Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 91079 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91079 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Oh shit.
“Someone should tell her how rude that is,” the drunk chick offers.
Jake nods. “Oh, I agree. And if my memory serves me correctly…,” he glares at me “someone already has.”
Hiccup.
“Are you finished yet? If not, I’d like to get back to my song.”
“For the love of God, keep talking.” Red-faced-overalls-asshole lifts up his praying hands to Jake.
Whatever.
“So my friend asks what the deal is with this girl and me. And I tell him that our relationship is casual.”
A few murmurs from the women in the room have me wanting to fist bump the air. Luckily, a hiccup distracts me.
Jake holds his hand up. “Hang on, ladies. There’s more to the story. You see, the only reason I said that was because I thought that’s what she wanted.”
“It wasn’t what she wanted,” I snap, then quickly add, “Maybe. I’m guessing. I don’t know. I mean, why would you think that?”
“Because she never said she wanted more.”
I snort. “Oh. So you just assumed without even bothering to ask her?”
“Well this girl…” he breathes out a laugh and runs his hand through his hair. “This girl is known for speaking her mind. She’ll say just about anything. I’ve never had to wonder what she was thinking. Because if it crossed her mind, it came out of her mouth. Even when she didn’t intend for it to.” He grins at me. “Sound familiar?”
The air between the two of us starts to suffocate me. I want to end this bullshit banter, jump off this crappy little stage and launch myself into Jake’s arms. I want him to hold me and kiss me and tell me he loves me. But even though I understand why he said what he said, and even though he’s here, a part of me still wonders if it’s possible for this guy—my very own That Guy—to love…me.
“Why did you run, Penelope?”
The entire room holds their breath as they wait for my answer. I consider lying, but my walls are crumbling. I’m exhausted. And drunk. And stiff from trying to hold my posture.
I let my shoulders slump forward and hold onto the mic stand. “I can’t do casual, Jake.” A weight I didn’t realize I was carrying lifts from my shoulders.
“So tell me what you want.” He says it so simply. But it’s not that simple.
“I don’t know.”
“Yes you do. What do you want, Penelope? What do you want…what do you want!?”
Okay. Now I see why he found that scene so annoying.
He asks me again and I lose my shit and half scream/half sob, “I want the song!”
His head tilts slightly as he studies me. “Your elevator song?”
Hiccup. Sniff. Snort. Deep breath. “Yes. I want a guy who will walk five hundred miles for me.”
“I’ve walked five hundred miles five times over going up and down those fucking stairs with you.”
Truth.
“Well, I also want a guy who will wake up with me every day. And some of those days may not be in his penthouse apartment overlooking Chicago. They might be in Nowhere, Mississippi, in a one-bedroom apartment, above a workshop, overlooking my mom’s backyard.”
He shrugs. “Done.”
It can’t be that easy.
“We live a thousand miles apart.”
“We’ll figure it out.”
“I’m not always going to want to go to your business meetings to win you clients.”
I’m grasping at straws here….
He smiles. “Then you can just go for the alcohol.”
“You don’t even know anything about me.”
“I know everything about you. Background check, remember?”
Shit.
“I know nothing about you.”
He lifts a brow.
Hiccup.
“What are you so scared of, Penelope?”
Fuck it.
“I don’t want to love someone more than they love me.”
“Not possible.”
“I’m not easy to love, Jake.”
His deep, rumble of laughter can be felt in my toes. Then, in a voice as equally sincere as his gaze, he tells me a truth that rocks my damn soul. “Loving you is the easiest thing I’ve ever done.”
Oh. My. God.
Is this were a book, that would be the most highlighted line in it.
“I love you, Penelope Lane Hart. You’re my That Girl.”
I’m not sure how long I’ve been standing here swooning, just feeling my ovaries explode inside me and my heart swell to the point of bursting. But it’s long enough for Jake to grow annoyed.
“For fuck’s sake, Penelope. Are you going to say it back or not?”
“Oh. Yeah. Right. I lo—“
Hiccup.
“Shit. Let me start again.” And as easy as I breathe, I tell him, “I love you too, Jake Swagger.”
He smiles. Like God just granted him the greatest gift in the world. Well, I mean, he kinda did.
“Get your ass down here and kiss me.”
I do. Nearly break my neck in the process, but he catches me. Because that’s what he does.
Then he kisses me.
And it’s just like all our kisses—hot, sweet, toe-curling perfection.
I’ve missed him.
I love him.
He knows it.
And guess what?
He loves me too.
Jake dips his head and places his mouth at my ear so he can be heard over the cheering bar crowd. “So what happened after he climbed up the tower and rescued her?”