when we realized we were both working toward the same deadline: February twenty-second. Hard to believe that was sixteen days away, but at the moment, I couldn’t bring myself to care that I might possibly miss it and have Liz threatening to castrate me.
Right now, Presley was the only thing that mattered.
Once we were finished eating, I’d poured more coffee, then she brought me out to sit on the porch so we could see the lake. Cat had joined us shortly thereafter, making himself comfortable in Presley’s lap. Strange that I was jealous of my cat.
And now, as we sat quietly, the sun blazing overhead, I couldn’t think of anyplace I’d rather be than right here with her.
Chapter Forty-Nine
Presley
Turned out that sitting still wasn’t something that came naturally to me or Jake. So, once we’d finished our coffee, we’d spent most of the morning walking around the lake, hiking up into the trees, making out like teenagers a few times, then coming back for lunch.
In a true test of my willpower, I’d managed to keep my hands off Jake for most of the day. Even when we’d napped on the couch for a couple of hours. When I’d woken, I’d been alone and I’d found him on the porch, writing away in that notebook. Rather than bother him, I’d cleaned up the kitchen, spent some time with Cat, and even read more of one of his books while I sat on the couch with a blanket.
By the time we’d lost most of the day’s light, I was exhausted. Having only slept a few hours last night, plus the mind-blowing orgasm on the kitchen counter that had zapped all of my strength, I was able to keep my eyes open solely due to caffeine and the fact that I didn’t want to close them and miss anything that might happen.
I had offered to make dinner, but Jake refused. I wasn’t sure whether that was because he feared I wouldn’t supply him with a healthy dose of meat or if he simply preferred to cook, but either way, he fixed me a salad at the same time he cooked a hamburger on the stove. We ate on the back porch, listening to the sounds of the night all around us.
We’d been talking about some of the tattoos I’d done, what the craziest one someone had asked for was, the most absurd, whether or not I’d ever spelled anything wrong, and if inking people was really my passion when his cell phone had rung.
It had been Josie, letting Jake know that the painters were moving right along and that two people would be stopping by on Monday to check out a few pieces of furniture he was giving away, and that she’d also found a local church that wanted the extra furniture.
While he’d talked to her, I’d taken the time to text Gavin and Gil, warning them that if they had another orgy in my living room, I would strategically place Icy Hot in places that would result in them doing some serious damage to themselves.
They hadn’t found that amusing. Then, of course, they had proceeded to give me shit.
I’d managed to shoot them both a text last night, letting them know we’d made it to the cabin, then another this morning so they knew I was alive and well, and at that point, I’d received a short response from Gavin telling me to practice safe sex.
Their other texts hadn’t been quite so PC.
All in all, it had been a good day and I was ready to sleep for a solid twelve hours. But I was suddenly inspired to do something, but I wasn’t sure what. While Jake took a call from someone else—it sounded as though it could’ve been his editor—I settled for crumpling into a heap on the living room floor and rolling onto my back while I watched him pace the room.
As I lay there in his T-shirt once more—an outfit I’d learned really did make it difficult for either of us to focus—I noticed he continued to look down at me while he finished up his phone call.
“I hear you, Liz. And I’m doing what you told me to do.” There was a lengthy pause. “Yes. I’ll have more for you by Monday.” Another pause. “I can’t promise it’ll be finished, but I’ll have more, yes.” Another pause, and I smiled. “Okay. Talk to you later.”
“Are you done yet?” I asked, laughing when he finally hung up the phone.