Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Laurel watched the tall, statuesque beauty standing dangerously close to Jake trail her fingers along his shoulder. She had chin-length, platinum blonde hair and was wearing a body-molding mini dress and black leather boots that stopped about three inches above her knees.
Feeling self-conscious, Laurel glanced down at her own sweater and jeans. She looked like a grade school teacher in hooker makeup—which she was—compared to the runway model tugging Jake out of his seat for a hug.
“Kate. Hi.” He returned the hug. “It’s been a while.”
“Too long,” Kate said.
“How’ve you been?”
“Good.” She held up her left hand, flashing a huge diamond. “I stopped waiting on you and got married.”
They were close enough she’d thought Jake was going to propose?
Why did that bother Laurel so much? It’s not like he and Kate were still together. They’d obviously remained on good terms, though. Come to think of it, Amy didn’t hold any animosity toward him either. If he really was a player, he was the first one Laurel had met whose exes didn’t hate him.
“That’s great,” Jake said. “I’m happy for you.” From the expression on his face, he meant it.
“Thanks. I wanted to stop and say hi, but you’re busy,” Kate motioned to the table, “so, I’ll let you get back to it. Call me sometime, and we can catch up.” She looked directly at Laurel as she patted Jake’s chest. “Watch out for this one. He’s a heartbreaker.” She kissed Jake on the cheek before leaving.
Laurel didn’t miss the grin on Jake’s face when he sat down.
“Sorry about that,” he told her. “Old friend.”
Laurel smiled. “It’s fine.” Including Amy, Kate was the second woman they’d run into that Jake had dated.
How many people has he dated?
“I hate to cut this short…” Emery pushed back from the table. “But I’m filling in for Marty tomorrow, and it’s way past my bedtime.”
“Emery hosts the morning show on KISS FM,” Gage explained, “so she’s usually in bed by now.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize we were keeping you up.”
“Seriously,” Emery assured her, “I’ll be fine. Marty’s show’s a breeze. Saturdays are way more mellow than weekdays. Besides, I wanted to meet you.”
“I’m glad we met.” She really liked Emery.
“I’ll see you next Thursday,” Gage confirmed.
He was coming to class again, as promised, to “deputize” her students. That’s all they’d been talking about for the last week. They were so excited. “See you then.”
The couple headed to the front to pay their bill. Peckamoo was family-owned, and one of the rare restaurants that didn’t have you pay at your table.
“They’re really nice,” Laurel said.
Jake nodded. “Yeah, Em’s great. And Gage treats her well, so he’s okay in my book.”
Now that the two of them were alone, Laurel’s nerves started to creep back. She grabbed her drinking straw and swirled it around in her glass. It was a poor substitute for a stress ball, but it’s all she had. She was nervous, and when she got nervous, she turned fidgety.
Jake’s gaze locked on the movement, and his brows pinched.
Odd.
She dropped the straw and put her hands in her lap. “What time is it?”
He looked at his phone. “Almost nine-thirty.”
“Wow. It’s that late already?” They’d been at the restaurant two hours, even though it sure didn’t feel like it. “I should probably get home too,” she said. “And you have to work tomorrow.”
“Sleep is overrated.” His suggestive look made her stomach quiver, and her mouth go dry.
“Well…” She wet her lips. “I need my beauty sleep, and?—”
“Hardly.”
She glanced at him before continuing like he hadn’t spoken because how did she respond to a comment like that? “It’ll probably take forever to get this stuff off my eyes.”
“You don’t need it.”
“What?”
“The makeup. You’re beautiful without it.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he said, an easy grin curving his lips.
Laurel fought back one of her own. “Has anyone ever told you you’re a flirt?”
“All the time. You ready?”
She nodded and removed the napkin from her lap. After folding it into quarters, she placed it on the table, horizontal to the edge, and pressed it flat. He was watching her when she looked up.
“What?”
His gaze bounced from the napkin to her. “Nothing.”
She picked up her purse.
So, I like things neat. Nothing wrong with that.
When she stood, Laurel tripped on the stupid stilts Britt had forced her to wear, and stumbled into Jake.
“Whoa.” He steadied her. “Were you sneaking shots before you came, Princess? Because you’ve only had soda here.”
“No!” Fudge, he thinks I’ve been drinking? “It’s the stupid shoes, I swear.”
He chuckled at her worried expression. “I’m kidding.” Looking at her feet, he asked, “What’s wrong with your shoes?”
“I don’t do heels,” she confessed.
“So, you’re wearing them because…?”
“Because Britt thought it would be easier to?—”
Cranberries!
She caught her lips between her teeth. Goodness, she’d almost blurted out?—
“Easier to what?”
“Nothing,” she evaded, reaching for her coat.
Jake beat her to it and helped her put it on.
He pushes in chairs and helps a lady with her coat?
None of the guys she’d dated before had done that for her. It was unexpected and sweet.
They exited the restaurant after Jake paid. The brisk air outside was an unwelcome change from the warmth of the restaurant.
“Ugh, why can’t it be summer already?” she whined as a shiver ran through her.
“Not a winter person?” Jake asked.
She shook her head, stuffing her hands into her pockets. “Never have been. I’m a wuss in the cold.”
“C’mon, it’s May. This isn’t cold.”
“I beg to differ.”
“Wow, you really are a wuss in the cold,” he said with a smirk.
“Hey!”
“What? You just said…”
“You don’t have to agree with me.”
“Sorry.” He started rubbing his hands up and down her arms to warm her up. “I promise not to agree with you in the future.”
She rolled her eyes, pretending the touch of his hands wasn’t making her heat up in more ways than one.
“Where’s your car?” he asked.
“It’s around back.”
“Around back? Why’d you park there? There were plenty of spots open up front when I got here.”
So I could sneak away without being seen if I chickened out, that’s why.
Yeah, she couldn’t say that.
“They were all full when I got here,” she lied.
He looked at her with a shrewd grin.
Oh, fudge.
He didn’t really know she’d considered backing out, did he? Cuz that wouldn’t be humiliating at all.
“I’ll walk you to your car.”
“It’s okay,” she said, a little embarrassed. “You don’t have to. I’m a big girl.”
He deliberately looked down at her small stature and raised an eyebrow.
“Stop.” She stood up straighter, as if that would make a dent in their height difference, even with the added four inches from the heels. “You know what I mean.”
“I do, but I’m still gonna walk you.” He placed a hand on her lower back and guided her forward. “Besides, Grand would kill me if I let you walk alone.”
“Grand?”
“My grandma. Believe me, you don’t wanna piss her off. She’ll take you out.”
Laurel laughed. “That sounds ominous. How old is she?”
“Turned eighty on the Fourth of July.” The look of affection on his face was unmistakable.
Pushes in chairs, holds your coat, and loves his grandma. Who is this guy?
“So, you’re saying the big, tough fireman is afraid of an octogenarian?”
Jake gave an exaggerated shudder. “You don’t know her.”
She laughed again because the grimace he sported was comical.
“She’s already gonna kick my ass for not picking you up for the date.”
When they reached her car, Laurel quirked her mouth and looked up at him. “Still not giving you my address.”
“Right,” he said with a grin. “Serial killer. Forgot. Although…” He scanned the deserted parking lot. “This is the perfect crime scene. No one around… away from the street…” He advanced until she was backed up against her car, put a hand on the hood behind her, and leaned in. “Dimly lit...”
Her heartbeat sped up. A shiver ran through her, but not from fear. Jake didn’t frighten her. Maybe that was naive, and she’d be the most gullible corpse on the planet, but she wasn’t afraid of him. Still, it couldn’t hurt to point out… “Officer Bennett knows I’m with you.”
He smirked. “I’m not gonna kill you, Laurel.” Gripping her chin with his fingers, he tilted her face upward. “But I am gonna kiss you.”
His lips descended to hers. The kiss was soft and teasing. She had to admit, the heels did make it easier to reach him, but it wasn’t sufficient. She tried to rise up on tiptoes, craving more contact, but quickly realized the shoes already had her practically en pointe.
Jake was far enough away to maintain the feather-light contact, but not close enough to deepen the kiss.
When he ran his tongue across the seam of her lips, she opened. He dipped his tongue into her mouth, just far enough for her to touch the tip with her own. It wasn’t enough. Fisting his shirt with both hands, she tried to tug him down, wanting more, but her efforts were laughable. He was six-foot-something of solid muscle, and she was a hundred and ten pounds soaking wet.
Finally, he moved closer, but only to capture her lower lip with his teeth and drag them across it as he pulled away.
“Jake.”
“What, Princess?” He traced her bottom lip with his tongue before brushing his lips across hers… once… twice more with that maddening, barely-there pressure.
Pulling on his shirt again garnered the same in-your-dreams result.
She felt Jake’s smile against her lips, followed by the ghost of a kiss. His tongue slid inside the warmth of her mouth to stroke hers before withdrawing, only to do it again. He kept repeating the pattern until she was nearly crying in frustration.
Her body was humming, tingling everywhere. How had he gotten her from zero to sixty without even properly kissing her yet? Honestly, she wasn’t sure she wouldn’t come on the spot if he actually did kiss her at this point.
Once more, his tongue invaded her mouth, tangling with hers and scattering her thoughts, before retreating moments later.
She growled more than moaned, an annoyed little sound mirroring her aggravation. She was practically ready to inflict bodily harm if he didn’t full-on kiss her right now.
“Tell me what you want, Princess.” He kissed her again. That same torturous, fleeting kiss that promised more, but didn’t deliver.
She whimpered in response.
“What was that?” he asked, withholding his kiss, waiting for an answer.
She’d never asked someone to kiss her before. The idea was intimidating beyond belief because they could say no. Setting herself up for possible rejection was scary, which is why she’d always waited for the guy to take the lead.
But now Jake was waiting on her; waiting for her to direct him. She’d never wanted anyone to kiss her—really kiss her—so badly in her entire life.
Need overshadowing years of ingrained caution, she tightened her grip on his shirt and whispered, “Kiss me.”
Jake pulled back, a cocky grin on his elusive lips. “That’s all you had to say.” Before she realized what he was planning, he lifted her onto the hood of her car, stepped between her legs, tangled his fingers in her shoulder-length hair, and kissed the ever-loving cookies out of her.
Holy fudge, the man can kiss!
She wasn’t sure how long the kiss lasted, but when he pulled back, she realized it hadn’t been nearly long enough.
“Thanks for coming tonight,” he said, still standing between her legs. A fact she was painfully aware of.
“Thanks for asking me.” Her breathing was shallow, her mind spinning. Could he feel the heat between her legs? “I had fun,” she said, then immediately blushed, realizing how that sounded after he’d just kissed her into oblivion.
Shaking his head, he stepped back.
She closed her legs and locked her ankles. “What?”
“You’re way too sweet for me.”
She blinked. What did she say to that? Was it a compliment?
“Thank you?”
He grinned and helped her down from the hood. “Exactly.”
After a quick peck on the lips, he opened her door. Once she was inside and buckled in, he rested an arm on the top of the door. “I’ll call you to set up the axe throwing.”
“Okay.”
“Want me to follow you home to make sure you get there okay?”
She pushed her eyebrows into an upside down “V” and gave him a do-you-ever-stop look.
“I’ll take that as a no.”
“It’s cute you keep trying, though,” she said. “Pathetic, but cute.”
He laughed. “Glad you think so, but I’ll see your house sometime, Princess. Mark my words.” He leaned down, his mouth so close to her ear, she felt his warm breath against it when he promised, “And someday, I’ll see your bedroom too.”
After dropping that nuclear bomb, Jake casually closed the car door, leaving her sputtering inside, stunned, and wet.