Page 39 of Hot for the Jerk

By nine o’clock, everyone was tucked into bed with their toasty brick to keep them warm.Even Lenora couldn’t keep her eyes open and settled into her room for the night after draining a glass of water and popping two Advils.

That left me and the Beard to finish the puzzle.Because even though we hadn’t said it out loud, we both really wanted to finish the damned thing before we left tomorrow.

We were almost done too.Only about a hundred and fifty more pieces remained.We had the edges, most of the center, and the sky.“Man, this forest floor really has us puzzled,” I murmured, chuckling at my own joke in my head and earning a sideways glance from Jagger.

“How long have you been waiting to say that one?”he asked, amusement in his voice.

“Just came to me.”I peeked at him out of the corner of my eye and he was smirking in that very unique, very sexy Jagger way.

“Yeah, all the different shades of green are playing tricks with my eyes.”He blinked a few times, then removed his round, wire-rimed glasses and rubbed his eyes.His knee knocked mine beneath the table again.

Neither of us moved to end the connection.

“I’m sorry if my teasing became too much,” he said after a moment, his tone surprisingly even, if not tinged with remorse.Even his posture seemed more humble, if that was possible.“I didn’t mean to upset you.And I was definitely a drunk dick last night pushing you to … you know, tell me your preferences.That was totally out of line.I guess I was still in push-your-buttons mode and making you uncomfortable was part of that.It was wrong and I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” I said, regretting my snippy tone the moment it came out of my mouth.I sighed, my shoulders rounding.“It’s fine,” I said again, this time nicer.“Thank you though.I appreciate the apology.”

He nodded, then stood up a little out of his chair and leaned forward over the table and closer to me, instantly causing my body temperature to rise.“Booyah!Found you, you little fucker.”He grabbed a puzzle piece and fit it into a clump of other pieces that he was working on.“I’ve been looking for the rest of that tree frog for fucking ever.Of course they had to make it green and blend in with everything else.I think this bit goes here.”He moved it into place, having to lean toward me, close enough that it was impossible for me not to pull in a deep inhale.“There we go.”I managed to silence the moan that threatened to bubble up my throat from how good he smelled.Why the fuck did he have to smell so good?It wasn’t fair.

“Nice work,” I croaked, clearing my throat and exhaling in relief when he sat back down and away from me.

“We’re almost done, Rosebush.I can feel it.”A gleam entered his eyes as they narrowed and focused behind his glasses on all the pieces in front of him.

“Rosebush?”I asked, scanning the table for the tailpiece of the jaguar I’d been working on for what felt like forty-three days.

His smirk had me clenching my thighs together, but he didn’t look up.“Yeah.’Cause you’re pretty, like a rosebush.And you smell nice, like a rosebush, but there’s always that possibility that you might also stab me.”He tipped his gaze to mine just slightly, the corner of his mouth closer to me, lifting higher than the other, giving him a downright diabolical, sexy look.“Like a rosebush.”

I snorted and rolled my eyes.“Okay, fine.I’ll give you the accuracy on that one.”My cheeks filled with fire.“And thank you for calling me pretty and saying I smelled nice.”My bottom lip rolled inward, and I plunged my teeth into it for a moment.“You, uh … you smell nice too.”

His snort was soft, and I could feel his eyes on me as I studied the puzzle pieces, gasping when I finally located the jaguar’s freaking tail.

We worked in mostly silence for another hour.The storm outside howled, and the rain pummeled the windowpanes.But we remained warm and safe inside.Warm and safe, thanks to Jagger.

My phone said it was five minutes past midnight when the final puzzle piece sat between us on the table.Our eyes locked and a small, playful smile lifted his mouth.“Would you care to do the honors, Ms.Aaronson?”

I stared at the arbitrary piece with green foliage on it.We’d worked on the puzzle together all day, while also making sure the rest of the guests were taken care of, and Lenora wasn’t overwhelmed.Jagger chopped wood.We made chili, and we chaperoned a bunch of wild senior citizens.It was a day that could have a been a disaster, and yet, it turned out to be anything but.

I shook my head and pushed the puzzle piece toward him.“You do it.”

One brow lifted.“How about webothdo it?”

The snort of amusement came out of my nose before I could stop it.“Sorry,” I said, covering my mouth with my hand, but still smiling.

“Yeah, it’s corny.But seriously.This day could have been shit.Particularly since we haven’t necessarily been on amicable terms in … years.But we put our differences aside.I think we both deserve to close this day out by putting in the final piece.”

I rolled my eyes, but picked it up and held one side, while his big ham of a hand came in and two fingers gripped the other side.His blue eyes glittered back at me in the lantern light as we carefully carried the final piece to the bottom left, where it needed to go.“On three?”I asked.

“On three?Or after three?”he teased.

“Oh, just put the damn piece in.”Chuckling, I tugged his hand and together we counted.“One … two … three.”Then pressed the piece into place, our fingers touching, his slightly overlapping mine.

I swallowed and tipped my eyes to his.“Thank you.This was fun.”

He nodded.“Thank you as well.I agree.I enjoyed this stranded power outage more than I thought I might.”

We still touched over the now-finished puzzle.Our fingers hadn’t moved an inch, and now we were just staring at each other.

Thank god Jagger had the sense to clear his throat, break eye contact, and remove his hand, because I was frozen like an ice queen in place.Unable to move.And not sure I wanted to.

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