“I had some toast at home,” Taylor said. “But I’ll have some juice.”
Shelby poured her a glass of orange juice while Taylor perched on a stool at the counter. “Here you go. Hang on while I go get dressed.”
She needed a shower, probably smelled like Jake’s citrusy-spicy aftershave, not to mention sex.
She turned and saw Jake leaning against the door into her small foyer, dressed in his jeans and loose shirt half buttoned, stubble darkening his square jaw, his hair attractively tousled, eyes gleaming. Lord, he was gorgeous.
Shelby glanced at Taylor, whose eyes had widened. “Hi,” she said.
“Hi,” he said, ambling into the kitchen. “I’m Jake. A friend of Shelby’s.”
“I’m Taylor.”
“Nice to meet you.” He lifted a brow at Shelby. “How about I make coffee while you get dressed?”
“Um, sure. Great. Thanks.”
She needed a shower, but she’d have to forego that for now, making do with a quick wash, then dressing in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. She gazed at her reflection in the bathroom mirror—pink beard burns on her cheeks and chin, and a satisfied gleam in her eyes. She swiped on a couple of strokes of mascara because she looked like an Albino rabbit without it, then returned to the kitchen where Jake and Taylor were chatting about school.
“So it’s my turn to bring the treats next week,” Taylor said. “But Mom always just buys something at a bakery, and everyone else brings homemade stuff, so Shelby said she’d help me make cookies.”
“That’s nice of her.” Jake met her eyes and her cheeks warmed.
“She does lots of stuff like that,” Taylor continued. “’Cause my mom’s really busy.”
“I see.” He turned and poured the coffee into two mugs he’d apparently found in her kitchen. Both he and Taylor seemed very comfortable there, which was kind of freaky, but whatever. Shelby accepted a cup from him and added some milk from the fridge. She held the milk carton up to him, but he shook his head. “Black,” he said, lifting the cup.
She nodded. She knew that. She gave him her back to replace the milk in the fridge, feeling a little flustered, hoping the cold air from the refrigerator might cool her hot face.
“So what kind of cookies are you going to make?” Jake asked.
“I don’t know. Shelby?”
“I have the ingredients for chocolate chip. But I also got some pecans to make those sandies you like. Or we could make sugar cookies and cut them into shapes and ice them.”
“Oh.” Taylor sucked briefly on her bottom lip, her legs swinging on the stool. “With colored icing?”
“Sure.”
“Do you have any sprinkles?”
“I do.”
Taylor’s eyes lit up. “Okay. Let’s make sugar cookies. If that’s not too much trouble,” she tacked on politely.
Shelby smiled. Taylor’s mom didn’t spend much time with her, but had raised a good kid, always polite and appreciative of whatever Shelby did.
“I should go,” Jake said. “I’m not so good at baking cookies.”
“Shelby bakes the best cookies!” Taylor said. “She bakes cookies all the time and gives them to people.”
Once more Shelby met Jake’s eyes and gave a tiny lift of her shoulder and huffed-out laugh. He smiled at her, their gazes connected. She didn’t want it to end like this. They hadn’t talked about what had happened last night or…anything. She gazed back at him, a small knot forming in her stomach.
“Okay,” she finally said. “Thank you. For…you know…helping.”
He nodded then brushed a kiss over her mouth. “You’re welcome. And thank you for…you know.”
That was it. They’d had screaming hot sex, several times, and now he was leaving, his obligation fulfilled, and she’d probably never see him again. Until possibly next week when they met up in Java the Hut again. Was that going to be awkward? “You’re welcome too,” she murmured. Then he lifted a hand to Taylor in goodbye and let himself out of her apartment.
Shelby turned back to Taylor and smiled brightly. “Okay. Sugar cookies it is.”
Chapter Seven
Jake let himself into his house and was immediately attacked by an ecstatic Golden Retriever. “Hey, buddy!” Jake pushed the dog down then crouched to rub him all over. “I left you all night, didn’t I? You must’ve been wondering where I was. Sorry, big guy.” He rubbed Wayne’s ears. Guilt rose up in him. God, that wasn’t fair to the poor dog, to be left all night. Thank god he’d asked his neighbor to let Wayne out last evening, since he hadn’t known how late he’d be. Even so… “Need to go out?”
Wayne leaped toward the door and Jake let him out into his small backyard and watched him, leaning on the door. Poor Wayne.
When Wayne came back in, all happy, tongue lolling, Jake said, “C’mon, buddy, let’s go for a run.” He quickly changed into his running clothes, laced up his sneakers and grabbed Wayne’s leash, which made the dog delirious with pleasure. He gave a couple of short, sharp barks and Jake laughed.
Hopefully the run would clear his mind. Was he kidding himself when he told himself sleeping with Shelby wasn’t what he’d planned when he’d offered to help her?
He had to admit he’d always found her attractive, every time he’d seen her in the coffee shop. He truly didn’t think he’d had that ulterior motive when he’d made the crazy offer, but the chemistry between them was pretty damn explosive. It was no surprise they’d ended up burning up the sheets in Shelby’s bed.
He wiped sweat from his brow as he and Wayne ran through the park, the same park where the picnic had been held yesterday.
What was eating at him was the dilemma of what to do next.
Shelby was a sweetheart, and he’d done her a favor and that should be it. He’d complicated the hell out of things by having sex with her. It didn’t mean he ever had to see her again. But he wanted to. He’d had fun with her. And not just in bed.
And as if that weren’t complicated enough, because hey, if he wanted to see her again, why the hell shouldn’t he—there was Andrew.
Andrew was Shelby’s boss.
Fuck, what did it all mean? Jake actually stopped running and pressed the heels of his palms to his eyes. His heart was pounding and sweat dripped off him, soaking his loose, sleeveless shirt. If he’d had any notion of actually calling Shelby and seeing her again, the fact that she worked for Andrew should make him put that thought firmly out of his head.
He lowered his hands, chest heaving, lungs straining for oxygen, and grinned at Wayne, sitting patiently and panting. They started into a slow jog along the paved path lining the beach. Palm trees provided some shade from the hot summer sun for all the people out enjoying the beautiful Sunday afternoon beside the Pacific Ocean.
Did Andrew want Shelby? Andrew had seemed annoyed when Shelby’d introduced them. Was it because it was him? Or would Andrew be annoyed at whoever she was dating? Jesus, he hated to think that Andrew would be like that. Would he cheat on Gianna? Would Andrew put the moves on someone he worked for? Jake had to admit he didn’t have very friendly feelings for Andrew since the day he’d found out his girlfriend was in love with him, and maybe that was influencing his take on this whole thing. But hell, if Andrew had been such a douchebag as to steal his best friend’s girlfriend, who was to say he wouldn’t cheat on her with someone else? Fuck. Jake picked up the pace of his running, his Nikes hitting the pavement in a steady rhythm.
And maybe that was a good enough reason to see Shelby again. To make sure Andrew didn’t screw around with her. To make sure he didn’t cheat on his wife. Gianna. Jake’s gut tightened at the thought of Gianna.
She’d left him. For Andrew.