Page 390 of Seasons of Love
Fuck, Mal. Focus. You want to know about his career aspirations.
He stopped when we reached the grass and crouched down, gesturing for me to do the same. Then he put his hand up to his mouth and kissed the inside of his middle finger, which made a squeaking noise.
Seconds later, my furry old friend turned up and came right up to Jake.
“Hello, buddy. Do you want a treat? Of course you do,” he said, talking gently to the bunny. He put his hand in his pocket and took out some rabbit treats, placing them on the grass in front of us.
“He’s never come that close to me before,” I said, amazed at how comfortable the usually skittish bunny was.
“He’s about three years old. I found him after his mom abandoned him. I couldn’t take him home because the bunnies here are wild, and apart from feeding them, we’re not supposed to interfere with how they live. I had to keep coming back to feed him and hope he wasn’t eaten by another animal.”
The bunny finished his treat and then came up to Jake, who petted his gray fur.
“I’ve been giving him treats for weeks, and he’s never come close to me,” I said. “Your uncle called him Jake the other day. I mean, I get it with the blue eyes, but I have to say, that’s where the resemblance ends.”
Jake elbowed me, and I fell sideways, which scared bunny-Jake away.
“Gabe thinks he’s funny, and my uncle went with it all too easily,” he said, clearly not finding them naming the bunny after him funny at all.
“He normally has two friends with him, but they never come for the treats.”
“The big one seems to have adopted Jake. It took me a while to gain his trust, so he’d let me feed him. The other one, who’s about the same size as Jake now, he just likes cuddling up to the other two.”
I stared into Jake’s light-blue eyes. He looked relaxed, happy.
“Tell me how I can make your career dreams come true at the resort,” I said.
As we walked along the beach, I got to know Jake, the hardworking young man who’d never taken a summer off to play around with his friends. Jake, the recent graduate who was willing to further his own education to complement his already extensive experience.
I itched to get to know Jake, the man. I thought about everything Griff had told me last night and decided to open my heart. Not to pursue anything with Jake, but to just let myself be me around him.
Griff sucked a patch of skin on my neck. I knew I’d get a mark, and I knew I’d need to be crafty about hiding it at work.
“Why are we still wearing clothes?” I groaned, raising my hips up to meet his and feeling his erection under his jeans.
“Because we can’t take them off yet,” he said, continuing kissing, licking, and sucking my skin.
“Baby…you’re killing me.” I was hard enough to pound nails and felt like I hadn’t come in weeks.
The doorbell rang.
What the fuck?
Griff sat up and gave me a look that told me he was up to something. It was a look that got me hard every single time, but since it was impossible to get any harder than I already was, I tugged him back down to me and tried to pull his shirt off him.
“Nope, we need to get that.” He got up and extended his hand for me to get up with him.
Hold on, how come we’re in bed? We were making out on the couch.
Griff’s mouth really did have magical powers if I was now losing track of time.
I grumbled but followed him to the door. And why did we both need to answer the door? Had we been getting solicitors? Griff hadn’t mentioned anything before, and the island was so small, I doubted soliciting was even a thing here.
Before Griff answered the door, he looked at me. His bottom lip was trapped between his teeth. I released it with my thumb, and he smiled.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“Sorry about what?”
