Grace runs past me as he bends down to scoop her up. “Thanks for taking her, Jake.” He looks over at me. “Glad to hear there’s no leak. See ya later.”
“Bye, Nina! Bye, Unkey Jake!” Grace is waving wildly, I wave back before closing the door.
Maybe her doll wasn’t a sign, maybe the fact that nothing is going right tonight is the real sign. I lean against the door and let out a moan of frustration.
“You okay, Sparky?” I look over at him.
“Just peachy keen. I mean, I busted my face, and then assumed your friend was the hired help. I’m just waiting to see what other ways I can make an ass out of myself tonight.” I run my hands through my hair in aggravation.
“Well, you do have a nice ass.” I give him a pointed look to let him know flattery will get him nowhere. “Chill out, dinner is done.” He walks toward me with two plates in his hand. “Table or couch?”
“Definitely couch.” I take the plate from him and thank him. Whatever this is it smells amazing. My plate is full of spaghetti and some sort of orange sauce. “What kind of sauce is this?”
“That’s a secret. Just call it Jake Juice.” What he says hits him, and I can see his face redden. I start to laugh and place the plate on the end table.
“I do not think that I am at a point in our, whatever this is, to eat Jake Juice.” He glares at me before joining me in laughter.
“It’s vodka sauce, just eat it.” With his ego officially wounded he grabs the TV remote shutting off the cartoons Grace left on.
I take a bite and it is delicious. “Where the hell did you learn to cook like this?”
“My mom always told me that a man that can cook is a man a woman would never kick out of bed. Wanna test that theory?” He wags his eyebrows at me, and I gently kick him with my foot. “Don’t start something you can’t finish.” There is a challenge in his eyes, and it excites me.
I wait a minute before kicking him once more; I catch him off guard though, and his fork slips smearing sauce all over his cheek. He looks over at me, and I start to laugh again.
Before I know it, my plate is being taken out of my hands and Jake is on top of me. I wriggle to try and get away but end up flat on my back his hands holding mine above my head. “This is funny?” he asks with a dare in his question.
“Hilarious.” I’m taunting him.
“You asked for it.” He dips his head and I think he is going to kiss me, my heart speeds up as he closes in. Then he turns his face wiping sauce all over my nose and forehead.
“Jake!” He continues his facial assault despite my screams for mercy. He stops moving and I look up at his virtually sauce free face. “I’m gonna kill you.”
“Oh yeah? I guess I’ll have to keep you like this forever then, huh?”
I buck trying to throw him off of me when I accidentally press my core against him. He’s hard and from that quick feel, he is huge. I start to panic. I’m getting too close too quickly. I’m getting so comfortable with him that I’m putting myself in these compromising positions. Why does he pull me in like this? I have no idea what makes him different, but he is. I have had no problem keeping any other guy at arms length and being just fine with it, not Jake.
I don’t know if he can sense my mood change, but he eases himself off of me and stands up. He walks away, but I don’t move. My head is so messed up right now. I don’t know what I want.
Do I want to be close to him? Yes
Do I want to run from him? Yes
Does he make me happy? Yes
Does he scare the shit out of me? Yes
Is it possible that one or both of us will become broken at the end of this? Definitely.
Jake reappears with a kitchen towel in his hands. He kneels in front of me on the floor, gently cleaning the mess off of my face. The towel pauses over my mouth and he leans in just a bit. I know he wants me to meet him in the middle. He saw the mental freak out on my face. He wants to know it’s okay. Is it? I have no idea. I remember what he said to me earlier. Don’t be afraid to jump, I won’t let you fall.
This jump is scary. This is like a skydiving kind of jump.
I lean forward meeting him and pressing our lips together. He drops the towel and his hands cradle my head.
I jumped.
Now I have to wait and see if we hit the ground.
Chapter Eleven
Nina
I love that I don’t have to work on the weekends. That was always something that irritated me in LA. I worked every day, whenever I was needed. It was always so exhausting, and it sucked because I could never make plans to do anything. I look over at the clock, 10 a.m. An acceptable weekend time to sleep until. I check my phone and see that I have a text message from Sam.
Sam: Going to a haunted house tonight. I’ll pick you up at 8.
Me: Damn, you’re ordering me around now too?
Sam: I know you missed my diva behavior, haha. We are all going as a group so don’t worry you’ll have Jake to hold on to.
He’s going? I think back to last night. We kissed for a little bit, and it was nice. He cleaned up the dinner mess, then went home. I was scared he would have some sort of expectation of sex, luckily he didn’t. That was such a relief considering the first time I had seen him he was expecting me to give him a happy ending. I didn’t feel pressured at all, I was so at ease with him. Maybe I should text him. He must have told Sam at some point because I haven’t.
Me: Guess I’ll be seeing you tonight. Fair warning I’m a big baby when it comes to scary stuff.
Jake: Guess I’ll be looking forward to having you wrapped around me all night. See you soon, gorgeous.
I can’t help but smile. I haven’t enjoyed a guy’s attention since senior year; I feel like a teenager all over again.
My bedroom door opens and Tina is standing there. “Good, you’re up. We have CrossFit in a half hour.”
She gives me no time to answer or object. What am I everyone’s bitch lately? “Who said I even want to go!” I yell back at her. She doesn’t respond. I stand up stretching and grabbing some workout clothes. My muscles are still a little sore. Jake might need to carry me through the haunted house tonight.
Tina drives us to the gym, and I spot Jake as soon as we walk in. He comes over to me and places a small kiss on my lips. After last night, I want more but I also know that he works here. I pull away from him, “Go easy on me today, or I may not be able to move tonight.”
“Sparky, you know I never go easy on you. Anyway, I have a couple meetings, so Jaimie is teaching this class.” He nods across the room, and I see a skinny, well-built girl. I smile at her but her eyes narrow and if looks could kill I’d be dead on the spot. What the hell is her problem?
“I’ll see you later okay?” I nod at him giving him a quick hug before he leaves. I join Tina, who is standing in front of the whiteboard with today’s workout on it. I recognize a lot of the terms from last class, this shouldn’t be that bad.
“Okay, ladies, I guess it’s just you two.” Jaimie walks to the front of the class, her eyes still piercing holes through me. She begins to tell us what our workout will consist of, and it’s entirely different from what’s on the board. “I want ten suicides, twenty-five push-ups, ten suicides and twenty-five sit-ups. You are to do that five times.”
“Are we not doing the one on the board?” I ask praying that this is just some big joke and that hell is not what she has planned.
“You’re doing what I tell you to,” she says in a hard tone before turning her back on me to start the timer and music. Bitch.
I begin the torture that has become the next hour of my life. By the end of the warm up, everything is burning. We move through the strength session that isn’t horrible but not in any way pleasant. When it comes time to start the metcon, I’m scared to even hear what she has planned. “All right, you will be doing rounds for this part. First round is 100 single jump ropes, 50 burpees, and then 30 pull ups, if you’re too weak use the rings.” She looks right at me when she says it. “The next round decrease everything by five. Keep going for six rounds.”