Page 28 of Snowflakes Over Starr's Fall
Jack caught her in his arms, his palms cupping her elbows as he steadied her. “Whoa,” he murmured, his hands still on her arms.
“Sorry,” she mumbled as she steadied herself. “How long was I asleep?”
“About an hour?” Anhour? And he’d just been watching her drool on his sofa? “I closed my own eyes for a bit,” he told her, which was some small consolation. Still, Jenna felt far too disoriented to make any further remark as Jack let go of her and then she followed him up the sweeping staircase to the bedrooms above.
Some motion-activated low lighting came on as they walked down the upstairs hallway, the carpet so thick Jenna sank into it nearly up to her ankles. Jack pushed open the first door. “There’s this room,” he said, and Jenna peeked into a massive bedroom all done in gold and cream, with a view of the lake.
She glimpsed an adjoining bathroom with what looked like an infinity shower and felt compelled to admit, “This is nicer than any hotel I’ve ever stayed in. Do I get to see all the bedrooms?”
“Of course. And choose the one you like the best.” He ushered her toward the next one, which was just as elegant and large, decorated in tones of gray and ivory.
“Your interior decorator had a fifty-shades-of-greige thing going on,” Jenna remarked.
Jack gave a grimacing laugh. “I know, right? I insisted on blue for my bedroom, though. I wanted a manly color.” He rolled his eyes, and Jenna found herself smiling.
“Do I get to see that one, too?” she asked, realizing how provocative the question sounded only after she’d asked it. Well, maybe really asecondbefore, but she’d asked it anyway. And now she was gazing at Jack, who was giving her a heavy-lidded look back, and the hallway seemed very dim and their bodies very close as she waited, her breath held, for how he was going to reply.
“If you want to,” he finally said, and his tone gave nothing away.
Jenna stared at him for another second as her heart rate sped up and then slowed, and Jack stared back steadily, waiting for her reply. Challenging her a little, maybe; his eyes looked very blue as he stared at her. Jenna’s heart felt as if it were tumbling in her chest, and then suddenly her head cleared.
She was on the cusp of making a very, very big mistake, she realized with a sudden, stone-cold clarity. In that moment she had the sure certainty that if she told Jack shedidwant to see his bedroom, and she strolled with him to that chamber, things would get very pleasurably out of hand very quickly. And she wasn’t remotely ready for that, no matter how much she’d enjoyed their mid-level flirting.
Composing herself, making sure her expression was bland, she turned away. “Let’s see the others first,” she said, inwardly thinking,chicken. But she’d rather be a chicken than be stupid, and tired and tipsy as she was, she was very close to being very stupid—and losing her heart to a man who might just grind it under his heel.
“Okay,” Jack replied, and once again she couldn’t tell anything from his tone.
One by one Jack showed her all the other bedrooms—all decorated in shades of cream or taupe with accents of other muted colors. It was all very beautiful—and also very boring. By the time they’d reached the fifth, she was ready to seehisbedroom just to have a change of color. And, you know, because it was hisbedroom. No matter what she’d said—and felt—before.
The master was at the end of the hallway, with a set of double doors like the entrance to a grand salon. With an ironical, mocking bow, Jack pushed them open and ushered her in first. The room was dim, with the same sensor-detected low lighting that cast it in a warm, inviting glow as Jenna stepped in, breathing a masculine scent that was distinctly Jack—soap and aftershave and just him. How did she know hisscentalready? Yikes.
“Wow,” she murmured, because there really wasn’t anything else to say.
The room, like every other in the house, was huge, with a king-sized bed on a dais like it belonged to an emperor. There was a canopy and alotof throw pillows. The bed faced an equally enormous window that overlooked the lake, now swathed in darkness. Another set of double doors led to a bathroom that looked to be twice as big as Jenna’s bedroom at home; she glimpsed a huge sunken tub with jets and the frosted glass doors of an enormous walk-in shower.
“I know it’s a bit much,” Jack said as he came to stand beside her. “I almost thought of taking another bedroom because I’ve never slept on aplatformbefore. I mean, who has? But… I like the view, especially in the mornings, when the sun rises over the lake.”
And just like that, Jenna could picture herself in that bed, slipping out from under the rumpled covers, to watch the sun touch the water with its first golden rays, setting the surface of the lake shimmering. Blindly she turned around and headed toward the hall.
This was definitely getting dangerous.
“I think I’ll pick… the first one,” she said, mainly because it was the one farthest from Jack’s. Jack followed her without speaking, and Jenna knew he had to be wondering why she was so changeable in her responses—flirting one minute, freaking out the next. She really needed to get a grip on herself and her emotions.
“There are some towels in the bathroom, along with a robe,” Jack said as he stood at the doorway of the bedroom she’d chosen. “If there’s anything else you need, let me know.” He paused. “I could lend you a shirt and sweats, if you want, for pajamas.”
For a second, Jenna was torn. She could refuse, because wearing his clothes seemed weird, but then she’d have to basically admit she’d be sleeping in her underwear. Or she could accept… which, again,weird.
Then she realized she was tired of second-guessing every single thing, and so she managed a smile and a twitchy sort of shrug. “That would be great, actually, thanks.”
Jack nodded, seeming relieved to have something to do. “I’ll be right back.”
Jenna took the few moments alone to mentally slap some sense into herself. “Stop freaking out,” she said out loud, only to have Jack reappear in her room at that exact moment. He’d clearly heard, but they both pretended he hadn’t as Jenna took the clothes—neatly folded and smelling of fabric softener—with a murmur of thanks.
“Good night, Jenna,” he said quietly, and she realized how rarely she’d heard him say her name… and how much she liked it.
A gusty breath escaped her when he finally closed the door behind him. She felt bereft, but also relieved. Whoever would have thought that the guy she’d been so sure was nothing more than a rich jerk would end up being her most dangerous temptation?
And itwasdangerous… because of all the types of guys on the planet, rich jerks were definitely her nemesis. She should be inoculated against them, considering her experience with Ryan, but obviously she wasn’t. And she’d rather have her heart broken by a poor, simple farmer than a man like Jack Wexler, because if she let a man like that break her heart? Well, then she really was stupid… to let it happen twice. And somehow she had a feeling it would hurt more the second time.
