Sunny paused and turned to him. “You sound excited. Happy.” She looked up into his eyes. “That’s a really, really good thing. I’m glad for you.”
He knew there was a “but” coming, only this time he didn’t sit back and wait for it. “Let’s go in,” he said, nodding toward the mill, which was just a handful of yards away now. “Enjoy the party. I’ll introduce you to everyone you haven’t met yet. Then I’d like to take you up to the cabin.” He stepped in closer, until her chin tipped up so her gaze could lock with his. “The sunrises there are almost as breathtaking as the moonrises.” Now he did wait, and his heart might have sped up a little. He tried not to think about what life would be like if he didn’t find some way to keep her there. He shut that track down, because down that path lay rational thought and no easy solutions. Her life—the one she was just as happy about, just as excited about—wasn’t here.
He waited for her to say all of those things. His heart might have stopped beating altogether when she tipped up on her toes and kissed him, and very softly said, “I think I’d like to see that. Very much.”
Chapter Fifteen
“Here, let me,” Sunny said, helping Addie load the lamb’s crate in the back of her Subaru. “And they sent along this to supplement her diet.” She handed Addie a bag of grain feed. “She’s nine weeks old. They weaned her at eight weeks because she was one of triplets and her mama was getting too skinny.”
Bailey held the lamb even more closely. She was more than an armful, even at just two months of age, but the socialization of the past few hours had conked her out and she was fast asleep, her head drooping over Bailey’s arm.
“She can sleep in the crate on the way home,” Addie told her.
“Can I just—” Bailey looked at the lamb, then back to Addie. “It’s not far. Can I hold her?”
Addie softened. Bailey wasn’t one to ask for anything, and her heart was in her young eyes. “Sure. This once will be okay. But she’s not sleeping in the house.”
Bailey nodded, and carefully climbed into the backseat of the car, arms full.
Sunny smiled weakly when Addie turned to her after closing the hatch to the Subaru, all the supplies and crate now loaded safely inside. “Sorry?”
Addie shook her head. “Oh, don’t you worry. I’m quite sure that child will be making a bed out in the shed for a night or two, until it gets good and cold. They’ll come to terms with each other. Babies are cute, but they grow up. It will all sort itself out. They’ll do well by each other, I’m sure.”
“Seth said he has plenty of pasture if you end up needing it.”
“Oh, I’ve got a fairly large cleared area down the side of the mountain behind my place. Used to farm it when my legs were better, but over the past half-dozen years, it’s just gone to pasture. I’m sure the lamb will be more than happy to keep the overgrowth cut down to size. You got the perfect breed for the elevation and the terrain. Just needs the fencing repaired and we’ll be set to go.”
“I’ll take care of that,” Sawyer said, walking to the back of the car after helping to buckle Bailey into her seat. “I’ll come up later on tomorrow.”
Addie eyed the two of them, and Sunny was pretty sure she could see the sign over her head flashing “we’re going to go have sex now” in big, bold neon letters. But all she said was, “That baby won’t need much yet. You don’t worry about the fencing. We’ll get it all sorted out.” She looked to Sunny. “When you think about it, send me the information on the farm you got her from.”
“Oh, yes, sure. I know they’ll be happy to answer any questions and—”
“Sheep are flock animals, so I’m thinking one or two more might be in order.”
“Oh!” Sunny said. “I didn’t even think about that. I—oh, gosh. This is going to turn out to be a bigger thing than maybe is good?”
Addie waved away her concern. “I’d have said so when you first brought it up if that were the case. I had thought to just add a few from a local farm here. I didn’t know much about this smaller breed, but once you told me about it, I’ve done some reading and I think I’d like to get a few more of the same. Wool quality is a bit uneven, but the color variation is intriguing.” She smiled. “I’ve already got some ideas brewing on that. Plenty of time, since we won’t be shearing for a good bit yet.” She reached out, took Sunny’s hands in her own. “I’m quite sure Bailey won’t mind tending to a few more. I think we’ll both be enjoying this gift. Thank you.”
Sunny nodded, then slid her hands free and leaned down to hug Addie. “Thank you. For taking her in.” She leaned back, her eyes shiny. “And the sheep, too.”
Addie cackled at that, waved a dismissive hand, but her eyes were a bit shiny, too. “It’s what we do. Now, go on back to the party, both of you. This tired old lady is going to take those two sleepy lambs home.”
“Good night, Addie,” Sawyer said, leaning in and bussing her cheek. “Drive careful. Call me if you need anything.”
“I’m sure we’ll be more than fine,” she said. She made no mention whatsoever about Sunny using her fold-out bed later that night. Instead she just climbed in and started up the engine, leaving Sunny and Sawyer to step out of the way as she backed out, gave them a short wave, then headed off down Falls Road.
“I should have thought about the herd thing,” Sunny said, trying not to let the heat of embarrassment flame her cheeks anew. She was grateful to Addie for not making things awkward. “I’ll help her with getting the others out here. If I can fit them in my car, that is. I can always rent an SUV.”
He turned her to face him. “Or I could drive up, and we’ll go get them together. Plenty of room in my truck.”
Her heart instantly leapt at that idea, which was both thrilling and not a little alarming. She needed time to think. And at the same time, she didn’t want to think at all. She just wanted to do. “That’s a lot of driving. You don’t have to—”
“I want to. And I suspect we’ll both be doing some of that. Fair’s fair. I’d like to see your home if you’re comfortable with that.”
She looked into his handsome face. He was smiling, his tone confident, but what she saw in his eyes was hope. She didn’t want to think about that, either, or what the future would look like once this night was over. Her body was a roiling mass of nerves, some anticipatory, some excited, some just . . . nervous. She wanted to simply live in that moment, enjoy the night as it happened. What they did or decided to do afterward could wait, at least until morning, couldn’t it? “Are we going back to the party?” she asked.
“Not unless you’d like to. I’ve said my good-byes.”
“I’m—no, I’ve said mine, too. I just met everyone, and Addie and Bailey are gone now, so—” She was talking too fast, the nerves showing, and he must have heard it, too, because he tugged her closer.
“We don’t have to go up to the cabin tonight. And even if we do, nothing has to happen beyond . . . whatever we want to happen.”
She took the front of his wolf suit in her hands, balled them into fists, and pulled him closer still. “I’m pretty sure if it doesn’t happen, I’m going to climb right out of my skin. Fair warning.”
He let out a surprised laugh at that, but the hope in those eyes turned to a gleam of hunger. Big Bad Wolf, indeed. “Well, Miss Bo Peep, your chariot awaits.”
“Should I follow you up?”
He shook his head. “Your car will be fine here. I’ll bring you back down for it tomorrow.”
“Good,” she breathed, not really wanting to be apart from him, or give herself any time whatsoever to talk herself out of this.
“Good,” he agreed, then leaned down and kissed her. “I like that you say what you mean,” he murmured against her lips. He nibbled his way along the side of her jaw and nipped her earlobe. “And want what you want.”
“I’m a big fan of wanting at the moment,” she breathed, as she tipped her head to the side and allowed him to continue his slow, devastating kisses to the tender skin
at the base of her neck. “Are you wearing something decent under that fur suit?” The wolf head was sitting on top of her car at the moment, but he still had the rest of the fur suit on.
“Why, Miss Peep,” he said, his teeth grazing the pulse point beneath her ear. “Is that how you got your name?”
She moaned when he kissed her there, then gasped, just a little, when he nipped her earlobe.
“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours,” he said, nudging open the collar of her little fleece jacket. “Just what does Bo Peep wear under all of those layers of crinoline, hmm?”
She let out a baleful little laugh as she mentally pictured what she was actually wearing.
He lifted his head, his lips curved in a wry smile. “That sexy, huh?”
“Dead sexy,” she said. “Emphasis on dead.”
He shocked her by scooping her up, skirts and all, and carrying her to his truck, which was parked a few yards away. “Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?”
“Sawyer—you can’t. I’m—” She clung to his neck, mortified. She’d never been bodily scooped up in her life. At five-foot-eight, she was hardly scoopable. But she quickly realized that his height advantage was just that . . . an advantage. And a really, really nice one. She might not be scoopable to most mere mortal men, but for Sawyer Hartwell, it was no big thing.
“Oh, I believe I can,” he said, propping her backside on one bent knee so he could open the passenger door. He easily lifted her up and onto the seat. “Watch your head.”
When she automatically ducked, he caught her mouth in a short, soul-searing kiss that left her breathless until he leaned back, then pulled the seat belt across her hips.
“We’re going to have fun,” he said, then closed the door.
“I—I think that might be the understatement of the century,” she said faintly. Then let her head drop back on the headrest and closed her eyes. Don’t think. Just do. “Yes,” she said. “No thinking. Only doing.”
She heard a thump that was probably Sawyer depositing the wolf head in the back of the truck. When he climbed into the cab of the truck a minute later, he was wearing a gray microfiber T-shirt that clung to his shoulders and abs like a second skin over a pair of black biker shorts. He had Tevas on his bare feet.
“The wolf feet make driving a bit problematic,” he explained, noticing her once-over. “I changed in the mill when I got here.”
“I—yeah.” She tried, and epically failed, to stop looking at him. All the parts of him. “Aren’t you—won’t you get cold?”
“Cold’s a good thing at the moment,” he said, backing the truck out and turning toward the road. Then he turned to her with a fast grin and a wink. “As long as you keep looking at me like that, I don’t think there will be any chill issues.”
“I . . . I think I can manage that,” she said, wondering if she might actually be drooling. Dear Lord, have mercy.
She could feel the heat of the grin he shot her way, before he turned on to Falls Road and drove on past the mill, then up higher into the hills.
It was a winding, twisting drive. Neither one of them bothered with any attempt at small talk. They’d talked quite enough.
She didn’t think she could be blamed for not taking the time to look up at the wonders of the universe when he finally pulled to a stop in front of his cabin about twenty minutes later. She did notice the tarp he’d mentioned, now covering the roof. It wasn’t until he cautioned her on where to cross the porch to the door, to avoid the weakened spots, that she even thought to ask, “Are you still sleeping on that cot?” She’d never had the opportunity to go camping, but she was already mentally figuring out how to put together a makeshift bed on the floor, maybe in front of the wood-burning stove he’d mentioned, when he opened the door and ushered her inside. There, in the middle of the great room, sat the one and only piece of furniture. “Oh. Well, okay then.”
A sea of mattress, and a box spring to go with it, sat on a handmade platform frame in the middle of the room, moonlight spilling across the tousled sheets and rumpled comforter.
“I decided I’ve spent enough nights of my life on cots, or worse,” he said, walking over to the windowsill on the right and lighting an oil lantern. He set that one back down and went over and lit another on the mantel over the fireplace. The cabin was softly illuminated in a deep yellow glow. “Once I got the roof wrapped, I went and got this out of storage.” He grinned. “I just didn’t take into account the size of the door leading to the back bedroom.”
She looked at the narrow doorway to the back room. “Ah. Yes. Will it even fit back there anyway?”
He smiled. “It will when I’m done building the add-on. I’m not sure what I’ll do in the meantime, but for now . . . I’m not complaining.”
“Me, either,” she murmured, looking again at the bed, thinking it was the size of a small playground. Then smiled, thinking that might be an appropriate description. It was nice and toasty inside the cabin, and as she looked around, she spied the potbelly woodstove in the far corner, an orange glow emanating from behind the little grill panel door on the front.
“Sorry it’s not tidier,” he said, glancing at the bed. “I didn’t expect company. The sheets are clean,” he said, then motioned to himself. “But I am not. I’m going to grab a quick shower out back.”
“Out . . . back?”
“Don’t worry, there is indoor plumbing. Toilet works fine, as does the sink. But the showerhead broke off and I haven’t replaced it since I’m going to gut the bathroom and start over when I expand.”
“So, you’re going to rinse off in the garden hose or . . . ?”
He laughed. “Kind of. Sol had an outdoor shower, which, in fact, runs off the garden hose. For now, anyway. I hooked up a heat-on-demand unit, runs off a little propane tank. Handy. At least until we get our first freeze. But I’ll have it piped into the house system by then. I’ll be right back.”
She nodded dumbly, trying to imagine the rig, then stood in the middle of the cabin’s main room, listening as he rummaged in the room off the back of the great room—the bedroom, she surmised. A door squealed open, and slapped shut. She assumed it led to either the backyard, or a back porch, she didn’t know which. What she did know was that imagining him outside, stripped down to the skin, standing under a shower, under the stars . . . Have some serious mercy.
She felt a little overheated herself and took off her little fleece shorty jacket, then went ahead and unzipped the skirt and unhooked the waistband that all the crinoline layers were attached to, and let them crumple to the floor, so she could step out. She kicked off her ballet flats, then looked down at the ankle-length white pantaloons and the pale blue turtleneck and thought maybe she should stop there. Because the ratty gray college gym shorts and tank top she wore underneath . . . not really designed to drive a man to his knees.
But then, she hadn’t really considered that this was where she’d end the evening. Or maybe, some part of her had considered it, and the shorts and tank combination had been her version of underarmor. “Because nothing says ‘come take me’ like ancient gray cotton.”
“I don’t know,” he said, from right behind her. “I think you should let me be the judge of that.”
She hadn’t heard him come in, and didn’t dare turn around to see what he was, or wasn’t wearing.
“Do you want to shower?” he asked, cupping his broad palms over her shoulders, then sliding them down her arms as he moved in closer, until her body was pressed back against his. His chest was bare, and still damp. He had something on though, probably a towel, wrapped around his hips.
“I—maybe I should,” she managed, thinking he’d have to show her how to use it, but those words stuck in her throat. Because he had lifted the hem of her turtleneck and was pulling it, and with it her arms, upward, so he could slide it up and off. He tossed it over on top of the skirt pile, then fingered the skinny straps of her tank top. She wasn’t wearing a bra, mostly because she didn’t
need one. Sad to say. It had been a good long while since she’d been naked in front of someone, and she’d forgotten about all the body anxiety issues that went along with disrobing. Too late now.
But then he was cupping her breasts, covering them with his big hands, and urging her to lean back into his body, and it suddenly didn’t matter. He nudged aside one braided ponytail, and pressed a hot kiss to the side of her neck, making her shiver. Then he nibbled along the edge of her shoulder, before slowly dragging the thin tank strap over and down . . . with his teeth. And if that wasn’t enough to make remaining upright a challenge, he’d splayed his fingers over her breasts, then moved them together again, catching her now-rigid nipples between them. He gently rubbed them, still covered in soft cotton, the sensations so exquisite she arched her back, pressing them more firmly against his touch.
Her moan when he gently bit the other side of her neck wasn’t soft, it was deep and guttural, and she let her head drop back against his shoulder. “All the better to eat you with,” he murmured, then slid the other strap over and off her shoulder.
She shuddered, hard, when he slowly dragged the tank down over her arms, rubbing the cotton snugly over her nipples, one deliciously agonizing inch at a time.
Some distant part of her thought she should probably be participating, doing more than just standing there, but she couldn’t seem to make any part of her move. She felt languorous, as if her entire body was as heavy lidded as her eyes.
When he got the tank to her waist, he slid his fingers around the waistband of her pantaloons until he found the cotton ties that held them up. He tugged one tie, slowly, so slowly, urging the waistband looser, until she wanted to yank them out of his hands and yank the things off herself, then beg him to put his hands back on her. Anywhere on her.
Blue Hollow Falls Page 24
