“Of course it will be.” Jake took her free hand, interlaced her fingers with her own. “I can’t wait to see it.”
Lola smiled when he squeezed her subtly and tried to ignore the feeling of his palm touching hers, tried to ignore the way her lips still tingled from his casual kiss. She focused her attention back on Matt, who was watching the exchange silently. “I’ll text you next week about that double date?”
“Sure thing. I’ll see you around.” He glanced at Jacob, his eyes narrowed slightly. “Nice meeting you.”
“Yeah, man, can’t wait,” Jacob replied casually.
Matt nodded once more and turned to leave. She stood outside her apartment with Jacob, watching him go. Eventually, he said, “Was the kiss too much?”
She grunted. “No, it was great.”
The words were out of her mouth before she could think them through, but after a quick glance at him, she realized that Jacob thought that she was talking about the effect that the kiss had made on Matt because he replied, “I think he gets the point.”
“I hope so.” She turned to him, ignored the brief tapping of her heart in her throat when he pivoted emerald eyes on her. “It’s just weird. Matt and Sarah.” She nodded. “They’d work if they’d just give it a go.”
“He doesn’t just have a crush on you. He’s in way over his head.”
“Agh,” she groaned as they stepped into the apartment together. “Let’s talk about anything else? I’m already mortified that I didn’t realize it before now.”
They moved around the small space efficiently, used to each other, and used to being side-by-side in the eight-hundred square feet. Lola put her palette in the sink and moved to the sofa that was still pushed back against the foot of her bed. She plopped down, exhausted by the short interaction with Matt and Jacob. “Do you know that I’ve known him for nearly a decade? How could I have missed it?”
“Sometimes, if you’re not looking, it’s hard to see.”
“Apparently.” She felt like she could have slept for an entire week uninterrupted and that was before she’d had to introduce her fake boyfriend who was really her LAPD bodyguard to her next-door neighbor who was really the guy who’d had a crush on her for eight years.
How did I get myself into this situation?
She lay back, watching Jacob as he took his shorts and shirt out of his bag and placed them on the corner of the blowup mattress. Her entire body pulled tight when he untucked his dress shirt, revealing a small swatch of smooth, tanned skin. She could feel the blush traveling up her neck and into her cheeks, knew that she probably should have just looked away.
She didn’t.
“I just don’t get th-” He had turned to talk to her but stopped short when he saw the look on her face. His eyes widened perceptibly, and he exhaled with a loud, “Whooo,” as the air rushed out of his lungs. Raising both his hands, he ran them through his hair. “This isn’t a good idea.”
“What?”
She’d be lying if she said that she hadn’t imagined what he’d do if she tried to seduce him. She’d spent all of the last three days just trying to remember why they couldn’t be together in the first place and, so far, every answer she had come up with had been unsatisfactory.
He motioned between them. “This.”
“I didn’t do anything,” she said, maybe a little too innocently. God, her nipples were pinched so tight that she felt physical pain. She stood slowly from the sofa and walked towards him, amused by the fact that he stood stock still as he watched her approach. She wasn’t exactly sure when she’d decided that she didn’t care about the investigation, or when she’d decided that she was going to try and make a move. She wasn’t entirely certain the decision had even been a conscious one. All she knew was that she wanted him. Now.
He looked wary, she thought; although, surprisingly the idea didn’t bother her. She’d wanted him for what seemed to be so long and being in such close proximity to him for days had been fucking with her. Her entire body was out of whack. She wasn’t sleeping. And it was all made worse by the simple fact that she knew, beyond a doubt, that he could make her feel better.
She stopped a foot away from him, close enough that she could see the gold flecks in his green eyes, but far away enough that they weren’t touching. When he didn’t move, didn’t so much as breathe, she straightened her spine, summed up her courage, and said, “I dream about you touching me.” The words did not sound seductive coming out of her mouth. They sounded crude, even a little forced—completely opposite to the knotted need coiling in her stomach, spreading down through her thighs.
“Lola,” he groaned, closing his eyes. “Please.” The single word came out hoarse and she had the distinct impression that he was fighting his own need with every ounce of willpower that he had.
Where usually she would have been deterred, now it gave her courage and, without touching him or moving closer, she reached for the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head in one fluid movement. She felt the cool air of her apartment pull her nipples tighter through the sheer, lace bra that she was wearing, felt a lick of satisfaction when his gaze moved to her breasts, and then back up to her face. He met her eyes for a moment and when he saw the determination in them, she saw his entire body tense. His pupils dilated, and the look in his eyes changed, lost their wariness.
He was still for a few seconds and Lola felt a single lick of fear lance through her belly when her heart constricted in her chest. She had a moment where the emotions running through her, the feelings of need and anticipation, made her doubt whether she was making the right decision at all. But then he reached a single hand towards her and slipped the bra strap off her right shoulder with a whisper of fingers against skin, and her entire body shuddered involuntarily as every thought fled. “This is all your fault,” she said, her voice breathy. “You started it when you kissed me earlier.”
“I could argue that you started it when you lied about me being your boyfriend.” He bent his head down to nibble the spot where he’d moved her bra strap. The feeling of his teeth grazing her skin was glorious, made her head fall back in welcome.
He stepped closer and shifted his mouth to the column of her throat so that he could torture her there, and she moaned and moved her hand to the back of his head, urging him on.
When had she ever felt this way? So completely dependent on a man’s proximity? So completely unhinged in her desire for him? When had she ever been so open with anybody? Never. The realization, so simple and true, made her breath hitch in her throat, made her heart flutter in what felt like her stomach.
“When this is over, I’m going to strip you down and explore every inch of you,” he whispered in between kisses. “I’m going to taste you everywhere.”
She felt her body respond to his words, felt her pulse scream for release in her throat even as her core throbbed with need for him. Reaching her arms up, she wrapped them around his neck so that she could press her body closer, and, in doing so, she felt the hard length of him pressing against her.
“Please, Jake. I need this. You.”
He pulled back from her suddenly, and she saw that his eyes were nearly black with lust. When he just stood, frozen to the spot, she unzipped her jeans and stepped out of them. His eyes flickered down her body, and she took a small step towards him, pressing her chest up against his.