Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Josie’s Howl List—March
Josie stood outside the door to Jake’s apartment. She’d been standing there for several minutes, trying to get up the nerve to knock. For weeks, she’d wavered between blowing this full moon off, dropping the whole damn second-chance idea and crawling back into her safe little shell.
Ever since agreeing to this third meeting with Jake, Josie had struggled to sleep through the night—waking up in either full-blown panic attacks or so fucking horny she had no choice but to dig out her vibrator. She was losing her mind.
This damn list was supposed to be easy, uncomplicated, fun. And while there was no denying the actual doing of the deeds was off-the-charts amazing, her emotions were running riot and wearing her out.
“Fuck it,” she muttered, turning to leave.
As much as she wanted to see Jake again, it would be a hell of a lot easier to break the connection now.
If she went into his apartment tonight and accepted the little slice of heaven found in his embrace, she’d be setting herself up for yet another month of second-guessing and uncontrollable arousal. She couldn’t take any more of that.
She took two steps and stopped. Dammit. The pull was too strong. There was no way she could leave. She wanted Jake too much.
The door opened.
“Chickening out?”
She faced Jake and grimaced. “No.”
He grinned. “You’ve been pacing outside my door for five full minutes.”
She glanced at the wood, spotting the peephole. “You’ve been spying on me?”
Jake shrugged, his face showing no remorse. “Wanted to see if you’d knock or leave. I have to admit I’m a bit disappointed.”
“You should have held your post, kept playing Peeping Tom. Because if you had, you would have seen me coming back.”
He reached out and she took his hand. It was so easy to be with him, to go to him. All her doubts and worries melted away the second he touched her. Jake pulled her close, kissing her in the doorway. It was hard to find anything wrong with this feeling.
Josie wrapped her arms around his neck. Let the cards fall where they may. She was finished fighting this.
“Hungry?” Jake asked when he broke the connection.
“Starving.”
He chuckled. “I meant for dinner.”
She blinked a few times, trying to clear her lust-riddled thoughts. “Oh.”
Jake led her inside, shutting the door. “Damn. You keep looking at me like that and I’m pitching the barbeque ribs in the garbage and dragging you straight to bed.”
She ran her hand along his chest flirtatiously. “I wouldn’t complain.”
He captured her hand and raised it to his mouth, kissing her knuckles in an old-fashioned gesture that could charm her out of her pants any day.
“Come on. Food. Then sex. Or maybe food and sex. We’ll play it by ear.”
Josie started to laugh, then released a gasp of surprise when her gaze landed on the special spread he’d laid out for her.
His dining-room table was covered in a checkered tablecloth, set with simple white dishes.
A candle burned in the center and a bottle of wine sat chilling in ice. “It looks like a picnic.”
He nodded. “Good. That’s what I was going for.” He pulled out her chair and she sat, flattered and touched by the time and effort he’d put into making the dinner special.
She’d lied to herself, insisting this wasn’t a date. But as he carried two salads from the kitchen, there was no denying that was exactly what this was.
Jake claimed the seat next to hers and picked up his fork. “Dig in.”
They ate in silence for a few moments as Josie savored the salad. “This is good. Did you make it yourself?”
“Yeah. When you’ve been a bachelor as long as I have, you either give in to the lure of non-stop take-out or you learn to cook. There are just so many pizzas and buckets of chicken one man can eat.”
She understood the lure of taking the easy way out in terms of cooking.
It had taken her a little while to get used to cooking for just her and Tommy after Tony left.
Her finicky son ate like a bird and there had been more than a few months following the divorce when it had been simpler to pick up McDonald’s chicken nuggets for him on the way home from work or to open a can of soup and throw together a couple of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
She’d had to force herself to stop sacrificing a healthy diet in favor of sheer laziness. “It’s hard cooking for one.”
She hadn’t told Jake about her son. She didn’t want to. As soon as they started sharing personal details about their lives, this whole thing stopped being a fantasy.
“I made the dressing myself. My mom sent me the recipe when I was bitching about not being able to find a French dressing as good as hers. Makes a big batch and doesn’t go bad. I’m a big salad eater, so it’s worth the extra effort.”
“It’s delicious.”
Jake obviously took care of his body, eating right and exercising.
While she’d started cooking healthier meals for her and Tommy, she still hadn’t managed to squeeze time into her schedule for working out.
She was on her feet all day at the department store.
By the time she got Tommy from school, made dinner, tidied the house, helped him with homework, gave him a bath and got him to bed, she was too exhausted to do much more than fall onto the couch and watch an hour or so of TV before crawling into her own bed.
Jake put his fork down and poured them both a glass of white wine. “So what do you do for a living?”
She hesitated a second too long.
“I don’t intend to start stalking you, Josie.”
She rolled her eyes. “I know that. I’m the assistant manager at one of the department stores at the mall. How’s that for a boring job?”
He shrugged. “Doesn’t sound that bad to me. Do you enjoy it?”
She considered his question seriously. “Yes and no. I’ve worked there long enough that I have pretty good, consistent hours. Except over the holidays, which suck. I only have to work one Saturday and one Sunday a month, so that’s cool. But no, it’s not exactly a dream job.”
“What is?”
She took a sip of the wine. “Honestly, I have no idea.” She’d gotten married too young, her after-school job becoming a full-time one.
There’d been no money for college and Josie hadn’t been the world’s greatest student anyway.
She worked because she needed money to pay the bills, not because it brought her any sort of fulfillment or happiness.
“Actually, I have an interview for a new job next week. They’re hiring a secretary at my—” She cleared her throat, catching herself just before she said son.
“At a local elementary school. I’d love that job. ”
She’d been thrilled when the principal had called her.
If she got the job, her hours would be very close to her son’s and there was before and after care right at the school.
They could ride together every day. She’d have the same holidays as Tommy, and the pay and benefits were a little better than what she was currently making.
So, she supposed, that was her dream job.
“Did you know you always wanted to own a bar?”
Jake leaned back. “I wanted my own business. I started at Blue Moon as a bartender right out of high school. My great uncle owned it. He taught me the ropes, then when he was ready to retire, he sold it to me. This may surprise you, but I’m a hell of a lot better at giving orders than taking them.”
Josie laughed. “No. Really? That’s not obvious at all.” She didn’t add that she’d take more of his sexy bedroom commands any day.
“Ready for the main course?”
She nodded, laughing when he walked out with the hugest platter of barbeque ribs she’d ever seen. “Holy crap.”
Jake put the plate in the middle of the table, then walked behind her, taking her napkin off her lap.
She glanced up when he tucked the end of it in the top of her blouse. One of his fingers dipped beneath the silk a little more than was necessary, grazing the top of her breast.
“Copping a feel?” she teased when his hand went even lower, his palm engulfing her and squeezing.
“Yep. I think I like the idea of food and sex after all.”
She restrained a groan when he removed his hand and returned to his seat. He followed suit, tucking his own napkin in his shirt.
“You couldn’t pick a stickier, messier meal to prepare?”
“Nope. I’ll admit ribs are my favorite, but all I could think about was licking the sauce off your fingers.
” He reached for her hand, dragging two of her fingers along the top of one of the ribs.
Then he put them into his mouth, sucking all the sweetness off.
Josie squirmed in her chair, thoroughly aroused by the sexy move.
“Take off your pants, Josie.”
She was surprised by his request, but too turned on by his hungry look to refuse. She rose to obey, then paused. “Take yours off too.”
Jake stood and together they pulled off their jeans—Josie added her panties to the pile, while Jake went commando—before resuming their seats.
Jake pushed his chair closer, tugging at Josie’s knees until they were wide open, allowing him to put his legs between.
His knees rested against the insides of her upper thighs.
They were facing each other, beside the table.
If Josie hadn’t been so hot, she would have laughed at their half-dressed states. Both of them looked odd with their napkins tucked in their shirts, while completely naked from the waist down. “We look ridiculous.”
“We’re being smart. Like you said, ribs are sticky business. We’re just protecting our clothes.”
“Is that what we’re calling this? Smart?”
Jake picked up a rib and pulled off a juicy piece of the meat. He lifted it to her mouth. She took the bite, chewing slowly. Then she grasped his wrist and licked the sauce from his fingers.