Jake cursed. “I’m giving Lisa a raise. Maybe she’ll buy a new car.”
Spencer laughed and started toward the door leading into the house. “Come on, Tara made a pitcher of tea.”
“Mmm, I love her tea. She loads it with sugar.”
Spencer pushed into the kitchen and went straight to the refrigerator. “That woman knows how to keep a man happy, that’s for sure.”
Jake held back the envy that threatened to engulf him every time he thought of how happy Tara made Spencer. Their marriage wasn’t perfect, but they were in love and they had Lisa. Jake had thought he’d have that kind of bliss with Sarah. Her death had cheated him. It’d taken him a while to get over the anger and resentment, to realize life went on. Unbidden, a
n image of Roni slipped into his mind. How she looked that morning when he’d kissed her awake and fed her the omelet he’d whipped up. Her silky blond hair all tousled from sleep, her pretty lips swollen from his kisses. What would it be like to wake up to that every morning?
“Earth to Jake?”
Jake pushed the thought away and took the glass of tea his brother handed him. “Sorry, I’m a little out of it this morning.”
“Yeah, I picked right up on that.” Spencer pulled out a chair and sat, then pointed to the chair across from him. “Sit down and tell me who put that dreamy look on your face.”
Jake pulled out the chair and straddled it. He tossed back half the glass of tea in an attempt to extinguish the blaze raging inside him. He could go to her now. Take her in his arms and kiss her from head to toe. She’d let him too. Roni wasn’t an easy lay, but for him, she’d opened up. Like a pretty little tulip in the spring sunshine, she’d bloomed.
“Dr. Roni Smart,” he mumbled.
“Smart,” Spencer said, frowning. “Isn’t that the porn lady?”
Jake slammed his glass on the table. “She’s not the porn lady. Hell, she didn’t even know about the videos until I showed her. She has someone using her computer as their own personal playground. We’re trying to catch the perv.”
“So, you’re helping the damsel in distress. What’s that got to do with your absentminded professor routine this morning?”
“We went to dinner last night and…”
“You went home with her? A client?” Spencer thumped his fist against the surface of the table, causing the salt shaker to tumble over. “Damn, Jake, what the hell were you thinking?”
Jake reached over and righted the salt shaker. “It’s not like that. She’s different.” He rubbed a hand over his face, wishing he could put a finger on his feelings for Roni. “She makes me laugh. She drives me right up the wall with her attitude. She’s antagonistic and sweet and smart and sexy enough to melt my damn fillings. She makes me crazy. Fuck I just met her!” Spencer watched him, his narrowed gaze assessing. It made Jake crazy when he got that intense, quiet expression. “What? Spit it out.”
“I haven’t heard you talk like that about a woman since…well, ever.”
A blast of ice hit him square in the chest and chilled him to the bone. “Don’t get any ideas. Roni and I…it’s not like what Sarah and I had.”
“Of course not. Sarah was special, Jake. You were so sweet on her I don’t think your feet even touched ground when you were married. But I’ve not heard you talk about a woman since her death either.”
“Christ, I’ve been with women since Sarah. It’s not as if I’ve lived the life of a monk.”
Spencer sat back in his chair, stretching his legs out in front of him. “You’ve had sex, dumbass. You never once came to me asking for advice about it either.”
“That’s not why I’m here now.” The hair on the back of Jake’s neck stood on end as the truth of his brother’s words sank in. Damn it, Spencer always did have a way of seeing through the bullshit.
“Yeah, it is,” he muttered. “You just met her and yet you have feelings for her. It’s scaring you shitless too. I can see it on your face.”
Jake wanted to tell him to go to hell. It’d be easier. It wouldn’t help his situation, but he’d feel loads better. Spencer was right. Deep down Jake had known the truth nearly from the moment he’d met Roni. She was different than other women. It was like coming out of hibernation. She’d tossed her blond head and looked down her pert nose at him and he’d come alive.
“I should’ve sent a tech to fix her damn computer.”
Spencer laughed. “And take the chance of having some other jerk making time with her?”
The thought of one of his employees touching Roni, kissing her sweet lips, petting her hot little cunt tore a growl of rage from Jake’s chest. “No one touches her computer but me,” he bit out.
“Figured as much.” Spencer stood and took his glass to the sink. After rinsing it and setting it on the counter, he turned and said, “Now, the way I see it, you could sit here floundering around like a trout on a river bank or you could go to her and tell her how you feel.”
Jake stood and pushed in his chair. Tara hated when they forgot to push in their chairs. The woman was a neat freak. The image of Roni’s messy apartment had him grinning, until Spencer’s words reached his brain. “She’s not going to leap into my arms, Spencer. This isn’t a damn movie. Telling a woman you just met that you have deep feelings for her is bound to send her running for a restraining order.”