With Bo's boots on again, Julie tackled the stairs. She needed to map out the whole house so Bo could memorize the step count. It wasn't a foolproof way, but it would give Bo the freedom and confidence to move around more.
Making it halfway down the steps, she heard Clay's deep voice coming from the kitchen and her brain turned to mush. She really needed to get over this infatuation she had going on and do her damn job. Since high school, she had thought of Clay Marshall on and off, even to the point of measuring guys she dated against him. And every single one of them came up short.
Once, she had talked to her sister about Clay, but didn't have the courage to do anything about it. Jessica had told her to go for it. That he would be crazy not to be interested, but she was her sister. She had to say that. They were so different on so many levels, total opposites, and yet he was the only guy she'd truly crushed on during her high school days. Obviously she hadn't matured in adulthood, and was still crushing.
Cursing herself, she realized she had lost count. "Focus," she whispered to herself. Turning, she used the pencil as a pointer to count from the top step down, then turned back quickly. Her body moved faster than her booted feet and she fell down the rest of the steps.
Once her body came to a crashing halt, she squeezed her eyes shut, praying that no one had heard her embarrassing tumble. When she heard running, she moaned.
"Julie?" Clay's concerned voice yelled. "Son of a bitch."
Slowly, she opened her eyes just as Clay bent down, his large hands clasping her arms. Her body shivered at his touch. "I'm okay," she lied. She was far from okay; she felt like an idiot and knew her face was blotchy red from embarrassment.
"Are you sure?" He eased her up to a sitting position, his eyes searching her body before landing on her booted feet, or at least her booted foot. The other boot had flown off during her Funniest Home Video moment down the steps.
"Yes, I'm fine." She sighed as she put her hands on his biceps and he lifted her up. She felt his muscles flex under her hands as her legs wobbled underneath her, making her sway toward him.
"No, you're not fine." His voice turned harsh with concern. He eased her down to sit on the steps. Frowning, he let go of her to pull off Bo's other boot. "I don't want to see you in these again."
"But I have to get an accurate count of steps." Julie grabbed for the boot, but he tossed it out of her reach.
"Then use me." His face was inches from hers.
Oh, what she wouldn't give for those words to mean exactly what she wanted them to mean. "Yes, please" was what she wanted to whisper against the full lips she couldn't stop staring at. Her eyes flickered up to his, and to her surprise he was staring at her mouth. It was as if time stopped. His gaze rose to meet hers before going back to her lips, his head tilting slightly as his body shifted closer to her, leaning in until only a whisper could pass between them. This was it… what she had dreamed about…
"What in the fuck was that?" Bo's voice roared down the steps.
Julie jumped with wide guilty eyes. Clay slammed his shut in frustration, growling.
"Hey!" Bo yelled again. "Can someone please answer the blind guy? Do I need to take cover or what? Sounded like a damn bomb went off."
Yeah, that was a mood breaker and Julie's embarrassment came back full force.
"Julie had a little fall," Clay called, backing away, but staying close enough to help her stand. "You sure you're okay?"
"Holy shit!" Bo called out. "She okay? That sounded like—"
"I'm fine!" Julie yelled, wanting to shove one of Bo's boots up his ass. "I'm fine," she repeated to Clay with a sigh.
Clay eyed her before running his eyes over her body one more time. If he didn't stop doing that, Julie was going to be a puddle of goo at his feet, and this time it wouldn't be from falling down the damn stairs.
He leaned toward her and she thought, hoped, he was going to try to kiss her again, but instead he detoured to reach behind her on the steps and hand her the pad of paper she had dropped, along with the pencil at her feet. She took it with shaking hands.
"Tell me what to do?" Clay's voice was low, but as always held the authority that she seemingly was attracted to. Who would have thought? Definitely not her.
Thoughts of what she really wanted to tell him to do danced through her mind until he said her name. "Ah, I just need you to count the steps to the front door from here and then from here to the kitchen. Actually, anywhere he will go from the starting point here at the steps."
Clay nodded, backed up to the last step, then headed toward the front door. He paced off all the distances, telling her the numbers, which she wrote down. They finished back at the steps. "Thank you." Julie wrote down the last set of numbers.