Jake (Downton Cowboys #2) - Miley Maine Page 0,9

I don’t know how long, I remember what romance feels like.

It feels amazing.

It carries me in a bubble away from the reality of how lonely I really am, bringing me into her warm space. Her presence. Her Arabian jasmine scent.

Taking another sip of coffee, I admire the view. But in my head, I’m grateful for fate, or destiny, or whatever it is that brought this Belle my way.

She gulps down the rest of her coffee in one go just as the last glow of the sun disappears.

“It’s getting’ kinda chilly.” She rubs her shin with her fingers before letting her legs dangle back down.

As her feet touch the floor, mine step back into reality once again.

“Want a jacket?”

“No, no.” She shakes her head. “Actually, I think I’d better go.”

“Why don’t you stay for dinner?”

“Wha—” She briefly raises her eyebrows. “I really shouldn’t. My folks will probably be waiting for me. I didn’t tell them I’d be eating out. Thank you, though.”

Before I have the chance to insist, and God knows I want to, she stands up in readiness.

“Thank you.” I shake my head slightly, my eyes still on hers.

As she places down the mug, I stand up in preparation to wave her off. My body, however, refuses to cooperate as I’m hit by a sudden wave of dizziness that leaves me swaying.

“Oh my God!” I hear her exclamation from a zoned-out space.

In an instant, she’s at my side, her shoulder under my arm and her hand pressed up against my back. Her other arm is at the front, bent at a degree that allows for me to lean on it like a crutch.

“Ah—” I want to say something, but I struggle enough as it is to maintain an upright stance.

“Okay, let’s just take it slow,” she whispers, unhurriedly putting one foot in front of the other as she leads me back inside. “Key?”

“Front… pocket.” I swallow and my mouth feels dry.

Her hands work quickly until her fingertips locate the keychain in my pocket. She dips two fingers in and swiftly pulls it up.

If I wasn’t sorely losing to gravity right now, I would be having a whole other set of sensations.

Still supporting me with her right side, Belle steadily uses her left hand to maneuver the key into the lock and open the door. She helps me in, assisting with every step until we make it halfway into the living room.

“How dizzy are you?” she asks with a focused voice.

“It’s getting better, I think.”

“Upstairs?”

“Yeah, I can—” I lean forward, and her hand grips my shoulder.

“Hold your horses.” She tugs me in closer as we ascend every stair, one step at a time.

The space around me begins to settle and I now see the stairway for what it is. Her grip on me, however, remains sturdy and I must admit that I like the proximity.

The smell of her hair invades my nostrils, causing me to swallow hard as my heart beats faster.

“Which way?” she asks just three steps before we reach the top.

“Door to the right.”

We arrive at my room, and maintaining her supportive stance, she leans just a few inches and opens the door. We step inside and I truly do feel better.

As we head over toward my bed, she senses that I can walk on my own and loosens up her grip a little, allowing for more space. I walk slowly, not wanting to embarrass myself in front of her any more.

She, on the other hand, has nothing on her face but a sincere expression of pure assistance and duty, which makes me wonder if people like this still exist in this world.

“C’mon, sit down,” she whispers again, her voice a contour of a melody that rings between the walls of my solitude.

Doing as she says, I let my weight drop onto the edge of the bed, prompting the mattress to momentarily grumble.

Without saying a word, she does the last thing I thought a woman I just met would ever do for me.

Instinctively and unexpectedly, she kneels down and proceeds to remove the boots from my feet.

And my heart stops.

I can’t remember a time when anyone I knew ever did anything like this.

My ribs suddenly feel too tight to contain the pounding of my heart in an intimate moment that takes me by a storm. The sight of her kneeling in front of me, doing that…

It’s sensual and I can’t think straight.

Without any thought and indulging an incredibly primal calling that emerges from the depths of my core, my