Feels Like Summertime(43)

“Pick your battles, Dad,” I say to him.

Then he looks beyond her to me. “You look really pretty.”

“Were you waiting for Gabby?” I ask.

“I don’t like for any of them to be alone,” he says. Neither do I. I wrap my arms around his shoulders and give him a hard squeeze.

“Thank you,” I whisper. “For everything.”

Jake walks around the corner and Dad freezes. “What’s going on here?” he asks, looking from Jake to me and back.

“We are going on a date,” Jake says. His eyes drag slowly down my body. “You look really beautiful, Katie.”

Jake is wearing a pair of khaki pants, and he has on a button-down shirt in the same shade of jade as his eyes. His light brown hair is damp and his face is scruffy because he didn’t shave. He’s wearing a pair of leather deck shoes with no socks. But more startling than what he’s wearing is the simple fact that he takes my breath away.

Dad stares him down. “Who said you two could go on a date?”

“Well, since we live together, I didn’t think I needed to ask for anybody’s permission.”

Dad sputters playfully. “You do not live together.”

I grab Dad’s shoulder and kiss his cheek, while Jake puts the baby in his car seat. He talks to him the whole time, and Henry coos at him. I should probably feed him before we leave, but he’s so happy, and I really want to get this date started.

“Dan,” Jake says as he stands up from his crouched position. He claps a hand on Dad’s shoulder. “I’m taking your daughter out for a nice dinner. And we’re taking the littlest one with us. That means you and Pop have to figure out how to take care of the rest of them.”

Dad squares his shoulders. “I think we got this.”

“Good,” Pop says. “You can cook me a steak. Six o’clock.”

Dan growls good-naturedly, and then he ushers Gabby out the door and back toward the sand and the fun. And the boy.

“Gabby met a boy,” I tell Jake as he opens the truck door for me.

“I know,” Jake says. “I already had a talk with him.”

“You did?” How did I not know this?

“I did. He’s a nice kid.” He grins at me as he sets up the baby’s car seat in the backseat of the truck. “But I didn’t want him to know I thought so.”





36





Katie





My heart is tripping like crazy as we get out of the truck at the restaurant and Jake slips his hand into mine. “You look really beautiful,” he says. His eyes slide slowly up and down my body.

“Thank you,” I say quietly as I push a lock of hair behind my ear. I feel like I’m sixteen again, rather than a thirty-five-year-old woman with four children and a stalker. “You look really handsome.” I reach up to touch his face, but at the last minute I pull my hand back. He sets the car seat down, reaches for my hand, and lays it on his cheek.

“You can touch me,” he says. My insides do that flippy thing again.

“Okay.” His jaw is scruffy but soft. “I like this.” I grin at him.

He turns his head and kisses my palm. Then he grins. “Let’s go eat.”

The restaurant is directly on the lake, and it’s early enough that it’s not yet packed. I see Jake slip folded-up money into the hostess’s hand and she leads us to a secluded area on the deck. No one else is out here and it’s quiet and peaceful.

“Is this area even open?” I ask the waitress.

She grins at me. “It is now.”

She helps Jake set the car seat up in a free chair that she flips over for stability, and puts Hank right next to Jake’s knee.

“Did you do this?” I ask, looking at Jake and the perfect setting.

“Maybe.” He grins. He grabs the arm of my chair and yanks it closer to him. I squeal and he laughs.

“You still have moves, Jake.”

He stares into my eyes. “You are so beautiful.”

My breath catches. “Jake—”

And then he kisses me. First, his lips touch the corners of my mouth, and then the tip of my nose, and then, right when I think I’m going to go crazy, his lips touch mine.

His hand slides around to the back of my neck and he holds me close while his lips devour mine. He sucks my lower lip between his, and gently touches his tongue to mine. I moan against his lips. He pulls back ever so slightly. “Too much?” he whispers.

“Not nearly enough,” I say.

The waitress clears her throat and Jake and I spring apart.

“I’ll come back,” she says with a giggle and she walks away.

I press my hands to my hot cheeks. Jake opens my menu and laughs. “Pick out some food.”

The waitress comes back with glasses of water and takes our order.

“So,” I say to break the silence at the table.

“So.” Jake laughs and takes a sip of his water.

“What do you want from me, Jake?” I suddenly blurt out. I drop my face into my hands because I’m even more embarrassed asking this question than I was when the waitress caught us kissing.

Jake’s green eyes stare into mine. “You really don’t know, do you Katie? You have no idea how I feel about you.”