It was an even better place to be alone with her, though he didn’t say that out loud. There was a fine line between flirting and getting mushy, and it was bad enough his mind had even gone there. He wasn’t about to share it.
“It’s peaceful,” was all he said, but he was in trouble.
Standing in a place that he was emotionally grounded to, holding hands with a woman he was painfully attracted to, was liable to blow the foundation out from under the wall he’d built between himself and serious. He liked that wall. It kept romantic entanglements from creeping in and getting a choke hold on him when his guard was down.
What the hell had he been thinking, bringing her here?
Then she looked up at him and smiled and every logical thought in his head blew apart, leaving nothing but a driving need to know what her lips felt like against his.
Her smile dimmed a little as her expression turned to uncertainty. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Because he seemed to have no self-control where she was concerned. “I was thinking about kissing you.”
“Oh.” She frowned. “You don’t look very happy about the idea.”
“Not sure how you’d take it. Doesn’t seem very fair to just spring it on you when we’re in the middle of nowhere and you have no way to get home but me.”
“And they say chivalry’s dead.”
When Paige turned her attention back to the brook, but didn’t pull her hand away from his, Mitch felt a rush of frustration. Did she want to be kissed or not? Her words certainly gave him no clues. The way she’d turned back to the water implied she wasn’t interested, but then why was she holding his hand?
“Why do you want to kiss me?”
Her voice was so low he almost didn’t hear her. He did, of course, but he wasn’t sure what to tell her. “I don’t know. Beautiful spot, beautiful day, beautiful woman. Seems like the thing to do.”
As soon as she pulled her hand away and turned back toward the banking, he knew it was the wrong thing to say. “Seems like the thing to do is start heading back. I’ve got a lot of paperwork waiting for me at home.”
Mitch caught her before she stepped off the rock, taking her arm and spinning her back to face him. “I want to kiss you because it’s the only damn thing I can think about. Every time I see you, I think about kissing you. Every time somebody says your name, I think about kissing you. Every single night when my head hits the pillow and I close my eyes, I think about kissing you.”
She kissed him. Bracing her hands against his shoulders, she stood on her toes and pressed her lips to his. After a second of surprise, Mitch slid his hands around her waist and took control of the kiss. He’d been waiting for this moment too long to settle for a tentative peck.
Her mouth was soft and she sighed as she surrendered to him. He kept it light at first—brushing his lips across hers and holding himself to a few quick flicks of his tongue against hers—but he wanted her, dammit, and hunger got the best of him.
He devoured her, trying to get his fill of her kiss, as he pulled her hips hard against his and her hands tightened in his hair. When their breath grew ragged and he could feel her slight trembling under his hands, he knew he could have her. Right there on the rock with the sun going down and the brook gurgling around them.
He wanted to. He wanted to so badly he was afraid his balls would explode, but some sane part of his mind—the part that usually kept him out of female trouble—pulled back. It wasn’t the place. Not only because slabs of rock were a lot more uncomfortable than they were romantic, but because there was no way out after the deed was done. If things got awkward or Paige had regrets, it would be a very long ride home on the bike.
With a lot more regret than he’d anticipated, Mitch broke off the kiss and stepped back just enough to put a little space between them. Paige’s cheeks were flushed and she looked as hot and flustered as he felt.
She gave a nervous laugh. “Now that we got that out of your system, you can think about something else, instead.”
“If that was the plan, I think it backfired.” He was already thinking about kissing her again.
“Oh.” After a couple seconds of awkward silence, she waved a hand in the direction of the road. “We really should get back.”
As he followed her down the path through the trees, he wished she wouldn’t walk so damn fast. He needed another minute or two before he could straddle the Harley’s wide seat. And it was going to be a long, painful ride home.
*
On Friday after work, Paige stopped by Whitford Hardware to get some advice on her current home-improvement project. She’d put off dealing with her bathroom sink’s reluctant drain, but it seemed like a good way to distract herself from wondering if Mitch would stop by. He hadn’t, and the job had turned into a bigger one than she’d anticipated.
Dozer popped up like a groundhog from behind a display of garden gloves as Paige closed the door behind her. “Paige! How did your closet doors turn out?”
“I love them. They make a huge difference in how the bedroom looks.”