Real Men Knit(64)

As if sensing he was looking at her, she turned to him, her face nearer to his than he had expected, or maybe he got closer to her. He thought she might move back, but no, she just smiled. “What’s got you so interested over here?”

He shook his head. “What?” he asked. “I, um, was just thinking about something.” Then he nudged his head at her yarn ball. “You’re really fast at that, huh?” Fast at that? How is that any sort of conversation?

Kerry’s brows drew together and she shrugged. “I guess. It’s just something to do. Better than sitting here in silence doing nothing.”

Doing nothing? What was that about? What could she be hinting at? “It wasn’t like I was doing nothing,” Jesse said, holding up his now completed hat.

Kerry’s smile was huge and bright. She took the hat from his hands and held it up to the light as if she was holding some sort of winning trophy instead of a small knitted cap. “It’s so cute,” she exclaimed.

She was so cute. Too damn cute.

Jesse reached out and wrapped his hand around the hat, closing it into a fist. “It’s okay. It’s just a hat; it’s not that big a deal. Nothing to get all excited about.”

She stared at him. Challenging him with her eyes. Or maybe he was just searching. Hoping for a challenge or, better yet, an invitation.

Then he caught it. The moment her lips pulsed, opened slightly and closed again. She wanted to say something. Had that look like she wanted to say it badly. But she didn’t; he saw the moment when she shut down and retreated. She leaned back farther against the wall. Jesse looked at her and she swallowed. “You know I hope you didn’t take what Sister Purnell and the rest of her crew were saying today to heart,” she suddenly said. She swallowed again. This time her hip wasn’t touching his. No, there was now about a half-inch gap between the two of them.

That half inch might as well have been three feet, or maybe a mile, the way it felt in the moment. He cleared his throat. Best to be nonchalant right now. “Of course I didn’t—why would I? It’s not like they weren’t saying anything I didn’t already know.”

She whirled on him. “What do you mean something you didn’t already know?”

“What are you getting all riled up for?” Jeez, that was unexpected. “I’m just talking about the fact that they are right and it’s best that you move on from here as quickly as possible. Get on with your life. Everybody knows that. There are better things for you out in the world than this place. More opportunities, better jobs, better people, better men.” The final word hung in the air and hung so long that he had to turn back away from her and look forward again.

“I’m so fucking tired of this.”

Jesse turned back to her. He was shocked. Kerry wasn’t one to curse, or to show her emotions so clearly either. He stared at her. Her head was back and she was breathing heavily, chest rising and falling as if there was a beast about to pop out at any moment. She turned his way and pierced him with her sharp gaze. “I’m sick of everyone thinking they know what’s good for me. Of thinking they even know me, for that matter. I thought I made it clear before that I’d be making the decisions when it came to my life and when, where and who I move on to. I don’t need my mother, the women of the neighborhood or even you and your brothers telling me what’s good for me, Jesse Strong. If you haven’t noticed, I’m a grown-assed woman. Now, if the problem is me being here, and you truly don’t want me here, just say so. I do have other places I can go.”

She started to get up, forgetting the yarn ball that was still coiled in her lap. With her movement, the ball rolled and started to unravel as it headed for the stairs. She and Jesse both dived for it in unison, the words for the moment forgotten, all eyes on the yarn. Jesse made it first, grabbing the ball as he flipped over and held it up, grinning at her. “Got it!”

But she was coming toward him; down and over him she went. Her body over his. Soft and lush with a sweet oomph! She hit him hard and he went instantly just as hard. Her glasses went askew, and he laughed as she reached up and righted them. “This is not the first time you’ve knocked me down up here, you know.”

“Yeah, but this time it wasn’t my fault.”

She nodded. “True. I’ll give you that one, but only partly.” She reached up and tweaked his nose. “If you hadn’t pissed me off, I wouldn’t have dropped my yarn in the first place.” He nipped at her finger.

“That’s on you, miss. I didn’t do anything wrong. Blame the Old Knitting Gang.”

She looked up at him more seriously now, and he realized that they were actually having this conversation with him on his back and her on top of him. “I blame you,” she said, “for actually taking their words to heart and echoing them back to me.”

He swallowed, feeling himself getting even harder now that he realized the extent of their predicament. “Maybe we should have this conversation . . . sitting up.”

“Maybe I’m fine right where I am.”

He looked up at the ceiling, then back at her. She was over him, her face, her lips, her everything impossibly close.

“Are you talking about fine staying in this house, or fine where you are right now, this moment?”

Kerry smiled. That damned sunshine smile, the one that never failed to open his heart and make his brain all muddled. Sure, he knew it was nighttime, but there was a part of him you couldn’t convince it was ten past dawn. Surely the sun was rising, and the day was clear. “Right now, maybe I’m talking about all of it,” she said as she leaned down and brushed her lips against his.