It's Only Love

by Marie Force

  Ella thought of him while she ate the ham sandwich he’d made for her while she made his for him. She pictured him eating his sandwich and thinking of her. She’d made it with lots of mayo, just the way he wanted it, while he spread a thin layer of mustard on hers.

  It was such a small silly thing, but she’d absolutely loved making lunches with him. Inside her brown bag, she saw a piece of paper and pulled it out. Hope you’re having a good day, he’d written. You’re standing right next to me, and I can’t wait to see you later.

  Ella sighed with pleasure at the sweet words and the sweeter sentiment. It felt so damned good to let loose all the feelings she’d kept contained for so long, to let the whole world know how she felt about him.

  With her heart full to overflowing with love for him, she sent off an e-mail to Dylan, telling him what she wanted to do and asking if he’d be willing to help put her plan into action.

  She moved on to other things, trying to forget about the message she’d sent to Dylan. Until her e-mail chimed with a new message and she immediately clicked right over to read it.

  Hey Ella, Dylan had written, so nice to hear from you, and I love your idea of surprising Gavin with a trip to the wedding. It would mean so much to me to have him there. I can easily add you to the reservation at the resort. They’re holding a couple of extra rooms for us until the week before, so good timing. Am I holding one room for you guys or two?

  He included some other details about the wedding and a link to the resort where it would take place.

  Ella clicked on the link and began to drool at the sight of the crystal-clear blue water, white sand, palm trees, sunsets and breathtakingly romantic rooms. Imagining herself in paradise with Gavin was further impetus to make this happen.

  She wrote back to Dylan. Thanks for all your help. The resort looks AMAZING! One room will do. Thanks again and congratulations!

  He replied right away. Sounds like my buddy Gavin has been keeping secrets . . . Happy for you guys and especially happy for him. It’s high time he got back to the land of the living. See you soon, Ella.

  Bolstered by Dylan’s kind reply, she logged on to a travel website to discover there were still plenty of seats available on flights. They’d leave from Boston the day after Thanksgiving—Black Friday, she thought with a gulp—and return the following Friday. Before she could purchase the tickets, she had to see about putting Charley in charge of the floor during one of the busiest weeks of the year in the store.

  Ella checked the time on her computer. Just after three. She had an hour before she wanted to head home to start cooking and needed to make it count.

  CHAPTER 14

  They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love,

  something to do, and something to hope for.

  —Tom Bodett

  Gavin’s workday had been a study in crisis management, beginning with the equipment failure in the mountains that had forced them to halt all operations for the day. He’d sent his mechanics to figure out what was going on, but in the meantime, the men who worked the north woods were at a standstill.

  Standstills cost him money.

  He’d no sooner dealt with that when two of the men working at a local job returned to the yard, one of them cradling his bloody hand while the other went in search of a first-aid kit. With one quick look, Gavin could see that the wound needed stitches.

  “Get him to the ER,” Gavin said to the man who’d brought him back to the yard.

  “What’s in the water today?” asked Clinton, his second in command, when the other two had left for the hospital.

  “Who the fuck knows? And why would they come here instead of the hospital when he’s bleeding like a stuck pig?”

  “Um, well, sometimes they aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed?”

  Most of the time, the guys who worked for him were reliable and bright. But sometimes they weren’t. “Did they say what happened?” Gavin asked, dreading the reams of paperwork that resulted from an on-the-job injury.

  “Something about a strip of bark and a fall.” Clinton checked his watch. “I gotta jet. We have Trish’s ultrasound appointment at four. She’ll skin me alive if I’m late.”

  “I remember. Go ahead, and good luck with that.”

  “Thanks. Call me if you need anything.”

  “Surely we’ve exceeded the day’s quota for catastrophes.”

  “Knock on wood,” Clinton said with a smirk.

  “Very funny.”

  Clinton went spinning out of the parking lot a few minutes later, waving to Gavin as he left. He was happy for his longtime employee and his wife, who’d been trying to have a baby for a while now and were finally getting their wish.

  He went into the office, hoping to hear from the mechanics with an update about the repairs being made to the equipment up north. While he waited, he paid some bills, caught up the accounting software and used the office line to return customer phone calls. His employees would know to call his cell phone.

  His corner of Butler was one of two areas, Colton’s mountain being the other, that had reliable cell service. And he was damned thankful for that. It would be much more difficult to run his business without a cell phone.

  It was starting to get dark by the time the cell rang with a call from one of his men—not the one he’d been hoping to hear from.

  “Yeah, hey boss, so a funny thing happened on the way back to town.”

  Gavin’s gut clenched. “What happened?”

  “The truck jackknifed and we’ve got a load of wood blocking I-89.”

  “Were people hurt?” Gavin asked, paralyzed by the image of massive logs rolling off one of his trucks onto cars sharing the road. It was one of his recurring nightmares as the owner of a logging company.

  “No, man, I got super lucky. No one was near me at the time.”

  Thank God for small favors.

  “We got a real fucking mess up here. Can you come help me out?”

  “Where are you?”

  “Just south of St. Albans.”

  Fuck, that was two hours away. “Yeah,” Gavin said with a sigh, “I’m on my way.” He should’ve actually knocked on wood earlier when Clinton suggested it. Before he left the office, he called the Green Mountain Country Store, asked for Ella and was put through to her voice mail. “Hi, this is Ella Abbott. I can’t take your call right now, but please leave a message, and I’ll get right back to you. Thanks.”

  The sound of her voice made him smile for the first time since he parted with her that morning. “Hey, babe, it’s me. Total cluster of a day here, and I have to go rescue one of my guys over in St. Albans, so I’ll be late tonight. I’ll be over as soon as I get back to town. Call my cell if you need to reach me.” He rattled off the number. “I’ve been thinking about applesauce all day. Among other things. See you soon.”

  Gavin pulled out of the yard a few minutes later and pressed the pedal to the floor. He had a four-hour round-trip and God only knew what kind of a mess waiting for him when he got there.

  * * *

  Ella arrived home right at four and flipped on some music to keep her company while she peeled a dozen apples, mixed them with apple juice, lemon juice, brown sugar, cinnamon, ground cloves and her grandmother’s secret ingredient—maple syrup from the family’s sugaring facility on the mountain.

  “Thank you, Colton,” Ella said, as she did every time she used the syrup her brother produced each year. He and Lucy had spent much of the autumn in New York but were back now for Thanksgiving and the birth of their first niece or nephew.

  With the apples simmering in a pot on the stove, she prepared the pork tenderloin for baking and thought about the situation with Max and Chloe. She couldn’t imagine how difficult it would be to break up with her partner when they were about to bring a baby into the world. Max had been f
orced to grow up practically overnight when Chloe got pregnant, and he’d held up admirably. But this new development had Ella worried about her baby brother.

  Next she set her sights on the small white potatoes that she would fry with onions and garlic and oil. They were one of Ella’s favorite things to eat, and she couldn’t wait to share them with Gavin.

  Another hour and a half or so and he would arrive. She couldn’t wait to see him. Eight hours apart felt like a lifetime, which she knew was ridiculous. But after waiting so long to be with him, every minute she spent apart from him was painful.

  With all her prep work finished, Ella decided to indulge in a nice hot bath in the old claw-foot tub that was one of her favorite things about her apartment.

  She spent more than an hour reading and lounging in the tub before getting out to dry off. In the cabinet she contemplated the array of scented lotions that her sisters were always giving her for one occasion or another. Charley and Hannah both loved the smelly stuff, and tonight she was thankful for their good taste as well as Bath & Body Works.

  Was she in a Warm Vanilla Sugar mood or Japanese Cherry Blossom? Perhaps in honor of their upcoming vacation, it was an Oahu Coconut Sunset kind of night. No, she’d save that for the trip. In the end, she chose Carried Away because the title matched her mood.

  She was most definitely carried away by Gavin Guthrie, and she hoped he would carry her away again as soon as possible. With that in mind, she chose a slinky black nightgown with a matching thong and covered it with a red silk robe. The other thing her sisters loved beyond all reason was lingerie. She’d never cared enough about any man to wear for them the things they bought her. She was glad now that she’d saved them for Gavin. Her body tingled in anticipation.

  After lighting her favorite sage candle, she went into the kitchen to check on dinner. The apples were soft and ready to be mashed. In her family there were two schools of thought when it came to applesauce. Some preferred the puréed version. Ella was a fan of the chunkier version. So rather than putting the apples in the food processor, she smashed them with a potato masher and put them in the refrigerator to cool.

  The potatoes were nicely browned and smelled so good she nearly drooled in anticipation. A peek into the oven revealed that the meat was almost done, too. She turned the temperature down to keep it warm.

  Ella poured a glass of chardonnay and took it into the living room. She lit the fire and sat on the sofa staring into the flames, wondering how much longer she had to wait until he’d arrive.

  By seven, she was beginning to worry. She called his home number from memory—yes, she’d memorized it and wasn’t proud of that—but he didn’t answer, so she looked up the number to his office in the phone book. No answer there either.

  Ella bit her thumbnail as a nagging worry began to assail her. What if one of the dark moods had come on him today and he was off doing something self-destructive? Was he in a bar somewhere? Was he spoiling for a fight? She poured another glass of wine and tried to force herself to relax, to not think the worst. But his recent track record made that a difficult challenge.

  At eight o’clock she was seriously considering calling his parents to get his cell number when she remembered the ICE call. She ran for the portable phone and scrolled through the incoming numbers. When she saw the one from the other night, she pressed the call button.

  Gavin answered on the third ring. “Ella?” The connection was crackling and fading in and out. “. . . my message?”

  “What? You’re cutting out.”

  “. . . fucking mountains.”

  Mountains? What was he doing in the mountains? And what message had he left for her? There were no messages on her machine.

  “. . . call you back.” The line went dead, and Ella stood with the phone in hand ready to scream from frustration. She’d never been a particularly impatient person until right now. Twenty long minutes passed before the phone rang again.

  “Gavin.”

  “Yeah, babe. So sorry. I had no reception in the mountains.”

  “What are you doing in the mountains?”

  “Didn’t you get the message I left on your voice mail at work?”

  She winced. “No, I left early to come home to make dinner.”

  “Shit, I’m sorry. I’ll be there in about an hour. Am I still welcome?”

  “Yes, of course you are.”

  “I’m really sorry, Ella. Today was a disaster at work in more ways than one.”

  “I’ll see you when you get here.”

  “I can’t wait.” He lowered his voice, which told her he wasn’t alone. “I’ve been looking forward to applesauce all day.”

  The double meaning in his statement couldn’t be denied. “Me, too.”

  “Wait for me, El. I’m coming.”

  “Okay.” She didn’t want to hang up, but she pressed the button to end the call and then held the phone to her chest. Returning to the sofa and her wine, she curled her legs under her and tried to force herself to relax. Then she called in to her voice mail at work and listened to his sweet message, smiling at his applesauce comment.

  She felt so bad for doubting him, for thinking the worst when he’d been off taking care of his business the way he should be.

  Just over an hour later, she heard the roar of his motorcycle arriving in her driveway. She ran to the door and threw it open as he came running up the stairs.

  “I’m so sorry, babe.” He wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted her into his arms, kissing her. “I’m sorry.” Stepping into her apartment, he kicked the door closed behind him.

  She held his face in her hands and kissed him. “Don’t apologize. You were working.”

  “Were you worried?”

  She bit her lip and nodded.

  “Did you think the worst?”

  She hesitated for only a second before she nodded again. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay. I understand. I haven’t given you much reason to have faith.”

  “Yes, you have. You’re trying. That matters.”

  He let her slide down the aroused front of him. “You look amazing and you smell like a dream. What is that?”

  “It’s called Carried Away. It suited the mood I’ve been in lately.”

  “That suits my mood, too.”

  “Are you hungry?”

  “Famished.”

  She took him by the hand and towed him behind her into her cozy kitchen, where she’d set the small table for two. Gesturing to one of the chairs, she said, “Have a seat.”

  He slid into the chair she’d indicated. “This looks so nice. I’m sorry I messed it up.”

  “You didn’t.” She retrieved a beer she’d bought with him in mind from the fridge, popped it open and put it in front of him. “Relax. Your hell day is over.”

  “Thank God for that.”

  “What happened?”

  While she put dinner on the table, he told her about the three-crisis day he’d endured at work.

  “Does that happen a lot?”

  “None of it ever happens—not on that scale anyway. It was like the universe was conspiring to keep me away from you.”

  “Your man who went to the ER,” she asked, slicing the pork and putting it on a plate. “Is he okay?”

  “Twenty stitches later, he’s fine but out of work for a week. And the paperwork I’ll have to file on the incident will take me that long to complete.”

  Ella winced. “That doesn’t sound like fun.”

  “It sucks, but I’m glad he’s okay. I’ve been really lucky with no major injuries for my employees despite the dangerous work they do every day.”

  “What’s up with the equipment in the mountains?”

  “Still waiting to hear, but I’ve got my fingers crossed that it’s an easy fix. Until they get it up and running again, I�
��ve got six guys twiddling their thumbs and still being paid.”

  “So they work up there all the time?”

  “During the week. We rent a house up there and they stay up there Sunday through Thursday and come home for the weekends.”

  She brought the food to the table and took a seat across from him.

  “Come over here.”

  “Over where?”

  He pushed out his chair and gestured to his lap.

  A rush of heat overtook her at his blatant invitation, making her face—and other areas—feel hot. She got up and went around the table to sit on his lap. He wrapped his arm around her and then used his free hand to fill his plate. Then he proceeded to feed them both from one plate. It was the single most intimate moment of her life, sharing a chair, a plate, a fork with him. He fed her bites of applesauce and then kissed the sweetness off her lips.

  Everything tasted better than it ever had before, and the solid press of his erection against her bottom kept her in a constant state of arousal as they ate and he raved over the food she’d prepared.

  Gavin put down the fork and ran his hand up her inner thigh.

  Ella shuddered from the powerful charge of desire that simple touch created. The drag of his calluses over her skin set off a chain reaction that traveled from her lips to her nipples to her clit. She quite simply burned for him.

  “Gavin.”

  “What, babe?”

  “I . . .”

  He swept her hair out of his way and began kissing her neck.

  She leaned in to get closer to him.

  “What were you going to say?”

  “Can we go to bed? Right now? Please?”

  “The bed is so far away.” Before she could protest that it was only in the next room, he had arranged her so she faced him, straddling his lap. He pulled open the button to his jeans, unzipped slowly and carefully and freed his incredibly hard cock from the confines of his pants.

  She could barely keep up as he pushed aside her thong and surged into her, filling and stretching her nearly to the point of pain before her body relented and let him in.