Page 93 of Hyde and Seek

I glared at him, my temper rising. “Why are you being a jerk? I’m here with you.”

“Oh, so if I wasn’t around? I could leave if that’d make it easier for you to work the room.” He lowered his hands and stepped back. His shoulders were tight as his fists clenched by his sides.

“You’re being an ass. Come find me when you calm down.” I shifted to leave but Jake moved back into my space.

“James,” he sneered, “tucked your hair behind your ear. Do you know how intimate that is? How it felt to watch that? And Blake? I can’t even go there again. You stood there and let them touch you, Piper. Why?” His hands slammed back on the wall, punctuating the word as his body pressed close to mine.

“Jake, I didn’t—”

“You don’t care when we don’t see each other. I called you yesterday, fuckin’ hatin’ that I had to cancel, but you were totally fine with it. Christ, you couldn’t even call yourself my woman on the way here. Obviously, you’re still free and available to do what you want.”

Oh yeah, poke the bossy bear with a sharp fuckin’ stick.

“Are you serious? No, are youfuckin’serious? You’ve never said you were my boyfriend or anything, either,” I pointed out.

“I told you it was only you for me.”

“What? When?”

“Before the first time. I said it was only you and asked if you knew what I was sayin’.”

“I thought that meant you were only gonna be having sex with me.”

“No. It’sonlyyou.”

“I’m not a mind reader, Jake. How was I supposed to know that?”

“I showed you—”

“Wait! Was that what all that shit was last night? You’re more than a replaceable dick to me. I missedyou, not just hungry and energetic. But you’re busy, and I get that. I’m not gonna bug out on you about your job. That’s not cool.”

“You’re—”

“We are… well,wereawesome. I didn’t need a title to make it official because I was already there. You wanna put labels on us, we’ll put labels on us. I’ll buy a freakin’ label maker and label the hell out of us. But you know I’m yours. I’ve told you that over and over.”

“When?”

“During sex.”

“Yeah, exactly. While my dick’s in you and I’m makin’ you come. Even then I’m promptin’ you to say it. Not once have you said it on your own. And then you wonder why I’d think I was a replaceable dick to you. I’m not a mind reader either.”

As much as I hated to admit it, he had a point. Just because he seemed to know all my secrets didn’t mean he actually did.

My shoulders slumped as I lost some of my anger. “Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh.”

“You’re right. I guess I just thought you knew how I felt. That you’d figured it out because of… well, everything.”

Just like that, I could feel the tension leave his body. His eyes went warm and soft, though no less intense. “You’re my woman?”

I stayed silent, staring beyond him, unseeing, as I worked through my anger and hurt at what he’d said.

Blowing out his breath, he ran his palm down his face before bringing it up to rub the back of his neck. “Shit. I really fucked up. Let my temper get to me. I’m sorry.”

“You’re an ass.”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “I’d never be embarrassed by you. The way I see other guys lookin’ at you? Them talking to you as soon as I walk away? That’s why I wanted you to stick close to the guys.”

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