Jake frees my lips only to continue grazing my neck with those soft, burning lips while making a quick work of my nightgown. It was on the ground joining his sweater before I knew it. Jake pulled back and looked amused as he took in my pajamas. “SpongeBob? Really?” He asked chucking.
I shrug and bite my lip. “He’s cute.”
Jake’s eyes zeroed in on my mouth and darkened, all amusement disappearing and he leans forward. “You’re fucking cute.” He growls and tastes my lips in slow and sensual torture. “I could kiss you for days.” He murmurs. I hear a sudden ringing and jerk back. Jake mutters a curse and takes out his phone silencing it. As he looks at the caller, his face closed up and became yet again a blank canvas and he stepped back. He gathers our discarded clothes and wraps my gown around me gently. “I shouldn’t be here.”
“Jake?” I wondered who had called him. Could it be the actual woman waiting in his bed? What was her name again, Christina?
“I should go.” Jake folded his sweater over his forearm and left without another word. I lay back on the counter, looking at the ceiling and swore to boycott all phone companies.
Chapter Six
Bright and early the next morning, Jasmin knocked on the door, all dressed up and ready for our shopping trip. “I didn’t know what time you would be up and I hope I didn’t disturb you and Joseph.” She said. “I swear I waited a full hour before coming down.” Jasmin was staying in the penthouse above mine. “I know how it can get between couples. Especially in the morning.” She giggled and came in. “Where is he anyway?”
Probably spending his morning with Sarah. “He’s out. Morning run, I guess.” I shrug offhandedly. “I’ll get ready so we can head out.”
“Take your time.” She sat on the sofa and picked up Vogue magazine from the table next to it.
We went to the hotel restaurant to get breakfast because Jasmin hadn’t eaten anything before coming down as she wanted to eat with me. Stepping in, we found Jake seated at a table near the window. Jasmin dragged me to him and joined her brother. I gauged his behavior throughout breakfast for any indication about last night but he was nothing other than annoyingly polite. Having continental breakfast had never felt like such a task. There was absolutely no acknowledgment about what went down between us whatsoever. Zero. Zilch. At least until Jasmine excused herself to go to the ladies' room. Which is when Jake finally dropped the pretense. “Ms. Duvall, I’d like to apologize to you.” He said, not unkindly.
I take a sip of my tea and wait for him to continue. What did he want to apologize for?
“There are boundaries between us that I shouldn’t have crossed yesterday.” Was he regretting it already? I put the cup down since my hand had started shaking and I didn’t want a repeat where I ruin his shirt again. “You are first and foremost my sister’s friend and my brother’s . . . girlfriend.” He said pausing. I looked out the window because I couldn’t bear to see the regret he was clearly feeling for kissing me. “It was completely immoral on my part to have . . .” He cleared his throat. “It won’t happen again. I assure you. I’m sorry. Please forgive me.”
“Are you really?” I was mad. At him and myself for not being able to control my feeling about him. So I grasped at anger instead of the tears I felt building up behind my eyes.
“Excuse me?”
“Are you really sorry about it?” I asked again because I was a sucker for punishment. “Sorry that you kissed me? Do you honestly regret that it happened?”
“Emma.” He said almost pleadingly.
“Forget for a minute that Jo is in this equation. Would you still be sorry?” I turned to face him.
“But Joseph is in this equation.” He said quietly. “And I refuse to come between my brother and the woman he loves.”
“Jake . . .” I start to tell him the truth about my relationship with Jo because what was happening with my friend was a ruse but with Jake, it was real. But I stop as his eyes wander behind me and a shield pulled up as it often did when we weren’t alone or he wasn’t with his siblings.
“Camilla.” He said and stood up to greet his girlfriend. I clenched my teeth so hard I was afraid they would shatter. The woman glided toward him and I swear even her walk was graceful while I sauntered around like Humpty Dumpty. She reached us at the same time Jasmin came back.
“Ready to go?” The bride to be asked as the VS model planted a full-mouthed kiss on Jake.
I stiffened. “You bet.” I murmured and stood up before I threw up the breakfast I had barely swallowed.
“Emma, you look quite pale,” Jasmin said, worry lacing her voice. “Are you okay?” Jake pulled himself free and gazed at me. I did my best to avoid looking at him so he wouldn’t see the pain in my eyes. It was different now. Things between us had changed. Before last night Jake Vandervaal was a fantasy I had indulged in just like any other hot actor before him, always knowing they were out of reach. But now that I knew what it felt like being in his arms, having his lips on mine, his hands on my body, I couldn’t shake off the fact that unlike me he was dating someone for real.
“I’m fine,” I said stiffly and took Jasmin’s arm, leading us out of the restaurant to wait in the lobby for the valet to bring her Mercedes.
“Urgh!” Jasmin stomped her foot. “I can’t stand that woman!” She said in a surprising burst of dislike. I found comfort in the fact that we shared mutual feelings about the model. “She looks at me as if I’m a nuisance to have around.” She continued. “Excuse me, lady, you are dating my brother. The least you can do is be cordial to me.” The valet finds and informs us the car was out front and passes Jasmin the keys. “Look at you, you’re with Joseph and see how nice you are. I wish Jake could find someone more like you instead of that weird woman.” Someone like me? He could have the original piece but if he wanted to settle for less, that was his choice. “You are the kindest person I have met in a while.” She said.
I looked at her in surprise. “I am?” I asked. Maybe because she didn’t know that I killed Jo in my head at least twice a day.
“Yes, you are.” She encircled her arm with mine as we walked out. During our outing, she goes on to tell me about the rehearsal dinner taking place in two days. Though her fiancé, Prince Aryan had said that rehearsals were not a part of a Rajasthani wedding, Jasmin had insisted on it and he’d agreed to add it as a specialty just for her. The topic of Jake and Jo arrived as we were eating lunch and she told me all about how lonely she thought Jake was. Jasmin mentioned after their parents had passed, Jake had closed himself off from the world. He used to be outgoing and an extrovert but that had changed. All he did since was work all day and night.
“If that’s all he does then how is it that he finds time for Cinderella?” I asked.
Jasmin gave me an unusually solemn look which creepily reminded me of her eldest brother. “It’s not real, Emma.”
“What’s not?”
“These women around him.” She said with a faraway look in her eyes. “They come and go like the season. Never staying. None of them mean anything to him. That’s the problem.”