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“Thanks,” I tell her with a smile, after I’ve downed a large gulp of beer. “You didn’t wait for me to eat, too, did you?”
Alex blushes and shakes her head. “I did. I may have munched the whole time I was making the salad so I wasn’t super hungry. I figured I could keep you company while you eat, if that’s okay with you, of course.”
“Hell yeah. That’s fine with me,” I take another drink then pass the bottle back to Alex. “Sit that on the counter for me, please? I’m going to take a quick shower and change out of my work clothes. I’ll be back and then we can find something on tv and enjoy this salad you made.”
“Okay,” her face lights up. “I’m not stealing your bed, by the way. And I used the guest bathroom when I showered earlier. I’ll sleep on the couch.”
“Like hell you will, Alex. No way in hell I’m making you sleep on the couch.”
She brushes me off. “You’re not making me. We can argue about this more when we eat.”
“Oh, we will,” I warn her. Meanwhile I’m already hard at just the thought of volleying back and forth with her.
At least I’m in my own damn house and can take the edge off without feelingtooguilty about it.
And so I do. I reluctantly leave Alex and head upstairs to the master suite where I quickly strip down and toss my clothes in the hamper before climbing in the shower and relieving some of the built up sexual tension flowing through my veins.
Temporarily settled, I quickly scrub up and rinse off so that I can get back downstairs to my house guest.
Thank fuck that today is Friday and I’m not the guy on-call this weekend. Sucks for my Assistant Manager, but it was his turn on the rotation and Jeremy can absolutely handle it. That’s why he’s my right hand guy.
Drying off, I slip on a pair of gym shorts then head back downstairs.
FIVE
ALEX
Hanging out at Jake’s house while he was at work, surprisingly, felt a lot less awkward then I thought it would. I felt..safe. Welcome. Like I was in my own home. Okay,thatmight be pushing it but I’m mostly comfortable here.
And that couch that Jake claims I’m not going to be sleeping on? It’s amazing. I don’t know where he found it but it feels like a cloud. A million times better than the stuffy and stiff sofa at my parents house.
Jake’s house gives off a whole vibe. Like it’s made to be lived in. Like MeMaw’s house but with a little more modern flair.
While I wait for him to finish in the shower, I make two hearty bowls of salad and gather two more beers and bottle water for each of us.
I hear his footsteps behind me as I’m setting everything on the coffee table. When I turn around and catch a glimpse of him standing there watching me, with nothing but a pair of shorts on, I almost forget how to speak.
Jake has absolutely nothing on the heroes on the cover of romance novels. Nor does he lookanythinglike my ex-husband. Where my ex was scrawny and full of scars from bull riding, Jake was thicker and the only visible mark on his skin was a tattoo over his heart with Evi’s name at the center of it. Looking at him, I began to fully understand the appeal of a Dad-Bod.
“Everything okay?” The smug bastard has the nerve to ask.
“Yep,” I manage to squeak.
“The salad looks great. Did you grab forks?”
“Uh, not yet.”
“I’ll get them,” he grins, walking into the kitchen and pulling out two forks. “You really didn’t have to wait for me to eat.”
“Add it to the list of things you think I don’t have to do,” I immediately opt for ruffling his feathers.
Jake shakes his head and grumbles under his breath.
“Nothing to say, Jake?”
“I’ve got plenty to say…” and I’m sure he’s about to but his stomach chimes in with a growl first. “Right after I stuff my face.”
Jake kicks back right in the middle of the sofa, leaving me no option for putting space between us. So, I pick a corner and curl up, reaching for my salad.
