“What?” I said, wondering what in the world Jesse Walker was doing in my room after midnight.
“Are you planning on throwing anything else at me?”
“Not as long as you don’t scare the living shit out of me again,” I said, finally calm enough to give him more than a quick look.
My eyes almost popped out of my head.
He was in his pajamas, too: a pair of navy blue sweats cut off at the knees, along with . . . absolutely nothing else. No shirt, no shoes, no hat. It was the least cowboy-fied I’d ever seen Jesse, and even though he was sexy six ways to Sunday in his cowboy gear, this look was hard to beat.
Probably had something to do with all of the tanned, muscled flesh on display.
“Rowen? Is something wrong?” He sounded like he was about to start snapping his fingers in front of my face. “Because your eyes are doing something kind of crazy right now.”
That’s because you’re practically nak*d and were descended from gods.
I almost had to slap my face to clear my dazed expression. “Other than you leaping into my room in the middle of the night? No, nothing’s wrong.” I had to look away or I was sure my eyes would go crossed. My eyes landed on the window. “And how in the hell did you get in here?” I rushed to the window. Yep, just how I’d remembered its location before Superman soared in: two stories up, straight up. No roofline, trellis, or ladder to climb. Nothing other than siding. So if he didn’t have Superman DNA, it was Spiderman DNA.
Jesse appeared beside me and stuck his head out the window with me. His shoulder rubbed against mine. The innocent graze practically undid me. “You’re looking in the wrong direction,” he said, tilting his head up. I did the same.
All I saw was the outline of the roof and another window set right below where the roofline came together. I’d never noticed it before. It was a bit smaller than my window, but a light shone from it, too. Jesse Walker had been sleeping ten feet above me the whole time.
“Holy shit.”
“You guessed how I did it yet?” he asked eagerly. Thankfully, he’d guessed my shock had to do with how he’d gotten from point A to point my B.edroom. I suppose I was still in some shock about that whole feat, but most of it was focused on the fact he’d been right above my sleeping head the whole time.
“I’m guessing it had something to do with lunacy,” I replied. I really had no logical explanation for how he’d scaled down almost ten feet without the aid of a rope or a ladder or pixie dust.
Jesse nudged me with that arm I was ever so aware of running down the length of mine. “Maybe a little bit of lunacy, but a whole lot of skill, too. But, come on. Aren’t you at least going to make a guess as to how I did it?”
I opened my mouth.
“Something not having to do with lunacy, maybe?” he interjected.
Okay, I could do this. Pushing all lunacy, superhero DNA, and miracles aside, I tried to put it together. Jesse’s window to my window. Nothing but a whole lot of white cedar siding and one cobblestone chimney a couple feet to the side . . .
“Oh, dear God.” I felt my stomach drop as I scanned the chimney. It ran from the ground up past the rooftop. Right by my window, right by Jesse’s. “Please tell me you didn’t—”
“Climb down the side of the chimney?” He studied the chimney with me and grinned. “Yeah. I did.”
If he lost a foot or hand hold, he would have fallen a good twenty feet. There weren’t any sharp projectiles or concrete landings below, but still. Best case scenario was some broken bones and internal bleeding. Worst case was a one way ticket to the hereafter.
“And the bull riders are supposed to have some kind of death wish?”
Jesse chuckled. “I’ve done it dozens of times, and the nice thing about the chimney is that it’s predictable. You don’t have to wonder which way it’s going to spin, or how high it’s going to buck.”
“Ha. Ha,” I said humorlessly. I saw very little humor in the situation. Sure, Jesse was standing beside me, talking to me, rubbing his fine, next-to-naked body against mine, but if he needed to see me so badly, why didn’t he just come through my door?
“Why in the world did you do that?” I couldn’t stare out the window any longer. In fact, I’d never stare out of it the same way again.
“Because I needed to talk to you, and I didn’t get to finish what I needed to say tonight,” he said, ducking back into the room. “I’ve been trying to talk to you all darn week, but you’ve been dodging me like a calf on branding day.”
I pursed my lips to keep from laughing. He was being serious, and I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, but really? Like a calf on branding day? I’d most certainly never heard that before and doubted I ever would again outside of Willow Springs.
“This whole week, your window’s been closed, so when I heard it finally open, I decided to make my move. Because, Rowen, I need to talk to you whether you want to talk back or not. I need to explain a couple of things. I might have gone about this the wrong way by bursting through your window at night, but you didn’t really leave me another choice.”
I kept pursing my lips together. Jesse all flustered and rambling was adorable and appealing on so many levels, but he’d misunderstood my question.
“Not Why? as in why did you need to see me so badly, but Why? as in why didn’t you just knock on my door?” I plopped down on the edge of my bed and tried really hard to keep my eyes on his. When his hands moved to his hips, that feat became next to impossible.
“Because you wouldn’t have answered and because I didn’t want to worry about waking my sisters. And because I didn’t want to worry about answering their questions as to what I was doing knocking on your door at night. And because I could climb that chimney blindfolded. And because I was really hoping to impress you with my mad chimney climbing skills.” Jesse’s dimples emerged. My throat went dry. “So, are you impressed?”
Men and their need to impress. Looking from him to the window, back to him, I said, “Consider me sufficiently impressed.”
His dimples drilled a little deeper with his smile. “I’d say my work here is done, except it’s really only started.” The skin between his eyebrows came together as he studied my big nightshirt.
Two and two came together right as his face ironed out. “Nice shirt,” he said, looking a little smug.
“At least I’m wearing one,” I said, giving him the briefest once-over I could manage.
“I was out of fresh shirts,” he said, lifting his shoulders. “You’re lucky I wasn’t out of fresh shorts.”
Yeah, that burn in my throat? It was from the flames erupting in my stomach.
“No, you’re lucky,” I said. “I’ve heard cobblestone chaffing is really uncomfortable.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” he said, followed by a chuckle. “But, really. Next time you want to borrow one of my shirts, all you have to do is ask me. You don’t have to steal it when I’m not looking.”
I could tell from his face he was teasing, but I wasn’t in a teasing mood. “I didn’t steal it. It was in one of the drawers in my dresser. The–”
“Bottom one,” Jesse finished my thought.
My suspicion that Jesse was clairvoyant seemed more and more likely. “How did you know that?”
“Because that’s where I kept them.” He shrugged and crossed his arms. I loved when he crossed his arms. I loved it even more when he was shirtless. “I must have left one behind.”
“Left one behind? Are you in the habit of leaving your things in random dresser drawers throughout the house?”
“Nope, but I try to make it a habit to leave my things in my dresser drawers.”
“Your dresser drawer?” I repeated slowly, grabbing the comforter to cover my legs. The shirt had seemed large before, but having Jesse look at me that way made me feel all kinds of exposed.
“Well, yeah.” He spread his arms and did a spin. “This is my room.”
“Come again?” I knew I hadn’t heard him wrong, but I wished I had.
“This has been my room from day one. My dresser, my nightstand,”—his smile curved higher on one side as he examined the space around me—“my bed. And my blankets.” He took a few steps toward his bed and his blankets, and I felt like a thousand butterflies had been set loose in my stomach from the way he looked at me.
“Why did you move out?” I asked.
“Because you were coming,” he replied matter-of-factly. “I know from growing up with three sisters that a girl’s bedroom needs to be within arm’s reach of a bathroom, and this room stays a heck of a lot cooler than the attic in the summertime.”
I finally understood why I couldn’t escape Jesse’s scent or presence even when I was locked in my bedroom. I’d been sleeping on the same mattress he had. I’d been snuggled beneath the same old quilt he had. We’d shared a bed the whole time without even touching each other.
“You just picked up and moved into the attic because I was coming?” I said, sounding as dumbfounded as I felt.
He nodded.
“But you didn’t even know me.”
His forehead wrinkled, and he gave me a curious look. “I didn’t have to. You needed a room. I had one. And the attic was empty.”
“You make it sound so easy,” I said, shaking my head. I doubted I’d ever figure out the goodness that moved inside of Jesse Walker. It was the kind that didn’t quite make sense in our world.
“It is easy, Rowen,” he said. “Besides, look at how it all worked out. You’re sleeping on my bed, wearing my undershirt, and haven’t thrown me out the window for jumping inside of it unexpectedly in the middle of the night. I’m not exactly on the losing side of this arrangement.”
He was trying to make less of a big deal out of something that was a very big deal. If I had to move into the attic because some random stranger was coming for the summer, gracious was the last thing I would have been.
“Thank you,” I said, having nothing else to offer. “That was a pretty cool thing to do.”
He waved it off like it was nothing, and he approached the bed. “Please. When I get to move back in, I can sleep all warm and happy every night knowing you were in my bed for a whole summer.” Very slowly, he took a seat next to me on the edge of the mattress. He was so on the edge of the mattress, he could have fallen right off. And now, Jesse and I were sharing a bed in the literal sense.
If it was possible, my heartbeat sped up some more.
“That’s totally worth spending a summer in the attic,” he said, glancing between me and the mattress with a smile. His eyes locked on mine, and with him so close, I could make out every speck of gold in those blue eyes of his. “Whoa.” His head tilted to the side. “Your eyes are blue.”
My face lined with confusion until I remembered Jesse had never seen me without my contacts in. Since I only took them out at bedtime and promptly replaced them after waking up, no one else at Willow Springs had either.
o;What?” I said, wondering what in the world Jesse Walker was doing in my room after midnight.
“Are you planning on throwing anything else at me?”
“Not as long as you don’t scare the living shit out of me again,” I said, finally calm enough to give him more than a quick look.
My eyes almost popped out of my head.
He was in his pajamas, too: a pair of navy blue sweats cut off at the knees, along with . . . absolutely nothing else. No shirt, no shoes, no hat. It was the least cowboy-fied I’d ever seen Jesse, and even though he was sexy six ways to Sunday in his cowboy gear, this look was hard to beat.
Probably had something to do with all of the tanned, muscled flesh on display.
“Rowen? Is something wrong?” He sounded like he was about to start snapping his fingers in front of my face. “Because your eyes are doing something kind of crazy right now.”
That’s because you’re practically nak*d and were descended from gods.
I almost had to slap my face to clear my dazed expression. “Other than you leaping into my room in the middle of the night? No, nothing’s wrong.” I had to look away or I was sure my eyes would go crossed. My eyes landed on the window. “And how in the hell did you get in here?” I rushed to the window. Yep, just how I’d remembered its location before Superman soared in: two stories up, straight up. No roofline, trellis, or ladder to climb. Nothing other than siding. So if he didn’t have Superman DNA, it was Spiderman DNA.
Jesse appeared beside me and stuck his head out the window with me. His shoulder rubbed against mine. The innocent graze practically undid me. “You’re looking in the wrong direction,” he said, tilting his head up. I did the same.
All I saw was the outline of the roof and another window set right below where the roofline came together. I’d never noticed it before. It was a bit smaller than my window, but a light shone from it, too. Jesse Walker had been sleeping ten feet above me the whole time.
“Holy shit.”
“You guessed how I did it yet?” he asked eagerly. Thankfully, he’d guessed my shock had to do with how he’d gotten from point A to point my B.edroom. I suppose I was still in some shock about that whole feat, but most of it was focused on the fact he’d been right above my sleeping head the whole time.
“I’m guessing it had something to do with lunacy,” I replied. I really had no logical explanation for how he’d scaled down almost ten feet without the aid of a rope or a ladder or pixie dust.
Jesse nudged me with that arm I was ever so aware of running down the length of mine. “Maybe a little bit of lunacy, but a whole lot of skill, too. But, come on. Aren’t you at least going to make a guess as to how I did it?”
I opened my mouth.
“Something not having to do with lunacy, maybe?” he interjected.
Okay, I could do this. Pushing all lunacy, superhero DNA, and miracles aside, I tried to put it together. Jesse’s window to my window. Nothing but a whole lot of white cedar siding and one cobblestone chimney a couple feet to the side . . .
“Oh, dear God.” I felt my stomach drop as I scanned the chimney. It ran from the ground up past the rooftop. Right by my window, right by Jesse’s. “Please tell me you didn’t—”
“Climb down the side of the chimney?” He studied the chimney with me and grinned. “Yeah. I did.”
If he lost a foot or hand hold, he would have fallen a good twenty feet. There weren’t any sharp projectiles or concrete landings below, but still. Best case scenario was some broken bones and internal bleeding. Worst case was a one way ticket to the hereafter.
“And the bull riders are supposed to have some kind of death wish?”
Jesse chuckled. “I’ve done it dozens of times, and the nice thing about the chimney is that it’s predictable. You don’t have to wonder which way it’s going to spin, or how high it’s going to buck.”
“Ha. Ha,” I said humorlessly. I saw very little humor in the situation. Sure, Jesse was standing beside me, talking to me, rubbing his fine, next-to-naked body against mine, but if he needed to see me so badly, why didn’t he just come through my door?
“Why in the world did you do that?” I couldn’t stare out the window any longer. In fact, I’d never stare out of it the same way again.
“Because I needed to talk to you, and I didn’t get to finish what I needed to say tonight,” he said, ducking back into the room. “I’ve been trying to talk to you all darn week, but you’ve been dodging me like a calf on branding day.”
I pursed my lips to keep from laughing. He was being serious, and I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, but really? Like a calf on branding day? I’d most certainly never heard that before and doubted I ever would again outside of Willow Springs.
“This whole week, your window’s been closed, so when I heard it finally open, I decided to make my move. Because, Rowen, I need to talk to you whether you want to talk back or not. I need to explain a couple of things. I might have gone about this the wrong way by bursting through your window at night, but you didn’t really leave me another choice.”
I kept pursing my lips together. Jesse all flustered and rambling was adorable and appealing on so many levels, but he’d misunderstood my question.
“Not Why? as in why did you need to see me so badly, but Why? as in why didn’t you just knock on my door?” I plopped down on the edge of my bed and tried really hard to keep my eyes on his. When his hands moved to his hips, that feat became next to impossible.
“Because you wouldn’t have answered and because I didn’t want to worry about waking my sisters. And because I didn’t want to worry about answering their questions as to what I was doing knocking on your door at night. And because I could climb that chimney blindfolded. And because I was really hoping to impress you with my mad chimney climbing skills.” Jesse’s dimples emerged. My throat went dry. “So, are you impressed?”
Men and their need to impress. Looking from him to the window, back to him, I said, “Consider me sufficiently impressed.”
His dimples drilled a little deeper with his smile. “I’d say my work here is done, except it’s really only started.” The skin between his eyebrows came together as he studied my big nightshirt.
Two and two came together right as his face ironed out. “Nice shirt,” he said, looking a little smug.
“At least I’m wearing one,” I said, giving him the briefest once-over I could manage.
“I was out of fresh shirts,” he said, lifting his shoulders. “You’re lucky I wasn’t out of fresh shorts.”
Yeah, that burn in my throat? It was from the flames erupting in my stomach.
“No, you’re lucky,” I said. “I’ve heard cobblestone chaffing is really uncomfortable.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” he said, followed by a chuckle. “But, really. Next time you want to borrow one of my shirts, all you have to do is ask me. You don’t have to steal it when I’m not looking.”
I could tell from his face he was teasing, but I wasn’t in a teasing mood. “I didn’t steal it. It was in one of the drawers in my dresser. The–”
“Bottom one,” Jesse finished my thought.
My suspicion that Jesse was clairvoyant seemed more and more likely. “How did you know that?”
“Because that’s where I kept them.” He shrugged and crossed his arms. I loved when he crossed his arms. I loved it even more when he was shirtless. “I must have left one behind.”
“Left one behind? Are you in the habit of leaving your things in random dresser drawers throughout the house?”
“Nope, but I try to make it a habit to leave my things in my dresser drawers.”
“Your dresser drawer?” I repeated slowly, grabbing the comforter to cover my legs. The shirt had seemed large before, but having Jesse look at me that way made me feel all kinds of exposed.
“Well, yeah.” He spread his arms and did a spin. “This is my room.”
“Come again?” I knew I hadn’t heard him wrong, but I wished I had.
“This has been my room from day one. My dresser, my nightstand,”—his smile curved higher on one side as he examined the space around me—“my bed. And my blankets.” He took a few steps toward his bed and his blankets, and I felt like a thousand butterflies had been set loose in my stomach from the way he looked at me.
“Why did you move out?” I asked.
“Because you were coming,” he replied matter-of-factly. “I know from growing up with three sisters that a girl’s bedroom needs to be within arm’s reach of a bathroom, and this room stays a heck of a lot cooler than the attic in the summertime.”
I finally understood why I couldn’t escape Jesse’s scent or presence even when I was locked in my bedroom. I’d been sleeping on the same mattress he had. I’d been snuggled beneath the same old quilt he had. We’d shared a bed the whole time without even touching each other.
“You just picked up and moved into the attic because I was coming?” I said, sounding as dumbfounded as I felt.
He nodded.
“But you didn’t even know me.”
His forehead wrinkled, and he gave me a curious look. “I didn’t have to. You needed a room. I had one. And the attic was empty.”
“You make it sound so easy,” I said, shaking my head. I doubted I’d ever figure out the goodness that moved inside of Jesse Walker. It was the kind that didn’t quite make sense in our world.
“It is easy, Rowen,” he said. “Besides, look at how it all worked out. You’re sleeping on my bed, wearing my undershirt, and haven’t thrown me out the window for jumping inside of it unexpectedly in the middle of the night. I’m not exactly on the losing side of this arrangement.”
He was trying to make less of a big deal out of something that was a very big deal. If I had to move into the attic because some random stranger was coming for the summer, gracious was the last thing I would have been.
“Thank you,” I said, having nothing else to offer. “That was a pretty cool thing to do.”
He waved it off like it was nothing, and he approached the bed. “Please. When I get to move back in, I can sleep all warm and happy every night knowing you were in my bed for a whole summer.” Very slowly, he took a seat next to me on the edge of the mattress. He was so on the edge of the mattress, he could have fallen right off. And now, Jesse and I were sharing a bed in the literal sense.
If it was possible, my heartbeat sped up some more.
“That’s totally worth spending a summer in the attic,” he said, glancing between me and the mattress with a smile. His eyes locked on mine, and with him so close, I could make out every speck of gold in those blue eyes of his. “Whoa.” His head tilted to the side. “Your eyes are blue.”
My face lined with confusion until I remembered Jesse had never seen me without my contacts in. Since I only took them out at bedtime and promptly replaced them after waking up, no one else at Willow Springs had either.