Page 54 of An Unexpected Turn
All of me was all of his.
TWENTY-THREE
PEYTON
“Are you hungry?” I asked Jake, propping my elbow on his bare chest.
“I could eat ... again.”
I giggled when he squeezed the inside of my upper thigh.
“Today is my food shopping day, so I don’t have much.” I rolled up to sit. “But I think I can find something.”
“Stay here.” He pulled me back by my wrist, brushing my lips with a quick kiss before he flung his muscular legs over the side of the bed. My eyes followed the flex of his perfect ass as he reached down to pull up his boxers.
“I feel your eyes on my ass, Ms. Miller.” He shot me a smirk as he turned around.
“You’d be right, Mr. Russo.” I pulled the covers up to my neck, feeling the chill against my still-naked body without Jake’s heat to warm me up. “I’m still enjoying the novelty of staring at you whenever I want.”
He climbed back onto the bed, his arms and legs boxing me in like a cocoon.
“I love looking at you too, so stop hiding from me.” Jake traced my jaw with the tip of his finger before he hooked it in the space where the comforter met my neck and pulled it down.
“I’m not hiding. It’s cold under here without a sexy contractor to keep me warm.” I yanked at the covers in a pointless tug-of-war until the dusting of hair on Jake’s chest tickled my breasts as the comforter bunched at my waist.
Another loud moan fell from my lips as he ran his mouth up to my neck.
“So beautiful,” he whispered as his thumb drifted back and forth over my cheek. “We’ll figure things out, I promise.” He pressed his lips to my forehead, smiling at me as I exhaled a long, contented sigh, despite the twinge of worry over exactlyhowwe’d figure things out.
“Part of me wants to run to my uncle’s house right now, but the other part, the much larger part ...” I grimaced as I peered up at him. “That part doesn’t want to ruin today with an ugly fight.”
His grin shrank as he nodded.
“I know, sweetheart. It may not be so ugly, he could surprise us, but I agree. Let’s keep today like it is.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “I’ll be right back.”
I breathed out a long gust of air when Jake left my bedroom, dragging a hand down my face as I wished I could be as optimistic. When the worst that could happen actually happened, I’d become well versed in expecting it all the time. As much as I tried, an outcome where my uncle would just shrug and tell us “That’s great” didn’t seem likely or even plausible.
I flung the covers off me and stood, no longer cold and losing the battle with myself to keep reality at arm’s length until Jake left.
I was reaching for a T-shirt when I spotted his Henley on the floor crumpled up next to his jeans. I scooped it up and slipped it over my head, holding the collar up to my nose before I smoothed it down. I was on the curvy side, but his shirt still draped over me, the hem stopping at mid-thigh.
“Jesus,” Jake hissed from behind me.
“Sorry.” I shrugged before turning around. “I figured if I was going to be clingy until you leave, may as well go all in.”
“You in my shirt is the hottest fucking thing I’ve ever seen. Be as clingy as you want, sweetheart.”
I burst out laughing when I realized what Jake was holding.
“I forgot I bought those when Claudia was here. She has an ice cream cone fixation.”
He strode up to me with a chocolate ice cream cone in each hand, holding out his hand for me to grab one. “I haven’t kept cones in the house since Mike was little. I used to have a system of stacking the scoops, but I may be a little rusty.”
“Thank you.”
A groan rose from his throat when I took a long lick.
“I take back what I said. You in my shirt while licking an ice cream cone—thatis the hottest fucking thing I’ve ever seen.”
