Page 25 of Inked Persuasion

“Oh, just a distraction to get him away from the brothers.”

I watched as Jacob nodded at my brothers on the other side of the dance floor before leaving money on the bar for Riggs and heading out. He had danced with me, said odd things, made me feel even more inexplicable things, and then walked away. What the hell was going on?

I cleared my throat. “I’m going to go now.”

“Did he say something to you?” Beckett asked.

I huffed out a breath and then grabbed my bag. “No. Jacob danced with me because he wanted to get away from you. That was the only reason.”The only reason it could be.“He danced and found a way to get out of the place without you guys acting all caveman and beating him up. He took a chance, and now he’s gone. I danced, I had wings, nachos, and beer. I’m bloated, and I’m tired. I’m going home.”

“Seriously? That’s what you’re going with?” my twin asked, and I narrowed my eyes at Archer.

“Hey, that’s enough of that,” I said. “I love you all. I do. Okay, I love most of you. I don’t really know you two,” I said to the boyfriends as they laughed at me. “But, seriously, I’m an adult. Like all of you. Go out and do whatever you want to do. Go pick up ladies, go dancing, do what you want. I don’t care. I’m not your keeper. Just like you’re not my keeper. Now, let me be.”

“Jacob Queen? Seriously?” Beckett asked.

I closed my eyes and resisted the urge to scream. “He’s my...friend. We’re trying to be anyway. He’s my neighbor, and we still have a lot in common because of his parents. That’s not going to change.” I saw something shift in Beckett’s expression. I didn’t know if it was pity or worry—maybe a mixture of both. I didn’t care. I didn’t have the energy anymore. “Again, I love you all. Now, I’m going home. Have a great night.”

“You’re welcome to leave, but we’re going to grill you later,” Brenna said, while Eliza nodded.

I scrunched up my nose at them. “Please, don’t. Nothing happened. You all saw, it was only dancing.”

“Sexy dancing,” Eliza said, and I flipped her off.

“Not very ladylike,” Brenna said, so I flipped her off using my other hand.

We all laughed, while Paige clapped her hands behind the girls. “Wow, this is going to be interesting.”

“It’s not. And I can’t deal with all of you right now. Now, darlings, get out of my way.”

Thankfully, they did. I made my way out of the bar, got into my car, then drove home, doing my best not to think about Jacob Queen. That, of course, meant that’s all I did. I couldn’t stop thinking about him. About how it felt with his hand on my back, the way he looked at me. What the hell was going on with that man? Was he trying to be my friend but not doing a very good job of it?

I had to be imagining the heat and whatever the hell attraction was flaring between us. Because thinking about him in that way would be wrong.

Very, very wrong. And yet, I was terrified that maybe it wasn’t. Perhaps I wasn’t allowing myself to think anything else.

I pulled into my driveway and noticed Jacob’s light on. Thankfully, it didn’t seem like he noticed me or wanted to come outside. Not that I thought he would. Because, after all, it had only been a distraction.

I needed to stop overthinking.

I got out of the car just as another vehicle pulled into the driveway of the house next to me. Hotch got out and waved as he walked toward his front door. I waved back, wondering why I couldn’t like a nice man like him. Why did I have to start having weird feelings about a man I didn’t even know. A man I shouldn’t want.

I was going inside to take a bath, and then I would go to bed, alone, to get ready for the workday. Because that’s what I needed to focus on. Work and family. Not a man I knew I would dream about once again.

The one person I knew I shouldn’t.

Chapter 8

Jacob

Igroaned as I looked over my paperwork and leaned back against my couch to take a sip of coffee. I needed a couple of hours off to get a few household chores done, and work on my yard, things that any new homeowner should focus on.

Yet I knew I wouldn’t be able to do any of that until I focused on what was right in front of me. A woman had given up most of her life and time to take care of her dying mother, and once her mother finally passed after a long battle with cancer, the woman’s siblings had come out of nowhere and demanded more money from the will. I was defending the woman, who had lost her mother, hadn’t had time to grieve, and was dealing with three siblings who were possibly some of the worst people on the planet.

They hadn’t even bothered to visit their dying mother until it looked as if things were going to take a turn for the worst. They had gone for posterity’s sake, not because they were losing the woman who had taken care of them. I had seen that much from meeting them.

I would be the shark my client needed, but it was a lot of stress for her. Therefore, I was doing my best to make sure she won. And since I was down two staff members, I was doing more work than usual on top of relocating.

But we would win this, damn it, I just had to learn that things worked a little bit differently up in Fort Collins than they did in Denver. Who knew an hour or so could change so much? I closed my laptop and stacked the files on top of it, telling myself I would only take a little break. I drained the last of my coffee, wincing as it had gone cold at least thirty minutes ago, and stood up to stretch my back.

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