He relaxed. “Oh. I thought you meant like lettuce and apples when you asked.”
“I did, but potatoes and onions are nice too. I cut some up with the roast.”
He brushed snow off the bottom of his jeans and crossed through the kitchen. I had quit hearing shoveling, but he hadn’t been in the garage.
My curiosity got the better of me. I’d always been in Jonah’s business when I’d been younger. “What were you doing?”
“Working.”
I got that he was closed off and private, but it’d be a long weekend if he didn’t converse more. “What do you do for work?”
He glanced over his shoulder before he rounded out of the kitchen to the hallway that ran on the other side of the stairs. “I make things.”
I got up and followed him, stopping at the foot ofthe stairs. “Top-secret things? If you told me you’d have to kill me?”
He stopped outside the door across from what must be his bedroom and gave me a flat look. “What do you think I do all day out here?”
I lifted a shoulder. “Mountain-man stuff?”
His expression remained unreadable. “Yep.”
He disappeared into his room.
What had I said wrong? And why did his reaction kick up my stomach acid again?
CHAPTER FOUR
Summer
The delicious smell of dinner cooking didn’t pick up my spirits like I’d thought it would. I hoped a show would. I found the one free streaming service he was subscribed to. I went to the movie options.
Bride Warswas featured. I looked for another option.Made of Honor. Nope. I picked another.Bridesmaids.
Damn. The universe had a horrible sense of humor.
I shut the TV off and went to the window.
The snow wasn’t as heavy as before. Every few minutes the wind would settle and the blanket of white took away the definition of the landscape. I squinted. I couldn’t tell where the driveway turned into the lawn or dropped off into the ditch.
We weren’t having a blizzard, but on rural mountain roads, it didn’t matter.
The bedroom door opened, but I didn’t turn around. I was already intruding in his home. Theguy should be able to go into the bathroom without me watching. A squeak of the door was followed by the shower kicking on.
What did he do for work? I could ask Teller, but my phone was dead.
Although Jonah and Teller didn’t hang out anymore. I’d overheard Teller talking to Tate and Tenor once. He’d tried dragging Jonah out, but Jonah’s attitude was hard to put up with. Sounded like Jonah had chased my brother off, much like he had me. Although there was one part of that conversation that must have been different.
For so many years, I’d tried not to think about Jonah. But I’d worried about him. I’d discreetly kept tabs on him. Then, eventually, I’d had to move on. I lived and worked in Bozeman and tried to leave that time in my life behind.
After the heartbreak of losing Eli, Jonah’s outburst had wrecked me. As if I hadn’t felt guilty enough. As if I still didn’t.
The shower turned off. I continued staring out the window. The sun was setting, but in the reflection of the glass I caught a flash of skin. I zeroed in on the spot, and in the two seconds it took for Jonah to go from the bathroom across the hall to his bedroom, I got a wavering look at his wide, muscled shoulders and the way his back tapered to his waist. His midnight-blue towel was wrapped around his waist. He had the same kind of towels in the bathroom upstairs.
My pulse hummed, the rate higher than moments ago. Great. Now, I was being creepy.
I had no business being attracted to him. None. I never had.
Yet it had never stopped me.
