Page 130 of Girl Betrayed

Jake shrugged. “After what happened to Max. You were with Meredith and Claire was oscillating between despair and despondency. In one of her more lucid moments, we had a bit of a heart to heart, talked about feelings and life being fleeting and all that.” He shrugged. “She gave me the green light. Said life’s too short not to follow your heart.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

He huffed a laugh, his beautiful mouth quirking up at the corners. “We had a lot going on. Besides I was starting to get the feeling you weren’t interested.”

It was Dana’s turn to grin. “Does the Bureau know how bad your instincts are?”

“What does that mean?”

“It means you’re an idiot,” Dana said, grabbing Jake’s collar and pressing her lips to his.

When they came up for air, Jake’s eyes glowed like twin blue flames ready to devour her. “Are you sure?” Fear. Anticipation. Desire. They wrapped each word he whispered, his heart hammering against her chest.

She grinned, reaching up to place her palm over his heart. “I want the same thing you do, Jake.”

His hand covered hers as he let his forehead press against hers, his eyes closing as though he were in pain, but when Jake opened them, she’d never seen him look so elated. His breathing was shallow and fast as he shook his head, a grin fighting through a turmoil of emotions to grace his lips. She watchedhis throat roll before he spoke. “You don’t know how long I’ve waited to hear that.”

Then his lips crashed into hers and her feet left the ground.

114

To Jake,it felt like the movie would never end. He didn’t know how he’d made it through the firstGhostbustersfilm. But surviving the second one might actually kill him. He wanted the river of ectoplasm to just swallow the city and be done with it already.

He couldn’t help it. With Dana sitting on the same couch, he’d reverted into a damn teenager trying to reel in his emotions. The problem wasn’t that Dana was on the couch, it was that Claire sat between them. Knees drawn up to her chin, merrily munching popcorn, oblivious to the ridiculous smile Jake couldn’t scrub off his face if his life depended on it.

Dana, however, had not missed his schoolboy smile or the uncomfortable way he shifted every time she leaned her head back against his arm. He’d stretched it along the back of the couch unable to stop himself from touching her. But the feel of her silken hair slipping through his fingers was torture. And she knew it.

From the sultry smile tugging at her lips, he could tell she was enjoying it.

Just you wait, Gray.

Jake was already plotting all the slow and torturous ways he and Dana would spend tonight if this cursed movie ever ended.

When Dana kissed him and said the words he’d been waiting to hear he’d died right there on the spot. The man he was now was different, changed, reborn. He’d emerged into a world full of new possibilities. It was equal parts thrilling and terrifying. But the fact that it was all happening here, at the cabin, meant even more.

Many a sleepless night brought Jake back here to the memories of all their false starts and near misses. But this was a second chance to get things right. A fresh start.

When he closed his eyes and let himself imagine him and Dana finding their way to each other, it was always in this place. It was their hallowed ground. Where they’d stood and fought for each other, time and time again.

Finally, the war was over.Now if only the damn movie would end!

115

Mercifully,the movie ended, and Claire called it a night.

Dana began collecting the dishes, but Jake intervened, tossing them unceremoniously into the trash before sweeping Dana off her feet.

“Jake!” Dana laughed, doing her best to keep her voice down as Jake carried her to his bedroom. “We can’t do this here.”

“Nope, I waited through not one, but two terrible movies. You said this is what you want and there’s no take backs.”

Hand to her chest, she pretended to be offended. “Ghostbustersisnotterrible.”

“It is when it’s standing between you and the woman of your dreams.”

Dana practically swooned.Lord help her.She was no match for Jake Shepard when he turned on the charm. “I’m the woman of your dreams?”

“And beyond,” he crooned, wrapping his arms around her waist, and pulling her in for a kiss, which quickly escalated until she pulled away, panting for air. “Wait,” she breathed against his neck as he pinned her to the wall, her legs hitched around his waist.