Let It Snow(24)

His feet moved faster than they had ever carried him before. He had just reached her when she started blinking her eyes and moving her head to get away from Lucky’s kisses.

“Sit,” Jake instructed his dog, who immediately stopped licking Tessa all over her face and sat down with a huff. His tail wagged wildly and he was whining but he was sitting.

Jake fell to his knees and leaned over her, staring down as he asked, “Tessa. Tessa, can you hear me?”

Her lids fluttered open and her blue eyes looked up at him. Her pupils were slightly dilated and her skin was really pale. But she was awake.

“Jake?” she whispered. Her face scrunched in confusion as she lifted her hand and ran her fingers along her cheek. “Were you licking me?”

“No. If I were licking you, it wouldn’t be on your face.” Memories of his tongue tasting every inch of her body began flashing in his head.

Fuck. He needed to knock that shit off. He’d just found Tessa lying unconscious, so the last thing he needed to be doing was picturing her naked while he licked her from head to toe. Damn, he was doing it again.

She made a small grunting sound, confusion still clouding her beautiful face as she tried to push up on her elbows.

Placing his hands on her shoulders, he gently held her in place. “Just lie still, Tessa. Do you know where you are?” He needed to see how aware she was of her surroundings. It was good that she knew who he was and had been somewhat aware of Lucky licking her, but that didn’t necessarily mean she was lucid.

Her eyes darted from side to side and her fingers spread out on the ground beneath her before her beautiful baby blues looked back up at him and she said, “Um, I’m outside on the grass?”

“Good.” The corners of Jake’s mouth pulled up in a grin. He reached down and held her wrist to check her pulse. “Do you happen to know where that grass is located?”

“I would if you’d let me sit up,” she said, her tone indicating that she was stating the obvious.

Her pulse was strong. He checked her pupils—they looked good. She was getting a little color in her face and she was being a little smart-assy, which was a good sign. But he didn’t want to let her up just yet. “Do you know what happened? How you ended up on the grass?”

“Um,” she sighed and closed her heavy-lidded eyes. He was about to say her name and make sure that she hadn’t gone to sleep—he didn’t know if she had a concussion or not—when her eyes popped back open. “Oh yeah, I was going to the car to get food. After I looked through the house, I started getting dizzy.”

“When’s the last time you ate?” he asked, his tone coming out a little harsher than he’d meant it to. It was just that he knew that when Tessa got busy or stressed she forgot to eat.

Her eyes rolled up as if she were trying to remember.

“If you have to think about it, it’s been too long,” he pointed out.

She looked at him with renewed fire in her eyes. “When’s the last time you ate?”

“Two hours ago,” he stated immediately, “and I’m not the one sprawled out on my ass in the front yard.”

“Good point,” Tessa begrudgingly conceded.

That was one of the things he’d loved the most about Tessa. She was reasonable. Even if she had been mad at him or had hurt feelings about something, they’d always fought fair. No matter what the circumstance had been, she would listen to his point of view with an open mind. And even if she hadn’t agreed with it, she would at least try to see his side of things.

That was a rare quality to find in someone. Whether you were male or female. He could just add it to the list of things that were uniquely Tessa.

“So can I get up now?” she asked, pulling him out of his nostalgic thoughts.

“Oh, yeah.” Jake wrapped his arm around her shoulder, supporting her neck as he helped her sit up.

When she was fully upright, the new seated position brought her face to face with him. He didn’t remove his arm just in case she needed it for balance—or maybe because she felt so good that he couldn’t bring himself to let her go. It was probably the latter.

“Thanks,” she said as a flush rose up her cheeks and she licked her lips.

He knew she wasn’t doing it to be purposefully seductive. Tessa didn’t play games the way other girls did. But that didn’t mean that seeing her pink tongue swipe along her full lips didn’t make him harder than a steel rod. It did.

Jake closed his eyes for a moment, trying to get his body under control. Unfortunately, it didn’t have the desired effect, because as soon as his vision wasn’t in play, it seemed to trigger all of his other senses to come bursting to life.