Page 27 of Breaking the Rules of Love

But when Jake’s door opens, I have no choice but to put on a brave face and look up at him with those same sexy eyes I made in the selfie I sent him.

“Hey, you,” I say in my best sultry voice.

“What took you so long?” he asks, and before I even know what’s happening, he has an arm around my waist and I’m being pulled inside.

The door closes behind me, and he presses his beautiful lips against mine. Suddenly, the anxiety is gone.

I feel right at home as I’m instantly brought back to our incredible tryst in the shower. I close my eyes and give in to Jake, letting his warmth and strength take over and wash away the yuckiness of the night that I’ve had at the diner.

And he does just that. After two seconds of his tongue against mine, I can barely remember what I was so upset about.

“Those were some nice pictures,” he whispers.

“You liked them?” I feel myself blushing.

“Liked them? I’m going to make the ass shot the wallpaper on my phone.”

“Oh my God, no!” I laugh.

“Hey, what’s the problem?” he replies with a chuckle as I swat playfully at him. “Nobody will know it’s you. You took it for me, right?”

My blush deepens. “Yes.”

Jake smiles. “Well, I’ve got somethingjustfor you too then,” he says. I squeal and laugh as he lifts me into his arms and carries me over to the couch. He sets me down carefully, and I look around the room.

“I see you’ve unpacked.”

His eyes light up. “You noticed, huh?”

“Is that the thing that’s just for me?”

“Oh, no.” He shakes his head. “Well…sort of. But no. Wait right here, and I’ll be right back.”

Jake disappears into the kitchen while I lie back on the couch, which feelsso goodafter being on my feet all evening at work. When he returns only a minute or two later, he’s carrying two bowls, one of which he hands to me.

“What’s this?” I ask. I look inside. “Ice cream?”

“Mint chocolate chip,” he says with a smile. “With whipped cream. Your favorite, right?”

If I was doing my best to make a good sexy face earlier when I first arrived, then I’m definitely failing right now. My jaw drops, and my eyes probably bug out of my skull.

“Wait, how could you–?”

“How could I know that?” He chuckles, looking pleased with himself. “Well, that wasn’t easy. But just like you called my worked and pulled some kind of shenanigans to get my phone number, I called basically every restaurant and diner in the area that I thought you could be working at this hour, pretended to be your cousin, and then asked this nice girl named Julia what your favorite type of ice cream was because I wanted to have some for the family reunion coming up in a few months.”

My jaw drops even further. There’s a long pause between us before I let out a tiny laugh.

“I have to say…I am impressed.”

“You should be,” Jake replies, still grinning. “It wasn’t easy. I’m pretty sure I got a good brand too. You wanna try it?”

“I do.” I smile and dig right in, grabbing myself a giant spoonful with lots of whipped cream.

Jake was right. He did get a good brand, and this, combined with his warm house and comfortable couch, is exactly what I needed after the terrible day I had at work.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I can hear Jake laughing to himself beside me as he spoons some ice cream for himself. Who would have thought that some random neighbor moving in beside me would be so kind and so thoughtful? Especially when that random neighbor was a man?

“So do you want to tell me what was so awful about your night? You said it was bad in your texts, right?” Jake asks.

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