She swallowed. ‘Of course I am. I was just curious. Is there something wrong with the bed frame?’ The intense look in his eyes was making her jumpy again.
He shrugged. ‘No, I’m just moving it in here. I’ve got plans for the other room.’
‘Well, that solves that mystery.’ She brushed her hands down her dress. ‘You’re obviously busy. I’ll leave you to it.’
‘Hey, hold up.’ He walked up to her, blocking her exit. ‘You’re not still pissed about what happened by the pool, are you?’
Of course she was. ‘Of course I’m not.’
‘You are, aren’t you?’ That slow, infuriating grin spread across his face, shooting those irresistible dimples back into his cheeks. ‘You’ve got that fired-up look in your eyes.’ He flicked a finger at her ponytail. ‘Suits you—goes with the hair.’
He was laughing at her again. How infuriating. Jessie put on her best queen-to-serf voice. ‘Thank you very much. I don’t think I’ve ever had such an original compliment.’
She tried to walk past him, but he simply reached out and took hold of her upper arm. The warmth of his hard, callused fingers was such a surprise, she yelped.
‘Don’t panic.’ Despite the quiet tone, he continued to hold her in place.
‘Let go!’ Her voice came out in a breathless rush. He stood so close she could smell him, the musty, but not unpleasant, scent of fresh male sweat.
He dropped his hand, then held the palm up as if in surrender. ‘No harm done. I just figured I should say sorry, for earlier.’
The contrite words would be more convincing, Jessie thought, if his eyes weren’t dancing with amusement.
She took a quick step back. She really, really wanted to wipe that smile off his face. Tell him he was an overbearing oaf who needed to learn some manners. But she couldn’t. His words had reminded her of her promise to Ali.
She was supposed to be apologising to him, not the other way round. Because she couldn’t bear to see him laugh at her when she did it, she looked down at her feet. ‘That’s okay. I guess I was quite rude to you, too.’
She mumbled the words, but when he didn’t say anything she was forced to look up. He wasn’t smiling any more. In fact, he looked astonished. ‘Are you kidding me?’
‘No, I’m not.’ Jessie bit back her annoyance. Why was he making this so difficult? ‘My sister pointed out that, since you were invited here, you were the wronged party, so I should apologise to you.’
‘Is that right?’ He tucked his hands into the back pockets of his jeans; his lips twitched. ‘So it was big sis that put you up to this. She make you come over with the linens, too?’
Irritated by his perception, Jessie kept her tone even. ‘I’m trying to give you a simple and sincere apology. What exactly is your problem?’
‘Simple, yeah. Sincere?’ He considered the question for a moment. ‘I don’t think so.’
Jessie glared at him. Sod diplomacy. ‘You really are insufferable, aren’t you?’
He laughed then, the gesture making his handsome face relax in a way that was ludicrously appealing. Jessie glared at him some more, determined not to notice it.
‘Like I said, Red. You’re cute when you’re mad.’
; Jessie’s belly tightened at the hot look in his eyes and the gruff way he said the new nickname. ‘I’m leaving. I did my best,’ she said as she stalked over to the door.
She could hear him laughing harder as she wrenched the door open. She was just about to slam it behind her, though, when she remembered something else.
Turning back, she was dismayed to see he’d followed her. Gripping the door, he leaned against it and grinned down at her. ‘What is it, Red? You got something else to apologise for?’
Ignoring the teasing glint in his eyes, Jessie stepped back onto the landing. ‘Believe me, that’s the only apology you’ll ever get out of me.’
‘Now that’s a shame, when you’re so good at it.’
For a deadbeat, he certainly had an answer for everything.
‘My sister wanted to invite you to dinner this evening at the house.’ She spat the words out. ‘About seven o’clock. I’m sure you can find your own way there.’