Disappointment – or was it annoyance – flickers across his face. He shoves his hands in his front pockets. He seems to do that every time he’s thinking or unhappy. “Well, keep me company a little while, Drew. I was just with the twins and I could use some female energy for a change.”
“Like you lack in female company,” I dryly mutter.
“Have you seen any women here?”
Truth is, I haven’t. I’m not looking forward to the day when I do, I know that.
I smile, “Just when I look in the mirror.”
He grins, “Exactly. Come here.”
Reluctantly, I follow and stand by the kitchen island as he pulls out a bag of microwave-popcorn.
“You have brothers?” I ask, leaning against the granite counter.
“Yep. Five.” He throws the bag in and sets the cook-time.
“Six boys? Are your parents Catholic?”
Jake laughs as he pulls out a couple of beers from the fridge. “I think they were hoping for a girl. They didn’t get one.”
“I would say not!” I’m watching his muscles flex as he pops the tops and hands me one. “Six boys. Wow. Where are you in that?”
“Second to last.” He counts on his fingers. “Jaxson, Jerald, but we call him Jett now. Then there’s Jason and Justin, they’re identical twins. Me then Jeremy.”
“All Js.”
Jake taps his bottle to mine and smirks like he’s mentally stripping me naked. “You have siblings, right?”
“Only child.”
I wish I had a different answer to that question. I’ve always wanted a bigger family. There were a lot of lonely days growing up an only child, especially when my father kept being taken away at all hours of the night to talk with troubled people. A pastor’s work is literally never done. Dinner was interrupted frequently. Then it would be just me and Momma, because his talks would go on into the late hours of the night.
“They didn’t want more kids?”
Playing with my bottle, I sigh, “They tried. Guess God didn’t want it for us.” I glance down and take a sip, reading the label for the first time: Orpheus. “Is this local?”
“The only beer I drink is made here in Georgia.”
I love the pride shining off him. “That’s very loyal of you, Jake.”
He nods. “Runs in my blood.”
We stare at each other in a silence so charged I can hear chemistry humming.
I meant what I said when he first showed me the place: I will not sleep with Jake Cocker. I need this fresh start too badly. I’m not the sleep-around kind. I never have been.
But then he reaches over and tucks a long lock of hair behind my ear and steps closer to me, his calloused fingertips lingering on my neck. I hold my breath as my ovaries scream to let him do what he wants. His eyes darken with an intended kiss and my throat goes dry.
“Don’t do this, Jake.”
“Do what?” he murmurs, staring into my eyes. God, he’s stunning close up. The power coming off Jake Cocker is weakening my resolve by the second.
Oh, why aren’t my feet walking away?! Maybe because I’m throbbing in my panties.
“You’re lookin’ at me like I’m a…”
He leans down so closely I can smell the sweetness of the beer on his lips. “Like you’re what, Drew? A soft cat I want to pet?”
“Are you implying something with that?” I whisper, my eyelids falling.
His baby browns sparkle. “Am I meaning your pussy when I say cat? Yes, I mean your, hot, sopping wet, tight little pussy.” I gasp. He pauses and adds, “But I want to do more than just pet it.”
“Oh my God,” I moan and my lips stay open, ready for the inevitable. My chance to run is gone. I am his slave now because I made the mistake of staying and talking to him when I should have disappeared. This is what I’ve avoided so carefully. Jake is so dangerous and off-limits that I am drenched with need for him to fill me with that enormous cock he’s got. Every night that I see him walking shirtless to the couch with his home-cooked dinner, I think about that monster between his legs. And then I successfully make a break for it. There’s no running now. I want him. I need him. When this happens, he will be the first man since my husband. And Edward was the first ever.
I want someone other than my cheating husband to be my only lover. Jake is perfect for the job. Maybe I won’t fall in love with him.
Don’t be stupid, Drew. Walk away. You will fall for him. You’re already hyper-sensitive to every move he makes. You think it will get any easier if you feel his strength pressing between your thighs? If you let him touch you, you really think his hot kisses won’t haunt you every second of every waking hour? You think you won’t have to move out when it all blows up in your face?