Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 103102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
“Okay,” he says. “We can talk, too.”
Yes, we should. I should say…something logical and smart and effective. Whatever that is. “I…uh… Make it two minutes.” I move to my room.
River emerges, holding a black silk robe. “I guess I’ll leave you to it.”
“Thanks.” I take the robe and move into the bedroom.
“Is there a back door?”
“Yeah. That way.” I motion to the side door on the other side of the living room. “You can stay.”
“Rain check.”
Don’t look at his cock. Don’t look at his cock. Don’t look at his cock.
Bam.
My eyes go straight to his crotch.
I’m not sure how the board shorts remain in one piece. He’s really straining the fabric.
He laughs. “I’ll take them off next time.”
“Another experiment?”
His posture shifts to something harder. “If that’s what you want.”
No. I want everything, but I say yes, anyway.
He leaves.
I throw on a dress. I can’t greet my future brother-in-law in lingerie.
I try to push thoughts of sex aside as I answer the door, invite Jake inside, try to figure out how the hell I’m going to get him and Lexi back together.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Deanna
“Do you want something to drink?” I say to Jake and motion to the kitchen, but I barely see the shiny white counter, the coffeemaker, the tea kettle. Instead, I see River backing me into the tile, turning me around, taking me from behind.
It’s not too late to tell Jake to leave.
To call River back.
No. It is. Yes, my body is still buzzing, but the moment is gone. I’m in a loose black dress. He’s somewhere else. The magic is gone.
No. There’s no such thing as magic.
This is dopamine and oxytocin and whatever other hormones send blood racing south. I’m not a biologist or a neuroscientist. Right now, I’m barely a logical programmer. Right now, I’m a woman who desperately needs to ride the boy next door.
Ahem.
“Whatever you’re having,” Jake says.
“English Breakfast, okay?” I offer.
“Yeah. Sure.”
I motion for him to sit. He takes a seat at the dining table and stares at the wall.
I fix the tea for both of us, bring the mugs to the table, and sit opposite him.
His eyes stay on the wall.
He looks off, by Jake standards. In a slightly wrinkled polo shirt, jeans that fit a little too big, and sneakers with scuffed soles.
Usually, he’s picture perfect. Today, he’s, well, human.
He doesn’t make small talk or pretend he’s fascinated by his tea. He does the last thing I expect.
He reaches for my hand and squeezes hard. “You’re a great sister to her.”
Uh… “Thanks.”
“Lexi adores you. You know that, don’t you?”
Of course I know my sister loves me. But it’s not that simple. Lexi sees me as a badass because I’m so tough and take no prisoners, because I’m able to deny my physical needs in a way she isn’t. She relies on that. We both rely on that. “She likes you, too.”
He wraps his hands around his mug and stares at the milky English Breakfast. “I like you, Dee.” He calls me by my nickname. Almost everyone does.
Everyone except River, really.
“When Lexi described you, I didn’t believe her. A straight shooter without a single weakness. How is that possible? But she was right.”
I guess it’s normal for little sisters to see their big sisters without flaws, but I wish, just once, someone would notice how hard I work to hold everything together.
“I want to ask you something,” he says. “And I hope you’ll be honest, even if it hurts.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.” He pauses a moment, then says, “Is there someone else?”
“Huh?”
He takes a long sip of his tea and swallows slowly. “Thanks for the drink.”
“Sure.” I swallow a sip to buy myself time to think. There is someone else, but not the way he means. Or maybe I don’t know what he means. “She hasn’t been seeing anyone since you’ve been together.”
“So, she meant it? She needed to think?”
“In her way.”
His eyes fill with curiosity. He doesn’t know what that means. Or he doesn’t want to know. “So it wasn’t an excuse?”
“Huh?” I ask.
“Because she’s in love with someone else?”
I laugh.
His lips curl into a frown. “Is that funny?”
Yes, but not to him. “It’s just…not Lexi. No. She’s not in love with someone else. I can promise you that.”
“Then why did she want to pause things?”
That’s harder to explain. “Did she tell you about the meeting?” I ask.
“Which one?”
“With Willa Wilder,” I say. “She wants the two of you to show up at an investor dinner with a ring. As the poster couple.”
For a moment, his entire face brightens, then he remembers something—probably the situation they’re in now, the break—and it falls.
“Is that what you want?” I ask. “A future with her?”
“Of course.”
“But you know her well enough at this point.”
“She’s not a commitment kind of girl,” he says.
See. He gets her. They do belong together. The algo was right. It’s just the two of them getting in their own way.