“If you had your shirt off, babe, I’d lay you down and put this—” he squeezed a ruffled line of whipped cream across her crêpes “—right across there.” He reached out and drew a line in the air, his eyes dark with desire, and she felt it as though he’d actually stroked his finger across her chest. “Then I’d lick up every bit of it.”
Unable to hold his gaze, she looked at her plate, feeling conflicted. “I’m… I’m not ready to not be mad at you yet.”
“That’s okay,” he said. “As long as I still have a chance, I’m a happy man. Eat.”
He’d forgotten to give her a knife and fork, so she scooped up a bit of cream with one finger and licked it off, watching as a sexy smile spread across his face. “This’ll be a bit messy if I have to eat it all with my fingers.”
That made him laugh and broke the tension. “Let me get you a knife and fork.” He jumped up and strode over to the kitchenette. When he came back, he had silverware in one hand and a mug of tea for her in the other. “I thought you’d want tea with your breakfast, yeah?”
And though her first impulse was to tell him he should ask rather than assuming what she wanted, she swallowed the words and said, “Thank you. That’s perfect.” Because it was.
After they’d eaten, Nell decided to do a load of laundry, since the rain and wind seemed heavier and she thought the power might go out. Who knew how long they’d be stuck at Champagne Cascades? The generator would run the emergency lighting and keep the kitchen fridge and freezer on, but it wouldn’t be enough for extras like laundry.
She’d planned to read while she waited for the dryer to finish, but Eamonn came and lounged against the doorway to the laundry room, saying, “Hey, I found a fun-looking board game in that games room across there. D’you like fantasy games? This one’s called Crowns & Exiles.” He held out a small plastic crown, evidently a game piece. “You want to check it out with me?”
As he was setting up the pieces and she was reading the instructions, the faint but unmistakable sound of a siren made them look at each other in puzzlement, and then concern as it grew louder.
“That sounds like it’s on its way here,” he said.
Nell nodded. “I’d better go outside. Coming?”
As they reached the driveway in front of the office, a truck marked Sheriff pulled up, and a man in uniform jumped out. “Is it just the two of you still onsite?” he asked.
“Yes. I’m Nell Whelan, property supervisor, and this is my assistant Eamonn Yarrow. What can we do for you?”
“Leave with me now,” the sheriff said. “There’s flash flooding coming down the river and we need to evacuate the area immediately.”
Fortunately, the deputy agreed that Eamonn could drive his own truck, following the official vehicle until they were out of the flood zone. It seemed that a dam farther up the river was in danger of giving way after some seismic activity, and even though the resort was on high ground, flash flooding was unpredictable. The Sheriff’s Department rules superseded any Wildforest Vacations dictums about the supervisor or manager staying on-site.
They stopped briefly in Twisp so Nell could call the office while she was able to get a phone signal. She left a message for Tommy, updating him on the situation and their planned return, and then she and Eamonn stopped at a bakery for his coffee and her tea — and some heavenly cinnamon twists — before they hit the road.
He cranked up his classic rock playlist, and she stared out the window at the rain.
“Are you hungry?” he asked when they passed through Wenatchee.
“Not really,” she said.
It wasn’t that she wasn’t hungry, more that she couldn’t bear the thought of stopping for a cozy pub dinner as they’d done before. Then, she’d been fending off his teasing and flirting, a sort of game that both of them had been well equipped to play. Now, she had a vacation’s ended feeling hanging over her, and the teasing and flirting had blown up into full-on sexual tension she didn’t know how they’d resolve now that their fairytale vacation was coming to an end.
They weren’t going to date, were they? Rock star Easy Yarrow wasn’t going to take her to the movies and out for dinner back in Seattle. But the idea of just being a casual booty call for him didn’t sit well with her either. Why not, though? Nothing wrong with getting our mutual needs met. Still, she didn’t know how she’d be able to deal with him in the office even now — she kept thinking of the hot tub, and the feel of that giant rocket in her hand and how she’d almost wrecked his self-control, the explosive kiss they’d shared and the way he’d needed a moment to just breathe. If she let him into her bed…
All too soon, his big truck was parked in front of her apartment building. He clicked open his seatbelt but made no move to get out. I suppose he’s not opening doors for me anymore, she thought, knowing that it ought to make her feel strong and equal, but somehow feeling that she’d lost something. She unbuckled herself and reached toward her door.
“Hey,” Eamonn said. When she turned to look at him, he gave her a hesitant half-smile and slid an arm around her shoulders, slowly, as though giving her the chance to pull away if she wanted to. They hadn’t kissed or even really touched since she’d gotten out of the hot tub. “Come here, lovely,” he murmured, easing her toward him. It wasn’t quite a question, but it sounded like one, or at least a request for permission.
“You and your nicknames,” she said softly, but she could feel herself starting to smile.
