Love the One You're With (Sex, Love & Stiletto 2)

His head snapped back slightly at her cavalier tone.

That’s right, 2.0 said with a little sneer. We don’t need your lame-ass comfort.

“Costa Rica.”

“That’ll be great!” she said, knowing her voice probably stank of insincerity. But really? Really? A whole other continent?

He nodded. “Yeah. Cassidy has connections that got me a sweet deal at a brand-new resort. It’s pretty cushy.”

For a second Grace’s heart lifted. A resort? She’d sort of been imagining some kind of rustic backpacking adventure, but a cushy resort sounded … romantic.

Was that why he was here? Was he asking her to tag along with him?

And would she go?

“I leave Thursday,” he said, his eyes not quite meeting hers.

Her hopes came crashing down. I leave Thursday. Singular pronoun. Got it. “Thursday, wow. That’s … soon.”

Jake nodded. “I’ll have to miss the baseball game.”

Wow, this just keeps getting better.

“All the better for you, right?” she said. “Now you don’t have to break your pact with yourself and set foot in the evil stadium. Ever going to tell me what that’s about, by the way?”

His lips pressed together, and he remained silent.

“Right. Well, I guess it doesn’t matter now anyway. It’ll be one of those sexy little mysteries I can take away from my time with Jake Malone.” She gave him a sassy little smile to let him know that this was all good with her, even though she wasn’t entirely sure she wasn’t about to vomit.

He ran a hand through his hair and gave a harsh little laugh. “You know, I’ll admit you’re not responding like I thought.”

She tilted her head as though confused. “Oh?”

“Yeah, I thought you’d be, you know, more … upset.”

Grace shrugged. “Well, I know we said we were going to try the one-man/one-woman sort of thing, but we’re adults. We understood that only meant faithful as long as we were together. It’s not like we agreed to a certain time commitment. Right?”

His eyes flared then, and he opened his mouth as though to argue, but shut it just as fast before tipping his head back in acknowledgment. “Right.”

She pushed herself away from the desk, smile fixed firmly in place. “So, we’re good then? No hard feelings?”

“Nope. Just good memories.”

“Great memories.” She forced a grin.

He nodded again, and she realized that if she didn’t end this soon, they’d spend the rest of the afternoon nodding and fake-smiling at each other.

Jake looked torn between confusion and relief, and it was the relief that hurt the most. What had he expected, that she’d throw herself at his feet and beg him not to go?

Apparently he hadn’t gotten the memo from 2.0. She was done being “poor Grace.” Done letting her happiness be dependent on a man. Turned out 2.0 had been right all along.

“So … still on for lunch?” he asked, his casual tone as fake as her smile.

“Actually, I’ve got a lot to do here,” she said, gesturing lamely at her computer. “And since things are sort of wrapping up, it might be easiest if we just sort of call it, you know?”

“Call it.” His voice turned flat.

“Yeah, no need to keep up appearances. I mean, you’ll be gone in three days.”