Sweet Dreams (Sunset Dreams Series Book 1) (16 page)

Chapter Twenty-Five

Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired. Robert Frost

M
aybe I should leave.

He obviously has plans with Amy tonight.

As I try to come up with an excuse to leave, Jake comes back with a guitar in his hand.

“Jake, I should probably get back.”

“What? No, you just got here. I thought you could play something for me.” He holds the guitar out to me as he sits back down.

I don’t take the guitar. Instead, looking at him I say, “It’s getting late.”

“The sun hasn’t even set yet. Come on. I’ll play something first.” He has one of those looks a kid gets on his face when he’s getting ready to play a game. Determined and a little excited. I decide to stay a little longer.

Sitting next to me, he tunes the guitar for a minute. He plays a few notes and then starts playing “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye.

I’m impressed and a little aroused. He plays really well, picking in between chords, and his voice…it’s so smooth and masculine. My toes curl from the sound.

He looks so hot right now.

I need a fan.

I take another sip of lemonade and watch him in all his sexy glory. He finishes on a soft note and I clap.

“That was amazing! I didn’t know you could play like that.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me. Now your turn.” He moves to hand me the guitar.

Holding up my hands, I shake my head. “No way. I’m nowhere near as good as you and I would be way too embarrassed.”

“Come on, don’t be chicken.” He says this as a challenge, but I don’t take the bait.

“I’m not chicken, I’m shy.” I give him my most innocent look and it has no effect on him.

Waving me off, he scolds, “You’re not. Stop procrastinating.”

He’s not going to let me out of this. I huff and take the guitar from him. “Fine. Don’t make fun of me.” I point my finger at him and give him the toughest look I can muster. “I’m warning you.”

Jake crosses his heart.

Now he can pull off the innocent look.

I take a shaky breath and start to play “Sweet Surrender” by Sarah McLachlan. I do my best, fumbling a little on some of the chords, I try not to let my voice squeak too much on the high notes, and keep my eyes in my lap the entire time. Heat radiates off my cheeks, I’m blushing so hard. When I’m done I look up at Jake. “There. Satisfied?”

“Jen, that was really good. You have a beautiful voice. Play me another one.”

“Stop. I have an okay voice and that was mediocre.”

Moving to hand the guitar back to Jake, I notice a spider crawling up my leg out of the corner of my eye. I let out a scream and pretty much throw the guitar into Jake’s hands. Uncrossing my legs, I scramble to get up, doing my best not to cry.

This thing is huge and it’s on me. It has hairy legs.

“Oh God, oh God!”

“Relax. It’s only a spider,” Jake says, laughing.

My arms swat at the tarantula on my thigh, but I miss in my hysteria. I’m jumping up and down now like a fool, but I can’t help it and beg Jake, screaming, “Get it off! Get it off!!!” Tears gather in the corners of my eyes and I’m on the verge of bursting into tears.

Jake realizes how upset I am and gets serious. “Hold still!”

“Ahhh! Hurry, Aragog is gonna get me! I can see his fangs. Quick!” I know I’ll have nightmares about this one.

It’s been eating too much pasta or something. These Italian spiders are ridiculously huge.

“Will you hold still?” Jake grabs my calf and tries to flick the thing off. With its spidey strength, the monster still hangs on and I panic even more.

Jake smacks at me and I jump back with the sting of his hand against my thigh. I feel the loss of support under my back foot and start to fall backwards.

“Jake!”

My hands reach out, grabbing for him to keep me from falling, but since Jake is bent over, he’s off balance as well, and we both fall into the deep end of the pool, fully clothed.

The water is like ice, stunning me as I go under. I hear Jake’s muffled voice calling my name from the surface and disoriented, I open my mouth to answer, taking in a huge mouthful of water. I choke. My lungs burn, searching for oxygen and my limbs won’t work. I’ve forgotten how to swim for some reason and start to sink.

I’m drowning.

I’m drowning and I’ll never get a chance to tell him…

Everything slows down.

Save me!

I can’t breathe.

Green, so green…

Jake pulls me by my arm to the surface and I come up coughing badly. Feeling like my lungs are going to explode, I barely catch my breath. Jake holds me up, patting my back, while I cough and gag up the water blocking my airway for what feels like forever.

“It’s all right. It’s okay. I’ve got you,” Jake whispers soothingly, pushing the hair back from my face. All I see is his worried expression. “Are you all right, Jen?”

I finally get some oxygen in my lungs and rasp, “I think I swallowed half the pool, but yes, I’m okay.”

Jake hugs me around the waist and I wrap my arms tighter around his neck, taking the opportunity to run my fingers through his silky hair. My head is on his shoulder, and I’m breathing hard. I’m not completely sure if it’s because I swallowed all that water or because I can feel the muscles of Jake’s chest pressed against my breasts through his wet T-shirt.

He runs his hand down my back repeating, “It’s okay,” over and over.

I hold on as long as possible until my teeth start to chatter. Reluctantly, I pull away and look up at Jake. “Sorry.”

“Are you better now?” He looks so worried. I’m embarrassed.

“Yes. Thank you. I think the spider must have drowned. Wait is it still hanging on to me?” I look down at the water to make sure it’s not floating nearby or still on my leg.

After a moment I look up at Jake with my arms still around him and he bursts out laughing. I feel him squeeze me a little tighter and I smile.

“You know this wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t freaked out over the spider.”

Is he kidding!

“Did you see it? It was huge! It looked right at me and was getting ready to sink its fangs into my thigh!”

Jake tries to hold back his smile. “Whatever you say.”

We float there for a few moments, smiling at each other, still holding on until I start to shiver.

“This water is freezing.”

“Yeah, we better get you out before your lips turn blue.” His eyes look down at my lips and I automatically look at his in return.

Lips, Jake’s lips, Jake’s juicy lips, mmm.

My stomach flips and my chest heaves and it’s not because I almost drowned. I follow the water with my eyes dripping off his bottom lip.

Drip, drip…

I want to suck the water off his lips and into my mouth.

Jake’s eyes alternate looks at my lips and my eyes, and I no longer feel cold. Just the opposite. My blood boils and all I want is for Jake to kiss me right now.

Please kiss me Jake. Please… kiss me.

Instead, he lifts one of my arms from around his neck, takes a deep breath and turns so he has me in a piggyback position. It breaks the spell and he swims to the side of the pool with me in tow.

Pulling himself out of the pool first, he turns around and offers his hand to pull me up and out. I stand on the deck in my jeans, T-shirt, and hoody, completely soaked from head to toe, shivering. Jake is soaked too, and I watch the drops of water as they make a trail from his hair down the side of his face and down his neck.

Drip, drip…

Bending down, he clears off and picks up the blanket from the ground. Wrapping it around my shoulders, he rubs my arms up and down to warm me while he stands there trembling.

God, I want to kiss him so bad.

What would he do if I did?

Would he kiss me back?

I bet his lips are sweet.

What if he didn’t kiss me back?

Would he say we’re friends and he doesn’t think of me that way?

I’d be crushed.

The possibility of rejection keeps me in check, although I weaken by the minute. His clothes cling to him in the most delicious way, defining the muscles I’ve only seen on screen and his hair is all tousled from the water.

Ugh, I can’t take much more of this.

Death by sexual frustration; that is how the headline will read.

“Come on. We should head in, you must be freezing.”

Coming to my senses, I clear my throat and squeak, “Yes,” as Jake turns me around and walks with his arm around my shoulders back toward the house. “What about all this stuff?”

“It’s okay, I’ll come back and get it later.” Jake shivers but keeps his arm around me as we start to walk back toward the house.

“You know, I’m actually a really good swimmer. Don’t let my almost drowning just now fool you. I used to be a life guard when I was younger.”

Jake gives me a skeptical look.

I don’t think he believes me.

We walk up to the house and take our shoes and socks off by the door. I don’t want to get water all over the place, but Jake continues on into the house and I follow behind him, semi-hypnotized by the way his jeans are slung low on his hips.

“Come on, I’ll get you something dry to put on and you can take a hot shower.”

He leads me upstairs to what looks to be a guest bedroom with its own bathroom. Grabbing a bunch of towels, he hands two to me. “I’m going to take a shower in my room down the hall. I’ll bring you something to change into, all right?”

“Sounds good.”

He leaves and closes the door behind him. I go into the bathroom and peel off my wet clothes. Wet jeans are so heavy and hard to move in, I almost fall over trying to get my right leg out. Luckily, I accomplish the tricky task without injury and step into the shower. I turn the water on hot and stand under the stream for as long as it takes for me to go from ice cube to puddle of warm goo. I wash my body with the lemon scented soap. When I’m finished, I use one of the fluffy white towels that Jake gave me to dry my body off, using the other for my hair. There’s a white bathrobe on the back of the door that I slip into once I’m dry. Grabbing my wet clothes off the floor of the bathroom, I return to the bedroom.

Taking a seat on the chair next to the bed, I wait for Jake to bring me something to wear. And wait and wait…it feels like I wait there forever, so I stand up to peek outside the door. I call his name, but get no response. Grabbing my clothes, I venture down the hall, not sure if I should knock on a door or go back and wait a little longer. Heading in the direction of a large set of double doors around the corner that I assume must be the master bedroom, I continue down the hall quietly.

As I turn the corner, Jake comes around at the same time and almost runs right into me. I jump in surprise and then gawk at the vision before me. My eyes bug out of my head. He has a fluffy white towel wrapped low around his waist and nothing else. I trail my eyes up his wet form, admiring the water beaded on his skin and I can’t stop myself from ogling his abs, chest, and arms that are on full display. I take in lungfuls of his scent and flush. He has such an effect on me and this is so dangerous.

Breathe, breathe.

I need to find out what kind of soap he uses.

He’s holding something out to me, but I can’t concentrate with him this close and almost naked in front of me.

How much more am I supposed to take?

My heart hammers against my ribs and I can see my own chest heaving at my arousal in my periphery.

Did he say something? Is he waiting for me to respond?