The Exception (13 page)

“Yeah,” I replied, trying not to make it obvious to everyone else in the car that just a look from him caused me to melt.

Jake gave me one more smile before hopping out of the truck and grabbing both of our bags. As we walked inside he threw my bag over his shoulder, freeing up one of his hands to take mine. “Come on, Blondie. Our room is this way,” he said in a way that made my stomach do a flip.

A rush of excitement spread through me. I looked over at Maya, who gave me a wink and then slapped my butt as Jake led me toward our room.

“Looks like that means we’re bunking together,” Maya told Evan as we were walking away.

“Hell yeah,” I heard Evan say before we turned down a hallway. There was definitely something going on between the two of them, and I was determined to make Maya spill before the weekend was through.

Jake walked to the end of the hall before stopping in front of a large, rustic, wooden door. He dropped my hand to open it, and then laced his fingers back through mine as he led me inside.

I let my eyes trace over the room, appreciating every unique detail along the way. “This place is like something you would see in a movie. Every little detail is just so…neat.” There really was no other way to describe it. From the moment we pulled up, there was no denying that this place was special. Every little detail had been attended to, from the elaborate landscaping to the careful cracks in the wood paneling that had been stained to perfection. Every accessory I had seen so far made this place feel like the Upper East Side had met the country. It was an interesting combination but somehow fit together seamlessly.

Jake set our bags down and ran his hand through his tousled hair, taking a second to glance around the room. “Yeah, my mom is really into decorating.” He made his way over to where I was standing, obviously not as entranced by this house as I was, and circled one of his arms across my lower back. “But I can think of a few things I’d like to do other than talk about my mom’s decorations.” He lowered his head so that his lips were inches from my ear. “I hope you brought boots, Blondie.”

There was something different about the way he spoke, even the way he held me. His entire demeanor had changed. Maybe it was being at this place or just all in my mind. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something was definitely different.

“Who comes to a ranch and doesn’t bring boots?” I smiled as my entire body warmed due to his close proximity and the way his thumb was tracing little circles on my lower back.

“Good point,” he whispered huskily as he backed me up against the large king-size bed, causing my pulse to start racing. “You should probably change in to them then. You’re going to need them for what we are about to do,” he uttered into my neck.

“Is that,” I sucked in a breath of air when his lips made contact with my neck, “so?”

We heard two girls squealing from the other room. Jake let out a frustrated growl before taking a step back. “Come on, Blondie. Sounds like everyone else is settled already.” I quickly swapped my flip flops for boots and followed Jake out of our room.

We walked into the living room to see Maya and Alli running around the couch trying to avoid Heath, who had a small snake in his hands. Spencer was watching with amusement, and Evan was bent over with laughter. Jake took one look at the entire scenario and then threw his head back laughing. Apparently, he thought this was as humorous as Evan did. I had to admit it was quite amusing to see the both of them freak over a tiny garden snake. And before I could stop it, a small laugh escaped my lips.

“Emma, you wouldn’t think this was so funny if this were a spider,” Maya shouted.

“Spider, huh?” I looked to my left to see Jake standing with his arms crossed and brow lifted. “You realize Heath is more than likely going to try something now. I swear that guy just can’t help himself.”

“Yeah…I’m not too worried,” I shrugged. “See, I have this boyfriend who I doubt would let him get close enough to try anything.”

“Damn straight. Now hop on. We need to go outside.” Jake turned so that his back was to me. When I didn’t jump on his back right away, he looked over his shoulder. “Em, one way or another I’m carrying you out of this house. So you can either jump on my back or I can throw you over my shoulder.”

I couldn’t contain my giggle as I jumped up and he hooked an arm around each of my legs, securing me to him. “Jake, I’m wearing boots, you know, and it’s not even that dark outside.”

“Yes and you look adorable.” He started walking as he glanced over to Heath tormenting the girls. “Heath, put that thing down and get outside and give me a hand, would ya?”

“You got it, man.”

Jake carried me out to where a large outdoor kitchen was set up. He set me down and then cranked up the grill.

“Alright. What do you need me to do?” Heath asked as he walked up.

“Go around back and see what Sophie has stocked up for us. Grab whatever can be grilled,” Jake instructed, while he raked a brush across the grill.

“On it.”

I watched as Heath jogged off then turned my attention back to Jake. “Sophie?” I inquired.

“She keeps our house clean while we’re gone and does the shopping for us so that we don’t have to drive an hour to the closest grocery store once we get here. She’s been with our family for as long as I can remember. She even used to babysit me and my sister sometimes when we were little,” he explained.

“Right. Because who doesn’t have a personal assistant that takes care of their second home,” I teased.

Jake turned to face me, pointing the grill brush in my direction. “Is that sarcasm I detect in your voice?”

I placed my hands in my back pockets. “Nope. Nu-uh.” I shook my head, fighting off a smile.

Jake lowered the brush and took a step toward me, closing the gap between us and placing a quick peck on my lips. “Whatever you say, babe…you like that nickname, right?” This time using a sarcastic tone himself. I rolled my eyes, and a grin stretched across his face as he turned back to the grill and finished preparing the surface.

When Heath showed back up, he had an assortment of items with him. So for dinner we had BBQ chicken, sausage, boudin sausage, and grilled corn. There was so much food I thought we’d have enough for today and tomorrow, but the boys had no trouble plowing right through all of it.

After dinner everyone pitched in cleaning up, so it took no time at all before we were all piled on the couch and chairs in the living room watching TV. Alli was the first to nod off. When Spencer said they’d see everyone in the morning, we all followed suit and headed to our own rooms.

Jake walked in our room, and I paused at the door – nerves creeping in for the first time today. Yes, I had slept in the same bed as Jake before but that was an accident. It was late; we had both sort of just fallen sleep. This was different. We were both walking in, knowing we were getting in the same bed, while we were away for the weekend together. Were there expectations that went along with something like this?
Oh my God! I had not thought this through all the way.
Suddenly, all my nerves were stirring up and I reached for the door frame to steady myself.
Get it together, Emma. Why the heck am I suddenly so nervous?
I looked up to see Jake looking at me with a concerned expression.

“You OK, Em?” He walked over to me, grabbing both my cheeks with his hands, studying me with his eyes.

“Yeah,” I lied, “I uh…um…” I swallowed before glancing over at the bed. Jake didn’t miss any of it. His gaze followed mine, and when he turned back to me a soft smile broke across his face.

“Em, I can sleep on the couch if this makes you feel uncomfortable.” He sounded so genuine and sincere that I immediately felt silly for having any doubts or worries about this situation. Of course he wasn’t assuming things were just going to happen between us.

“No. Don’t do that. Besides, we would catch crap the entire weekend if you did that.”

He brushed his thumb across my cheek and gave me a kiss. “I’m going to grab a pillow, and then I’ll see you in the morning.” He turned to walk over to the bed.

I reached out and grabbed his arm. “No. Really, you don’t have to do that. I want you to stay,” I said, anxiously taking my lower lip in between my teeth.
Good Lord. What is my issue?
I’m acting like a crazy person with split personalities.

Jake glanced down at my lip and then once again met my gaze. “Are you sure, Em? Because I don’t mind taking the couch. I don’t care what anyone else thinks.”

I have no idea why I was so freaking nervous earlier. This is Jake we are talking about. The boy I am in love with and have thought about doing a whole heck of a lot more with than just sleeping in the same bed. Whatever nerves I had left were completely gone, and I knew I had to find a way to convince him that I was serious when I said stay. Not knowing a better way to do that, I slid my arms around his neck and kissed him.

He was hesitant at first. But when I didn’t pull away, he wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed me back. I began to move away from the door and he moved with me, closing the door behind us before pulling back to look at me. “Emma, you are the most confusing girl I have ever met,” he grinned.

“Shut up and kiss me,” I mumbled, stifling a laugh.

“Yes ma’am!” He connected his lips to mine, and I could feel him smiling against my mouth. When his smile faded, he deepened the kiss, running one hand up my back and gripping the nape of my neck. His touch caused my body to arch forward, pressing against him. “Mmm. Emma. You can’t do things like that.”

Yep. I bet I was super confusing. A moment ago I felt like my nerves were going to take over and now I was fine. More than fine. Jake had this way of calming me and giving me a surge of confidence I never thought I’d have.

“Like what? This?” I pressed into him again, causing him to let out a muffled groan before lifting me up, wrapping one leg around either side of him, and walking us over to the bed. He laid me down and gave me one more kiss before pulling away with a mischievous grin on his face. “What?”

“Just so you know. I am not sleeping with you tonight.” He took a step away from the bed. “But I do plan on cuddling the crap out of you, so you should probably go get ready for bed,” he finished with a satisfied grin.

“Wait. What?” I sat up on my elbows. What the heck just happened? Yeah, I was a little nervous about this earlier. OK, a lot nervous. But then I wasn’t and then we started kissing. And it’s not that I was expecting things to go that far tonight, but I guess I assumed it could happen. Then, he lays me down on his bed and flat out tells me he won’t sleep with me. What the heck?

Jake chuckled. “You just want me for my body. And this,” he said lifting up his shirt revealing his abs, “I’m not just some piece of meat, Emma.”

I fell back in laughter. “Oh my God. You did not. You’re such a girl!”

He collapsed over me and planted a kiss on my lips. “But seriously, you should go get ready for bed.”

He was serious? He really doesn’t want me? Even though I wasn’t one hundred percent planning on it earlier, I, for sure, wanted to know why he wasn’t. “Seriously? Is there a reason you are so easily dismissing me?”

“Yes, seriously.” He reached up and ran his thumb over my bottom lip, letting his eyes linger there before looking back into my eyes. “And trust me, I am not easily dismissing you. You were hesitant earlier, Em, and I don’t want there to be any hesitation before we are together for the first time.”

My cheeks flushed at his words. And wouldn’t you know that everything he said just made me want him more? “I’m not hesitant now,” I countered in a small voice.

He smiled down at me and then kissed the tip of my nose. “Tonight, we sleep. But tomorrow, no promises.” He winked at me, then climbed off the bed.

Knowing I wouldn’t be able to change his mind, I got up and walked over to my bag to get my toiletries and then walked to the attached bathroom to brush my teeth. I had just put my toothbrush in my mouth when Jake walked in wearing only boxers. I don’t know why, but I just wasn’t expecting that and I almost choked on toothpaste when I saw him. He gave me a nod, and the smile on his face let me know how much he was enjoying this. Two could play at this game.

I quickly finished brushing my teeth and walked back into our room to change into my PJs. I opted for a pair of boy short panties and a snug fit spaghetti strap top. I had my back to the bathroom door, but I knew when Jake came back in the room because I heard him suck in a breath of air when he saw me. I smiled to myself before I turned around. “Ready for bed?”

Jake watched as I casually walked over to the bed and climbed under the covers. A few seconds later, he climbed in after me, pulling me into him as he snaked an arm around my waist. “You’re trying to kill me, aren’t you?” he whispered against my neck.

All I could do was smile. Two could definitely play this game. He may have not realized that he had just started a war, but tomorrow it was on. I drifted off to sleep loving that I had the upper hand.

Chapter Eleven

I dreamed that someone was calling my name. No, not someone, Maya. But there were other voices too. Wait…there’s my name again. Followed by laughing. I opened my eyes to see Maya and Evan standing at the foot of the bed. “Good morning, sunshine,” she sang.

“Oh no.” I covered my head with my pillow. “Morning people, you’re both morning people!”

“Stop moving. It’s too early,” Jake murmured in a sleepy haze as he rolled onto his side, pulling me into him.

Jake clearly was not yet aware that we had an audience, and it’s a shame that we did. He is just so cute in the morning. All I wanted to do was roll over and kiss him. Instead, I did my best to pull away from him.

“Em, stop it,” he whined, fighting me into his side. Realizing I was making it worse, I gave in and sheepishly let him pull me into him. I sunk into his side as both Maya and Evan lost it.

“Em, stop it,” Evan mocked, causing the two of them to laugh harder.

Jake’s eyes shot open. “What the hell, man?” He sat up as he scratched the back of his head.

“Dude. It’s nine thirty. Are we going shooting or what?” Evan asked.

Jake checked the time on his phone. “Exactly, it’s nine thirty. Couldn’t we have waited an hour?” He glanced over at me and gave me a groggy grin.

“Holy crap! He’s less of a morning person than you, Em,” Maya chimed in, a little too perky.

Jake looked from Maya to Evan. “Oh no.”

“Yep,” I replied, knowing exactly what he was talking about.

“Morning people. Both of them,” he said as though he were in shock.

“Yep,” was all I could say.

Jake took a moment to contemplate our recent discovery, then grabbed one of the pillows from behind us and chunked it at them. “Get the hell out! And leave the rest of us normal people alone.” He laid back down and pulled me into him.

“Looks like you two are going to need a minute,” Maya said again in her overly perky tone. She grabbed Evan’s hand and pulled him out of the room, closing the door behind them. Not two seconds later, she popped her head back in. “But seriously, we’re leaving in ten. OK. Bye.”

The door closed again and Jake groaned, “They’re not going to leave us alone, are they?”

“Nope,” I said popping the P.

Jake let out a frustrated sigh, “Alright then. After you.” He flipped back the covers and gestured for me to go first.

“Me? Why do I have to go first?”

A sexy smirk took over his face as he reached out and ran his fingers under the hem of my top. “Like I said, no promises today.” My jaw dropped and he shot me a wink, then climbed out of bed and began to dig clothes out of his bag.

“Oh, it’s on! Brace yourself, sir, because you don’t know what you’re up against.” I scrambled out of bed and threw on the first thing I grabbed out of my bag. Then we both walked out and met everyone else our two human alarm clocks woke up.

After a muffin and a few rounds of coffee, we were on the back of four wheelers riding out to where we were going to shoot. My first few attempts were awful. Jake watched me intently as I took my first few shots, then he fixed my stance and the position of my hands before telling me to aim again. I hit the edge of the target this time. I was so excited that my hands went straight up in the air, cueing Jake to rush over, grab the gun, and tell me to be more careful. He really does take gun safety seriously. By the time we were packing up, I had hit the target dead-on three times and I was dang proud of myself.

On the way back to the house, I remembered that we were supposed to be having an “unofficial” war. Jake had been so serious when he was teaching me to shoot, I had completely forgotten about our little competition. I decided I had better step up my game.

Jake was driving our four wheeler so I slid a little closer, removing any gap that was between us, and pressed myself against him. His back went rigid, and I awarded myself my first unofficial point. “Point Emma,” I said out loud, knowing he couldn’t hear me over the sound of the four wheeler.

Jake slowed down until we fell behind everyone else. When we finally parked the four wheeler, the rest of the group had gone inside to get lunch. Jake helped me off and then pulled me into him. I had definitely gotten to him. He hovered his lips over mine. “Emma,” he breathed. He ran his thumb over my jawline, turning my head as he lowered his lips to my neck, stopping right before he made contact. He blew a breath down my neck, causing a shiver to run down my spine and a small gasp to escape my lips. He raised his lips to my ear and whispered, “Point Jake.”

He stepped back wearing that sexy smirk. What the heck? He totally heard me award myself a point earlier. All of that was just to get a rise out of me. “OK.” I gave him my best game face. “Point Jake. But I hope you enjoyed that because that’s the last one you’re going to get today.” I turned and started to walk toward the house, throwing a little extra hip into every step.

When we got inside, sandwich stuff had been pulled out onto the center island in the kitchen. Everyone was either sitting and eating their sandwich or still in the process of making one.

“Bout time. I was worried you two got lost,” Maya teased as she put the finishing touches on her sandwich.

I walked over to where she was and started making my own sandwich. “Jake here started driving the pace of a turtle.”

“Yeah, I noticed. Weird how that happens.”

Normally Maya teasing me would have made my cheeks turn bright red, but I was preoccupied with beating Jake so I was only half listening. “Mmhm. Yep.” I scanned the counter, obviously distracted. I picked up the mayonnaise and a piece of bread.

“Em, that’s mayo. You don’t even like…”

“Here, Maya, hold this for a sec.” I quickly shoved a piece of bread in her hand. “Oh shoot!” I blurted out, after squeezing mayo onto a part of her hand that wasn’t touching the bread. “My bad. Totally missed the bread.”

“Eww! Em. What the…”

I cut her off again, grabbing her hand and palming my butt. “Maya! Why would you do that? You got mayo all over me!” I grabbed a paper towel and looked over both my shoulders like I was trying to see where all the mayo got on my shorts.

I walked over to the other side of the counter where Jake was standing and pouted, “Maya just got this crap all over me. I was going to wear these again. Can you please help? I can’t see where all of it is.” I gave him one more frustrated look before turning toward the counter and resting my forearms on the granite while bending over so he could see where all the “mayo” was. “Can you see it?” I whined.

“Yeah, Em. It’s everywhere. Hold on, give me that paper towel. Maya, why the hell would you do this?”

Maya leaned back against the opposite counter eyeing me as she spoke with an amused grin, “I just don’t know what came over me.” She took a bite of her sandwich and watched as Jake attempted to clean off all the mayo.

I handed Jake one more paper towel and knew he wouldn’t be needing another one as he let his hand slowly move across my backside one last time, lingering a little longer than needed.

“Alright. We got most of it,” he let out in a strained tone.

I turned around to face him. “Thanks, Jake. I really appreciate it.” A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as I slid my arms around him to give him a hug and then leaned up to whisper in his ear, “Point Emma.”

I began to pull out of his arms while realization swept over his face. “Oh you want to fight dirty, do you?” I gulped as I strained to free myself from his grip, but he was quicker and stronger. Once he had a solid grip on me, he threw me over his shoulder. “Alright then, Blondie. Let’s fight dirty!”

“Jake!” I shrieked, while tirelessly trying to free myself. “When are you going to stop hoisting me over your shoulder and carrying me places?”

“Whenever you stop giving me a reason to,” he chuckled. At the door, Jake stopped and turned toward the kitchen. “Grab a victim guys, we’ve got a bit of a walk.”

“Do it and die,” Maya threatened Evan as Jake opened the door.

Realizing my efforts to escape were futile, I once again resorted to resting my chin in my hands as Jake walked us outside. I watched through the door as Alli squealed when Spencer snatched her up and fell in line behind us. Maya, on the other hand, was shooting daggers at both Heath and Evan, silently warning both of them on the way out the door and the entire time we were walking.

I couldn’t see where we were going, but I watched as the ground turned from manicured lawn to solid dirt. The air also went from fresh with a hint of flowers to a pungent scent that matched the surroundings. It felt like we had been walking forever when Jake finally stopped. “Am I finally getting too heavy for ya there, cowboy?”

“Not even close. Evan, help a guy out, would ya?” Jake called out as he nodded to something in front of him. I tried to turn and get a peek at what he was nodding at, but all I could see was the side of what looked like a barn. “Em, would you stop fidgeting? You’ll see soon enough.”

A knowing grin spread across Evan’s face as he eagerly agreed. I knew something was wrong as soon as Maya started to back away, and then I heard it turn on. “Evan, don’t you dare!”

“Oh, don’t be such a baby, Em. It’s just a little water. And you did ask me to help you clean all the mayo off, didn’t you? Now what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t help you out?” He tightened his grip around me. “Go ahead, man. Let’s make sure she gets nice and clean.”

I let out a scream as soon as the water hit my skin. It was so cold. I started squirming more furiously than I had earlier. As soon as I could get down from here they were so dead, both of them.

The water made it harder for Jake to hold on to me. He eventually lost his grip, bellowing over in laughter once I was free. “Point Jake,” he choked out between laughs. I would deal with him later. For now, I had to get that dang hose away from Evan and off of me. I eagerly took a step forward toward Evan, not thinking about the ground also being wet – until I slipped back into Jake, knocking us both down into what was now mud. 

“Dude. Evan. We got a dry one over here,” Spencer prodded.

“Well then, let me help you out with that,” Evan moved the hose from me to Alli, who broke out into a fit of giggles. “Spence, move her over here. That way neither one of them can get too dry.”

Jake was still on my hit list, but when I heard that the hose was coming back Evan became my top priority – again. Plus, Jake already had mud on his backside and that would do for now. I scrambled up, being more careful with my footwork than I had earlier, and went straight for Evan. I made sure to sling some mud back with my foot at Jake as I moved forward. “Maya! A little help here!” As soon as my words were out, Evan moved the hose back toward me and began alternating the water flow between Alli and I.

“Nah. Looks like you got it handled over there, Em!” Maya proclaimed loudly as I heard Jake, a little too late, come up behind me.

“Oh no you don’t,” Jake had a playful edge to his voice as he wrapped his arms around my waist. “You got me all covered in mud. The least I can do is return the favor.” He wrestled me down to the ground before smearing mud on my cheek.

“Maya!” I screamed.

“Fine, bitch. I’m coming!” She tried her best to sound annoyed but even she couldn’t choke back all of her laughter.

“Go for the hose!” I yelled, while trying to stop Jake from smashing a glob of mud on my chest.

“What?”

“Get the freakin’ hose, Maya! The hose!”

I knew she heard me when Evan started shouting, “Hey. Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, hey! One step closer and…”

“I’ve been hit!” There was no hiding the shock in Maya’s voice. “Evan, surrender the damn hose!”

“Never!” he shouted. “Holy crap! She got it! We lost the hose! Repeat, we lost the hose!”

At his confession, Jake turned his attention toward Evan and chunked a handful of mud at him. “Son of a...Jake! We are supposed to be on the same team, moron!”

“Hey!” Alli piped up. “Heath doesn’t have a drop of mud or water on him.”

We all stopped and looked over at Heath. Sure enough, he was totally clean. Too clean. Before he could protest, Jake threw a glob of mud his direction that hit him in the back of the head.

“Seriously?” Heath barked, whipping around to face Jake and me. “Who threw that?”

Without missing a beat, Jake pointed at me and shrugged innocently. My jaw dropped and I gasped, “Liar! I can’t believe you just threw me under the bus!”

Once Heath was involved, it turned into an all out girls versus guys muddy, water war; although, I’m pretty sure Jake was throwing mud at whoever was close to him. When everyone else picked up on that little fact, it turned into a free for all.

I don’t know how long we had all been engaged in our mud war, but someone let out a catcall sort of whistle, cueing the rest of us to stop. I looked around and found Maya laying face up in the mud with her arms wrapped around Evan’s neck. Both of them were looking into each other’s eyes and wearing big, goofy grins. If I didn’t know any better, I would say that the two of them just kissed.

Realizing they had an audience, Evan climbed off Maya and then helped her up. When Maya looked over at me, I raised one eyebrow and gave her a questioning look. The smile on her face grew and confirmed my suspicion. That little tramp! I can’t believe she didn’t tell me.