Page 97 of Five Alarm Kiss

“I mean…” She immediately released him and sat back in her seat, cheeks blazing past inferno to… whatever was hotter than inferno. “I didn’t mean… I meant I…”Fudge! Why can’t I think straight?“What I meant was… You know what I mean, right?”

Jake muttered something to himself that sounded a lot like, “So fucking cute,” before he cupped the back of her neck with his hand and brought her lips to his.

Anything Laurel had been about to say was banished from her brain by the first sweep of his tongue. She surrendered to him, willingly giving up control as his mouth moved over hers. Heat unfurled in her belly when their tongues danced. She tried to scoot closer to him, whimpering in frustration when she was stopped by the center console.

Jake growled and pulled back to glare at the offending divider. “I’m selling this car,” he vowed.

Giggling, Laurel offered, “I’ll post the ad for you.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Laurel put down the book she’d been pretending to read. She’d already read the same page five times and had no clue what it said. Tossing it onto the coffee table, she flopped her head back against the couch cushion.

She’d been able to return to her apartment yesterday. The mess had been cleaned up and the new drywall was in place, but they hadn’t put in the new cabinets yet, and the replacement stove wouldn’t be delivered until Friday. So, she’d be rocking take-out and PB&J until then. Regardless, it was nice to be home.

It’d been four days since she and Jake had gone skydiving. Well, “floating-in-a-box diving,” according to Skye, who’d argued it shouldn’t count toward the list. Laurel had reminded her she’d never specified jumping out of a plane to Jake, only that Laurel had to skydive. Skye hadn’t been happy about the loophole, but she couldn’t refute it either.

Laurel crossed her legs, hissing in a sharp breath at the sudden sting. Unfortunately, she’d checked off the very last item on her list this morning.

Leaning back on her shoulders, she lifted her hips off the couch enough to be able to carefully pull her shorts down fromwhere they’d bunched up. She wasn’t wearing any underwear, but even the soft cotton shorts were too abrasive. Why in bells anyone waxed their hoo-ha voluntarily was beyond her. Even worse, why she’d actually gone through with it was a mystery.

Scratch that. Britt and Skye’s constant harping, that’s why. It was either submit to physical torture or suffer unending mental anguish, knowing those two.

She never wanted her students to cave to peer pressure, yet here she'd gone and done it herself. But Skye had said it was either go through with operation wax on/wax off, or jump out of an actual plane.

See? Peer pressure.

Yes, she was a grown woman and her friends couldn’t force her to do anything she didn’t want to do, but the list had brought Jake into her life. Because of that, she almost felt a sense of responsibility to finish it. Okay, truth be told, she was being superstitious. If she didn’t finish the list, would everything reset? Totally irrational, but being sore and walking oddly for a day or two was worth not risking the chance of that happening. Besides, Jake was working anyway, so not like anything sexy would be happening any time soon.

Hot images from when they’d had sex played in her brain like a movie. Being with Jake had been absolutely mind-blowing, and recalling the vivid memories made her lady bits tingle.

She squeezed her thighs together, hoping to stave off the needy sensations. Unfortunately, the movement made her crotch ignite… and not in a good way.

She reclined on the couch and carefully stretched her legs out with a sigh. Maybe she could take a nap and forget about how her nether regions felt like she’d sat on a hot stove burner.

Good luck with that.

Well, at least the pain had made her stop thinking about Jake for a change.

Yeah, right. Like I ever stop thinking about Jake.

The last time she’d seen him had been Sunday. She’d had some end-of-year wrap-up tasks to do at the school yesterday, including a meeting with her principal, and Jake’s mom had needed help with something, so they hadn’t gotten together. He’d returned to work this morning—a day earlier than normal—to take part of Logan’s shift, since he’d covered for him after the fire. Jake wasn’t going to be off again until Friday. They’d talked on the phone, but it wasn’t the same.

How was it possible to miss someone so much after only being apart twenty-four hours?

The only positive to not seeing him was the fact she wanted to invite him to her mom’s fundraiser on Saturday. She’d love for him to go with her, but actually having to ask him was intimidating. She’d never asked a guy out on a date before. She’d never wanted to until Jake. At least now she could ask him over the phone, like the chicken she was, instead of face-to-face.

As if a sign from the universe, her phone rang. A quick look at the screen confirmed it was Jake. Guess now was as good a time as any to pop the question. Well, notthatquestion.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Princess.” The deep timber of his voice made her body take notice.

“Hi,” she said, a little breathless.

Breathless?He’d only said two words! How could he affect her as much as he did? It should be downright illegal.

“How’s my girl?”

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