The Debt 4 by Kelly Favor Read Free Book Online Page B

didn’t understand it at all.   There were so many women that would have
dropped to their knees in a heartbeat to let Jake Novak spank them, touch them,
kiss them, do all that and more.
    Yet he’d chosen Raven.
    Watching him sleep, she thought he looked
so peaceful, so beautiful, almost an angel.   And the truth was, even though his
presence in her life had pretty much exploded her normal reality, the tradeoff
so far had been well worth it.
    Being with Jake was frightening,
challenging, frustrating, intense and exciting like nothing else she’d ever
experienced.   And yet, despite all
of his mixed signals, Raven realized that she was beginning to trust him more
and more and more.
    When she actually thought about what he’d
done for her—helping Skylar when she was scared and in need, facing down
Club Alpha, bringing Raven in front of the media and treating her as his
girlfriend, holding her close when she was sad and crying…
    Looking at it objectively, Jake had
actually risked a lot and done a lot for her in a very short time.   They were spending nearly every waking
moment together, and now he had even taken to spending the night with her.
    Maybe, she thought, as she once again ran her
palm across Jake’s arm and shoulder and then down his beautifully smooth, rock
hard chest… Maybe he really is falling in
love with me.
    All
signs point to the fact that he is, whether he wants to admit it or not.
    Raven got chills thinking about it.
    Perhaps
Jake doesn’t want to admit what’s going on, but all you have to do is look at
the facts and it’s clear that he cares.
    Remember
what he said when you pushed him to say why he kept coming to your room?  
    I
couldn’t stop thinking about you, that’s what he said.
    Raven smiled to herself, and then
snuggled up even closer to him, drifting off into another peaceful sleep.
    When she woke up again, it was much later
and she felt strangely cold and empty.   Turning back to see Jake, she realized the emptiness was
literal—he wasn’t in bed with her anymore.
    The bathroom door was open and there was
nobody inside.   She listened and
heard nobody moving around outside the bedroom.
    Jake had left, exactly when, she couldn’t
be sure.
    Raven realized that she wanted to wake up
with Jake beside her, that she was already becoming addicted to the feel of him
holding her, of him being next to her, his body was like a drug.
    She wanted to see him wake up and smile
and make a joke.
    But he had gone, for whatever reason.
    Sitting up in bed, she reached for her
cell phone on the nightstand and found there was a text from Jake.
    Had
to go to my room 2 grab a shower etc.   Check on Skylar see how she is doing. I will make all arrangements for our trip to Mass.   We will there for a day maybe 2 at most.
Meet u in the lobby at noon to head out.
    Well that explained where Jake had
gone—back to his own room for a shower and to ready himself for their
upcoming trip.
    Raven still couldn’t quite accept that
they were going back to Southbridge together.   The whole notion was just surreal,
absurd, and fraught with risk to her emotional wellbeing.
    But there was no fighting it any longer,
as she’d already told her mother of the visit and Jake was expecting to go as
well.
    Jake seemed pretty convinced that this
would make a good photo op and lead to the kind of press they desperately
needed if he was going to stop being the punch-line on late night television
and cable news shows.
    What about Kurt, though? Raven wondered
as she slid off her t-shirt and turned on the shower, waiting for the water to
get sufficiently warm before stepping under the stream from the showerhead.
    What was Kurt’s angle?   He was the one who’d suggested sending
the two of them to her hometown, and it didn’t really make sense.   He wanted Raven out of the picture, but there
he was, arguing for her and Jake to spend even more time together.
    Perhaps he really had accepted that Jake
was going through