Page 24 of No Bed Of Roses

Eyes wide, she looked up at him, and he could see the confusion in her eyes. “I think you’ve wasted enough of your day on me. You have your own projects. I’m sorry I messed up your day.”

He turned to fully face her and put his hand under her chin, hoping she wouldn’t turn away from him. “Spending time with you is the opposite of a waste. The whole you might be in danger thing isn’t great, but I was looking for an excuse to come over to see you this morning. I figured checking on Hopper here was a good enough reason.”

Her cheeks flushed, and the confusion in her eyes disappeared. “Checking on Hopper works for me.” Then she smiled up at him. “But you don’t need an excuse. You’re always welcome.”

He grinned. “Good to know.” He moved his thumb up to swipe over her lips. They opened and her soft exhale had goosebumps lifting on his skin.

He moved his eyes up to hers and then back to her mouth. When he looked again, her pupils had dilated, and then her tongue darted out to touch his thumb.

Hell, yeah.

Levi leaned down slowly, giving her ample time to change her mind and hoping she wouldn’t. When he hesitated before closing the distance, she rose on her toes and did it herself.

He lowered his hands and managed to keep them on her waist and not reach around to her ass. Not yet, anyway.

Heat shot through him like he was on the wrong end of a cattle prod. Except this was a good heat. All-consuming heat.

Levi wanted to devour her as he watched her slowly dissolve into a pool of pleasure. He wanted to kiss her until that haunted look in her eyes never had a chance to return. And then he wanted, needed, to kiss her some more.

His hands drifted under her flannel shirt and then under the hoody she wore under that. The next layer was overalls, and it made him grin.

Spring weather didn’t stand a chance of getting through his sprite’s layers.

Levi forced his hands to stop roaming and slowed the kiss. They were in the middle of a field, and he wasn’t going to strip her naked out here when there was a potential threat aimed her way. That could be a reward once they eliminated the threat.

He rested his forehead against hers and worked to settle his breathing and his heart rate. “You make me forget myself, Isla.”

Her lips tilted up. “I hope that’s a good thing.”

In answer, he kissed her again. “A very good thing.”

Isla ran her hands up his chest. She kept them on top of his t-shirt but under his flannel jacket. While her fingers drifted across his torso, she leaned up to kiss him lightly. “I’ve been dying to do that for a while now.”

“Me too. Consider this your invitation to do it any time you’d like.”

She laughed. “That sounds wonderful.”

It did. And he realized he’d totally thrown out his rule about not messing around with his neighbor. His head was chock full of the various ways he could mess around with her, and he was constantly adding more.

But not today. Not after the morning she’d had.

Levi wrapped his arms around her and breathed in the scent of her shampoo. Something light but flowery. Subtle.

Her hands moved to wrap around his waist, and she held on. He didn’t know if he’d ever stood with a woman and just hugged her with no intention of having sex. It was nice. “You okay?”

She nodded immediately into his chest.

“You know it’s okay to not be okay, right?”

A soft sigh reached his ears. “I know. But I want to be okay. Mostly, I like to shove the bad stuff in a box and hide it in the back of my head. Taking it out and talking about it is hard.”

He nodded. “You were great today. Strong and steady. Hopefully, we’ll find out who’s behind this ladder business pretty quick.”

“I hope so.”

“For now, why don’t we start building your greenhouse?”

“You don’t have to help with that.”

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