Chapter 17
17
T hey had barely sat down to supper when a knock sounded on the door followed immediately by it swinging open.
“Hey. Is it okay if I come in?” Melissa stuck her head around the corner, Jeffrey in her arms. He squirmed to be let down, but she held him locked in place.
Declan rose and went to the door. “Did you need something?”
“I finally got back from that meeting I had down south, and Jeffrey’s crying for supper. I don’t have the energy. Is it okay if he joins you? Don’t worry about me, only if there’s something for him, please?”
Tansy was already moving, reaching for extra plates. “Of course you can join us. There’s enough for you both.”
Heart Falls was down to a single ranch guest. The ladies were both gone, and only Logan remained in the men’s quarters. Tansy, however, was still cooking for an army.
There might be enough food, but it was the third time this week Melissa had invited herself into the house, and Jake didn’t appreciate it.
Three weeks. What he’d hoped might be a short-term visit was now passing three weeks, and Melissa was still around. Which meant Jeffrey was still there, and maybe that had something to do with the dangerous teeter-totter going on in Jake’s gut.
“Thank you so much.” Melissa put Jeffrey down and gestured him toward the table.
He instantly climbed into the chair next to Tansy that he’d been using when he spent the morning with her.
Melissa settled herself in the chair across from Jake.
The conversation lull was epic. Where moments before they’d been laughing and enjoying Jinx’s story about a school project she and Sasha were working on, it seemed no one really wanted to talk anymore.
Jeffrey crawled up on his knees, staring over the edge of the table at Dixie. “‘inx’s doggy is nice.”
There was nothing Jinx enjoyed more than talking about her pet. “Dixie is a nice doggy, but she’s also a guard dog. You have to not chase her or pull her tail, remember?”
“No pulling,” Jeffrey said firmly. He turned and patted Tansy on the arm. “Can I please have noodles?”
“Oodles of noodles?” Tansy teased. She leaned down so she was eye to eye with him. “Yes. And you can have a rainbow. See?” She tumbled the brightly coloured vegetables onto his plate.
As conversation at that end of the table continued regarding the meal, Melissa accepted the breadbasket from Jake, broke off half a bun, and sat back in her chair. She sighed heavily.
Ignoring her would be so much easier. “Having any luck?” he finally asked politely.
Melissa shrugged. “I’m doing my best.” She sat upright, leaning across the table a little bit and lowering her voice. “You’re working so hard. This is a wonderful place you and your brothers have set up.”
Jake nodded, filling his plate as bowls passed but trying his best to pay attention to the conversation now continuing up the table.
“I was thinking,” Melissa continued, drawing his gaze back to her. “Maybe I should look for something a little closer for work.”
That was confusing as all get out. “Closer to what?”
She laughed. “Never mind. I’m so tired I’m obviously not making any sense. Jeffrey’s really enjoying himself. He said you took him for a horseback ride. Thank you for that.”
Jake had enjoyed it as much as Jeffrey had. “You’re welcome. He did a good job. Wasn’t scared at all.”
“No, he’s not scared of much.” She said it so matter-of-factly that it sounded odd. As if she’d done her best to scare him and hadn’t been successful, although where that idea came from, Jake didn’t know.
He wished it had stayed away.
That seem to be how things continued over the next couple of days. Everyone at High Water took turns caring for Jeffrey while Melissa took off during the days, supposedly working on plans for her future. Then half the time she showed up and expected Tansy to feed her.
In the middle of the afternoon on Tansy’s day off, when she’d headed out with Rose and Fern for some springtime activity at Red Boot ranch, Jake offered to keep an eye on Jeffrey.
They’d spent the morning taking care of the animals in the shelter, and the instant they came into the house, Jeffrey crawled onto the couch and fell asleep.
Jake pulled out his journal, but his heart wasn’t in it. There was a real sense of something out of kilter. No matter how much he tried to balance his to-do lists, no matter how he tried to be spontaneous, nothing seemed to fix it.
The door opened, and Jake glanced up. He expected one of the girls, but it was Melissa.
She smiled as if pleased to discover him. “Just the man I hoped to see.”
She pulled out a chair, and Jake was suddenly reminded of Tansy’s warning that they should never be alone with Melissa. Unless he wanted to run screaming from the room, there seemed no way to stop it. “I’ve been meaning to ask. Do you have a date for heading out on your own? You need to start thinking about that.”
Melissa shook her head. “I’m trying, Jake. And I can’t tell you how grateful I am that you’ve been there for me. You’ve been a lifesaver, just like I knew you would.” She laid a hand on his arm.
He pushed back from the table, freeing himself and folding his arms over his chest. “Glad we’ve been able to help, but there is a limit.”
“I suppose.” Melissa stared at him for a minute then over at where Jeffrey was sleeping on the couch. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to leave him here. He seems so comfy, I’d hate to wake him.”
Then she was gone, out the door, leaving confusion in her wake.
It felt as if the whole house was under some kind of a spell. Even as the spring weather warmed and the snow melted away, there was none of the happy optimism that usually accompanied the changing of the seasons. Jake felt tired to the soles of his feet.
Tansy seemed distracted as well. The impulsive, vibrant woman he couldn’t keep his eyes off had a dull fog over her bright veneer.
Enough already. When the final day of May arrived and they were all dragging their collective feet, Jake had enough.
Time for another moment of spontaneity.
He swooped into the house at four thirty, eyed the food on the counter, and calculated his chances of succeeding. “If I bring in a pinch-hitter, can I convince you to play hooky with me?”
Tansy turned from the counter, drying her hands on a towel. “Since the only people who expect me to feed them are somehow related to you or in your employ, I will abandon everything right now, pinch-hitter or no.”
Jake turned back toward the door. “Come in. She said yes.”
An instant later, Sydney was through the door and tossing her things over the arm of the couch. “Hey, chica. Unless you’re doing something very ooh, la la, I’m here to take over.”
Tansy snickered. “Perfect. I hope you brought your knife—there’s a ham to carve.”
“Delightful. It always makes Aiden slightly green when I sharpen my blades.” Sydney winked at Jake.
“Doesn’t do much for the rest of us guys either,” he admitted before turning to Tansy. “Don’t dress up. Jeans, runners, warm enough coat for outside.”
“Give me five minutes,” Tansy offered.
Which meant seven minutes later they were on the road.
Tansy leaned back in the middle seat and closed her eyes. “God, you don’t know how much I need this.”
“Even without a clue to what we’re doing?” Jake teased.
“I’m not in the house,” Tansy returned. She snorted. “Maybe it’s spring fever. I know that cabin fever is a real thing in the middle of winter, but is there something that makes your brain go into tangles in the spring?”
“I doubt it’s the time of year,” Jake offered quietly. “I think it’s Melissa. Having her and Jeffrey around… It’s messing with all of us.”
They sat in silence for a minute before Tansy nodded. “Yeah. It’s not getting any easier, that’s for sure.”
While he agreed, that’s not what tonight was about. “Time for a distraction. You’re not cooking, and we’re not in the house. And if anyone tries to do anything stupid tonight, Sydney’s there to take care of them. Enough said?”
An evil snicker escaped her. “Enough said. But also, woohoo , Sydney. I really hope she’s in the middle of wielding her knives at some appropriate moment. If necessary.”
“Enough said,” Jake reminded her.
Tansy tilted her head toward him. “It’s not warm enough for a picnic. We’ve already gone to the Heart Falls lookout.”
“Because heaven forbid we ever have a date to the same place twice.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, I suppose that’s a silly rule, all things considered. Small towns being small.”
“I’ve missed spending time with you alone,” Jake said softly.
“I’m across the hall,” Tansy pointed out. She grinned. “You seemed to remember that a couple of nights this week.”
Because the temptation to be together physically was too strong to resist. But they tended to mostly be quiet—well, as quiet as they could be while fooling around. Then they’d cuddle for a while before he’d go back to his own room.
It was starting to not be enough. Maybe it had never been enough.
He pulled to a stop in the back alley behind Buns and Roses.
Tansy peered at the door, confusion on her face. “Okay.”
“Not what you expect,” he promised. “Not Rough Cut, either.”
Instead of guiding her in the back door of her café, or in the back door of Rose’s flower shop next door, he used the key he’d been loaned to access the third business on the block.
The temperature inside was slightly cooler, with dark shades over the windows but clear security lighting along the edges of the room.
“We’re at my future brother-in-law’s art gallery.” Tansy walked forward, seeming to listen hard. “Closed for the night?”
“We have a private viewing,” Jake informed her. He offered his arm. “Right this way, m’lady.”
She laughed as he guided her past the art draped with protective cloths then up the stairs into the top floor. One room was an interactive techno-art area where Fern reigned supreme. Another was a room that Chance used while teaching lessons.
But it was the third space that Jake guided Tansy to. It held a single table with two chairs artistically spotlighted—of course. He’d have to give an extra thanks to Chance for the mood lighting.
A small table to the side held covered plates. Tansy spotted them and instantly laughed out loud. “You got Marina to cook for you.”
“I have a long history of getting Buns and Roses café to provide me with food when I’m not able to cook.” He held out a chair.
Tansy settled into place, pulling his chair closer to hers. “I seem to remember some of that long history.”
“Time to make some current history,” he told her firmly.
It was a moment out of a dream. The stress that had enveloped him fell away as he and Tansy took turns lifting the covers on the plates, laughing to find some of the treats that Marina had put out to accompany the hearty beef stew and cheesy scones.
They ate and drank and talked without having to worry about someone else being in the room. Without having to worry about being overheard or any of the other things that constantly sat at the edge of Jake’s attention.
When they’d sated their stomach’s appetites, Jake took Tansy’s hand and led her away from the table.
“You’re making me very curious,” she told him.
He pushed open the door to the classroom, striding to the far wall covered with a large bulletin board and a whiteboard. “I discovered something intriguing this past winter.” He grabbed the hidden handle and pulled, and suddenly a Murphy bed swung down from the wall into position.
He turned to discover Tansy grinning at him.
“I assume Chance has a bed in his studio for visiting artists.” Tansy stepped up to Jake and wrapped her arms around him, lifting her lips until he closed the distance between them. Kissing soft and deep and meaningful.
That same sense of peace that had hovered around them the entire meal remained as they pressed together, their hands and bodies caressing and bumping. He jerked his shirt over his head and tossed it to the side. A second later he had his hands under Tansy’s sweater, crinkling it up until it slid off, and he meshed their torsos together while he wrangled with her bra hooks.
“If you need me to get down to skin faster, let me know,” Tansy offered. She eased her head to the side as he nibbled his way down her neck and across her cleavage.
A moan escaped her when he dragged the shoulder straps free, easing the bra over the tips of her nipples in a slow-motion caress meant to tease.
“Faster is overrated,” Jake insisted. He meant it, too.
He found her nipple and sucked lightly until she squirmed against him. He pressed his palms to the small of her back to keep her in place as he nibbled a little more, easing down her rib cage even as he worked the button and zipper of her jeans.
He could have sworn he was going slowly, but suddenly she was absolutely naked, stepping away from him with mischief in her eyes.
“Some time you’ll have to do the thing where you keep all your clothes on and I’m naked, but right now? I’m fully on board with the lights-on-eyes-open idea.” She waggled her brows.
“So you’re saying strip?”
“Naked as a blue jay,” she agreed.
He wasn’t sure what birds had to do with it, but shucking his jeans and the rest of it only took a split second. He caught her outstretched hand and guided her to the bed. “I’ve missed this.”
She laughed as he tumbled her back onto the mattress. “Canoodling in strange places?”
He adjusted until they were side by side, lazily running his hands along the length of her torso. “Being naked with you. Being able to talk, and make noise, and be together. No worries about other people. Just us.”
Her eyes danced, something infinitely happy in their depths. “I like you Jake Skye.”
“I like you too, Tansy Fields.” He stared at her for a moment, the words itching to come out. There was more here than just like .
Love hovered on his lips.
Instead, though, he eased down her body, tasting and teasing until she quivered, tugging on his hair and gasping as he slid his fingers gently in and out of her core. As he took her up and over the pinnacle, his name escaping from her lips?—
That’s what he wanted to hear. Not just sometimes, but every time.
He wrangled on a condom then stretched out beside her. Hand on her thigh, he draped her top leg over him as he lined them up and gently slipped his cock between her folds.
She moaned happily. “Oh, God, yes.”
A palm fisted around him, and Jake grinned. “This is going to be over before we begin,” he warned.
Tansy swore softly then kissed him, sliding until she straddled him, knees on either side of his hips as she worked him hard and deep, the whole time kissing and petting him, fingernails scratching lightly until his rhythm broke and he came.
She collapsed on top of him, breathing hard. “It’s all good,” she panted happily. “It might be over, but that only means we get to start again.”
Which was, Jake considered, very deliciously true.