Take a Breath (Take #1) - Jaimie Roberts Page 0,16

tighten around my body, and it makes me look up to him. His face is stern and angry as he looks everywhere but at me. “Where did you see him?”

As my breathing calms, I take a moment to inhale his sweet, soothing scent. Now that Jake is here, I feel safe. I can clearly see just how stupid I was being. I had let the thought that I was totally alone mess with my head.

“Ana, who was following you?” he asks again more forcefully.

I’m glad he’s asked me this because the question makes me suddenly realize just how intimate we have become. I’m clinging to him like my life depends on it. In spite of the fact that it feels so right to be in his arms, I pull away. “I’m sorry,” I answer, looking around. “I could have sworn I was being followed. I thought that plant over there was a person.” I point, laughing nervously as I think about how stupid I must look to him right now.

However, as I tentatively glance back towards Jake, I see his stern look is still plastered on his face. He’s still looking everywhere but at me. “Stay here,” he says sternly as he walks away.

“Jake,” I shout, “I must have been mistaken. I’m sorry.”

He ignores me and pushes on. I watch as he runs down the street, looking in every nook and cranny. Every now and then, his eyes dart back to me. I know what he’s doing. He’s making sure I’m still safe. He doesn’t need to go looking for the boogeyman, though. I know now that it was all in my head. It was simply a danger conjured by my imagination—brought on by my fear of being alone. “Jake!” I shout again, knowing full well he’s still going to ignore me.

I sigh but let him get it out of his system. In a sense, it’s kind of sweet that he fears for my safety like this. As I calm down from my run—and my little scare—I let myself get lost in staring at Jake as he runs around the street. I watch his muscles flex as he takes long, domineering strides from one garden wall to another. My God, he’s perfection. He’s wearing a pair of jeans which rest just right on his ever so squeeze-worthy hips. He’s also wearing my favorite blue polo shirt. It’s my favorite because it shows off just how taut and strong his arm muscles are.

Closing my eyes on a sigh, I watch him as he leans to look over the fence. His polo shirt rises up just enough to reveal his lick-worthy stomach. Without meaning to, I actually do lick my lips, wondering what it would be like to taste him. Just one small taste is all I need.

Heat rises everywhere, including my face as my heart beats faster for an altogether different reason. Shit, I came out for a run to stop all of these thoughts, and now I’m more worked up than ever. Cold shower. That’s definitely what I need once I get myself home.

Just as I think this, Jake runs back towards me. I immediately feel silly. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. At the time, I could have sworn I saw—”

“Are you okay?” he asks, grabbing my arms and robbing me of speech. He looks genuinely concerned for my wellbeing.

“I– I– I’m fine. Thank you. I feel really stupid now.” My God, his touch is electrifying. Just that one small grip on my arms has my loins waking up like never before.

Jake eyes scan all over my face like he needs to make sure he doesn’t miss a thing. Although I realize it’s just an anxious gesture, I can’t help but wonder how his eyes would look if they were exploring other parts of my body.

“What did you see?” he asks again.

Haven’t we already covered this?

I take in a deep breath to try and control my breathing. “As I said, I was out running when I suddenly realized I was on my own. I think my imagination was playing tricks on me because I could swear I saw Al– I mean, a shadow. When I looked over at it again, I saw it was just a big, long plant.” I point at it again. “That one over there.” I take another deep breath, cursing myself for almost mentioning Alan’s name. If I did that, a whole heap of questions would come up that I have absolutely no desire