“The ferry.”
“We can get a hotel,” he says, chasing the offer with another devastating kiss.
It’s impossible to stop right away, or maybe I don’t want to try. Before I consider making any genuine effort, Jake breaks the kiss and spins us effortlessly, his mouth back on mine when I land against the wall. He’s so impossibly good at this, one muscular thigh between my legs so I can practically ride it while I attempt to argue with him.
“Can’t. We’re friends. I promised,” I pant. “Tonight was dinner. Just us.”
Jake moves both hands to my hips to help me rut against him, his voice unfairly steady. “Dinner was great. And the hotel can be just us, too.”
“Friends.”
“We’re still friends, sweetheart.”
“Neither of us wants to fall in love.”
“No,” he agrees. “So, let me get us a hotel room. Let me get you off.”
He swallows my yes before it’s fully out of my mouth, and I have no hope of telling him I’d also be fine with him getting me off right where we stand. That wouldn’t be enough, though. I need to make him come too—at least once—before I remind myself of all the reasons I need to stop thinking with my dick.
And my heart.
We get the hotel room, and we break in entirely different wayswhile Jake praises me for too many things. We share the jetted tub and a bottle of champagne someone at the front desk must have thought we’d earned. We fall asleep naked and reaching for each other in the dark.
I wake up alone—again—and find a note on the bathroom sink.
Went to get coffee and make some work calls. Might try calling Lucy. Let me know when you’re up and ready to go and we can catch the ferry back. And thanks for letting me talk you into staying…it was a really fun night.
He’d signed it with a beautifulJ, and I trace it with my fingertip now.
Friends. We’re friends. Because neither of us wanted to fall in love.
It just sucks that one of us already did.
Jake comes to see Supine perform that Friday night. Coincidentally, it’s the first time my father has returned to Trailhead since our lunch, but the two older men in my life have nothing to say to each other. I need to talk to at least one of them, though I’m just nervous enough to reconsider the idea. It’s the right thing to do and the wrong thing to do, and I wait until Jake has had half his beer before I bring it up, easing into my real questions even then.
“Have you heard anything else from Lucy?”
“Just confirmation of what we’d already assumed,” he says. “The best chance for her to get away for a night would be sometime mid-week. And we know that works for almost everyone else, too. Noah and I are the only two with traditional jobs, and I’ve got flexibility with mine.”
I nod. V can help cover for Riley and me the night of the party. Beau’s first appointments won’t be until later the following morning, and both Adrian and Mason have help for their places on either end of the day, so working around their schedules isn’t a problem. And because the resort is busiest on the weekends, Lucy’s off days line up well for our plans. Now we’re just waiting for springtime, and the sunshine that will make everyone eager to play in the pool.
And maybe the more, the merrier?
“How would you feel about inviting a few others?” I ask.
Jake raises an eyebrow. “Do I even want to know what you’re thinking?”
I turn to look at the stage and say nothing else right away, certain it won’t take Jake more than a heartbeat to figure it out on his own. Riley is watching Supine too, though they’ve been less eager to serve the band before or after each set. I keep thinking they’ll ask me to trade sides with them—at least for one night a week—but maybe that would call attention to things they’d prefer not to admit aloud. With the smallest shake of my head, I return my attention to Jake.
“Might be fun to get to know them better,” I shrug.
“Is a backyard pool party with unimaginable amounts of alcohol the best place to get to know Sebastian?”
“This is abar.”
Jake rolls his eyes. “Sure, but there’s a difference between the nights they’re working here and a night we’re all relaxing for hours on end.”
“So, a bad idea?”