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Mildly annoyed, Jess ignored his warning and strode toward the house. She needed a few things from her room and from the bathroom. And she didn’t need Cooper bossing her.
A heavy limb, still attached to the trunk, lay across the front porch, partially blocking the door. But it appeared that if she could squeeze around it, she should be able to unlock the door, push it inward, and get into the house. Jess had left her purse in the car, putting her housekey in her pocket. She’d also stuffed a folded plastic garbage bag in her jacket to hold whatever she could salvage. After squeezing under the limb, she used her key to unlock the door, pushed it open, and stepped into the house.
The living room had an ugly crack across the ceiling and a sprinkle of plaster dust on the dark rug but was otherwise intact. So was the kitchen, except for a vent fan hanging loose by its wires. The serious damage was to her bedroom, the bathroom, and the hallway, where the huge limb had struck. Looking past it, she could look into the open door of the room at the end of the hall—Wynette’s room, which appeared undisturbed. Good news, at least, for her friend.
But enough looking. She needed to go into the rooms, grab what she needed, and get out. Pocketing the key and opening the plastic bag, she ventured into the bathroom. Here, most of the ceiling had fallen to the floor. But the medicine cabinet above the basin, which held her toothbrush and comb, her makeup, and other needs, was all right. She scooped everything into the bag and crossed the hall to her bedroom to get some clothes and shoes. The bed was covered with chunks of fallen plaster. She could see the end of a branch poking through a hole in the ceiling. But nothing more was happening. She would be all right.
She was pulling underthings out of a dresser drawer when she heard an ominous groan overhead and the sound of something shifting. She froze, ready to flee to safety, but when she heard nothing more, she moved to the closet. She was rummaging for a second pair of shoes when she heard the groan again, like the sound of timbers shifting overhead.
“Jess! Get out!”
In the next instant, Cooper had seized her, hooking her waist with his powerful arm, dragging her roughly out of the room and along the hallway into the living room. Glancing up at the ceiling, she could see the crack getting wider. Saucer-sized chunks of plaster were crashing to the floor.
The front door was open, as she’d left it, but the exit was blocked by the heavy limb that had fallen across the porch. There was no time to get safely past it. Cooper pulled her into the sturdy frame of the door, protecting her with his body as the ceiling broke. Hunks of plaster came crashing to the floor.
They stood in the doorway, his arms around her, his back to the room. As the plaster dust settled around them, he glared down at her. “Damn it!” His voice shook. “You could have been killed! Why didn’t you listen and wait for me?”
Jess’s anger surged, drowning fear and gratitude. “Because everything you tell me sounds like an order—and I’m tired of being treated like a child. Why do you always—”
“Be quiet, Jess.”
He kissed her.
Chapter 8
Cooper’s kiss went through Jess like black coffee laced with moonshine—strong, hot, and bittersweet. Caught by surprise, she went rigid, then slowly melted against him. Deep in her body, arousal woke and stirred, firing her pulse and sending desire coursing through her veins.
This is wrong. It shouldn’t be happening.Caution blared the warning in her head. She knew she should pay attention, but his firm, seeking mouth on hers felt so good . . . so good . . .
Only when she felt the probing flick of his tongue did she jerk herself back to reality. Her hands pushed against his chest, breaking the kiss and opening space between them. Breathless, she struggled to find her voice.
“Stop! We can’t do this!”
“At least not while your house is falling down around us.”
“You’re not hearing me. I mean not anywhere, anytime. We can’t do this.”
His expression hardened as his arms dropped away. “We can talk later. Right now, what we need is to get out of here.”
Crouching, he ducked under the limb and reached back to help her.
“My things—” The bag of possessions she’d salvaged had been in the bedroom when he’d grabbed her. She made a move to go back inside.
“Don’t be a dunce. They’re buried. You can have the workmen find them.”
“You’re doing it again—treating me like a child!” She squeezed past the limb on her own and stood facing him on the porch. Both of them were covered with plaster dust. “Besides, what about Wynette? Her wedding dress is in there, in her closet.”
“That end of the house looks all right. Buck can help her clear it out. Come on, let’s dust ourselves off and go find them.”
He lent her his handkerchief to brush the worst of the chalky dust from her hair and clothes and from his back, which had taken the worst of it when the ceiling collapsed. Neither of them spoke about what had just happened. It was too new, too raw—and, as Jess knew, it couldn’t be allowed to continue.
They found Buck and Wynette at their new home. Wynette was horrified when she heard the news. “Heavens, Jess, you could have died when that limb fell. And then you went back into the house. I can’t believe you were crazy enough to do that.”
Wynette was worried about her wedding gown. But after Buck offered to go in by the room’s safer back window and retrieve the treasured gown, her laptop, some clothes, and anything else she might need, she managed to calm down.
“At least I can move in here early,” she said. “But what about you, Jess? You’d be welcome to stay with us, except that . . .” She gave Buck a sidelong glance. “We only have one bed and not even a couch yet.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll figure something out.” After that kiss, Jess certainly wouldn’t commit to moving in with Cooper. Not even with Trevor in the house. There was always a motel. She could use her planned vacation money to pay for it. But the nearest one was in Cottonwood Springs, an hour away. She would have to commute for work and to check on her house.
