Home to You by Taylor Sullivan Read Free Book Online Page A

the phone until I promised that Kevin hadn’t hurt me. To be honest, I think I called him because I wanted that kind of reaction. I knew he’d want to break Kevin’s arms, and there was something strangely comforting about that.  
    When I finished combing through my hair, I peeked out to the bedroom to see a stack of boxes already inside. The door to the hallway was closed, so I opened the first box hoping to find something clean to wear.
    The door to the bedroom flew open, and I let out a little scream.  
    “Oh shit,” Jake muttered, shifting his eyes to the floor. “This is the last of it, I’ll just come back later.” He turned to leave, but I shook my head determined not to make things awkward between us.
      “Jake, it’s okay.” My voice was tight, and I held the edge of my towel firmly at my chest, but we’d lived together almost a year, for Christ’s sake. He’d seen me like this a thousand times. “You can just put it on the bed.”  
    He nodded, then placed the box on the bed before he turned around. “Eaton and I are going to return the truck, is there any paperwork we need?”
    “Who’s Eaton?”
    He scratched the back of his neck and looked into my eyes. I almost laughed at how obvious he was about not looking down. “Sorry, I mean John. There are a few of them at work, so I call him by his last name there.”  
    “Oh.” I chewed on my nail when he continued to stare at me.  
    “So…?”  
    “What?” I felt the blood rush to my face.  
    “Do we need paperwork for the truck return?”  
    Oh, God! Idiot!  
    “Oh—no—I don’t think so. Do you need me to go with you? I just need to get dressed. It’ll only take a minute.” I pulled open the box and began shifting through my less than stellar pack job.  
    Jake laughed. “No, we’re good. I don’t think there’s room in the cab anyway. Stay here and get settled.”  
    I covered my face, feeling like a jerk. “Okay.”  
    He bit his lower lip and smiled at me. “Are you up for company tonight? We thought we’d pick up a few pizzas.”  
    “Sure, that sounds great.”  
    “It’s good to have you back, Kit Kat.” He looked at me sideways as he walked out of the room, and I was left grinning, breathless, and completely in over my head.  

JAKE UNNERVED ME. HE TURNED me into a quivering mess simply by his presence in a room. No other man had ever done that—not even Kevin.  
    When I was in San Diego, it was easy to convince myself it was all just something my body had become accustomed to. Like Pavlov, and his theory of classical conditioning. Jake was the ticking metronome, and I was the salivating dog.  
    I thought with three years of separation I’d be able to control myself, but the minute I felt the backs of his callused fingers run across my cheek, it was over.   
    What was it about him? How could he make my toes curl and all the air leave the room with one of his smiles? Standing there with only a towel shielding my naked body, my only thought had been of running a finger along the cleft of his chin. To reach out and touch the scruff of his face and the masculine edge of his jaw. I didn’t dare venture any farther south.  
    Digging through my boxes, I searched for the rest of my running gear. Jake would be back from the truck return soon, and I needed to get rid of some of this tension coursing through my veins. I threw my still-damp hair in a ponytail, dressed in my shorts and tank top, and slipped on my running shoes before heading out the door.  
    When my feet hit the pavement, I felt the familiar burn of my thighs and knew it would only be a few minutes before my mind went blank and peace washed over me. I’d started running in San Diego, when I hadn’t known a single person and needed a way to escape from the grief of losing Dave. But if I was being completely honest, it was the loss of Jake, too. Yes, moving had been my choice, leaving my doing, but it still felt like abandoning another