Lexie stiffened.
“Or let me guess, you decided to stick it to your uppity parents by letting Cooper stick you.”
Lexie flinched as if he’d struck her. Without answering, she shoved the container of sugar into the leather purse slung over her shoulder and took a step to the door. “Sorry to bother you,” she said quietly. “I’ll be out of your hair now. Don’t worry, I won’t pay you a repeat visit.”
“Lexie.”
She stopped in the doorway. “What?”
I didn’t mean to put that hurt look on your face.
But he couldn’t voice the words. Evidently there was a lot more to Lexie Price than he’d ever imagined, but the two of them weren’t friends, and he couldn’t bring himself to act like it.
“Let me walk you out,” he said with a sigh.
He trailed after her, unable to stop his mind from conjuring up the image of Lexie in the arms of tough guy Cooper Grady. Coop worked on Owen’s construction crew, but although Jake didn’t know the man too well, he did know of him. Cooper had a reputation for sleeping around and being kind of an asshole. Which made him the last man Jake pictured Lexie getting involved with.
“Can we…keep this entire thing to ourselves?” Lexie asked when they reached the front hall. “Pretend I was never here.”
He stepped forward to open the door for her. “Whatever you want, sweet—” His words died when he spotted Bree on his porch, her fist poised to knock.
A smile stretched over his mouth just as a frown marred hers. Bree’s head moved from him to Lexie, then back to him. “Guess this is a bad time,” she said in a tight voice.
Chapter Four
Bree felt like a total idiot as she stood there on the porch facing off with Jake and Lexie. Neither of them looked guilty, or worse, sported that we-just-had-sex glow, but what else would Lexie be doing all the way out here?
The blast of jealousy that hit her was annoying as hell, but she couldn’t help it. She and Lexie Price weren’t friends, nor were they the enemies they’d once been in high school, but the idea of Lexie in Jake’s bed made her blood boil. It also surprised the hell out of her, since Jake had never been Lexie’s biggest fan.
In the doorway, Lexie looked equally surprised to see her. “Bree?” she said in perplexity, that regal neck stretching as she tilted her head to the side.
“Hey, Lexie. How’ve you been?”
The blonde still looked mystified. “Good. You?”
“Can’t complain.” Bree’s gaze drifted to Jake, who was watching her with twinkling gray eyes. “I’ll come back another time,” she told him, somewhat stiffly.
“Naah, it’s cool. Lexie was just leaving.”
“Yep,” Lexie agreed, stepping onto the porch.
Bree’s eyes narrowed when she realized the other woman was wearing white Adidas. Since when did the ice princess wear sneakers?
“Jake,” Lexie added, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder, “I’d like to say it’s been fun, but it wasn’t. As usual.” She descended the porch steps. “See you later, Bree.”
Bree frowned as she watched the other woman veer off toward the cluster of trees on the edge of the property and disappear into the woods. Where on earth was she going? Though come to think of it, Bree didn’t see Lexie’s shiny BMW parked in the driveway.
She turned back to Jake, eyes narrowed. “What exactly did I walk in on?”
“Nothing,” he said with a shrug. “Lexie stopped by to pick something up.”
“And is now getting home via the forest route?”
“She’s an avid hiker.” Jake ran a calloused hand over his close-cropped hair. “And before you ask, I’m not sleeping with her. I prefer to make love to a woman, not a block of ice—too damn cold.” His gaze smoldered as he focused it on her mouth. “You, on the other hand, are hot as hell, sweetheart.”
The heat of his eyes made her swallow. Damn it. Why had she even come here? Last night, she’d been determined to keep her distance, ignore Jake’s ridiculous proposition and spend the week hanging out with her parents and working on her upcoming case.
But from the second she’d opened her eyes this morning, she’d been overcome with temptation. Sleeping with Jake again had been so incredibly amazing, yet her body was the furthest thing from sated. She’d been edgy and uncomfortable all day, squirming during her lunch with her mother, distracted as she’d tried scribbling notes for her opening statement. Every nerve ending had crackled, every inch of skin tingled, until she couldn’t concentrate on anything but the thought of having Jake’s hands all over her.
One orgasm from Jake Bishop and she’d reverted back to the girl she’d once been.
And as much as she hated admitting he was right, one orgasm hadn’t been enough.
Not by a long shot.
“That’s why you’re here, right?” he prompted when she didn’t speak. “To get me hot? To get us both hot?”