The words taste bitter in my mouth, and I wish it weren’t true. I really don’t know where this is going or what’s going to happen. I mean, I know that we declared our love on national TV. But there’s a lot to consider. Jake’s show has a full lineup for the rest of the season. I don’t know if I can deal. Or what he wants for the future.
“Whatever, Layla. Don’t be stupid.”
“Excuse me?”
She gives me a look like she can’t be fooled. “Don’t even try that with me. You two are obviously in love.”
“I do love him,” I admit. “I realized that. And he said he loves me, too. But I’m not sure where we go from here. With his show picking back up…it’s complicated. And he’s not ever been the relationship type.”
“Until he is.”
I frown. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just that I’ve seen the way he looks at you. You can’t tell me that man isn’t crazy about you.”
“Yeah. That’s how it seems.” I know he cares, but we haven’t talked about where this is going. A relationship might be too much of a leap. “Besides, I don’t know what’s going to happen with us now that everything’s settled with the show. We were thrown together because of my investigation. What if it was just the circumstances we were in?” I don’t mention that him going down on a new girl every night makes me nauseous.
“Not a chance,” Lori says, waving her hand dismissively. “You two are perfect together.”
I think so too, but I just don’t know if we can make it work. It depends on if I’ll be able to handle him still doing the show. Or how Jake will react once he finds out how it makes me feel. At this point, anything could happen.
Jake
Two days after the roundtable episode that turned into the smuttiest event TV has ever seen, I’m sitting in my office with Toby when there’s a knock at the door.
“Come in,” I call out.
When Layla walks in, looking good enough to eat, a huge smile spreads across my face. I haven’t seen her since yesterday morning after we spent the full night fucking in every way possible. I’ve been so consumed with the show’s new direction that I worked all day and most o
f the night. Today’s been crazy busy too.
“Hey gorgeous,” I say, “what brings you here?”
She smiles. “I have some news for you.”
It’s good news from the looks of it. Layla takes a seat across the desk from me.
“Good to see you again, Layla,” Toby says with a smirk. Yeah, he definitely got quite the show from her last time he saw her.
She smirks right back, not the slightest bit embarrassed. “So we reached our final decision. The FCC has decided the show can continue in its current format. No fines or anything.”
Thank fuck.
I mean, I figured that would happen after the way everything went down (wink), but there are never any guarantees.
“Jake, I want you to know that even though things between us weren’t exactly professional, I did my due diligence. If I’d decided your show wasn’t fit to remain on the air, I would have recommended a cancelation.” She smiles softly. “But everything I discovered over the past few weeks has proven to me that the show really does serve the public good. You’re changing lives and making the world a better place.”
I stand up and come around the desk, pulling her to her feet and placing my hands on her face. She looks up at me so sincerely, and all I really want to do is kick Toby to the curb so we can get naked, but I don’t want to ruin this moment by only thinking with my cock.
“I’m glad you came around to my way of thinking,” I say. Then I grin because I realize that makes me sound like a cocky bastard.
She shakes her head and laughs, rolling her eyes.
“What I mean is that I’m glad you understand now where I’m coming from.”
“I get it. I really do.”
I know she does because I’ve seen how her mind has shifted in the past few weeks. Even though she was open about her own sex life, she had no clue how many women out there aren’t.