Take a Breath (Take #1) - Jaimie Roberts Page 0,25

brings me closer to his chest. Again, I breathe in his sweet scent.

I sigh contentedly. “You know what my favorite thing is in the whole wide world?” I ask, thinking I’m in a dream all of a sudden.

Feeling him stroke my hair, I let out a slight moan of appreciation. “What’s that?”

I wiggle my nose on his chest, snuggling into him as much as I can. I want to savor this moment as much as possible.

“You, Jake. My favorite thing is you.”

7

I wake up with my head banging, and I’m unable to remember how I got to bed. I glance towards the window and curse the sun for shining so brightly. I move my head towards the clock on my bedside and notice a glass of water with a note propped up against it. There are tablets by the glass and arrows on the note which point to each item. The note is simple:

Drink this. Swallow this.

I smile despite myself as I think of how wonderful it would be to swallow him up in every possible way. I look down at myself as I wonder whether or not I’m wearing a blue and white dress just like Alice did in Wonderland.

Have I ventured into the land of fairytales since last night?

I take the tablets, downing them along with the whole glass of water in one go. It’s midmorning already, so I haul myself up and walk towards the shower, hoping that it will make my head feel a little better.

With the shower fixed, it works better than ever before. I stay there for a while, enjoying the spray until the throbbing in my head dies down a bit. I feel like lounging around today, so I throw on a sundress before I head towards the stairs.”.

When I get nearer to the kitchen, the smell of bacon hits me. Suddenly, both my head and my stomach start to grumble in anticipation of the great, greasy hangover cure. I swing the door open, and Jake greets me with another tight T-shirt and a pair of knee-length shorts which rest just right on his gorgeous hips. I lick my lips when I see how perfectly they fit him.

“Good morning. How are you feeling today?”

I avert my leering eyes. “Not too bad. Thanks for the tablets and water. Alice is feeling much better now.”

He laughs as he places a plate of bacon and scrambled eggs in front of me. “Thanks. You didn’t need to do this for me.”

We both sit down, and his face turns a little sad. “I feel kind of bad about last night. I didn’t mean for you to get like that. I’m sorry.”

I gasp a little. “You can’t apologize for last night. It was a game, and it was fun. Although you were a tad annoying, I enjoyed it and had a great time. You didn’t force those shots down my throat. If I really didn’t want them, I wouldn’t have swallowed them. I willingly took both a sixth and seventh from you, remember?”

His lips curve up into a smile, and I have this sudden jolt of memory about me telling him how much I wanted to “kiss those lips.” Or was it that they were “kissable”? I can’t remember. All I do remember is that something was said.

Then I wonder if it was all just a dream. I dream about Jake a lot and often wake up horny as hell afterwards. No, it wasn’t a dream. Was it? Oh, no! I actually did say that to him.

Shit. What now? I look on in horror as I realize just how much of an almighty cock-up I must have made. My face begins to flush, and nausea suddenly erupts in my stomach.

“Are you alright? You don’t look very good.”

Before I can answer, I throw my fork down and rush to the toilet—just managing to reach it in time to hurl the contents of my stomach back up again. Jake is quickly by my side, helping to pull my hair back and out of the way. He gently rubs my back and hands me some tissue.

“I’m so sorry,” he says to me again. “I did this to you. I want to take care of you today, so I don’t feel so damn guilty.”

Thinking I have been sick as much as I possibly can, I wipe my mouth and flush the toilet. “Would you stop blaming yourself for what I did? I had fun. It’s okay. No need to take care of me.