she was going to be late. Liss would do her best to reschedule her, but Cassie hated to put the other woman out.
Just as she was about to go inside The Grind, Jake appeared from around the back of the building. She froze, feeling slightly sheepish about the way she had behaved toward him yesterday. She was justified, but she’d been childish. And she really could’ve been a little bit more mature. If only because she imagined having him feel positively toward her was better than having him angry with her. All things considered.
And she wasn’t usually one to make waves, but then, Jake had always brought out feelings in her that were less than typical.
“Good morning.” There, she had greeted him. And she hadn’t even spewed any fire and brimstone in his direction.
“Good morning.” He raised his brows, clearly just as surprised as she was that she’d managed to be civil.
“I hope you slept well.” She hadn’t heard him showering last night, so thank heaven for small favors.
And that was not what she wanted to think about right now. Not when she was annoyed. Not when she was looking at him, and would probably start blushing.
“Yeah, I slept fine.”
She bit back a rude comment. “Well, that’s good.”
“You sound thrilled. You don’t work this morning?”
“No, I have the day off. Which means I have to do the business things I can’t do while I’m in the shop.”
“Exciting times in Copper Ridge.”
“You aren’t lying.”
“So where you headed?”
“My accountant’s. To drop off financial stuff.”
“Ahh, I see. As opposed to dropping off badger-related things at your accountant’s.”
“Charming. Now, while you do a very good impression of the sarcastic jerkface, I am in a bit of a rush, and of having car trouble so...”
She couldn’t really figure out why Jake made her feel so damned obstinate, only that he did. And that she didn’t really mind. To the contrary, she sort of liked it.
He gave her something to kick against when she generally felt like she was simply drifting downstream.
“I’m going to ignore the fact that you called me a name I haven’t heard since I was in elementary school. What kind of car trouble are you having?”
“I don’t know.” She hated that feeling of not knowing. Or more accurately, of knowing she was in over her head, and that she needed help, but didn’t have it.
Frankly she couldn’t afford to get the car repaired, and she had no idea how to replace anything herself. Her husband had done that stuff, and these were about the only times when she felt his absence. Most of the time she felt like she was better off without him—enriched even. But when the drain was clogged, a car needed repairing, something heavy needed lifting, or a jar lid was being particularly stubborn, she really missed the bastard.
“Well, if you show me your problem I’m sure I can tell you what it is.”
“The thing is, I’m late to meet Liss.”
“Where is her office?”
“It’s up the road about five miles, not something I can sprint. Even if I started walking now, I would still be late.”
“If you wait down here for a second I can come back with a solution to your problem.”
She blinked rapidly. “Well, that sounds... almost too good to be true.”
“I promise you it’s not.” He turned and walked back around the building and she just stood there gaping. And staring after him. Because even though she was officially annoyed with him, he was still nice to look at.
Something about being exposed to Jake was a whole lot like jumping from a sun-soaked rock into a freezing river. For the past five years she’d been comfortable. Comfortable right where she was, finding her feet again, letting go of a marriage that had lasted six years instead of a lifetime. Once she’d done that she’d settled in and found purpose in her new life. She hadn’t wanted what she’d lost again.
Jake made her want things. Not love and commitment type things, other things. Naked things. Sweaty things.
It made her feel a little bit flushed just thinking about it.
And right on cue, just as her face was overheating from her libidinous thoughts, Jake reappeared, holding a motorcycle helmet.
“I’m not sure what you think you’re doing with that.” She eyed him suspiciously.
“I’m offering you a ride.” He extended the helmet, her face reflecting in the shiny black surface.
She looked up from her own wide-eyed stare, and presented it to him. “I don’t ride on motorcycles.”
“Well, you can start today.”
“I think you misunderstood. It’s not that I’ve never had the opportunity.” But she hadn’t. “I don’t ride on them because the idea is about as appealing as inhaling dandelion fluff and then licking a pig’s foot to get the taste out of your mouth.”
“Evocative.”
“I’m trying to get my point across that I don’t find the idea very appealing at all.”
“Yeah, I actually got that out of your simile,” he said.
“Wow, you even knew it was a simile.”
“I had a good tutor back in high school.”
* * *
SOMETHING ABOUT BRINGING the past into the present made Jake’s chest tighten. He didn’t like to think about the past and he had good reason. But Copper Ridge made it impossible not to.
“I tutored you in math, not English. I was not the one to teach you about similes.”
“Maybe I just absorbed some of your intelligence.”
“See, you think I’m intelligent. Therefore, my concerns about riding on a motorcycle are probably valid.”
“Probably. But then, I’ve been riding on one for about seventeen years and I seem okay.”
“Okay, I don’t have time to stand here quibbling with you about this.” She snatched the helmet from his grip and put it down over her head, so that only her nose and eyes were visible, a strand of dark hair hanging down the middle of her forehead and disappearing beneath the face mask.
“That’s a good look for you, Cassie.”
She blinked, and he was suddenly very aware of just how long her eyelashes were, and how very attractive that was to him. Seriously, the brush of her fingers against his and her eyelashes.
