Page 8 of Calling His Bluff
“This is nice,” Jack said from across the bed from her. “Cozy.”
Cold and chilled both by the rain and the possibility that someone had broken in earlier tonight, Josephine languished in the heat of his gaze for a few moments. It was dangerous, but she’d had just enough food and Margaritas that her guard was down. The thought of snuggling up in this bed with him definitely had its allure. She had no doubt that Jack would warm her right up.
-#-
Jack knew that look. Temptation almost overrode his good sense. “I should get going.” Her brown eyes seemed glazed with pure honey as she looked at him.
Sharing her bed was the best idea he’d heard all day. Not to mention, he could keep her safer curled up next to her than down the road at the motel. She touched the tip of her tongue to her upper lip, and he felt good sense about to make a run for it.
The boom of thunder made them both jump. Lightning flashed at the window overlooking the main street and lighting up more than the small apartment. Jack saw the same man he’d seen earlier standing across the street under the overhang of the building. The man looked directly at him and Jack glared back.
He closed the curtains and stood for a few minutes before checking to see if the man was still there. He wasn’t.Good, Jack thought.Let him think I’m spending the night with her. That should keep him away—at least for tonight.Still, he waited before looking out through the rain at the street again. No sign of the man. He breathed a sigh of relief.
As he turned back to Josephine, he found her curled up on the bed, clothes and all, with a furry blanket pulled over her. She was sound asleep.
Jack couldn’t help smiling. She looked so peaceful, so pretty, so sweet. Not that she wasn’t pretty when she was awake, but one out of three weren’t the best odds. He stood listening to the rain and watching her sleep, feeling as if they’d both dodged a bullet.
He’d promised himself if he got another chance with Josephine, he would take it slow. He knew he wouldn’t get another chance if he blew this one. He’d been tempted earlier before she’d crashed, but he wouldn’t have stayed the night with her because he knew how furious she would have been in the morning.
At least that’s what he told himself. Truth was, he wasn’t that strong, so he was glad she’d fallen asleep. Josephine had no idea the power she had over him, thankfully.
“Sweet dreams,” he whispered as he leaned down and kissed her softly on her forehead. She sighed in her sleep as he drew back. “Goodnight, Josie.”
It wasn’t until he got to the motel and had taken off his dripping coat, that he remembered the balled-up envelope and note he’d found while searching the shop. He was positive it hadn’t been there when he’d looked around earlier.
Now he pulled out the envelope and saw one word hand-printed on the outside.Josephine. There was no stamp, no return address, all he could assume was that someone had left it at the shop for her or slid it under the door. Why she would crush it in her fist and throw it on the floor told him that whatever had been inside had upset her.
He smoothed out the note.Do you feel lucky, Josephine?
-#-
Josephine woke with a pounding hangover headache to the sound of banging. “What in the—” She stormed through the apartment and flung open the door, to look down the stairs and see Jack at the open back door. He had a hammer in hishand, apparently about to swing it again, when he looked up and saw her.
“Sleep well, Sunshine?”
“What are you—”
“Putting a better lock and a deadbolt on your door. I’ll do the one you just opened as soon as you’re awake.”
She shook her head, increasing the throbbing of her headache. “Whatever.”
She closed the door and was considering going back to bed. She could hear the rain on the roof. At the window, she looked out, instantly depressed to see all the gray, let alone all the rain. Had it really rained all night? Practically unheard of back in Montana, one of the driest states she’d ever known.
By the time she turned to the bed, the banging had begun again. No way was she going to get any more sleep. She headed for the bathroom to get a shower and some aspirin. As she closed the door behind her, she noticed it didn’t have a lock. Not ideal. Maybe Jack would—
She bit off the rest of her thought. She wouldn’t be asking Jack Rawlins for anything. For a moment, she couldn’t remember what had happened last night, but she was stilldressed in all her clothes, so apparently nothing to do with Jack.
Halfway through her shower, her brain defuzzed a little and she remembered her attempt to come on to him in the bedroom. Had he turned her down? That did not sound like Jack Rawlins. She didn’t know whether to feel offended or grateful since it had only been the Tequila talking. Maybe she’d had a weak moment, but her head was clear now.
Jack Rawlins was trouble and she had enough of her own.
When she came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, she found Jack standing by her bed looking out the window. “Come over here,” he said.“Excuse me?”
-#-
He glanced back at her, his gaze doing a quick intake of her bare flesh and what he knew was under the towel, before he turned back to the window. “You need to see this.”
As she joined him, he tried not to breathe in the freshly showered scent of her or remember the feel of her naked body beneath that towel. Her hair fell in ringlets around her face and dripped to her shoulders to careen over her breasts and disappear into the pile of the towel. She looked so beautiful.Being this close to her and not being able to touch her was torture. Damn this woman for haunting his every thought.
