Love In Secrets (Love Distilled #3) - Scarlett Cole Page 0,33

was beautiful.

He wanted her to kiss him, still.

Those two thoughts were the only positive things in an otherwise totally shitty day.

Usually, he loved having friends over. It was part of the reason he’d turned the yard into such a great entertainment spot. But tonight, he wished everyone would suddenly get up and leave.

Connor sat on the wicker sofa with Emerson and Ali, Emerson’s friend. Olivia’s friend, Natasha, was chatting with Anders and two of his Denver Rush teammates, Wyatt and Theo. Olivia was sitting on a bench farther down the yard with Cassie, deep in conversation.

As he looked over at the two of them, Cassie lifted her head, as if she’d heard him thinking about her. The soft smile she gave him before she turned her focus back to Liv made his heart drop with a thud.

The sadness and anger she’d felt earlier had been so pervasive it had seeped into him. He was angry too. He was angry at Chris for not addressing the concerns in his business sooner. He was angry at her boss for not being open to finding a way to protect her job.

Yeah, he was angry about that, even though going back to that job would take her away from him, before they even had a chance to see if they could be something.

It had only been a week since he’d called her from the scene of her father’s accident, a week in which she arrived back in town like a whirlwind, moving so fast she didn’t even realize the damage she was doing to herself. Finding her asleep on his sofa had been such a fucking relief. Partly because it meant the chaos of the decision had been made, partly because it meant she was finally doing what she needed by getting some rest, and partly because . . . well, she was still here.

“You want to tell me why you keep giving Cassie the eye?” Connor asked as he approached the barbecue.

Jake tore his gaze away from her. “Just worried about her. She was upset when I got home, passed out on the sofa and had clearly been crying.” He tossed an olive into the air and caught it in his mouth.

Connor took a swig of the beer in his hand. “Call me old-fashioned, but I’m pretty sure you aren’t looking at her out of concern.”

Jake looked at the bottle Connor held. “Not like you to drink on a Friday. No race tomorrow?”

“Nope. Next weekend. But we weren’t talking about beer. We were talking about you looking over at Cassie more frequently than Emerson checks her email.”

“When I arranged this, I didn’t know if she’d still be here. So, I’m keeping an eye on things in case it becomes too much.”

Connor leaned back against the wall. “You know Emerson and Liv are looking out for her too, right? You aren’t the arbiter of whether something is too much.”

Jake glanced at Connor out of the corner of his eye. “Cassie is the arbiter of that, not the three of us. It’s more friendly concern.”

Connor huffed. “Friendly concern, my ass. Did you know Emerson gave her the keys to her house? We figured if she’s staying for another month, she could use Em’s place as a base, and me and Em will stay in the city.”

Shit. Which meant she wouldn’t be here. It would be harder to explore what was growing between them. “That’s sweet of Em. But she’s going to be over there all the time because of her garden. It’s like, peak growing season.”

His sister and Connor split their time between the two places, leaning toward spending more time in Connor’s large Denver apartment in the winter, and more time in Em’s Morrison home in the summer where she had an array of vegetable and fruit beds.

“Seems like Emerson was fine with it. I guess Cassie likes gardening too.”

Damn, she had said she missed outside space.

Jake suddenly felt deflated and he knew immediately why. He’d miss her. In his space, in his shower, and in his life.

Connor laughed and slapped him on the shoulder. “Relax, lover boy. Cassie said no. Said she felt safer living with someone else, plus, you’re closer to the hospital and Cunningham Construction.”

“Fuck you,” Jake muttered, breathing a sigh of relief.

“Yeah, well, you and I are practically brothers—”

“I don’t see no ring on Em’s finger yet.”

Connor grinned. “All good things come to those who wait. She knows I’m in this for the long haul, a ring won’t change that.