With This Kiss

by Bella Riley

  “Good. I’ll call the council while you shower.”

  She stood up, put her hand on his cheek. “I already did.” She kissed him softly. “Thank you for offering, but I was hoping you could cover for me here for a few hours.”

  He looked surprised. “You already set up a meeting?”

  Rebecca loved Emerald Lake’s community. His mother’s suggestion to look into the zoning was wonderful. And, of course, Sean’s support for her festival touched her deeply.

  But some things a woman had to take care of on her own.

  This was her idea. Ultimately, it was up to her to fight the final battle. If she succeeded, if she failed… either way, she was twenty-eight years old, and it was finally time to find out what she was made of.

  “I don’t want you to feel left out after all of your help,” she said softly, but before she could finish her sentence he was tipping her chin up with his hand.

  “Give ’em hell.”

  “You’re not upset that I’m going alone?”

  He smiled at her, that beautiful smile that made her insides gooey.

  “After seeing the way you played Dick at the bar, I’ve been wondering if I was standing in your way with the council that first time.”

  “You were great with them, Sean. You’re so good at that sort of thing, so much better than I’ll ever be at meetings like that.”

  “Don’t underestimate yourself, sweetheart.”

  The endearment had her heart skipping a beat every single time he said it.

  “I’m trying not to,” she said, and then he was kissing her again, and she was on the verge of forgetting all about the zoning maps and the council meeting.

  “I’ve got an inn to run,” he said when they finally came up for air. “And you’ve got a festival to save.”

  From shower to dressing, to heading out to the clerk’s office to driving through the winding Adirondack roads to the preservation council building, Rebecca didn’t stop smiling.

  “Ms. Campbell,” the pretty middle-aged woman at the front desk said with a smile. “They’re all expecting you. Are you ready to go in?”

  Previously, when Rebecca had been standing in this light-filled entry, she’d been shaking with nerves. She’d been unsure of so many things—her feelings for Sean, along with her chances at convincing the council to let her festival go forward.

  And even though not very many days, or hours, had passed, so much had changed.

  One sweet kiss with Sean in a roadside dive had turned into so much more.

  Sean’s mother had approached her almost as a friend would have, or at least as an ally of sorts.

  And Rebecca had decided to stop giving up.

  From here on out, if she wanted something, she was going for it. Because she’d finally learned that the worst anyone could say was no.

  And for the first time in her life, she was banking on yes.

  “Yes,” she told the receptionist. “I’m ready.”

  Finally.

  “The festival is back on!”

  Rebecca had been bursting to tell someone her good news. She’d assumed Sean would be the first person she’d tell, but then, strangely, she found herself driving to his mother’s house instead and knocking on the door.

  “Rebecca, what a nice surprise.” Sean’s mother looked like she meant it. “I was just putting together something for lunch. Would you like to come inside and have something to eat?”

  “That’s a lovely invitation, but I really need to get back to the inn to make sure Sean’s okay holding down the fort all alone. I just had to come and say thank you first.”

  “Why don’t I come with you, then? I haven’t had lunch at the inn in a while.”

  Rebecca couldn’t refuse the company. After Elizabeth quickly put away the food on her counter, and they walked out to Rebecca’s car, Rebecca was simply bursting to share her good news.

  “So my suggestion about the zoning was—”

  Rebecca interrupted with, “Brilliant.”

  “I’m glad,” Elizabeth said. “I always thought your festival was a great idea. I don’t know why no one had thought of it before now, actually. Maybe it takes someone with a fresh eye on the town to see something new.”

  Rebecca didn’t know what to say to that compliment, apart from, “Thank you. That means a lot to me.”

  “By the way, your fliers and posters look very good, but if you need any help in the future, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

  Elizabeth would have been her first choice, but Sean’s mother had never really seemed to like her so she hadn’t thought she’d get a yes. “I’d love to work together, but I’m pretty sure we can’t afford your graphic design skills this year.”

  “Nonsense,” Elizabeth said with a wave of her hand in the air. “I do pro bono work for local events all the time. Besides, my sons own the inn and the festival directly benefits their business. Of course, I want to help them in any way I can.”

  Up until that moment, everything had been so good, but the reminder of Elizabeth’s fraught relationship with her sons—and the fact that she knew all about her kiss with Sean—made Rebecca glad when they pulled up to the inn.

  She should get out of the car. Not open her mouth and mess up the first really good conversation she’d had with Sean’s mother.

  But, oh, she had no idea how to do the right thing, did she?

  “Elizabeth, I wanted to come thank you for helping me with the festival, and I also—” She had to pause, had to stop to try and find a way to say what she needed to say about Sean. About how much she cared for him.

  “You’re just what Sean needs, Rebecca.”

  Rebecca gulped down whatever words had been about to spill. “I am?”

  “Yes.”

  Tears pricked at Rebecca’s eyes. It was a day of miracles. First the thumbs-up on her festival and then the same from a woman she’d never even thought really liked her.

  “I care deeply for both of your sons. Stu will always be one of my closest friends, and Sean is…” Her words fell away as she looked up at his mother.

  “He’s very special,” Elizabeth said softly.

  When they headed into the inn, Sean was clearly surprised to see them back again, but as Elizabeth excitedly shared the good news with him, he didn’t hesitate to reach for Rebecca in front of his mother.

  He kissed her and whispered, “I’m happy for you,” against her lips.

  Shocked that he’d embraced her in front of his mother, Rebecca was amazed to find that all of her worries had been for nothing. First, she’d been worried that she’d never get her festival back on track, and then that dating Sean was the equivalent of banging on a locked door.

  But for the first time since the door on her almost-marriage to Stu had slammed shut, she wondered if she’d found something even better than an open window to crawl out of. She’d found a clean, clear lake to swim in. A tall mountain to climb.

  And a wonderful man to kiss… at least for a little while.

  The next few days were a blur: keeping the inn running while going back and forth with the preservation council and parks commission during the day and making love with Sean into the late hours at night.

  Rebecca was equal parts exhilarated and exhausted. Plenty of people had seen her and Sean at city hall looking at records. She’d seen their confused glances, the way they were trying to tell themselves there couldn’t possibly be anything going on between them. And then Sean would put his hand on the small of her back, or lean in to kiss her forehead, and the “nothing going on” illusion was shattered.

  “You do it on purpose,” she said to him the dozenth time he stroked a hand over her hair after they’d picked up two cups of coffee at the Moose Café.

  “What do I do on purpose?”

  His tone was full of innocence, but she saw the wicked truth in his dark eyes.

  “You touch me. Kiss me.”

  “I like touching you. I love kissing you.” He backed up his words
with a light stroke of his thumb across her lower lip, his mouth on hers.

  “You like shocking them all, don’t you?”

  He pulled back at that, stared at her for a long moment. “I’m proud of you. Proud to be with you.”

  “I know you are,” she said, trying to stop herself from adding, “At least for now,” and failing.

  She regretted the words as much as she’d thought she would, hating to see the way his mouth tightened, his jaw jumping once. Twice.

  “You were clear from the start about what you can give. It’s just sometimes,” she said, barely above a whisper, “I find myself wanting more.”

  She knew how important honesty was to him, but she’d just told a lie. Straight to his face.

  Because she didn’t want more sometimes.

  She wanted more all the time.

  She knew she had his respect. She knew he appreciated her. That she made him laugh when few others could.

  All of that was great.

  But she wanted his love.

  She’d hoped she could go into this relationship knowing the score, knowing what was possible, and come out on the other side having had a taste of something sweet and lovely. But Sean had known better right from the start, hadn’t he?

  He’d predicted her broken heart.

  And then he’d kissed her… and those predictions hadn’t seemed to matter as long as he was close.

  Sean started his car and pulled away from Main Street. The air was tense, filled with her longing and his reticence. He hadn’t told her where they were going, just that he had a surprise for her. She assumed it had something to do with the festival.

  They were driving through the heavily forested part of Route 10 when he pulled into a narrow gravel driveway.

  “Where are we?”

  “My property.”

  She shifted in her seat in surprise. “I didn’t know you owned property on the lake.”

  “I bought it a few years ago.”

  She should have guessed, knowing how much he loved Emerald Lake, that he’d always planned on coming back here one day. For all the problems he had with his family, how could he resist?

  Despite the earlier awkwardness, hope moved through her that maybe, just maybe, he’d make that full-time move back here sooner rather than later. If he stayed in town, and they continued to date, it wasn’t completely impossible that he could fall in love with her one day, was it?

  Knowing her heart was running away with her brain again—in a tremendously stupid and pointless direction, no less—she was just on the verge of vowing not to let it happen again when the trees opened up.

  “You have a plane?”

  The first hint of a smile came back to his lips. “A float plane.”

  She swallowed hard, felt all the air begin to press and squeeze out of her lungs.

  “Oh.” She worked to get control of her lungs, to get her stomach to stop cramping to absolutely no avail. “Your plane takes off and lands on the water?”

  “Now that the ice on the lake has melted, I was able to have it delivered.” Sean’s hand was gentle on her chin as he turned her face to his. “Come up in it with me, Rebecca.”

  She blinked at him. “This is your surprise.”

  “I want to take you flying.”

  “I—” Her mouth was dry, so dry her tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth. She closed her eyes, whispered, “I can’t.”

  “Rebecca, look at me, sweetheart.”

  She made herself open her eyes, tried not to see the plane in front of them, floating there at the end of his dock, taunting her.

  “You are strong. Determined. Something like getting in a float plane shouldn’t break someone as full of resolve as you.”

  “It will.”

  “It won’t. I know it won’t.”

  “How can you know that?”

  “Do you trust me?”

  More than she should.

  With everything, including her heart.

  Still, she could barely get the word out. “Yes.”

  “We’ll just climb in. Get used to the feel of the seat, the belts, the way the world looks from a front-row seat in the sky.”

  “You make it sound so easy.”

  “It will be.”

  And then he leaned over and kissed her, softly at first, but the passion that burned between them was never far from the surface. Her nerves, her fears, all started to melt away as their tongues danced. She reached for him, threaded her hands into his dark hair, and somehow he pulled her onto his lap and she was lost to everything but how much she wanted him.

  Before she realized it, he’d opened the door and she was standing on the sand in his arms. He took her hand in his to lead her over to his plane.

  “How am I supposed to think straight after a kiss like that?”

  “You’re not.”

  “You tricked me.”

  He didn’t look the least bit guilty as he maneuvered them across the sand and toward the dock.

  “I did.”

  And then, just that fast, he had her sitting in the passenger seat of the small plane.

  “See. It’s not scary at all.”

  Even though she didn’t want to believe him, he was right. The console had a lot of buttons and switches and gauges, but she supposed it wasn’t all that different from sitting in Sean’s expensive car.

  And yet, she still didn’t think she could do it.

  She could feel him staring at her, taking in her panic. Finally, he said, “I wait all day long to make love with you. Do you know why?”

  Oh god. No one had ever spoken like this to her. She couldn’t get her mouth to form the word why but Sean didn’t let that stop him from telling her his reason.

  “I’ve never seen anything as beautiful in all my life as you are when you let go in my arms.”

  The remaining tension pooling in her gut, her limbs, melted away as he said, “Ever since we met, I’ve seen how much you love learning new things. How you love adventure. Even fighting for the festival has been fun with you.” He looked into her eyes, held her gaze. “Maybe it’s just me being selfish. But I want to see you up in the air with me. I want to see the wonder in your eyes when you see the lake from the clouds for the first time.”

  If this wasn’t love, she wasn’t sure she knew what love was.

  She took a deep breath. And said, “Go.”

  He didn’t wait another second, didn’t give her time to change her mind.

  They started to glide across the water and she let out a little squeak as they suddenly climbed into the sky.

  Just as her lungs were shutting down again, Sean reminded her, “One breath at a time. Just one, Rebecca. Just give me one.”

  She could do that, couldn’t she? Just one breath. And then another when she was done with that first one.

  She wanted to pinch her eyes shut, wanted to pretend she was anywhere but in an airplane, but the dark blue of the water, the light blue of the sky, the faint wisps of clouds, the dark greens of the forest were all starting to make their way into her brain.

  Snippets of beauty came at her like a flashing video screen, one after the other, so magnificent that she could still hardly breathe.

  And that was when it hit her: she was up in the clouds in a tiny plane… and she wasn’t dying.

  Instead, she was more alive than she’d ever been before.

  “Thank you.”

  She hadn’t realized she was crying until she said the two little words.

  Trying to take it all in—the magnificence of the lake and mountains and sky—her words were blurry with her tears of joy as she agreed, “It’s even more incredible than I imagined.”

  Sean was silent beside her, but she could feel that something had changed inside the small space. Turning to him, she saw that he was looking at her with such tenderness, such wonder, her heart actually skipped a beat.

  “No one has ever cared this much about me,” she told him then, as they flew through the sky.
“No one has ever made me face my fears like you just did.”

  She was stunned that he understood her so well, that he knew she’d not only survive the flight but would relish it so completely.

  In so many ways, Sean knew her better than she even knew herself.

  No one had ever had so much faith in her before. She’d trusted him with her embarrassing secret, that she was too much of a wimp to get in a plane, and instead of turning it against her, instead of finding her weak, he’d found a way to help get her through it.

  His tactics might have been unorthodox—no one had ever kissed her fears into submission before—but it had worked. Mostly, anyway, she thought as she gripped the door tightly and tried not to think about falling out of the sky.

  How could she possibly let him know that she had faith in him, too? And that he could trust her with his pain?

  “Are you scared now?”

  She took a breath, looked around her again, then smiled. “Yes.”

  He frowned. “You are?”

  “I am. But it’s a good kind of scared.”

  “A good kind of scared?”

  “I’m scared that I’ve wasted too much time. I’m scared that there are too many beautiful things out there for me to possibly fit into one lifetime.”

  She gathered up all of her courage to say one more thing.

  “And I’m scared about what I’m feeling for you.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Neither Sean nor Rebecca said anything else during the rest of their aerial tour of Emerald Lake. She held her breath during the landing, but it was just as smooth as the takeoff. Rebecca knew she was spoiled by having Sean as her personal pilot. She trusted him in a way she’d never trusted anyone else.

  He helped her out of the plane, his hands on either side of her waist. They stood together like that for a long moment, staring into each other’s eyes, before he had to move away to secure his plane to the dock.

  She was waiting for him on the beach, sitting in the sand with her legs curled up beneath her arms.

  “You belong here, Rebecca.”

  She felt it, too, such kinship with this small town deep in the Adirondack Mountains. That was why it had hurt so much when Mr. Radin accused her of trying to destroy the land with her festival.