Page 36 of Rocky Mountain Home
Going without sex was rough on a guy—
Okay, fine, he was sure it was equally tough on a woman. Heck, for a woman in her condition there had to be some sort of positive hormones released during orgasm that would help deal with the whole creature growing inside her.
Of course, he should try to find a way to phrase that more diplomatically than suggesting she was possessed by aliens or parasites, and wouldn’t she’d like to come?
He joined her in the kitchen. “What can I do?”
“How are you at cooking green things? We could use a salad.”
“Salads. Oh, those things you don’t put ketchup on?”
Her lips curled. “I’ve seen one of the old-timers down at the Copper Kettle douse his entire plate, lettuce and all.”
“A man only does that if he’s desperate,” Jesse assured her. “I can make a salad.”
They ended up at the dinner table with a surprising array of food. Fried pork chops, a green-bean casserole, mashed potatoes that Dare made him do the honours and smash thoroughly, and the salad.
His mouth watered as he scooped food onto his plate. “You like to cook.”
“I like to eat. Cooking seemed a logical step in putting food on the table that wasn’t grilled or ready to serve out of the box.” She tugged the mashed potato bowl from him, serving herself a hefty amount. “My mom was a good cook, and I used to help, so it wasn’t as if I was starting from scratch. Between me and Ginny, we kept the table full enough to satisfy the guys.”
He thought back to the little girls. “What about Caleb’s wife? Didn’t she help?”
Dare made a face. “Wendy and Caleb didn’t get married until I was twenty. Neither Ginny nor I enjoyed the idea of an extended diet of the bachelor cooking my brothers considered acceptable.”
Jesse wanted to ask about Wendy. Why she wasn’t in the picture anymore, but like Dare had said during that first visit to the falls, it wasn’t as if they had to know everything about each other this instant.
Instead they talked about TV shows and movies. Music and their favourite sports teams. Small talk, yes, but slowly filling in empty gaps in information.
When Dare yawned on for the third time, though, Jesse rose to his feet. “I’ve been up since four a.m., and you’re ready to hit the hay too.”
She nodded, moving to place her empty teacup in the dishwasher before taking his as well. “I have much more energy now than I did before.”
When she would’ve slipped away, Jesse caught her by the wrist and pulled her back into his arms. It might be too soon for him to have her the way he wanted, but damn if he was going to let her leave without at least holding her in his arms for a moment.
She was warm against him, her spine stiff and body tight for about fifteen seconds before she softened. Pressing herself closer and accepting his embrace. He didn’t try to notch up the tension, just held her and rubbed her back as what felt like a genuine connection grew.
When he let her go, her smile was a whole lot more real than it’d been all night.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” she said.
That should’ve been that.
Jesse waited until she was done with the bathroom then got himself settled for the night, shaking his head at the teeny width of the bed. “It’s better than sleeping on the ground.”
Yet he couldn’t get comfortable. For the next thirty minutes he rolled from position to position, his entire body aching.
Fuck this. The truth was he didn’t want to be sleeping alone on this tiny mattress. He didn’t want to be on this side of the wall, he wanted to be on the other side of it, no more than five feet from where he currently lay. That would put him on the same mattress as Dare. Hell, it might even put him directly on top of her, which hello, even better.
Thoughts of covering her body with his turned into a full-fledged fantasy. Imagining the lush swells of her breasts and generous curves of her hips nestled under him was enough to make him hard.
He shoved back the covers and laid an arm over his eyes, praying for sleep to come.
Instead, in the silence, he heard a low-pitched buzz.
No fucking way.
Jesse listened harder, sure he must’ve made a mistake, but no, it was definitely there. A low-pitched sound that sent a million more dirty images springing into his brain. Dare with a vibrator in her hands, her naked body spread on the mattress as she played with herself.
