Page 114 of Fighting Jacob

Once the ceremony is over, the bridal party and their guests head to a large reception tent erected on the grounds of Noah and Emily’s cabin. Because Jacob is Noah’s best man, he’s required to do the formalities of the wedding, which means we’re seated at separate tables. I’m at the family table, whereas Jacob is sitting with the bridal party.

Suspicion runs rife in my veins when Slater taps Jacob’s shoulder opposite of the direction he’s seated. When Jacob cranks his neck to see who is accosting him, Slater dumps a massive nip of whiskey in his weak whiskey and Coke concoction.

As Slater slides his flask back into his suit jacket, he busts my watchful eye. My lips curl into a grin when he presses his index finger to his mouth, requesting I keep quiet. Nodding, I return my glass of wine to the waiter's tray. One of us has to drive home, and with Slater’s plan unearthed, I guess that person is me.

I'm a little excited about how this will pan out. I’ve not seen a drunk Jacob before, so I’m curious to see how he handles his liquor.

If the heated looks he gives me as he downs his spiked drink is anything to go by, this could end up very interesting indeed.

“You’re Jacob’s girlfriend?”

I finish ordering a soda water with a twist of lemon from the bartender before pivoting to face the voice. With Noah's bandmates’ crazy antics drying my throat from laughing so much, I'm in desperate need of a bit of moisture.

When my eyes land on Rachel, I hold out my hand in offering. I won’t lie; it’s not an easy task—even more so with how slit her eyes are. “Yes, I am. Hi, I’m Lola.”

She begrudgingly accepts my gesture, but not without using it to further her disdain with a firm grip. “Funny, he never mentioned he had a girlfriend.”

I wait for her to finish absorbing my tight black mini dress and gravity-defying heels before replying, "That's understandable. Back then, I wasn't his girlfriend. We just fucked—repeatedly.”

My eyes stray to the right when the bartender sets down my order. The ego Rachel tried to squash gets a second wind when I notice the napkin tucked underneath has a number scrawled across it. That’s the fourth number I collected today, and I’m not even putting out feelers.

Although grateful for the bartender’s interest, I snag my drink off the bar top, leaving the napkin behind. There’s only one devilish blue-eyed man I’m interested in taking home today. The bartender isn’t him.

As I twirl back around, I realize Rachel is still next to me. I thought my comment would have scared her off. Perhaps she isn’t as timid as the rumors suggest.

It dawns on me that she’s entirely misunderstood when I realize who’s holding her attention. She’s not formulating a witty comeback or working out a way to insult me without words. Her focus isn't even on me. She's eyeing Jacob from across the room, her stare awfully wanton for someone who only wants to be friends.

Sensing my bubbling anger, Jacob peers my way. His brows furl when he notices I’m standing next to Rachel. Although I hate that I’m jealous, my heart warms when he mouths, “You okay?”

He could have toyed with my jealousy, worked it to his advantage, but instead, he’d rather comfort me than make me more upset. If that doesn’t prove I made the right decision when I accepted his ride all those years ago, nothing will.

I grin to ease the worried groove in his forehead before sauntering his way. His eyes swing like the pendulum on a grandfather’s clock when they take in the sway of my hips. He’s mesmerized in under a second, entranced by a body he knows nearly as intimately as his own.

“Everything okay?”

I balance on my tippy toes to plant a kiss on the edge of his mouth. “Everything’s fine.”

My pussy tingles when he bands his thick arm around my midsection and tugs me back until his dick nuzzles my ass cheeks. He’s not hard, but he doesn’t need to be for my body to pay attention. “You’re not getting jealous again, are you?”

If I believed he’d remember any of this in the morning, I’d protect my dignity by denying his claims, but since the whiskey seeping out of his pores is enough to get me drunk, I keep my mouth shut. I am jealous. I’ll just never let him know that.

“Are you ready to head out?”

I nod. If he’s a fall over while drunk type of man, I’ll never get him off the floor.

“Okay, I’ll be back in a minute.”

He presses his lips to my temple before stumbling toward Emily. I grin when he wraps her up in a big bear hug. My giddiness doesn’t linger for long when he adds to his farewell by planting a sloppy peck on her mouth. I know what he’s doing—he’s riling Noah up as he always does—but it still sucks to see his lips on any woman who isn’t me.

Jealousy hits me full force when Rachel joins Jacob and Emily at the side of the reception tent. If she’s hoping Jacob will say goodbye to her in the manner he just did Emily, she has another thing coming. I don’t share. Never have. Never will.

With jealousy heating my steps, I make it to Jacob's side in record-breaking time. The most adorable smile I've ever seen in my life stretches across his face when I throw myself into his arms. Even with him more intoxicated than he's ever been, I'm not afraid he'll drop me. He'd never hurt me. Not in a million years.

As he spins us away from Emily and Rachel, he nibbles on my lips as he drops his eyes to mine. “I thought you didn’t get jealous?”

“Shut up and kiss me.”

His chuckle vibrates my mouth before he does as instructed. Like every kiss we’ve shared, things soon become heated. Needing privacy, Jacob heads outside. Considering how much alcohol he’s unknowingly consumed, I’m impressed at how quickly he moves. Before I know it, I’m pinned to his car by his hips, and his mouth is savaging mine. It’s the best goddamn twenty minutes of my life.

---