Page 14 of One Steamy Pucking Meet Cute

A hot blush runs up my cheeks. “Jake,” I say sternly.

“What?” he asks. “It’s true. We always had a good spark. Maybe in another life, we could’ve been really good together.”

“In another life,” I agree distantly.

“Welcome to Tiffany’s,” the woman says. It took her an almost comical amount of time to reach us because the showroom is so huge. She’s even slightly out of breath. “Follow me, please.”

I’m a little confused because she’s leading us straight past all the showroom displays. We reach an elegant set of doors at the back, through wood-paneled halls, through another room, and into a cozy little lounge area. “Please, make yourselves comfortable. Would the baby like anything to drink?”

Is this lady serious? What does she think she’ll be able to whip up for a two-month-old baby? But I give her another look and decide she’s barely twenty. She may just not know much about babies.

“Milk,” Jake says. “On the rocks.”

The woman nods and starts to leave. “That was a joke,” he says quickly. “Pretty sure he’s still getting it straight from the tap.”

The woman and I both give Jake a look. He holds up his hands defensively. “Sorry. Bad jokes. I’ll just be quiet now.”

I bite back a smile.

“Anything for you two?” she asks us.

“Whiskey sour,” Jake says. “She’ll have, uh, what will she have?” Jake says, looking my way.

“Orange juice.”

The woman leaves, closing the heavy door behind her.

Jake gives me a curious look. “I was sure you were going to say tequila.”

“It’s safer if I avoid alcohol while I’m still breastfeeding. Especially since Walker wants a ‘shot from the tap’ as often as he does right now.”

“Oh,” Jake says, nodding. “Makes sense.”

I sit back in the cozy leather sofa and look around the room. “Where are we, exactly?”

“When you buy the big stuff, this is what they do,” he says. “At least, that’s what the girl told me when I called and said I wanted the VIP shit.” He chuckles a little. “I’ve never done this, either. But I figure we just play it cool and act like we know what the hell we’re doing.”

“Got it,” I say. “So, just keep doing what I’ve been doing my whole life. No problem.”

“Don’t sell yourself short. You’re kind of a badass, in case nobody has told you.”

I feel myself blushing. Jake Summers may be the only man who can make me blush. But he has a way of ensuring people never sell themselves short in front of him. I guess it’s part of that whole “natural leader” package he seemed to have popped out of the womb with. And it’s probably a big part of why people can never resist wanting to be near him. He lifts everyone around him up, whether they like it or not.

The woman returns with our drinks and a briefcase. I try not to laugh at how ostentatious this whole thing is.

“This collection came in from Italy last night. You’re the first to see it.” She sets the case down in front of us, flips some noisy metal latches, and cracks it open with a dramatic slowness. The lighting above catches every gemstone, refracting the light into a thousand little rainbows. I can’t help but gasp at the sight of it all.

6

JAKE

“You’re really fine waiting to get back home till tomorrow?” I ask Caroline. We’re in the lobby of a Four Seasons, and the woman behind the counter is finishing our check-in.

“It’s okay. Grams and Edgar may be obnoxious, but they’ve covered for me a ton by now. They can handle things for a night. And I’ll give all my guests a discount for the trauma. Everybody will walk away happy.”

“I could ask Jesse and Andi to swing by,” I suggest. “Just to make sure things are going okay.”

“Really, it’s fine.”

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