Stormbound With A Tycoon. Shawna Delacorte
search of the flashlight and spare batteries.
Dylan shuffled through a couple of closets while Jessica looked for the flashlight. He found a broom, an old mop handle and some duct tape. By overlapping the ends of the handles and taping them together, he had ended up with a long pole.
“What’s that supposed to be?” Jessica asked as she handed him the flashlight.
He leaned the pole against the wall and took the flashlight from her. “I’m making something long enough to reach up the chimney so I can dislodge whatever it is without having to go up on the roof and tackle it from that direction.”
“Go up on the roof?” Surely he wasn’t serious about actually doing it. “It’s still raining. The roof has a very steep slope. It’s much too dangerous.”
“I know.” He cupped her chin in his hand and uttered the words slowly, as if talking to a child. “That’s why I don’t want to go up on the roof if it can be avoided.” He saw the irritation dart across her face and immediately flashed a grin to let her know he was teasing.
Then his gaze found hers. His fingers brushed across her cheek. It was a fleeting moment of intimacy that nearly took his breath away and left him totally confused. He tried to ignore the rush of heated desire by returning to the problem with the chimney.
He snapped on the flashlight, leaned on the hearth and stuck his head into the fireplace. He sighted along the beam of light as it penetrated the darkness. “There’s something there, all right. It looks like it’s pretty far up. I hope this makeshift pole can reach it.”
He withdrew from the fireplace and handed her the flashlight. “Here. Shine the light up there while I try to dislodge the obstruction.”
Jessica leaned into the fireplace and turned on the flashlight, shining the beam up into the darkness. Dylan stared at her for a moment, then broke out in a soft chuckle. “You might want to get your head out of there unless you want whatever comes down the chimney to fall in your face.”
She scooted out of the way while muttering under her breath, “I knew that.”
He teased her obvious irritation at her own mistake. “Uh…what was that? I didn’t hear what you said.”
She angrily snapped out a response to his teasing. “Are we going to try to clear out this chimney or not?”
“Oh, yes, ma’am. That’s exactly what we’re going to do.” Again, he could not contain his amusement.
He turned his attention to the business at hand. He kept as far away from the chimney opening as he could, yet still be in a position to see what he was doing. It was not an ideal situation, but he was willing to give it a try. He shoved the pole as far up into the chimney as he could, finally making contact with whatever had the opening blocked. He jabbed at it. Bits of dried twigs and leaves began to drift down, then suddenly everything gave way.
The accumulated debris broke loose and crashed down the flue into the interior of the fireplace. Jessica jumped to her feet, dropping the flashlight as she tried to keep the flying dust out of her eyes. Dylan choked back a cough as he escaped the cloud of soot and ashes that billowed across the hearth.
They dashed out to the front porch to escape the choking air inside the cabin. Jessica ruffled her fingers through her hair to dislodge some leaves, then brushed her hands across her forehead and cheeks to wipe away the dust. “What a mess.”
“I think we got the blockage cleared out.” Dylan picked the bits of twigs from his clothes. “Do you have a vacuum cleaner? That powdery, fine, fireplace ash is going to be hard to get with a broom.”
“Yes, but there’s no—”
“No electricity!” Dylan finished her sentence.
Each broke out into a spontaneous laugh at the totally ludicrous situation. Almost as quickly as it began the laughter faded when their gazes locked again for a moment…a very heated moment. It was almost an involuntary gesture on Dylan’s part as he reached out and gently brushed some of the dirt from her cheek. He allowed his fingertips to linger, then cupped her face in his hands. At that moment he very much wanted to take her in his arms and kiss that delicious-looking mouth. He steeled himself against the temptation and quickly withdrew his hands. He had never before been in the position of wanting to kiss someone so much yet knowing that he didn’t dare try.
A shiver tickled across Jessica’s nape in response to his touch. It was as unsettling as Dylan himself. She backed away from him. He was as wrong for her as a man could be, yet his mere presence excited her in a way she had never before experienced. She tried to shake off the mesmerizing sensations that enveloped her. It was a bad situation, and it needed to be terminated as quickly as possible.
She took another step away from him as she rubbed her hand across her nape to still the tremor. “Well…” She shoved down the sudden nervousness that jittered through her body. She could still feel the heat generated by his touch. “There’s a mess that needs to be cleaned.” She returned to the living room, leaving Dylan standing on the porch.
He watched her retreating form. His gaze traced the line of her hip and the curve of her bottom beneath the well-worn denim. The tightness spread across his chest, and the heat settled low inside him. Even his fingertips tingled from the brief contact with her cheek. Jessica McGuire was as tantalizingly desirable as any woman he had ever met, yet so unlike any woman he had ever been with. He shook his head as he followed her inside. He needed to add structure and purpose to his life, not complicate it by making a pass at this woman…who also happened to be his best friend’s sister.
Jessica purposely kept her distance from Dylan while they cleaned up the mess as best they could. By the time they finished, it was nearly noon. The entire morning had been devoted to one disaster after another. A new layer of anxiety built up on the already established base. Her neat and tidy existence had been turned into a shambles by Dylan Russell, and she did not like it. And worse yet, she didn’t know what to do about it. She could still feel his fingertips on her cheek and the heat of his touch.
Dylan was aware of her every movement and gesture, her body language telling him she was out of patience with the series of minidisasters. He made the decision to retreat and give her a little bit of time to calm down. He adopted the facade of the world-weary traveler who had seen it all and done it all. He glanced around the room, satisfied that it was as orderly as possible under the circumstances.
“Things here seem to be under control. I think this would be a good time for me to grab a quick shower.” He disappeared into the bathroom.
Many years ago an awkward fifteen-year-old Jessica had followed him around for an entire weekend like a lovesick puppy, and he had not been able to get rid of her. He remembered how funny Justin thought it had been. Then a year later he saw how much the sixteen-year-old Jessica had blossomed. A four-year age difference wasn’t much, but the difference between a sixteen-year-old high school girl and a twenty-year-old college man was considerable. He had not had any interest in asking for trouble by making a pass at an underage girl and especially not his best friend’s sister.
His mind drifted back to early that morning as he lay in bed watching her pick up her clothes—the way her T-shirt clung to her curves, her long bare legs, the sexy abandon of her mussed hair. The fifteen-year-old Jessica had been a nuisance. Funny how drastically things had changed. He allowed a brief thought about how he might be able to get her to follow him around like that again.
He stared at his reflection in the mirror, ran his hand across his whisker stubble, then heaved a sigh of resignation. Absolutely nothing had gone in his favor since he had gotten out of bed that morning. Actually, nothing had gone in his favor for the past three months. He clicked on his electric razor, hoping the battery had enough charge left for him to shave.
Jessica heard the shower go on. Finally, a chance for some peace and quiet without the distraction of Dylan Russell to set her heart pounding and her pulse racing. She poured herself another cup of coffee, turned on the battery-operated radio, then curled up in the corner of the couch. She reflected on the