Chapter 16 #2
“Shhh. A simple no is all I need to hear.”
She nodded her head and he pulled his fingers away. A thin sheen of sweat formed along her hairline as her body heated up. At the rate this was going, she’d be steaming like the hot springs.
“Ana, may I kiss you right now?” Still pink from Auntie’s smack, his clean-shaven cheek lifted with his smile. In resting face, he was imposing and even grim, but when he grinned, it was as if the world were alight with joy.
Instead of answering, she stood on tiptoe, the flex giving her calves much-needed movement, her lips getting something they needed even more.
A kiss from him.
The man she’d rejected for all the wrong reasons.
The man who was now before her, asking for a second chance that she should be the one begging for.
Their lips met and the world righted itself, his body so big and comfortable, it felt as if he were meant for her and she for him. The feel of his arms around her, their mouths saying hello in new and increasingly luscious ways, how the sun warmed them both–even the trees seemed to murmur yes.
Yes to everything.
Coincidences like this didn’t just happen. Today felt planned by an unseen force that wanted them both to smile. To feel joy. To be free.
To connect.
Dennis held her close, his heart beating steady against her ribs, her arms stretched up, hands around his neck. She pulled up as tall as she could, and then–
“Ack!” she said against his mouth, dropping low so fast, he scooped one arm around her increasingly wide waist and stopped her.
“What’s wrong?”
“CRAMP!” Her calf had seized, turned into a concrete block.
Instantly, she was in the air, in his arms as he brought her back to the log, sitting with her in his lap, her ankle twisting and flailing, flexing and extending.
Anything to relieve the pain, which took her breath away.
That meant she had nothing in her lungs, because the kiss had dispensed with her breath, too, so poor Ana suffered in excruciating pain at the exact moment when joy and lust, not spasm and torture, should have dominated.
“Here,” he said, thumbs digging hard into the thick center of her calf, muscles along the top of her foot screaming in agony. “You need blood in there. And a banana. Potassium.”
“Cantaloupe and kiwi.”
“Huh?”
“They actually have more potassium than bananas. That’s just a marketing ploy.”
The look on his face was priceless as he turned her calf into a loaf of kneaded dough.
“You are a hoot.”
“A hoot? Auntie says that all the time.”
“Maybe it’s a Luview saying.”
Biting her lower lip, she wiggled off his lap and, limping over to a nearby tree, hooked her heel against the base, toe pointed up at the branches as she stretched.
“I cannot believe how much this hurts!” she groaned, her body’s painful grip making her clench her jaw.
“Happen a lot?”
“Only when I’m on tiptoe.”
“Then I’ll have to bend over more when we kiss again. Or just have you in my lap instead. I liked that.”
“You liked having me wriggle in pain in your lap?” she joked, trying to take a deep breath.
“The wriggling part, yes. The pain, no. What can I do to help?”
“Water. Salt? Something like that might help.” Suddenly, the cramp lessened enough that she could put almost her full weight on her foot again.
“I’ll carry you back to–where? Where do you want me to bring you?”
“You’re not carrying me to the common, or to Auntie’s store. I can walk.”
“I would, you know.”
“I don’t doubt it.” Laughing through her nose, the sound turned into a giggle as the pain finally relented enough. “You want to date me, huh?”
“Absolutely.”
“Cramps and all?”
“Cramps and all. First date, I’ll bring a cantaloupe and kiwi bouquet.” His eyes darted to the almost-empty bag of chocolate. “And more red foil hearts.”
Opening her heart to what he was saying was so tempting. Dennis Luview wasn’t a player. This guy wasn’t about games or pretenses. Yet he wasn’t an open book, either. Decidedly guarded, he was showing her quite a bit of his inner self, which made her feel honored.
And, if she were being honest with herself, a bit scared.
One step turned into a limp again, but he crossed the space before she took another. Just when she was about to put her hands on his shoulders, he dropped to the ground.
Warm palms encircled her calf, slowly moving in a pattern, pushing blood up, the smooth rise of his hands to her knees, then back, so soothing.
So sensual.
Sex had been the last thing on her mind these last couple of months, a stretch of time she’d used to process her emotions in therapy and to focus entirely on helping the baby to stick around. Only this week, after passing the twenty-six week mark, had she begun to relax.
Single motherhood, though, had been her assumption. No relationships. No complications. She’d have more than enough complexity in her life with a high-risk third trimester and all that came with parenting a baby alone.
But Dennis was another matter altogether.
And here he was, heart on his sleeve, chocolate hearts held out in a promised future, asking for the next step.
How could she say no?
“I’d like that,” she said, looking down at him as he looked up, his thighs looking fine against his jeans, hair falling over his brow.
“How long are you in town?”
“You want to go on a date this weekend?”
“No time like the present.” He stood, hands going about her waist, the feeling so unfamiliar. No one had touched her intimately since she’d been pregnant, and it felt weird, even as it felt so right.
“We just got into town, and we’re here to start planning Brie’s wedding. We leave Tuesday morning.”
“It’s Friday. Any chance you have a free evening for me? Or a lunch? I’ll even take a breakfast date. I get up at 4:30 a.m.”
“You what?”
“I get up at–”
“I heard you. Why? Aren’t you retired?”
“I like morning runs.”
“You like torturing yourself.”
“I genuinely enjoy them.”
“I am happy to get up at eight and eat a muffin while watching you run.”
“By eight, I’ve chopped a cord of wood and saved three small American cities.”
“That’s all? Slacker.”
This time, his kiss was full and real, all upfront and all at once. No tentative exploration, no asking permission, this kiss was the kind that whispered promises that made you wet, pinkened your cheeks, and left you quivering with anticipation.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket.
They ignored it.
His phone buzzed in his back pocket.
They ignored it.
Ana didn’t know that a kiss could transport you to a place so private, so peaceful, so whole, and so right.
They may have started their relationship with the most clichéd of meetings–the one-night stand–but they were going to continue it with a real first date.
Right after this kiss.
The kiss she wished would never end.
Bzzz
Both of their phones buzzed yet again, Dennis’s groan against her mouth making her laugh as they pulled apart.
“We’re both being paged.”
Ana pulled hers from her jacket pocket and looked at the time. More than an hour had passed.
She wanted more, so much more, with him.
Brie’s text was simple: At least you don’t need to use birth control.
Ana groaned aloud and Dennis gave her a look.
“Mine’s worse than yours,” he ventured.
“I doubt it.”
He showed her his screen. A text from Deanna said: Please bring Ana over for dinner if she’s in town long enough. We love all grandbabies, no matter how they come into our lives!
“Are you… blushing?” She looked at him in shock.
“Damn right I am. Meddling mother. What’s yours say?”
After he shared his, she might as well.
Once he’d read Brie’s words, they had a laugh, the shared vulnerability refreshing. When was the last time Ana could so boldly be herself with a man?
Gathering her in his arms, he pressed their foreheads together. When Ana looked down, her belly separated them. It was still a bump–a large one–but soon, it would be a basketball.
Soon, there would be pregnancy stress tests. A planned c-section. A possible emergency c-section if things went wrong. Complications defined her pregnancy and delivery, and bringing Dennis into her life meant he would have to accept the chaos, too.
That was a hard line for her.
“Look. I do have to go,” he said apologetically. “I have to get some lumber in Fixby Hills, then we have a job we’re doing over at Nordicbeth.”
“The ski resort? In May?”
“There are trees along the alpine slide that need to be trimmed. Couldn’t get to them last week because of storms, and the owners want it done now. How about tomorrow night? Dinner? We’ll get out of town and I’ll take you somewhere that isn’t dripping with fake love.”
“What does that mean?”
He waved his hand, gesturing toward the other side of the hot springs, where the tourist information center was located. “You know. The love-liest place on earth.” His tone was mocking. Derisive.
Downright negative.
“I love this town! Love it! Love You, Maine is my favorite place ever! Everything is so sweet here. So much heart, so endearing. When I was a teen, it was my dream to have a date here!”
“You’re joking.”
“I am completely sincere.”
“My mother is going to love you,” he muttered, then sighed. “Okay. Fine. We’ll have a date here. Just–you have to understand that we’re going to be constantly interrupted, right? I’m kind of an object of attention. Especially after what Lucinda just did.”
“Oh.” She paused, thinking it through. “Forget the whole date-in-town thing. We can improvise.”
“You sure?”
“I am. And I don’t even know if I’m free tomorrow night.”
Bzzz
She looked at her phone.
If he asks you out, say yes. Auntie and I can plan my wedding without you while you go on a date with your freaking soul mate.
Ana winced as she read it.
“What’s Brie saying now?”
There was vulnerable disclosure, and then there was My best friend just crossed a huge line and no way am I sharing that.
“She says I should go out with you if you ask, and she and Auntie can work around that.”
“Great! You have a date with me tomorrow for breakfast, lunch, dinner, then on Sunday for–”
“Hold on there, cowboy. Dinner. Tomorrow.”
“Perfect. Where are you staying? With Lucinda?”
She nodded, and Dennis touched his cheek.
“I’d better wear protective gear.”
“She’s going to feel terrible when her adrenaline wears off.”
Bzzz
Brie again.
Auntie says if Dennis asks you out, he may pick you up here. She also wants to know if his favorite cake is still chocolate cherry bundt cake?
“Is your favorite cake still chocolate cherry bundt cake?” she asked Dennis, who did a double take.
“I guess? Haven’t had it in years. Why?”
“Auntie wants to know. I think you’re getting an apology cake.”
“I should let old ladies slap me more often if it comes with my favorite dessert.”
Ana risked another charley horse and stood on tiptoes, kissing him.
Because a man like this needed more kisses.
And frankly, so did she.