Let it Snow(The Hope Falls Series)

Chapter Seventeen


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Jake could see Tessa yawning out of the corner of his eye. He knew that the right thing to do, the gentlemanly thing to do, would be to take her home. But he didn’t want to. And if that made him a selfish prick, he decided he could live with that.

Tonight had been one of the best nights he could ever remember having. After Tessa had opened up to him on the way over, he’d made it his personal mission to make sure that she had a night where she could just be. So they’d ordered a pizza and played with Lucky, and now were now lounging on the couch, watching movies.

And as hard—literally and figuratively!—as it was to be near her and not touch her, kiss her, make love to her, tonight had reminded Jake of the other reason that he’d been so devastated when Tessa had disappeared from his life. He’d not only lost the girl he loved more than life itself, he’d lost his best friend too.

Tessa was hilarious and smart. She always called him on his shit. The optimistic way she looked at life was contagious.

“Oh my gosh,” Tessa said as another—loud—yawn escaped her. She lifted her hands over her head and moaned as she stretched like a cat. Her back arched, and with her hands raised, the hem of her shirt pulled up, revealing the fair skin on her stomach. Lowering her arms, she snuggled into the corner of the couch and tucked socked feet underneath her. “I can’t stop yawning.”

“Because you’re exhausted,” Jake said, pointing out the obvious.

A smile appeared on her face as her big blue eyes peeked up under dark lashes, looking over her shoulder at him. “Ya think?”

Damn, she was so cute. Jake wasn’t sure what he was going to do when she left again, but right now he was really enjoying the fact that she was here. In his condo. Beside him. And he knew that it would be all kinds of bad if he touched her the way he really wanted to, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t touch her at all.


“Come here,” he said as he grabbed a throw pillow that was beside him and placed it on his lap.

Her eyes widened, and for the first time tonight, she didn’t seem completely calm and relaxed. She probably had no idea what his intentions were. And to be honest, he wasn’t totally clear on them himself. Jake just knew he needed to touch her.

“Come here,” he repeated, patting the striped pillow that lay on his thigh.

Slowly, she pushed off the armrest where her head had been resting on the other side of the couch. Sitting up, she looked at him as her chest rose and fell rapidly. She nervously licked her lips.

Jake was sure as hell glad that he’d grabbed the pillow because his body’s reaction to the way that she was looking at him, her labored breathing, and the sensuous sight of her licking her lips would have been clearly visible if he hadn’t. He wasn’t sure what she was going to do. Of course, he knew if he wanted to, all it would take was reaching out and pulling her to him and she would be putty in his hands.

The day he’d found her passed out, the night he’d given her a ride home, earlier that morning in the driveway—all it would have taken any one of those times from Jake was one kiss and it would have been game, set, match.

But this was different. They weren’t face to face, mere inches away from each other. They weren’t even touching. Of course there was sexual tension between them—as always—but he wanted to see if she trusted him and herself enough to just be close to him.

His body was strung tight with need, but that’s not what this was about. This was just about needing to be close to her. His arousal was going to have to take a back seat for once. It wasn’t happy about it, but Jake needed…connection.

Taking a deep breath, Tessa lowered onto the pillow and laid her hand gently on his thigh. Jake let out a breath of relief as he began running his fingers through her soft hair.

She moaned at his touch and his hard-on grew harder than he’d even thought was humanly possible. Looking down at her as the light from the television flickered off her face, he was mesmerized by her beauty. His eyes roamed over her delicate jawline, the sexy slope of her neck, her gorgeous profile. He felt overwhelmed. Not just with how badly he wanted the girl lying on his lap, but also with how much he loved her.

“That feels so good,” Tessa said, her voice sounding sleepy as her eyes grew heavier.

“Does it?” Jake heard the need in his voice.

“Hmm mmm,” she murmured her confirmation.

Knowing he might not like the answer but having to ask anyway, he said, “So what’s the plan? Did Lauren give you any idea how long the sale might take?”

“Nope, she didn’t. There are still a couple of big repairs to be done. And caring for Gran the last few years ate up my savings so I’m gonna stay here and work part-time until I make enough money to finish the house and put it up for sale.” Tessa’s voice was growing quieter and her languid blinks were becoming longer and longer.

“Where are you working?” Jake asked. She’d only been in town a few days, and he hadn’t heard about her getting any job.

“Um, I asked Mary if she had any jobs that she could throw my way,” Tessa said as she shut her eyes and didn’t open them again.

Oh, that made sense. She’d worked for Say Cheese in high school and Jake knew how much she’d loved it then.

“And I was going to see if I could pick up shifts at Sue Ann’s, but today Levi said that he could use some help at the bar so I’m gonna work a few nights a week at JT’s…” Her voice trailed off and her breathing slowed.

Jake continued raking his fingers through her hair, mainly because he couldn’t help himself. As much as he didn’t like the idea of Tessa working in a bar, he did like the fact that she’d said she was going to work a few nights a week. It indicated that she planned on being here for weeks—plural!

Eric’s words kept echoing in Jake’s head. “You need to talk to her… She was a kid too when she lost a baby she didn’t even know she was carrying.”

Maybe his brother was right. Now that Jake knew that she was going to be sticking around for a little while at least, he should just talk to her. See where her head was at now.

Jake knew that his brother was definitely right on one count—he needed to deal with this. The only thing he was worried about was making sure that things didn’t get physical between them. Because if that happened, he didn’t think he could handle it when she left. Again.