Crashing Into Tess (10 page)

“When I’m walking downtown, I can see so much
above me, but I never thought about what town would look
like from up here. This is fantastic!” Still holding the
binoculars, she turned to Jake. “Thanks for thinking of this.
It’s something I’ll always remember.”
“I’m glad you like it,” he smiled.

*****
As terrible as Jake felt
about the run-in with Vicki, Tess
was too close to resist. As she stood in front of him,
binoculars in hand, he wrapped his arms around her waist,
touching his lips to the top of her head, above the spill of
curls. She smiled, and turned to face him. Tucking his
hands under her jacket, he slid his hands up under the hem
of her turtleneck, touching the skin on the small of her
back. Smiling, she tilted her head up, drowsy-eyed in the
sunshine. Touching his tongue to hers, his pulse raced with
desire. They kissed until they were breathless with cold,
then hiked back to the truck, and kissed some more, while
the engine warmed the cab.

“We lucked out, huh?” he murmured, running his
fingertips along her cold pink cheek.
“Do you think I would have met you, otherwise?” she
asked.
“It’s a small town. I wouldn’t have let you stay away
for very long,” he whispered, pressing his lips to her
forehead.
“Let’s go back to my apartment,” she offered.
“After this morning, maybe we should just take it easy
for awhile.” He was glad when she tightened her hands on
his back in response.
“We can’t undo this morning, even though we’d both
like to. The best we can do is play it cool and stay out of
Vicki’s way. You can leave your truck at the clinic, if you
want,” she suggested, her lips close to his ear.
Too tempted to refuse, he kissed her nose, which was
still cold. “Let’s try to avoid a scene like this morning.”
“We can’t let that happen again,” Tess agreed.
He pulled into the clinic parking lot and left the engine
running while the dogs whined and jumped around in the
back. He wanted her so badly.
If you leap now, you’re a
goner for sure. You’re probably a goner already.
“You and Van coming over?” she asked, her hand on
the door latch. She leaned over and kissed him, and he
clasped the sides of her face, searching her eyes. He saw
her desire, and it made him cautious for them both.
“I’ll be honest. If you want to keep this just to kissing,
I shouldn’t come. I pride myself on self control, but you
have a powerful affect on me.”
She kissed him again, grabbing his lip gently between
her teeth. His groin tightened reflexively, and he sighed
against her lips.
Does this girl have any idea what she’s
doing to me?
“Tess, I mean it, I’ve wanted to be close to
you since I watched you come out of Dave’s garage that
first day, as nuts as that is.”
“So why wouldn’t you have lunch with me, when I
asked at the doctor’s office?” she asked curiously.
“I was fooling myself. I had to play it cool, for my own
sanity,” he admitted. “And I wanted to give you a chance to
get settled in.”
“Come on, I know how to play it cool, too,” she said,
slugging his shoulder and opening the truck door, her eyes
flirting. “We’ll just talk. I promise to keep my hands to
myself.”
“Who are you fooling?” he grinned, letting the dogs
out of the back of his truck. She tossed him her keys.
At her place, the dogs bounded onto the porch in front
of Tess. He parked her truck and walked in, smiling every
bit of the way.
Boots and snow pants were kicked off on the living
room floor, and Rhiannon and Van wrestled with a rope toy.
He found Tess sitting on the bed, her back against a pillow,
thin, fleece-clad legs cross legged on top of the blanket. He
leaned against the door jamb and grinned down at her. “Is
this where you entertain?”
She eyed him mischievously, and clasped her knees to
her chest. “Only when it’s you. Alice’s table and chairs in
the kitchen are all I have to sit on. My bed’s really cozy,
and it’s this or the floor. If my parents knew about this,
though, they’d have a sofa air dropped. Are you hungry?
Do you want something to eat?”
“Oh, I’m hungry. Like a wolf. But what I want is right
here.” He leaned over and kissed her, then licked her pink
chapped lips wet, and slid his tongue between her teeth.
She sighed, and put her hands around his neck.
“Do that some more,” she whispered, her eyes dark
with desire.
“Let me get the fire going, first, get rid of the chill in
here. I’ll be right back.”
In her living room, the dogs had settled, curling
together on the rug in front of the hearth. He opened the
damper of the wood stove and added wood to the fire.
When it was roaring, he pulled his fleece off, walked down
the hall, and sat on the bed next to her, kissing her
forehead, taking her in his arms. She studied him solemnly,
tracing a finger down the length of his jaw. “You take really
good care of me,” she said, “I like it. I’ve never met a man
like you.”
He grinned at her, raising an eyebrow wickedly. “I hope
not. So tell me about the men you’ve met.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Do I have to?”
“Well, I don’t need gory details. You did say you’ve
never been in a serious relationship.”
“Does that mean you don’t trust me?” she asked, brow
furrowed.
“I trust you, but you may not know how it feels to have
your life turned inside out by someone you care about,” he
answered, settling her close against his chest. “It’s not an
easy thing to bear. I know you’re only planning to be here
until spring, but you’re terrific with my daughter and I’d
like to see more of you,” he whispered, nuzzling her hair
and kissing her forehead. “I haven’t dated in close to eight
years. I’m trying to get some sense of where you’re at.”
“I had casual flings in vet school,” Tess confessed,
taking a deep breath, “With lame guys. My mother says I
have a knack for unsuitable men, but Alice assures me that
you’re okay.”
She’s right, I am. I’m very okay. Why lame guys?”
“I’m not sure. They were older, mostly, flings. I didn’t
really have time for a relationship.”
“But you do now. And I’m an older man,” he said,
gently pressing her back, and pinning her under him.
“That’s right, you are,” she said, twining her legs
around his as she stared up at him, her blue eyes sincere.
She put her hand against his ribs, under his T-shirt, and her
touch made him blaze with longing. “Jake, you are part of
what makes my life here so fantastic. I like this little town,
but it wouldn’t be half as much fun if it weren’t for you.
You make me feel safe, and I’m really attracted to you,”
she whispered. “It’s a little scary.”
He kissed her mouth, then, tasting her, full and ripe and
sweet. “I’m glad you feel safe with me. You’re very special,
y’know that?”
“You take such good care of Cassie, it was awesome
being with you the other day.”
“You fit right in on the ranch. I couldn’t believe how
much I liked having you there with us.” He gazed down at
her, his elbow pressing into the pillow, head on his hand,
touching her hair while her fingers stroked his back.
“Cassie liked having you all to herself the other day, too.
She doesn’t get that kind of attention from her mom. She’s
had it kind of rough lately.” He buried his nose in her hair.
“Vicki’s really self-centered, as you may have noticed. It’s
always all about her. You know how to handle kids.”
“You think so?” Tess asked, looking at him with curious
intensity.
“Sure, you made Cassie feel supported, you encouraged
her, but you set some boundaries, too.” He slid his hand to
her hip.
“I did? In that short time?”
“Well, you reminded her about balancing work and
play, you joked with her, made her feel special. You were
very tuned in. It felt like I could trust you with Cassie, and
that’s really important to me.”
“Hmm, so you’re emotionally astute, too, aren’t you?
You read into things, like a shrink.” She wrinkled her nose
at him again.
He wasn’t sure it was a compliment, but he grinned at
the idea. “No one has ever put it quite like that, but yeah, I
guess I am emotionally astute, besides being hyperresponsible and a total sucker for you. Vicki was always a
mess, so to stay one step ahead of her, I sort of got that
way.”
Having her in his arms like this, talking and touching,
was as close as they’d been together.
“
You made me feel
special, too. Will you come back to visit us at the ranch?”
he asked, squeezing her waist.
A bright smile spread across her face. “Of course I will.
I don’t think I could ever get too much of that.”
His heart surging with appreciation. “Thanks. It means
a lot to me that you feel that way.”
After he left Tess’s apartment, Jake tried to get his head
around what he was feeling. His marriage had been on the
rocks for years before his divorce, and he’d lived through a
long, lonely, dry spell.
I’m really lucky to be with Tess now,
but she’ll leave in spring.
He didn’t want to get hurt, and
there was Cassie to consider.
Cassie and I could both be
really attached by then, and if I let us get too close, it will
just hurt all of us when she leaves. I better take it easy, for
all of our sakes. I can’t afford another disaster.

*****
To:
[email protected]
From:
[email protected]
Date: Saturday October 6, 8:14 PM

Jake took me for a hike today....Our date ended exactly
two minutes ago. Call me tomorrow morning and I’ll tell
you all~
Loviest,

Tess and Alice handled Monday morning clinic work.
Doc and Bea were taking Mondays off now, staying close
to town in case they were needed. Tess did the afternoon
ranch calls. It was a busy day, and she didn’t get home until
after eight. For dinner, she dumped a can of organic
mushroom soup into a pot, and made a salad and garlic
bread.

Jake called at bedtime. “Hey, gorgeous, how was your
day?” His voice was gentle, soft and familiar, and a wave
of heat coiled deep inside her.

“Busy. Doc and Bea had off today. Ranch calls were
crazy. One of the Carson’s sows delivered a litter of
fourteen piglets, and wound up with a prolapsed uterus, and
Sherri Tarleton had a three year old stallion prospect with a
punctured foot. He was an awful lot of fun to play with.
Even sedated, he kept trying to bite me.”

“Ouch. Sounds pretty intense. I want to keep you busy
here with me at the ranch, but I promise not to bite,” he
said, chuckling deep and low. “At least, not too hard.”

“Hmm, if you are thinking of keeping me busy the way
you did Saturday, can you hold that thought till the
weekend?”

“Ah, but I have Cassie this weekend, and I want to keep
you busy sooner. I can cook us dinner tomorrow night, if
you’re free. Tuesday is Tilda’s night off. We’d have this
whole place to ourselves.”

“Very tempting. What’s on the menu?” she asked,
warmed at the thought of being with him again.
“I’m breaking out the McGreer spaghetti and meatball
recipe. It’s world class.”
“Irish spaghetti usually is,” she joked.
“Hah, I’m only Irish on my dad’s side. My mom was
one hundred percent Italiano. Her parents came from the
old country, before the Second World War. Wait till you
taste my meatballs.”
“Hmm, I think I’m looking forward to tasting your
meatballs, somehow,” she said. Jake laughed. “I’m
impressed that you’re cooking.”
“Oh, I’ll be cooking alright. And there will be a fire in
the fireplace, too. Plenty of heat, here at McGreer Ranch.”
“Heat as in licking flames?”
“Lots of licking flames.”

Tuesday night, the last glimmer of light settled over the
frosty snowpack and into the western sky over the Sawatch
Mountains when Tess pulled up outside the ranch house.
Jake was waiting on the porch. He pulled her into his arms,
kissed her deeply, and led her through the mudroom. Once
she’d wrestled out of her work clothes, she followed him
into the kitchen in wool socks and fleece leggings.

“Bet you’re hungry,” he said, tugging on one of her
curls before he stuck a tray of garlic bread under the broiler
to toast.

“I am,” she said, suddenly shy. Smiling at him, she
peered into the pot of spaghetti sauce bubbling on the
stove. “Yum, smells delicious, Jake.”

He put the pasta into boiling water, and poured an
uncorked bottle of Barolo. Handing her a glass of red wine,
he led her to the leather sofa, wrapped her in his arms, and
buried his nose in her hair. “I’m really glad you’re here.”

“Me, too,” she said happily, snuggling against his chest.
The fire crackled on the hearth, and
Don Giovanni
was on
the stereo. “You were right, it’s plenty warm here.”

He pulled her close, and kissed her thoroughly. “Yup,
I’ll keep you warm. You’re drinking a wine that is older
than I am, you know.”

“Ah, that it is,” Jake grinned mischievously. “You stay
and warm up. I’ll go pull dinner together.”
As they finished eating, she gave him her biggest,
flirtiest smile. “So, I’m impressed. You were right, your
meatballs definitely rank, and I’m Italian. Perfect balance
of oregano and garlic, nothing Irish about them at all.”

“Glad they pass muster.”
He cocked an eyebrow, smiling
as he took her plate. She grabbed the bowls of pasta and the
salad and followed him into the kitchen. He put the dishes
in the sink, purposefully bumping against her as he covered
the bowls and stuck them in the fridge. He poured them
coffee, and led her back to the living room, threw a log on
the fire, stoked it until it’s snapping heat filled the big
vaulted room, then sat next to her.

Coffee cup in hand, Tess pressed her back against a
pillow on the arm rest, tucking her wool socks under his
thigh. She was smiling at him, her blue eyes clear.
She
belongs here, right next to me, all cute and angelic.