Contents Title Page Copyright Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Cha...
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Contents Title Page Copyright Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-One Chapter Twenty-Two Chapter Twenty-Three Chapter Twenty-Four Chapter Twenty-Five Chapter Twenty-Six Chapter Twenty-Seven
Give Us a Chance By Allie Everhart
Give Us a Chance By Allie Everhart Copyright © 2016 Allie Everhart All rights reserved. Published by Waltham Publishing, LLC Cover Design by Okay Creations This book is a work of fiction. The characters, things, and events are fictitious, and any similarities to real persons (live or dead), things, or events are coincidental and not intended by the author. Brand names of products mentioned in this book are used for reference only and the author acknowledges that any trademarks and
product names are the property of their respective owners. The author holds exclusive rights to this work and unauthorized duplication is prohibited. No part of this book is to be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author.
CHAPTER ONE Jake "You've gotta give up on this girl," Nash says as he tosses his burger wrapper into the trash. "You're starting to look desperate." He takes a napkin from the stack and wipes his hands. "Actually you've been looking desperate
for months. Now you're starting to look pathetic." "I'm not here to see her." I tighten the cap on my bottle of water and stand up. "I'm checking on the project." "It's my project. You don't need to be here." "I'm checking on the status." I walk over to the glass partition that separates the office from the rest of the library. I spot Ivy in the children's section, hovered over a square piece of wood that she'll have turned into a masterpiece by the end of the week. She's so damn talented. Best damn carpenter in the city. And freaking hot. Even from here, I can see her tight ass in those jeans and it gets me going.
"Jake." I hear Nash behind me and turn around. "What?" He grins and leans back in his chair. "Did you hear anything I just said? Or were you too busy drooling over Ivy to notice?" "Would you stop teasing him?" Callie walks in and over to Nash. Callie is his girlfriend. They live together and are in love to the point that it gets annoying to be around them. They're always touching and kissing, and they don't care who's watching. I'm happy for Nash. I just wish he'd tone down the PDA. I don't need to see that. Or maybe I'm just jealous. I never keep a girl around long enough to get to that
stage. The stage when you're so in love you can't help but show it off to the world. Let everyone know the girl is yours and yours alone. I don't have girlfriends. I sleep around. Play the field. I've been doing it since high school and I've loved every minute of it, but I have to admit, it's starting to get old. I'm 23, and by now I should've had at least one girlfriend but instead I've had a random stream of girls come in and out of my life for a night, and that's it. But that's how I wanted it. I didn't want a girlfriend. "I have to give him shit," Nash says, pulling Callie onto his lap. "That's what brothers do." "You done with this?" I ask Callie.
Her half-eaten burger is still on the table. "Yeah, I'm done." I go to toss it out, but Nash lurches forward and grabs it. "You can't throw that out." He stuffs it in his mouth, still holding Callie on his lap. She shakes her head. "Don't you ever get full?" "Nope." He smiles and reaches around her for a napkin and wipes his mouth. "Can you grab my pop?" Callie hands it to him and he takes a swig. He hands it back to her and she takes a swig for herself, then sets it down. "I gotta go," I say, checking my phone.
"You gonna at least say hello to her?" Nash asks. I glance up from my phone. "For the last time, I didn't come here to see Ivy. I'm here to check on the project. That's it." Nash takes Callie's hand, threading their fingers together. Their constant touching is so automatic, I don't think he even knows he's doing it. "You can get a status update over the phone." "I could, but then you wouldn't get to see my smiling face." I give him an overly wide grin as I take my coat off the chair. "Don't listen to Nash," Callie says. "We like it when you stop by." "Especially when you bring us
lunch," Nash says. "Next time, bring extra and we'll invite Ivy to eat with us." "Yeah, like that's not obvious." I roll my eyes. "Dude, she knows you like her. You've already asked her out." "That was months ago. I'm sure she forgot about it." "You asked her out more than once," Nash says. "She didn't forget about it. And she knows you stop by here all the time to see her." "Yeah? So? What are you trying to say?" "I'm saying she's not interested. Either that or you're not trying hard enough." "How the hell hard do I have to try?
It's a date. One date." Nash grins. "So you admit you still want to date her?" I ignore him and check my phone again. There's a text that just popped up from Tracy, a girl I met last night when I stopped for a beer after work with some of the guys from my construction crew. "Looks like I already have a date," I say, holding up my phone. "I'm going out with Tracy tonight." "Who's Tracy?" Callie asks. "Some girl I met at the bar last night. We talked a few minutes. She was with a group of her friends." "You know, if you'd stop doing these random hookups," Nash says, "you might actually get a girlfriend."
"I don't need a girlfriend." I put my phone in my pocket, then realize I forgot to text Tracy back. I'll do it later. "What exactly did you say to her?" Callie asks me. "Who?" "Ivy. When you asked her out, what did you say?" "I don't remember. I think I just said something about wanting to hang out sometime." "No wonder she didn't agree to it." Callie gets up and comes over to me. "First of all, the words 'hang out' imply that you consider her a friend, like one of the guys. That's not date language." "That's not true," Nash says to her. "I asked you to hang out with me when we
were dating." She turns to him. "We weren't dating then. We were just friends when you said that." "But it worked. You let me hang out with you." "Only because I'd made it clear we weren't dating so the 'hang out' term was appropriate in that situation. We were just two friends hanging out." "We did a lot more than hang out." He smiles. She smiles back. "Yeah, well, our situation was different." She turns back to me. "Anyway, if you want this girl for more than just sex—wait, is that the only reason you want her? For sex? Because if so then—"
"No," I say, but then wonder why I'm doing this. All my past relationships, if you can even call them that, have just been about sex. Nothing else. So what's my plan with Ivy? Am I going to date her for real? "Go ahead," I say to Callie since I interrupted her. "I was just saying that if you really want this girl, you need to make it clear that you want to take her on a date. Be specific. Tell her you want to take her for dinner and then suggest a restaurant." "That seems too formal. I'd feel like a kid asking a girl to prom." "It's not formal. It's how you're supposed to do it." "And that's what Nash did?" I chuckle, because I know he didn't.
She glances at Nash. "Well, no, but whatever." "Hey." Nash gets up and stands behind Callie, wrapping his arms around her. "I made you dinner. That was better than taking you somewhere. And I brought you flowers I picked out of the weeds, and cheap wine from the gas station." She laughs and tilts her head up to him. "Yeah, you were so romantic." He leans down and kisses her. I look away. "Are we done here? I need to go." Callie focuses on me again. "Just ask her to dinner. And be sure to mention the restaurant you want to take her to. That way it looks like you put thought into it.
She'll appreciate that." "I don't think that'll work," Nash says to me, still holding Callie against him. "Of course it'll work." Callie elbows him in the ribs. "Why wouldn't it?" "Because Ivy isn't that type of girl." "What's that supposed to mean?" I ask. "It means she's the type of girl who can see through your shit. Your pick-up lines aren't going to work on a girl like her. Neither are your expensive clothes or that overpriced haircut of yours." "And what makes you an expert?" "I've been working with her for months now. She may be small, but she's tough. That's why she's able to work in construction. She doesn't let the guys
push her around. She doesn't take shit from anyone. You worked with her. You know what she's like." Nash and I both work in construction, renovating old houses and buildings. We work for our dad, who owns Wheeler Construction and Renovation. Bryce and Austin, my two younger brothers, also work for him. I used to do a lot of the hands-on work but this past year I've been managing projects and dealing more with the sales side of the business. I'm a people person and I'm good at persuading people to do things, which makes me a good team leader and salesman. But for some reason, my skills in persuasion haven't worked on Ivy. I can't even get her attention, let alone get
her to date me. I met Ivy last year when I hired her to work on a renovation I was in charge of. It was a huge project that got a lot of press. We restored an old Victorian mansion that's now a historic landmark that's open to tourists. The project started last summer and went through the fall. Ivy was recommended by one of my subs as being one of the best carpenters in the city. She's an expert craftsman. She can replicate even the most intricate carvings, which is what she did with the Victorian. She carved the banister and the crown moldings and the detailing on the fireplace mantel based on photos I gave her of what the place used to look like. It turned out even better than I
thought it would. When the project ended and I was giving tours to the media, I made sure to point out the woodworking Ivy had done. But I didn't need to. It was the first thing people noticed when they walked in the house. Everyone was impressed and assumed it was a guy who did the work. An older man. But I told them it was Ivy, a 23-year-old carpenter who is more skilled in her trade than guys twice her age who've been doing this for years. "I got an idea." Nash has that grin on his face that means he's up to something. "What?" I ask, crossing my arms over my chest. "I'll give you a hundred bucks if you get her to go out with you. I'll even give
you a month to do it." I laugh. "A month? Seriously? I could get her to agree to it a lot sooner than that." "You've been trying for months, bro, and gotten nowhere." "I wasn't trying. Like Callie said, I was asking her out like a friend." "Then try again. Give her the full-on Jake treatment. See if she'll come around." Callie waves her hand in front of me. "No, don't do that. Just be normal." Nash laughs and mutters, "Yeah, be normal." Callie cringes. "Sorry, that's not what I meant. I mean, don't use pick-up lines. Most girls don't like that."
"I used a few lines on you." Nash leans down and kisses her neck. "Those weren't really pick-up lines." She flips around and kisses him on the lips. "Okay, I've had enough of you two. I seriously need to get going." I turn toward the door. "I told Dad I'd meet him at the house on Martin Street in a half hour." "Hundred bucks," Nash says. "Forget it," I say as I open the door. "Five hundred." I turn back around. "Seriously? You'd give me that much just to ask her out? You know I was going to ask her out anyway." "Yeah, but to get the money she has to
say yes." "I don't want your damn money. Or your advice. You don't know shit about girls." "And yet I've got one and you don't." He grins, then kisses Callie again and keeps kissing her. "Close the door," I hear him say as I'm leaving. They'll probably have sex in the office. It's totally unprofessional and yet I've done it on some of my jobs. Okay, maybe more than some. But at least I waited until after the workers were gone. Then again, if Ivy agreed to it, I'd do her anytime, anywhere. I watch her off in the distance, leaning over her workbench. Shit, she turns me on. Those perky breasts. That
tight ass. That long, dark silky hair. I've never seen it down. She always has it in a ponytail, but in my dreams, she always has it down. Falling over my chest as she rides me, her breasts hovering just inches from my face, her— "Hey, Jake." I turn and see Dan walking by. He was on my crew for the Victorian. "Hey." I wave at him but he's already gone. Shit. I hope he didn't notice me staring at Ivy, but I'm sure he did. I'm so damn obvious about it. But whenever I'm around her, I can't stop staring at her. Nash is right. I'm pathetic. I come here at least twice a week to see her, but then don't talk to her. Instead, I eat lunch with
my brother and his girlfriend, like a third wheel. This isn't me. I'm not that guy. I'm Jake Wheeler. Mr. Confident. I go up to the hottest girl in the bar and buy her a drink and convince her to go home with me. I have girls like Tracy sending me naughty texts during lunch, telling me what she wants to do to me later tonight. So why the hell am I letting this girl intimidate me? I straighten up and smooth out my leather jacket and casually walk over to her. She doesn't notice me there. Her head is down, her eyes focused on the carving she's making in the wood. It's a picture of two kids, a boy and a girl, sharing a book. How the hell does she do that? How does she
make a picture from a piece of wood? I haven't even said a word to her and my heart's already beating faster. I feel nervous, and I'm never nervous. Even when I was doing all those interviews on TV last fall, I never got nervous. "Hey, Ivy," I say, trying to sound cool and relaxed. "No," she says, keeping her head down as she picks up a piece of sandpaper. "No what?" "No, I'm not going out with you." Shit. How did she know that's why I came over here? "I didn't ask," I say. "No, but you were about to." She leans down more, lightly sanding the
edge of the book in her picture, creating the look of pages. Damn, that's incredible. I'm seriously amazed by her talent. "I was just coming over to say hello," I tell her. "We haven't talked since the Victorian. How have you been?" "Good." She flips her ponytail to her other shoulder, exposing her neck. I'd love to run my lips down that neck. Down that smooth, perfect skin. My eyes shift down to her t-shirt, a red v-neck that fits close to her body. "Was that it?" She catches me staring at her breasts and stands up, looking annoyed with me. That's just great. I've been here less than a minute and already screwed this up.
"Good? That's all you have to say?" She sets the sandpaper down and crosses her arms over her chest. "What do you want to know?" "How was your Christmas?" She's staring at me like that's the lamest question ever asked. Considering Christmas was weeks ago, it is a lame question, but it's the first thing that popped in my head. "Let me guess," I say, since she hasn't answered. "It was good." She starts to smile, but then quickly shuts it down. "Yeah." She shrugs. "Actually, that's a lie. It sucked. But it's like that every year so..." Her voice trails off and when she sees the questioning look on my face, she
explains, "My mom died at Christmas. It was years ago, but still." "Shit, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked." I rake my hand through my hair, which I tend to do when I'm nervous or uncomfortable. "It's okay. You didn't know." She smiles slightly, but then it disappears again. "Well, I need to get back to work." Why is she always telling me to get lost? I know she doesn't have a boyfriend. I need to try this again, using a different approach. Nash and Callie are right. My usual techniques aren't going to work this time. "So do you like to eat?" I ask. It's such a strange question that she
laughs a little. "Yeah. Why?" "Let's go out tonight. It's on me." "I told you I'm not going out with you." "It's not a date. It's just two people eating dinner. You said you like to eat, right?" "And if I were to say yes, which I'm not, where would you take me?" I pause to think. "A little place just down the street from here." "Titiana's? The Mexican place?" "No." "Marco's Italian?" I shake my head. "No. This place serves American food." "Just tell me." "It's a little place called..." I pause
for dramatic effect. "Burger King." She bursts out laughing, which is what I was hoping for. I wanted to hear her laugh. I like her laugh. "Burger King? That's where you'd take a girl on a date?" "It's not a date, remember? And what's wrong with Burger King? Flamebroiled burgers. And you get to have it your way. Extra pickles. No mustard. Whatever you want." She laughs again. I've decided this is my approach with her. Humor. And saying the unexpected. It seems to be working. "I can't go there," she says. "I'm vegan." "Really? I didn't know that. So we'll
go somewhere else. Where do vegans eat?" "I'm not going out with you, Jake." "Is it because of the jacket?" I glance down at it. "Because I have other jackets if this one offends you." She gives me a funny look like she doesn't know what I mean. "It's leather," I say. "I assumed if you're vegan you don't like leather?" "Oh, um, yeah." She nods. "That's right. No leather." I smile. "So I'll switch coats and meet you there at six." "Sorry, but it's not happening." She turns back to her project and picks up her sandpaper and starts sanding the edge of the girl's hair.
I'll have to try again later. At least I'm getting somewhere with her. I got her to laugh, so that was a start. "That's really good," I say, looking at the picture. "Like award-winning good. You should enter that into a contest." She sands the girl's dress. "Thanks but there aren't contests for this type of thing." "Well, if there were, that would definitely win. Did Nash ask you to make that?" "The library did. They're going to hang it in the children's reading room. I really need to finish this so I'll see ya later." "Yeah, see ya tomorrow," I tell her, because I'm coming back tomorrow. This
girl has always intrigued me, and now I'm even more intrigued. There's something about her that keeps me coming back for more. Maybe it's her refusal to go out with me. She knows I like her and she knows I want to go out with her, and yet she refuses. I was starting to think it was a lost cause, but that all changed today. I saw that twitch in her lip as she tried not to smile. And then she actually did. And she laughed. Twice. Other girls I meet smile and laugh from the moment I meet them. It's constant back-and-forth flirting that ends with sex. But getting Ivy to even glance my way has been nearly impossible. And yet today, I got a smile and a laugh. That's serious progress.
This might go somewhere after all.
CHAPTER TWO Ivy Jake starts walking away. I should thank him. I never have and it's always bothered me that I haven't. "Jake?" He stops and turns around. "Yeah?" "I just wanted to say thank you for
giving me credit on the Victorian and for mentioning my name on TV. You didn't have to do that." "It's your work. You deserved the credit." He smiles. "See ya later." I nod, and go back to my sanding. I hope he couldn't tell how breathless I was. Why does he always make me react this way? Why can't I keep control of myself better? Whenever Jake gets near me, my heart decides to take off like it's running some kind of race. Jake is hot. Extremely hot. But his hotness is no reason to react this way. Working in construction, I'm around hot guys all the time and I'm always able to control myself around them. So why can't I do that with Jake? It's infuriating,
which is why I avoid him. I'm not getting involved with him. Or any guy. I'm taking a break from guys after my breakup with Ryker last year. Even if I wasn't on a guy hiatus, I still wouldn't go out with Jake. I'm not looking for a one-night stand, and that's all Jake wants. I've dated guys like him in the past and I'm over it. At 23, I want a guy who isn't just using me for sex. After dating Ryker, who was the last in a long string of cheating assholes I've dated, I decided I'm never letting a guy treat me like shit ever again. Ryker was an ass. A selfish, egotistical ass. He was in a band, but never made enough money to support himself so he made me pay whenever we
went out. When he got evicted from his apartment, he moved into mine without even asking. But I'd always had this dream of dating a hot rocker, which is why I kept him around. And he kept me around because I paid for everything. The only nice thing he ever did for me was write me a song, but it wasn't even a good song. We broke up after I came home one night and found Ryker in my bed with not one, not two, but THREE other women. I kicked all four of them out, threw the few possessions Ryker had out the window, and never spoke to him again. After that, I needed a break from guys. I know it's not fair to assume all guys are like Ryker, but ever since our breakup, I
haven't been able to trust a guy. And I've upped my standards about a million percent. No more bad boys. No more assholes. No more choosing a guy based solely on looks. And no more players. Jake is a player. He has a reputation and practically all of Chicago knows it. Girls flock to him. And the ones that don't, he pursues until they eventually fall prey to his good looks and endless pick-up lines. He tried one of those lines on me last fall and I just laughed. He looked shocked that I laughed instead of swooned, and never used a line on me again. My heart rate is slowly returning to normal now that Jake is gone. I wonder if he's done trying to ask me out. I've
made it very clear it's not going to happen. But he's one of those people who doesn't back down from a challenge, which is what I am to him, so I doubt he'll give up just yet. I hear someone talking and glance up and see Nash and Callie walk by. Nash is walking her to the door, his arm around her shoulder, a big smile on his face. The guy is head over heels in love with her. And the way he treats her? That's how I want to be treated. He's respectful, supportive, loving, caring. He'd do anything for her. Why can't I find a guy like that? I guess when I think about it, Jake has some of those qualities. When I worked for him, he was always respectful and supportive of
me. And he cares about his workers. Last fall I was out sick for a week and he called and checked on me every day. But he's still a player. And I'm done dating players. I get back to work, but then hear Nash behind me. "How's everything going?" "Great." I turn to face him. "I should be done with this by tomorrow." He looks at the picture. "It's really incredible how you did that. You should enter it in a contest." I smile. "Your brother said the same thing." "Jake talked to you?" He slowly grins. "Yeah. Why?" He shrugs, that grin still on his face.
"No reason. He just seemed to be in a hurry when he left the office." "We didn't talk long." Nash looks like he's about to ask me something but then says, "Well, I'll let you get back to work." He leaves and returns to the office. At five I stop at the store, then head to my dad's house for dinner. My sister, Liza, has the night off so it'll be the three of us for dinner, which doesn't happen very often. Liza is 21 and still lives at home, but between school and work, she's almost never there. "Hey, Dad," I say, walking into the house. It's a small, three bedroom house in a suburb of Chicago. I grew up in this
house and used to think it was nice until I started doing home renovations and realized that this house is really tiny and run-down. I've done what I can to fix it up, replacing the trim along the floor, painting the walls, and installing laminate floors in place of the old shag carpet, but the place still needs work. The roof needs to be replaced, the outside needs to be painted, and the bathroom and kitchen need some serious updating. "Hi, honey." My dad gets up from his recliner and helps me with the groceries I bought. "How was work?" "It was okay. I'm still working on the picture. Should be done with it by tomorrow."
"Did you take a photo?" "No, but I will when it's done." My dad is also a carpenter, or he was until he hurt his back. In addition to carpentry, he used to do roofing on the weekends to make extra money. Last summer, he fell off a roof and hurt his back so badly that he can't work anymore. The doctors said they could try doing surgery but that it may not help with the pain, so my dad decided not to do it. But I think that was more due to the fact that he didn't want to pay for it. Being self-employed, he has shitty insurance that pays almost nothing, leaving us stuck with the bill. So instead of surgery, he manages his pain with medication and goes to physical therapy
twice a week. "What's for dinner?" Liza comes into the kitchen. "Frozen pizza and bagged salad." I hold up the bag. "I went gourmet and got the Italian blend. It has purple lettuce." "Ooh, that IS fancy." Liza takes the bag from me. "I'll get the pizza going," my dad says, turning on the oven. I can't cook, and neither can Liza or my dad, so we only buy foods that require little to no cooking skills. "You need to get rid of that." Liza points at my shirt, then grabs a bowl for the salad. "That thing's so faded it barely looks red anymore. And it has a hole in the sleeve."
"It's fine," I snap, hoping she'll get my message to keep quiet. I can't afford new clothes right now. Between my apartment and helping my dad pay his bills, I'm barely making ends meet. At least this house is paid for, but I still have to help pay for the utilities and taxes and maintenance. My dad's disability checks won't cover all that, so I told him I was making more than I am so he'd let me help out. "You can't dress nice when you work on a construction site," I say to Liza. "If I wore nice clothes they'd get ruined." "Yeah, obviously," she says, "but you could maybe wear shirts without holes." "I'm not trying to impress anyone, so what do I care?"
My dad puts the pizza in the oven and sets the timer. "I'm going to go lie down until it's done." He comes over and hugs me. "You came in with those groceries and I didn't get a hug." I hug him back. "Go rest. We'll tell you when dinner's ready." After he's in his room and closes the door, I go up to Liza. "Is he not feeling well?" I ask because my dad would never tell me. He believes in keeping your problems to yourself, and so do I, which is why I haven't told my family about my financial struggles. That's my problem, not theirs. "He switched to a new pain med," Liza says. "It makes him really tired." "Why didn't you tell me he switched
meds?" "Because he just started it yesterday and I haven't talked to you until just now." She opens the cupboard and takes out some plates. "Ivy, you've gotta stop worrying so much. Dad is fine." "If he was fine, he'd be able to work, and he wouldn't have to rest before dinner." She turns to me. "It's the meds that make him tired. He's not sick. He has a back injury." She pauses. "It's not like Mom." I nod. "I know. It's just sometimes I worry that—" "It's not cancer," she says softly. "It's a back injury. He's not going to die. And he's got me here, a live-in nurse, keeping
watch over him." Liza is in nursing school. She's in her last year. Unlike me, she's book smart. She's always done well in math and science, my two worst subjects. She decided to be a nurse back when our mom got sick. Liza was only nine at the time and she told everyone she was going to be a nurse so she could make Mom better. Mom died before that could happen, but Liza still decided to be a nurse. "You're not a nurse yet," I tell her. "And you're never home." I take some glasses out. "I'm not blaming you for that. I know you're busy with work and school, but I worry about Dad being here alone all the time."
"Ivy, I promise you he's fine. He's just tired." She opens the fridge and takes out a two-liter of pop. "So anything interesting happen at work today?" "Jake asked me out." She grabs my arm, her eyes wide. "Jake Wheeler?" "Yeah. Why are you so surprised? You know he's been trying to go out with me." "That was months ago. I didn't know he was still interested." "He stops by the library a few times a week and I'm pretty sure he's not just coming by to have lunch with his brother. I always catch him watching me from Nash's office." I take the pop and start filling the glasses.
Liza leans against the counter. "He comes by just to see you? How long has this been going on?" "A couple months maybe? Ever since I started working there." "Why didn't you tell me this?" I shrug. "What's there to tell? I'm not going out with him." She takes the pop from me and sets it down. "Ivy. This is Jake Wheeler. THE Jake Wheeler. The hottest guy in Chicago." "His brothers are just as hot." It's true, but personally, I find Jake to be the hottest of the four. And it's not just his physical appearance. Jake has a boldness, a swagger, a confidence that drives women wild, including me. When
he enters a room, he takes it over. That winning smile. Those deep blue eyes. That sharp jawline. He exudes masculinity, which is why women can't help but fall all over him. But not me. I'm not that girl. Okay, maybe I am, but I'm trying not to be, which is why I'm not falling for Jake. "So what did you say?" Liza asks. "About what?" She rolls her eyes. "What did you say to Jake when he asked you out?" "I told him no before he even got the words out." "So he didn't actually ask you out." "He was going to. He just didn't have a chance. But then he asked me to dinner."
"Did he say where?" "Yeah." I laugh. "Burger King." She scrunches her face up. "Seriously? A fast food place?" "I think he was joking. He was trying to convince me that it wouldn't be a date, but just two friends having dinner." "Why didn't you agree to it?" "Liza, we've talked about this." I pick up the plates and go around her to the kitchen table. "I'm tired of being cheated on. And lied to." She takes the glasses and follows me. "You broke up with Ryker almost a year ago. You need to get over it." "Ryker was just one of many guys who cheated on me." "That doesn't mean they all will.
Come on, Ivy. Don't you think it's time to start dating again?" "Maybe, but not with Jake Wheeler. Manwhore of the century." I return to the kitchen and get the salad bowl. "The only thing Jake is interested in is a onenight stand." "You don't know that." "Oh, please. Everyone knows that." I set the salad bowl on the table and we both sit down. "You've seen him at Hoedowns. How many girls has he gone home with?" Hoedowns is the restaurant where Liza works. It's a barbecue place where the waitresses wear cut-off denim short shorts and skimpy plaid half-shirts that tie in front and barely cover their
breasts. My dad hates that Liza works there, but he's given up trying to make her quit. She makes a ton of money in tips, enough to pay for her college tuition, so she's keeping the job until she graduates. She keeps trying to get me to work there too but there's no way I'm wearing that stupid outfit and having drunk guys grab my ass. I'd end up punching them in the face and get fired. "Jake hasn't been there in months," she says, taking a sip of her pop. "Maybe he's done with the one-night stand thing." "I doubt it. He's only 23. He has plenty more wild oats to sow. That boy isn't settling down anytime soon." "Neither are you. You said you don't want a boyfriend, right?"
"Not a serious one, at least not right now." "So go out with Jake. Keep it casual." "Meaning just sex? No. I did that with Ryker and look how that turned out." "I don't mean sex. I mean, do what he suggested. Go out with him just as friends and see what happens." "He only said that so I'd go out with him. He doesn't want a female friend. I've seen how he looks at me. He wants sex." "Do you?" She gives me a sly grin. "I mean, seriously, Ivy, it's been like a year." "It hasn't been a year," I say
defensively. "More like eight months." "That's practically a year. You've gotta get out there again. You know what they say...use it or lose it." "Use what? That doesn't even make sense." "Whatever. The point is, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if you ended up having sex with Jake, right?" Just hearing her say 'sex with Jake' caused a slight tingle between my legs. I seriously need to get some control when it comes to him. He's not even near me and I'm having a physical response. "Ivy?" "Yeah. I'm sure sex with Jake would be...good." I said 'good' but what I meant was mind-blowing. Why else would
girls be lining up to have sex with him? And given that I get hot and bothered just thinking about him, I can only imagine how my body would react if I actually felt his hands all over me and his— "Then do it," Liza says, interrupting my thoughts. "And be just another notch on his belt? No. Forget it." I pull some napkins from the holder in the middle of the table and distribute them among the three place settings. "Ivy, you're not listening." She pulls her chair out a little and turns so that she's facing me. "Jake wants you. We know this. What we don't know is whether he wants just sex or more than that. So you need to figure that out, and
when you do, you need to make him work for it." "Work for what? Sex?" She swats my arm. "Stop going back to sex. Give the guy a chance. For all you know, he wants more than that with you. Otherwise, why would he keep trying?" "Because he doesn't like being told no. He'll keep trying until he gets it." "Or..." She smiles and twirls a piece of her long blond hair around her finger. "He might actually like you and want more than just sex." "I doubt it." I pluck a piece of purple lettuce from the salad bowl and stuff it in my mouth. "I'm starving. I'm gonna check the pizza." I get up, but she yanks me
back down. "In a minute. We're not done here." "Fine. Hurry up." She sits back and stretches her legs out in front of her. "Do you like this guy?" "I think he's hot." I pluck another purple lettuce leaf from the bowl. "But do you like him, aside from his looks?" "I don't know him." "So that's step one. Get to know him. And if you like him, then make him work to be with you. Don't make it easy. If Jake likes a challenge, he'll like you even more if he has to put in effort to be with you." This is suddenly sounding fun. Make
Jake work to be with me? I'm sure he won't do it, but that doesn't mean I can't try. And I'll have fun doing it. Plus, it gives me an excuse to hang out with the hottest guy in Chicago. "He'll give up on me after a week," I say. Liza shrugs. "Maybe. Maybe not. Depends on how much he likes you. And if he gives up, then you'll get what you wanted. He'll finally leave you alone. You win either way." "That's true." "So you're doing this?" she asks, moving to the edge of her seat. I smile. "I'm doing it. Jake Wheeler has no idea what he's in for."
CHAPTER THREE Jake "So how'd it go?" Callie asks as soon as I walk in her and Nash's apartment. Before I can answer, Nash yells from the couch, "Did she say yes?" "Not exactly." I take my coat off and sink into Nash's recliner. It's brown-and-
black plaid and ugly as sin but the most comfortable chair I've ever sat in. I tried to buy it from him but he refuses to sell it, which is dumb because he hardly ever sits in it anymore. He always sits on the couch so he can be next to Callie. She's now sitting beside him, wedged under his arm. Don't those two ever get tired of touching? "So she turned you down?" Callie asks. "I didn't even get a chance to ask her. She said 'no' before I even got the words out." Nash winces. "Ooh. Not good, man. She really doesn't like you." "She likes me." I yank on the lever on the recliner, lifting the footrest up. "But
she thinks I sleep around." "You do," Nash says, flipping through channels on the TV. "Not as much as I used to." Nash sets the remote down and looks at me. "How many girls were you with last week?" "Are we counting weekdays only or including weekends?" I was totally serious but Callie's laughing under her breath. Nash is shaking his head. "This is why she won't date you. You've got a reputation, bro. Everyone knows you sleep around. All the guys on my crew talk about you like you're some kind of god, the way you get so many women. I know Ivy's heard them talking."
"The guys really say that about me?" I can't help but smile. "Shit." Nash rolls his eyes. "You're a lost cause." "So you never asked her to dinner?" Callie asks. "I did. I told her we could just go as friends but she wouldn't agree to it." "Where did you tell her you'd take her?" Maybe I should make something up. Callie's going to kill me if I tell her the truth. I was only joking when I said that to Ivy but I think she might've thought I was serious. "Jake?" Callie says, still waiting for a answer. "Burger King," I say casually.
"What?" Callie and Nash say at the same time. "I told her I'd take her to the Burger King down the street from the library." "Burger King?" Callie looks pissed. "You seriously told her you were taking her to Burger King?" "What's wrong with Burger King? They have good food, and in my defense, that one by the library was just renovated. It's like new inside." "You're such an idiot," Nash says, laughing. "Even I wouldn't do something that stupid." "I was joking. You two need to lighten up." "Did she know you were joking?" Callie asks.
"She was laughing, so probably." Callie sighs. "This is a disaster. She'll never go out with you now." "She will," I say confidently. "I'll wear her down eventually. But you're right. I will have to work harder with her. But I'm taking a different approach than I usually do." "Which is what?" Nash asks. "I'd rather not share my technique just yet. I need to see if it works first." "Whatever you do, you better not piss her off," Nash says. "I need her on this project, and I'm thinking of hiring her for the next one too." "I was going to hire her for the house on Milton Street." He shakes his head. "She's too
talented for that. We need her for the historical museum." That's the project we just won. We bid on it months ago and just found out we got it. People were so impressed with how we restored the Victorian mansion that city leaders started calling us, asking us to put in bids on other public projects. I admit I feel some pride over that, given that I was in charge of the Victorian. It was the first project I'd been the lead on. Nash and my dad were in charge of all our previous projects. "Yeah, you're right," I say. "Ivy needs to be on the museum project. Did you ask her yet?" "No, but I will." "I could ask her."
"No." He shoots me his warning look. "We need to keep your love life and work life separate. And if you piss her off, I'm banning you from the worksite." "I'm not going to piss her off. I'm not an ass." "I can think of a few girls who would disagree with that." "Hey, I always make it clear I don't want a relationship. They know it's just sex." "And that's not the case with Ivy?" I sigh. "Would you shut up about this? Mind your own damn business." "This IS my business. She's my employee." "Yeah, and earlier today you were
telling me to ask her out. Now you're telling me to stay away from her? Make up your damn mind." "I only told you to ask her out so you could get her out of your head. You've been obsessed with her for months. I assumed she'd tell you no and you'd finally move on." Callie smiles up at Nash. "Having a girl turn a guy down just makes you guys want us all the more." "You're right." He kisses her. "You turned me down so many times I should've just given up and yet I kept coming back for more." "You're exaggerating. I didn't turn you down that many times." "You sure as hell did. Practically
every time I invited you over. I thought you weren't interested, but then you'd give me a flirty smile or show up at my house in shorts that barely covered your ass and I didn't know what to think. You had my head spinning." She laughs. "I love how us girls can get to you guys like that. Get you all confused, wondering what we're thinking." I wonder if that's what Ivy is doing. Does she like me, but she's playing hard to get? If so, I can play that game. I can be damn persistent when I want to be. "So you got the supply lists from Dad?" Nash asks. "Yeah." I push the footrest down on the recliner and pull the order sheets
from my pocket and hand them to him. "I should go. I'm sure you two want to be alone." "You could stay for dinner," Callie says. "I'm making enchiladas." Callie is a freaking awesome cook. If those two get married, Nash will be eating well for the rest of his life. And the best part is, Callie actually likes to cook. She's always inviting my dad and brothers and me over to eat. "I think your boyfriend would rather have just the two of you for dinner." "Don't be an idiot." Nash gets up. "You know you're always welcome. You want a beer?" "Sure, I'll take one." "So you're staying?" Callie acts
excited about it. She loves to feed people. "I guess I am." She jumps up. "I'll go put the enchiladas in the oven. I made them earlier today." I was going to go home and call up Tracy, that girl who texted me earlier, and have her come over to my place. But that would just be another one-night stand and I'm trying to cut back on those. Hanging out with my brother and his girlfriend is probably a better option. And then there's the fact that my mind has been stuck on Ivy ever since we talked today. If I had sex with someone else tonight, it'd be Ivy's face I'd be seeing.
The next day, I stop by the library, bringing lunch like I always do. If I don't, Nash will kick me out. He doesn't want his crew thinking I'm coming over here to check on him or the project. It looks bad. He's the one in charge, and he doesn't want anyone thinking otherwise. So I bring him lunch, and we stay in the office to eat it. "What are you doing here?" he asks when I walk in his office. "It's Tuesday." I usually come here on Mondays and Thursdays, just enough for me to get my Ivy fix, but not so much that she thinks I'm a stalker. Shit, I hope she doesn't think that. I'm sure she doesn't. I never even talk to her, except for yesterday.
"I was in the area so I thought I'd stop by." I drop the sack of tacos on his desk. "She's not here." He takes a couple tacos from the sack. "Who? Callie?" "Are you still pretending? Seriously?" He gets up and goes over to the mini fridge. "We both know you're here to see Ivy. She left a few minutes ago. I don't know when she'll be back." "Oh." I take a seat on the metal folding chair, surprised at how disappointed I feel that she's not here. I really wanted to see her. It's frightening how much this girl gets to me, in every possible way. "So where's Callie?" "She has class at noon on Tuesdays." He holds up a can of pop. "You want
one, or you want water?" "I'll take a water." He keeps the can of pop for himself and grabs a bottle of water from the mini fridge and brings it over to me. "Is that why you got so many tacos?" he asks, sitting across from me. "You thought Callie would be here?" "Yeah. Guess I got too many." "Maybe not." He smiles and waves at someone behind me. I turn and see Ivy on the other side of the glass office window. She glances at me, then back at Nash. I turn back and see him motioning her to come in the office. "Did you need something?" she asks, standing at the door, holding an energy drink.
Nash points to the sack of food. "Just wondering if you want a taco. Jake thought Callie would be here but she has class today so now we have too many tacos." "Um...sure, I'll take one." She walks over to the table, not even looking at me, but just having her near me is making my damn heart beat faster. This isn't normal. I'm not even dating this girl. She shouldn't have this much of an effect me on me. She leans over the table to get the sack of food and my eyes go directly to her breasts. They're right in front of me. I just want to reach out and touch them, cup them in my hands. They're definitely more than a handful.
She takes a taco from the sack. "You can have more than one," Nash says. "We've got over a dozen in there." She takes another one, then smiles at Nash. "Thanks." He nods in my direction. "Thank Jake. He's the one who bought them." I look up from her breasts just as she rises back to standing. "Thanks, Jake," she says on her way out the door. "You're welcome," I say but she's already gone. Nash gets up and closes the door, then comes back to the table, laughing. "Shit, you're going to have to work your ass off for that one. I thought Callie was tough, but this girl's gonna make you work a hell of a lot harder. You sure
you're up for this?" "Jake Wheeler doesn't back down from a challenge." I dump the sack out, piling up tacos in the middle of the table. "Why do you want this girl so much? Just because she's hot, or is it more than that?" I shrug. "I don't know. I've asked myself that a million times and I haven't been able to figure it out. Maybe it's like Callie said, when a girl ignores you, you want her all the more." I rip open a packet of hot sauce and drizzle it over my taco. "Speaking of Callie, when are you proposing to her?" He coughs a few times then slurps down some pop. "Where the hell did that come from?"
I chuckle at his reaction. "What? You're not going to marry her?" "Hell yeah, I'm gonna marry her, but not next week." "I didn't say you had to get married anytime soon, but I thought you'd at least want to put a ring on her finger." "She's not ready for that. You know Callie. She has a timeline for everything. She'll want to finish school before we get married." "Are you sure about that? If you ask me, she seems pretty ready to commit. You guys already live like married people. I'd put money on her saying yes to a proposal. I don't know what you're waiting for." "We haven't even dated for a year."
"But you love her, right?" "More than anything." He scrunches up his empty wrapper and tosses it on the table. "Then ask her. I know you have money for a ring." Nash inherited money from his grandfather. Nash is my half-brother and this grandfather of his was from his mother's side. His mom died, making Nash the sole heir, so he got all his grandfather's money and possessions, including his house, which is a couple hours south of here. "It's not about the money." Nash shifts in his seat and rips the tab off his pop can. "Then what's it about? You don't want
to get married? You were going to marry that bitch, Marissa, so why wouldn't you marry Callie?" "I WILL marry her. I'm just not ready to propose yet." "Why not?" "Talk about minding your own business." He unwraps another taco. "You should take your own damn advice." He's getting really defensive about this. I know he loves her and wants to marry her, so why is he reacting this way? "Nash." I wait until he looks at me. "What's going on with you?" He sighs, his head tipping back toward the ceiling. "I'm just being an
idiot." "What do you mean?" He looks back at me. "Don't go blabbing this shit to Bryce or Austin. Or Dad. This is just between you and me." "Okay. Go ahead." He leans back in his chair. "I'm worried about asking her." "You think she'll turn you down? Because I guarantee that's not gonna happen. She loves you, and I know she wants to marry you." "Yeah. So did Marissa." He shakes his head. "Are you seriously comparing Callie to Marissa? They're not even close to being the same. Callie is awesome. Marissa's a selfish, conniving bitch."
"Like I don't know that? That's not what I meant. And I know Callie would say yes. We've already talked about it." "Then what's the problem?" "I don't want things to change. Callie and I are perfect right now. Things couldn't be better. But once we're engaged, things might change and...I don't want them to." I shove my food aside and plant my arms on the table. "Okay, you're delusional if you think Callie's going to do what Marissa did. Callie is not going to cheat on you. There's no freaking way in hell that would ever happen." He nods. "I know she wouldn't, but that doesn't mean things won't change between us. I keep telling myself they
won't, but I'm not willing to risk it. Not yet." "You're fucking nuts. Callie is the best thing that ever happened to you. I've never seen you this happy. Getting engaged isn't going to change that. If anything, it'll make you even happier. I mean, isn't that what you want? To marry her? Make some babies? Live happily ever after and all that shit?" He smiles, gazing behind me as if he's imagining that. "Yeah. That's exactly what I want." "Then get your ass to a jewelry store and buy her a ring. Just promise me you won't do one of those stupid proposals where you break into dance or serenade her and record it and put it online."
He laughs. "I guarantee that'll never happen." "So you're going to ask her?" "I was always going to ask her. I just haven't decided when. But I might take your suggestion and go buy the ring." "Well, at least that's progress." I bring my food back in front of me. "We need to stop spending so much time talking about girls." I grab another packet of hot sauce. "So are you watching the game tonight?" The conversation switches to basketball and we talk sports for the rest of lunch. Before I leave, I stop by the children's section to say goodbye to Ivy. "How were the tacos?" I ask. She's standing over her toolbox, putting
something away. "Good. Maybe tomorrow you could bring pizza." I laugh. "So now I'm buying you lunch?" "I was just kidding." She turns to face me and my eyes go right to her lips. Soft, full, beautiful lips that I want to cover with my mouth and kiss until we're forced to come up for air. "You don't have to bring me lunch." "Why don't we go out for lunch sometime? Get you out of here for an hour." "I only get a half hour for lunch." "I know your boss. I could persuade him to give you an hour." "The other guys on the crew would
notice if I was gone that long. I don't want them thinking I'm getting special favors. You know how it is." She's right. The guys on the crew are always keeping score and they get pissed if someone's getting what they consider to be special treatment. And it's even worse for a girl, because the guys already assume she's getting treated better than them. It's stupid, but that's just how it is. I've worked in construction long enough to know this. In fact, if they knew Nash gave Ivy those tacos, at least one of the guys would complain about it, guaranteed. "So how about dinner?" I ask. "Tonight at seven?" I prepare for her to laugh at my boldness and tell me to get
lost. "Sure. But I get to pick the place, and I'm meeting you there." My jaw almost drops in shock, but I manage to keep it in place, not wanting her to see how surprised I am that she agreed to dinner. "Where are we going?" "Hoedowns," she says. Now my jaw drops, but I quickly shut it and ask, "The place with the halfdressed waitresses?" "That's the one," she says with a straight face. "Do you have a problem with that?" "No. As long as you're good with it. Some women are offended by the uniforms, but if you're okay with it..."
"I suggested it." "Right. So Hoedowns it is. Have you been there before?" "I go there all the time." "Because you like their food?" I ask, because there's no other reason she'd go there. People go there to see the waitresses, which is why the place is always filled with guys. Wait—is that why she wants to go there? To check out all the other guys and prove to me once and for all that she's not interested in me? "So see you at seven?" she asks, not answering my question. "Yeah. Sounds good." She gets back to work and I leave and go out to my SUV. I have a sales call
at one thirty and I'll be late if I don't hurry up. As I'm driving to my meeting, I laugh to myself. Hoedowns. What the hell is she up to? She wouldn't have suggested that place unless she was up to something. So what is it? I get a feeling this girl's gonna be full of surprises. And I gotta say, I love a good surprise.
CHAPTER FOUR Ivy Jake arrives at Hoedowns just before seven. I thought for sure he'd be late. Guys like him don't seem like they'd be punctual. They don't need to be. Girls put up with a lot of shit for the privilege of dating a guy like Jake. But not me. If
he wants to date me, he needs to earn it. I'm done putting up with shit from guys. I'm standing by the hostess stand, watching as Jake looks around the crowded waiting area. He didn't see me, but before I go up to him, I take a moment to check him out. He is one fine specimen of a man. Around 6'4, with a wide athletic build, and dark brown hair that he keeps short on the sides, longer on top. He's wearing his leather jacket with a black button-up shirt underneath. I sneak around someone so I can see the rest of him. He has on dark jeans and black leather shoes that look expensive. Jake's a good dresser, better than most guys, and better than me. I'm terrible at picking out clothes. I live in jeans and t-
shirts. Liza is the fashion expert in the family. She's always telling me to dress better. Tonight I went with jeans and a black knit v-neck sweater. It's not great, but the sweater looks nicer than a t-shirt. I make my way over to Jake. His eyes are on his phone so I touch his arm to get his attention. "Hey." He smiles. "Hey. I didn't see you here. Did you just walk in?" He puts his phone away. "No. I was standing by the hostess stand. You ready?" I motion him to follow me. He glances around at all the people. "Don't we have to wait?" "No. I got us a table. Just follow me." I walk up to Amy, the hostess. She's a
tiny blonde who has a tanning addiction and wears way too much makeup, but guys love her. They're always asking her out. Amy and Liza are good friends. Amy is one of those super nice people who's friendly to everyone and always remembers people's birthdays. I'm not even friends with her and she still gives me a card every year. "You ready?" She smiles as I come up to her. She smiles even wider when she sees Jake behind me. "Jake Wheeler. Haven't seen you for a while." Amy looks back at me. "So Jake is your date?" "It's not a—" "That's right," Jake says, slinging his arm around my shoulder. "It's our first
date. Ivy picked the restaurant." I try to elbow him but we're standing so close I can't move my elbow. And I can't move over because this fat guy is blocking me in on the other side, so I either have to stand close to Jake or be wedged against Fat Guy, and I'm choosing Jake. From our close proximity I can smell Jake's cologne, and damn, it smells good. "Right this way." Amy takes off and we follow her. I assume Jake is checking out Amy's perfect ass in her barely-there short shorts, but when I glance over at him, he's looking at me, not Amy. "How's it going?" He smiles at me. "Good." I smile back. I'm not one of those people who
smiles all the time but Jake is. He's almost always smiling. Combine that with his confidence and good looks and I understand why his dad has Jake working on getting new business deals and negotiating prices with vendors. He's very persuasive, which could be dangerous in this little experiment of mine. I'm trying to prove he only wants me for sex, without actually having sex with him, but he might end up talking me into it. We stop at a booth and Jake helps me with my coat, then takes off his own. Amy waits for us to get in the booth, then hands us the menus. "Shayla will be taking care of you tonight." She turns to me. "Unless you want Liza. I could see if
Shayla will switch tables." "No, Shayla is fine." I didn't tell Liza I was coming tonight and bringing Jake. If I had, she would've tried to tell me what to wear and how to do my hair and makeup. I'm barely wearing any makeup and my hair is in ponytail like it is when I'm at work. "You look nice tonight," Jake says. "I like the sweater." "Thanks. You look nice too. But I see you wore the leather." He looks down at his jacket. "Shit. Sorry, I forgot about that." He really does seem sorry, but the truth is, I don't care about the jacket. I'm not a vegan. I just told him that. "It's fine," I say. "I'll let it slide."
He's still smiling. I love that smile. It's sexy. Confident. And he has great lips, and really white teeth. I'm trying really hard to keep control of my body but it's already betraying me, burning up at the sight of him. I've never spent this much time actually looking at him. I've always tried to keep my distance. Even when he was my boss, I didn't talk to him much, and when he'd talk to me about work, I'd keep my eyes on whatever I was working on instead of looking at him. But now that I'm sitting here, seeing him across from me, I can see why women drool over him. "Hi, Jake." It's Lacey, a backstabbing bitch who tried to get my sister fired last year because she thought Liza was
flirting with her boyfriend, when in reality, Liza told me he was the one doing the flirting. Liza tried repeatedly to convince Lacey she wasn't flirting or trying to take her boyfriend, but Lacey didn't believe her, so to get back at her, she made up a story about Liza stealing from the petty cash drawer. She couldn't prove it, so Liza kept her job, but she avoids Lacey and won't wait on her boyfriend anymore when he comes in to eat. "So where have you been?" Lacey places her palms on the table and leans over toward Jake, showing off her breasts. "I haven't seen you in months." "I've been busy with work." He keeps his eyes on her face instead of her
breasts. "We should get together again," she says. "It's been too long." "What happened to Mike?" I ask. She finally notices me. She'd ignored me up until now. "Mike's working tonight," she snaps. "So you're still dating him?" "Not that it's any of your business, but yeah." "And he doesn't care that you flirt with other guys?" I glance at Jake, whose eyes are on me, a slight grin on his face. "Wait." She points between Jake and me. "Are you two on a date?" "We are," Jake says, reaching across the table and taking my hand. "And I
don't believe you're our waitress, so if you don't mind, we'd like to get back to our date." She opens her mouth, then snaps it shut. "Lacey," I hear the manager yell. "Order up for table five." "Call me sometime," she says to Jake, then walks off. "Did you go out with her?" I ask Jake. Liza said Jake went out with several girls who worked here but all of them have since left for other jobs. She didn't say he went out with Lacey. "I went out with her once. A long time ago." That means he had sex with her. He had sex with Lacey. The bitch who lies
and cheats and tried to get my sister fired. So he'll basically sleep with anyone. I pull my hand back from his, but he holds onto it. "Hey." His face is serious now. "I told you it was a long time ago. And you shouldn't have asked. The rule is you're never supposed to ask about past relationships on a first date." "This isn't a date." His smile returns. "I'm making it one." "I didn't agree to it. This is just two people having dinner." "Call it whatever you want, but to me, it's a date. I'm having dinner with a beautiful woman who I'm extremely
attracted to and want to get to know better. I'd call that a date." Extremely attracted to? So he just wants me for sex. But he also said he wants to get to know me. But maybe he just said that. Shayla appears. "Can I get you two a drink?" "Go ahead," Jake says to me. "I'll take a whiskey sour," I say. She turns to Jake. "And what would you like?" "I'll take a Coke." She writes it down. "Liza didn't tell me you were going out with Jake," she says to me. "It's a first date," he says. "Took months of asking her before she'd agree
to it." Shayla's eyes widen. "You said no to Jake Wheeler? Are you crazy?" He chuckles to himself. "He didn't actually ask me out until just the other day," I say to her. "That's not true," he says. "All the other times you asked if I wanted to hang out. That's not how you ask a girl on a date. Isn't that right, Shayla?" She grins at him. "I'd go out with him no matter how he asked." I roll my eyes. "Well, I prefer a more traditional approach." She spots the manager walking by. "I better go get your drinks." When she's gone, Jake asks, "Do you
come here a lot?" "Not really." "And yet you know everyone here." "Seems that way," I say, choosing to be vague. "Did you used to work here?" I laugh. "God, no. I wouldn't be caught dead wearing one of those outfits." "You'd look fucking hot in that outfit. Hotter than any of the girls here." His comment, and the way he said it, his voice low and deep, his eyes locked on mine, has my stomach doing flip flops. "You'd make a shitload of tips." He glances at the table next to us, where four guys are sitting. "But don't do it. I don't want guys staring at you."
"We've been out on one date and you're already being possessive of me? I don't put up with that, so that needs to end right now." He's smiling at me. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?" "Because you just admitted we're on a date." "Damn," I mutter, shutting my eyes to avoid seeing him gloat. He laughs. "Why are you so against going out with me?" I don't know how to answer that, but I don't have to because Liza shows up at our table. "You didn't tell me you were coming here." She grins at me, then at Jake. "Hi,
Jake." He smiles back. "Hi, Liza. I was just asking Ivy to explain how she knows everyone here. She wouldn't answer me. Since you seem to know her, maybe you could explain." "You didn't tell him?" she asks me. "All these months, you've never even mentioned me?" "It didn't come up." I look at Jake. "Jake, this is my sister, Liza." "Your sister?" He glances at her, seeming confused. It's because we look nothing alike. She has fair skin and bright blond hair and blue eyes. I have olive skin and dark brown hair and brown eyes. "I'm her younger sister," Liza says.
"The sister she apparently forgot she had." She pretends to be mad but she's really not. She's just kidding around. She looks from Jake back to me. "Did you tell anyone at work about me?" "No," I say. "Because the guys at work are a bunch of perverts and I didn't want them asking you out. You get exposed to enough perverts working here." "So now I'm a pervert?" Jake asks. "And my entire crew is?" That sounded bad. I need to explain. "Liza, can you give us a minute?" "Yeah, I've got an order up anyway. I'll stop by later." I wait for her to leave, then say, "Sorry about the pervert comment. I
didn't mean you. I meant the other guys. Not all of them are perverts but some of them are." Jake watches as Liza walks by with a tray of food. "So she's really your sister?" "Yeah. I was adopted. It was one of those things where my parents didn't think they could have kids, so after trying forever, they decided to adopt, and right after they did, my mom got pregnant. I've heard that happens sometimes after people adopt a kid. They end up getting pregnant." "Have you ever tried to find your real parents?" "No. And I don't want to. As far as I'm concerned, the parents who raised
me are my real parents. I don't even think about my biological parents. They gave me up. They obviously didn't want me." "You don't know that." He's still holding my hand and he holds it a little tighter. "Sometimes people give up a baby because they know they can't give him or her a good life." "It doesn't matter what the reason was. I still don't want to meet them." "So why didn't you tell me about Liza? I'm sure she's told you I used to come here. She's waited on my table at least a dozen times." "I just didn't think about it." "That's a lie." He's serious now, his smile gone. "What are you up to, Ivy?"
"What do you mean?" He lets go of my hand and leans back in the booth. "After months of ignoring me, you suddenly agree to go out with me? And of all the places we could've gone, you wanted to go to Hoedowns? I know we're not here because your sister works here." He waits for me to explain but I don't know what to say. "Were you thinking I'd stare at the waitresses all night and ignore you? And then you'd have proof that I'm nothing more than some shallow jackass who sleeps around?" I don't answer him, but the truth is, that's exactly why I took him here. "Have I proved your point yet?" he
asks, sounding angry. "No," I say quietly, feeling bad for making assumptions about him when I shouldn't have. I know Jake sleeps around, but I also know he's a nice guy. He's always been supportive of me, praising my carpentry skills, not just to me but to other people in the industry. He's the reason I've had a job since last summer. It's nearly impossible to get carpentry jobs when you're a woman. Construction is a male industry, led by men who think women aren't capable of doing the job, or think the job should go to a man because men should be the breadwinner in the family. It's bullshit, and yet I chose this field and trained in it and love it, so I have to find a way to
make a living doing it. And Jake has helped me do that by giving me that job on the Victorian. That project was a big deal and got a lot of press and he chose me over a carpenter with more experience. After that job ended, Nash hired me for this one, so I've now had steady work for seven months and have made more money than I ever made on my previous jobs. Unfortunately, it's still not enough because I have to help pay my dad's bills. But if it weren't for Jake's help, I'd be back living at home instead of in my own apartment. "Maybe we should just leave," he says. "If I'd known this was a test, I wouldn't have come here tonight." "Jake, I'm sorry." I draw my eyes
back to his. "You're right. Given your reputation, I assumed you'd have your eyes on the waitresses all night." I pause. "But I shouldn't have assumed that." He sighs. "Ivy. I just want you to give me a chance. I'm not saying I won't screw up. Fuck, I screw up all the time. But I don't want to when it comes to you. I like you, and I want to get to know you. So will you just give me a chance?" I nod. "Yeah. Okay." He smiles. "So, can we start this date over?" "You're still calling it a date?" "It's just one date. Will you agree to one date? If you decide you don't like it, or don't like me, then we don't have to go
out again." "All right. But if this is a date, then can we go somewhere else? I don't want our first date to be at Hoedowns." He laughs. "I agree. Let's go." "Sorry it took so long," Shayla says, setting my drink down in front of me. "I have this huge bachelor party in the other room and it took forever to take their order." She sets Jake's drink in front of him. "Did you decide what you want to eat?" "Actually, I think we're going to head out after the drinks," Jake says. She frowns. "Oh. Okay. I hope it wasn't because of the slow service." "No. Not at all. We just changed our mind about dinner. We'll take the check
whenever it's ready." "Sure. I'll be right back." She takes off to where the register is. I pick up my whiskey sour. The way things are going, I really need this drink. I down half of it in one swig. "Thirsty?" Jake asks, taking a drink of his Coke. "Yeah." I down the rest of it. "You ready to go?" "I'm not sure you should be driving. I know how strong they make the drinks here." "Shit, I totally forgot that I drove here." "It's not a big deal. We'll just take mine, and I'll drop you off later to pick up yours."
"Here's your ticket," Shayla says, setting the slip on the table. "Pay whenever you'd like. It was good seeing you, Jake. You too, Ivy." She leaves and I get my wallet out of my purse. "What are you doing?" Jake asks. "Paying so we can leave." "This is a date. It's on me." He takes his wallet out and drops a twenty on the table. "Ready to go?" "Don't you want to wait for the change?" I ask, because the bill is less than ten dollars. "She can have it. I've seen how hard these girls work. They deserve a big tip." He takes another drink of his Coke. "Let's go."
He gets out of the booth and takes my coat, holding it up for me and helping me put it on. Who knew Jake was such a gentleman? Or is he only doing this to impress me, hoping it'll make me sleep with him? I need to stop thinking that way. Helping me with my coat or buying me drinks doesn't mean he's expecting sex in return. I need to keep an open mind. Maybe I was wrong about Jake. Maybe he's not as shallow as I thought he was. Maybe it's possible for him to want a woman for more than just sex. His reputation would say otherwise, but maybe he's ready to change. Jake asked me to give him a chance, so that's what I'm going to do. If he's not
the guy I thought he was, then maybe we'll date for a week. Maybe longer than that. Dating Jake Wheeler? That might not be so bad.
CHAPTER FIVE Jake I have to say I'm kind of pissed about Ivy's little test. Does she really think I'm some asshole who would look at other women while on a date with her? I would never do that, not with any woman. If I take a woman out, she gets
my full attention, no matter how many other beautiful women are around her. Just because I don't have relationships doesn't mean I don't respect women. I have never misled a woman just to sleep with her. I've always been upfront about my intentions. I haven't done so with Ivy because I'm not sure what my intentions are yet. Would I like to sleep with her? Hell yeah, but I want more than that. I want to get to know her, spend time with her, and see if this could go somewhere. Jake Wheeler wants a girlfriend? A relationship? It sounds freaking crazy when I think about it, but I want to try it. For the first time in my life, I want to try being in a relationship with a woman. I
don't know if it's because I'm getting older or because there's something about Ivy that makes me want that, but whatever it is, I really want to see if I can make this work. But it's never going to if Ivy can't get over my past. Or if she keeps making assumptions about who I am. I get why Ivy has concerns about me. I know I have a reputation for sleeping around and I'm sure she thinks that's all I want. I haven't bothered telling her I want more than that because she'd just think I was saying it to get her to sleep with me. So instead, I told her I want to get to know her, which is true. I've never been with a girl long enough to get to know her or her family or her
background. But I want to know that stuff about Ivy, if she'll let me. "So where do you want to go?" I ask. We're sitting in my SUV, still in the Hoedowns' parking lot. "You can pick, since I picked last time." "I would, but I really have no idea where to take a vegan." I pause. "Now that I think about it, what were you planning to eat at Hoedowns? The whole menu is meat." She puts her seatbelt on. "I'm not vegan." "Then why did you say you were?" "Because I needed an excuse for why I couldn't go to Burger King with you the other day."
"Why didn't you just tell me you didn't want to go?" "I did, but you wouldn't listen." I chuckle. "Yeah, I can sometimes be a little persistent." "Sometimes?" She smiles. I shrug. "What can I say? I go after what I want." Her expression suddenly turns angry and her body stiffens. She thought I was talking about sex. Shit. I need to watch what I say around her. "Hey." I reach over for her hand. "I just meant that I really want to get to know you and I can't do that if you keep refusing to go out with me." "I'm out with you right now," she says, yanking her hand from mine. She
stares straight ahead. "You get one date. That's all I'm agreeing to, so you better make it a good one." She's pissed. That one comment I made got her back to thinking about the Jake everyone talks about. The one who only wants sex and nothing more. If I'm going to convince her I'm not that guy anymore, I'm going to have to change how I do things. I'm used to flirting with a girl, then kissing her, touching her, and taking her back to my place. Those moves worked when the goal was sex, but if the goal is to get Ivy to go out with me again, I need to change my game. I can still flirt with her, but I need to withhold the kissing and touching and everything that comes after that. I need to
leave her wanting more. "Do you have cowboy boots?" I ask. Her brows rise. "Cowboy boots? Are you serious?" "So I'm guessing the answer is no." I pull out of the parking lot. "How about a hat?" "A cowboy hat?" She laughs, and I feel her mood instantly lighten. "No, I don't have a cowboy hat. People in Chicago don't wear cowboy hats." "Sure they do. My brothers and I all have one. But since you don't, you'll have to borrow one." "Wait—what? Why? Where are we going?" "Well, first we're going to find you some boots and a hat and then we're
going to Rodeo Freddy's." "We're going to a rodeo? In January?" "It's a restaurant and dance hall. Obviously you've never been there. You're in for a treat." I find Nash's number and call him, putting it in handsfree mode. He picks up right away, his voice filling the car. "Hey, what's up?" "Are you at home?" "Yeah, why?" "I'm in the car with Ivy and we're heading over to Rodeo Freddy's." I didn't tell him I was going out with her tonight so I hope he doesn't say something stupid, like how shocked he is that she agreed to go out with me. I don't think he will. We all know the brother
code. Don't interfere when your brother's trying to get a girl, even if you don't approve of that girl, which was the case with Marissa, Nash's ex. My brothers and I hated her, but we didn't say anything because Nash said he loved her and wanted to marry her. Thank God that relationship ended. "I called to see if Callie would loan Ivy some cowboy boots and a hat." I look over at Ivy. "What size shoe do you wear?" "Seven and a half," she says, "but I don't think I—" "What size does Callie wear?" I ask Nash. "Same," he says, then holds the phone away and yells, "Callie, come here a minute." I hear them mumbling in the
distance and then Nash talks into the phone again. "She's going to get them. You guys stopping by?" "Yeah, we're on our way. You and Callie want to come with us?" "I don't know. I'll ask her. I know she has homework but I don't know how much." "Okay, we'll see you soon." I end the call and smile at Ivy. "Hope you like to dance." She shakes her head. "I don't dance. Like not at all. I didn't even dance at prom." "Then why'd you go?" She hesitates. "This sounds really bad, but I went so I could make out with my boyfriend and have my dad think I
was at the dance." "So you didn't go?" "We went for like an hour, in case my dad asked one of the chaperones if I was there. But then my boyfriend and I snuck out and went to his parents' cabin." For some reason, the thought of her doing shit with this idiot from her high school irritates me. Why would that bother me? It was years ago, and besides, she's not mine. I've been on one date with her. "How long did you date him?" "A couple months. He still lives in Chicago. Works downtown at a bank." "You ever see him?" "We've met for a coffee a couple times, but not recently. Why do you
care?" She asks in a tone that says she thinks I'm jealous. I'm not jealous. There's nothing to be jealous about. Just because I never want this guy near her ever again doesn't make me jealous. "I was just making conversation." I turn down the road that goes to Nash's apartment. He lives in a new complex that just opened last summer. The rent is high but he didn't care about the price. He wanted a safe neighborhood and a building with good security so that Callie feels safe when he has to work late. I live a few miles away in an old building that was converted into lofts. It has an industrial feel, which is what I like. The exposed pipes and beams make
me feel like I'm on a construction site, which some people might find cold and stark, but to me it's comforting. I grew up hanging out at construction sites with my dad and brothers. Whenever my mom needed a break from us boys, she'd send us to work with Dad. "This is it," I say as I pull into the parking lot. "Wait there." I get out and go around and open her door. "Thanks," she says as I help her out. "Do I really need to wear cowboy boots to this place?" "If you don't, people will stare. You'll look out of place." "I'm not someone who cares what people think." "Then wear them for me." I take her
hand and walk her to the door. "I love a girl who isn't afraid to let her inner cowgirl come out." "I'm pretty sure I don't have an inner cowgirl." "You do. Every girl does. You just gotta let her out." I open the door for her. "I didn't know you turned into a cowboy at night." "I don't every night. Depends on the night. My cowboy side tends to come out more when I'm around Nash. He's the one who got me interested in country music. When I was a kid, I wanted to be just like Nash because he was older and I wanted to do everything he did. So when he started wearing cowboy boots and listening to country music, so did I."
We take the elevator up to the fourth floor. "That's cool that you and your brothers get along so well." "As kids, we used to fight all the time, but now that we're older, we get along really well." As I knock on Nash's door, Ivy pulls her hand from mine. "Something wrong?" I ask. "I don't want Nash seeing us holding hands. He's my boss." "He's also my brother. And he knows we're on a date." "I know, but still. It's weird." The door swings open and Nash is there. "Hey, Ivy. Jake. Come on in." I wait for Ivy to walk in, then give
Nash a look that says I'll punch him if he makes any jokes about my being with Ivy. He gives me a grin that tells me we'll be talking about this later. "So Rodeo Freddy's," Nash says to Ivy. "You ever been there?" "No. This will be the first time." Callie comes into the room, holding a pair of black cowboy boots. "Hi, Ivy." She hands her the boots. "Try them on. Make sure they fit." She takes her to a chair in the living room to sit down. "Are you sure you're okay with me wearing these?" "Totally. Nash bought me several pairs. Before that, I'd never had a pair. I wasn't into country music or anything country until I met Nash."
"And now she's my little cowgirl," Nash says coming up behind her and hugging her into his chest. "Rodeo Freddy's is awesome," Callie says. "The people there are really friendly, and if you don't know how to do the dances, they'll show you how. When I first went there, I was totally lost but you pick it up quickly." "Are you guys coming with us?" I ask. "Oh, yeah, I forgot to ask," Nash says to Callie. "Jake invited us to go with him but I wasn't sure if you had to do homework." "I already did it. I'd be up for going if you are." "I'm always up for it." He kisses her
head and pats her ass. "Go change into your cowgirl gear." She laughs as she hurries off to their bedroom. When I first met Callie last summer, she seemed really quiet and sad and depressed. Found out later it was because her whole family died in a car crash the year before and she'd told almost no one. Nash helped her move on and get better, and now it's like she's a different person. I gotta hand it to my brother. He changed her life. He stuck by her side as she finally dealt with her grief. If it weren't for him, she'd probably still be struggling, not moving forward, not going to school. And Callie helped Nash as well. She was there when he found out his real mom was no
longer alive, and she's helped him get over the fact that his mom never wanted him. His whole life, she lived just a few hours away but never even came to see him. It's no wonder Nash and Callie are so close. They've been through real shit together. They have a real relationship, like my dad had with my mom when she was alive. As for me? I've never had that. I didn't want it. Part of me still doesn't. Honestly, I'm scared shitless to get that close to someone. So what am I doing with Ivy? Why am I trying so hard with her? "Okay, I'm ready." Callie comes out wearing dark jeans, a red cowboy shirt, brown boots, and a brown cowboy hat.
She's holding a black cowboy hat and brings it over to Ivy. "I really have to wear this?" she asks, then sees Callie wearing hers and looks like she regrets what she said. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it was a bad thing. I've just never worn one. I'm not used to it." "Let your hair down," I say, taking the hat from her. She slides the elastic band out of her hair and shakes it out, her long, dark, silky strands falling down past her shoulders. Damn, she's beautiful. I've never seen her with her hair down like this. I place the hat on her head, adjusting it to sit right, and holy shit, she might've just got even hotter. The black cowboy
hat combined with that gorgeous face of hers, that olive skin, those soft pink lips, her dark hair. "Jake." I feel Nash elbowing me and look up to see the three of them watching me. I wonder how long I was staring at Ivy. Long enough for Nash to intervene. Well, shit, that's embarrassing. I normally don't stare like that. "Ready to go?" Nash asks. "Yeah." I notice he has on his boots and hat. When did he put those on? Now I'm really wondering how long I was staring at Ivy. I help her up. "Try walking in the boots." She takes a few steps. "They feel fine." She points to me. "What about you? Where's your stuff?"
"I keep boots and a hat in the back of my SUV." "Just in case you want to stop somewhere and do the two-step?" she kids. "Exactly. Gotta be prepared." I hold my arm out for her since she's not comfortable holding my hand in front of Nash. She takes my arm and the four of us walk out the door and go out to the parking lot. "We'll meet you there," I say to Nash. "I like those two," Ivy says as we're driving to the restaurant. "Callie seems like someone I could be friends with." "Why don't you two go do something together sometime?" "I don't know. I guess because she's
Nash's girlfriend. They always say not to mix work with your personal life." "Callie doesn't work for us, and it doesn't matter if she's dating Nash. You can still be friends with her. If you asked her to lunch, I know she'd say yes. Or you could go out with her and Jen. The two of them are good friends, and I think you'd like Jen." "Who's Jen?" "A friend of the family. She's like a sister to me. She was always at our house growing up. My parents practically raised her because her mother didn't give a shit about her." "Is that the girl Bryce likes?" "Yeah, how'd you know?" "I saw the two of them at the opening
for the Victorian. The way he looked at her, I thought they were dating, but then some other guy came up and put his arm around her. I assume that was her boyfriend?" "It was her date. She only went on a few dates with that guy." "So Bryce doesn't want to date her?" "He does. He's just too afraid to go out with her. He thinks it'll ruin their friendship. It's completely stupid. I know for a fact Jen wants to go out with him but he refuses to ask her. We've tried to knock some sense into him but he never listens." I pull into the lot and park in front of the long brown building, next to the sign that's shaped like a giant cowboy hat.
"It doesn't look like much from the outside," I say, "but the inside is better." Ivy gets out before I can help her. I quickly change into my boots and grab my hat and meet her on the sidewalk just as Callie and Nash show up. "Ivy and I haven't eaten," I say to Nash. "We'll go in the restaurant and meet you guys later in the bar." "Does the bar serve food?" Ivy asks me. "Just appetizers. Wings, nachos, that type of thing." "That sounds good. I don't need a big dinner." "You sure? Because the food in the restaurant is better." "Let's just sit in the bar." She looks at
Callie. "You guys good with that?" "Works for me." Callie shivers from the cold wind. "We need to get inside. It's freezing out here." Maybe I shouldn't have invited Nash and Callie. I did it to be polite. I didn't think they'd say yes to going out in the middle of the week when Callie has class in the morning. Now I won't have time alone to talk to Ivy, and I needed that time to convince her to go out with me again. I thought I'd at least have her alone for dinner, but it sounds like we're remaining as a foursome. Oh well, maybe it'll turn out to be a good thing. If Ivy and Callie get along, Ivy may want to do this double-date thing again. I'd prefer a date with just her and me, but if
a double-date is all I can get, I'll take it. We go in the bar and order appetizers and drinks, then the girls take off for the bathroom. I'll never understand why girls feel the need to go to the bathroom together and why they take so long. What the hell do they do in there? "So how'd you get her to go out with you?" Nash asks, taking a swig of his beer. "You paying her?" "Yeah, you're funny." I roll my eyes. "Then what's the story?" "I asked her to dinner and she said yes. Simple as that. I think she agreed to it so she could prove that I'm the asshole she thinks I am." "Why do you say that?" "Because she wanted to pick the
restaurant, and she picked Hoedowns." "She wanted to see if you'd check out the waitresses instead of her." "Yeah." "Did you?" I shove his shoulder. "No! What the hell?" "Well, you don't have much experience with dating, and zero experience with relationships." "Yeah, well, I'm smart enough to know that you don't check out other girls while on a date." "I thought you said you hadn't eaten. So you didn't go to Hoedowns?" "We did. We had a drink and then we left. Turns out her sister works there. Liza. Remember her?"
Nash used to go to Hoedowns with me before he met Callie. He stops to think. "The blonde? They're sisters?" "Ivy's adopted." He nods. "Now it makes sense." The girls return to the table. Callie's got this sly grin on her face. I look at Ivy and notice she has more makeup on, mostly stuff around her eyes that makes them stand out more. And her hair is brushed out from the ponytail and looks even silkier. God, she's gorgeous. I can't take my eyes off her. Now I'm glad Nash and Callie are here. I need them to keep me from doing more with Ivy than I should. I'm trying to keep my distance, leave her wanting
more. But seeing her now? That's going to be very hard to do.
CHAPTER SIX Ivy "We're not really going to dance, are we?" I ask. We finished eating and have been sitting here talking, but then a song came on that Callie likes so she jumped up and dragged Nash to the dance floor.
"Hell yeah, we're gonna dance." Jake stands up and helps me off the barstool. "I'm gonna teach you how to two-step." "I can't. I don't even know what that is." "Which is why I'm going to teach you." He holds his hand out to me. "Come on. Once you get out there, you'll feel more comfortable." "With everyone staring at me? I don't think so." "Nobody's staring at you. And besides, you told me you don't care what people think." "I just said that so I wouldn't have to dress like this." He leans closer to me. "You look freaking hot dressed like that, so stop
worrying about it." He backs away. "Can I ask you to do something for me?" "What?" "From now on, if I suggest something and you don't want to do it, just tell me. Don't make up some excuse. When it comes to my personal life, I don't like playing games and I don't like people lying to me. I get enough of that shit at my job, when I'm dealing with subs and vendors and even the guys on my crew. When I get home at night, I don't want to deal with that, which is why I'm always upfront with my friends, family, women I date. I'm asking you to do the same. Don't worry about hurting my feelings or pissing me off. Even when I'm mad, I get over it pretty quick. So go ahead and tell
me no. Tell me you aren't interested. Tell me you don't like me. Just don't lie to me." Nobody has ever been that honest with me before, especially a guy. Every guy I've ever dated has lied to me at some point, usually to cover up his cheating. I've lied too, mainly to save the guy's feelings. I thought I was being nice not telling the truth. Isn't that what everyone does? Lies to avoid having to be honest with someone and tell them how you really feel? "Ivy." I feel Jake's hand on the small of my back. "Can you do that for me?" I nod. "Yeah." "Good." He leans down and talks in my ear, sending a shiver down my spine.
"You probably already know this but, if you tell me you don't like me or that you're not interested, I'll still be stopping by the library to see you. And I might send you flowers. And keep asking you to dinner." "So you'll be stalking me?" I ask, kidding. He stands upright again. "If it gets to the point that you call it that, I'll stop. That's not what I'm trying to do. I just want to get to know you. That's it." He nods to the dance floor. "Let's get over there." "I can't. I don't know what I'm doing and I don't want everyone watching." "It's Tuesday night, which is old people night. The only people watching
you will be old guys who can barely see." I look over at the dance floor. "I see plenty of people our age." He turns me toward him. "Ivy. If you don't get your ass on that dance floor, I'm going to pick you up and carry you there." He looks like he's actually going to do it, so I hurry off to the dance floor, and hear him chuckling behind me. He finds us a spot off to the side so we're not in the way. Everyone seems to know how to do this and they're moving fast. "Stop looking at them and focus on me," he says. "Otherwise you'll get confused." He takes my right hand with his left and holds it up near my shoulder.
He puts his other hand firmly on the middle of my back. "Put your left hand on my bicep." I do as he says, feeling his muscle, which is hard as a rock and huge. "You don't have to squeeze it," he says, smiling at me. "Just rest it there." I didn't realize I was gripping his bicep. I quickly release it and set my hand there. "Now all we're going to do is take two slow steps, then two faster steps. That's it. It's easy. I lead, so I'll be stepping forward and you'll step back. Ready?" "You need to explain it better. I don't know what to do." I nervously chew my lip. I'm not at all comfortable dancing.
It's not me. When I was a kid, I never wanted to take ballet or any other kind of dance class. Instead, I spent my time in the garage with my dad, learning how to make stuff. Some would say I was a tomboy, but the stuff I used to make was girly stuff like doll furniture and jewelry boxes. "Just follow me," Jake says, and then he starts moving forward. "Wait, I'm not ready." I stumble backward but Jake keeps me upright, his hand securely on my back. "Relax. You're too tense. Just remember two slow steps, two fast steps. Listen to the music. It helps." "Hey!" Callie passes us, lifting her hand briefly to wave.
"Hi," I say back, but then forget where my feet are supposed to go and step right on Jake's foot. "Oh, God, I'm so sorry." "Don't worry about it." He turns us to the left. "Count your steps and listen to the music." I take a breath and focus on the music, trying to match my steps to the beat. I glance at Callie and copy what she's doing. "That's good," Jake says. "I think you got it." He's right. I'm actually doing it. Another song starts and we keep going, and by the time it ends, I feel like I've finally got it. It's not a hard dance once you figure it out.
"You want to keep going?" Jake asks. "Or do you need a break?" "Let's keep going." He smiles and pivots us back the other way. I like this, being in his arms, looking up at him in that cowboy hat. It's not how I'm used to seeing him. When he does construction, he wears jeans and tshirts, and when he's doing his business deals, he wears dress pants and a buttonup shirt. I thought I'd laugh when I saw him in that hat, but instead I got turned on because he looks so freaking sexy. I can't believe I'm in a country bar, wearing cowboy boots and a cowboy hat, doing the two-step. This is so not me. I've never done anything country in my entire life. I'm a city girl, born and
raised. I've never even listened to country music. And yet, I'm having fun tonight. Is it because of Jake? Or because I'm doing something I've never done before? We dance to a few more songs, then Nash and Callie come over to us and we all leave the dance floor. "Callie has class early tomorrow so we're gonna head out," Nash says. "Yeah, see ya," Jake says. "Thanks for coming." "Thanks for inviting us," Callie says. "It was fun." She smiles at me. "We should have lunch sometime." "Yeah, we should." I like Callie. She reminds me of a friend I had in high school. "Nash has my number so give me
a call or just stop by when you're at the library." "Or maybe we could go on another double-date," she says, eyeing Jake. He laughs a little at her meddling. "Goodnight, Callie." He gives her a quick hug. "See you guys later." After they leave, he says, "Do you need to get home at a certain time?" "No. Why? Did you have something in mind?" I'm expecting him to make some flirtatious remark in an attempt to persuade me to have sex with him. I've been expecting that from him all night, but he hasn't even mentioned it. Does he usually wait until the second date? Or the third? The rumor is that he doesn't
even date. He just has one-night stands. But he made sure to tell me tonight was a date. So does he really want to date me? If so, then why me? I haven't exactly been friendly to him the past few months. "There's a coffee shop near my apartment that stays open late," he says. "It's a lot quieter than here." So he wants us to be near his apartment, but not actually go there. Is he going to suggest we go to his apartment after the coffee? This guy is so confusing. He said he doesn't play games but I feel like we're playing one right now. "Then let's go to the coffee shop," I say. "But we need to get rid of the hats and boots first."
"Hell no. We're going like this. Come on." He grabs my hand and we get our coats and go back out to his SUV. "I can't go in there like this," I say as we park in front of the coffee shop. I can see inside, and the place is full of artsy types with black-rimmed glasses reading hardcover books and looking very serious. "I need to get my shoes out of the back." "We'll take the hats off but the boots are staying. Nobody's going to notice your feet. And those boots will keep your feet warmer than those shoes you were wearing." Earlier I was wearing black flats. They were the only shoes I had that looked good with my outfit, but like Jake
said, my feet were freezing. He comes around and opens my door and walks me inside. The place is toasty warm and cozy, with soft, squishy chairs scattered about, angled all different ways like the customers just move them around wherever they want them. Classical music is playing softly in the background, along with the occasional squeal of the espresso machine. The patrons are all quietly reading books, mostly classic literature, judging by the quick sample I did as I glanced around the room. The place is a total contrast to Rodeo Freddy's. We go up to order. I get a decaf latte and Jake gets a black coffee with a shot of espresso. He takes me over to a small
orange couch with a table in front of it that's littered with magazines. He shoves them aside to make room for our cups, then sits down. It's more of a loveseat than a couch so when I take a seat, my body is just inches from Jake's. I turn toward him, putting some space between us, and sip my latte. "You come here a lot?" I ask. "I get coffee here in the mornings and sometimes stop here after work." I point to his cup. "How can you sleep after drinking all that caffeine?" "I'm not sleeping tonight." He takes a drink of the coffee. He's not sleeping? Why isn't he sleeping? Because he thinks we're having sex all night? My guard goes up
and I scoot to the edge of the couch. "And why aren't you sleeping?" I ask in a sharp tone. "Because I got a shitload of work to do tonight." He rubs his hand over his jaw, which is covered in a sexy layer of stubble. "I've gotta read through some contracts, work on some bids that are due this week, put a schedule together for the house on Milton, and get ready for a meeting I have at ten tomorrow. This guy wants us to bid on turning an old warehouse downtown into offices and retail. It'd be a huge job if we got it. They're not accepting bids yet. I'm just getting information." "Do you always work at night?" "I try not to, but the past few months
have been really busy and my dad can't handle it all himself." "Doesn't Nash help with a lot of that stuff? The bids and schedules and stuff?" "He used to, but he's been cutting back on his hours ever since Callie moved in with him. She needs him more than we do right now, so I'm picking up the slack." He pauses, then says, "You know Callie's family died, right?" "No. When did it happen?" "It'll be two years this May. She lost her parents and her little brother in a car accident. That's all the family she had. She really struggled after they died and is still working on getting past it. She's a lot better now than when I met her, but sometimes she can't deal with the
memories and she needs Nash there to help get her through it, you know?" "I had no idea she was going through that." "Like I said, she's a lot better now. Anyway, that's why I've been working so much. That, and the fact that our success on the Victorian got us a lot more jobs." "And the Victorian was all you. You did an awesome job on that, by the way." "I had a lot of help." He reaches over and threads our hands together. "I had some very talented people working for me." "Thanks. That means a lot." I look down at my cup. "It's nice to hear that someone likes my work." He gives my hand a squeeze, making
me look up. "Why do you say that? With your level of skill you must get told that all the time." I let a humorless laugh. "Only by my dad and Liza. And you and Nash. Other than that, no. Most guys I work with, or for, would rather die before giving a complement to a female carpenter, at least in regards to my work. They're more than happy to compliment my ass or my breasts, but not my work." He sits up straighter and sets his coffee down. "Okay, first of all, you're the most talented carpenter I've ever met, and I've worked with a lot of them. All ages. All skill levels. You're better than any of them and you've only been doing this a few years."
"Actually I've been doing it my whole life. My dad is a master carpenter and he started teaching me when I was five." Jake's brows rise. "Really? Huh. We'll get back to that. But first I need to ask if you were serious when you said the guys were making comments about your body. Are you talking about my guys or past jobs you've worked on? Because if it's my guys, I'll fucking kick their asses for talking to you that way." I shrug. "It's construction. It's part of the industry. I just try to ignore it." "That doesn't make it right. That's harassment and they know it. They can say that shit all they want outside the workplace, but on site, they need to keep
their thoughts to themselves." "Really, Jake. It's not a big deal. I'm so used to it now I just tune it out." "Well, you shouldn't. You need to tell Nash when that happens. Not only is saying that shit disrespectful to you, but it could also get us in trouble. That library project is paid for by public funds, which means there are strict rules that have to be followed. And a safe workplace free of harassment is one of them. If one of the city inspectors was there and heard the guys talking that way, the city could fine us or even shut us down." "Oh. I didn't know that." "When's the last time this happened?" "Maybe a month ago?"
"Who did it?" "Mark, but he's gone now so it's not a problem." Jake shakes his head. "Fucking Mark. He's such an ass. Always had a shitty attitude. He's a good electrician but I'm never hiring him again. So no one else bothered you?" "No," I say, but it's not true. A few of the other guys have made comments but not to my face. I've heard them talking about me when they don't know I'm listening. I don't think that counts as harassment. And even if it did, I wouldn't report it unless it was really bad. This is an industry where word spreads fast and if you're viewed as a troublemaker you won't get hired, no
matter how good you are. And as wrong as that is, and as much as it pisses me off, speaking up when guys say shit about me is the fastest way to unemployment. Jake's phone vibrates on the table. He ignores it, which he's done all night. "Don't you need to answer that?" I ask. "Not right now. Whoever it is, I'll call them back later." "But what if it's about work?" "It can wait until tomorrow. We're on a date. I'm not spending it on the phone with other people." It's another thing that surprises me about him. I thought he'd be constantly checking his phone, texting back all the
girls who want to sleep with him. I bet his phone is full of invitations, and yet he hasn't texted or called anyone all night. "So tell me about yourself," Jake says, leaning back on the couch with that easygoing smile of his. "Tell me about your dad. You said he's a master carpenter?" I tell Jake about some of the projects my dad's worked on over the years. Most guys wouldn't be interested in that, but Jake is all ears. Construction is his life, just like mine, so it's something we can both talk about and not get bored. I also tell him about my dad's accident and how he hasn't been able to work. "You think he'll ever be able to work
again?" Jake asks. "Probably not. At first he was getting better, but lately he's been getting worse. He could try surgery, but the doctor said it may not do much for the pain." "That sucks." "Yeah, I know. He's only 48 so he has a lot of years left he could've worked." "Is there anything else he could do that wouldn't involve physical labor?" "Carpentry is all he knows. And he's really good at it. He taught me everything I know." "And you said he specializes in finish work?" "Yeah, like me. Although he can do any kind of carpentry." Jake nods, but his mind seems
elsewhere as he gazes behind me. After a few moments I ask, "You still here?" "Yeah." His gaze snaps back to me. "I was just thinking." "About what?" "I wondered if maybe your dad would be able to teach, just a few hours a day, or whatever he could do." "Teach carpentry?" "Yeah, like an apprenticeship for other carpenters who want to develop their skills in finish work. Those guys are hard to find, and when you find one, they're always booked." "Which is how you ended up with me." I run my finger over the top of my coffee lid. "I was the only one
unemployed." I laugh, but it's not funny. It angers me that I can't get jobs because I'm a woman. "That's not why I hired you," he says. "I saw samples of your work and knew right away you were the best person for the job. I didn't know you were a woman until I got your name from one of my subs." And here a part of me thought he hired me so he'd have a girl to look at when he got tired of being around guys all day. I shouldn't think that way, but after being repeatedly told a girl can't do the job, when you actually do get hired, you question the motivation behind it. "Well, I'm glad you liked my work." I sip my coffee. "And I'll bring up your
suggestion to my dad. It's a good idea. I don't know if he'd be able to do it or who would pay him for it, but I'll still tell him the idea." "So what was the first thing you made with your dad?" Jake asks. "A dollhouse." He smiles. "You don't seem like someone who'd play with dolls." "I did when I was a kid. My sister and I played with dolls all the time. She'd dress them and I'd make them furniture." "The first thing I ever made was a ramp for my toy race cars. I'd use it to jump my cars over shit. It was freaking awesome. My brothers were so jealous. They wanted to make ramps too, so they
did and we ended up with a shitload of them in all different sizes so our cars could jump from ramp to ramp. My dad helped us build them but my mom eventually made him stop because we'd turned the whole living room into a race track." "Boys and their cars," I say, smiling. "I know. My poor mom. Stuck raising four boys." "I'm sure she loved it, despite the headaches you caused her." "She did," he says quietly, gazing down. "She was a freaking saint for putting up with us. My dad lucked out when he married her." I'd forgotten that Jake's mom died, until just now, when he used the past
tense. I only know she died because she wasn't at the opening of the Victorian, and when I asked someone why, they said she passed away years ago. Just like my mom. So there's another thing we have in common. This night has been full of surprises. Jake isn't the guy I thought he was. I know he sleeps around. That's something everyone knows. But what I didn't know is how dedicated he is to his family. I knew he got along with them, but I didn't know he was working this hard so that Nash could spend time with Callie. And I didn't know he was someone who opens doors and helps a girl out of the car and worries about her feet getting cold. I also didn't know he dressed like
a cowboy and could do the two-step like a pro. And that when he takes you out, he gives you his full attention. It's almost the end of the night and I need to go home. But before I do, Jake is going to ask me out again and I don't know how to answer. This was the best date I've ever been on, so I'd like to say yes but I'm afraid to. I don't want to get too close to this guy because I know how it's going to end. Jake Wheeler doesn't date. It's a fact, and every girl in Chicago knows it. He has sex with a girl, but nothing more. So if it gets to the point that he and I have sex, it'll be over between us. Once he gets what he wants, he'll dump me. Then again, there's a tiny chance he won't. After all, he did
surprise me tonight. But it's only our first date. He's proven he can be good on a date. But can he be more than that? Or is this going to lead to a dead end? I'm not sure I'm willing to find out.
CHAPTER SEVEN Jake Tonight was one of the best times I've ever had with a girl, and that's saying a lot because I didn't even have sex with her. I don't want the night to end, but Ivy and I have been talking nonstop and now it's almost midnight and I need to get her
home. When we left the coffee shop, it seemed like Ivy didn't want the night to end either. And if she were any other girl, it wouldn't. I'd be inviting her back to my apartment like I always do. It'd be just another one-night stand. But I'm not doing that with Ivy, which is why I drove her back to Hoedowns to get her car. As I walk her over to it, I say, "I'll follow you home." "You don't have to." "It's late, and I want to make sure you get home safe. If I don't, I'll worry all night." "I'll call you when I get there." "Would you just let me follow you home? You don't live in the safest
neighborhood." "How do you know where I live?" "It was on your job application. And last year when you were sick, I dropped off your check at your apartment." "That's right. I forgot about that." Ivy had the flu and missed a week of work but she really needed her check so I brought it to her, slipping it under the door, along with a $25 gift card for the pharmacy down the street so she could buy whatever she needed. Given that she was my employee, I probably shouldn't have done that but at the time I didn't give a shit. She'd missed three days of work and I was worried about her. I wanted her to get better. She agrees to let me follow her to her
apartment, and since she has to park on the street, I insist on walking her to the door. It's freezing out so she lets me in the lobby. The place is empty and quiet, the lobby lights dimmed for the night. "You didn't have to do this," she says. "I can drive home by myself. I've been doing it for years." She smiles a little. "But thanks. And thanks for taking me out. I had a good time." "Does that mean there's going to be a second date?" She looks down, then back up again. "Jake Wheeler doesn't date." "Says who?" She glances to the side. "Just about everyone." "And yet I was on a date tonight.
Maybe you should stop listening to whoever it is you're listening to. They obviously got their facts wrong." "Jake, you said we weren't going to play games." "I'm not. Why would you say that?" "Because I don't know what you're doing. I know you only date a girl once, if that. I also know you've never had a girlfriend and don't want one. You're not a relationship guy, and I'm not saying I'm looking for that right now, but—" "Stop." I put my finger over her lips and hear her sharply inhale a breath. She's either angry I did it, or surprised, but I needed to stop her because if she kept going, she'd talk herself out of going on another date with me.
I drop my hand from her lips. "I'm not playing games with you. I want to take you out again, and again after that. I admit this is new to me, and you're right, I've never had a girlfriend, but maybe it's because I just haven't met the right girl. Maybe that girl is standing right in front me and I don't know it yet because I need more time with her." My eyes are locked on hers and I hear her breath quicken. It draws my attention down to her mouth and her slightly parted lips. Shit, I want to kiss her. I want to kiss her so bad, but I can't. I promised myself I wouldn't. I force my eyes back to hers. "So would you go on another date with me?" She pauses a moment. "Okay." I give her a slight grin. "Good. Now
that we've got that settled, I'll head out. Have a good evening. I'll call you tomorrow." I turn to leave, and when I'm almost at the door, I hear her voice again. "Jake?" "Yeah?" I turn around and see her still standing there, her mouth slightly parted, her eyes locked on mine. Then she bites her lip, and that promise I made to myself just seconds earlier is instantly broken. I stalk back to her, take her face in my hands, and put my mouth over hers. I kiss her hard, rushed, then force myself to slow down. I don't want this to be fast. I want to take my time, savor how it feels to kiss her. I've waited months to do this.
I've imagined it in my head so many freaking times, but what I imagined isn't even close to the real thing. Her mouth is perfect, her lips soft, and responsive in a way that feels like we've done this before. There's no awkwardness of a first kiss, no hesitation. I feel her lips part for me and when my tongue slides over hers, she moans and grips my coat, pulling me closer, so close that she can feel how hard I am. It's right up against her, and so hard it fucking aches. I can't remember ever being this aroused, not even as a teenager. If Ivy dumps me tomorrow, she'll have ruined me for every kiss I have from this point forward. Who knew a simple kiss could feel this damn good?
She backs away just enough to take a breath, so I take one too, then plant my mouth on hers again, my fingers threading through her long silky hair, gripping the back of her neck as my tongue devours her mouth, tasting her. I want to slip my hand under her coat and touch her breast, but I know that's too much, too soon. So I continue to kiss her as long as she'll let me. A few minutes pass, and I feel her lips slowly pull away. I'm already longing to feel them again, but that'll have to wait until some other night. "I should go," she whispers, trailing her hand down my chest. I have to touch her one last time so I
run the back of my fingers over her cheek, then along her lips. She closes her eyes and breathes out at my touch, then her eyes open again and meet up with mine. "You have nice lips," I tell her. "Is that why you kissed me?" "I kissed you because I wanted to. I've wanted to for months, so when you gave me permission, I took it." "I didn't give you permission." "I'm pretty sure you did." I lower my arms around her waist, keeping her close. "I said your name. That's it." "It was the way you said it. And the way you looked at me when you said it." "You could've misinterpreted what I
meant." "Did I?" She pauses. "No. But I only did it to teach you how to act on a date, since apparently you don't know, which is understandable given that you haven't been on many." "And what exactly were you teaching me?" "That at the end of a first date, you give the girl a kiss goodnight." "And what happens at the end of the second date?" "You get to kiss me again. Maybe longer next time." "I'm taking you out tomorrow," I say, anxious for the chance to kiss her again. "Maybe I'm busy tomorrow."
"Are you really busy? Or do you just not want to go out with me tomorrow? Be honest. You won't hurt my feelings, although I will be disappointed." "I just don't want to rush things. I'm still not sure about you." "All the more reason to spend time with me." She smiles at my reasoning. She knows persuasion is a skill of mine. That's why I'm so good at sales and negotiation. "So where are we going?" "Dinner and a movie." She nods. "Very traditional." "I've never done it before. I figured I should try it. You can pick the movie." "You've really never taken a girl to dinner and a movie?"
Shit, I shouldn't have said that. It'll just remind her of my history of random hookups in which I didn't even take the girl out anywhere before having sex with her. "I'll pick you up at six," I say, deciding it's not necessary to answer her question. She knows the answer. "Make it seven. I have to stop at my dad's house after work." "Seven it is. Goodnight, Ivy." I press my lips to hers for one last kiss, then tear myself away before I kiss her again. Normally, kissing bores me, but I do it because girls expect it before moving on to other things. But kissing Ivy? There was nothing boring about that. I could kiss her all freaking night and not get
tired of it. I leave and go back to my loft and get to work on all the shit I have to do. But my head isn't in it. It keeps wandering back to Ivy. This is bad. Just one date and I already have feelings for her. Actually, I had feelings for her as far back as last summer but I kept denying it, telling myself I only liked her because she's hot. But it wasn't just that. If it was, I wouldn't have worried about her when she was sick last fall and brought her that gift card. I wouldn't have made sure I was always on site at the Victorian when her shift was over so I could make sure she got safely to her car, even in daylight. I wouldn't have asked Nash to keep a close eye on her at the library to
make sure the other guys weren't bothering her. The truth is, I've had feelings for Ivy since the day I met her, and now those feelings are even stronger. This is what I've been trying to avoid. I didn't want to ever feel this way about a girl, but I can't seem to stop it, or turn it off, or get Ivy out of my head. Even the next day, I still can't stop thinking about her. "Can I sit here?" A pretty blonde stands by my table, holding a salad and a bottle of iced tea. "Go ahead." I notice all the other tables are full. I'm at a restaurant downtown, sitting at a long table with
stools. I just finished meeting with a potential client about renovating an old building into lofts and retail. The meeting went well, but it's a huge project and a lot of other companies are bidding on it so it's a long shot we'll get it. The blonde sits across from me but one seat down. She has long wavy hair and a beautiful face. I caught a glimpse of her when she was in line. She's tall and thin like a model and is wearing a black wool coat with a cream-colored scarf around her neck. "This weather," she says, unwinding her scarf and setting it on the stool next to her. "I'm getting tired of it." She smiles at me. "How about you?" "I don't really notice it," I say,
glancing at my phone. "I grew up here so I'm used to it." "I'm not at all. I'm originally from California." She unbuttons her coat and takes it off, revealing a black knit dress and breasts that are far too big to be natural on someone as thin as her. "But you live here now?" I ask, feeling an odd and sudden twinge of guilt. Why would I feel guilty? Because I'm talking to a beautiful woman? There's nothing wrong with that. We're just talking. And I don't have a girlfriend. I've been on one date with Ivy, and even if we'd been dating for weeks, that wouldn't mean I couldn't talk to another woman. "I'm here for the agency," she says.
"They lined up some modeling jobs here in Chicago, and then in March I'll be going to New York." So she's a model. Makes sense. She's fucking gorgeous. She dips a piece of lettuce in her dressing, then shakes it off so just a drop of it remains. I doubt she could even taste it. I focus back on my phone, going through all the texts and emails I missed when I was out with Ivy last night. There are at least five texts from Nicole, a girl I hooked up with last week, asking if we could hook up later. She texted me again this morning, with a text that reads, Nooner? I'm hungry, baby, and I want you for lunch. The words are followed
by a heart and winking smiley face. Nicole obviously didn't listen when I told her our encounter was a one-time thing. I occasionally get with a girl more than once, but only if I can tell that she's as committed to the sex-only rule as I am. If I get a sense a girl might want more than that, it's one and done, and I make it clear she knows that, which I did with Nicole but apparently she refuses to accept that. I text Nicole back, One time, remember? But I need you, baby, she texts back. Her words are followed by another winking smiley face and a pair of red lips. I hate those things. Emojis, or whatever the hell they're called. They
annoy me. If a girl uses them, I'm instantly turned off. Meet me at my apartment tonight at 7, she texts, followed by a wine glass and roses. Does that mean I'm supposed to bring her roses? Fucking annoying. Even if I liked her, I wouldn't want to be told to bring her flowers. I'm seeing someone. Lose my number, I text. You're cheating on me?!!! she texts back, followed by an angry-face with downward-slanting eyebrows, a frown, and a red face. You can't cheat on someone you're not dating, I text back. This time she takes a moment to respond, but then texts, You're an ass!!!
She adds a hand emoji with the middle finger extended. I actually kind of like that one. Her texting rant ends and I go back to eating my lunch. The blonde model across from me gets up and walks to the counter to get some napkins. Her dress is short and she's wearing black boots that reach up to her thighs, leaving a small band of skin showing between the dress and the boots. Fuck, she's hot. And that outfit...damn, she knows how to dress to get a man's attention. See? This is why I can't be in a relationship. I have a date with Ivy tonight and I'm looking at some other girl. I check my phone again and see a text
from my dad. We were supposed to meet here for lunch but he was running late so I told him I'd meet with him later, but now he says he'll be here in a minute. "So what do you do for fun when it's freezing like this?" The blonde is sitting directly across from me now, sipping her bottle of unsweetened tea through a thin pink straw. Her salad is off to the side, barely touched but topped with a crumpled-up napkin, indicating she's done with it. She couldn't have had more than a couple bites. "I don't have much time for fun. I work a lot." "Where do you work?" "I work for my dad. He owns a construction company. We do mostly
renovation work, remodels, that type of thing." Why am I telling her this? She doesn't give a shit about construction, unlike Ivy, who could talk about it for hours. She leans toward me and smiles. "That must be tiring. All that physical labor." She reaches over and rubs her hand over my forearm. I'm wearing a light blue dress shirt but I rolled the sleeves up because it's hot in here. "I can tell you're in good shape." That twinge of guilt I felt earlier is now twisting my insides, making me feel anxious, uncomfortable. An image of Ivy pops in my head. She's such a stark contrast from the girl sitting across from me. She doesn't coat her face with
makeup the way this girl does. Ivy doesn't need that shit. Her face is gorgeous without a drop of makeup, and I know because I've seen her without it the days she got up late and didn't have time to put it on before work. And Ivy lives in jeans and t-shirts, not the highfashion clothes this girl is wearing. I bet this girl's outfit costs thousands of dollars, and although it looks nice, I like Ivy's look better, although she'd look smoking hot in a dress like the blonde is wearing. And if Ivy wore those boots? Holy shit. I wouldn't be able to control myself. In fact, just imagining her in that outfit is causing movement below the belt. "Do you have plans for tonight?" The
blonde smiles at me with her sparkling white teeth, her lips covered in red lipstick, and again, my mind drifts to Ivy, and her lush, full, beautiful lips, and how they felt when I kissed her. Goddamn, I want to kiss her. I thought about it all last night and now I'm thinking about it again. "Did you hear me?" the blonde asks, her cold, bony fingers rubbing my forearm. "Yeah. Sorry." I pull my arm back. "I have a girlfriend, so..." I have a girlfriend? What the fuck? Those words have never come out of my mouth. Not once. And yet when I said it, that image of Ivy was still in my head. What the hell is going on with me? I don't have a girlfriend. This thing with
Ivy is...I don't know what it is, but she's not my girlfriend. "Oh." The blonde sits up straighter and fakes a smile. "I was just wondering if maybe—" "Jake." I look over and see my dad waving at me. He walks over to the table. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt." "I was just leaving," the blonde says, as she gets off the stool. She gathers her coat and scarf from the seat next to her, then takes off for the women's restroom. My dad takes her place across from me, a disapproving look on his face. "Is she one of your..." He sighs instead of finishing his thought. He doesn't like the fact that I sleep around, but he's given up lecturing me about it. Instead, he gives
me that look. "She's just some girl who needed a place to sit. I don't know her. I don't even know her name." "That's never stopped you before," he mumbles, picking up my glass of water and taking a drink. "Yeah, well, I'm trying to turn over a new leaf," I say, annoyed by his comment. "Meaning you'll actually take the girl out on a date?" He shakes his head, like he's ashamed of me for not doing that in the past. I don't know why he's so critical of me when it comes to this. It's not like he's a saint. I'm sure he was with plenty of women when he was my age. He even
knocked up one of them—Nash's mom, who didn't even stick around after Nash was born. "I was on a date just last night. And no, it didn't end at my apartment." "You actually took her out?" he asks. I roll my eyes. "Yes. Ask Nash if you don't believe me. He and Callie went out with us." "Where did you go?" "To Hoedowns, then we met up with Nash and Callie at Rodeo Freddy's." "You took a girl to Hoedowns?" He leans across the table and swats my arm. "What the hell is wrong with you? You don't take a girl to a place like that." "It was her idea, not mine. Her sister works there."
"Oh." He sits back. "Still, it's not appropriate for a date. I taught you boys better than that. And Rodeo Freddy's isn't much better. Why didn't you take this girl to a nicer place?" "I will. I'll take her to a better place tonight." His brows rise. "You're taking her out again? Tonight?" "Not because of what you're thinking. I actually want to get to know this girl. This isn't about...you know." He smiles a little and crosses his arms over his chest. "So who is this girl who's captured your attention?" "Ivy. You know her. The girl who worked on the Victorian." "Ivy Nikols? The carpenter?"
"Yeah. She works for Nash now on the library renovation." "Yes. I saw her just last week when I was over there having lunch with Nash. He didn't say you were dating her." I chuckle. "Because we don't tell you that shit. You know that. We have to practically be engaged before we bring a girl home." "That may be true, but in this case you should've told me. I don't want you dating an employee." "She's not my employee. She's Nash's. And if I keep dating her, I'll make sure I don't put her on any of my projects. In fact, Nash has already said he's hiring her for the historical museum."
He nods. "She'd be good for that. There's a lot of detailed trim work that'll need to be done. Has he asked her yet?" "I don't think so." My dad rubs his chin. "I don't know about this." "About what?" "About you dating this girl. Don't get me wrong. I'm glad you're finally interested in a woman for more than just sex, but if you date Ivy and then break up with her later, or even worse, cheat on her, it could cause problems for us as a business." "Like what?" "She could charge you with harassment. Say that you forced her into a relationship in exchange for keeping
her job." "Ivy would never do that. She's not that type of person." "You say that now, but when someone is angry and wants revenge, you can't predict what that person will do. I've been in this business long enough to know that a person can turn on you in an instant. You think they're your friend and next thing you know, they're suing you. Our business is really taking off now and I don't want anything interfering with that. This is your future, Jake, and your brothers' futures. It's what's going to pay the bills for all four of you and I'm not going to put it at risk." "I'm not putting it at risk." I sigh. "You seriously think I'd do something to
jeopardize the business? I know how important it is. To all of us. And I'm telling you, Ivy would never make up some story so she could sue us. You've met her. You know she's not like that." "Like I said, you can never be sure, no matter how nice someone seems. That's why I keep my business life separate from my personal life." "I really like this girl and I just want to get to know her. Can you just let me do that?" "You're a grown man. I can't exactly stop you. But I want you to be careful. And I'll be having a talk with Nash as well." "Why would you talk to Nash about this?"
"Because he's her boss and I want him to get to know her to make sure she's as honest as you think she is. If you like this girl, I can't trust you to make an accurate assessment. And I need Nash to make sure you're not doing something stupid, like making out with her at the workplace. I don't want the other workers seeing that." "I know better than to do that." I say that and yet now that I've kissed her, it's not going to be easy to control myself around her. If I'm near her, I'll want to kiss her, and I can't do that when she's at work. "I want to give this girl the benefit of the doubt," my dad says, "but at the same time, I have to protect my business."
"Yeah. Got it. Message received. Now can we talk about the meeting?" "Yes. Go ahead." Later that day, I try not to think about what my dad said, but I keep hearing his warning about dating someone at work. I know it's a bad idea but I also know that I've never felt this way about a girl so I don't want to stop seeing her just because she works for us. And I don't want Nash not to hire her for the museum because of me. She needs that job. I don't know why I'm worrying about this. I'm getting too far ahead of myself. Ivy and I have been on one date. And if tonight doesn't go well, that may be it. She may not want to go out with me again. But I really hope she does.
CHAPTER EIGHT Ivy "Damn." I drop the nail and shake my hand out, trying to shake the pain away. I just hit my thumb with the hammer, which I haven't done in years. Missing the nail? That's a rookie mistake and I'm not a rookie.
It only happened because I'm so distracted by thoughts of Jake. That kiss last night? I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. I think I even had dreams about it. I didn't know a kiss could be that good. Or get me that aroused. "Hey, Ivy." I turn around and see Nick standing there. He's a trim carpenter, like I am. He works for his dad, who's also a carpenter and owns his own business. They've been contracted by Nash to work on this project because Tom, Nick's dad, specializes in restoring historic buildings. Tom is supervising all the carpentry work so every now and then he stops by and checks my work but
rarely says anything. He thinks only men should be carpenters so he doesn't like me working here and tries to avoid me. He talks to all the guys on the crew but he's never even said hello to me. His son talks to me though. "How's it going?" I say to Nick. He's 26 and married, with a kid on the way, which I only know because one of the other guys told me. Nick has never mentioned his wife and doesn't wear a ring. "Good." He sits on the stool next to my work table. "You still doing that picture?" "No. I finished it. It's over there." I point to the wall where it's hanging. He glances at it but doesn't bother
walking over to check it out. As a fellow carpenter, you'd think he'd want to get a closer look. I spent an entire week on it and used a lot of different tools and techniques to give it a 3-D look. But Nick apparently has no interest in that. "So what are you working on next?" "Nash wants me to work on the fireplace mantel in the reading room." I sort through my toolbox searching for the right-sized chisel. "I thought I was doing that." "He said you were still working on the window trim." "Yeah, but when I'm done, I wanted to do the mantel. I told him that." "Then talk to him about it. I'm just doing what I'm told."
Nick's eyes move down my body, then back up again. I try not to roll my eyes because that would just draw attention to his inappropriate behavior and I'm trying to ignore it. This isn't anything new. Almost all the guys look at me like that, even married ones like Nick. They act like it's their God-given right to check out a woman, especially when she's the only one around. It's annoying, and I hate it so much I've even considered going into a different field, but this is what l love to do, so I'm not going to be forced to quit because some asshole guys can't keep their eyes above my breasts. "What are you doing tonight?" Nick asks in a flirtatious tone, a grin on his
face. Is he seriously asking me out? When he's married with a pregnant wife at home? He's an even bigger ass than I originally thought. "I'm going to my dad's house. How about you? Spending time with your WIFE?" I emphasize 'wife' and his grin goes away. "She's pregnant, right?" "Yeah. With twins." He doesn't sound happy about it. "Twins. Wow. That's great." I smile. "Congratulations. When's she due?" "In a couple months. She's on bed rest. Can't do anything." I'm guessing he means she can't have sex, which is why he's wanting me to do it with him. What an ass. He's disgusting. "Then you should be home with her,"
I say. "I'm sure she doesn't like being stuck in bed all day with no one to talk to." "She watches her soaps all day. Or calls her sister and they bitch about their husbands." I turn back to my toolbox. "I really need to get back to work." "You ever want to do something, give me a call." He reaches around me and sets a business card on top of my tools, and when he pulls his hand back, he purposely brushes my side. When he's gone, I pick up the card. It has his name and number on it, along with the name of his dad's company. "Ivy." "What?" I whip around and see Nash
standing there. "Oh. Hi, Nash." "Is something wrong?" "No." I realize I'm still holding Nick's card. I toss it in the trash. "Did you need something?" "I just wanted to ask when you'd be able to start on the fireplace mantel." "Right now. I was just heading over there. But um..." I glance behind Nash to make sure Nick isn't there. "What is it?" Nash asks. "Nick was here just a minute ago and told me he wants to do the mantel. He wasn't happy when I told him I was going to be the one doing it." "He doesn't have time to do it. He's way behind on the window trim." "I know, but he still wanted to do it.
I'm only telling you because Nick was going to come talk to you about it and I didn't want this turning into a bigger deal than it needs to be. If you want me to work on something else, that's fine. It doesn't matter to me." "Come on." He motions me to follow him and we go in his office and he closes the door. "I want you working on the mantel. You have more skill than Nick and you're a hell of a lot faster. I never told him he could work on the mantel. I'm guessing his dad did so he assumed that meant I was okay with it. Tom is always trying to take over like that. You probably already know this but Tom and I don't always get along." That's for sure. I've heard them fighting in this
office on more than one occasion. "Unfortunately, there are only a handful of restoration carpenters around here and Tom was the only one available when I took over this project. So we're stuck with him. He's under contract. I could get rid of Nick, but if I did that, I'd have even more problems with Tom. Anyway, I didn't need to tell you all that. The point is, you're in charge of the fireplace mantel." "Okay. Thanks. I'll get to work." I go to leave but hear Nash again. "Was he bothering you?" he asks, referring to Nick. "When he talked to you earlier?" I shake my head. "He was just talking about work."
"You know you can tell me if any of the guys say or do something that's out of line. You don't have to put up with that shit." I nod. "Yeah, got it." I go to open the door and see Nick walking by. He looks through the glass partition and sees Nash and then me. He jerks his head forward and storms off, as if he thinks I was in here tattling on him. Shit. This is bad. "I'll see ya later, Nash." I go back to my work area and gather my supplies and bring them to the room where the fireplace is located. We're doing intricate trim work on the mantel because this is a special reading room where authors will be invited to do public readings of their books. The
fireplace is huge and a centerpiece of the room. The author will sit in front of it while reading from his or her book, so a lot of eyes will see the fireplace, which is why the library wants the mantel to be impressive, almost like a work of art. I'm honored that Nash is letting me work on it. Normally, a carpenter with many more years of experience would work on something like this, but Nash chose me to do it, which says a lot. My phone buzzes and I see it's Jake. I consider letting it go to voicemail. I'm not in the mood to talk right now. I'm nervous and my mind is racing, trying to figure out what Nick is going to do to get back at me for something I didn't even do. Maybe I should go talk to him and
straighten things out, but I doubt he'd believe me. He always thinks people are lying to him and going behind his back, probably because that's what he does. The phone is still vibrating so I answer it. "Hi, Jake." "Hey, how's your day going?" I relax a little at the sound of his voice. I've always found his voice to be soothing. It's smooth and deep and never rushed. "I've had better days." "What's wrong?" he asks, concern in his voice. "Nothing. It's just one of those days." I don't want Jake getting involved in this. I told him I'd be honest with him, but that was about our relationship, not my job.
"So we still on for tonight?" he asks. "Yeah. I'll see at you seven." "Could you be ready any earlier?" I smile. "Why? Seven isn't soon enough?" "Truthfully? No." He laughs a little. "I'd like to see you right now but I'm helping out Bryce at a house reno on the west side of town and then I have a meeting at four." "How about six?" I say without even thinking. "Six would be great. I'll see you then." "Yeah. Bye." Why did I suggest six? I have to check on my dad, then go home, shower, get dressed, do my hair. Six doesn't give
me enough time to do all that. But I really wanted to see Jake, which is bad. Really bad. I can't get attached to him. This is only temporary. But when I heard his voice just now, it took me out of the bad mood I was in, and the thought of seeing him in just a few short hours made me feel even better. I actually had butterflies jumping around my stomach, knowing I'd soon be able to kiss him again. Does he have this effect on all women? Is this why he gets so many girls? I don't know, but I certainly didn't expect to feel this way. I leave work at five and race over to my dad's house to check on him because Liza's been at class all day and then has to go straight to work. I could just call
my dad, but I stop over instead because he's been stuck in the house all day by himself and needs some human interaction. "Dad, it's me," I yell as I go in the house. I hear the TV on in the living room and find him sleeping in his chair. He normally doesn't sleep during the day like this. That new med is really knocking him out, which isn't good because he's supposed to be up walking throughout the day. It gets the blood flowing and keeps his back muscles from stiffening up. "Dad." I nudge his shoulder. He opens his eyes. "Hi, honey. Did you just get here?" "Yeah. It's after five. How long have
you been asleep?" "About an hour." He shuts the TV off. "You should probably walk around a little. Need some help?" "No. I'm fine." He slowly gets up from his chair, cringing in pain as he does. I hold his arm. "Dad, you okay?" "My back's just a little stiff from sleeping in that chair." It's not the chair. It's his back. It's getting worse but he won't tell Liza and me because he doesn't want us to worry. But all I do is worry. I've worried ever since it happened, and now I'm even more worried because his pain is getting worse. "You want to walk outside?" I ask.
"It's not as cold as it's been and the sidewalk is clear." He hasn't been able to walk outside for weeks because the sidewalks were covered in snow and ice, and the last thing he needed was to fall and hurt his back even more. "I suppose I could use some fresh air." I help him with his coat and we go out to the sidewalk. "I can't stay for dinner," I tell him. "I have something to do tonight." "You going out with friends?" "Kind of. I mean, yeah, he's a friend. Never mind." My dad grins at me. "Is this friend of yours a boy named Jake Wheeler?"
"Liza told you?" I huff and shake my head. "That girl can't keep a secret to save her life. Well, I guess I didn't tell her it was a secret, but still. She wasn't supposed to tell you." "I know you just started seeing him, but don't rush into anything." Oh, God, here we go. He's going to give me his dad lecture about taking things slow, being friends first. I've heard it a million times. He thinks if Liza and I start out being only friends with a guy, it'll delay the physical part of the relationship, which he tries to pretend we've never had. He prefers to think we're both virgins, even when I was living with Ryker. "So Jake is the oldest?" he asks.
Even before I started working for the Wheelers, my dad knew who they were because of their company. After years of working as a carpenter, my dad knows most everyone in the construction business. "No, Nash is the oldest," I say. "He's 25. Jake is 23. He's the guy I worked for last fall on the Victorian." Shit. I shouldn't have told him that. When I was working for Jake, I know my dad overheard Liza and me talking about Jake and his reputation. "The one who sleeps around?" My dad stops and turns to face me. "Ivy, I don't want you dating that boy. Guys like him will break your heart." "We've been on one date. It's nothing
serious. He's not going to break my heart. And besides, any guy could break my heart." "Yes, but this one could decide not to hire you if this thing between you two doesn't work out. And you know how hard it is to get a job in this industry." "Not for men," I mutter. "Just women." I put my arm around his and pull on him to continue walking. "Jake would still hire me even if we did break up. Not that we're going to break up because we're not even dating." "But you're going out with him tonight. Isn't that considered a date?" "I guess it kind of is, but this isn't going to lead anywhere. We'll go out a few times and that'll be it."
"Then why are you going out with him at all?" He stops suddenly, his brows drawn together. "Ivy, if you're only dating this young man for one thing, then—" "Dad! No. I have no intention of doing that. I just..." I take a breath. "I only went on a date with him because he keeps asking me out and I thought if I went out with him and he found out he couldn't get what he wanted from me, he'd leave me alone." "You're dating him so that he'll stop asking you out? Honey, that's crazy. Just tell him you're not interested." I sigh. "It's not that easy. He's very persistent. And besides, last night turned out to be not so bad. We ended having
fun on the date so we decided to try it again. And before you ask, no, he's not getting...THAT tonight either. Or any other night. In fact, tonight is more like two friends hanging out than a date." "So it's platonic?" "Yeah," I quickly answer as I pull on him to keep walking. "We should turn around. I need to get home and get ready for my date—I mean, my night out." When we're almost back to the house, he says, "Could you get the mail?" "Sure." I walk around him to the box and take out the mail, flipping through it. "Anything good?" he asks kiddingly because we never get anything good. It's always either junk mail or bills. Today it's just bills; one for my dad's
last doctor visit and two for his last couple physical therapy appointments. All three bills are overdue and my dad doesn't have the money to pay for them. Neither do I. Just last week I had to pay his electric bill along with my apartment rent, which wiped me out. "What's wrong, Ivy?" "Nothing. Let's go." I take his arm and we continue to the house. We go inside and I tuck the bills inside my coat. "Ivy, give me the mail." "It's just some bills. I'll take care of them." "That's not your responsibility." He holds his hand out. "Now give them to me." He doesn't need the stress of seeing
the overdue bills so I keep them hidden in my coat. "I have to go." "Ivy." He stands by the door, his brows raised. "Dad, I told you, I'll take care of it." "Stealing someone's mail is a federal offense. Now hand it over." I sigh and hand him the bills. He quickly flips through them. "What are you going to do?" I ask. "I'm going to stop going to physical therapy." He drops the bills on the small table by the door. "It's not helping, so there's no use going." "But the doctor said you had to go." He huffs. "What do doctors know?" "Dad, you can't stop going. I'll find a way to pay for it. I'll—"
"Stop it. You're not paying for it." He opens the door. "Now go get ready for your date." "It's not a date." "Well, whatever it is, you need to get going. But will you do me a favor?" "What?" "If this guy doesn't treat you well or isn't respectful of you, then you kick his ass to the curb. I'd do it myself if my back were in better shape." I smile. "Okay. If he steps out of line, I'll be sure to kick his ass." I hug him. "I'll see you later. Love you, Dad." "Love you too, honey. Have fun tonight." He lets me go. "But not too much fun." "Got it." I go out to my car and call
Liza as I'm driving back to my apartment. "Hey, Ivy," she says when she picks up. "I can't really talk. I'm heading into the library. What do you need?" "I was just over at the house and Dad got three more medical bills. All overdue. I don't have the money to pay them. Do you?" She sighs. "No. But I could see if I could pick up some extra shifts this weekend. That might be enough to pay for at least one of the bills." "If you could, that'd be great. I just paid rent and it cleared out my account. Did Dad tell you he's quitting physical therapy?" "No, but I figured he would. He
keeps telling me it isn't working." "Liza, you've got to talk to him. He needs to keep going." "He won't listen to me. You know how stubborn he is, almost as stubborn as you. Hey, I gotta go. I'll call you later." "Yeah, okay. Bye." Back at my apartment, I hurry to get ready because it's getting late and Jake will be here soon. I shower and put on dark skinny jeans and a soft creamcolored sweater Liza gave me last Christmas. Tall black boots complete the look. I dry my hair, deciding to wear it down, then put on my makeup, finishing up just as Jake arrives. I hit the buzzer to let him in the building and moments later
he's at my door. "Hi," I say, smiling when I see him there. Tonight he's wearing a dark wool coat, dark jeans, and a thin black sweater. He looks hot, but also nice. Sophisticated. Last fall, I'd sometimes see him change into clothes like this at work before heading out to pick up a girl. I try not to think about that and instead focus on the here and now. And right now? I'm really happy to see him, those butterflies dancing around my stomach and telling me to yank him into my apartment and kiss him. But before I can, he reaches behind my neck and pulls me to his mouth and kisses me with an intensity that causes
sensations to shoot down my middle, all the way down to my toes, lingering between my legs. He walks forward, so I walk back, our mouths still connected. He kicks the door closed and puts both hands along the sides of my face and softens the kiss. "Hi," he whispers, his lips touching mine as he speaks. "I forgot to say that earlier." "Yeah, you did," I whisper back, loosening my grip on his sweater, which I had clenched in my hand. "You look gorgeous," he says, then tilts his head slightly and brings my mouth back to his and kisses me again, slowly, gently coaxing my lips open so his tongue can slip past.
We keep this up for at least several minutes, and if we keep it going a minute longer, I'll be dragging him off to my bedroom, breaking the no-sex rule I made. Now I'm wondering why I made that rule. I haven't done it forever, and I can tell from the way Jake kisses that the sex would be amazing. The way he moves his lips, where he puts his hands, tells me he knows what women like. But I promised myself we wouldn't have sex. If we do, this is over. I'll be just another notch on his bedpost. That wasn't the plan. The plan is to prove to him this will never work so that he'll stop asking me out and leave me alone. Except now I feel like I have to prove to myself this won't work out.
Because at this moment? Kissing him? It feels like we're made for each other.
CHAPTER NINE Jake The moment I saw her at the door I had to kiss her, and now I can't stop. So I wait for Ivy to end it, which she eventually does, but it doesn't seem like she wants to. She slowly pulls away. "We should
probably get going." "Yeah." I step back, my eyes trailing over her. She's wearing a cream-colored sweater and black boots that come up to her knees. It reminds me of the girl who sat across from me at lunch with her cream-colored scarf and those boots. I kept imagining Ivy in those boots, wearing nothing else, and I haven't been able to get that image out of my head. It's the reason I took an extra long shower before I came over here. So seeing her dressed like this is nearly torture. But I can't think about that. This isn't about sex. I'm dating her to get to know her, not have sex with her, but shit, if we ever do have sex, I have a feeling it'll be the best damn sex I've ever had.
"I like that outfit," I say casually. "It's just jeans and a sweater." "It looks good on you." I run my hand down her arm. "You look beautiful." "Thanks." "Need anything before we leave? Where's your coat?" "In the closet." She walks over to it and I meet her there and help her with her coat. "I changed my mind about dinner and a movie," I say. "I know it's what people do on dates but it sounded boring. And being in a dark theater for two hours means I wouldn't be able to look at you, and that would suck." She smiles. "So what are we doing? "I'm taking you to a nice restaurant
downtown and then we'll take it from there." "A nice restaurant? Does that mean a place like Rodeo Freddy's?" I chuckle. "No. Rodeo Freddy's is not a nice restaurant. We went there to dance, not for the food." "But I told you I didn't dance so why'd you take me there?" "Because it was something to do. And you had fun, right?" "Yeah." She pauses. "Maybe we could um...go there again sometime." She's agreeing to another date? Before this one's even started? I can't help but grin like an idiot over that. Over the years, I've had literally hundreds of girls agree to go out with me and didn't
really care that they said yes. But then Ivy says she wants to go out again and I get all excited like some freaking kid who got the hot cheerleader to agree to go to prom with him. I did that, by the way. Senior year, I went to prom with the hottest girl in my school. Head cheerleader for the football team. We had sex that night, multiple times, and then I moved on to someone else and so did she. But even back then, when she agreed to go to prom with me, I wasn't excited about it. I knew she'd say yes. We were both popular and it was almost expected that we'd go together. "Maybe we'll go there this weekend." I open the door for Ivy and we go out in the hall and down the elevator to the
parking lot. Before she gets in my SUV, I stop her and kiss those beautiful lips again. Then I slide my hand over her smooth silky hair and say, "It's kind of a rule." "What's a rule?" "You kiss me before you get in the car." She smiles. "And why is that a rule?" "It's for good luck. It ensures we'll have a safe drive. I'm very superstitious." "You didn't do it last night." "Yeah. And thank God we didn't get in an accident. But tonight, I'm not risking it. You need to kiss me before you get in." "Every time? That's too much."
"It's for our safety. People drive like maniacs around here." "Fine. I'll go along with it but only because your kisses are..." She glances to the side. "Not completely horrible." I laugh. "What the hell? Not completely horrible? That's how you describe my kisses?" "What did you want me to say?" "That the kiss I gave you was the best kiss you've ever had. That I kiss like a fucking pro. An expert. Someone who could give lessons to all the idiots you've kissed before who didn't know what the hell they were doing." "You're awfully full of yourself, you know that?" Her lips tick up. "I know when I'm good at something
and I'm not afraid to admit it." I step forward, backing her against my SUV, my eyes on hers. "And I fucking know how to kiss." "You really think so?" She leans back but there's nowhere for her to go. "I know so." And with that, I grip the back of her head and bring her mouth to mine and kiss her hard. She grabs my coat and yanks me closer and I thrust my tongue in her mouth. It lashes with hers in a heated frenzy, and then we both slow down, parting just enough to breathe each other's air, our bodies relaxing. And then I kiss her again, softly, gently, my hand still cradling her head, and we continue on as if we're not standing in a parking lot in the middle of
winter. As if we're the only two people here, despite the cars driving down the street and the people walking by. We're completely lost in the moment, lost in each other. It's surreal, and I don't understand it because I've never experienced anything like this before. Ivy lets go of my coat and I look at her and see that her face is expressing exactly what I'm feeling. Uncertainty. Doubt. Fear. Because we both know there's something here. There's something between us. Something we haven't felt with anyone else, and never in a million years expected to find with each other. I don't know what I was expecting with Ivy. Maybe she was just an
experiment to see if I could really date a girl without it being about sex. Or maybe I was just determined to convince her to go out with me since she's the only girl who's ever said no. But when she finally said yes, I never expected THIS. This overwhelming need to make her mine and never let her go. Where is this coming from? It can't just be from a kiss, can it? "Jake. I um..." She can't find the words and neither can I, so we both remain silent. I'm not ready for this. It's too much. It's too serious. It's freaking me out. So I interrupt the awkward silence and try to lighten the heaviness in the air. "You ready to go?" I ask. "Or would
you like to offer up more commentary about my kissing abilities?" "We can go." She smiles but it's a devious smile. "What? What are you hiding behind that smile?" "Nothing." "Just tell me. Are you saying that kiss wasn't good enough for you?" She shrugs. "It was fine." She's such a liar. She wouldn't even look at me when she said it. But I'll play along. "Fine? That's it?" I step back. "You don't know what you just signed up for." "What do you mean?" "If you don't think my kisses are the best you've ever had, then I'm going to keep practicing until they are. And I'll be
practicing on you. And to make sure I'm covering all my bases, I'll be kissing you different ways, and in different places." I lean down and run my tongue over the delicate skin just below her ear, then press my lips to the spot and talk softly in her ear. "If you'd like to avoid all that, you might want to reconsider your assessment of my kissing skills." I back away and notice her eyes are closed, her chest rising and falling as she breathes. "Ivy?" Her eyes blink open and she clears her throat, seeming embarrassed by her reaction to my words. "What?" I smile slightly. "Would you like to reconsider your assessment?"
She pauses to think. "My assessment hasn't changed. I think you could do better." My smile widens because she just agreed to be kissed anytime, any place, anywhere. I kiss her once more before she gets in my SUV. On the way to the restaurant, I tell her about my day and about the meeting I had this morning. I hadn't planned to talk about work because I assumed she'd be bored by it. But she was actually interested. She kept asking questions about the building and the project and of course she wanted details about the woodwork, which made me laugh. Only Ivy would ask details about the window trim in an old building. But I love that
she did. It shows how much she likes what she does. Carpentry is her passion, just like I have a passion for construction. We both like to build things, restore things, create things. "This is it," I say pulling into the parking garage. "It's on the top floor and I reserved a table by the window so we'd get a good view of the city." "How fancy is this restaurant?" she asks as I'm helping her out of the car. "It's kind of fancy but the food is amazing and I had to make up for taking you to Rodeo Freddy's last night." "I should've dressed nicer." "Don't worry about it. You look beautiful. I love that sweater." I take her hand and walk her to the elevator and
we ride it to the top floor. "Does this place let you wear jeans?" "They don't on the weekends, but during the week they're more casual. And I'm friends with the owner's son, so we're good. They won't kick us out." I give her a kiss but just a quick one. "How was that? That was my in-a-hurry kiss." "It was okay, but why are you in a hurry?" "Because we're here." I point to the open elevator doors, then lead her into the restaurant, stopping at the hostess stand. There's nobody there so we stand and wait. "This place is really nice," Ivy says, going over to peek inside the dining
room. It's dimly lit and windows line the walls, showing off the city views. "Sorry you had to wait," a woman says, hurrying back to the hostess stand. She's a tall brunette wearing a white blouse, tight black skirt, and extremely high heels. I take my eyes off her and put them on Ivy, who comes back beside me. "Jake?" The hostess said it, and when I look over and see her face I mutter under my breath, "Shit." I slept with this girl. Just last week. Fuck. Why didn't she tell me she worked here? Probably because I talked to her for less than an hour before we had sex. "Jake Wheeler," she says, smiling. "Didn't expect to see you here."
I force a smile on my face and say, "I have a reservation." "I see that. When I saw the name Wheeler, I assumed it was a different one. I didn't know you took girls to dinner. If I'd known that I would've insisted you—" "Can you just show us to our table, please?" I put my arm around Ivy, who looks pissed. She knows I had sex with this girl but I hope she doesn't think I did this on purpose, trying to flaunt my exes in front of her. "Right this way," the hostess says. I don't even know her name. I don't think she ever told me and I didn't ask. I met her at a bar and we did it in the back of my SUV. She was one of those girls who
had seen me on TV last year and assumed I was some kind of local celebrity. All I did was talk about a Victorian mansion on the local news and somehow that made me a celebrity. So when Hostess Girl saw me at the bar, she came on to me, made her intentions clear, and less than an hour later we were doing it in my SUV. "Enjoy your meal," she says, giving me a wink and a smile. We're seated at a small, white linen covered table by the window. There's a candle flickering between us and jazz music plays softly in the background. It's the perfect romantic setting, except my date is pissed. "Hey." I reach over and touch her arm
because she's hiding her hands under the table, gazing out at the city. "I didn't know she worked here. I swear to you, I didn't know. If I had, I wouldn't have taken you here." Ivy whips her head back to me. "You said you're friends with the owner. And you didn't know one of your exes worked here?" "I said I know the owner's son, not the owner. Jason doesn't know who his dad hires. He has nothing to do with the restaurant. He doesn't even live here. He's in med school in Minnesota." "How long ago?" "Are we seriously going to do this? We're here to have a nice dinner, not talk about who I've been with."
She sighs. "You're right. I shouldn't have asked. I just...never mind." She picks up her menu. "So what do you recommend?" "I usually get the ribeye. But I've heard the salmon is good too. That's what Austin always gets." "Austin is your youngest brother, right?" "Yeah. He's a health and fitness freak. He eats salmon all the time because he thinks it's good for him." "It is supposed to be healthy." She closes her menu. "But I'd rather have the steak." "The ribeye?" "I think I'll get the sirloin. The ribeye's really expensive."
"I don't care how expensive it is. If you want it, order it." The waiter approaches us. "Can I get you some drinks?" "You want to split a bottle of wine?" I ask Ivy. "Sure." I order a bottle of red that's more expensive than I would normally get but I want this to be a nice dinner. It didn't start out so well thanks to Hostess Girl but I'll get it back on track. When the waiter returns, he pours our wine, then asks if we're ready to order. "We'll both have the ribeye," I tell him. "Actually, I'll have the sirloin." She glares at me when she says 'sirloin'.
"If you don't mind my input," the waiter says, "I would recommend the ribeye. It's a much better cut." She forces out a smile. "Fine. I'll have the ribeye. Thank you." He leaves the table and I hold up my wine glass. "Should we toast?" "Could you please not order for me again? And if you do, at least get my order right." "You wanted the ribeye." "I wanted the sirloin." "Because you were worried about the price. Now would you stop arguing with me? You're bringing down the mood." "ME? I think your little reunion with the hostess was—" "Ivy. Can we just start this date over?
" I nod at my raised wine glass. "I'm still waiting to make my toast." She holds up her wine glass. "What are we toasting to?" "To our third date. May it be just as magical as our first." I say it dramatically, like I'm in some Shakespearean play. She bursts out laughing. "Magical? That's how you'd describe our first date? At Hoedowns and Rodeo Freddy's? And why are you toasting to our third date? What about our second? It's not worth including in your toast?" "Our second date just started. There's not much to say." "Okay." She's still laughing as she clinks glasses with me.
We sip our wine, and I lift my glass again. "Actually, I would like to make a toast regarding our second date." "Go ahead." She holds up her glass. "May my skills in the art of kissing improve to a level you find acceptable." She goes to clink my glass but I pull it away, smiling. "Correction." I lower my voice and lean toward her, my eyes locked on hers. "To a level that makes you weak in the knees. Wanting more." I pause. "Begging for more." She backs away and I see her swallow, then she clears her throat, clinks my glass, and takes a big gulp of wine. Her face is flushed, and I know it's not from the wine, but from my words and the images they conjured up in her
head. "It's good wine," I say, setting my glass down. "Don't you think?" She's quiet, still hung up on my words, but then she snaps out of it and says, "It's excellent. But you didn't have to take me here. It's too much money. This is a really expensive place." "What good is money if you don't spend it?" "I guess. If you have it." She looks down at the napkin in her lap, then adjusts the fork next to her plate. "Is Nash not paying you enough?" I ask. "What?" She looks up at me. "No. He pays really well. That's not what I meant when I said that."
"Then what do you mean?" "I just...never mind." She takes another sip of wine. "Ivy, I'm trying to get to know you here. So tell me what you meant." "I don't want to talk about money problems during dinner." "You have money problems? Then Nash isn't paying you enough. I'll talk to him tomorrow." "Jake, don't. I mean it. He pays me more than any of the jobs I had before I started working for you guys. It's just that I have a lot of expenses and sometimes it's hard to keep up. I pay for my own bills, but I also pay for some of my dad's because his disability checks aren't enough. Liza said she could probably get
me a job at Hoedowns for a few hours a week but—" "No," I blurt out, the thought of guys leering at her in that tiny outfit making my blood boil. "Don't work there. The guys who go there are assholes." She grins. "You're saying you're an asshole?" "Just tell me you're not going to work there." "I couldn't even if I wanted to. If some guy touched my ass, I'd yank him from his chair and kick him in the balls, which I'm guessing is frowned upon by management. I'd be fired before I could even finish my first shift." I smile. "Is that my warning to never touch your ass?"
"Only if I'm your waitress at Hoedowns, which will never happen." I'm taking that to mean she wouldn't mind me touching her ass. But not tonight. I need to take this slow. "So going back to what you said earlier," I say. "Your dad's having trouble paying his bills?" "I don't want to talk about it." She looks out the window at the skyline. "It's a nice view." "Ivy." I touch her arm and she looks back at me. "Tell me what I can do to help." "You can't help. I just need to find some more work. Do you know of any?" "No. Sorry. If I had some extra hours to give you, I would, but right now, we
don't have any." She nods. "That's fine. I'll figure something out." "I've been there, you know." "Been where?" "Struggling to make ends meet. The company hasn't always been successful. When I was younger, my dad struggled to pay our bills. My mom had to take care of us kids so she couldn't get a job. It was up to my dad to bring in the money, and sometimes he had to work day and night just to put food on the table. I know our situations are different but I'm just saying that I know how tough it is, so if you need help—with anything—just let me know." "Okay." She half-smiles. I can tell
she's embarrassed talking about this, but I needed her to know that I'll help in any way I can. My parents always taught us to help others, so if she needs something, all she needs to do is ask, but I know sometimes that's hard to do. Ivy switches the topic back to work, asking about the other projects we have going on around the city. Then our dinner arrives and we end up talking about food. She tells me how she can't cook and lives on frozen dinners, which gives me yet another date idea. I'll have her over to my apartment and cook for her. I'm a pretty decent cook. I learned how to cook after my mom died. My dad couldn't function and Nash had already moved out of the house so I
took over the cooking for my younger brothers and me. Dad rarely showed up to dinner. He was too depressed to eat, and he was like that for a good five months, which was long enough for me to get good at cooking. After dinner, Ivy says she's full but I insist we get dessert so we decide to split one. We order the caramel cheesecake and I watch as she puts tiny forkfuls in her mouth then slowly licks the fork. I don't know if that's just the way she eats cheesecake or if she's trying to torture me, but if she's going for the latter, she succeeded. Watching her tongue lick that fork has got me so hard I have to discreetly adjust my pants. And when dessert is done, I have to order
another coffee to kill some time to avoid getting up and embarrassing myself. "That was a great dinner," she says as we're waiting for the check. "Thank you for taking me here." "You're welcome." Our hands are linked together on the table and she has a happy, content smile on her face, which I hope I'm responsible for. I like making Ivy happy. I have ever since I met her. When we worked on the Victorian, I'd sometimes bring in food for the crew and purposely buy Ivy's favorites because I liked seeing her face light up when she saw what I'd brought. She especially loved chocolate sprinkled donuts so I brought those in a lot. Tonight has been a great night, aside
from the hostess encounter. But other than that, it's been perfect. It started with that incredible kiss and just got better from there. Ivy and I talked all through dinner without any awkward pauses. It was easy, relaxed, and even though our dinner lasted for more than two hours, I feel like it ended too soon. I want more time with her. I don't want to say goodnight. What is going on with me? Why am I acting this way? Why do I like this girl so much?
CHAPTER TEN Ivy "Jake parks in front of my apartment and cuts the engine. "I'll just walk you to the door," he says. I'm glad he didn't assume I'd invite him up to my apartment. It's only our
second date. It's too soon for that. Although there's a tiny voice in my head telling me to bring him inside and do what I've been fantasizing about ever since we kissed. If he's that good a kisser, what's he like in bed? Stop thinking about that, I tell the voice in my head, because that stupid voice is how I ended up dating one cheater after another. I keep picking the wrong guys because I never listen to my rational side. The side that knows hot guys who sleep around are not boyfriend material. And yet here I am, on a second date with Jake and already looking forward to our third. "You have plans tomorrow night?" Jake asks as we're standing in my lobby.
Should I say I do, just to get some time apart from him? Going out with him every night is too much. But I don't want to wait days to see him again. So what do I do? "I'm going to a movie with Liza." It's the only excuse I could think of. "What movie?" "I can't remember." I have no idea what movies are playing. I don't pay attention because I never go to movies. "Just some romantic comedy she wanted to see." "There aren't any romantic comedies playing. I checked when I thought I was taking you to the movies." "Oh. Then it must've been something else.
"Ivy." He waits for me to look at him. "I told you to be honest with me. If you don't want to go out tomorrow, just tell me." "I just think it's too many nights in a row." "Then tell me that. Don't make something up." His phone vibrates in his pocket but he ignores it, which he's been doing all night. His phone is constantly going off and I wonder if it's girls calling and texting him. It can't all be work related. "Are you having lunch with Nash tomorrow?" I ask, trying to get off the topic of me lying to him. I told him I wouldn't, and then I did it again. I must have problems telling guys the truth.
Maybe that's why I keep ending up with guys who lie to me. Liars attract other liars. "I won't have time to get over there. Austin needs help installing some flooring because the guy who was working with him got sick and won't be in tomorrow." I love how Jake is always helping out his brothers. Nash is the same way. They're a close-knit family. They're always looking out for each other. And Mitch, their dad, is really nice. He talked to me just last week and told me what a great job I was doing. He didn't have to do that, but he did, and he complimented the other workers too. "So you're back doing construction?"
I tease. "You sure you can handle it after all the office work you've been doing?" "Hey." His arms go around my waist and he tugs me closer. "I do plenty of construction. You just don't see it because I'm not working at the library. If you don't believe me, you can come with me this Saturday and watch me install tile with Bryce." "You have to work Saturday?" "Just in the morning." "Okay, I'll do it. Can I help?" "You want to help lay tile?" "Yeah. I want to learn how because the bathroom at my dad's house needs to be updated and I'm going to try to do the tile myself to save money." "Why didn't you tell me you were
remodeling his bathroom?" "It's not a remodel. I'm just going to update it for now, and then when I have the money, I'm going to have someone rip out the tub and put in a walk-in shower. The shower will be a lot easier for my dad to get in and out of with his back problems." "Forget hiring someone. I'll do it for free." "Jake, no. I'm not letting you do that. It's too much work and it takes too much time." "Not if you help me. I'll get my brothers to help too. With the five of us, we can get it done in a weekend. Maybe not even that long. And to save money on supplies, you can look through our
unused inventory and see if you like anything. We have cabinets, sinks, tile— all stuff that didn't get used on other projects." I feel like I shouldn't accept his offer. It's too much and I don't feel right taking it. But the bathroom really needs to be updated and I don't have the money to hire someone. "You'd really do this for my dad?" I ask. "You're not just saying that?" "I'm a man of my word, which you would know if you spent more time with me." He says it jokingly but maybe he's right. Maybe I need to spend more time with him rather than making excuses not to see him. If I'm going to prove he's just another player who's only interested in
sex, then I need to hurry up and prove it so we can end this. Except now, I'm no longer in a hurry to end this. And I'm starting to think maybe Jake's not just dating me for sex. "I'll need to go over there and take some measurements before we start," he says. "And I should talk to your dad and see what he's thinking in terms of what he wants done." "Okay. How about tomorrow?" He chuckles. "What happened to wanting time apart? Or do you just want me to stop by his house and leave? Because that's fine. Just tell me." "Um, no. We can go to his house around six and then maybe go to dinner." "Sounds good. I'll stop by and pick
you up." He smiles at me. "I think it's time to say goodbye." Say goodbye? Is he in a hurry? I'm not ready for him to go. "I guess it is getting late. Bye, Jake." He doesn't move, his arms still circling my waist, his eyes fixed on mine. "That's not an appropriate goodbye. Someone recently told me that the rules of dating dictate that you kiss a girl at the end of a date. And that the kiss should be longer on the second date than the first." "So what are you waiting for?" I ask, my heart pounding as I look in his eyes. His hand goes behind my neck as he lowers his mouth over mine and kisses me with an unbearable softness in which
his lips lightly brush against mine. His delicate touch makes every nerve ending on my lips stand at attention, wanting more, waiting for it. He presses a little harder but it's slow, deliberate. He knows what he's doing. He's an expert at this. When I told him he needed to work on his kissing, it was a flat-out lie and he knows exactly why I said it. I was practically begging him to kiss me again, which was embarrassing but I didn't care. That kiss we had earlier was so mind-blowingly perfect that I had to do it again to make sure it was real. And now that I'm feeling his lips on mine again, it's confirmed. It's definitely real. He's either the best kisser on the planet,
or he and I are made for each other when it comes to this. Minutes pass and I know I should go upstairs but I can't seem to pull away, so we just keep going, standing here in the lobby, although I'm finding it hard to stand. My limbs feel all wobbly like I'm drunk, but I'm not. It's just him, and what he does to me with just a simple kiss. His hand creeps under my coat, sliding up my ribcage. My muscles tighten in anticipation, but then he stops, and his hand slides back down to my waist. Why did he stop? I wanted him to keep going. I needed him to. I haven't been touched there, or anywhere, for almost a year. "Jake," I whisper in between kisses.
I'm about to tell him to continue doing what he was doing but then he slowly backs away. "Goodnight, Ivy." He lets me go, then turns and walks to the door. "Goodnight," I say as he leaves. When I get up to my apartment, my phone rings. It's my sister. "Hi, Liza. You just get off work?" "Yeah. So tell me about your date!" She yells it into the phone. She's way too excited about this. She's been telling me to go on a date ever since I broke up with Ryker, saying I needed to get back on the horse, but neither one of us expected that horse to be Jake. I don't need that kind of horse. Jake's a wild stallion. I need a calm steady horse who
prefers to stay in the stable, not run loose, looking for his next conquest. "How'd you know I went out tonight?" "Dad told me." "Oh, great. So now you and Dad are talking about my dating life?" "He asked me what I knew about Jake. He wanted to know what I thought of him. You know how Dad worries. He thinks every guy we date is a serial killer." "Or trying to steal our virginity." She laughs. "Oh my God. He doesn't seriously think we're still virgins, does he?" "I think he does," I say, laughing. "You used to live with a guy. In a one
bedroom apartment." "And I told Dad he slept on the couch." She laughs again. "He is in serious denial. Anyway, tell me about your date." "Jake took me to a really nice restaurant downtown. We had drinks, dinner, dessert. We were there for over two hours." "Two hours for dinner? It must've been going well. Did you have stuff to talk about for all that time?" "Yeah. We talked a lot about work but other stuff too. It turned out to be a good date." "And that surprises you?" "Well, yeah. I mean this is Jake
Wheeler. I assumed he'd spend all night staring at my breasts and giving me cheesy pick up lines trying to get me to sleep with him." "But he didn't?" "No. Well, he glanced at my breasts a few times but he's a guy, so that comes with the territory. But he didn't stare at them all night and he didn't try to sleep with me. After dinner, he took me back here, we kissed goodnight in the lobby, and he left." "You kissed him?" she squeals. "You kissed Jake Wheeler?" "Okay, calm down. It wasn't a big deal. It was just a kiss. That's what people do at the end of a date." "Yeah, but you were so adamant
about not letting him near you that I can't believe you let him kiss you." "I never said he couldn't kiss me. I said no sex. I didn't ban kissing." "Huh." She uses that tone she gets when she thinks I'm hiding something. But I'm not hiding anything. I told her the truth. Jake and I kissed. I just left out the details about it being the best kiss I've ever had, and that it wasn't just one kiss, but several minutes of deep, passionate, uninterrupted kisses in which our lips only parted long enough to take a breath. But Liza doesn't need all those details. "So you really like this guy," she says with a smile in her voice. "I was able to tolerate him for an
evening. I'd hardly call that liking a guy." "I'm your sister. I can tell when you're lying. You like Jake, more than you're willing to admit, even to yourself. And he obviously likes you." "Why do you say that?" "Because the guy never dates a girl more than once. And he's already been out with you twice." "Only because he's waiting for me to say yes to having sex with him. If I did it with him, it'd be over. I'd never see him again." "So I guess the way to winning Jake's heart is to keep telling him no. That way, you'll keep going out and getting to know each other and maybe you two will end up together."
"That's not gonna happen. Jake's not going to suddenly become a different person because I refuse to have sex with him. Eventually he'll get tired of waiting and go find someone else." "You never know. Sometimes people surprise you." "Well, don't get your hopes up. Besides, I'm not looking for a boyfriend, and if I was, it wouldn't be Jake." "Jake's a nice guy. He just isn't ready to settle down. There's nothing wrong with that. It doesn't mean he's a bad person." "He uses women for sex. And you don't see a problem with that?" "The women are using him too. Do you know how many girls I've overheard
talking about him at Hoedowns, saying they only want him for a night so they can say they've had sex with Jake Wheeler? These girls know what they're getting into when they go out with Jake. He doesn't lie to get them in bed. He doesn't have to." "Which is just another reason why he's not boyfriend material." "When I saw you two at Hoedowns, Jake couldn't take his eyes off you. He didn't even look at the other girls. That has to mean something, Ivy." "It means he was working really hard to impress me so he could get what he wants later." She sighs. "You're going to end up an old maid, you know that?"
"I'm only 23. I have a long ways to go before that happens." "So are you and Jake going out this weekend?" "Yeah. And tomorrow he's picking me up and we're going over to the house so he can look at the bathroom. He's going to help me remodel it." "Wait—what? Hold on. You're letting Dad meet him? Already? Are you crazy?" "It's not like that. He's only going there to take measurements. I'm not taking him there to introduce him to Dad. And besides, Dad already knows him, or at least knows who he is because of his dad. He's worked with Mitch Wheeler before. It's been a while, but still."
"And Jake wants to fix our bathroom? How much are we paying him?" "We're not. He's doing it for free. I'm going to help, but I'm sure he'll end up doing most of the work." She's quiet and then, "Ivy, I think this guy might be in love with you." I burst out laughing. "Yeah, that's hilarious. Offering to help me remodel the bathroom means he's in love with me? You're such a hopeless romantic. You read too many romance books." "Okay, maybe he's not in love, but he definitely likes you a lot. He's had a crush on you for months. The way you ignored him all those months, you'd think he would've given up on you, but he didn't. And now, he's gone out with you
two nights in a row and you're going out again tomorrow, and this weekend. And his offer to help with the bathroom? He's doing it so he can spend more time with you. Ivy, this guy is serious. He really wants this to go somewhere." "You're reading too much into it. It's not serious. We'll go out a few times and that'll be it. I am not going to be Jake Wheeler's girlfriend." "Okay, but I think you're making a mistake." "Good to know," I say sarcastically. She laughs. "Fine. So you won't be his girlfriend, but at least take this advice. Right before you dump him, have sex with him. I've heard sex with Jake Wheeler is the best you'll ever have. You
don't want to pass up that opportunity." "You mean the opportunity to get an STD? I don't think so." "If anyone was going to give you an STD, it would've been Ryker." She pauses. "He didn't, did he?" "No! Gross. Geez, this conversation has headed down a path I'm choosing not to go down. I have to get to bed. I'll call you tomorrow." "Yeah, goodnight. Sweet dreams," she giggles, "which they will be if Jake is in them." I roll my eyes. "Goodnight, Liza." I'm not ready for bed, so I take a shower instead. As I close my eyes and stand under the hot water, I keep imagining Jake in here with me, his big
strong hands sliding over my wet body. It's infuriating the way he gets in my head like this. I told myself I wouldn't do this. That this thing with Jake wouldn't be about sex or anything even close to that. I'm done dating players. I'm supposed to be convincing Jake to lose interest in me. I'm supposed to be proving he's nothing more than a guy who uses women for his physical pleasure then tosses them aside. So why am I not sticking to the plan? I'm only a few days into this and my plan is already falling apart. So now what do I do?
CHAPTER ELEVEN Ivy The next day at work, I put all my energy into the detailed carvings I'm doing on the mantel. It's a scrolling design that looks kind of medieval. It's really cool and I'm beyond thrilled that Nash assigned me to do it. This is my
favorite type of carpentry work. The intricate work. The fine details. A lot of carpenters find it boring or tedious, but I love it. "How's it going?" I turn back and see Nick at the door. "Good." I focus back on the mantel, hoping that ignoring him will make him go away. "That's a lot of detail work," he says, his voice now right behind me. "Yeah. It is," I say. "But I like detail work." "You should come work for me and my dad. We could use someone like you." "I'm pretty sure your dad wouldn't hire me."
"Why wouldn't he?" Because your dad's a sexist pig, just like you. That's what I want to say, but instead I turn to him and say, "I don't know. Never mind." "I could convince him to hire you. We'd make a great team, Ivy." He smiles and runs his hand down my arm. I yank it away from him. "I'm not interested," I say, hoping he gets that I'm not just referring to the job offer. He huffs and crosses his arms over his chest. "What else are you going to do for a job? No one's gonna hire a girl in this business. It's almost a hundred percent male." I glare at him. "Then why would YOU hire me?"
He gives me a smug grin. "I already told you. We could use your skills." "That's it? You only want me for my skills?" I'm holding a sharp chisel in my hand and I swear if he touches me again, this chisel's going to be wedged in his arm. "Just think about it," he says, then walks away. I can't stand Nick. Why is he suddenly so interested in me? He used to just leer at me from afar. Now he's up in my face. Touching me. Almost threatening me. Later that morning, I bring a bag of trash out to the lobby of the library. We always leave them there, then when they start piling up, someone takes all of them
out to the dumpster. "It's your turn," I hear Nick say. I whip around and see him sitting at one of the library tables, along with four other guys on the crew. I check my watch and see it's just after ten, which is when they take their break. "My turn to what?" I ask. "Dump the garbage," he says, smirking at me. I never dump the garbage. The bags are heavy and I'm too short to toss them into the dumpster. I'd probably break my shoulder trying to hoist them up enough to get them in there. "Whatever," I say, walking away. Nick is just being a jerk, as usual. "Ivy." I hear Darren's voice this time.
"What?" I turn around and see all the guys watching me. "You need to dump the garbage." He points to it. "It's piling up." I sigh. "And why can't YOU do it?" "I did it yesterday." "And I did it the day before," Nick says. "Everyone here has dumped the garbage except you. It doesn't seem fair, does it?" "I've worked here for months, and now you're getting on my case about this?" I know Nick put the other guys up to this. None of them care who dumps the garbage. "Are you saying you want to be treated differently because you're a girl?" Nick smirks again.
I look over at the pile of garbage bags. There are at least twelve of them there, and I'm sure they're all heavy. "Fine." I storm over to the bags and grab two of them, dragging them out the front door. I hear the guys mumbling to each other, followed by Nick's annoying laugh. When I get to the dumpster, I try flinging one of the bags into it, but I don't get it high enough and it falls back to the ground, tearing open on one side. "Shit." I pick it up and take a few steps back and swing it for momentum, then fling it again. It goes in but now my shoulder hurts. "What are you doing?" I hear a guy say. I turn and see Nash there. He has his
coat on and his keys in his hand. He must've been going to his truck but then saw me here. "I'm just taking out the garbage." "Why are you doing it? The guys should be doing that." "It's part of the job. We take turns." "Since when? I never made any rule about taking turns." He picks up the other bag, the heavier one, and tosses it in the dumpster without any effort at all. "I know, but it looks bad when everyone does it but me." "Looks bad to who?" "The other guys." "I don't give a shit. I can't have my best carpenter getting hurt dumping the freaking garbage."
Best carpenter? I can't help but smile at that. "Get inside," he says. "I'll find someone else to do the garbage." "Nash, you don't understand. If I don't do this, I lose respect from the guys." "If they don't respect you for your work and your talent, then they'll never respect you, no matter how many times you do the garbage. Come on." He motions me to follow him and we go back inside. The guys are still sitting at the table. "Nick," Nash says, "I need you to take out the trash." "Ivy's doing it," he says, a smug grin on his face. Nash goes up to Nick, leaning toward
him and slamming his palms on the table. "Do I need to repeat myself?" Nick rolls his eyes. "No." "Good." Nash stands up straight again. "Break is over. Everyone back to work." The guys are pissed, especially Nick, but what was I going to do? Nash just took over. And there was no way I could get all those garbage bags in the dumpster. I return to the reading room and get back to work on the mantel. I close the door so I'll hear if Nick comes in, but luckily, he doesn't. Around noon, I hear the door click open. "Ivy." It's Callie. She's walking in
with some girl. "This is my friend, Jen," Callie says, as a petite girl with long dark blond hair comes up to me. "Hi," I say, shaking her hand. "I'm Ivy. I think Jake mentioned you. He said you're kind of like his sister?" She smiles. "Yeah. That's me. Nice to meet you." "Jen and I are going to lunch," Callie says. "We wanted to know if you'd like to come with us. Nash said you could take an hour lunch today if you want." I'm not that hungry after the shitty morning I had, but going out for lunch is a good idea. I can't concentrate on work right now and I could use a break from this place. "Okay," I say. "Just let me put my
tools away." I always lock up my tools when I'm not here. They're expensive tools and I don't trust the guys not to steal them, specifically Nick, who would do it just to get back at me for not going along with his advances. "Your work is incredible," Jen says as I'm putting my tools away. "Thanks, but I haven't really done much yet. I just started on the mantel." "I showed her that picture you did," Callie says. "That was really amazing, Ivy. How did you learn to do that?" "My dad taught me. And I practiced a lot when I was in high school instead of doing my homework." I laugh. "I wasn't the best student, academically speaking."
"Well, you're definitely talented," Jen says. "Ready to go?" Callie asks as I lock my toolbox. "Yeah, I'm ready." I grab my wallet and we go out to Callie's car. "There's this deli that just opened a few miles from here," Callie says as we're driving. "You guys want to try it?" "Sure," Jen and I say at the same time. Jen laughs. "I always do that. I say stuff at the same time someone else says it." "Especially with Bryce," Callie says. "You two always do that. It's like you can read his mind." "I wish," Jen says under her breath.
She's sitting up front with Callie. Callie glances over at her but doesn't say anything. Jake told me Bryce has a huge crush on Jen but refuses to make a move. From her reaction just now, I think Jen wants him to, and is frustrated that he hasn't. I don't know Bryce that well. I met him at the opening event for the Victorian and he seemed nice but we only talked for a few minutes. He's covered in tattoos and wears his hair really short. He's tall and muscular like his brothers. He must look like a giant next to Jen. She's tiny, even smaller than Callie. She can't be more than 5'2 and Bryce is at least 6'3. Jake is 6'4. Big. Tall. All muscle. He could easily toss me over his shoulder, then
haul me to his bedroom and— "You coming?" Callie is standing outside, holding my door open. "Yeah. Sorry. I guess I was lost in thought." Naughty thoughts that I shouldn't be having about your boyfriend's brother, especially since I'm committed to never having sex with him. We go inside the restaurant. It's a big open space with people bustling about and workers calling out names for people whose orders are up. The menu is written on a giant chalkboard behind the register. We place our orders then find a table to sit at. "This place is kind of loud," Callie says, "but I like it. It has character with the exposed pipes and beams. It used to
be an old wool factory but they converted it to retail." "Kind of like that building Jake might be renovating. He had a meeting about it yesterday. He told me about it last night." Callie and Jen both stare at me, not saying anything. "Was that a secret? About the building?" "It's not a secret," Callie says. "Nash told me about it. I just didn't know you were with Jake last night." "We went out for dinner. He said he had to make up for taking me to Rodeo Freddy's the night before." Callie smiles. "Yeah, they aren't known for their food. But the dancing was fun." She looks at Jen. "Nash and I went with them."
"You're dating Jake?" Jen asks me. "Um, yeah. I guess we are." It sounds odd to admit that out loud. I keep telling myself we're just friends hanging out, but friends don't passionately kiss to the point that they lose all sense of time and place, which is what happened last night. "Wow. Jake has a girlfriend. That's big news." She swats Callie's arm. "Why didn't you tell me this?" "It just happened. They've only been on two dates." Two dates. That's all Jake and I have been on and yet it seems like more than that. I've fallen way too hard for him in just two dates. I even felt a tiny flutter of excitement when Jen called me Jake's
girlfriend. That's bad. Really bad. Callie jumps up from the table. "They just called out our order. I'll go get it." "I'll help," Jen says. "Ivy, can you watch our stuff?" "Yeah, got it." They return to the table with our sandwiches, which are huge. I normally don't eat this much for lunch. "There must be over a half pound of turkey on here," Callie says. "I'm going to bring some of this back to Nash." "That's the good thing about the Wheeler boys," Jen says to me. "They're like human garbage disposals. Just give them your leftover food and they'll make it disappear." "So true," Callie says. "I've never
seen anyone eat as much as they do. They could win one of those eating contests." Jen's phone rings and she answers it. "Hey." She nods. "Yeah, at seven. See you then." She sets her phone down. "Was that Zach?" Callie asks. "Yeah. He was just making sure we're still on for tonight." "Zach is her boyfriend," Callie says to me. "They've been dating for a month." "I met him at school," Jen says. "He's a senior, like me." She doesn't sound very enthusiastic about him. "What are you guys doing tonight?" "I have to do homework," Callie says. "After that, I'll collapse on the
couch with Nash and watch TV." I'm jealous. That's what I want. A guy who loves me who I can go home to after a long day at work and snuggle on the couch with and watch TV. "How about you, Ivy?" Jen asks. "I'm going to my dad's house." I clear my throat. "With Jake." Callie and Jen look at each other, then back at me. "Jake's meeting your dad?" Callie asks, trying to hide the shock in her voice. But I can see it on her face. I know what she's thinking. Meeting the parents? That's serious, but it's not like that. I need to make that clear. "Jake is just going there to measure the bathroom. He's helping me remodel
it. I told him he didn't need to, but he really wanted to help, and honestly, I could use the help. I can't do it on my own and I can't afford to hire someone." "If you need more help, I know Nash would volunteer," Callie says. "So would Bryce and Austin," Jen says. "Jake said he was going to ask them to help, but I hate to take up their time like that." "They don't mind," Jen says. "If there's a job to be done, they all pitch in and help. That's just how they are. They've always been that way." "And then Jen and I show up at the job site and feed them," Callie says, twisting the cap off her bottle of soda.
"Callie's a really good cook," Jen says. "The guys love it when she cooks for them." I smile at her. "I didn't know you cooked." "I'm not that great. I'm still learning. I watch a lot of cooking shows." She pauses, her sandwich in her hand. "Jake likes to cook too. Maybe he'll make you dinner sometime." She has this sly grin on her face like she really hopes this will work out. It won't, but I'm not going to burst her bubble. Jen's phone rings again. "Sorry, but I have to get this." She answers it. "Hi, Mitch. I talked to a guy at the garage and he said I could pick it up around five." She listens, a smile creeping up her
cheeks, but then she sees us watching her and quickly hides her smile. "Okay. Thanks for letting me know. Bye." "What's going on?" Callie asks. "Mitch can't take me to pick up my car tonight at the shop so Bryce is going to do it." She almost smiles again but then stops herself. "That's good," Callie says, trying to be nonchalant about it, but she's got that sly grin again. "You two should go out for dinner after you get your car." "I can't. I'm having dinner with Zach tonight." "That's right. I forgot." "I need to use the restroom. I'll be right back." When she's gone, Callie says, "Those
two drive me crazy. They're totally made for each other but neither one of them will make a move. Nash and I keep telling Bryce to do something, at least tell her how he feels, but he refuses to do it. He thinks dating her will ruin their friendship, but they don't really have a friendship anymore because he keeps avoiding her." "So Jen wants to go out with him?" "She used to, but now she's given up on him. She's been waiting for him to do something for years and he hasn't. So she's moving on, dating other guys." She takes a drink of her soda. "It's really too bad when your perfect match is right in front of you and you can't even see it, or worse, that you refuse to do anything
about it because you're too afraid to." She checks her phone and smiles. "Text from Nash. He wants to know if I'm bringing him my leftovers. He knows I never finish my meal." She texts him back. Jen returns to the table and we finish our lunch. I like these two a lot. We're going to have to have lunch again, or go to a movie, or a bar for drinks. I haven't had a girls' night out in a long time. Before we leave, we all check our phones. A group of eight girls sits down next to us and they're really loud. They all have matching sweatshirts with Greek letters from whatever sorority they belong to. "Check this out," one of them says,
holding out her phone for all of them to see. "Even his apartment is hot. It's so masculine." She smiles. "All man. Just like him." "Did you get a photo of him?" the girl next to her asks. "He wouldn't let me." She sets her phone down. "He said he doesn't like having his photo taken. But I don't need a photo. I had the real thing." She picks up her iced coffee and wraps her lips around the straw, moving it up and down, suggestively, then says, "Girls, you have not had sex until you've had sex with Jake Wheeler." I freeze, and my phone falls from my hand, hitting the table. Callie and Jen both look at me. They obviously heard
the conversation. Jen is frowning and Callie looks panicked. She grabs her purse and shoves her phone in it. "We should go. It's already —" "Wait." I hold up my hand, quieting her as the girls talk again. "When did this happen?" one of the girls asks Straw Girl. That's what I'm calling her now because of the way she sucked on that straw. "Last Saturday," she says. "After the house party, Kylie and I went barhopping and found Jake at the last bar we stopped at. His brother, Bryce, was there too, but Kylie wanted him." She winks at the girl next to her, who I assume is Kylie.
"You know how I love a guy covered in tats," Kylie says. "Let's go," I hear Callie say. But Jen and I don't move. Jen's chewing her lip, staring down at the table, probably imagining Bryce with Kylie the way I'm imagining Jake with Straw Girl. "Did you get with Bryce?" one of the girls asks Kylie. "I tried, but he said he had to be at work early. But we had a heavy makeout session in the parking lot. And shit, that boy knows what he's doing." "All the Wheeler boys do," the girl next to her says. "I made out with Nash at a party last April and yeah," she smiles, "that boy had skills." She swipes
through her phone. "Wonder what he's doing now? I should give him a call." Callie bursts from her seat, her face red like she's about to explode. Jen grabs Callie's wrist, stopping her. "It was before he met you," she says quietly. She lets go of Callie and puts her coat on. "Let's get out of here. I can't listen to this anymore." We get up to leave, and as we're walking out, Callie turns back and gives the death stare to the girl who made out with Nash. I want to do the same to Straw Girl. Even though it was before my date with Jake, I still feel sick knowing he had sex with that girl just last weekend. And then asked me out just few days later. Did he forget about her
that fast? Obviously he did, and he was ready to move on to the next girl, which is me. Well, he can forget it. I am NOT going to be just another one of the women he uses and tosses aside. All the rumors about him were true. I didn't want to believe them. I wanted to think he was different than that. He seemed different on our dates. But he's not. He's just like I thought. He's a player, and I'm not going to be on his roster of random hookups.
CHAPTER TWELVE Jake I'm standing at the entrance to Ivy's apartment building waiting for her to buzz me in. I hope she's home and not still at work. I called her this afternoon just to check in but she didn't answer her phone. And when I sent her a text, she
texted back that she was busy and couldn't talk. So then I called Nash to see what the hell he's making her do that has her so busy she can't answer her phone. But Nash was in meetings all afternoon with the library restoration board so I wasn't able to talk to him. I call her again, but then hear the door buzz open. When I get up to her apartment, she's waiting at the door with her coat on. "I'm ready." She attempts to go around me but I block her. "Are you going to say hello first?" She exhales a breath, forcefully, like she's angry about something. "Hi." She doesn't look at me as she says it.
"What's going on?" "Nothing." Nothing. Any guy who knows anything about women knows 'nothing' is girl-speak for 'everything' and means she's seriously pissed. "Did you have a bad day at work?" "Work was fine. Now can we go?" "We're not leaving until you tell me what's wrong. Let's go inside." "Jake, I'm serious. We need to go. I told my dad we'd be there soon." "Then call your dad and tell him we'll be late because I need to know what's going on with you." She stands there, forcefully exhaling again. "Would you stop doing that?"
"Doing what?" she snaps. "Those huffing sounds. You sound like a damn charging bull. You're obviously pissed, so what about?" When she doesn't answer, I take her hand and pull her into the apartment and close the door. "What happened?" She yanks her hand from mine. "I told you. Nothing happened." "Which is code for something DID happen." "Can't I just be in a bad mood? Or is that not allowed?" "Just tell me what happened." I reach for her but she backs away. "So this is about me." I look directly at her. "What did I do?"
"You didn't do anything. It's just...you're just...you." She turns and walks away from me. "What's that supposed to mean? You're pissed at me for being me?" She doesn't respond so I walk over to her and face her. "Explain this to me." "There's nothing to explain. You are who you are, and I knew that and...there's nothing more to say." "Is this about last night? You're mad about the hostess? Because I already apologized for that and I'll apologize again. I'm sorry. I didn't know she'd be there." Ivy finally looks at me, but it's a glare. "This isn't just about the hostess. And for the record, you didn't apologize
last night." I didn't? I thought I did. "If this isn't about the hostess, then what is it about?" She gets her phone out and texts someone, I'm guessing her dad to tell him we'll be late. I watch her, my eyes on her face. Her silky dark hair is down around her shoulders. Her makeup is soft, natural, complimenting her olive skin. Her full, pink lips are slightly parted, and I'm tempted to say to hell with this cryptic conversation and just kiss her. But I know that wouldn't end well. She wants nothing to do with me right now. She slips her phone back in her pocket. "I'll just go to my dad's house
alone. You don't need to come. Just forget about the bathroom." "Ivy. Stop it." I grasp her hands, holding them tightly so she can't yank them away. "I asked you to be honest with me, even if I won't like what you're going to tell me. So just say it. What did I do?" "You slept with a girl," she says, her eyes fixed on mine. I slept with a girl? Is she kidding? That's what she's mad about? I've slept with tons of girls, and she knows this. This isn't a secret. "That's why you're angry? Because I had sex? Ivy, you know I—" "Yeah. I know. I don't need you to explain. You're Jake Wheeler and you
sleep with a different girl every night. In fact, I sat next to one of them at lunch today. I overheard her talking. She told all her friends about you. She said she had sex with you." "Maybe she was lying. People lie all the time." "She had photos of your apartment. She showed them to her friends. So your one-night stand has seen your apartment, but not me. Do you only take girls you sleep with there?" I don't remember a girl taking pictures of my apartment. I don't know who she's talking about. "You can come to my apartment whenever you want," I say. "We can go there right now. And as for this girl,
she's probably someone I was with years ago." "It was last weekend." Last weekend I was with two girls. Shit, that's bad. I didn't think it was at the time, but now I do. "What was her name?" I cringe as I say it, wishing I hadn't. "You don't even know her name?" Ivy huffs out another breath. I sigh. "What do you want me to do? I can't go back and redo last weekend. And it happened before I started going out with you, so why are you so angry with me?" "You're right. I shouldn't be angry." She says that, but still sounds furious. "I knew you were a player even before I
met you, so this isn't a surprise. But I don't date players. Not anymore. I've been there. Done that. And I'm not doing it again." "So that's it? We had two great dates and now you're done with me? You won't even give me a chance?" "A chance to what? See how fast you can get in my pants? No. Forget it. I'm not one of those girls, but there are plenty of them out there, so you can have your pick." I gently squeeze her hands, which I'm still holding, and look her in the eye. "I don't want those other girls. I want you. I want to keep dating you. I want to see where this could go. I understand why you have doubts about me, but I'm asking
you to give me a chance. People can change." "You're not going to change. Why would you? You can have any girl you want. A different one every night. It's every guy's dream." "That's not what I want. Not anymore." "Why? What's changed?" "You." I blurt it out, but then regret it because it's more truthful than I wanted to be, and now I feel vulnerable, which is not a feeling I'm comfortable with. But I said it and I can't take it back so I might as well keep going and lay it all out there. "I like you, Ivy. I have for a long time. And I think we both know there's something between us. Something that's
worth a hell of a lot more than one night." She doesn't respond, but just gazes down at the floor. "What are you afraid of, Ivy? That I'll cheat on you? Because I can tell you right now, that's not gonna happen. If I'm with you, it'll only be you. No one else. I promise." Her eyes dart up. "How can you say that? You have no idea what will happen. You've never dated someone before. After a week or two, you'll get tired of me and want someone new. Or some girl will come up to you at a bar and you won't be able to turn her down." "Do you really think I'd do that? Especially to someone I care about as
much as I care about you?" She gazes at the floor again. "You don't even know me." "You sure about that?" I lift her chin up and wait for her to look at me. "I know you like two creams and one sugar in your coffee. I know chocolatesprinkled donuts are your favorite. I know you won't eat anything with mayonnaise. I know you secretly like Neal Diamond songs and that you hum Sweet Caroline when you're sharpening your tools." "What? I don't—" "Yeah. You do. I've heard you humming it. I don't think you even know you're doing it. But I do. I also know that you're the best damn carpenter I've ever
met. That you're dedicated to your craft, always wanting to learn more and get better. That you love what you do, but that you're frustrated and angry that you have to work a hundred times harder than any guy just to prove yourself, even though it's clear to everyone that you're better than they are." I could go on all night, but I stop because I think she's got the point. "How do you know all that?" she asks, her tone now soft, the anger gone. "We didn't talk much when you were my boss." "We didn't have to. I saw you every day. I listened to you. I paid attention. You can learn a lot about a person without talking."
Her gaze lowers again. "I still can't date you, Jake." "Why? Because you don't like me? Or because you don't trust me?" "The last one." "Then let me earn it. Let me earn your trust. Let me prove to you that you can trust me." "That'll take time. I'm not going to trust you overnight." "We have time. I'm not going anywhere." I pause. "So will you go out with me?" She hesitates. "I don't know." "You said you liked me. And it's generally best to date people you like." She smiles for the first time tonight. "I never actually came out and said I
liked you." "It was implied. So what do you say?" She doesn't answer. I lean over and put my lips to her ear. "According to you, I still have to improve my skills in the art of kissing. So even if you say no to dating me, I'll still be kissing you. Until I get to that level I told you about last night." I skim my lips down her neck and hear her say in a breathy voice, "Maybe you should practice right now." I smile to myself, then move my mouth back to hers and kiss her. A deep, intense, all-consuming kiss that tells her I want this. I want her. I want to at least try to make this work. I want to prove to
her that I'm not the old Jake. That I can be in a relationship and be faithful to her. "Jake," she whispers after we've been kissing for several minutes. "We really need to go." "Only if we can continue this later." "Deal. But just this. Nothing else." I kiss her again. "Just this. That's all we'll do." She laughs because I keep kissing her. "Jake, come on. Let's go." We leave and go to her dad's house. It's a small house in an older neighborhood. My dad did some repairs on houses around here a few years ago. I helped him on one of them. "Dad, we're here," Ivy yells as we go
in the door. "In the kitchen," he yells back. I follow her past the small living room into the eat-in kitchen. It could use a remodel as well. The tile backsplash has some cracks and the linoleum floor is old and dated and dented in a few places. Ivy's dad is standing at the sink, drying his hands on a towel. He's average height, thin, with fair skin and blond hair that matches Liza's. It's clear Ivy was adopted. "Hey, Dad." Ivy gives him a quick hug. "Hi, honey." He puts his eyes on me as they hug, and keeps them there as he lets her go. "You must be Jake." He
extends his hand. "Steve Nikols." I shake his hand. "Jake Wheeler. Nice to meet you." "I know your father. We did a few projects together back in the day. Mostly home remodels. I hear he isn't doing those anymore." "He still does them, but not as many. We've shifted the company's focus more to commercial remodels and restoring historic buildings. That doesn't leave us much time to work on private homes, but we still take those jobs when we can. In fact, my brother's working on one right now. I'm going to help him with it this weekend." "I'm going with him," Ivy says. "I'm going to learn how to lay tile so I can
help with the bathroom." "About that," Steve says. "You need to let me pay you something, Jake. I can't let you do that for free." "Don't worry about it. You're actually helping me out. I haven't done a bathroom remodel for a while. This will help keep my skills up." "Jake does a lot of the sales calls now," Ivy says. "He doesn't do as much construction as he used to." "You miss it?" Steve asks. "Yeah, I do. But I also like the sales side of things, so I try to do a little of both." Ivy motions to the hall behind us. "Dad, Jake needs to go take some measurements of the bathroom."
Steve smiles at her. "You could at least let me talk to him for a minute. You didn't even offer him a drink." Ivy gives him an annoyed stare. She didn't want me meeting her dad, and now that I'm here, he's going to question me and make sure I'm good enough for his daughter. That's another reason I never dated. I didn't want to deal with the protective father thing. I totally get it. I just didn't want to deal with it. But meeting Steve doesn't bother me. He seems like a good guy, and I'm not worried about him questioning me. Ivy sighs. "Would you like something to drink, Jake?" "I would," I say, smiling at her. "I'll take a pop if you have it. Any kind."
She walks over to the fridge while her dad and I take a seat at the kitchen table. "So tell me about yourself, Jake," her dad says. Ivy sighs again as she sets down my can of pop and slumps into the chair next to mine. She's hating this, which makes me want to laugh. I get the feeling she doesn't usually bring guys home to meet her dad. Steve asks me tons of questions and I answer them, calm and relaxed, taking my time. Then we get on the topic of football and soon we're comparing players, listing out stats, making predictions for next season. We talk for almost an hour and Ivy is bored out of
her mind. "I'm just gonna go watch TV," she says, getting up from the table. "I can't take this anymore." I chuckle. "Sorry. If you get me started on football, sometimes I can't stop." "I'm the same way," Steve says. "Although Ivy and Liza never want to talk about it with me." "I talk about it," Ivy insists, "but not for hours like you two do." I stand up. "I should get those measurements. Oh, and I also need to know what you're thinking in terms of what you want done in there." "I'm not really sure," Steve says. "Ivy kind of surprised me with this and I
haven't had time to give it much thought." "I can offer up some ideas once I check it out." "That'd be great. Thanks." "No problem." "It's right down the hall." Steve gets up and walks in front of Ivy and me. His back must hurt because he's walking really slow, hunched over, and putting more weight on his right side. I glance at Ivy. She's watching her dad with concern on her face. It's the same look I get whenever my dad gets sick, or hurt on the job. I always think something's going to happen to him to take him away from us, just like my mom was. I can see Ivy has that same fear about her dad. Ivy and I both lost our
moms way too soon, and after that happens, you always worry you'll lose your other parent too. I take her hand and gently rub it. She looks over at me and forces out a smile and when our eyes meet, I can tell she knows what I'm thinking. That we have this in common and I know how she feels. I understand. Sometimes a look or a touch can say more than hundreds of words. "So this is it," Steve says. "As you can see, it's small so you can't do a whole lot." He's right. It's really small, but I've worked with small spaces before. "So Ivy said we'd be replacing the tub with a walk-in shower," I say. "You
still good with that?" "Yes, I'd prefer a shower, but with my back, sometimes I need to sit down." "They have showers with built-in seats. Would something like that work?" "Yes, that's a good idea. How much does something like that cost?" "It might not cost you anything. I've already got one in our storage warehouse that this lady decided she didn't want after she ordered it. I can send you a photo and if you like it, you can have it. Let me just measure to make sure it'll fit." I get my pad of paper out and a pen and hand it to Ivy. "Can you write it down?" "Sure." She's smiling at me, so I smile back. I don't know want she's
smiling about, but after the argument we had earlier, I'll take it. I'd much rather see her smile than have her angry with me. I take measurements of the entire bathroom, then assess the space again, trying to come up with a plan. "I got some ideas," I say to Steve. "Should we sit down and go over them?" He agrees, and the three of us go sit in the living room. I lay out my plan for what we should do, which includes replacing the vanity and mirror, which are really old, and installing a cabinet above the toilet to add storage because right now, they have almost none. "Sounds perfect," Steve says when I'm done. "You sure you want to do all
that?" "I'm happy to. And I'm making my brothers help, so we should be able to get this done in a weekend." "Jake, I don't want to take up their time," he says. "It's bad enough I'm taking up yours." "They won't mind. We like working together on projects like this. But I need to check their schedules. It may be a few weeks before we do this." "There's no rush," he says. "Any estimate on the cost of materials?" "I've got it covered. Like I said, we have a warehouse full of leftover materials so I'll take what I can from that." "I'll pay him for the rest," Ivy says to
her dad. I'm about to tell her she doesn't have to, but she gives me a look to keep quiet about it, so instead I just say, "It shouldn't be much." "Thanks for doing this," Steve says, "and coming over here tonight." He checks the clock. "I didn't realize it was so late. You haven't even had dinner. How about I take you two out somewhere?" Ivy sits up straighter. "Oh, um, you don't need to, Dad. I'm sure Jake has things to do." "I'm free for dinner," I say, smiling at her. "Good." Steve stands up. "Then let's go. We'll go to the pizza place Ivy used
to like when she was a kid." "I'd love to hear what Ivy was like as a kid." I wink at her. "I've got some good stories," Steve says. "I'll tell you a few as we eat." "Dad. Please don't," Ivy says. "Jake doesn't want to hear those." "I just said I did." I keep smiling at her because she's cute when she's annoyed. We all go out to the car. Ivy's just shaking her head. Going to dinner with her dad? It's the last thing she wanted to do. But I like her dad, so why not have dinner with him? If we don't, the guy will be stuck eating alone. And getting on the good side of her dad may help me win Ivy over. I could use all the help I
could get. Ivy isn't making this easy. I thought it'd be difficult to get her to go out with me, but it turns out that wasn't the hard part. The hard part is convincing her to keep going out with me. It's already proven to be difficult, and I have a feeling it'll only get harder.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN Ivy Jake and I just got back from having dinner with my dad. It's now ten o'clock. We spent a couple hours at the pizza place because the two of them wouldn't stop talking. Who knew my dad would like Jake
so much? He never likes anyone I date. Even the guy I went out with my junior year of high school just to please my dad. He kept saying I was going out with boys who were nothing but trouble— which I admit was true—so I went on a date with this smart, studious guy who'd never even kissed a girl, and my dad still didn't like him. But wild, ladiesman Jake, he likes. Go figure. "That seemed to go well," Jake says as he stands in my lobby. Maybe I should invite him up to my apartment. Standing in the lobby feels weird. Like people are watching us. No one's here, but there are security cameras everywhere. "Yeah, my dad really likes you. But
I'm sure it's only because you're remodeling his bathroom." I smile. "You think so? And here I thought he really did like me." "He does. I'm kidding." I glance at the elevator. "You want to go upstairs?" He pauses, then shakes his head. "I can't stay." "Oh. Okay. Then I guess I'll see you on Saturday." Today is Thursday but I didn't want to assume Jake would take me out tomorrow night too. "What about tomorrow?" he asks. "What about it?" "It's Friday night. That's date night. I need a date. And since we're dating, that means you're my date."
"I guess that's true. All right. See you tomorrow." I reach up and kiss his cheek. "Goodnight." "Now who's the bad kisser?" He grasps me around the waist and yanks me into him. "Try again." He leans down and I put my lips to his and kiss him. He kisses me back, but then lets me take the lead again. And we keep taking turns until our kisses become continuous, seamless, sheer perfection. The way all kisses should be, and yet I never knew a kiss could be like this until I kissed Jake. From here on out, I'll judge all other guys' kisses by Jake's and I'm sure that none of them will even come close to being as good as his. Because it's not just the kiss itself, the
way Jake's lips move over mine. It's also him, and whatever this is between us that seems to work so incredibly well. Why did this have to happen? Why did we have to be so damn compatible? His lips touch mine one last time before he slowly backs away. "Goodnight, Ivy." We're done? But I want to keep kissing him. "Goodnight," I say. He leaves and I get on the elevator, leaning back against the wall because my legs feel weak, probably because of the throbbing sensation between my thighs. Whenever he kisses me, or is even just near me, my body reacts. It wants him. My body wants Jake. Like
really, really wants him. But my head says no. Don't do it. I still don't trust him. I want to, but I don't. The next morning at work, Callie calls. "Hi. I just wanted to call quick to see how last night went." "It was good." I smile as I say it. "Good? I thought you broke up with him." After our lunch yesterday, I told Callie and Jen that I was done dating Jake. That he'd been with too many girls and I couldn't see a future with us. I told them this as the three of us sat in the car in the library parking lot, trying to calm down after hearing those sorority girls talking about our guys. Callie knows
Nash would never cheat on her so she calmed down pretty fast. Jen was mostly quiet. She's not dating Bryce, so she can't be mad at him for being with other girls, but she doesn't want to hear about it. As for me, I was going off on Jake, saying how he never should've asked me out just days after sleeping with some other girl. Jen and Callie both tried to convince me to give Jake a chance, but I wouldn't agree to it. I told them I was done with Jake. "I didn't break up with him," I say. "He came over last night and we talked it out." "Really? What did he say?" "That he wants to try being in a relationship. He said he wants to
change." "Wow. He really likes you." He really does. I wasn't sure before, but after our talk last night, I feel like he really does care about me and has for months. When he listed off all the things he knew about me, I got a little tearyeyed, which I never do. I didn't know he'd paid that much attention to me. And that comment he made about my work, and how important it is to me, and how angry it makes me that I get no credit because I'm a woman, shows how much Jake understands me. Even my dad doesn't know how much it bothers me that the guys at work don't respect me and what I do, because I don't tell my dad. I don't tell anyone. I always try to
hide how much it bothers me. But Jake knew without me even telling him. And then he said all that other stuff about wanting to be with me, and the way he said it was so sincere and so sweet that I couldn't be mad at him anymore. I was mad at the old Jake, the one who had sex with that sorority girl and couldn't even remember her name. But the Jake I was with last night was someone else. He's the Jake I want to go out with, at least for a little bit longer. "So did Jake go over and meet your dad?" Callie asks. "Yeah. They really hit it off. They wouldn't stop talking, and then my dad insisted on taking us to dinner, so we ended up spending the whole night with
my dad. But it was good for Jake and my dad to talk, and it's always good to get my dad out of the house." "How's he doing?" "I'm not sure. He won't tell me. Last night he was really hunched over and he was walking really slow so I know he was in pain." "It's too bad they can't do more for him." I glance out the door and see Nick walking by. "Callie, can we talk later? I shouldn't be on the phone during work hours." She laughs. "I know your boss. Trust me, you won't get in trouble. But yeah, we can talk later." "Okay. Bye." I end the call and put
my phone down. "Talking to your boyfriend?" Nick comes into the room. He must've been lingering in the hall. "I was talking to Callie." Why did I tell him that? It's none of his business. "Nash's girlfriend?" "Yeah," I mutter as I pretend to search for something in my toolbox, hoping Nick will get the hint that I'm busy and go away. "I saw you guys going to lunch yesterday," Nick says. "You were spying on me?" I find a sharp tool and hold it in my hand. "I was outside taking a smoke and saw you and Callie and that other girl leaving. Then I saw you come back
when I was out dumping the garbage. Nash gives you an hour lunch now, huh?" "Are you making a point here?" I ask, glaring at him. "Because I need to get back to work." "Did you think about my offer?" "I don't need to. I told you, I'm not interested." "Then how do you plan to pay your bills when this job ends?" "Not that it's any of your business, but I already have a job lined up." My next job is at a museum. It's Nash's project and he already asked me to work on it. I hope he didn't ask Tom and Nick to work on it too. "Who's the job with?" Nick asks. "Why do you care?"
"I'm just curious. Is it one of Jake's projects? I heard you two are dating." How did he know that? I don't want him, or anyone else here, knowing I'm dating Jake. "We're not dating. Whoever told you that is wrong." "Lance said he saw you and Jake getting cozy on the dance floor at Rodeo Freddy's the other night." Lance is Nick's friend. He's a plumber, and was working here when the project started but finished up a few weeks ago. "He said Callie and Nash were there too. Sucking up to the whole Wheeler family, huh?" Nick shrugs. "I guess you do whatever you have to do to get work, even if that means doing the owner's son." He
laughs. "You're disgusting, you know that?" I point to the door. "Get the fuck out of here and don't talk to me anymore." "That's bad language from such a pretty girl." He smirks. "Guess you're not as sweet and innocent as you look." "Everything okay in here?" Nash walks in. He probably heard me raise my voice. I didn't mean to, but I was so freaking angry I couldn't help it. "I'm trying to work and Nick won't leave," I say, not giving a shit if Nick gets mad at me later for saying it. He can go to hell. I only have a few weeks left on this project anyway. Nash nods toward the door. "Nick, get back to work."
"Sure thing, boss." He grins at Nash and saunters out the door, like a cocky SOB. "What happened?" Nash asks, shutting the door. "Nick was just being his usual asshole self. You didn't hire him and Tom for the museum, did you?" "No, I have someone else lined up. So what did Nick say to you?" "Never mind. It's not worth repeating." "Ivy, I need to know. Did he harass you? Come on to you?" "No. He was just making comments about me being friends with Callie and going out with Jake. He accused me of trying to get close to your family in order
to get more work." Nash shakes his head. "He seriously said that?" "Yeah. That's why I told him to get out of here." "How does he know you're friends with Callie?" "He saw us go to lunch together. And Lance saw me with Jake at Rodeo Freddy's the other night. Nash, please don't make a big deal out of this. It'll just make things harder for me. This job is almost over and then I won't have to deal with Nick anymore. Until then, I'll just ignore him and not talk to him." "Okay, but if he bothers you again, you let me know." "I will."
"So uh...you and Jake. Callie said you two aren't going out anymore?" "We're still going out." I smile. "Talk to your girlfriend. She'll fill you in." "Will do." He chuckles. "She always knows things about my family before I do." He pauses. "I know you don't fully trust Jake yet, but he's not someone who would cheat. If that's what you're worried about, he wouldn't do that to you. My ex-girlfriend cheated on me last year, before I met Callie, and Jake saw the hell I went through after that. He knows what it does to someone and he'd never put someone through that." "He told me that last night. I just...it's hard when he's never really dated anyone before."
"Which is all the more reason not to assume how he'll act in a relationship. He doesn't have a history in this area and I don't think it's fair for any of us to give him one by making assumptions. Jake's a good guy, Ivy. He really is. He's a good brother and he'll help most anyone who needs it. Just something to keep in mind." He walks to the door. "I'll let you get back to work." "Yeah. See ya." I agree that Jake's a good guy, but that doesn't mean he'll be a good boyfriend. I guess only time will tell. That night, Jake shows up at my apartment around six, wearing jeans and a black and gray plaid shirt in the softest flannel I've ever felt. I know it's soft
because I had my hands all over his chest as he kissed me. It was another intense, lost-in-the-moment type of kiss that started at the front door and ended on my couch when Jake instinctively slipped his hand under my sweater but then caught himself and yanked his hand away and stood up. When I told Jake I wouldn't have sex with him, I didn't think he'd take that to mean we couldn't do anything else. I mean, come on, this is Jake Wheeler. Mr. One-Night-Stand, and here it's our fourth date and all we've done is kiss. "Where are we going?" I ask Jake as he drives out of the parking lot. We just had dinner at a Mexican restaurant where I had one too many margaritas.
I'm hoping the taco platter I ate will soak up some of the alcohol because it's making me really sleepy. I close my eyes and lean back against the headrest. "You tired?" Jake asks. I feel his hand wrap around mine. "The margaritas made me sleepy. I'll be fine in a few minutes." I realize he didn't answer my question, so I ask again. "Where are we going?" "You'll see when we get there. Until then, go ahead and take a nap." I doze off, and wake up to the feel of Jake's lips on mine and cold air rushing all around me. "We're here." I open my eyes and see Jake standing next to me, my door held open. He offers me his hand and helps me out. Off in the
distance, I see a string of colorful lights glowing in the darkness. "Where are we?" I ask. "At the outdoor ice rink. You know how to skate?" "I went skating a few times as a kid but I'm not very good." "You'll do fine. It's like riding a bike. You never forget how to do it." He wraps his arm around my shoulder and we walk toward the ticket booth. "When I was in junior high, the guys would take us girls ice skating so they could put their hands all over us, but then pretend they were only doing it to make sure we didn't fall." I smile at him. "Is that why you took me here?" He chuckles. "First of all, I'm not in
junior high. And second, I don't think I need to take you ice skating in order to touch you." "Hey." I playfully punch him. "Don't be making assumptions." "I'm not," he says, a sexy grin on his face. Is it that obvious how much I want him to touch me? How did this happen? I started the week wanting to keep Jake away from me and now I'm practically begging him to touch me. I swear, Jake puts some kind of spell over women in which we can't get enough of him. He's sex on a stick and we all want a taste. "Two, please," Jake says to the girl at the counter. We give her our shoe sizes and she hands us our skates, then we go
to a bench to put them on. "I've never been here before," I say, looking out at the rink which has colorful lights strung around it. "I haven't either, but I heard an ad for it on the radio and thought, what the hell? It's something to do." For someone who's never dated, Jake's doing a good job. He actually puts thought into our dates, unlike the other guys I've dated who just want to go drinking, then go home and have sex. "Ready?" Jake is standing on his skates, his hands held out to me. I take his hand and attempt to stand but I feel wobbly. "Are you any good at this?" "My brothers and I used to play
hockey all the time so yeah, I'm good on skates." "Did you guys play every sport?" I ask as he helps me to the rink. "Pretty much. We had a lot of energy to burn, and my dad played a lot of sports growing up so he encouraged us." He steps onto the ice, keeping hold of my hand. "I can't do this. I'm going to fall." "Then I'll catch you. Come on." I carefully step onto the ice, one foot at a time. I shouldn't be such a baby about this. There are little kids and old people here. If they can do it, I can. "We'll start slow." Jake pushes off the ice, pulling me along. I'm able to keep up with him without
falling by keeping my eyes focused on the girl in front of me, trying to replicate her foot movement, taking long strides instead of choppy ones. I remember that from when I was a kid. My mom would tell me to use long, fluid strides to keep from falling. "You're doing good," Jake says, showing off that perfect smile of his. God, he's gorgeous. That dark hair. Those deep blue eyes. That chiseled jawline. That perfect smile. The girl in front of me rounds the corner and spots Jake and smiles at him. This happens everywhere we go. Girls are always smiling at him. It happened at the restaurant, and when he stopped to fill up with gas, and now here.
Jake is oblivious to all the attention. He's either so used to it he doesn't notice it anymore or he's purposely ignoring it to be respectful to me. "You want to try going faster?" he asks. "Not yet. I'm still getting used to the skates." "Keep your body relaxed. It helps. If you tense up, you're more likely to fall." Jake is effortless on the skates, like he doesn't even have to try. He seems like one of those people who's good at everything he does. Like last fall, when he did all those TV interviews, he'd had no experience being on camera yet you'd think he'd been doing it for years. He said all the right things and wasn't
nervous, or if he was, he hid it well. We make a few loops around the rink, music from the Forties and Fifties playing in the background. A Frank Sinatra song comes on and Jake gets in front of me and plants his hands around my waist. He skates backwards as fluidly as he does going forward. "Show off," I say, keeping my arms at my sides for balance. "We're supposed to be couples skating. I'm just following the announcer's instructions." "Is that what he said? I couldn't tell." Before the Sinatra song started, I heard talking over the speaker but I couldn't make out what he said. Jake chuckles. "Okay, now I feel like
I'm in junior high. Remember when they'd announce a couple skate and the girls would stand at the side of the rink, waiting to be asked?" "Yeah, I'd always get paired up with a guy who skated even worse than me and we'd both end up falling." "That won't happen with me. Put your hands on my shoulders. Otherwise, instead of looking like a couple, it looks like I'm just trying to teach you how to skate." "I'll lose my balance if I do that." "You won't. Trust me. Just don't look down. Keep your eyes up and stay relaxed." I do as he says, feeling wobbly at first, but then getting my balance again as
he gets a tighter grip on my waist and pulls me along, leading us around the rink. I glance over and see that the group of teen girls who kept passing us as we were skating is now in front of us, paired up with a group of guys. They're probably around 15. As we round the end of the rink, I notice one of the girls from the group is standing off to the side without anyone to skate with. She's tall and skinny with really bad acne. She looks sad that all her friends have guys to skate with and she doesn't. Jake and I are now at the opposite end of the rink and he asks, "Would you mind if I went around just once with someone else?" "What?" I almost shove him away I'm
so mad. He wants to skate with someone else? Am I not good enough? "There's this teenage girl on the other end without anyone to skate with," he explains. "I thought I'd see if she wants to go around the rink once or twice." I smile at him. "I think that'd be really nice. In fact, why don't you finish the song with her?" "You sure?" "Yeah. I'll go to the snack stand and get us a drink." He helps me off the ice and I take a step onto the rubber surface that leads to the snack stand. I stop and watch as Jake approaches the girl. Her whole face lights up and she nods really fast. He takes her hands and skates backwards
and they make their way around the rink. He purposely goes slowly past her friends so they can see she's got a guy. A really hot guy. Hotter than any of the teen boys her friends are with. "You just keep surprising me, Jake," I say to myself. But I shouldn't be surprised. I knew he was a nice guy. Like Nash said, Jake will help anyone who needs it. He cares about people, even total strangers like that teenage girl whose friends left her on the side of the rink. What am I going to do with that boy? In just a week, Jake has my mind constantly thinking about him, my body aching to be touched by him, and now my heart feeling something for him. That
last part is the worst because when the heart's involved, it'll be so much harder when this ends.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN Jake Last night Ivy and I had another perfect date. I took her to dinner, then ice skating, then out for coffee. We stayed at the coffee shop and talked until they kicked us out at midnight when they closed. It seems like we never run out of
things to talk about. In fact, I find myself wanting to call her during the day just to tell her things, but I don't because I don't want to interrupt her at work, so I send her texts instead and she texts back. By the end of the day, we've had a full conversation. And yet when I see her at night, we still have more to say. I always thought dating a girl would be hard, especially that initial period when you're figuring out how to make it work. But being with Ivy this past week has felt easy, natural, uncomplicated. "I leave you alone for a few minutes and you got half the floor done?" I ask, standing over Ivy as she lays the tile. It's Saturday, and Ivy and I are helping Bryce with the kitchen remodel
he's doing. The homeowners are out for the day and Bryce is in the garage cutting tile, so it's just Ivy and me in the kitchen. She's on all fours, her ass in the air, and it's all I can do to keep from grabbing it. All week, I've had to fight the urge to touch her. I'm trying to take this slow and prove to her that I'm not just interested in sex. It's true that I want more than that with her, but I also want to have sex with her, to the point that I find it hard to be alone with her. When we are alone, we end up kissing, which makes me want to have sex with her even more, but I try to keep my hands in safe places, like her waist or her arms or her face. She laughs. "I've laid one row of tile. I'd hardly call that half done."
"One row is still fast for a beginner." I hold my hands out to her. "Come here." I pull her up and into my arms. "Thanks for helping out today." "I told you I wanted to learn, so technically you're the one helping me." "Either way, I get to spend time with you." I kiss her, and her hand goes behind my neck, pulling me closer. I already feel my body responding, which it shouldn't be doing in someone else's kitchen while I'm on the job. But I can't stop what it does when it's around her. I hear the door open, and then Bryce's voice. "Could you guys do that later? I'd like to finish this by noon, and it's not gonna get done with you two lovebirds going at it."
Ivy jumps back. "Sorry. You're right. We shouldn't be doing that." He smiles at her. "I'm just giving you shit. Do whatever you want. I don't care." I yank her back to me and kiss her again. "Jake!" She's laughing, pushing on my chest to get away but I keep her in my arms. "Did you not just hear your brother?" "He said he didn't care. And even if he did, I don't listen to my little brother." "I got a few more tiles to cut," Bryce says. "I'll be out in the garage so feel free to continue what you were doing." As he leaves, I put my lips over Ivy's and softly kiss her.
"Jake," she whispers, returning the kiss. "What?" I look at her face, free of any makeup and yet so goddamn perfect. Flawless. "We should get back to work." I slide a stray strand of her hair behind her ear. "You're beautiful." She smiles. "Are you kidding? I'm a mess. I just rolled out of bed and came here." She reaches behind her head and yanks on her ponytail. "I didn't even do anything to my hair." I love her hair. It's soft, silky, shiny, and she doesn't coat it in hair product, the way some girls do. When she wears her hair in a ponytail, she looks like a hot cheerleader, and when she wears it
down, she looks sexy and sophisticated. "Then I guess I like the natural look," I say, "because you look beautiful." She glances down, seeming uncomfortable, but then looks up again and kisses me. "Let's get back to work." Ivy's a fast learner. When we arrived here, I told her the basics of what to do and she just did it, without any further instruction. She works quickly, doesn't complain, and stays focused on the job. She's better than any guy I've ever worked with, and after seeing how good she is at laying tile, I might have to hire her for tile work when I don't have any carpentry jobs. How could a girl this fucking hot also be good at construction? And be easy to
talk to, fun to hang out with, and a sweet, caring person? She's fucking perfect. She has all the qualities I could ever want in a woman. The type of woman I could see a future with. The problem is, I'm not looking for that. I don't want a wife, someone to spend my life with. That's way too much of a commitment. I'm still getting used to the idea of having a girlfriend. Bryce returns from the garage, and with the three of us working, we finish up the tile by eleven thirty. As we're packing everything up, Bryce's phone rings. I know who's calling by that big ass grin on his face. "Hey, what's going on?" Bryce tries to play it cool but I can hear the
anxiousness in his voice. He's best friends with Jen, but ever since he realized how much he likes her as more than a friend, he gets nervous around her, especially when she's dating someone else, which she is right now. She's dating some guy from her college and it's driving Bryce insane. He wants to go beat the shit out of the guy but he can't, because Jen isn't his girl. Bryce turns away from Ivy and me, facing the window. "Yeah, of course. I'll be right over." He ends the call and turns back to us. "I gotta go help Jen." "What's going on?" I ask. "Her mom didn't come home last night." I roll my eyes. "Did she go home
drunk with some guy again?" "Jen doesn't know," Bryce says, putting his coat on. "That's why she's freaking out. She's been calling Rita's phone but she hasn't picked up so now Jen thinks something happened to her." "Rita does this all this time. I'm sure she's hung over at some guy's house and will be home by this afternoon." "Maybe, but I told Jen I'd go over there anyway." "Like you always do." I lean against the kitchen counter. "Because you love her. Would you just freaking admit that's why you keep doing this?" "Doing what?" "Racing to be with her whenever something happens."
He shakes his head. "That's not why. I'm not in love with her, so shut the hell up. I'm just being a friend." "She called you instead of her boyfriend. She always calls you. You two are more than friends, so stop fucking around and make her your damn girl. Stop letting other guys have her." "We're not getting into this shit again." He yanks his keys out of his pocket and grabs his phone from the counter. "I'm not dating her. We're friends. That's it." He opens the door that goes to the garage. "Can you finish cleaning up?" "Yeah. No problem." "Thanks, bro. See ya tomorrow." He waves at Ivy. "See ya, Ivy. Thanks for
your help." "Sure. Bye, Bryce." He goes out to his truck and I hear him drive away. "What a mess," I say, wiping the dust off the kitchen cabinets. Ivy is wiping the counters. She doesn't even mind cleaning up. She's freaking awesome. "I don't think it's too bad," she says, assessing the room. "Considering all that we did, I think it's pretty clean." "I wasn't talking about the kitchen. I meant this thing with Jen and her mom. I thought it'd get better as her mom got older but it seems to be getting worse." "What's going on with her?" "Her mom's fucking nuts. She's a manipulative liar and a scam artist. She
makes shit up all the time, like saying she tripped at a store so she can sue them. She's never won a lawsuit but she keeps trying." "So she doesn't work?" "She's had a few jobs but they never last." "Does Jen live with her?" "Hell no. She got out of there as soon as she finished high school. She lives in a tiny, shitty apartment next to campus, but it's still better than living with her mom. But Jen checks up on her, makes sure Rita is eating and taking care of herself. And her ungrateful bitch of a mom thanks her by making Jen's life hell. She doesn't give a shit about her daughter. Never has." I rub my hand over
my jaw. "Sorry, I didn't mean to go off like that and give you the whole history. It's just that Jen is like part of my family and I'm sick of Rita treating her like this. And then Bryce gets all worked up, worrying about Jen. It's a freaking mess and it's been going on for years." "That's really too bad. I had no idea." "Anyway, you got everything?" I tie up the last garbage bag. "Yeah, I think so." We carry the trash bags to the driveway and toss them in my SUV. Then I close the garage door and we head back to Ivy's apartment. "You get to pick what we do tonight," I tell Ivy as I walk her to the entrance of the building.
"We're going out? You didn't even ask me." She pretends to be annoyed, but she's smiling. "It's Saturday night." I take her hand and move her aside as someone walks out the door. "Aren't we supposed to go out?" "You can't assume that. You have to actually ask." I know that, but I'm continuing this thing we've started where she teaches me how to date and how to kiss. It gives me an excuse to do both. "Then in that case, would you go out with me tonight?" I back her up against the building and kiss her. "I can't." She chews on her lip, which just makes me want to kiss her again, so
I do, sucking her lip from her teeth then running my tongue over it, followed by my lips. "Jake, we shouldn't do this here," she says in a breathy tone while grabbing hold of my jacket. "Then we'll do it later, when you go out with me." "I told you I can't." "Can't, or won't?" I ask, my lips now at her ear. "I don't know." Her head falls to the side as I kiss her neck. "You're confusing me. You have to stop doing that." "Doing what? This?" I continue softly kissing her neck. "Yes. That." "Why?"
"Because we're in public and it's daytime and...because it makes me not want you to leave." I smile. "That's what I was going for." I stand up straight and look at her. "But right now I do need to go home and clean up, and then I need to do some work. How about I come back here around seven?" She sighs. "You don't give up, do you?" "No. I don't, especially when I don't think you really want to spend Saturday night alone in your apartment." "Who said I'd be alone?" Fuck. Is she serious? She's dating someone else? I know we didn't say we're exclusive, but shit, I didn't think
she'd go out with some other guy while dating me. I don't even know this guy and I want to freaking punch him. "Jake, I'm kidding." She holds my hand. "Sorry. I shouldn't have said that. It wasn't funny." "So are we going out or what?" I sound angry. I couldn't help it. Thinking about her with some other guy just set me off. It's another reason I've avoided relationships. When you're with a girl once and that's it, there's no jealousy, no anger over her dating other guys, no concern that she might be cheating on you. I like not having to deal with that shit. I like to keep things simple. Uncomplicated. So why the hell am I doing this?
"Yeah, we're going out." She smiles, and the warmth that fills my chest makes it suddenly very clear why I'm doing this. Ivy makes me feel something. Something deep and real that frightens the shit out of me and yet I want more. I crave it. Just her smile alone draws me in, making me want to be around her. I saw that smile when I interviewed her last summer and I couldn't get it out of my head. It's been there ever since, and now I don't just think about that smile and the girl it belongs to. I feel something for her. "What changed your mind?" I ask. "It's not that I didn't want to go out with you tonight. I'm just worried we're spending too much time together."
"Why is that a problem?" She shakes her head really fast. "I don't know. Never mind." I get the feeling she's not telling me something. Why was she reluctant to go out with me? Is she unsure about this? About us? If so, she needs to tell me that. "So where should we go?" she asks. "Wherever you want. I'm letting you plan tonight." "I'd like Italian for dinner. Some place with good pasta, but I'm not sure where to go. I don't eat out that much." "Italian. Got it. I know where to go. What do you want to do after dinner?" "Can we go to a club? I want to dance, and I haven't been to a club forever."
I don't want to go to a club. Clubs are where I used to hang out, before I started dating Ivy. They're where I used to hook up with girls, or find a girl to take home. "Let's do something else. I don't want to go to a club." "Come on. It'll be fun. We don't have to stay long. We'll just have a couple drinks and dance a little and leave." Shit. She really wants to do this. "What club?" "How about Roxie 411? I used to like that one a lot." I've only been there a couple times but I slept with the bartender and one of the waitresses and I'm sure they still work there. "I'd rather not go to that one," I say.
"Is there another one you like?" "How about Cheers and Beers? It's more of a bar than a club but they have a dance floor." That's even worse. I've been with three of the waitresses at Cheers and Beers within the last year. "Let's go somewhere else." I'm avoiding her gaze but I feel her watching me. "You've been with girls at both those places, haven't you?" she asks. I slowly nod. "Yeah." She's quiet, waiting for me to say something, but what do I say? There's nothing I can say that will change what I did. And I'm not sorry I did it. At the time, that's what I wanted. The girls
were all willing partners and we had a good time. So what's there to say? "So we can't go to a club because of this?" Ivy asks. "I don't want to run into them. They'll come up to me and it'll make you uncomfortable." "It won't. As long as you aren't flirting with them or going home with them, then I'm fine. I just want to dance and have some fun. So can we go to Roxie's?" "Yeah. We can go." I look her in the eye. "But I need you to know I would never flirt with another girl, or take her home, or do anything with her while dating you." She nods, but her expression says
she's not sure she believes me. "So seven?" "Yeah. See you tonight." I kiss her goodbye, then go back to my apartment. Later that afternoon, Bryce calls. "Did you find her?" I ask, referring to Jen's mom. "Yeah. At the bar down the street. She spent last night with a guy, got in a fight with him this morning, and decided to drown her sorrows in vodka shots instead of coming home. She got Jen's calls. She said she didn't answer them because she didn't want a lecture." "And she doesn't care that Jen was worried sick, wasting time searching all over town for her." He sighs. "That's Rita. She'll never
change. So anyway, how'd it go? Did you get everything cleaned up?" "Yeah. Remember to call the homeowners to make sure they're happy with the job." "I will. Thanks for your help today. And tell Ivy she did a fucking awesome job. I can't believe she's never done that before. She was better than some of the flooring guys I work with who've been doing it for years." "I know. I told her that, but I'll tell her you said so too." "So what's going on with you and her? Is she your girlfriend now?" "She's not a girlfriend. She's just someone I'm dating." "You've gone out with her every night
this week. Seems serious if you ask me." "I didn't ask you, so keep your opinions to yourself." "Like you don't offer up your opinion on Jen and me? Like every freaking day?" "I've been dating Ivy for a week. You and Jen have been going on like this for years. Even Dad can't take it anymore. We all just want you to stop pretending you're not in love with her and marry the girl." "That's not gonna happen." "Yeah, because you're too stubborn to tell her how you feel." "You're one to talk. Are you planning to tell Ivy how you feel? I saw how you were looking at her. You have feelings
for her." "Maybe, but that's not something you tell a girl after dating her for a week. You save that shit for later." It's no use trying to pretend I don't have feelings for Ivy. My brothers know me too well. They can tell when I'm lying. "Are you bringing her to dinner tomorrow?" Tomorrow is family dinner at my dad's house. We have it a couple times a month. We used to just get pizza or my dad would throw some meat on the grill, but ever since Callie came into our lives, she's taken over the menu. She plans it all out and does the shopping, and she and my dad make the food, with Nash and Jen helping as needed. Jen's
considered family so she always comes to family dinner. "I hadn't thought about it, but probably not. It's too soon." "Why? It's just dinner. It's not like you're bringing her there to introduce her to the family. She already knows all of us." "Still, I don't think it's a good idea." "I think you should bring her." "And I think you should marry Jen. And as long as I'm doling out advice, stop inking your body. You got enough tats." Bryce is covered in tattoos, mostly his upper body. They're along both arms, his back, his chest, his neck. He chuckles. "Sorry, bro. I'm getting
another one next week. Already got the design." "Where the hell you gonna put it? You're running out of skin." "I got plenty of space. Don't worry about it." "Is this another one of Jen's designs?" Jen likes to draw, not like trees and flowers, but more like abstract designs. She says it helps her relieve stress, which she has a lot of thanks to her mom, her three jobs, and keeping up with her classes. All of Bryce's tattoos are Jen's designs. "Yeah, it's Jen's," he says. "I saw her drawing it last week and knew I had to have it." "Inking your body with her artwork
isn't going to make her stop dating other guys. You know that, right?" "That's not why I do it. I just like her designs." "That's bullshit, but whatever. I've given you my lecture for today. I'll try again tomorrow." "I'm sure you will, asshole," he says jokingly. "I gotta go. I'll see ya later. And hey, bring Ivy tomorrow. Jen really likes her. She'd like to see her again." "I'll think about it." We hang up and I give his idea some thought. If I take Ivy with me tomorrow, will she think it means something? Will it scare her off, meeting my family? But like Bryce said, she already knows them so maybe she wouldn't read anything into
it. I need another opinion on this so I call Nash. "Hey, you busy?" I ask. "Just watching a game on TV. What's up?" "Bryce thinks I should bring Ivy to dinner tomorrow. What do you think?" "Bringing her to family dinner? That's a big deal. You sure you're ready for that?" "Shit, I knew it. It's too soon, isn't it? What the hell am I doing listening to Bryce?" "You wouldn't have asked unless you wanted to bring her. So do you?" I sigh. "Kind of. I'm not even sure why."
"Because you like her. A lot. Otherwise you wouldn't have gone out with her every night this week." "Yeah? So? That doesn't mean I should bring her to dinner." "Just bring her. We always have more than enough food." "I don't want her freaking out, thinking I'm getting all serious and shit." "Then tell her Callie asked her to come. Callie and her get along great, and Callie said Jen likes her. I know those two would appreciate having another girl around. And if Ivy's going to keep dating you, she might as well get used to our crazy family." "That's a good idea. I'll tell Ivy that Callie and Jen want her there."
"Yeah, but don't act like it's just them. She needs to know you want her there too." "I know. I'll figure it out." "So how's it going? With Ivy?" "It's going well." I smile as I imagine her. "Really well." "That's good, man. Glad to hear it." Nash is always getting on my case for sleeping around, so he's freaking elated I'm actually spending more than a few hours with a woman. I'd never tell him this, but he's one of the main reasons I didn't give up on Ivy after she turned me down last summer and again last fall. I knew I liked her, more than I've liked anyone else, and I knew if I was ever going to try being in a relationship, I'd
want it to be with her. I just wasn't sure I wanted that, until I saw Nash with Callie. They moved in together last September and seeing them so happy together made me a little envious. It made me wonder if I could ever have that with someone, and as soon as that thought popped in my head, the first person I imagined myself having that with was Ivy. I didn't even know her that well back then, but for some reason I could see us together. "Jake, I need to go. Callie just got home with the groceries and I got to help her carry them up." "Yeah, okay. I'll see ya tomorrow." "With Ivy," he says, a smile in his voice.
"We'll see, but yeah, maybe." We say goodbye and I try to decide what to do. Should I ask her? It's just dinner. And I'm sure she'd like to see Callie and Jen again. Why am I worrying about this? It's stupid. I'll just ask, and if she says no, then fine. It's not like she needs to get to know my family. This thing she and I have going isn't going to last. I keep telling myself that, but the truth is, I want it to last. I'm just afraid to let it get to that point.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN Ivy Jake took me to a cute little Italian restaurant for dinner and now we're at Roxie's 411, the club I wanted to go to. Although it's true I haven't been to a club for a while and thought it might be fun, that's not the only reason I wanted to
come here. The other reason is because I need to test myself to see if I can handle being with Jake and all the attention he gets from other women. Everywhere we go, women are staring at him and smiling at him and it's really starting to bother me. It's not his fault. He's not asking for the attention. In fact, he usually doesn't even notice it. But I do, and it causes those same feelings of insecurity and uncertainty that I had when dating Ryker and all the guys before him who cheated on me. They all got constant attention from women yet assured me I was the only one. Even if Jake proves to me he can be faithful, in order for us to keep this relationship going, I have to see if I can
get over the fact that there will always be girls trying to get him for themselves, and that when we're out together, we'll likely run into girls that he slept with. That's already happened and I know it'll happen again tonight. So I need to see if I can get past all that, because if I can't, there's no use continuing this. This was never supposed to go beyond a few dates. Jake was supposed to push me to have sex, then dump me when I wouldn't, and never ask me out again. But instead, we've had a week of amazing dates and he hasn't once pressured me to have sex. He hasn't even gone beyond kissing me, which I have to say is getting a little frustrating. I'm desperate for him to touch me.
But by taking it slow and not rushing into a physical relationship, we've been able to really get to know each other. And now, I admit, I have feelings for him. I want to keep dating him but I need to be realistic, and the reality is, if I can't handle the constant attention he gets from other women, then we just need to end this. "Hey." Jake rubs my hand. We're sitting at a small table, each having a rum and Coke. "I thought you wanted to dance." "I do, but I want to finish my drink first." I take a sip of it, scanning the room and noticing all the girls staring at Jake. "What are you looking at?" he asks,
following my gaze. "Nothing. I thought I saw someone I knew, but it wasn't her." I turn back to Jake. "You look really hot tonight," he says, flashing a sexy smile my way. "Thanks." I'm wearing a black mini skirt with a white button-up shirt that I tied in front and unbuttoned enough to show off the cleavage spilling out of my push-up bra. I purposely dressed sexier tonight than I would've earlier in the week because now I actually want to date Jake and look sexy for him. And honestly, there's a small part of me that dressed this way to compete with all the other girls who want him. I don't want to be like that. I don't
want to be constantly competing for Jake. I did that with Ryker and I hated it. It's too hard, and relationships shouldn't be that hard. "You need to get over here." Jake reaches down and slides my barstool closer to him. "You're too far away." He's been flirting with me a lot more the past couple days. And he's been more forward, like when he kissed me right in front of his brother this morning, and again outside my apartment building as my fellow tenants walked by. I don't mind his public displays of affection. In fact, I like it. It shows that he wants this. That he's not trying to hide me. That he doesn't care who sees us. "If we're not going to dance, let's do
something else." He takes my drink from my hand and sets it down, then turns my face to his and kisses me. And not a short sweet kiss, but a long, deep kiss. I can just imagine the looks we must be getting. I'm sure those girls who were checking out Jake are now watching us, wondering who I am, probably assuming I'm Jake's fling for the night. I hope that's not what they're thinking. "Can I get you another drink?" a girl asks. I break from Jake's lips and look over and see a waitress standing there, a different one than we had before. The other one must be on break. "I think we're good," Jake says, not even looking at her. His eyes are on me,
only me, as if there aren't any other girls in the room. "Jake?" the waitress says. He turns his head to see her and I hear a short sigh escape his lips. "Hey, Lana." "Hey." She leans her hip against the table, her eyes on Jake as she chews on the tip of her pen. "Haven't seen you for a while." "Yeah, it's been a few months." He finds my hand under the table and holds it securely in his. "What have you been up to?" She smiles and tilts her head. From their reaction to each other, it's obvious they slept together. I try to stay calm, fighting the urge to tell this girl to
get the hell away from Jake. He's mine. Actually, he's not. I don't know what we are. Maybe that's why I'm feeling so unsure about him. Because I'm not sure what we are or where this is going. We haven't talked about it, and it's too soon to bring it up. "Mostly just working," Jake says. Lana keeps her eyes on him, circling her tongue suggestively around the tip of the pen. I'm about ready to punch her, but then feel Jake still holding my hand and relax. He clears his throat. "We're all set on drinks so..." "What are you doing later tonight?" she asks. Seriously? I'm right here. Can she not
see me? "I have a girlfriend," he says, putting his arm around my shoulders. I'm so shocked, I nearly fall off my stool. He's calling me his girlfriend? Is he only doing it to get rid of Lana? "This is Ivy." He lightly squeezes my shoulder. "Ivy, this is Lana." She ignores me. "Girlfriend?" She laughs. "You don't have girlfriends, Jake. You're a use 'em and lose 'em type of guy. Everyone knows that." "I used to be, but I'm not anymore. Ivy is my girlfriend and we're on a date and we'd like some time alone." Lana huffs and rolls her eyes. "Whatever. We'll see how long she lasts." She saunters off, stopping at a
table full of guys to take their order. She does the smile and head tilt thing and will probably end up going home with one of them. "Sorry about that," Jake says, keeping his arm around me as he takes a drink of his rum and Coke. "Guess I have to get used to it," I say, more harshly than I meant to. "It seems to happen wherever we go." "Ivy." He puts his drink down and swivels my barstool so I'm facing him and holds both my hands. "I'm sorry. I really am. If I could stop it, believe me, I would. It was rude of her to say that shit." "Especially in front of your girlfriend." I let out a laugh.
"Why is that funny?" "Why is what funny?" "Why were you laughing just now?" "Because you told her I'm your girlfriend." "You ARE my girlfriend." My heart flutters in my chest but I try to remain unaffected. "Didn't you hear Lana just now? Jake Wheeler doesn't have girlfriends." "I do now." His eyes are on mine, an intense gaze, like he's trying to convince me that he means it. When I don't respond, he says, "Are you saying you don't want that?" "I um...I don't know," I say, being completely honest. Because the thing is, as much as I'd like to be his girlfriend,
I'm afraid of being hurt again. My feelings for Jake after dating him for just a week are already deeper than the feelings I had for Ryker, who I dated for almost a year. "Why don't you know?" he asks. I glance around the room. "I don't want this happening every time we go out." "Shit," he mutters, shaking his head. "I knew coming here was a mistake." "It's not just here. It's everywhere. Even if girls don't come up to you, they're always watching you, checking you out. I feel like we're under a giant spotlight." He lets go of my hands and stands up. "Let's go."
"Go where?" "We're getting out of here. We never should've come here. I knew this was a bad idea." He helps me off the stool. "But we haven't even danced yet." "We can dance some other time. Now come on." He takes my hand and practically drags me out of the club. He keeps going until we reach his SUV. Then he leans me against it and takes my face in his hands and kisses me. My body relaxes at the feel of his lips, his tongue tangling with mine, his warm body pressed against me. He pulls back just slightly, his eyes on mine, and says, "I like you, Ivy, so damn much that I can't stop thinking about you. I didn't even notice any of the
other girls in there tonight. All I wanted to do was look at you. I've never spent this much time with a girl and yet I feel like the time we spend together is never enough." He drops his head and takes a breath, then raises his eyes back to mine. "I know we haven't defined what this is, what we're doing here, but I obviously consider you my girlfriend because I said it to Lana without even thinking about it. And it didn't seem strange, or odd, or too soon. It seemed right, like that's what you are. You're my girlfriend, Ivy. At least, that's what I want you to be." My heart is beating hard and fast. It started with that incredible and unexpected kiss, and beat even harder
just now as he said all that. All the doubts I had about him quickly fade away as I realize that he's not just giving me a line. Telling me what I want to hear in the hopes that I'll sleep him. He's really serious. He wants a relationship. With me. I'm not sure what to say. I want the same thing, but I'm not ready to express my feelings as openly as he just did, so instead I make a joke. "If I agree to this," I say, "are you going to make me do all your tile work from here on out?" He laughs. "Shit yeah. You're better than any of the guys I've hired. And a hell of a lot better looking." "I guess I wouldn't mind helping out
again. I actually had fun doing it." "Fuck." He smiles. "What?" "You're fucking perfect, you know that?" He wraps his arms around me and kisses me again, and we keep it going, despite the fact that it's cold outside and people keep walking past us. We eventually make it into his SUV and head over to his apartment. I didn't suggest going to mine because I want to see his place. If he's my boyfriend, I should know where he lives. My boyfriend. It's strange to even think that. A week ago I was determined to get him to leave me alone and now I'm his girlfriend. "So this is it," Jake says, leading me
into his apartment. It's in an old warehouse that's been converted into lofts. The walls are red brick and the ceiling is open, showing the exposed pipes. "What do you think?" "I like it." I try to sound enthusiastic but my mood is brought down by the fact that I've already seen this place when I caught a glimpse of that sorority girl's phone as she showed her friends the photos she took of Jake's apartment. Today is Saturday, which means she was here one week ago today. She was in this apartment, having sex with Jake. "What's wrong?" he asks, sensing my shift in mood. I've noticed he does that a lot. He's able to read me and know when something's wrong, even when I try to
hide it. The only other person who's able to do that is Liza. I'm usually really good at hiding my emotions, so the fact that Jake can read me the way he does kind of scares me. It's just proof that there's more going on between us than I'm ready for. I don't want a serious relationship. A boyfriend, yes, but I don't want to find the person I'm meant to be with at the age of 23. That's too young. That person needs to come along when I'm 30, maybe older. What am I saying? I'm not meant to be with Jake. He's just able to read me. That's it. It doesn't mean anything. "Nothing's wrong," I say, trying my best to convince him. He leads me over to his leather couch
which is across from a thick, dark wood coffee table. I like his furniture. It's very masculine and it all goes together and looks good. He has great style. The same is true for how he dresses, from his clothes to his shoes to his watch. It's all perfectly put together. Add in his tall muscular body, that chiseled jawline, those deep blue eyes, and that confident, somewhat cocky attitude, and it's no wonder he has girls falling all over him. "I told you to be honest with me," he says, facing me on the couch. "I'm fine. Really." I turn my head toward the giant flat-screen TV hanging on the wall. "You want to watch TV?" "Ivy." He lifts his hand to the side of my face, guiding my gaze back to his.
"Tell me what's bothering you. Everything was fine on the way over here and then you got here and now you seem distant, and a little mad." He read me exactly right. That's exactly how I'm feeling. Damn, how does he do that? "It's just that uh..." I look down at the couch. "Last week...last Saturday...that girl was here." I hear him exhale. "That's what this is about?" I raise my eyes and see the frustration on his face. "Ivy, I'm sorry. I know this bothers you, but I can't change what happened before we started going out." "I know. And I totally get that. But
walking in here tonight, I was just reminded of what she said and those photos she had of your place and I just...it pisses me off to think of her here with you." His mouth creeps up into a smile. "So the thought of other girls with me pisses you off." I huff. "Well, yeah. Obviously. Why wouldn't it?" "I knew it annoyed you, but I thought it was because you looked down on the fact that I used to sleep around. Not because you actually like me." He knows I like him. Why would he even say that? Does he not believe it? I roll my eyes. "Of course I like you. Why else would I still be dating you?"
He smiles even more. "Because I'm nice to look at?" I laugh. "Yeah, you're right. That's it. I keep you around for the eye candy. And you make a great accessory when I'm going out, better than some lame scarf or a pair of earrings. I draw a lot more attention with you on my arm." He draws me closer, his hand now behind my neck, his mouth by my ear. "That's not why you're still dating me." His lips graze over my earlobe and a shiver shoots through me, my pulse quickening. "Then why am I dating you?" I ask, my voice soft, my eyes closed and my head dropping to the side as his lips brush over my ear.
"Because we can't get enough of each other. And you know it. You feel it." He skims his lips down my neck, then back up to my ear. "There's this draw that we have to each other," he says in a low deep voice. "It's more than just physical. It's something else. Something about you, about us. It's been there since the day I met you. I felt it, and I know you did too." He's right. I just wouldn't admit it to myself. From the moment I saw Jake, I felt something for him. I told myself it was just a physical attraction, but deep down, I knew it was more than that. But I also knew about his reputation so shoved away any feelings I had for him, determined to never get involved with
him. I swallow. "You don't know that." "Then deny it." He purposely remains at my ear, because he knows from my heavy breathing how much it arouses me. But he's also doing it because he knows I won't admit the truth if he's looking me in the eye. He knows me so well it's almost irritating. When I don't answer him, he says, "Don't fight this, Ivy. Don't fight how you feel. I know you want to, but don't." I slowly nod, my head swimming in thoughts I can't decipher right now because my body is consumed with heat and desire. "Tell me you want this," he says, his warm breath tickling my ear. I assume he
means sex but then he says, "Tell me you'll give us a chance." "I will," I whisper. "I'm willing to try." He trails kisses down my neck. "I want to touch you so bad," he says, his voice low, his breathing heavy. "Then do it," I whisper. He lifts his head and looks at me. "I'm trying to take this slow. Not be the old Jake. I don't want..." He exhales a breath. "I want it to be different with you." I smile a little. "That doesn't mean you can't touch me." Jake is so used to touching leading to sex that I think he forgot that it's possible to do more than kiss without actually
having sex. "Then I need you to tell me when it's too much. I'll stop. I promise." He's being so sweet about this, so caring, that I actually would have sex with him tonight if my head wasn't so messed up. It's too soon to go there, given how I felt about him just a week ago, and given that last Saturday, he was with someone else. I quickly put that thought out of my head and focus on the here and now, and the feel of Jake's lips moving over mine. We continue to kiss as he gently lies me down on the couch. I turn toward him as he lies beside me, nudging my legs apart and sliding his leg between them. He tugs loose the tie at the bottom of my
shirt, then gets to work on the buttons, in an even-paced, skillful manner that I find to be very sexy. It seems like everything Jake does is sexy. The way he walks, his voice, his facial expressions, the way he says things. The man oozes sex, so being this close to him, our bodies touching...I want to tear his clothes off and do what I told myself I wouldn't do. His hand slips under my shirt, around my waist, and I suck in a breath at how good it feels. His hand is warm, strong, and feels huge as his long fingers curl around my back, pulling me closer as his kiss goes deeper, his tongue moving in my mouth in a rhythm that's suggestive of what my body is now begging me to let him do. His hand skims up my ribcage to
my breast, cupping it, his thumb dipping into the top of my bra, shoving the fabric down to expose my nipple. I moan as his thumb moves over it, and hear him groan in response, the sound reverberating through my chest. I arch my back and his hand immediately goes behind me, flicking open the clasp of my bra. I push him back and sit up enough to take it off, along with my shirt, and see his eyes drift over me. "Shit," he says, his tone dripping with desire. "You have a navel ring." I smile. "You like those?" "Yeah." He eyes it. "Too fucking much." He lowers me down on my back and his mouth covers my breast, licking and
sucking and driving me wild. His hand is splayed out over my stomach, his thumb circling my belly ring, erupting a flurry of sensations between my thighs. I moan again and hear Jake say, "Fuck. You have no idea what that does to me. That sound...shit." He moves his leg enough to place his hand on my inner thigh, running it up and down a few times before sliding it under my skirt. When he reaches my panties, he rubs his finger along the strip of fabric between my legs, groaning when he feels how wet it is. Soaked. His mouth returns to mine as his finger slips under the fabric and plunges into me. I break from his kiss and tip my head back, needing to breathe because my heart's beating so
fast. When his thumb rubs over the sensitive bundle of nerves, I nearly lose it. "Jake," I moan. I arch into his hand, begging for more. He's barely started and I'm already almost there, the tension rising, my muscles clenching. His mouth lowers to my belly ring, gently tugging on it with his teeth, then licking the area around it, his hand moving faster, hitting all the right spots. "Jake!" I yell, grabbing his hair as I come undone in wave after powerful wave. When I finally come down from it, I feel his lips over mine. He kisses me, then says, "You never told me to stop."
"There was no way in hell I was going to tell you to stop." I couldn't. That was incredible. Amazing. Better than anything I've ever felt. So there's another reason why girls flock to him. He's not just hot. He also knows how to please a woman. He definitely knows how to please a woman.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN Jake I need a very long, very cold shower after what I just did with Ivy. That was hotter than most sexual encounters I've had. Maybe because we didn't actually have sex. I've heard that the leading-upto-it part can be more arousing than the
sex. I wouldn't know because I always race through that part to get to the sex. Or maybe it's just Ivy. I get turned on just thinking about her. So to have her here, lying next to me on the couch, in just a tiny skirt and nothing else...it's no wonder I'm hard as a rock. "You want your shirt?" I go to grab it but she stops me. "Not yet." She flips on her side, facing me, and undoes my belt. I take her hands from my belt. "I don't think that's a good idea." "Why not?" She kisses me. "Because it's too tempting to go farther." But that doesn't mean I'll stop kissing her. I rake my fingers through her silky hair and grasp the back of her neck,
my other hand grabbing her ass and yanking her against my body. She grinds into me, slowly moving her hips, and all I can think about is how much I want her. How I want rip that skirt off her and put myself inside her. "Ivy," I whisper over her mouth, as she rubs her hand over my crotch. I try to move her hand but she resists. "Don't," she says. "I want to." Shit. I can't say no to that. I quickly undo my belt and my zipper and shove my jeans down, and the moment she touches me, I almost lose it. She knows exactly what I like, how to work me. It doesn't take long before the tension builds, my body tightening. "Shit," I groan as I release faster and
harder than I ever have from a simple hand job. Most girls don't know what the hell they're doing, but Ivy does. I don't even want to think about why. She lies back on the couch, a satisfied smile on her face. "You proud of yourself?" My eyes drift over her breasts and down to that hot-as-hell belly ring. I lean down and run my tongue around it, then kiss her flat stomach. "Hey, not again." She laughs. "Why not?" "Because we already did that." "That was nothing. I was just getting started." She scoots back against the arm of the couch. "Let's save it for later. I need
to recover from what you did earlier." I smile, happy that she liked it so much. I think I liked it just as much as her. I loved hearing her moan, watching her writhe in pleasure at my touch. She picks up her bra and shirt and sits up to put them on while I excuse myself to the bathroom to clean up. When I return, I go to the kitchen and grab some glasses. "What can I get you to drink?" Ivy walks over and meets me by the sink. "I'll just have some water." She takes the glass from me, and when she turns on the water, the sprayer comes loose and shoots water all over both of us. "Shit!" She laughs as I grab the
sprayer and shut off the faucet. "Sorry. I didn't mean to do that." My shirt is soaked and so is hers. "You sure about that?" I lean back against the counter, folding my arms over my chest. "What do you mean?" "I think you did it on purpose." I smile. She puts her hands on her hips. "And why would I do that?" "So you could parade around my apartment topless and make me take my shirt off." She laughs. "Yeah. That was my master plan." She rolls her eyes. "Do you have a dryer in this place?" "No. I go to the laundromat. The
machines downstairs never work, and when they do work, they're always full." "You got a t-shirt I could wear?" "You sure you need one? It's hot in here. You might want to go with the topless option." She smiles. "T-shirt please." "Follow me." I take her down to my bedroom and over to the closet. "There's some in here and some in the dresser. Take your pick." She picks out a light blue one that I've had for a while. The cotton is worn and really soft, which is why I still have it. "Can you turn around while I change?" she asks. "Why?" I unbutton her shirt, kissing
her as I do. "I already saw you topless." "We shouldn't do this in here," she says looking back at the bed. "You're probably right." I lead her into the hall and continue undressing her. She laughs. "This isn't much better. We're right next to the bedroom." She pushes me away. "Just let me do it. You work on your own shirt." I smile at her as I unbutton it. "You could've just asked me to take it off instead of soaking me with water." "It was an accident," she insists. "I swear." "Uh-huh." I give her a smug grin as I take off my shirt because her eyes are now glued to my chest. I love it when she looks at me like that. With lust,
desire. When other girls look at me that way, it does nothing to me. But when Ivy does, it arouses me, makes me want to please her, and put that blissful smile on her face that appeared after what I did to her on the couch. As I go back in my bedroom, she says, "Are you putting on another shirt?" "Yeah," I call back. "Why?" "No reason." "Did you not want me to?" I come back out to the hall and see her wearing my t-shirt. It's huge on her but I like seeing her in it. She eyes my chest. "I just...well, you were saying it was so hot in here so I thought maybe you wouldn't want one." I chuckle. "Then I'll leave it off."
"Can I hang these somewhere to dry?" She holds up her clothes. Not just her shirt and bra but also her skirt. So all she's wearing is my t-shirt and her panties. Shit. I try not to think about that. "Let me grab some hangers." I go in the bedroom and get the hangers, then I show her to the bathroom. "You can hang them on the shower rod." I return to my bedroom and change my jeans because they, too, got sprayed with water. We meet up in the kitchen and I say, "Let's try this again. What would you like to drink? And if you say water, I'm getting it this time." She kiddingly punches my arm. "It was an accident. What else you got besides water?"
I open the fridge and she grabs a can of pop and hands it to me. "Just to be safe, you better open it." I crack it open and hand it back to her. "Want anything to eat?" "I don't know. I'm not sure how long I'm staying." "At least until your clothes are dry. That could be a while." I open the cabinet and grab a bag of chips. "This good?" I ask, holding them up. "I'm not really hungry." "Then I'll eat them. I'm always hungry. Let's see what's on TV." We go back to the couch and I turn on the TV and start flipping through channels. "See anything you want to watch?"
"Fast and the Furious. You just passed it." I flip back to it. "You like Fast and the Furious?" "Cool cars and hot guys. What's not to like?" She's sitting at the end of the couch, her legs tucked under her, wearing only my t-shirt, looking both sexy and cute. "Get over here," I say. "You're too far away." "I was giving you space." "I don't want space. I want you over here." I point to my chest. "Since you banned me from wearing a shirt, I need you to keep me warm." She laughs. "I didn't ban you from wearing a shirt."
"Still need you over here." I pat the spot next to me. She moves over and I grab her around the waist and pull her into my side. "That's better." We settle in and watch the movie, Ivy tucked under my arm, which is draped over her, our hands threaded together. I haven't hung out like this with a girl since high school, in the brief period of time when I was actually attempting to get to know girls instead of just sleeping with them. And I haven't watched a movie with a girl in years. I didn't have time to. Before dating Ivy, my evenings were spent catching up on work, or out at a club searching for my next hookup. And when I was with a girl, she rarely
spent the night, and we definitely didn't sit on the couch watching TV. I open my bag of chips and toss some in my mouth, keeping my arm around Ivy. "Can I have some?" "I thought you didn't want any." "I changed my mind." "Are you one of those people who wants to eat whatever someone else is eating?" "Not usually, but you're making those chips sound really good." I hand her the bag, and as she grabs it, it slips from her hand, landing on my lap and spilling potato chips all over me. Her hand goes to her mouth. "Oh my
God, I'm so sorry!" She's laughing. "I'll clean it up." She tries to get up but I hold her down. "Seriously?" I point to my jeans. "The shirt wasn't enough for you?" "What are you talking about?" "You purposely did that so I'd have to take my jeans off. Just admit it. You want me naked." She laughs. "I did not do that on purpose. I promise you. Besides, I'm sure you have another pair of jeans to put on." "I don't know. I'm running out. This is the second pair you've ruined." "I didn't ruin them." She starts picking chips off my lap. "Here, I'm cleaning them up."
"Go right ahead." I lean back, crossing my arms behind my head, a big grin on my face as she repeatedly touches my crotch. "Take your time." She smiles and rolls her eyes. "Nice try. I'm cleaning them up. That's it." She points to my growing erection. "So tell that thing to calm down." I laugh. "I can't control him. You woke him up. It's your fault." She's about to say something but then my phone rings. "Go ahead and get it," she says. Normally, I'd just let it ring but I answer because it's Nash. I always answer when family calls because I'm always worried that something bad happened. When my mom died, I was out
with some friends after school and didn't answer my phone and Nash had to come find me. So now, I always answer when someone in my family calls. "Hey, Nash, what's going on?" I stand up, letting the broken chips fall on the floor. Ivy gives me a what-the-hell look so I turn away from the phone and say, "Don't worry about it. I'll vacuum it up later." "Is someone over there?" Nash asks. "Ivy." I smile at her. "She just spilled potato chips all over me after spraying me with water." "Jake!" she whispers, throwing her hands up. "Don't tell him that!" Nash laughs. "I probably don't want to know."
"So why are you calling? It's Saturday night. You should be out with Callie." "We are. We're at a bar in Evanston, listening to Austin's band." I don't hear music in the background. Nash must be talking outside. "Austin's playing tonight? He didn't tell me." My youngest brother, Austin, is a guitarist in a band. He works construction during the day, then plays gigs at night for extra money, but also because he loves it. He's been playing guitar since he was a kid. He's really good, but I have no idea where he got his talent. Nobody else in our family has any kind of musical talent.
"The bar had a cancellation," Nash says, "so they booked Austin's band at the last minute. I called to see if you guys want to meet us here." Normally I would, but tonight I'd rather stay at home with Ivy. That's so unlike me. I usually want to be out in the action, at a club, a bar, a concert. I only stay home if I have to because of work. Otherwise, I go out. But I'm starting to think the reason for that is less because I want to be out and more because being here by myself all the time gets lonely. "I don't think we can make it," I say. "But next time he's playing, we'll plan on going with you guys. Is Bryce there?" "No. He had a date. They went to a movie."
"A date? With who?" "I don't know. Some girl he met earlier today." "He was with Jen today." "Yeah, and he found out she has a date with her boyfriend tonight." I shake my head as I walk to the kitchen. "So he's going out with someone else, hoping it'll get his mind off it. He's such a dumbass." "We can't change him. He has to figure this out himself. Eventually he'll come around." "Yeah, and when he does, Jen will have moved on for good." I find a kitchen towel and wet it, then wipe the grease off my jeans. "Then it's his loss. Hey, are you
bringing Ivy tomorrow? Callie wants to know." "I haven't asked her yet." "When you do, text me and let me know. Callie wants to make sure she bought enough food." "It's one extra person. I'm sure there's plenty of food. She always buys too much." "Still. Just text me and let me know. I gotta get back inside. I don't want some asshole hitting on my girl." "Yeah, see you tomorrow." He hangs up and I turn back to see Ivy behind me. "Was that Nash?" "Yeah, he invited us to meet him and Callie at a bar up in Evanston. Austin's playing there tonight."
"We should go. I want to hear him play. I heard he's really good." "We'll go some other time. We're not exactly in the best shape to be going out." I motion to my damp jeans. "You could change clothes, then take me to my place so I can change." "I don't feel like going out tonight. It's late and it takes forever to get there." I bring her into my arms. "And I'd rather be alone with you. Watching Fast and the Furious and seeing what else you're going to do in your attempt to get me naked." She laughs. "Okay, stop it. That was not what I was trying to do." "I didn't say I had a problem with it." "Let's just go watch the movie." She
takes my hand and drags me back to the couch. The potato chips are still all over it. "I need to clean this up." I get the vacuum from the closet and Ivy watches as I vacuum up the chips on the floor, then use the hose attachment to suck up the ones on the couch. When I'm done and join her on the couch she says, "I didn't know you were so domestic. Do you also dust and clean bathrooms?" she asks jokingly. "I can't afford a maid, so yeah." "Well, you do a really good job. Your place is cleaner than mine." "It's what I'm used to. My dad doesn't like a dirty house." Shit, I didn't mean to say that.
"What does your dad have to do with it?" Why did I bring this up? Way to bring the mood down, Jake. I'm such an idiot sometimes. I could lie, but why bother? I'm over it now. It was a long time ago. "After my mom died, my dad kind of shut down," I say. "He got really depressed and wouldn't come out of his room. Actually, he stayed in Nash's room because he couldn't stand to be in the room he used to share with my mom." I pause. "Don't ever tell him I told you this, okay? It's not like it's a secret, but it's not something my dad likes to talk about." She nods. "Yeah, I understand. Go ahead."
"Nash had moved out by then, so I was the oldest kid living at home. That meant I got stuck with all the responsibilities. Cooking, cleaning, driving Austin everywhere. Luckily, Bryce had his license so he helped out with Austin. Anyway, in the rare times my dad left his room, he'd freaking blow up if the house wasn't clean. My mom always kept a clean house, so seeing it a mess was just a reminder that she wasn't around. So I learned how to clean and tried to keep it as spotless as I could." "How old were you?" she asks softly, her voice laced with concern. "Seventeen, almost eighteen. I was a senior in high school." "That's a lot of responsibility for
someone that age." "Yeah. It was. But I don't blame my dad. He's apologized a million times for acting the way he did back then, but he couldn't help it. She was the love of his life and when she died, a part of him died with her." Which is why I will never have a relationship like that. I can't. Not after seeing what my dad went through. There's no fucking way I could go through that. "How is he now?" Ivy asks. "Better. It's been almost six years so he's had time to deal with his grief, get through all the holidays, birthdays...all those days that remind him of what he's lost."
"And how about you?" She takes my hand. I pause, my gaze landing on the coffee table. "I miss her. I miss her a lot. It was so sudden. Completely unexpected. I never thought I'd lose my mom when I was in high school. That shit's not supposed to happen. She was supposed to see us get married, have kids." Things I'll never do. Before she died, I wanted that stuff. Marriage, kids, a house. All that. But having those things means finding a woman I love enough to marry, and I won't let myself love someone like that. Because if I lose her, it'll hurt too damn much. I saw what my dad went through and that's not going to
be me. It's never going to happen. But that doesn't mean I can't date, and at least let myself feel something for a woman. Something like I feel for Ivy. She's quiet and I look over and see her head is down. "Ivy?" I lift her chin up and see tears falling down her cheeks. "What's wrong?" She wipes her face with the back of her hand. "Sorry. It's just that thing you said about your mom not seeing you get married and have kids. I feel the same way. Now that I'm older, I think about it all the time. Someday I'll get married and she won't be there. And she'll never meet her grandkids." I bring her into my arms. "Shit, I'm
sorry. I didn't mean to remind you of that. I wasn't even thinking. I'm so sorry." "Don't be. It's okay." She sniffles, lifting her head up to look at me. "I like that I can talk to you about this and you understand. Most people don't. They can't imagine losing a parent when you're just a kid, like we did." "You were younger than me. At least I had my mom until I was 17. How old were you? Ten?" "Eleven. But unlike you, at least I knew it was coming. We had some time to prepare. After she died, my dad grieved, but he didn't break down. My mom made him promise he wouldn't. So after she was gone, he was there for us. He took us to school every day and
picked us up. He had to leave work early so he could be home with us after school. We had almost no money back then but it didn't matter. We didn't need money. We needed each other." She wipes the tears off her cheeks. "Sorry, I don't usually cry like this. It was years ago. I'm supposed to be over it." "I don't think we're ever completely over it. We just learn to go on." It's true. I'm not over my mom dying. I tell myself I am, but I'm not. Her death messed me up. I don't know if it's because of my age at the time, or the fact that I had to watch my dad suffer, or what, but after she died, I shut off my feelings, deciding never to let anyone in my heart except for the people who were
already there. My dad and my brothers. That's it. My family. I love my family and would do anything for them, and if I lost one of them, it would nearly kill me. But I know it could happen to any one of us at any time. That's just life and it sucks and it's the reason I don't want to ever fall in love. I'm not willing to love a woman only to risk losing her. "Is it hard for you?" Ivy asks, her head on my shoulder, her hand on my chest. "Sometimes," I admit, "but I try not to think about it." "Me too. But then something happens that makes you want so badly for the person to be there and it hurts, you
know?" "Yeah." I tug her closer and kiss the top of her head. "Like in high school, my dad took me shopping for a prom dress. It was really sweet of him to do that, but God, I wanted my mom there so bad. Liza felt the same way when she went to get hers. I went with her and we both cried in the dressing room. We never told my dad that. We didn't want him ever feeling like he wasn't enough for us, but sometimes a girl just needs her mom." "I'm sorry, Ivy." I smooth her hair. "I'm sorry she wasn't there." She looks up at me. "And I'm sorry your mom's no longer here. She'd be proud of you, Jake. The way you help
your dad. And the company. And your brothers. She'd be really proud." Fuck. She's making me tear up. No one's ever said that to me. My dad tells me he's proud of me but he doesn't mention my mom. I've never even thought about what my mom would think of me if she were alive, but thinking about it now, I think she'd be disappointed. She wouldn't want me sleeping around, being with a different girl every night. She'd want me to find someone to love. A girl who's kind and caring and easy to talk to. Someone who makes me laugh and makes me want to be a better person. Someone who understands me. Someone like Ivy.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Ivy I wake up to find myself wrapped in Jake's arms. We're both lying on the couch. I don't even remember falling asleep. It must've happened while I was watching the end of the movie. "Jake?" I nudge him awake.
"Yeah," he mumbles, his voice groggy. "It's late. I better get home." "What time is it?" "I don't know." I reach for my phone, which is on the coffee table, and check the time. "It's three thirty." "Just go to sleep. It's too late to take you home." "But—" "Go to sleep, Ivy," he mutters, holding me closer as he kisses the top of my head. So I guess I'm staying. I'm spending the night with Jake Wheeler. Without having sex. And he's my boyfriend. I still can't figure out how this happened. A week ago, if you told me I'd be spending
next Saturday night with my boyfriend, Jake Wheeler, I would've told you you were crazy. But now that I know him, it doesn't seem that crazy. In fact, I'm starting to think we're kind of perfect for each other. We have a lot in common, we can talk for hours, we have major chemistry, and we like spending time together. The only problem is that I still don't trust him not to cheat on me. A guy like him doesn't change who he is in a week. He's been Mr. One-Night-Stand for years, so I find it hard to believe he can give that up and settle down with just one woman. But like I told him, I'm willing to give him a chance because I really like being with him. This past
week has been great, especially tonight. I liked just being here at his apartment, watching movies and talking. I've never talked with a guy about my mom. I've tried, but as soon as I start, the guy cuts me off, not wanting to hear about someone's dead mother. Even Ryker wouldn't listen to me. But Jake did, because he understands. When he told me about his own mom, and what happened after she died, it was like I was seeing a whole different side of him. The vulnerable side that he normally tries to hide. And yet he showed it to me. So I opened up to him as well, and I felt like we grew closer by sharing the hurt we still carry around from losing a parent.
Cuddled up next to him, I fall back asleep and wake up at eight to the smell of bacon cooking. I stretch out on the couch, my eyes closed, breathing in the delicious aroma. I love bacon, but I never have it because I don't know how to make it. Warm lips cover mine and I smile. "Good morning," a deep voice says. I open my eyes to see a freshlyshowered Jake, with wet hair and shirtless, wearing gray sweats that hang low on his hips. My eyes get stuck on his tight, ribbed abs and I feel a surge of heat between my legs. "My eyes are up here," he says in cocky tone. I look up and see his smug grin.
"What? I can't look at my boyfriend?" He smiles, a happy, genuine smile that says he likes the title, which is shocking, given his fear of commitment. "Only if I can look at my girlfriend." He drops to his knees and kisses me. "Jake, don't kiss me." I push him away, smiling. "I have morning breath." "Yeah? And I smell like bacon. I still want to kiss you." He tries but I turn my head. He laughs. "Fine. I'll just kiss you somewhere else." He lifts my shirt up and kisses my stomach, intensifying the heat between my legs. He circles my belly ring with his tongue. "God, I love this thing. So fucking sexy." He slides his hand up to my breast and I arch into his touch,
wanting more. "Jake," I breathe out. "I need to shower." "Not until I'm done with you." He tugs on my shirt. "Take this off." "What? No. I can't—" "I'm already touching you. I just want to see you." He smiles. "Please?" This could be trouble, with me nearly naked and him wearing only a pair of sweats, but I sit up and let him take the shirt off, leaving me in just my black string bikinis. His eyes rake down my body, following the path of his hand. "You're so damn hot." His mouth goes to my breast, while his hand slips under my bikinis and does what he did last night
until I'm left gasping for breath as my body comes down off its high. I lie there, unable to move, and feel him kiss my lips, just once. "Go take a shower. I'll finish breakfast." I open my eyes and see him standing again, his sweats now tented in front. It's so tempting. It's right there, ready to go. And I'm so ready for it. Dying for it. But it's not the right time. It's too soon. "I need a minute," I say, my chest rising and falling as my heart rate recovers. He chuckles. "I set out a towel for you. There's soap and shampoo in the shower. If you need anything else just let me know. And don't take too long. Breakfast is almost ready."
"What are we having?" I sit up and put my shirt on, even though I don't need to after he just saw me completely exposed. "Eggs, bacon, and fried potatoes." He walks to the kitchen. "You made all that?" "Yeah. I like a big breakfast. Why?" "I had no idea you could cook like this. I don't even know how to make bacon." "It's easy. I can show you. Now get in there and take a shower." His shower is awesome. Way better than mine. It's big and all tile and has one of those giant rain shower heads. His apartment must be fairly new because everything is updated and
modern. I live in an old apartment that looks like it belongs in the Seventies but at least it's mine. I love my dad and sister, but I couldn't live at home. I need my privacy. When I get out of the shower, I put on my now-dry clothes and go out to the kitchen. Jake has the food set up on the breakfast bar. "Have a seat." He motions to the barstools. "This looks really good," I say as I eye my plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, and fried potatoes. He gave me enough for three people. "But I can't eat all of this." "I'll finish whatever you don't eat." I laugh. "Jen told me about that. She
said you and your brothers are like human garbage disposals. Whatever we don't eat, you guys will finish." "That's true. There were never leftovers at our house." He sets his fork down and turns to me. "Speaking of my family, I have a question to ask you." "Go ahead." "Every other Sunday we have family dinner at my dad's house. We're having one today and I wondered if you'd like to come." He's inviting me to his family dinner? It seems too soon for that. We just started dating. When I don't answer, he quickly says, "Callie really wants you to come. So does Jen. They could use another girl at
the table." So did Callie and Jen invite me? Is Jake only asking because of them? I don't want to go unless he really wants me to, and I can't tell if he does. "You're not saying anything," he says. "Does that mean you don't want to go?" "Do you want me to?" "Well, yeah, that's why I asked." He still doesn't sound very convincing. "I need to check in with my sister first. Sometimes we go out on Sundays. What time is dinner?" "Five o'clock." "Okay, I'll talk to her and let you know." We finish breakfast, then Jake takes me home. I call Liza as soon as I'm in my
apartment. "Where have you been?" she asks when she picks up. "I called you last night and you didn't return my call. I was getting worried until I saw your text." I texted her and told her I'd call her in the morning. "I told you I was going out with Jake." "How late were you out with him? You could've called when you got home." "I couldn't. I um...I stayed over." "What?" she yells it, not like she's mad, but more like shocked. "You had sex with Jake? I thought you wanted to wait, or not do it at all." "We didn't have sex. We were
watching a movie and fell asleep on his couch." "Okay, let me get this straight. You spent the night at Jake's apartment, with Jake there, and you didn't have sex." "Yes. I accidentally sprayed myself with water so I had to wait for my clothes to dry. It was already late so I just spent the night." "What did you wear when your clothes were drying?" "Jake let me wear one of his t-shirts." I loved that t-shirt. It was super soft and it smelled like him. I wanted to take it home but I didn't want to ask. He might think that's weird. "So you were practically naked," she says. "And you still didn't have sex? Are
you sure?" I laugh. "Yeah, I would know if that happened." "You know what this means, right?" "No, what does it mean?" "It means Jake really likes you. You're not just some girl he wants to bang. You're the real deal. He wants this, Ivy. He wants you. And not just for sex." She pauses, then squeals. "Oh my God, I could have Jake Wheeler as a brotherin-law! Just think how gorgeous your kids will be!" "Okay, wait. Slow down, like waaay down. I am not anywhere near ready to marry anyone, let alone Jake Wheeler. We just started dating and I doubt this will go beyond a few weeks. I mean,
come on, you really think Jake can change?" "Is he calling you his girlfriend?" I hesitate, knowing she's going to overreact, but then say, "Yes." "Are you serious?" She yells it so loud I have to hold the phone away. "You need to stop screaming. I'm going deaf." "This is worthy of screaming. Jake Wheeler. THE Jake Wheeler. Chicago's most eligible bachelor, who has never had a girlfriend and never wanted one, has now declared YOU his girlfriend." "It's not that big a deal." I say it just to get her to calm down, but it's not true. It IS a big deal. A huge deal. "And he's not Chicago's most eligible bachelor.
There are plenty of other guys out there just like him." "You didn't see it?" "See what?" "Today's paper. In the lifestyle section, they took a poll and the women of Chicago voted Jake Wheeler to be Chicago's most eligible bachelor." "Wait—what? Are you kidding?" "No. Check the paper." "I don't get the paper." "Then check the website. I'm sure it's on there. It'll probably be on the local news. Jake didn't say anything about it?" "No, but maybe he didn't know." Or did he know and not tell me because he knows I don't like all the attention he gets from other women? I
hope he didn't purposely hide this from me. If we're going to date, he can't be hiding stuff from me. He was the one who told me to be honest, even if he didn't like what I was going to say, so he needs to do the same for me. "So what did you guys do last night?" Liza asks. "Went to dinner and a club, then came back to his apartment." "So you didn't have sex, but I assume you did other things?" I can tell by her voice that she's grinning. I roll my eyes. "Yes, we did other things." "And was he good at those other things?" She laughs. "Very good. Exceptionally good."
"Oh my God, I knew it! When the girls at work used to talk about him, they used to say how good he was in—" She cuts herself off. "Never mind." She was going to say he was good in bed, and I have no doubt that he is, after what I experienced last night and this morning. If he's that talented with his hands, I can only imagine what he can do with his—I need to stop thinking about that, especially while talking to my sister. "How's Dad doing?" I ask, wanting to get off the topic of Jake. "His back was bothering him so he doubled his dose of pain meds and now he's sleeping." "He needs to get up and walk around.
He can't be sleeping all the time." "I know," she says in clipped tone. "You don't have to tell me. I'll make him go on a walk after he gets up." Liza doesn't like it when I give her reminders about how to care for Dad. But when I'm not there I feel like I need to, even though I know she takes good care of him. "Sorry, Liza. I didn't mean anything by that. I know you're doing what you can. I just worry about him." "I know. Me too." She pauses and I feel the tension in the air. Sometimes I wonder if she resents me for not living with them. She wouldn't tell me if she did. She's too nice, and she wants me to be happy, and she knows I wouldn't be
happy living at home. That house is too tiny and I'm told old to still live there. My dad understands that, and was supportive of my decision when I moved out a few years ago. But Liza was upset that I left. She misses having me there. "So what are you doing today?" she asks, now back to her usual chipper self. "I need to clean my apartment and do laundry and then I'll probably come over there and see you and Dad." "You're not seeing Jake today?" "He invited me to a family dinner at his dad's house, but I told him I needed to talk to you first. See if we were doing anything. But Liza, I'll tell him no. I need to hang out with you and Dad." "Jake asked you to go to dinner at his
dad's house?" She has that excited tone again. "And his whole family will be there?" "Yeah. His dad, his brothers, Nash's girlfriend, Callie, and this girl, Jen, who is like a sister to Jake. I went to lunch with Jen and Callie. I really like them. We're planning to go out again. You should come too. We could have a girls' night out." "Ivy, you have to go." "Go where?" "To Jake's family dinner! Do you not realize what a big deal this is? He's bringing you home to meet his family!" She sighs dramatically. "You guys are totally getting married someday." "Would you stop saying that? I'm not
getting married. And Jake's invite doesn't mean anything. He said Callie and Jen want me to come. I'm sure this wasn't Jake's idea." "But he told you he wanted you there, right?" "Well, yeah, but he didn't sound that convincing." "Because this is so completely unlike him. Taking a girl home to meet his family? He was probably scared to death to even ask, not because you'd say no, but because of what this means." "Which is what?" "That he's really serious about you. You can't turn him down, Ivy. That would be mean. He's really trying here." "I know he is."
"So why don't you want to go?" "I do, but I also want to spend time with you and Dad." "Just come over later tonight. Or come over now and we'll hang out until you have to go. What time do you have to be there?" "Dinner's not until five. I don't know what time he'd pick me up. I'd have to call and ask." "Then call and find out and then come over here. We can have an early lunch." "I'm not hungry. Jake just made me a huge breakfast." "He MADE you breakfast? Like he actually made it?" "Yeah. Scrambled eggs, bacon, and fried potatoes."
She sighs. "He is SO in love with you." I laugh. "He is not in love with me. He made breakfast. That's not a sign of being in love." "For Jake Wheeler it is. I bet he's never made any girl breakfast but you." "I don't know, but it doesn't matter. You're reading too much into this. Jake was just being nice. And he had to make breakfast for himself, anyway. The guy eats a ton of food." "He'd have to to feed a body like that. All that muscle. And he's so tall. What is he, like 6'4?" "I don't know. That sounds about right." "He is so hot. I'm jealous."
"Well, he's got two single brothers, although Bryce is in love with Jen so he's probably out. But you could try dating Austin." "Is he the one in the band?" "Yeah. He was playing at a bar in Evanston last night. We were thinking of going but Jake wanted to stay home." "So he could be alone with you," she says in a sing-songy voice. I laugh. "Okay, you're starting to annoy me. I'm hanging up and calling Jake, then I'll come over there." "Tell my future brother-in-law I said hi!" "Yeah, you're funny. Bye. See you soon." I hang up before she can say any more.
She's going to tease me about Jake for as long as I date him. Saying he's going to marry me? That's about as likely as me becoming president. Never gonna happen. Completely out of the realm of possibility. I can't even imagine Jake getting married, to anyone, not just me. He's a free spirit. Doesn't like being tied down. And neither do I, especially now, when I'm in my twenties. I call Jake. "Hey, it's Ivy." He chuckles. "Yeah, I know. Caller ID. Plus I recognize your voice." "Oh. Okay, well, I was just calling to say I can come to dinner." "Great, then I'll pick you up around four thirty. Sound good?" "Yeah. I'll see you then."
I end the call, but then realize I forgot to ask what to wear. But he'd probably tell me anything is fine, even if it's not. I need to ask Callie. I find her number in my phone and call her. "Ivy," she answers. She always sounds happy, which is amazing given that she lost her whole family less than two years ago. She must be a really strong person, or as Jake said, she has a strong support system through Nash. "What's up?" "Jake invited me to his family dinner and I wasn't sure what to wear. I was going to ask Jake but decided it'd be better to ask a girl." "I'm so excited you're coming! It'll be great to have another girl. I love the
guys, but they can be a little much when they start talking sports. They get really loud, and hearing them talk sport stats gets really boring. Anyway, as for clothes, the guys always wear jeans and polo shirts or button-up shirts. Jen and I wear a dress or a skirt but that's only because both our grandmas used to say you should always dress nice for Sunday dinner and the advice just kind of stuck. But you don't have to dress up. You could wear jeans and a sweater or something like that." "My grandma used to say the same thing about Sunday dinner, so I think I'll go with a skirt or dress. I just wanted to check with you first. Oh, also, should I bring anything? Like dessert or a bottle
of wine?" "You don't need to bring anything." "Are you sure? I feel like I should." "Nope. Just bring yourself. And Jake. Don't forget Jake." She laughs. "He's been a little out of it lately. You may need to remind him to show up." "Why has he been out of it?" "I'm guessing it's because he can't stop thinking about a certain girl. Maybe a carpenter he met at work?" I laugh. "Yeah. I don't think that's it. He's probably got his mind on work. He's got a lot going on. Anyway, I should let you go. I'll see you soon. Thanks for the advice." "Anytime. Bye, Ivy." Why is everyone so sure that Jake
likes me so much? Is it just because he's never dated a girl and he's now been dating me for a week? That doesn't prove anything, other than the fact that he's capable of dating and isn't just a one-night stand guy. But that guy could reappear at any time and our relationship would be over. I hope that doesn't happen, but I'm preparing for it if it does. I really like Jake, and I know he likes me, but I'm not letting myself get too far into this. I've been burned too many times. I'm not just giving my heart out to a guy because I like him or think he's hot, like I've done in the past. I'm older and wiser now. Or maybe I'm not, because I feel like
I've already done that. Like I've already given Jake a piece of my heart. A tiny piece, but still a piece. And now I'm afraid of what he'll do with it.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Jake We just arrived at my dad's house. Ivy looks beautiful. Her hair is down and she has on just enough makeup to highlight her delicate features and those deep brown eyes. She's wearing a black knit dress and a silver necklace with a
tiny silver hammer hanging from the chain. The necklace is perfect. Absolutely perfect. My family will love it. And it's so Ivy. All girl, but reminding you that she's tough, working in an almost all-male field and kicking ass while doing it. She said her dad gave her the necklace when she got her first real carpenter job. It was when she was 21, after she'd been training as an apprentice for years. She had a lot of experience before taking her first job and yet they paid her next to nothing. When she told me that story I was pissed, even though it was two years ago. There's no way in hell a guy would ever get paid that little. "Good to see you again, Ivy." My dad
walks into the living room, a dish towel hung over his shoulder. "Good to see you too, Mr. Wheeler." She shakes his hand. I chuckle at how formal she's being. "Just call him Mitch," I tell her. He smiles. "Yes. We're not very formal around here." She smiles nervously. "It's just that you're my boss so I feel like I shouldn't call you by your first name." He nods. "I understand, but I'm not your boss when you're here, so feel free to call me Mitch." Nash walks in, and I motion to him and say, "And technically, Nash is your boss, and you're not calling him Mr. Wheeler. That'd just be weird."
"Sure would," he says, coming up to her. "Makes me sound old, like Dad." My dad ropes his arm around Nash's shoulder. "You turn 26 soon. You're not exactly young anymore." He pats him on the back. "I better get back to the kitchen before your girlfriend wonders where her helper went." He leaves and Ivy says to Nash, "When's your birthday?" "Not until March. Callie's was a few weeks ago. We celebrated down at my house, a couple hours south of here." She raises her brows. "You have a house?" "So does Callie," I tell her. "It's a long story. I'll tell you later." "Hey, you made it!" Callie comes out
of the kitchen in a navy dress, a white apron wrapped around her. Her hair is up in a ponytail with wispy strands hanging down, framing her face. She's really pretty, and so completely perfect for Nash. The two of them just go together. They even look right together. "The food smells great," Ivy says, giving Callie a hug. "It's pork chops with a balsamic glaze and roasted potatoes. Plus some other stuff that doesn't really go with the pork but I wanted to try some new recipes." Nash comes up behind her, pulling her into him and kissing her cheek. "My little chef. I told her she needs to open a restaurant."
She smiles up at him and he kisses her again. "It's just a hobby." "Let's go sit down," I say, not wanting to stand here and watch Nash and Callie make out. Once they start kissing, they forget people are around and keep kissing until someone tells them to stop. Nash and Callie sit on the couch, leaving Ivy and me to take the loveseat. I'm sure that was intentional on Callie's part. She's playing matchmaker, doing whatever she can to make sure Ivy and I keep dating. Nash and Callie are worried I'm going to screw this up, and knowing me, I probably will. I don't know what the hell I'm doing. I've never had a girlfriend before. "I love your necklace," Callie says to
Ivy. "Nash, look. It's a hammer." "My dad gave it to me," she says. "I figured it was appropriate for wearing to a dinner with people who own a construction company." Callie laughs. "Totally. It's perfect. You fit right in." She eyes me, like she's hoping I heard her comment about how Ivy fits in our family, but I already know she does. She gets along great with Nash, and she likes my dad, and I'm sure she'd get along well with Bryce and Austin too, once she gets to know them. And she's already friends with Jen and Callie. "Hi, everyone." Jen comes walking in the front door. "Hey." Callie waves her over. "Come
sit down." Jen takes her coat off and notices Ivy. "Ivy, I'm glad you came." She goes over and gives her a quick hug. "What about me?" I ask, pretending to be hurt. "You're not glad I came?" "I see you all the time," she says, plopping down on the couch next to Callie. "So did you guys do anything fun last night?" Callie asks. I smile to myself, because hell yeah, we had fun. I got Ivy naked and kissed, licked, and touched just about every part of her. Ivy answers. "We went to dinner, then had a drink and went—" She stops and I follow her gaze to the hallway. Austin's
standing there, his hair a mess, wearing workout shorts and nothing else. Fuck. Does he really need to parade around the house half naked? Like I really need my girlfriend checking him out. The guy works out constantly so his body is more toned than mine or Bryce's or Nash's. We get a workout just doing construction so we're in damn good shape, and I make it to the gym now and then, but not like Austin. He's a fitness fanatic. Jen and Callie are also staring at Austin and I see the annoyance on Nash's face. I catch his eye and shake my head. He rolls his eyes. Austin stumbles into the living room, rubbing his face. "Anyone seen my keys?"
"On the counter," Nash says. "You been sleeping?" "Yeah. I was wiped out from last night. We didn't get out of there until after three." "You guys sounded really good," Callie says to him. "Thanks. We've been practicing a lot." He yawns and stretches his arms up over his head, causing his shorts to drop even lower. I look over and see Ivy staring at him. What the hell? She can't look at my brother that way! "Austin," I bark at him. "What?" he yawns again. "Put some damn clothes on. We got company."
I hear Jen and Callie snickering. They think this is hilarious. Me being jealous of my brother. But I'm not jealous of him. I just don't want Ivy looking at him like that. Austin finally notices Ivy. "Oh. Hi." He smiles and comes over to her. "I think we've met before. At the opening for the Victorian. I'm Austin." He extends his hand and they shake before I can stop them. I didn't want Ivy shaking his hand. I know what my little shit brother does with that hand, and I know he does it almost every time he wakes up. The walls in this house are way too thin. I take Ivy's hand and hold it in mine so she doesn't touch him again.
"I'm Ivy," she says. "I work for Nash at the library." Austin smiles. "Yeah. I know. That's why Jake always goes there for lunch." "Shut up," I tell him. "And pull up your damn shorts." He yanks them up and says to Ivy, "Sorry. I don't usually wear much to bed." He glances at me and I almost punch him. The little shithead. He'd never try to take my girl, but he loves getting under my skin. "It's okay," Ivy says, trying not to look at his eight-pack abs. "I don't mind." Callie and Jen are snickering again, then Callie says, "I have to get back to
the kitchen." She stands up. "Dinner should be ready in a half hour." She leaves and Nash follows, but stops next to Austin and says, "Go clean up. You're not showing up to dinner like that." "Yeah, I'm going." He makes his way back down the hall. "I'll go see if Callie needs help with dinner," Jen says, getting up and leaving Ivy and me alone in the living room. "So that's my family," I say, putting my arm up behind her on the back of the couch. "But I guess you've already met them before. I don't know where Bryce is. Probably out in the garage. He's fixing up a car." "Does he live here?"
"No. He has an apartment, but he uses the garage to work on his car. It's a junk car that he's trying to fix up so he can sell it. If he makes enough, he might try to fix up another one." "I didn't know he could fix cars. Why didn't he fix Jen's? She said she took it in for repairs last week." "She wouldn't let him do it. She likes to be independent and take care of stuff herself. It drives Bryce crazy. The guy would do anything for her, except date her. If he'd date her, maybe she'd let him fix her car." I shake my head. "Those two are such a mess." "So Austin still lives at home?" "Yeah, but he's hardly ever here. He's either at work or with his band. I'm
guessing he'll move out in a year or two, especially if he gets a girlfriend. He won't want to hang out here with his girlfriend. He needs his own place." "He must work out a lot." She smiles a little. I turn to her. "Yeah, about that. What the hell were you doing checking out my brother?" "I wasn't checking him out," she insists. "Oh, please, you couldn't stop staring at him. It's like you forgot I was in the room." She rubs her hand over my chest, still smiling. "Are you jealous?" "I'm not jealous of that little shit. I have better things to do with my time
than spend hours at the gym. And it's not like I don't go to the gym. I just don't go every day." She laughs. "You're totally jealous. But just so you know, I like your body." She reaches up and kisses me. "Oh, yeah?" I kiss her back. "I love it." She whispers in my ear. "It totally turns me on." I'm instantly hard from her words and the feel of her breath in my ear. "Shit, don't do that here. Wait until we get home." Home. I said it as though we have a home. Together. That's not what I meant. "To my apartment," I say, correcting myself. "I thought you were taking me back to
my place after this." She kisses my cheek, bringing things back to a more innocent level of flirting. "Do you need to go back there? Because I was thinking you could stay with me again." I just asked her to spend the night, making it two nights in a row she'd be at my place. What am I doing? I don't invite girls to spend the night, especially girls I'm not sleeping with. It's too intimate. Like last night. Having Ivy wrapped in my arms all night was causing all kinds of feelings to emerge. Feelings I'm not supposed to be having for her. I'm supposed to like her and that's it. I can't let myself get anywhere near that other L word.
"Um, I don't know," she says. "I think I should just stay at my place tonight." So she doesn't want this getting too serious either. She always says her priority right now is her career, which means she's not interested in getting serious with a guy. She just wants someone to date, which works out well because that's all I'm looking for too. And yet, I feel a twinge of disappointment that she won't be with me tonight. A half hour later, we're having dinner around the dining room table that has two leaves in it in order to fit us all. The food is amazing as always. Nash is right. Callie should open a restaurant. But instead she's going to college, studying
math. She wants to be a high school math teacher. As we're having dessert, Ivy jumps in her seat and grabs my arm. "What's wrong?" I ask her. "Something furry just touched my leg under the table," she whispers, but everyone heard. "It's Cat," I tell her. "Sorry about that," Callie says. "He likes to come over and say hi to new people. You aren't allergic are you?" "No." She peeks under the table at the black cat. "I didn't know you had a cat. What's his name?" "Cat." We all try to keep a straight face because it's funny when people first hear
his name. We can see Ivy's confused. We all were too when we found out his name. Now we think nothing of it, until someone new comes along. "So um...what's his name?" Ivy asks. "Cat," we all say at once, except for Dad. He's just shaking his head at us, not approving of us teasing Ivy. Austin bursts out laughing. Then the rest of us do. Ivy's looking more confused than ever. My dad explains, "The cat's name is Cat. He lives with Nash and Callie, but he's part of the family so he always comes to family dinner. And as Callie said, he likes to say hello to new people. Sorry if he scared you." "He didn't scare me. I was just
surprised. I love cats. I had one when I was little, but his name was Buttons because he had spots down his chest that looked like buttons." She smiles at Callie. "So why'd you name him Cat?" "My little brother named him. He was just a toddler at the time so he didn't know many words." Callie looks down at the table and Nash puts his arm around her. Callie still gets really sad when she talks about her little brother. He was only five when he died. Ivy looks devastated for bringing it up, but it's not her fault. She didn't know. I hold her hand under the table and whisper in her ear, "It's okay. She'll be fine." "Awesome cheesecake, Callie,"
Austin says, breaking the awkward silence. We can always count on Austin to get the conversation going again. "Thanks." Callie perks up, smiling again. "The recipe's from a local chef. I found it on her website. She does cooking segments for one of the morning news programs. I can't remember her name." "It's really good," I tell her. "Thanks for making it, and for making dinner." "You're welcome." I thank her every time she does this for us. I know she likes cooking, but still, it's a lot of work and I don't want her ever thinking we take it for granted. Nash kisses her cheek, his arm still around her. "He's right. It's a great meal,
as always." "Speaking of the news," Austin says, looking at me. "I got a text from one of my friends saying you were in today's paper. Something about a contest? What's that about?" Shit. I was hoping this wouldn't come up. I had no idea there even was a contest, and I sure as hell didn't know I'd won it until my phone started blowing up this morning with texts and calls from the women I've been with, and some that I don't even know. I wanted to tell Ivy about this later, when we were alone, but I guess that's not going to happen. Ivy lets go of my hand and forces out a smile. "Apparently the women of Chicago have voted Jake to be Chicago's
most eligible bachelor." So she already knows, and from her tone and that fake smile, she's not happy about it. "I just found out about it," I say. "I had nothing to do with it." "Most eligible bachelor?" Austin laughs. "Why you? What about me? I'm the single one here. You have Ivy. Nash has Callie. Bryce has Je—" He stops before saying her name. Bryce is glaring at him and Jen is fidgeting with her napkin. "I mean, Bryce has limited appeal with all that ink," Austin says, trying to fix his mistake. "I have broader appeal. Muscles. No tats. And I play in a band." "Can we not talk about this?" I say.
"It was just a stupid contest. They shouldn't have done it, especially without letting me know." Ivy seems less tense now that she knows I had no part in this. At least she believed me. I know she's still hesitant to trust me, but I'm not lying. I really had no clue this was going on. Jen scoots her chair back and stands up. "I hate to go, but I have to meet with my group in a half hour and they get really annoyed when I'm late." "Is this for statistics?" Callie asks. "Yeah, I hate that class. Can't wait until it's over." She gets up, setting her napkin on the table. "Be careful driving out there," my dad says. "That rain we had earlier
could've frozen up by now." "I know. I'll be careful." She goes around the table, giving a quick wave to Ivy. "Bye, Ivy. Good seeing you again. Callie, I'll call you later." She walks off. "What about your brothers?" Austin yells. "We don't get a goodbye?" She laughs and calls back, "Bye, guys. Love you." "Love you too," we yell back, except for Bryce. He loves her differently than the rest of us, so he won't say it. "I'll be back later," I say to Ivy. "Gotta help clean up." "I can help." She scoots her chair back. "Only the guys clean up," I tell her. "It's a rule," Nash adds as he gathers
up the plates. "Come on," Callie says, motioning Ivy to get up. "Let's go in the living room and watch really bad reality TV. I love those shows." The two of them take off, and Nash, Bryce, Austin, and I begin our clean-up work. Dad doesn't have to help because he helped make dinner, so he goes outside to take a smoke. I wish he didn't smoke. I keep trying to get him to quit, and he's cut back to just a few cigarettes a day, but still. He needs to quit completely. I already lost one parent. I'm not losing him too, because of some damn cigarettes. My mom smoked when she was younger, but quit when she got engaged to my dad and started taking
care of Nash, who was just an infant at the time. Even though he wasn't hers, she raised him like he was, and she didn't want him around all that smoke. She wouldn't let my dad smoke in the house, and now, he still goes outside to smoke, as if he thinks she's watching. "So you brought Ivy to family dinner," Austin says, smiling at me. "You finally settling down?" "It doesn't mean anything." I open the dishwasher. "It's just dinner, so shut the hell up." He shrugs. "I'm just saying. You got that same look Nash had when we went down to his house last summer." Nash had only known Callie a few weeks back then, but we all knew he'd
fallen hard for her. "He's right," Bryce says. "You do have that same look." "What look are we talking about here?" Nash asks as he rinses the plates in the sink. "I didn't have a look." "Are you kidding?" Austin says. "You couldn't take your eyes off her. You practically had hearts floating around your head." I laugh, imagining that. "So fucking true. You barely knew Callie and you were already in love with her. Must've been love at first sight." "Probably was. I just didn't realize it at the time." He tosses a dish towel at me. "Just like you, dumbass. You got hearts floating around your head for Ivy
and you don't even know it." "You're fucking nuts." I toss the towel back at him. "I've been going out with her for a week." "Yeah, but you've wanted her for months," Austin says. "And if she'd agreed to go out with you back then, she'd probably have a ring on her finger by now." Bryce chuckles. "Yeah, that'll be the day. When hell freezes over." "You're one to talk," I say. "You'll never commit to anyone, unless you ever get off your ass and finally tell Jen how you feel. But instead you let her date other guys." He gets in my face. "Shut the fuck up. Like I need a damn reminder that she's
dating that asshole?" "What do you expect her to do?" Nash asks. "She's not going to wait around forever." "Especially when you're dating other girls," I say to him. "I hear you had a date last night." Bryce backs away from me. "It was nothing. Just some girl I met at a bar." He's starting to remind me of myself, dating random girls who mean nothing to him. I don't want him to be like that. It was fine for me, but not for him, which sounds odd, but I didn't have any other options. Before Ivy came along, I didn't feel a connection with any of the girls I was with, and I wasn't looking for one. But Bryce has a girl, who I know he
loves, so to see him wasting his time with girls he has no interest in, both annoys and frustrates me. But talking to him about it is like talking to a brick wall. "You guys want to go out back and play some ball when we're done with this?" Nash asks, loading the dinner plates in the dishwasher. "I'm up for that," I say, handing him the dessert plates. "I'm sure your girlfriend's talking Ivy's ear off. It'll be a while before we can break those two apart." "Yeah, they really hit it off." He points at me. "You screw this up, Callie's going to kill you." "Yeah, I already figured that out."
Nash adds the dessert plates to the dishwasher. "Let's hurry and finish this shit up so we can get outside. Austin, wipe the counters." He tosses a sponge at him, then one at Bryce. "Bryce, you get the stove." He shoves a dish towel at me. "And you dry the pans and the platters." "He's like a damn drill sergeant," Austin says as he wipes down the counter. "Do you want to play football or do this all night?" Nash asks. "The stove's already clean," Bryce says. "I think Callie already cleaned it." Nash shakes his head. "She always does that. I tell her not to, but she always cleans half the kitchen so we have less
work to do. She does it at home too, even though I'm in charge of cleaning up." I dry the last pan and hand them all to Bryce. "Here. Put these away and I'll do the platters." Nash closes the dishwasher. "Dishes are done." "Counters too," Austin says. Nash smiles. "Time for some Wheeler football. Get ready to get your asses kicked, boys." Dad walks in from his smoke. "Done already?" "Yeah, we're going out to play some ball," Nash says. "Want to join us?" He laughs. "No. It's cold out there and you boys are too rough for me. I'm
afraid you'd knock me unconscious." "We'd go easy on you, Dad," I say, patting his shoulder on my way outside. "Tell Ivy I'm out back." "Will do," he says. We play for an hour in the crisp, late winter air. I love playing ball with my brothers. They get on my nerves and sometimes we fight, but I still love hanging out with them.
CHAPTER NINETEEN Ivy "Sorry we took so long," Jake says as we're driving to my apartment. "You should've come out and got me." "I wasn't ready to leave. Callie and I were watching TV and talking and I didn't even realize what time it was."
"Sounds like you and Callie are becoming good friends." "Yeah, we made plans to go out next week. We're going to dinner on Wednesday." I pause. "I felt so bad when I asked Callie about Cat's name. She looked like she was about to cry." Jake squeezes my hand, which he's been holding since we got in the car. "You just asked a question. You didn't do anything wrong." "I know. I just felt really bad. I didn't want her thinking about her brother's death." "She'll always think about it. He was a huge part of her life and most anything can trigger a memory of him. We both know what that's like, having lost our
moms. Like tonight for some reason, watching my dad go take a smoke reminded me of my mom. She always made him go outside so us kids wouldn't have to be around the smoke. One time, when it was really freaking cold out, he tried to sneak a smoke in the house, and instead of yelling at him, my mom made him take all us boys to the arcade as punishment." He laughs. "And believe me, that was a punishment. Trying to keep track of the four of us by himself? Austin was only three. He threw a tantrum and Bryce broke one of the pinball machines. My dad thought the place was going to kick us out." "Your poor dad," I say. "It worked. He never smoked in the
house again." "I was thinking about my mom tonight when I saw Cat. My mom loved animals, and one day, Buttons showed up at our door. She was a stray, and just a kitten, so my mom took her in and fed her. My dad never wanted a pet, saying they were too much work, but my mom talked him into letting us keep Buttons." I smile. "My dad ended up loving that cat. He even cried when she died, and he almost never cries." Jake and I continue to share memories of our moms until we reach my apartment building. It's cold and windy and drizzly outside, and I'm feeling like I don't want to spend the rest of the night alone in my apartment.
Cuddling up with Jake sounds way more appealing. As he parks his SUV, I say, "Is your invite still open?" "What invite?" "The one to stay with you tonight?" He smiles. "Yeah. Why?" "Because I want to stay with you. My apartment's cold and drafty and well...I don't want to say goodbye to you yet." He leans over and reaches behind my head and brings me in for a kiss. "I don't want to say goodbye to you either. Let's go inside and get whatever you need and then we'll go back to my place." I quickly pack an overnight bag, then we drive to Jake's apartment. As we walk up to the building entrance, a girl
runs up to Jake. She's pretty, with bright blond hair, a gorgeous face, tall and thin, her body wrapped in a long black coat. "Jake, I've been calling and texting you." The girl acts like I'm not even here, her attention only on Jake. He sighs. "Yeah, and I texted you back that I'm not interested. You need to leave, Ash. And don't call me again. Or text me." Jake opens the door to the building and she grabs his arm. "I need you tonight. We had a deal. You said if I ever —" "I told you I'm not interested," he says, peeling her hand off his arm. "I'm not accepting that. After all the times you stopped by my apartment for a
quick—" "Ash." He raises his voice, then lowers it back to normal. "Are you freaking blind? Can't you see that I'm with someone?" She glances at me and huffs. "Fine. But I'm getting you tomorrow." "No. You're not." He ushers me past him into the building, then whispers, "Wait inside. I'll be there in a minute." He remains outside, talking to that girl. She starts throwing her hands in the air and yelling, but all I catch are a few curse words. Jake says one last thing and then she storms back to her car. Jake comes into the building. "I'm really sorry about that. I can't believe she showed up here. I texted her that I
have a girlfriend, but apparently she didn't care." "Is she your, um..." How do I say it? Sure thing? Booty call? I don't even want to say it. Or think it. "She was," he mumbles. "Not anymore." We ride up the elevator to his apartment in silence, except for the sound of his phone going off. It's on vibrate but I could hear it buzzing all day, and I know it's girls calling him. He'll be getting a lot of attention after being voted most eligible bachelor. As if I wasn't worried enough about other girls trying to date him. Now all the women of Chicago will be texting and calling him. This is exactly what I
didn't want. I didn't want to have to compete with other girls just to be with him. When we get inside his loft, he takes our coats and hangs them on the rack, then leads me to the couch to sit down. "We need to talk about this whole eligible bachelor thing. Why didn't you say anything when I picked you up tonight? You obviously knew about it, and I know it bothered you, so why didn't you talk to me about it?" "Because I didn't want to fight." "There's nothing to fight about. I had no idea they were doing that contest. No freaking clue. And I only found out about it after some girl sent me a link to the article. I couldn't figure out why so many
girls were calling and texting me." "How many did you get? How many calls and texts?" "I don't know. Hundreds? Maybe a thousand by now. They keep coming, from girls I don't even know. I don't know how they got my number." "Maybe you should get a new number." "I would, but this is my business number. I'd have to call every business contact I have and give them the new number and that would take forever." He rubs my arm. "This will calm down. I promise. A week from now, people will have forgotten all about it." "I doubt that. A lot of girls want you, Jake. And now they'll want you even
more." "But I don't want them. So it doesn't matter." I nod, like I'm agreeing with him but I'm really not. Because it DOES matter. It matters because girls will keep showing up at his door, and what if he has a weak moment and lets one of them in? Or what if we have a fight and he has sex with another girl out of anger? Or what if he just gets bored with me and wants someone new? All of these were reasons why guys cheated on me in the past so it's not like I'm making this up. They're all possibilities. "You don't believe me," he says, sitting back on the couch. "Ivy, what do I need to do to prove to you that I won't
cheat on you?" "I just need more time. I haven't had the best luck with guys in the past. At least half the guys I've dated have cheated on me." "I'm not them. So stop making me pay for what they did." "Jake, you can't expect me to think you'll change overnight. I know you say you've never cheated on a girl, but you do have a history of being with a lot of women and I'm not sure that I trust that you can be with just one." He pauses, then says, "Okay. That's fair. I don't agree with it, but I understand why you might think that." "I want to trust you, Jake. I do. But like I said, I just need more time."
"We've got plenty of time." He smiles. "Now get over here." I climb into his waiting arms and we snuggle on the couch and watch TV. After seeing that girl just now, I don't feel like making out with him, and he gets that. He doesn't even try to make a move. He knows that now is not the time, and he respects that, unlike the other guys I've been with who wouldn't care about how I was feeling and would be trying to rip my clothes off right now. We watch a movie, and at eleven, my eyes are drifting shut, but I don't want to fall asleep on the couch. It's too small, and this morning I woke up with a stiff neck from sleeping without a pillow. "I need to go to sleep," I tell Jake.
"But I don't want to sleep here. There's not enough room. Can we go to your bed?" He hesitates, then says, "Yeah, of course. Let's go." After we've changed clothes and brushed our teeth, we get into bed. He has a king size bed with really soft sheets and a big down comforter in a dark gray color. I lay on my side and he pulls me against him, his warm chest pressed into my back. He's shirtless, but wearing pajama pants. I'm in pajama shorts and a t-shirt. "Jake," I say. "Yeah?" "You know we're not...going to do it tonight, right?"
"I assumed we weren't." "And you're okay with that?" "I just want to be with you, Ivy. It's up to you to decide when you want us to go there." I never in a million years thought Jake Wheeler would wait for sex. Maybe he really does like me as much as Callie says. The room is silent, and then he asks, "Why did you want to stay here tonight?" "I told you, I didn't want to say goodbye." "But why?" Saying this means exposing my feelings to him, and I'm afraid to do that. But he's been honest with me, so I need to be honest with him.
"Because I want to spend time with you. I like you, Jake. I like that you say what you think. That you're honest. That you're good to your family. That they're important to you, like mine is important to me. I like that you understand me and listen when I tell you about my mom, because most people don't. And I like that you go out of your way to help other people, like fixing my dad's bathroom, and that you hide the fact that you're paying for the supplies, which I know you are." "Not all of them," he says softly. "Now it's my turn." I flip onto my back. "To what?" "Say what I like about you." "You don't have to."
"I want to." He looks at me through the shimmer of the street lights filtering through his blinds. "I like that you're incredibly talented yet you still want to get better. I like that you're strong, which you have to be to put up with all the assholes in construction. I like that you're as close to your family as I am to mine, because family's important to me. I like that you're kind and caring and..." He pauses. "I like that you were willing to give me a chance because this has been one of the best weeks of my life." He exhales, as if it took everything in him to admit that to me. And I'm sure it did. But he still told me, because like I said, he's open and honest about his feelings, which makes me want to trust
him. "It's been one of the best weeks for me too," I tell him. He turns me toward him and kisses me, and the feel of his lips and his body pressed against mine is all it takes to lead us back to where we were last night, pleasuring each other without having sex. I could've easily had sex with him tonight but I wanted to wait. Things are going really well between us, and maybe this isn't fair to him given how much he's proven he can change, but I still have this fear that he'll break up with me once we have sex. So for now, we'll just keep doing what we're doing. We fall asleep and don't wake up until the alarm goes off at six thirty. I
shower and get ready for work and we have breakfast together. Then he takes me back to my apartment to get my car and we go our separate ways. We agreed to take tonight off from each other because he has to catch up on work and I want to go see my dad and Liza. "How's the mantel coming?" I hear Nick's voice and cringe. I've been in a good mood all morning, focused on my work but also thinking about Jake, and I don't want Nick coming in here, ruining my mood with his rude comments and condescending tone. "It's coming along fine," I say, continuing to sand the edges of the mantel. "I was gonna ask Nash if I could help
you finish it. I'm almost done with the window trim." God, I hope Nash doesn't agree to let Nick help. I don't want him anywhere near me. "What about the stair trim?" I ask. "He can hire some other guy to do that. That's a rookie job. Someone with less experience can do it. I specialize in detail work. I should be doing the mantel." I hear the bitterness in his tone. He wanted to do the mantel because he knows it'll get noticed by people when authors are in here doing a reading. And when Nash does the grand opening and gives tours of this place for the press, he'll point out the mantel and the intricate details carved into the wood,
and he'll likely mention my name. Nick wants it to be his name that's mentioned, not mine. That's the only reason he wants to do the mantel. He has no interest in doing something with this much detail. I've watched him work. He lacks focus and he's sloppy, always rushing through the job just to get it over with. Saying he specializes in detail work is a joke. He has no patience for that. That's why Nash assigned him the window trim. But Nick still screwed it up. Nash reviewed his work last week and made him redo two of the windows. I'm guessing Nash wouldn't have even hired Nick if it weren't for Tom. He was probably part of the deal. I bet Nick couldn't even get a job on his own.
"Hey." I hear Jake's voice and quickly turn around, a big smile on my face. It's completely stupid, but I actually missed him, even though I just saw him this morning. "What's going on?" Nick answers. "I'm talking to Ivy about the mantel. What are you doing here?" The smug grin on Nick's face says he already knows the answer to that. He's so damn nosy. I don't know why he's so concerned with my personal life. "I had to talk to Nash about something," Jake says. I'm glad he didn't say he was here to see me. I need to keep this thing between Jake and me quiet, at least at work, although Nick already knows, and I'm sure he's told the other guys.
"So why are you in here then?" Nick asks. "Nash is in the office." Jake walks over and stands in front of me, blocking me from Nick. "I wanted to see how the mantel is coming. It's a signature piece of the project. It's going to get a lot of attention." Damn. I wish he hadn't said that. It'll just piss off Nick even more, which I think is what Jake was going for, but pissing off Nick will just make things worse for me. "Which is why I should be doing it," Nick says. "I'm older than her. I have more experience." I see Jake's jaw tighten. "You may be older than her but you're not—" "Jake," I interrupt. "The mantel's not
very far along so maybe you could come back later." He glances back at me and reads my expression, which is pleading with him to let this go. He turns back to Nick. "Why don't you get back to work?" "You're not my boss," he says. "I own the company that hired you," Jake says. From his tense stance it's clear he's angry, but his tone remains cool and collected. "Your DAD owns the company." Nick smirks. "You just ride around in his SUV all day." "I manage projects," Jake says. "And make a lot of hiring decisions. And by your attitude just now, it's clear you're
not interested in working for us again." Nick's eyes dart down, then to the side, and I see his neck move as he swallows. "I never said that." "You didn't have to." Jake points to the door. "Now get back to work." Nick grits his teeth, and clenches his hands as he turns and walks out the door. Jake handled that perfectly. I thought he'd blow up at Nick but instead he kept his cool, keeping the upper hand, making sure Nick knew who was in control. Jake was the same way when he managed the Victorian. He'd get mad when a worker was being an asshole, but he never lost his cool, and people respected that. It's why he's such a good manager.
"Is he always coming in here bothering you like that?" Jake asks. "No." I lower my voice in case Nick's listening outside the door. "Just leave this alone, Jake. I can handle it." He shuts the door. "So he HAS been bothering you." "I told you, I can handle it. If you or Nash get involved, it'll only get worse." "What has he done? Tell me." I sigh. "He's just jealous that I get better projects than him. He thinks it's because I'm dating you. His friend, Lance, saw us together at Rodeo Freddy's, and then Nick saw me leaving to have lunch with Jen and Callie." "That has nothing to do with what projects you get assigned."
"Nick doesn't see it that way." "Don't talk to him anymore. Stay away from him." "That's hard to do when we work together. Jake, don't worry about this. I've handled assholes in the past. I can handle Nick." "I wish we could get rid of him, but he came as a package deal when we hired his dad." "I kind of figured that." I smile. "So did you come all the way here to see me?" "Actually, I have to meet with Nash about some stuff. Seeing you was an added bonus." He glances back at the door, which has a glass panel in it. "I really want to kiss you right now but I
can't risk someone seeing us." "We'll just have to save it for later." But I don't want to wait. I want to kiss him right now. It's so tempting when he's right in front of me, looking really hot in black dress pants and a button-up shirt, the scent of his cologne lingering in front of me. He had to dress up today because he has some big meeting this afternoon about a possible new project. "Well, I should get going." He reaches for my hand, holding it for just a moment before letting it go. "I'll call you later, okay?" "Yeah. See ya." He leaves and I get back to work, my mind still on Jake. I wish I knew where this was going. I don't want to keep
falling for him if this is just going to end. But it has to end eventually, right? It's not like we're ever going to get serious. I know Jake doesn't want that, and neither do I. So why am I doing this? Am I a glutton for punishment? Am I going to end up at the same place I was at last spring? Alone and hurt by yet another guy? Jake isn't Ryker, but that doesn't mean this relationship won't end the same way.
CHAPTER TWENTY Jake Three weeks have past and I'm still dating Ivy. I've now dated her for an entire month, which may seem like nothing to some people, but to me, it's a huge deal. And with any other girl, it would've seemed like the longest month
of my life. But with Ivy, it's flown by. We haven't spent every night together, but she spends at least three nights a week at my place, sometimes more. We still haven't had sex and I have no idea when we will, but the wait is nearly killing me. This is the longest I've gone without sex in years, and now I'm with this girl I'm completely crazy about, insanely attracted to, sleeping next to, and I can't have sex with her. She says she needs more time. I think that's only because I keep getting accosted by other women everywhere I go, thanks to that most eligible bachelor shit. Ivy's often with me when this happens, and afterward, she gets quiet and withdrawn and doesn't want to do
anything more than what we've already done. She sees those women approaching me and thinks I'm going to cheat on her. I keep telling her that's not going to happen but I don't think she believes me. "That was my dad," Ivy says, crawling on top of me and straddling my lap. I'm sitting on the couch, watching basketball. Ivy just got here, but her phone rang as soon as she walked in the door. "He wanted to thank you again." Last weekend, my brothers and I remodeled the bathroom for Ivy's dad. It took two full days of nonstop work and it's still not quite finished. But I can finish the rest myself. There are just a few minor things left to do.
"He's already thanked me a million times." I grab her ass and pull her closer. "I know, but he wants to make sure you know much he appreciates all your work. He still wants to pay you something. Your brothers too." "He's not paying us. Your dad needed the work done and we were happy to do it. End of story." "But—" "Stop talking and kiss me. I haven't seen you all day." She smiles that smile that makes my damn heart beat faster. This girl. Shit. I thought I'd fallen hard for her that first week we were together, but that was nothing compared to how I feel now. When she's not with me, I can't stop
thinking about her. When she's not in my bed, I wake up looking for her. I can't seem to get enough of her, and that scares the shit out of me. I still don't know what we're doing here and neither one of us is ready to talk about it. Her lips press softly against mine, then she lets out a breath. "I missed you." "I missed you too." I didn't see her earlier today and not much last weekend either. She wanted to help with the bathroom remodel but I kicked her out. It was already cramped enough in there with the four of us guys trying to work. So Ivy and Liza went out with Jen and Callie all weekend, and Steve, Ivy's dad, stayed home to answer any questions we had. Callie set up a buffet of food for us
at every meal, like she always does when we do projects like this. My brothers and I work for free at least once a month for people in need. It's our way of giving back to the community. And Callie always brings over food so we don't have to spend time going out. "Three days is too long," I say as I kiss her. I didn't want to kiss her in front of her dad, and she stayed at his house all weekend, so we haven't been together like this since last Friday. She kisses me back. "Let me go change and then we'll continue this." It's after eight and Ivy's spending the night so I'm assuming she wants to put on one of my t-shirts, which is what she usually wears to bed when she's over
here. She loves wearing my shirts, and I like it when she wears them because she doesn't wear anything else, except a pair of sexy panties. "Which one do you want?" I ask. We're in my bedroom now and I open the drawer that has all my t-shirts, freshly washed and neatly folded. "The one you're wearing," she says, slinking over to me in just her red lace bra and matching panties. I swear, she's going to kill me with this no-sex thing. I want her so bad. "Why this one?" I point to my shirt. "Because I want it off you." She slides her hands under my shirt, her body pressed up against my erection. The thing's always up, always hard, when
Ivy's around, waiting for her to say yes. Desperate for her to say yes. "If I'm gonna be shirtless, then you shouldn't be wearing a bra." "Fine." She steps back and I yank my shirt off and toss it on the floor. I'm left wearing a pair of basketball shorts. I took a shower right before she got here and just threw on some shorts and a t-shirt. I didn't even bother with boxers. I stand there and watch as she unhooks her bra and takes it off. "Get over here," I say, standing next to the bed. "Why?" She asks in a teasing tone as she saunters over, smiling, her eyes on me.
I take her face in my hands and kiss her, hard, thrusting my tongue in her mouth. She moans, hanging onto the elastic band on my shorts. I tip her head back and kiss her deeper, and we keep going until we're forced to take a breath. Our eyes lock and I see her desire, how much she wants me. So why won't she do this? Why won't she let us be together that way? What is she afraid of? I kiss her again, softly at first, then harder, as my hand wanders down to her breast, my thumb circling over her nipple. She moans even loader and grips the fabric of my shorts so hard she yanks them down. My erection hits her stomach and her hand immediately goes around it.
I groan at the feel of her touch, her hand knowing exactly what to do. I reach down and slide off her panties, letting them fall to the floor, then I rip my comforter back and coax her onto the cool white sheets. Our mouths are still connected, my tongue flicking over hers, teasing her because she knows it'll be flicking somewhere else in a minute. Even though we don't have sex, I love pleasuring her, hearing her moan, putting a satisfied smile on her face when we're done. I hover over her as we kiss, my hands planted beside her head. She grabs my ass and I instinctively lower myself over her. She inhales sharply and I realize that
without trying to, I've managed to line myself up between her legs, the tip of it touching her opening. Shit. If she tells me to stop now, I don't know if I'll be able to. Obviously, I'd stop. I'd never force myself on her, but damn, I'm so close. So damn close. I lock my eyes on hers, looking for an answer. Her hands are still on my ass and she pulls me closer, the tip sliding in just barely. Even just that feels good. She smiles slightly and that's all the answer I need. I push myself the rest of the way in and she sucks in a breath and closes her eyes. I keep still for a moment, and kiss her, savoring how she feels, because fuck, she feels better than any woman I've ever been with. I pull
out, then thrust inside her again, harder, deeper. "Oh God," she moans, her hands digging into my back. She continues to moan as I move in and out. I want her to enjoy this but I don't think I'll be able to last that long. Not after waiting so long to be with her. At this point I'm ready to burst. But I force myself to slow down, wanting to make her happy, wanting to make this the best she's ever had. I slip my hand between us, landing on the spot that I know will get her there. I've barely started when she pulls my hand away. "Keep going," she whispers, pushing her hips into me. She's breathing hard, biting her lip. I suck her lip free and cover her mouth with mine, kissing her
while my hips follow a pattern of long, deep thrusts. Moments later, I feel her nails dig in my back, her body trembling, and then she breaks from my lips. "Jake," she moans as she releases. I don't wait for her to finish. I want to be right there with her, so I keep going, and just as her body relaxes, I release. And it's the best it's ever felt. I've had sex so many times I've lost count, but the sex I had just now? Nothing compares to that. We take a moment to breathe and then I slowly pull out of her. I lie beside her, reaching down to remove the condom, then realize it isn't there. Fuck! I wasn't even thinking. I totally forgot to put one on. I never forget. I've got a whole stash of them right there in the nightstand, so
how could I forget? How could I be so damn careless? I look over at Ivy. Her eyes are closed and she has a serious look on her face. She realizes we didn't use a condom and now she's freaking out. Is she not on the pill? Shit. What if she's not? I turn to face her. "You okay?" I ask, brushing my hand along the side of her face. She turns away from me. Damn, that's not good. "Ivy, talk to me." She's quiet. Too damn quiet. Is she mad at me? We both forgot the condom. Not just me. But if she wants to blame me, that's fine. I should've taken care of
it. They were right there next to the bed, but I got caught up in the moment and forgot. I gently rub her arm and kiss her shoulder. "Ivy, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking." She still doesn't say anything, and I get this sinking feeling as I look at her, now staring at the wall, steadily breathing. I kiss her shoulder again, still rubbing her arm. "Ivy, please talk to me." When she doesn't, I say, "You're not on the pill, are you?" She slowly turns to me. "What?" "You're not on the pill. That's why you're upset." "No. I'm on the pill. I have been for
years. Why did you—" She stops, pausing for a moment, then says, "We didn't use a condom." "I thought that's why you're upset." "Why?" She sits up, propped up on her elbows. "Do you have something? An STD?" "No. But still, I always wear one. That's the first time I've done it without one." "Me too." She lies down again and looks up at the ceiling. "I didn't even think about it." I don't understand. She doesn't seem upset about the condom, which means something else is bothering her. She still has that serious, almost sad, look on her face.
"Ivy, tell me what's wrong." She closes her eyes. "Let's just go to sleep. I don't feel like talking." "Go to sleep? It's not even nine o'clock. Now tell me what's going on." "Can we please not talk about this?" "Talk about what? I don't understand. Was it the sex? Did I do something wrong? Or...oh shit, did you not want to do it? Ivy, I thought—" "Jake." She opens her eyes. "It's not that. It's not that I didn't want to do it. I did. I've wanted to for weeks now." Weeks? Is she serious? Then why the hell did we wait so long? "Ivy, you need to tell me what's going on here. If it's not the sex and it's not the fact that we didn't use a condom, then
why are you upset?" She smiles but it seems forced. "I'm not. I'm just tired. You wore me out." "You know you can tell me anything," I say, resting my hand on the side of her face. "There's nothing to say. Everything's good." She's lying. Something's wrong but she won't tell me what. "Ivy, don't lie to me. Just tell me what's wrong." She looks at me. "What are we doing here, Jake?" "Doing where?" I know what she means, but I'm trying to buy time because I don't have an answer. I don't have a fucking clue.
"What is this? You and me?" I sigh. "Honestly? I don't know. I mean, obviously we're dating and you're my girlfriend, but if you're asking me to look into the future, I don't have an answer." She closes her eyes and nods. "Ivy." I wait for her to open her eyes. "What?" "You know how much I like you. How much I love spending time with you, right?" "Yeah." "So let's not rush into defining this, or trying to figure out the future. We have plenty of time to do that. It doesn't need to be done tonight." "I know. I was just asking."
"I'm not going anywhere, if that's what you're worried about." "I'm really tired. I think I need to go to sleep. You can go watch TV if you want." "I'd rather stay here. Turn around." She flips on her side, her back to me, and I mold my body to hers and we fall asleep. I wake up at two in the morning, my mind replaying her question, trying to find an answer. What are we doing here? I told her we didn't need to figure that out yet, but now I'm thinking we do, or at least I do, because I can't have that talk with her until I know where my head is at. I need to know what this is I'm doing with Ivy. It isn't just a casual relationship
where we go out once or twice a week. It's more serious than that. I see Ivy every single day. When we're at work, we check in with each other throughout the day, talking on the phone or texting. She comes over here almost every night. She sleeps here several times a week. We spend all our weekends together. We have real conversations about our careers, our families, what's important to us. We talk about everything, except our relationship. We avoid that topic, and I avoid thinking about it. The bed moves and I hear Ivy loudly exhale as she repositions herself, now facing me. "Are you awake?" I ask. "Yeah. I woke up and now I can't
sleep." "Me either." My eyes adjust to the dark and I see the silhouette of her in the sliver of moonlight coming through the blinds. I lift my hand up and move her hair behind her shoulder. "What are you doing?" she whispers. "Looking at you," I whisper back. "You can't see me. It's dark." "I can still see you." My hand moves along her jawline, then grazes her lips. I lean in and kiss her, just barely. She kisses me back, and then does it again as her hand moves down my chest. Sensing where this is going, I reach around her waist and pull her against me. She wraps her leg around me and
we continue to kiss, my hand skimming over the curve of her breast, then down her stomach, between her legs. She lies on her back, and I follow, lying over her, then sliding inside her, moving slower this time. There's no need to rush. We have all night. When it's over, I hold Ivy in my arms, overwhelmed with feelings for her. Feelings I've had for weeks, but that are now even more intense. We fall asleep, and in the morning she's gone. There's a note saying she had to go back to her apartment before going to work. But she didn't have her car. Did she take the bus? Or a cab? Why didn't she just wake me up? She must've been in a hurry to get home.
The bed feels empty without her. The whole apartment does. Is it just because I'm used to her being around? Or is it more than that?
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE Jake A little after eight, I call Ivy at work to check in. "Hey," I say when she answers. "You snuck out on me this morning." "I had to do some stuff at home before I came into work." She sounds
different. Distant, more reserved. "Everything okay?" "Yeah. Everything's fine," she says, in a higher than normal tone, which I've noticed she does when she's not being truthful. "I have to get back to work." "So I'll see you tonight?" "I can't. I'm going over to my dad's house to have dinner." "Then come over when you're done." "I have things to catch up on at home. I'll just stay at my place tonight." She says it fast, like she wants to hurry up and get off the phone. "You sure you're okay?" She laughs a little. "I'm fine. Stop asking. I'll talk to you later." "Yeah. Bye."
Why is she acting this way? Racing out of my bed this morning? Hurrying me off the phone? Not wanting to stop by tonight, even for just a few minutes? I obviously did something to piss her off but I have no idea what. This is my first relationship and I'm feeling completely lost. I need some advice. I need to talk to Nash. He's the relationship expert. Unlike me, Nash has always had relationships. When he dates a girl, she becomes his girlfriend. He's never even had a one-night stand. "Nash, what are you doing tonight?" I ask when he answers the phone. "Callie and I are going out. Why?" "I need to talk to you. Without Callie around."
"What's this about?" "Ivy." He sighs. "What'd you do?" "I didn't do anything, but she's acting strange and I thought you might be able to give me some advice." He chuckles. "Finally coming to your big brother for girl advice. About time." "Yeah, I'm desperate. What can I say? So when can we meet?" "You could come over tomorrow night. Callie has class at six." "Sounds good. I'll see you then." That night, I call Ivy and we talk for a few minutes, but then she hurries me off the phone, saying she has things to do. I go to bed, but only get a few hours sleep, the rest of the time spent lying awake,
wondering why Ivy's acting this way and missing her because she's not beside me. The next day at lunch, I stop by the library to see her. She's done with the fireplace mantel but is still in the same room, doing trim work on the built-in bookshelves. She'll be done here at the end of the week and then she doesn't know what she'll be doing for a job. Nash hired her for his next project, but it doesn't start for a month, meaning she'll have to go three weeks without a paycheck unless she finds some other work. I was thinking maybe that's why she's been so distant. I know she worries about money and never has enough. "Ivy," I say, getting her attention. She had her back to me but turns when she
hears my voice. She looks startled, and isn't smiling like she normally does when she sees me. "What are you doing here?" "I wanted to see you. You barely talked to me yesterday." "You can't be here." "Why not?" I shut the door and walk up to her. "What's going on?" She glances at the door. "It doesn't look good. I don't want people seeing us together at work." "We're just talking." I skim my hand down her arm. "Although I'd like to do more than talk. Let's go have lunch so I can at least kiss you. I know it's only been a day, but shit, it feels like forever since I've kissed you."
She looks down at the floor. "Ivy, I know you're upset about something. Would you just tell me what it is? Is it because this job is ending? Are you worried about money? Because I can give you some. Whatever you need, I'll—" "No." She looks up at me. "I don't need money. And I'm not upset." She smiles. "You worry too much." "Will you stay with me tonight? I'm meeting up with Nash after work, but you could come over after that. Maybe around eight?" "Not tonight." She clears her throat. "It's that time of the month. I'm not feeling so great." "Oh. Okay. Then how about lunch?
I'm sure you can take an hour off." "I really can't. And I just ate. I had an early lunch. But I'll call you tomorrow, okay?" This is getting irritating. I've told her a million times to be honest with me and now she's hiding something from me. "I'll call you tonight," I say, then walk out the door before I say something I don't mean. I'm angry, and I need to get some distance from her until I calm down. I knew our relationship was too good to be true. We've gone an entire month without problems and now she's giving me the silent treatment and won't tell me why. When I call her later, she doesn't pick up. Then she texts me and says she's
tired and going to bed early so won't be able to call me tonight. "I don't know what the hell's going on," I say to Nash as I sink into his recliner. It's six and I just got here and we're each having a beer. "She's never acted like this before. Well, she did when we first started dating, but that was when she still hated me." He chuckles. "She never hated you. She's always had a thing for you. She just didn't want to get involved with you." "What are you talking about? She didn't have a thing for me. For months, she completely ignored me." "Yeah, because she thought you were only interested in sex. But she still liked
you. We all saw how she looked at you. How she acted whenever you came around." "Why is this the first time I'm hearing this? You and Bryce and Austin made fun of me all last fall, saying Ivy had no interest in me." "We said she'd never date you, but we all knew she was interested in you." "Then why didn't you tell me?" "You needed to figure it out yourself. If you knew she liked you, you wouldn't have worked so hard to get her." "If she liked me, then she wouldn't have kept turning me down." "She turned you down because you slept around and she didn't want someone like that." He swigs his beer.
"Anyway, that's all in the past, so tell me why you're here. You said Ivy's been acting strange?" "Yeah. It started Monday night after we um..." I shouldn't be telling him this. It's private and intimate and should stay between Ivy and me, but she won't talk to me and I need to talk to someone. "Had sex," Nash says. "Yeah." I glance away. "Don't be shy, bro. I can't help you if you don't tell me anything." He puts his feet up on the coffee table. "Fine. Then yeah, we had sex. It was our..." I clear my throat, "first time." "First time?" He brings his feet back to the floor. "Are you serious?" "Yeah, I know." I shake my head.
"We waited a month. An entire freaking month." "I can't believe you waited that long, especially since you were used to getting it every night." He pauses, his eyes on me. "Wait. You didn't cheat on her, did you? Is that what this is about?" "No! What the hell? Why does everyone assume I'm a cheater? I've never once cheated on a girl." "What do you mean by 'everyone'? Does Ivy think you're cheating? Is that why she's acting strange?" "I don't know. I've told her a million times I'd never cheat on her, but her ex cheated on her so now she assumes I will." He nods. "So a whole month. That's a
long time." "You waited longer than that with Callie." "But we weren't actually dating, or at least we said we weren't." "Yeah, well, whatever. Ivy wanted to wait. She wouldn't do it with me until the other night. And now she'll barely talk to me." He smiles. "Maybe she wasn't pleased with your performance." "Shut up, asshole." I pick up the cat toy next to my chair and throw it at him. "Are you going to help me or not?" "Yeah. Go ahead." Cat appears and sees the cat toy next to Nash and jumps up on the couch. Nash pets his head. "You should stick
around and listen to this. You're good at figuring out relationships." I roll my eyes. "Maybe I should just go. I can tell you're not going to be any help." "If you'd hurry your ass up and tell me something, I would." He puts his feet up on the table again. "I'm all ears. So you had sex and then what?" "She wanted to talk about our relationship." "About your future?" "She didn't specifically say that, but yeah. She wanted to know what we were doing, meaning where this is headed." "And what did you say?" "I told her I don't have an answer. That I need more time."
He holds Cat up in front of him. "Do you want to tell him or should I?" "What?" I ask. "What's that supposed to mean?" He sets Cat down. "You can't tell a girl you don't have an answer, especially after you've been seriously dating her for a month." "We're not seriously dating. We're just dating." "Well, there's your first problem. You're in denial. So let me lay it out for you. You and Ivy are in a serious relationship. You two are together all the time. She comes to Sunday dinner. You remodeled her dad's bathroom and paid for it. She practically lives at your apartment."
I sigh. "I'm not in denial. I know all that. I know it's serious." "Then why didn't you answer her?" "Because I don't know what this means. I don't know what to tell her. I don't know where we go from here." Nash sits there quietly for a moment, petting Cat, who's curled up beside him, then asks, "Do you love her?" The question takes me surprise and I stare at him, not sure what to say. "Do you love her or not?" he asks. "I um, I...I don't know." I never stammer. I'm always sure of myself, but his question has thrown me. "Figure that out and you'll know how to answer her." He yawns and stretches his arms up, then folds them across his
chest. "I'm freaking tired. I need to get to bed early tonight." I'm still staring at him. "That's it? We're done here? You're not going to help me?" "I just DID help you." "You asked me a question. That's not helping." "The answer to that question is all you need to know. When you figure that out, everything will be clear." "What the hell kind of advice is that? The answer to that question is all you need to know? You sound like a damn fortune teller. That's not advice. It doesn't even make sense." "Jake." He tips his head back. "You're so damn clueless. How could
you not know the answer to that question? Even I know the answer. So does Callie." "Then fill me in. What's the answer?" He sets his eyes on mine. "When have you ever dated a girl for this long?" "Never." "How often do you think about her?" "All the freaking time." "Does the time go fast or slow when you're with her?" "Fast. Too damn fast." "How do you sleep when she's not there next to you?" "I don't. I toss and turn all night." "How do you feel when she's not around?" I pause to consider it. "Lost. Like
something's missing." He lets out an exaggerated sigh. "You putting the pieces together yet? Because if not, I'm gonna have to knock you upside the head." "Yeah, I know what you're saying, but it's not true. Just because I think about her, and can't sleep without her, and feel lost without her doesn't mean I—" I'm afraid to say the word out loud. I've been too afraid to even think it. "That's exactly what it means," Nash says. "You have your answer, Jake." "It's not an answer. It's not even true." I hear the anger in my voice and see Nash's face become concerned. He leans forward, his forearms resting on his knees. "Why are you
denying this?" "I don't know." I drop my head, moving it side to side. "I can't explain it. I guess I'm just afraid." "Of what?" I don't want to tell him this. He'll think it's stupid and tell me to get over it. Believe me, I've tried to get over it, but my mind won't let me. When I try, I keep imagining my dad, stuck in that room for months on end. Not eating. Not sleeping. Not able to go on with his life because her loss was more than he could handle. "Jake." I feel Nash's foot nudge my leg. "Talk to me." I glance up and see him looking even more concerned. "I told you, I don't know."
"That's bullshit and you know it. Now tell me what this is about. What are you afraid of?" I shake my head. "Just forget it." "Jake, this is me. We tell each other shit. We always have." It's true. Nash and I have always been close. I've always looked up to him, gone to him for advice. Even though he isn't my brother by blood, I'm closer to him than I am to my other brothers. I can talk to Bryce and Austin, but when it comes to the really serious stuff, I'll only talk to Nash or my dad. "What are you afraid of, Jake?" Nash asks. I squeeze my eyes shut and pinch the bridge of my nose. "I'm afraid of..." I
take a breath and whisper the words, "Losing her." "I don't understand," Nash says softly. "Why would you lose her? Is something...is she sick?" he asks cautiously. "No. Not now, but..." I swallow and open my eyes, looking down at the floor. "Mom wasn't sick." Nash sits up straight and I hear him take a long, deep breath. "This is about Mom." I don't answer. I don't need to. He's figured it out. "Jake." He reaches over and puts his hand on my shoulder. I shove it away and stand up, walking toward the kitchen. "Just forget it. This
is stupid. I don't want to talk about it." He remains on the couch. "It's not stupid. Now get your ass back over here and talk to me." "I already told you everything. There's nothing else to say." "Fine. Then I'll do the talking." He leans back on the couch, his eyes on me as I stand by the kitchen island. "When we lost Mom, our world fell apart. Dad broke down and basically disappeared from our lives for five months. I was living on my own and had to take over the company." I huff. "Yeah, I was there. I don't need a recap of our lives, Nash." "You had your chance to talk, so shut up and let me finish."
I sigh. "Fine. Finish." "I wasn't there for you, or Bryce and Austin. I wanted to be, but shit, I'd never run a business before so I had to spend every waking moment trying to keep it going until Dad got better. And honestly, that's the only thing that got me through that time. I couldn't be there at home, watching Dad go through that. I was pissed at him for acting that way, and if I were living there, we would've fought." "He couldn't help it," I say, getting angry. "He'd lost his wife. What the fuck did you expect him to do? Get over it in a week?" "Of course not, but he wasn't the only one who lost her. We all did. And he wasn't there for us. And the thing that
really bothered me was that he wouldn't accept our help. Just a few years earlier, I lost Becky, and Dad was the one who helped me move on. But then Mom died and he wouldn't let me do the same for him. He shut me out. He shut all of us out." Becky was Nash's best friend. She died when they were in high school. He was devastated. It took him a long time to get over it. "So what are you saying?" I ask. "You're pissed at Dad?" "I was, but I'm not now. I get that everyone deals with grief differently. Just look at Callie. She shut down for an entire year after her family died and she's still trying to get over it. What I'm
saying is that you can't let the fear of losing someone keep you from living." "I AM living. I just don't want—" My eyes go to the floor as I shake my head. "You weren't there, Nash. You didn't see him every day. You didn't hear him crying in his room. You weren't the one begging him to eat something after he hadn't eaten for days. You weren't the one who had to lie to Bryce and Austin day after day and tell them Dad was getting better. You didn't know how bad it was. You weren't there." He gets up and comes over to me. "I DID know how bad it was. And I WAS there. When you were at school, I went over there to check on him, sometimes several times a day."
"You did? Every day?" "Every damn day. I'd go there and talk to him and force him to listen. I even threatened to send someone over there, a counselor, if he didn't come out of that room." He puts his hand on my shoulder and squeezes it. "Jake, I know how hard it was for you back then. I wish I could've done more, but I could only do so much. I was barely 20 years old and trying to run a business I had no idea how to run." I nod. "I don't know how you did that." "We do what we have to do, and we all made it through those times, even Dad." "I can't do it, Nash. I won't. I saw
how much you suffered when Becky died, and then watching Dad after Mom died, and seeing Callie struggle. Who the hell wants to go through that?" "Nobody does. It's just a shitty part of life. You can't avoid it." "I can if I don't get close to anyone." He stands back. "So you'll just have no one?" "I have my family. That's all I need. I don't need a wife. Kids." "If Dad had said that, you wouldn't be here. Neither would Bryce and Austin. And I would've grown up without a mom. Dad would've had to raise me by himself. Mom was the best thing that ever happened to him." "Yeah, but look how it ended."
"He would do it all again, even knowing it would end this way." "I don't think he would." "Then ask him. See what he says." My phone rings and I check it, thinking it's Ivy, but instead it's some girl I slept with last December. I only remember that because her name was Holly and I slept with her right before Christmas, which I found to be funny at the time. But having her call me now isn't funny. I can't get these girls to stop calling and texting me. I even ended up changing my number and I still get calls. "Some other girl?" Nash asks. "Yeah." I shove my phone in my pocket. "You know, a few months ago, you
would've had a big ass grin on your face getting a call from a girl. But just now, you looked disappointed. Because you don't want some other girl, not even for sex. You want Ivy. You were hoping she was the one calling." I don't respond. "So what are you going to do about this?" "I don't know. I have to think about it." "You don't have to make plans for the future, but at least tell Ivy how you feel." "I'm not ready to. And besides, if I don't see a future for us, there's no point in telling her how I feel." "You're really going to give her up just because you're afraid something
might happen to her?" I walk around him and go sit on the couch. "I get that you don't understand. I didn't expect you to." He lets out a humorless laugh. "Are you kidding me? I don't understand? I lost my best friend and felt responsible for it for years. Sometimes I still do. Then I lost the only mom I ever knew, and then the mom who gave birth to me. I've had losses, Jake. Huge losses. But if I'd just given up after that, I wouldn't have Callie." He looks down, shaking his head. "I can't even imagine my life without her, and if something ever happened to her, I don't know what I'd do. Maybe I'd end up like Dad after Mom died. I don't know, and I hope to
God I never find out. If I let myself, I'd worry every freaking second of the day that Callie won't come home. But I'm not going to live that way. Instead, I'm going to enjoy every second I have with her and not waste time worrying about whatif's." "You never worry about her?" "Of course I do. I'm worried about her right now because it's late and it's dark and there are bad people out there. But what am I going to do? I can't always be with her. I have to trust that she'll be okay." He sits down beside me. "Jake, I'm not telling you what to do. But I need you to think long and hard about something before you even consider breaking up with Ivy."
"Yeah. What is it?" "Giving up the woman you love is still losing her. It can be just as painful as losing her to death. Or even more painful, because once you let her go, you'll always know she's out there but not with you." "That's better than being with her for years, falling even more in love with her, and then losing her." "Really? So all those years would've meant nothing?" He slowly nods. "Why don't you ask Dad about that before you come to that conclusion?" We sit there in silence, my mind more confused than ever. I understand all that he said and I agree with most of it, but I still fear getting more involved with Ivy.
I think we need some time apart to sort this out before this relationship goes any further. "I need to go," I say, getting up. Nash gets up as well. "Call me later if you want to talk some more." "I will." The door opens and Callie walks in, dropping her backpack on the floor. "What are you doing home?" Nash asks as she comes up to him. "Class was canceled." She hugs him and they kiss, then she smiles at me. "Hey, Jake." "Hey." I watch as she turns back to Nash, her arms still wrapped around him and his around her. He has that look on his face, the one he had last summer
when he'd first met her. The look that clearly says how much he loves her. Except now, he loves her so much more. He's so damn happy. I want to be happy like that, so why won't I let myself? I love Ivy. I know I do. I think part of me loved her from the moment I saw her. So why can't I let myself have her? "So anyway," Callie says, "I drove all the way there in heavy traffic. It took forever. And then I get there and there's a note on the door saying the professor's sick. I went all that way for nothing. What a waste of time." "Yeah, but now you have a night off." Nash kisses her again. "I know," she says, sounding as
excited as a kid who just got a snow day. "What should we do? Go out or stay in?" "I feel like staying in." "Me too. Let's order a pizza. Are you staying, Jake?" "No. I gotta go." I grab my coat and walk to the door. "I'll see you guys later." "Bye!" Callie says. "Tell Ivy I said hi." I go back to my loft and check my phone for the millionth time today. There are more messages from girls, but not the girl I want. She's avoiding me. She wants an answer. So do I give her one? And if I do, what's it going to be?
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO Ivy I haven't seen Jake in days. We talk on the phone, but our conversations are brief and limited to a retelling of our days, mostly what we did at work and that's it. He's avoiding me and I guess I can't blame him for that. I've been
avoiding him too because I don't know what to say to him. I'm confused and afraid to continue this thing with Jake because my feelings for him are so much stronger than I ever thought they'd be. I realized this last weekend, when Jake was at my dad's house working on the bathroom. He got there Friday night after work. He was exhausted from a really long week, but he showed up at the house and ripped out the old tub and the sink and was there until midnight. Then he showed up at six the next morning, and his brothers showed up at seven and worked all day. They left at six thirty but Jake stayed and worked until my dad kicked him out at eleven, telling Jake he needed to get some rest.
Then he worked another long day on Sunday. The bathroom turned out great, and now my dad can get in the shower without hurting his back. I can't believe Jake and his brothers did all that, without even getting paid. And despite what Jake says, I know he spent a lot of his own money on the supplies. Watching Jake work that hard, helping my family, made me feel so much more for him. I've spent the past four weeks trying to deny my feelings and pretend they weren't there, not wanting to get hurt when this ended. But the feelings are there, whether I like it or not. And if I'm really truthful with myself, I don't just like Jake. I love him.
Last Monday, I went over to his apartment and we ended up having sex for the first time. I knew it'd be amazing, and I was right. Jake knew exactly what to do. How fast to go, when to speed up and slow down, when and where to touch me. It was like he was reading my mind. I've never come that fast or that intensely. Then again, Jake has done it about a million times with countless women so he should be an expert by now. But sex skills aside, he was also sweet and caring, holding me in his arms afterward, kissing my shoulder, almost acting like he loved me. I know he doesn't, but in those moments, I almost felt like he did. After it was over, I felt sad,
because there's still a small part of me that thinks he'll break up with me now that we've done it. That's why I put it off for so long. I didn't want our relationship to be over. Jake knew something was wrong that night, and when he asked me what it was, I said the first thing that came to my mind. I asked him about our relationship, the dreaded where-is-this-going question that every guy hates. But I need to know. I'm not going to keep falling more in love with him if he's just going to end this and move on with someone else. Jake's answer was that he didn't have one. It's not what I wanted to hear. In fact, it was the worst thing he could've said. I really needed an answer. If he'd
told me it was over, I'd be hurt and sad, but at least I wouldn't be left wondering. Or if he wanted to be with me, he could've at least assured me he had no plans to end this so I could stop worrying about it. He knows I worry about that. I've told him several times. After his lack of an answer, I couldn't sleep and neither could he, and sometime in the middle of the night, we ended up having sex again. He took his time, going slower than before, but it was just as good, if not better, and when it was over, he held me in his arms and fell back asleep. I felt like it was goodbye sex, and by morning, I already felt like this was ending, so I snuck out and haven't been over there since.
Now Jake's barely talking to me and he hasn't asked me out. It's Friday and we haven't seen each other since Tuesday. It's just as I predicted. We had sex and now our relationship is over. "Last day." Nash walks into the room where I'm working, a tool belt around his waist. He's going around finishing up any last minute work that needs to be done. The project is scheduled to be completed next week, but my part ends today. "Yeah, last day." I force out a smile. I've been trying to act normal around Nash, but I'm sure he knows what's going on between his brother and me. "I'll send you details about the next
project in a week or so." He comes over to the bookcase where I'm standing. "Or I could give them to you at Sunday dinner." I've been going to all the Wheeler Sunday dinners and there's one this Sunday. I'm going to miss those dinners. I love hanging out with Jake's family. They always made me feel included, like I was already part of the family. But given that Jake and I aren't really dating anymore, I won't be going to Sunday dinner. Nash should know this, but since he doesn't, Jake must not have told him what happened. "You'll be there, right?" Nash asks when I don't respond. "No, I don't think so."
His brows furrow and he frowns. "Oh. Okay. So then I guess I'll just call you or email you with the details. You won't need to show up the first day. Probably later in the week. Once I finalize the schedule, I'll let you know." "Sounds good." I search for something in my tool box, pretending to look busy, hoping he'll leave. I like Nash, but it's hard to be around him right now because he reminds me of Jake. I'm glad today's my last day here. I need a break from the Wheeler brothers. "Take care," Nash says, getting my signal to leave and heading to the door. But then he stops and turns back to me and says, "For what it's worth, my brother's an idiot, and I don't understand
why he does what he does. But he cares about you. More than you know." Before I can respond, he leaves. Moments later, Nick walks in. "Ready to be done with this place?" "Not really. I liked working here." Although I hated working with Nick. I'm so glad I won't see him again. "So when's your next project start?" "In three weeks." "Working for the Wheelers again." He smirks. "Must be nice to have connections like that. Always ensures you got a job." "Like your connection with your dad?" I shoot back. I've put up with Nick's shit for months now. It's time to give it back. "You'll never have to find a
job. Your dad will always find them for you." "Actually, I have a job next week that he didn't line up. It was all me. But my wife had the twins last weekend and she's making me stay home with her next week to help out, so now I have to find someone to take the job. I came in here to offer it to you but I'll just find someone else." "Yeah, I'm not interested." I could really use the money but I don't want to owe Nick in any way, and if I take the job and end up working with him again in the future, he'll never let me forget that he got me that job. "I don't know why I even asked. It's a church remodel, but it's not in the best
part of town. You'd be too scared to go there. You should stick with the easy stuff, in the rich part of town. Or wherever your boyfriend will let you work." He snickers. "Goodbye, Nick," I say, turning away from him. He's such an ass. "If you change your mind about the job, just give me a call." Once he's gone, my phone rings. "Yeah," I answer in a gruff tone, still angry from Nick's comments. "It's Callie. Are you okay?" ''Yeah, sorry. Bad day." "Because of work? Or something else?" I know why she's calling. Nash told her about Jake and now Callie's worried
about me. She's become a good friend, and I hope we'll still be friends, even though Jake and I aren't dating. "It's nothing," I tell her. "I'm fine." "You want to go out tonight?" "It's Friday. Aren't you going out with Nash?" "I could tell him we're having a girls' night. He'd understand." "Thanks, but I think I'll just stay home. I'm tired. It's been a long week." It's been long because I haven't slept much and I miss Jake. "Okay, but if you change your mind, just give me a call." "I will. Bye, Callie." I look at my phone. There aren't any messages from Jake. Usually, he calls
around noon just to say hi and ask how I'm doing. It's always awkward and neither one of us knows what to say, so then we just hang up. I don't even know why he calls. We need to stop dragging this out. He just needs to end this, or maybe I should be the one to do it. After work, I still haven't heard from him. I go home and change clothes and decide to go to my dad's house. I don't call him in case he's sleeping. Liza's at work and won't be home until after midnight. "Dad?" I call out as I go in the house. I heard the floors creaking so I know he's awake. "In here, honey." I follow his voice to the kitchen and see him standing by
the sink, filling a glass with water. "Have you eaten? I thought I'd have dinner with you." "That'd be great, but I don't have anything prepared." "That's okay. I'm sure there's something in the freezer we could microwave." "Here you go." I see him holding up the glass of water, his eyes behind me. I turn around and see Jake there, wearing jeans and a white t-shirt. He looks really hot, which he always does, but I haven't seen him in days and it seems like he got even hotter. He goes around me to get the water from my dad. "Thanks." "You're welcome." He glances
between Jake and me. "I'll be in the living room if you need me." Jake takes a drink of water, then looks at me, but only at my face, not my eyes. "How's it going?" "What are you doing here?" It sounds harsh because I'm mad at him, and mad at myself for falling in love with him. "I'm finishing the bathroom." "On Friday night? You don't have anything else to do?" "No. I don't." Usually he'd be out with me on Friday night, but since he didn't ask me out, I guess that confirms it. We're done. This is over. And Jake's too much of a coward to tell me.
He takes a seat at the kitchen table and kicks out the chair next to him. "Come sit down." I go to the fridge. "I really need to get dinner started so—" "Ivy, would you just sit down?" My heart's pounding and I have a lump in my throat. I don't want to do this. Not now. Not here. I don't want the memory of Jake breaking up with me to be here in my dad's kitchen so I have to think about it every time I come over here. "I don't want to," I say, opening the refrigerator door. I freeze when I feel his arms wrap around my waist. "We don't have to talk. I just need you to listen to me."
I slowly close the fridge door and he pulls me tighter against him. I feel his head rest on mine and hear him breathing. "God, I miss you." Tears collect in my eyes but I will them not to fall. I don't know what he's going to say, but whatever it is, I'm not going to cry about it. I've wasted too many tears on guys in the past and I'm not doing it again. "I miss you so much, Ivy," he whispers. "You have no idea." I swallow. "If you miss me, then why—" "Just let me finish. Please." I nod. "I know you want answers. I know you want to talk about this, but I'm not
ready to. Because I don't have the answers yet. I'm sorry, but I don't." Why doesn't he have answers? It's not that hard. If he loved me like I love him, he wouldn't have to think about this. He'd know he wants to be with me. But instead, he's saying he needs more time, which tells me he's unsure about his feelings for me. He might as well break up with me now. Waiting won't change anything. "Then let's just end this," I whisper, my breath shaky. "End this?" He forcefully turns me around, holding my shoulders. "No. We're not ending this. I just...I just need time to think." "You've had time to think. You had
all week. And you had a month before that. If you don't know by now that you —" I can't even say it. "I do," he says, his eyes pleading with me to believe him. But I don't know what he's referring to. Is he saying he loves me? Or did he think I meant something else? Maybe he thought I was going to say something about continuing our relationship. Is that what he was referring to? I'm so confused. "Jake, I don't understand. What I meant was—" "Would you just let me finish?" He takes a breath. "What you were about to say? About how I should know by now? I do know. I have for a long time." He shuts his eyes, then opens them again.
"That's what makes this so hard. I want to give you answers, Ivy. I really do. But I have to work through some shit first. I got a lot going on in my head right now and I just need time to think." I'm still confused. What are we talking about here? He looks me in the eye. "Would you just give me a little more time?" I nod. I'm not even sure what I'm agreeing to, but I'm not ready to say goodbye to him and he seems really sincere when he says he needs time to think, so I guess we'll just keep this going a little bit longer, whatever this is we're doing. He brings me into his arms, hugging me against his chest, and I realize how
much I've missed him. I've been trying to keep busy all week so I don't think about him, but it hasn't worked. I've missed seeing him, being with him, being in his arms. I hug him back and he holds me even tighter. "I don't want to fuck this up, Ivy, but I feel like I already have." "We both have," I whisper, because honestly, part of this is my fault. I shut down after we had sex and I haven't opened up to him about how I feel. We're both a mess right now, and I should probably take some time to think about our relationship as well. Part of me still feels like I can't completely trust Jake, and if I can't trust him, then I shouldn't be with him. I need to figure out why I don't
trust him, or if my lack of trust has less to do with him and more to do with my past relationships. I feel like I keep projecting my anger at Ryker onto Jake, and I need to stop doing that. "You didn't do anything wrong," he says. "You've been acting differently because of me. Because I wouldn't talk to you about this. But I will. I promise you I will. But I can't keep seeing you until I figure this out. It isn't fair to you if I do." "Ivy, I was thinking we should—" My dad stops when he reaches the kitchen. Jake lets go of me and I step away. My dad's eyes dart between us, landing on me. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt. I was just going to say we
should order something in for dinner." "Yeah." I nod. "I'll get the take-out menus." "Jake, I expect you to join us," my dad says. "Dinner is the least I can do to pay you back for all your work." "You don't owe me anything, but sure, I'll have dinner. It'll probably take me until nine or ten to finish painting." So that's why he's here. I told him I'd do the last coat of paint, but I should've known he'd do it. He always says he has to finish a job once he starts it. Jake goes back to painting and I order Chinese food from the place down the street. I order for Jake without even asking him because I know what he
likes. We've spent so much time together that I know his likes and dislikes. I know more about Jake than I knew about Ryker, who I was with for almost a year. He was on the road a lot with his band, but still. When I think back, I didn't know that much about him. We didn't talk much. During dinner, Jake is sitting next to me and my dad's across from us. My dad doesn't know what's been going on with Jake and me. Liza knows, but I told her not to tell Dad. "What are you two doing this weekend?" my dad asks. Jake glances at me. "I have to catch up on work. I need to make schedules for a couple new projects we just got."
"What new projects?" I ask. "One is an office renovation and the other is that warehouse I told you about." "The one they're turning into lofts and retail?" He grins a little. "Yeah. That's the one. We got the job." "Jake, that's awesome!" I drop my fork and hug him. "Congratulations!" "Thanks." I let him go and turn to my dad. "Jake's been working on getting that project for like a month now. It's a huge project and a lot of other contractors wanted it." "Congratulations," he says to Jake. "That's great news. I bet your father's
happy about that." "Yeah, he couldn't believe it. He didn't think we'd get it so he hasn't been involved much in the discussions. But I had this feeling we could win it if we kept talking with the guy in charge. So I did. Found out today that we got it." "That's really great," I say. I'm so happy for him. Even if we break up, I want Jake to be happy. My dad stands up. "I'm going to get some more water. Anyone need anything while I'm up?" "No, thanks," Jake and I say at the same time. We look at each other and I lean over and talk in his ear. "I'm so proud of you." He smiles and holds my hand under
the table, gently squeezing it. I hear glass shattering and look over and see my dad collapsed over the sink. "Dad!" I race over to him. "What's wrong?" He's holding his back and taking deep breaths. "It's nothing. Just a back spasm." Jake is up and standing on the other side of my dad. "What can I do? You need your pill? Or do you need to lie down?" "No, I'll be fine. Maybe just give me a hand." Jake helps my dad back to his chair. We continue with dinner, but I'm no longer hungry after seeing my dad
almost fall down. Was it really just a back spasm or something else? I know he wouldn't tell me if anything else was wrong with him. "The weather's supposed to be warming up tomorrow," my dad says, trying to lighten the mood because he knows I'm worried about him. I've never seen him almost collapse like that. His back must be getting worse. What if he falls when he's alone in the house? What if he hits his head? I keep thinking that something bad will happen to him and one day I'll wake up and he'll be gone. That's what happened to my mom. None of us knew how much time she had left, and then one Tuesday morning in December, a week
before Christmas, I woke up and she was gone. I know it's not the same with my dad. He doesn't have cancer, but I still worry that something will take him away from us. When I found out he fell off the roof last summer, I was completely panicked. So was Liza. We both thought we would lose him. After dinner, my dad goes to his room to lie down and Jake finishes painting while I clean up the kitchen and the broken glass. When I'm done, I go down to the bathroom where Jake is working. "Jake," I say getting his attention. "Yeah." He sets his paint roller down. "I'm going to my apartment to grab
some clothes so I can stay here tonight. Liza gets home really late and I'm worried about my dad. I won't be gone long, but if he needs something, can you help him?" "Yeah, of course. You know I will." I nod. "I have my phone so just call if you need anything." I go back to the kitchen to get my keys, and as I'm putting my coat on, I hear a loud thump. "Ivy!" Jake yells from the hall. I race down there and see Jake kneeling next to my dad, who's on the floor, doubled over in pain and swearing under his breath. "Dad!" I kneel down on his other side. "What's wrong? Tell me." "My back. I can't..." He passes out.
"Dad!" "I need an ambulance." I look up and see Jake on the phone. "A man collapsed and he just passed out. We need someone here right away." He keeps talking to the 911 person while I talk to my dad. "Dad, wake up. Please wake up." "They'll be here any minute," Jake says, coming up behind me. He gently pulls me off my dad. "Give him some space." "What's wrong with him?" I'm shaking, sobbing, as I look at my dad. "What happened?" Jake forces me into his arms. "It's gonna be okay. They'll be here any second."
Except the seconds turn into minutes that seem to go on forever. And then finally, someone knocks on the door. Jake shoots up from the floor and races to the living room. "Down here," I hear him say. The paramedics appear and then everything's a blur. They're doing stuff to my dad and questions are asked and I'm trying to answer but I don't even know what I'm saying. Jake remains calm and answers when I'm unable to, and then they leave with my dad and tell us which hospital they're taking him to. Jake drives us there and I call Liza on the way and tell her where to meet us. When Jake and I get to the hospital, we're told we have to wait while they
run tests on my dad. We find a quiet spot in the waiting room off in the corner. The waiting is torture. It always is. Because you always assume the worst. But I can't handle the worst. He needs to be okay. He has to be. I already lost my mom. I can't lose my dad.
CHAPTER TWENTYTHREE Jake "It's gonna be okay," I say to Ivy, my arm around her as we sit in the waiting room. She has her head on my shoulder. "And what if it's not?"
"Then we'll deal with it." She looked up when I said it, because I said 'we' as if we'll still be together. But we both know that's still up in the air. We had a difficult conversation tonight. One I didn't want to have, but needed to. I can't keep my relationship with Ivy going until I'm able to get over my fear of losing her. If that fear wasn't there, I'd be with Ivy and have zero doubts about it. I love her and want to be with her, but only if I can trust myself to keep loving her. I don't want there to be a point where I freak out and decide I can't do this and then end up hurting her. I want to be sure about this. I want to be a hundred percent in, because that's what
she deserves. We decided to take some time apart but now I can't do that. Her dad is sick and I need to be with her. Ivy is more than my girlfriend. She's my friend and I care about her. I cared about her before I even dated her. And I know she needs me now more than than ever. She's scared to death she'll lose her dad. I'm sure he collapsed because of his back issues, but I know Ivy thinks it's something much worse. That's just where your mind goes when you don't have answers. "What's taking so long?" she asks, nervously tapping her feet on the floor. "Why aren't they telling us anything?" "We just got here. Just give them
time." "What if we hadn't been there tonight?" She sniffles and wipes her eyes. "What if he'd been home all alone?" "Don't think about what-ifs. You'll drive yourself crazy." It's so true, and yet I can't take my own advice. It's those damn what-if scenarios swirling in my head that keep me from moving forward. "I'm so glad we were there," she says. "Yeah, I know." I kiss her head and thread our hands together. If Ivy and I weren't having these relationship issues, we would've been out on a date tonight, and her dad would still be collapsed on the floor. So in a
way, our temporary break-up ended up helping her dad. Nash always says there's something good for every bad. Our break-up is bad, but being there for her dad was good. And now, her dad being in the hospital is bad, but that means we're due for something good. It has to even out. I'm just going to keep telling myself that. Ivy slowly pushes off my shoulder and sits up, wiping her eyes. "When Liza gets here, you can go." "I'm not going anywhere." "Jake, you don't have to stay. It's late, and you have to work tomorrow. You should go home and sleep." She attempts to take her hand from mine but I keep hold of it, turning to face
her. "First of all, it's not late. It's just after seven. And second, I haven't slept all week and I won't sleep tonight either, so it's a waste of time to even try. And third, I'm not leaving your side. You may say you don't need me but I'm going to pretend that you do, because I want to be here for you." She half-smiles. "I never said I didn't need you." "Good, because I'm not leaving." I bring her head back down to my shoulder and kiss her forehead. I never did that before dating Ivy. I never kissed a girl on the forehead or the top of the head or the cheek. I just never had the urge to. Kisses with other girls were sexual, a part of foreplay. But with
Ivy, I find myself giving her these innocent kisses without really thinking. It just happens, like just now. Ivy's phone rings and she quickly answers it because there's a sign that says to turn your cell phone off. "Liza, where are you?" Ivy listens, then frowns. "What are you going to do? I can't leave." "What's going on?" I ask. "Liza, hold on." Ivy turns to me. "Liza's car won't start. She's stuck in the parking lot at work." I get my phone out. "Tell her to wait a sec." I call Bryce. "Hey, what are you doing?" "Watching TV. Why?" "I need you to go down to Hoedowns
and pick up Liza, Ivy's sister. Her car won't start. I need you to take her to the hospital. Steve collapsed at the house and they brought him in. You need to leave right now." "I'm on it." I hear the TV shut off. "Tell her I'll be there in a few minutes." He hangs up and I say to Ivy, "Tell her Bryce is on his way. He only lives a couple miles from there." "Liza, did you hear that? Bryce is coming to pick you up." Ivy nods. "Okay, see you soon." She hangs up and hugs me. "Thank you. You've been such a huge help. I'm such a mess right now. I don't know what I'd do without you." That's another thing that's always kept me away from relationships. Having
someone need me. Someone depend on me. It goes back to my mom dying. Bryce and Austin depended on me to run the house while my dad was grieving and it was too much for me. I hated it. I just wanted to kick back and enjoy my last year of high school, not take care of my two younger brothers and grocery shop and cook and act like a damn adult. Nash did his best to help keep up the house and yard, and Bryce and Austin pitched in, but ultimately it was me handling the day-to-day responsibilities. Because of that, I'd say I'm more responsible than most people my age, but I don't want to take on the added burden of being responsible for someone else. And yet, I want to take care of Ivy.
Make sure she's safe, happy, and has what she needs. I don't feel burdened by that, not even a little. In fact, it's just the opposite. I like taking care of her. "Ivy." I nod toward the nurses' station where one of the nurses is pointing at us as she talks to the doctor. We both get up and go over to them. "Do you have an update on my dad?" Ivy asks the doctor. He's an older man, thin, with gray hair. "Yes. Let's talk over here." He steps off to the side and we follow. "I'm Dr. Andrews." He shakes her hand and then mine. "I'm Ivy, his daughter," she says. "And this is my friend, Jake." Friend. I don't like the sound of that.
I'm supposed to be her boyfriend, but I fucked everything up and now I'm just her friend. "Is my dad awake?" she asks. "Can I see him?" "You can, but he's pretty out of it right now. He woke up soon after he arrived but he was in a lot of pain so we gave him a strong painkiller that makes him tired." "So he passed out from the pain?" "We believe so, but we'll know more once we get a better look." "What does that mean? What are you going to do?" "We're prepping your father for surgery." "Surgery?" Ivy's shoulders fall and
her knees nearly give out. I quickly put my arm around her waist, holding her up. "Why does he need surgery? What's wrong?" "The scans of his back showed a—" "Ivy!" We turn and see Liza racing toward us, with Bryce walking behind her. I let go of Ivy and she hugs her sister. Ivy turns back to the doctor. "This is my sister, Liza." "Dr. Andrews." He shakes her hand. "As I was telling your sister, we did some scans on your father and found a mass close to his spine. That's what was causing his pain." "A mass?" Liza says, biting her lip as a tear slides down her cheek.
"No." Ivy's shaking her head, also tearing up. "Not again." "He had a mass before?" the doctor asks. "I didn't see that in his chart." "She means our mom," Liza says. "Our mom died of cancer." "I see." He nods. "Well, we don't know that this is cancerous. The mass could simply be benign tissue that's been pressing on the nerves by his spine and causing him pain. His records show that he had a back injury last year. Can you tell me more about that?" "He fell off a roof," Ivy says. "He was getting better at first but then the pain started again and it's just been getting worse." "His back injury likely was getting
better," the doctor says, "but then this mass developed, igniting the pain again. I can't say for sure if the mass has any relation to his earlier injury. We won't know until we get it out of there and see if his pain decreases." "Can we see him before the surgery?" Ivy asks. "Yes, but just briefly, and like I said, he's out of it from the drugs so he may not know you're there." "That's fine," Liza says. "We still want to see him." "Right this way." The doctor opens a door to a long hallway. "Will you wait here?" Ivy asks me. "Yeah, I'll be right here." When they're gone, Bryce and I go sit
down. "What the hell happened?" he asks. "I was at his house, putting the last coat of paint on the bathroom and he came out of his bedroom and just collapsed." "Shit, that's bad." "Yeah, I know. I hope it's not cancer. I don't think Ivy can go through that again." "She may not have a choice." He checks his phone. "So I hear you and Ivy are done." "We're not done. I just need some time to think." "Think about what? How perfect she is for you? How you'd be completely stupid to let her go?"
"Speak for yourself." I cross my arms over my chest. "I've been telling you that about Jen for years and you never take my advice." "We're talking about you, not me." He swipes through his phone. "So if you're breaking up with her, then why are you here?" "You know why. If it were Jen, you know you'd be here." "But I shouldn't. It just confuses her when I do that shit. I need to stop acting like her boyfriend. She already has a fucking boyfriend." "She'd dump that guy in a heartbeat if you—" "Don't start. I don't want to hear it." "I don't understand you. I don't know
why you keep pushing her away when you know you love her." He chuckles. "Guess it's in the DNA." "What are you talking about? Dad never—" I stop when I realize he's talking about me. "Bryce, don't use me as an excuse for why you won't date Jen." He shrugs. "You're my older brother. And watching you avoid relationships all these years? Makes me think you got the right idea. I mean, look how many times Nash has been burned by women." "Yeah, but now he has Callie." "I know. I'm just saying. Maybe it's easier to just be single." Shit. I had no idea he was using me as a role model. He should be using
Nash as an example, not me. "There's nothing wrong with relationships. I avoided them all those years because I never found the right person." "But now you have, and you're breaking up with her. It just proves that relationships don't work." "They DO work. Look at Nash and Callie." "They're not married. They could still break up." "They're not breaking up. And I never said I was breaking up with Ivy. We're just taking some time apart." He smiles and shows me his phone. "Look what Jen just sent me. It's a cartoon she made in her stats class. She's
always so bored in that class that she draws cartoons and sends them to me." "You should tell her about Ivy." "Shit, you're right." He texts her. "She'll want to be here." Jen and Callie have become good friends with Ivy and her sister. "Did you tell Nash?" I ask, getting ready to text him. "Yeah. I called him on the way over. He said he'll tell Dad and Austin." Ivy and Liza come out the door the doctor took them through earlier. Their eyes are red and they're sniffling. I nudge Bryce. "Put your phone away and get up." We stand up as the girls approach us. Ivy hugs me. "I'm so scared."
I keep her in my arms, smoothing her hair, and kissing her head. "It's going to be okay." Liza's standing in front of Bryce, sad and teary-eyed. I give him a look, and he says to her, "You look like you could use one too." She smiles a little and steps up to him and he hugs her. "Did they say how long the surgery will be?" I ask Ivy. "They said it could be hours. Since it's so close to the spine, they have to be really careful." She sighs. "It's going to be a long night." "Let's sit down." The four of us sit at the back of the waiting room, Ivy and Liza between
Bryce and me. "Do you guys need me to go back to the apartment or the house and get you anything?" I ask. "No," Ivy says. "At least I don't." "I don't need anything either," Liza says. "Although I don't know what's going to happen to my car. I'm not supposed to leave it there overnight." "Bryce, can Devon go pick it up?" I ask. Bryce's friend, Devon, works for a tow-truck company. "Yeah, but I should probably go see if I can get it started first." "Then go ahead. If you can't get it started, then tow it out of there so she doesn't get in trouble." "Wait," Liza says as Bryce gets up. "I
can't afford the repairs right now. If your friend could just tow it to my house, that'd be great. Just have him send me the bill." "The guy owes me like a thousand favors," Bryce says. "He won't charge me for the tow." "And Bryce will take care of the repairs," I say. "He has all the tools and parts at our dad's house. Bryce, you got time to work on it this weekend?" "Yeah, no problem. If I have the parts, I can probably get it done by Monday." Liza jaw practically drops to the floor. "Are you serious? You'd really do that for me?" "Sure. I don't mind."
"Thank you." She jumps up and hugs him but keeps it quick. "I really appreciate this." "I better get going." He shrugs on his black leather jacket. "I'll check in with you guys later." As he's leaving, Nash and Callie walk in. Callie spots us and runs up to Ivy and Liza. "I'm so sorry, you guys." The three of them hug. "How did you hear what happened?" Ivy asks. "Bryce called us right after Jake called him." "But you didn't have to come here." Callie smiles. "You don't know the Wheeler family. When something happens, we all show up."
Nash smiles at the fact that she included herself in our family. I know he wants to marry her so I don't know why he's waiting to propose. "Over here," Nash says, as my dad and Austin come walking in. Liza's still got that shocked look on her face. "The whole family came?" She smiles a little. "We're not going to have enough chairs." My dad goes up to Ivy and gives her a hug. "I'm sorry about your father. Whatever you need, we're here for you." "Thank you," she whispers, crying again. "I can't believe you all showed up." My family loves Ivy almost as much as I do. She's been coming to Sunday
dinners and we've gotten together with my family a few times during the week. And she sees my dad and Nash at work all the time. We sit there and wait, then Jen shows up an hour later and we wait some more. Then just after midnight, the doctor appears again. Ivy and Liza race up to him. My dad and I follow behind. "Are you a relative?" the doctor asks my dad. "No. A friend of the family. I'm Jake's father." My dad always does this. He steps in and acts like a dad to whatever kid needs one. And although Ivy and Liza aren't kids, and already have a dad, he feels like they need someone older to
listen in and help out if needed. I'm relieved that he's here. When shit like this happens, I don't know what the hell to do or how to help. My dad's been through a lot more than me and he has this commanding presence that people find comforting, especially when things are uncertain. He's always been strong, except when he had his breakdown. That's why we were all so shocked when that happened. It just shows how much he loved my mom, which again, is why I'm so afraid to love someone that way. If that kind of grief can bring down someone like my dad, the strongest man I know, then what would it do to me? "How is he?" Ivy asks the doctor. "Good. The surgery went very well.
We were able to get all of the mass without harming the surrounding nerves." "Is it..." Liza can't even say the word. "We don't know yet if it was cancerous," he says. "It didn't appear to be, but we won't know for sure until we get the results back." "When will you know?" Ivy asks. "Sometime tomorrow." "Can we see him?" "Not yet. He's still recovering. I suggest you go home and get some rest and come back in the morning. He should be ready for visitors by then." "Thank you," Liza says. We go sit down and fill everyone in. As Ivy and Liza are talking, my dad gets up and goes over to the doctor and says
something to him. I glance at Nash, who just shrugs. My dad comes back and says to Ivy and Liza, "Do you girls need a ride home?" "I'll give them a ride," I say. Ivy shakes her head. "No. I want to stay." "We can't see him until morning," Liza reminds her. "Let's just go." Ivy still says no, so Liza takes her down the hall and the two of them talk. While they're gone, I take my dad aside, away from my brothers. "Why were you talking to the doctor?" "I wanted to remind him that Steve is self-employed and doesn't have some fancy insurance plan and is living off
disability." "Why'd you tell him that? It's not like he can cut the price of the surgery." "No, but there are other things they can do to keep the costs down. If they don't, Ivy's family's going to go bankrupt trying to pay the bill. Just with the surgery alone, the out-of-pocket costs are going to be high. Add in the hospital stay, medications, and it's going to be a hefty bill." "They're already having trouble paying their bills," I say. "They can't afford that." "Well, this isn't the time to talk to them about it. You need to take them home. You should probably stay there tonight, in case they need anything. Do
they have a spare bedroom?" "No, but I can sleep on the couch." He glances behind me. "So Nash said you're not seeing Ivy anymore." I sigh. "I never said that. We're just— never mind. I don't want to get into it." I look over at some people passing by. An older woman is sobbing as another woman tries to console her. The woman's husband is probably dying and she can't deal with the grief. I don't want that to be me someday. I don't want to feel that kind of pain. That kind of grief. Why doesn't anyone understand that?
CHAPTER TWENTYFOUR Jake "Ivy's good for you, Jake," I hear my dad say. I turn back to him. "Yeah, I know." "Then don't do something you'll regret. Sometimes you only get one
chance at these things." I glance back at the grieving woman, but she's gone, so I look back at my dad. "Can I ask you something? About Mom?" "Go ahead." "If you'd known when you met her what was going to happen to her, would you have still dated her and married her?" His brows draw together in concern. "Of course I would have. Why wouldn't I?" "Because when she died, it nearly destroyed you." He nods. "I didn't handle it well, and I can't apologize to you boys enough for that. It was a difficult time for all of us, and a lot of that is my fault. If I could go
back in time and change anything, it would be that. But Jake, I would never want to go back and change my decision to be with your mother, even if I'd known my time with her was limited. I'd never want to give up the memories I have with her and with all of us as a family." He glances behind me, where Austin and Nash are sitting. "And if I hadn't married your mother, I wouldn't have you boys. I'd have Nash, but I can't imagine trying to raise him by myself. I could barely handle the first three months alone with him. Thank God Barb came along." "So you don't regret anything?" He shakes his head. "No. Not at all." I guess I already knew that, but I still wanted to hear him say it.
"We're ready to go." Ivy appears beside me, her coat on. "Take care," my dad says, giving her a hug. "We'll come by tomorrow and see you." "You don't have to." He smiles. "That's just what we do." She smiles back. "Thank you. And thanks for staying here so late." My dad and Austin leave, then Nash and Callie say goodbye and I take Ivy and Liza home. "Bryce texted me about about your car," I say to Liza as we go inside the house. "He couldn't start it, so his friend towed it back to my dad's house. Bryce will work on it tomorrow." "Okay. Tell him thanks."
"I will." Liza hugs Ivy. "I have to go to bed. I'm so tired." "Yeah. I'll see you in the morning." When she's gone, Ivy walks to the door. "Thanks again for all your help." "I'm not leaving. I'm going to stay here tonight. I'll sleep on the couch." "Why?" "Because my dad told me to." "What?" I smile. "I'm kidding, although my dad did tell me to. But all joking aside, I don't want you and Liza being alone tonight. You might need something or...I don't know. I'd just feel better if I were here. I won't bother you. I'll be really quiet."
"Um, okay. Then I'll go get you a blanket and pillows. I'll be right back." She insists on making up the couch, then says goodnight and goes to her room. I go in the bathroom and take the paint cans and brushes out of there so Ivy and Liza can use the room without tripping over everything. It's the only bathroom in the house. It's now after one in the morning but I'm wide awake. I'd like to watch TV but I'm afraid it'll wake them up so I just lie on the couch, staring at the ceiling for what seems like forever. When I finally start to drift off, I hear Ivy beside me. "Are you awake?" she whispers. "Yeah." I sit up. "What do you need?" "I couldn't sleep. I wondered if I
could sit here with you and watch TV. We'll keep the volume low so we don't wake up Liza." "Have a seat." I move over on the couch and grab the remote, turning the TV on and immediately lowering the volume to almost mute. "Here." I hand her the remote. "This is fine." It's an old black and white movie. I set the remote down, realizing she doesn't really want to watch TV. She just wants it on in the background. From the light of the TV I can see her better and notice that she's wearing a white tank top and pink pajama pants with hearts all over them. She must keep some spare clothes in her bedroom for when she
stays here. The pajamas are so girly with the pink hearts everywhere, but that's one of the things I love about Ivy. She can be tough as nails on a construction site, but she's not afraid to show her girly side when she's at home. I love both sides of her, the rough and tough carpenter, and the soft, sweet girl in the pink heart pajamas. "This is weird, isn't it?" she asks in a voice so low it's almost a whisper. "What's weird?" "How much everything's changed in just a week. Last Friday, my dad was fine, even had one of his friends over for dinner. Liza was out with someone from work. And you and I went to dinner and a movie and then I stayed at your place.
Now, a week later, everything's gone to hell." I hold her hand, rubbing it lightly with my thumb. "It seems like that right now, but things will get better." "Maybe. Or maybe they won't. Things didn't get better with my mom." "This isn't the same." "It feels like it is," her voice cracks. "There was a mass, and the doctors did surgery, but the cancer had already spread. She was gone a year later. It feels the same, Jake. It's like it's happening all over again." She breaks down crying. I put my arm around her. "It's not. It's not the same." I don't know if that's true so I shouldn't be saying it, but I can't take
seeing her this sad. She continues to cry as I hold her against my chest, smoothing her hair, rubbing her back, doing anything I can think of to do to comfort her. But I don't think it's working. She's too upset, which I understand because I'd be the same way if it were my dad. God, I fucking hate all this grief. I feel like it's all around me. Like it follows me wherever I go. Surrounds me whenever I try to escape it. First Nash lost Becky, then my mom died, then Callie came into our lives, after having lost her entire family. And now Ivy might lose her dad. It's all too much. Maybe it's like Nash said, and I just can't avoid it. It's a part of life and I need to learn to
live with it. Eventually Ivy and I lie down on the couch and she cries until she falls asleep. We wake up to Liza's voice as she stands behind us. "You guys need to get up. It's after seven. We have to go." Ivy shoots up from the couch. "It's after seven? Shit. I'll go get dressed." I'm still wearing the clothes I had on yesterday. Liza is dressed and ready to go, in jeans and a sweater, her blond hair pulled up in a ponytail. I gather up the sheet and blanket from the couch and move it aside. "You want to sit down?" I ask Liza. She sits beside me, staring straight ahead. "So um...I thought you two
weren't together anymore." I swear, if someone says that to me one more time I'm going to scream. But after finding Ivy and me sleeping together on the couch, I understand why Liza said it. "We're still kind of working things out." She's quiet, then asks, "What does that mean?" I can't explain this to her. I can barely explain it to myself. Or Ivy. My mind's a freaking mess right now and I've had almost no sleep. "It means we need some time to think. Or I do." She sighs. "If you're breaking up with her, just do it. Don't drag it out." She
turns to face me. "I like you, Jake, and I appreciate all that you've done for my family, but don't do this to Ivy. She really likes you, and she's already hurting, thinking things are over between you two. So stop dragging this out. Just end it so she can move on." "I don't want to end it. That's not what this is about." "Then what is it about? What are you doing, Jake? Because whatever it is, it's not fair to Ivy. She's going through enough right now and the last thing she needs is some boyfriend who can't make up his mind as to whether or not he wants to be with her." "I DO want to be with her. But it's more complicated than that."
She stands up, and I can feel her anger. "It's not complicated. You're just making it that way so you don't have to make a decision." I drop my head, shaking it side to side. "That's not true." "Whatever, Jake. I'm going to see if she needs any help. You should just go back to your apartment." Ivy races into the room. "I'm ready." Liza gives me a look, urging me to go back to my place, but I'm not going to do it. She doesn't know the whole story and she has no idea how much I love her sister. "Let's go." I grab my keys from the table and we go out to my SUV. Ivy and Liza sit in the back and talk while I drive
to the hospital. When we get there, I drop them off, then go find a place to park. As I'm walking to the hospital entrance, I call my dad. "Any news?" he asks when he answers. "Not yet. We just got here." "I'll head over there." "Dad, thanks for doing this. For being here for Ivy and her sister." "She's become like part of the family. Even if you can't get your head out of your ass to see that you two belong together, Ivy will still be welcome at our house." Leave it to my dad to tell it like it is. When it comes to giving advice to his
kids, he doesn't hold back. "Message sent, Dad. You don't have to keep saying it." He sighs. "You boys frustrate the hell out of me. Can't see what's right in front of you. You're getting to be as bad as Bryce. I'll see you soon." "Yeah, bye." When I go inside, Ivy and Liza aren't there. I ask the nurse where they went and she says they're with their dad, so I return to my spot in the waiting room. I wonder how long they'll be in there. I need to go home and shower and put some clean clothes on but I don't want to leave without telling Ivy. I've got so much work to do, but even if I went home to do it, I wouldn't be
able to concentrate. I'm too worried about Ivy and her dad and her sister. And then I'd be thinking about what I'm going to do about Ivy and me. So getting work done? Not going to happen. The sliding doors from outside open and I see Callie walk in, along with Nash. Callie's holding a paper sack and Nash has two trays of coffee cups. I get up and take one of the trays from Nash. "I didn't think you guys would get here so early." "We wanted to be here when they got whatever news they're getting," Callie says as we go sit down. "Have you heard anything?" "No. I dropped them off and parked, and when I got inside, they were already
with their dad." "We got coffee for everyone." Callie hands me a cup. "Dad and Austin are on their way," Nash said. "They're picking up Jen. Bryce is staying home to work on Liza's car." My family's freaking awesome. The way they care about people, taking time to help others, is something that's rare. Most people would spend their Saturday doing something else, something that benefits themselves, but my family drops everything to help whoever needs it. Jen, Austin, and my dad show up a few minutes later, and we have our coffee and the donuts Callie and Nash brought. A half hour passes and Ivy and
Liza return to the waiting room. They're not crying so that's a good sign. Ivy and Liza smile when they see all of us. They still can't believe my family is here for them. "How is he?" I ask. "Better," Ivy says. "He's really tired from the meds but he looked good. And he said he isn't in any pain." Ivy and Liza sit across from us and Callie hands them each a coffee. "Here. I hope it's still hot." Liza takes the lid off hers and takes a sip. "Caramel macchiato. My favorite. Thanks, Callie." "I totally needed this," Ivy says, sipping hers. "Callie, that's really sweet of you. Thanks."
"You're welcome." Damn, I should've thought of that. I should've got something for Ivy instead of just sitting here. Something that would tell her I'm thinking of her. "He got the flowers," Ivy says to my dad. "Thanks for sending those. They're beautiful." He smiles. "You need something to brighten up those hospital rooms." My dad sent flowers? Great. I really need to do something. My family's making me look bad. "You guys want something to eat?" Austin asks. "Callie brought donuts, but if you want something else I can go get it." And again, I should've offered to do
that, but I wasn't thinking. This lack of sleep is really hitting me hard. I need to wake up. "I'll just have a donut," Ivy says, "but thanks for offering." "Have you talked to the doctor yet?" my dad asks. "Just now," Liza says. "He said they won't have test results until this afternoon. But if the mass was benign, then it sounds like my dad's going to be getting a lot better. The doctor said the back pain should be gone now that he doesn't have that mass pressing on his nerves. Here we all thought it was his injury causing the pain, but that's not what it was. He'll still need to go to physical therapy, but the doctor said Dad
should be able to go back to work in a few months." "That's awesome," I say. "Yeah." Ivy looks down at her coffee. "As long as the tests come out okay." "They will," Liza says, squeezing her hand. Ivy nods, and tries to smile. "You guys don't need to sit here all day. We'll call and let you know if there's any news." "We're happy to stay," my dad says. "We don't mind." "I know, but there's really no reason to. Dad is resting and we won't hear about the results until this afternoon." "Then maybe we'll head out and come back in a few hours." He looks at
me. "Jake will be here. He can keep us updated." He didn't have to give me that not-sosubtle hint to stay. I wasn't planning on going anywhere. They all clear out except for Callie and Jen, who wanted to stay a little longer. I'm grateful they offered. I didn't want to be the only one left here with Ivy and her sister. Ivy and I have our own issues, and now her sister is mad at me, making things awkward. And I don't have much to say, so we would've just been sitting here in silence, but Callie and Jen are able to keep the conversation going for hours. Around noon, I go out and get everyone lunch and bring it back.
Afterward, as I'm tossing out the trash, Ivy comes up to me. "You want to take a walk? I could use some fresh air." "Sure." We get our coats and go out to a courtyard behind the hospital that has a path that winds through some trees. I'm sure in the summer it looks nice when all the flowers are in bloom, but now, in the winter, it looks drab and depressing. "Ivy, I'm sorry I'm not doing more," I tell her as we walk slowly along the path. "What do you mean? You're doing plenty." "It's not enough. I feel like I should be doing more for you but I don't know what to do. Just tell me what you need
and I'll do it." "You don't have to do anything. You're here for me and that's enough." I take her hand, which maybe I shouldn't do given that we're on a break, but I couldn't help it. I've been with her all day and haven't been able to touch her or kiss her or hold her, and I can't take not being able to do those things. It's an automatic response when I'm with her, but I had to hold myself back so her sister wouldn't yell at me later, accusing me of leading Ivy on, giving her mixed signals. That's not what this is. I'm not trying to mislead her in any way. Right now, I'm just trying to be here for her. Comfort her. Support her. "I'm so scared, Jake," she says
quietly. "It's going to be fine." "You sound just like Liza. She keeps saying it's going to be fine and it's pissing me off because she doesn't know that, so she shouldn't say it and get my hopes up." She rubs her eyes, which are tearing up again. "Liza's just trying to be positive. She's not trying to make you mad." "I know. She's always the optimist. I'm the realist." She sniffles and smiles a little. "Or pessimist, if you ask my dad. He's an optimist like Liza. He's always telling me to look on the bright side." "Then do it." I stop walking and turn her toward me, my hands on her arms. "Go for the positive this time. There are
two outcomes here, good and bad, so what's the harm in thinking positive and saying the outcome will be good?" She shrugs. "I don't know. I guess I've always been someone who likes to prepare for the worst, and if that doesn't happen, then I'm happily surprised. It's better than being hopeful, only to be crushed later." "Is it?" "What do you mean?" "If something bad is coming, do you really want to spend the moments before it happens being miserable, worrying about it? Wouldn't you rather spend that time being hopeful, believing everything's going to be okay?" "Yeah. I guess. But that's hard to do."
"I know it is, but just try it. Try it this once and see what happens. When we get back inside, go and see your dad and be happy when you're with him. Because not everything is bad, Ivy. Your dad is alive, the surgery went well, and he's not in pain. Focus on those things instead of what's coming. And even if the news isn't good, at least you had those moments with your dad that were good." As I say it, my own words hit me like a brick to the head. I was saying all that for Ivy's sake, but just realized I'm doing the same thing she does. I'm living my life preparing for the worst possible outcome, when in reality that's just one of many outcomes. And do I really want to spend my life avoiding the things that
could lead to that one possible outcome that might never happen? "Jake." She holds her phone up. "Liza just texted me. The doctor has the results back. We have to go inside." I hold her back before she goes. "Tell me it's going to be good news." She shakes her head. "I can't." "Yes, you can. It's going to be good news. Say it." Her eyes lift to mine and she halfsmiles. "It's going to be good news." "Okay, let's go." I keep hold of her hand and we hurry back inside and meet up with Liza and the doctor. I go back to my seat as he takes them aside. "You think he's going to be okay?" Callie asks.
"I think he's going to be fine. Better than fine. He's going to be good." She nudges me. "Look at you, being all optimistic. You're starting to sound like Nash." "Well, maybe I could learn a few things from him. He is my big brother after all. He should be starting to rub off on me by now." When I look over to check on Ivy, I see her shoulders shaking, and then Liza's. They're both crying. Shit. Then they hug each other and I see Ivy smiling. Like really smiling. They're happy tears. Tears of relief that it's not cancer. "Looks like good news," Jen says. "Yeah. I knew it would be." I stand up, smiling, as Ivy comes rushing over to
us. "It's not cancer. It was just scar tissue from his injury. He's going to be okay." I hug her. "I told you it'd be good news." "You were right." She laughs through her tears. "I don't know how you knew, but you were right." I didn't know. That's the thing. You never know what's going to happen. But planning for the best felt a hell of a lot better than planning for the worst.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE Ivy It's Monday and my dad's recovery is going well. He'll be released from the hospital later this week. He's already excited about returning to work. Liza and I had to remind him that it'll be a good three months before he can go back, and
even then, he'll have to work limited hours and not do anything too strenuous while his back continues to heal. My dad said Jake's family has been by to see him twice since Saturday. I wasn't there when they stopped by, but I need to call and thank them. They're such great people. I love them all. They're so generous, not thinking twice about helping someone. Bryce had to order a part for Liza's car and Jake's dad wouldn't let her pay for it. He said he'd take care of it, and Bryce is doing the labor for free. Nash and Callie gave Liza and me some restaurant gift cards so we wouldn't have to worry about making meals with everything going on. And
Callie offered to come over and cook if we want a homemade meal instead of going out. I turned her down, saying that's way too much work, but she'd totally do it if I asked. That's just the way she is. The way they all are. They just want to help. When Mitch came by the hospital yesterday, my dad said he offered him a job whenever he's ready to work. Mitch had mentioned the idea to me and I told him he should ask my dad. But I think it'd be good. The Wheelers are the best contractors in town. They follow strict safety guidelines, they give clear directions, and they care about their workers. Jake and I haven't talked since
Saturday, and I haven't seen him, but he's texted me just to check in. I told him I needed time with Liza. This has taken an emotional toll on both of us, and now that the worst is over, we just want to spend some time together. We're always so busy with our separate lives that we don't see each other as much as we'd like to, and after this ordeal, we need each other. As for Jake and me? I'm at the point now that I just want to be done with this. I love Jake, even more so after having him there for me during such a difficult time, and I really wanted us to stay together, but I'm not going to keep waiting around for him. He's had multiple opportunities to tell me how he
feels and give me an answer about our relationship, but he hasn't, and I'm done waiting. I know I told him he could have more time to think about it, but the fact that he even has to both angers and concerns me. He either wants to be with me or he doesn't. And if he's having doubts, then he should talk to me, not shut me out. If he can't be honest with me about his feelings, then I can't see a future for this relationship. I've decided I'm going to talk to him tonight and end things. I'm already hurting inside just thinking about it, but it's what I need to do. It's not what I want, but sometimes what you want just isn't meant to be, and you have to accept that and move on.
It'll take a while for me to accept that our relationship is over but I do have to move on. I don't have a choice. I don't have time to spend crying over Jake. I have to get to work and make some money. Fast. My family was already behind on paying our bills, and now a massive hospital bill is going to be coming our way. I don't know how we're going to pay it. I'll have to move back home and give my dad my rent money, but even that won't be enough. We're going to be in serious financial trouble. That's why I'm here today, working this shitty job that I already hate after only being here a few hours. I was so desperate for money that I called up Nick yesterday to see if that job he
offered me was still available. He said it was, so I took it. He wasn't exaggerating when he said it was in a bad part of town. This area has one of the highest homicide rates in the city. When Nick told me the address I almost changed my mind, but then I thought of all the bills coming our way and reluctantly agreed to it. At least it's during the day and it's in a church. Criminals wouldn't attack people at a church, would they? I'm pretty sure they would, but I'm trying to be positive, like Jake told me to be. There are always two outcomes, a good and a bad, and I'm choosing to think only of the good. That I'll do my job and get paid without getting hurt.
"How's it coming?" Gary asks, poking his head in the door. Gary is the guy in charge. He's around 50 with a long, scraggly beard and pockmarked skin, and eyes that look glazed over. I'm pretty sure he's high on something so I've been trying to avoid him. "Fine. Everything's good." "Us guys are going to lunch," he says. "You coming?" "No. I'm staying here." "Might want to keep the doors locked." He smirks. For some sick reason, he thinks it's funny to scare me. He's been saying stuff like that since I got here. Warning me about how dangerous it is to work here, especially as a woman.
"Yeah. Got it." I grip the screwdriver in my hand, preparing to make it a weapon. If Gary, or any of the other guys, get near me, they'll be getting hurt. When I got here this morning, all the guys leered at me and I got an uneasy feeling in my stomach. A lot of them have been to prison, another factoid Gary was more than happy to tell me, followed by his signature smirk. When I saw those guys looking at me that way, I almost turned around and left, but I don't have my car. I took the bus here because Liza needed my car to get to class and then work. I didn't tell Liza where I was going because she would've tried to talk me out of it. She knows I'm at a job site but she doesn't know where.
I just told her it was a church remodel. And I didn't tell anyone else where I was going. Now I'm thinking maybe I should text Liza and tell her where I am in case I go missing after being murdered. I shouldn't think that way. I'm in a church. I'll be fine. I get back to work, making the new baseboards. It's a boring job. I miss the creativity and skill level required by my last job, but when you're desperate for money you can't be picky. My muscles tense up when a girl screams outside the window. It's followed by a guy yelling curse words at her, then glass breaking and tires squealing. This has been going on all morning. I don't know what's going on
out there and I'm afraid to find out. What's even more disturbing is that I haven't heard any police sirens. Even the cops don't want to come here. My phone rings and I pick up without seeing who's calling. "Hello?" "Ivy, it's, Jake. I need to talk to you. Can I come over?" "Jake, I told you, I'm spending time with Liza this week." "Isn't she at class right now?" "Yeah, but it's still not a good time." "I saw your dad this morning. He looked a lot better." "You went to the hospital?" "Yeah, before work. I stopped by there last night too, with Nash and Callie."
"Oh. I didn't know. I haven't seen him yet today." "You haven't been to the hospital? Why not?" Because I had to leave at the crack of dawn and take three buses in order to get here on time. But I can't tell Jake that. He'd freak out if he knew I was here. "I just haven't had a chance to get over there yet." "It's twelve thirty. Did you sleep in or something?" "No. I've just been busy. Jake, what do you need? Why did you call me?" "Because I need to talk to you and I don't want to wait." I sigh. "Fine. Then talk." "Not over the phone. I need to talk to
you in person. Can I come over?" "I'm not at my apartment right now." "Then where are you? On your way to the hospital? Because we can talk when you're done. Just call me and let me know when you get home." "Jake, we'll just talk some other time. Don't you have to work this afternoon?" "I'm taking it off. I really need to talk to you. Now will just agree to let me come over?" Tires screech outside the window and a car door slams. "What was that?" Jake asks. "Nothing." I move farther away from the window but the noise outside is so loud you can still hear it. It sounds like two guys yelling and then a shot rings
out. "Oh, God." I duck down to the ground. "Ivy, what the hell was that noise? It sounded like a gun going off." "It was," I say, my voice shaking. Now I'm really scared. Someone just fired a gun right outside the room I'm in. "What the fuck is going on?" he asks. "Where are you?" "At a job." My voice gets even shakier as my heart beats faster. "I'm in a church and there's these guys outside on the sidewalk, right by the room I'm in. They're fighting and one of them just shot a gun." "Tell me where you are." I give him the address.
"What the fuck are you doing there?" he yells. "People get killed in that part of town!" "I know, but I needed the job." "I'm coming to get you. I'll have someone go back later and get your car." "I don't have my car. I gave it to Liza. I took the bus." "Just hang on. I'm on my way." The two guys are getting louder and I hear another shot. "Jake, I'm scared. What do I do?" "Stay on the phone with me." His voice is steady and strong, making me a feel little bit better. "Is anyone else there at the church?" "The guys on my crew went to lunch. I don't know if anyone else is here."
"Is the building locked?" "I don't know. I think so. I'm in one of the rooms where they do bible study." "Can they see you? Those guys on the street?" "No. There's blinds covering the window but they're right outside it." "They have no reason to come inside. Just try to stay calm and don't make any noise." I take some deep breaths, forcing myself to relax and reminding myself those guys are fighting with each other, not me. They have no interest in me. "Ivy, you still there?" "Yeah." I hear some other voices outside the window. More men yelling, then
something hits the wall. It sounds like someone threw one of the guys against it. "Jake, they're fighting again. And now there's more of them." "Just hang on. I'm going as fast as I can. I'll be there soon, okay?" I hear sirens in the distance, getting closer. "Is that the cops?" Jake asks. "Yeah, I think they're coming." The sirens get really loud, stopping right outside the church. "They're here. The cops are here." He exhales a breath. "Thank God. Okay, where are you? I'm almost there." "I'll go wait by the front door." "Is there a back exit? I don't want to get involved in whatever's going on out
front." I check the back window. "Yeah, there's a parking lot out back. I'll go wait back there." "Stay in the church. I'll come to the back door." I quietly sneak out of the room and down a hallway and locate the back exit. I look out the window and see Jake's SUV whip around the building and come to an abrupt stop as he parks. His door flies open and I come out of the church. I drop my toolbox as he takes me in his arms. "Ivy." He hugs me so tight he lifts me off the ground. "They had guns, Jake," I say, still shaking. "That shot could've gone
through the window." "I know, but you're safe now. I've got you." He sets me down. "Let's get out of here." He takes my toolbox and we get in his SUV. He locks the doors and speeds off. "You're never going back there again," he says as we're driving back. "Why the hell did you take that job anyway?" "Because I need the money. My dad's hospital bill is going to be huge and we're already behind on paying for his physical therapy. He had to stop going weeks ago." "Fuck," he mutters. "Ivy, why didn't you tell me this? I would've paid for it."
"I would never ask you to do that. It's not your responsibility." "It doesn't matter. The man needed help." "You don't have the money for that." "If I didn't have enough, then my brothers would chip in, and so would my dad. We'd find a way. Just please promise me you won't take a job like that again." I nod. "Ivy." He squeezes my hand. He hasn't let go of it since we left. "I need to hear you say it." "Yeah, okay. I promise." "How'd you even find that job?" "Nick." "Nick Lessner?"
"Yeah. He was going to do it, but his wife had the twins and he needed to stay home and help her, so he asked if I wanted the job." Jake shakes his head, his jaw clenched. "I knew I fucking hated that guy." "It's not his fault. He warned me it was in a bad area." Jake huffs in anger. "Because he wanted to see if you'd do it. It was a setup, Ivy. He wanted you to go there." "What are you talking about?" "Nick's wife isn't due until March. Tom mentioned it just last week when I saw him. Nick lied to you. He's not home with his wife. He's working at an office building downtown. I saw him
there just this morning when I was dropping off paperwork for some permits." "Are you serious?" I rest my head back on the seat. "I should've known he was up to something. He kept egging me on, telling me a girl would be too scared to go to that part of town. He knows I hate it when the guys at work act like I'm not tough enough. And I fell for it." "That asshole's never working for us again. Neither is his dad. And if I see Nick, I'm gonna beat him unconscious then drop him off in that neighborhood. See how he likes it." "Jake, don't. I don't want you getting in trouble. Not hiring him is enough of a punishment."
He pulls into his apartment building. "What are you doing? I have to go home." "I told you, I need to talk to you." "I don't feel like talking right now. And I need to clean up. I feel like I need a shower after being in that place." "You can use my shower. And we don't have to talk. I just need you to listen. Can you do that for me?" "Yeah, okay." I agree to it, but I'm not sure I want to hear whatever it is he has to say. We go up to his loft and I go straight to the shower, wanting to get the smell of that place off me. It smelled like mold and smoke and stale coffee. And I'm going to smell like that again when I put
my clothes back on. I just want to burn those clothes. That smell is never coming out and it'll always remind of being at the place, scared for my life. Jake must've read my mind because when I get out of the shower, my clothes are gone and I see one of Jake's t-shirts, neatly folded and sitting next to the sink. It's the light blue t-shirt I wore the first night I stayed over. There's also a pair of white bikinis I must've left here. I put them on, then slip the t-shirt on and towel dry my hair. Wearing Jake's shirt, being in his apartment, causes tears to well up in my eyes because I don't want this to be over. But I can't keep waiting for Jake. The longer we drag this out, the harder it
will be. I was going to break up with him tonight, but as long as I'm here, I might as well do it now. This is so hard. I don't want to do this. I love him, and I don't want this to be over.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX Ivy "Ivy, are you okay in there?" Jake asks. "Yeah." I wipe the wetness from my eyes and open the door. "Here. I got you a drink." He hands me a bottle of water. "Thought you might
be thirsty." "Thanks." I take it and follow him back out to the living room. "You want something to eat?" "No. I'm not hungry." "I put your clothes in a bag." "You can toss them. I don't want them. But I need to borrow a pair of your sweatpants so I have something to wear home." "You left some yoga pants here. You can wear those." I'd forgotten how much of my stuff I still have here. I'm just going to leave it. I'm not going to spend time packing stuff up. After I tell him this, I just want to go home. We sit on the couch and I turn so I'm
facing him. "Jake, I know you said you wanted to talk, but I need to say something first." "Go ahead." I hesitate, then just say it. "I can't do this." "Do what?" I keep my eyes aimed at the couch because I don't want to see his face. I can barely say this, and seeing his face would make it that much harder. "I can't wait any longer for you to make a decision. What happened with my dad was a huge reminder that life is short, and I don't want to spend it being unhappy." "I don't make you happy?" He sounds so hurt it almost makes me cry.
"You DO make me happy. But I'm not happy that you can't make a decision about us. Because it shouldn't be that hard. When I asked you about our relationship, I wasn't asking you for a five-year plan, or expecting you to promise me a ring someday. I just wanted to know if this relationship was moving forward, or if you already had an end date planned. I didn't want to keep getting closer to you if you were just going to end it and go back to being how you used to be. I needed to know if you really wanted to be with me. It was a simple question, Jake, but you couldn't give me an answer. You still haven't. You keep saying you need more time. But if you really felt something for me, it
shouldn't be that hard. You shouldn't need all that time." He reaches over for my hand. "Can I talk now?" I finally look at him. "Yeah." "I don't need more time. I know what I want. And what I want is you. I've wanted you since the moment I saw you. Then I got to know you and I wanted you even more. I'm so completely in awe of you and how talented you are and your confidence and the way you don't let the guys at work intimidate you. You're amazing. The most amazing woman I've ever met." He rubs my hand. "I don't want this to end, Ivy. I don't have a plan mapped out for the future, but I do know that I want you in it. I know that now
more than ever. I wish I could've told you that when you asked, but I wasn't ready to." "Why? I don't understand." His head drops and he takes a breath. "I was afraid. I was afraid of losing you. I was afraid of how much it would hurt if something ever happened to you." I don't know how to respond to that. I'm not even sure what he means. What would happen to me? He continues. "When my mom died, my dad broke down. He couldn't handle losing her. He didn't eat, didn't sleep, wouldn't come out of his room. I know I already told you all this, but what I didn't tell you is how much it affected me. My dad is the strongest person I
know, so seeing him break down like that scared the hell out of me. I didn't want to turn out the same way. I didn't want to ever feel that kind of pain. That's when I decided I'd never be in a relationship like that. I'd never let myself get close enough to a woman to fall in love. So I started sleeping around. I refused to have a girlfriend. And that's how it's been ever since my senior year of high school. But then you came along and I didn't know what to do. I had feelings for you right away, and when we started dating, those feelings got really intense and I panicked. I didn't want to ever go through what my dad went through, but I also didn't want to let you go. That's why I needed time to
think." "You could've told me that." "I know, and I'm sorry I didn't. But I really did need time to think. And it wasn't because I was confused about my feelings for you. I knew exactly how I felt about you, and that's why I wanted to make sure that I was completely committed to this. That I wasn't going to panic someday and leave you, out of my fear of losing you." "You're not going to lose me, Jake. Nothing's going to happen to me." "Anything could happen. To any of us, at any time. Like today, do you know how freaking panicked I was when I heard guns going off right outside that room you were in? You could've been
killed." "Yeah," I say quietly. "I know. I shouldn't have gone there. It was stupid." "What I'm trying to say here is that even though I can't even imagine how bad it would hurt if something ever happened to you, I won't let that stop me from being with you. The fact that I even considered not being with you shows how messed up I was." He takes a breath. "I'm sorry it took me this long to answer you. But the answer is that I want this. I want our relationship to continue and I don't want it to end." He locks his eyes on mine. "I love you, Ivy. I love you, and I want to be with you." He pauses. "That's my answer." I'm so shocked that he said all that
that I need a moment to let it sink in. Jake loves me. Jake Wheeler, Chicago's most eligible bachelor, loves me. And we're not breaking up. He wants this. And so do I. The heaviness and sadness I was feeling over having to say goodbye to him is replaced with a lightness, a happiness, as it sinks in that Jake and I are going to be together. We're actually going to do this. "Can you please say something?" Jake asks, sounding nervous for the first time ever. I smile. "I love you too." He smiles back. "Are you serious?" "I'm serious. I love you, Jake." He pulls me into his arms. "You have
no idea how relieved I am to hear you say that. I thought you were going to break up with me." "I was, but only because I thought you were going to break up with me, but I didn't know when, and I didn't want to keep waiting. It already hurt, knowing this was ending, and I just wanted to get it over with." He pulls back. "I'm sorry, Ivy. I never wanted to hurt you. And I never wanted to end things between us. I just wanted to get my head on straight so I could be the person you deserve." "So you really love me?" I crack a smile. "So damn much." "And you um...have the afternoon
free?" "I do. I'm free for the rest of the day." He leans in and presses his lips to mine for a slow, incredibly hot kiss, then says, "Is there something you'd like to do?" I laugh a little. "Do you really have to ask?" "That's all the answer I need." He scoops me up and slings me over his shoulder. "Jake!" I laugh as he takes me to his room. "Put me down." He sets me on the bed and I take off my t-shirt, then lie back and watch as he strips off his clothes, admiring how hot my boyfriend is. He's the hottest guy I've ever been with and every woman wants him. But he's mine. All mine. And he
loves me. "What are you smiling about?" Jake asks, smiling back as he slides my panties down my legs. "You. And us." "That's it?" He kisses my lower abs, his hand moving up my thigh. "That's all I need." "I'm going to give you something else to smile about." He shoots me a sexy grin, then his face disappears between my legs. Moments later, I'm yelling his name, gripping his hair, my body spiraling out of control. He raises himself over me, then slowly sinks inside me. "You're still smiling," he says. I open my eyes and meet his gaze.
"Yeah. I think you know why." He chuckles. "Let's see if we can keep it going." He positions himself to hit just the right spot, each thrust igniting a storm of sensations that build on the ones before it. He lowers his head to my shoulder, skimming his lips over my skin, then his hand grips my hip and he thrusts harder, deeper, and I feel it rising again, my muscles tensing. I grab onto him as the pleasure rolls over me, reaching all the way down to my toes. He follows shortly after, letting out a deep groan as he releases. He remains inside me as he kisses my neck and then my shoulder. I want him to stay there but then he rolls onto his back.
I snuggle up beside him. "Can we do that again later?" "Like in a couple minutes?" He skims his hand down my chest. I laugh. "I think you need more recovery time than that." "Trust me, I don't. There's pent-up demand after you made me wait a month to be with you, and now another whole week's gone by without doing it." "I didn't want to wait that long. I wanted to do it the first week we were dating." "Are you serious?" He turns on his side to face me. "Then why'd we wait so long?" "Because I thought you'd break up with me after we did it. I was starting to
really like you and I wanted us to keep going out." "That's why you wouldn't do it with me? Because you thought it would end things between us?" "Yeah." "Ivy, I would never do that. If I were only interested in you for sex, I would've told you that." "You would've come out and told me you only wanted sex?" I roll my eyes. "Yeah, right. You wouldn't have done that." "Yeah. I would have," he says, his face serious. "I told you, I don't play games. When I was with those other girls, I never once led them to believe that it was anything more than sex. I've
always been upfront about it, saying it was one night only, and if the girl wanted more than that, I wouldn't do it with her. I was clear about what I wanted and most women respected that. Sometimes I'd get one who didn't stick to the plan and kept calling me after we'd been together, but for the most part, it was a mutual agreement. One night and that's it." "But what about that girl who showed up outside your building? She acted like she'd been with you before." "Ashley. She and I had a different agreement. If we were both single and needed some company and didn't want to go find someone at a bar, we met up and that was that." He sets his eyes on mine,
his hand brushing over my cheek. "I don't want to talk about this with you. I don't want you thinking about me with other women, so I don't want to talk about it. There's no need to. I'm with you now. No one else." "So you really wanted to date me," I say. "Yes. I really wanted to date you." "And it wasn't about sex?" "Well, obviously I wanted to have sex with you. You're gorgeous. But no, that wasn't why I asked you out. My goal was to get to know you. I liked you when I met you last summer and I liked you even more once we started working together. I'm usually not shy when it comes to going up to women but shit, I
gotta tell you, I was fucking nervous when I first asked you out. Like handsshaking nervous." I smile. "You were?" "Yeah. And then you turned me down. First time that's happened since...hell, I don't think it ever happened before that. You were the first. Way to crush my ego there, Ivy." I laugh. "You think that's funny? Crushing my ego?" "That's not why I was laughing, but yeah, that IS funny." "Then what are you laughing about?" "The fact that we didn't have sex for all those weeks based on something that was never going to happen. Do you
know how hard it was to not have sex with you?" "YOU?" He points to himself. "I was dying over here. You know how many cold showers I had to take?" "Well, you don't have to do that any more. Now you can have me whenever you want." I give him a kiss. "Like right now?" He kisses me back. "Not now." I flip away from him and get out of bed. "I'm starving. I need to eat, and then we're going to see my dad. After that, we're coming back here for the rest of the night." "What about Liza?" "She's working until midnight. I'll see her tomorrow. Now hurry up. Let's go." We grab some lunch, then go to the
hospital. My dad's awake and watching TV. "Hey, Dad." I walk in his room with Jake right behind me. "How are you feeling?" "Good. I was wondering if you were going to stop by." "Sorry I wasn't here earlier. I had some things to do." I'm not going to tell him where I was this morning. He doesn't need to know. "Hi, Jake," my dad says. "Hey, Steve. You been getting some rest?" "Not much. I'm starting to get my strength back so the nurses have had me walking the halls." "Did it hurt to walk?" I ask.
"My back was sore from the surgery but it wasn't anywhere near the pain I had before." "Dad, you should've told us how much pain you were in." "It's all behind us now. The doc said I could be pain-free in a few months if I keep up with the physical therapy." I still don't know how we're going to pay for that. Insurance only pays a small part of it and he'll have to have therapy for months. "So, Jake, you off from work today?" my dad asks. "I took the afternoon off." He looks at me and smiles, and I smile back as he takes my hand. I hear my dad again. "Is there
something you two would like to tell me?" Jake and I turn back to my dad. "I'm dating your daughter," Jake says. "Liza said the two of you broke up." "We didn't break up," Jake says. "We just had to work some things out." He looks at me. "But we're together now. For good." "Huh." My dad rubs his hand over his jaw. "My daughter's dating a Wheeler boy? I'm not so sure about this." "Dad!" I say, laughing. "That's not nice." He chuckles. "I'm just giving him a hard time." "If it makes you feel any better," Jake says, lightly squeezing my hand. "I love
your daughter. I have for a long time." I can't stop smiling, and hearing him say that makes me smile even more. "That's good to hear," my dad says. "I admit I wasn't too sure about you in the beginning, but now that I know you, you're a good kid, Jake. And you're from a good family." "Dad, we're not kids," I say. "Jake's 23." "Almost 24," he says. "My birthday's at the end of March." "Really?" I look at him, surprised. "So's mine. March 22nd." "March 24th. Guess we'll celebrate them together. And Nash's birthday is March 10th. It's on a Sunday this year so we're having a party for him at Sunday
dinner." "Did you tell her about the other party?" my dad asks Jake. "Well, it's not really a party, I guess. What are we calling it?" "A benefit concert," Jake says. My eyes move between them. "What are you guys talking about?" "Your boyfriend and his family are organizing a benefit concert to help pay the hospital bills." "You are?" I ask Jake. "I was going to tell you about it later," he says, "but now's as good a time as any. It was actually my dad's idea to do some kind of event, and yesterday at family dinner, which you missed by the way, we had a brainstorm and Austin
came up with the idea for a concert. His band, along with some others, are going to play, and all the money from the ticket sales will go to help pay your dad's bills. Callie's going to make some food to sell and we were thinking maybe you'd want to make one of your wood pictures that we could auction off. And Bryce is donating the car he's been fixing up and we're going to sell raffle tickets. We still have a lot of details to figure out but we already have the location and Austin is lining up the bands and Jen is working on the artwork for the promo materials." "I don't know what to say." I sit on the bed, tears now falling down my face. "I can't believe you're doing all this for
us." "We can't thank you enough, Jake," my dad says. "And your whole family. You're really saving us here." "We see a need and we take care of it. We're just happy we could help." I sniffle and wipe the tears from my face. "So when is this happening?" "We've got the location booked for the first week of March," Jake says. "I can't remember what day. We'll have to ask my dad." "That's so soon. You sure you have time to get everything done?" "We're going to have to put in some extra hours to get it done, but we didn't want to wait. You guys need the money now, not later."
I get up and hug him. "Thank you. This is awesome. I can't believe you're doing this." "Why don't you two go out and do something fun," my dad says. "I'm going to take a nap before those nurses have me walking the halls again." "Okay." I let go of Jake and hug my dad. "I'll see you soon. I love you." "I love you too, honey." Jake and I leave the hospital and go out for coffee and he tells me more about the benefit concert. I can't stop hugging him and kissing him and thanking him. There are so many reasons I love this man and now I've added another one. And I have a feeling the list will just keep growing the longer I'm with him.
CHAPTER TWENTYSEVEN Jake "What do you think?" I ask, scanning the crowd of people. It's March 8th, the night of the benefit concert. Ivy and I are standing off to the side of the big open warehouse that has
been converted into a club for the night. There's a stage up front where Austin's band is playing, and in the middle is a dance floor. The whole place is packed. I never thought we'd have such a huge turnout. We're going to raise a lot of money, more than enough to cover Steve's medical bills and follow-up care. "It's awesome!" Ivy yells above the music. "I can't believe you guys pulled this off with hardly any time to plan it." "When something needs to be done, the Wheeler boys get it done." But shit, it wasn't easy. We worked round the clock to put this together but it was worth it. Ivy and her family can finally stop worrying about their bills.
She wraps her arms around me and reaches up to kiss me. "I love you." I kiss her back. "I love you more." "That's not true. I love you just as much." I kiss her again. "Don't argue with me. Just watch the band." She laughs and flips around and I hold her against my chest. I love her so much. I love her more every day I'm with her. That used to scare me but it doesn't anymore. "Austin's band sounds great," she says. "Yeah, they're really good." "You think he'll quit construction and do this instead?" "No. Construction's in his blood. He
loves it almost as much as his music. And he gets paid a lot more for the construction work." "Hey, guys." Callie walks up to us with Nash right behind her. "Having fun?" "Yeah." Ivy comes around to my side and I put my arm around her. "Although I can't get Jake to dance." "I got the same problem." Callie points to Nash. "He won't dance to this type of music. Only country." "Only kind of music that's worth dancing to," he says. "Damn straight," I say, fist bumping my brother. "We have to get back to the booth," Callie says to Ivy. "I just wanted to say
hi." "Thanks for making the food. I know it was a lot of work." "I didn't mind. It's all for a good cause." She leans back against Nash, looking up at him. "And at least I had someone to clean up." "Is that all I'm good for?" He kisses her. "Cleaning up dishes?" She takes his hand. "Come on. Let's go." The two of them walk off. Nash slings his arm around her and kisses her again. I used to look at those two and get jealous of what they had, but now I have it with Ivy and I understand why Nash always has that grin on his face. Because now I have it too.
"We're selling a lot of tickets for the car," Bryce says, walking up to us. "A lot more than I thought we would." "It's a nice car," I say. "You did a great job on it." "Thanks. I think it turned out all right." "Thanks again for donating it," Ivy says. "But I feel bad that you did all that work and aren't getting paid." He shrugs. "I like doing that stuff. I'll get paid for the next one." "Would you dance with me?" Jen comes up behind Bryce, her hand wrapping around his arm. He turns to her. "Right now?" "Yeah. I love this song." "You know I don't like to dance."
"I know, but I need a partner." She gives him a smile. He can't help but smile back. It's obvious he's in love with her. He can't even hide it. "Come on," Jen says, tugging on his arm. He looks at us. "Guess I'll see you guys later." Jen drags Bryce to the dance floor. "Those two act like they're dating," Ivy says. "Now that Jen's single again, they could date if my idiot brother would just ask her out. But he better hurry. I have a feeling Jen'll move somewhere else for a job once she graduates, especially if she doesn't have a reason to stick around."
My dad appears, along with Ivy's dad. Steve is walking pretty well now, but he has to take frequent breaks to sit down. "Seemed to turn out okay," my dad says. "Don't be so modest, Mitch," Steve says. "You outdid yourself. I didn't expect this to be such a huge event." "The bands tend to attract a crowd," he says. "But yes, I'm surprised as well at the turnout. Good thing I was able to get the warehouse. We needed the space." The warehouse is owned by one of my dad's friends. It was sitting empty because the guy's getting ready to lease it out. My dad asked him if we could rent
it for a night but his friend wouldn't charge him so we got it for free. "How are you feeling, Dad?" Ivy asks. He smiles at her. "I'm good. Stop asking." He looks at me. "You need to get her to stop worrying so much." I chuckle. "I'll work on that." "We've got quite a few bids on your artwork," my dad says to Ivy. She carved a picture out of wood. It's a scene of the Chicago skyline and looks freaking amazing. We're doing a silent auction for it. "Really? I didn't think anyone would bid on it." "Are you kidding?" I shake my head at her. "You need to start realizing how
talented you are. That picture is a work of art. It's going to make a lot of money." "Yeah, I don't think so," she says, smiling, like she thinks I'm joking. "Someone already bid two thousand," my dad says. "What?" Ivy stares at my dad, her jaw dropped. "Are you serious?" "It's worth at least that," Steve says to her. "You did a beautiful job on that, honey." "I...I just can't believe someone would pay that much." "You should consider doing more of those," I say. "Set up a shop online and sell them. You could make good money, and it'd be something to do between construction jobs."
"That's a good idea," Steve says. "You should think about that, Ivy." "Yeah, I guess I should," she says, looking like her mind is already pondering the possibility of it. She really needs to do this. It's what she likes to do and what makes her happy. She likes it a lot more than doing window trim or baseboards. "I'm going to get some food," Steve says. "You need some help?" Ivy asks. "I'll be fine." Steve pats her shoulder. "Now stop worrying about me and go have some fun." He walks away and Ivy says, "He drives me crazy the way he won't accept my help. I was just trying to—"
"Mitch." A loud voice interrupts Ivy. I turn and see Tom there, father of Nick, the asshole who nearly got Ivy killed. A grin spreads over his chubby face, his bald head glistening with sweat. The guy is always sweating. "Tom." My dad only said one word, but I could hear the anger in his tone. His eyes narrow and he stands up straighter, towering over Tom, who's almost a foot shorter. "You shouldn't be here." "I'm helping with the cause," he says, crossing his fat forearms over his protruding stomach. "You only showed up here to see if I'd change my mind." He shrugs. "I run a business. I have to look out for it."
"But you have no interest in looking out for your fellow carpenter. Or anyone, for that matter." Tom glances at Ivy. "It was her decision to go there." "Your son did more than set her up with that job." "What are you—" Ivy stops when she feels me squeeze her hand. I whisper in her ear, "Just let them talk." Tom chuckles, but it's a nervous laugh. "You remember how it was when you were that age, Mitch. Talking that way about girls? It's just what guys that age do." "And is that how you want your granddaughters to be treated? Do you
want men talking about them that way?" Nick's wife had the twins a few days ago. Two girls. Tom's grin drops and he glares at my dad. "My granddaughters won't be stupid enough to go into construction. Everyone knows that's a man's job." He motions to Ivy. "She was asking for it, going into a job she shouldn't be in." My anger flares and I let go of Ivy and step up to Tom. "Get the fuck out of here." "Jake," my dad says, his tone telling me to stay out of it. I step back next to Ivy and my dad says to Tom, "It's no use trying to change my mind. You won't be working for us again."
"There aren't that many restoration carpenters around here. If you want to keep restoring old buildings, you'll have no choice but to hire me." "I'm sure we'll do just fine without you." He nods toward the exit. "Now do as my son said and get the fuck out of here." Tom's breathing hard, his eyes on my dad. And then he turns and storms off. He stops and grabs his coat off one of the chairs, then heads to the exit. "What just happened here?" Ivy asks, her eyes going between me and my dad. "Was that all because of me?" "Nash told me what went on at the library," my dad says. "And Jake told me about that job Nick set you up with."
"How do you know about the library? When Nick was saying those things to me, no one else was around." I look at Ivy. "What are you talking about? What'd that asshole say to you?" "It was just stupid flirting. But a lot of the guys I work with do that since I'm usually the only girl around." "You can't let them do that," my dad says. "You have to tell one of us if that happens." "You need to tell me, because I'll beat the shit out of them." "Jake." My dad uses his warning tone. He doesn't want me causing trouble for the business, and beating up one of our workers would definitely cause trouble.
"Yeah. I wouldn't actually do that," I say, "but I'd get their asses fired and never hire them again." "Which is what we've done," my dad says. "Nick won't be working for us again, and neither will Tom." "What did you mean when you said Nash told you what happened at the library?" Ivy asks. "I never told Nash anything." "Last week, Nash met with some of the guys who worked on the library to see if they wanted to work on the museum project. Before they agreed to it, they wanted to know if Nick would be there. None of them want to work with him again. Nash asked the guys if Nick had ever said anything about you and
they all said that he had." "What did he say?" "I'm not going to repeat it. The point is that it was inappropriate, and Tom was there when Nick said those things and did nothing to stop it. I won't put up with that. When our subcontractors sign on with us, they're all given the rules of our company. And the rules clearly state that we won't tolerate harassment of any kind or a hostile work environment. If they don't want to follow those rules, then they don't have to work for us. If they DO work for us and don't respect the rules, they're fired and we'll never hire them again." I put my arm around her. "Let's just forgot about those assholes. I don't want
them ruining our night." "He's right," my dad says. "You two go have some fun. I think I'll get some food and join Steve." Ivy glances over at her dad, who's talking to Nash by the food booth. "Hey," I say, getting Ivy's attention. "You want to dance?" "You said you wouldn't." "Yeah, but you want to, so come on. Let's go." "That's a sure sign he loves you," my dad says. "Jake never dances to this kind of music." "She doesn't need a sign," I say, giving her a kiss as we walk away. "She knows I love her." The evening continues, and at the end
of the night, after everything's closed down, both my family and Ivy's family count up what we made. My dad took everyone's totals and added them up and wrote it on a piece of paper and gave it to me. "Anyone want to guess?" I ask, holding up the slip of paper. "Just tell us," Bryce says. "Okay." I put my eyes on Ivy. "The grand total is just over thirty thousand dollars." "No way." Ivy's smiling, and I already see the tears forming in her eyes. "Thirty thousand?" Steve says, like he thinks he heard me wrong. "Wow," Liza says, also tearing up. "Holy shit," Nash mutters. "That's a
lot of money." "Hell yeah," Austin says. "I knew a concert was a good idea." "It wasn't just the concert tickets," I say. "The raffle for Bryce's car raised $8000." He smiles. "Fuck, are you serious?" "We sold a lot of raffle tickets. Everyone wanted that car." "That's awesome," Jen says to him. "I told you people would want it." "And the other big money-maker for the night was Ivy's picture." I keep my eyes on her. "It sold for $10,000." "Oh my God." She covers her mouth with her hand. "That can't be right." "Already got the check," I say. "It sold to an attorney who works
downtown. He's going to put it in his office." "I talked to him earlier," my dad says. "He'd like to commission you to do another one for his house in Wisconsin. He has a photo he'd like you to recreate. He showed it to me on his phone. It's a photo of some woods and a lake. I'll send you his information." "Ivy, you should totally do that," Callie says. "I will," she says, looking completely shocked. "I definitely will." I lean over and talk in her ear. "Now will you finally believe me when I tell you how talented you are?" She smiles and I kiss her. My dad stands up. "Everyone ready
to eat?" It's two in the morning, but we were all hungry so we ordered pizzas and Bryce went to the store and filled a cooler with beer and pop. What a freaking awesome night. We raised a ton of money, everyone had a good time, and now I'm sitting back and relaxing with the girl I love and both our families. Two days later, Ivy and I go to another Wheeler Sunday dinner, a tradition I hope we'll be doing together for a long time. Today it's not just family dinner. It's also Nash's birthday, so we got him a cake and he just opened his gifts. Callie didn't give him hers yet. She
got him tickets for his favorite country band, but she'll give them to him later, when they get home. "Feel any older?" Austin asks Nash. "Because you look older." He snickers. "Better than looking like a kid," he says, throwing his wadded up napkin at Austin. My dad leans back in his chair. "You boys ready to clean this up? Nash is excused this time since it's his birthday. I'll take his place." "Before you start cleaning up," Nash says, "I've got something to say." "You're the man of the day," my dad says, "so go ahead." Nash pushes his chair back and stands up. "First of all, I want to thank
everyone for the gifts. But I noticed that I didn't get one from Callie." She almost chokes on the water she just gulped down. "What? No. I have a gift. It's at home. I'm giving it to you later." She swats at him. "Why are you making me look bad?" He chuckles. "I'm not. I was just hoping you could give me another gift right now." "But I...I don't have one." She sounds so sad. "I'm sorry, Nash. I should've got you another one to open here. I'll go to the store right now." He takes her hand, pulling her up from her chair. "You don't need to. The gift I want from you isn't a gift you can buy in a store."
"Then what is it?" she asks, confused. He takes a deep breath and looks in her eyes. "Last summer when I went to fix up the house I inherited, I had no idea what I'd find. I ended up finding a houseful of junk and enough old newspapers to cover the planet at least twice." Callie laughs. "That's for sure." "I also found something else. But it wasn't in the house. It was right next door. I found someone to talk to, a person who quickly became a friend. Someone who I grew to love. Someone who became my girlfriend. And now..." He gets down on one knee. "Someone who I hope will become my wife." Callie's shaking, tears running down
her face, and then she lets out a laugh. "You got Cat involved in this?" "He's my good luck charm. And he's a good helper." We all stand up and see Cat sitting next to Nash, wearing a red bow tie collar. Hanging off the collar is a black velvet ring box. Nash opens the box and takes out the diamond ring. He holds Callie's hand. "I love you, Callie. And the gift I'm asking you to give me today is the gift of being my wife. Callie, will you marry me?" "Yes." She's still crying and smiling as he slides the ring on her finger. "I love you, Nash." "I love you too." He picks her up off the ground as he hugs her.
"Do we sing Happy Birthday now?" Austin asks. We all laugh. "Idiot," Bryce says. "What? It's better than standing here staring at them." My dad just shakes his head. "Congratulations!" Jen and Ivy say as they run up to Callie and hug her. "I'll go get the champagne," my dad says. "You have champagne?" Nash asks. He sounds surprised because we usually only have beer in the house. "I got it a few weeks ago," he says. "I knew this would be happening soon. I just wasn't sure when. But I thought I'd better keep a bottle on hand." He glances
at me. "Looks like now I'll have to go get another one." What the hell's he looking at me for? I'm not getting married, at least not anytime soon. My panic must show in my expression because Austin's pointing at me, laughing. "Look at his face." "You're such an idiot," I mutter, reinforcing Bryce's earlier statement. But Bryce is laughing too. "You're both idiots," I say. Ivy comes back around the table, sliding her hand down my arm and giving me a kiss. "I'm going to go help your dad with the glasses." "Okay." I kiss her back. As she walks off, Austin says, "You
are SO going to be next." And then he laughs. I look over and see Nash smiling at me. "Might as well join the club." "Yeah, I'm not quite ready for that." But when I am ready to get married, I have no doubt it will be to Ivy. The hot, sexy, talented carpenter who captured my attention from the moment I saw her. The first and only girl to turn me down when I asked her out. The girl I couldn't help but fall in love with. And the only woman I can imagine myself being with both now and in the future. "What are you thinking about?" Ivy asks, handing me a glass of champagne. I kiss her. "I was thinking about joining a club."
"Oh, yeah? What club?" "Just some club Nash was talking about. But I'm not joining right away. Maybe in a couple years." "Do I get to join this club?" "Yeah." I chuckle. "If you agree to join, then yeah, you'll be a member." "What? I don't get it." I kiss her. "Don't worry about it." "To Nash and Callie," my dad says, holding his glass up. We all clink glasses and say our congratulations and drink our champagne. Then Nash and Callie kiss, and Austin, Bryce, and my dad start taking the dishes to the kitchen. "I'll be there in a minute," I tell them. I take Ivy into the living room, away
from the newly-engaged, kissing couple. "So when we're done here, you want to go home?" "Yeah, I should probably clean my apartment. It really needs it." "By 'home' I was talking about my loft. What do you think about moving in with me?" She smiles. "Are you serious?" "Totally serious. So what do you think?" "Doing this will strip you of your title of Chicago's most eligible bachelor. You sure you want to give that up?" "I lost that title a long time ago, and I never want it back." "Then yes." She hugs me. "I'll move in with you."
It's a big step, especially since we haven't dated that long. But I'm done worrying and second-guessing and being fearful of what may or may not happen. There are always two possible outcomes, a good and a bad. And when it comes to Ivy and me, I have no doubt the outcome will be good. ### From the Author Want to read more about the Wheeler boys? Bryce's story is coming soon! And if you liked Jake and Ivy's story, please tell a friend or leave a review. For news about upcoming books, as
well as sneak peeks and bonus scenes, go to allieeverhart.com, Facebook, or Twitter.
Books by Allie Everhart The Jade Series (New Adult Romance/Suspense) Choosing You Knowing You Loving You Promising You Forever You Finding Us Becoming Us Always Us
Garret: A Jade Series Companion Novel
The Kensingtons (Romantic Suspense) Needing Her Keeping Her Protecting Her Only Her
Contemporary Romance Next to Me Give Us a Chance