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Chapter Twenty-Five
Late the next morning, Desi heard a groan and a thump from the bedroom and figured Jake was finally awake. Pouring a mug of strong coffee from the coffee machine, she grabbed a box of tablets from her medicine drawer and headed back to check on him.
Jake was just crawling back into bed when she found him. "Kill me now!" he begged, pulling the covers up over his head as she opened the curtains.
"Here, drink this." She offered him the mug and sat down on the side of the bed when he propped himself up to take it.
Popping two of the painkillers out of their foil wrapper, Desi held them out to him. "Figured you'd need these, as well."
"Thanks," he muttered, sipping at his coffee and leaning back against the headboard.
"Now, finish that up and get yourself a shower. I'll make you some bacon and eggs. There's nothing like a fry up to cure a hangover." She laughed as she got up and headed for the door.
Jake just groaned.
An hour later, freshly washed and scrubbed and finishing his breakfast, he looked almost as good as new, even if he was dressed in his tuxedo trousers and a huge oversized purple sweatshirt of Desi's that stretched across his chest like a second skin. Well, beggars couldn't be choosers. At least it wasn't pink.
"I'm sorry about last night." He sighed, but Desi just laughed.
"Which bit are you sorry about?"
Jake smiled wryly into his fresh drink. "Yeah, it was all a bit of a…well, I'm not sure what you'd call it, really."
He looked up at her. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Joel and Anita. I only found out in a text from Connor, shortly before we arrived, and they weren't supposed to be there, so I didn't want to spoil your night."
Desi winced. "It's not your fault, Jake. I admit, it was a bit of a shock, coming so soon after…" she swallowed "…after the scene last week."
She traced the lines in the marble countertop with her finger. "Has he been seeing Anita long?" she asked hesitantly, not sure she really wanted to know the answer.
"No!" Jake exclaimed. "Not at all. The news of their engagement was just as much of a shock to me. Sure, she's always been around, but usually, Joel's constantly trying to dodge the bullet while his dad lines up the prospective brides…Anita being top of the list."
He crooked his fingers under her chin to look at him. "Besides, do you think any of us would have gone into that scene with him, knowing that he had a girlfriend stashed away somewhere?"
"Well, you might have if you saw me as a threat to the two of them," she said quietly.
"Like hell, we would!" Jake scowled, dropping his hand.
"You were the best thing that ever happened to Joel, and I would have told him he was looking in the wrong direction if I'd known Anita was on his radar.
Desi shrugged. "Some things just aren't meant to be, Jake. It's just life. All we can do is pick ourselves up and move forward. Last night isn't going to stop me doing that. Nothing is, anymore. In fact, if anything, it's made me stronger."
She looked up at him once more, a genuine smile lighting her eyes. "I reckon I slayed all my demons with one stone last night, so I figure if I can handle that, I can handle anything. "I'm looking forward to the future, Jake. Honestly. Maybe for the first time in eleven years."
Jake smiled back at her and stood, pulling her to her feet and into a hug. "Good," he said, looking down at her. "Because I've got a proposition that I want you to consider for your future."
"Business?" she asked.
"Not exactly," Jake said, cupping her cheek. "Marry me."
It wasn't a question and it wasn't an order, and for a moment, Desi was stunned. More than a moment. She opened her mouth to deny him and then closed it again without saying anything.
Jake stayed quiet and just looked at her earnestly, holding her loosely in his arms… arms that were constantly comforting her, protecting her.
Desi's gut instinct was to say no, but surely, that was the impulsive part of her that she was always trying to tame. She needed to think about this properly.
"You don't love me, Jake." she hedged. She needed to tread carefully here.
"Of course, I do, Desi. We may not share the passion that you had with Joel, but you mean more to me than any woman who has ever been in my life, and that includes the ones I've had serious relationships with."
