you were going to say something useful…”
Ricardo straightened back up, “Well, they are. But the word around the golf course is you’re a man who knows how to handle a club.”
“We should play a round sometime…”
“I’ve got Thursday open. Lunch?”
Jake nodded thoughtfully, “You’re on.”
Ricardo squealed in his girly voice again.
I was so busy listening to their conversation I didn’t hear Andrew walk up beside me. He scared the piss out of me.
“Stalking?” his brown eyes were keen and observant as they studied me.
I was struck once again buy the realization I really liked this guy. He seemed to be a very genuine person. I never got any weird vibes from him, no alarm bells signaling Andrew was anything but a happy, successful guy.
“Sort of,” I admitted, my eyes wandering back to Jake.
A comfortable silence descended between us and I realized Andrew was the male version of me.
He was freaking perfect for Jennie.
“Jennie filled me in on the story of you and Jake. This can’t be easy on you.”
I shook my head, watching Jake laugh with Sylvia. “No, it’s surreal. I keep expecting to wake up and find this was all a very elaborate nightmare.”
Andrew’s eyebrow quirked up, “Nightmare? Interesting choice of words there.”
“Dreams involving Jake ended five years ago. That was my statute of limitations on torture.” I explained. “Everything since then is a nightmare. None of this seems real.”
Andrew crossed his arms over his sculpted, distinctively male chest, and leaned back against the countertop. “Can I ask you a question?”
I knew Andrew and I were going to be friends, I could feel it in the easy way we were talking to each other. “Shoot.”
“If you had a guarantee Jake would never leave you again, would this still be a nightmare?” He was quietly observing me, his eyes soft and unwavering. There wasn’t a hint of malice or a hidden agenda and he seemed to be genuinely concerned for me.
Jake: nightmare or dream? It seemed to be the only question on my mind over the last month. Maybe he was both.
The reason I’d fallen in love with him was still the same. I was still attracted to him physically, but it was so much more than that.
We got each other. He always seemed to know what I was thinking and feeling. I didn’t have to explain myself. I didn’t have to change myself. To Jake, I was just Eve and I was perfect the way I was. He knew my insecurities and fears, but he never used them against me. He knew when to reassure me and when to stand back and let me do my thing.
And I was the same way with him.
He was an extrovert by nature. He loved groups of people and usually found a way to become the center of attention. Not because he needed the spotlight, but because he enjoyed people. I got that about him. It was so interesting to see the new Jake, just the same, but different. He didn’t have that same anxious need to be with a group at all times, but he liked it. Even now as the group around the fire pit was growing, Jake’s glow was growing, too. His smile was widening, his laugh was deepening—it was like he was coming to life.
So was he a dream or a nightmare? The more I got to know him, the more I was unsure of that answer.
One thing I did know, was that I hadn’t changed.
I still only had two settings with Jake: off and on. If I flipped that switch, there would be no stopping me. I would have to love him completely. I just didn’t know how else to love someone who I felt so connected to. And if we got that close again and he ran for some reason… I knew I couldn’t come back from that kind of broken heart twice.
“No one can guarantee that, so it doesn’t matter,” I murmured.
“Jennie thinks you two are meant for each other.”
“I used to think that, too.”
“ I think you two are meant for each other,” Andrew stated flatly, his eyes boring into mine.
I took a step back, an actual step back, as my heart took off racing. How
Ricardo straightened back up, “Well, they are. But the word around the golf course is you’re a man who knows how to handle a club.”
“We should play a round sometime…”
“I’ve got Thursday open. Lunch?”
Jake nodded thoughtfully, “You’re on.”
Ricardo squealed in his girly voice again.
I was so busy listening to their conversation I didn’t hear Andrew walk up beside me. He scared the piss out of me.
“Stalking?” his brown eyes were keen and observant as they studied me.
I was struck once again buy the realization I really liked this guy. He seemed to be a very genuine person. I never got any weird vibes from him, no alarm bells signaling Andrew was anything but a happy, successful guy.
“Sort of,” I admitted, my eyes wandering back to Jake.
A comfortable silence descended between us and I realized Andrew was the male version of me.
He was freaking perfect for Jennie.
“Jennie filled me in on the story of you and Jake. This can’t be easy on you.”
I shook my head, watching Jake laugh with Sylvia. “No, it’s surreal. I keep expecting to wake up and find this was all a very elaborate nightmare.”
Andrew’s eyebrow quirked up, “Nightmare? Interesting choice of words there.”
“Dreams involving Jake ended five years ago. That was my statute of limitations on torture.” I explained. “Everything since then is a nightmare. None of this seems real.”
Andrew crossed his arms over his sculpted, distinctively male chest, and leaned back against the countertop. “Can I ask you a question?”
I knew Andrew and I were going to be friends, I could feel it in the easy way we were talking to each other. “Shoot.”
“If you had a guarantee Jake would never leave you again, would this still be a nightmare?” He was quietly observing me, his eyes soft and unwavering. There wasn’t a hint of malice or a hidden agenda and he seemed to be genuinely concerned for me.
Jake: nightmare or dream? It seemed to be the only question on my mind over the last month. Maybe he was both.
The reason I’d fallen in love with him was still the same. I was still attracted to him physically, but it was so much more than that.
We got each other. He always seemed to know what I was thinking and feeling. I didn’t have to explain myself. I didn’t have to change myself. To Jake, I was just Eve and I was perfect the way I was. He knew my insecurities and fears, but he never used them against me. He knew when to reassure me and when to stand back and let me do my thing.
And I was the same way with him.
He was an extrovert by nature. He loved groups of people and usually found a way to become the center of attention. Not because he needed the spotlight, but because he enjoyed people. I got that about him. It was so interesting to see the new Jake, just the same, but different. He didn’t have that same anxious need to be with a group at all times, but he liked it. Even now as the group around the fire pit was growing, Jake’s glow was growing, too. His smile was widening, his laugh was deepening—it was like he was coming to life.
So was he a dream or a nightmare? The more I got to know him, the more I was unsure of that answer.
One thing I did know, was that I hadn’t changed.
I still only had two settings with Jake: off and on. If I flipped that switch, there would be no stopping me. I would have to love him completely. I just didn’t know how else to love someone who I felt so connected to. And if we got that close again and he ran for some reason… I knew I couldn’t come back from that kind of broken heart twice.
“No one can guarantee that, so it doesn’t matter,” I murmured.
“Jennie thinks you two are meant for each other.”
“I used to think that, too.”
“ I think you two are meant for each other,” Andrew stated flatly, his eyes boring into mine.
I took a step back, an actual step back, as my heart took off racing. How
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