“I was hoping I could convince you to come on a ride with me. Up in the hills.”
If that last part was supposed to reassure her, he had missed the mark. “Why the sudden urge for a road trip?”
“I want to show you something. Two somethings, in fact.”
Then it clicked into place. She’d been so busy pouting and being put out by his not coming home to her last night that she’d forgotten all about the thing he’d started to tell her about. “Does this have something to do with the house you started to tell me about?”
He nodded. “Everything to do with it. Come on, I’ve been dying to show you, to tell you all about it.”
He lifted the helmet. “I don’t want to tell you. I want to show you. And besides, on my bike I can have you all wrapped around me.”
Her body leapt right on board with that suggestion. But her body was shallow. Her body wasn’t the part that was going to give her nightmares about suffering a road rash fatality. That was her head. The same rational part that was going to turn his suggestion down. Flat.
“You can duck your head behind mine. Close your eyes. But I honestly think once we turn up the mountain road you’re not going to want to hide. It’s nothing like riding through town or in traffic.” At her continued mutinous expression-okay, okay, maybe it was more dubious by then because her damn body wasn’t backing down-he added, “If you hate this ride, I won’t ask you to do it again. The truck will be the automatic default vehicle.” He held up his hand in some configuration, changed it a few times, and then grinned broadly and said, “Scouts honor. At least I’m sure they would honor my word. If I’d been a scout.”
She couldn’t help it; she laughed. “Okay. But this will be it for me, just saying that up front.”
“Wait until you see a mountain sunset from the back of a bike; you might change your mind. At least try and keep an open one.”
“Why don’t we start with open eyes and go from there?” she said, then added, “Will we be gone that long?”
“I know you have a million and one things to do, and we could postpone until after-”
“No, it’s not that. Actually, I’ve been ready for days now. I’m at the point where I’m rearranging every piece of furniture and second guessing dried flower arrangements-do purple heather or marigolds strike just the right accent with the wedding ring quilt-that kind of thing. Getting out of here for a day would probably be the best thing for me. You’d never know I handled fully booked international resorts in my day. It’s silly to be so nervous-”
“Not silly.” He set the helmets aside and took the laundry basket from her arms and set that next to them. Then he cupped her elbows, drawing her hands up to his shoulders before pulling her into his arms. “That was a corporate-owned entity, and even if you were part of that corporation, it’s not the same. Here you’re inviting people into the place you created, the place you call home. It’s personal. And I think it shows how great an innkeeper you are that you’re so concerned about the details.” He tugged her closer to him. “In fact, it’s your very attention to detail and your good eye that I’m hoping to exploit.”
“Really,” she said, her brows quirking. “That’s a new approach.”
He laughed. “That wasn’t sexual innuendo. In that case, I meant it straightforwardly.” He tipped her chin up to his. “However, I’m not above-or beneath-a little innuendo if it will get me in tight with the innkeeper.”
She smiled up into his dancing eyes. “Now there’s an innuendo.”
“Isn’t it, though?” he murmured, and captured her mouth.
It started as a simple, sweet kiss, with all that banked steamy stuff that was always below the surface with them, just simmering along. But then she might have sighed a little, possibly moaned when he pulled her tight against him so his hips could rock against her stomach. And the kiss dipped right past sweet and dove straight into that carnal place. She definitely moaned then.
Her nails dug into his shoulders and he held her face in his wide palms with more determination, his mouth slanting more heavily over hers as he sought out what he wanted…and got it.
She was considering the merits of distracting him from his proposed motorcycle ride with another, far more enjoyable ride, when he broke the kiss and laughed.
That caught her up short. When her eyes finally came back into focus, she said, “What was funny? Did I miss something?”
“No, it was…it was us, this. Not a ha ha laugh, more an amazed laugh.” He pulled her up into his arms so her feet barely touched the ground, and kissed her mouth, then the tip of her nose, and as he let her slide back down his body-making them both suck in a quick, shuddering gasp-he kissed her forehead, too. It should have felt patronizing, or…something. But it was endearing and sweet and made her feel a little…cherished. Which might have been silly, but there it was anyway.
“Amazed at…?” she led, knowing she shouldn’t fish like that, so blatantly, but she’d been giving a lot of thought to what he’d said before, about staying, about finding something that had sparked his interest-beyond just a fling with the local innkeeper.
And she’d dared, on occasion, when she couldn’t shore up her defenses well enough, to think about what it would be like. If he stayed. And the picture that painted was too good, too perfect, too…exactly what she wanted most, to allow herself to wallow around in it. Staying in the moment, and enjoying it, were one thing. Planning a future with a guy who had no mapped-out future…not so smart.
“What’s amazing is this. You. Us.”
“I won’t lie to you, Kirby. I’ve never felt this before. That kind of instant connection. And time is going on, and it feels so new and fantastic, but also like I’ve been right here, in this place, with you, forever. It’s that comfortable. And comforting.” He laughed again, but it was with a definite self-deprecating edge. “You’re probably wondering how in the hell to tell me that it’s just a fling for you. And tell me, Kirby, if that’s what this is. Or all it can be, for you.” He tipped her chin back up, lowered his mouth again. “And tell me soon. Because I’m falling here. And I really, really like where I’m landing.”
Her heart started pounding so hard she didn’t know if she’d survive it and another passionate kiss from him. She felt like it was going to pound right out of her chest. “I-” She broke off, and his mouth hovered just above hers. In that split second, she wanted to pour out all the confusing and wonderful and terrifying feelings she was developing for him. After all, hadn’t he just handed her the perfect opening, backed up with his own admission? What more did she want? A guarantee her heart wasn’t going to be decimated a week from now? A month? A year?
Half her head was telling her to backpedal, to buy more time, to see where things were going when they weren’t all caught up like this. Problem was, they were always caught up like this. Even when they were two floors, or half a town, apart. This…connection, between them, existed all the time. Which was why half of her heart was telling her to jump, take the risk, what the hell.
“There isn’t a thing I’d trade, or change, about this.” Except maybe being more certain about where it was going. And that it was going. But she didn’t say that part.
His smile stayed, but his gaze took on a more probing look as he used his powers of people reading to look deep into hers. It should have unnerved her, used to. Not so much anymore, she realized. She liked that he got her, that he didn’t have to ask a million questions, or just guess. He looked at her. And he knew. It was a little daunting. But it was also a huge relief. Because then she didn’t have to find the words.
“You’re not sure of me, are you,” he said, not making it a question. “I understand that. I do. But if that’s all you’re worried about, come with me. Up into those hills. I have something I want to show you, something I want to ask you. And maybe then you’ll see that I’m not a man of flowery speeches and given to jumping on a whim. But know this, Kirby Farrell. I am a man who takes his time figuring things out when the hand’s not clear…but when he knows that what he has is a winner, he totally goes for broke.” Then he grinned again, and that light was fully back in his eyes. “And when I play like that, I pretty much always win.”
He leaned down and took her mouth in a kiss that was both a confident claiming-and he had every reason to believe he had because she certainly kissed him back with equal passion-and felt a lot like a promise.
