Home to You by Taylor Sullivan Read Free Book Online

work together.” His hand was still extended, and I quickly recovered enough from the sister reference to not be rude. Of course Jake would introduce me as his sister. I shouldn’t have been surprised…but I was.  
    “Katie,” I said, finally finding my voice and giving him my hand.  
      “It’s nice to meet you, Katie.”  
    The way he said my name made me blush. Like he was talking about chocolate, or ice cream, or something else equally as delicious. I looked to the ground to hide my embarrassment. “Thanks for the help.”  
    “No problem,” he replied softly.
    The door to the house opened, and we both turned to see Jake step into the garage. “Hey. You didn’t tell me your sister was such a fox,” John said.  
    Jake raised one brow, then walked toward me and draped an arm over my shoulder. “I see you’ve met John.”  
    I cleared my throat. “Yes, and you didn’t have to rope him into helping me, I’m pretty strong, you know.” I glared up at him, but his attention was focused on the truck.  
    “How many of these boxes do you need inside?” he asked, pulling away to grab one of the dollies from the back of the garage.  
    “Umm, just a few. I marked the ones I need with red tape.”
    He looked down at me, his eyes creased with amusement and surprise. “Wow Katie, I’m impressed.”
    I gave him a playful punch in the ribs. I guess I wasn’t always the most organized in the past.  
    “See what I put up with?” he asked John.  
    “It’s okay, Katie, Jake’s just a wimp. You stick with me, I like my women rough.” John winked, and I couldn’t help but laugh. What was going on?  
    Jake cleared his throat, and I could tell he wasn’t happy about John’s flirtation. He never liked it when guys flirted with me though. Neither had Dave.  
    When Jake lowered the ramp of the truck, he peered into the back and looked over his shoulder with an arched brow. “Dirty?” he asked, referring to the box in the very front. “I don’t even want to know.”  
    “Shut up.” I shook my head. “I didn’t have time to do laundry.”  
    “Yeah, okay,” he teased.
    John grabbed the other dolly and smiled at me as he climbed the ramp. “Dirty and rough. My kind of girl.”  

    It didn’t take me long to realize I wasn’t needed, plus John kept making comments that made my cheeks flame red. When Jake came out of the house for the third load, I dismissed myself and headed to my room for a shower.  
    As I waited for the water to warm, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. There were bags under my eyes from little sleep; my hair, which started in long braids, now looked like something a bird had tried to nest in; and there was a coffee stain on the front of my light blue shirt. Great. I closed my eyes and began to work the tangles from my hair until loose waves fell to my shoulders.  
    When I stepped under the hot stream, I let some of the past week wash down the drain and tried to force myself to relax. It had been one of the worst of my life, but at least it was over. I needed to move on and focus on the next chapter. I grabbed the shampoo and conditioner Jake left for me and couldn’t stop myself from inhaling the clean herbal scent. It smelled like him. There was something intimate and comforting about that.  
    Five minutes later, I wrapped one of the white towels tightly around my body and stood in front of the mirror again to brush my teeth.  
    Jake has a girlfriend . For some reason my mind couldn’t let that go. He hadn’t said anything about her when I called last week, and you’d think that would’ve been an important detail not to forget. Well, to me anyway.  
    But to be fair, I guess I didn’t give him the chance. He’d been the first person I thought of when I got the confirmation of Kevin’s infidelity, and when I talked to him, I might have been slightly hysterical. I probably scared the shit out of him. Actually, I know I did. He wouldn’t let me hang up