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Gibson nipped at her toes, a bone in his mouth as he tried to get her to play fetch, but she was thinking of the tree.
“How the hell am I going to get it in here without making a huge mess?”
Gibson barked and she scratched him behind his ears, trudging back outside once more. She approached the car and decided the only way to get it done was to get it done.
And so she did, totally unaware of the eyes that watched from the shadows. If she had been paying attention to the dog, she might have noticed that Gibson was sniffing around suspiciously. She might even have noticed a soft ssshhh. But as it was, Raine was much too focused on the tree. And after she cut the bindings and it fell over the side of the car, taking her out with it, she swore a mean streak, heaving the prickly balsam to the side as she scrambled to her feet.
“Wow,” the male voice shot at her from the dark, and Raine froze. Her heart did that weird twisting thing and her stomach rolled.
There go those damn butterflies again.
“I haven’t heard you swear like that since the Pennyback wedding.” Jake strode into the light and she melted. Right there. Melted into a puddle of need.
“The Penny
back wedding,” she managed to reply, her eyes hungrily taking him in.
And then he was inches from her, his dark hair glistening from melted snowflakes, his handsome face half in shadow. He wore his leather jacket and a dark turtleneck, jeans, and boots. He was all male, all man, and her mouth went dry at the look in his eyes.
“Yep.” He nodded. “The Pennyback wedding. Don’t you remember?”
Vaguely.
“Uh, sure.”
“You were pissed because Paula Pennyback got married a week before you did, and she apparently stole your bridesmaid dresses or something stupid like that.”
“Right.” She nodded slowly, flooded with the memory.
She’d stormed out of the church, because as much as Raine wasn’t religious in any sense of the word, she could not swear in church. She’d barely made it outside when she let loose, and both Jake and Jesse had followed her out, watching in amazement as she marched up and down the sidewalk in front of St. Paul’s, cursing Paula Pennyback and every single member of her family, including her mother and her great-grandmother.
For a moment she lost herself in Jake’s dark eyes, and then he reached for her, his hand wiping a snowflake from her cheek. She resisted the urge to lean into his touch and instead attempted a smile, but failed miserably.
“What are you doing here, Raine?”
A heartbeat passed. Then another.
“I’m moving in.”
Jake glanced at the house and then back to her, his dark eyes glistening, the look inside them intense. “Moving in,” he repeated slowly.
“Yes,” she said softly and then nodded toward the Christmas tree. “You want to help?”
Chapter 21
They set the tree up just to the right of the fireplace. And it wasn’t the easiest thing to accomplish. Not with Gibson jumping and whining for Jake’s attention.
Raine shook her head as she straightened and watched the puppy try his hardest to take Jake down. Gibson tugged on his jeans and nipped at his boots. He growled and tossed his bone. He licked Jake’s hands, his face, and then licked some more.
“Jesus, Gibs, you’d think I never touch you.”
Jake smiled. “He’s something else, that’s for sure.”
Raine nodded and slipped out of her jacket and her boots. She padded in her sock feet to the kitchen and grabbed a rag, intent on wiping up the floor—wet from the snow tracked in off their boots.
“No.” Jake grabbed it from her. “Let me.”
While he cleaned up, she put away the rest of her groceries, suddenly nervous and unsure about the whole situation. What was she doing? Was she really moving in here? Into this stone cottage that belonged to Jake? She had a home, a beautiful home with the best of everything, and yet…
