Fight Me(12)

She turns around, hands on her hips, and stares up at me with as much defiance as she can muster. She looks hot when she gets all worked up. Hell, she looks hot period. She’s standing there in tight jeans and a fitted blue sweater. Her red hair is down with big ringlets of curls framing her face. She’s still wearing very little make-up, but what she is wearing accentuates her big green eyes. God, she’s beautiful when she’s mad.

“I didn’t know what time I was going to be here,” I reply as I head towards her kitchen, leaving her standing in the foyer.

I hear her feet practically stomping after me as I reach the kitchen sink. “Jake.”

I turn to face her, arms crossed over my chest. She’s standing nose to nose - or actually nose to chest since I’m a foot taller than she is - with me, arms still resting on her hips. “Yes, Erin?”

“You are without a doubt the most frustrating person I’ve ever met! You can’t just come in here and make yourself at home, bossing me around like you own the place!”

As I’m standing mere inches from this petite little fireball, I have the overwhelming urge to kiss the shit out of her. I have to fight myself to keep my arms crossed at my chest. My fingers are itching and twitching to dive into her hair. I can’t help the smirk that crosses my lips as I say, “You’re really hot when you’re mad, you know that?”

“Uhhhhhhhh!” Erin throws her hands up in the air and stomps out of the room. The last thing she hears as she leaves the room is the sound of my laughter.





Chapter Four


Erin

Seriously! How can one person be so pig-headed and narrow-minded? He doesn’t own me. I owe him nothing. Okay, so maybe that’s not entirely correct. He is downstairs changing the fitting on my sink so at the very least, I owe him a thank you.

After leaving Jake to his task at hand, I escape to my home office to check my email. This is the only room I haven’t really worked on yet. I have so many things I want to do to really make it the perfect home office and library, but really have no idea where to start.

As I sit down and boot up my email, I see the first one is from my mom. My mom has been contacting me through email lately which works fine for me because then I’m not stuck on the phone listening to her whine about my dad’s snoring or their strokes over par in golf.

When dad finally retired from the military, they relocated to Florida and purchased a condo on a golf course. Neither one of them played golf, but they felt they deserved the full retirement lifestyle as a way of making up for their constant moving and relocating practically their entire adult lives. I am happy that they finally settled down somewhere. It’s just a shame that it was never with me.

I hear a knock on the door and look up from my laptop. Jake is standing in the doorway, wiping his hands on a rag.

“All done.”

“Okay.” I stand up, set Miss Whiskers down on the floor, shut the laptop lid, and walk around my desk to stand in front of him. He’s somewhere around a foot taller than me so I have to look up to make eye contact. “Listen, Jake. I really appreciate your help in fixing the sink. You probably saved me a bunch of money from not having to call a plumber on the weekend. So, thank you.”

Jake’s crystal blue eyes burn into mine. He’s quiet for several moments and I start to wonder if he’s going to talk at all, acknowledge anything I just said. I’m starting to get antsy and nervous as I look at this extremely good looking guy standing in my office. He really is hot. Too bad he’s a total tool.

“I have an idea. How about to say thank you, you come with me to Avery and Maddox’s new place for dinner. My mom’s been cooking up a storm all afternoon and has a big spread planned.”

“Oh, I couldn’t do that. That’s your family time.”

“Don’t worry about that. Mom always makes plenty of food. And besides, there were a few other guys who helped them move today so they’ll be there too.”

I mull it over in my head for a few moments. I’d love to go and see the rest of Jake’s family since it has been nearly twenty years. Jake’s mom was super nice to me that afternoon my parents and Jake’s parents met up to discuss the issue at school. But do I really want to be that close to Jake? Do I really want to put myself through more of his torture? “I have some work I need to do here at home, and - ” Jake cuts me off before I can finish my sentence.

“Don’t say no, Erin. You’re new in town and probably don’t know too many people. You can hang out with and get to know my sister, Avery.”

The thought of spending some time with another female does sound awfully nice right now. “Are you sure they won’t mind?”