He laughed. “Sorry, yeah, I do. If we were on our honeymoon, we’d be doing more in bed than just drinking coffee in the mornings, right?”
“Exactly.”
“We’ll get there. And don’t you go thinking that it doesn’t bother me. I’m just trying to be a gentleman. We can’t do anything about it until you get your cast off, so I’m trying to keep my mind off the subject. I wouldn’t want to put pressure on you under any circumstances, but especially not when there’s nothing you can do about it.”
She sighed. “Okay.”
He ran his fingers down her cheek. “I’m not feeding you lines, darlin’. I’m trying to be good.”
“And I appreciate that. I just wish … And if it’s not there – if you don’t feel that way, you can tell me. We promised each other that, remember?”
He pursed his lips. He’d been trying to keep his mind away from his physical attraction to her. He thought he was doing right by her, but if she was under the impression that he wasn’t interested in a physical relationship, then he’d screwed up – badly.
He took her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing each of her fingertips before he spoke.
“I do, and I promise you that just as soon as we’re in a position to do something about it …” He frowned. “I don’t think words are going to be enough to explain myself.”
He got to his feet. “Can I get you out of there?”
When she nodded, he lifted her out of the chair and held her close to his chest as he strode back inside the house.
“Where are we going?”
He smiled down at her. “Where I’ve wanted to take you since the first time I brought you here.”
He headed for the stairs, and her arms tightened around his neck.
When he reached his bedroom, he took her on a tour. The room itself was huge with a king-size, log-frame bed set against the back wall. The bed was positioned to take in the view of Emigrant Peak, and the wall of windows made it feel like you were floating. Off to one side was the reading room that had its own window seat with a view up the valley toward the Crazies.
“Wow! You weren’t kidding about your bedroom, were you?”
He chuckled. “Nope, and I’ll show you the bathroom next.”
When he took her in there, she clung tighter to him as she looked around. “Oh my lord. This is amazing!”
“Isn’t it? It’s kind of wasted on me.”
He enjoyed the shower, but it was so big and had so many showerheads that half the time he still wondered if the rest of his high school football team might come wandering in to join him. The tub was big, maybe even big enough for him, but he doubted he’d ever get in it – baths weren’t his thing.
Retta laughed. “If I had a bathroom like this, I think I’d live in it.”
He grinned. “What would you do?”
“I’d read my book in there …” she pointed at the tub “… especially with that view. Maybe even have a glass of wine.”
She was right. He’d thought that the little porthole window was a weird touch – it was too low for him to look through. Butnow that she said it, he could see that it’d be at the right height if you were taking a bath.
“Anytime you want to, you let me know.”
She made a face. “It’s like everything else – I’ll have to wait until the cast comes off.”
He frowned. “Unless we can get creative.”
“What kind of creative?” she asked with a wary smile.
“We could find a way to cover your cast up with something waterproof.”
“That’s what I do so that I can kind of shower, but I don’t think I’d trust it in the tub.”