the station, but I saw a car leaving this lot while you and Dale were out on a call.
I need to see the feed because my view wasn’t clear enough to tell the make and model.
All I can make out is a dark color. I’m hoping I can make out the license plate. ”
“Of course.” I take a step away from the wall as reality crashes back down around me. Those few moments were an illusion. A fantasy that I fell into so hard that I thought it was real. “Let me take you to the computer.”
“Thank you.” He hauls me to him until my chest is flush against his. “I’m not done with you yet.” And then, he kisses me so soundly that my toes curl in my boots. Holy hell. He pulls back and grins. “Let’s go.”
What in the hell am I doing? Dummy, that’s easy. You’re hooking up with Jake Thompson. This is crazy.
As I open the door, he avoids brushing into me and puts ample space between us. “Hey, Dale.” He nods to my partner. “I need to look at the security tape for the parking lot.”
“Right.” Dale launches out of his chair. “Do you think you’ll see something?”
“No one drove into the police station lot, but there was a vehicle here during the same time as the baby was dropped off.”
As they chat back and forth, the heat from our previous embrace fades, and reality sets in. What does this even mean?
Nothing, Em. It means nothing. He said, ‘hooking up.’ That’s it. It’s an opportunity for him to break his dry spell, and that’s it.
Is that enough? His arm brushes mine, and my entire body tightens. Yeah, it’s enough. Until tomorrow morning.