Her Only Dream

Chapter Nine

***Katherine's POV***

    "I'll go with you.  So why can't Kat have tequila?"  Jake and Jason walked off to get drinks, leaving me in a rather awkward spot with Jill watching me closely.

    "So you gonna tell me how long this has been going on, and why I am just hearing about this tonight?"  Jill started in on me, I swear the woman had a talent for making someone feel like they were 3 inches tall and incapable of thinking of anything when she wanted to.  "I know I've mentioned him before, so why didn't you say anything sooner?"

    "Because this just happened this week.  He just asked me out earlier this week, and I didn't like talking about him because I thought he had a girlfriend and you know I try not to look at anyone who might be taken, I've been cheated on, I couldn't do that to another person."  I shifted a little uncomfortably while Jill continued to pepper me with questions while we waited for the guys to get back.  While these were my friends, it was taking a lot to keep from walking out as Jill had started getting the rest of the group involved, and explained to them.  

    "Well, he's cute, and he has a job, so I suppose I can forgive you for not clearing him with us first.  He's definitely better looking than a lot of the other scum that you seem to attract."  I was slightly insulted on Jake's behalf for that comment, there was more to him that I had seen so far than a job and looks, though I could admit, he was very good looking, I'd actually started noticing him more for the way he treated those of us that were working at the cafe than his looks, then the conversations he would start when he had the chance and it was slower. 

    "What kind of scum are we talking about?"  Jason came up wrapping his arms around Jill, a look of peace on his face for that moment, and I felt a cold bottle on the back of my hand, looking down, I saw a bottle of my favorite beer, and took it, looking up to Jake smiling and mouthing 'thank you'.

    "Oh, just that pretty boy here seems to be a bit better than some of the scum that seems to circle around Kat here."  I broke eye contact with Jake, feeling the need to get away from that look while these two seemed intent on talking about anything they wanted as normal.  I felt an arm go around my waist, and while I was a bit embarrassed still, I felt safe for the moment, almost as if Jake was trying to tell me something with that arm there, as if he'd support me and protect me from my own friends if needed.

    "Yeah, she usually has some pretty bad taste, but I like this one, we had a good conversation while we were getting drinks."  A flexing in the arm around me, but not much else, and some laughter while Jake and Jason went into a conversation about something else.  Jill went up to sing, and soon I was playing a game of pool against Jake.   

    I looked up from my shot I had lined up and noticed the guys were still talking, but Jake noticed me and threw a wink my way, smiling that killer smile of his.  I blushed again, and went back to focusing on the game, sinking a couple balls before missing one shot.  I walked back towards the guys, Jason walking around the table looking at it from a few different angles, when I felt Jake wrapping his arms around me from behind me, and while I tensed for a moment, unused to anyone touching me anymore, almost as quickly as I tensed, I felt myself relax in his arms, leaning back into his embrace.  I swear he was almost like a drug to me, and each time he touched me I was getting more addicted.

    "I think your friends might like me a little bit."  His voice was little louder than a whisper in my ear, his breath sending goosebumps along my body.

    "I think you might be right.  They might like you more than me, I better be careful."  My words were only half in jest.  Jake seemed to be very outgoing and was talking with everyone with ease, while I tended to stay quiet at the edge, though when I chose to speak or make my point, I tended to get my point across, I was quiet, not an i***t.

    "I somehow doubt that, and while I am glad they like me, I am not as concerned with them liking me as I am with you liking me."  Again the whispered words sent chills through me, his lips brushing softly against my ear making me actually tremble a little against him from the feel of it.

    "That should already be answered."  Please don't make me say it.

    "Well that was an interesting reaction, and should be answered doesn't tell me anything, sometimes it's nice to hear the words."  I swear he was deliberately trying to get a reaction now, his lips occasionally brushing my ear, almost but never quite a kiss, and I couldn't help the way my body reacted to him.

    "I...like you..." I struggled to get a coherent sentence out around the sensations, his arms tightening around me as I finally admitted it out loud.

    "Hmmm....and this person you were thinking of that you weren't supposed to be thinking about?"  A hand trailing softly along my side with those words, slowly drifting up to my rib cage before trailing back down to my hip.

    "It was you..." I couldn't help the blush, instead tilting my head forward to use my hair to shield my face as much as I could.  "I just thought you had a girlfriend and were off limits."

    "Hey now you two, break it up.  Nothing hot and heavy for you yet, and given the way you are making Kat blush it's gotta be something bad to make her blush."  Jason called out from the pool table, I felt Jake laughing behind me, his arms tightening and lifting me from the floor as he hugged me from behind.

    "I like you too, a lot, and evidently now I do now have a girlfriend, and she's the only one allowed to think of me like that."