Dylan’s Redemption(88)

She threw up her hands in frustration. “For the last two weeks you’ve been doing all these nice things for me, but you stay at arm’s length. Every time I think I can expect you to be there, you aren’t. Today, you show up here and want to take me to dinner, and then you challenge me to beat you, and you go out of your way to win by cheating because it seems really important we have dinner together. I can’t seem to figure out if you want me to be close to you or not. Maybe that’s what you want today, but tomorrow you won’t be there. I’m just not sure what you want or expect from me.”

Her frustration turned into anger at her ineptitude for a simple task like going out on a date and getting to know someone. Completely clueless, she didn’t know how to make him see she wanted them to be close like they were years ago. She just didn’t know how to go about getting back to that point.

“And why haven’t I seen Will? Do you not want him to be around me? Did I do or say something wrong?”

He couldn’t believe he’d finally gotten her to open up and talk about her feelings and they were up on a roof with about twenty guys standing below overhearing everything they said. One thing came through loud and clear: she was out of her element with him. He didn’t like that at all. Instead of making her feel more comfortable having him in her life, he’d done the opposite.

He hated when Claire and Rain were right.

“Jess, I want you to have dinner with me tonight and every night. That’s the truth. I’m not trying to confuse you, or make things difficult. What I thought you needed wasn’t what you wanted.” The blank look on her face prompted him to continue. “I made a mistake. Let me fix it.” He went to where she stood on the roof in front of the ladder and held her shoulders. Her brows were drawn in a deep line, her eyes confused and angry. “Will you please have dinner with me tonight? We need to talk.”

Her face didn’t show she’d changed her mind, but her words gave him hope. She cut him a break and said, “Well, all you had to do was ask.”

He busted up laughing. He took off his Stetson and wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. “Let me get cleaned up and meet you at your place. I’ll bring dinner, and we’ll have a quiet evening. We have a lot to talk about, and I have something I want to ask you.”

“What do you want to ask me?”

“We’ll talk about it over dinner.”

“Okay. Are you bringing Will?”

“Not tonight. We need some time alone.”

“He can come. I don’t mind.”

“I do.” He hurried to go on before she got the wrong idea. “I haven’t been keeping him from you, Jess. The last several times I’ve come to see you, I came straight from work. Will wants to see you again. He asks about you all the time. The other times, well, I was being selfish. I wanted you to myself. Like tonight.”

She grabbed the rope around his waist and untied it. He sucked in a breath when her fingers brushed against his stomach. She let the rope drop, hesitated, then ran her hands up his belly to his chest. She leaned up and kissed him quickly before she turned and fled down the ladder. Her determined stride took her past her crew, their jeers and taunts silenced with one glare before she got into her truck and left without saying anything to Brian or Greg.

Dylan stood rooted to his spot on the roof, staring after her, completely stunned by her show of affection. For the first time, he hadn’t been the one to kiss or touch her first. She’d come to him.

“You better get a move on, man. She’s got a head start. No telling how long it’ll take you to chase her down,” Greg called up to him.

“I know just where to find her.”

As Dylan’s feet hit the ground, Greg went on. “It looks like the two of you had some kind of breakthrough up there.”

“I made a mistake. She didn’t like having us on one side and her on the other. I forgot the one thing Jessie needs and has never had. Someone on her side.”

“She’s had me,” Greg pointed out.

“And today you were on my side.”

Greg swore as they stood watching Jessie’s truck stop off at the office trailer.

“She thinks I’m playing games with her. I tried to give her some space and still let her know I was here. She’s afraid to get close to me, and she’s more afraid I don’t want to be with her. It’s a complicated mess I’ll sort out tonight. I’m not leaving her alone again until she understands.”

“She’s never dated. She doesn’t understand all the intricacies of attracting a man. You two were friends as children and that grew into love. I can see why she might be confused. You two need to get back that closeness you had when you were friends. She understands that.”