Crazy Love - Krista & Chase (36 page)

Jessie was at a total loss, she had no idea where to look next. It was as if the entire house was deserted sans the three girls Jessie had left upstairs who were all making plans of 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 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 the 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 summer 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 impressive height as rays of sunlight shone 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 over the last few seconds she said, “I’m fine.” The second the weak words left her mouth she wanted to turn back the clock and suck them back in. Erase them from existence. Instead of sounding like the self-assured woman that she was, her voice sounded as shaky as a love sick school girl.

What the hell was going on with her?!

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 goosebumps rose on her flesh at his nearness.

Seriously?!

What did he have some super-power? Was he like sexy kryptonite or something? How could she be having such a visceral reaction to someone that 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 line-up.

Her body clenched as she felt his head lower as if he was studying her wound.
Mmmm
. Maybe her body would be able to pick him out of a line-up after all.

“We need to get this out,” he stated as his
large
hand reached beneath hers, cupping it gently. The places that his skin touched hers were tingling with arousal.

Oh. My. God.

Jessie had thought her body’s reaction to super-sexy-guy’s
voice
and
presence
had been severe, but that was 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 that she knew to touch her. Even when she was seeing someone and the only time that she allowed any kind of displays of affection was on her terms, between the sheets. The only people that were exempted from her no-contact clause were 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 and 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 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 was 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 stopped on the step above her. Her first instinct
should
have been to immediately pull out of his grasp the second he 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 that she was desperately hoping did not turn into a sabbatical.

“Oh wait,” super-sexy-man’s deep voice sounded again sending a chill down her spine so strong 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 man 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 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 as well 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 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 hand. 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 in mere seconds than any other man had ever incited in her…ever.

In one try he was able to remove the offending slice of wood from beneath her skin. The moment that 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 caused her to black out.

She watched as if she was floating outside of herself as thick fingers quickly covered the wound with a white alcohol wipe. Super-sexy-guy’s thumb covered the white square applying pressure as he held it in place firmly 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 fall back to rest against it.

“Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Deep breaths,” his deep 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 began to start 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.

Lowering 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, 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 that were as seductive as they were welcoming, full lips, chiseled jaw line 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 was 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 shuttering 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 conditions, 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 body’s made men drool. Just last month he’d hooked up with a Playmate of the month. He’d dated women on a regular basis that other men only fantasized about.

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 button up white shirt tailored to fit every sinfully sensual curve of her body that screamed professional as well as sexy. Zach realized 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 brown eyes, angel face, and blonde hair that fell loosely around her shoulder with not a strand out of place Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl” song had popped into his head. Which was exactly the stereotype woman that he wanted absolutely nothing to do with.

Except she didn’t look at him like he was a bad boy that she wanted to get her kicks with before she settled down and married a white-collared douche-bag. She looked at him with sincere vulnerability that was as disarming as it was endearing. That put him in unfamiliar territory. Zach operated his life trusting his instincts, especially his instincts about women, but this one was causing him to feel things that 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 for life.

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.