The Storm Inside (8 page)

Jennie said something else and Jake finally smiled, his dimple appearing. I was instantly transported back to the night I first realized I was in love with him.

It had been a night like this, in this room, actually. It looked different back then, pre-renovation. We had a giant old square coffee table and a ratty old couch, a crappy rug on the floor. It was game night. Three different games were going on and all our friends were lounging around, drinking and talking smack.

Jake was sitting on the floor in front of the coffee table playing Risk. He was having a great time. I was curled up on the couch behind him, watching while I read a book. He was wearing a white t-shirt and jeans, not entirely unlike tonight, but he had on a baseball hat.

He was wearing it backwards.

His skin was tan, like it was now, and he was grinning. It had taken my breath away. He was so handsome and so happy that night. His eyes had been alive and his dimple… for that one night it seemed to be on his cheek permanently. All of his coloring was so perfectly in balance…
he
was perfect.

I couldn’t take my eyes off him. I tried desperately to memorize every single thing about him. And I had never forgotten. Not the sound of his voice, not the rumble of his laugh, not the way he looked at me.

I had never forgotten the moment he turned to me with those bright green eyes and I knew I was in love.

My whole body suddenly ached, as if it were crying out in mourning for that moment. It actually hurt. A real visceral feeling I could quantify. Love wasn’t just an emotion; it was a full body experience. One I was clearly not over.

I stayed on the edges watching Jake interact with our guests. They kept him busy for a full thirty minutes before we transitioned from appetizers to dinner. It was very casual; we ate in the living room around the coffee table. It kept the conversation flowing and casual.

Sharon and I were in a deep conversation about the merits of organic food when Jake came up alongside us. Every hair on my body stood straight up. Jake was like a lightning rod directing all the energy around us.

“The food is delicious, Eve. Did you cook?”

I smiled weakly up at him. My heart was racing uncontrollably. “Some. I made the chimichurri sauce.”

He nodded, his eyes drifting casually between Sharon and I, “It’s fantastic.”

“Thank you.” I said softly. Being near him was setting all of my senses on fire. Good and bad. Happy and sad. I was an emotional hurricane.

“Your mom’s house looks a little different. You’ve been busy.”

I took a deep breath and looked around the living room. I was so proud of my renovations. “It was a good way to keep me busy for a few years.”

He nodded thoughtfully, dropping his eyes and clearing his throat, “Yes, well, it’s amazing. I’m glad you’ve been able to keep it. I always felt like this house was yours.”

As strange as that sounded, I agreed completely. As a child visiting my grandparents here, I’d known this house would one day be mine. It felt like home every bit as much as the house I grew up in. My mom inherited it two years before I started college and with the little house on Davis Island’s so close to the University of South Florida, it was a no-brainer. Jennie had moved in with me, and a year later, Jake did too. Sylvia had lived with us one year, and a rotating list of our other friends over the years.

This house had always been the center of everything. And to a certain extent, it still was.

“Did you ever build your library?” he asked.

My heart skipped a beat. If there was anything I loved as much as Jake, it was my library.

I waved, “Follow me.”

Jake’s eyebrows shot up and he fell in line behind me.

“I’m gonna get another plate,” Sharon called shaking her head. She knew better than to get between Jake and me.

I opened the door to a room that sat on the back of the house. The dark wood door matched the dark wood and brown leather of everything inside. On the right wall were tall dark bookshelves stuffed with books, knickknacks, and pictures. At the very top was a transom where light spilled in during the day. On the far wall was a bank of French doors that opened up onto my back porch. Above the French doors was another transom. I could pull the heavy dark red curtains and still have a delightful glow of daylight in my library. It was one of my favorite features.

The floor was dark wood that matched everything else in the old house from the forties, and covering that was a thick red oriental rug. A long leather ottoman stood in the center of the room with a matching couch on one side and mismatched armchairs on the other. Blankets were draped over every available corner.

On the left wall was my enormous wood desk surrounded by more bookshelves. It was the exact library I dreamed of having.

“Just like I pictured it,” he murmured.

“Sometimes I spend all day in here.”

He nodded and walked quickly around the room, “It’s like being inside your head.”

The temperature in the room dropped. The electric pull between us was stronger than ever.

To say I was confused was an understatement. I hated the man standing across the room from me just as strongly as I loved him.

“We should get back to the party,” I murmured, turning and leaving.

“You’ve done amazing things with your life, Eve.”

I paused, part of me wanting to turn around, sit down on that comfy leather couch, and talk to my former best friend for hours. But I knew I couldn’t do that, it would hurt too much. “Thank you,” it was barely more than a whisper. My heart was being strangled by my rising emotions.

“You are very welcome.”

I took a deep breath and rejoined the party.

We kept our distance for the rest of the night. I never had to say ‘Rumpelstiltskin’ or ask for Ricardo to throw Jake out on his backside. In fact, I was feeling pretty good. Yes, I was attracted to Jake and I mourned the loss of his friendship as much as I ever had… but all of it was surprisingly manageable.

Until my phone rang.

Things were put in motion that were about to change all that.

“What’s wrong, sweetie?” Jennie asked. She was buzzing hard, a permanent grin affixed to her pretty face, and a non-stop stream of babbling pouring out of her mouth.

“That was Dad. He and Mom are hopping a flight to see June.”

Jennie frowned, pulling her brows down, “Oh no. Is everything ok?”

I shrugged, “Probably. Apparently mom didn’t like the sound of June’s voice.” Everyone chuckled good-naturedly at my mother’s over-protectiveness. I probably shouldn’t have said what I said next, but I’d had a few drinks and I was relaxed. I didn’t think about the potential ramifications. “They were planning a cookout this weekend and all the food is going to go to waste, he asked if we wanted to come down and use up the food for them.”

Jennie’s face lit up immediately and she started a ridiculous bouncing thing. “Oh, yes! Let’s get the whole gang. We haven’t had a party at your parent’s house in what… two years?”

I nodded, “Yep, since Max destroyed the guest suite.”

Jake’s eyebrows shot up, “You’ve got to be kidding me…”

Jennie shook her head, “Oh no. The party got seriously out of control. Stephen got lost on the beach and we found him asleep in a sand dune the next morning. Sylvia—”

She and Ricardo groaned, “No, please don’t remind us!”

Jennie grinned, “These two knuckleheads had sex on the boat and passed out. Luckily the shoddy anchor job held. And poor Max…” Jennie looked over at me with the saddest eyes. She had the worst crush on the poor lunk head. He was an artist at heart, but usually veered dangerously close to rock star status without actually achieving it. His band had played for hours that night and somehow managed to trash one of my parent’s guest houses. Joe made the boys come back every weekend for a month to help the contractor piece it back together and redecorate it. Not to mention he made them pay for it. “Let’s just say he’s never lived that night down. Joe didn’t let him come for Thanksgiving that year…”

It was the perfect weekend to get away. The Rays were on the road until Tuesday, so my schedule was completely flexible. Maybe a nice weekend away with my friends would be fun…

Then Jennie said what changed everything. “Jake, you should come, too! You can see everyone that way!”

My heart stopped as all eyes, even Jake’s, swung over to me.

Weirdness levels skyrocketed. We’d only just barely managed to survive a ballgame and a dinner party. Wasn’t a weekend away—at my parent’s house, filled with memories of our old life—pushing things too far and too fast?

Or maybe it was just what I needed. Push it hard and get it over with. If I was lucky, come Monday morning I would be able to confidently look Jake in the eye and tell him I didn’t love him anymore. That he and I could finally move on.

“Let’s do it,” I said firmly and before I lost my nerve.

Jake’s eyebrows shot up and cheers filled the room. Plans were quickly made, not that I listened to any of them. Jennie was taking care of it all.

Thirty minutes later the party started breaking up. Jennie and Sylvia were in the kitchen cleaning, Ricardo was putting our things back where they belonged and taking out the trash, Heather and Sharon had already left.

“You don’t have to come,” I said as I walked Jake to the door.

He had a sly grin, the kind that said he was more than happy to come for the weekend, and not just as friends. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world, darlin’.”

Darlin’
. I swallowed at the way it sounded coming from him. Sweet and reverent. It promised to be both adoring and sexy. The way the letters rolled off his tongue and his voice gruffly vibrated behind them… could easily change their meaning. I liked the way it sounded. I liked that it was directed at me.

Which was all wrong.

Chapter 5

It was Thursday night and Jennie was out on her first date with Andrew. I told her to bring me home dessert. Meanwhile I was enjoying my evening alone. I had the music blasting, a pizza open on my bed, and I was giving myself a pedicure.

Because I was alone and expecting to stay that way, I was wearing dark gray leggings, a sports bra, and a giant racerback tank. My hair was piled up into a messy bun. I was twisted like a pretzel to reach my toes and singing at the top of my lungs, so I didn’t hear him come in.

Not until I saw him lounging in my doorway, watching me with a look of pure amusement. “What the hell are you doing here?” I yelled at Jake over the music. “You scared the shit out of me!”

That only made him chuckle. He looked different. He’d clearly just come from work. He was dressed in a very sharp three-piece suit. Dark gray, pinstriped, and obviously tailored to his frame. My mouth went a little dry as I looked him up and down.

The twinkle in his eye said he’d seen my longing look.
Crap.

I pointed at the remote just out of my contorted reach and Jake smiled more, shifting away from the doorjamb to lower the music.

“Sorry I surprised you. Having fun?” his amusement at my position clearly giving him fits.

I glowered at him. “I was supposed to be having a nice night alone.”

“I know. Jennie is on her date. She asked me to run by and grab some stuff for your parent’s house.” He paused long enough to give me stern look. “You keep the key in the same place, don’t you think you should change that?”

I finished the nail I was working on and untwisted myself. “You could have knocked, or called, or texted. You do know how those things work, right? That isn’t on your ‘learning curve’ is it?”

I noticed as his eyes longingly wandered over my pizza so I picked up a piece and shoved it in my mouth, intentionally baiting him.

“Yes, Eve, I know how to use a phone. I will try to give you a heads up next time, though I must say surprising you is working out for me so far.” Cocky bastard. But he was right. So far his ‘surprise’ visits had earned him multiple occasions to talk to me, the obvious confidence of my best friend, and now, a few uninterrupted moments alone in my bedroom, of all places.

I threw my pizza at him, which he, of course, deftly caught and stuck into his own mouth, “Thank you. I was hoping you’d offer. I haven’t had dinner…”

It just pissed me off more. Who did he think he was, waltzing into my house, asking for my pizza? “Well grab your stuff for Jennie and go get some.”

He didn’t seem to like my choice of words. His eyes zeroed in on me in a way that took me back. It wasn’t a friendly look—it was a lustful look. “Are you driving your car down?”

“Yes.” What did that mean? How else would I get to my parent’s house… wishful thinking?

“I’m taking the Bronco…” he said looking down, then suddenly back up and into my eyes. “You are more than welcome to ride with me.”

The idea locked my muscles in a death grip. I couldn’t think of a worse idea. “I think I’ll be fine in the car. With Jennie.” And her very, very safe conversation. There was no chance Jennie was going to try to sleep with me, or make me fall in love with her.