CHAPTER TEN
Raina
The hungover guests joined us in the dining room, and I was grateful for their presence. With so many of us working together at the table on the jungle puzzle, there was no room for sexual tension, or tension of any sort, to get strung up and tangled in. At least, that’s what I kept telling myself.
However, I could feel Jagger’s eyes on me as I kept my gaze down, scouring the pieces for the left leg of the howler monkey.
They burned against my skin like the sun through a car window.
Intense and magnifying. Yes, the woodstove was going, but that shouldn’t have caused me to start sweating between my boobs the way I was, or afraid of lifting my gaze at the wrong time.
Thankfully, Effie beside me, kept me turned toward her as she talked my ear off, only slightly slurring her words, since she gave in and started back on the wine like several of the others.
Deciding that it was better to share our bounty than hoard it all for ourselves, we brought down the food we bought at the grocery store earlier that day, and put out a spread for the guests. Between our snacks, the chili, and the fried bread, none of us went hungry.
Jagger stood up from his seat, and of course, my eyes followed him.
I had to consciously tell myself not to look at him.
To focus on the puzzle pieces. To focus on Effie.
To focus on anything else. Literally anything but the broad expanse of his back in that tighter-than-tight T-shirt, or the way his ass fit in those pajama pants.
I definitely needed to keep my eyes away from the front of his pants because I knew for a fact the man was going commando under that thin bit of flannel.
He peeked out the window, pulling back the thick brocade drapes.
“Wind’s died down a bit,” he said to nobody in particular.
“Rain too. Even if the power doesn’t come back on right away, we might be able to cross the channel to San Camanez tomorrow.
” He turned around and met my eyes, offering me a smile. “Have you called your kid to check in?”
“I’ve been texting with Gabrielle,” I said, not looking at him. “He’s having a blast with his cousins.”
“He misses you,” Effie said, resting her cool, papery hand on my arm. “Boys are fickle creatures. But they do love and miss their mamas.”
I smiled at Effie, placed my hand over hers, and said, “Thank you.”
Jagger returned to the table and embarked on a wild and humorous conversation with Julian, sitting to his right, about people who walked around no matter the time of year, or where they were, in their bare feet.
“It’s just tetanus, sepsis, or gangrene waiting to happen,” Julian said with a headshake.
“Not to mention, the filth. I’m all for being a free spirit.
You know, a … a crazy Hawaiian shirt once in a while.
Or … or socks with sandals when I run to get the mail.
But barefoot … in a restaurant? In the grocery store? I don’t get it.”
Jagger smirked and the two continued to discuss it. Mostly though, it was just Julian listing all the places where he’d seen someone in bare feet and they shouldn’t have been.
“Church!” Julian exclaimed. “A man came to church without shoes. Claimed if Jesus walked without shoes, so could he. But Jesus didn’t live in a time where hypodermic needles just casually hung out on a sidewalk.”
“Crazy people,” Jagger said, just adding fuel to Julian’s fire.
I kept my head down and chatted softly with Effie, but kept one ear peeled toward Jagger. Eventually, the older generation got pretty tipsy again, and the yawns interrupted their conversations more and more.
I stood up from my seat and went to Lenora, who sat with Cynthia at the end of the table. “Do you have any bricks?” I asked her, making sure I kept my voice to a whisper.
“Bricks?” she asked, into her cups again, and unable to control her volume. Several people turned toward us. “Why on earth do you need bricks?”
Jagger’s eyes were on me, and I was unable to not look up at him.
The dark-blue burned back at me and my entire face turned molten hot.
I exhaled and turned back to Lenora. “I thought it might be nice to heat up some bricks—you know, like they did in the old days—to help warm everyone’s beds before they retire for the night. ”
“Oh!” Lenora’s eyes widened. “Hmm.”
“I saw some in the shed,” Jagger said, already on his feet. “I’ll be right back.” Then he was gone, the sound of the back door in the mudroom closing behind him a moment later.
“That’s mighty thoughtful of you, young lady,” Bernie said, chasing a yawn with a sip of beer. “You and your husband there, are quite the helpful couple.”
“Oh, we’re not … he’s not …” I protested, hoping to God my face didn’t melt off my skull it was so hot now. “We’re just … friends?”
“Why’d you ask us?” Cynthia asked, glancing at the others around the table. “You all heard that as a question too, right?”
Nods, and “mm-hmm” a plenty, made me want to crawl into a hole like a salamander and not come out until spring. “We’re friends,” I said again, making sure I added no confusing upward inflection at the end. “ Just friends.”
Now they all smirked and exchanged cheeky glances between themselves.
I resisted the urge to launch into a full protest, show them diagrams, pie charts, and graphs just to prove that Jagger and I were barely friends, let alone anything else.
But they were already on a different topic of conversation, thank the wine goddesses.
The knock at the backdoor had me jumping where I stood, then racing through the kitchen to open it for Jagger. “Sorry,” I said, accepting four of the eight bricks from him. “Why didn’t you make two trips?”
All he did was grunt and step inside, ditching his boots before following me to the woodstove, where we placed the bricks on top so they could heat up.
“This was a good idea,” he said, stashing his boots next to the stove as well.
“When I went upstairs to grab the rest of the food, our room was pretty chilly. So I left the door open. Hopefully some of this heat travels upward.”
Swallowing, and unnecessarily holding my hands palm down over the stove, I let my gaze slowly travel north along his body, taking in the raindrops clinging to his beard, on his glasses, and through his hair.
He blinked a few times when I reached his eyes, and let my gaze settle there. “You’re thinking about it again, aren’t you?” His smirk was as annoying as it was sexy.
“No,” I said, lying through my teeth.
“Bullshit.” His grin grew wider, and he pulled one of my hands into his, pressing his thumb to my wrist. “Are you thinking about it, Raina?”
“No.”
The extra lift to one side of his mouth, along with those familiar lines at the corners of his eyes, had me practically swooning. “Liar. Are you thinking about it?”
I rolled my eyes. “Well, now I am. You won’t stop asking me about it. But mostly, I’m thinking about how annoying you are.”
“No, you’re not. You’re thinking about it. That’s all you’re thinking about.”
I yanked my hand out of his grasp. “And you’re a jerk.” I stomped away, back to the table, back to Effie, and away from the man who turned me into a pile of frustrated, horny goo.
By nine o’clock, everyone was tucked into bed with their toasty brick to keep them warm. Even Lenora couldn’t keep her eyes open and settled into her room for the night after draining a glass of water and popping two Advils.
That left me and the Beard to finish the puzzle. Because even though we hadn’t said it out loud, we both really wanted to finish the damned thing before we left tomorrow.
We were almost done too. Only about a hundred and fifty more pieces remained. We had the edges, most of the center, and the sky. “Man, this forest floor really has us puzzled,” I murmured, chuckling at my own joke in my head and earning a sideways glance from Jagger.
“How long have you been waiting to say that one?” he asked, amusement in his voice.
“Just came to me.” I peeked at him out of the corner of my eye and he was smirking in that very unique, very sexy Jagger way.
“Yeah, all the different shades of green are playing tricks with my eyes.” He blinked a few times, then removed his round, wire-rimed glasses and rubbed his eyes. His knee knocked mine beneath the table again.
Neither of us moved to end the connection.
“I’m sorry if my teasing became too much,” he said after a moment, his tone surprisingly even, if not tinged with remorse.
Even his posture seemed more humble, if that was possible.
“I didn’t mean to upset you. And I was definitely a drunk dick last night pushing you to …
you know, tell me your preferences. That was totally out of line.
I guess I was still in push-your-buttons mode and making you uncomfortable was part of that. It was wrong and I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine,” I said, regretting my snippy tone the moment it came out of my mouth. I sighed, my shoulders rounding. “It’s fine,” I said again, this time nicer. “Thank you though. I appreciate the apology.”
He nodded, then stood up a little out of his chair and leaned forward over the table and closer to me, instantly causing my body temperature to rise.
“Booyah! Found you, you little fucker.” He grabbed a puzzle piece and fit it into a clump of other pieces that he was working on.
“I’ve been looking for the rest of that tree frog for fucking ever.
Of course they had to make it green and blend in with everything else.
I think this bit goes here.” He moved it into place, having to lean toward me, close enough that it was impossible for me not to pull in a deep inhale.
“There we go.” I managed to silence the moan that threatened to bubble up my throat from how good he smelled.
Why the fuck did he have to smell so good? It wasn’t fair.
“Nice work,” I croaked, clearing my throat and exhaling in relief when he sat back down and away from me.