CHAPTER96
We have lunch on the main deck with the rest of the party, eating chicken Caesar salad and drinking wine, relaxing on the padded double loungers in the mid-day sun. Jake’s beside me, leaning toward Daniel’s lounger, his strong back covered in a pale gray T-shirt; they’re talking about a New York Giant’s game they recently went to at the MetLife Stadium. I’m facing the lounger with Richard and Leila; she and I are engrossed in girl talk and making plans. She agrees to take me to the mainland for some girly shopping and to a salon to get my hair cut.
I catch Jake staring back at me as she picks up strands of my hair, talking about cutting it short; he frowns when she mentions a really short pixie style, but I shrug it off. I wonder what he’s thinking. He seems only half tuned in to what Daniel is saying and more interested in how much of my tawny locks are to be shorn off.
“I think maybe you would suit shoulder length.” Leila’s sweet little voice breaks into my thoughts. The girl is the dictionary definition of a perky blonde, all smiles and cuteness, ample boobs, and gentle curves.
“Maybe.” I pick up a strand too, twirling it as I look at it, considering it. I catch Jake watching me again and this time lock eyes. I want to know what he thinks but I don’t want to openly ask his opinion.
“What’s wrong with how it is?” he breaks in with a frown, making Leila crease her pretty face, but he pushes in anyway.
“Jake, men have no clue. Women like a drastic change every so often,” Leila quips at him with a beaming smile.
“If it’s not broke, then don’t fix it,” Jake replies, raising his eyebrows as his eyes skim my hair, an air of hostility brewing.
“Maybe it’s not broken, but it can definitely be revamped. Women do like to shake it up every so often, try on a new look,” she sasses him back. This has comedy-battle between two obviously good friends written all over it.
“It’s my hair!” I point out, putting my hands up between the two of them. Jake reaches out, takes a strand and tucks it behind my ear, his eyes skimming it again as though he’s thinking about something, and he doesn’t seem happy.
“I like it how it is, but if you want to change it, then fine; it can always grow back,” he says in that childish sulking tone of his.
Leila smirks and I just laugh at him. He sounds like a boyfriend and definitely not a boss.
“Worried your girlfriend won’t get you all hot and bothered with short hair, Jacob?” Leila leans over me to prod her finger in Jake’s cheek. I open my mouth to correct her on the fact we’re most definitely not in a relationship, but Jake leans over me to shove Leila back.
“Shut up, wench. Emma has more sense than to let me be her boyfriend.” He sounds a little more serious than I think he means to, and I clamp shut.
“Oh right, I forgot. You’re just friends.” The honey-like way she says it makes both me and Jake throw her agreeable fake smiles. “I can see that,” she adds sarcastically.
“Really, we are.” My feeble attempt is almost ignored by her. She smiles and sighs loudly, throwing herself back on her lounger.
“Well then, you won’t care if I take her to get it all shaved off, will you?”
Jake just casts her a look that’s somewhere between a challenge and a glare, before turning to me with a friendlier look.
“Emma can do whatever she wants with her hair. She’ll always look beautiful.” Sulky vibes growing, he gets up, turns his back on us, and walks off to follow Daniel, who has gone to the table laden with lunch.
“Someone is not a happy little playboy today!” Leila grins and throws me a charming, feigned-innocent, smile. I am focused on that little lurch in my stomach from his calling me “beautiful”, pushing it down quickly. I don’t bother replying to Leila. I don’t even know how, if I am being honest. He certainly didn’t behave like my boss just then."
