Chapter 8 #2
Air evacuated my lungs. He had a towel draped across his shoulders and was rubbing it against his damp hair.
The rest of him? Bare. So many muscled inches.
The towel covered his wide shoulders, but his strong pecs were only dusted with dark hair thinning down to his rippled abs.
His legs were long and his thighs thick, his right more so than his left.
The scars on his left side stuck out stark and jagged, but I wasn’t paying attention to those. My gaze zeroed in on his privates.
Look away!
I couldn’t tear my focus off his groin. His heavy ball sack would’ve been impressive if it weren’t for a cock that was thick and long even while flaccid.
“Jesus, Summer!” he barked and snapped his towel off his shoulders. He tried to jump for his bedroom, but his foot slipped.
He skidded and banged a shoulder against the wall. “Fuck.”
“Jonah!” I ditched my boots and ran toward him.
He tried to stabilize himself, but he was whipping his towel around to cover his genitals and it unbalanced him more. He teetered on one leg, hit the wall again, and slid down, grunting the entire way.
Shit, shit, shit. I got to his side and knelt by him. His knees were bent, the left side at a sharper angle than I’d seen before.
“Fuck!” He straightened his left leg with a wince. Pain twisted his features and he was breathing heavily.
“What can I do?” I took inventory of him. No blood. Only lots of hot skin and—my gaze skated away.
His incredulous dark eyes cut into me. “What the hell are you doing here?”
I batted away the irritation his tone caused. He had every right to be upset. “Are you okay?”
He grunted and dropped the towel over his lap. The back of his head thudded against the wall. “I will be.”
His eyes were pinched and his breathing was shallow.
“Where do you hurt?”
“My pride,” he muttered and rolled to sit squarely on his bare ass.
“I’m sorry.” I’d messed up. He would’ve been fine without me, but I’d gotten into my head. I’d jacked things up again. “I brought you some groceries. I wasn’t sure how much you’ve been able to make it to town.”
His stare turned disbelieving once again. “You brought me groceries?”
“Produce mostly. So you don’t get scurvy.” Oh, god. Listen to me. Had Mama heard what I’d just heard? Lame excuses to see a man I might have an eternal flame for?
“Christ, Summer.” He closed his eyes and seemed to concentrate on his breathing. “I’m not a pirate.”
“That’s the thing. Did you know that rural folks used to get scurvy if they didn’t get the right nutrients? It makes sense though, right? Like, we’re in the middle of nowhere and can be isolated for long periods of time. My grandpa Bailey had scurvy as a kid.”
He cracked an eye open, stark disbelief shimmering in the dark depths of his iris. “You brought me groceries because your grandpa had scurvy like eighty years ago?”
My cheeks smoldered while I did the calculations. “Well, it would’ve been more like ninety years ago.”
We held each other’s gaze for a moment, then he shook his head. “Can you give me a moment? I want to stand up without mooning you.”
I hadn’t gotten a good view of his ass yet. Based on the rest of this body, I bet the view was spectacular.
“Summer?”
Oh. I hadn’t moved. I was still crouched next to him, my hand on his blistering hot shoulder.
“Sorry,” I squeaked and popped up. I ran to the kitchen and stood by the table.
I pressed my fingertips into my forehead.
Outside, past the living room windows, the snow was falling heavier than before, large clumps of flakes hitting the ground and piling deep.
If I didn’t leave now, I’d be stuck here, but I couldn’t bring myself to go. I had to make sure he was okay. I was the reason he was hurt. Again.
Jonah
I sat on my bed, my head hanging and my forearms pressed into my thighs. My left leg throbbed after getting jackknifed. The slam into the wall had reignited the pain I sometimes got in my shoulder.
Was Summer still here? I wanted her gone as much as I didn’t want her to leave.
She’d brought me groceries.
Her reason was wild but it was also all her. She was always looking out for others, but why would she risk the weather to make sure I got some well-rounded meals? I’d bought groceries yesterday. I’d even gotten some fresh fruit and veggies.
Mom had been after me to keep my doors locked, but no one visited who wasn’t expected. I never would’ve guessed I’d be caught stark naked by Summer Kerrigan.
She’d seen everything. Including when my leg gave out and how utterly painful it was when it happened.
I blew out a breath and inhaled slowly. Exhaled. The sharp thudding was turning dull. I rose, testing the stability of the knee. My foot wasn’t happy either, but it’d hold me up. I rolled my shoulder and tested all my joints so I wouldn’t fall on my ass again.
I shrugged into a loose red flannel and pulled on my jeans. I left the socks off so I wouldn’t slip. As long as the floor wasn’t wet, I should be fine.
Before I entered the hallway, I took another steady breath. I could face her. She’d seen everything but so had other women. I couldn’t remember their names right now. Summer had a way of blowing into my world and taking up all the space.
I snagged a cane, hating the damn thing when I was usually grateful for it, and trudged into the living room. She wasn’t there, so I rounded into the kitchen.
Her back was to me and her shoulders were slumped. Her hair hung loose and was piled around the hood of her sweater.
“Doing all right?”
She spun, her bright gaze stroking down my body and back up. “You’re dressed.”
“Disappointed?” I meant it as a joke, striving for some way to lighten her mood, but goddammit, I really wanted to know.
Her already pink cheeks flushed a deeper red. “I’m so sorry I startled you.”
She’d done more than startle me. She’d given me a moment when I’d thought I’d conjured her.
The way my excitement had risen . . . Then reality had hit—jacking off to her saucy smile and bossy mouth hadn’t manifested her in the flesh—and the situation had become clear.
She’d gotten a full frontal of the scars I hated revealing. Then all hell had broken loose.
I wanted to move on from all that. I’d remember the way her gaze lingered on my dick later. “Thank you for the groceries.”
She lifted her chin. I wasn’t the only one who wanted to leave the last ten minutes behind. “You’re welcome.”
“Have you seen outside?”
She rolled her lips in and her gaze strayed to the window. “I knew I was pushing it.”
“But you came anyway?”
She nodded.
Summer was going to get snowed in with me. Again. The flood of delight was wrong. I quashed it. “Who knows you’re here?”
“Mama. I’m sure she’s told my brothers and Lane and Cruz—Myles’s brothers.”
“Want them to come and get you in their pickup?”
“I don’t want them to risk getting stuck.”
My brain was telling me to shut up, to quit troubleshooting the situation. “Do you want me to take you home? I can stay with my parents.” My mom would be delighted and I’d be smothered and forced to play board games for hours.
“I can’t inconvenience you more than I already have.”
I’d worked more when she was here in my attempts to avoid her. Now I spent too much time trying to forget what it was like to have Summer Kerrigan under my roof. “It’s fine.”
She crossed to the sink and peered out the window. The gentle rise of the base of the mountain and the trees wouldn’t show her much except that the snow was coming fast and heavy. “How bad is it for you to be stuck with me for a few days?”
Staying with her for days would be torture, but that was my problem, not hers. “Dig into those groceries and see what scurvy-preventive meal we can make.”