Love the One You're With(64)
His gaze collided with hers. “Did you mean it?”
She opened her mouth, but no words came out. What could she possibly say while lying beneath him in the backseat of a car, naked?
That she hadn’t meant it? That she’d lied to his family, and that she planned to write all about this little encounter on the blog?
But she couldn’t very well tell him to his face that she did mean it. She’d bet her left ovary that Jake Malone was a pro at giving easy, kind set-downs to overassuming women, and she had no intention of receiving one of those pretty dismissals.
So instead she met his gaze steadily and went for a compromise.
“I like you,” she said, watching his eyes go warm even as they went wary. His thumb skittered across her wrist in a gentle flicking motion.
“But,” Grace said, adding iron to her voice, “I also like baby tigers and hot fudge and too much wine, and a whole other slew of things that aren’t good for me. So you don’t have to worry about me chasing you when this is over.”
And it would be over.
Soon.
“I like you too,” Jake said, his expression once again easy and relaxed. “And Grace … you’re a very close second to Hannah Tanner.”
Then he stifled her outraged shriek with a very, very long kiss.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Two weeks later, things were still going almost alarmingly well. Far too well for a non-relationship that was supposed to be ending.
Grace almost wished that their respective bosses had stuck with the straightforward five-dates-in-five-months routine. This whole website business had muddied the waters by forcing Grace and Jake into a more intimate day-to-day interaction.
Forcing, my ass, 2.0 muttered.
It was true. Grace liked nothing better than seeing his face first thing most mornings, and falling asleep beside him most nights.
She was in serious trouble.
“How do you feel about takeout?” Jake asked.
Grace dropped her purse onto her counter and immediately kicked off the magenta peep-toe stilettos that she was trying to break in but were currently hell on her arches.
“Hate it,” she said, tucking the phone beneath her hear and pouring some water.
There was a beat of silence on the other line. “Really?”
Grace rolled her eyes. “Seriously? No, of course I don’t hate takeout. Does anybody actually hate takeout?”
“Health nuts, maybe.”
“This is New York. You can get anything delivered, even organic, vegan, and gluten-free.”
“You know what else can be delivered?” Jake asked. “Chinese.”
“You know, I’ve heard that,” Grace said, making her way into the bedroom to change into her comfy clothes. “Is that your exciting plan for tonight?”
“Eventually,” Jake said. “Was going to swing by a few of the midtown bars first. See if I can’t find any women interested in a little Jake Malone special.”
Grace fingers clenched around the yoga pants she’d just pulled out of her dresser, feeling a bit like she’d just been kicked in the chest.
Had he seriously just informed her that he was going to sleep with another woman tonight?
And why not? 2.0 asked. You’re not in a relationship. You’re colleagues with a shared work objective who now have regular sleepovers, which I distinctly remember frowning upon …
Grace knew 2.0 was right, of course. But the more time Grace spent with Jake—and there’d been a lot of that lately—the more 1.0 kept surging forward.
And considering that 1.0 was a monogamous believer in happily-ever-after, Grace needed to keep 1.0 far, far away from Jake.
“Grace?”
“Huh?”
“You know I was joking, right?”
She froze in mid-yoga-pants wiggle. “You were?”
He gave a soft laugh. “Jesus, Grace. What do you think of me?”
“I think you’re a dedicated bachelor who’s never been in a real relationship and has no interest in trying.”
“I see. Then what is it that we’re doing here?”
Her heart began to pound. “We’re posing as a couple for the sake of the story?”
Grace 2.0 nodded in agreement.
“And the sex?” Jake asked.
“Is excellent.”
“It is. So is the rest of it.”
Grace dropped her blouse in the dry-cleaning pile. “What are you trying to say here, Jake?”
He made a little sound of exasperation. “This phone call is not going as planned.”
“You had a plan?”
“Yes,” he grumbled. “I was trying to ask you over for Chinese food.”
“You want to have dinner together? At your place?” Grace 1.0 tittered. They’d always hung out at her place, and this definitely marked the first time he suggested she come over. It felt important somehow.