Page 89 of Crave

“Me neither. I’ll bring you dinner. Are you in the mood for anything special?”

“Nope. I’ll have something for you. I hope you’re not too late.” I lower my voice before I whisper, “I want to do things to you.”

This time, it’s Jake who groans. “I have to go to a meeting in five minutes. Behave,” he warns me. “I’ll see you tonight. You love me.”

“More than I love butter on my popcorn. You love me.”

“More than Monday night football.” I roll my eyes at the thought.

“Is that what I have to look forward to in the fall?” I hear my name being paged by the front desk. “Gotta go, baby. Love you.”

“Love you too, princess.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I say to myself as I open the bright yellow envelope I found in my mailbox. “No damn way.”

“Hey, are you coming over for leftovers?” Tash asks as she steps onto the porch. She eyes the envelope in my hand and looks up at my scowling face.

“Not tonight. Jake’s coming over later so I’m going to make something.”

Tash nods, but she points to the envelope. “What’s that?”

“You won’t believe it.” I hand it over to her and watch her expression change to shock as she reads it.

“You’re going!” she orders.

“Like hell, I will. I’m not going to the baby shower of my boyfriend’s ex, and you wouldn’t either.” I snatch the invitation from her and stuff it in my purse. “If someone so much as mentions Chris’ ex-wife’s name, you go on a rant.”

“Two different scenarios.”

I ignore her and turn to go inside, but she grabs my elbow, spinning me around with too much force for someone so small. “What’s the problem? She’s married to someone else, and Jake loves you. He told our mother he loves you, and it’s obvious that he does. Show everyone that you don’t give a shit about his past. You’re his future.”

My head knows what Tash is saying to be true, but my heart refuses to understand it.

“I can’t think about this right now. Let’s talk about it later.” Without giving Tash time to respond, and without looking at her face, I walk inside my house, stuffing the damn invitation deep down into my purse.

It’s not until after nine that Jake finally arrives at my house. As soon as I open the door, his strong arms wrap around me, lifting me off the ground, ravishing my mouth and neck.

We eat a quick dinner before he practically carries me to the bathroom, leaving the kitchen a total mess.

“I’ll be gone through the weekend. I’m meeting with the owner and CFO on Thursday and Friday, but they invited me golfing over the weekend.”

We’re in my bed, which is considerably smaller than his California King, completely naked as we lay on top of the rumpled bedspread.

“Sounds like you’re going to be busy.”

He lets out a breath. “I am. As much as I want you to come with me, I’d be too busy to spend much time with you.”

“You can’t bring your girlfriend on business trips, Jacob,” I tease.

“How about I take my girlfriend away for another weekend? We can go to the Vineyard in a couple of weeks. Can you arrange to get Monday off? We can leave Friday night.”

I lay my head on his shoulder and think about his words. “That sounds nice. I’ve only ever been for a day trip. The hotels are either booked or too expensive during the summer.” The words slip out before I could think them through, and I mentally kick myself for mentioning the cost.

“I’ll show you around. We used to spend weeks at a time there in the summer when we were younger. One summer when we were teens, Troy followed the housekeeper’s daughter around like a lost puppy, but she wouldn’t give him the time of day. He finally got the message when he found her kissing her girlfriend. He was crushed, but when he finally got his head out of his ass, we spent the rest of the time hanging out together. I never told him this, but I was jealous of all the time he spent chasing after her.”

He speaks about his time with Troy reverently as he strokes my ribcage. I turn to my side to face him and run my fingers along his jawline through his facial hair. He closes his eyes and leans into my touch.

“You miss him, don’t you?” I ask.

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