Page 30 of This Time Around
He dropped his hand from her waist to the hem of her sweater. He lingered there for a moment, giving her a chance to pull back. To say this was a bad idea. It probably was, though he’d forgotten why.
Her eyes flashed with assent so Jack slid his hand up under her sweater. He let his thumb graze the edge of her breast, lightly at first. She pressed into his palm, and he moved his whole hand over the softness to lay claim to it.
This time she did pull back, but only for an instant. Just long enough to level him with those molten green eyes as she reached for the hem of her sweater. Her wrists crossed in a delicate X as her fingers gripped the pink fabric. Her gaze locked on his, and her cheeks flushed deep pink.
“I want you,” she said.
“Okay,” he replied dumbly as she began to lift the sweater. It happened in slow motion, and Jack stared mutely as her navel came into focus, the soft hollow he’d kissed hundreds of times. Then he saw the smooth ridges of her ribs, one, then the next, and another until they rounded up to perfect cups of lavender lace and?—
Clack-clack-clack!
The sweater dropped back, and Allie let go of the edge. She stared at him, eyes wide, face flushed. Jack stared back, trying to figure out what the hell was making that racket.
Clack-clack-clack!
“The ladder!” He turned and leapt across the beams, moving as fast as he could toward the attic door. The clacking was moving away, which meant someone must be dragging the old wooden ladder down the hall. Jack dropped to his knees beside the opening in the floor. He heard Allie clomping behind him, and she landed in a heap next to him with her thigh pressed against his. Each of them grabbed an edge of the attic door, fumbling to get it open.
The door swung up and bonked him in the head. Allie went sprawling backward as light flooded the space. She righted herself and leaned down through the opening to call out.
“Skye!” she yelled as Jack grabbed the back of her jeans to keep her from falling through the attic door. “Wait!”
He set Allie back on her heels and leaned through the opening himself. A freckle-shouldered brunette in a long rainbow-striped skirt looked up at him from halfway down the hall. She’d folded the ladder neatly and was dragging it down the hall. She had the wooden rails gripped in both hands and an alarmed look on her face.
It probably wasn’t every day she saw a strange man peering down at her from the ceiling.
Allie stuck her head out further and the woman’s face lit up. “Allie. Oh my God, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know you were up there. The door was closed.”
“We were looking through some of my grandma’s things and wanted to keep the cats out.” Allie shot him a look that told him not to say more about what else they’d been doing up there. Was she worried about the money or the kissing?
Jack wasn’t sure which of the two had shocked him more.
Allie gestured awkwardly between him and the befuddled-looking woman. “Skye, meet Jack. He’s an old friend from school.” She looked back at him. “Skye is the caretaker I was telling you about.”
“Caretaker, of course.” He tried not to think too hard about the “old friend” label, or the fact that she’d described Wade with exactly those words. But he could still taste Allie on his lips, and he wondered if she kissed all her old friends like that. Did she press her body against them and reach for the hem of her sweater with a look of?—
None of your fucking business, he told himself. You’re being a dick.
“Nice to meet you,” he managed, offering Skye a smile he hoped wasn’t too stiff.
“It’s great to meet you, too. Sorry, I was just putting this away.” She gestured to the ladder, then smiled and pushed her hair off her face, showing Jack a few flashes of blue woven through her dark curls. “Are you from Portland?”
“Kinda,” Jack said. “I’ve lived near LA for ages, But Allie and I went to middle school and high school and college together in Portland. I’m in town for a college reunion.”
“That’s awesome! I didn’t realize you had a reunion to go to.” It took Jack a second to realize she was talking to Allie, not him. “You have to let me do your hair and nails for the event! Please? I just passed the final for both, but I need the practical experience. I’d do it for free, and I promise I’ll make you look like a million bucks.”
“Oh,” Allie said, glancing at Jack. “Actually, I’m not?—”
“You should do it.” The words were out of Jack’s mouth before he’d thought them through. The look on Allie’s face told him they surprised her as much as they did him.
But the idea wasn’t half bad, so he kept talking. “I know I ended up graduating five years after you did, but I think you’ll still know a few people. Remember Kent Rogers? He was a freshman our sophomore year, but had to quit for a few years when his dad got sick. And Trista Madden? The girl in the next apartment who drove the?—”
“—pink Volkswagen, of course.” Allie cocked her head. “She’s going to be there?”
“Yeah, she married someone from my graduating class. I think there are a few others, plus a few professors you might remember. Come on, it’ll be fun.”
Allie gave him a dubious look, and he didn’t blame her. He felt rather dubious himself.
But a small part of him wanted her there. Wanted the comfort of an old friend, even if he’d just compromised the friendship by groping her in the attic.
