Page 28 of Take Me Home

“I do know. It’s okay to be human, though. Shit happens.”

“You don’t smell bad, by the way. In case you were wondering,” I said, sleep starting to creep in on me.

“Oh yeah? What do I smell like?”

I breathed deeply, taking in the essence of Jake. “Like you.”

He chuckled softly. “I guess I’ll take that as a compliment.”

I nestled closer to him, fully surrendering to his truly masterful snuggling. He moved his hand from my hair, coasting the pads of his fingers down my arm.

“That feels nice,” I told him.

“Good. Focus on that,” he said, the bass in his voice rumbling against my back. He continued running his fingers up and down my arms, featherlight. Just before I succumbed to sleep, he left his arm around my waist and rested his head behind mine. His breath tickled the back of my neck. I placed my arm on top of his, intertwining our fingers and pressing his arm into my stomach. Jake gave a satisfied hum, not moving from that spot. Somewhere in my groggy mind, I swore I heard him whisper, “Sweet dreams, Bambi.”

11

JAKE

It was the closest she’d ever let me get.

My little deer, my Bambi, who scampered off at almost every move I made, asked me to lay down with her when she was sick. If Darcy’d had blood-borne pathogens and been bleeding out, I’d still have gotten in that bed with her. There’s no way I could have said no when she hit me with those tragic sad eyes.

Bit by bit, I was earning Darcy’s trust. She trusted me with a truly awful thing from her past a few days prior, and there she was letting me take care of her. Not sure she had much choice with how pathetic she was, but I was still glad to be the one to help her.

Caleb gave me endless shit over it. “Nurse Jake to the rescue,” he teased me when I said Darcy was sick. He knew I was stupid over her. Part of me was afraid it was unrequited. That I was being friend-zoned in the biggest way. And with good reason. What had happened to her in the past was fucked up. But I was determined to show her that I wasn’t that guy, that I was safe.

When she laced my fingers into hers as she fell asleep, I felt like I finally had a chance. Maybe she’d let me in and let me be who I wanted to be for her. I should have gotten up sooner than I did, and gone back to work. But I wanted more time with just me and her and her sweet-smelling hair and the way she fit so perfectly against me. The urge to kiss that space between her hairline, her ear, and her jaw was so strong I thought I might die. But I wouldn’t. She hadn’t asked me to kiss her there and I wasn’t that guy. So I just stared at that spot as she drifted off to sleep in my arms. Someday, someday maybe she’d want me there.

I went in to check on her every time I went past the house. Most of the time she was asleep, her hair a little dot of brown sticking out of a sea of white linens. I put a straw in her Gatorade at one point, because she really did need to get serious about the fluids. There was still a chance she’d need a trip to the ER, which I was sure she didn’t want.

I sat on the edge of her bed, taking her wrist between my fingers to check her pulse but trying not to wake her.

“Hi,” came her groggy voice. My stomach swooped, but then the whole day had been one giant stomach swoop.

“Hi yourself,” I said, grinning at her. “How’d you sleep?”

“Weird,” she said, shifting around and giving me a skeevy look. “But I had a dream that someone who smelled nice snuggled me to sleep.”

My heart fluttered at the implied compliment. I had to wrestle every fiber of my being to not slide back in the bed with her. “Huh! Interesting dream! Hey, I want to have you try one more thing before we take you for IV fluids.”

Her swollen eyes got big. “Shit. That sounds serious,” she said, her words sounding thick.

“I’m running you a bath right now. That might be a better way for you to soak up fluids without your stomach protesting. If I help you get there, can you get in?”

“Like, naked in a bath?” She looked alarmed. “We had one cuddle session and now you want me naked?”

“I promise I won’t look,” I said, holding up two fingers. “Scout’s honor. I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t think it would help.”

She nodded hesitantly, pulling the sheets back up to her shoulders.

“I’ll go check the water and get a towel for you. You could get undressed under the sheets. Then I won’t see anything I’m not supposed to,” I offered, then left the room.

When I came back, I held the towel out to her. “Ready?” Darcy took it, and I turned my back.

“Okay, chauffeur,” she joked, “Take me to my bathing chamber.”

I chuckled. “I love that through all this you still manage to crack jokes,” I said. I wrapped an arm behind her back and under her arm to hold her up. “I’m here if you feel dizzy. I won’t let you fall.”

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