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“Where is your neighborhood?
I dug one of the business cards for the garage out of my purse and handed it to him.
“I’m there more than I am at my apartment so that works. Or maybe I’ll see you sometime when I’m picking up Samantha from work.”
He nodded. “Yeah, maybe.”
I sighed and shook my head. This exchange was one of the most awkward things I had ever experienced.
“Thank you again for what you did for my dad. I can’t adequately express what it means to me that you would have offered to help in the first place. If it hadn’t been for you and your money something awful might have happened to him. And I really do appreciate your kindness.”
Jake reached for my hand and it startled me, but he pulled me close and it wasn’t strange at all. In fact, it was the most natural thing about this entire conversation.
“I want you to know that anything you need, ever, you can ask me. I’ll always be around, whatever you need. Big, small…I don’t know—maybe you’ll need a booty call someday. I’m just a phone call away.”
I laughed at this. He did have a way of putting me at ease. “Thanks, Jake. Same goes for you, although…” I thought about all the girls back at the club, all the gorgeous women he had access to. It was doubtful that Jake would ever be calling me for a booty call. “Never mind.”
I looked out the window in time to see the car pulling up and the driver hopping out to retrieve my bags. I tiptoed to kiss Jake on the cheek, but he turned and pressed his lips into mine.
“It was nice knowing you, Jake.” I slipped out of his arms and out the door and didn’t look back.
Chapter 10
The first day back in my apartment was lonely. Samantha was working all day and I was alone. I could have gone in to work at the garage, but I didn’t feel like it. Dad had everything covered anyway and he had brought Rodrigo back on to help with things. They could handle one more day without me.
I went to my room and began unpacking my bags. There were a few things I had come home with that were new. Jake had sent me with the collar, although I knew I would have no use for it. That was something that was strictly between the two of us. I couldn’t imagine getting into a relationship with another man who wanted me to wear a collar.
I stopped myself short. A relationship? What was I talking about? What I had with Jake Mesa was definitely not a relationship. It was an arrangement, something two consenting adults had agreed upon. We weren’t together and as far as I could see into the future, we never would be. If Jake was going to pick a time to reveal that he had feelings for me, that time had passed.
It was clear that he wasn’t there, no matter what I thought about the time we had spent together. How a man couldn’t be ready for a relationship at his age, I wasn’t sure. But why was I even thinking about this? I didn’t want that with him, did I?
“Taylor Dawson, you’ve got to figure out your own feelings before you start worrying about everyone else’s,” I said out loud as I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror. I looked the same as I did before I went to stay with Jake, but I definitely didn’t feel the same. What had happened to me there? I felt slightly more open and free, sort of liberated. But at the same time, I felt vulnerable—like I was just waiting for something to come crashing down on me. It was a foreign feeling and something I was having a lot of trouble reconciling with the person I had known before the deal with Jake.
Maybe I needed to go ahead and get out of the house. Getting back to work would be good, but my car was parked at the garage, so I was going to have to walk the three miles there. Good. I didn’t mind and the exercise would be nice. My body had gotten used to burning a certain number of calories per day and I would need to keep that up.
The walk was slow but nice, and I tried to take in all the beauty along the way to the garage. It was a nice road that led to the place where I used to live, lots of trees and older homes. Dad had picked a great place to start his business and I hoped that I would be able to put some work into it and keep it alive for years to come.
When I arrived at the garage I was surprised to see Jake’s car there and him leaning against it, staring off into the distance.
“What are you doing here?” I called, startling him. He turned to see me and offered a smile.
“It was a little lonely over at my place,” he said with a shrug.
I nodded. “Yeah, mine too. Samantha is working today and I was going to take the day off, but I figured I might as well jump back in.” I looked at him suspiciously. “But wait, you’re really here because you were lonely?”
“Well, I was lonely, but that’s not the only reason exactly.”
I felt a tiny raindrop hit my nose and looked up at the sky. There was a rainstorm moving in and we were going to be right in the middle of it.
“There was something I meant to give you before you left…or, well, I wasn’t sure when the right time was to give it to you, but it’s something I wanted you to have. Sincerely, from the bottom of my heart. This is yours.”
He handed me an envelope and I opened it to find a check.
“This can’t be right,” I said as I pulled the check out of the envelope. The rain started then, slow, but then picking up its pace.
“It’s right. I promise you it’s right. I want you to take it and do something that will make you happy.”
“Wait, what is this for?” I asked, not entirely sure what I was looking at. My brain could process what it was—a check for one hundred thousand dollars—but I didn’t understand why there was a second check. He had already paid for my father’s mistake, as had I. I had given up two months of my life and spent them with this man. I still wasn’t sure what he had gotten out of the experience, other than making me submit to him and letting him get that pleasure out of it.
