He brushed his thumb over a smudge of yellow on the inside of her elbow. She trembled. He wished she hadn’t. Her natural responsiveness made her even more irresistible.
“Headless bodies,” she said.
Gabe raised an eyebrow at her unexpectedly gruesome answer. “I don’t follow.”
“Waide Supply donated large pieces of plywood and the school’s art teacher drew silly outlines. The kind you stick your head through for photo ops. A few of us have been painting them. She’s got one of a pirate captain to put near your ship.
“Speaking of which…” she said, sounding uncharacteristically shy.
It was endearing to see an alternate side of her, but made him realize he’d grown to genuinely like her brash confidence.
“Yes?” he prompted.
“How’s progress on your ship going?” she asked. “I’d be happy to round up some volunteers or even pitch in myself. Although, last time I offered, you questioned my construction skills. And I…didn’t want to be pushy.”
Her confession unbalanced him. Despite his previous complaints, it seemed inherently wrong that Arianne should try to be anything other than the strong, sexy, surprising woman she was.
“You are who you are.” It came out clumsily, not nearly encompassing how much he admired her.
“Is that your fatalistic way of saying I’m doomed to keep making the same mistakes?”
“No!” He cupped her chin, tilting her head up. “No, it’s my way of…” There were a half a dozen things he could tell her, except he couldn’t find the right words to articulate any of them.
Maybe he should try action instead.
His heart raced with the anticipation that had been escalating since she’d brushed her lips across his skin the other night. That whisper of a caress had teased at the corners of his imagination for the past two days, stoking an undeniable craving. Arianne’s lips parted, and her eyes closed as he bent toward her. For reasons known only to herself, Arianne seemed to believe in him, and he should probably repay that with a gentleman’s kiss, soft and slow-building. Respectful.
Instead, Gabe kissed her like the town bad boy he was. Hungry and hard, pressing his open mouth to hers and sinking into the warmth of her.
She clutched the front of his shirt. He wasn’t sure if she was trying to pull him even closer or holding on to him for balance. There was a bench behind them, and he moved them in that direction until the back of his legs bumped iron. Then he sat, tugging Arianne with him. She wasn’t quite in his lap, but so tantalizingly close that need roared through him.
Fragmented thoughts circled like distant birds high above, little more than indistinguishable
But Arianne tunneled her hands through his hair and slid her tongue against his, obliterating the paltry objections his rational mind posed. She was soft and hot in his arms, and he let his hand drop from her shoulder to her blouse, over the fullness of her breast.
Arianne groaned his name and arched into him.
Hell, sanity was overrated anyway.
It took him a moment to realize that the feminine gasp he heard had not come from the beautiful woman kissing him.
Then Lilah’s voice boomed at them, unnaturally loud in the clearing. “You know what, honey? I just realized I left my keys over at the bingo tent. Would you mind going back to get them?”
Even though most of the blood had left Gabe’s brain, he had the wherewithal to gently push Arianne aside. She was straightening her paint-stained button-down shirt and looked nearly composed by the time Lilah reached them. Gabe kept his gaze averted, breathing hard. It would be a few seconds before he could function like a normal human being again.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Lilah said, sounding far too delighted to be truly penitent. “Tanner and I were coming to see if Gabe would join us for lunch.”
“You Waides,” Gabe drawled. “You just don’t give up.”
“One of our numerous fantastic attributes,” Lilah agreed. “Also, many of us are good kissers, but I see you’ve discovered that for yourself.”
“Li-
Arianne’s squeak of protest left her sister-in-law unfazed.
“Couldn’t help myself.” Lilah chuckled. “Think back to how often you’ve teased me and Tanner over the years. Do you know how many times you walked in on us necking back when we were teenagers?”
“Of course I know. Seeing my
If Lilah hadn’t found an excuse to send her husband away before he’d gotten an eyeful, Gabe had a feeling he would currently be maimed for life. Not fully meeting her eyes, he offered a heartfelt, “Thank you.”
He could hear the smile in her voice. “So, about lunch?”
A frigid, ice-cold shower sounded like a much better idea than sitting next to Arianne for the next forty minutes, trying to act as if he didn’t want to drag her off to bed while her brother watched from the other side of the table. “Um…”
Arianne covered his hand with hers. “Please, Gabe?”
He felt himself drowning in her eyes and didn’t mind. Who needed air? “All right. But I need to do something about the balls first.”
Arianne’s eyebrows shot up, and Gabe gave a strangled laugh. “For the pit. Remember? Big container people are going to walk into? The company delivered our supplies, and aside from the base, I don’t want to just leave everything out.”
“Of course.” Her face pinkened, and she busied herself with reclipping her hair. “I knew what you were talking about.”
“I need to get my toolbox, too.” Would all seven bags even fit in his truck? “We’re going to need a good-sized storage space to keep all the bags. Unless we want to divvy them up among us?”
Lilah shook her head. “No, even with the advance prep, next Saturday will be hectic. Keeping everything together will make it go more smoothly. We can store the balls in the guest room at my house. We only use it when we have-”
“Sweetheart?” Tanner called. “I didn’t see your keys.”
She turned with a guileless smile that made Gabe think she deserved an acting award. “Sorry about that, hon. They turned out to be in my pocket.”
Tanner narrowed his eyes, well aware that his wife wasn’t a ditz but not pressing her for a better explanation. “Well, I’m starving. Are we ready to go or what?”
“Just about,” Gabe said, standing. “Can you help me carry some bags to my truck? They aren’t too heavy, just cumbersome. Once we get those and my tools secured, we can go.”
“Anything to speed this along,” Tanner said affably, following Gabe toward the clearing that spilled out into the gravel lot.
“We’ll be along in just a second,” Lilah said, tossing a friendly arm around Arianne’s shoulders. It occurred to Gabe that he was about to be the topic of conversation. From years of habit, he bristled at the idea. He liked flying below the social radar.
As he came around the corner of the library, Gabe noticed that his ladder was propped against the back of an antiques store opposite them. It had probably been returned from the front of the lot because the path between buildings was too narrow to maneuver well, thank God, or Gabe and Arianne-There was a split-second delay between seeing the fifteen-foot ladder and realizing that there was a kid climbing it.
Ben. The little boy who was afraid of heights.
