Take that brain and feelings.
“Locked. Just like my heart.” Or like I want it to be, anyway.
Stupid heart.
As soon as I think of my heart, I see Jake approaching, and dang it. I already thought he looked hot in that flannel and jeans getup, but somehow the addition of the tool belt is making my brain melt.
Or maybe my brain already melted right along with my heart earlier when he brought me the most delicious latte, and then moved Beatrice with incredible strength and the utmost care before single-handedly hanging my sign exactly in the perfect spot, and then making himself smaller so I wouldn’t be scared.
Goddess, I can’t believe I reacted like that, flinching away from him when he was just trying to help. But that’s self-preservation for you. You learn to scurry when a hand is coming at your face.
You also learn to paint everything evil, I remind myself, which isn’t always a good thing. I’ve seen Jake’s aura, felt his energy. I know he is not evil. In fact, he’s quite the opposite.
Which is why I flip the lock again and open the door for him, even though I probably shouldn’t, given the way my body keeps reacting to him.
It would be so much easier if he were ugly. Or old. I mean, he’s older than me, but not decrepit. It would definitely be easier if he were old and grey, and mean, and unintelligent, and not the slightest bit virile, but he’s none of those things.
Unfortunately for me and my lady parts.
And my heart.
I resist the urge to rub over my chest again, and just take a deep, cleansing breath instead, mentally willing my body to chill out with the warm fuzzies.
My heart rate comes back into a more normal range, but my gut doesn’t seem to have gotten the memo. There’s a curiously fluttery sensation working its way through my belly as Jake maneuvers his tall stepladder into my shop.
“I have a ladder,” I share. Although the fact that he thought of everything we might need for this project isn’t lost on me.
Another point in his favor. Competence porn for the win.
It’s like he knows me.
Which isn’t helping.
“I didn’t want to assume,” he says, giving me a genial smile. “And I like to be prepared. Help is supposed to lift a burden, not make more.”
His meaning isn’t lost on me, and I nod in acknowledgment.
“I’m sorry about earlier,” I tell him honestly. “I didn’t mean to shut down like that, I just…” Goddess, this is hard. “I’m not used to people being kind out of the goodness of their hearts. In my experience, there’s usually been some type of ulterior motive.”
One you don’t find out about until it’s too late and you’re already invested and trapped, but I keep that bit to myself.
“Well, you’ve clearly not spent time with the right people.” He smiles again, warmer this time, and unsurprisingly, I feel myself melt a little more.
He is seriously trouble for me. Why am I reacting like this to him?
At another time in my life, I would have said it was Fate. Destiny. I mean, everything about him calls to me, and I’m not even into mountain men. It’s part of why I moved here. I figured I’d be impervious to their supposed charm.
Obviously, I stand corrected.
“Thanks for your help, Jake,” I say openly. “If you meant what you said earlier, I think I would actually like help with hanging the plants.”
“I mean what I say, Holly,” he says seriously, his gaze fixed on mine. “I wouldn’t have offered if I didn’t intend to follow through. That’s not my way. You don’t know me well yet, but know this. I’m a man of my word, and I don’t use it lightly. Also, you are one hundred percent safe with me.”
I nod, swallowing against the lump trying to form in my throat. I could literallyfeelthe vow in his voice. Feel it right down in my root.
And oh my Goddess, I think my ovaries just swelled.
What the actual hells is happening here?
