Page 53

“Mother says ladies wear their hair up. I say ladies need to let their hair down. They need to get wild. They need tolive. You know what I mean?” I didn’t give him a chance to answer before going on. “I’m too tired for all this nonsense.” I closed the drawer.

With no thought to the fact that I had an audience, I pulled my shirt off and removed my bra before pulling my top back on. I slid my skirt down my legs and stepped out of it, kicking it in the general direction of the hamper.

When I turned towards the bed and caught Jake’s gaze, I belatedly realized what I’d done. There was no mistaking the heat in his hooded eyes.

I was drunk, but it wasn’t the booze that was making me feel brave. It was the way he was looking at me.

Like I was sexy.

Desirable.

Perfect.

I took in all that was Jake, every inch of him gorgeous. That someone like him would look at me the way he was? I realized I wasn’t feeling brave.

I wasfearless.

Walking to where he sat, I stood in front of him and slowly lifted my left foot to the bed next to him. I undid my sandal and returned my foot to the floor, repeating the process with my other one.

I pushed Jake’s shoulders, relieved when he leaned back on his elbows. I put my knees to the bed and straddled his legs, letting my shoes fall to the ground before I moved.

“Baby, what’re you doin’ to me?” he whispered hoarsely as I crawled up his body.

“Feeling you.” I felt every hard inch of him pressed against my ass. I leaned down and lightly pressed my lips to his throat, jaw, and lips.

“I wanna feel you, too. But not like this, when you’ve been drinkin’. And not ‘til we talk about shit, yeah?”

“Yeah, I know.” I let my lips trail across his jaw again.

“Fuck, you’re killin’ me,” he whispered hoarsely. “Call me when you wake up.”

“Okay,” I agreed with a yawn, letting myself fall to the side off of him. I curled up on my bed, my eyes getting so heavy that moving to get under the blanket seemed like way too much work.

Further proving he could read my mind, Jake got up and pulled the blankets out before covering me with them. The bed dipped as he positioned himself behind me with the long length of his body pressed to mine.

Mmm, hot guy cocoon.

Wrapping his arm around my stomach, he pulled me closer to him and pressed a kiss behind my ear. “Night, sweets.”

“Mmm, hot guy cocoon,” I murmured as I fell asleep.

Chapter Five

Creeper on a Creeper

I woke up the next morning with clarity.

Unfortunately, that clarity was that Ireallyfreakin’ needed coffee.

Other than that, I was still confused.

It was a safe bet that Jake wasn’t just worried about there being drama. No one waited on someone’s porch in the middle of the night on the off chance of awkwardness.

That didn’t necessarily mean I wanted to pick back up where we’d left off. There was a big difference between things evolving naturally and making the conscious decision to explore whatever it was that we had.

It was a risk, and one I wasn’t sure I was willing to take.

I knew I wanted to at least talk, otherwise the ‘what ifs’ would drive me crazy.