Page 67 of Montana Heat

Because when the danger was over, so would be my time with Jensen.

He returned my kiss with every bit as much enthusiasm as I was offering, leaning his weight on me and pushing me back onto the bed. I twined my arms around his neck, biting back a little groan at the feel of him hard and muscular against me.

I was reaching to unbutton his shirt when my stomach growled so loudly it almost startled me.

He broke the kiss to throw back his head and laugh. I was never not going to love the sound of that. “I think we need to feed you before we do anything else.”

He was right; I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast yesterday. “Okay.”

He trailed a finger down my cheek. “You go take a shower, and I’ll see if I can make better pancakes than yesterday.”

The shower felt wonderful. Maybe it didn’t rinse away all my fear—it was going to be a minute before the sight of a bathtub wouldn’t cause my heart to start hammering—but it at least helped me feel more human again.

I got dressed in jeans and an old sweatshirt and walked back into the kitchen. My stomach decided to herald my arrival by growling obnoxiously again.

He’d made bacon and eggs and slightly more traditional-looking pancakes than yesterday. “Everything smells amazing. Thank you.”

I leaned up to kiss his cheek as thanks. “Kate and Noah dropped off food while you were sleeping. All the women put together some stuff for us.”

“That’s sweet.”

“Otherwise, we’d be eating canned beans right now.”

“I think I’m hungry enough that I probably wouldn’t even have complained.”

He slid bacon onto my plate, along with eggs and two pancakes, then made a plate for himself. We padded over to the small table. I immediately dug into my food, but he looked around.

“I’m sorry this place is so sparse. It’s still in construction phase. I’m doing the work myself.”

I looked around. Yes, it was definitely bare, but it had great potential. “This cabin has great bones. And the custom woodwork you’re doing will just add to the value.”

He shrugged, but I saw his small smile. “I don’t know that I ever plan to sell it, but thank you. Good to know I’m not going in the wrong direction.”

“Definitelynot.”

We ate in silence for a few more minutes. With most people, the quiet would’ve felt uncomfortable, and I would’ve tried to fill it. But with Jensen, I knew this was just who he was. It made me appreciate more the words he did choose to say.

Once we were done, he picked up both our plates and carried them to the sink. “I know I said this already, but I want you to know it’s the truth. I’m sorry that I didn’t get to your apartment sooner yesterday. I should’ve gone to check on you when I first realized you hadn’t come to the garage yet. But…”

I waited for him to continue, but it seemed like he didn’t plan to do so. “But what?” I finally asked.

“I thought maybe you’d had second thoughts about…hooking up with me the night before.”

I almost choked on the coffee I was sipping. “Hooking up?” A wave of heat spread over my face. “Is that…all? Is that all it was for you? A hookup?”

Had I been thinking we had a real connection while he was ready to move on?

But he shook his head. “No, it wasn’t. I thought that might be what you felt.”

“Not at all, Jensen.” I walked over to where he was rinsing the plates in the sink, standing behind him. “Why would you think that?”

He scraped the plate with much more force than was necessary. “We’re just so different. I mean, look at this place. I’m a mechanic who can’t figure out my own social media, and you’re a highly successful Realtor. My parents were addicts. If you step back and look at it all, I just don’t measure up.”

“Measure up to whom?” I scoffed. “My last boyfriend is in prison for assaulting me. I think you’re way ahead of the game there.”

I put my hands on his waist. He still didn’t stop messing with the dishes, but at least he was doing it with normal force now. “And you had no control over who your parents were or what they did when you were a child. But you found your place as you got older. And now, you’ve got your own made family. A wonderful group of friends who will bend over backward to help in any way they can. I’m case in point with that. Your friends are helping me because you asked them to.”

He shut off the water.

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