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Morgan’s heart swelled with emotion as he looked into her eyes. ‘We sure will be, no matter what.’ He wanted to hold her, kiss her and take her back to his place.
‘I better hit the sack.’ Jess smiled up at him, her eyes shining like stars in the silvery moonlight. ‘Nighty night, and again, thank you for everything.’ She rose up on her tippy toes and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek before turning and disappearing into the cottage.
‘Night, sweet Jess,’ Morgan uttered after her.
He stood there for a long moment, feeling the ghost of her lips on his cheek, his heart heavy with longing and his mind swirling. He knew he couldn’t keep denying his feelings for her. She was everything to him, and he wanted nothing more than to hold her close and never let her go.
* * *
Sometime in the middle of the night, a loud rapping at his front door woke Morgan with a start. He jumped from the bed, rushing down the staircase and towards his visitor with his heart pounding like a boxer’s fists.
‘Oh, hey, Jess.’ He rubbed his face in a bid to wake fully. ‘Are you okay?’
Wide-eyed, she shook her head. ‘No, nope, not at all.’
And that’s when he caught sight of the cricket bat dangling from her left hand. Fuelled by a shot of adrenaline, he grabbed her wrist and dragged her into the safety of the homestead, looking left to right as he did for whoever, or whatever, had unsettled her. ‘What’s happened?’ he asked, turning to her.
She was trembling like a leaf. ‘There’s a massive snake in my bedroom.’
‘Ah, I see.’ He breathed a sigh of relief. ‘I gather that’s why you’re holding a bat?’
‘Uh-huh.’ She raised the weapon as if she was about to hit a six. ‘And I’m damn well going to use it if I have to.’
‘Let me lay it out straight for you.’ He placed both his hands on her shoulders and looked her square in the eye. ‘Right now, you have two choices.’
‘Okay.’ She brought the bat end back to the floor and eyed him seriously. ‘What are they?’
‘I can go over there now, and try and find it, or you can crash here, and I can sort it out in the morning.’ He dropped his hands to his sides and shoved them into his boxer pockets.
‘Oh no, I’ll stay here, if that’s okay.’ She seemed to let this sink in while shaking her head a little. ‘Besides, I don’t want you traipsing around in the dark.’ She frowned. ‘Because what if you get bitten?’
‘Well …’ Trying to keep from chuckling at her stunned expression, Morgan drew in an overexaggerated breath. ‘I’ll either die a slow painful death, or very quickly in your arms.’
Her seriousness gave way to a sassy grin. ‘Stop it,’ she said, backing her statement up with a playful slap to his arm.
‘Ouch.’ He pretended it hurt.
‘Whatever.’ She rolled her eyes, laughing.
Now he felt safe to laugh at her, and with her. He couldn’t help but feel relieved that Jess was only there because of a snake and not some other emergency.
‘Come on, follow me.’ Crisis averted, he did his best to ignore the way her pyjamas clung to her curves. ‘You can crash in the spare room, and we’ll sort everything out in the morning.’
‘Thank you, Morgan, you’re my hero.’ She grinned playfully. ‘No, seriously, thank you, because there was no way in hell that I would’ve slept another wink if I had to go back to the cottage.’
‘Don’t worry, I got you.’ He tossed a heroic arm over her shoulder, his expression a picture of mirth. ‘You’re safe here with me.’
CHAPTER
10
Jess awoke with a start, knowing she’d been dreaming, but other than feeling heartsick, she had no idea what it had been about. Blinking sleep-heavy eyes into the golden glow of sunshine pouring in between the parted curtains, she glanced around the unfamiliar room, realising she wasn’t in her bedroom at the cottage but in one of the spare rooms at the homestead. Then she recalled the terrifying encounter with a coiled snake at the foot of her bed, somehow becoming the proprietor of a cricket bat, and hang on – mentally reversing,beep beep beep, reversing a little more – oh yes, the ride home in the Troopy with Morgan after a boozy dinner at the pub, rewinding still, oh lord help her, what had she said to him in her Dutch-courage state? With the resurfacing emotions that she’d been hiding from him, and everyone else for that matter, including herself, she could only imagine.
Oh crap, Jess, what have you done?
Trying to sit up but with shooting pain making her think better of it, she rolled over to her side, away from the bright sunlight, and hugged a pillow. Her eyes felt as though they had sand in them, and her mouth was a sticky, disgusting mess. Oh god, her hangover was one from the depths of hell. Not wanting to move a muscle for fear of the headache it might trigger, she took an extraordinarily long time to land somewhat steadily in the present moment. And talk about dehydration – she’d almost kill for some water. Knowing it was going to hurt even more when she stood up, she chose to lie there a little longer, groggy and aching. The oppressive feeling was like being trapped in a cocoon, and even the slightest twitch or breath sent waves of agony through her head and down her neck and shoulders. Every muscle and joint felt as if it were on fire, and the pounding in her skull felt as if her brain was trying to force its way out. Considering the way she’d been thinking of late, she couldn’t blame her mind for wanting to escape her. But she refused to feel sorry for herself. This was self-inflicted. Consequently, she’d just have to put her big girl knickers on and find a way to deal with it.
But as soon as she rose to her feet, the impending headache pounded triumphantly behind her eyes. Squeezing them shut, she pinched the bridge of her nose, flopped backwards and relaxed into the plush mattress. Right now, there was nothing at all she wanted to do other than go back to sleep and return to the peace and serenity of dreamy oblivion.
