Love In Secrets (Love Distilled #3) - Scarlett Cole Page 0,87

can’t—”

“Life can’t be project managed.” He tipped her face up to his and placed a chaste kiss on her lips. “There aren’t gates our life will pass through. Everything up to this moment said I didn’t want to be without you. Five minutes ago, you confirmed the same. Let me try this. Let me be here with you, in your world for a couple of days and at least see what it’s like. See if I can imagine myself here. If I don’t think I can do it, I’ll be honest with you. But at least let me see.”

“When do you go home?”

“First thing Monday morning. I know it’s not a long time, but it’s hard to get away.”

“It’s more than I expected. I was going to go grab some food from the deli down the street. Charcuterie. Perhaps pick up a bottle of white from the store. How does that sound for dinner?”

Jake smiled. “Throw in some French bread and grapes and it sounds like a fine plan. Wait, is that usually how you spend Friday night?”

“Yeah. I’m usually too tired for much else. But maybe we can eat in my dining room instead of on the love seat.”

Jake looked over at the small table pushed up against the wall. “Your dining room?”

Cassie laughed. “Welcome to Park Slope real estate.”

“Fine. We’ll eat in the dining room. Naked.”

“I need to shower.” Cassie pushed herself up and climbed over him. “I would invite you to join me, but unlike your shower cubicle, I don’t think we’d both fit.”

“I saw when I ditched the condom. I’m not even sure I’d be able to move my elbows.”

“We’ll find out once I’m done.” She started to the bathroom but stopped. “I’m glad you’re here, Jake,” she said, without turning around.

“Me too,” he murmured as she disappeared through the doorway.

18

“Geez, it feels weird to be showing you around like a tourist,” Cassie said, before taking a sip of her coffee.

“Does it feel more like home than Denver?” Jake asked loudly, to be heard over the engine of the bus pulled up at the intersection.

“It’s weird. Bizarrely, neither really feels like home. I’ve been gone from Denver for so long that I no longer feel close to it. And New York doesn’t feel quite like home because I’m not a born-and-raised New Yorker.”

Jake laughed and squeezed her hand three times. She hadn’t realized that the general miasma of lethargy hanging around her had been sadness. As if needing further reassurance of his presence, she placed her hand on his bicep and squeezed it tightly.

“I missed you, Jake. Like, really missed you.”

He kissed the top of her head, something that made her grin. “Same, love. It’s the reason I’m here. I needed to see if what I was feeling would go away if I saw you again, and it did. It has.”

“I don’t know what it all means, or what to do about it, but it’s true.” She looked up at him, taking such comfort and reassurance from his gaze.

“So, where is this Grosvenor? I want to see what you’re building.”

“It’s a few blocks west of here, come on.” She took his hand and led him down the sidewalk, pointing out architecture she found fascinating and seventies relics she hated.

There, standing proud on the corner of the block, was her baby. Her pride and joy. And while working with Brandon and doing close to 90 percent of the work still made her feel icky inside, she loved The Grosvenor. “Isn’t she a beauty?” Cassie asked.

“I think your definition of beauty and mine are a little different, love. All I see is a whole heap of framing and orange safety netting with a giant crane on top. But it’s definitely going to be majestic.”

“You should have seen it when we took the old building down. It was this awful throwback from the late sixties. Red brick, cheap metal frame windows. This is going to be one of the finest new hotels in New York when it’s finally reborn.”

“And you get to project manage all that?”

“I do.” She hadn’t told him that Brandon was technically in charge. Embarrassment settled in her gut again when she tried to think of ways to explain it to him. With Jake standing next to her, it was hard to explain to herself why she saw the trade-off as worth it.

But then she looked at the lines of The Grosvenor, looked at the way the floors narrowed in dimensions as they rose from the