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Once they were seated on the sofa, he cocked an eyebrow. “What happened to upset you? Do you want to tell me about it?”
She took a big gulp of her drink before she nodded. He might have to slow her down with that. She wasn’t much of a drinker and just one of those usually made her giggly. He didn’t want it to act as a depressant if she was already upset.
“Okay. I’ve been wondering where to start and needing you to answer some questions and feeling bad about what this might mean for you at work.”
He frowned. He hadn’t expected that this would have anything to do with work. He didn’t interrupt, though, just waited for her to continue.
“I decided that I should tell you exactly what happened first, and then I need to ask you some questions. I know you’ll need to decide some things, too.”
He nodded, wanting to ask her to get to the point, but determined not to rush her.
“Okay, so when I left school today, I didn’t want to make you rush home from work just for me.”
He reached for her hand. He wanted her to know that he’d been waiting to rush home. But he let her go on.
“And I wanted to do something nice for you. I wanted to cook for you, but Elena does that so … So, I decided I could bake you a cake. I hope you like pineapple upside-down cake because that’s what you’ve got.”
He smiled and nodded. He’d never heard of it, but it sounded great.
“Good. Anyway. At the grocery store, I ran into Jamie.”
Jacob scowled. He didn’t like that kid. Didn’t trust him as far as he could throw him. He made his decision there and then that he was going to call the agency who’d found him and ask them to send a replacement. He’d rather have Elliott come back, but he knew he was going through a tough time – and the time he had left with his father was growing short.
“He told me that I’d done a good job getting the Range Rover out of you – since you never used to let Selena drive it. When I asked him who Selena was, he said she was your old girlfriend and that he got to know her very well because you didn’t have enough time to give her the kind of attention she deserved. Then … he suggested that he could give me that kind of attention if you … if you didn’t have enough time for me. He made out like I was acting – pretending to be a nice girl – and that I should call him when I wanted to be … not nice.” She sucked in a deep breath. “He’s an asshole and I hate him. And I’m sorry because he works for you, and I know that you need him until Elliott can come back. But, Jacob, he is not a good person. And I don’t know about your old girlfriend, but it sounds like she cheated on you with him. And I need you to know that I would never. I didn’t want to tell you about this because it’s just horrible. And it’ll make things difficult for you with him working for you. But I couldn’t not tell you. That’d be lying. And we said we won’t lie to each other about anything. And if I kept it secret from you, I couldn’t feel as close to you. And … and I think that’s all.” She was breathing hard by the time she finished.
Jacob had gone through a whole range of emotions as he listened. He was angry as hell that little shit had dared to approach Becca. He was worried about what she might be thinking about Selena. He was grateful to her that even in the middle of it all, she was thinking about him and how this might affect him at work – if he was going to be a pilot down when he got rid of Jamie – and he was. But the overriding emotion that he couldn’t keep to himself anymore was a result of everything she made him feel. It was because of everything she’d just said, and everything she’d done, in showing that she trusted him, she cared about him, and she wouldn’t be anything but honest with him.
She bit the inside of her cheek as she looked into his eyes. “Are you going to say anything?”
He nodded and gave her a half-smile when he realized that he’d been lost in his thoughts for too long. “I am.”
“What?”
“I’m going to say…” Was he really going to say it right now? Yes, he was. “I’m going to say, I love you, Becca.”
Her eyes grew huge and shone with tears. “What?”
He chuckled. “You heard me. I love you. You’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever known. Thank you for telling me, thank you for trusting me, and yes, I will answer any questions you want to ask about Selena or anything else. But what I need you to know most of all is that I love you.”
Her hand had come up to cover her heart. “Wow!”
He chuckled again.
“Are you sure?”
“Becca,” he spoke in that stern tone and cupped his hand around the back of her neck to draw her closer. “I am one hundred percent certain.” He rested his forehead against hers and looked into her eyes. “If you don’t believe me, you can ask my sister. She knows – not because I told her, but because she figured it out all by herself.”
“She did? How?”
“Jamieisan asshole. And he’ll be gone tomorrow. And I’ll make sure that he never bothers you again.” He swallowed back the anger that surged up and forced himself to smile again. “But he was right about one thing. I never let Selena drive the Range Rover. I never let anyone drive it. Not Hannah, not Xander, not Slade – not anyone. When Hannah found out that I was letting you use it – for as long as you want it – she knew.”
Becca was smiling at him now. “Thank you. I’ve always been the same way with Fred. I only let Slade drive him because it meant that I got to go home with you.”
Jacob pressed a kiss to her lips. “I didn’t know that. But it means a lot.”
She pressed her nose against his. “If the Range Rover is that important to you, I should probably tell you what I did to him.”
Jacob tried not to tense. Whatever the damage was, it could be fixed.
