Lainey didn’t give Jake’s confinement – or his cock – a second thought while she worked.
She didn’t think about him at all while she filled in her notes on today’s sessions, or spoke with Nick or Holly about the horses that evening, or chatted to Holly about the kitchen that was being fitted in Holly’s cottage the following week. She might’ve given Jake a second though when she got into the shower, then quickly pushed him to one side so she could wash the dirt from the stables off her skin for the second time of the day.
And if she said she didn’t think about him when she chose a silky nightdress instead of the baggy worn T-shirt she usually grabbed, she’d have been lying.
Half-tired, half just damn curious as to what Jake was going to say to her next time they saw each other, she picked up her tablet intending to lose herself in a romance where women had someone to brush their hair for them instead of fighting with their own tangled locks. Pulling the duvet back should’ve induced a sigh of relief – getting into bed was always something of a pleasure – but it didn’t.
Half a dozen frogs bounded out from underneath her covers, jumping off the mattress and across the room. Lainey’s heart jumped hard enough to leave her chest and ribbit across the floor with her unplanned visitors.
Words seemed as uncatchable as the frogs right now. She swallowed hard; the same lump that had been in her throat when she’d noticed what was in Jake’s shower was back with a vengeance.
It wasn’t as if Lainey was scared of frogs. She wasn’t. Growing up in the country for most of it had meant she wasn’t scared of any creature; humans were bigger and far more dangerous than most, so there really was no need, but frogs in her bed was something Shay or one of her cousins – probably Seph – would’ve done as a prank when they were tweens.
And now she had to change her sheets.
It was almost the perfect revenge for her locking Jake in the bathroom earlier, only one thing was missing – he wasn’t here to see it.
Lainey paused, the frogs still bounding round the room, looking for a way back outside. She’d need to scoop them up – something easier said than done – and help them out but right now she was wondering whether something else was hiding in her closet.
Bracing herself, she pulled open the wardrobe doors, knowing that there was space for a full-grown man to hide, but it was empty. No sign. No disturbed dresses that hadn’t been worn for months. Nothing.
She went routinely through the room, avoiding the jumping amphibians, but Jake wasn’t to be found. Clearly, obvious voyeurism wasn’t something he undertook on a regularly basis.
Lainey began to scoop up the frogs, thanking her brother for the first time ever for making sure catching the creatures wasn’t too difficult – they’d added frogs to Maven’s bed on more than one occasion just because she really had been obnoxious that day and she hated any form of creature that even looked slimy. Lainey and Shay had no issue with frogs, they found them interesting - just for different reasons. Lainey wanted to look after them while Shay wanted to dissect them. They were opinions that caused a few arguments.
Finally, she crawled into bed with her book and a glass of water, the sheets now clean and the window slightly open, but she couldn’t relax. Every three words she was looking round at the room, expecting Jake to jump out to try to scare the crap out of her.
She was reading the same chapter for the third time when she realised there was only one way to get a decent night’s sleep: find out exactly where Jake was.
Slamming the book down on the bed, she pushed back the covers and stropped downstairs. Boots and a coat didn’t really go with what she was wearing for bed, but she was past caring. She needed to know where her neighbour was then she could sleep without thinking she was being watched.
Ninety seconds later and she was on Jake’s doorstep, trying the handle of the door. Locked. Sensible man for once. Sensible as well to not have any other close neighbours who could be woken by thunderous knocking at an insensible time of night.
Lainey banged on the door. Hard. She was on the third round of some undefinable beat when the door opened and Jake Maynard stood there wearing just fleece pyjama bottoms and a serious expression.
Her hand froze mid-knock. Somehow she hadn’t wrapped her knuckles on his abs.
“You’re here.” She was almost disappointed.
Jake folded his arms. “I am. Here. Not locked in my bathroom.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I figured you’d escape.”
“So you weren’t imagining me collapsed on the floor with no way of rescuing myself?”
He actually looked pissed.
Lainey frowned. “I knew you’d managed to get out. Seven of your little friends told me so.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t lie.”
His expression became the definition of innocence.
“I’m not sure I haveseven little friends.”
“I’m pretty sure you made them this afternoon. Seven greenish friends that croak and ribbit.”
