Jeannie Watt – The Bull Rider's Plan (страница 9)
She eased her way around the only car in front of them for miles and then glanced back at Jess. His mouth, which she had to admit was a very fine mouth, was slightly open—and, a split second later, so were his eyes.
Em gave a start as her gaze slammed into his electric one.
“The road.” The words were clipped. Not very friendly.
She jerked her attention to the pavement—where’d it’d been one short second before she’d given in to temptation and went for that third look.
“I was just checking on you,” she said in a huffy voice.
“To see if I was breathing?”
“To see why you looked different.”
He frowned at her. “Different how?”
She kept both hands on the wheel, squeezing it more tightly than she needed to. “I don’t know. That was why I was looking.”
He sat up straighter.
“You can sleep, you know. It wasn’t as if I was staring dreamily at you rather than minding the road. You just happened to catch me midglance.”
“Ah.”
“And they were fast glances.” She demonstrated, exaggerating the speed of her head turns. “Like that.”
“Stop.”
She smiled a little and relaxed now that they were safely back in their roles, although she couldn’t say why the word safe had popped into her brain. “I think it’s because you’ve lost weight.”
She sensed that he’d gone still and risked his wrath by glancing over at him yet again. He wore a perplexed expression. “I don’t recall ever being particularly heavy.”
“In your face. You’ve lost the baby fat.”
He muttered something that sounded like a plea to a higher power, then slumped back into his seat. “I don’t know if I can sleep if you’re looking at me.”
“I won’t look. Promise.”
He let out a breath. Em fought with herself, then glanced over. His eyes were still open.
“That was a trap,” she said as she focused on the road.
“That was a test.”
“I guess you’re going to have to get used to me staring at you when you sleep if you’re going to take advantage of having another driver along.”
He let out a long breath and closed his eyes once again—Em knew because she looked. “Just...keep it between the lines, okay?”
“I will,” she said in a resigned voice. “And maybe, for once, you can have some faith in me.”
Have some faith in her.
When didn’t he have faith in her?
Like...never.
“Would music bother you?”
Jess kept his eyes closed and readjusted his arms over his chest as he said, “Not if it’s low.”
“Low it will be.”
A second later the last CD he’d been listening to came on and Em turned the volume down. He shifted in his seat yet again and did his best to lose himself in the music and not think about his driver. Impossible. Not when that floral fragrance filled the cab—and not in a bad way. Like Em, it was light and joyful. Em was usually happy—making the best of whatever situation she was in. Scrapping her way through life. True, she’d hit a couple of rough patches recently, but she soldiered on.
So why did she think that he didn’t have faith in her?
It wasn’t a lack of faith. That wasn’t why they, meaning he and Len, hadn’t let her pal along with them. It’d been sheer protectiveness.
That and the fact that she’d driven them crazy when she’d been younger, and the perception of the bothersome tagalong sister persisted.
Huh.
He fought the urge to open his eyes and study her, to see how she’d changed. Because she had. He’d noticed in the bar that she’d grown into her mouth and, what had once been almost comically oversize in her delicate face, was now perfect—nicely shaped, wide, but not too wide. Full. Kissable.
Kissable?
He shifted in his seat, hoped Em thought it was so that he could get more comfortable. Was kissable a word to use in regards to his best friend’s sister?
He cracked open an eyelid and thanked heaven that Em was concentrating on the road, as she was supposed to be. Her chin was slightly lifted, her eyes focused straight ahead, giving him an excellent view of her profile, lips and all. Even as he tried to tell himself that a mouth was a mouth and Em’s mouth was no more kissable than any other woman’s, his body stirred.
Oh, man.
This is Em. Len’s sister. Remember that.
So much for sleeping. Jess let out a breath and pushed up into a sitting position.
“Can’t sleep?” Em asked, not looking at him.
“Too much adrenaline.”
“Huh. I used to totally crash when I was done with a barrel run.”
And he usually crashed after a bull ride, if he didn’t have to drive several hundred miles to the next rodeo. Adrenaline had never been a problem before—and it wasn’t the problem now.
What business did he have thinking salacious thoughts about Em?
Get a grip. You didn’t go anywhere near salacious. You just finally noticed that she was a woman, not a kid.
And again he was lying to himself. He’d noticed a long time ago that she was a woman.
She was, however, off-limits. She’d always been off-limits and he’d never allowed himself to think of her in any other way. And now she had issues to deal with and the last thing she needed was the guy she trusted, the guy she was depending on to help her straighten out her life, throwing yet another monkey wrench into the mix.
Jess opened the burger bag. “You didn’t eat.”
“Not really hungry.”
“Yet you bought yourself a burger.”
“I’ll eat it later.”
“When it’s cold?”
“Look who’s talking. That thing you’re about to bite into isn’t exactly steaming.”
“I don’t mind cold burgers. I eat them a lot on the job. I’d buy burgers at night before I headed back to the motel, and pack them for my lunch the next day.”
Em wrinkled her nose, but again did not look at him. He found himself wanting her to look at him—just a quick look so that he could assure himself that he was back in control. That he didn’t really feel anything but brotherly affection for her. It was Em, for Pete’s sake.
“What exactly do you do? I know it has to do with construction, but...what is your job?”
“I travel around the state—well, a lot of states, really—putting up steel-framed buildings.”
“You put them up?”
“I oversee the crew.” And if bull riding didn’t work out, he’d try to get his job back.
“Ah. So you were the boss. You should have been good at that.”