At Home In Corbin's Bend

by Maggie Ryan

  Chapter 5

  Flinging open the door, Melissa smiled brightly as she waved Jason in. Warmth radiated from her solar plexus by just being near him. Calm seeped into her pores as he wrapped his strong arms around her, saying hello. Just the act of being held within his energy soothed her in ways she couldn’t explain. This was better than an anti-depressant. A grin broke out on her face at the thought.

  Pulling back, but not away, he scrutinized her face. “Are you feeling okay today?”

  Well, if you considered walking on air okay. She chose not to say that out loud. “Yes,” she assured. “I feel great.” She beamed up at him hoping her face conveyed the emotions she felt inside because she didn’t know if she could put them into words.

  He exhaled, as if he had been holding his breath. Cupping her face, Jason drew Melissa into a soft kiss. “I’m glad,” he murmured against her lips. His eyes drew to the sunshine streaming in the window. “Do you want to take a walk?”

  She could feel the sun beaming on her face just at the thought of it. Pulling him with her, she danced to the door. “Let’s go,” she lilted.

  The day was clear and the sun was bright as they walked hand in hand down the sidewalk. People were out everywhere doing all the things that people loved to do on a beautiful Saturday. Some older kids played football in the yard down the road while others played with sidewalk chalk or rode bikes. A lawn mower was humming in the distance and Mrs. Reynold’s was out front weeding her flower garden. She waved at them as she watched them pass.

  As they came to the mouth of a tree lined path, they decided to take the trails for a short walk. They definitely shared a love of nature in common. Both delighted in each sighting of the squirrels and birds as they scurried and flitted about their daily business. Winding through the trails, they came upon a swing that someone had erected right next to a creek that babbled through the woods. They sat in amicable silence, listening as the water babbled over rocks and branches that were scattered throughout the stream. She could sit like this forever, with this feeling of contentment.

  Thoughts drifting back to last night, Melissa looked up at Jason shyly. “Thank you for taking care of me last night.”

  “Anytime.” His eyes twinkled. “I should be thanking you.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Why?”

  “Because, I liked it,” he proclaimed, tickling her neck. Breaking into peels of giggles, she tried to get away, but he scooped her up, tickling her until they both collapsed in breathless laughter.

  “I think you’re just a big kid.” She grinned, still laughing.

  “Funny, I think of myself more as the papa bear type.” He pulled her close so he could deposit a kiss on the top of her head. Her heart fluttered as she thought about this very sexy papa bear treating her as his baby bear.

  “Well,” she said, flouncing her arms around his neck, “anytime you need a bear cub to take care of and play with I’d be willing to fill the role.”

  Hot intensity sparked in his eyes at her proclamation. “How would you feel about filling the role more permanently?” His next question came out in a soft tone. “Melissa, will you be my girlfriend?”

  Bubbles of excitement welled inside of her. She pounced on his lap wrapping her arms and legs around him tight. “Yes, yes, yes!” she answered, planting manic kisses all over his face.

  Melissa let out delighted shrieks as Jason pretended to eat her neck, making her ticklish. Twisting about to escape the tickle monster, she almost fell off his lap, but he caught her before she did.

  “Here, jump on my back. I want to take you on a ride.”

  He didn’t have to ask twice. She jumped onto his back wrapping her arms and legs around him tight. He carried her like that for a long time. She lay her head between the crook of his shoulder and neck and reached around to feel the scruff on his chin. It had chaffed her slightly when they were playing a few minutes earlier. “Your chin sure is scratchy,” she declared.

  “I haven’t shaved in a few days, sorry about that, I didn’t hurt you did I?”

  She rubbed thoughtfully. “No, I kinda like it, besides, beards are in these days.”

  He laughed heartily. “Well, in that case, I’ll keep it.”

  They stopped off at La Comida for a quick bite to eat before they headed back. As they headed in the door, they ran smack into Danny Lawrence, heading out, as they headed in. “Out making your deliveries?” Jason asked jovially.

  Danny flipped the hair out of his eyes and smiled looking a little harried. “Just making my regular Saturday rounds. Sorry for bumping into the two of you. The back door is blocked, so I had to use the front.”

  Jason took a few steps back to hold the door open for him. “Can I help you carry anything else in?”

  “Nah, I was just on my way out. You guys enjoy your late lunch.” Danny gave a wave and headed back out to his van.

  It wasn’t busy as they headed in, so they were seated right away. As they munched away on tacos and chips and salsa, he couldn’t help turning his thoughts to his earlier conversation with Travis. He couldn’t put it off all night. It had been an amazing day, he hated to ruin it, but it was better to go ahead and address it now, rather than have it come back to bite them both on the butts later.

  When they arrived back at her house, Melissa couldn’t help feeling that the mood had shifted somewhere between the restaurant and home. The mood had suddenly turned serious. Jason walked over to the couch and patted the seat next to him. “Come talk to me.” The playful look was gone from his eyes. “There’s something else we need to talk about.” She bit her lip. If the look on his face was any indication, she was not going to like what it was. Had he changed his mind already?

  “What is it?” she asked, feeling nervous jitters going up and down her spine. Oh God, her stomach dropped, he wasn’t going to break up with her already was he? This would be a new record even for her.

  “Something was brought to my attention today that I need to talk to you about. I don’t know how to ask, so I’m just going to come out and do it. How old are you, Melissa?”

  His question came like a punch to the gut. Scrambling to cover her tracks, to do anything she could not to face her most recent decisions, she did the only thing she could. She lied.

  The rest of the week passed in a blur of volunteer hours at the veterinary clinic. She didn’t want to think that she was avoiding Jason, after all, she often helped out after hours, especially when sick or injured animals needed to stay overnight. There were only two of them at the clinic, so she helped when she could and when it wasn’t anything that would require medical knowledge. A poor little doggie had gotten into some antifreeze needing around the clock care. Just the night before, she was finally deemed to be out of the woods. She had jumped at the chance to do whatever she could to help, so between Jason’s work hours during the day and hers at night, there hadn’t been much of a chance for more than a couple of quick phone calls since the night she had fudged about her age.

  The longer it went since they saw each other, the more nervous she became. This morning nerves wracked her body. A month ago she had signed up, along with a good portion of the community, to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity. They would be building a house in a little suburb of Denver. It was silly that she was this nervous to see Jason who was not only volunteering, but was heading up the project. There was no doubt that they would have time to talk at some point over the next two days.

  Turning onto the street, Melissa coasted to the clubhouse where everyone who was working on the housing project was set to carpool together. She didn’t know how Jason had done it, but her car had been sitting in her driveway the morning after the club incident. Pulling into the parking lot, she spotted several SUV’s and mini-vans congregated at one side of the parking lot. Swinging her Camaro into a space at the back of the lot, she shifted the car to park, grabbed her backpack, and locked up.

  Everyone waved, calling their good mornings to her. She waved back cheerfull
y as she trekked toward a pickup truck where two of her friends, Kenzie and Carla, along with several other women were organizing coolers in the back. Kieran was breaking up huge bags of ice on the ground before pouring them into the coolers.

  “Whatcha guys doing?” she called toward them as she approached.

  “Hey, Melissa,” Kenzie called out to her.

  “Good morning,” Carla called. “We’ve been put in charge of drinks and sandwiches.”

  “Oh, good thinking. How can I help?” she responded, looking to see where she could pitch in.

  Carla pointed toward a couple of orange five gallon water coolers. “If you want to, you can fill those with the jugs of water that are sitting by them. Kieran just filled them with ice.”

  “Sure thing,” she agreed, climbing up into the bed of the truck.

  As she filled the buckets, she noticed others with clipboards organizing carpools and checking people off as they arrived. Disappointment pulled at her gut as she glanced around the lot, not catching sight of Jason anywhere. He must have decided to go on ahead. As they finished up and jumped down from the back of the truck and closed the hatch, Ettie Thomas approached the group. The redhead beamed at them. “Are you about ready to head out? I’ve checked everyone else off for carpools, but have two spots left in the van I’m driving.”

  “You two go ahead.” Carla pointed toward the truck. “I’m going to ride with Kieran and Jim.”

  “Great,” Kenzie replied for them both, “we’ll see you there.”

  Everleigh, Violet, Brittany, and Teri chatted excitedly outside the van. “Let’s head out everyone,” Ettie called out above the chatter.

  The women piled into the van. She and Kenzie slipped into the very back knowing with their small frames they would fit comfortably. Seatbelts on and they were heading out. Soon the music was turned up and they were all singing along and laughing at how tone deaf they all were. Nerves dissipated as she enjoyed the drive among those that she really did consider her friends. Her love life might have sucked, but she had to admit that she had met the best friends in the world since moving here. Kenzie had just moved in a few months ago and they had clicked fast. Although Kenzie had had it much harder than Melissa had, they both had been on their own since their early teens, having to raise themselves.

  The drive zipped by and soon they were pulling up to the house they were working on this weekend. If the ride to Denver was any indication, this weekend was going to be a blast. The two story house looked like it was completely framed in, but lacking any type of siding or roofing yet. As she stepped out of the car, Melissa was glad they had such a nice day for this. The morning sun shone in rays through the wispy clouds stretched across the sky like pulled cotton. Tucking her sunglasses into the backpack, she had brought along, she pulled out the pair of work boots she had picked up for the project. She had waved the other ladies on as she leaned against the van to change her shoes before heading up to the work site. “I’ll catch up.”

  As she changed her shoes, she noticed a couple of the guys were passing out assignments and work gloves to the new arrivals. A familiar form filled her vision. “Fancy meeting you here.” Jason beamed a lopsided smile down at her.

  “You’re a goof.” She grinned, wrapping her arms around him for a quick hug hello. The tension she was carrying evaporated in that hug. She knew in that moment everything was going to work out, one way or another. A rough hand slid against hers sending shivers down her spine as he pressed a pair of work gloves into her hand. God, even his hands were all man. “I didn’t see you at the clubhouse earlier,” she said, blushing, wondering if every interaction she had with him from now on would have her senses reeling the way they were now.

  “I came on ahead. I wanted everything set up and ready to go before everyone else got here,” he explained.

  “Ah,” she nodded, “that makes sense.” Looking around, she noticed that everyone was getting to work around them. “So what’s my assignment, boss?” she asked, pointing to his clipboard as they walked into the house.

  She could have sworn that she heard a little growl in the back of his throat just before he pressed his lips against her ear so that only she could hear his response. “Better be careful calling me boss, I might take it to heart,” he said, his voice husky. Her heart sped up as much because of the heat of his body pressed against hers as the thought of him being in charge of her. Just as she thought she would spontaneously combust, he took a step back breaking the tension. “You’re on paint,” he said, giving her a playful smack on the butt with his clipboard.

  Laughing heartily, she gave him a playful push on the arm and followed his lead to the paint supplies. He grabbed several different types of paint brushes, rollers, and trays. “Can you get a roll of blue painter’s tape from that bin over there?” he asked, pointing to a box that sat against the wall a couple feet away.

  “Of course,” she chirped, grabbing a roll on her way to follow him into the kitchen. She noticed that all of the drywall had been hung, but nothing else had been installed yet.

  As if reading her mind, he answered her thoughts. “We always paint first before installing cabinets so that there is less to accidentally drip paint on. It’s easier that way.”

  “That makes perfect sense.” She nodded.

  Brittany and Kenzie walked in the kitchen with some cans of paint and more supplies. Jason explained to them what they needed to do and then left to help others set up.

  “I’ll check back with you ladies in a little while. If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to come find me.”

  The ladies waited until he was well away from the door before bombarding her with questions. “Holy hotness, Batman,” Kenzie gushed. “We could feel the chemistry burning between the two of you all the way in here.” She fanned herself dramatically.

  “When did you guys take things to the next level, and why hadn’t we heard a thing about it?” Brittany asked, surprise etched in her tone.

  “Honestly,” Melissa answered, heat rushing to her cheeks, “it’s all so new. I’m just trying to figure it all out for myself first.”

  “Take all the time you want, but you would have to be blind not to notice the enormous sparks flying between the two of you,” Kenzie teased.

  “What I don’t understand,” Melissa mused, “is why I hadn’t noticed what a hottie he is before this week.”

  “All I know,” Brittany chimed in, pouring paint into a tray, “is that there’s something you’re not telling us.” She quirked her eyebrow at Melissa. “That kind of chemistry doesn’t happen out of nowhere.”

  “Maybe not,” Melissa answered, “but let’s just say I’m not the type to kiss and tell.” That got a snort out of her best friend, but she was kind enough to keep any more comments to herself.

  Melissa’s wheels were turning hard as she turned to the job at hand, soon getting lost in the task. Between the three of them they had the first coat of paint applied in no time and were ready to move on to the next room. By the time lunch rolled around they were able to paint three out of four of the rooms that were ready to paint. They would check the first room after lunch to see if it was ready for a second coat.

  She finished early, so Melissa decided to go ahead and get a head start on the second coat of paint while everyone else ate lunch. As she rolled on line after line of paint, she found herself lost in thought. When a warm voice broke through her thoughts behind her, she almost jumped out of her skin.

  Spinning around, Jason was standing there, hands up in surrender. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you, honest,” he said and chuckled loudly.

  Clutching a hand to her chest and trying to slow her heartbeat, she couldn’t help the laughter bubbling up in her chest. “You scared the bejesus out of me.”

  “Hey, I was just going to ask if you wanted company.” He gestured to the door. “Everyone else is still eating, and I’m pretty good with a paint brush.”

  “Oh you’re pretty good with brushes are
you?” Melissa broke out into giggles at her innuendo.

  His deep laugh filled the room. “I can show you if you’d like,” he said, grabbing a paintbrush and pretending to smack her with the handle.

  She laughed, blocking his feigned attempts. “I’ll pass, thank you. I swear I’ve been a good girl.”

  He quirked an eyebrow up at her. “Sure that’s what all the naughty little girls say.” Her stomach gave a flip flop at the words “naughty little girls” coming from this incredibly sexy man.

  Mmm, I’ll be your naughty little girl anytime, she thought, grinning. “Hey, aren’t you supposed to be the boss around here? Get to work, mister,” she said out loud, actually smacking his butt with the wooden side of her brush.

  He picked her up upside down at the waist with her squealing and laughing. “I’ll show you who’s boss, missy.” He landed three hard swats on her backside, laughing deeply. Setting her down toward the wall, he gave her one more swat. “Now, if you’re done teasing your boss, we can both get back to painting this room.”

  Heat settled into her belly with a low hum buzzing throughout her whole body. Blushing happily, she muttered a husky, “Yes, sir.” He just grinned back at her.

  “I think I like those words on your lips,” he said, eyes twinkling.

  Me too.

  The day passed quickly after that, and soon Jason was off to do some of the heavier work with the guys. When it was time to call it a night, the familiar restlessness descended upon her like a ton of bricks. The thought of going home filled her with dread. Luckily, Jason popped his head around the corner at that very moment asking her to join him in his truck for the ride home. Relieved that they would finally have an opportunity to talk about the changes between them, she jumped at the chance.