Guilty Pleasures: A Collection Read Online Free PDF Page B

and Will were going out for the evening, Renee decided it was time for her to head back to the hotel. Tonight was the reunion's dinner and dance, which she was tempted to skip. But she couldn't avoid Jake forever. It was time for her to put on her big girl panties beneath the sexy red dress she'd bought for the party and deal with whatever happened next.

CHAPTER SIX
    After trying to find Renee all day long and failing at every turn, she was ridiculously easy to find at the reunion's dinner dance. In a form-fitting scarlet red sheath that stood out in a sea of black cocktail dresses, she was irresistible. And possibly, unattainable.
    Jake was grateful she'd shown up, because he wasn't leaving the reunion until they talked face-to-face. He had a lot of groveling to do, and that kind of persuasion was far more effective in person, than over the phone or Skype. But first, he had to get her alone.
    She was standing in a group of old friends, and hadn't spotted him yet, and when the band started up a slow tune, Jake took the opportunity to make his move. He came up behind her and touched her elbow to get her attention. As soon as she turned her head and realized it was him, the smile on her lips faded and wariness etched her features—which felt like a kick directly to the stomach.
    “Care to dance?” he asked.
    The look in her eyes said, “no”, but since they had a small audience watching them, she pasted on a polite smile and did the civil thing. “Sure.”
    Relieved that she'd given him at that much latitude, he led her out onto the dance floor and pulled her into his embrace, though her reluctance to be with him was as tangible as her stiff posture. After feeling her so soft and warm in his arms last night, her cool demeanor now felt so impossible to scale.
    “I know being with me is the last thing you want right now,” he said, hating the way she glanced over his shoulder as if she were dancing with a stranger, instead of looking in his eyes. “But I'd really like the chance to explain.”
    “You don't owe me any explanation, Jake,” she said, her tone flat and emotionless.
    “Yes, I do,” he said persistently. “Because you matter to me.”
    Finally, she looked at him. “Really?” she asked incredulously. “Is that why you withheld the very important fact that you have a daughter?” Her brow rose skeptically, but the pain in the depths of her gaze told a whole different story. She wasn't immune to him, and she wouldn't be so hurt if she hadn't had some kind of feelings for him.
    That realization gave him hope.
    But he didn't want to have this serious conversation here. This was about him and Renee and their future together. He needed a quiet place and privacy to make sure she really listened to what he had to say, and understood exactly what she meant to him.
    Without asking her permission, because he wasn't taking no for an answer anyway, he secured her hand in his and headed out of the party. She tried to pull away, but he tightened his grasp as they stepped out into the cool, evening air.
    “Jake, stop.”
    “Not until we've talked,” he said firmly, and took the same pathway as last night that led to the gazebo where he'd kissed her. Once there, he released her. She walked to the opposite end of the structure, far away from him, her expression cautious.
    “I should have told you sooner about Addison,” he said.
    She crossed her arms over her chest and lifted her chin. “Then why didn't you?”
    At least she was asking questions, a sign that she cared about his answers. At this point, he'd take whatever yielding he could get. “Keeping my daughter out of my affairs is something I've always done. There's never been a reason to tell anyone I've been with that I have a kid, because the relationship never lasted long enough.”
    When she said nothing, he exhaled and continued, putting everything out there in the open between them. “I met Lacey, Addison's mother, when we were in college. We dated for