Page 66 of Breaking the Rules of Love

Sadie

Five days.It’s only been five days since I’ve seen Jake, and it feels like an eternity.

I don’t even know how I made it this far, but when I woke up this morning, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to make it another day. And when the sun started to go down and I was facing another night in a bed alone by myself, I knew that I had to see him.

I don’t know if Jake’s house is incredibly warm or if it just feels that way because of some psychological thing going on inside my brain, but as I dry myself off in his bathroom and change into the T-shirt and sweatpants he gave me to wear, it’s like every bit of cold disappears from my body.

I take the second towel he gave me and wrap my hair up in it. I look ridiculous, but of course a man like Jake doesn’t own a hair dryer. Oh, well. I guess this is no time to worry about hair and makeup.

Jake’s sitting on the couch when I come out of the bathroom. He has the fire going, which immediately reminds me of our littlevisitup to his cabin in Vermont.

“I’m sorry,” I say. Jake looks up at me, clearly waiting for me to continue. “For how I behaved at the cabin. You opened up to me, and all I did was shut you down. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Thank you,” he says. His response is simple, but I can see in his eyes that my words mean something to him.

“You were right, Jake.” My emotions are stirring within me. It’s taking everything I have to keep them at bay. The last thing I want to do is start crying right now. “I’ve been pushing you away because I’m scared. I was putting my past experience with Howard on to you, and that’s not fair…in fact, it’s wrong.”

It’s starting now, and I can’t stop it.

I feel the tears beginning to well up in my eyes. I wipe at them, but one falls down my left cheek. I try to turn away from Jake and recover, but the next thing I know, he has his arms around me. His big, strong arms that I’ve missed so much.

“I never meant to hurt you, Jake…” I whimper as more tears begin to fall.

“I know, baby,” he replies. “I know you didn’t.”

Baby…It feels so good to hear him call me baby again.

“These last five days have felt like five years,” I say, laughing and crying at the same time as I lean against Jake’s thick chest. He chuckles and runs a hand up my T-shirt and gently caresses my back, sending a wonderful shiver through my entire body.

“Tell me about it,” he says. “Just tell me you weren’t outcasually datingany other guys.”

I gasp and lean back, eyeing Jake with a horrified look on my face. “Tell me you don’t mean that!”

Jake roars with laughter and shakes his head. “Of course I don’t.” He slips his hands around my waist and pulls me to him. “But I have to let you know that you’re alittlelate coming back to me.”

“W-what does that mean?” I stammer.

“Well, it means I’m taken now.” Jake grins.

“By who!?” I gasp.

“Well, by Mrs. Thorton, of course,” Jake replies. “The wife of the couple my firm was protecting tonight.”

Jake is still smiling, and I get the feeling he’s teasing, but I’m so shaken up that part of me is still kind of falling for whatever joke he’s pulling on me.

“Jake,” I say, my tone stern. “What is that supposed to mean? Because I cannot take this right now.”

He chuckles some more and squeezes me caringly with both hands. “Okay, okay,” he says. “Let’s just say I had avery strangeexperience after the job was over tonight.”

Jake and I take a seat on the couch, and he goes into his evening. He tells me about how he handled the attack from the drunk, which turns me on more than a little bit. And then he goes into how he was invited back to the Thortons’ house for a drink and all that crazy stuff that went on after.

“So wait, are they like…swingers and stuff?” I ask, my jaw nearly on the floor.

“Well, I don’t think they’re both swingersprecisely,” he laughs. “I think Mr. Thorton just likes to watch and figured I would be the guy to be into that.”

“And you almost did it!” I gasp.

“No, no, no.” Jake shakes his head. “I went back for a drink, but as soon as they started to try and get me into whatever it was they had planned, my mind went toyou,and I got the hell out of there.”

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