Page 41 of Five Alarm Kiss

“So, it’s settled.” Emery’s tone left no room for argument. “Jake will help you finish the list, and you can teach him to count.”

“I’m good with that,” Jake said.Hell yeah, I’m good with that!“How ’bout you?”

Laurel chewed on her lip a moment before eyeing him. “I guess that’d be okay.”

“Good. I work this weekend,” he told her, “but I’m off Monday through Thursday, if you wanna start with axe throwing.”

“That’s a weird schedule,” Laurel evaded.

“We rotate days at the station,” Jake explained. “Two days on, four days off. So…”

“I have two more weeks of school left. I can’t go out on a school night.”

Is she trying to blow me off?

Yeah, that wasn’t happening.

“Next Sunday, then,” he suggested.

“Um…” Laurel looked at Emery, who gave a quick nod. “Okay, I guess.”

That wasn’t a definitive answer, and Jake wasn’t ending the conversation until he got one. He caught and held her gaze and raised a brow.

“Okay,” Laurel confirmed.

Emery clapped her hands. “Perfect!”

Jake was so caught up in Laurel, he didn’t notice the woman standing next to their table until she spoke.

“Jake, I thought that was you.”

Chapter Eleven

Laurel watched the tall, statuesque beauty standing dangerously close to Jake trail her fingers along his shoulder. She had chin-length, platinum blonde hair and was wearing a body-molding mini dress and black leather boots that stopped about three inches above her knees.

Feeling self-conscious, Laurel glanced down at her own sweater and jeans. She looked like a grade school teacher in hooker makeup—which she was—compared to the runway model tugging Jake out of his seat for a hug.

“Kate. Hi.” He returned the hug. “It’s been a while.”

“Too long,” Kate said.

“How’ve you been?”

“Good.” She held up her left hand, flashing a huge diamond. “I stopped waiting on you and got married.”

They were close enough she’d thought Jake was going to propose?

Why did that bother Laurel so much? It’s not like he and Kate were still together. They’d obviously remained on good terms, though. Come to think of it, Amy didn’t hold any animosity toward him either. If he really was a player, he was the first one Laurel had met whose exes didn’t hate him.

“That’s great,” Jake said. “I’m happy for you.” From the expression on his face, he meant it.

“Thanks. I wanted to stop and say hi, but you’re busy,” Kate motioned to the table, “so, I’ll let you get back to it. Call me sometime, and we can catch up.” She looked directly at Laurel as she patted Jake’s chest. “Watch out for this one. He’s a heartbreaker.” She kissed Jake on the cheek before leaving.

Laurel didn’t miss the grin on Jake’s face when he sat down.

“Sorry about that,” he told her. “Old friend.”

Laurel smiled. “It’s fine.” Including Amy, Kate was the second woman they’d run into that Jake had dated.

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