by JB Schroeder
“Hi,” he said with a wide smile, even as he reached for the griddle press and then the spatula without missing a beat.
“Hi, yourself,” she said.
Jake had suggested they get a drink together after work, but the Pirates were playing in Chicago tonight. There’d been a very long rain delay, which meant it’d still be on TV after work.
Sadie leaned a hip against the counter, reached up, and slid one of the pens out from above her ear. She looked at Jake, scribbled on her pad, then ripped off the ticket and folded it in half. With her heart beating hard, she pushed away from the counter and came in alongside him. She tucked the note into his back pocket, then rose on tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
He raised an eyebrow.
“Let me know what you think,” she said.
She went back out front only a little nervous. Surely Jake would say yes.
12
Jake had rushed to his mom’s after work, taken a lighting-fast shower, used an app to set up a car service, and hightailed it over to Sadie’s. They both had the early shift tomorrow, given that Saturday mornings were the busiest time of week in the Strip, with everybody visiting the meat market and fish market treating themselves to breakfast before or after. So either way tonight went, they’d be short on sleep.
Now, as he stood at her front door poised to ring the bell, he wondered how short. Because Sadie’s note had read:
No drinks tonight. I don’t want to miss the game. Join me in my bed instead?
Jake’s heart had beat double time, even as blood rushed south before he checked himself. Did she really mean what he thought she meant? Or was he reading his own desires into it?
He’d be cool with just spending the time with Sadie and actually watching the game, but surely she wouldn’t have added the bed part if she didn’t mean…
Through the window, he saw Sadie’s feet tripping down the stairs, then her knees, then a loose printed skirt. He was about to find out.
She opened the door. Over the skirt she wore a light pink t-shirt and—no bra. Perky breasts with pert nipples under a very thin t-shirt totally snagged his attention. Whoa. He managed to suck in air and drag his eyes upward to discover she was beaming at him.
“Come on,” Sadie said. “We’re up two.” She grabbed his hand and tugged him along behind her up the flight of steps. Her fresh scent, like soap and spring flowers, drifted back to him. She’d showered, too. But then, when you worked in the food service business, you usually did after work. The lack of a bra was—hopefully—a far better indicator of her intentions. Holy…
As soon as he entered the apartment, he could hear the sounds of baseball coming from the bedroom.
“Do you want a drink?” she asked.
“Whatever you’re having is good.” He followed her into the tiny kitchen and leaned back against the counter, as she opened the fridge and bent over in that pretty skirt. It wasn’t short, but her gorgeous legs were on display. There was nothing he’d like more than to run his hands from her ankles past where that skirt ended. Preferably with his lips involved, too.
He had to fight to stay where he was. But he was very conscious of taking this—whichever way it went—at her pace.
She twisted off the top of an IPA and handed it to him. She leaned into him then, forearms against his chest, and kissed him. He widened his stance and smoothed a hand from her lower back up to her neck.
“I’m glad you’re here,” she said.
“So am I,” he replied.
The game ramped up in volume, and she grinned. “Come on.”
In the bedroom, she climbed onto a queen-sized bed. He noted purple sheets, a white comforter with a black floral design, and two mismatched nightstands. He didn’t notice anything else because Sadie was patting the space next to her, even though her eyes were on the game.
He rounded the other side and saw she’d set out a glass of water for him and an extra coaster. He toed off his shoes, propped himself against the pillows, and put an arm around her shoulders. She tucked in close to him, knees up, which made her skirt ride up.
Jake dragged his attention to the game. Bottom of the eighth. “Must have been some rain delay,” he said.
“They actually had a second one in the fourth,” she said. “From the clips, it was a deluge.” She smoothed a hand over his chest and looked at him. “And it’s a really boring game.”
She shifted, pushing upward to kiss him, her breast pressing against him.
Jake slid his hand behind her neck, the other down to the curve of her waist.
She shifted onto her knees, then swung one leg wide to straddle him. Jake’s body surged and tightened.
“It’s so boring, I don’t think we need to watch it,” Sadie said. She sank down onto his lap, took his face in her hands, and kissed him.
And whoa—things got hot fast. Jake sucked Sadie’s nipples through her t-shirt and then ripped it off. He’d seen her tattoo before around tank tops, but now he got to kiss it, pressing his lips to her chest and shoulder. His hands travelled her legs—just like he’d wanted to in the kitchen—and found something wispy and soft underneath.
He groaned, and she rose up to yank his shirt over his head, then kissed her way down his chest and went to work on the fly of his pants. He levered up, pushing her back, and lavished her with attention. Lips, collarbone, glorious breasts. Her belly and hips. Then he started at the bottom. Toes with pale pink polish, calves, sensitive backs of her knees, inner thighs.
He pushed Sadie’s skirt up and found skimpy panties trimmed in lace—the same color as the t-shirt he’d stripped her out of. “So pretty in pink,” he murmured as he kissed around the edges.
Jake barely noticed the sounds of the game. He was completely tuned in to Sadie’s moans and sighs.
She writhed and then raised her hips, telling him clearly that she wanted more. Jake paused to shuck his pants and boxers. The announcers whooped, and Sadie glanced at the TV.
“Cubs just scored.”
“Don’t care,” Jake said. A girl who liked some hanky-panky paired with sports? This was probably every guy’s wet dream. Him? He wanted Sadie’s attention all to himself. “Not even a little bit. Not when I’m about to score with you.”
He grabbed her ankle and pulled her closer to him, then crawled over her on hands and knees.
She laughed. “Ooh. I trump baseball. I like that.”
She reached for him, wrapping one hand around him, the other teasing him everywhere else. He groaned his pleasure, her touch affecting him like no one else’s.
When she picked up the pace, he grabbed her hand and pressed it to his mouth—silently thanking her, but also making sure she knew that wasn’t how he wanted this sequence to go.
He hooked a thumb in her panties. “Time to go.”
She smiled. “Oh, definitely.” And she wriggled out of her skirt, too.
Jake’s breath caught. She was so incredibly gorgeous. Both fit and lush. So sexy. So perfect. He lay alongside her, kissing her, his hands roaming, hers doing the same, their bodies pressing, sliding, writhing. He couldn’t get enough.
She hooked a leg over his hip and pressed against him in a demanding rhythm. He slid his fingers over her rear and between her legs. So wet, so warm, so responsive.
“Jake, please.” She gasped. “I’m dying here.”
“That makes two of us.” He kissed her hard, then felt for the pants he’d purposely left on the bed and shook a condom out.
Her hands didn’t stop roaming over him as he did what he needed to protect her.
When he levered himself up, she spread her legs and grasped his hips.
Still he waited until she tore her eyes from where they were about to join and looked up at him.
“You sure you don’t want to save yourself for marriage, Sades?” He was teasing, yet serious. He knew she was experienced, but he felt deep in his soul that if they did this, there was no going back. He’d never want anyone but her.
That was music to his ears. Jake slid home to what he knew would be the best season of his life.
13
That weekend, Sadie and Jake spent nearly every free moment together: getting to know one another and exploring each other—usually naked. And the two weeks following were pure bliss.
They went out late to see another band (this time not at his brother Jeremy’s place), strolled through the Three Rivers Heritage Trail on the North Shore, took the Duquense Incline up to Mt. Washington, and had a romantic dinner overlooking the city (she’d always wanted to try the Monterey Bay Fish Grotto and experience its glass-enclosed dining room with its stellar views of her city). They also found time to cuddle on the couch and talk, and had lots and lots of world-rocking sex.
No matter whether they were at work or play, they laughed, teased, touched, and kissed. Her classwork suffered only a little. Thankfully, the worst of her papers and projects had been already well underway, and because she was normally short on time, she tended not to let herself get behind.
If Sadie could have frozen time, this would have been it. All she’d ever wanted—and even better than she would ever have dared to dream.
Right now, it didn’t matter that this was a manufactured plan. It didn’t feel fake. It felt glorious. It felt solidly, wonderfully real.
And Sadie willfully ignored the fact that the weeks were slipping by, that Jake would at some point pivot and change his mind.
She also mentally stomped on any thoughts of teaching abroad. She wasn’t lying to him when he wouldn’t be here to see her go, right?
Jake had purchased a car in a hurry, which had made spending time at her place easier. Almost as quickly, he also gave up hightailing it back to his mom’s in the middle of the night.
There was no doubt that Rita knew what they were up to. She also knew he intended to marry her. And heck, they were both adults.
She’d cleared space in her drawers so that Jake didn’t have to live out of a suitcase, she’d made room in the bathroom for his hair gel, and as for the bed—she didn’t have to choose a side. She and Jake slept wrapped around each other.
One morning, when neither had to be anywhere early, she woke to the sound of Jake in the kitchen. Something smelled delicious. She padded out to the kitchen in bare feet and rounded the pass-through.
“I can’t believe you feel like cooking on your morning off,” she said, “but yum.” She didn’t have a griddle, but he had just flipped a giant pancake in her only skillet.
“Hey, get back in there,” Jake said. “I wanted to bring you breakfast in bed.”
She smiled. “That’s sweet, but you don’t have to.”
“Yes, I do.” He shook a can of whipped cream at her. “I have serious plans for this.”
Instantly, she warmed. Jake was an extremely attentive lover. Tom had been, too, but Sadie pushed away the stab of guilt regarding Tom. She couldn’t help it if her body responded to Jake like nobody else. Theirs was a wild chemistry that defied logic.
“Strawberries?” she asked.
“Those too.” He hauled her into his side, popped an already cut piece of juicy berry into her mouth, then kissed her as the burst of flavor hit her taste buds.
“Mmm,” she said. “Far be it from me to thwart serious plans.” She squeezed his rear and threw an extra pop into her hips as she left. “Hurry, though. I’m ravenous.”
After they’d enjoyed breakfast, thoroughly enjoyed each other, and recovered somewhat, Jake propped himself on an elbow.
“Let’s do this,” Jake said. He smoothed a thumb over her cheekbone and looked down at her. “Let’s make it official.”
Sadie’s heart skipped a beat—she was simultaneously thrilled and crushed. She searched his eyes but saw nothing unusual.
When she didn’t answer, he said, “It’s time. Don’t you think?”
“From courtship to marriage,” she said. “Stage two of the grand plan?”
“Why not? It’d make me very happy to marry you, Sadie,” he said.
She pulled in a deep breath but couldn’t quite make herself smile. When she’d agreed to this plan, there’d been a part of her that had hoped—so flippin’ deeply that she barely admitted it to herself—that he’d end up falling head over heels in love with her. That he’d discover that she was truly the one for him, and he wouldn’t be able to deny that this—this physical magic that they had in bed and this deep connection they had outside of it—was something special.
“Nervous, Sades?”
He dipped his head and pressed a kiss on her lips. They’d had honey on the pancakes instead of syrup, and he still tasted of it.
“Don’t be,” he said. “We’re already practically living together. Nothing will change except a piece of paper. You don’t even have to take my name.”
That was just it, she thought. She wanted his name. She wanted all of him.
But all she’d end up with was a piece of paper. One that would signify a lie to the government, a betrayal of Rita’s trust, and, most of all, that Sadie was a stupid, naive fool.
As it turned out, they chose a wedding date only a week away. Jake wanted to be married before Mother’s Day because he wanted to have everything aligned before he presented his gift—the grand travel package—to Rita. And it turned out that Pennsylvania allowed self-uniting marriages, which meant they’d filled out an application online, taken it to the Pittsburgh City-County Building to have it verified, and then only had to wait three days before marrying. They didn’t even need an appointment with the judge. As long as they had two witnesses, they could marry anyplace they chose and mail in the bottom of the license with the signatures afterward.
So, they were right on schedule—and yet she didn’t feel ready. She was nervous. She had misgivings and plenty of worry. Yet she had promised. She had agreed to this plan.
And that’s what it was. Jake hadn’t given her any indication that it was anything more or less. All the dates they’d been on were part of the courtship she’d asked for. The sex, he probably figured, was a giant bonus.
When they’d told Rita at The Wanderlust, she put her hands over her mouth, and her eyes welled with tears.
“I’m so happy for you,” she said, and squeezed them both together in a three-way hug. “What wonderful news!” When she let go, she wiped her eyes. “So soon! There’s so much to do!”
To her credit, she never once asked if they were rushing things. Maybe because Jake had blurted out his intentions when Rita had first caught them together. Or maybe it was because Jake had done such a stellar job of courting Sadie—so good, in fact, that Sadie was a goner—and therefore, Rita was also convinced.
Jake laughed. “We want to keep it simple, Mom. We only told you because we knew you’d want to be there.”
“But you have to celebrate,” Rita said. “We’ll keep it low-key—just the most important people. Here. Right afterward. I’ll plan everything—you don’t even have to worry about it.”
Except they did—because the guest list kept growing, and Rita wanted their input on every dish and detail. Sadie had little choice but to push aside her concerns and roll with it, and to some degree, she was grateful that there wasn’t any more time to stew over it.
Wednesday evening, Sadie and Jake had settled side by side on the couch after they arrived home from the diner. She intended to log at least a little time studying (fortified with a cup of tea and a piece of mixed berry pie she’d brought home), while Jake streamed a show with his earphones in so as not to distract her. He’d already showered, and now munched on a few sourdough pretzels and sipped on a beer. She’d smiled. The last couple of nights he’d dozed off before he’d drunk even half the beer.
When Sadie had finished proofing a three-page essay, she popped the last bite of perfect pie crust in her mouth and launched her email. Then, since she knew it’d take some time to load, she went to was
h up some and change into her pajamas.
When she returned, she settled closer to Jake, and he lifted an arm, tucking her alongside him. She put her feet on the table and her computer on her lap.
But as soon as she focused on the screen, her whole world lurched.
An email—from the airline—front and center.
Upcoming itinerary. Gumi, South Korea.
Dear God, they’d sent her plane tickets.
A terrible sense of disaster flooded her, even as self-preservation kicked in. She tried not to move a muscle, except the one finger that worked feverishly over the trackpad. She clicked, clicked again, and then finally hit the right spot, and her mail window shrank, then disappeared. She jerked her head to look at Jake.
He shifted his eyes to her reluctantly, caught still in his show. But he frowned when he saw her face and reached up to pull out an earphone. “What’s wrong?”
She shook her head, the movement jerky. “Nothing, I…” She sucked an overly big breath in. “For a second, I thought I missed the deadline on this assignment.”
He kissed her on the forehead. “It’s been crazy with the wedding stuff this week.”
“Sorry,” she said. “Go back to your show.”
By sheer force of will, Sadie relaxed her muscles under Jake’s arm, but her insides were totally twisted.
That was a near miss. She’d dug herself a hole, buried her head, and steadfastly refused to deal with reality. And if she opened her mouth now, it’d fill with sand and she’d choke.
Her eyes swam with tears of frustration, blurring the words of her assignment. Not that she was seeing them anyway. Sadie clenched her teeth. She was so angry at herself for not telling Jake about Gumi the minute he proposed this craziness, for selfishly trying to seize a period of happiness in a situation that was slated for termination, and for loving everything about this make-believe world they’d created.