all alone, dealing with the storm. Still, as she’d recalled earlier, he wasn’t a guy who liked accepting help. She was just amazed he had called her instead of hobbling home on his own.
“Thanks,” he said grudgingly as she handed him the boots.
“You’re welcome,” she responded in the same tone. “Let me see if I can just reinforce that plastic around the window to keep the rain out, and I’ll call a cab.”
“You don’t have to do that. Ken will be here soon.”
“It will only take a few minutes, and it will keep your floors from being ruined.”
He nodded reluctantly, and resumed trying to get his boots on. So much for him wanting her around—he seemed happy to have any excuse to ignore her.
Tessa busied herself adding more tape to the plastic around the broken window. When the job was done, she phoned for a cab. It took three calls to find a company who had someone available.
“Our ride will be here in a bit. Things are getting rough out there,” she said, jumping a little as a crack of thunder sounded as if it was splitting the world in two.
“You shouldn’t have gone out in this,” he said, sounding as if he regretted calling her. “I know you hate storms.”
“Emergency Services has enough on their plate right now, and I didn’t mind. Don’t worry, you’ll be away from me soon enough,” she couldn’t stop herself from adding, hurt and disappointed that he was so obviously displeased by her presence.
She knew he believed the worst of her, but she didn’t deserve it. She also knew from a lifetime of being a politician’s daughter that once people’s minds were made up about you, they rarely changed their views. When she had been bandaging Jonas’s foot, it seemed as if he could barely stand her touch.
“Listen,” he said, running a hand through his already wild hair. “I’m … grateful you came.”
She didn’t say anything, and the silence stretched between them.
“You’re welcome,” she said eventually, and was relieved to hear the honk of a cab outside. She didn’t say anything else, either. What was there to say? She thought that she cared for Jonas; they definitely had chemistry, or so she thought. But she wasn’t going to beg him to be with her. Still, it hurt.
“What about Irish?”
“He’ll be okay. He doesn’t do well being transported, and his food, water and bed are here.”
“Okay. If you’re sure he’s okay.”
“He has a cat door in the back if he needs to get out, but he usually just hunkers down at night.”
“Let’s go, then,” she said, and he pulled back when she took his hand.
“Cripes, Jonas, relax. I’m just helping you out to the cab, not trying to come on to you,” she said, gritting her teeth.
He blew out a breath, seeming as tense as she was. “It’s not you, Tessa. I hate this, my situation and being led around like a poodle all the time,” he admitted.
Her own aggravation softened. He was a protector, a man who wasn’t used to being vulnerable. He stood in front of others who were. She put her own feelings aside, realizing how difficult this was for him. He let her lead him out through the maelstrom to the shelter of the cab.
“Hardly a poodle. More like a rottweiler with a nasty temper,” she muttered under her breath as they climbed inside the cab, and thought she might have seen him smile, just a little.
TESSA ALMOST BOLTED from the cab by the time they reached her store. The silent tension between her and Jonas was intolerable.
“No more fares,” the cabbie said, looking back at them as she started to get out, but Jonas didn’t.
“My friend needs you to take him home,” she said to the driver, who shook his head vehemently.
“No more fares,” he repeated, shifting his light to Out of Service, and staring at Jonas, not that Jonas could notice.
“He says you have to get out here,” she spoke to Jonas.
“Yeah, I got that.” His tone was clipped and short. He was obviously not happy about that option, and she couldn’t help feeling insulted.
It infuriated her, but she held her temper. “You can come into the store and wait for another taxi,” she offered.
She’d call one herself, and make sure she told them to hurry, she thought testily, helping him from the taxi. He insisted on paying the fare, and she let him.
“Careful stepping up,” she cautioned as they ascended
to the shop, and he pulled his hand out of her grasp, taking the railing.
“I’m fine. I have this whole property memorized. It was part of my job,” he said.
She made some faint response, noting that he did seem to move easily up her stairs and inside the door, as if he could see.
Why did it make her heart constrict in an uncomfortable way to think he knew her space so well? That he had committed something about her to memory? It didn’t mean anything, she reminded herself. He’d said as much.
It was just a side effect of his job.
“I’ll call another taxi,” she said.
“Thanks.”
Tessa was on her phone for several minutes, watching Jonas stalk around her shop like a caged tiger. She called one company, and then another, but no one could send a ride for at least an hour, if then.
The city was paralyzed by the storm. The taxis were starting to return to the garage for the night.
As she redialed, she watched Jonas lift one scented bar to his nose and turned his attention to her.
“This is new,” he said, and she blinked in amazement.
He paid that much attention to her products? Most of the time he had acted as if he couldn’t care less.
“Yes,” she answered, while seeking another taxi service.
She didn’t tell him what he had picked up was one of the soaps in her new Erotic Enhancements collection. That particular scent could intensify orgasm. Standing and watching him lift the soap to his nose, inhaling, made her skin warm. Her heart fluttered. From her brief experience in Jonas’s arms, he wouldn’t need any help giving intense orgasms.
“Tessa?” he interrupted her train of thought.
“Oh, what? Sorry,” she responded, shaking her attention away from Jonas and sex. Even when he was being unpleasant, she couldn’t stop picturing him naked.
“Any luck?”
“No, I’m sorry. We can keep trying, but the city is—”
She
