Текст книги "Lost and Found"

Автор книги: Nicole Williams

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Текущая страница: 8 (всего у книги 19 страниц)

“Come again?” I knew I hadn’t heard him wrong, but I wished I had.

“This has been my room from day one. My dresser, my nightstand,”—his smile curved higher on one side as he examined the space around me—“my bed. And my blankets.” He took a few steps toward his bed and his blankets, and I felt like a thousand butterflies had been set loose in my stomach from the way he looked at me.

“Why did you move out?” I asked.

“Because you were coming,” he replied matter-of-factly. “I know from growing up with three sisters that a girl’s bedroom needs to be within arm’s reach of a bathroom, and this room stays a heck of a lot cooler than the attic in the summertime.”

I finally understood why I couldn’t escape Jesse’s scent or presence even when I was locked in my bedroom. I’d been sleeping on the same mattress he had. I’d been snuggled beneath the same old quilt he had. We’d shared a bed the whole time without even touching each other.

“You just picked up and moved into the attic because I was coming?” I said, sounding as dumbfounded as I felt.

He nodded.

“But you didn’t even know me.”

His forehead wrinkled, and he gave me a curious look. “I didn’t have to. You needed a room. I had one. And the attic was empty.”

“You make it sound so easy,” I said, shaking my head. I doubted I’d ever figure out the goodness that moved inside of Jesse Walker. It was the kind that didn’t quite make sense in our world.

“It is easy, Rowen,” he said. “Besides, look at how it all worked out. You’re sleeping on my bed, wearing my undershirt, and haven’t thrown me out the window for jumping inside of it unexpectedly in the middle of the night. I’m not exactly on the losing side of this arrangement.”

He was trying to make less of a big deal out of something that was a very big deal. If I had to move into the attic because some random stranger was coming for the summer, gracious was the last thing I would have been.

“Thank you,” I said, having nothing else to offer. “That was a pretty cool thing to do.”

He waved it off like it was nothing, and he approached the bed. “Please. When I get to move back in, I can sleep all warm and happy every night knowing you were in my bed for a whole summer.” Very slowly, he took a seat next to me on the edge of the mattress. He was so on the edge of the mattress, he could have fallen right off. And now, Jesse and I were sharing a bed in the literal sense.

If it was possible, my heartbeat sped up some more.

“That’s totally worth spending a summer in the attic,” he said, glancing between me and the mattress with a smile. His eyes locked on mine, and with him so close, I could make out every speck of gold in those blue eyes of his. “Whoa.” His head tilted to the side. “Your eyes are blue.”

My face lined with confusion until I remembered Jesse had never seen me without my contacts in. Since I only took them out at bedtime and promptly replaced them after waking up, no one else at Willow Springs had either.

“I wear contacts,” I said as he continued to examine my eyes with an intensity I felt was about to make me combust.

“Oh, are you near or farsighted?”

“Neither.”

“Then why do you wear contacts?”

“They’re color contacts,” I said, wondering why Jesse had to be so observant. Of course I would be attracted to the one guy in the world so observant he probably remembered the color of the shirt I wore yesterday.

“But your eyes were so dark before. I couldn’t tell if they were dark brown or black.”

My shoulders rolled forward. I’d never had to explain it before. The few people who knew the actual color of my eyes didn’t ask why I wore dark color contacts; it just sort of made sense with the rest of me. “I like dark,” I said, wrapping the comforter tighter around me.

“I’ve noticed.” He hitched a leg up onto the bed and twisted to face me. Could someone, please, for the love of God, find the man a shirt? The whole encounter couldn’t be healthy for a girl’s heart. “It seems that preference for dark, or . . . black applies to your taste in guys, too.” Jesse tried to mask it, but the bitter note in his voice was obvious. “I’m hoping after tonight and what that guy did and said, you’ll change your mind.”

Just like that, I was reminded of a rather large something standing between Jesse and me. Someone who kept me from running my hands and lips all over him the way I wanted to.

“And I hope you’ll change your mind the next time you come talk all sweet and make flirty looks at me when your girlfriend’s a few rows behind us.” I’d never been very good at censoring myself, and that wasn’t the moment to change.

“Ah, perfect segue,” he said, looking . . . was that . . . relief?

“Perfect segue? Come again?”

“Josie isn’t my girlfriend.”

“Jesse?” I made a face. “I think you’re mistaking me for one of those girls cool with believing whatever you tell her.”

He smirked at me. “It’s the truth. Josie and I aren’t together.”

“Does she know that?” I asked. I knew what smitten looked like, and Josie had it just as bad, if not worse, as me.

“Yes.” He nodded so strongly his mess of hair fell over his forehead. “We broke up over six months ago.”

Wow. That was a serious case of WTF whiplash. “Wait.” I lifted my hands up. “You and Josie aren’t together anymore?”

“Isn’t that what I’ve been saying?”

I lifted an eyebrow and waited.

“No,” he said. “I am not with Josie. She is not with me. I’m not seeing anyone.”

How had I been so convinced otherwise then? Oh, yeah. “Then why did Garth . . ?”

“Because Garth likes to create controversy everywhere he goes,” Jesse said, his jaw tightening.

Create controversy everywhere he goes . . . yep, that pretty much hit the Garth nail on the head.

“Then why didn’t you tell me?”

“I tried. And I tried. And I tried again. You wouldn’t let me.” He stared at me pointedly. “You remember any of that?”

I bit my lip and felt two inches tall. “Maybe a little bit.”

Jesse laughed and nudged my leg with his. His bare skin against my bare skin. I almost shuddered.

“How long were you two together?” I asked.

“Just over two years.”

“Why did you break up?” Even a possible reason was beyond me. The kind of girl Josie was matched the kind of guy Jesse was spot on.

Jesse stayed silent for a few seconds, playing with the corner of the quilt, then cleared his throat. “We just couldn’t be together anymore.”

How wonderfully detailed. “Anything else you want to add? Maybe the actual reason you couldn’t be together anymore?” I was prying, I knew that, but I didn’t back off. When it came to Jesse and Josie, I wanted that whole relationship tied up in a neat little bow.

“That’s not really my story to tell,” he said, shifting on the bed. “I promised Josie I’d never tell anybody, so the only way you’d be able to find out is from her.”

I recognized that flash of pain on his face. Betrayal.

“She broke your trust.” I felt a strange sense of protectiveness for Jesse. Josie had hurt him, betrayed him, and Jesse was the one person in the world I could say with absolute certainty didn’t deserve it.

“Well, yeah,” he said. Meeting my eyes seemed to be difficult for him suddenly. “But that wasn’t the main reason we broke up.” My nose wrinkled. That seemed like the “main” reason to end any relationship. Trust was a deal breaker. I should know. It had ruined every one of my relationships singlehandedly.

Jesse continued, “Everyone talks about how important trust is, and even though I agree, I’m not going to cut someone loose because they break my trust.” Just the fact he could say that meant people hadn’t broken his trust all that often. “We’re all going to break a person’s trust. That’s inevitable. As long as it doesn’t become a habit, I can forgive someone on a trust issue.” Jesse paused and looked as defeated as I imagined he could look. “I just couldn’t move past what happened. I knew I never would be able to, so it ended.”

I wanted to reach out and remove the pain I saw so clearly on his face, but I didn’t know how. So I scooted closer and hesitantly placed my hand over his. His skin was warm, and almost immediately, Jesse’s shoulders relaxed.

“Are you glad it ended?” I asked.

“I wasn’t. Not for a while. Josie and I’d been together for a long time. She knew things about me no one else knew, and I knew things about her no one knew, but now I’m better with it.”

“Why’s that?” My hand took on some of his heat. I felt it going deep and spreading up my arm.

“I took it one day at a time until I could move on,” Jesse replied, then he smiled down at the blankets. “And then I met this other girl.”

Knife through the heart. So that’s what it felt like.

“Another girl is always the cure for a guy to get over another girl,” I said, working to keep my voice level. “They say that after a break up, a woman mourns and a man moves on. Looks like they are right.”

The corners of his mouth twitched. Amusement? Irritation? “Josie and I broke up six months ago, and I haven’t been on a single date since. I wouldn’t consider that a rebound move-on.”

“So why haven’t you gone out with said ‘this other girl’? Because you and I both know based on your looks alone, you could land any girl you want.” I said, taking another good look at his “looks”. Almost painful so close up. “That’s not even taking your personality into account.” Because really, as good looking as Jesse was, his personality was just as attractive.

“Wait. Did you just say you think I’m hot? On the outside and the inside?” When he looked up at me, I could better make out that expression. Amusement.

That’s why I didn’t just lay it all out there. Because people could respond to my gut spilling with amusement.

I moved my hand from Jesse’s. “I’m not going to answer that until you answer my question. Why haven’t you asked her out?”

“I’ve tried, but she’s kind of dodged the idea,” he said, cracking his neck. “She’s been avoiding me.”

“You had the attention of every female in attendance tonight, and you expect me to believe this girl is avoiding you?” I said, letting my sarcasm loose. “Who would avoid you?”

When Jesse’s eyes slid back to mine, with a look in them that would have dropped me if I hadn’t been sitting, I knew. And then I realized how dense I was at times.

“Don’t answer that,” I said, unsure if I should scoot closer or as far away from him as I could. I was torn. Half of me wanted to follow that desire I had for him, and the other half wanted me to stay away from him because I knew I’d eventually do what I did best and make a huge mess of things.

“Why not?” he said, making the decision for me and scooting closer. “Why don’t you want to know that I like you, Rowen? Why don’t you want me to tell you I’m so damn attracted to you, I almost don’t trust myself to be alone with you like we are right now? Why don’t you want to know that I care about you so much, I wanted to rip Garth Black’s throat out tonight for saying those things?” Jesse paused just long enough to take a breath. “Why?”

I wasn’t living my life right now. This wasn’t Rowen Sterling’s life. Guys like Jesse didn’t say those kinds of things to me. They didn’t look at me the way he was now. No guy said or felt those kinds of things for me, because I wasn’t the kind of girl who deserved to be adored. Or cherished. Or whatever it was that Jesse was expressing.

I wanted to be that girl that deserved the way he was looking at me. I wanted to be that girl that deserved him . . . but I wasn’t that girl. Not yet. Maybe never. I wasn’t sure. Willow Springs brought something out in me, almost like it was drawing out the poison inside of me and filling in the empty places with purpose. It was too early to be sure, but something was happening. Something big.

I couldn’t look away from him even when I tried. “Jesse, why do you like me?” It made no sense to me. None at all.

His hand settled along my jawline. Slowly lifting my head until I looked straight at him, his eyes blazed. “Why do you think I shouldn’t?”

That question rocked my world. Or upended it, more accurately. I had the first part of the answer to his question: I didn’t deserve him. But the second part, the why I didn’t deserve him, I came up empty on. Since I knew he was waiting for an answer, I’d just have to give him the best one I had.

“For a whole bunch of reasons—”

“That aren’t valid,” he interrupted, shaking his head.

“They’re valid to me,” I shot back, knowing I needed to put some space between us. So what did I do? I pressed my cheek harder into his large hand.

“They aren’t to me, and if you don’t mind picking this conversation up later on, there’s something I’ve really been wanting to do.” His voice went lower, even a bit rougher.

“What’s that?” I asked needlessly. What he wanted to do was pretty obvious from the desire in his eyes as he studied my mouth.

Jesse scooted closer. So close, more of my body touched some part of his than didn’t. His hand framing my face slid back around to my neck. His thumb skimmed the skin just under the collar of my shirt, causing my skin to erupt in goosebumps. Jesse’s touch was powerful stuff, I’d known that from the first day I’d shook hands with him, but having his hands touch and caress me in gentle, intimate ways made the power of his touch difficult to bear.

His other hand went to the small of my back right before his head tilted and he closed the last few inches of space between us. A smile was still on his lips when his mouth pressed into mine. It was so damn tender and gentle, I would have turned into a pile of mush if I was capable of it. Then, as quickly as it had dropped to mine, his mouth drifted away.

I could have cried from the separation.

“That’s what,” he whispered against my lips.

That was a good answer. Both the verbal and nonverbal.

“That’s all?” I said with just enough inflection.

“No.” He pressed closer to me. “No, that’s not all.”

When his mouth covered mine again, it wasn’t so still and soft. It may have started out that way for the shortest moment, but before my eyes closed, Jesse’s lips polished and sucked at mine like nothing I’d yet experienced. In addition to his other forms of divinity, the man was a kissing God.

His hand on my neck kneaded the muscles at the base of it as his thumb continued to skim lazy lines just under my collar. The hand on my lower back, remarkably, stayed where it was. Instead of grabbing the hem of my shirt to tug it over my head, instead of skimming under in search of my chest, his hand stayed in place. Holding onto me like I grounded him. Or like he grounded me. With the way he was kissing me, I couldn’t be sure.

It was positively the best kiss I’d ever had the privilege of being on the other end of, but my body craved more. My inner thighs were squeezed so tightly together, they started to tremble, and I knew the rest of my body wasn’t far behind.

I rose in place and shifted until I swung my leg over Jesse’s lap. When I lowered myself over him, his grip tightened and his breathing picked up. Never, in even my most fantastical dreams, had I ever had the courage to imagine that one day I’d straddle Jesse Walker while we kissed like it was the only thing keeping us alive. Never once. Yet here I was. Living it.

When Jesse’s lips dropped to my neck, I tilted my head back and pressed harder against him. I didn’t stop pressing closer until I felt his chest thumping hard against mine. I didn’t stop until I felt his breathing pick up yet again. I didn’t stop until he was fitted so hard between my legs I knew if I were to slide up or down, I’d come undone instantly.

So instead, I ran my hands up his wide arms and didn’t stop until they were combing and tugging through his hair. What I wanted to touch more, his hair or his body, had been a toss-up before. After doing both, I could confidently say neither had let me down. The debate was still out on which I preferred to touch though.

Moving my hands down the base of his neck, I continued toward the center of his back, tracing the deep seam that ran into his shorts. Jesse sighed against my neck when my hands repeated the motion. I didn’t know how he could sigh because I was one slide away from screaming out. Waking the house would be a really bad thing. For them and for us.

As soon as Jesse’s lips left my neck, my hands clutched the hem of my shirt and started sliding it up my stomach. I appreciated the whole gentleman thing he was keeping with, but the clothing was really starting to get in the way of things.

“Whoa,” Jesse said suddenly, his voice strained. “Easy, tiger. I’m about to go into cardiac arrest with your shirt on.” Jesse’s hands fitted over mine and moved them back down into my lap, shifting the shirt down at the same time. “Let’s leave it where it is, okay?”

If I woke up tomorrow speaking a different language, I don’t think I would have been more confused. “You don’t want to go any farther?” My voice was just as breathless as his. “You just want to kiss?” Surely I was misunderstanding something. As good as the kissing was, and believe me, it was the kind of thing people wrote songs about, even I wanted to go farther. My body felt like it needed to. It was programmed to do so.

“Well, I’d like to go farther, one day, but right now, I’m pretty damn happy just kissing you.” Jesse’s grin reappeared right before he pressed a soft kiss into my lips. “Although I wouldn’t say we’re ‘just kissing.’” Another soft kiss, slightly longer. “Would you?”

I shivered in his arms. “Whatever we’re doing, Jesse,” I said, still tasting him on my lips, “whatever this is . . . it’s definitely not ‘just kissing.’”

When his mouth covered mine again, it stayed there. When our mouths opened at the same time, my tongue touched his, and I realized there was nothing better than what we were doing. We were exploring each other, bit by tiny bit, and we were enjoying each and every touch and moment. It wasn’t what I was used to, not even close, but as our mouths, hands, and bodies tangled together, it seemed I was getting used to something new.

When I let myself just enjoy the moment and get over anticipating the next thing, I found “just” kissing a rather pleasurable experience. Especially when Jesse was doing the kissing. I’d kissed a lot of guys, but his kisses were a whole different thing. In fact, just kissing Jesse was more intimate than any sex I’d had with someone else. If I added all of those encounters up, their total wouldn’t have even come close to the intimacy I felt with Jesse’s mouth on mine. I’d never known a guy happy to just kiss and hold me close to him. Not since I was in the sixth grade.

Then again, I’d never known Jesse Walker until that summer.

Jesse must have slipped out of my bed and either back up the side of the chimney or out my bedroom door sometime before I woke up. It was a good thing he had, too, because a rapping on the other side of my door woke me up, followed by the youngest Walker bursting into my room before I invited her. Clementine, though, was always invited. Just as long as her big brother wasn’t sleeping next to me.

“Mornin’, Rowen!” she greeted, skipping into the room with her braids bouncing up and down. She saw I was still in bed and sleepy eyed. “Were you still asleep?”

I nodded and yawned. “Yep. I didn’t sleep very well last night.” After the night I’d had with Jesse, I didn’t care how little sleep I got or how tired I was. Last night was worth it. After making out to the point both our lips and hands were practically rubbed raw, he nestled beside me in bed, wrapped those strong arms around me, and we fell asleep together. Fully clothed. Even though we didn’t have sex, I’d never fallen asleep more satisfied and content in my whole life.

“You’ve got a silly smile on your face,” Clementine said, giggling as she pointed at me.

I was still smiling. That’s how great last night had been.

“Did you need something, squirt? Or were you just making sure I was awake?” I threw the covers off and headed for the dresser. I was about to open the first drawer when I remembered my dilemma from last night: I didn’t have any clean clothes.

That would make today challenging, if not impossible. I couldn’t very well whisk about the kitchen and the chicken coop in nothing but a white, oversized tee.

“Could I borrow that pretty purple scarf you wore last night?” she asked, coming up beside me and grabbing my hand. “Purple is the color of royalty, so if I’m wearing purple, everyone will know to bow when I walk by.”

The purple scarf was perhaps the only thing clean in my room. I grabbed it off the dresser and kneeled down beside Clementine. “Of course you can borrow it,” I said, winding it around her neck. “And if anyone doesn’t bow when you walk by, just wave your flamingo croquet mallet and say, ‘Off with his head.’”

Clementine’s face squished up on one side. The kid had no idea what I was talking about. She knew fairy tale princesses, but not Alice in Wonderland. I’d been the other way around at her age. Finally, she giggled again when I tickled her neck after tying the scarf into a pretty bow.

“You’re weird, Rowen,” she said, smiling up at me.

“Believe me. I know.” I patted her head, turned her around, and led her toward the door. I couldn’t solve my no-clean-clothing situation with a little girl bouncing around the room. “You know what? That scarf looks so good on you, I’m giving it to you. Okay?”

“What? Really?” If a seven-year-old could look more thrilled, I hadn’t seen it.

“Really, really,” I said as we got to the doorway. A gift bag with a black and white polka-dot ribbon tying the handles together sat just outside. “What’s this?”

Clementine shrugged. “I saw Jesse put it there early this morning when I was going to the bathroom. Then he walked away all quiet and quick.”

So Jesse had snuck out of my room, snuck back to drop the bag off, then snuck off to somewhere else. Not to mention when he’d snuck into my room last night. He’d done a lot of sneaking in twelve hours.

Once Clementine was bouncing down the stairs, I grabbed the bag and hurried back inside my room. I didn’t get presents often. Mom had resorted to pulling out her wallet and handing me a couple hundred dollar bills at breakfast on my birthday since I’d become a teenager. I wanted to take my time untying the ribbon and pulling out the tissue paper.

The moment my fingers tugged on one end of that ribbon though, that bow was untied and the tissue paper was flying. I could have cried when I saw what was inside.

Clothes. New with the tags on them and in my size. A few pairs of jeans that, knowing Jesse, would still hug my butt but hopefully not as bad as Lily’s had. A few tees in different colors, two airy button-up shirts with those pretty, pearly button snaps, and a pair of boots at the very bottom of the bag. Again, they were in my size, a Western style that wasn’t overt about it, and chocolate brown and lavender colored. They were functional for life on the ranch, but still round-toed, didn’t have a heel, and mid-calf like my trusty combat boots.

My clothing problem was miraculously solved by a man. Go figure.

Rose had offered all week to take me into town to pick out some new clothes, but I’d put it off and borrowed Lily’s since the only spare time we’d had was last night, and I didn’t want Rose to miss the rodeo because she was helping me pick out clothes.

I was just about to tug a shirt over my head when a white folded note nestled in the tornado of tissue paper caught my attention. I’d been in such a hurry, I’d missed it. I grabbed it and opened it up.

I picked these up for you last week, but since I was scared you’d bite my head off if I did anything but stay silent and avoid eye contact, they’ve hung out with me in the attic. You know, that place right above you? Where I sleep? Sometimes naked?

My throat went dry when I visualized that. My legs went weak when I thought of me joining him in that naked state.

That was a joke. Kind of . . . Anyways, you needed some clothes, I wanted to help, problem solved. And while I’ve got your undivided attention . . . You remember that date I asked you about last week that you were about to say yes to before someone I shall not name really messed that up? Yeah, well, since you got me to sleep with you last night, I think the least you owe me is a date. Tonight? 8ish? You. Me. Food. Sound okay?

P.S. You can still kick serious ass in these boots.

I read the note once more. It made me laugh. As much as I wanted to read it again, I smelled breakfast. That meant I was running late.

I changed into a pair of jeans which, as suspected, hugged my butt but not as badly as Lily’s had, slipped into the olive green button-down shirt, and slid into the boots. Everything fit. The boots fit my feet so well, my old ones were in danger of becoming my second favorites.

After ripping a brush through my hair, I rushed down the hall. My lips felt chapped, no big surprise there, so I made a layover in the bathroom to slick on some lip balm.

Voices buzzed in the kitchen already, which meant I wasn’t only late, I was really late. As soon as I skidded into the kitchen, my eyes locked onto his and his onto mine. Jesse was already seated at the table with the rest of the hands, eating breakfast. After finishing the bite of food in his mouth, a grin spread across his face as he took me in decked out in my new clothes.

“Wowza! Don’t you look fabulous,” Rose said when she pulled her head out of the fridge.

“She sure does,” Jesse added, his grin stretching wider. The rest of the hands, along with Neil, turned and took a quick look. A few nods, a couple smiles, then they got back to their breakfast.

“Thank you,” I replied to Rose before glancing back at Jesse. I don’t think he’d blinked yet. “And thank you.” I hoped he’d pick up on the subtle inflection because I couldn’t just walk across the kitchen, kiss him full on the lips, and thank him for the clothes the way I wanted to. I wasn’t sure how his family would take it. I was still trying to figure us out for myself, so whatever Jesse and I had, we’d have to keep it quiet until we figured out just what it was.

“Sorry I’m late,” I said as I rushed over to the coffee pot. That was my area of expertise. I ground, made, and poured the coffee. After that first day, I hadn’t spilled any. Occasionally, I’d be brave enough to whip up the pancake mix or scramble the eggs, but manning the coffee was the safest bet.

“That’s all right, hun,” she said, waving it off. “Clem said you had a tough time sleeping last night. You could have slept in, you know?”

Clementine waved at me from where she flipped pancakes on the griddle while standing on a step stool. Her purple scarf was proudly on display.

“What kept you up? Mind, body, or both?” Rose asked as I grabbed the coffee pot.

I couldn’t look her in the eyes when I answered, “Both.” I promptly spun around and whisked toward the table.

I felt one set of eyes on me. So intently, I remembered the way he’d kissed me last night. It made me remember the words he’d said to me.

Reliving last night when I had hot coffee in my hands wasn’t a good idea. I stopped beside Neil and lifted the pot. “Refill?” It was a rhetorical question. Not once in the past week had Neil turned down a coffee refill.

“Please,” he said with a nod. “Did you end up going to the rodeo last night, Rowen? We didn’t see you there, but it was packed as usual.”

“Yeah, I went.” I focused on pouring coffee into his cup. I did a quick scan of the table and was relieved to see a certain seat empty. I wasn’t quite ready to see Garth Black yet.

“What did you think?” he asked, turning in his seat toward me. “This was your first rodeo, right? I bet it left quite an impression.”

“It certainly left an impression,” I replied as I set his cup back down in front of him.

“Well, good. I’m glad you could make it,” he said as I moved on to the next cup that needed topped off. “Did you do anything especially fun afterward?”

From across the table, someone started choking.

The guy sitting next to Jesse hammered his back a few times while Jesse took a few sips of water. “Geez, Jesse. Try chewing your food before you swallow it. Basic stuff here, buddy.”

Jesse lifted his eyebrows in acknowledgement, took another sip of water, and glanced my way.

I shot him a thumbs up and made a face. He shot me back a smirk.

“I just went back up to my bedroom and stayed there all night.” I continued to make the coffee rounds. Jesse picked his fork back up and dove into his breakfast, but his eyes shifted my way every few seconds. So much for playing it subtle.

“Sounds like an uneventful night,” Neil said.

“Perfectly uneventful,” I replied.

Jesse shook his head and grinned into his plate.

The pot was empty a few cups later. After a detour to refill, I headed back to the table. En route, Jesse lifted his full cup of coffee and took a drink. He didn’t stop until the cup was empty. He swung it from the handle with his finger and winked at me.

If he kept that up, the entire ranch would know something was going on between us.

“Refill?” I stopped beside him and held out my hand. I was likely imagining it, but his eyes twinkled a bit more this morning.

“I thought you’d never ask,” he replied as he handed me his cup. His hand grazed mine purposefully, and in that briefest of grazes, my heart picked up speed.

“Did you have trouble sleeping last night, too?” I asked innocently as I poured his coffee. No one was paying us any attention, but just in case . . .

“Maybe a little.” He twisted in his seat and gave me a not-so-innocent smile. “Once I did fall asleep, I slept great. Best sleep of my life even.”

I was one more flirty innuendo away from a blush. It took a lot to make me blush, and I really didn’t want to do it right here for all of these guys to witness.

“Did you have a tough time getting to sleep last night, too, son?” Neil spoke up. I almost jumped out of my skin. I didn’t think anyone could hear us above the din of conversations roaming around the room.

“Yeah, I did, Dad,” Jesse replied in a collected voice. Like he hadn’t just gone from talking in code with me about last night to discussing sleep with his dad a second later.