Page 36 of Those Who Are Bound

Taking up her coffee cup, Elliott raised an inquisitive brow, thinking she was about to discover why Lucy had been so nervous: presenting her plan.

Her cheeks lighting up again, Lucy rushed out, “It actually came from you and what you’d said about not having the heart to take Gage’s name off the site. What if we add more about him to it?Make it, like, more about how he built this place up, you know, like to honor him and all of his hard work? This place was his passion, right?”

Elliott blinked.Blink, blink, blink.

Which increased Lucy’s nerves; she gushed, “You know, like the history of a mom and pop shop. People like to know the history of a place, to have a connection. It’s less cold, not just a pretty space. That’s what I was seeing while driving around yesterday: lots of pretty spaces.Let Gage do what he used to do, let him speak for Easy Street Events. How he worked to build it, what it meant to him, that this is his legacy.”

Elliott turned away, her attention settling on the pictures on the wall. Her emotions threatened to bubble up and embarrass her in front of Lucy. It was a brilliant idea, though.

She heard Lucy stand behind her, the chair scraping against the floor. “I’m sorry, Elliott. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“No, Lucy, I like the idea; it’s a great idea.” She let out a small laugh. “Gage would have loved it.” Glancing over her shoulder, she nodded toward the desktop. “He had a file documenting the build: pictures, blueprints. Knock yourself out.”

Lucy let out a sigh of relief. “Oh my god, thank you!”

“No problem.”

Adrenaline running high as she left the office, she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and started texting, sending GPS coordinates and a time.

By the time she reached her front door, her phone pinged. A thumbs-up emoji.

Never before had an emoji made her entire body catch fire.

Elliott watched Jonah walk across the parking lot toward her. Having spotted her, his pointed stare pegged her to the spot by the table. A smile lifted his lips; lips she was still aching to taste; imagining tasting her. Her flesh buzzed with anticipation, watching his easy, long, confident strides as he neared, wearing his mountain boots, long khaki shorts, and dark blue polo.

The wind whipped up, and she lifted one hand to push her dark locks to the side, not wanting to miss a second of his approach.

Jonah’s smile deepened as his gaze penetrated hers. Close enough for her to hear, he called out, “I don’t think I’ve had a sexier text than GPS coordinates and a time. Not even your name; I had to assume.”

Elliott laughed and looked away on a pleased blush. “I thought you liked assumptions.”

He walked right up to her, noting her T-shirt, her camo shorts, and boots. His attention lingered on the swell of her breasts where the definition of nipples was apparent, she knew. His perusal may as well have been hands; she drew in a sharp breath. Meeting her gaze again, he said, “Hi, Elliott.”

“Hi, Jonah.”

Glancing around briefly to take in the scenery of the distant lake and marina, trees, hills, and a softball diamond, he looked back at her inquisitively. “Shawnee Mission Park, eh?”

Elliott held up the items she’d been holding in one hand: a green Frisbee and a gray Frisbee. “Ever play golf?”

Jonah looked at the Frisbees and let out a small chuckle. “I don’t want to make a clichéd comment about women and their knowledge of sports, but the golf I know uses clubs.”

Elliott laughed. “Shows what you know, outdoorsman. Pick a color.”

“I’ll take the one that matches your eyes,” he said warmly as he reached up and plucked thegray Frisbee from her hand.

“Oh.” She was both startled by his reasoning and his choice.

“Wrong answer?”

“No, I didn’t realize…” She held up the green Frisbee and looked at it curiously. “I chose green and gray for our school colors.”

“Oh, so that tells which fancy school is yours.”

She raised a shoulder and answered coquettishly, “Maybe.” She took a step back and shifted her gaze over his left shoulder toward a hill in the distance before looking back at him. “Anyway, this park has a pretty good disc golf course. I call it Frisbee golf because that’s what my dad called it, and we used Frisbees. Apparently, there are different types of discs to use as the driver and putter.”

“Frisbee golf.” He twirled the Frisbee in his hand. “All right. I’m game. How do you play?”

“Have you ever played golf?”

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