devilish grin. “Perfect for me…yes. But perfect…no. At least I would never expect you to be.”
I sighed and turned to lay my head on the armrest of the couch. Jake pulled my legs on his lap and started massaging my feet. I closed my eyes and enjoyed how good it felt. I had drunk too much and the room was starting to sway.
“You like that?” he asked softly and I just nodded my head, keeping my eyes closed. I felt him let go and then the couch shifted and Jake moved his body over mine. He began kissing my neck and I felt him take the clip out of my hair and the waves tumbled down the side of the couch.
“What about this?” Kiss. “And this?” More kisses moving up my jawline.
I could feel my heart racing and my stomach filling with butterflies. I knew what we were doing was wrong, but as much as my head said to stop it, I felt paralyzed by my body and how each kiss torched my skin.
I opened my eyes and looked right into his. He was moving forward, and I knew it was a point of no return if I let him kiss me. It meant the end for me and Parker if I did, and for some reason, I felt ok with it, even tried to justify it in my head that Parker was too good for me, and it would never last anyway.
Jake caressed my face and smiled. “Baby, it’s always been you and me,” he whispered as he moved forward. I closed my eyes again waiting, and right when I felt his breath on my face, my phone started to ring.
We both froze and Jake whispered, “Ignore it,” as he continued to move closer.
I turned my head right as he touched me and moved underneath him to grab the phone. It was Issy. I jumped off the couch and answered it, watching Jake put his head on the armrest in frustration.
“Hi!” I practically yelled into the phone when I answered it. “How are you?”
“Wow, Avery, you’re like breathing heavy. What did I interrupt?” Issy asked playfully. She was absolutely her old self. I immediately blushed as guilt hit me hard in the gut.
“Nothing! Jake and I were just celebrating your waking up!” I knew my voice was louder than usual, and even I didn’t recognize the tone of it.
“Have you been drinking?” she asked with a laugh. “And with Jake of all people?”
“Just a couple of glasses of champagne, nothing big,” I answered, trying to justify it. For some reason it sounded worse when Issy said it.
“Avery, champagne is the worst. No wonder you are slurring your words. What happened to Parker?”
Issy’s usual straightforwardness annoyed me and I retorted, “Nothing! Jake and I are just friends.” Issy sat quiet for a moment and then got real serious.
“Avery, I love Jake, you know that. But he cannot be trusted with you, ok. He’s not there out of friendship. You didn’t see him last night…I did. I mean New Year’s, whatever. Anyway, Parker is a good guy, and I’ve seen the way you are with him. You need to really think this through.”
I felt my heart start to race again. I couldn’t believe Issy was lecturing me not even six hours after waking up from a coma. I didn’t want to think about this now; my head was swimming with all the emotions of the night.
“It’s good to see you are back to your old, opinionated self,” I replied trying to find some humor in my voice.
“Would you expect anything less? Hey, since he’s there, will you let me talk to him for a minute? I can’t seem to get ahold of my mom. I guessing my dad verbally accosted her pretty well.”
“Yeah, he’s pretty efficient at that,” I agreed without thinking.
“You too? Man, he’s a piece of work. Every nurse on my floor shakes when he’s around!” I could almost see Issy shaking her head as she spoke and the depth of how much I missed her hit me, reducing me to tears before I could control it.
“Avery, what’s wrong? Are you crying?” she asked, stopping her rant.
“Maybe,” I sniffled. “I’m just so glad you are ok. I don’t know what I would have done if anything happened to you.” I knew Issy hated this kind of stuff, verbal affirmation was not something she was comfortable with at all, but I couldn’t help myself.
“Avery, this here is why you stay