Love In Secrets (Love Distilled #3) - Scarlett Cole Page 0,40
a little. It was cute as fuck. “When it comes to alcohol, I really struggle to tell good from bad, one brand from another. Like, unless it’s really awful. Say, if red wine had gone off and is all vinegary, or if the vodka is one step away from paint stripper and literally removes the epithelial cells of your esophagus.”
“I could teach you to tell the difference, if you wanted to learn. We could do blind taste tests. In fact, blindfolds could be a lot of fun.” He pulled her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles softly. Cassie’s eyes were wide, but not so much in shock as interest. And suddenly, the potential of the two of them took on a whole new dimension. As did the potential for the creases of his jeans to leave imprints on his hardening dick.
“Cassie? Jake?”
Fuck.
Cassie snatched her hand away from his, but Jake kept his eyes on her as she turned to face Marianne. They hadn’t talked about others finding out. He’d only asked Connor to keep it to himself while they figured out whether or not there was anything between them. But now he was certain, he didn’t give a fuck who saw them.
“Marianne,” Cass’s response was a lot more polite than his was going to be, which was to say nothing. A woman stood slightly behind Marianne but wasn’t introduced.
“I didn’t know the two of you were an item,” Marianne said. “How does your dad feel about this?”
Cassie raised an eyebrow. “Given I’m a thirty-one-year-old woman, it really doesn’t matter how he feels, but for the sake of propriety, before you go running back to Dad, we’re friends. We’ve been friends for nearly three decades. It’ll come as a shock to you, but I’ve even bathed with Jake. Naked. When I was five. So whatever you think you saw, you didn’t.”
Marianne looked at Jake. “You’re quiet, Jake.”
Jake glanced toward her. He was still reeling at Cassie’s speech. It had actually stung to be dismissed so easily. He was a grown-ass man. He shouldn’t need her to claim him publicly, but the ease with which the words had come out of her mouth hurt.
“Cass said it all. Nothing to see here.”
Marianne studied the two of them, before turning toward her table.
“Well, that was awkward,” Cassie said.
“You didn’t need to lie, you know.”
Cassie blushed. “I think it might be . . . well, perhaps it’s better if we keep this to ourselves.”
“Why?” She reached for his hand, and on autopilot, he squeezed it three times before realizing he was frustrated. “Give me a good reason.”
“It’s tough enough being back here. Dealing with Dad. Dealing with Marianne. And my job. And you, this, us . . . it’s a pleasant surprise. One I don’t want to share yet. I don’t need another label, even if it’s as your girlfriend or lover. Can we not simply be and enjoy what this is? Please?”
Jake sighed. She made sense, and that perhaps stung most of all.
“How do you feel about a walk?” Jake asked when he pulled into his driveway, three hours later.
“A walk? It’s dark outside.”
“So, take a walk with me, Cass. I’ll keep you safe.” Jake took her hand and they wandered down his drive together.
Cassie looked up at the inky sky littered with a thousand pinpricks of light. “I miss this. I miss the feeling of openness. The sky in Brooklyn has this permanent yellow tinge to it from all the lights that seem to be permanently on. And it’s a rare day when the sky is so clear you can see this many stars.”
Jake glanced up, then back at her. “I lie on the sofa in the garden some nights staring up at it. There’s an expansiveness to it. It’s like the wonder of the universe is right there for everyone to see if they simply look up. It puts you and your problems immediately into perspective.”
Cassie smiled. “You’re a poet, Jake.”
He squeezed her hand three times. “Not really. Some days I struggle to spell the word distillation.”
“Poetry isn’t grammar and punctuation or spelling. It’s heart, and feeling, and depth of observation and emotion. Totally different things.”
“As you say.”
They walked in silence, a comfortable one, sticking to the roads rather than trails that surrounded Jake’s home on the outskirts of Morrison.
Jake led her past the turnoff for the Red Rocks Elementary School, the one they’d all attended. “Do you remember Mr. Brewster and his stupid beret?”