It was nice. A little touching between kissing friends but nothing inappropriate. Nothing that would make either of us blush or?—
“Good hell, woman.” Jake broke from me, exasperation in his movements as his hands moved to cover mine at his chest and threw them upward until they landed on his shoulders. The move brought us closer together, with me now draped around him like a blanket, and like a snap of a twig, Jake’s kiss resumed. His arms snaked around my waist, squeezing me close to him. It was a perfect fit. Like I should have been there forever. Andhadn’t I been? I couldn’t imagine a time when I wasn’t wrapped in Jake’s arms.
Jake.
My friend, Jake.
There was a cozy strength to him. His body held mine upward while his arms tucked me into him. Safe. Bringing back memories of a friendship so dear to me that it nearly brought tears to my eye. Jake was hugging me. Kissing me. It felt both familiar and new. Forbidden and comfortable. Like we’d been doing it all our lives.
We hadn’t, though.
My mouth began to dance with his. He was teaching me, I remembered again. I needed to turn off the affectionate part of my brain. It wouldn’t do me any good here. I had asked for help, and this was Jake helping.
Wait.HadI asked for help here?
I quickly told my brain to shut up and did my best to match him step for step as he wove a wild tangle of sensation inside of me, everywhere he touched. His hands were feather soft as they skated across my skin. He moved left, and I fell right.
Right.
Not right.
Wrong.
Right?
Wrong or not, there was a rhythm to this madness, and I was starting to feel the beat. Chalking the moment up to science, I brazenly took my fingers to his neck and ran them underneath the collar of his shirt.
Like he’d been burned with a firebrand, Jake stepped abruptly backward and out of my arms. For the longest moment, we stared at each other in minor confusion, my hands still hanging out in mid-air, missing the sturdy feel of hisshoulders, before I dropped them. They made a loud sound as they smacked against my hips.
For a second, easygoing, never-ruffled Jake, the matchmaking cowboy, seemed at a loss for words.
Had I done that?
Staring at him in the dark after what we’d just done felt like being thrown into an ice bath after a day at the beach. And in the nick of time, deflection, humor, and sarcasm came rushing back to me like an old friend.
“How’d you like my move?”
Jake blinked, his breathing coming in much more even now. “What?”
“My move,” I said, wiping the moisture from my mouth. “The stomach thing?”
Jake’s entire body relaxed as he blew out a breath and cocked his head to the side. “Oh. The part where you held onto my shirt like it was saving you from drowning?”
“Pretty sexy, right?”
He cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair. “Clearly, I’ve got SO much work to do here.”
“Same time tomorrow?” I quipped.
I laughed.
He laughed.
My heart cried foul.
“You wish. That was a one-time thing. I can’t have you getting attached,” he said, rubbing his neck.
It was light. The words, the smiles, the dancing around what had just happened. But it was enough.I can’t have you getting attached. Jake wasn’t available.