Jubilee checked her phone for what felt like the thousandth time that day. Irritation filled her when she saw that Heath hadn’t texted her. He hadn’t texted her since theirencounterat the bar last Saturday. Now it was Friday, and Jubilee was itching to finish work and march over to his house.Or so she thought. She didn’t know if she had the balls to do that. What had she been thinking, making that bargain with him? When she’d gotten home and slept off the alcohol, she’d woken up with almost more regret than pain in her head. But she’d been so frustrated at him interfering that she’d wanted to shock him. She hadn’t expected him to say yes.She hadn’t told Megan or Abby what had happened with Heath. She’d only said that she’d decided that Ash Younger wasn’t the guy for her and she’d “try out” a different one that weekend. If Megan had sounded skeptical when Jubilee had told her this on Monday, she hadn’t tried to pry any further information from her, either.“Jubi, hey? D
“Here you go,” Jubilee said as she handed the Americano and blueberry muffin to a woman not much younger than her. “Is that all?”“I haven’t had a muffin in six months.” The girl inhaled the scent of sugar and blueberries and moaned aloud. “I’m tempted to buy all of them and eat them in one go.”Jubilee laughed. “Maybe just start with one. Although our pumpkin spice muffin is really good, too.”The girl groaned, paid for her food, and left before she could be tempted further. It was mid-morning, and the early morning rush had petered out.Jubilee drummed her fingers against the counter. She’d already wiped down all the tables and organized the baked goods in the glass case after the usual morning depletion. Megan was currently in the back finishing up a batch of bread, and Jubilee could smell it baking. Even though she’d been working here for two years now, her stomach still rumbled at how amazing it always smelled.Had it really been two years since she’d moved out of her parents
An hour into her date with Brian, Jubilee rather wished she’d stayed home. Watching some trashy reality show on TV would’ve been more exciting than listening to Brian talk about which Star Trekseries was the best one.“Enterpriseis best, butDiscoveryis my second favorite.” Brian took a swig of his pale ale, his third one for the night. “Have you ever watchedStar Trek?”Jubilee forced a smile. “No, I haven’t.”“Oh, then I need to tell you where to start. People think you should start with the first episode filmed, but I totally disagree with that.” Brian whipped out his phone and began to text her something. “I sent you the best-watching order, including all of the movies. Except the most recent movie, which was trash.”Jubilee drank her wine and considered if it would really be rude to go to the bathroom and never come back. Brian was perfectly nice, but he wasboring.He’d barely asked her anything about herself. She had a feeling if she ask
Fair Haven wasn’t exactly a town with a lot of big events like concerts and festivals, other than the annual pumpkin festival in the fall, but when Jubilee saw on Facebook that a local band was playing at a newly opened club downtown, she bought a ticket without hesitation. She’d somehow managed to go twenty-five years without ever going to a concert, other than some school concert as a kid.She considered texting Megan to go with her, but then she decided that she’d rather go alone. She didn’t want to answer any questions. Megan already suspected something was up, especially when Jubilee only told her that her date with Brian had been mediocre at best.Brian had texted a few times since their date. Jubilee eventually told him that she wasn’t interested in a second date, although she wished him well. To her relief, he didn’t bother her again. She just hoped she didn’t run into him again.Saturday night, she arrived at the concert and found herself in a mass of people that smelled li
When Rose opened the door, she gave Heath a single long look before stating, “You need a drink. Pronto.”Heath wouldn’t disagree with that assessment. With a short laugh, he nodded and gratefully took the beer Rose handed him. Callie, Rose’s German shepherd, padded after them both before curling up on her dog bed.“Heath,” Seth said as he stood up from the living room couch. Seth and Rose had moved into a bigger apartment together recently, although Heath had given Rose a bit of a talking-to about living with a man before marrying him. Rose had countered that this wasn’t the nineteenth century and that she and Seth would get married—eventually.“Seth. Nice to see you.” Heath and Seth had graduated to an amicable relationship when it had once been more heated. Heath had been protective of Rose after everything she’d gone through, while Seth had been falling in love with Rose and struggling to accept that he’d given his entire heart to her.Seeing Rose now, Heath had to acknowledge t
Jubilee swore as she searched through her jewelry for the pair of earrings she needed. It didn’t help that her hands were shaking and her heart was pounding like crazy. Her nerves were close to getting the best of her.She finally gave up looking for the earrings and decided it wouldn’t matter anyway. She was planning to get naked, right? She blushed at the mere thought.Tonight she would up the stakes: she and Heath wouldn’t just be doing flirting or kissing lessons. This would become a full-scale seduction.With one last puff of hairspray and check for a shiny nose, Jubilee headed out, teetering on heels she’d worn all of once. She couldn’t exactly go to a man’s home, telling him she wanted him to take her virginity, wearing yoga pants and no makeup, right? She had to seem serious, even if that meant her feet would complain about it later.When Jubilee was at Heath’s door, she hesitated, her fist raised to knock. What the hell was she doing? She was crazy. Heath would take one lo
The week before Thanksgiving—and days after her first seduction lesson—Heath sent Jubilee a text saying that he had to go out of town that weekend.A teacher training in Seattle, he wrote.Super boring. I’d rather stay in town with you.That last line made her heart flutter. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about that night, or how amazing Heath had been. And they hadn’t officially had sex yet! She had a feeling when they got to the actual sex, she might not survive it.I wish you had stayed here, then,she replied after she arrived home from The Rise and Shine that Friday night.What am I supposed to do tonight? Netflix and chill by myself?Don’t you have twenty siblings you can hang out with? :)Jubilee laughed.No, thanks. I see them enough as it is.Besides, she thought, the last thing she needed was for one of her nosy older brothers to see how happy and distracted she was and put two and two together. Especially Harrison. He was still suspicious
“Rich attacked her.” Seth stood over them both. He looked like a grim specter, and Heath knew the only reason Seth wasn’t out there hunting Rich down was because Rose needed him to stay close by.“I was walking Callie,” Rose said, the dog in question lying at her feet. “She started barking right when Rich tried to—” She swallowed. “I don’t even know. Kidnap me? Scare me? He tried to drag me away, but Callie attacked him. She bit him in the leg right when Seth arrived. I’d left my gun at home. Stupid. I know better.”“Not your fault. You should be able to walk home without being afraid.” Heath wrapped an arm around Rose, although he wondered if he was comforting himself more than he was comforting her. “What happened to Rich?”Seth narrowed his eyes. “He ran. Only reason I didn’t break his fucking neck was because Rose told me not to.”That caused Rose to smile slightly. “I’m so sorry I stopped you from murdering someone.”“For you, I’d kill anyone who’d try to hurt you.”Heath si