I'll give a little bit
I'll give a little bit of my life for you
So give a little bit
Give a little bit of your time to me
See the man with the lonely eyes
Oh, take his hand, you'll be surprised
The applause was even louder this time since the audience had doubled, but neither teen had noticed, so caught up in each other’s eyes. They played a few more songs till they saw the night nurse rolling the medicine cart down the hall and they knew the residents needed to go back to their rooms. After everyone was tucked in, Charisse and Jake strolled slowly back towards the lobby.
“That was really fun tonight,” Charisse said, bumping her arm into Jake’s and lifting her head to bless him with one of her perfect smiles.
“Yeah, who knew we could be so good together. Wanna do it again sometime?” Jake winked, and a blush rushed up Charisse’s entire body and blossomed in her cheeks.
“Sure, that’d be fun.” Charisse’s ponytail bobbed out her agreement.
“Are you coming every day this week?”
Charisse nodded. “Well, not Thursday, of course.”
“Why not Thursday?”
“I’ll be busy with family and stuff.” Jake still looked confused. “You know — the holiday.”
“Oh, right, Thanksgiving. Forgot about that.” Jake ran a hand through his hair, mussing the strands, but it only made him look better.
“I guess you’re not too excited about it, huh?”
“Nothing to be excited about.” Jake shrugged, dropping his gaze to the floor. His feet looked so large and masculine in his heavy, leather boots compared to her dainty, red flats. “We don’t really celebrate it.”
Charisse assumed his missing mother and tough-as-nails father were the reason, so she didn’t ask why, but her heart ached with empathy for him.
“Would you like to?” she blurted without thinking.
“What? Celebrate it? I mean, it’s not a big deal. It’s just turkey and cranberry sauce, right? Maybe some football? It’s not like I’m missing much.” Jake shrugged.
Charisse sucked in a big breath. Did she really want to do this? But she couldn’t ignore the pull of her conscience. “What I meant was, you could join my family. For dinner. And football, if you wanted.”
Jake halted in his tracks and swiveled his head towards her, an incredulous look on his face. She stared back, a mix of anxiety and hopefulness dancing in her bright, blue eyes and reflecting against her rosy cheeks and upturned nose.
“You’re inviting me to Thanksgiving dinner with your family?” He just couldn’t figure out what had motivated this response. Last he knew, she didn’t even like him.
Charisse twisted up one corner of her lip in a rueful smile. “Yeah. I mean, if you want to. I hate the thought of anyone being alone on a holiday.”
Jake’s eyes darkened at the hint of pity, and Charisse quickly tried to reverse his reaction. “Plus, we could practice some songs, maybe come up with some new ones.”
Jake nodded slowly, considering. It did sound better than being home alone. His dad was going out of town, and he’d had his fill of solitude when he was home on suspension. He wasn’t too into family time, but he was into Charisse, and the chance to spend more time with her, in her own home, was tempting.
“Are you sure your family would be okay with you inviting a stranger?”
“Absolutely.” Charisse nodded enthusiastically, sensing his reluctance.
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels,” she quoted the scripture, tongue in cheek. Curious stare.
“It’s a Bible verse,” she tried to explain. Jake obviously didn’t get it, if his blank stare was any indication.
“Never mind. Just come, okay?” She offered a big smile to entice him.
The smile worked, mesmerizing him into saying yes as he gazed at the genuineness of her kindness and beauty.
“Great! Give me your number and I’ll text you the address,” she said, pulling out her phone in expectation. Jake quickly unsheathed his own, and they exchanged digits.
“I really have to get home, but I’ll be here tomorrow. See you then?” Charisse asked.
“Yeah, sure.” Jake nodded, still kind of stunned by what had just happened. Was he really spending Thanksgiving with Charisse and her family? This was going to be interesting.
Chapter 8
For Jake, Tuesday and Wednesday were a testament to the theory of relativity, each hour crawling by minute by minute during the day, and rushing by in seconds every evening. Charisse came to the nursing home both nights, and the two worked easily in tandem, delivering dinners and checking on patients before serenading them.
Jake showed more and more of his softer side, warming up to the patients and starting to enjoy some of them. Surprisingly, grumpy Rebecca Anderson was becoming his favorite. He understood her grouchiness, accepted it as a natural byproduct of her screwed up situation, and didn’t hold it against her. He also wasn’t afraid to give it right back to her, and she seemed to appreciate that he didn’t treat her like a victim.
Dominion was a close second, his quick wit and surprisingly insightful one-liners always making Jake laugh and then think, without coming across as preachy.
Of course, being with Charisse was the highlight of it all. It was hard to believe they had once been so offended by each other. Jake no longer felt the need to swagger or affect a devil-may-care attitude. With Charisse, he felt free to just be himself.
When he wasn’t being a jerk, she was quick to accept him, and her grace extended a little even when he did start to act like a douche bag. She’d give him a little scowl to let him know she didn’t like his behavior, and he quickly shaped up to stay in her good graces.
“Hey Risse, how would you feel about doing some collaborating?” Jake asked on Wednesday when the day was about to end and he wasn’t ready to say goodbye. He knew he’d see her the next day, but he still craved every moment he could get with her.
“What do you mean?” She stared curiously at him with her aquamarine eyes, pausing in her task to give him her full attention.
“I was going to do a video of me performing a song I wrote, but it could really use some female vocals. I thought maybe you’d like a guest feature.” He offered his most winsome smile.
She quirked her lip and her eyebrow. “You want me to sing your song with you?”
“I mean, only if you’re interested.” He tried to play it cool, but inside he was wishing like a kid with a birthday cake full of candles that she would say yes.
“I’ll let you cross-promote your blog. You might even pick up a few new fans.”
“Sounds… intriguing. Can you play it for me?”
“Sure.” They walked to the music room, and Jake picked up his guitar and strummed a few chords.
“The chorus is meant to be sung by a guy and a girl, alternately, but I’ll sing the whole thing first so you get the idea.”
You’re the guy I want, you’re the girl I need
Can I have your heart? Do you care about me?
If I give you my love, would you take it from me?
‘Cause I’m the one you want, and you’re the one I need
On the second time through, Risse plucked out the melody on the piano and started singing the girl’s part of the chorus. Her high voice lilted back and forth between his lower tones, and her smile grew wide as their perfect harmony became obvious.
Jake sang the verses, but Risse echoed him, flitting around the key words in each line, an improv that added a deeper dimension and made Jake even more excited about the partnership. Her fingers danced up and down the keyboard as he stroked out a confident rhythm on his guitar.
They ended the song on a dramatic flourish, pounding their instruments and raising their voices till they reverberated off the walls.
“That was amazing, Risse! We’re perfect together!” Jake wrapped his arms around her,
his guitar thumping against her back. Risse giggled and reached up to hug him back, awkwardly twisting her arms behind her and around his neck.
“It did sound pretty good, didn’t it?”
“I was planning to record this at my house like the rest of my videos, but here might be even better. Would you mind doing it again with the camera running? I wanna see how the footage looks in here.”
Risse shrugged. “Why not?”
Jake set up his phone and hit the record button, this time standing close enough to Risse so they’d both be in the frame. The position made it easier for them to gaze into each other’s eyes during the back and forth of the chorus, sparks crackling from their irises like lightning bolts. Risse told herself she was just doing it for dramatic effect, but she couldn’t explain why it was so hard to look away when he broke off into the verses.
Jake shimmied around her as he sang, throwing his whole body into each stroke, and Risse found herself blushing red as she admired his sexy moves and the way his voice sent tingles of excitement up and down her body. He was wearing jeans and a black tee shirt, but no one had ever worn them better, the snug tee hugging the curves of his biceps, and his jeans riding low on his slim hips.
When the song was over, Jake grabbed the phone and plopped next to her on the piano bench so they could watch the video. Their shoulders brushed, and Risse’s hair tickled Jake’s neck as she tossed it behind her shoulder.
The aroma of her strawberry shampoo scented the air around her, and Jake breathed it in, letting her sweetness surround him. In a soft pink sweater and flowery skirt, she was cotton candy and he was Sriracha, opposite in every way. But on the screen, they were fire and ice.
They shared a coy smile as the video ended. “That was awesome!” they said in unison, and Risse covered her giggle with a manicured hand.
“Risse, can I post this? I love it, and so will my followers.”
Risse nodded, biting her lips to control her smile. She felt the same way.
“I have a feeling this is going to get more views than anything else I’ve ever done. I don’t know what it is about you, Risse, but everything’s better when you’re around.”
Risse nudged him with her shoulder. She wouldn’t admit it out loud, but she felt the same way.
“I’m gonna tweak it a bit in my editing software, but I think this is pretty hot just the way it is.”
Risse swallowed a chuckle at his choice of words. She could say the same thing about him — all he needed was a few tweaks, but otherwise he was pretty hot.
Chapter 9
When Thursday finally arrived, Jake woke up feeling ecstatic. He would spend the day with Charisse, enjoy some home-cooked food, and maybe even play a game of backyard football. And if everything went well, he planned to ask Charisse to go out with him on Friday. Who knew where things would go from there? The long weekend stretched out before him, ripe with possibilities.
He dressed carefully in his best jeans and a dress shirt that matched his hazelnut eyes and highlighted his physique. He wore brown leather ankle boots but stuck a pair of sneakers in a bag along with a change of clothes in case he played football.
He debated whether he should shave or not, but bare cheeks just weren’t his style. He was used to a little hint of stubble. He didn’t know if Charisse’s family was more Norman Rockwell or Modern Family. Charisse always dressed like a model, but he figured that might just be her personality. He crossed his fingers and hoped that he would fit in okay.
He made sure to spritz a little cologne in all the right places, remembering the time Charisse had leaned in close to him and sniffed, complementing him on the fragrance. That moment was burned in his memory forever — her soft skin brushing up against his as she tickled his neck with her nose, her silky hair dangling over his shoulder, her warm body close enough to hug.
How he had wanted to reach out and grab her around the waist, pull her face up to his, and kiss her! Instead, he’d frozen and stuttered out a thank you, letting the moment pass, unsure how she would react. Was she trying to entice him, or was she just too innocent to understand the effect of her actions?
He knew she no longer despised him like she most definitely had the first time they met. He was pretty sure she even kind of liked him, as a friend anyway. But was there any possibility she could want more? He really couldn’t tell.
She acted enamored by him, smiling and laughing and touching him. But she was that way with everybody — the most popular girl on the planet, as far as he could tell. But did she feel the same longing that burned in his chest and prickled his skin every time he saw her? He hoped so, and this weekend he was going to find out.
He had a few minutes to spare, so he gave in to the temptation to cyber stalk her again. He scrolled through her Twitter and Instagram, chuckling at her humor and drinking in the sight of her face in pictures. He still couldn’t see anything on her Facebook page, though, since it was private. They were close enough now she’d probably accept a friend request, right?
He clicked on the button impulsively then dashed to his own page to see if there was anything embarrassing he wouldn’t want her to see. He deleted a few posts that had lewd comments or profanity, realizing that he’d posted a lot less of that stuff since he’d met her. Apparently, she was a good influence.
He scrolled through his newsfeed for a few minutes, in case she was online and accepted his friend request right away, but eventually he opened a new tab and navigated to her blog.
She’d made a few new entries since his last visit, so he clicked on the first one and watched five minutes of her styling her hair, just so he could look at her and hear her voice. He was hypnotized by the way she pulled a hairbrush through her long, blonde locks.
The next video was a manicure tutorial, and he watched it too, even though it only showed her fingernails. Man, he really had it bad. The third video had a ton of views and comments, and the title was kind of different — “Inside Out Beauty.” He was just about to watch it when a glance at the time sent him into a panic. He was supposed to be there in ten minutes!
He tossed his bag in his car and tapped on her address in the text message she had sent him, opening up the directions in the maps app. She only lived a few miles away, so the drive wasn’t long enough to dull his nerves or work them into a bigger frenzy.
The neighborhood was an older, middle-class suburb, with stately trees lining each driveway. Nothing as fancy as the modern mansion he called home, but definitely more home-like. Risse’s yellow Beetle helped him find the house, and he parked in the driveway and made his way up the front walk, tugging at the sleeves of his bomber jacket and feeling empty-handed.
Should he have brought something? He didn’t even offer. He wanted to smack himself but didn’t know if anyone was watching his arrival.
He rang the bell, and all his anxiety temporarily melted as Charisse greeted him with a giant smile, her face lit up like a jack-o’-lantern. She was wearing a burnt orange sweater, but there was nothing pumpkin-like about the figure under it.
Jake’s eyes roved down the vee of her sweater, rounded the curve of her breasts, and danced along the high hem of her pleated, plaid mini skirt. Thick tights hid the skin of the long, lean thighs that peeked out from beneath it, but his imagination colored them with flesh. She looked like the epitome of autumn, and he wanted to roll in a pile of leaves with her or bob for apples.
“Hey,” he croaked, dragging his eyes back up her body. Once they reached her face, her own sparkling globes enticed him to stay there. “You look really nice — as always.”
“Thank you; so do you,” she murmured, running a finger down the buttons of his shirt, taking her own trip of visual admiration. “Come on in. I’ll introduce you to everyone.”
Jake gulped as he crossed the threshold, feeling like a vampire being invited in to prey on an unsuspecting family. Only, he felt like the one at risk of losing everything. Would they like him? Would they recognize him as a fraud, trying to pass a
s a nice guy, when he was really just a jerk with a bad attitude and a penchant for getting in trouble? Would they warn their daughter to stay as far away from him as possible? It wouldn’t be the first time that had happened. But he’d spent enough time with Charisse that she knew what he was like, and she’d still decided to invite him, so hopefully she knew her family well enough to trust their reaction.
She led him to the kitchen first, where the smell of turkey and stuffing and dinner rolls overwhelmed him with a sense of nostalgia for something he’d never even had. Mrs. Arella was wrapped in a ruffled apron, flitting around the kitchen like a maestro, her hands fluttering from one task to another, getting everything ready for the table.
“Hey Mom, this is my friend, Jake, from Sunnybrook.”
Faith Arella stopped in mid-stir and dropped her utensils on the counter before whirling around to greet him with an older version of Risse’s giant smile. “It’s so good to meet you, Jake! I’ve heard such nice things about you.”
Jake’s eyes widened at the comment. Risse talked about him to her parents? Of course, she had to have mentioned him at least once, so they would know to expect him.
“Nice to meet you too, Mrs. Arella.” He finally remembered to shake her hand, and she pinked with pleasure.
“So handsome!” Jake heard her whisper in Risse’s ear as they left, and he smirked in understanding. His looks always made a good first impression with the ladies.
“Daddy, meet Jake,” Risse said, leading him into the living room where Chief Arella lounged on a recliner, perusing a newspaper. He lowered it just enough to meet Jake’s eyes, squinting his own in examination. He looked disappointed, and Jake swallowed the Adam’s apple that his lodged itself at the top of his throat. Had he made a bad impression already?
“Nice to meet you, sir.” Jake held out a hand, and Mr. Arella dropped his paper long enough to shake it, his glare softening a little. A sense of peace came over Jake, and he let out the breath he didn’t realize he was holding.
Date with Destiny Collection: Angel Romance Series: Books 1 - 4 Page 19
