“Let me get some leverage.” She got up on one knee and worked on the tense muscle for a few moments. “Looks like stress gathers in your shoulders.”
“Working out loosens the kinks, but I couldn’t get to the gym today.”
“I know what you mean. The days I need a long run, I never have the time. Drives me crazy.” She felt around his back. “Okay, I think we got out most of the most painful knots. Loosen your fists. I’m not going to dig anymore. You can relax.”
“Wish I could,” he muttered, wondering what crisis he’d face tomorrow.
She settled beside him and rubbed her palm across his back.
The smooth edges of her fingernails skimmed across his T-shirt, scattering shivers across his skin. He swallowed a moan. “God, that feels great.”
She pointed to the goose bumps pebbling his forearm. “You don’t fool me, Mitchell Blake. You like to be tickled.”
“Guilty as charged.”
This was the perfect opportunity to point out a consultant was making him happy, but she didn’t. Instead, she swept another caress across his back. Mitch let out a tired sigh and bent his head.
A companionable silence blanketed the living room. The rhythmic stroke of her hand along his back quieted the frantic hum of his thoughts. After a while, his hands hung limp between his knees. Tension leaked out of his shoulders, down his arms, and out of his legs. Under the tender sweep of her hand, he relaxed. For a few narcotic moments, he drifted in the gray area between wakefulness and sleep.
“It’s late. I should probably go to bed.” Her hand lifted.
He captured her wrist and pressed a grateful kiss on her knuckles. “Thank you,” he murmured against her soft skin. “I feel a lot better.”
“You’re welcome.” She gave his hand a brief squeeze.
Curious to see how her scrape was healing, he examined the heel of her thumb. The injury was no longer red and oozing, but a faint pink color. Relief diffused through him. She wouldn’t carry a scar from her fall.
On impulse, he kissed the center of her palm. Her fingertips trembled, fluttering against his jaw like tiny butterflies drawn to the heat of his skin. He closed his hand around her wrist and the rapid flick of her pulse against his fingers made him wonder if his hold rattled her. Hell, he’d kissed her hand like it was the most natural thing in the world—but it wasn’t. Kissing her was the beginning of the end, but he had no idea if the impulsive act would end their friendship or end his suffocating loneliness. Now that she was in his grasp, he couldn’t stop. “I was in trouble the instant you stepped into my house eleven days ago.”
“Trouble?” A crease formed between her eyebrows.
She stared at him like she didn’t understand, but he knew she did. Knew it the instant her dark eyes dipped to his mouth.
Mitch’s sexual fuse ignited. Holy hell, did she want the same thing he did? Willing to take the risk, he ventured onto the precipice he’d been edging close to ever since she arrived. “The night we met, you looked at me like I was the one man who could crash through your defenses. I felt the same way about you. Still do.” His fatigue evaporated, replaced by the throbbing urge to kiss her mouth, lose himself in those soft, smiling lips. “The only thing that got me through this rotten day was the chance I might see you tonight.”
A blush painted her face in shades of pink…shades of surprise and maybe even happiness.
He wanted to make her happy. He wanted to see that blush rise to her skin every time he whispered the thoughts bouncing off the walls of his brain. “Ever since you got here, I’ve been trying to find something about you not to like. I can’t come up with a blasted thing.”
She let out a sad laugh. “Once the online store goes live, you’ll have hundreds of new reasons to dislike me while you’re filling orders for stemware. When will you find the time to create new products?”
He rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand, grateful she broached the uncomfortable topic. “I can hire more glassblowers. If I get tired of making stemware, I can go into business for myself.”
“What? Nick would be devastated.” Both her hands clasped his. “You can’t leave.”
“There’s only one thing I can’t do.” He was ready to step off the jagged cliff. For this girl, he’d cross any chasm. “I can’t keep pretending I don’t want to get close to you.”
Closing the last few inches between them, he gave her one last instant to say no. He owed her that much after she’d rescued him today, but the scent of sleep on her warm skin and her adorable messy hair were irresistible. He touched his mouth to hers. She tasted like vanilla, sweet as the cookies she kept on the kitchen counter. The shy way she returned his kiss erased every crack in his bad day.
He buried his hands in her short, soft hair. Holding her like a precious chalice, he slanted his mouth across hers. When he slid his tongue into the slick sweetness of her mouth, he felt the ground crumble beneath him. He was falling headfirst, accelerating into an uncharted abyss. How much would it hurt when he hit the ground?
The instant she twined her arms around his neck, she stopped him from crashing into the rocky shards of rebuff.
Mitch felt a twist of triumph. There was nothing better than having Jaye Davis cling to him. Nothing.
Elated, he alternated between soft, loving kisses and carnal open-mouthed making out. No matter what he did, she kissed him back with equal fervor.
Most of the people in his life took from him, whether it was his
