Page 10 of Take Me Home

“No! Darcy, you can’t go out there!” I protested. She half-rolled her eyes, shoved me aside, threw open the door, and fired…an air horn. I flinched. The dogs cowered, but as desired, the coyotes took off into the woods up the hill. She stepped back inside, shaking as she closed the door behind her. She locked it and let out a shuddering breath before slumping down on the bench next to the door.

I bobbed my head at her with wide eyes, swallowing hard. “That was some quick thinking.”

“Yeah,” she sighed. What a fucking fight or flight journey. She held up her hand, which shook like a leaf before a storm. We both laughed nervously, her smile taking my breath away again. I took the air horn from her quivering hands and put it back up on the shelf next to the rifle.

“You okay?” I asked. She nodded, but she was shaking pretty bad. I held out my hand to help her up.

“Wanna stay for a drink?”

5

JAKE

“You hungry at all?” Darcy asked, plopping ice cubes into two highball glasses.

“Actually, yeah. I was busy this afternoon and didn’t eat much,” I replied. Thoughtful of her.

“Probably doesn’t sound enticing, but I’ve got some leftover fajitas?” she suggested. Her round doe eyes watched me with one eyebrow raised in question. I had to focus on not staring too long. I was around women all the time at school and they had very little effect on me. I mean, I have eyes, but no one stood out to me very often. But something about Darcy just drove me up the wall, in a good way. Or maybe not so good, if she wasn’t feeling how I was feeling. She was the epitome of my type: kinda short, kinda curvy, dark curly hair that begged for my hands, dark eyes that held the best kinds of secrets, and a sassy attitude to top it off. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to provoke that sassy attitude or soften it. For the moment, I tried the polite route.

“My favorite,” I assured her. “Anything is fine. Don’t feel like you have to take care of me.”

She gestured to the kitchen window. “Can’t exactly send you back out to the wolves, can I? Whiskey okay for you? I’ve got some beers, too.”

“Whatever you’re having,” I said, having to stifle an instinct to say ‘babe’ at the end of that statement. I hardly knew her, though something about her made me feel like I’d known her forever and was thus entitled to call her ‘babe.’

“Whiskey it is,” she grumbled, pouring a generous three fingers into each glass. She set my glass in front of me with a smirk and a twinkle in her eye that was so, so very dangerous. But as soon as it was there, it was gone. I got the distinct feeling she was trying to hold back.

I lifted my glass to toast her. “To air horns outside of rap songs, and the women who are smart enough to use them as weapons.” I gave her a wink and a smile that made her lick and bite her delicate lower lip.

Trouble. Big danger. She’s your boss, Jake. Take it easy until you’re sure. This is a good summer job, the last summer job you’ll ever need. Don’t lose it the first day because you can’t control yourself.

“Yep, cheers to me,” she joked, clinking her glass to mine. I held her gaze as we sipped, getting a long moment to drink in the deep brown of her eyes, almost a midnight color. She looked away at the last second as the whiskey hit my tongue, sharp and spicy, rolling it around on my palate to savor it. I noticed her watching my throat work and flushing slightly as she tasted her whiskey.

She physically shook her head to clear it and dove into food prep, so I jumped up to help her. She heated the fajitas in a skillet and I started poking around for tortillas.

“Can I heat the tortillas?” I asked.

“Ooh, look at you, fancy pants!” she chided me. “Knock yourself out. They’re in the fridge and the microwave’s over there.”

“Nothing but the best after getting the shit scared out of you. We deserve it,” I said.

She tittered, a sweet little laugh. “Yeah, that was a hell of a thing to go through with someone you just met.”

I cut my eyes over to her. “I think we did okay, all things considered.”

She winced. “Sorry I grabbed you when the dog ran by, and then pushed you out of my way.”

“Are you kidding? I’m sorry I was in the way. It’s not like I knew what to do.” For some inexplicable reason, I kept pushing, dropping my voice to deliver my next line. “And I didn’t mind the grab, either.”

Subtext:Darcy, please fucking touch me. We both want this, right? Let’s just be adults.

She didn’t look at me, but I caught the shiver that went down her spine and the goosebumps that erupted on the back of her neck. Got her.

The microwave beeped, interrupting the hardball game I was playing but really shouldn’t have been. She pulled out some guacamole and two plates, careful to leave a seat between us at the island. Damn.

I waited for her to finish fucking with the record player, relieved we wouldn’t have to eat in silence. Johnny Cash’s lurid voice filled the room, the pops and cracks of the old record layering over it.

“So how do you know Eli?” Darcy asked as she sat.

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