Chapter 6 #2
Her smile was slow and sweet at first, but he glimpsed the sexy minx from last night. “A repeat offender, huh? Hmm…it’s hard to say if I can behave myself.”
Groaning, Slater rolled onto his back. “You’re killing me, Evie.”
With a throaty laugh, she rolled toward him. Her glorious breasts pressing against him. “How could I possibly be killing you? I was simply answering your question.”
They were skin to skin from head to toe, and in that moment he knew they could keep up this playful conversation or they could do something far more pleasurable. Reaching up, he anchored his hand in her hair. “I have one more question for you.”
She watched him expectantly, her lips twitching slightly. “And that is…?”
“Are you going to steal my blankets again tonight?” he asked.
Her eyes widened slightly. “Bold of you to assume there’s going to be a tonight,” she shot back, but there was no bite in it. Just the kind of playful banter they’d shared for years.
Unable to help himself, Slater reached out and lightly tugged on a strand of her hair. “I know we talked about that, but…I kind of want to test this mattress distribution and see if you’re a true bed hog,” he said.
She tilted her chin. “Maybe you’ll just have to find ways to make me move over.”
He leaned closer, brushing a quick, gentle kiss to her shoulder—playful, not demanding. “I think I can definitely find a way to make you…move.” He nipped at her shoulder again, causing her breath to catch.
They stayed like that for several long moments, eyes locked, breath held. It was too early to start the day, even though they knew the night was over. His gaze lowered to her lips and lingered.
“Evie…” he whispered.
“Ask me to stay,” she whispered back.
“Stay.”
And just like he’d done so many times since they stepped into the cabin last night, he cut off all conversation with a kiss. It was easier, and it kept them from saying what they were possibly both thinking:
This wasn’t simple anymore.
Milo, Nora, Axel, and Maisie showed up at the resort just in time for lunch. Evie was relieved for the extra time because it meant she and Slater didn’t have to jump out of bed before the sun came up so she could run to her cabin undetected.
Instead, she got to stay and make love with him again and again until her boss’s incessant texting officially told her it was time to go.
So when they all arrived, she was up at the lodge waiting for them.
“Hey,” Milo said when he spotted her. “Sorry for the change of plans. I hope you had a good weekend.”
That was the understatement of the century.
“It was nice. Slater showed me around, and I explored the town a bit. How was the city?”
“Oh my goodness,” Nora said as she joined them. “It was amazing! I got to see my first Broadway show, and I've already picked another five that I want to go back and see. Maybe next time you can come with us!”
“Uh…sure. That could be fun.”
Nora looked slightly dejected. “I was hoping for a little more excitement from you on that.”
“Well…I know it would be amazing, but…third wheel and all,” she reasoned.
“Oh. Oh! Right. Yeah. See, I didn’t even think of that. I just thought we’d all go and hang out as friends.”
“Like the flight here?” she teased. “I have PTSD about being anywhere with just the two of you.”
“Stop, we’re not that bad,” Milo argued.
“Yes, we are,” Nora corrected, and then nuzzled his neck until he started to blush.
“And that’s my cue…” Evie said, but before she could walk away, the two of them calmed down.
“You’re right. We’re not being very considerate,” Milo said. “So, how about we have some lunch and discuss the schedule for the week? I need to get over to the amphitheater and check on the progress. I didn’t get to last week since I was so focused on the office.”
Evie led the way to the restaurant and to the table she had reserved for them, a quiet booth in the corner. “Slater took me over to the site yesterday. We biked over, actually, and I finally got to meet Reece. Very nice guy.”
“And he’s single,” Nora added. When Milo looked at her oddly, she shrugged. “What? I’m just saying, Reece is single and Evie’s single. Maybe we can set them up.”
“No!” she said a little too quickly. “I mean…uh…no. No, thank you. He was definitely nice, but I’m not interested. Besides, I’m not going to be here much longer.”
“I guess. But it wouldn’t hurt to have someone to go out with a few times so you’re not always feeling like a third wheel,” Nora said. “If you change your mind, just let me know.”
With the way she and Slater had left things, there was definitely going to be another night—although she wasn’t sure how they were going to pull that off now that Milo and Nora were back. And Nora wasn’t wrong—it would be nice not to feel like a third wheel. If only…
“So what did you think of the project, Evie?” Milo asked, interrupting her thoughts.
“I haven’t been on a construction site before, but it looked impressive. I could tell what it was, and I knew enough about it because I’ve listened to you talk about it. It looks to be coming along nicely. You’re going to be happy. I know it.”
“I’m sure I will. Reece has been keeping me up to date on all the work, and you know I’m not a hands-on kind of guy with this sort of thing, but I still want to walk the site and see how it’s all coming together. And you said you biked there? How…?”
“I told Slater that I was missing my spin classes and…”
“You know we have a gym here at the resort, right? You’re more than welcome to use it.”
“That’s what Slater said, but it’s not the same when you’re biking alone.
So he said there were a couple of bikes in the storage shed, and we pulled them out and biked along the path to the construction site.
” She paused and took a sip of the water their server had put out for them.
“You guys should investigate having a bike path. I think guests would really enjoy it.”
“Ooh…that does sound fun,” Nora agreed. “Next group dinner, we should talk about that.”
“I’m not sure where we’d…”
“Hey! Look who’s back!”
Evie looked up and saw Slater standing next to the table, and her heart raced like wild. She hadn’t planned on seeing him until much later—she knew she needed time to get her emotions under control—and now here he was in the flesh.
Covered flesh, but still.
“Hey!” Milo stood and shook Slater’s hand. “Have you had lunch yet? Why don’t you join us?”
“Thanks!” He slid into the booth beside Evie, thigh to thigh, and she had to try very hard not to react. Turning his head, he looked at her with a sly wink. “Hey, Evie. How’s your day going?”
“Good,” she said, her voice cracking slightly, causing her to clear it. “Good, thanks.”
“I appreciate you taking good care of Evie this weekend,” Milo said. “I’m sure she would have been fine hanging out here alone and exploring or relaxing, but it was nice of you to hang out with her.”
“It was my pleasure,” he said, and Evie almost groaned. “So, what are we talking about?” He rested his arm along the back of their seat, making it almost look like his arm was around her, and again, she had to try super hard not to react.
“The amphitheater. Evie said the two of you went to see it and ran into Reece,” Milo replied.
“Slater,” Nora quickly interrupted. “Don’t you think it would be awesome to fix Evie and Reece up? I think they’d be perfect together, don’t you?”
“Um…”
“Nora,” Milo quietly said. “She already said she wasn’t interested. Stop pushing.”
She huffed. “Ugh. Fine.”
Beside her, Slater shifted a bit, his hip gently bumping hers. “Everything’s coming along great over there,” he told Milo. “I think they’re making decent progress now that the weather’s cooperating. I don’t know about them being done for Memorial Day weekend, though.”
“He assured me it would. Lexi’s working on booking all the entertainment, so I have to have faith that we’ll launch on schedule.”
The two of them talked back and forth, but she felt Nora’s eyes on her.
“What else did you guys do in the city?” she forced herself to ask. “Where’d you eat?”
For the next few minutes, Nora told her all about the places they’d seen—from touristy stuff like the Brooklyn Bridge and Rockefeller Center, to eating hot dogs and pretzels for lunch and then dinner at Tavern on the Green.
Her entire face lit up as she talked, and Evie was glad they’d had such a good time, but she secretly wished they had stayed away longer.
“Evie and I have a busy week ahead of us,” she heard Milo saying.
“We do?”
He nodded. “Now that things are tentatively set up, I need for us to work on what our days are going to look like moving forward. You’re going to be in Seattle, I’ll be here, there’s the time difference…the logistics of you and I working together is going to take some strategic planning.”
All she had time to do was nod before their server was back to take their orders. Once they were done, Milo was about to pick up where he left off when his phone rang.
“Excuse me. I need to take this,” he said as he got up and walked out of the restaurant.
Nora slid out of the booth too, “Don’t mind me. I’m going to be nosy and see who that was. We’re waiting on a call from Swati about a rental house.”
“Take your time,” Slater casually said, but as soon as Nora was gone, he turned and looked directly at her. “What are the odds the two of them lock themselves in Milo’s office and don’t come back?”
That made her laugh. “It wouldn’t surprise me. Especially if they get news about a house. They’ll need to celebrate.”
“And by celebrate, you mean…”
“Do it in his office on the desk? Um…yeah,” she said with a small laugh.
They both grew quiet.
“So I was thinking maybe tonight we convince those two to turn in early and then you and I can go to my cabin with no one noticing.”
And for some reason, that made her giggle.
“What? What’s so funny?”
Evie twisted a little toward him. “I’ve never had to sneak around before. It’s kind of exciting.”