His gaze traveled over her and he smiled. “Water fight?”
“Bobbing for apples.” She glanced down at the forgotten water spots on her orange shirt. “I won.” Looking up, she tucked her wet hair behind her ears. “Got a little plush moose as a prize.”
He grinned. “Congratulations. Sounds like you had a good time.”
“I really did.” She glanced past him to the light flickering from the interior of the cabin. “Did you build a fire?”
“Too hot for that. Come on in.” He drew her through the open door and nudged it closed with his foot.
She gasped. “CJ!”
“Do you like it?”
“The room looks beautiful.” Please don’t let this be the prelude to a proposal. “You’ve been busy.”
“Kind of.”
“Great job.” A vase of fragrant roses sat on the nightstand along with his phone, the source of the romantic music. The aroma of the roses mingled with another sweet smell, maybe from the candles.
No wonder he’d turned off the lights. Didn’t need them with all those candles. Rose petals decorated the snowy white sheets and a bucket of champagne rested on a stand beside the bed.
She turned to him. “You’re making me nervous.”
“Nervous? Why?”
“I’m afraid any minute you’ll drop to one knee and pull a velvet box out of your pocket.”
His eyes widened. “You think I’m about to propose?”
“That’s what this looks like!” She swept an arm around the room. “Candles, roses, champagne, mood music…what else am I supposed to think?”
“Not that! We’re a long way from that step.”
Air whooshed out in a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness.”
“But not so far from this one.” He reached for her and pulled her close. His warm gaze held hers captive. “I love you, Isabel Marie Riccetti.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
The glow of happiness in Izzy’s eyes was encouraging. She hadn’t popped right back with I love you, too, but he could wait for that. If Jake said she loved him, that was good enough for now.
She cupped his face in both hands. “I’m impressed that you went to all this trouble. Most guys—”
“I’m not most guys.”
She brushed his cheeks with her thumbs. “That’s for sure.”
“I wanted the right setting. It’s important. I’ve only said those words to my mother and Henri.”
Her eyes widened. “Really?”
“I’ve been in lust with several, but it was never love on my part. If they felt more, they didn’t say so.”
Her gaze searched his. “Is it because of our baby?”
“Izzy, I was in love with you by the end of our first night together.”
“How could you know? We had plenty of lust going on. What if it was an extreme case of—”
“Nope. The lust was a bonus on top of a much bigger feeling. Didn’t know what it was, at first. Finally figured out what was different about you, about us.”
“And?”
He tugged her closer. “In a crowd, we communicated with only a look or a smile. When we were alone, your eyes told me everything I needed to know. The way you responded to me…it was like you read my mind.”
She nodded. “And like you read mine.”
“I thought we would be the same when you headed down here again. Then you said we shouldn’t have sex anymore. But your eyes said—”
“Something different.” She gazed up at him. “I’ve never been a waffler. But now—”
“At least you didn’t stick to the program.” He rubbed the small of her back. “And sometimes I imagine I can still read your mind.”
“I guess Jake can.”
“Oh?”
“Millie gave me a ride home. She was very informative.” Izzy didn’t seem upset. Instead she was melting into him like warm wax. “Was that why you invited me to go out to the sanctuary site?”
“Not the reason, but one of them.” He might as well spit out the truth. “I wanted to know where I stood. I honestly couldn’t tell anymore. Jake agreed to gather intel. He drew a conclusion. Doesn’t mean he’s right, but I—”
“Doesn’t mean he’s wrong.”
His breath caught. “Iz?”
“I’ve loved you since that first night, too.”
Enough energy surged through him to power the Buckskin’s generator for a month. “God, that’s all I needed to hear. Now we can—”
“It doesn’t change anything.”
“Are you kidding? It changes everything. If we love each other, the sky’s the limit! We—”
“If we love each other, we’ll make good decisions about the future, because that’s what people who love each other do.”
“Why do I find that statement so depressing? Oh, I know. Because next you’ll tell me the best decision is long-distance parenting.”
“Because it is.”
“I won’t do it, Izzy.” Despite their difference of opinion, he kept his grip firm. She’d have to demand that he release her before he’d let go. Sparring with her at close range was a better strategy. He had some really good songs coming up on his playlist. Her favorite.
“Well, I won’t agree to you moving to Seattle.”
“You need to think of Cleo.” He began moving in time to the music.
“Who’s Cleo?”
“Our daughter. Just throwing the name up as a trial balloon. I’ve been thinking about names and—”
“We don’t know we’ll have a girl.”
“You know and that’s enough for me.” He moved her in a lazy circle around the small area between the front door and the bed. When she didn’t resist, he took heart.
“Cleo. Short for Cleopatra.”
“Yes, ma’am. I wouldn’t want to saddle her with all of it. Cleo’s nice. Goes with Marie, too. But you may not—”
“You know, I do like it. Cleo Marie. Are we dancing?”
“Seems like we are. We’re moving and there’s music, so we must be.”
“You’re a sneaky one, Cornelius Jasper, playing She’s My Kind of Rain. You’re trying to soften me up.”
“Don’t need to.” He leaned down and nuzzled the side of her neck. “You’re already soft enough.”
Her breath hitched. “For what?”
“Rolling around on that bed, finding out how it feels when we crush rose petals under our writhing bodies.”
“You’ve never tried it?’
“Have you?” If she’d done the rose petal thing with some other guy, he’d scoop them out of that bed and ditch the idea.
“I
