Let It Snow(15)

Tessa thought about her suggestion as she headed upstairs to grab Jake’s coat. Would his parents be happy to see her? Did they know what happened? Had Jake told them?

Well, there was one way to find out. She had to ask Jake.





Chapter Six




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Tessa stood in front of an unmarked door in the darkened hall at the back of the firehouse. Her entire body was trembling, and for some reason she instinctively knew that it was a very distinct possibility that she was on the verge of hyperventilating. She wasn’t sure how she knew that since she’d never experienced that before, but she did.

Why had she thought it would be a good idea to come see Jake? It wasn’t. That much was clear to her now. What could she possibly gain by this little drop-by?

She wasn’t even dressed for the occasion. She just had on jeans, Uggs, and a blue thermal. Not exactly va-va-voom. Not that she needed to be. It shouldn’t matter what Jake thought about how she looked. He wasn’t her boyfriend anymore. And he had a girlfriend.

Her fingers flexed at that thought, and she realized she was gripping his jacket so hard she was scared she was going to ruin it. She needed to simultaneously get a grip and relax her grip. Taking a deep, steadying breath, she took a step back from the door and tried to assess her options.

Biting down on her bottom lip, she shifted the weight of her feet and listed the pros and cons of just setting the jacket down in front of his door or leaving it with one of the guys who had pointed her in this direction and then hightailing it out of there. Yes, Jake would know she had stopped by, but he would just think it was to return his jacket. Sure, maybe the guys she’d spoken to when she had come in would think her behavior was a little odd. But she could just say that he hadn’t answered the door. It was just a white lie. No harm, no foul.

Decision made. When she stepped forward to set the jacket down, something caught Tessa’s eye from her peripheral vision.

“Sometimes he falls asleep in there. Just knock louder,” the young blond-haired guy she thought had introduced himself as Chris when she’d arrived at the fire station fifteen or so minutes earlier appeared beside her. Then, like something out of a bad dream, before she could stop him, he hit his knuckles against the door three times. Hard.

“What?” she heard Jake’s voice on the other side of the wooden barrier yell and her stomach dropped to the floor. He did not sound happy.

Yep. Definitely time to abort the mission.

She pivoted on her heels to turn and leave, because at this point she didn’t care what anyone thought—she just wanted to get the heck out of there—when Mr. Blond-Super-Helper-Man aka Chris opened the door and announced, “You have a visitor.” Then he turned and walked down the hall, leaving her standing there. Alone.

The door swung open before she could escape. Her heart skipped so many beats it felt like it was playing hopscotch in her chest.

Jake sat behind his desk, typing at his computer. He was wearing a plain white short-sleeved t-shirt that was just snug enough that you could see the definition in his biceps and shoulders. Tingles spread from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. Tessa’s mouth went dry. She didn’t move.

After several moments of silence, Jake glanced up with a distracted-slash-irritated expression on his face. Until his eyes met hers. Then his stare hardened and his face went oddly…blank.

Oh boy, not good. She really shouldn’t have come.

Words started pouring out of her mouth before she could stop them. “Um, here’s your jacket. Thanks for letting me borrow it. I was going to get it dry cleaned since it got it wet”—Tess let out a forced laugh—“but…then I thought…that was silly. I mean, it’s meant to be out in the rain. But if you want I can—”

“Tessa,” Jake said, interrupting her inane ramblings. “Come in.”

A shiver ran down her spine at his tone. His voice held so much authority and strength. He’d never sounded like that when they were teenagers. But they weren’t teenagers anymore.

Her body responded before she had a chance to conference in her mind and her heart—who she was sure would have objected to “coming in.” She took one small step just over the threshold of his office door. Jake’s expressive eyes stared at her like she was being ridiculous—probably because she was!

Fine. You want me in. There. With this, she took two more steps until she was all the way in the office.

“Shut the door.”

Jake’s low voice might not have been intentionally sexy but holy-smokes-good-golly-Miss-Molly, it was. Those three words zipped and zinged a trail of tingly goodness all the way to her core. “Okay, okay, okay,” she whispered under her breath as she turned and closed the door behind her.