His head shook minutely as he made a scoffing sound. “Really?”
Then it all came flooding back—the vibe she’d gotten from him early on that he didn’t like her, the words he’d spoken that had basically confirmed that. And she felt embarrassed, mortified at what she’d done.
Hold on. If he didn’t like her, why had he kissed her the first time, and then why had he kissed her so passionately a few minutes earlier?
“I’m confused,” she muttered as she stared at the floor.
“What?”
Had she said that out loud? She lifted her gaze to his. His brow was furrowed. “I’m confused,” she said, this time loud and clear.
“You’re confused?” He placed his hands on his hips, looked away and shook his head as he made a scoffing sound, then he faced her again. “You didn’t seem at all confused in the garage a minute ago.”
He was going to place this all on her, wasn’t he? Well, she wasn’t going to stand by and let that happen. “What are you trying to say? That this is all my fault?” She shook her head. “Uh-uh. No. You kissed me first.” Then she smirked. “And after I barely touched my lips to yours you were, like,” she pursed her lips, “on fire in the way you reacted.” She chuckled. “I mean,” she fanned herself, “get out the firehouse to cool yourself down.”
She stared at him, waiting to see his reaction. It didn’t take long. First, a reddish tint colored his cheeks, then his nostrils flared before he turned away, staring off to the side. Several beats passed, and then he faced her again, his lips compressed.
Chapter Twenty-Five
With the way Jake’s emotions kept climbing and falling, climbing and falling, he felt like he was on a roller coaster. First, the elation of kissing Chloe, then the crash of her blaming him for the kiss in the garage. And saying he was on fire? As true as it was—and he readily admitted, at least to himself, that kissing her just now had lit something inside of him—he wasn’t sure if he regretted his reaction or not.
What was he going to do to stop this? How could he bring it to an end?
An idea swam into his mind and he blurted it out before he could stop himself. “We need to get this out of our systems. So, let me kiss you once more, a controlled kiss, and then we’ll be done with it.” What the heck was he saying?
Chloe must have wondered the same thing because her eyebrows had practically gone into her hairline. “What?”
“Did I stutter?”
She shook her head, her eyes wide. “No, I just…I…”
Jake knew this proposal was ridiculous—kissing her again would only make him want more, not less. Still, the offer was out there now. It was up to Chloe to make the next move.
“Um, I…okay?”
He laughed. “You don’t sound too sure.” And neither was he, but here they were. Okay, he was sure he wanted to kiss her again, but also sure it wasn’t a good idea.
She took a step closer, then stopped. Two feet separated them. Jake closed the gap. He looked down at her—she was barefoot now, so quite a bit shorter than him. She tilted her chin up, her eyes on his. He gazed at her a moment, his heart thumping in his chest.
Why was he doing this? It was a bad idea, a very bad idea. Regardless, he wasn’t going to stop now. He placed a finger under her chin, holding her steady, then lowered his mouth to hers, pressing ever so lightly. Her lips were so soft, so pliable, but it was different this time. Not so frantic and urgent like earlier, but gentle and tender.
Wow. He liked it even more than before.
At Jake’s touch, Chloe’s toes curled and she knew she was in trouble. Deep trouble. Still, she didn’t want him to stop. His finger was still under her chin. He was holding her lips captive. Not that she minded.
He released her and pulled away. Her eyes were glued to his, her lips parted, her breath ragged. “Are we good now?” he asked, but he was slightly breathless too.
Without conscious thought, she shook her head from side to side. “No.” It came out as a whisper. Then she stepped to him and slid her arms around his neck. He responded immediately, his arms going around her waist as his lips captured hers once again. This time not so gentle. This time like he was starved for the feel of her. They held on, Chloe savoring every moment.
Jake was so powerfully attracted to Chloe that he was stunned. As she pressed herself against him, making it clear that she felt the same way he did, he tried to forget about how complicated this was getting and instead concentrated on the sensations washing over him in waves. Sensations that sent him soaring. He couldn’t get enough of her, didn’t want to stop.
Finally, finally, they drew apart. Jake could see the emotions he felt—excitement and desire—mirrored in Chloe’s eyes. Right along with those, though, were worry and concern. But Jake knew those negative emotions were just on his side because he was the one who worked for her, and he was there to protect her, not to get romantically involved with her.
Heaving an audible sigh, he shook his head. “This is all wrong.”
Her expression fell. “How can the way we’re feeling be wrong?” She smiled. “I mean, we are both single.”
An image of Ethan Marsh jumped into his head. He narrowed his eyes. “Are you though?”
“What?” she asked, her head cocked to the side.
She looked sincerely perplexed. Should he even bring this up? But he had to. If she was secretly dating Ethan Marsh, then that added an even greater level of wrongness to this whole thing. “Do you mean to tell me that you’re not secretly dating anyone?”
She made a scoffing sound. “Do you mean to tell me that you believe those false rumors about me and Ethan Marsh?”
At least she knew what he was talking about, but the way she reacted told him what he’d suspected all along. She and Ethan were not an item. “Of course not.”
“Good. Because it’s not true. I’ve never dated Ethan Marsh. And I’m not secretly dating anyone else either.”
Relieved to hear her say those words, Jake smiled.
“Now,” she said, her own smile bright, “let’s talk about you and me and where we go from here.”
But Jake still had concerns. Serious concerns. His smile dimmed.
“What’s wrong, Jake?” Chloe asked, her forehead wrinkled in question.
He gazed at her a moment. “This isn’t going to work.”
“Why not?”
“Because,” he said, “I need this job.”
The worry on her face was replaced by relief. “Is that all?” She softly chuckled when she asked the question.
Jake recoiled slightly. “What do you mean ‘Is that all’. It’s only my job we’re talking about. Not all of us have millions of dollars in the bank.” He hadn’t meant to sound so annoyed, but he was. Deeply.
The smile vanished from her face. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound so, I don’t know, shallow. It’s just…” She looked away and shook her head before meeting his eyes again. “I’m really attracted to you and I…I don’t want anything to stand in the way of it. That’s all.”