The Summer of Jake by Rachel Bailey Page B

Jake.”
    Ouch. Those words stung. And she was right. I already knew we couldn’t have a fling—not with Kelly’s best friend—and here I was flirting anyway.
    Yeah, the apple never fell far from the tree.
    You’re just like me. You’ll never amount to anything.
    “Okay.” I winced when my voice came out more of a rasp. I’d caused this, which meant it was my responsibility to get us back on an even keel, so I shrugged as carelessly as I could and found a smile. “Come on, let’s get some lunch before we start shopping. I think I’ll need the strength.”
    Over sushi in a little hole-in-the-wall place, I really began to wish I hadn’t put my damn arm around her. I just hadn’t been thinking. Now an awkward formality had sprung up between us, and I didn’t know how to fix it—or whether I should even try. Annalise ate her avocado sushi and pretended everything was fine while giving hesitant smiles and telling stilted stories. Maybe after we started shopping again, things would smooth out on their own.
    After lunch, we headed for a menswear shop. I picked up a green shirt with black pinstripes and held it against myself for Annalise’s opinion.
    “That’s nice, Jake,” she said with a tentative smile. “Try it on with this one, and I’ll keep looking.” She handed me a black shirt with a white and gray pattern before turning away.
    “Okay.” The last thing I saw as I closed the door to the changing room was Annalise flicking through racks of clothes.
    As I pulled my T-shirt over my head then unbuttoned the black and white shirt, I was suddenly aware of the intimacy of this arrangement. I was standing bare-chested, almost within reach of Annalise, about to put on clothes she’d picked out for me. I’d been shirtless around women before. In fact, given the amount of time I’d spent at the beach over my life, I’d probably spent almost as much time without a shirt on as the time I was covered. But it was different today. More so even than it had been at the first shop. Why was that?
    I slid my arms through the sleeves, feeling the cool fabric where it touched my skin and again thought of Annalise waiting just outside. Thought of her skin.
    Crap. Why did my mind keep wandering to her? Stripping the shirt off, I blinked hard and shook my head, unwilling to let my brain put sexy thoughts and Annalise together. She was off-limits.
    I’d tried long-term once—had asked a girl I was crazy about to marry me, but she’d thrown my proposal back in my face. Turned out she knew me better than I’d known myself back then, and, now that I was wiser, I wouldn’t make the same mistake again. I couldn’t manage a long-term relationship, and anything else would be asking for trouble with Annalise.
    I threw the green shirt on and stepped out the changing room door. Annalise’s gaze went to the black and white shirt sitting lopsided on its hanger. “Did you try that one already?”
    Nodding, I grabbed it and thrust it at the sales assistant standing nearby. “It didn’t feel right.”
    “Okay, good,” Annalise said. “If we’re going to work out what your personal style is, then how the clothes make you feel is important. What about this one?”
    I looked down at the shirt as it hung on my frame. The only thing that mattered was that I hadn’t been thinking about Annalise’s skin when I tried it on, so it felt neutral. “This one’s fine.”
    We bought the green shirt and picked up another pair of slacks in an adjoining store before I had to call a time-out. There were only so many clothes stores I could enter before I went insane.
    “I’m not used to this much shopping. I think that’s all I can stand in one day. Tell you what, how about I take you out for dinner to thank you for the time and effort you’ve spent on me?”
    A small frown line appeared between her eyebrows. “I don’t think…”
    I blew out a breath. If we were to keep working together during this makeover, I needed to find a way