Love In Secrets (Love Distilled #3) - Scarlett Cole Page 0,27

he asked as she screwed her nose up.

“That.” She pointed at the burrito. “It’s a crapshoot what you’ll get a mouthful of.”

Jake wrapped it up and bit into it. “So?” The words were mumbled through the food.

Cassie built hers meticulously. “If you spread the guac and salsa first, you can get it over a lot of the wrap. Then you get some every bite.”

“Where’s the fun in that? You want a big blob of it in one bite.”

“Then smear it first, then go back in and add dollops later.”

“You have a degree in burrito construction there, Ms. Cunningham?”

“It’s common sense. I don’t see how you don’t get this. I mean, you wouldn’t want to drink a gin that sporadically tasted of juniper in one sip and sakura flowers in the next.”

“First, bonus points for knowing sakura flowers are a gin botanical. But second, botanicals dissolve, otherwise it might be worth testing your theory.”

“Fine. Just eat it before it gets cold.” Cassie rolled her burrito and took a bite. “Then we can get going and look at the distillery’s progress. Hopefully I can get a ride home with you tonight too, if it’s not too much hassle.”

“It’s not a problem at all, but you haven’t mentioned your flight tomorrow. Or going to see your dad today.”

Cassie’s stomach soured and she placed the burrito back down on her plate. “I’m avoiding thinking about it, to be honest. I haven’t made a decision. My boss is expecting me back at work on Monday morning. So, at a minimum, I might be able to push the flight off a day or two. Dad is doing a little better, but this is going to be a really long recovery. I’d have to give up my job to be back here permanently, and I can’t see things working with both me and Marianne involved.”

“So, you’ll be gone this weekend?”

Cassie shrugged, hopelessly. “I don’t know. But I’ll go see Dad when we are done for the day.”

Jake placed his hand on her lower back and rubbed in small circles. His touch made her feel gooey inside. “I wish I could help.”

She turned and studied his face. He was such a stalwart friend. At least, that was what she told herself to shift her focus from his touch. “You already have by letting me stay here, by not pushing me to decide like everyone else is trying to.”

Thirty minutes later, after they’d finished their breakfast in companionable silence, they pulled into the distillery’s parking lot.

Cassie jumped out of the truck and pulled out her safety gear. Jake did the same, grabbing his backpack. He wandered around to her and waited for her before locking up the truck.

“You know, one day you’ll have to let me know how I can pay you back for all this,” she said, putting her hard hat on.

Jake reached forward and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I already thought of a way.”

She looked down to fasten the Velcro on her hi-vis vest. “Yeah? What’s that?”

He leaned in close, so close she could feel his breath against her cheek. “Next time you get off in my spare bed, use my name. Not God’s.”

And with a wink that held way too much potential, he turned and walked into the building.

Fuck!

Why on earth had he said that to her? Sure, he’d been thinking about it since . . . well, before it had actually happened. He’d woken up with some pretty severe morning wood. The kind that couldn’t be ignored. And given the pressure had been building since the night he’d held her in the hospital corridor, hell, the night she’d watched a movie with her head in his lap, he’d decided to use his shower time to quite literally let off a little steam.

Imagining what Cassie looked like naked and seeing it for himself had been a whole new revelation. The last time he’d seen her without clothes, she’d been about twenty-one, in a bikini, at her dad’s pool. And fuck, if time hadn’t been good to her.

Gone was the scrawny frame, replaced with a great pair of tits, a narrow waist, and an ass that reminded him of the Ursula Andress poster he’d hung in the spare room. With her hair wrapped in a towel, he’d been able to see the long lines of her neck. And he’d never forget the way rivulets of water had run down her body to the thin strip of hair between her legs that he needed