Page 3 of Securing the Odds

He almost reached for her again but stopped himself when he saw her open her mouth to speak.

Fuck. Jake wasn’t a hundred percent sure he wanted to hear what she had to say.

Chapter 2

Holy cow,Jake Carter kissed her.

Now, calm down, Tammy. Think before you speak.

But holy heck! Jake Carter just kissed her.

Did she somehow land in an alternate universe? Because that was the only explanation she could think of.

So, she may have been a little—okay a lot—infatuated with Jake when he’d helped her with her asshole ex. And she might have thought about him from time to time since then—if time to time meant almost daily. And he might have been the first person she thought to call—no might about it—when she received the package earlier that day. But in no way, shape, or form did she think Jake Carter would ever kiss her.

Two years ago, he just hadn’t given off theI wanna do the horizontal tango with youvibe. No siree. He’d been the mysteriously broody, hot PI who was a friend of her brother. Not once had he treated her as more than a job. A job he’d done with extreme efficiency, recovering her money fromthe biggest mistake of her lifein record time—eighty-four hours to be exact. And during those three and a half days, she’d seen Jake two times—once at the start of the investigation and once at its conclusion—and had spoken with him on the phone only once when he’d needed additional information.

That had been it.

Furthermore, on the two occasions that shehadseen him, not once had she received a lingering stare or an inappropriate touch—or any touch, for that matter, after their initial handshake upon meeting. Hell, he hadn’t even called her by her first name. She’d been Ms. Williams or ma’am.

So, as far as she was concerned, she was completely justified in her surprise-disbelief-amazement that Jake Carter had kissed her.

She opened her mouth but before she could get any words out, Jake was saying, “I probably shouldn’t have done that, but I’m a man who doesn’t make promises lightly, so I can’t say it won’t happen again.”

“Does that mean it might happen again?” she teased, but she mentally crossed her fingers—and her toes for good measure.

The look he gave her was scorching—one that had her scalp tingling and her mentally-crossed toes curling. “More like it will happen again. So, if you have a problem with that, let me know now.”

She shook her head. “You misunderstood. That was an optimisticmight.”

His lips tipped into a small smile, causing a few lines around his eyes to appear. Tammy had pegged him at about her age, thirty-three, but now wondered if he was a bit older.

“What are you trying to say, Ms. Reed?”

“That maybe you should start calling me Tammy.”

His smile turned into a smirk as he closed the space between them. Reaching out, he captured a lock of her hair, rubbing it between his fingers. “I promise, I’ll be calling you a lot more than that.”

That stopped her brain in its tracks but started her heart pumping at an alarming rate. She shook her head, hoping to jar her wits back into place. “I don’t understand. Two years ago, you barely gave me the time of day.”

She got his thumb and forefinger back on her chin as he tipped her head back. “Then you weren’t paying attention.”

Icy blue eyes blazed at her. How could eyes appear so cold but feel so hot? “I wasn’t?”

He shook his head, and a jet-black lock fell over his forehead. His hair was straight as a pin but thick, and he wore it short around his ears and neck but longer on the top. She wanted to run her fingers through it, feel its texture. Was it as coarse as it seemed or was the thickness deceiving and actually soft?

He tipped his head a little lower, and she was expecting another kiss—geared herself up for it this time—but instead, he said, “Do you have a phone number for your ex?”

The change of topic gave her mental whiplash, and it took her a moment to process what he’d asked. “Not a recent one. Just the same one you probably have from two years ago.”

“Let me see your phone. On the off chance the number is still good, he’s more likely to pick up if you’re calling rather than me.”

Her phone was on the kitchen counter. She picked it up and handed it over.

He clicked it on, a small frown appearing between his eyes. “You should have this password protected.”

Tammy shrugged. “I never saw the need.”

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