Freeze (The Jewel Project #4)

19.2|| Storm Brewing

Jessie officially hated high heels. Sure, they improved her posture, she noticed it in every reflective surface they passed, but the ache in the soles of her feet was so not worth it. It didn't help that they were a size too small.

"Could we change clothes first?" she asked Sam who was leading them towards the entrance hall.

He threw a glance over his shoulder, possibly noticed the grimace of pain on her face, and nodded. "Sure. We'll wait for you guys."

"Hallelujah!" Jimmy exclaimed. "Goodbye inhumanely tight pants."

Jessie giggled. She'd miss the pants. Jimmy was the kind of guy who was meant to wear tight stuff, but never did. Though to be honest, she didn't want other people to see as much of him as she did, or know him as well as her.

They went up the stairs and finally reached the drawing room in which they'd temporarily deposited all the luggage. The moment Jimmy closed the door behind them, she sat on a coffee table and took of the heels.

"All those sofas and chairs and you sit on the table," Jimmy said, an amused smile on his face.

She threw a shoe at him. "Shut up, it was closest to the door. I can't wait to get back in my normal clothes. Not to mention put some socks on."

"Tell me about it. Well, not the socks part." He threw his getup a disgusted look. "There's a reason people invented n larger pants."

She giggled and turned away from him, her fingers grasping at the lace of her corset, her eyes already searching for her rucksack in the pile. She identified it quickly and went for it, still pulling at the string. The damn thing should have loosened by now, but there was no improvement, just the need for more air. When she pulled harder and only felt the corset tightening, she realized what she'd done.

"Damn it," she said, jumping around, trying to reach the obvious knot.

"What's wrong?" Jimmy asked, confused.

She whipped around to face him, ready to curse medieval fashion to hell and back, but froze when she saw him. He was already wearing jeans again and the white shirt was completely unbuttoned. He'd changed with the speed and stealth of a ninja.

She pushed her jaw back up, deciding to ignore how hot he looked. "I have no idea how I managed to tie this thing, but now I can't untie it and it's driving me mad."

Jimmy didn't say anything, just tilted his head and stared at her. She quickly checked that everything was still in place, but the corset hadn't moved.

"Are you going to help or not?"

He snapped out of it and strode to her. "Okay, turn around and let's see what I can do."

She obeyed and lifted her hair so that he could see what he was doing.

"How on earth did you manage to tangle it up so bad? I might need to cut it off completely," he mumbled, pulling on the strings.

"I don't care, it's not mine. I just want this devilish device off and as far away from me as possible."

"Don't worry, one way or another, it's coming off. I might even manage to solve the problem without using anything sharp-- And here we go!"

Her lungs expanded and she could finally breathe again as the pressure on her rib cage loosened considerably. She breathed greedily, grateful when Jimmy started pulling at the sides of the corset, freeing her much faster.

He suddenly stopped, but his fingers lingered on her back. The gentle touch sent shivers down her spine and at that moment she knew they shouldn't go any further because it felt too nice, too intimate and her corset was three seconds from falling off.