out of the house with a big bowl of potato salad that he added to the table.
His huge frame and broad shoulders combined with his dirty blond hair, stubble and bright, light blue eyes made my mouth dry.
Unlike Josh, who had a leaner, athletic body, Jake was huskier, but strong. A fact made very obvious by the outline of his biceps in his navy-blue shirt.
Despite his downtrodden expression, when his eyes met mine he gave me a small smile and I felt my heartbeat quicken, my breathing become uneven, and the palms of my hands start to sweat at the sight of him.
Pathetic. Completely pathetic, Annika.
You are not a thirteen year old girl, and he is not a skinny jeans wearing, floppy haired member of a boyband. Stop acting like a deranged fangirl.
CHAPTER 6
Jacob
How the hell does she look more gorgeous each time I see her?
The long sleeved pink dress she was wearing was loose on her, but the colour complimented her caramel skin perfectly. I dragged my eyes away from Niki’s flushed face when there was a commotion at the door.
“Why would we want to see the garden, Alex? We know what it looks like, we live here. First the mall and now this. Are you feeling alright, darling? Come here and let me feel if you have a temperature,” Aunt Deb said, and Alex’s heavily tattooed arm appeared as he opened the door.
He quickly moved out of the way when Aunt Deb and Uncle Jeremy came into view.
“SURPRISE! Happy Anniversary!” Addie shouted first, followed by most other people a couple of seconds later, and some even later than that, so all that met Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Deb was a general shout of indistinguishable noise.
“Really, people? That was painful,” Addie said, and turned to glare at everyone before walking up the steps towards our aunt and uncle, as a few people started laughing at what a failure the greeting had been.
Aunt Deb gasped, and tears immediately filled her eyes as she took in the decorated yard and all her family and friends.
“Oh my, this is amazing.” She opened her arms and squished Addie and Alex together in a big hug. “Thank you, my babies.”
She released them and wrapped her arms around Uncle Jeremy’s waist, burying her face in his chest as happy tears fell down her cheeks.
“We raised some mighty good kids,” Uncle Jeremy said, squeezing her lovingly as he looked at all of us with pride.
I cleared the lump that had formed in my throat as Aunt Deb and Uncle Jeremy walked through the crowd greeting people and thanking them for coming.
Not feeling in the mood to socialise, I was about to make my quiet escape when Aunt Deb blocked my path, peering into my eyes discerningly.
“What’s wrong, pumpkin?”
Oh, balls. Is she psychic or something? Damn witch woman.
It wasn’t entirely surprising that she could read me like a book. I had practically grown up as her shadow. Whenever Aunt Deb was in the kitchen, I’d been at her side, more than happy to be her assistant or her guinea pig when she wanted to try new recipes.
She’d been the reason I’d found what I loved to do, a shared love of cooking was the way we had bonded. Cooking was more than just a way to provide meals; Aunt Deb had taught me that putting food on a table for your family was a way of showing that you cared about them.
The bond that we shared ran deep, and it was obvious to me that I was her favourite child, no matter how much my siblings argued otherwise.
I hadn’t seen her since she’d come back from her cruise, so they’d thankfully missed all the drama that had been happening at the restaurant. It hadn’t been a topic I was looking forward to talking to them about.
“Nothing’s wrong,” I said quickly and kissed her on the cheek. “Happy Anniversary, Aunt Deb. You’re as beautiful as you were on your wedding day.”
“Flattery will get you nowhere. You tell me what’s wrong, right now,” she said firmly in a tone which warned she would not let the subject go, until she got the
His huge frame and broad shoulders combined with his dirty blond hair, stubble and bright, light blue eyes made my mouth dry.
Unlike Josh, who had a leaner, athletic body, Jake was huskier, but strong. A fact made very obvious by the outline of his biceps in his navy-blue shirt.
Despite his downtrodden expression, when his eyes met mine he gave me a small smile and I felt my heartbeat quicken, my breathing become uneven, and the palms of my hands start to sweat at the sight of him.
Pathetic. Completely pathetic, Annika.
You are not a thirteen year old girl, and he is not a skinny jeans wearing, floppy haired member of a boyband. Stop acting like a deranged fangirl.
CHAPTER 6
Jacob
How the hell does she look more gorgeous each time I see her?
The long sleeved pink dress she was wearing was loose on her, but the colour complimented her caramel skin perfectly. I dragged my eyes away from Niki’s flushed face when there was a commotion at the door.
“Why would we want to see the garden, Alex? We know what it looks like, we live here. First the mall and now this. Are you feeling alright, darling? Come here and let me feel if you have a temperature,” Aunt Deb said, and Alex’s heavily tattooed arm appeared as he opened the door.
He quickly moved out of the way when Aunt Deb and Uncle Jeremy came into view.
“SURPRISE! Happy Anniversary!” Addie shouted first, followed by most other people a couple of seconds later, and some even later than that, so all that met Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Deb was a general shout of indistinguishable noise.
“Really, people? That was painful,” Addie said, and turned to glare at everyone before walking up the steps towards our aunt and uncle, as a few people started laughing at what a failure the greeting had been.
Aunt Deb gasped, and tears immediately filled her eyes as she took in the decorated yard and all her family and friends.
“Oh my, this is amazing.” She opened her arms and squished Addie and Alex together in a big hug. “Thank you, my babies.”
She released them and wrapped her arms around Uncle Jeremy’s waist, burying her face in his chest as happy tears fell down her cheeks.
“We raised some mighty good kids,” Uncle Jeremy said, squeezing her lovingly as he looked at all of us with pride.
I cleared the lump that had formed in my throat as Aunt Deb and Uncle Jeremy walked through the crowd greeting people and thanking them for coming.
Not feeling in the mood to socialise, I was about to make my quiet escape when Aunt Deb blocked my path, peering into my eyes discerningly.
“What’s wrong, pumpkin?”
Oh, balls. Is she psychic or something? Damn witch woman.
It wasn’t entirely surprising that she could read me like a book. I had practically grown up as her shadow. Whenever Aunt Deb was in the kitchen, I’d been at her side, more than happy to be her assistant or her guinea pig when she wanted to try new recipes.
She’d been the reason I’d found what I loved to do, a shared love of cooking was the way we had bonded. Cooking was more than just a way to provide meals; Aunt Deb had taught me that putting food on a table for your family was a way of showing that you cared about them.
The bond that we shared ran deep, and it was obvious to me that I was her favourite child, no matter how much my siblings argued otherwise.
I hadn’t seen her since she’d come back from her cruise, so they’d thankfully missed all the drama that had been happening at the restaurant. It hadn’t been a topic I was looking forward to talking to them about.
“Nothing’s wrong,” I said quickly and kissed her on the cheek. “Happy Anniversary, Aunt Deb. You’re as beautiful as you were on your wedding day.”
“Flattery will get you nowhere. You tell me what’s wrong, right now,” she said firmly in a tone which warned she would not let the subject go, until she got the
Similar Books
