Page 44 of Mountain Freedom
“Yes. So do you, and you don’t even have a car here. I don’t really like the idea of you jogging alone tomorrow after this. Let me stay, Allison.” His face told me he was dead serious, that he truly wanted to keep me safe.
I wrapped my arms around myself to keep from wrapping them around him. “Okay,” I said. “If you’re sure you don’t mind. I had completely forgotten about my car, but after this, I don’t want to jog to the clinic.” I shivered. “And here I thought I was going to leave the gym behind and get back to exercising in nature now that I’m out of Memphis.”
“You will,” he said. “Just not tomorrow.”
“Not tomorrow,” I agreed.
Jackson retrievedsome things from his truck while I busied myself setting up the couch for him. The house had only come with basic linens, so I pulled one of my pillows off the bed, along with an extra blanket I had found in the linen closet. It wasn’t a particularly nice setup, and I felt so guilty I almost offered to take the couch myself. But I knew it was pointless to offer—Jackson was a gentleman who would never let me give up my own bed.
Besides, the thought of sleeping down here so close to the window where the intruder had come in was terrifying. What if he came back tonight? The very idea conjured images in my imagination that gave me fresh chills. When Jackson came back inside, he rushed over to me.
“What’s wrong? What happened?”
“Nothing,” I said, shaking my head as I came back to earth. “I was just imagining how bad it could have been if…if things had been different.” I put my hand on his chest, feeling somehow more stable when I felt his heartbeat underneath it. “I’m hoping this was nothing more than someone with curiosityand boundary issues, but I admit I’m more freaked out than I realized. Thank you for being here, Jackson.”
“Always,” he said as he reached up and squeezed my hand.
“I’ll have to figure out a way to repay the favor.”
He laughed as he plopped down onto my couch. “You could always get your girlfriends to go skinny-dipping with you again and give me a heads-up as to when and where. Give me another one of those core life memories.”
“Jackson! That’s terrible,” I said, tossing the pillow at him, even though I was grinning from ear to ear.
“You asked,” he said, winking.
“I’m too old for skinny-dipping,” I retorted. “Although I’m sure if you asked Luna…”
He threw the pillow back at me. “Not even funny.”
“Sorry,” I said. “You’re right. I shouldn’t tease you about her.”
“No, you shouldn’t,” he said, though he was smiling.
I tucked my hair behind my ears and sighed. “I guess I should head to bed.” Even though I knew there was no way I would be able to sleep.
He looked at me for a long minute. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not sleepy yet. How about that Jane Austen movie you promised me?”
“Really?”
“Really.” He grinned. “Especially if it comes with hot cocoa.”
“Believe it or not, I can manage that,” I said, laughing. “It’s one of the few things I always keep stocked.”
“I know,” he said. “I cleared your house, remember? Saw the tin sitting in the pantry. Looked fancy and expensive. I always buy the cheap stuff that comes in envelopes. Easy peasy.”
“Oh no,” I said, shaking my head. “None of that fake chocolate and corn syrup here. You’re about to get treated todecadent organic cocoa with real cream and sugar. You’ll never be the same.”
“Might even make the Jane Austen movie worth sitting through.”
Chapter Eighteen
Jackson
With the bestdamn cup of hot cocoa I’d ever had in hand, I tried to appear relaxed and into the movie Allison obviously adored. But my mind was a million miles away.
This whole thing stunk of Russell. I wouldn’t mention him to her until I was sure, but he was my number-one suspect. It was exactly like him to break in here and look around just to show me that nothing of mine was off-limits to him.
Not that Allison was mine. But we’d hung out publicly almost every night since she’d arrived in town. Half of Rosemary Mountain had probably jumped to the conclusion that we were together, no matter how often we denied it. Russell would make that assumption, too. And if he wanted to get back at me, he might strike out at her.
