Learning to Breathe Again (23 page)

“
Yup. He’s going to call in
a few minutes so you can give him Brian’s number. You’re amazing,
you know that?”

“
I’m not…”

“
Yes, you are. You stepped
up the other night and helped Carly, even though you almost went
into a panic attack when we hit the hospital. And now, knowing
about your friend Maddie and what you helped her through, it
couldn’t have been as easy as you made it look. Plus everything
else you’ve gone through over the last year. And now, you’re
pulling in favors for my friends. You. Are. Amazing.” He leaned
over and kissed her as he enunciated each word.

“
I’m just being me, Jack,”
she dropped her forehead to his chest.

“
I know. That’s what makes
you even more amazing,” he rubbed his hands up and down her back.
“Mitch should be calling any second now. Why don’t you go make some
coffee for us and I can give him your friend’s contact
information?”

Bayleigh nodded, and after pulling up Brian’s
contact information on her phone, handed it over to Jack, just as
his own phone rang. She smiled at him and headed for the kitchen,
hearing him greet his cousin.

Standing in the kitchen, she stared out the
window at the frozen landscape, lost in thought, waiting for the
coffee to perk. She was glad Mitch was going to get to make it back
to Waketon and see his son finally. She should have asked Brian if
he’d stop in Dallas and pick up Jason and Nicole, but he wasn’t
running a taxi service. And she wasn’t going to abuse their
friendship. The ice would melt. Someday.

“
You okay, babe?” Jack’s
arms came around her waist, making her jump.

“
Other than heart attack you
just gave me, I’m fine,” she leaned back against him.

“
Sorry. I thought you heard
me walk into the room.”

“
I was lost in thought.
Everything squared away with Mitch?”

“
Yes. And I called Paul with
the information so he could get it going on this end for when
they’re ready to land here. If all goes well, he’ll be at Carly’s
side in less than four hours.”

“
I’m glad I could
help.”

“
He asked me to tell you
‘thanks’ and said I should give you a kiss, too.”

“
Oh, he did, did
he?”

“
Yup. And he is my older and
wiser cousin. I should listen to him, don’t you think?” Jack asked
as he turned her around in his arms.

Bayleigh hands went to his
chest in a reflexive motion, fisting in the soft cotton of his
shirt. She wanted the kiss, and her body even wanted what kissing
could lead to; it was her
head
that had her tensing up.

“
Relax, sweetheart. You get
to set the pace and the rules. Remember?” Jack kept his hands loose
on her waist.

“
I can’t help it,” she
whispered.

“
I know, baby. I know,” he
pressed a soft kiss to her temple, drawing her closer.

Bayleigh gave a full body sigh, pressing
herself closer, drawing strength from him. “That’s what makes all
of this so much harder,” she muttered.

“
What’s that?” his hands
stroked over her back, his touch both soothing and stroking fires
to life at the same time.

“
You’re so damn
understanding about everything. An hour ago, I was curled up
against you on the couch, kissing you, and now, here in the
kitchen, I’m so tense you could break me in half. And you act like
it’s no big deal!”

Jack leaned back and used his finger to tilt
her head so that he could look in her eyes. He wanted to make sure
she could see the sincerity in his own eyes as he said what was on
his mind; after all, he was a guy and he was bound to screw it up
somehow.

“
Bayleigh, it’s not a big
deal. Not when you look at the big picture. You’ve got almost a
year’s worth of walls to break down. Take it from me. It won’t
happen overnight. Besides, we’ve already agreed that we’re going to
take it slow and get to know it each other,” he paused and smiled
at her. “Hell, woman, we’ve known each other, what, three days now?
Now, I’m not saying that I’m ready to stand up and declare undying
love and devotion to you from the tallest mountain because I don’t
believe in love at first sight. But I am saying I feel something
for you a lot deeper than just lust. And I don’t want to rush into
it and screw it up.” He took a deep breath, watching as his words
sank in and registered. He saw her swallow hard and she
nodded.

“
I don’t want…I don’t want
to screw it up and push you away, Jack,” she whispered.

“
You’re not pushing me away.
There’s a difference between pushing me away because you’re too
scared to try, and pushing me away because you’re locked in a
flashback or panic attack. As long as we continue to know the
difference between the two, and can talk about them, I can deal
with it. Okay?” he pulled her back against his chest, kissing the
top of her head. He felt her sigh and he wrapped his arms around
her tighter. Yup, she had managed to lodge a place in his heart. No
turning back now.

A FEW HOURS LATER, JACK WALKED into his
living room and leaned against the doorframe as he watched Bayleigh
work on her song some more, lost in her own world. He cleared his
throat to gain her attention.

“
Oh, how long have you been
standing there?” she asked, setting her guitar down and stretching
her arms above her head.

“
Not long,” he answered,
trying hard not to ogle her as her breasts pushed out against her
shirt. “Uh, my uncle called and said the foreman was reporting a
couple of problems and he wanted to see if I could go check on
things. I wondered if you might want to take a ride with me, get
out of here for a while.”

“
I thought the roads were
still icy,” she glanced at the windows.

“
That’s the beauty of my
land connecting to my uncle’s. We can use all the dirt roads and
fields. And the temperature actually did get up to above freezing
for a short amount of time today, so right now, it’ll just be
slushy, not icy.”

“
I’d love to get out of here
and take a ride with you.”

“
Why don’t you pack an
overnight bag, too, just in case this takes a little while to fix?
That way, we can stay over there if we need to. Or if we just
decide we like having central heat and real beds again,” Jack
suggested as she walked over to him.

Bayleigh stopped in front of him and studied
his face. “You’re not just trying to get rid of me, are you?”

“
I swear, Bayleigh, I won’t
leave you over there if you don’t want to stay,” Jack told her, his
hand coming up to cup her face. “The choice will be yours though.
And I’m packing a bag, too.”

She nodded and then stood on her tiptoes to
press a quick kiss to his lips. “I’m sorry I keep questioning
you,”

“
Don’t be sorry. You’ve been
through a lot. Besides, it keeps me honest,” he gave her a wink. As
she moved to step away from him, his hands shot out and he pulled
her against him. “Doesn’t mean I don’t want more, though,” he
whispered as he gave her a deeper kiss than she’d given him. One
that had her toes curling and her fingers digging into his
biceps.

“
Now, go pack that bag.
We’ll head over when you’re ready,” he told her, setting her back
on her feet. Dazed, Bayleigh nodded and watched him walk away. It
took her a few seconds before she could get her legs to carry her
down the hallway to her room to pack an overnight bag.

“
You about ready?” Jack
tapped on the door.

“
Almost. I want to bring my
guitar. Is that okay?”

“
Sure. Why don’t you go grab
it from the living room and I’ll go ahead and take these bags out
to the truck? I went out a few minutes ago and turned it on so it’d
warm up for you.”

Bayleigh nodded and handed her backpack over
that she used to pack a few essentials into. Grabbing her guitar
case, she headed for the living room and secured her guitar inside,
along with the notebook and pen.

“
All set?” Jack asked,
coming into the room.

“
I think so,” she glanced at
the fireplace. “What do we do about that?”

“
I made sure it’ll die down
and go out and the screen is in place. We’re good to go,” he held
her coat out to her. Shrugging herself into it, she zipped it up
and pulled on a pair of gloves he held out to her.

“
I put salt on the steps,
but be careful. There’s still some icy spots here and there,” he
told her, as he took her hand in his and then turned to pick up her
guitar. Leading her through the kitchen and out the back door, he
didn’t let go of her hand until they’d reached his truck and he’d
helped her up into the cab.

“
So, how far is it to your
uncle’s?”

“
Just a few miles, actually,
but going across the back fields and at low speeds, it’ll take
probably at least fifteen minutes or so,” he answered, turning the
heater fan down and shifting the truck into gear.

“
Have you heard from Mitch
or Brian yet?” she glanced at the clock on the dashboard.
“Shouldn’t they be close to arriving soon, too?”

“
I know Brian made it to
Waco and they took off from there. Mitch is probably too engrossed
with seeing his son for the first time to think about calling
anyone. And I’m sure Brian’s trying to beat the weather back to
Waco or Dallas. Wherever it was he was planning on getting back to
tonight,” Jack drove down his driveway and towards the back of his
property where he could pick up the backroad to his uncle’s
place.

“
Oh, I was really hoping I’d
get to see him,” Bayleigh sighed. “I’ve missed him, Rick, and
Maddie.”

“
Maybe they just haven’t
landed yet, and he’ll still call you,” Jack soothed as they
approached a gate. “So, here’s the downside of driving across the
land. We have to stop, open all the gates and then close
them.”

“
Oh, do you want me to do
it?”

“
No, you stay in here where
it’s warm,” he told her as he shifted into park and opened his
door. He unlatched the gate, swung it open, got back into the
truck, pulled through and repeated the process in
reverse.

As they approached the next gate, Bayleigh
stopped him with a hand on his arm. “This is ridiculous. Either let
me do it, or let me drive your truck through. Otherwise, it’s going
to take forever to get there!”

Pausing, he considered what she said and then
nodded. “Fine, I’ll get out and open the gate. You pull the truck
through and I’ll close it behind us. Just please don’t scratch my
truck up!”

“
You line this baby up right
and it won’t get hurt,” Bayleigh shook her head at him as he jumped
out of the truck and she slid under the wheel. As soon as he had
the gate open, she shifted into drive and pulled forward, stopping
as soon as she’d cleared the gate.

“
Happy?” she asked, as he
slid back behind the wheel.

“
That my truck is still in
one piece? We still have a few of those to get through,” he teased.
Bayleigh smiled at him and they moved on, repeating the process at
the next few gates as they made their way to his uncle’s
house.

“
There it is,” he pointed as
they turned a bend and the house came into view. As he approached,
he tapped the horn twice. “Just letting them know we’ve arrived,”
he told her, when she gave him a questioning look.