Page 63 of Elora and the Crow

She smiled a little. “You’re just in the greenhouse in your backyard, Jonah. You didn’t go to Siberia.”

His low chuckle eased some of her worry for him. “I know. I guess after two years of being with you constantly, it feels weird when I’m not.”

“For me, too,” she said.

“Yeah?”

She raised her head and smiled at him. “Yeah.”

She pressed her cheek against his chest again, listening to the solid thump of his heart. After a moment, she said, “Why is it so warm in here?”

“Electric heat,” he said. “It was expensive to have it installed, but I wanted to be able to garden in the winter.”

She lifted her head again. “You like to garden?”

He nodded. “Love it, actually. My dad loved it, too, and I initially started doing it as a way to get to know him, you know?”

She nodded, and he stared out the glass walls again, his gaze going hazy with memory. “But it didn’t take long for me to love it as much as he did. He had a greenhouse in his yard and a big vegetable garden, and we spent a lot of time planting and weeding and harvesting together. I prefer flower gardening, but my dad had a knack for growing food. One time, he grew an enormous pumpkin. He entered it in a contest at some dinky town’s fall festival. Caleb and I had to lift the damn thing and carry it to his truck, Dad hollering at us not to drop it the entire time.”

A smile crossed his face. “He won second place and was so proud. I still have the ribbon they gave him.”

“He sounds great,” she said.

“He was,” Jonah said. “I didn’t get nearly enough time with him, but I loved him.”

She rubbed his back in slow, gentle circles, being careful not to hurt him as he sighed deeply. “I miss him, and I miss gardening.”

She kissed his chest again. “Then you should do some gardening again.”

He picked up the garden shovel, running his thumb over the wooden handle. “There are some flowers that, if I start them from seed now in the greenhouse, they’ll be ready for transplanting by the spring. Before the witch trapped me, I was digging a new flowerbed in front of the deck to add more flowers to the yard.”

“If you're feeling better, we could go to the greenhouse where Cece works tomorrow afternoon after my work shift,” she said.

He set the shovel on the table and smiled at her. “I’d like that.”

“Good. Then it’s a date,” she said.

He studied her before rubbing one thumb along her cheekbone. She turned her head and kissed the tip of it. “Would you like to talk some more about your fight with your brother? I can make us a quick dinner and -”

He shook his head before leaning down to press his forehead against hers. “What I want, little witch, is to finish what we started earlier.”

She released her breath in a shuddering sigh. “Jonah, are you sure? I know you’re upset about what happened with Caleb, and your back is -”

“My back is fine, and I don’t want to think about my fight with Caleb anymore. I want to make you feel good,” he said. “Please, Elora. I need you.”

“I need you, too,” she whispered.

He took her hand, linking their fingers together, and led her toward the greenhouse door.

CHAPTER20

Elora was barely in Jonah’s bedroom before he pulled her shirt over her head. She wore a bra beneath it, and he made a sound of disapproval as he spun her around and reached to unhook it.

“Why are you wearing this thing?”

She laughed. “I don’t normally go without one.”

“You should,” he said, unhooking her bra and tugging it off. He pulled her back against him, and ripples of awareness hummed through her when she felt his erection against her ass.

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