Page 31 of Jake

Looking over at his plate, she saw olives and wrinkled her nose. “Maybe this way was better.”

“They’re fantastic. You wanna try?” He held his slice out for her.

“I’ll just take your word for it.”

She went back to scrolling through movies and ended up on shows instead. Somehow, they agreed to start a series, something that she rarely did as she didn’t have the willpower to not hit next episode as one ended.

“Have you seen this?” she asked as the opening credits came to life on the massive TV.

He shook his head as he swallowed his food. “No, but I’ve been thinking about starting.”

“Same here, but I should warn you, I’m terrible at hitting next episode.” She settled back with her pizza and shifted knees up in front of her.

“Oh, we are in trouble then. I have no self-control either.”

They joked and teased a little, back and forth, for hours. They ate the pizza and sipped on wine that Jake had opened as they watched episode after episode.

Lauren yawned and reached down for her phone. “Oh my God.”

“What’s wrong?” Jake jumped up.

She showed him her phone, and it took him a minute to realize she was showing him the time. He stood and stretched, grabbing both their plates off the ottoman and carrying them to the sink.

“I’ll do those dishes and then change. I am sorry I stayed so late.” She headed for the kitchen.

“You will not do any dishes. This is a date,” Jake insisted, blocking the sink.

“Still, I didn’t mean to stay so late.” She gave up on the dishes and headed down the hall toward his room.

“Why are you sorry?” he asked, stopping her with a hand on her shoulder.

“I didn’t mean to take your entire night,” she told him.

“I did,” he told her.

She didn’t have time to reply as he leaned forward and kissed her lips. It took her a beat to relax into it, but when she did, she had no regrets.

The kiss seared her lips, her tongue, her entire being. It was everything she didn’t know she wanted tonight, and everything she needed right now.

She brought her arms up to wrap around his neck as Jake wrapped his arms around her, backing her into the wall right there in his hallway. With little encouragement needed, he lifted her against that wall, trapping her with his hard body.

His hand cupped her ass as she allowed the kiss to take over every sense in her body. She had no thoughts other than not wanting this to end.

He broke the kiss but kept her there, pinned against the wall. “I didn’t mean to take it that far.”

“I don’t remember complaining,” she told him.

He lowered her back to the floor, out of breath, and backed away. She wobbled, unsteady without his support, before gaining her balance again.

She looked down at the floor. It was one thing to be in the moment, then she was somewhat confident, but when the moment ended, she was suddenly awkward.

“Stay?” he asked.

Looking up at him, she tried to gauge what he was asking. As much as she wanted to, she wasn’t ready to sleep with him yet.

“Let’s go watch another episode. You can sleep here and we will figure out tomorrow, tomorrow.”

“It is tomorrow,” she told him, as it was well past midnight now.

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