Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Where are we going?” Laurel asked from the passenger seat of Jake’s Jeep. He was taking her somewhere, but had yet to tell her where.
She’d felt both awkward and comfortable taking a shower at his house, which made no sense at all. Even though showering at a guy’s house wasn’t something she usually did, it wasn’t like Jake hadn’t seen her naked. He’d done— holy cranberries, the things he’d done to her! Just thinking about last night made her simultaneously blush and crave more.
But, since she couldn’t go to her apartment to clean up, and she definitely wasn’t ready for Britt’s interrogation, Jake’s shower it was.
He’d put her clothes into the washer while she was in the shower and laid out one of his T-shirts and a pair of shorts for her to wear. Thankfully, the shorts had a drawstring, or they never would’ve stayed up. Wearing his clothes while she’d waited for hers had been a small slice of torture. It had made it too easy to think of them as a couple, which they weren’t. Were they?
Since he’d only washed her garments, the load hadn’t taken long to dry.
Pulls out chairs, helps a lady with her coat, loves his grandma, and does laundry?
She didn’t know what to think. So much about him had been unexpected. Amy had labeled him a player from day one, yet he kept contradicting that stereotype. Jake Lockwood was a nice guy, she realized. A really nice, decent guy.
“You’ll have to wait and see,” Jake said.
“Why won’t you tell me where we’re going?” she asked. “I don’t like surprises.”
“I call bullshit. You liked my last surprise.”
Laurel thought back to the wild horses. She couldn’t deny it’d been the best surprise ever.
“Okay, the horses were amazing, I’ll give you that, but can’t I even get a hint?”
“One hint,” Jake relented. “Number ten.”
“What?”
“Number ten on your list.”
She practically broke into a cold sweat. Bungee jumping!
“No!” She violently shook her head. “I told them no. I won’t do that.”
“I know you did.”
Laurel glared at him. “Then why are you driving me to my death?”
He chuckled. Chuckled in the face of her demise.
I take it back. He’s not a nice guy. He’s ? —
“I got them to change it.”
“What?”
“They changed it,” Jake said, like it’d been the simplest thing in the world.
“You…? How did you do that? When did you do that?”
“This morning,” he said. “I told Britt they’d never get you to bungee jump, so I suggested a swap. She called Skye and done deal.”
“Skye went along with it?” Laurel was shocked.
“What can I say? I’m damn persuasive when I’m charming.”
He was, but had that worked to her advantage? She was almost afraid to ask. “What did you swap for?”
“Skydiving.”
“What?” she shrieked. “No, no, no, no, no!” She was freaking out. Like totally-lose-her-mind-and-chain-herself-to-a-tree-forever freaking out. “I am not jumping out of a plane, and you can’t make me! I don’t want to be a splat on the ground!”
“I’ll never make you do anything you don’t want to do, Princess.”
Practically hyperventilating, Laurel felt the bump-bump of a curb as Jake turned into a parking lot. She looked at the building in front of them and read the words emblazoned on its side.
“‘U-Fly Indoor Skydiving.’” She whipped around in her seat to find Jake grinning like a fool as he parked the Jeep. “ Indoor skydiving?” she clarified.
“The highest you’ll be is four to five feet off the ground. The last thing I want is for you to be a ‘splat on the ground.’ I’ve got much better things planned for you.” The heat in his eyes, and the way he was looking at her made his “plans” perfectly clear and had her squirming in her seat.
“You okay with this type of skydiving, Princess?”
Right, they were talking about skydiving.
“I would really only be five feet off the ground?” she clarified.
He nodded.
Okay, she could breathe again.
“Yes, I can do five feet. I’m surprised Skye and Britt agreed to it, though.”
“They agreed to skydiving.” Jake’s eyes danced with mischief. “I never said which kind. Not my fault they didn’t ask.”
Laurel flung herself at him and threw her arms around his neck. “Oh, my gosh! I love you so much right now!”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she froze.
Oh, flying fudgsicles on a stick!
“I mean…” She immediately released him and sat back in her seat, cheeks blazing past inferno to… whatever was hotter than inferno. “I didn’t mean… I meant I…” Fudge! Why can’t I think straight? “What I meant was… You know what I mean, right?”
Jake muttered something to himself that sounded a lot like, “So fucking cute,” before he cupped the back of her neck with his hand and brought her lips to his.
Anything Laurel had been about to say was banished from her brain by the first sweep of his tongue. She surrendered to him, willingly giving up control as his mouth moved over hers. Heat unfurled in her belly when their tongues danced. She tried to scoot closer to him, whimpering in frustration when she was stopped by the center console.
Jake growled and pulled back to glare at the offending divider. “I’m selling this car,” he vowed.
Giggling, Laurel offered, “I’ll post the ad for you.”