“And I thought the garage was bad.”
The attic was full to the brim with stuff. The detritus of forty plus years of living in the same place. Boxes, trunks, and bins were stacked neatly along the sides, with an assortment of furniture, ancient luggage, and sporting equipment that probably dated back to when Percy and Janie had been newlyweds wedged between. There was barely room to walk between the rows.
Hannah climbed up the rest of the way, taking his hand for balance when he offered. “Well, he said the tree stand is in the northwest corner. Let’s start with that and hope the rest of the Christmas stuff is nearby.” Whipping out her phone, she swiped on the flashlight and edged toward the front corner of the house.
“Hold up. I should probably go first. I don’t know what kind of shape the floors are in. Nobody’s been up here in God knows how long.”
“It’s fine. I’m walking along the beams.”
He hurried behind her, having to turn sideways to ease between the stacks of boxes. All this stuff needed going through, too. That was likely more than he’d manage in his time here. He’d clean up and clear out the garage, fix anything that needed fixing around the house to ensure Percy’s safety, and put his mother and brothers on the rest. Let them fight the battle over what needed to be donated or tossed.
“Good Lord, the
re must be at least sixteen boxes of decorations over here,” Hannah observed. “And here’s the stand.”
“If you can start passing things back to me, I’ll make a stack by the ladder.”
They got into a rhythm, transferring boxes from one space to the next. When they filled the small area of empty floor by the ladder, they set up yet another chain so that she could pass boxes down to him on the ground. He made an effort not to watch her ass during the process, but really, it was a lost cause when she filled out those skinny jeans like a gift from God. Once they’d hauled the first lot into the foyer, they went back and repeated the process.
“Is that everything?” he asked.
She held her phone up high. “I think so. Let me just check this back row of boxes.”
A sharp crack of splintering wood echoed through the attic. Even as she yelped, he leapt forward, grabbing her around the waist and hauling her back before she could plunge through the floor and the ceiling below. Her phone clattered across the plywood.
“You okay?”
“I…yeah.” Her voice was level enough, but her hands had fisted in his shirt, hanging on, and her body trembled against his in the wake of the adrenaline dump.
The light from wherever her phone landed cast crazy shadows on her face as she looked up at him, her pupils blown wide, and Ryan forgot for a second that it had been a mere fall he’d saved her from. His own pulse was hammering with more than just adrenaline, and he couldn’t quite stop his hands from sliding over her hips and partway up her spine to pull her closer. She licked her lips, flattening her palms against his chest.
Just one taste…
He started to close the distance between them.
“Everything okay up there?” Percy’s voice echoed up from the garage, as effective as a bucket of ice water. “I thought I heard a crash.”
“It’s fine,” Ryan called back, not taking his eyes off Hannah’s. “Some of the attic flooring is rotten. I’ll fix it later. Nobody’s hurt.”
“We’d best get to it. Lots of work to do.” Flashing a wry smile, she stepped back.
The keen edge of disappointment sliced through him at another opportunity lost.
Chapter 6
Hannah backed away from Ryan before she did something crazy like leap back into his arms and climb him like a tree. Scooping up her phone, she backed down the ladder, lifting her gaze to his just before her head cleared the entrance. He was still standing where she’d left him, a hungry expression in his eyes. Her cheeks heated. She ducked her head, but not before his lips curved into a smile.
Needing a chance to find her composure after the near miss of falling through the floor—sure, it was the near miss and not the near kiss—she directed Ryan and Percy outside to fit the tree into the stand while she began slicing cookies to bake.
She definitely hadn’t imagined it this time. They’d been having a Moment, damn it. Ryan had been seconds away from kissing her, and then—Perseus Interruptus. Fifteen months since she’d been kissed. Longer than that since anyone had tempted her for more. She’d been fine with that until him. And now she was supposed to work alongside him decorating this house and pretend she wasn’t thinking about what those muscles she’d felt beneath her hands would look like without a shirt?
Huffing out a breath, she arranged dough on the cookie sheet she’d unearthed. It would be fine. There was bound to be some other opportunity, right? And now that she knew she wasn’t imagining things, she could help create an opportunity. That wasn’t cheating, was it?
The guys came back inside as she was sliding the tray of cookies into the oven.
“What kind of cookies are those?” Percy asked.
Because he sounded like a curious little boy, Hannah found a smile. “Ginger snaps. They’ll make the house smell like Christmas as we decorate.”