“Aw c’mon baby. There’s no need to play hard to get.” He lifts a hand to touch her hair, but I smack it away before he can make contact. The jackass lets out an irritated noise before looking up, his eyes widening when he notices me.
“She told you to leave her alone man. I recommend you listen to her and fuck off. Because if you don’t, I can promise you I won’t be as nice about removing your hands as she was.”
“Whatever. Fuck this.” He grabs his cup and stalks out of the kitchen. Wise choice.
I pull Eliana closer to me. “I shouldn’t have left you. I’m so sorry?—”
She cuts me off. “It’s not your fault, Jake. Nor is it your responsibility to stop every asshole guy that can’t respect my boundaries. But I do appreciate you jumping in and helping me out.” She reaches out and takes my hand into hers, and I can’t help but notice how good we fit together.
I don’t want to make a big deal of it and risk freaking her out, so I just lift the massive bag of chips I brought down. “Here you go.”
She pops a few chips in her mouth. “Excellent choice. Salt and vinegar chips are my favorite.”
“They’re definitely superior. And I would even argue underrated.”
“Right?Like not only are they salty but they’re also perfectly tangy. What more could you want from a chip?”
I watch as her tongue dips out and traces over her bottom lip, and it takes me a few seconds to realize she asked me a question. “Maybe if they were kettle cooked?”
“Ooo or even a waffle cut.” She stops before she can finish her sentence and I watch as someone’s beer sprays all over her dress — drenching it.
“Damn my night really peaked with winning beer pong.” Eliana laughs as she shakes the beer off her arms.
My head snaps to the stranger standing across from us in the kitchen. He throws his hands up in defense. “I was just trying to shotgun it…”
Eliana’s hand wrap around by bicep, “Jake, it’s fine. It was an accident.” I look down and see her arms covered in goosebumps.
“Well he can at least say sorry.” I roll my eyes.
She presses her lips together, clearly enjoying my uncharacteristic irritation. Her eyes soften and my arm feels like it's on fire as she trails her hand down my bicep. “Thank you. For defending me.”
“No need to thank me. Now let’s get you cleaned up.”
Chapter 29
Eliana
Jake keeps a firm hand around my waist as he leads me upstairs. I send out a quiet “thank you” to the universe that my skin was already covered in goosebumps from being drenched in beer, so he wouldn’t notice the additional ones that formed from his touch. I had a problem. A massive one in fact. And it was all tied to how I wanted more. More of his touches, more of his jokes, more of him coming to my defense.More of Jake Keeley.That’s all my brain could think right now which was incredibly dangerous given he was leading me up to his room.
The first time he wrapped his arms around me during beer pong, I thought my heart was going to explode. I was never a super touchy person and cringed whenever my exes tried to engage in PDA, but with Jake everything just felt right. I wanted to have him draped all over me in public, and in private, the same way I wanted to see him defend me again because damn, that was hot. I would gladly sacrifice a dozen dresses if it meant I got to see him all riled up like that.
He leads me down the hall and unlocks the door, holding itopen for me. Jake’s room is mostly what I would expect from a college athlete, with hockey memorabilia and video game posters covering a majority of the walls. A thought about whether he had recently shared the bed with someone pops in my head and my stomach immediately drops. Ugh. I had no reason to feel insecure. It’s not like we werereallydating, and we never talked about being fake-exclusive. He had every right to do whatever the hell he wanted.
He walks over to his closet and pulls out a basket of what I presume to be unfolded clean clothes. “What are we feeling? T-shirt? Flannel?”
“What about your hockey jersey?” I tease.Not every intrusive thought needs to be spoken Eliana. In fact, all should probably remain inside.
“I, uh. What?”
Fantastic. My awkwardness left him speechless. “I was just joking. Any chance I can borrow a sweater? I’m hoping I can pull it off as a dress.”
“Oh sure. Let me see what I have here.” Jake ducks into his closest. “Here you go.” He hands me a large cotton sweater and points to the private bathroom inside his room.
I quickly change into his sweater and am covered in his scent. Forget feeling hot, I was on fire. I splash some water on my face in an attempt to cool myself down. Looking in the mirror, love that I’m currently drowning in Jake’s sweater, and I contemplate how I can keep this long after this night is over. Keephim. Shit. There’s no way this is going to end well. We had agreed that once he got his midterm grade back, he would tell his mom the truth. Which meant there would be no need for us to keep this dating façade up. That should make me feel better but instead it bummed me out. The more time I spent with him, the more I wanted our dating situation to be real,even if it made my work life more complicated.But maybe it would be worth it.
“You alright in there?” I jump at Jake’s voice from the other side of the door.
“Yup sorry. Coming out now.” I take a few deep breaths to settle my heart before I open the door and lean against the frame. “What do you think?”
