Page 65 of Threat of Danger
At the Taylor farm, Kaylee settled into Rose’s room while Derek and Jess checked on the sugar shack together. They reassured the workers and assigned two to the vats.
On the way back to the house, Derek took Jess’s hands on the front stoop. His palms had calluses.How could someone have calluses from typing?Then again, the farmhouse and the gardens that went with it still had to be kept up. He probably did plenty of physical work.
“I’m glad you came home,” he said.
“I’m glad you’re here too.” She was a strong woman, independent and capable, but it was still nice not to be alone when trouble hit. And Kaylee also needed all the support she could get for the next couple of weeks until Chuck recovered.
Jess didn’t resist when Derek drew her into his arms. He held her gaze and gave her time to pull away. When she didn’t, he kissed her.
The soft pressure of his masculine lips on hers sent a wave of need through her. Her mind kept insisting that anything between them would be way too complicated, but her body said nothing ever had been simpler.
She and Eliot had been circling each other for more than a year now, and the timing had never been right. With Derek, her body said,Timing? What timing?
As if there was no right timing for Derek, the need between them simplywas. That elemental desire had always been there, and would always stay there.
Then his arms tightened around her, as if he might pick her up and carry her inside, right up the stairs and into her bedroom. Everything inside her said,Yes.
She had one of those alternate-universe experiences again. And this time, she didn’t want to come back to reality. She didn’t bother pretending that she didn’t want the kiss. Forgetwant. She might even haveneededit.
The last time she’d had a boyfriend was so long ago she could barely even remember. She’d gone out a couple of times with a guy who rented in the same apartment building. But Shaun definitely wasn’t Derek. Nobody was. Nobody had ever come close. Jess kissed him back.
Oh God.
One kiss she could have pretended had been an accident, a mistake. But two kisses meant something.
Meant what? That no man’s lips had ever felt as good on hers as Derek’s?
Derek was the man who literally knew everything about her past. For the past decade, she’d thought meeting him again, having to look into his eyes, would be so awkward that it would kill her. But oddly, being with him wasn’t awkward at all. He knew everything there was to know. No explanations needed. It was incredibly freeing in a way.
She was going to fall for him all over again, dammit. The thought stole what little breath his thorough kiss hadn’t taken. Her entire body heated and tingled.
“Eew! Get a room.” Kaylee stood in the open door behind them. “Corruption of the morals of a minor. You can go to jail for that.”
Jess blinked. She’d been so lost in the kiss, she didn’t even hear the door open.
Derek grunted. “Ever heard of giving people privacy, smart-ass?”
Jess pulled away from him as a hot blush crept onto her face. “I’m going to drive into Taylorville. I’ll be back in an hour at most.”
Space was what she needed, she told herself. Lots of space, and time to think.
She left Derek and Kaylee at the house and went to buy Chuck a couple of new pairs of pajamas, a new robe, a new toothbrush and toothpaste, and a couple of other little things that would make his hospital stay more comfortable. On the way out of Taylorville’s only department store, she walked by the bookshop, Lorelei’s Lit Lair. Two women in their midthirties stood in front of the window, staring.
About a hundred copies of Derek’s new book,Dark Woods, filled the display, a life-size cutout of him in the middle.Not that the Lorelei chick had an obvious crush on him, or anything, Jess thought and instantly felt territorial.
In a sharp navy-blue suit, tall and wide-shouldered, exuding confidence and charisma, he looked every inch the bestselling thriller author. He looked staggeringly handsome. He looked like the man her heart might never be able to forget.
Why hadn’t he told her that his book was being released today? Had he forgotten in the middle of Chuck’s emergency? He probably had a million things to do to promote the release.
“You coming to the book signing?” one of the women, a blonde, asked the other.
Her equally striking brunette friend responded with, “What are the chances he’ll be in the fire hall’s bachelor auction?”
“I’d say zero. They’re not having one this year.”
The brunette moaned with disappointment. “He’s so hot. I want to steal that cardboard cutout.”
“Lorelei will chase you down and beat you with a reading lamp.”
