Page 38 of The Coppersmith Farmhouse (Jamison Valley 1)
My smile got bigger and I wrapped my arm firmly around his torso.
I wasn’t sure how, but Jess had turned a bad afternoon into a wonderful night. Not once since he had arrived at the hospital had I tried to put some distance between us. I’d just let things happen naturally, and it had felt great letting him care for us without worrying about what it meant or doubting his intentions. All of the worry and doubt I’d been keeping up these last few weeks was tiring.
Today, I just hadn’t had the energy to sustain it.
Jess hadn’t seemed burdened at all by today’s drama. Not for a minute. Maybe he really did like us and wanted to be with me, just because of, well . . . me. No ulterior motives.
Here he was in my bed and not once had he made a move for sex. And nothing about today’s events suggested he was trying to get the farmhouse from me. Hell, if he wanted it, all he had to do was put a rattlesnake on the front porch and I’d never walk through the door again.
I was starting to second-guess myself. Maybe it was time to start trusting Jess and just let this relationship between us take its course.
But I wasn’t there yet. I needed more time.
Shutting off my mind, I snuggled deeper into Jess’s broad chest, soaking up the strength from his body. I breathed easy. Clean and fresh.
“And thank you for getting us mongoose babies.”
Jess
“Mongoose babies?” I asked.
When she didn’t respond, I tipped my eyes down and saw that she was out. I’d known she’d fall asleep next to me if she just got the hell out of her head.
But I still had thoughts running through my own, so I lay there, unsleeping, with Georgia curled into my side.
Not a bad place to be.
Bryant had called me earlier and said Georgia was dashing into the ER with blood dripping down her arm. My chest had constricted so badly in that moment I’d thought I was having a heart attack. The drive to the hospital was tense. Never in my life had I been so worried. And that was saying something, considering my home life growing up.
Georgia and her daughter, living in Ben’s farmhouse, were taking over my life.
I was a man who had diligently avoided tying himself to anything but his job for the last decade. But I just couldn’t push them away. Instead, I kept trying to pull them closer.
And every time she tried to put up a wall or distance herself, I just kept pulling. She was scared, but she’d get over it. And the less room she had to run, the better.
Christ, we hadn’t even had sex yet. Something I was going to remedy soon.
Part of me wanted to say fuck it and take her right here, tonight. But for our first time, I wanted her full, undivided attention. I wanted to get her so worked up she screamed my name. And with Rowen across the hall, loud sex was not an option.
I needed to stop thinking about fucking Georgia. My hard-on was just inches away from her leg. So I switched my mind to the barn.
A rattlesnake bite.
What. The. Fuck.
In all my years at the farmhouse, I’d never seen a snake out here.
But sure enough, when Silas and I had gone into the barn, there it was. Right where she said it had been. It had likely been trying to build a nest behind that bale but hadn’t had the chance to lay its eggs yet. And it never would. I’d been more than happy to cut that fucker’s head off.
On Monday, I was talking to Ryan at Jamison Valley Construction about tearing down that barn. I’d pay extra to have it done within a week and then I was going to have him build a heated garage in its place. Georgia could keep her car inside during the winter and I’d make sure it was big enough for my rigs too.
Because in the not-so-distant future, I was going to be living at the farmhouse with my girls.
“Mommy?”
I jolted awake and shot out of bed. I had slept unmoving on Jess’s side and he, too, was jumping up to pull on some jeans. As I raced to the door, I glanced at the clock.
Five a.m.
