Love Realized (20 page)

“How ‘bout we get in there then and see if I can get straight As tonight. You wanna tell me who the big guy in the window is first, though?” She chuckled a little, knowing what he was seeing … all six-foot three-inches of her brother. He probably looked even bigger standing next to Allie, who came in somewhere around five-foot five-inches—in high heels.

“That would be my brother, Sean; he’s married and just recently had his third kid. If you want to win him over, you just need to say nice things about his kids; he turns into a marshmallow. I'm sure you can handle him, though … if not, just win over his wife, Morgan, and he will have no choice but to like you.”

Yep, that’s right, her brother, the big alpha male, would do anything for his adorable wife. He truly was a softy. She turned to get out of the truck, and he stilled her. “Now what would people think if they saw you getting out of the truck without my assistance? Don’t go sinking my ship before I even get out of the port, little lady.”

“My apologies, sir.” She smiled and watched as he turned to get out on his side, then made his way over to her door. He opened the door, and as she went to get out, he reached up and put his hands around her waist, pulled her into his body and eased her from the high truck, down to the ground. Gillian slid down his body as he lowered her. They stood there, her hands on his shoulders, and his still around her waist—bodies pressed firmly against each other.

“I know you’re fully capable of climbing down, but I’m sure that drop to the ground in boots could be slightly painful after doing it more than once tonight.”

“You have no idea, but it’s totally worth it.” Whoa, was that her voice? It sure sounded hoarse and raspy to her. She cleared her throat before continuing, “You ready for this?”

“Bring it on,” he said as he let a big smile spread across his face. Did he seriously just quote a cheer movie? She laughed out loud at that.

“You better contain your movie quotes in there to movies that aren’t about cheerleaders … or they will eat you alive.”

“What? I have a teenage daughter. I had to make sure those movies were appropriate for her to watch. I was just trying to be a good dad.”

“Sure you were, and I'm sure you read
Playboy
for the articles.”

She looked over at him as she said this, and his smile got impossibly larger and exclaimed. “Exactly! You have no idea how refreshing it is to meet a woman who understands that.”

Mike then reached out and held her hand, just as he had done earlier, as they walked to the door, laughing at how they were able to banter back and forth that way. It was relaxing, almost like they had been friends for a while.

“I have a feeling you will be able to hold your own in there just fine, Mr. Smart Ass.” And with that, she opened the front door.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

About thirty minutes later, after subjecting her first adult date to her group of friends, she quietly stood on her porch in front of Mike, a little unsure of what to do. They had kissed in the truck, and it was a great kiss, but now they sort of had an audience. She looked up at him and gave him a shy look to convey her uncertainty. Being a complete gentleman, he leaned down and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek before standing back up and smiling at her. “I would like to see you again, Gillian. Can I call you?”

“Yes,” she blurted out a little too enthusiastically, which only made him chuckle at her again. Apparently her inability to control her reactions was becoming a habit around him. Taking a second to compose herself, she said, “Yes, Mike, I would like that.”

Mike reached down and gripped her hand gently as he lifted it to his lips. Placing a sweet and simple kiss on her knuckles, he whispered, “’Til next time, Gillian … goodnight.” And then she watched as he slowly pulled away from her and backed down the steps of her porch. She was admiring the view as he climbed into his truck when she caught sight of Jake’s jeep parked in the middle of the chaos of trucks in her large driveway. Realizing that she hadn’t seen Jake inside, she wondered where he could be. She made her way back inside and found her brother waiting for her, with a diaper bag over one shoulder and an adorable baby cradled in the other. Walking over to him to retrieve her niece, she smiled at the mass of contradictions that was her brother at that moment.

“You know you don’t look as imposing with eight pounds of baby in your arms and a pink and brown diaper bag on your shoulder,” she chided him while taking the baby and cradling her like the pro she was. Of course, the slight longing that most women have when holding a new baby was there. Even though she knew she was done having babies, she couldn’t help but sometimes wish she wasn’t.

“It’s all part of my disguise. I can still kick some guy’s ass with one arm ‘cause they wouldn’t be expecting it while I was holding a baby. Besides, who would hit a guy if he was holding a baby?” her brother retorted. Gillian just snorted at her brother and shook her head.

“Tell me I did not just hear you say you’d punch some guy while holding our baby girl in your arms?” Morgan huffed at her husband as she came into the room with all her spunk and ire. Gillian loved to watch her brother around his wife. The big man visibly melted when she came near him, almost like he didn’t realize he missed her until he was near her again. Sean adored Morgan, and it was written all over his face. Gillian watched as her brother followed his wife’s path as she walked into the room; it made her smile as she watched him melt in front of her eyes.

“You know I would never do that, my love.”

Shaking her head, she put her arm around Gillian’s shoulders, she replied, “Yeah, you’re all talk, Sean Cooper.” Then she turned to look at her new daughter before she let out a big sigh and said, “What have we done Gillian … bringing daughters into this world, so that they have to put up with these big gorillas.”

Gillian laughed at that, because it was true. She never had to endure the torture of this ritual of theirs, where all the friends gathered at the girl’s house the night of her first date with a new guy, and she was thankful for it. She made a mental note not to let anyone know the next time she went on another first date again. “’Til tonight, I hadn’t realized how nerve wracking it would be to introduce a newcomer to this crew. But I think Mike handled himself well … what do you think big brother?”

Sean just smiled at his sister as he said, “I trust your judgment Sis; I just want you to be happy.” And with that she nodded her thanks, leaned down to kiss the beautiful bundle in her arms and then handed her back over to the big gorilla.

Morgan leaned in and kissed Gillian on the cheek and said, “I liked him. He seemed like he could fit in with this group.”

“Thanks for coming over guys. I'm going to find Allie and give her crap for doing this to me. And here I thought she only came down to help me with the fun stuff like getting ready, when she obviously only came down for the torture.” She hugged her brother and sister-in-law and made her way to the back of the house where she would find the guilty party planner.

As she walked into the poolroom, she noticed Allie and Jason talking in low tones off to one corner of the room, and a few other friends playing pool and just hanging out. “All right everyone, give me a show of hands … who got the order to be here tonight from Allie?” she questioned the room. Everyone’s hand went in the air with the exception of Allie’s. It was just as she had thought.

“You know you could’ve just asked me, and I would have taken full credit for it!” Allie yelled from across the room where she was still standing with Jason.

“Oh, I have no doubt that you would’ve. I just wanted to see that I wasn’t the only one who gets bossed around by you,” Gillian said with a smirk as she headed into the group of people to say goodnight, since the events of the evening were over. She was sure that a few of them had been here a while based on the empty pizza boxes piled up on the bar. “And just so you know, you’re the one that’s going to clean up the mess around here. Your gathering … your mess.”

Allie walked away from Jason to start her clean up, and Gillian laughed as she saw her order a few of the guys to take stuff to the trash and pick up. They, of course, jumped at the order. She wasn’t sure if it was because they were being gentlemanly, if it was because a few of them worked with Jason and Logan and didn’t want to be seen
not
doing it, or because Allie was tiny, but fierce, and it was likely a few of them had crushes on her. Either way, Gillian didn’t care; she just didn’t want to be the one doing it.

She watched as Jason grabbed himself another beer and sat down on a stool to watch, throwing a few irritated glances at Allie in the process. Looking at Jason reminded her that Jake was missing. It kind of bummed her out that he wasn’t here, and she wanted to know why, especially since his jeep was. A sudden thought that he might be sick had her worried. Making her way across the room to Jason, she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek before perching herself on the stool next to him.

“Hey handsome, where is the other Mr. Michaels? I see his car is in my driveway … but I don’t see him.” She gave him a questioning look as she waited for an answer. She caught that he glanced over at Allie before he looked back at her. Gillian turned and looked in time to see Allie glare back at Jason. Gillian wasn’t really sure what was going on, but was really curious now, and pressed Jason more. “Out with it, Jason, or I tell Allie over there that you told me everything.”

He just huffed and shook his head, obviously irritated. “He and Allie didn’t see eye to eye on something, so he left.”

He finished his statement by lifting his beer bottle toward his lips, but Gillian put her hand up and stopped him as she asked, “Without his jeep? Is he okay?” Jason’s shoulders, which had been bunched up with tension a few seconds ago, relaxed a bit, and his features softened as he gave her that big brother look.

“I’m sure he’s fine Gilly; just give him some time to cool off, and you can call him tomorrow.” Jason finished his beer and stood to leave, but not before looking down at Gillian with a pleading look and saying, “Please … make sure you call him tomorrow.”

A bit surprised by Jason’s insistence, she nodded. “Of course, I would check on him right now if you hadn’t just said to let him cool down.” Accepting her at her word, he nodded and made his way out, taking a few of the guys with him along the way.

After saying good night to everyone else and taking one last look outside at Jake’s jeep sitting in the driveway, she couldn’t help but be a little concerned about whatever had happened between Allie and him tonight. She knew it took a lot to get him mad, but she also knew if anyone could push a person’s buttons, it’d be Allie. Letting out a big sigh of exhaustion as her body started to come down off the rollercoaster of emotions she had been feeling all day long, she couldn’t think of anywhere she’d rather be than tucked under her blankets for the night.

As she went about her nightly routine, she thought about what Jason had said. Even though he felt she should give Jake some space—for whatever reason—Gillian wanted Jake to know she was thinking of him. So, as she climbed into bed, she decided to send him a text. Picking up her phone from its place on her nightstand, she ignored the text from a number she didn’t recognize and sent a quick one to Jake.

Gillian: I missed you tonight, call me when you get up and I will get your jeep over to you…

She waited for a few minutes, hoping for a response from him, which would let her know he was okay, but nothing came. A slight bit of uneasiness came over her as she lay down and tried to relax. Sleep eluded her for a little while, all thoughts of her date had fled and only Jake remained on her mind. Finally, though, her body succumbed to the exhaustion.

Thud … thud … thud …
Jake couldn’t figure out who was pounding on his head. He tried to open his eyes and see, but the sharp, stabbing sensation that hit his poor eyeballs was too much to handle. Slamming his lids shut, he turned his head to the side in hopes of getting away from the source, but that only made his stomach pitch and roll. He broke out in a sweat and attempted to keep the need to vomit under control. Lying there, with his eyes closed, he took slow, steady breaths—in the nose and out the mouth. The less movement he made, the better he felt. He really did a number on himself last night.
Good ol’ Jack Daniels … Ugh! Just throw up and get it over with, you’d feel better.

“You’re right … you would feel better once you throw up and get it over with.”

Okay, so maybe I'm still a little drunk since I seem to be answering myself now.
This time, though, the voice didn’t respond to a comment, it gave instructions.

“There’s a trash can next to your bed, and a sports drink and pain killers on the nightstand. Are you going to be able to get yourself up and in the shower, or are you going to need help?”

Great, the voice in my head was Gillian’s … well isn’t that just a kick in the balls?
He attempted to roll toward the side of the bed again.

“Why the hell would my voice, in your head, be like a kick in the balls, Jake Michaels?”

What the …

His eyes shot open and landed straight on the woman who possessed the voice, and who happened to look amused at his state of distress. His stomach did a complete nosedive before leaping into his throat. Of course, the mother and nurse in her recognized the signs, grabbed him by the nape of his neck and pushed him toward the trashcan she had lovingly placed next to his bed. As he emptied the contents of his stomach, it took him a split second of embarrassment to realize this was not how he wanted her to see him. But then, the convulsing of his stomach distracted him from everything else as he fought, once again, to gain some control.