Page 119 of Hyde and Seek

“Thank God for that,” I moaned, as he continued not resisting me.

*******

After his pleasant interruption, I finished up and got dressed.

When I went into the room, Jake was sitting on the bed with his back against the headboard and his legs stretched out in front of him. There was a present on his lap.

Biting my lip, I smiled at him. “I’d make a joke about the placement of that gift, baby, but the box iswaytoo small.”

Jake threw his head back and laughed as he moved the present onto the bed.

Watching him, hearing that laughter,feelingit, my heart felt like it was going to explode in the best possible way.

This man, my man, was so damn sexy. Gorgeous. Hell, even beautiful. His blond hair was down and slightly wavy, thanks to the impromptu shower. He was all angles and edges, including his personality, but he was soft for me.

Sweet.

Romantic.

Loving.

I ran across the room and jumped, landing with a bounce next to him on the bed. I threw my leg across his thighs to straddle him and weaved my hands into his hair. Pulling his lips to mine, I put everything I was feeling into the kiss.

“I love you, Jake,” I whispered against his lips.

“Love you, too, Piper. So damn much,” he whispered back. Leaning over, he snatched the present up. “Happy Birthday.”

“Oh, Jake,” I murmured while opening the light blue Tiffany’s box. “It’s…” I tried to take a calming breath, but it still shook. “Baby, it’s perfect.”

Inside the box was a beautiful charm watch. Dangling from the chained band was my birthstone, a coffee cup, a music note, a high heel, a cupcake, a car, a baseball, and a heart. Each charm was special to me. To us.

“I love it. Thank you.”

“I know you don’t wear jewelry often. So if you don’t—”

“You’re kidding, right? First of all, it’s gorgeous. Second, I’d wear anything from you.”

“Good to know. Next time I’ll make sure it’s somethin’ wild and sexy.”

When Jake went to get ready, I grabbed my bag and set up my laptop on the island in the kitchen. Opening and booting it up, I began sorting emails when I felt his lips behind my ear.

“What the fuck is that?” he snarled, standing up quickly.

“Prank emails. I just delete them.”

Because my email address was on my website and social media, it wasn’t unusual for me to get fake requests from assholes messing around. I’d even gotten the occasional dick picture or dirty message.

Lately, though, the frequency of junk messages had increased. They weren’t always outright vulgar or harassing. They were more…

Skeevy.

Instead of generic messages, they’d become more complimentary of my appearance. Since there were a few pictures of me on my site, plus the ones that had been in the paper, it wasn’t surprising that someone would know what I looked like.

It was still creepy as hell, though.

I always blocked the addresses, but it was easy for the pranksters to get new ones.

“That’s far from a fuckin’ prank, Piper. That shit is sick. Why haven’t you said anythin’?”

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