‘Exactly!That wasn’t even the worst part.He also asked if I wanted to take a ride on hisjumbo jet. Apparently, if I had one ride on it, I’d bebegging for more.’
‘No, he didn’t!’ Jake snorted and the sound made me laugh so hard, my stomach hurt.‘And did you beg for more?’
‘Of course not!Do you actually think that I’d let a man who referred to his dick as a bloody jumbo jet slip and slide inmyexquisite ocean?’ I giggled.
‘Preach!A pretty lady like you could have her pick of the guys, so settling for a dude like that would be a damn shame.Plus, if you’d shacked up with Mr Jumbo Jet, you wouldn’t be here with me right now.’
My eyes widened and my stomach flipflopped.
Jake just called me pretty.
I was a grown woman, not a teenage girl, so I had no idea why a whole basket of butterflies had suddenly ambushed my belly again.I’d thought they’d finished playing table tennis, but now they were having a full-on rave.
My gaze locked with Jake’s and just like yesterday I thought about how gorgeous his eyes were.
Right now, they were a darker shade of green, almost verging on brown.There was something burning in them.I wanted to say it was desire, but that’d be ridiculous.Up until we’d arrived at Huntington Gardens, I’d never even considered whether or not he found me attractive.It was irrelevant because I’d had no intention of continuing with him as my match.But now, something was different and I couldn’t help but wonder if he did?
He’d said that I wouldn’t have been here with him now like he was enjoying my company.And I had to say, the feeling was mutual.
Still, that didn’t mean that I was interested in him romantically, because I definitely wasn’t.
I couldn’t be.
‘Should we look at the next photo?’ I said, breaking the silence.
‘Uh… um, sure,’ Jake stuttered, his eyes travelling down to the stack of pictures in my palms.I moved to the next photo and swallowed hard.
‘I like this one too,’ Jake said.‘It’s cute.’
‘Y-yeah,’ I said, struggling to believe how much it actually was.We were both on the horse and this time Jake was staring at me whilst I was smiling at the camera.
His expression was a mixture of happiness, but also pride?Like he was impressed that I’d ridden the horse.
I didn’t hate it.
There were several other photos and all of them were really, really nice.I didn’t look as shit as I’d feared and was actually smiling a lot, which surprised me.Aidan had asked us to say cheese but I didn’t realise how wide my grin was.
As I came to the last photo, I gasped.
It was a picture of Jake holding me in his arms after I fell off the horse.And I was staring at him with love-heart eyes like he’d just shown me how to walk on waterandgiven me the secret to eternal youth.
If I could put my expressions into words, I’d be saying ‘my hero’ in a breathy,damsel-in-distress-saved-by-her-knight-in-shining-armourvoice.
And I wasn’t gonna lie.I remembered how I’d felt in that moment and Sammie had captured it perfectly.
Wow.
I didn’t even know how to feel right now.
‘This one is…’ I searched for the right words but came out blank.‘Good.’
It was a million times better thangoodbut I didn’t know the best way to express how much I loved it without gushing like a fountain.
‘Happy with the photos?’ Jake asked.
‘They’re better than I thought they’d be.’
‘Good.I’m glad.I’ve been wondering… why don’t you like having your picture taken?’
