Page 64 of Breaking the Rules of Love

The pain comes right back to me like she and I were standing there in front of each other now. What am I doing thinking about her right now? Any normal guy would be thinking about the woman putting a show on for him, not the woman pushing him away. The woman who basically told him she wants nothing to do with him anymore.

I turn around and look at Paul, waiting and looking at me with an expectant look on his face. I gulp down the last of my whiskey cocktail.

Paul grins at me, a twinkle in his eye. “Have a seat, and we’ll just show you the ropes. If at any point you’re uncomfortable, you can leave. Sound good?”

“Show me the ropes?” I repeat. Sounds like these two have done this before.

Paul comes around from behind the bar, slips an arm around my shoulders like an old friend, and leads me over to the couch. He sits me down and then takes his seat in front of me with his drink in his hand like he’s sitting at the movies waiting for the show to start.

“Baby,” he calls out to his wife, “come over here and give our guest some company.”

After a moment, Rachel starts to make her way over to me from the fireplace, still dancing, still moving her hips like an erotic dancer. I feel like I’m at a one-man strip club, but no strip club on earth is as nice as the Thortons’ house.

“Atta girl, baby,” Paul says as Rachel steps closer. He nods with approval and looks at me. “She’s got the moves, doesn’t she, Jake?”

Suddenly I’m not so comfortable. I kind of want to get up and leave, but what’s really bothering me so much anyway?

Don’t I have every right to be here right now? Wasn’t Rachel right about me being single?

Who knows, Sadie could be sleeping with somebody else right now? It’s not like a woman with her incredible looks would have a hard time finding a man who’s “up for it.” Besides, Sadie is all about the casual relationship thing. Why wouldn’t she just go and find herself another man? It’s not like she felt any kind of attachment to me or anything. She said so herself.

A man shouldn’t be feeling this level of anger when there’s a ready and willing woman doing a sensual dance in front of him. I should be able to get my mindoffSadie right now. But it seems like every step closer Rachel makes, the more I think abouther.

I guarantee Ryan or Logan would be fully immersed in this right now.

I look up as Rachel gets closer. She starts to slip out of her dress, revealing the straps of the lingerie she’s wearing underneath, and I feel a shot of adrenaline course through me that I didn’t even feel with my encounter with the drunk back at the museum.

Paul leans in and whispers to me, “I got that for her last week. Wait until you see the whole set.”

But that does it. My mind is instantly taken back to Sadie and the lingerie set she bought for me. I remember just how incredibly gorgeous she looked in it, and I’m instantly on my feet.

I don’t care if Sadie’s found herself another man or not. There’s no way I’m ready to move on. Maybe I never will be.

“No,” I say. “I can’t do this.”

“Oh, sure you can, honey,” Rachel replies. Her tone is sweet, almost motherly. Yeah, these two have definitely done this before, and they’ve definitely had to calm down a man from freaking out before too.

She places her hands on my chest and tries to push me back down on the couch. “Just take a breath. Everything is all right–”

“No, really,” I say, smiling and doing my best to remain calm and friendly despite feeling the complete opposite. “I should go. Ineedto go.”

“Come on, Jake,” Rachel says, almost pleading. “You said you have no woman.” She puts a hand on my shoulder as I step away from the couch, but I shrug it away.

“Yeah, maybe I said that,” I reply. “But…”

I glance over at Paul, who simply nods.

“All right, buddy,” he says. “We understand. I’ll have a car take you back to your place.”

“Thank you,” I reply. “And I hope you’ll continue to think of us in the future if you have any security needs.”

Paul smiles. “Of course we will.” But he’s just saying that. This will be the end of my business association with the Thortons.

As I walk outside wait for the car that will take me home, there’s only one thing going through my mind.No matter what she says, I have to get Sadie back.

45

Jake

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