Ink Enduring (Montgomery Ink #5)(40)

“So, yeah, sorry for blurting out all of that over the phone last night,” Maya said after a moment. “I didn’t mean to make things difficult for the two of you.”

Jake shook his head. “Don’t be sorry. If anything, it made things…easier for Border and me once you hung up.”

Maya’s brows rose, and she grinned at him. “Oh, really? What happened last night?”

Jake shook his head. “Nothing.”

Maya just stared at him.

“I mean nothing in terms of sex. We didn’t even touch each other’s dicks. I promise.”

Maya chuckled. “Poor Border, because your dick is sure nice to touch.”

Jake winked and ran a hand over his now very hard cock. “Why thank you kindly.” He shook his head. “We kissed, but you just saw him kiss me like two minutes ago, so that wasn’t new.”

“Not new, but sure as hell hot.” Maya shrugged. “I’d probably be jealous of you with another person, but this is Border, you know?” She shook her head. “We’ll talk about that tonight after I try to formulate my thoughts.”

“Sounds like a plan. So, yeah, Border and I only kissed. Oh, and I gave him a massage since his neck and shoulder were hurting him, but other than his shirt being off for that, we didn’t do anything. And we only had two shots of tequila so we didn’t do anything stupid.”

Maya smiled at him. “You always think so much, Jake.”

“Well, you think just as much as I do, so I don’t know why you’re saying that.”

“True.” She paused. “Remember the time we used cotton candy as our chaser with the tequila?”

Jake laughed. “You used cotton candy. Not me.”

Maya snorted. “Uh, no honey. You let that candy melt on your tongue after the shot just like I did. And, if I recall correctly, you said it was damn good. You liked it. A lot. And then we watched Youtube videos of Adele singing Spice Girls and ended with One Direction videos.”

Jake pressed his lips together to keep from laughing. “Liar,” he lied.

Maya moved to him and pressed her finger into his chest. “You liked it, Jake Gallagher. And you totally sang with me and Adele. You told me what you want, what you really, really want.”

Jake just shook his head before leaning down to kiss her softly. “That’s just between us, Montgomery.”

She leaned back and grinned. “I think Border would like to hear that story.”

Jake swatted her ass, and as she gasped, they both froze. “This is going to get confusing.”

Maya just smiled softly. “It’s always been confusing. We’ve merely been ignoring it.”

“I, uh…I should get to work,” he said after a moment, his voice deep.

“Yeah, me, too.” She cupped his face. “Tonight?”

Jake nodded. “Tonight.”

He didn’t know if tonight meant talking or something more, but it meant something. And he was sure that no matter what happened, things were going to change.

Forever.




“So, you ever going to tell us what’s going on in that head of yours?” Graham asked once he’d settled down on the couch next to Jake.

After Jake had shown Maya out of his house, he’d forced himself to put all thoughts of what could be and what would happen that night out of his head so he could work. He’d have thought it would be hard to focus, but instead, it was almost as if everything going on in his mind helped his creativity. He was an artist who worked with his hands, but he needed his mind and heart in order to create.

Apparently, having Border and Maya on his mind, even in the background, helped him. He didn’t quite know what that would mean, but he liked it.

After he’d done some of his best work to date, he’d cleaned up and headed over to his eldest brother Graham’s home. While the Gallaghers weren’t as vast as the Montgomerys, they were still a decently sized crew. His parents had somehow raised four sons to be independent and creative in their own ways—even with all the hell that Murphy had gone through growing up with the treatments and surgeries.

“You going to answer? Or are you going to sit there and stare blankly at the TV while it’s on mute before the game starts?”

Jake shook himself out of his thoughts and turned to Graham. “What?”

His brother snorted. “Dude, your mind is gone. What is going on?”

“Yeah, you’ve been in a funk for a while now,” Owen said as he came into the room, four beers in his hands. He held out two by the necks toward Graham and Jake, who took them from him.

“And it can’t just be about Holly,” Murphy added in. He held four boxes of pizza and a couple of containers of wings. He set them down on the coffee table and slid the bag on his wrist that held the paper plates and napkins off.

“It’s not just Holly,” Jake said absently, staring at the food. “I don’t know if we have enough food here, guys,” he added dryly.

Murphy shrugged. “I figured Graham could have leftovers.”

Graham cursed under his breath. “I’m nearing forty, guys. I don’t know if I should be eating this much grease.” Even as he said it, he opened up the top box and pulled out a slice of pepperoni pizza.

“We’re all nearing forty,” Owen said dryly.