“We’ll talk later, Tess. Yeah?” he somewhat repeated, and I blinked.

“Yeah,” I repeated too.

“Promise me, babe.”

I stared at him, not sure why he needed that. I didn’t play games with him, not at all. Not even when Martha told me I should, repeatedly. Test the waters. Test him. Don’t be too available. Don’t let on how much I liked him.

But I was too old for that shit and I’d never had a man like Jake. There was no way I was going to fuck it up with games.

So now I didn’t get where he was going with his need for a promise.

But still, he asked and I’d give him anything he asked. Anything. Even from the very beginning.

“Promise,” I whispered.

He nodded.

Then he asked, “You sleep naked?”

A shiver I couldn’t quite read slithered over my skin. It wasn’t bad but it also wasn’t good.

“No,” I answered.

“Don’t start tonight,” he ordered.

Then he leaned in, his hand not in the bed coming to cup the back of my head. He pulled me to him and kissed me hard and wet.

His mouth released mine but he allowed me to pull back only an inch before his hand, still at the back of my head, put pressure on to stop my retreat and his eyes locked with mine.

“We’ll talk later,” he whispered.

Then his hand disappeared because he disappeared.

Gone.

I listened to my front door close.

Then I collapsed back on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

One could not say that Jake Knox was not a complicated man, he was. And although I knew him, I had no freaking clue.

But that whole scene was wild.

Then again, Jake—with his motorcycle boots, his bike, his beat-up pickup, his old T-shirts that fit way too well, his faded jeans that fit better, his dark brown, longish, unruly hair, his silvery-gray eyes that told a million stories without giving away a thing, his capacity to drink beer, down shots, eat hearty, howl at the moon, and kiss so hard it was like he knew it was the last moment for every being on earth and he was going to make the most of it—was wild.

Being with Jake was like the ride I once took on a mechanical bull. You could not even begin to guess which way that thing would buck. All you could do was hold on as tight as you could and enjoy the ride for as long as you had it.

So I needed to cool it.

It would all be okay.

I got up, put on underwear and a nightie, went to bed, and turned off the light.