Page 21 of Inevitable

Oh.Oh.My eyes widened as the realization hit me. I kicked myself for pushing.

“But why ‘JJ’?” I asked, still trying to make sense of it. Still unable to let it go.

“You know…” She blushed, her cheeks stained with the most beautiful hue. “Just Jillin’.”

I couldn’t help myself; I laughed. She’d taken the female equivalent of “jacking off” and made it into a clever acronym.

“That’s actually pretty cute.” Though the image that followed of Sumner, naked and touching herself—preferably while thinking of me—was the furthest thing from “cute.” “Annd…this conversation just crossed the line from inappropriate to weird.”

“Why is it weird?” she asked. When I didn’t answer, she said, “I’m not a kid anymore. It’s okay to talk about this stuff.”

“Thisstuff?” I chuckled. “You can’t even say the word.”

“What? Sex? Fucking?” She shrugged, each word rolling off her tongue. “And it’s only weird if you make it weird.”

The air between us thickened, and I swallowed hard when she licked her lips, slicking them until they were shiny. Without any conscious thought on my part, I stepped closer, lured to her.

“Now, will you please give my journal back?” She grabbed it and tugged, but I wouldn’t let go. I couldn’t.

“Why even log it at all?” I asked, ignoring her request. “Why not just group it with ‘Shower’ or ‘Sleep’?”

She released her grip on the journal with a huff. “Because that wouldn’t be accurate. If you’re willing to go to the trouble of logging your day in fifteen-minute increments, you need to be honest about where the time is going. If you log it as ‘Sleep’ or ‘Shower’ as you suggested, then looking back on it, you’ll think—oh, I can cut some time from my morning routine. Or you’ll think you’re getting more rest than you are.”

“You’ve clearly given this a lot of thought. I’m impressed.”

“Thank you. Now, my journal, please.” She held out her hand expectantly.

“One more thing,” I said, opening to another page that had drawn my attention. It looked like sketches of logo designs. “Can we talk about this?”

“That’s—” She snatched it from my hands and quickly closed it. “I think that’s enough digging around in my personal info, thank you very much. Anyway…” She forced a smile. “I’ll send you the prompts, and you can work on your time audit, and then we can talk more.”

“I can’t believe you’re the one giving me homework,” I teased, leaning my hip against the counter, still amazed by how quickly we’d fallen back into the easy familiarity we’d always had.

“You don’t have to do it,” she said.

“I know.” I pushed off the counter as Ian and Lea slid the back door open. “I want to.”

“Want to what?” Ian asked, and Sumner startled.

“Have dessert!” Sumner chirped.

I studied her, and she met my eyes with a slight shake of her head.Interesting.

“Dessert?” Ian laughed. “This guy?” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder at me. “No way. Jonathan doesn’t eat desserts.”

Sumner tilted her head to the side, likely thinking of all the times I’d taken her for ice cream growing up. “Yes, he does.”

I grinned. “Only with you.”

Chapter Seven

“Hey, Cody.” I waved as I approached his desk, noticing that Jonathan’s office door was closed. “Is Jonathan available?”

“He should be almost done with his meeting.” He paused. “Jonathan, huh?” He arched his brow. “Interesting.”

“What?” I asked.

“I think you’re the only person who calls him Jonathan besides your dad.”