Page 55 of Heart of Stone
She groaned again but propelled herself forward. I fell into step beside her, and for the next few minutes, we walked in silence. Sure enough, once we made that final approach, Natalia declared, “I knew it. You brought me to the lake. What’s going on here?”
We’d slowed our pace a touch, but I kept moving. Only my legs didn’t carry me toward the lake. They went to my cabin. I could sense Natalia had fallen behind, so I glanced over my shoulder and asked, “Are you coming?”
There were so many questions in her stare, and her lips parted and shut several times, but nothing ever came out. She seemed to visibly shake off whatever thoughts were swimming in her mind and hurried toward me.
I came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs that led up to the porch of the cabin and waited for her. Then, I held out my hand.
Natalia’s eyes darted back and forth between my hand and my face. “What? What are you doing?”
Jerking my chin toward my outstretched palm, I said, “I recall you having trouble with the stairs last time. I figured it’d be wise to avoid that this time around.”
She blinked at me and jerked her head back. “Are you… Are you making fun of me?”
If only…
While I wasn’t interested in seeing her fall and get hurt again, this really wasn’t about that. All I wanted was to be able to touch her. And if all I could manage was a momentary touch between our hands as I helped her up the stairs, I’d certainly take advantage of the situation. “Not at all.”
Natalia hesitated for just another few seconds and finally placed her hand in mine. It was so small and delicate in comparison. I was tempted to strike up another conversation just to hold on a little bit longer.
But once she took that first step up, I had no choice but to guide her safely to the top. The moment we were there, she fixed her gaze on me and said, “Okay. I give up, Reid. What is this all about?”
The corners of my mouth tipped up as I pointed behind her. “Turn around.”
“What in the world?” she murmured as she twisted her body to look where I’d indicated. The moment she realized what I’d done, her body went rigid. “Are those what I think they are?”
Since she still hadn’t taken her eyes off what was in front of her, I stepped around Natalia and took a few strides in that direction. Placing my hand on top of the container, I offered her a sheepish grin. “I was kind of hoping you’d help me decorate for Christmas.”
Though disbelief still marred her features, something else was happening with Natalia. Tears filled her eyes, and I watched as her throat bobbed with a deep swallow.
“Well, that wasn’t the reaction I was hoping for.”
In an instant, the tension eased out of Natalia’s body. “I’m sorry, Reid. I’m not upset. This is so unexpected. You really want to decorate?”
What I really wanted was uninterrupted time with her. This just happened to be the only way I could come up with that wouldn’t make it seem so obvious. “You’re the one who told me that this was the best time of the year at Sandstone Heart. I’m just doing what I can to take full advantage of the season.”
“I see. And you just happened to stumble upon all the decorations?”
“Of course, I didn’t.” My eyes darted briefly to the containers before settling on her again. “Despite all the places you showed me when you gave me the tour the other day, the location of these items was not part of it. So, I went to the one person I knew who’d be able to help me out.”
Natalia considered my response. “Danielle.”
I nodded. “Yep. I got them from her this morning and mentioned I was going to coax you into helping me. I’m surprised she didn’t mention it when you two had lunch.”
She squinted at me, as though she was recalling the conversation she and Danielle did have at lunch. “Danielle didn’t mention it.”
“Really? She was rather exuberant when she learned what I’d planned to do,” I shared.
Natalia huffed. “Oh, I don’t doubt that.”
“You’re not upset, are you?” I stepped away from the containers and closed the distance between us. “I thought this would be fun.”
“I’m not upset. Not at all. I’m just very, very surprised.”
I cocked a brow. “Surprised and willing to help though, right?”
Laughter spilled out of her. “Of course. This is my favorite thing to do.”
Relief swept through me. “Alright. Where should we start?”
