Chapter 17
This felt like Jessica was doing something she shouldn’t be.
“Are you sure this is okay?” she asked, following Teddy down the side of his parents’ farmhouse. Muted light, like the type cast off a television, spilt out of the big windows up ahead, and woodsmoke hung in the air.
Teddy moved down the path confidently like he knew it better than the back of his hand.
Obviously, he did. He’d told her this was the only home he’d ever known before moving into the flat above Owen’s law firm.
Shit, that made her jealous. Jessica had stopped counting houses when she’d finished unpacking at house number ten. Ironically, she’d also been ten.
“It’s fine,” Teddy assured her.
“We shouldn’t knock? Ask if they mind?”
Jessica collided with Teddy’s strong back when he stopped, and she stumbled. Good Lord. The man was pure muscle.
Teddy turned slowly, and through the low light of the night, she could just make out his smile. “How do you think it will go if we knock on my parents’ door at 9 pm, Sunshine?”
Surely that would be a hell of a lot better than if the Jameses thought someone was creeping around their house?
“Because Mum will see us together and have kittens.”
Okay, yes. Lulu was excitable, but it was endearing. Still, there would be questions Jessica wasn’t ready to answer. The same kind that had been plaguing her thoughts all week.
Why am I so comfortable with Teddy?
What was it that made it impossible to not be honest with him?
“She’s already convinced we’re going to live happily ever after, and I’ve kept any and all details about our relationship very vague.”
Jessica resisted the urge to wring her hands together and kept her voice low. “Do you think she’ll be mad?”
“About us sneaking out to my childhood treehouse? Hate to break it to you, but you’re not the first girl I’ve taken there.”
Unease prickled across her skin. Probably because she was nervous about getting caught. That must be it—it wasn’t because she was jealous of the girls and women who’d come before her. The ones Teddy had chosen.
At least Jessica managed not to vocalise her next thought: I’d like to be the last girl he takes here.
“I meant what if they find out that we’re …”
“Getting married?” Teddy supplied. He settled his hands on her shoulders, and the very solidness of his touch made her catch her breath, savour the hint of his spicy cologne mixing with the night air.
“They’ll never know. Our plan is bulletproof. You trust me, right?”
And even though she’d always struggled with that, there was just something about Teddy. Something that made her not hesitate. Not second-guess her answer.
“Yes.”
“Good.” Teddy’s giant hands—another thing she didn’t need to be thinking about right now, thanks very much—squeezed her shoulders. “I trust you too. That’s how I know this will work. But the longer we stand here, the more chance we have of getting caught, which will lead to awkward questions.”
Jessica nodded. “Okay.”
“We’re going to go down some steps soon. I’ll guide you, alright? The treehouse is further down the path, next to the creek.”
Jessica looked at the shadowy path ahead of them. She bit her lip.
“I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise,” Teddy said, and she believed him.
The ladder in front of Jessica was best described as rickety. She craned her neck, tipping her head back as she tried to make out the top of the tree, but it was too dark.
“My great-grandfather planted all these English oaks,” Teddy explained, using the torch he’d pulled out of his car’s glove box to illuminate the area around them. Water moved silently along the creek, and the only noise was the rustle of the leaves above them.
“They were my great-grandmother’s favourites, and she missed England. So, he tried to recreate a little bit of her home here.”
The trees were huge. If Jessica wrapped her arms around the tree’s trunk, she’d barely cover half its girth. She trailed her hand across the rough bark. “I didn’t realise your family had lived here for so long.”
The light from the torch dipped as Teddy pulled his hair out of its usual bun. The strands cascaded around his shoulders, and he pushed them behind his ears. “We’re the third generation of Jameses to live here.”
Jesus. Teddy didn’t just have roots in Wattle Junction. His family was Wattle Junction.
“You’re lucky,” she murmured, ignoring the ache in her chest.
“That’s something I’m realising more and more every day.” He lowered his voice. “How do you feel about spiders?”
Jessica’s lips curled into a smile. “They don’t worry me.” After growing up in an assortment of houses and flats and apartments, bugs and insects had been the last of her worries.
“Great.” Teddy angled the beam of light from the torch towards the ladder leaning against the verandah of the treehouse. “Ladies first.”
“Are you sure it’s safe?” Jessica failed to keep her scepticism out of her tone. Even in the dark, the ladder looked like it had seen much, much better days. One of the midway rungs was missing entirely.
“Please. It’s as safe as houses. I helped build it.” Teddy paused, and Jessica got the sense he was about to say something else, so she waited. “I wouldn’t risk you, Sunshine.” He coughed. “I mean, I wouldn’t risk anyone’s safety.”
He was so kind and caring. It was laughable that he’d been so concerned. But Jessica didn’t like it when people laughed at her fears, so she wouldn’t do that to him.
Besides, he’s just practicing being a good boyfriend. Don’t read too much into this.
“Want me to go first?” Teddy asked.
But then who would catch Jessica if she slipped?
“No, I got it.”
She could do this.
“Take your time. I’ll keep the light on where you need to go.”
Jessica swallowed. Nodded. Once, twice.
“I promise the stars look pretty from up there.”
Jessica wrapped her hand around a rung of the ladder.
Felt the rough wood underneath her palm.
She pulled herself up, her feet growing heavy as she climbed.
Teddy kept the torch steady, highlighting where she needed to place her hands next.
A gentle breeze caressed her cheeks and mixed with the heat coming off her skin.
“You’re doing so good,” Teddy said. “Not much further.”
She was three rungs off the ground. Teddy James had the patience of a saint. No wonder kids in his sports class loved him so damn much. Jessica was about to tease him when her foot slipped and, with her heart in her throat, she fell backwards. The light disappeared. Strong hands gripped her hips.
“I’ve got you,” Teddy said. His body pressed against hers. She shivered, and so what if it had been years since a man had touched her. That was totally unrelated information.
“You’re okay. Catch your breath. I’ll keep you steady.”
He did, too. His arms encircled her body, and she was confident they could withstand an earthquake.
Her racing heart slowed, and Jessica cleared her throat.
One of Teddy’s hands left her hip, trailing down her leg, lifting her foot onto the rung she needed. He squeezed her calf, and she bit back a moan. Is this what happened to everyone who’d been starved of affection? Spontaneous development of new erogenous zones?
“You okay?” Teddy asked. His breath was on the back of her neck, his words so close to her ear.
It was just a hop, skip and a jump for her imagination to make this dirty and suddenly, Jessica was on the cusp of imagining what would surely be one of the best sexual experiences she’d ever have.
She could so easily lean back, encourage Teddy to move his hand …
“Sunshine? You’re shaking. Here. Let me help you.” Teddy shifted his hands back to her waist, his grip tightening, and she needed to get herself under control before her central nervous system melted.
“You won’t fall. I promise. Damn it. I shouldn’t have brought you here either. I’m so sorry.”
This just wouldn’t do. She couldn’t have Teddy thinking he’d made her uncomfortable when any and all discomfort she was currently experiencing was because she was horny.
Finally, she found her voice. “It’s okay. I’m good. The fall just winded me?” It came out like a question because even her brain knew it was a ridiculous excuse.
“Okay if I let you go to find the torch?”
Jessica nodded and then remembered Teddy couldn’t see her. “Yep.”
After a minute, the torch flickered back on, and Teddy was bracketing Jessica’s body against the ladder. He was so solid and smelt so good it should be illegal. “Want to keep going?”
“Yes.”
With Teddy by her side, why would she ever want to stop?