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Jonathan yanked the blanket from the wooden rack and tossed it to the floor. Sparks hit his bare skin, and a flaming chunk of stuffing landed on his hand, burning partway through his gauze before he could shake it off.
“Here.” Bailey slid him the throw rug from next to the bed.
Within moments, he beat back the fire, until the quilt was nothing but a charred and melted shell in the middle of a scorch mark. Heavy smoke stung his eyes.
Bailey coughed until it sounded like she might evict a lung.
He wrapped an arm around her waist and guided them back downstairs.
They couldn’t open the windows in this weather or turn on any fans without power, but at least most of the dense air stayed upstairs, and Lucifer had beaten a hasty retreat to the kitchen table. He looked Bailey over. Ash smudged her nose, her bare arms, and her stomach. He was probably an even bigger mess. Something about the thought drew a laugh from him, and once he started chuckling, he couldn’t stop.
“Care to share with the group?” Bailey’s voice was hoarse.
He dragged in a few deep breaths and swallowed the amusement. “I think—given the number of disasters in the last forty-eight hours that led to one or both of us being wet, burned, or covered in sludge—we may be better off spending the rest of my visit naked.”
“I wouldn’t complain”—she trailed her gaze over him with an attention that threatened to make him hard again—“but it’s only fair if both of us are doing it.”
He pulled her close again, wishing he had shed his clothes too. Marveling at the sensation of her soft body pressed against his, he kissed her forehead.
“I don’t want to get splinters in my butt.” She draped her arms around his neck.
“We’re done in the attic, and all the other floors are polished. No worries there.”
“One worry.” She buried her face in his chest, muffling her voice. “You’re distracting, and we’re still on a schedule.”
The schedule. Right. The same one that meant he was heading back home in less than a week. For the first time since arriving here, he wasn’t in such a hurry to leave. The pressing desire to get back to the office was still there, but leaving Bailey behind...
Was exactly what he needed to do. It was a good reminder this entire thing was a means to close the door on his past. The house, the possessions, the fun with Bailey—he needed to enjoy it now, because it wasn’t his to keep. In a week he’d be back in L.A., she’d stay here, and life would return to what it should be. What it was always meant to be.
* * * *
THE LIGHTS WERE STILL out the next morning. Bailey wasn’t surprised. With mainland transportation cut off, and the horrific conditions, no one was worried about a little substation that serviced such a small population.
Not that she was complaining; the company was good. She snuggled back into Jonathan and pulled his arm more tightly around her. She slept well despite the lingering smell of smoke, and having him there made the couch feel comfortable. She didn’t know if she was relieved or just a little disappointed they found their way into some clothes before falling asleep last night.
“Morning.” He moved his lips against her hair.
“Hey.”
“What’s on the schedule today, boss?”
She smiled, though he couldn’t see it. “I hadn’t thought past right now.”
He moved his hand to her hip and nudged up the edge of her T-shirt, enough to touch bare skin. “I’m not going to push the issue, then. I’m fine with this.”
“We have to get up eventually.”
“Do we?”
“Yes.” She laughed. This was perfect. Which sucked, because it would end soon.
It was better that way. With him gone, she could get him out of her system, have a clear head to remember why she didn’t do long-term relationships, and go back to building a business he didn’t approve of because it wouldn’t make a lot of money. “Do you like living in L.A.?” She frowned at her own question, unsure where it came from.
“I never thought about it. It’s familiar. It’s also smoggy, overcrowded, hot and muggy, and never rains.” As he talked, he traced her waist with his thumb. It was as comforting and familiar as it was seductive.
“If that’s on the travel brochure, they need a better tourism department. It sounds miserable.”
His quiet chuckle rumbled through her back. “Actually, I love it. A lot of people don’t, and others think it’s all big stars and homeless people, with nothing in between. I picked it though, and I don’t regret it. I enjoy the big-city feeling. My office is close to home, which means I usually walk to work, and there’s so much culture. So much to do and see. After all these years, it hasn’t gotten old.”
Like Atlanta, but bigger. “It sounds amazing.”
“You think so?” He sounded surprised.
She didn’t expect that reaction. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“Well... You know.” Vague and obscure, even by his terms.
She shifted her weight, to glance over her shoulder and look at him. “I don’t have any idea, but I’m curious.”
He pulled back, so she could lie down and see him. He moved his hand to her stomach. “I watch a lot of movies, as you know. And they’ve all told me—because really, we should trust what movies teach us—that the small-town girl always wants to stay in the small town. If she leaves, and especially if she gets a taste of the big city, when it’s all over she wants to be back where there are as many cows as people.”
“We don’t have cows here.”
“You know what I mean.” He tickled her until she squealed and grabbed his hand, then returned to the light touch above her waist.
“If I thought for a second you believed everything you saw on TV, we wouldn’t be cuddling.” Cuddling. She liked the way the word rolled off her tongue. “I stay here because it’s financially convenient. I’ve thought about moving to Atlanta, but...”
“But what?”
She was going to say too much held her here. That wasn’t right, though. Her memories were tied to the people, not the place, and there were as many bad ones as good. Besides, all those people were gone. “I guess I can’t put it into words.”
“You don’t have to.” He dipped his head, to brush his lips over hers.
Each time he did that, she wondered at how natural it felt. Both the kisses and the tender touches. Anything intimate that he didn’t hesitate to do. Not a good place for her to dwell. “You really compared other women to me in college?” she asked.
“I did tell you that, didn’t I?” His smile turned sheepish. “That night we kissed was a defining point in my life. So much changed.”
Everything changed. She got engaged. He left and swore he’d never be back. “Yet you still walked away and let me go through with it.” She snapped her jaw shut. Stupid bitter thoughts were supposed to stay in her head.
He sat up, and the chill that rushed in around her was from more than the suddenly missing body heat. His face slid into its impassive mask. “After I begged and pleaded with you to tell Danny no, I didn’t want to see that happen. Especially with the way things ended up, but even before I knew.” The words should be passionate and moving, but his flat delivery destroyed their impact.
She could do the same. Keep her emotion under control and pretend she hadn’t reopened a gaping wound. “Begged and pleaded is a bit severe.” She extracted herself from the couch and took a spot in the chair across from him.
“No. It’s not.” The edge snapped into his voice and was gone as quickly. “I told you he wasn’t faithful.”
“It was an open relationship.” The retort slipped out, without her having to grab for it. The excuse that kept her by Danny’s side for years, even after they closed things up.
“That you didn’t want to be open. And who goes from let’s date the rest of the world at the same time to I love you. Marry me? And who does that when they’re eighteen?”
Dating more than one person or getting married? She wasn’t sure she wanted his answer. “At least he told me how he felt.” Fuck this. She wasn’t staying calm. The hurt spilling into her words wouldn’t let her. “He might have been deranged and screwed up and not had any idea what the words meant, but he had the balls to say something.”
Jonathan glared at her and drew his lips into a straight line. “I would have done anything to stop you from making that mistake. I don’t do regrets, yet I’d go back in a heartbeat and take you away from that. I did everything I could think of at the time. What else was I supposed to do?”
“Tell me you loved me.”
*
JONATHAN DID HIS BEST not to get pissed off about the conversation, at the same time wondering how they went from sweet to snippy in a blink.
Her last words, as simple as they were, pushed him past his limits. “I wasn’t going to tell you that.” He couldn’t keep the irritation hidden anymore. “I mean, I was ready to, before I found out about Danny. But I wasn’t willing to manipulate you like that. No. Don’t marry him. I love you. It had to be your own decision.” He hadn’t meant to put the confession out there. Did she notice?
“It’s not manipulative if it’s true, and that logic didn’t stop you from sticking your tongue down my throat.”
“That kiss went both ways. You fucking kissed me back. Do you really believe Danny ever thought he was lying to you? Each time he warped your mind with misdirection and cruel fucking lies—” He snapped the words off when her expression twisted from a scowl to a grimace. He crossed the room. “I shouldn’t have brought that up.”
“Why not? You made your point.” She crossed her arms.
He was tired of wondering what transgression or misstep he’d commit next, to destroy the peace and fun they discovered. “Is that why you didn’t want to see me again? You blame me for what happened? It’s my fault you got married?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”