Page 37 of Wildly Inappropriate

I laugh. “It was a tough wake-up call.”

“Do you have any tweezers?”

She takes the pair I offer her from my bathroom bag I’ve just left sitting on the counter and picks the phone back up from the sink. “Can you hold this right here while I pull this out?” she asks.

I grab the phone, angling it just the way she asked.

“One, two—” She pulls before she gets to three, but it’s not as painful as I was expecting. She holds the toilet paper on the cut and shines the phone back into the sink before inspecting the rest of me for cuts. Her free hand runs so gently over my back that I’m not thinking about hail, broken glass, or injuries anymore. It’s peaceful, and as the adrenaline leaves my system, all I want to do is go back to bed with Lila cuddled in my arms.

“I think you’re good,” she says.

We open the door to my room, and the storm seems to be calmer than it was before. Lila looks at me, and then at the bed, and then at the door to my room. Like hell I’m letting her out of my sight tonight.

“Come on,” I say. “You can sleep with me tonight.”

She looks at me for another second before climbing into bed. Her adrenaline must be wearing off too. I can feel her body shaking, the vibrations making their way to me through the mattress.

“You’re okay,” I say softly, and, without thinking, I pull her against my chest, wrapping my arms around her.

Lila tenses for a second before relaxing into my touch. We stay like that, our heartbeats slowing down in tandem until we’re both asleep.

Chapter eighteen

Lila

I burrow into thewarmth, trying to fully cocoon myself in its embrace. A small piece of my mind tells me to wake up, but I quickly silence it. I’ve rarely felt this content, and I plan to keep consciousness at bay for as long as possible. With a deep sigh, I press my body into the source of the heat next to me. I hold on to this sense of calm, this feeling that everything is exactly where it should be. Then, the realization hits me that the solid bulk under my cheek is not, in fact, my pillow. Startled, I blink my eyes awake.

The sun is shining through the windows, and I slowly take in the unfamiliar room and the far too familiar body I’m currently draped over. Damn, that man looks good asleep, his long eyelashes resting on his cheeks, his lips slightly parted. I track the lines of his body, down his bare chest to the arm that’s wrapped around me, the bandage from last night peeking—shit!

Last night comes rushing back to me. Waking up to the sound of something battering against the side of the house, having no idea what could possibly cause that all-encompassing sound.

And then JT was there, carrying me to safety. Protecting me as another window gave in to the constant beating of the hail.

When he invited me to sleep with him, I'd almost balked, but where else was I going to go? And then he’d pulled me against him, and it had felt right. Safe. So I’d fallen asleep in his arms.

And if I’d known how amazing it would be sleeping next to the man, I don’t know if I would’ve had the willpower to leave all those nights ago in Vegas. In spite of everything, I think those few hours might've been the best sleep of my life. It’s so nice, in fact, that I’m having a hard time convincing myself to get up, even though I know there is so much that has to be done today to even begin to clean up from the storm.

JT’s phone starts vibrating from its spot on his nightstand, and he jerks upright, a worried “Lila?!” escaping from his lips as he glances around frantically. I slip off his side at the movement, still not functioning enough to process the fact that I’m the first thing he was thinking about this morning. His hand fumbles around next to him before coming up with his cell phone. He answers the call with a husky, “Hello.”

I sit up in bed next to him, not at all sure what the proper protocol is, but I’m nosey enough to want to stick around to see what this phone call is all about. His eyes slip over to me, silently scanning me as if checking for invisible injuries.

“Thanks for the information, Mary, and for the call last night. We’re both okay, but yeah, we have at least two broken windows, one in a bedroom and one in the living room. I haven’t explored enough to know what other damage we have.”

Ahh. The course is calling him to make sure we are all right. I wonder why they didn’t call me. I search the bed for my phone before realizing I hadn’t grabbed it in my dash to safety last night.Dang it.I should’ve thought about grabbing my phone before I rushed to the bathroom. What if something had caved in, and I was stuck in there? What if someone needed to get a hold of me? I should’ve known better—JT clearly did.

JT’s listening intently, and I catch pieces of information about the havoc the storm wrecked both in Wild Bluffs and at the course.

“Okay, thanks for the information. We really appreciate it. And don’t worry about us. We can sweep up the glass here.”

His fingers pick at the comforter while he stares out the window, nodding in apparent agreement with whatever Mary is saying.

“Sure. We will head into town to see how we can help, then. Thanks, Mary.”

He hangs up the phone and looks at me, clearly prepared to handle the fact that I’m in his bed now. I, however, am not, so I decide to take control of the conversation.

“What’d she say?”

“Apparently, the power is still out at the course and in town, but someone brought a generator to the coffee shop. They’re making a bunch of eggs and coffee for breakfast for anyone in town who needs it. I guess the storm destroyed an unbelievable number of the southern-facing windows in town, including those at the hospital and nursing home. The hardware store and a couple of the families who own construction companies are putting together teams of volunteers to help patch all the broken windows in community buildings or seniors’ homes if we want to join.”

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