Take Me

“I wish I could have made it earlier,” he said. “Adam seems to think he’s the only one in the band who has a life. I get really sick of trying to get him to see beyond himself.”

Amanda chanced a glance at him. He was staring at where his thumb was igniting the nerve endings in her skin, but he didn’t seem to be seeing what he was doing.

“You didn’t miss much. Ten obnoxious screaming kids, sticky hands covered in pink frosting, a few tantrums, and one stomachache that ended badly in the kiddie pool.”

“Did Julie make a wish and blow out her candles?”

Amanda smiled, fighting the urge to stroke his dark hair. She adored that the man’s biggest weakness was a thirty-pound girl who loved strawberry ice cream. “Yeah. She got them all in one breath. She’s windy like her father.”

He laughed and jerked his hand from her knee as if he’d just noticed he was still touching her. “That probably wasn’t a good trait to inherit.”

“Sure it is. It’s part of what makes you an amazing singer.” She took her eyes off the road and found him staring at the dashboard. The turmoil in his pretty blue eyes broke her heart. “You know, I recorded Julie blowing out her candles on my cellphone.”

He sat up straighter, and a smile softened his hard features. “You did?”

“Get my phone out of my purse and you can watch it.”

He scowled at her purse, which was squashed between the front seats. “There are few things I won’t touch. A woman’s purse is one of them.”

“Why?” she asked. “Afraid you might find a tampon in there or something?”

“Ever since I saw the movie Mary Poppins as a kid, I’ve been leery of women’s purses. I don’t know if you have a coatrack in there or an alligator or a chainsaw.”

“Nope,” she said, “no chainsaws. No tampons either.” Just to make it perfectly clear that it was not her time of the month. In case he wanted to check out all the hot, throbbing wetness going on in her shorts.

He chuckled and stuck a tentative hand in her purse. His startled yell caused Amanda to stomp on the brakes. The horn of the car behind them blared.

“Oh, it’s just your wallet,” he said. “Thought it was an alligator.”

She slapped him in the arm repeatedly. “You scared the crap out of me.”

He poked her in the side, and she squirmed, the friction against the seat drawing her attention to how inappropriately turned on she was. Another horn blared as she drifted toward the oncoming lane. She was surprised she hadn’t hit a phone pole yet. It was exceedingly difficult to concentrate on the road with Jacob Silverton sitting next to her, smelling as amazing as he looked. She could only imagine how good he felt. Damn, she was horny. She needed to find the time to date more often.

Jacob located her cellphone and flicked his finger over the screen. “Hmm,” he murmured. “What’s this? A sex tape starring Amanda Lange?”

“What?” She made a grab for her phone—knowing damned well there weren’t any X-rated videos of herself stored on it. “I thought I erased that.”

“Ooo,” he said, holding the phone cradled in both hands. “I want to see this.”

An off-key rendition of “Happy Birthday to Julie” came from the tiny speakers on her phone. Jacob stared down at the screen completely mesmerized and if Amanda wasn’t mistaken, a teensy bit misty-eyed. She smiled. All talk. The man was all talk.

“Make a wish, Julie,” Tina’s voice said from the phone’s speaker.

“Like Aladdin?” Julie asked.

“Hurry, the candles are dripping.”

“I wish I is a princess. A really real princess.” There was a pause and then everyone clapped.

“See, you made her wish come true without even knowing about it,” Amanda said.

“This kid is going to be the death of me,” Jacob said. He replayed the video. Twice.

Her hand hovered above his thigh. She so wanted to touch him but ultimately couldn’t find the courage to do it and so fiddled with the air conditioner instead. She fleetingly wondered if it needed repaired. She was strangely overheated though the vents were directed toward her and blowing air at full blast. “I could send you videos of her, if you’d like.”

She turned onto the road that led to Jacob’s house, thinking that she should have driven like her grandfather—as if trying to throw a race to a snail. The drive had been much too short. She slowed until her foot was off the gas and they literally rolled the length of the final block. “I do babysit her a lot, you know. She thinks her Aunt Mander is pretty cool.” And someone had to look after the kid when Tina went shopping. Tina loved spending Jacob’s money. She tackled the task as if competing in an Olympic event.

“You’d do that for me?” Jacob said, turning in his seat and leaning into her field of view so he could look into her eyes.

“Yeah, of course I would. I should’ve thought of it sooner.”

“Thanks, Amanda. You’re a real sweetheart.”

She stifled a cringe. She didn’t want him to think of her as that one nice, forgettable girl. The one who guys always seemed to think of as their friend. Their buddy. She didn’t want to be called a real sweetheart. Not after Jacob had flirted with her ever so briefly moments before and made her believe her fondest wish could come true.

Amanda turned into Jacob’s drive and coasted to a halt behind his car.

“Um, Jacob?” she said. “Isn’t that your car?”

He didn’t answer her, just tore open the door and leapt out of her car. He was hugging the shiny black hood of the roadster before she could release her seat belt. She climbed out and went to stand beside him.

“I thought you said it was stolen.”

“I thought it had been.”

“Then how did it get here?”

“No idea.”

Amanda noted the piece of pink paper stuck under one wiper. She pulled it free and read the note aloud. “Shade, I know you won’t mind that I borrowed your car to beat you home. I’ll be in the hot tub waiting to rock your world, stud. It’s signed Veronica. And she dotted the i with a heart. How precious.” Amanda pretended not to be affected by the note, but she’d really been looking forward to spending the evening with him. Unfortunately, some other woman had beaten her to it. And unlike Amanda, Veronica probably had the self-confidence, beautiful face and hot body to actually attract someone like Jacob.

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