He really needed to stop seeing her in person. It was making him feel things he didn’t want to feel, like vulnerable and stupid.
And now she was looking at him like that again. The same look girls got on their faces when they were falling. Normally he hated it. But now? He craved it. Slowly, she was ruining him. He wasn’t sure if he should run the other way or just kiss her and get it over with. But that same irritating fear was still blocking all logical thought, making him re-think every damn choice.
He knew he was an ass and didn’t deserve her. He also knew he would most likely mess up and she’d hate him.
And then there was also his past with women. Add that on top of all the shameful things he’d done to Kacey and he wasn’t sure he could trust himself, let alone allow someone else to put their trust in him.
With a sigh he looked back down at the menu and tried to find something to order. Everything looked fuzzy; nothing sounded good, nothing but her.
And sadly, Char wasn’t on the menu. Maybe if he could find some chalk he’d put her on there and ask nicely.
Then he’d nicely push everything off the table.
And nicely strip her of her clothes.
Then nicely lay claim to her—
“Jake?” Char interrupted. “You’re all flushed. Are you okay?”
Hell no. He was not okay.
He gripped the sides of his chair and gave her a curt nod. “I was just thinking.”
“Care to clue me in?” Char laughed. “Your thoughts seem exciting.”
Oh, if she only knew.
“Ready to order?” A waiter popped out of nowhere.
Damn. If Jake would have actually been looking at the menu he could’ve fired something off, but his mind had gone completely blank, and now he was staring at Char’s mouth, like a starving man. Perfect. He was turning into a lunatic. Grandma would be pleased with herself.
“I’ll have the chef’s salad with a side of fries.”
Jake laughed and pointed at Char. “Same for me.”
She took a sip of wine and closed her eyes.
Mouth completely dry, Jake watched as she savored the red wine and finally swallowed.
He’d be lucky to get out of the restaurant without dying from arousal. He cleared his throat and managed to look away. “So, fries and salad, huh?”
“Best of both worlds.” Char answered.
Out of the corner of his eye he noticed that the glass of temptation, aka the wine, was back on the table. He exhaled and managed to gain a bit more control over himself as their eyes met again.
“So we eat.” Char chewed her lower lip. “Then we get the cake topper, and only one more task?”
“Yup.”
“Should be easy.”
“We’ll be done in no time.” Jake winked.
Chapter Twenty-five
“We really need to stop saying things like that.” Char sighed as they watched the elderly woman type into the computer using only her pointer fingers.
“Now.” Blanche, the owner of the cake shop, stopped typing. “What was the last name?”
“Titus,” Jake said slowly.
“Can you spell that, please?” The lady smiled, revealing a large set of teeth that looked like the perfect dentures.
“Uh, sure. T, I, T, U, S.”
“T.” She typed and looked up.
Char managed not to laugh but only barely. She had to look away.
“I.” Jake paused.
Sure enough Blanche looked up again. Holy crap, the woman would try the patience of a saint!
“T,” he continued.
“Tit?” Blanche coughed. “What kind of last name is that?”
“No, no, no.” Jake leaned over the counter. “There’s two more letters.”
“Oh!” Blanche touched her hands to her cheeks and laughed. “Dearie, I’m so sorry, this old brain doesn’t work as well as it used to!”
“Does it work at all?” Char mumbled under her breath. Jake elbowed her as he continued spelling.
“U.”
Blanche poked the U button and looked up.
Seriously. They could have baked bread in the time it took that woman to type one name.
“S.”
Both she and Jake exhaled as Blanche finally typed in the last letter and pressed enter on the computer.
They only sound in the tiny shop was the hum of the computer and the light violin music playing in the background. There were cupcakes layered in a glass box in front of the register and a few cake toppers lying around. All in all it was a really small shop.
“Oh no.” Blanche sighed.
Jake glanced at Char, and a look of complete irritation flashed across his perfect features before he said in a strained voice, “Blanche, is something wrong?”
“It’s the topper.”
“Yes?”
“The one we ordered and the one that came in are different. I tried calling the number they gave me but they never returned the call.”
“What number did you have?” Jake asked.
Blanche’s slow hands made their way across the computer. Two minutes later she was reading off a number.
“Grandma.” Char and Jake both said her name as if it was an expletive.