“Well, I thought this one would be fun because you don’t have to really memorize certain moves—”
“Thank God!” I interrupt.
“What? You can’t dance?” Jake scoots closer to me, nudging me with his leg.
“Hey, I can dance. I just hate having to do it exactly the way they want you to. I don’t have time to learn an entire dance for a two-minute video.”
“Exactly why this one is great. You only have to remember the moves Jake does right before you. It’s called the Last Move, First Move Challenge. So, you’ll do a dance move, and then he’ll repeat it and add another one of his own. Then, the camera is back on you, and you have to do his dance move and then add another one of your own, and so on and so on for as long as you want the video to go.”
Jake stands, holding his hand out to me. “Sounds like fun. You game?”
I grin and place my hand in his. He pulls me close to him, and my body covers in tingles from having him pressed against me. I inhale a quick breath, and he gives me a kiss and then slaps me on the ass.
“Let’s do this. Show me your moves.”
“Does it have to be to a certain song?” I ask.
“Nope, you get to choose. What are we thinking?” she says, holding up her phone like she’s ready to search for it.
“ ‘Let’s Get it On’?” Jake says as he seductively pulls me in.
I laugh and push him away. “Way too slow. We need one that has a beat to dance to. Do ‘Savage’ by Megan Thee Stallion with Beyoncé.”
“Oh yeah, we can get nasty in here,” Jake says, using one of the lyric’s words, raising his eyebrows.
I hear Melody and Charisse laugh as Charisse pulls up the song.
“So, do you want to go first, or should I?” I ask.
“This is all you, girl. Show me what you got, and I’ll follow along.”
We set up to where we’re both in the frame right next to each other as I rub my lips together and go over some dance moves in my head.
“You guys ready?” Charisse asks.
I nod as Jake claps his hands together.
“Hell yes!”
I turn to him with a huge smile on my face from just seeing his excitement. He truly wants to do this, and I love how outgoing he is in every situation.
The song starts with Megan more speaking than singing before the beat drops, so I allow for them to be said, grinning over to Jake while the camera’s rolling so whoever sees the video gets that he’s my man and we’re about to do this.
When the song says, “I’m a savage,” I bust out, moving my body to the side like a snake, ending with a slight kick to my leg, like I’m tossing it to Jake.
Jake picks it right up and repeats the move, sending another one back to me. I easily repeat his move and bring my dance up a notch. His face cracks me up as he opens his mouth, trying to act all sexy as he slides his body through the motions. When he tosses it back to me, it’s with a kiss blown. I do his exact movement, including the blown kiss, and when I finish my move, it just so happens to be when the song talks about gagging, so I fake like I’m choking because I took him in too deep. It catches him so off guard that he cracks up.
Instead of repeating my dance moves, he swoops me up in his arms, kissing me like no one’s around or we aren’t filming this to share with the world.
When he pulls back, I hear Charisse and Melody high-five as Charisse says, “Yes! Absolutely post that shit!”
Chapter Twenty
We stayed up way too late last night, finishing off both bottles of wine as well as a few bottles of the hard cider Jake had bought the other day. My cheeks started hurting more than ever from the laughter we all shared. It really was the best night I’d had in a while.
When my phone rings this morning though, I have to remember just how much fun it was because my head is pounding into my skull, screaming at me at just how un-fun a hangover is.
“Hello?” I ask, trying not to strain my voice.
“Girl, you’d better get your butt out of bed because I—your wonderful, amazing agent—just so happen to be having brunch right now with Claudia Shea from Winston Arms. And, yes, I slyly slipped her your manuscript. She started reading it at the table just to appease me, but twenty minutes later, she’s still reading! I snuck away to the restroom to call you. If you can get your ass here quickly, we can make this deal happen for sure.”
I quickly sit up in bed as everything she said sinks in. “Shut up!” I exclaim and then grab my head, regretting my movement instantly.
Jake sits up, curious as to who I’m talking to. I cover the receiver, turn to Jake, and whisper, “It’s Wendy, my agent. She loved the pages I sent her!”
“Of course she did,” he says, grinning from ear to ear at my happiness.
“And now, she’s sitting with a big publisher at a café, and she wants me to meet her.”
“Um, who’s that, and how come I didn’t know you were seeing anyone?” Wendy asks.
I smile big. “That’s Jake.”
“Well, if he was any kind of muse for this book, I need to meet this new man of yours,” she says.
My eyes roam over to Jake. His expression proves he’s just as excited as I am, and he’s dying for me to fill him in on what she’s saying to me.
I give Jake a quick kiss and curl up in his arms. “You will,” I say to Wendy.
“Okay, well, tell your new boy toy sorry, but he has to wait because you need to come down to greet your new
