Page 64 of Jaked

Chapter 24

I wanted to kiss him. Earlier, he suggested I improvise. Kissing would be improvising, right? Before that foolish thought became foolish action, Jake turned his head away. His gaze scanned the crowd as if he were searching for someone. The spell broken, I tried to do the same.

Beside him, I blew out a long breath. These temptations were piling up. I reminded myself that he wasn't my date. And he wasn't my boyfriend. And later on, we wouldn't be doing the naked pretzel, not that he'd offered.

A waiter walked by with a tray of champagne glasses. Jake snagged two glasses. He handed me one. I took a sip. I'd never been a fan of champagne, but whatever this stuff was, it was heavenly. I drank it way too fast and handed off the glass to the next passing waiter.

Across the crowd, I spotted Bianca talking to an attractive man in a business suit. She reached out and gave him a playful slap on the forearm. The guy laughed long and hard at whatever she had said. When she turned away to reach for a champagne glass, the guy looked down to study her dress. His eyebrows furrowed. A second later, he turned and disappeared into the crowd.

When Bianca turned back, the guy was gone. She froze, looking at the spot where he'd been standing. And then, as if feeling my gaze, she turned her head in my direction. Our gazes locked, and I felt my face grow warm.

Busted.

Trying for a recovery, I gave her a little wave. She didn't wave back.

Next to me, Jake chuckled.

Eager to break eye contact, I turned toward him. "What's so funny?" I asked.

"Nothing. Just imagining what she'll be telling you next."

"How can you laugh about it?" I said. "That whole thing in the car was awful by the way."

"Eh, I've seen worse," he said.

"I just bet," I said. "And you do know you were pretty hard on her."

"Hell yeah, I was."

"And she's okay with that?"

"I don't know. And I don't care."

The coldness in his voice surprised me. "So, did you two have a bad breakup or something?"

"No."

"Because…?" I prompted.

"Because she wasn't my girlfriend. No breaking up needed."

I gave Bianca a quick glance. She was looking daggers in my direction. "Doessheknow that?" I asked.

"She's smart," Jake said. "So yeah, she knows."

Desperate to look elsewhere, I shifted my body so I was facing a different direction. But when I did, something else caught my eye. A few feet away, a young guy was holding out his cell phone like a camera. The phone was aimed at Jake. A light flashed, and the guy pulled back the phone to study the image. He grinned.

And then, the guy turned his back to us. He raised the phone toward himself and took another picture – a selfie with Jake in the background.

Next to me, Jake was utterly oblivious. Or maybe he was used to it?

"I think someone just took a picture of you," I said.

He turned to face me. "How do you know they weren't taking a picture ofyou?"

I rolled my eyes. "Oh please."

He grinned down at me. "If I had a camera, that's what I'd do."