Love In Secrets (Love Distilled #3) - Scarlett Cole Page 0,32
father today, but she was too resentful at what she’d just done for him to be good company. Instead, she lay down on the sofa and closed her eyes.
When she opened her eyes later, she had no idea what time it was. There was a light blanket over her, and on the coffee table was a glass of water. Disorientated, she pushed the blanket off her shoulders and slid her feet from beneath, placing them gingerly on the floor.
She felt raw, shaky even, as she reached for the water.
“Here, let me get that for you.” Jake sat down softly next to her and handed her the glass.
Cassie took a sip, the cold water refreshing her throat.
Jake gently nudged her shoulder with his. “You didn’t go.”
“It would appear so.”
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. I wish we could have said the distillery reno didn’t matter, but we’re barely keeping our heads above water.”
“I know.” She placed her glass on the table and faced Jake. “It’s no one’s fault. Dad didn’t intend to have his accident. You didn’t intend to have to renovate the distillery. My boss can’t hold my spot open while I’m here because he doesn’t have the resources to cover me for another month. Maybe that’s what’s so frustrating about all of this. I want to be angry, but there is no one and nothing I can be directly angry at.”
Jake took her hands in his. “That’s a perfectly understandable emotion. You’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.”
Cassie nodded and looked down at his hands. They were so big compared to hers, yet she felt perfectly safe within them. “I feel like the universe has taken my life out of my own hands. I’ve done the right thing. I’ve come home to help Dad out. And I’m sure I’m supposed to be honored I get the chance to help my family out, or maybe it’s supposed to be an easy decision, but it really isn’t. I’m a terrible person and still not sure I’ve made the right call.”
His thumb rubbed along hers, a gentle back-and-forth that helped soothe some of her chest-squeezing frustration. “Perhaps there wasn’t a right call. Perhaps they were equally good and bad. Would you really have been able to focus in New York, knowing the mess your dad was in?”
“Probably not.”
“Then please, don’t beat yourself up any more than you have to. You’ve made a call. Now you have a chance to make things right for your dad with all those amazing skills you have. That’s all you can focus on.”
She looked up at Jake and studied his face. He was everything good and kind, solid and strong. When had he become the rock she could rely on?
“Don’t look at me like that, Cass. Not now.”
“What do you mean?”
“Like it would take nothing for me to slide my hand along your cheek, pull you to me, and see if kissing you is as good in real life as I think it’s going to be.”
A small part of her went gooey at the thought of it. “Like this?” She took his hand and pressed it to her cheek.
“I don’t want you to regret this later.” He rubbed his thumb along her lip, opening her mouth slightly. “You’ve had a rough day.”
“I feel like the wheels are already in motion for us to potentially regret this at some point down the line. But I don’t think I have it in me to care.”
Jake moved toward her, closing the gap agonizingly slowly as his eyes remained fixed on hers. Her heart pounded, even as she worried what her tear-stained face must look like.
“Jake, can you give me a hand with the food in the car? I got stuck in traffic and I’m worried stuff is melting.”
Cassie jumped away from Jake as Emerson’s voice filtered from the kitchen, where she had obviously let herself in through the back door.
“Sure thing, I’ll be right there,” Jake shouted in reply, not taking his eyes off her.
The back door slammed shut, and the house was drenched in silence again.
“Barbecue. I thought it might be fun. Do you want me to cancel?”
Cassie ran her fingers beneath her eyes. “No. I’ll be fine; I’ll go clean up so I don’t look so much like a wet raccoon.”
Jake narrowed his eyes and took her hand, kissing the back of it. “Still look beautiful. You want me to kiss you later, find me when everyone has gone home and ask me, okay?”