Page 78 of Look What You Made Me Do

They’d just come from practice where Jake was given a hero’s welcome by the team before getting straight down to the business of putting the Demons through their paces. Considering the man had barely slept a wink last night – lucky her – he was firing on all pistons.

Which was just as well with the playoffs two weeks away.

Cam, who’d already disappeared inside the house chatting to Miranda on the phone, was happier than she’d ever seen him, and after the revelations and catharsis of yesterday and the night in Jake’s arms, so was Ella.

For two long days everything had felt helplessly derailed and now suddenly, it wasn’t. Ella was feeling quietly confident that this testing they’d been put through was the worse Iris had referred to and things would be easier moving forward.

They found Daisy, Iris, Rosie and Simon in their usual places at the table on the back porch. At five-thirty in the afternoon, the light was fading and the cooler night air was creeping in but it took more than that to drive the aunts from their beloved porch.

“Jake!” Rosie, sporting a black Drac Sucks T-shirt, leaped up from her chair and gave him a big hug. “It’s so good to see you back.”

Simon greeted him with a smile when Rosie eventually unhanded him. “Hey,” he said with one of those manly chin-tilt movements that Simon, despite his Hugo Boss suit, actually pulled off quite credibly.

Daisy, less enthusiastic, eyeballed him for a long moment. She flicked a glance between him and Ella and back again. “You sticking?” she asked in her gruff, two-pack a day voice. “Cos we’re getting older by the moment and we don’t need to waste our precious time on someone who ain’t going to stick.”

Clearly unperturbed by Daisy’s straight-talking, he grinned. “I’m sticking.”

And damn if that didn’t make Ella swoon just a little.

Daisy stared for a moment longer before giving a nod of approval. “Good.”

Jake switched his attention to Iris. “Hello, Iris. What are the cards saying lately?”

Iris glanced worriedly at the tarot deck she was gripping. “There’s more to come,” she said.

Ella blinked. More? They were in the middle of a media feeding frenzy. How much worse could it get?

But then Jake slid his arm around her shoulder and squeezed and said, “We’ll get through it,” and she forgot all about Iris’s tarot predictions as her heart skipped several beats.

Apart from some very explicit dirty talk last night, they hadn’t spoken at all, much less about what was next for them. Maybe because they both knew that their priority was the team.

But it did seem like Jake wasn’t going anywhere.

For God’s sake, the man could have chosen to go home to his quiet, expensive Lake Michigan bachelor pad condo after practice but he’d chosen to come here, to this suburban bungalow and this zany found family she loved so much.

In a million years she never would have pictured herself with someone from Trently. Someone who was privy to her past in all its messy disappointment.

And certainly never Jake.

But suddenly the thought didn’t scare her as much. A shared background made things easier in lots of ways. She didn’t have to explain or justify anything to Jake. Because he understood her, like she understood him – in ways other couples might take a really long time to figure out.

Ella’s pulse fluttered madly at the thought and she barely stopped herself from breaking out into a happy dance. She certainly couldn’t concentrate much on the conversations that followed as they all sat at the table talking about Deluca High and football. Although that was mostly due to Jake’s blatantly sexual gaze seducing her from across the table. His eyes roving over her face and hair. Lingering on her mouth. Dropping to her cleavage.

All she could think about was excusing them and picking up where they’d left off at dawn and she wondered how long was polite enough to make conversation before they could get away.

In the end she was saved by Cam who called out to her. Ella leaped up gratefully. “Coming,” she said, sliding Jake a side-eye which she hoped like hell he could interpret.

His answering look left her in no doubt that he’d picked up exactly what she’d put down and he’d follow her in ASAP.

She dealt with Cam’s math homework query quickly and was heading to her bedroom when she heard a car door slam out on the street then the latch lift on the gate. In an instant, the dogs barked from the porch, almost bowling her over in their haste to the front door and Ella heard Jake say, “I’ll check and see who that is,” and she smiled to herself.

Attaboy…

Letting the dogs out the door, she vaguely heard Jake talking to Cam as she followed the barking rabble at a more sedate pace. Stepping out onto the front porch, she found the pack all barking at two men who had retreated behind the safety of the fence and were regarding the animals warily.

Ella rushed down the steps, calling the dogs back as she assured the visitors, “They’re all bark, no bite,” and then yelled at Genghis, “Heel.”

All the dogs retreated to where Ella stood on the bottom step, positioning themselves in front of her like a canine shield, protecting their human. Except for Cerberus, clearly conflicted between loyalty and his need for love and attention. Especially if the newcomers had some kind of food.

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