Jules’ eyes widened and she let the hair fall back over her face. “Oh.” She snapped back from the edge of the bed and I flatted onto the floor in relief.
“Are you sure? I can take the floor. I don’t mind.”
She was too much of a temptation. And I wanted to taste her lips so badly I’d almost rolled on top of her and taken that kiss Mother Nature had stolen from us by trying to murder us in the greenhouse.
“At least take a couple more pillows and the blanket.” She shoved a wall of white, insanely high thread count linens onto me.
Her eyes reminded me of the milk chocolate chip cookies she’d made a couple months ago. They had wafers of chocolate in them instead of regular chocolate chips. And they were soft and delicious and I knew she’d taste the exact same way. So I’d banished myself to the floor before I lost my cool and did something I couldn’t take back. Namely, wrap her bed head curls around my fist, hold her chin between my thumb and forefinger, and see if those lips were everything I’d been thinking about for the past few days.
The night on the floor wasn’t all that bad. I’d slept in far worse places and the pillows and blankets made it easy to sleep through until morning, which didn’t happen often. I still couldn’t believe I’d fallen asleep in that chair the night before, but I could believe I’d woken up like someone was going to rob me. The look of fear on Jules’ face had soured my gut and I’d immediately let her go. A hazard I’d come to expect. If I fell asleep somewhere quiet, I was almost always on edge when someone woke me up.
But even on the floor in this new room, I wasn’t on edge anymore. Jules was here. The bathroom door creaked open slowly and her not so quiet rustling let me know she was trying to make sure she didn’t wake me up.
I cracked open an eye. She was crouched down by the edge of the bed, tying her shoes.
“Where you going?”
She jumped and fell back onto her ass, clutching her chest.
“You scared the shit out of me.” Her whisper-yell made me smile.
“Where are you going?”
Her lips pinched, and she pushed herself off the floor and finished tying her shoes. The mumbled words barely made it out of her mouth.
“Where?” I cupped my hand around my ear.
She let out an exasperated sigh. “For a run. I’m going to go for a run, okay.” There was a challenge in her eyes like she’d told me she was going to go up onto the roof to flap her wings.
“Cool, give me three minutes and I’ll come with you.”
Her deer-in-headlights look was back. “No, you don’t have to do that. You don’t have to come with me.”
I pushed up from the floor and grabbed some sweats and a t-shirt out of my backpack. “Of course I don’t have to, but I want to. The season’s right around the corner and with the workout from yesterday, I’ll be stiff if I don’t get my ass up and do some physical activity.” I closed the bathroom door behind me, not one hundred percent sure she’d be there when I opened the door.
Brushing my teeth to banish the gremlins that had had a party in my mouth last night, I went out at least smelling like I hadn’t been eating bulbs of garlic.
“You really don’t need to join me.”
I held up my hand. “Julienne Fries, when will you learn? I don’t do anything I don’t want to, especially not going for a run at—” I picked up my phone and my eyes bulged at the time. “It’s not even seven am.”
“See!” She took my moan as confirmation that I hadn’t actually wanted to go.
“Doesn’t matter, we’re going.” I grabbed her elbow and ushered her out of the room.
There were people bustling around, setting up for whatever festivities were planned for the day. I didn’t give a crap as long as I wouldn’t have to wear that tux again. I didn’t think rain water and expensive clothes went together.
“There’s a gravel path leading down toward the stables. And a loop back up to the house.”
“Sounds good to me.” I looked over at Jules; she was in a long sleeve t-shirt and sweatpants.
“Aren’t you hot as balls in that?”
She shrugged. “No.”
“Lead the way.” I pushed open the front door and held out my arm. The early morning haziness wasn’t at its full last-vestiges-of-summer peak. The downpour from yesterday had taken most of the humidity out of the air.
She walked through the doorway, banging her shoulder on the doorjamb opposite me, like she was trying to stay as far away as possible, but stopped halfway out. “You really don’t—”
“Zip it, Julienne Fries. I’m running with you, even if I have to toss you over my shoulders and do the run that way. So let’s run this thing.” I lifted my hand and froze inches from her ass.
No, don’t go anywhere near that. I’d only seen it silhouetted in clothes, but I knew with one touch I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from dragging her off somewhere and claiming that kiss that had been stolen from us last night.
Her glare was adorable as she stepped outside. “Fine.”
We set out on our run—more of a jog, but I wasn’t complaining. I hated running. My number one punishment after a fuck up during practice was laps. My job was to keep my QB from getting demolished. Not sprinting down the field for fifty-yard passes. My position lived in a twenty-yard zone of comfort, and running sucked. But if I got to spend a little time with a certain baker, I’d suck it up and do some of the conditioning work I’d been avoiding.
Jules pointed out more places she loved about this place and had hung out growing up. But then the pace picked up and I kept up with her pace. Our talking got bumped down from a few words every so often to nothing but a steady exhale and the crunch of our feet on the ground.
After we made it to another small rolling hill with Jules’ gaze fixed on the horizon, I was ready to crawl back to the house. My legs were on fire, screaming for me to stop. How long had we been running? Thirty minutes? An hour?
Jules was charging along like a cross-country runner just hitting her stride.
“Mercy. I’m calling it.” I braced my hands on my knees, stopping in the center of the path. “You’re worse than Coach.”
She skidded to a stop a few paces in front of me. “Oh thank god.” She flung herself on the grassy slope beside us. “I was trying to keep up with you.” Her arms were draped over her face, smooshing her fogged up glasses.
“I’m about twenty seconds from my heart bursting out of my chest. Jesus, I felt like you could’ve gone on forever.”
She glanced at me, glistening with strands of hair and bits of grass stuck to her face, and laughed. It was a delirious kind of laugh that infected the air around her. And I was right beside her in the soggy hillside, trying to catch my breath. The rise and fall of her chest made me think of other ways we could be exerting ourselves. Much more enjoyable ways than our torture run, and I was sure I could get her extra sweaty.
“I was already leading us back to the house. They’ll be starting the festivities of the day soon. We’ll have to get ready.”
I groaned. “Only if you protect me and promise not to abandon me this time.”
She wrapped her arms around her legs. “I promise.”