Page 21 of Seven Minutes In Heaven
“You make it sound like you kept writing characters like that in the hopes I would audition for them.”
Jake shrugged. “Maybe so. A little. Watching you on screen so many times may have opened my mind to how lovely you are.”
“Please, stop.” Claire curled her fingers against the window. “You keep making it sound like that you already…”
He was right behind her, his voice hitting her in the back of the head. “I was already attracted to you when we officially met in the flesh, yes. Trust me, I wasn’t a big fan of our situation either.”
“Our situation, huh?”
“You marrying my father. Us clearly being attracted to one another.”
Claire slowly turned around. “How did you feel when you heard about it?”
“I was the first person he told after you accepted his marriage proposal. I was… confused, to say the least. Not only how you two knew each other, but why… I felt… damn.” He laughed. Did he find this funny? Was he more interested in making fun of Claire than clearing up this polluted air? “I felt conflicted because I wanted you first. I saw you first. Didn’t he realize that? Was my father punishing me for something? How had he even known that I watched your movie repeatedly? How could he possibly have known that I would’ve asked you out in an instance if I ever had the chance to meet you? I wished every day that you would have a better career, so we would have an excuse to meet. To think, today could’ve been my big chance, assuming we hadn’t met like we had.”
“Just admit it, Jake.” Claire crossed her arms. “You were already in love with me.”
“Perhaps so. Now you’re to be my stepmother.”
“And you’re to be my stepson.”
“The reasons for an affair are innumerable, yet the big reason to avoid it overshadows them all. I think this will be the plot of the next movie I write.”
“Who said anything about an affair? It was a onetime thing, Jake. It shouldn’t have even happened.”
“You’re right. It shouldn’t have. Yet it did. So here we are.” Jake took one step closer. “You’re throwing up during auditions, and I’m still thinking you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
“It’s wrong.” Claire couldn’t bear to look at him. Not his own shame on his handsome visage, and not his sizzling aura that was hotter than the Californian sun beating against the apartment windows. “No matter how you look at it, it’s wrong. I could break up with your father right now, and it wouldstillbe wrong.”
“You know how it goes in the movies, Claire. Sometimes what’s the worst thing ends up being the hottest and most unavoidable.”
“Don’t you dare.”
“Dare what?”
Kiss me.Claire sucked in her lips to prevent them from searching out his. Yet how could she deny how much she wanted to kiss him again? This man had all but admitted to being in love with her, and they barely knew each other!Was that story about my movie true? Or is he some kind of sociopath sowing discord with his own father?Claire hated how conflicted she was. This should have been cut and dry. She should have had the spine to turn down Jake Carter’s advances.This whole time, I thought thatIwas the one advancing on him.Wasn’t she the one who seduced him, not the other way around? Why oh why hadn’t she gone after some other man at the party?
Perhaps the reason they were so attracted to one another came straight from the movies they loved so much.It’s fate.
Had Jake wished hard enough to meet Claire that the universe finally made it happen, albeit in the worst of ways? It wasn’t fair. If they had met today instead of before… to think it could have happened without being involved with Arthur… would he really have asked her out? Vomit and all?
Did Claire have any say at all in this supposed fate? Or was her will left up to the machinations of the universe? One man named Jake Carter?
What if you’re the man I’m supposed to be with, Jake?
What if?
“I’m not going to lie to you, Claire.” Jake’s hands formed fists at his sides, as if he couldn’t hold back the emotions flooding the space between them. “When I heard that you were engaged to myfather,I felt as if something had been ripped out of me. Not only was the situation preposterous, but it reminded me that there may be forces at work out there that I had no control over. Except Icancontrol my own actions. I can’t control whoyoumarry. I can only control how I react to that and what I choose to do.”
“How’s that?”
Jake cracked. He grabbed Claire by the hand and pulled her body toward his. Cologne, sweat, and the distinct scent of a man on the brink of madness overcame Claire as she ended up in his arms again. “Sometimes I don’t think I control things very well at all.”
Their lips were so close. Yet Claire knew that if they did kiss, they may never be able to split apart again. The affair would be official. They would both stand to gain so much from one another, but also risk losing everything that made them who they were in the outside world.
“If you’re counting on me to say no,” Claire said, swallowing the lump in her throat, “then I’m afraid you’re doomed to disappointment. Because I simply can’t say no when I feel this way.”
“How? How do you feel?”
