Page 30 of Jake

He led her to his room where he rummaged through a few drawers and finally pulled out a shirt with his university name on it and a pair of his smallest basketball shorts that had a drawstring; he didn’t even wear them anymore as they had reached the point of being too small.

“The bathroom is through there and I will meet you back in the living room. You can leave your things in there for later.”

Chapter Ten

The series of events that led to her standing in Jake’s bathroom about to change into his clothes was comical. This definitely wasn’t how she planned to spend her Friday night, and she still wasn’t sure how she felt about it.

She’d never done anything as reckless as go home with a man on a second date, but she felt safe with Jake and knew that she could put boundaries up if she needed to and he would respect them. The fact that she already knew him, at least somewhat, for a while mattered too.

Shimmying out of her skirt, she felt awkward to be slipping on his clothes. It felt good though. The outfit she’d chosen today was definitely fashion over function and there was no good way to relax in it.

She slipped her blouse off and draped both pieces over his shower door to keep them from getting too wrinkled. The last thing she wanted was to leave here in clothes that had clearly not been worn in a while.

Jake's clothes were laughably too big for her, but she slipped them on anyway. The shorts had a drawstring as promised, but pulling them tight enough made them look even sillier. He wasn’t a gigantic man, clearly fit and bigger than her in probably sheer muscle, but she felt tiny in comparison now with his clothes on.

One glance in the mirror had her shaking her head. “Screw it,” she mumbled to herself. She shook out her hair and gave it a quick finger comb before leaving the bathroom. It was going in a ponytail when she got back to her purse.

He might as well see the real her. She’d take her makeup off if she wasn’t a little self-conscious about it. Plus, she didn’t have any makeup remover with her.

“You look much more comfortable,” Jake teased as she walked back in the living room.

“Not done yet.” She reached for her purse and grabbed the ponytail holder she always kept with her, throwing her hair up in a messy bun.

“Much better.” He smiled. “My turn.”

She sat back down on the corner of the couch she had claimed earlier and tucker her bare feet beside her as she had tried to do before. Looking around, she took in the apartment and how much it went with the man that she had been talking to and less with the man that was in the public eye constantly.

There was a stark contrast between the playboy businessman that she thought she knew and the man she’d texted and was here with now.

“Okay, so what are we watching?” Jake joined her, now in sweats and a similar shirt.

She gaped, couldn’t help it. She’d never seen him in relaxed clothing. He was always in a suit except for occasional photos that would be on websites of him playing basketball or working out.

Jake chuckled at her reaction and sat next to her on the couch. He left enough space between them that it wasn’t weird but clearly stated that he meant for them to be together. It was sweet, and as she recovered her thoughts, she let herself soak in the gesture.

“I don’t know, didn’t have a plan.”

“Here you go.” He passed her a remote. “I’ve got most of the streaming services, or we can look at what’s out to watch while it’s still in theater.”

“I think we can find something easily enough. What do you like?”

“Whatever you pick is fine.”

She whipped her head to him, prepared to throw his earlier words about the pizza back at him, but he held up a hand.

“I know, I know. I do kind of watch a little of everything though.”

“Same here, so it should be easy.”

Easy, it wasn’t. It turned out they were both more interested in watching every preview than they were to committing to starting anything. The pizza arrived and Jake brought it to the kitchen, getting plates out and bringing her two slices.

“Did you get two pizzas?” she asked, surprised.

“One of what you wanted, one of what I wanted.”

She shook her head at him. “You could have done half and half.”

“I could have, but what if we get really hungry?”

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