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“Yeah, I can tell, man. You brought the right gal for that. Love me some Jenna.”
Billy’s glare took the first baseman by surprise, and he dug into his potatoes without another word. It took Billy by surprise too. It shouldn’t matter to him what Randy said about Jenna, so long as it was respectful.
Jenna took quite a while in the restroom. She was probably trying to get her face to return to its normal color. Her blushes could last a while. He figured she was also checking on the kids.
When she got back, sliding into her chair, he whispered, “How are they?”
“They’re watching Lilo and Stitch. I told them we wouldn’t be back tonight, but I don’t think it made much of an impression.”
“How are you? Still freaked out about how good you look in that dress?”
“No. I looked in the mirror. I look pretty good for a backwoods girl.” Her sassy smile caught him off guard.
“That’s what I’m talking about.” He patted her knee. Damn, now that they’d started with the hand-holding, he couldn’t keep his hands off her.
She didn’t object to his compliment, even though it was against the rules. Nor did she push his hand off her knee. That was also against the rules. Apparently the rules were going out the window, and he was fine with that.
So he left his hand on her leg, enjoying the pleasure of silk fabric and firm flesh underneath. No one could see, after all, and it was totally innocent, just a gesture of support after her embarrassing pratfall practically into Chelsey’s lap.
Or maybe not so innocent if you asked his cock. It was stirring to life like the naughty bit that it was. Touching Jenna had always had that effect on him, even after they split up. Mutual desire had never been their problem.
The rest of the dinner passed in a warm dark haze. Out there, speeches were being made and awards were being delivered. In their little bubble, none of that even registered, except as a cue to applaud, or stand, or otherwise take a break from the sweet touch that connected them.
It wasn’t sexual, he kept telling himself. It was affection, appreciation, mutual enjoyment.
But along with all of those wonderful things, an undercurrent of arousal hummed between them. There was no mistaking it, not just on his end, but Jenna’s. He felt the flutter of her pulse against his wrist, and sensed the quickened pace of her breathing.
This is dangerous.
But it didn’t feel dangerous. It felt natural. It felt wonderful. It felt as if they were taking quiet steps into a new world. Almost like one of the meadows they’d stumbled across in the early days when their favorite dates were hikes in the woods. He’d first kissed her in one of those meadows, surrounded by wild geranium and ragweed. Her sweet vibrant body had melted against him, and everything inside him had shifted.
This is risky.
But why? They were two grown adults who knew their own minds. They knew themselves and they knew each other. Anyway, he wasn’t thinking about sex. Okay, part of him was thinking about sex, but he knew better than to listen to that part. He just liked being close to Jenna. He’d missed it. He’d never found that feeling of closeness with anyone else.
Jenna didn’t end their delicious contact until her phone buzzed toward the end of the dinner. She flashed the screen at him.
Call me asap. Not urgent. Just asap.
She slipped away from the table again. After a moment, he decided to follow her. If the asap was related to the storm, he wanted to know about it. He found her in the hotel lobby, speaking intensely into her phone.
She looked up when he came close and pulled the phone away from her face. “Eighteen inches of snow. And the power went out.”
“Shit. They have plenty of firewood, right?”
The house depended on a propane heater, which needed power to run. The backup was the woodstove. He always made sure the wood shed was stocked, but this early in the winter there wasn’t generally a need. He couldn’t recall what state it was in.
“Annika says they should be fine. She’s not worried. But she might get called in to work. That happens a lot when there’s a power outage. The streetlights go out and people get into accidents. They know she’s not supposed to be on call this weekend, but if there’s a real need, she might have to go in.”
“Is she on the line?”
Jenna nodded and handed the phone over to him. “Hi Annika. Listen, if you need to go save lives, you should do that. Just give Galen a call. He’ll ski over right away, no questions asked.”
“Will do. I guess it’s a lucky thing not all the Cooper brothers achieved escape velocity.”
“Maybe so. Are the landlines still working?”
“Zack, can you check the landline?” After a moment, she said, “Yes. Still up.”
