AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I gave him a long look and nodded. "Alright."
"The tweet said something like, 'met someone and felt like cade for the first time in a long time' and when I read it, I saw your face." He inhaled deep and released it. "Before I met you, there was always this hole, this missing piece. And then there was you."
Warmth rushed all over me, the ache in my chest whenever he was near expanding.
"That's sweet, Jacob." I cautioned a smile and the side of his mouth twitched with his own as we moved closer to uptown. "But why would that piss you off? Because of damage control? I still don't get what any of that has to do with me."
"Because he tweeted it almost immediately after he left the Whitmore and Creighton building." Jacob's voice changed, something in it exposed and raw. "I think he was talking about you."
****
The first tip off that something fishy was going on should have been that fact that Natasha was all smiles when in the past the very sight of me was enough to make her physically ill. Regardless, I'd taken a deep breath and rapped on Jacob's door, running over the speech I'd been practicing all weekend.
After the bucketful of awkward with Cade's tweet and my mother's overshare at dinner, we both agreed to take a few days apart to get our heads right. Truth was even after taking the weekend, my head was anything but. Even though I thought my exchange with Cade was totally innocent, Jacob's reaction and Cade's tweet had me replaying the conversation, wondering if anything I said could have been misconstrued. At any rate, I'd come up with a list of reasons why Jacob had nothing to worry about.
1.) He was, well, Jacob. No one else could rob me of the ability to function with just a look. No one could make everything else fade except for the drum of my heart and the ache between my legs. And no one else could make me want to simultaneously do them physical harm and kiss their lips off.
I smiled when the door was pulled open with number two on the tip of my tongue and when Missy, one of the staff publicists and ringleader of Operation Leila Sucks, was the one glaring back at me instead of Jacob, I forgot what number two was.
"Missy? What are you-"
"Jacob wanted to see me bright and early so we could go over Wallace's plan of action." She made sure she said every word like they'd been up to a lot more than business. But when I spied Jacob over her shoulder, he gave me a smile that dashed right through her transparent efforts. As soon as his eyes glittered deliciously, I knew that he was mine.
He tapped the bluetooth at his ear and rose to his feet. My mouth watered at the thought of running my fingers over the buttons of his slate blue shirt and diving to the muscled abs beneath. I was sure it must have been all over my face because his brow arched with interest.
Missy turned back to him, ignoring me altogether. "So where were-"
"That'll be all," Jacob said abruptly. "I'll see you in the conference room in a little bit."
When she slowly turned on her heel, her brown eyes round with disdain, I just couldn't help myself. "Jacob and I have lots to discuss. I'm sure you understand."
Once we were alone, Jacob shook his head even though he was still grinning. "Marking your territory?"
"Damn right," I took a step toward him then hesitated, remembering our argument. "About Friday night-"
He perched on the edge of his desk and beckoned me with a finger. "Come here."
I closed the distance between us, standing in front of him. "I just want to apologize-"
"You have nothing to apologize about, Leila," he interrupted. "I'm the one that owes you an apology."
I cocked my head to the side, feigning shock. "I'm sorry, I must have misheard you. It sounded like you said you owe me an apology."
"Haha," he said sarcastically. He reached out and locked his fingers with mine. "Am I really that callous that you think me incapable of apologizing?"
I scratched my chin, pretending to think about it. "I guess stranger things have happened." I moved closer, looking up into his eyes. "Like, who knew Jacob Whitmore could get jealous?"
He traced my jaw, sending tingles up and down my spine. "You seem to have forgotten Tall, Dark, and Italian."
I laughed, remembering taking Allegra's drop dead gorgeous to dinner and seeing Jacob's eyes boil with anger. This was different though, and we both knew it.
"I was a dick," he said softly. "Just the thought of any man thinking about you, touching you..." His jaw flexed. "It's still no excuse."
I leaned in and pressed my lips against his. I pulled back, fingering his buttons demurely. "Apology accepted."
He murmured with approval and I was close enough that I could feel the stir of his arousal. "And I plan on calling your parents and apologizing for my behavior as well."
"Not so fast," I said as I unbuttoned the first one. "You're still apologizing to me."
