Page 14 of The Sweet Life

“Really.” She raised her eyebrows. “Come again?”

“Seriously?” He shook his head as he levered himself up on his elbows, groaning at the blinding pain that accompanied the movement, and then flopped back onto the pillows, pressing his palm to his eyes. “Come again, as in ‘repeat yourself.’” He spread his fingers to look at her from behind his hand. “We didn’t have sex, did we?”

She made a frustrated sound in her throat, which was surprisingly sexy, and then grabbed the pillow from under his head and hit him with it. “You just said we didn’t!”

“I know, but when I said it, I didn’t notice you were wearing my T-shirt and no underwear.”

The pillow came down on his face again. “I’m wearing underwear!”

“Good, that’s good. Now stop with the yelling and the hitting.” He reached up and grabbed the pillow from her. “I’m ninety-five percent sure we didn’t do anything… Why are you making that face?”

“I think maybe we did… something.”

He was a little insulted with the face she was making at the thought of them doing… something. “What do you think we did?” he asked while digging through his own alcohol-impaired memories of the night before.

She walked to a chair in the corner of the room and picked up her blouse and skirt. “I was eating ice cream and dropped some on my top.” She held it up as evidence.

“I think I remember.” He’d teased her about eating ice cream with tequila, laughing when she’d upended half of the bowl on herself while attempting to replicate Tom Cruise’sRisky Businessdance move across the linoleum-tiled floor wearing a pair of Alice’s crocheted purple slippers.

He’d stopped laughing when Sage started taking off her top. Then he’d started taking off his T-shirt to cover up all her lush curves before he did something he’d regret. They’d regret.

Her eyes met his. “We kissed,” they said at almost the same time.

“It was a short kiss and completely unmemorable,” she added, with more emphasis on theunmemorablepart than he thought was necessary.

“Completely,” he said, refusing to be the one to concede that parts of the kiss were memorable now that he was more awake and the drunken haze was clearing from his brain. “Uh, now that I think about it, there might have been some…” He cleared his throat. “Touching involved.”

“It was the tequila.” She looked up from the blouse clutched in her hand. “We will never talk about this again. Not a single word.”

“Talk about what?”

Her lips twitched with an almost-smile as she headed toward the door with her clothes in her hand. Then she turned so fast, he felt like she’d not only given herself whiplash but given it to him too. “How can you be so blasé about this? We kissed, and we, uh, kissed, and you’re married!”

“Wow, you really do have a low opinion of me if you think I’d kiss you if I was still married.”

“It has nothing to do with my opinion of you. We were emotional and had too much to drink. Things happen.”

“Trust me, if I was still married, it wouldn’t matter how much I had to drink. I wouldn’t have kissed you.”Or touched you, he silently added.Or been within five feet of you when you looked as heartbroken as I felt.They’d needed each other. There was nothing more to it than that.

“So how not-married are you?” She sighed when he gave her a look. “You know what I mean, Jake. Are you on a break? Recently separated?”

“Our divorce was finalized fifteen months ago,” he said as he moved to the side of the bed, still bitter at how his marriage had ended. He had a compulsive need to succeed but there had been nothing he could do or say to change his ex’s mind. So he’d taken Alice’s advice and let his wife go without a fight. In the end, he supposed it had worked out for the best. They still had a great relationship, and his ex had moved on with her work husband, who was now a stay-at-home dad to their nine-month-old son. “Happy now?”

“You don’t have to be a jerk about it. I’d just remembered you were married and felt bad that we’d been—” She wavedher hand at the bed and then apparently noticed he was about to get out of it, and her leaf-green eyes widened. “No. You stay right where you are. My mother is out there.” She angled her head at the sound of cupboards opening and closing. “Mom, stop snooping.”

“I wasn’t snooping,” Gia yelled back. “I’m setting the table. Hurry up. You too, Jake. Your breakfast is getting cold, and it’ll soon be time for lunch.”

“She totally came here to spy on us,” Sage muttered. “She knows I don’t eat breakfast.”

“Well, I do, and whatever she brought smells great.” He moved past her to grab his jeans, grinning at the way she tracked his every move. “See something you like?”

“I, uh…” She dragged her gaze to his face and tossed her hair, ruining what no doubt she’d meant to be a contemptuous act by making a pained groan while pressing her fingers to her temple. “You’re not all that.”

“I’m disappointed. You were famous for your put-downs, and that was just… lame.”

“I’m sorry if I’m off my game. I’m having a hard time working up contempt when I’m this hungover…” She slowly lowered herself onto the bed. “And sad.”

He joined her, cursing himself for being an idiot and then cursing the waterbed when she ended up on his lap. “I’m sorry. It was a stupid thing for me to say to you.” He eased her off his lap while holding her upright with his hand. “I shouldn’t have teased you, not now.”

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