Let It Snow (The Hope Falls Series) (14 page)

J
ake jerked his head away from Darla the second her over-glossed lips touched his. He’d had enough. As much as he didn’t want to hurt her feelings, he was done being groped. After several attempts to shoot down her advances using subtlety and humor, Jake knew he was going to have to be blunt.

“This dance is over.” Jake pulled away from her and started to move off the dance floor.

Her hands wrapped around his wrist and she tugged on his arm pleading, “Please, stay. I’ll behave. I promise.”

Yanking out of her grasp, he said firmly, “Nope. Sorry. Three strikes and you’re out, birthday girl.”

“Jake,” she loudly whined his name.

He ignored her.

She’d already grabbed his ass, tried to grab his junk, and planted an unwanted kiss on him. Sure, maybe most guys wouldn’t be complaining about a hot blond getting frisky, and maybe it made him a pussy that he was, but so be it.

He’d just sat down when he noticed Amy sitting beside Matt. His sister was smiling at him weakly. He nodded his head. “Hey, sis.”

She waved and began talking just as Eric leaned forward, casually saying, “You just missed your new tenant.”

“What?” Jake looked at his brother, not sure what his comment meant but already not liking the cocky tone in his voice.

“Tessa was just here,” Amy clarified.

“Was?” Jake hadn’t been gone more than a few minutes. How could he have missed her?

“She left right after she saw you making out with Birthday Barbie over there.” Eric nodded to the dance floor.

Jake stood so fast the back of his knees almost knocked his chair over. He was halfway across the bar when he heard Amy saying something to him about Tessa catching a cab. He kept going.

He pulled the door open and heard a familiar voice. It was Chris, his engine driver, saying, “…love to give you a ride.”

Oh hell no
.

Coming around the corner, he saw the back of Tessa’s blond head. It was shaking no. Her voice sounded friendly enough, but her tone was clearly broadcasting an I’m-not-interested signal. “No thanks. I’m fine waiting. Really.”

Atta girl.

Chris looked up, and the moment he saw Jake, his expression turned from “Hey, baby. How you doin?” to “Oh shit.” “Hey, Chief.” Chris nodded and moved around Tessa. Then, because he could obviously ‘read the room’, Chris quickly went inside the bar.

Tessa didn’t turn around. Her back was facing him as she looked out over the parking lot.

“Tessa?” Jake wasn’t sure what he was doing out here or exactly what he wanted to say to her. He had absolutely nothing to feel guilty about. It’s not like he’d done anything wrong. So why did he feel like he needed to apologize?

She didn’t speak, so Jake reached out and grasped her shoulder, gently turning her to face him. When she looked up, his feeling the irrational need to apologize increased by about a thousand percent.

Her large blue eyes had small pools of water in them as she put on a brave face and smiled up at him. “Hey,” she said quietly as she wrapped her arms around herself. The gesture could very well have been out of necessity because it was cold outside, but it seemed protective to Jake.

Either way, he wanted to get her out of here. “Come on.”

“What?” Her brows knitted as she looked up at him.

“I’m taking you home,” Jake said, taking a step towards his SUV.

Tessa tilted her head and tucked her hands in the crooks of her elbows, crossing her arms. Her posture and demeanor changed on a dime. Staring at him like he’d just offended her somehow, she said, “No. You’re not.”

He repeated her earlier question. “What?”

“You don’t have to worry about me. I called a cab. You should go back to your date,” Tessa said flatly, her tone clearly conveying her unhappiness at the thought of him with someone.

A few moments ago it had been killing him to see Tessa upset and on the verge of tears from his actions, even though they had been totally innocent. But right now he was having a hard time not smiling over the appearance, once again, of the green-eyed monster. He knew it was wrong to feel any joy or satisfaction about Tessa being upset at
all
. But as much as he couldn’t help it if it made him a pussy to not want Darla groping and fondling him, he couldn’t help it if it made him a dick to enjoy the fact that it had made Tessa jealous to see it.

Still, he didn’t want her to get the wrong idea. “I’m not with her.”

“Really,” Tessa said with sarcasm dripping from her voice. “Wow. You could’a fooled me. Do you think
blondie
knows that you’re not
with
her?”

“Tessa.” Jake felt like he was getting whiplash from his constantly changing emotional state over the last sixty seconds.

First, it had broken his heart to see her in pain. Then, he’d been a little
too
happy to see her jealous. Now, he was starting to get pissed off because he didn’t have to answer to
Tessa
or anyone about his actions.

He was just about to say so when the Fabulous Four appeared out of nowhere. Lauren, Karina, Amanda, and Sam all stepped up on the curb and happily greeted Tessa and Jake.

“What are you guys doing out here in the cold?” Amanda asked, being her usual bubbly self.

“Waiting for a cab,” Tessa answered.

“We were just leaving,” Jake said at the same time.

All four of the women stared silently at both of them. Then a slow smile spread on Karina’s face. “Alrighty. Well, you kids have fun.”

The four went into the bar, and Jake could hear their whispers and giggles. Seriously, it felt like they were all back in high school. In more ways than one.

He and Tessa stood staring at each other for a few moments before he finally said, “There’s only one cab driver in town, and believe me, you do not want to get into his car. Let me take you home.”

Tessa bit the inside of her lip, and he saw her weighing the pros and cons of his offer. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, she was wearing an expression that he would have expected to see on someone walking a plank. She sighed as if resigning herself to her fate and said, “Fine. If you really don’t mind.”

“Not at all.” Jake placed his hand on her lower back as they made their way to his Yukon. His ever-fluctuating emotions were still in action because once again happiness flooded his system. He
loved
that he could always reason with her. Well, that and the feeling of her lower back under his palm.

He loved that too.

*

Tessa sat silently in the passenger’s seat, looking out the window as they passed through downtown Hope Falls. The city had placed twinkle lights in the trees, adding to the quaint small-town charm that was uniquely its own. The shop windows were all darkened, but there was a strip of lighting on the wooden sidewalks that gave everything an ethereal glow.

Of course, she could try and pretend that she was just taking in the view, enjoying the scenery, but that would be a flat-out lie. In her heart she knew she was just being a total
brat
, plain and simple. Which was frustrating because it was very out of character for her, and if she saw someone else behaving like she was, she’d think they needed to get over themselves. But for some inexplicable reason she just couldn’t stop the “I’m a brat” train now that it had left the station.

Logically, she knew Jake had interrupted his night to play chauffer and take her home. Whether or not he was really “with” the blond who had been hanging all over him was not the point. He didn’t owe her a ride home or a place to stay and he certainly didn’t owe her an explanation about his personal life. She’d forfeited that right a long time ago.

She just couldn’t help being upset. Seeing Jake with someone else made her want to scream. Or cry. Or hit something. Or someone. Preferably blond.

Which was ridiculous. Her behavior was ridiculous. She could practically hear Grandma Adie’s voice in her head saying, “
Now that boy has done nothing but been good to you, Tessa Avery Hayes. You better knock that nonsense off and act right.”

It’s not that she was just imagining that that’s what her grandma might say. Grandma Adie
had
said that. Multiple times. In fact, every time Tessa and Jake would get into a disagreement and Tessa would go and tell her grandma, those had been her exact wise words of wisdom. She’d always taken Jake’s side. But in fairness, his had been the right side to take.

Deciding to heed her grandma’s advice, Tessa cleared her throat and turned in the heated leather seat, pulling her leg up underneath her in an effort to appear casually relaxed and grateful. “Thanks for the ride.”

Jake didn’t look over at her, his attention directed at the road illuminated by his headlights in front of them, but she did see a twitch in the corner of his mouth. “So you’re talking to me now?”

“I wasn’t
not
talking to you,” Tessa defended. Sure, her defense was total BS, but whatever. He didn’t know that. Actually he probably did. Jake had always been able to read her like a book.

Instead of calling her on her blatant lie, he did something that took Tessa by complete and utter surprise. Jake—gasp!—apologized. “I’m sorry if what you saw upset you. Honestly, I’m not with that girl. I was only dancing with her because it’s her birthday. And she kissed me, not the other way around. And I didn’t put that song on the jukebox.”

Tessa was speechless. For several reasons. The Jake she knew did not apologize for things. Mainly because he never did anything wrong, but still. He hadn’t done anything wrong this time either. And he’d remembered
their
song.

Now she
really
felt silly for the way she’d reacted. “You don’t have to apologize. Who you kiss or kisses you, who you dance with, is none of my business.”

“I know I don’t have to apologize,” Jake said as he turned onto Shady Creek Lane. “I know it’s none of your business. But it still feels like it is.”

Jake’s words caused goose bumps to pop up on her skin, and Tessa’s palms grew damp as her heart started beating so fast it felt like it was trying to set a world record. She knew exactly what he meant. It
did
still feel like it was her business, but she’d
never
expected him to say that.

Tessa turned back around, facing forward as the large SUV pulled up the driveway in front of the house. She felt like she should say something. But what?

Before she had a chance to come up with anything brilliant, Jake continued, “It feels like a lifetime has passed and also like no time has passed at all.”

“Yeah, it does.” That was
exactly
what it felt like.

They both sat staring at the house they had planned to have their happily-ever-after in. The heavy atmosphere could be cut with a knife. Tessa had so many things she wanted to tell Jake. To ask Jake. About him. About them.

But when she opened her mouth, the only thing that came out was, “Why haven’t you moved in here yet?”

Jake let out a small forced laugh. “I don’t know,” he said as he raked his hands though his hair. Then, leaning his head back against the headrest, he placed his hands on the steering wheel.

Tessa watched as his large fingers wrapped around the wheel and she felt a pull deep inside of her. She hadn’t forgotten how those fingers felt on her body, in her body.

Trying to distract herself, she glanced up at Jake. Bad move. With his head tilted back, it gave her a perfect view of the sexy lines of his neck. Her lips tingled with a desire to press her mouth against his exposed skin. She saw the shadowed line of his vein protruding out and running down into the hood of his sweatshirt.

Her pulse quickened as her eyes—acting on their own accord!—darted down to his lap to do a quick visual inspection to determine if his sexy neck vein was making an appearance because he was mad or frustrated or if it was because, like her, he was turned on.

Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner.
Tessa saw the large, bulging evidence that Jake was, in fact, still physically affected by her. A thrill swept over her and tiny firework-like tingles exploded throughout her body. She couldn’t tear her eyes off of his lap, which was growing bigger by the second.

“Tessa.” Her name rumbled from deep his chest.

Her eyes shot up to his and the look she saw there caused her center to spasm with arousal. His eyes were filled with hungry, predatory need. He’d never looked at her like that when they were teens. This was the look of a man, a man who knew what he wanted and exactly how to get it.

Tessa wasn’t sure who moved first, but they moved towards each other, meeting over the console. Jake cradled her face in his hands, his fingertips wrapping around the back of her neck and kneading in an erotic massage.

Closing her eyes, Tessa gave in to the all-consuming passion that was rioting through her. With Jake, it had always been like this. One touch, one look, one word and her body lit up with fire, burning only for him.

She could feel his heavy breath coming in short pants fan across her face, and her lips tingled with anticipation. He rested his forehead against hers, and she opened her eyes. His large brown eyes staring back at her sent a delicious tremor racing through her.