Page 18 of The Love Rematch
Get your shit together, she silently commands.
He wants to—he does.
But as Emily walks away, he traces the line of her spine one more time and a prickle forms at the base of his neck, making his shoulders writhe. She grabs a flute off a tray and downs the bubbling liquid in one quick shoot. Her gaze finds his over the rim of the empty glass before she squares her shoulders and looks away.
The undercurrent in the air clicks into place.
He finally understands her hidden message.
Game on.
Jake looks to the limos, where the thirty men under his charge are tucked away. In six weeks, one of them is going to get down on one knee and propose. He’s responsible for making it happen. His job, his future, his entire career hangs on finding the former love of his life a fiancé.
Game on, he repeats, mentally securing his defenses.Game fucking on.
CHAPTERFIVE
emily
The waitfor the first limo might be the longest ten minutes of Emily’s life. Jake stands directly in front of her with his jaw set and his head resolutely turned toward the end of the driveway as he mumbles into his headset. She tries not to stare, but every time she looks away, her gaze lands on one of the gigantic cameras zeroed in on her, and her heart leaps into her throat. What are people going to think when they see her? Will they hate her? Love her? Does she look too nervous? Too rigid? Too poised?
“Don’t look directly into the lens,” Nina gently prompts for the fifth time.
Emily jolts and stares ahead. She studies the cobblestone pathway, the lush California foliage, the dark asphalt glistening with the slightest shimmer beneath all these spotlights. But her focus inevitably drifts back to those polished loafers, up those long legs, to those tapered hips visible below his navy suit jacket, which pulls tight across his wide shoulders. She remembers what it felt like to run her hands through his silky brunet hair, to have his deep blue eyes intensely focused on her. He had been tall and thin with more bones than muscle the last time his weight had settled between her hips, and part of her wonders what he feels like now with his biceps so clearly straining against the fabric, no longer a boy but a man.
He looks at her then, as if he can hear the thoughts racing through her mind.
Emily doesn’t look away.
Jackson Moore.
Is that who he is now, with the tailored suit and the detached voice? She misses the awkward teenager with mussed-up hair and a worn Star Wars T-shirt. Whenhelooked at her, she came alive.
Right now, all she feels is cold.
Two headlights flash in the space between them. Jake breaks eye contact first, and Emily follows. A limo approaches. Her heart pounds. She shifts her feet and relaxes her arms. Loose gravel crunches as the tires slow. When they come to a stop, Jake walks over and reaches for the door. He pauses with his fingers latched around the handle.
Oh god.
Oh god.
Oh god.
“Just breathe,” Nina whispers from the side. “Smile.”
She tries to twist her face into some semblance of excitement, but she can feel Jake watching her from the corner of his eye and she seizes up. She’s not sure she can do this with him here, indifferently watching her every move, as if nothing that happened between them mattered when it did.
It still does.
“Do you have to fart?” Nina asks, the question carrying loudly across the silent anticipation. “Because you can fart if you have to. We’re all on your side. We’ll edit it out later.”
Emily feels her cheeks go red. She laughs—from nerves, from awkwardness, from maybe having to fart? The tension in the air breaks and suddenly the door swings open. Before she has time to regain her composure or look at Jake or think about the fact that millions of people will soon watch this moment unfold, a man in a slate-gray suit tumbles from the limousine.
Literally tumbles.
Emily gasps and takes half a step forward before she realizes it’s on purpose. His head tucks before it slams against the pavement and he rolls smoothly to his feet with a confident grin.
“Gotcha,” the man says as he straightens his lapels and smooths his deep black hair.
