Page 30 of Hyde and Seek

“Me, too.”

Jake brought his hand up to cup my cheek.

I held my breath, silently willing him to kiss me again.

“Sweet dreams, Piper,” he rumbled, before turning and walking to his bike.

I was drunk enough to call out to him. Drunk enough to ask him to stay the night with me again. To want him to kiss me, to touch me, to make me feel wild.

I was sober enough, though, to know better.

So I did the smart thing and stayed quiet as I watched him leave.

If only the smart thing was also the fun thing.

Chapter Three

Groupie

When I woke up the next morning, I was surprised to see it was almost eleven. It’d been a while since I’d slept in so late. The best part was that I didn’t have to jump out of bed in a rush.

There were no cakes to bake or homework to do. I had to sketch some designs, but I already had some clear visuals in my head.

I grabbed my phone and burrowed back into my blankets to enjoy the rare opportunity to be lazy. I reviewed some waiting emails, but all of them were business that didn’t need to be taken care of right away. I clicked to check texts.

The first waiting message made me feel guilty.

Dana was one of the only people from my mother’s side of my life that I could stand. We weren’t close, but we were kind of friends. I’d been so caught up with cakes and school that I’d barely talked to her.

Dana:Wasn’t last night your date with the dreamy James? How’d it go?

Only Dana would describe James as ‘dreamy’.

Me:It wasn’t a date. Just dinner at my mother’s. We barely talked.

Dana:Are you seeing him again?

Me:He works for Thomas, I’m sure I’ll see him often.

Dana:You know what I mean. You’ve gotta hook him soon, Piper. I don’t even get how he’s still single. He’s young, he’s attractive, and he’s successful. Plus, he seems to tolerate your… you-ness.

Ahh, isn’t that what every chick dreams of? A guy who totally tolerates them for who they are. Excuse me while I start knitting booties for all the babies that we’re going to tolerate together.

Me:Yeah, he does seem to do that. Anyway, I gotta get in the shower. I’ll talk to you later.

Dana:We have to get together, maybe tonight?

Me:Probably not tonight, but soon.

Dana might be a friend, but hanging with her could be draining. She was competitive about everything and constantly needed to outdo everyone. Last time we’d had lunch, she’d switched between badmouthing her other friends, discussing her diet, and making constant mention of her money and shopping.

She wasn’t always the easiest person to hang out with but she’d never been quite this bad before. Unfortunately, she was unreceptive when I’d tried to gently broach the subject.

On my rare day off, I didn’t want to deal.

I switched to another message and did a giddy bounce when I saw it was from Jake.

Way to play it cool, Piper.

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