Page 52 of Make Me Love You

She tilted her chin so she could meet his gaze, her eyebrows arched and her eyes gleaming with laughter. “Joke’s on you,” she said triumphantly. “I can’t take off my underwear when you have my hands.”

He laughed. “True.”

He transferred both wrists to one hand, freeing his other hand. He traced the seam with his thumb. “Why don’t I just check,” he said. “For science.”

With a giggle, she tore free from his grasp and spun away, out of his reach, sending him a teasing smirk over her shoulder. “You’ll have to catch me first.”

He lunged for her, laughing, but she evaded with a girlish shriek. And this...this wasn’t a small miracle, that Emma Andrews was giggling and naked down to her underwear and most definitely wanting to be caught by him. It was a huge miracle, maybe the biggest miracle of his life. Although, his life was pretty short on miracles, so maybe that wasn’t saying much. Still, it was big enough that his chest felt like it might explode from it.

He tackled her, rolling them both onto the bed. His hand skimmed beneath her underwear, seeking answers. He grinned. “You’re wet, Ms. Andrews.”

“Shut up and kiss me, Eli.” She wound her arms around his neck, drawing him closer.

So he did.

Pancakes would have to wait.

***

Maybe it was the pancakes, but Emma couldn’t remember the last time she had felt so good. Peaceful. At one with the universe and all its inhabitants. They had opened the windows to keep the paint fumes to a minimum, and she could hear birdsong in the distance. She was this close to humming along.

She gave a happy sigh and stretched out the kinks in her back. Where had this sudden feeling of well-being come from? It must be the pancakes.

“You know what?” Eli said.

She looked at him. He stood with his hands on his hips, completely unaware that his posture emphasized the very nice muscles of his chest, and surveyed their work with a critical eye. A smudge of gray paint shimmered against his tanned cheek. Her heart did a weird flip-flop thing in her chest.

It wasn’t about the pancakes. It was never about the pancakes. The undeniable truth of it sent the room spinning around her.

“What?” she said, all casual-like, as though her entire world hadn’t been flipped on its axis.

“You were right about this color. I thought it might be too dark, but it’s actually pretty nice.” He sounded surprised, but she didn’t take it as an insult.

“Not me. It was Suzie’s idea,” she corrected. “But yeah, she wasn’t wrong. She has a good eye for stuff like this.”

Suzie had suggested a four seasons theme, with each bedroom decorated as winter, spring, summer, or autumn. They had just finished the first coat of paint in the winter room, a silvery, shimmery gray, the color of the sky before a snowstorm.

They had already done the spring room a pale green. Two rooms down, two to go. Plus the hallway. She hadn’t forgotten that. If Eli was really going to offer his services on his day off, then she was really going to let him.

“When is the furniture coming?” he asked.

“Next week. I want the painting done by then and the bathrooms spruced up a bit. They’re actually in really good shape, considering the claw-foot tubs are nearly half a century old. I’ll wait until I have the beds put together and everything arranged the way I want it before I hang the art. Millie is going to loan me a few of her photographs, matching the theme of the room, so we’ll have the Smokies and Hart Mountain in all the seasons. They’ll be available for sale to our visitors. If no one buys them in six months, I’ll buy them myself. But if they are bought, then Millie will send me replacements. Win-win.”

“You’re using the bed and breakfast to help the other businesses in Hart’s Ridge,” he said slowly. “That’s brilliant.”

“I mean, I’m helping myself, too. It’s not one hundred percent altruistic. But, yeah. That’s my plan.” She could feel his gaze on her, so she busied herself gathering up the brushes to clean so they could move on to the summer room. “That’s why I was at Luke’s the other day. I had this idea for gift baskets. One for each guest, full of coupons and samples and such. Luke is chipping in a coupon for ten percent off a meal at Goat’s Tavern. Kate is donating a small bag of candy from Sweet Things. There’s also a coupon in there for a discount on river tubing. All kinds of things—eep!”

Her sentence ended on a squeak as she found herself snatched against his hard chest, his warm mouth on hers. He released her just as quickly and she blinked in befuddlement.

“What was that for?”

“I think you’re awesome, that’s what.”

“You do?”

“Come on, Emma.” His voice was gruff as he turned away from her, obscuring his expression, which she suddenly wanted to see very badly. “You’ve always been my favorite. You know that.”

“Your favorite what?” she couldn’t resist asking.

---