Page 27 of Winter's Surprise
His hand cupped the back of his neck as his eyes darted toward the stove and back to her. “I did go grab my things.”
“Jake, you told me where you live. How did you grab your things so fast? You’re not Superman or The Flash.”
His cheeks flushed, and she noted his hesitancy to answer. “I really hope this doesn’t make me sound like a jerk. Um… my bag was in my trunk.”
She couldn’t help but stare at him. “In your trunk?”
Jake shrugged and stared at her chin. “I really enjoy spending time with you, Elle. With the weekend here, I packed a bag just in case. I wasn’t planning on pushing you into anything that you weren’t ready for. I just figured this way I could spend as much time as humanly possible with you. You can send me home now if this is too pushy. I’m sorry.” Jake stepped back and ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m screwing this all up. This is too much, way too fast…”
She watched in shock as all the words tumbled out of his mouth, and he took another step to leave. A bubble of giggles formed in her belly before she was full-on cracking up.
“Wow… now your laughing at me. Great, maybe you should have just stabbed me with the knife after all,” he said, pointing at the offending object.
“No, Jake!” she managed to say before bursting into another fit of giggles.
His expression was clearly not one of amusement. He turned and began walking out of the kitchen. Michelle rushed forward and wrapped her arms around his waist. When he stopped, she moved to his front and cupped his face.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh at you.”
“Yeah you did.”
She took a breath to help calm another fit of giggles threatening to burst through. If she laughed again, she didn’t think she would see Jake again, and that wasn’t okay with her.
“Please stay?” she asked, hoping the simple statement would work.
“So you can laugh some more?”
She narrowed her eyes on him. “No. Look, I wasn’t expecting any of this to happen. I’m flattered you were hoping to stay. Apparently, great minds think alike. I just didn’t expect your flustered words. They were something I could imagine myself saying was all. Our roles were reversed. Now, please stay with me?”
“Only if you feed me,” he joked.
Michelle laughed and placed a chaste kiss on his lips before returning to the stove. She watched Jake walk out of the kitchen before carrying a small duffel bag into her room.
When he returned, he offered to help her cook. They worked side by side, and she realized that while she enjoyed cooking, she loved doing it with Jake even more.
