by Caroline Lee
That quick flash of a smile showed, white against Jace’s darker skin once again. “You sliced my foot open with an ax, when you tried to cut that piece of firewood.”
“Hey, I bandaged you back up again!”
“I was up all night, sure it was turning gangrenous and I was going to die. You snored.” Jace nodded solemnly, but Dink was sure she could see the smile in his eyes. Was he…was he teasing?
“It was the sleep of the deserving. I’d given you proper medical attention.”
“It hurt, man!”
Will snorted. “Of course it hurt, it was an ax. I had to practically carry you home the next day.”
“Where your mother provided real medical attention. And then you dragged me back out there to break camp.”
Will’s chuckles finally broke free. “I’m glad you remember the place.”
“Oh yes.” Jace nodded again and deadpanned, “Plenty of fond memories.”
Ellie was giggling by that point. “Well, that’s where the reception will be. It’s now accessible by road, and not too far from where the new cabins have gone in.”
“New cabins?” Dink was glad for a reason to join the conversation, to distract herself from how…how human Jace had looked when he’d joked with Will. Not at all like the convenient stoic, responsible role she’d stitched him into in her mind.
“We put in about fifteen new cabins along the river last summer, and the rest just finished up about a month ago. The views are gorgeous. You’re going to love waking up in the morning.”
There was something about Will’s too-casual comment that raised her suspicions. “I am?”
“Well…” Will’s enthusiastic expression faltered, and he looked up at Ellie, who finished for him.
“Hopefully, you both will.” Her smile looked a little forced. “You see… Well… That is… Rooms are a little tight this time of year, and…”
Dink glanced at Jace, to see if he understood what Ellie was saying. Apparently, he did, judging from that one, elegantly raised brow. “So we’re staying in the cabins instead?”
“Um…” Ellie and Will glanced at each other, but Dink’s sister soldiered through. “Cabin. Singular.”
Dink’s mouth dropped open in surprise, but no sound came out. Ellie hurried to reassure her. “It’s a two-bedroom, we made sure of it. Really, don’t worry.” She dropped Will’s hand to explain, apparently flustered enough to gesture with both hands. “I know it’s kind of awkward, seeing how you just met one another, but Will’s house—”
“Our house, hon,” Will interrupted.
“Our house only has the three bedrooms. One is completely stacked, floor-to-ceiling, with all of my stuff and furniture from L.A. waiting to be unpacked. I’m in one bedroom and Will’s in the other.” Ellie took a deep breath, and Dink listened with a detached feeling, wondering why she wasn’t angrier about this decision. “I suggested that you and I move into the cabin, but Will wouldn’t hear of kicking me out. And he can’t move in with Jace, because Indy really does need a fenced-in yard, and it would be cramped—”
“It’s fine.” When Ellie snapped her mouth shut, all eyes turned to Jace, who smiled kindly. “It’s fine, really. You and Will don’t need any more disruption, with all the family coming in and the wedding approaching. I’m sure the cabin will be fine for Dink and me” –his light-brown eyes flicked over the couch— “and Hagrid.”
He’d remembered her pet. Dink didn’t know what to make of that, considering he’d never had a pet before and he’d called them frivolous. But he’d remembered Hagrid.
Why did that little fact make her stomach tighten? Make her want to like him? He’d taken notes on the wedding planning, and called her taste in music deplorable, and had joked with Will, and hadn’t relaxed once since she’d met him. He was just a bundle of contradictions, and now he was doing his best to set her sister at ease.
Dink reminded herself she disliked him intensely.
But…maybe not as intensely as she’d previously thought.
“Cabin? This isn’t a cabin, it’s a closet!”
Jace couldn’t keep the words from spilling out when the two of them climbed out of his SUV that evening in front of number sixteen. Sure, it was right where Will had said it would be, and sure, it had a gorgeous view of the river from the front porch…but it was half the size of his apartment back in Moscow.
“Oh, it’s not that bad.” Dink was already rummaging around in the trunk and emerged carrying Hagrid’s tub. “It’s quaint.”
“It’s a tiny house.”
“Yeah, a cabin.”
“No, I mean, like the TV show about the people who live in really cramped places. It’s a tiny house.” Jace jangled his keys in one hand and ran the other across his cropped hair. Will expected him to live here…with her?
“I’m impressed, Jace. I didn’t think you watched TV.” She was already heading for the front door, so he hurried to pull out a pair of suitcases and follow her. “I figured you spent your evenings doing taxes or something.”
“Yeah, well, that only takes a few evenings each month, doesn’t it?”
“Not a big dater, huh?” She was trying to balance the tub and work the keys Will had given them into the lock. Jace took pity on her and reached around to work the lock, trying to ignore the alluringly “artsy” scent of her, and the way his blood pumped when his forearm brushed against her chest.
“No,” he muttered. “Not at all.” Idaho had less than a one percent African-American population; the women he met were either standoffish or intrigued by his mixed race. It’d been quite some time since anyone had been interested in the real Jace long enough to actually date him.
And none of them had made his pulse thump the way brushing against Dink had.
With a push, the door came open, and they both moved a little faster than necessary into the tiny house. And boy was it tiny! They stood in what could only be called the living room because there was a loveseat and a TV in it…and a patio table with two chairs that was apparently intended to be used as the dining table. The kitchen, which looked well-equipped, was directly ahead and a steep, skinny staircase led up the right wall to a loft.
“Oh my gosh! This is adorable!” Dink had already put down the tub and was wandering through the house. “Look at this! There’s a bathroom back here and a bedroom. Oooh, it’s a king-sized bed!”
Jace snorted. “A king? In here?” The whole house was probably only ten feet wide. “How’d they fit it?”
“It’s like a RV,” her voice floated from the rear of the house as Jace poked around up front. “Very compact. There’s a nice closet in here for your clothes.”
He noticed she hadn’t mentioned her clothing, but from what he’d learned of her, she probably kept her leggings or whatever balled up in drawers. Whereas he’d brought along his favorite wooden hangers for his shirts.
“Soooo…” She came into the kitchen, and leaned one hip against the counter. Jace tried not to stare at the skin of her shoulder where her sweater had pulled down. For the first time, he noticed that the sweater was a pale blue which complemented the color of her hair perfectly. “Where’s the other bedroom?”
Other bedroom? Oh yeah, Ellie said it had two bedrooms. He’d been distracted enough by Dink to forget that, apparently.
As if pulled by a string, both of their gazes crept up the stairway. Jace sighed, afraid of what they’d find, then gave a little bow and welcoming gesture. “Ladies first, I guess.”
She smiled excitedly and kicked off her fuzzy boots to reveal socks with a little pink skull-and-crossbones pattern—Stop looking at her socks!—and scrambled up the stairs. Unfortunately, that just meant he was left staring at her backside in those leggings instead, because the only safe way up the stairs was on hands and knees.
Jace followed reluctantly to find her kneeling at the top. The loft was five feet high at its highest, with the double mattress sitting directly on the floor and no other furniture in sight. One wall wa
sn’t a wall at all, but a banister that looked out over the living room of the tiny house. The lack of privacy was appalling, but at least the place was well made-up and clean.
He sighed. “I can’t believe Will thought this was a good idea.”
When she turned, Dink was smiling. “Oh, come on. This place is awesome.”
“It’s a tiny house.”
“Yeah, but it’s not horrible.” With him sitting on the top step, and her kneeling right beside the stairs, he could see the sparkle in her blue eyes. Blue, with enough green in them to be called teal. “I’ve lived in worse.”
Jace doubted that, and let her know with a snort. “I’ve known Ellie for long enough to know you didn’t exactly grow up poor.” Yeah, maybe there was a little bitterness in his voice, but he figured he had a right to it.
It might’ve been the wrong thing to say, because she bristled. “No, but I moved out a long time ago. After college, I shared an apartment with four other girls.”
“You went to college?”
Those pretty blue eyes narrowed, and Jace realized he shouldn’t have sounded so surprised. You stink at making small-talk, Jason. “I just meant, you know..”
“No I don’t.” The frostiness in her voice matched her expression.
“I figured you were some kind of artist or actress or something.” How had he spent the whole afternoon with this woman, and still not know what she did for a living? He’d just assumed anyone who could fit her life into a sedan’s trunk—three suitcases, two tubs, and a funny-shaped bin to carry her “everything”?—had to be some kind of vagrant or artist or something. The two were basically the same, right?
“Yes, I went to college. For art and design.”
He couldn’t help it. He grinned at the irritation in her voice—and at the fact he’d been right about her—and wasn’t surprised when she scowled. “It was at a prestigious design school, you know. I minored in marketing.”
His grin grew, just because she was so darn cute when she was irritated. He had to admit that he’d given her plenty to be irritated about, so she was awfully cute right then.
“What?”
He had to come up with a reason he was smiling, and fast. “I’m just glad you didn’t go to school for music appreciation.”
The noise she made wasn’t quite a groan, but might’ve been a sort of muffled laugh. She did roll her eyes. “Go downstairs, Jace, so I can start bringing my stuff up here.”
“You?” Jace blinked, then looked around once. “No, I’ll sleep up here.” It was the gentlemanly thing to do.
She did snort this time, and pushed against his shoulders to get him moving down the tiny set of carpeted stairs. “Well, that’s dumb. I’m the one with all the stuff, plus Hagrid. I’m the one who needs plenty of space to spread out so I can work on my— Never mind.” They’d reached the main floor, and she placed her hands on her hips. “Besides, I can sleep on the double with no problem, and I’m a lot shorter than you. It makes more sense for you—and all your fancy clothes—to be in the back bedroom.”
Every single thing she said made sense, but Jace wasn’t about to tell her that. “Be that as it may, you are a lady and deserve the privacy of the back bedroom.” Before she could argue further, he’d grabbed his two suitcases and lugged them back up the stairs.
The door opened and closed a few more times while he was upstairs trying to arrange his clothing into some kind of order—piles! He was actually piling his clothing on the carpet?—and he found himself hoping she’d put her shoes back on.
Why would the thought of her walking out to the car in her socks bother him? Because it was irresponsible and impulsive? Or because he worried she would hurt herself?
By the time he came back downstairs to help her, she’d already brought in all of her things from the SUV, and was in the bedroom with the door closed. He could hear her moving around, so he decided to go back upstairs to attempt to sort his own room into some kind of order. Eventually, he gave up when he realized there were only so many different spots a person could move piles of clothes around in one small room. Dink still hadn’t emerged from her room, so Jace settled on the sofa with a spy novel he’d brought with him. After another half-hour had passed, he went into the bathroom to brush his teeth, and when he was done, he still hadn’t heard a word from her.
The door to her bedroom was right beside the bathroom, and once he’d decided to head upstairs for the night, he spent a long moment standing in that hallway, just staring at the door. Wondering what she was doing behind it. Wondering if she was in bed already, wondering what she was wearing. Wondering if she was listening for him. The house was small enough they’d be able to hear every move the other made. Could she tell he was standing here? Did she somehow know he was thinking about her?
He considered calling out. Goodnight, Dink. But if she’d wanted to talk to him, surely she would’ve come out at some point during the evening. So instead, he sighed, ran a hand across his hair, and turned to climb the stairs.
He sent off the last of the evening’s emails, played two games of solitaire to clear his mind, then turned on his favorite classical station’s “night music” app, prepared to sleep well thanks to the day’s adventures. But after many minutes of tossing and turning upstairs in that small bed, Jace finally had to admit the truth—he was irritated that she hadn’t said goodnight to him. Had he upset her further with his attempts to be gentlemanly?
Didn’t she understand the proper order of things? She was chaotic, brash, impulsive, and exasperating.
And completely under his skin.
CHAPTER THREE
Jace woke to sunlight streaming in through the small dormer windows, and groped for his phone to check the time. Usually he was up before the sun to go for his morning jog, but he supposed he could allow himself some leeway here at the ranch. It was almost like being on vacation, and it’d been a long time since his last vacation.
The text icon on his phone was blinking. Why was Will awake so early?
6:15: You up?
6:36: Hey, Jace! Are you awake yet?
6:44: You’re ignoring me, aren’t you?
6:57: Come ON man, wake up!
7:03: Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaccce. JAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! Wake up!!!
Blearily, Jace pinched the sleep from his eyes and typed his friend back, “Where’s the fire?”
He didn’t have to wait more than thirty seconds before the little dots told him Will was answering: “Who’s your best bud & takes care of you even when you can’t take care of yourself?”
Thinking of that long-ago camping trip when Will had poured rubbing alcohol all over his open wound, Jace smiled and typed: “Definitely not you.”
“I got you an interview w/ Wade.”
Jace stared at the phone’s screen for a long moment. An interview with Wade? Maybe it was too early in the morning for this; he hadn’t even had his orange juice yet. What was Will talking about?
Those three dots jolted him out of his confusion, then Will’s next message appeared: “Hello? You’re welcome, man.”
Hesitantly, Jace’s thumbs picked over the screen: “An interview with Wade?”
“Yep. You need a job. Wade needs an accountant. Dude’s in bad shape, trying to handle everything. I talked w/ him last week, & he emailed me late last night about meeting w/ you. I forwarded you the info.”
An interview with Wade. Jace hadn’t considered that option. Hadn’t even once thought to look at the ranch for a job. Heck, to be honest, he hadn’t gotten any further than determining there weren’t any available jobs in Moscow that wouldn’t already be swamped with applicants from Rollins and Son, now that the firm was officially belly-up. But he had to admit that the idea of working here at River’s End Ranch again was…well, exciting!
But it was too early in the morning to think about the long-term, so he decided to just appreciate the opportunity and typed back: “Thanks man.”
“Don’t mention it.”
&nbs
p; “I owe you.”
“Yeah, you do. Try not to screw up my wedding & we’ll be even.”
Jace smiled and responded: “Deal.”
It was easy to get into the habit of being alone, but sometimes it was really nice to remember he had friends, and that those friends had his back.
She could hear him up there moving around, but so far Jace hadn’t said anything or come down. Dink couldn’t decide if she was happy about that or not. She was still irritated with him for his high-handed command last night.
It made way more sense for her to stay up in the loft with all her bins and boxes and her sewing machine. The back bedroom was private, sure, but the bed was so big that there was no extra space in the room for much else. She’d ended up piling a bunch of stuff into the closet, and left two of the bins on the bed beside her. The night had been spent holding as absolutely still as possible for fear of flopping around and tipping the things off the bed. About four in the morning, she’d vowed that as soon as Jace left today, she was going to tote her stuff upstairs and stack the bins along the balcony, no matter what he said.
Needless to say, coffee was a necessity this morning.
That’s why she was standing in the kitchen in her boxers and tank top and robe, staring at the coffee pot, when she heard him coming down the stairs. She kept her eyes on the brew, forcing herself to ignore his towering presence and his masculine scent.
“Good morning.” Was it her imagination, or did he sound a little nervous? Maybe he was wondering if she was ticked off at him. Well, she was!
To prove it, she muttered peevishly, “Good morning.” She didn’t look at him, just to further ensure he knew her feelings.
Maybe he didn’t notice, because he simply brushed past her to head for the restroom, and she deflated slightly. Just having him that close had been rough on her nerves. Every part of her had been focused on him, no matter how hard she’d been staring at the coffee, and when he left, she was able to take a deep breath.
