Page 39 of Let It Breathe
Now her nipples were hard.
Reese folded her arms again. Bob shifted beside her and put an arm around her shoulders. “You cold?”
She felt Clay’s foot shift beside hers. “Here, Reese,” he said, standing up. She watched him peel off the black wool zip-up jacket he’d been wearing, revealing the snug gray T-shirt beneath. “Take my coat.”
Relief pulsed through her, sending a few gratuitous pulses to several other parts she tried not to think about. She started to stand up to grab the jacket, but Clay leaned down and placed it around her shoulders.
“Better?”
She nodded. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”
His gaze locked with hers. Bob’s gaze locked with her breasts.
Reese pulled the jacket tight around her chest and gave Larissa a shove.
“Move it—I’m going to the restroom.”
She stood and zipped the jacket, then crossed her arms over her chest and made a beeline for the other side of the room. She ducked into the narrow hallway and had her hand on the door to the ladies’ room when she heard Clay’s voice behind her.
“Here. You might need this.”
She turned to see him holding out a safety pin. She smiled and reached out to take it. “How did you?—?”
“Borrowed it from the waitress.”
“I meant, how’d you know my bra broke?”
He shrugged and leaned against the wall. “It was kinda obvious. Besides, didn’t you have something like that happen once in college?”
Reese almost gasped out loud, stunned by the memory. “Right—at that party over in McMinnville sophomore year. How the hell did you remember that?”
He grinned. “Some things stick in a guy’s mind. Can’t say I recall every drunken detail of my youth, but that image is burned into my brain.”
Reese bit her lip as she pulled the jacket tighter around her. She looked away, feigning interest in a spot on the wall. “I guess so.”
“You need any help?”
She laughed, startling a passing waitress. “Are you offering to fix my bra clasp? Don’t tell me that’s within the realm of your contractor training.”
“Sure, I’ve got my welding tools out in the truck. If you hold really still, it shouldn’t melt much skin.”
“I’m fine, but thank you. The safety pin should be enough.”
She put her hand on the ladies’ room door again, then hesitated. “Thank you, Clay. I mean it. I don’t think anyone else figured out what was going on.”
“Not even your date?”
“My date.” She spit out the word like a burnt peanut. “Eric picked me a real winner there.”
Clay studied her, quiet for a moment. “He means well.”
“That he does.” She stared into his eyes, those pools of root-beer-hued light pulling her in. “Thank you, Clay. Really, you’re a lifesaver.”
Before she could think about what she was doing, she leaned up to give him a quick kiss on the cheek.
The cheek. That really was what she aimed for.
