Page 7 of Loving Jake

“You’re what?” he replied in complete disbelief.

Kimberly tucked a stand of hair behind her ear. “Please, Jake, I’m in no mood to explain. All I want right now is something to drink and to sit down. How about a beer?” Though not much of a drinker, she kept a six-pack of Stella in the refrigerator for guests that sounded inviting at the moment.

“Sure.” He paused to stare sharply into her eyes before he followed her into the kitchen.

“Now, you want to explain to me what you meant by painting my room?” He reached for the beer she held out to him, his eyes hard and unrelenting.

Kimberly squirmed under his scrutiny but refused to respond.

“Kim, you had no intention of subletting a room to me or anyone else, did you? Carly made the whole thing up. Am I right?”

Kimberly stared mutely into her bottle of beer, too tired to make up an excuse in either her sister’s or her own defense.

Jake sat down across from her at the small kitchen table, and she squirmed in her seat as he searched her face. He leaned over and nudged her chin up tenderly with his thumb and then shook his head. “Why didn’t you tell me when I was here the other day, Kimberly? Why didn’t you tell me that Carly had made up the whole thing?” He tilted his headslightly to the side and looked at her, the expression in his eyes puzzled.

“I, you, you needed a place to stay,” she told him. It’s also my opportunity for you to finally notice me, to fall in love with me, she silently added. Although, if she looked as bad as she thought she did, her plan had already backfired on her. “I, it’s, okay. I look much worse than I feel. A shower and some sleep should keep me from scaring you tomorrow.” She laughed nervously.

Jake’s firm mouth curved slightly upward at the corners before he released her chin from his grasp. He leaned back against the chair, his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes still locked on her.

Kimberly straightened. “Is, ah, everything okay?”

He considered her for a moment, his amber eyes focused on her face. He blinked several times and then he shook his head. “I’ve been on my own for a long time.” He stopped to stare at a random space on the floor. “I’m not used to someone doing something nice for me, who wasn’t paid to do it.”

He raised his eyes and returned her gaze with a hooded expression. “Zane and I see each other on the rare holiday, and, well, Gramps is there for me but he’s almost eighty-six years old and not doing well.” His eyes softened, became less intense, and he uncrossed his arms. He wiped the palm of each hand down a pant leg and then smiled back at her. “I’m sorry, I’m rambling.”

“Jake, it’s okay, I wanted?—"

“Kim,” he interrupted. “Whatever your reasons, I’m grateful. I really am desperate for a place to stay, and you helped me when you didn’t have to. However,” he began with a threatening arch of a thick eyebrow, “while I’m staying here, any work that needs to be done, particularly something like painting my room, will be done by me. I will not sit on the couch watching television while you fix up the house, so forget it. And don’t evensay it. I’m a chauvinist, and I know it. Consider it a way of satisfying my insatiable male ego, but I will do the house repairs.”

“Jake,” she began with a renewed vigor, grateful for the turn of events in her favor. He planned to stay, he wasn’t angry with her for her small fib, and he had volunteered to do house repairs. Things were turning out better than she could have imagined, but she certainly didn’t have to let him know it, not yet. “I have been living on my own for six years and have done just fine, thank you very much. Anything I need done, I will do myself,” she finished with a triumphant gleam in her eye, hoping he would take the bait as her brother had done so many times in similar situations. She might as well kill two birds with one stone, she thought, and struggled to hold back a smile. She’d get free work, which meant Jake and she would spend more time together, and hopefully, with any luck, and perhaps a bikini or two, he would fall in love with her in the process.

“This is not negotiable Kim, so don’t even go there with me.” He pulled his cellphone from the front pocket of his jeans. “Tonight, there are only two things left for you to do before you are off to bed, and that is to get some food in you and to take a hot shower. So, while you are doing that, I will order us a pizza. Then, little Miss I- Can- Do- It- Myself,I will finish painting my room.” He bent his head over his phone and tapped several times on the screen.

“Jake, but I can’t?—"

He raised his head, the look in his eyes playful but the set of his jaw determined. “No buts about it. Now march up those stairs and into the shower while I order the pizza. Go!”

Kimberly stood up. “Fine. The truth is, I don’t care if I ever see another paint brush again.” And she hoped she didn’t, because all she wanted was to stand under the hot shower and never come out.

Jake set his phone down on the table and stood up. Shecaught sight of his rakish grin, and it shot through her like an arrow to her heart.

He reached out to her, placed a hand on each of her shoulders, turned her around, and gently pushed her toward the stairs. “Good, because the only thing you need to do right now is take a long, hot shower.”

“Okay, okay. If you insist, but I’m warning you Jake Taylor, I will not be bullied,” she called over her shoulder as she ran up the stairs, a mischievous smile curving her lips.

“I could smellthe pizza from my bedroom,” Kimberly exclaimed as she stepped out of the hallway and into the guest bedroom. She stopped in mid-step to take in the sight of Jake standing on a stepladder, his bare back facing her. She ran the tip of her tongue over her dry lips as she realized he must have removed his shirt to avoid getting paint on it. Her eyes glazed over, mesmerized by the strong muscles in his back contracting and relaxing with each stroke of the paintbrush. She couldn’t help but admire the way his jeans hung low and inviting on his narrow hips.

The thought of him turning around and facing her with his broad, naked chest terrified and excited her at the same time. She swallowed hard. Her entire body was suddenly melting inside. She hoped he’d assume that the flush crawling over her skin was because of the hot shower she had recently vacated and not her wayward lust showing its true colors.

“The box is over in the corner. I want to finish the last of this trim. Eat,” he told her without turning around. He continued to paint while she headed for the pizza.

“It smells wonderful,” she commented. She kneeled on the floor next to their dinner and pushed a hunk of her damp,black hair laying loose in a mass of curls, to the back of her shoulder. She sighed appreciatively as she opened the large pizza box.

“I hope you like mushrooms and green peppers?” He stepped off of the step stool and placed the paintbrush down on top of the paint can. After wiping his hands on a rag, he joined her on the floor.

“Nice pajamas,” he remarked with a nod at her baggy sweatpants and extra-large Stanford T-shirt.

She swallowed a bite of pizza and smiled at him. “I typically wear a black leather teddy to bed, but unfortunately it’s at the dry cleaners.”

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