Blood and Roses - Sylvia Day Page 0,3

question.”

“I’m not saying it wasn’t. Just that it’s insulting to imply that the quality of the Wi-Fi in my house has a damn thing to do with whether or not I’ll be nailing you into my mattress tonight.”

She winced inwardly. He’d always been raw and blunt when talking about sex, but there was an undercurrent of hurt anger to his words now and it broke her heart. Not that she could show it. Her sympathy wasn’t what he wanted or needed, and it wouldn’t be fair of her to give it anyway, considering she was the cause of his unhappiness.

“Well—” She cleared her throat. “Glad we cleared that up.”

His smile sent goose bumps racing across her skin. “I’m not as far outside of town as Tilly is. My internet is just fine.”

“Good. I’ll need it.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. “You know how to get there.”

Ana took them from him, swallowing hard at the sight of the keychain. It was a round piece of wood, a one-inch thick cross-section of a small branch. She’d made the thing as an assignment in woodworking class. On one side she’d burned the letters Jake + Ana surrounded by little decorative hearts and asterisks. The other side read Forever.

“I’ve got some business to take care of,” he said. “I’ll call you at the house to see if you’re up for dinner in town or if you’d like me to bring something home with me.”

“I could cook.”

“Could you now?” He grinned. “I’d like that.”

“Sure you would,” she said dryly. “You’re a man.”

Jake pulled a business card out and gave it to her. “That has my office’s number and my cell number on it. Call me if you need me for anything.”

She held his gaze. “Anything?”

“Been that way for twelve years now, Ana. Despite spending ten of those waiting for you to get your ass back here.”

Ana took a deep breath. He was everything she’d always wanted, but could never have. Lawmen and grifters didn’t mix. “I’m just passing through, Jake.”

“So you said.” He touched the brim of his hat. “See you later.”

Ana drove her Jag slowly down the tree-lined street, her gaze taking in just how much the area had changed since she’d left a decade ago. At one time—back when Jake’s home had belonged to his parents—the house had been one of only a few on a new street. Now the homes lined up one after another, forming the perfect picture of Small-town America.

She parked at the curb in front of the ranch-style house, smiling at the white picket fence that said a lot about the man he was. The yard was immaculately landscaped and a swing hung from the porch rafters. It was just the sort of normal family home she’d always fantasized she would have one day.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t normal and neither was her family. Her brain was filled with a variety of larcenous information, which was how she’d come to be an insurance investigator specializing in fine art and jewelry theft—her mind worked like a criminal’s.

Keeping Jake had never been an option for her, despite how much they loved each other. His brain had always worked out problems from the opposite side of the law, and he’d always planned on working in law enforcement. She couldn’t imagine him being anything other than a cop.

How could she ever ask someone like him to connect his life to those of a band of criminals? The reason she’d come back only proved how right she had been to walk away. What would it do to him, to his career, to their love if she went to jail? She’d known that one day Tilly or Frankie would land into trouble and when that happened, it would impact Jake. She couldn’t do that to him. In the end, she’d loved him enough to leave him.

“Yet here you are at his place,” she murmured to herself, grabbing her weekend bag from the passenger seat. She slung it over her shoulder and opened the gate, admiring the cobblestone pathway to the front door and knowing Jake must’ve laid it himself. She imagined him outside on a sunny day, shirtless and sheened with sweat, the muscles of his back and arms flexing as he worked his way across the lush lawn.

She wondered what he’d been thinking of while he was working. Had he imagined a wife waddling over it while pregnant with his child? Or his kids skipping along it on the way