Maybe it was because since he was twelve he’d been receiving it. Maybe it was because he got so much attention that he could afford to be choosy. Maybe it was because ever since the day he exploited that response for cash, he never felt the same about it.
Zach nodded his head, acknowledging the daddy’s girl, as he moved towards the steps. He figured that, if she was coming downstairs, he would head upstairs. The last thing he wanted was to have to be cruel to this girl, but if he was even the slightest bit nice, the gesture was usually, severely misconstrued as showing interest. Not that being an ass worked all that well either. Half the time, that somehow made their panties even wetter.
“Are you the maintenance man?” she purred as he tried to maneuver around her. “Because I plan on taking this place and I already have a list of things that will need your…attention.” She rolled her shoulders back, sticking out ample cleavage as she bit her lower lip.
Zach had to bite the inside of his lip to keep from busting out laughing. This girl had obviously seen one too many bad pornos. He could hear the soundtrack playing in his head. Bow-chicka-bow-bow. How in the name of Muhammad Ali she had managed to say that with a straight face, he would never know, but he had to give her props for her attempt at seduction, no matter how comical it had been.
“No, I’m not,” Zach answered, feeling his lips turning up in amusement. Shaking his head slightly, he brushed past her and took the first step.
“Oh, well…I just thought that…” she stammered as she reached out, touching his arm. “You know, because you look so…capable…”
Deciding to use this pampered co-ed’s attention to his advantage, he turned and flashed a smile that he was sure would put her off-balance before he went in for the kill. The moment he saw her eyes soften, he landed the knockout punch.
“I’m the exterminator. This building has a huge issue with rats. This is the fourth time I’ve been out here this week. They’re little bitey fuckers too.” Zach held up his wrapped hands as evidence.
“What?” she shrieked, pulling back her hand so fast you’d think she’d touched a hot stove.
Zach moved his head up and down in confirmation before he leaned forward, whispering, “Why do you think the rent is so low?”
Her expression grew even more horrified as she shivered from head to toe, swiveling on her heels as she made a mad dash for the front door. Before she made it a foot, she had her phone to her ear, exclaiming, “Daddy, this place is disgusting. I am not going to live here!”
Talk about killing two birds with one stone. He’d not simply squashed her interest in the house, he’d been able to demolish any interest she had in him at the same time (bonus!). More than a little pleased with himself, Zach continued up the stairs to check the rest of the place out.
This house was exactly the right price in exactly the right location. Now, he had to somehow convince the landlord that he was exactly the right tenant.
Chapter Two
Anxiety was building inside of Jessie like a snowball picking up momentum in an avalanche. Where was the owner of this place? She’d seen the elderly woman when she’d first arrived talking to the frat boys who wanted to put in their applications. Now she couldn’t find her anywhere.
She wasn’t upstairs. She wasn’t in the kitchen or the front room. And she wasn’t in the basement Jessie was currently walking through.
Jessie was at a total loss. She had no idea where to look next. It was as if the entire house were deserted with the exception of the three girls Jessie had left upstairs who were making plans for what they would do when they rented this place. Which was not going to be how this played out…if Jessie could just find the owner.
A glance at her watch made the panic rise inside of her like a tsunami wave. The open house had officially ended as of two minutes ago. This was not at all how Jessie normally operated. She never left things until the last minute. Mainly because she hated feeling like she did right now.
Time was up. She needed to lock this place down. Jessie still had not put in her application. She hadn’t even spoken to the owner. And she couldn’t seem to locate the owner to remedy either of those situations. This was not good. Not good at all.
Her feet began moving faster beneath her as her growing dread propelled them at a rapid pace. Wrapping her fingers around the wood-planked railing that led up the staircase, she felt a sharp prick in her skin at the same time that light blinded her, pouring in as the basement door flew open. Sucking in a sharp breath as pain shot through her middle finger, she released her grasp of the railing, pulling her hand back.
“Shit,” she hissed as she looked down to see a significantly large splinter that had buried itself under the surface of her skin with only the tiny tip protruding out.
“Are you okay?” a baritone voice boomed, sending a thrill spreading through Jessie’s body like the first drink of ice-cold water on a hot day.
Jessie lifted her eyes to see a large, shadowed figure coming down the steps towards her. All she could see was the outline of his strong shoulders and arms. His height was impressive, and rays of sunlight were all around him. He moved with a graceful confidence. Somehow, just from the sound of his voice, the outline of his frame, and his purposeful movements, Jessie felt herself go weak in the knees.
Stop it, she quickly reprimanded herself. She was so not a weak-in-the-knees girl.
Swallowing hard over a knot that had taken up residence in her throat in the last few seconds, she said, “I’m fine.” The second the weak words left her mouth, she wanted turn back the clock and suck them back in. Erase them from existence. Instead of sounding like the self-assured woman she was, her voice sounded as shaky as a love-sick schoolgirl.
What the hell is going on with me?!
Deciding to ignore both the man and her reaction to him, she peered down, focusing all of her attention on her finger that was stinging in pain. It was already swelling, and the skin surrounding it had begun to turn shades of white and red. She tried to grasp the tiny edge of the wooden plank that had embedded itself in the pad of her finger with her nails, but she couldn’t quite get a good hold on it.
Jessie sensed the moment that sexy-shadow man stopped in front of her, and goose bumps rose on her flesh at his nearness.
Seriously?!
Did he have some superpower? Was he like sexy kryptonite or something? How could she be having such a visceral reaction to someone she hadn’t even seen yet?
Holy crap!
She hadn’t even really seen him. She had no idea what his face looked like. The color of his hair. His eyes. The shape of his mouth. It’s not like she’d be able to pick him out of a lineup.
Her body clenched as she felt his head lower as if he were studying her wound. Mmmm. Maybe her body would be able to pick him out of a lineup after all.
“We need to get this out,” he stated as his large hand reached beneath hers, cupping it gently. The places where his skin touched hers began tingling with arousal.
Oh. My. God.
Jessie had thought that her body’s reaction to super-sexy guy’s voice and presence was severe, but that had been merely child’s play compared to the rush of desire that flooded through her veins at his touch. Normally, Jessie did not allow strangers to touch her. In fact, she didn’t really allow people she knew to touch her. Even when she was seeing someone, the only time she allowed any kind of displays of affection were on her terms, between the sheets. The only people who were exempted from her no-contact clause were the members of her family. That was only because she didn’t have a choice—they were all huggers.
This has to stop. Jessie tried to reason with herself. Pull your hand away now, she instructed herself forcefully. Now! Her inner voice screamed.
Unfortunately, her body was behaving like a defiant teenager. It was not cooperating in the least.
Attempting to snap herself out of her lust-addled state of limbo, Jessie decided that the best thing to do was face this, like everything else in
her life, head on. Literally. She needed to raise her head so that she would be face-to-face with super-sexy man.
But…she didn’t.
Nerves bubbled up inside of her like water boiling in a pot, increasing in intensity as if someone had turned up the heat. Her heart was beating rapidly at even the thought of lifting her gaze to his. All she could see out of her peripheral vision were his large hands, black sweats, and the silver zipper that ran up his dark-gray hoodie.
This was one of the oddest moments, if not the oddest moment, she’d ever experienced in her life. Her first instinct should have been to raise her head as soon as he’d stopped on the step above her. Her first instinct should have been to immediately pull out of his grasp the second he’d touched her. Her first instinct should have been to open up her mouth and speak. It was painfully obvious that her instincts had decided to take a momentary leave of absence, and she was desperately hoping their vacation did not turn into a sabbatical.
“Oh wait,” super-sexy man’s deep voice sounded, again sending a chill down her spine so strong that it felt like someone had dropped an ice cube down the back of her shirt.
His arm brushed her shoulder as he reached behind her, and instantly, warmth replaced the chill. At his movement, the distinct scent of maleness drifted up into her nostrils. It smelled earthy and raw and sent all of her feminine nerve endings to move to code-red, high-alert status. Jessie took in a deep breath and the smell washed over her like a powerful aphrodisiac. She had to fight from leaning closer to be nearer to it.
Next thing she knew, super-sexy guy had a first-aid kit open and was wiping her finger down with alcohol swabs as she stood like a wax figure in her muted state of lust. He pulled out a needle and sanitized it before pressing the side of the cold metal against the pad of her finger, with the sharp tip positioned at the slice of wood poking out of her.
“Hold still,” his gravelly voice instructed.
Done. Hold still she could totally do. Speak, not so much. Move? Mmm, didn’t look real good for that happening either. But hold still was something she seemed to have mastered in the last few minutes.
Jessie could hear her heart pounding in her head as her eyes stayed glued to her hands. Not because she wanted to watch as he pulled out the splinter, but because she still couldn’t seem to force herself to look at this creature that had managed to make her feel more arousal in mere seconds than any other man had ever ignited in her…ever.
In one try, he was able to remove the offending slice of wood from beneath her skin. The moment he did, bright red blood appeared where the splinter had just been. Jessie’s head began spinning and her face felt as if it had gone numb. Blood had always had that effect on her. Since she was little, the mere sight of it had caused her to black out.
She watched as if she were floating outside of herself while thick fingers quickly covered the wound with a white alcohol wipe. Super-sexy guy’s thumb held the white square, applying pressure as he kept it firmly in place over the wound. For a moment, she felt herself coming back. The room ceased to spin, and she was fairly certain she was not going to pass out. Then, bright red seeped out beneath his finger as she bled onto the surface of the wipe and the spinning was back in full force.
“You need to sit down.”
The forceful words barely made it into Jessie’s clouded consciousness before she felt an arm wrap around her and guide her down to a seated position.
As her backside hit the floor, she felt the solidness of the wall behind her, and she closed her eyes as her head leaned back to rest against it.
“Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Deep breaths,” his baritone voice instructed.
Damn. Jessie didn’t think she would ever get tired of listening to that voice. It held a quality that somehow simultaneously calmed and soothed her while sending her hormones into overdrive. It was intoxicating and, she feared, addictive.
Following his instructions, she breathed evenly and deeply and started feeling her faculties return to her. Her first clear thought was that she needed to thank super-sexy man for his assistance.
Jessie did not like receiving help from people. At all. She was as independent as they came. As glad as she was that he’d sat her down and talked her through the worst of her woozy spell, she needed to return to equal footing as fast as possible. That meant opening her eyes.
When she lowered her chin so that her head lifted from the support of the wall, her heavy eyelids parted and her mouth went dry.
Holy mother of pearl.
Jessie’s gaze froze. She was totally mesmerized by the perfection that was staring back at her. Her mind felt like it was short-circuiting from the information her eyes were sending to her brain. She drank in his deep-green eyes—which were as seductive as they were welcoming—full lips and chiseled jawline, with just enough stubble to send a quake of awareness erupting in between her legs.
“Are you feeling better?” Concern filled super-sexy guy’s green seductive-slash-welcoming eyes.
“Yes,” Jessie spoke in a whisper.
“Good.” He nodded, a ghost of a smile appearing on his face. “Do you want to stand up?”
“Yes.” Jessie’s voice was not any stronger than the first time. Actually, she didn’t think her legs were all that steady either, which begged the question: why had she agreed to stand? It seemed that the word ‘yes’ just kept spilling out of her mouth.
Strong arms once again surrounded her, supporting her. She felt the heat of super-sexy guy’s large palm through the soft cotton of her shirt, at the dip of her waist as his fingers gripped her hip. Jessie instantly melted into his strength. As she stood, she heard herself take in a shuddering breath as her body surged to life under his touch.
This was not good. Not. Good. At. All.
* * *
Zach was doing everything in his power to stifle his body’s response to this girl. He was actively throwing a mental wet rag on the flames of desire spreading through him, thinking about his mom’s deteriorating condition, the mounting medical bills, his upcoming fight—anything and everything he could—to stop the blood from rushing to his dick, sending this already intimate-feeling moment into dangerously inappropriate territory.
Sadly, none of it seemed to be working.
In his twenty-six years, he’d seen his fair share of gorgeous women. Sexy women. Women whose bodies made men drool. He’d dated women on a regular basis who other men fantasized about. Just last month, he’d hooked up with a Playmate of the Month.
Yet all of them paled in comparison to the breathtakingly, stunning girl standing in front of him. Actually, she was a woman. Her body was definitely all woman. She wore black slacks and a white button-up shirt, tailored to fit every sinfully sensual curve of her body, that screamed professional as well as sexy. Zach realized that he’d categorized her as a girl not from any of her outward appearances—which was one hundred percent woman—but rather the look in her eyes, the way her body trembled beneath his touch, her unguarded response that made every one of his protective instincts kick into high gear.
Which was ridiculous. The moment he’d seen her at the bottom of the steps, the sun highlighting her huge coffee-colored eyes, angel face, and blond hair that fell loosely around her shoulders with not a strand out of place, Billy Joel’s song “Uptown Girl” had popped into his head. Which was exactly the stereotype he wanted absolutely nothing to do with.
Except that she didn’t look at him like he was a bad boy she wanted to get her kicks with before she settled down and married a white-collar douchebag. She looked at him with a sincere vulnerability that was as disarming as it was endearing. That put him smack dab in the middle of very unfamiliar territory. Zach operated his life by trusting his instincts, especially his instincts about women, but this one was causing him to feel things he shouldn’t be feeling. If he trusted his instincts right now, he’d have her pressed up against the wall, claiming her in a kiss that branded her as his for life.
&
nbsp; The only sound he heard was his own heart beating furiously and their mingled breaths, which were both growing increasingly labored as they stared into one another’s eyes.
“Thanks.” A soft voice that didn’t match the all-business persona this girl was obviously trying to put forth—but was totally in sync with her large doe-eyes—came from her perfect, pink lips. “I don’t like blood.”
Just the sound of her voice stringing several words together caused Zach’s overwhelming urge to lean down, close the small gap between them and kiss her, to intensify catastrophically. Which was completely insane considering she hadn’t said anything even remotely seductive. His hand tightened in need, and he realized that he was still holding her in his arms. At the flinch of his fingers, her lips parted and her chest rose as she sucked in an audible breath.
His gaze—which had been trained on her mouth—darted up to meet hers. Damn, he could lose himself in those dark brown eyes. His heart slammed in his chest at that realization.
The energy between them was so electric that he was surprised sparks weren’t spontaneously erupting as they stared at each other.
“Yoo-hoo! Are you two lovebirds okay down there?” a high-pitched voice rang out.
Zach’s head jerked up to see two women who looked to be in their early eighties waving enthusiastically as they stood side by side in the doorway at the top of the staircase, each wearing velour tracksuits. The running outfits were identical aside from the color. The taller, thinner woman was rocking bright pink and the shorter, stouter of the two was sporting bright blue.
Actually Love - Jessie & Zach (The Crossroads Series) Page 2