Page 54 of Raging Fires

“I didn’t mean it!” Jake thundered.

“How am I supposed to know that?” Kelli crossed her arms and glared at him. She wasn’t about to let him know how much his words warmed her or how much what he’d said the other day had hurt. “I’m supposed to figure out when you mean something and when it’s a lie? When I can rely on something you say and when I can’t?”

“You knew I didn’t mean it.” His eyes narrowed. “You just told me I goaded you into it. You knew I was only pushing your buttons because you were all jealous about that waitress.”

“I was not jealous. And don’t you dare try to weasel out of this. What I knew was that you were pushing me, daring me, trying to pressure me into dating. And I know why—because you wanted to be free to hook up with Ashley and not feel guilty about it.”

“That’s total BS,” he shot back. “I don’t want to date Ashley. Hell, I didn’t even remember what her name was until you said it just now.”

“Then somebody else. I don’t know who. But because you’re such a dog-in-the-manger kind of guy, you didn’t really want me to hook up with somebody.”

“Why would I!” Jake threw his arms wide. “You were mine. You were only mine. I can’t stand thinking about what you must have done in the last four years. But I can’t help it. Visions of you naked with some idiot who can’t even begin to know how to touch you. The idea just makes me want to smash everything in this stupid, tiny-ass house!”

Kelli knew it was crazy, but even said in that tone, all she could think of was how right Jake was. No guy she’d been with since had managed to make her come as hard as he did when he wasn’t even trying. Even a quickie between them had been the hottest thing she’d ever known. And when they’d had the time… Jake had known exactly how to fill it. Over and over. And here she was in the middle of a screaming match, getting all wet. God, he was infuriating.

“See! That’s why you choose him,” Kelli told him. “You wanted me to go out with Tyler because you knew he was no threat to you. You knew I’d have a terrible time.”

“Yeah?” Jake’s expression changed, his mouth curving up into that annoying smirk that somehow managed to turn her on. “So your date was terrible?”

“We went to an ax-throwing bar, Jake. What do you think?”

Jake burst into laughter. “An ax-throwing bar? Seriously?”

“A Renaissance ax-throwing bar.” At those words, Jake’s laughter hit a new level. “In Tempe. Filled with college kids. College guys, I should say, since most of the men knew enough not to bring a date. And Tyler talked all night about charities and tiny houses and the trauma of being tall.”

“Huh?”

Kelli waved a hand. “Don’t ask.”

“Is it a combination of being tall and having a tiny house that’s the problem?” Jake asked, his mouth twitching.

Much as she didn’t want to, Kelli began to laugh.

“That’d be pretty bad,” Jake mused. “Every time you stand up, you hit the ceiling. Have to shower on your knees. Probably you have to lie on your bed with your feet in the doorway.”

Kelli laughed harder. “Jake, stop.”

“You think all the appliances are tiny, too? Like, your fridge is four feet high? And your stove’s down here?” He lowered his hand to knee-level.

“Stop! Stop, stop, stop,” Kelli gasped out between laughs, tears trickling from the corners of her eyes. She picked up one of the decorative sofa pillows and threw it at Jake.

Of course, being Jake, he caught it before it touched him. Still grinning, he tossed it back onto the couch and walked over to her. He reached out and took her chin between his thumb and fingers and tilted her face up to look into his. “I can still make you laugh.”

“Yes,” she whispered. There was a wistful tone in his voice that made her throat clog up and her tears threaten to turn into a different kind.

“I missed you,” he went on softly. “I missed ‘us.’ I thought a hundred times about leaving Miami and going after you, hauling you back.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“What good would it have done? You wouldn’t have come back. It wouldn’t have been any different. I was still me; you were still you.”

“Jake, what are you doing? Where are you going with this?”

“I don’t know.” He gazed down at her, his eyes a midnight blue in the dim light. He released her chin and caressed her cheek, combing her hair back with his fingers. “I just… you’re still the most beautiful girl I’ve ever met.”

“Come on; I’ve seen you with models and actresses.”

“They were pretty.” He shrugged. “But they weren’t you.” He bent and pressed his lips softly to hers. “I didn’t want you to go out with Man-Bun. I just wanted… hell, I just want you.”