by C. J. Lake
Was Sky actually going to keep going through the motions with a bunch of clowns, instead of taking a chance with him?
“I already told you earlier that I was fine,” Jamie finally replied.
Sky blinked at him, obviously surprised by his sharp tone. “So how do you two know each other?” asked the ski tags guy. “I assume you live in the building?”
“Yes, Jamie’s my neighbor,” Sky said with a pleasant smile.
“Right, neighbor,” Jamie agreed flatly, “that’s what I am.” He kept his gaze on Sky. “And how do you know each other?”
“We…”
“Met through a friend,” the guy cut in, being deliberately vague, probably to cover up the fact he and Sky were using a matchmaking service. Surely he assumed that Jamie—being merely the neighbor—wouldn’t know that.
Jamie ignored him, still focusing only on Sky. “So what are you up to tonight?” he asked her point-blank.
“Um, well, Remy and I were just having a drink at Grendel’s,” she began, her expression becoming a bit sheepish, as if she just realized how uncomfortable this moment really was, “and um, through talking we discovered a crazy coincidence! Remy actually knows Brett, Elle’s boyfriend.”
“Knew—way back,” Ski Tags Douche jumped in. “It was years ago when we were both camp counselors. Brett and I were like best bros, but then we totally lost touch. You know how it is.”
“Isn’t that funny?” Sky said with an ingratiating sort of smile. Jamie didn’t bother to answer that. She cleared her throat and added, “Anyway, we were just saying that it would be cool to see if Brett’s up there now and Remy could totally surprise him…” Her voice sort of drifted off as Jamie just stood there.
With his jaw tight, he finally spoke. “So you’re going to go up to your place now?” he said, making sure he’d heard that correctly.
“Well, yeah…” she mumbled. He could tell that she felt awkward now. Well too bad. If he could feel hurt and miserable, then she could feel fucking awkward for a minute. “Just to see if Brett’s there,” she repeated.
Jamie should just let this drop. Let it drop and walk away, he told himself. Instead, he challenged her. “Why wouldn’t you just text Elle to find out if Brett’s there?”
“Then it wouldn’t be a surprise, would it?” Sky’s date said, butting in.
“It’s no big deal,” Sky threw in lightly.
No big deal. Right. Sky was just bringing some guy upstairs with her, just like that. And if Brett and Elle weren’t there, what then? Jamie felt his muscles tightening as his adrenaline rose. He simply couldn’t believe that Sky—with all her apathy for her sea of blind dates so far—was hot for this random dude, especially after this weekend.
“Well, have fun,” Jamie said curtly and walked away. He bypassed the elevator, opting for the stairs, as he left Sky and her date standing in the lobby.
~
As soon as Sky got to her apartment, she realized what a huge mistake she’d made. Actually, she realized it the moment she’d seen Jamie’s reaction. He was obviously jealous and hurt. And she couldn’t blame him. There was something undeniable happening between them, and she felt it now more than ever. What had she been thinking inviting Remy upstairs with her? In her defense, though, their date had had a friend vibe from the very beginning. There was no chemistry there; it was like both of them felt that immediately and were able to just relax and have a few drinks with no pressure.
Sky hadn’t even wanted to go. In fact, that morning she’d been calling Alison to tell her to forget about Mike the florist, when Alison got all hysterical and begged her to go out with just one more guy. No, not the florist—but Remy, an “important client,” whose scheduled date for that evening had emailed Alison to cancel at the last minute. Alison was all in a panic because “word of mouth was everything” in her business, and if Remy was disappointed in her service, he wouldn’t recommend it to his many executive friends.
This was basically how Alison had explained it earlier in her panicked state, and Sky had ultimately agreed—but with the understanding that tonight would be her last set-up.
Now she and Remy were inside her apartment and she knew what a bad decision it was to bring him back here. The place was empty. And now that her slight martini buzz was wearing off, she couldn’t figure out why she’d thought surprising Brett was a particularly good or interesting idea in the first place.
Honestly, Sky couldn’t think of anything right now except talking to Jamie. She needed to go to him and clear up any misinterpretation. There was no doubt: she really liked him. And, oh God, how she wanted him. Even downstairs when he’d been glowering at her, she’d wanted to wrap her arms around him and slide her tongue into his mouth.
She couldn’t risk whatever was happening between them by dragging out this evening—albeit platonic—with another guy. In fact, she was about to tell Remy that she needed to call it a night when they were both startled by a loud thud coming from upstairs. Then another one.
Thud.
Crash.
Then louder: Crash.
“What the hell…?” Remy began, looking questioningly up at the ceiling. “What’s that?”
Another resounding thud crashed above them.
Jamie… she thought, her heart speeding up and her whole body impatient and itching to see him.
“What’s going on up there?” Remy remarked with a short laugh.
“The guy upstairs lifts weights,” Sky explained offhandedly, not bothering to disclose that “the guy upstairs” was also the jealous guy from the lobby.
“Jesus, that’s annoying, huh?” Remy remarked when another weight dropped hard above them. “Does he always do that?”
Sky replied honestly, “Not in a while.”
Okay, that was it; playtime over.
“Listen, I’m sorry, but I kind of have a headache from those martinis,” Sky lied. “Can we call it a night?”
“Oh, sure, that’s no problem,” Remy said graciously and rose from the chair. “Tell Brett to ring me up sometime okay? We’ll hang out.”
“Definitely,” Sky agreed, feeling antsy to get rid of him even though he seemed like a perfectly nice guy. Appealing and cute—but for someone else.
As she walked him to the door, another weight dropped loudly above them. “Man, that’s not right,” Remy commented, shooting another disapproving glance upward. “You should say something to that guy.”
“Yes,” Sky promised, “I definitely will.”
Chapter 20
She waited five minutes before leaving her apartment. She grabbed her keys and locked up behind her, unsure how long this conversation would take.
Eagerly, but a little anxiously, she jogged up the stairs to Jamie’s floor and took a few shaky breaths before she knocked on his door. Why was she so nervous? Maybe because he’d never been mad at her before. Or maybe because she thought—hoped—this might be a turning point for them.
When the door swung open, her breath caught in her throat. Damn…
He looked so enticingly cute standing there in his navy tee shirt, with that serious expression behind his glasses. If only she had the confidence just to grab him by the front of his shirt, and pull him down for a hot, passionate kiss that left no doubt as to where he rated on her list of priorities. If only she could know with 100% certainty that he would not reject her, that he would kiss her back with desperate abandon and, just like that, it would be clear where they stood with each other.
Unfortunately, though, Sky had always been much more confident on a snowy mountain than she was with a guy. No, she wasn’t sure of herself with guys at all. She’d had a few boyfriends over the years, but always had her guard up somewhat—and the one time she’d taken a big leap of faith, she’d been absolutely demolished. Which was why, she supposed, she had kept men at a distance until now.
He stopped her heart for a second with the stubborn way he was looking at her. “Yeah?”
“Nice greeting,” Sky
said, struggling to pull off a sardonic tone, in spite of how wildly her nerves were jittering.
“What’s up?” Jamie said coolly, as he rested his hand on the door jamb, effectively blocking her entrance—but what Sky was noticing more was the curve of his bicep and how hot his arms looked.
Remaining composed, she said, “I was just wondering about all the commotion up here.”
“Oh, sorry,” he said blandly. “I was lifting.”
“Yes, I figured that out. I know the sound of weights dropping on the floor, remember? We’ve had this conversation.”
In response, he gave an apathetic, one-shouldered shrug. “Right. Sorry.”
She licked her lips, refusing to shrink away. “Can I come in?”
Appearing reluctant, Jamie dropped his hand off the doorjamb and stepped back so Sky could enter. Eying his weight bench as she walked in, she decided to stay on that track for a moment; maybe she could loosen him up a little.
“So…” she began. “You were lifting weights?”
“Obviously.”
“Right now?”
“So what?”
“Did you have to drop them so hard?” Were you trying to get my attention?
“I said I was sorry.”
“Well, since when do you lift weights on Wednesday night anyway?” she asked.
Dismissively, Jamie replied, “What are you talking about? I’ve been lifting on Wednesday nights ever since I just started doing that lately.”
“Okay…” Sky said dryly. Which apparently provoked an even more nonsensical statement from him.
“Sorry if I didn’t keep you apprised of my weight bench scheduling shifts.”
Rolling her eyes, Sky had to laugh at that. “Really with ‘weight bench scheduling shifts’?” she repeated, squinting at him. Surely, hearing it back, he’d realized how absurd it sounded.
With a short, humorless laugh, Jamie held out his hands. “Look, I’m sorry, all right? I didn’t realize whatever you were doing down there right now required such intense concentration.”
“I wasn’t doing anything,” Sky insisted, half-matching his snide tone.
“Whatever,” Jamie grunted and walked back over to his weight bench. Not looking at her, he started stacking the weights he had dropped.
Frustrated that he was ignoring her, Sky pressed her fist to her thigh and waited. Finally, she sighed and said, “Why are you so pissed?”
Jamie spared her a cold glance over his shoulder. For a fleeting moment, she thought he might deny his anger or talk around it, but instead he said more quietly, “You know why.”
Sucking in a breath, Sky hesitated. For a long moment, she watched him picking up weights and stacking them (loudly), feeling like she had a wad of cotton in her throat all of a sudden. She wasn’t sure what to say or how to play this; she only knew that she needed Jamie to be her friend again—and so much more than that—and she wasn’t going to insult his intelligence by playing dumb right now.
“Look, I didn’t even want to go on that date,” she told him, still talking to his back. “It was a last-minute favor to Alison—she begged me!” Wordlessly, Jamie stacked two more weights, then scooped up a dumbbell.
Determined, Sky pressed on. “She was all worried that Remy would give her matchmaking business a bad review online if she couldn’t scrounge up a date for him. Apparently he works for a Fortune 500 company and could refer a lot of potentially high-end clients. Word-of-mouth is everything in her business, I guess,” Sky rambled on, realizing she was sounding a bit inane (especially considering that word-of-mouth was probably everything in any business, and also considering that Jamie surely didn’t give a damn about Alison’s career prospects). Finally, she took a breath and finished: “Look, she begged me as a personal favor to go out with him.”
With his back still to her, he muttered, “Yeah, did she beg you to bring the guy back home with you, too?”
Sky winced at that. “The date didn’t mean anything, Jamie.” God, he was being difficult. Was he going to make her say it first? Didn’t he know how scary that was?
Suddenly he whipped his head around, as if a thought had just occurred to him. “Wait—is he downstairs right now? Waiting for you?”
“No!” Sky nearly yelped. For heaven’s sake, why was Jamie making her feel so defensive about this? She hadn’t even done anything wrong! Forcing herself to remain calm, though, she told him, “No, he’s not there. He left.”
“Ah,” Jamie said with a nod. “So that’s why you’re here. Let me guess: you want my opinion now.”
“No,” Sky began, shaking her head, “that’s not—”
“Well,” Jamie declared, “my opinion is that this is bullshit.”
Stunned, Sky just blinked at him for a second. “Exactly which part?” she asked, confused.
“This whole thing with you and me,” he stated bluntly. “And I’m done with it.”
For a terrifying second, Sky panicked. How was he “done” with it? With her? “What does that mean?” she said, trying to keep her voice from betraying what a hot mess of emotions she was right now.
Jamie started walking toward her, his eyes hooded with anger. “It means: I don’t want to be your friend and I don’t want to hear about these guys anymore.”
“That’s what I’m trying to—”
“What do you even need my input for anyway?” Jamie continued brusquely, and Sky’s breath hitched in her throat. She’d never seen him this angry (and was it wrong that it was turning her on?) “You’re a grown woman,” he practically barked at her, stopping his processional about five feet away from her. “You go be with whoever you want to be with.”
It was like he was giving her a direct order. And it was condescending as hell. Sky swallowed down a lump of annoyance. No, more like frustration—and mostly of the sexual kind. Nodding, she agreed with him. “Fine, I will. In fact, that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
“Good,” he muttered darkly, obviously missing her point, then bit out, “Anything else?”
Tilting her chin up, Sky grabbed her courage and said, “Yes, actually. I have something else I want to say.” Jamie watched her intently, as she told him, “I didn’t come up here because he left. He left because I wanted to be up here.” At the words, she saw Jamie’s gaze begin to soften slightly. “Because I’m not the least bit interested in him. I like you—can’t you see that?” she finished, her voice cracking a little.
Now the ice thawed completely and his expression changed. First relief, then desire registered on his face, as he started walking toward her again.
“I came up here to kiss you,” she added on a whisper. God, what had made her go that far? To tell him that much? She’d meant every word, but now felt entirely vulnerable. And scared. And breathlessly exhilarated as she watched Jamie’s expression go from anger to raw, naked hunger.
Sky’s heart raced furiously in her chest. She was suddenly so nervous—and completely turned on—by the blatantly sexual way that Jamie was looking at her. Heat burned between her legs; her pulse pounded. And she panicked. “But forget it now,” she blurted, backing away. “You’re being really annoying tonight,” Sky mumbled, her mouth running dry as she went toward the door, “so…I’m just going to go.”
“Like hell you will.”
He caught her arm and turned her around, and in seconds she was backed against his door and Jamie was crowding her, in the best way possible. When he looked at her like he wanted to devour her, she could barely find her voice. “You want to kiss me?” he murmured.
She struggled to catch her breath. “Yes…” she whispered, reaching out to clutch the front of his tee shirt, unable to help herself, as Jamie slid his hand underneath her hair and tugged her forward.
When their lips touched, the chemistry was instant, like a fire being ignited and now it was crackling—warming Sky’s skin, her blood, and that hot, aching place between her legs… With a groan, Jamie tightened his grip on her hair and slid his tongue deep
into her mouth.
Sky responded decadently, moaning as she sank into the kiss. Jamie’s hands ran down her back, boldly roving over her ass and then back up. Soon she was wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her body against his, while she licked into his mouth and nearly whimpered at how skillfully he kissed her back. “Wow…you’re a great kisser,” she whispered against his lips. “I was hoping you would be.”
“C’mere,” he said huskily, running his warm palm under her jaw, coaxing her mouth wider. Their tongues melded together again. His other hand went back to her ass, and soon they were kissing feverishly—grasping at each other and losing all sense of gravity, as they fell against the door.
Chapter 21
“Sky…” Jamie murmured, catching her by the waist before they both toppled on the floor. Pulling her snugly against him, he sandwiched her between the wall of his body and the door. “I can’t believe you’re here right now…” he whispered, as he slid his hands up her stomach and over her breasts. “…that this is really happening.” The heat of his palms burned right through her top and the lace of her bra. The way he was caressing her breasts was so perfect, so sensual…
With a sigh, Sky dropped her head back for a moment, already feeling weak as her fingers coasted up Jamie’s arms. The thick feel of his biceps was getting her even more turned on. The thought of him naked was suddenly saturating her mind. She could feel her thong getting wet and her pulse pounding between her legs. She squeezed her muscles together, trying to get a hold of herself. How could she be trembling already? She’d made out with boyfriends in the past, but she couldn’t remember ever feeling this excited. You can handle this, she thought, reminding herself, It’s Jamie. He made her feel so happy, so hot, so nervous but safe at the same time.
Helplessly, Sky dug her fingers into Jamie’s hair and tugged him closer. “It’s happening,” she assured him a little breathlessly. Then she pulled his head down and moaned weakly when he crushed his mouth onto hers.
