My Missing Puzzle Piece (Creekside Falls #1)

by Kristin Hoepfl

  When Elle turned to look up at him she was biting her lower lip. She released that delicious looking lip and said, “Thanks for everything tonight, dinner was great, and of course the company was great. I had a good time.”

  That was all the invitation he needed because he lowered his head and set his mouth down on hers. Elle made a little moan in the back of her throat and within seconds she was kissing him back as fervently as he was kissing her, it felt as if they were keeping each other afloat with their passion.

  Elle leaned into Trevor and tilted so she had better access to him as they kissed. He brought his hands up to the side of her face and started to tilt her head more to deepen the kiss and give him better access. Her tongue darted out of her mouth and started to play with the seam of his lips, he immediately opened for her. They were kissing for all they were worth, learning each other’s mouths’ completely. Elle leaned back a little to catch her breath and looked up at Trevor with heavy lidded eyes that were laced with desire; he wanted her bad. At this point he had a decision to make, Elle was here, she was under him, she was beautiful and she seemed willing. The man-lust part of him wanted nothing more than to take her but his mind kept interrupting to remind him this was their first date and this woman had admitted to him more than once that dating was something she struggled with and had limited experience with. He took a deep breath, kissed her gently on the lips the face and then on her nose and smiled down at her. “Elle, you are so beautiful, I want to make love to you here and now, but I don’t want to do anything that will ruin what I think could be something special and real.”

  He held his breath, not knowing how she would react to what he said. She pulled away and propped herself up on her elbows. “That has to be the sweetest and most amazing thing any man has ever said to me.” She said. Her eyes were wet with unshed tears and he knew at that moment that he was in trouble. This woman had the potential to make him fall in love. He sat up and rolled his shoulders, shook his head a bit to clear his mind. The last thing he needed to do was go over the deep end when he was still just getting to know her.

  He looked over his shoulder and gave a small sheepish smile but didn’t say anything. Which made her laugh a little, she could tell that he felt a little awkward too and that made her completely comfortable with him all over again, when she only doubted it for a minute. Even though she had no idea why he would feel awkward or shy. It was usually her who felt that way. Elle looked up at Trevor and gave him another kiss for being so sweet and amazing.

  He was still shocked how quick everything moved, he didn’t want their first time together to be on their first date. Even though they didn’t have sex, based on the kissing and chemistry alone if that did happen it would no doubt be beyond mind-blowing.

  “Come here” Trevor said as he pulled Elle into him so that they were cuddling.

  They kissed for a while longer and both felt the heat begin to build again, they needed a change of scenery and action, otherwise they’d both be naked in a matter of minutes. She decided to include him in her nightly ritual of getting as comfortable as possible. She preferred to live in sweats or a t-shirt and jeans while at home.

  “I am going to go change…”she stopped and had a thought, “sometimes my brother and cousins stay here too, you may be about their sizes if you want to come see if something they left fits so you can be more comfortable.” She thought a moment before adding, “Don’t worry only one of them is a girl the other three are guys.” She gave him a cheeky grin and headed upstairs.

  He swatted her on the ass and said, “Okay, it can’t hurt to look.”

  He followed her upstairs to a guest room; the room was painted a deep purple with hardwood floors, a full size Queen Anne bed, dresser, nightstand and big, fluffy sitting chair near the window. She started to open drawers in the dresser, “Here, this looks like the drawers with their stuff, see if something fits and go for it. I’ll be right back.” He could tell she wasn’t sure what they were doing or where to go from here, hell he wasn’t sure either but he knew he didn’t want to let her go or let go of what they had started, that was for damn sure.

  He started to look through the clothes and found a pair of running shorts that fit and a shirt that was a little tight but it would do, he threw those on and went to look for a bathroom. He left the guest room and turned to the left and thought that was it but it was another guest bedroom as well. He walked to the one on the right of the room he changed in and that was another bedroom but it was completely empty except for the light tan colored walls, good grief, how many bedrooms did this woman need? He figured it was time to just ask, he called out to her, “Elle where’s the bathroom?”

  She yelled back through a partially open door at the end of the hall, “Across the hall from the room you changed in.”

  “Thanks,” he said and went to the bathroom; it was painted light gray with dark green and purple towels and matching shower curtain -- Elle definitely liked rooms with splashes of color.

  When he opened the door to the bathroom and stepped out, he and Elle collided hard into each other. “Whoa, sorry!” he said to her as he grabbed her shoulders to steady them both before they fell.

  “That was my fault, sorry.” She looked him up and down before saying, “You did find something, good.”

  “I did thanks. You okay?”

  “I’m good. I’m kind of hungry though, you feel like a snack?” Elle asked.

  “Sure I could always eat, lead the way.” Trevor said.

  They walked to the kitchen but Elle made a stop in the living room for their hot chocolate mugs. Once in there she asked, “Do you want something to drink?”

  “Sure”

  She opened the refrigerator and said, “I have iced tea, water, milk, tea or…hot chocolate. Is iced tea okay?”

  Trevor laughed and said, “That’s fine.”

  In the light of the kitchen Trevor saw that Elle had taken off her makeup and put on some lounge clothes, the lights in the hallway upstairs were low and he hadn’t had a chance to see her in good light until now. He didn’t think she could look any more beautiful but she managed to. “You look beautiful you know that?”

  “What? I’m in sweats and no makeup. You sure you don’t need glasses?” Elle said with a laugh.

  He smirked at that, “No I don’t need glasses and I don’t care if you have makeup on or are in sweats, I think you look amazing, more so than you did earlier actually, and trust me that’s hard to top.” He added playfully.

  “You must be crazy but thank you for that.” Elle added.

  She filled their glasses and then went for some of the cookies she made with Taylor the other night. “Want some?”

  She grabbed one for herself and put the cookie jar in between them as they sat at her breakfast bar.

  Trevor grabbed a few himself and ate one whole. “These are amazing. You made them?” He said after eating his cookie.

  “Yes, Taylor and I made them the other day, I’ll make sure and tell her you like them. Between the two of us I’m more of the baker than the cook, but we try to help each other out. There’s chocolate, chocolate chip and cherry chocolate chip.” She grabbed her iced tea and the cookie jar and said, “Come on want to go sit in the living room?”

  “Let’s go.” Trevor said as he got up and grabbed his iced tea. He was still not sure Elle’s thoughts about everything that had happened, but being here felt good to him.

  They went in the living room; Elle fixed the pillows and blankets in front of the fire, and put the cookies down on the floor so they would be in between them to eat. She sat down and grabbed a blanket and started to cover herself when she held it up and gestured for him to get under it with her.

  Trevor followed suit, he put his glass on the table also and sat next to Elle. He wanted more of those cookies. Plus he’d bet she was an amazing cook despite what she said especially if these cookies were any indication.

  When Elle saw Trevor was settled in next to her she set the co
okies on her lap so they could both have some. Trevor immediately grabbed two out of the jar and stuffed another, whole, into his mouth.

  “I have to tell you something and you may not like it too much.” Elle said as she nervously toyed with the sleeve of her shirt.

  “What is it?”

  “Well when I was in high school Rob and I were in the same group of friends but we also dated for a little while.”

  “You and Rob?” Trevor said managing a deadpan expression; at least he hoped he was.

  “Yes, me and Rob. I just figured I should let you know.” Elle said fidgeting. Trevor had no expression, no reaction that she could tell, and this worried her.

  “Thanks for being honest with me and letting me know. But I have to ask, is there still anything there between you two?”

  “Definitely not. Until I came to your office I hadn’t seen or spoken to him in years.”

  Trevor relaxed and some of the tension settling in his shoulders loosened. “Okay.”

  “That’s it…okay?” Elle asked unsure biting her lip and glancing away.

  “Yeah. I don’t know what else to say.”

  “Okay,” Elle said sitting closer to him again so this wouldn’t put a wedge between them.

  They sat there for a few minutes while Trevor absorbed the whole Elle and Rob situation, he didn’t like it one bit but knew she had a past just like he did. The only thing that mattered was the two of them now. He reached over to intertwine their hands and squeeze her fingers reassuringly, he would be damned if this put distance between them.

  After eating a few more cookies, Trevor decided to change the subject completely and said, “I noticed the one room upstairs is completely empty that seemed out of place considering how carefully you’ve furnished and decorated this whole house.”

  Elle just looked at him for a second blankly. He seemed to take her being with Rob really well, almost too well.

  “I didn’t mean to snoop but I was looking for the bathroom.” Trevor said defensively.

  Elle just said, “It’s okay, I wasn’t sure what to do with that room and just haven’t gotten around to decorating it.”

  “You didn’t know what to do with it? How is that possible, every other room in your house is finished perfectly, you would’ve thought you’ve lived here for years. Does that room have some kind of significance?” Trevor added as he took a sip of iced tea knowing he just pushed her when he probably shouldn’t have, especially knowing she was still probably nervous and on edge, having told him about her and Rob.

  “You’re right I do have every other room finished….”Elle said as she took in a deep breath, she was quiet for a minute before she finally looked right at him and said, “The only person who ever noticed before is Taylor, and I’m surprised you did. Everyone else just figured I was working on it and truthfully I am but not sure how to make it….”

  “No one else asked?” Trevor questioned.

  “Nope and if it came up I just played it off and they didn’t ask further.”

  “So there is a reason it’s empty?”

  “Yeah…I guess so.” Elle took a deep breath before saying more. “When I first started looking for a house I was with my ex-boyfriend and he kept saying I should find one with at least four bedrooms. I wasn’t sure why but I thought that wasn’t a bad idea. I found a bunch I liked but when I’d ask him his opinion he’d find something wrong with them every time... he’s part of the reason I looked at so many places before I settled on this one. I finally asked what the deal was with all the bedrooms. He said he wanted enough room for kids. I always thought about kids and having them one day but we never talked about it before, so to say the least I was beyond surprised by his answer but then confused that the houses that were perfect for a family he said I shouldn’t even consider. Being blind in my relationship, I listened to him. I even stopped looking for a while. Then I found this place and it was perfect so I put money down on it, but I never could get him to look at it.”

  “It turned out he didn’t want to help me pick a house because he was seeing someone else, a friend of mine no less. Apparently he didn’t want to deal with a house on top of me and his lover, which I don’t get since it was me buying the house not him, but mainly he didn’t want to deal with me. So I stayed with Taylor a little while after I dumped him but I couldn’t bear to let this place go and after I moved in I couldn’t bring myself to turn that room into anything, I mean I have guest rooms, my office is in a room down here, there’s a little gym in the basement, I guess I just left that room empty for the what if….”Elle took another long, deep breath and said, “Wow! That was depressing and more than I was planning on telling you. I guess you could say it’s still a bit of a sensitive subject to me.”

  Trevor took Elle’s hand and squeezed it, then said, “That guy’s a jerk and he was awful to you. You didn’t deserve any of that. I’m glad you dumped him.”

  He heard the longing in her voice when she was talking about kids and a family, he could tell she still wanted that deeply. Then he started to say something but stopped and paused before adding carefully, “Do you really keep that room empty for a baby or is it just for the what if’s?”

  She blew out a breath and took a minute to think it over; “You know I don’t know to be honest, even Taylor hasn’t asked me that question. I guess she assumed it was too sensitive a topic to bring up.”

  He winced but she either didn’t see it or ignored because she kept on going, “I guess I do keep it empty for a possible baby or at least the hopes of a baby someday but that’s all still just a what if right now, so I guess it’s both.”

  “Was that all too much for you?” Elle said as she played with the edge of the blanket nervously.

  “No, it was honest and I’m glad you shared that with me.”

  “Okay” Elle said self-consciously, but was glad she felt comfortable to open up to him with something so personal.

  “If you feel like you just shared too much, I’ll share something too so you’re not embarrassed.”

  He waited for her to nod before he kept going, “I want kids someday too, I’ve thought about it before and I know I want it all but it seemed so far away. Then one day I realized I’ve wanted a family for a while.” The fact that he just admitted all that didn’t make Trevor squirm like it would have if he’d told another woman. The truth was he hadn’t thought about the whole wife and kids deal until he “officially” met her the first time. Other than that he never really gave much thought to a family because he always thought he had time to find that person to settle down and do it all with; but somehow he saw all of it with Elle from the very beginning.

  “Thank you for that,” Elle said and squeezed Trevor’s hand. “I think it’s nice you want all that and that you are willing to talk about it, even if it was only to me. Most guys don’t admit that stuff or talk about their feelings.”

  “Just the wimpy ones don’t, the rest of us can do it but it’s not something you normally do on a first date…like I just did.” Trevor said as he ran a hand through his hair.

  “Well I didn’t mind and I’m glad you’re not wimpy.” Elle said with a smile as she stretched up to give him a quick kiss. “And I’m glad we were able to open up to each other.”

  “Soooo…..since we’re opening up and being so honest with each other, how long has it been for you?” Elle asked changing the subject. Trevor’s eyes widened at her question.

  “Was that too forward?” Elle asked as she looked away slightly with a tint of red staining her face and neck.

  Trevor couldn’t believe she just asked him what no woman ever had before. It was almost like the dreaded, “what’s your number” question, but he was glad she felt so comfortable with him to ask even though he saw her blushing. “Since my last girlfriend, if you could call her that, it was about seven months ago.”

  “Oh okay, I was just curious.” Then a heartbeat later she said, “Wait, that’s around when we last worked together isn’t it? I di
dn’t know you were seeing anyone then, not that I would’ve since I didn’t exactly let you talk to me much about anything other than work but I wouldn’t have wanted you if I knew you were with someone else.” Elle covered her face and groaned, “Did I really just say all that out loud? Can I ever just stop talking?!”

  He chuckled. “Yeah that is when we worked together and I stopped seeing her because I was interested in someone else who I was a hell of a lot more attracted to than her, so I didn’t think it was right to keep seeing her if I couldn’t stop thinking about another woman.” He said and looked away slightly to the fire.

  Elle sat there for a few minutes than asked in a barely audible voice, “Who was the someone else?”

  Trevor turned and looked Elle right in the eye and said, “Do I really need to tell you?”

  Elle paused for a minute and just looked at him absorbing what he just said and more importantly what he didn’t say as he continued to stare at her.

  “Me?” Elle said in a quiet and unsure voice.

  “Of course it was you, who else?!”

  It took everything Trevor had not to yell that it was her when she asked who the “someone else” was. Even though the more he thought about it he realized that there wasn’t any way for her to know that.

  “Oh! You stopped seeing someone because of me? Why? I wasn’t even nice to you!” A heartbeat passed then she added, “Okay, wait I take that back. I wasn’t just ‘not nice’ to you; I was pretty bitchy to you. I never told you I really am sorry I was a class-A bitch to you last time.” She didn’t stop there. “Have you not dated anyone else since we worked together last?”

  “It’s okay you don’t have to apologize. I wasn’t exactly warm and inviting to you... and, no I haven’t dated anyone since, I guess I was holding out hope to run into you again and maybe see what would happen. Lucky for me that it did, I wish it was under different circumstances but I’m still glad.”

  “Awe Trev!” Elle grabbed his face and pulled him down to her for a full on kiss where she all but devoured his mouth. When the kiss ended she said, “I had no idea. People have told me I never noticed when men are into me, but wow I really don’t! I would have never guessed any of that in a million years. Well I’m glad we’re both here now.”