Page 75 of Flare
Emily grew bolder too, her fingers tracing the hard planes of his chest and stomach, dipping beneath the hem of his shirt to caress his warm skin.
Eventually, he unzipped her jeans, slipped his hand into her underwear, and fingered her to a sweet climax as he sucked on her nipples.
“I can’t get enough of you,” Ward admitted, voice husky, when she lay panting on the blanket.
Emily smiled, feeling a blush warm her cheeks.“I feel the same way. You’re a great kisser.”
She was charmed to see a blush rising from the collar of his flannel shirt and disappearing beneath his beard.
“Your turn,” she said, running her knuckles over the large bulge on the front of his hiking pants.“I love sucking your cock, Ward.”
Much later, they lay curled together on the blanket. Emily’s head rested on Ward’s arm as they watched clouds drift across the impossibly blue sky.
“I’m thinking about whether to keep the cabinets when I finally renovate my kitchen,” Ward said after a while.“I was going to replace them with custom cabinets, but lately I’ve been having second thoughts, since they’re original to the house.”
“Maybe a mixture of old and new?” Emily asked.“I mean, the new kitchen is going to be a lot bigger than the old one, right? You’ll need extra cabinets, even if you keep the originals.”
He chuckled.“Good point. Plus, I’ve already bought the wood to make the new boxes and doors.”
Emily propped herself up on one elbow to look at him.“I’m so impressed you know how to make cabinets and tables and stuff like that from scratch.”
“It’s what I do for a living,” he reminded her, smiling.
“It’s still amazing,” she said sincerely.“I can barely hang a picture straight.”
“What about you?” Ward asked.“Having fun organizing Maggie’s back office?”
Emily nodded enthusiastically.“This is going to make me sound like a complete geek, but Iloveprocess improvement. It’s so satisfying when things work better than before. Maggie’s an amazing baker, but her filing system was basically‘throw it in a drawer and hope for the best.’”
“Um… sounds like the Swanson family method.” Ward laughed.“True confession: my office is in worse shape than Maggie’s.”
“What do you do for invoicing and bookkeeping?” she asked.
His expression turned sheepish.“I send estimates and invoices by email. For everything else, I stuff receipts in a shoebox and panic around tax time.”
“Ward!” Emily sat up, staring down at him in mock horror.“That’s aterribleway to live!”
“I know, I know.” He raised his hands in surrender.“I love the woodworking part of my business. But the actual business part… not so much.”
“Oh, boy,” Emily muttered.“Look, I could give you a list of good small business accounting software programs that integrate invoicing, payments, bookkeeping,andtax prep.”
“I have a better idea,” Ward said.“Once you’ve gotten Maggie all straightened out, would you consider helping me? I’d pay you, of course.”
“I’dloveto help you,” she said eagerly.“And you don’t have to pay me. After everything you’ve done for me, I owe you, big time.”
“Emily.” Ward’s voice was gentle but firm.“You don’t owe me anything.”
“I know that,” she assured him.“But friends help each other, right? And I’d love to do something for you I’m good at.”
The smile that spread across Ward’s face made her heart skip.“Well, when you put it that way, how can I refuse?”
They spent another hour on the bluff, alternating between comfortable conversation and kisses.
At last, they reluctantly packed up their picnic and started the hike back down to the trailhead. Emily and Ward walked hand in hand, occasionally stopping to share a quick kiss or point out an interesting plant or bird.
They were within sight of Ward’s truck when his phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket, glancing at the screen.
“It’s Uncle Dane,” he said, answering.“Hey, Uncle D., what’s up?”
