Page 25 of An Unexpected Turn
I sucked in a gasp when he cupped my cheek, skimming his thumb back and forth along my jaw. This comfort was already too intimate, but I found more than sympathy in his eyes. I spied the same heat I’d been trying to reason away as a crush, now coming to a boil at the notion of it being reciprocated.
The tears halted along with my heartbeat. My lips parted on instinct when Jake’s gaze fell to my mouth. My shaky hands skated up his arms and met at the back of his neck. We drifted back toward the edge of the sink as we eased closer, the distance closing between us as his breath fanned against my chin.
“Fuck,” he whispered, husky and low, as his hooded eyes locked with mine. The kitchen could have washed away around us, and I wouldn’t have noticed or cared. I nodded, silently agreeing with how inevitable this was and having zero inclination to stop.
One more centimeter and his lips would be on mine, and despite how it shouldn’t happen, I wanted his mouth more than I wanted air. Despite the bad memories this flood brought up in my troubled brain, the fight to resist Jake and how I felt about him whooshed out of me. I no longer saw or cared about what was wrong with pressing my lips to his because it felt too right.
“How the hell do you work this, Russo?”
We jumped apart at my uncle’s voice.
“The one we have isn’t this damn complicated. See, Peyton, I hired you a high-end contractor with state-of-the-art equipment.”
I forced a smile as Jake followed my uncle, not looking back at me as I tried to catch my breath, my panties now as wet as my eyes.
In a way, this was all a good distraction. I was no longer dwelling on the possible mistake I’d made rushing to Kelly Lakes or the original disaster that had brought me here. I was too busy focusing on all the dirty mistakes I wanted to make with Jake, but wasn’t supposed to consider.
He ambled around the condo, going room to room and pointing to things and whispering to my uncle while I looked on. I didn’t pay much attention to what they said, only nodded when they looked back at me.
“It doesn’t look like any more is coming in, but it was enough to soak through the floor and ruin most of the carpet. The good news is the bedroom seems more or less okay. We’ll start on the flooring, and we can figure out the cabinets after. But I want to take care of that wall before the mold gets out of control. I’ll replace the hardwood floor, and you can come by the office to go through some carpet samples.”
“He’s not supposed to tell you the prices so you can pick what you want.”
I exhaled with a loud groan.
“Uncle Keith, stop it—”
“Yeah, yeah.” He came over to me and kissed my temple. “Let’s clean this up so we can go home and eat.” He stalked out the door, leaving Jake and me alone again in the kitchen.
“Thank you for coming by, and for doing this.” I cleared my throat as I eyed my open front door. Had Uncle Keith not said anything when he’d come back in, he would have found his best friend and me lip-locked in my flooded kitchen. That was a brazen and thoughtless move on both our parts, but until that moment, my uncle’s presence hadn’t been stopping us. Neither of us caring or even remembering that he could come back at any moment spoke volumes about how dangerous the crazy attraction between us had become.
“My uncle is too much.”
“That he is. But he’s the best friend I’ve ever had.” I spied a deep furrow in his brow as he blew out a long breath. “He’d literally give anyone the shirt off his back, and he loves his niece.” He shuffled over to me, his shoes squeaking against the damp floor. “I’m happy to help him give you a nice place to live.”
Our almost-kiss still lingered between us, an almost-kiss we had to forget almost happened.
Too bad that was impossible.
“Thank you.” The words came out breathless and gravelly, like flirty sandpaper.
He cleared his throat and slid his hand to the back of his neck, taking two long strides away from me.
“My pleasure.”
I wanted his pleasure. I wanted his mouth and his hands and everything else I wasn’t supposed to crave from him. I had hoped getting in over my head was an isolated incident that I’d left behind me. Now, the repeat performance was all too familiar and all too easy to fall into.
His eyes darted away from mine and back toward the door.
At least we were aware now that we weren’t alone.
I could handle a one-sided crush, but Jake actually wanting me back was something I’d never considered and didn’t know how to resist.
TWELVE
JAKE
“Jesus, Russo,” Keith panted as he ran past me. “What the hell did that ball ever do to you?”
