I peered inside and saw that I was now stocked with Jake and Sully’s beer. “When did you do this?” I looked to Jake.
He shrugged. “Can’t have you drinking our competitors’ beer, babe, when you could have ours.”
“Babe? That’s damn, I mean dang, adorable,” Drew mumbled, earning an eye roll from Jake.
“To answer your question, Drew, you are welcome to anything in there. I think I know where I can get more if need be.”
“I bet you do,” he said with a smirk. “Now, if you two can excuse me, I think I need to message our dear older sister.”
With that, Drew headed back toward the front of the house. Addie, ever the social butterfly, leaned over on the counter to roll onto her belly, then slid off the counter until her feet hit the floor. “I’m going with Drew, Momma,” she called as her little feet pounded after him.
I shook my head, then looked at Jake. “I hope your brother wasn’t looking for any quiet time. That won’t be happening here, or at least not until she goes to bed.”
Jake moved to the fridge, taking a beer out himself. He held it out to me. I looked at the label,Black Hole Sun. Ah, he said he’d bring me their hazy IPA. Nodding, I took it and moved to a cabinet to grab a glass. “Want one?” I held mine up.
“Nah, I’m fine.” Jake walked over to lean against the counter. Looking to his side, he picked up a Mason jar I had sitting on a window ledge above my sink. “What’s this?”
I looked over as I grabbed a pot mitt to pull the muffins out with. “Oh, that’s just moon water.”
Now Jake looked more confused than ever. “I’m sorry, what?”
I grinned. I knew how this was going to go. And somehow knowing he was going to think I was off my rocker helped me feel like I was on a more even keel. “Moon water. I put out glass jars to collect rain water during a full moon.”
Jake closed his eyes as he replaced the glass jar on the counter. Opening his eyes, he regarded me. “I know you’ve mentioned moon water before, and I know damn well I’m going to regret this, but why in the fuck would you do that?”
I pulled my muffins out of the oven and placed them on the top to cool. I let Jake wait as I took a sip of my beer. Putting the beer on the counter, I then hopped up to sit and took in Jake’s expression. Yep, this was going to be great. “My nana taught me. Water from a rain during a full moon, or even a gibbous moon, has beautiful energy. The moon controls the tides, you know. Moon water is charged. I also have a rose crystal in the jar when I’m collecting it.” I bit my lip, knowing Jake likely had so many things begging to burst from his gorgeous lips right now.
Jake watched me, and dang if his stare didn’t seem a bit heated. Interesting. “And what do you do with this water?” He moved closer, taking a hand and putting it on my knee, pulling it to the side. He slid between my legs, mirroring the position we were in just a few nights before. He put a hand on either side of my legs, but didn’t move any closer.
Oh boy. Looking up at him, I whispered. “I use it to water my plants.”
“You do have a lot of plants,” he whispered back.
“I love them.”
“Do you name them?” he asked, his gaze scanning my face, then trailing over my body to where we were practically pressed against each other.
“Yes. How’d you know?”
“Seems like something a green witch would do.” He smoothed his hands over my legs. “Your yoga pants drive me crazy. I didn’t know you wore them to work, I thought you just wore those long dresses.”
I smiled inwardly. I knew those skirts and dresses drove him crazy. They screamedhippieto him. “Well, those are comfortable, but I also wear leggings and jeans just like everyone else.”
Jake’s hand skated up my arm, my neck, to grip my chin as he locked his gaze on mine. “You might be a lot of things, Ivy James, but you are definitely not like everyone else.”
Wow. That was nice.
“Jake, what are we doing here?” I whispered.
He paused for a moment, as if he was debating his next move, giving me a chance to move back. Not happening. And then he said, “This.” Leaning forward, he captured my mouth and pressed his lips to mine.
Holy hell.
Moving his lips ever so softly, his tongue traced over my lips, and they parted on a gasp. As his tongue met mine, it was on. My hands wrapped around his torso, pulling him against me as I let my hands roam up and down his back. One came to the front and slid under his shirt so I could touch that glorious chest.
His mouth continued to move, nibbling and sucking my lips. I moved against him, wanting the friction of his pelvis against my core. He tugged my hair, and I let my head fall back as he moved his lips to kiss down my neck. I moaned, wondering how I could keep this going all night long.
“Well, well, well.” Drew’s voice from the doorway pulled me out of the moment. Jake stopped moving, stuck his head in my neck and groaned as Drew said, “Big bro, I think you might want to revisit your earlier statements.”
