Page 24 of Rocky Mountain Home

There was another knock, obviously just for show because the door swung open an instant later and Ginny nonchalantly stepped into the room, an oversized plate in her hands.

“I wondered where you little turkeys had taken off to. I told you we could drop off some dessert, but that’s it.” She eyed Jesse appreciatively before passing over the plate. “Hello, again.”

He took the offering before offering Dare a rueful smile. “It’s gotten a little chilly in here. I’ll just go grab a shirt.”

“Don’t bother on my account,” Ginny deadpanned.

Dare wondered that he didn’t take off and run for the hills at the lack of privacy caused by the revolving door on her house.

He didn’t seem upset, though. Just walked to the table by the front door to dig around in a bag she hadn’t noticed he’d left there. He found a dark T-shirt, pulling it over his head then tucking it into the jeans clinging to his lean hips while she watched with far too much fascination. Not even the distinct sound of Disney theme music starting up in the background could interrupt the sexual buzz jolting through her.

She wasn’t sure how it happened, but she ended up being corralled onto the couch with Jesse on one side of her, and a little girl on either side of them. More specifically, Sasha had settled beside Jesse and was intently watching the opening credits of the movie while Emma leaned past her to stare at him with wide eyes.

Ginny took the open seat in the recliner, peering over the top of her glasses. “I guess I need to mention to Caleb that the furnace in here needs adjusting. Since you’re having trouble regulating the heat and all.”

“Shut up,” Dare muttered with affection.

Her cheeks had to be beet red, and she wasn’t usually a blusher.

Then again, she rarely had the opposite sex over, and even less often got caught in compromising situations. She’d had a steady boyfriend in their final year of high school before he’d gone away to college, but if anything she’d spent more time hanging out with the Stone family than in a long-term boy-girl relationship.

It seemed whatever she’d been lacking before, she had it now. The long-term business.

She glanced across the room at her friend, trying to put a world of meaning into her pleading expression.

Ginny blinked innocently, exaggeratedly so.

“You will regret this,” Dare warned.

“Nice shirt,” Ginny returned. “Is that the latest style?”

Dare glanced down to discover she’d buttoned Jesse’s top up so frantically she’d missed a notch, and the shirt front was out of kilter left and right.

She let her head fall back on the couch with a thud, attempting to ignore Jesse’s firm thigh muscles pressed against her leg and the echo of lust ricocheting through her veins.

The wolves howling on the screen had nothing on the howling going on inside her belly.

Dare dragged her head back to vertical so she could glare at Ginny again, extra hard. The look usually reserved for moments of I will never forgive you for teasing me like this…

Her friend let out a long-suffering sigh before winking, then leaping to her feet. “My goodness, you guys, I totally forgot that Auntie Dare’s out of popcorn. I simply can’t watch a movie without popcorn.”

Sasha jumped off the couch, gaze pinned to the screen. “I can get some.”

Dare moved quickly and turned her niece to face her, placing her hands on Sasha’s shoulders to give a firm squeeze. “You are such an amazing girl, but you know what? You brought cake for me and Jesse, and I don’t think we can eat cake and popcorn, so you and Emma go ahead with Auntie Ginny, and enjoy your movie.”

Sasha looked as if she was about to argue, but Ginny saved the day, adding in a low whisper aimed straight at the girls. “Maybe they can’t eat cake and popcorn, but I’m pretty sure we could sneak another piece.”

Ginny pressed a finger against her lips as if she hadn’t said that in public, and miraculously little people were rising off the couch, nabbing the DVD and heading for the door.

Which meant her and Jesse’s plans were back on track.

Dare wasn’t sure if this was good news, or terrible news, but at this point she was pretty much willing to go where the adventure took her.

The girls were out the door and across the space between the houses, their arms held out like fairy wings as Sasha howled loud enough for two.

Ginny stepped to the threshold. “Don’t stay up too late, kids.”

Dare miraculously waited until her friend was completely outside before sliding the door shut. Jesse would have slammed it on Ginny’s heels, but then she wasn’t his best friend. Especially not after her horrible timing dropping in.