Remember Jamie Baker (Jamie Baker #3)(53)

That sounded like heaven on Earth. Ryan knew I’d want to do that without having to ask. “There’s a kettle on the stove, and tea leaves in one of the containers on the counter. If you start the tea, I’ll get the fire going.”

I answered him with a smile and went to work filling the kettle with water. Waiting for it to boil, I watched Ryan through the large windows as he threw logs into a built-in fire pit on the back deck and set it ablaze. He hummed to himself as he worked as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

He came back inside as I was pouring the tea and pulled a blanket from a large chest in the family room. “You’ll want this,” he said, letting his gaze sweep the length of my body. “It gets pretty cold up here once the sun goes down.”

“I’d have dressed appropriately, if you’d warned me.” I followed his eyes to my bare legs, and laughed. “Or if I’d known how distracting a short skirt could really be.”

Ryan wasn’t ashamed to be caught ogling. He stood there and let his eyes act like an elevator, slowly moving up and down the length of my body. I was suddenly very glad my supernose didn’t have the power to smell hormones. Also, that I couldn’t read minds, because whatever he was thinking would have made me blush. I had no doubt.

Ryan draped the blanket over a chair and, without warning, eliminated the distance between us. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply as he rested his forehead against mine. I’m pretty sure the action was an attempt to restrain himself from throwing me down onto the living room sofa, but it was still sexy enough that I shivered in his embrace. At my shudder, he slipped his arms around my waist, pressing our bodies together dangerously. “I’ve missed you, Sunshine.”

His voice was so thick with desire it made me tremble all over again. “U-um. I think the tea is ready.”

Swallowing hard, I pulled back, expecting Ryan to release me. He didn’t let go; he dragged his lips down the side of my neck, brushing my skin the entire way. Was he trying to kill me? With a soft kiss to the crook of my neck, he said, “Kiss me, Jamie.”

“I-I r-really d-don’t think that’s a good idea.” I could barely speak, or think, or breathe. It was taking everything in me to resist him.

Another soft kiss. “That’s because you don’t remember what it’s like.” His lips moved to my ear, making me shiver from the tickling sensation of his warm breath on my skin. “Kiss me. Superkiss me. Remember this.”

He brought his mouth to mine and let his lips hover just out of reach, waiting for me to make the decision. I cracked. Utterly and completely. I lifted myself onto my toes to close the distance between our lips. Then, I’m not even sure how it happened, but my hands were on his stomach, making their way up his finely toned chest and over his broad shoulders. Even through the material of his shirt, I felt this strange energy pass between us, as if we were sharing some sort of magnetic energy.

When I gasped, Ryan smiled against my mouth. He wrapped me in his arms and finally captured me in a deep kiss that words could never do justice. It was electric. Mind-blowing.

My arms curled around the back of his neck, and I exploded. Overwhelmed with something more than heat, I lost all self-restraint. Clawing my fingers into his thick, silky hair, I jumped up and wrapped my legs around his waist and took control of the kiss. I couldn’t get enough of him.

My loss of control only encouraged Ryan. He whirled us around and pressed my back against the refrigerator, pinning me against the door and leaning into me in a way that set my body on fire. It was the hottest kiss I’d ever experienced. It was probably the hottest kiss anybody had ever experienced. I never wanted it to end, but Ryan broke his mouth away from mine and rasped, “Rein it in, babe, or we’re going to have to stop.”

I had no idea what he was talking about.

Ryan immediately went back to kissing me, and I would have let him keep doing it forever, except that he started to shake. I pulled my face back and noticed all of his hair was sticking straight up on his head. That’s when I came down from my hormone high and realized what I’d just done.

With a startled curse, I dropped my feet to the floor and tried to push Ryan away. Ryan clamped his arms tightly around me, holding me to him. I could have broken his grip, but I’d have had to use superstrength and, to be honest, I wasn’t really all that excited to move.

We stood there, staring into each other’s eyes, as we worked to catch our breaths. I was in shock. I couldn’t believe what just happened, but Ryan didn’t seem surprised. He beamed at me as if he were made of sunlight. “You are still my Jamie,” he whispered as he pushed my hair behind my ears. “Your head may not remember, but your heart does.”

“I—” I shut my mouth because I had no idea what to say to that.

While I was still trying to make sense of what just happened, Ryan laughed and said, “Déjà vu.”

I refused to ask, but my eyes betrayed my curiosity. “You wanted the story of how we fell in love.” Ryan gestured to our intimate position and said, “We basically just reenacted the first time we met.”

Uh… Considering I’d just attacked the guy, I doubted that. “You’re not serious.”

He slipped his hands beneath my T-shirt and started rubbing them across my lower back as he nodded. I sucked in a breath and shivered again. His touch undid me. I couldn’t think straight, couldn’t focus. I was barely able to comprehend his words as he fell into the story.