“I’ve got plenty wrong with me,” Jake said. “For instance, I’m in love with a woman who doesn’t believe in love.”
Breathing became impossible. “It’s not that I don’t believe in it—” I threw a hand to my chest. “We’re talking about me, right?”
The corners of his mouth twitched. “Do you see anyone else?”
I let out a relieved breath and looked into his blue eyes. “I only doubted that it could last.”
“Maybe you just haven’t met the right guy yet.”
I closed the gap between us and put my hands on the sides of his waist. “Maybe I have, and I just didn’t realize it.”
Jake’s eyebrows shot up as he pointed to his chest. “Me?”
“Do you see anyone else?” I tipped onto my toes, his arms encircled me, and my lips parted as they landed on his. We stumbled backward, through the open door and into his place. He kicked the door closed, then pinned me against it, sending fire through every inch of my body as he pressed into me.
I drank in his kiss, his taste, as we clung to each other, making up for the days we’d been apart. I ran my hand through his damp hair as I gently bit his lower lip. He groaned and then his lips left mine, traveling down my neck and across my collarbone, sending delicious chills down my spine.
“I have to tell you something,” I whispered.
His lips left my neck, but he kept me pinned against the door with his body, the warmth from him soaking into my skin.
“I-I don’t want you to go to Salt Lake. I understand that you need to and all, but I’ll miss you.” I peered into his blue, blue eyes and had to work to continue breathing. “I was about to tell you that I was ready for a real relationship, but when you talked about being gone for months, I… Getting attached right before you left seemed like a really bad idea.”
“Even if the deal goes through, I’ll be flying back and forth. I wasn’t planning on putting us on hold for months.” He put his hand on my neck and ran his thumb along my jaw. “If we’re going to do this, you’ve got to tell me what’s going on. Otherwise it’s never going to work.”
I nodded. “I guess I should confess something else, then.”
Jake’s posture stiffened.
My heart was pounding so hard it actually hurt. “I’ve never tried so hard to not fall for someone. And I’ve never fallen faster.” The words were on the tip of my tongue, I simply had to force them out. “I love you, Jake.”
He grinned and pulled me into his arms. I locked my hands behind his neck as he covered my mouth with his. His hands moved to my butt, lifting me off my feet, and I wrapped my legs around his waist.
“Couch or bed?” he whispered.
I brushed my lips over his. “Well, I haven’t seen your bedroom yet.”
…
I rested my head on Jake’s shoulder, loving the feel of my skin against his and basking in the afterglow of being with someone I loved. I felt light-headed and happy and tired and tingly and
Jake wound his fingers through my hair. “So, do I actually get a title now when you introduce me?”
“You want me to introduce you as my lover?” I said with a smile. “Seems a little personal, but okay.”
“Hey, as long as other guys know to keep their hands off, I’ll take it.”
I ran my fingers down his stomach. “You still want to be my boyfriend after what I put you through?”
“What you put me through tonight was good.”
I shook my head but couldn’t help smiling. I propped my chin on his chest so I could see his face. “I’m all in. So if there’s anything important I should know, now’s the time to tell me.”
“I used to have an obsession with turtles as a kid.”
I tilted my head and gave him the best evil eye I could manage under the current no-clothing, just-had- amazing-sex circumstances.
“It was a problem, I’m telling you. Do you have any idea how smelly a couple of turtle aquariums can be?” He placed his hand on my back. “Okay, the serious stuff. You know about my last relationship…” He paused almost as if he was checking to see if we needed to talk about it more before he continued. “You know about my family and my work—which I love, by the way. There’s nothing better than taking a run-down place and turning it into a spot where people love to eat. I’m damn good at it, too. On top of the restaurants, I also work with Virginia, taking care of the business side of her Hammond’s Children’s Hospital Charity.
“Let’s see…what else?” He ran his fingers down my back, tickling me enough that I pressed into him. He smiled and did it again. “I’m so crazy about you that if you asked me to give up watching sports for the rest of my life, I would.” Another brush of his fingers and another grin. “Except maybe the World Series, ’cause that’s more religion than sport.” His fingers stilled and his eyes locked onto mine. “And in case I didn’t make it clear enough yet, I’m in love with you, Darby Quinn.”
I scooted up to place a kiss on his lips, so much happiness bubbling up in me that I suddenly understood why someone might burst into song. For all I knew, cartoon birds were circling my head. I sighed as I sunk into his kiss, his embrace.
Then I caught sight of the alarm clock and groaned. “It’s already tomorrow. I’d better go.”
Jake put his arm around me, keeping me against him. “Stay.”
Leaving was the last thing I wanted to do, but life—unfortunately—didn’t stop simply because I was in love. “Thanks to your being a genius with numbers, Nadine and I have a meeting with Patricia tomorrow, and I’ve got to be in early to prepare.”
Still keeping me tight against him with one arm, Jake grabbed his alarm clock with his other. “Just tell me what time you need to get up and I’ll make sure you’re on time.”
Staying the night in Jake’s arms or going to my own lonely bed?
As if there was really any choice.
Chapter Thirty-five
Normally, I consider myself organized; this morning as I rushed around my bedroom, I felt anything but. “Have you seen my other shoe? I swear it was right here.”
Jake squinted against the morning light and sat up in bed. His hair was sticking up on one side. “If I told you I was wearing them last night, would you think it was cute or creepy?”
I laughed as I smacked his arm. “This isn’t funny. Steph will kill me if I’m late.”
Jake grabbed my hand, pulling me down so he could kiss my neck. His deep voice rumbled in my ear. “Well, if you’re going to be late anyway…”
“Don’t tempt me,” I said. I gave him a quick kiss, then dropped to the floor to search for my other shoe. I’d put all my bridesmaid stuff together, but somehow, between last night and this morning, one of my dyed-pink-to- match shoes was missing.
A shoe was thrust in front of my face. “Is this what you’re looking for?”
I took the other shoe from Jake, tossed it in the bag next to its mate, and kissed his cheek. “You’re a lifesaver.”
Jake and I had spent the last week getting to know each other better. We’d celebrated the fact that Nadine and my meeting with Patricia had gone so well that we were going to be able to take on only clients of our choice as soon as we wrapped up the Red Lion account. I dropped into Blue almost every day after work so we could have dinner together. We talked late into the night—or more like early into the next morning. He told stories about growing up, his family, and I did the same. We talked about interests, goals, everything and nothing. About the only thing we hadn’t done much of was sleep.
There’d been a slightly uncomfortable phone call with Porter, where I thanked him for the flowers and for helping me with my relationship with my dad, told him he was a great guy (I know, it sorta killed me to pull out that cliche line even if it were true) but informed him my situation had changed. That I was taken.
