Graceful as I was, in my haste to get out before he noticed me, I ran straight into the doorframe with a loud, painfulcrunch. “Ow!”
Before I could even begin to process the impact, Jesse grabbed my shoulders and spun me back toward him, real concern lighting his eyes as they swept across my face. “What the hell? Are you okay? Let me see.”
My heart jumpstarted again, tripping over itself before it started racing once more. Jesse’s body was so warm and he was so focused on me. So entirely too close for comfort after all those fantasies I’d had only minutes ago. His hand slid underneath my chin, his fingers tilting it up before I could protest. His thumb brushed gently against my upper lip, testing the spot where I’d collided with the wood.
Pain shot through me from the contact and I winced. The corners of his eyes crinkled with sudden amusement as he watched me. “Are you always this clumsy?”
“I amnotclumsy,” I said indignantly, but to be fair, it might’ve been more convincing if Ihadn’tjust sprinted directly into a doorframe. I couldn’t even argue that it had simply appeared.
Those thoughts evaporated, however, as I realized that my back was still pressed against the doorframe and Jesse hadn’t moved away. Our sudden proximity was noticeable.
Certainly noticeable.
His skin was warm from the shower, faint steam still hanging in the air behind him. His damp hair curled slightly at the ends, and the towel wrapped low around his hips did absolutely nothing to help make the situation less distracting.
His thumb moved again, dragging slowly over my lower lip, and I sucked in an involuntary breath, doing everything in my power to remain calm. Cool. In control. But it wasn’t easy. There was absolutely nothing cool about this.
It was all hot. Literally and metaphorically.Which really says something about the sad state of my love life, doesn’t it?
The onlyheatI experienced was usually in my books, but before I could start wondering if that might change now that I was getting married, the low timbre of his voice snapped me out of it.
“You’re going to be okay,” he murmured.
I nodded, but I was a little breathless as I responded. “Yes. Yes, I’m fine.”
Something in his gaze changed then, like he’d suddenly realized how close we were standing too. I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it was, but he stepped back a pace and cleared his throat, running a hand through his damp hair like he needed to give it something to do.
“I should probably say something,” he said, his own voice suddenly a little huskier than usual. “While we’re here, I mean.”
“Oh?”
His gaze flicked briefly to the floor before returning to mine. “I kissed you last night.”
Don’t remind me of that right now. Good heavens. Have a heart.“Yes. You did. I mean, we did.”
“I should’ve asked first.” He managed to look a tiny bit sheepish even though his torso, abs chest,andshoulders were still on full display. And there was nothing remotely sheepishabout any of that, or what he looked like mostly naked. “It was just that, given the circumstances…”
He trailed off, but I knew what he meant. My brain might be half-fried right about now, but we’d been in a dining room full of aristocrats chanting for us to kiss like we were performing monkeys. Those were the circumstances he was referring to, and given them, well, I hadn’t had a different answer either.
I swallowed hard, forcing myself to look into his eyes instead of anywhere else. “It’s fine. I understand.”
Watching me carefully, his gaze moved from one of my eyes to the other, a slight furrow appearing on his brow. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” I folded my arms loosely over my chest, trying to appear far more composed than I felt. “We’re getting married anyway and I’m supposed to have the Roderick heir. Things like this are bound to happen.”
The words sounded oddly clinical once they were out there, but for a brief moment, Jesse’s expression turned serious. Like, unexpectedly, really serious. His eyes darkened slightly, his jaw hardening itself practically all the way into an emergency dentist appointment.
“Right,” he murmured finally. “Of course.”
The room suddenly felt too small, too warm, and too full of strange, unfamiliar tension. I nodded, taking a step back—not into the doorframe this time—and didn’t stop until I was in the hallway to the sitting room.
“Well, you should finish getting dressed.”
“Probably.”
“I’ll leave you to it. Miriam sent up some food for us.” Finally breaking eye contact, I spun around and watched out for walls when I fled this time.
A few minutes later, he strode into the living room fully clothed and entirely composed. Like that scene in the bathroomhadn’t affected him at all. The same could certainly not be said for me, and to make matters worse, whoever had chosen his clothes had opted for low-riding tracksuit pants and a jumper, none of which did me any favors.
