Page 19
“And remind us of.” Jake’s eyes sparkled with amusement. “So, before we do anything else, we should eat. You’ve been at this since I left this morning, and all I’ve had since practice is cookies.”
He was right about that. As I crossed the shop with him, I caught the smell of Thai food.
We cleared a space at the end of his workbench, and Jake pulled the containers from the bags. A familiar gold elephant was stamped on every lid.
He hadn’t picked whatever Thai restaurant was closest and hoped for the best. He’d found the one, with nothing to go on but an empty takeout container he’d seen in his kitchen two days ago and what I’d said about it. He went across town, out of his way, to get this.
“You found the place.”
He handed me a container and a fork. “Seemed worth the drive.”
Jake continued to surprise me. He paid attention and picked up the small details. And what he picked up, he filed away.
We ate side by side, leaning against his bench, talking about random things. He told me about practice and the team’s plan to rebound from the road losses. I told him about my vision for the bed frame, which he seemed to like.
Through it all, I thought about how easy it would be to get used to this. The workshop warm around us, his shoulder against mine, nowhere either of us had to be except here. Not long ago I’d have called this an inconvenient arrangement. Now I wasn’t sure what to call it.
“Kowalski called this morning,” I said before I could think better of it.
Jake looked over, confused.
“Sorry. He’s my landlord. He said things are moving faster than expected. It’s looking like the building could be repaired by spring. And he’s got a warehouse space across town opening up in January that he could put me in to tide me over.”
“That’s good news.” His tone was tentative, which I guess fit with me not sounding particularly enthused. “Isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
What I didn’t say was that I’d let Kowalski’s message sit half the morning before I listened to it. Jake didn’t push. Instead, he tore open the bag of cookies between us and nudged it toward me.
“These are my favorite.” He held up a Christmas tree, frosted in green. Yellow stripes zig-zagged down it for garland, with red dots for ornaments. I laughed as he stuffed the whole thing into his mouth and then licked the frosting off his fingers.
“These look good.” I picked up a chocolate cookie decorated with colorful little beads and took a bite. “Oh my God. That’s amazing.” I didn’t even care that I groaned a little.
Jake gave me a sweet smile. “Then these are all yours.” He plucked out five more chocolate ones and put them in front of me. “You really like chocolate, don’t you?”
“It’s a vice. I admit it.” I held out one to him. “But you should have the experience too.”
He leaned in and took the cookie into his mouth, his lips brushing my fingers as he did. I managed to keep myself from making any kind of sound, even as my heart fluttered from the contact.
We lingered over the treats, trying the different kinds.
“I don’t think I can eat more,” I finally said.
“Leftovers for later, then.”
He wasn’t kidding about that. He’d brought a lot of Thai and cookies. There was at least one more meal, maybe more.
“I should let you get back to it.” Jake packed up the containers.
“Actually...” I hesitated, then decided to be honest. “Would you mind staying? We could work together.”
Jake said nothing for a moment and I couldn’t read his expression. Was it surprise? Excitement? “You want me to help build my own furniture?”
“Why not? You’ll understand the piece better, know the work that went into it.” I handed him a piece of sandpaper. “Besides, I could use another pair of hands.”
What I didn’t say was that I’d been thinking about continuing what we’d done the other night. What would a kiss have been like? What if we’d gone further than that? Having him close while working felt both dangerous… and necessary.
Jake took the sandpaper, his fingers brushing mine in the exchange. “What do you need me to do?”
