Love the One You're With (Sex, Love & Stiletto 2)
Page 55
“Because we agreed not to?”
“Try again.”
Because it’s too special.
But she didn’t say it out loud. She didn’t want to be wrong. Not about this.
“Because it was real,” he said. “We may be trying to trip each other up all over the place these past few weeks, but even though we both want to win, we know some things are sacred.”
Then why haven’t you tried to take it beyond kissing? 1.0 wanted to ask.
Jake had definitely not been beating down her door to get into her pants. Which was polite, and gentlemanly, and totally depressing.
Just once she wanted to be that woman that drove men crazy. She wanted to be the irresistible sexy one, not the nice, classy one.
She’d told that to Greg once. She’d had one too many glasses of chardonnay and confessed that she sometimes she wished her life was just a little bit messy, the sex something other than vanilla.
He’d just given her a small smile before taking away her wineglass and tucking her into bed.
The next morning she continued being the one whom people consulted about bridal shower gifts and who received lovely but generic jewelry for her birthday.
“You like beer?” Jake asked.
“What?” Grace asked, not at all following his train of thought.
“There’s a brewery up the road. They give tours and have a nice little tasting area.”
“You’re inviting me to a brewery tour?”
Jake laughed. “You can say no, Grace.”
“No! I mean yes! Yes, I’d like that.”
“Yeah?”
She shrugged. “I mean, don’t expect me to wow the tour guide with all my beer knowledge, or buy a case or anything, but yeah … that sounds fun.”
His mouth tilted up as he signaled for the check. “I bet nobody’s ever asked you to play hooky before, huh?”
The playful question was too close to the thoughts that had been spiraling through her mind just seconds before, and she heard herself answering too seriously.
“Nobody has. And I like it.”
He looked at her then, really looked at her, his eyes understanding.
“Don’t look at me like that,” she said, trying to break the moment. “I’m so not having sex with you just because you take me to some rinky-dink beer tour.”
The cocky grin returned immediately. “I don’t recall asking, Ms. Brighton, but believe me, this little thing we have will end with us in bed one way or the other.”
Grace felt her heart drop to her stomach before it soared back up and lodged in her throat.
“You think so?” She was trying for coy, but instead it came out sultry.
He stood and extended a hand for hers. “Count on it.”
Chapter Sixteen
Though they’d never explicitly talked about it, neither one of them wrote about that day in the stairwell.