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“You lose that leather jacket and head out there in just that white shirt, and I might just open a beer and watch this bedragglemeant.”
“Pig,” I hiss.
“Prude.”
We eye each other the room, the tension crackling as much as the storm outside.
“Well?” he growls, still smirking at me. “Are you staying or are you going. Either way, shut the door after you make up your mind.”
I glare at him before turning once more to look out at the black carnage outside. I swallow, torn between the maelstrom outside and the devil sitting on the couch behind me.
And then suddenly, as if it was even remotely possible, the entire situation manages to get worse. Because outside, the rain begins to turn intosnow.
Heavily.
There’s no way in hell I’d live trying to boat in this. There just isn’t. Slowly, I turn back to him and take a deep breath.
“Staying,” I said quietly, wondering what the fuck I’ve just signed myself up for.
“I’m staying.”
18
Melody
The lights flickeras the storm outside howls against the house. I sit awkwardly in one of the chairs across from the sofa, feeling very “in the way” as Jackson hauls piles of chopped firewood in from somewhere outside and dumps them by the fireplace.
He shakes the snow and sleet off of his hoodie and then pulls it off. My eyes, traitors that they are, immediately lock onto the grooved abs and v-cuts of his hips as the hoodie pulls his t-shirt up, like horny teenagers.
“The lodging is free. The show costs extra.”
My face heats as I whip my gaze up to see Jackson smirking at me.
“Fuck you, I wasn’t looking at you.”
“Uh-huh.”
He turns, squatting down as he starts to stack old newspapers, little twigs, and then logs in the massive stone fireplace set into the wall. The lights flicker again, and I gasp audibly.
“Power come from cables that come over across the bay on the sea floor,” he grunts, answering my unsaid question without turning as he brings a lighter to the newspaper.
The fire catches, and I watch him with probably way too much interest as he leans in close to blow on the flames. When they catch the twigs, and the fire crackles bigger, he sits back.
Thunder booms outside, and I flinch, gasping again as the lights flick on and off.
“There’s also a generator if—” he sighs, turning to raise a brow at me. “You know what? Maybe stop worrying about it. But you know how youcouldbe useful?”
My lips purse, trying to hide the flush on my face as I glare at him.
“If this involves taking my clothes off orblowing you, I’d be prepared for teeth if I were you.”
Jackson snorts, rolling his eyes.
“You’ve got averyhigh opinion of yourself.”
“No, but I’ve got twenty years of highly detailed, published opinion onyoufor reference. Which I don’t think I even need with the way you’ve behaved for the all of one day I’ve known you personally.”
“That’s adorable.”
