The Jilted Bride (3 page)

“Um…I don’t need you. I mean…I need…”  Jody fumbled again as anxiety spurted through her body. She could feel her heart thump in her throat.

Why did she always get tongue-tied and say stupid things when he was around her?

She was usually well spoken and confident on a day to day basis but when a gorgeous, sexy god like Jake appears. Poof!  Her coherency dis
appears
.     “Whoa. Just a minute. Slow down there.  Can I get you something to drink?”

“Water’s fine, thanks!”

Jake showed her to the living area and proceeded to the kitchen area in the open concept unit. He watched her carefully while pouring her drink then came back to her side with a glass of cool spring water. She took the glass with shaking hands and squeezed it as if she were holding on for dear life.

“You okay?” He raised a brow.

“Well, not really.”

“Who is he? Cause I’ll rip him-”

“Oh, no, it’s not another guy! I’m not even seeing anyone.”
Okay that came out kind of…desperate.

Was she seeing things? Or was that a grin that curled the corner of his delicious looking full lips.

“I mean, I…” Jody finally sucked in a deep breath and told her story. She explained everything to Jake and when she was done she took a swig of the water and gulped down a huge amount. She thought the lump that climbed in her throat would push it back up.

Jody noticed Jake’s eyes grew dark. Dangerously dark. What was he thinking? Was it a mistake to even bring this up?
Hi, I’m your neighbour, can you change your name for me and pretend to be my hubby for the next twenty-four -hours so that I can deceive my elderly grandparents into thinking I got married when in fact I was too ashamed to tell them my real hubby-to-be dumped me at the altar?
Yeah, that was some official let’s-get-to-know-each-other icebreaker, wasn’t it?

Jake’s face grew hot, he was angry as hell. “This guy
did
that to you?”

“Yes,” she whispered, her face turning red.  

Jake  figured the guy was a creep but didn’t even in his wildest imagination think that he could be
that
much of a lowlife.  Luring a sweet girl, like Jody, into a marriage based on fraud? Then dumping her because he found out he couldn’t use her like he wanted to. That jerk! He could tear that guy apart for ripping her heart out like that. Jake had his principles. He wasn’t perfect, but he sure wasn’t reckless with a woman’s heart, either. He was a straight up take-it-or-leave-it kind of guy. Sure he had a lot of women in his time but they all knew up front what the deal would be with him—no commitment, just a good, mutually fun time. He had his thoughts about men who use women. Users were losers in his book—end of story. Jake rubbed his temple not sure of what to make of this. The shocking information struck him with full force. Once his anger sizzled down, he stood up and chuckled as he walked toward the balcony door with a grin on his face. All this time, he wanted to get to know Jody better and well…she shows up on his doorstep wanting to play married. Holy cow! Was that something else or what?

He could see from the corner of his eyes, that Jody was practically trembling.

He drew in a deep breath and shook his head. “Well, I’ll be honest with you, I’ve never been asked to change my name and be somebody else for a day or to play the part of a groom. But…”

He noticed she drew in a deep breath but did not let anything out. Was she holding her breath?

“Okay, now this is just for twenty-four hours?”

“Just for twenty-four hours,” she confirmed as she let out a huge air of relief.

“Okay, first things, first, we have to get things straight in…fifteen minutes now!” He glanced at his watch. “They’ll be here any second, correct?”

“Correct!” It both thrilled her and terrified her that he agreed to this not knowing what to expect over the next twenty-four hours.

Oh, my God! He’s agreeing to this?

“Now…about the obvious.”

“The obvious?”

He inched closer to her, slowly and seductively. She could feel the sexual magnetism between them. It was…almost unbearable. She really craved him but she knew it was off limits. Besides this was just a pretence, right? Trouble was, the moisture in her panties were saying otherwise. She felt a tingling sensation in her belly. The scent of his cologne sent her senses ablaze as a quiver surged through her veins. Of course, she hadn’t really thought it through what they should do or how they should act when her grandparents arrive. Everything sort of happened so fast.  

“I….um…I should be going,” she said almost too throaty for her liking—she said the words yet she stood frozen to the spot inches from his muscular chest. Oh, why did he have to wear his gym gear now. He looked undeniably sexy. She realized he was probably going to shower before her grandparents arrived.

“Wait a minute. We’re not finished here yet,” he murmured as he brushed her cheek.

Shivers danced down her spin as her skin tingled when he touched her.

Oh, God! This was not going to be easy.
Pretending
to be married.

“We’re not?” she whispered.

“We haven’t discussed an important item. What are we going to do about…sleeping arrangements.” His silky, deep voice caused a pleasant shiver to surge through her veins.

“S-s-sleeping arrangements?” she stuttered, almost breathless.

She hadn’t thought that far ahead.

4

Later that evening, Jody's grandparents were sitting in her living room. Jake had taken them to a restaurant. That was so nice of him. Jody could not believe he was going the extra mile for her. Yet, she knew very little about him, except that he gets really important looking mail from property companies and banks and such. As they all sat down in her living room watching her flat screen TV that played an old black and white movie from the 1950s—her grandparent’s favourite, she noticed Jake’s eyes penetrating her, glancing her direction every so often. An undeniable magnetism was building between them. She really wished he
was
her husband. Her grandparents loved him. She felt so guilty that it was a charade and prayed they’d forgive her later. He was so charming and down-to-earth with them. He really had a good way with elders. In fact, with most people she saw him interact with.

“So…where are the wedding photos, darling? Your grandpa and I can’t wait to see them.”

Shit!

“Actually,” Jake chimed in. “People hardly take pictures at the registrar office. They usually wait till the big celebration.”

Jody gave Jake a thankful and appreciative look. She bit down on her lower lip. She really should come clean with them but they look so happy for her. And she really does seem to have an attraction to Jake, so it’s not all fake, she tried to justify her actions in her own mind to ease her guilt—wasn’t that what everybody did? Her stomach knotted up when they told her how much it meant to them that she was not going to be lonely after all. That she’d found someone to love her as she deserved to be loved. They told her and Jake that they needed to hear good news from within the family circle since their son and his wife (Jody’s parents) died so tragically. She really wished Jake were a part of the family, now.

God, she wished she could pretend forever to be his wife. Scrap that! She wished she
was
his wife. During the course of the day and the evening, she’d really gotten a better feel for this man that she’d been seeing over a year as neighbours. He was hot
and
charming. A caring and thoughtful guy who stood for something. Some guys would have tried to play her but he was a gentleman and told her he’d sleep on the floor for the night that it would be good for his back. He even went as far as to bring some of his stuff over and place them about the house, so that it appeared that he lived there.

Grandpa wandered over to the kitchen table and noticed Jake’s wallet lying faced up and opened. “Oh, dear, this ID of yours says Jake Anderson. Why do you have Jake Anderson’s ID, son?"

Jody looked anxiously at Jake and she froze.

Busted.
 

5

“Cause Jake’s my real name, Grandpa!” When Jake uttered those words, Jody felt her world crumbling down and her charade exposed. But then Jake continued. “A lot of people use pet names now, don’t they?”

Grandpa smiled. “Oh, yes, of course. Well, I’m going to call  you Jake from now on. I like to use real names, if it’s okay with you. Besides, it sounds so much nicer than Gregory!”

Jody expelled a huge sigh of relief. Well, she certainly agreed with her grandfather on that point. Inside she cringed every time they called him Gregory. It was a reminder of that awful pain she felt after what the real Gregory did to her.

6

“Thank you,” Jody whispered.

“For what?” Jake teased after they drove her grandparents back to Buffalo, New York the following day. It was a fabulous ride and the conversations were stimulating. He was so intrigued by her grandparents that he asked them about their life growing up in America. But it was the shocking news about what happened to Jody as a baby that stung him. He guessed they assumed that he knew she was a locally famous Christmas baby when she was left on the doorstep of the church when her then adoptive parents found her.

This girl’s been abandoned twice in her life. She was sweet, humble and compassionate and deserved so much better in life. The thought occurred to Jake that maybe he could be the one to give her the “so much better in life.”

Later in the evening they both sat on Jake’s enormous balcony overlooking the lake. The sun was setting in the distant making the sky red and warm. Romantic.

“You haven’t told me about your own family. You pretty much know everything about mine, and, well, my adoptive family. I have no idea who my real parents were.”

“I’m sure it must have been real rough for them, especially your real mom to make that decision.”

“To dump me on the doorstep of a church?”

“That
is
cold, but thank God it was a church and service was about to begin, anyway.”

“And how do
you
know that?”

“Oh, I was on my iPad looking up information while you were sleeping.”

“What, the floor too hard for you in the night so you decided to investigate my background while I slept?”

Jake gave a sexy grin. “Oh, that’s cold. You know it wasn’t like that. You’re too funny. Anyway, I read through a few articles and found out more about you.”