“Ho Hey” by the Lumineers starts playing and I mumble how much I like the song.
“Wait here.” Jake disappears into another room that adjoins this one and comes back with a guitar in hand. “I could teach you to play it. It’s really only three chords.”
“How many guitars do you have?”
“Four. The one we used down by the pool, this one, and two others. Okay, hear the notes in the song? That’s C, F, C, then A minor, G, C, with a progression in the bridge to F, G.”
“I told you before, I’m no good at barre chords.”
“Maybe you need to figure out a different fingering. Here, watch.” Jake pauses the song with the remote and plays the three chords for me a couple times through. “See, easy.”
“Yeah, for you,” I scoff.
“Let me see you try.”
“I can’t do it.”
“Let me see.” He hands me the guitar.
I try the first progression, but can’t get the F to sound. Looking up at him I give him my “see, told ya” shrug.
“I see the problem. Your fingers can’t reach across the neck. Wait a second.” He pops up from the sofa, goes back into the other room, and comes out with yet another guitar. “Try this one, it has a smaller neck.” He hands me a pretty black guitar. It’s a little smaller than mine and the other two he has.
I try to play the F chord by itself and this time it comes out slightly muted. I look up at him with a surprised smile.
“That’s pretty good, but try holding your wrist like this and only barre the first two strings.” Jake turns his wrist and I try to mirror him, but the hold feels awkward. “No, the other way. No, the other, other way.”
“Like this?” I show Jake my hold and he shakes his head no.
“Here, let me show you. Scoot forward.”
I sit on the edge of the sofa and Jake slips in behind me.
I freeze.
Is he doing this on purpose? My face must be the color of a tomato right now.
Thank God my back is to him.
Jake slides each one of his legs on either side of mine and I feel him slowly scoot in closer to me from behind.
Oh, sugar.
Sitting ramrod straight now, on the edge of the cushion, I try not to move a muscle as his left arm comes around my waist and grabs onto the neck of the guitar as I let go. His right arm comes around from the other side and he places his hand in front of the guitar on the strings. Jake now has me trapped between him and the guitar with his face leaning over my left shoulder against my neck.
“Like this. Watch my wrist and how I adjust it and my thumb to reach the barre.”
He plays the F and B chords a couple of times and I look down and watch how his fingers move over the frets. Desperately, I try not to hyperventilate at his nearness and the feel of his breath against my neck. After a few times through, he holds the guitar up for me to take. I try the progression as Jake watches over my shoulder, adjusting my wrist while I play. All of a sudden it becomes easy and I focus on repeating the three notes over and over. Jake is still behind me and he inhales deeply and then exhales against my neck causing my skin to heat.
“Again,” Jake says, his voice husky in my ear.
I play the chords again, taking in a shaky breath.
“That was much better. Now, here is the other one: F, G. I’ll show you first so you can see how I adjust my grip between the chords.”
He places his hands on mine to take the guitar from me and I slip my hands out from under his. Jake’s cheek rests against my neck as he plays the notes and instead of paying attention to his fingering, I close my eyes and lean ever so slightly back into him. Feeling the tiniest bit of stubble on his jaw against my neck, my flesh erupts in goose bumps. Unaware of my internal battle, he continues to play, and I only hope he can’t feel my heart fluttering like a hummingbird through my back as I take deep breaths to calm my frayed nerves.
God, he smells so good and his chest is so solid.
His body is so warm.
Mmm…Jake.
This impromptu lesson has turned into the most erotic encounter of my life.
After he plays the notes a few times, I open my eyes and find Jake holding the guitar back out to me. When I take the guitar from him, he lets my fingers linger on his for a couple of seconds before he removes his hands from under mine.
I could turn around, sit on his lap and kiss the heck out of him.
Do it, just do it.
Tears start to form in the corners of my eyes with the frustration of being this close to Jake and not really touching him. After I play through the second set of chords, Jake lets out another breath against my neck and climbs up over me, sitting down on the other side of the sofa.
Why is he so far away now?
I feel the loss of his body heat behind me and wish I could go back to a few seconds ago.
“Now, all the way through from the top.”
The moment has passed and frustrated, I tuck the memory of it away for later. I play slowly through the two progressions while Jake looks on. He nods at me to continue, picks up the other guitar, joins in with me, smiling, as we play through the progressions together.
Putting down his guitar Jake says, “You’ve got it.”
“Oh my gosh! I can’t believe it.” Aside from everything, Jake’s wrist technique paired with the smaller guitar makes a huge difference.
Jake picks up the remote. “Now let’s try it with the song, ready?”
“Ready.”
Jake hits play and starts strumming with the rhythm and I follow along. We play through together once and the song repeats on a loop. This time, I play more confidently and concentrate on my rhythm. The third time through, we play in sync and sing along as well. At the end of the third time through the song, Jake picks up the remote and stops the song.
“I did it!”
“Yep, I told you it was easy.” Jake beams, obviously proud of his teaching skills.
“That was so much fun. Jer isn’t going to believe it,” I say in awe, looking over the instrument in my hands.
Looking up, I find Jake frowning. He’s about to say something when someone enters the room over his shoulder.
Is that…Amy Warren?
“So this is why you didn’t return my call,” she says, motioning to me.
Wow, she’s really beautiful.
What a nightmare.
Jake turns and smiles at Amy over his shoulder. “Where have you been?”
Very uncomfortable, and very intimidated, I stand up. “Maybe I should be going?”
Amy looks me up and down and turns to Jake. “Well hello. Jake, aren’t you going to introduce us?”
“Sorry. Jen, Amy. Amy, Jen.”
I look over at the goddess standing by the sofa and try to smile sincerely. “Nice to meet you.” I don’t know how successful I was.
“You too. Jake, I’m tired and going to head up to bed.” She looks me up and down once more, I’m sure figuring she has nothing to worry about. Amy waves at me with a smile and turns and walks out of the room.
“Okay, goodnight.” Jake calls back to her and then turns to face me again.
I stand there, not sure what to do while Jake sits on the sofa looking up at me.
“Oh, Amy, how did your mom take the news?” Jake calls out as an afterthought.
“Good. Really good. I’ll tell you about it later,” Amy sings out from the stairs.
Is this what the text on Jake’s phone was about?
What news I wonder?
Amy comes back into the room less than a minute later. “Oh, by the way, your bike has a flat. Good night.”
Jake jumps up. “What? No, it was fine earlier.”
Over her shoulder in the distance she answers, “Yeah, well it’s not fine now.”
Jake grabs the back of his neck in frustration and lets out a huff. “Great. I’ll be right back.” Jake says, leaving the room.
I hear him open the front door and I sin
k down onto the sofa.
This is so bad.
How can I compete with her? There’s no way. I feel so self-conscious.
Why would Jake want me when he has her?
Jake comes back into the room a moment later. “It does have a flat. Sorry, I need to make a call.”
“All right.”
Grabbing his cell from the table, he walks out onto the front steps to call someone.
Looking at the clock on the stereo system I see that it’s close to 11 p.m.
It’s time for me to go. I’ve been here too long already.
Jake finally comes back inside and before he has a chance to say anything, I exclaim, “Oh, I didn’t realize it was so late.”
“I called my local mechanic and they can’t come out until tomorrow afternoon, but I can change the tire myself in the morning when there’s more light. I have a spare in the garage. Then I can drive you home if that’s okay?”
I feel bad, I don’t want to leave him, but I definitely don’t want to be in a house with Jake and Amy together. “Don’t you have a car here?”
What do I do?
“No, only the bike. Amy must have taken a taxi or gotten a ride back.”
“Can’t we call another taxi?” I’m desperate to leave now.
How did it get so late?
Jake looks disappointed. “Well, we could, but if they show up, it’s going to be very late by the time you get home from here. Why don’t you spend the night and I’ll take you in the morning?”
“I don’t want to impose.” I guess I don’t really have a choice.
“Not at all. Besides, by then your clothes will be nice and dry.”
Looking down, I ask, “Are you sure Amy won’t mind?”
“Why would she mind?”
I guess there’s no reason she would mind.
Sighing, I give in. “Where do I sleep?”
Jake scratches the back of his neck and looks at me. After a moment he says, “How about that room you changed in earlier? Is that okay?”
“That’s fine. I better head up. It’s been a long day.”
“I’ll walk you up. I want to make sure there are enough blankets and all that. Let me turn off the lights.”
Jake turns the stereo system off as I walk toward the foyer. Next he turns off the lights in the kitchen and the living room and then meets me at the foot of the stairs. Motioning for me to walk ahead of him, I grip the banister tightly to prevent myself from tripping with Jake following two steps behind me. When we reach the top, I step aside and let Jake lead us to the room. He enters and turns on the lamp next to the bed as I stand in the doorway watching him check over everything.
“Well, I guess everything looks good here. Let me know if you need another blanket or anything.”
“Okay.”
Jake comes toward me and stops in the doorway. Looking up at him, I notice a crinkle form between his brows.
Why is he frowning?
Jake starts to lean in toward me and time seems to slow down as I hold my breath and feel him leave a soft kiss on my cheek.
“Good night, Jen. Sweet dreams.” Before I can respond, he brushes past me and down the hall as I stand there speechless with my hand against my cheek.
I close the door softly behind him.
His lips were so soft.
This is so confusing and wonderful and miserable.
Ugh, how am I going to sleep tonight?
Chapter Twenty-Six
A ruffled mind makes a restless pillow. Charlotte Bronte
I toss and turn all night. Jake is down the hall and around the corner from me sleeping or doing God knows what with Amy.
This is impossible. How did I get myself into this mess?
Yesterday was complicated. It was one of the best days of my life being with Jake, traveling around the Amalfi coast. I had so much fun, but it was torture too. The tension inside me was building all day to a point where my whole body felt like a live wire that at any moment could ignite. It’s exhausting holding that in and yet I can’t really get to sleep.
There were so many moments that set me on edge. On the back of Jake’s bike; holding hands by the water; wet in the pool; Jake in a towel, bare-chested in front of me; Jake straddling me on the sofa; Jake’s face in my hair; Jake kissing me good night. They were all magnificently painful. There’s no way I can go back to thinking of him as just a friend, even though that is exactly what he is. My mind keeps conjuring up these thoughts and fantasies that flash across my eyelids.
I sit up in bed.
What time is it? 3 a.m. Oh this is ridiculous.
I flop back down on the pillow and try to force myself to sleep. At some point, even though my mind is racing, the heaviness of my eyelids wins over and I doze off.
I wake up again somewhere around six as the sun starts to rise. Sitting up, I stretch, thankful for the few hours of sleep I managed to get and walk over to the window to admire the early morning light.
I wonder how long I have to wait for Jake to get up and drive me home.
Turning toward the bathroom, I decide to go try and brush my teeth with my finger at least. As I enter the en suite, I notice a new toothbrush on the counter along with toothpaste and a hair brush.
I don’t remember these being here yesterday when I was taking a shower or I would have used the hair brush then.
Going back into the room, I look around, confused. My clothes are neatly folded on the arm of the chair and I walk over to pick them up. They’re dry and smell as if they’ve just been washed.
Jake must have washed my clothes and come and put them in here in the middle of the night. I can’t believe I handed over my bra and panties.
I really hope I wasn’t doing something embarrassing in my sleep. Hopefully he came in, dropped them off quickly and left.
He must not have gotten very much sleep. I’ll probably be waiting for him to wake up all morning.
I take a shower, brush my teeth, and put my hair up in a ponytail. Getting dressed, I leave the clothes Jake gave me yesterday neatly folded on the chair, figuring there’s no way to steal his shirt without getting caught.
Now what?
Deciding to go and search out some coffee while I wait, I make my way quietly downstairs. I think I saw one of those single serving coffee makers on the counter. I can grab my coffee and sit on the deck while I wait for Jake to wake up and take me back.
When I reach the kitchen, I locate the coffee maker on the counter and go in search of a cup. As I open the cabinets, I hear noises coming from a door around the corner. Slowly closing the cabinet, I tiptoe to the door. It sounds like tools hitting the floor and my curiosity gets the best of me. The door is cracked open and I take a peek to see who is out here so early.
Holy sugar plums!
What I witness threatens to ignite the fire inside me that smolders below the surface of my self-control.
Jake is lying down, in the garage, on his back next to the bike as he works on the tire. He’s in a pair of jeans, no shirt, no socks and his abs flex as he shifts to get a better angle. He has a wrench or something in his hand with smudges of grease on his fingers and forearms, and I watch him in all his greasemonkey glory while the drool starts to pool in my mouth. I debate whether or not I should announce myself, but before I can make a decision, his eyes meet mine in the reflection of the chrome on the side of the bike and I know I’m caught.
“See something you like?” he asks, tightening a bolt or whatever he’s doing that is causing his abs to ripple and his triceps to flex.
Busted.
Embarrassed I stutter, “Umm, yes, no, I mean, I heard someone out here and came to see what was going on.”
Jake sits up, grabs a rag to wipe his hands on, and smiles. “Just fixing the tire.” He stands and there’s a swagger in his step as he stalks closer to me.
It’s obvious he knows I was ogling him and he’s working it.
Sweet mother, look at his chest.
He’s
totally using my word vomit from yesterday against me. Darn it.
His arms, his abs, gah!
I’m starting to sweat. It’s so hot in here all of a sudden.
“I didn’t get much sleep last night so I decided to come down and get this done. What are you doing up so early?”
“I didn’t get much sleep either.” I try to look him in the eyes, but it’s really, really tough.
“Was everything okay? Were you too cold or something?”
“Too hot!” I realize I said that out loud and try to recover. “I mean no. I was fine, the room was fine.”
Jake throws the rag on the floor. “I’m done. Let me grab a quick shower and we can go, yeah?”
“Sure, I’ll wait for you in the living room.”
Jake walks past me and I swallow the giant lump in my throat. My stomach somersaults and I decide maybe coffee isn’t the best thing right now. Sitting down, I put my head back on the sofa, close my eyes, and try to get this anxious feeling under control. After a few minutes, I wander over to the glass doors overlooking the yard and admire the view while I wait.
Ten minutes later, Jake comes down the stairs at a jog. “Ready?”
“Ready.” I grab my bag off the kitchen stool I left it on yesterday and follow Jake out to the garage.
We get back on the bike and I hold on to him tightly as he drives us back toward the coast. The morning air is cold, but it refreshes me and clears my mind, putting me back in control of myself and my hormones. By the time Jake pulls up to the pensione, the tension in my body is gone and I feel like I can function as a normal human being again, instead of some sex crazed maniac ready to pounce.
Jake cuts the engine and I get off the bike, adjusting my bag across my shoulders.
“What are your plans for today?”
“I don’t know yet. Right now my immediate plan is coffee.”
“Me too.” Jake gets off the bike and looks down the road. “There’s a bakery down the road that should be open already. Let’s go get that coffee.”
“Don’t you have somewhere you need to be?”
Sweet Dreams (Sunset Dreams Series Book 1) Page 11