The Crush by Ward Penelope (best book recommendations txt) 📕

“I will eventually. But I don’t want him to worry. He’s got a lot on his plate now with the job search and all. So, if you don’t mind, don’t mention what I told you about the money. Let me tell him myself, okay?”

I nodded. “Okay. No worries. I won’t.”

“Thanks.”

“Are you…going to Linnea’s tonight?”

He shook his head. “Nah. I need a break.”

“Yeah. You’ve been spending a lot of time with her. Although, you shouldn’t really need a break from someone so early in a relationship.”

“It’s not a relationship,” he was quick to clarify.

“Something tells me she doesn’t see it that way.”

“Well, I never promised her anything. I don’t lead people on. I can’t help it if she draws the wrong conclusion.”

“If you hang out with someone several nights in a row, they’re going to draw certain conclusions, whether or not you define anything. I’m a girl. I know how we think.”

“Thank you for the reminder that you’re a girl.”

I laughed. “Smartass.”

“Anyway...” He sighed. “That’s why I’m taking a night off. It got to be too much. And I’m…not ready for that.”

I turned my body a little more toward him. “Can I ask you a personal question?”

“Depends on the question.”

“Do you think you’ll ever be ready for a serious relationship? Or do you just see yourself dating casually for the rest of your life, moving from one girl to the next?”

He sighed. “I can’t answer that.”

“Because you’re not sure?”

“Because I’ve never only wanted to be with one woman, yet I do feel like there’s probably someone out there who could make me not want anyone else. I just haven’t found that person. So the answer depends on something I don’t have control over.”

And now I was incredibly jealous of some fictitious, perfect woman who would get to have Jace all to herself one day—someone who could make him never need anyone else. She probably looked like a young Farrah Fawcett.

“I guess that’s a fair answer.”

He turned the tables. “What about you? Why haven’t I had to beat up any dudes trying to come around here lately?”

“Well, you missed one a few years back. I would’ve loved for you to beat his ass.”

His forehead crinkled. “Who was that?”

I sighed. “Jordan Rhodes. My high-school boyfriend. He broke up with me when he got a basketball scholarship to an out-of-state school. It wasn’t like I’d expected him to stay here for me. But he’d led me to believe we’d try to make it work, and then right before he left, he ended it.”

“He strung you along with false promises until it was time to leave.”

“Exactly.”

Jace grimaced. “It’s not too late, you know.”

“For what?”

“For me to beat his ass. Does he come home in the summer?”

I smiled. “I’ll let you know.”

“Seriously, though, very few people end up with their high school girlfriend or boyfriend. You remember Grace?”

Grace.

Ugh.

How could I forget Jace’s high school girlfriend? Jace and Grace. Gag me. She was enemy number one for a long time—the focus of much of my preteen angst. How I’d wanted to be Grace Wethers back then.

“Yeah. I do remember her.”

“I bet she’s relieved she didn’t end up with my ass. Breaking up with her was the best thing I ever did. She’s married to some plastic surgeon now. She just had a baby.”

“All thanks to you for breaking up with her?”

“Basically. She was in love with me and wouldn’t have been the first to end things. I did to her what that asshole did to you—broke up with her before I left for school, because I didn’t want to be tied down. But she was probably the closest I’ve ever come to loving someone.”

Jealousy coursed through me at the mention of him almost loving someone.

“And yet you let her go...”

“Yeah. I respected her. I knew I wasn’t going to be faithful in college. It all worked out for her in the end, though.”

I had to respect that, I guessed. “What about for you? No regrets there?” I braced for his answer.

“About not being with her? No. Not at all. It wasn’t meant to be.”

I, for one, was grateful Jace wasn’t married to his high school sweetheart right about now—even if I didn’t stand a chance in hell with him. At least he was still on the market.

Closing my eyes, I relished the last of the sun.

When I opened them a few minutes later, I was surprised to find that Jace’s eyes weren’t closed—they were on me.

Chapter 4

Jace

Nathan really needed to get out of the house and earn a little cash, so I hired him to help me out with some cleanup at one of our work sites on Saturday. When I went to check things out over there, he said he hadn’t eaten yet, so I decided to fetch lunch and bring it back.

Halfway to the restaurant, I realized I’d left my wallet at home. So I had no choice but to swing by the house to get it.

When I opened the door, Farrah was sitting on the floor in the living room with her legs crossed. She wore fitted yoga pants and a purple sports bra. Her belly ring sparkled against her tight stomach. I’d tried to put that “thing” that had happened between us in the pool a few days ago out of my mind. Walking in on her like this, though? It wasn’t helping.

She stood up from her exercise mat. “I thought you left to go check on Nathan.”

“Yeah. I went to pick up lunch for him and realized I forgot my wallet. I’m just gonna get it and head back out.” I pried my eyes upward. They wanted desperately to explore the soft mounds peeking out from her bra, even if that was wrong as hell.

She ran her hand along her hair. “Ah.”

Soft music played from the television, where I could see the menu of her yoga DVD. Two lit candles sat on the mantel at each side of the TV.

“Is this what you