A Broken Heart Ch. 07

"Who me?" Jake asked, "Never." He shook his head slowly, his face so close to hers their noses brushed together, Eskimo kisses.

Despite his words, Jake was sliding his hand down the back of her pants, grasping her bum and tugging her closer. Heidi felt weak in the knees as he continued to kiss. Jake gently guided her to the floor and made love to her right there.

Afterwards, he said he had to get to work, so the two of them adjusted their clothes and made their way out of Heidi's new store.

"Heidi!" she turned at the sound of her name to see Ben waving and running toward her from the book store.

"Ben," she greeted him with genuine pleasure. He gave her a quick hug, prompting Jake to come stand possessively close beside her, wrapping his arms around her waist. Ben eyed him with open hostility, but didn't say anything.

"What brings you out here?" he asked curiously, seeing that they weren't coming from the direction of any of the shops.

"I'm going to start my own business," Heidi told her friend excitedly, gesturing to the old building.

"That's great," Ben's voice was enthusiastic. "Antiques?" he guessed, squinting his eyes.

"Looks like it, but nothing's really been decided yet. What are you up to?"

"Oh, the usual, just shopping around," Ben shrugged.

Jake squeezed Heidi's waist and looked down at her meaningfully, saying in no uncertain terms that he wanted to leave.

"We have to go," Heidi said apologetically, it looked like these two would never get over their initial bad meeting. "It was nice seeing you."

"You too," Ben agreed. "Tell Fitz I said 'hi.' You'll have to bring him around some time, I miss the little bugger."

"Okay," Heidi agreed, "He misses you too." Heidi turned to open up the car door.

"Oh, and you'll have to remember to stop by and pick up that painting," Ben laughed, "You conveniently forgot it at my place last time."

"You can keep it," Heidi said in an overly generous voice.

"Oh no you don't," Ben held up his hands and shook them, "You won't saddle me with that thing so easily. See ya." He waved and started to jog back to his car.

"What was that all about?" Jake asked with a scowl. Heidi wondered why he was so upset. He shouldn't hold a permanent grudge against Ben just because of their first meeting.

"Oh, nothing. Some lady just gave me a painting I didn't really want the other day, and I left it at Ben's house. It's kind of a joke," Heidi shrugged. Jake nodded once and pulled out of the parking lot.

"When was this?" he asked abruptly.

"Hmm?" Heidi questioned.

"When did all this joking happen?" Jake asked carefully. His face was so meticulously controlled that Heidi became a little suspicious.

"Um, Monday, I think," she said cautiously, and watched Jake's face suddenly harden. His eyebrows drew together and his jaw set. His eyes looked stormy.

"What wrong?" Heidi asked worriedly. He refused to answer her, and he dropped her off at home with out so much as a word. Heidi went and sat dazedly on the couch. How had such a happy day turned sour so quickly? He couldn't hate Ben that much, could he?