b o n u s r u l e

Jessica's rules:

Don't trust him or tell him anything important

Don't let your guard down

Don't let him in...okay you can. Don't let him in your heart

Don't agree to meet his friends (unless they are kids)

Don't let him stay over

Don't do relationships, especially not long-distance ones, especially not with someone you've only started to get close to for a few weeks

......

The exception to the rule:

Jake Lancaster ❤

......

Jessica Jiang's heart hammered hard against her ribcage. With the adrenaline rushing through her body and the blood pounding in her ears, she was 30% scared mixed with 70% excited. Her lips were slightly numb with anxiety.

She felt powerful, but at the same time this power frightened her.

This was the most amazing feeling she had ever experienced in her life.

"Go slower, Jess. A little more to the left. Yes. That's it."

"I've never done this before." Her voice came out shaky. "You'll have to be extra patient with me."

"No problem. I'll try to make your first time unforgettable." Jake's hand landed on the back of her right one, calming and gentle as warm waves. "Now, turn the steering wheel all the way to the right before you start backing up. When the center pillar is even with that car's back bumper, you can straighten it out."

She turned and smiled at him. Sitting in Jake's red Jeep was an endearing memory she would never forget. The sun washed down the dashboard and splashed over his golden hair, landing like water droplets on his blonde lashes. They looked almost white against the light.

The image seared itself onto her heart.

"Jake, thanks for teaching me how to drive. I mean, I do have a chauffeur, but this is really fun."

"My pleasure." His eyes twinkled. They were fundamentally blue with hints of green, like the ocean but with coral reefs and seaweed underneath. A few freckles splashed across the bridge of his nose, like stardust on a cloudless night.

She adored his cute freckles. They stopped him from looking so perfect he could've been Photoshopped.

"Jess, when are you leaving for Brown?"

"Next weekend."

Jake nodded.

Jessica put the car into reverse. Her heart dropped at the mention of the topic. She knew this was inevitable, that summer grew shorter with each passing day and that the future loomed closer and closer. It was threatening to yank him away from her fingertips.

The short time they shared together had been a chocolate-dipped strawberry; too sweet, delicious, and too exquisite to swallow in one bite. She was careful to savor each moment, taking every little nibble with meticulous concentration, reminding herself that she couldn't have hoped for a better more-than-a-fling.

Jake had only asked for a chance, and a hot, sweet, wonderful time together.

That was exactly what they had. She didn't want to get her hopes up and dream that there could be more.

He tamed her during the process, however, just like the fox was tamed by the little prince in that story written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. That part was out of her control.

...If you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. You see the grain-fields down yonder? The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the color of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you...

...It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose...

Jessica pushed the thought away and glided into the parking space, missing the BMW in front of her by a few inches. It was not ideal but for a beginner, it was passable.

"Jess, I have a feeling you're going to be great at driving."

"I'm a girl and I'm Asian. It's going to be really tough to fight against two stereotypes."

Jake laughed. "You're already doing much better than my first time. I hit the car in front of me after being on the road for only 15 minutes."

"Oh no. Were you hurt?"

"No. But the girl who drove in front of me was watching TV in my house a week later. We didn't watch TV for too long, though."

Jessica rolled her eyes. "That's awesome, Mr. Everyone-wants-my-dick."

He smiled and tapped the side of her head with his index finger. "What are you thinking? We stopped watching TV because we wanted to go over the insurance policy."

"Yeah, and I'm sure you wanted to cover all areas."

Jessica wasn't a jealous girl by nature, and she couldn't care less about Jake's sexual experiences before her. What she cared about was the fact that he was like this, a highly hormonal guy with his needs, and she knew that once they went their separate ways, it would be silly of her to expect him to change for her.

Asking for an extension would be ridiculous. Jake was on his way to become a basketball star and there was no way he would want to give up his freedom and college girls for her. Dating each other everyday over the summer was one thing, but to stretch it into a long distance relationship was something entirely different.

Which was why she didn't want to bring it up. She didn't want to see the awkwardness in his eyes or the reluctance on his face as he tried to come up with something gentle to say.

Jake was too nice and she liked him too much. She wanted the summer to be as marvelous to him as it was to her, filled with sun, ocean breeze, sand, stories, bad poetry, and his sexy cologne, but absolutely guilt and obligation free.

"Hey, Jess. If I turned out to be a real disappointment, at least you got something out of this. You learned to drive, right?" He winked. "Not to mention the countless orgasms that I induced..."

"I made you come countless times too, Jake. Remember the love in my eyes as I held your children in my hand..."

"Yeah, Jess. I can't possibly see myself with a girl who doesn't like my children." He laughed and rubbed her head with one hand.

"Stop touching the driver. I'm trying to concentrate on the road."

"Sorry." He grinned at her, bright as a sunflower.

She used to smile at his sunny grins. Now she still smiled, but with every smile there came a tear at her soul where he couldn't see. They were a little closer to goodbye.

She practiced parallel parking a few times more until Jake interrupted again.

"Wait, I just thought of something. Jess, stop the car."

She pulled over. "What now?"

Jake leaned over and smiled until his lips were almost touching hers. He pressed his forehead against hers. "I didn't kiss you this morning. No wonder I'm feeling uncomfortable all over."

Jessica rolled her eyes and hit him lightly against his chest. "You're the corniest guy ever. I'm surprised you're able to attract girls with lines like that."

He didn't answer and pressed the most swoonsome kiss against her mouth, delivering it all the way to her heart. He tasted like summer. His kisses were warm and pleasant and made her happy.

Jake pulled away and grinned at her in that cocky but not obnoxious way only he could pull off. "Are you still surprised I'm able to attract girls now?"

"I think I need more convincing."

He picked up her chin and kissed her again, then he moved his lips to the nape of her neck. He knew where she liked it. Jessica closed her eyes and told herself to stop worrying and live in the moment.

"Jess, do you know why I want to teach you how to drive?"

"You like showing off your car?"

He smiled. "No. I know you have a chauffeur and you only go to places with valet parking, but...I'm pretty sure we don't have valet parking at UConn. I need you to drive there once in a while. I'll drive to Brown most of the time, but if I have a game to go to, I want you to come see me."

For a while she couldn't speak.

"I mean...if you still want to see me." She saw him swallow and suddenly he looked nervous. "I want to keep seeing you."

She blinked. "Jake."

"I'm not sure what this is because we haven't really gone over the terms and conditions," he said, gesturing at the air between them. "Like is this a summer thing or...do you want to make it long term? I know I do. I want to keep doing this even though I won't see you quite so often, but we're only about 50 miles apart."

"It's 49.4 miles if you take US-44E."

"You looked it up too?"

Jessica nodded.

"Well. This seems a bit redundant then." Jake climbed over the passenger seat and reached around towards the back. He got hold of his duffel bag and while he was pulling the zipper open, his shirt rode up. Jessica saw his tanned back and the waistband of his underwear.

Hot.

He handed her a stick of rolled up paper. Jessica unrolled it and saw it was a huge map, with the route between Brown and the University of Connecticut highlighted. At one end, there was a photo of Jake Lancaster himself, standing shirtless on the beach with a pair of sunglasses on.

What an adorable narcissist.

Two arrows was pointing at him, one aimed at his abs and said 11% of body fat, the other pointed at his heart and said, property of Jessica Jiang.

"You've really outdone yourself this time." Jessica shook her head, trying to keep the smile off her face. "I have to keep you. It's up to me to save all the girls out there from possible cheesiness overload."

His aquamarine eyes crinkled up with a smile. "So do we have a deal, Miss River?" He held out his hand, and his eyes softened. "We don't have to...say goodbye when summer ends?"

She took his hand. "Mr. Lancaster, deal. It's a pleasure doing business with you."

He laughed. "Jeez, I was really scared you were going to reject me. As you know, I'm a relationship virgin and I'm absolutely clueless when it comes to things like this. I don't even know if people talk about this—"

At this point his phone rang, and Jessica motioned for him to pick it up.

"Dill, hi....yeah...no, I can't right now...I'm hanging out with..." He glanced at her briefly, as if asking her for permission. "With my girlfriend."

Jessica couldn't contain her smile anymore. Bliss bubbled up inside her and exploded into sparks, lighting up her entire being.

He frowned. "No, I don't mean my left hand, you pervert. I mean Jessica."

She gave him the thumbs up sign. When Jake hung up, he said, "That was my friend Dylan. He wants me to go to his place later."

"Go ahead. You should see your friends as much as you can before summer is over."

"Do you want to meet them? You've already met Sean. Dylan is dirty, horny, kind of arrogant and really immature...I think you're gonna love him."

"Oh, he sounds like just my type of person."

They both chuckled. The sun disappeared behind the clouds for a few seconds and came out again, lighting up Jake's face and the thin pale hair on his arms. The gold burned her eyes, imprinting this fine day in her memory.

Their hot, sweet, wonderful time together was just beginning.

......

Thank you so much for reading! This is officially the end and I thought it'd be nice to complete this book on Valentine's day as a small gift. I hope you liked it xx