Page 52 of Someone to Tempt
Jake looks to me for an answer. "It might be fun," he tells me with a wink.
Why is it so easy to have fun when I'm with this man?
"Totally," I agree, and we spend the next hour talking and laughing with our new friends, Margo and Andrew.
We plow through breakfast burritos served with crispy hash browns, a mountain of fluffy pancakes drenched in butter and syrup, and a homemade cinnamon roll topped with cream cheese icing that melts in my mouth. The conversation is easy and natural, and I forget about worrying if they're judging me or if I need to act a certain way to be liked. I'm just me, and that seems to be enough.
We hear about their upcoming wedding plans and I invite them to come to Skylark for the Fun Fest weekend. Margo assures me we'll do amazing in the showcase, and the confidence of a woman I've just met makes me want to believe. I'm stuffed and exhausted and more relaxed than I've felt in forever when we hug goodbye and head to where the G Wagon is parked a block away.
Jake takes my hand as we walk down the nearly empty city sidewalk, his thumb tracing circles on the inside of my palm. "So much for your claim about being an acquired taste. Those two picked up on how amazing you are in a matter of hours."
I want to believe him, but it's not that easy. "I'm pretty sure the me they saw was the one basking in the glow you put off. Anyone would seem appealing if they're standing next to Jake Byrne."
"Don't sell yourself short, Iris." All hint of teasing has disappeared from his voice. "You're perfect just the way you are."His words undo me, because a part of me—maybe the most broken part—wants to believe them.
"This night has been perfect," I tell him, unable to respond directly to his words. They mean too much.
"And fun?" We're at his vehicle now, and he links our fingers and pulls me close.
"You know it was."
The temperature has dropped, and I can almost see his breath in the cold air. We're inches apart. All I have to do is lean in and brush my lips across his. There's no doubt he wants me. I can see it in the sparks that flicker in his gray-green eyes. Feel the desire radiating from him like an electrical current. I want him so much my body practically trembles with it. The two of us together could be so right. I know that deep in my bones. But also…
"You're going on a date with Jodi tomorrow," I remind both of us as I force myself to step away from him, out of the magnetic pull that sucks me in like a black hole.
His thick brows furrow. "I could cancel and?—"
"No. You promised." I shake my head. "I promised."
Promised to keep my distance.
Promised myself I wouldn't fall for the wrong guy after my last disaster. That I wouldn't make the same mistakes my mother did. Not again.
With our history, Jake can't be right for me. No matter how much my body and heart want to convince me otherwise.
"One date, Iris." I hear the frustration in his voice. "But you owe me a date, too. A real one."
"Wasn't tonight enough?"
He barks out a sharp laugh and opens the passenger door. "Not even close."The need in his voice is matched by the heat in his eyes. One touch and I’ll unravel.
The emotion in his tone steals my breath. But I climb into the seat like I'm not affected. Like I can ignore the connection between us. Like it's not killing me to think of him out with another woman.
"It has to be," I whisper, wondering which of us I'm trying to convince.
20
JAKE
The lightsfrom the arena cast a glow against the backdrop of the Colorado mountains, the peaks dark silhouettes under a sky streaked with the last hues of sunset.
Jodi and I find seats near the edge of the action, the wood bleachers rough beneath us. There’s a chill to the October air, and the smell of hay and leather mixes with the scent of barbecue from a nearby food truck.
Damn my stupid promise to Iris. After last night, holding her in my arms on the dance floor and watching her come to life in the club where no one knew either of us, all I want is more time with her.
She’s made it clear in a thousand different ways that I’m not for her, but the reality doesn’t stop my body from rebelling at the thought of spending time with someone else. It doesn’t stop me from wanting her.
“Do you ride?” Jodi asks and my attention snaps back to her—where it should have been this entire time.
