“There, now I can reach you better,” he said, laughing against the curve of her neck.
She had one arm around his shoulders and the other near his jaw. She rubbed her palm against the little bit of stubble, loving the scratch against her skin. He kissed her neck and she giggled, so he kissed her lips again, and teasing turned to tantalizing. His hand drifted to her breast, and she pressed herself forward, encouraging, inviting, and a soft moan escaped her.
Emily heard a door close, although it took a moment for her mind to register the sound. She was that distracted, but then the kitchen light turned on, the beam blasting across them through the window like a deputy’s flashlight. They bolted upright and apart, the swing creaking loudly.
“Hello?” Chloe called out, and Emily nearly groaned in frustration.
“It’s just me, honey,” she called out. “Go back to bed.”
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing.” Nothing except being exquisitely felt up.
“There’s a spider in my room. He is legit ginormous.”
Ohmygosh, seriously? She looked over at Ryan. His smile was full of disappointed understanding.
“Can’t you kill a spider by yourself?” Emily called out.
“I can’t reach it. He’s on the ceiling, and if I go to sleep, he’ll drop down on my face and lay eggs in my hair.”
Ryan chuckled softly, whispering, “Do you want me to get it?”
Emily shook her head. “No, but I’m afraid we have to call this a night.” She turned back toward the window. “I’ll be right in, Chloe.”
Ryan’s forehead tipped forward to rest against hers. “Okay,” he breathed. “But can we do this again tomorrow? I happen to have a pretty nice room down at the Rosebush Hotel. I wouldn’t mind showing you.”
Emily smiled and reluctantly stood up. “That is a very tempting offer, Mr. Taggert. Very tempting, and I’d like to oblige, but here in Trillium Bay, we take our courting slowly.”
He sighed, deep and heavy, running his hands down her arms until they caught with hers. “I suspected as much, but the invitation stands. Think about it.”
“I suspect I will think of little else. But in the meantime, I have to go kill a ginormous spider.”
“Okay, and I will go jump in that ice-cold lake.” He leaned forward, giving her one last fast kiss, and she felt her body wanting to surge forward. She felt as if she was seventeen again, only this was so much better because she knew it wasn’t just the kissing that was wonderful. It was the kissing Ryan that was so wonderful.
Finally, he stepped back. “Okay. I really have to go now. Which way is that lake?”
Chapter 24
“Morning, Mom,” Chloe said as Emily walked into Gigi’s kitchen, bleary-eyed and searching for coffee. She hadn’t gotten much sleep last night. After killing what was legitimately a huge-ass spider, she’d lain in bed and thought about Ryan, and kissing Ryan, and touching Ryan, and being completely and totally naked with Ryan. Then she’d thought about all the reasons that was impractical and unwise. And inevitable.
She stopped short at the sight of her daughter, up, dressed, and apparently ready for the day.
“What are you doing up so early?”
“The boat races. Remember? I told you. I’m going to the boat races with Susie and the gang, and guess what?”
“What?”
“It’s going to be yachts of fun.” Chloe waggled her eyebrows, and Emily groaned.
“New rule. No puns before I’ve had my coffee.” She picked up her phone from the counter. There was a text from Ryan that had come in at one in the morning. It just said, THINKING ABOUT YOU.
She smiled and turned her face away so Chloe wouldn’t see her blush.
The other message was from Jewel: CALL ME. AND TELL CHLOE THAT I MISS HER FACE.
“Jewel wants me to call. She said she misses your face.”
“Tell her I said I miss her face, too.” Chloe popped up from her chair and grabbed the knapsack sitting on the table, then put her empty cereal bowl in the sink. “I do miss her, but do you know what’s kind of strange, Mom?”
“The fact that Gigi always wears exercise clothes but never exercises?”
Chloe giggled. “Besides that. I thought I’d miss San Antonio like crazy, and I totally don’t. I definitely think we should do summers here, and maybe come sometimes in the winter, too, because I’m dying to see some real snow, and Leo says driving over the ice bridge is better than a roller coaster.”
“I did love winters here,” Emily said. She missed the changing seasons and the fellowship of the neighbors during long snowy months. It hadn’t felt isolated. It had felt comfortable, but she’d forgotten that during her time away. Coming home this time had been like sinking into a favorite sofa.
Emily pulled Chloe in for a hug. “I’m very glad to hear you’re enjoying it here, sweetheart. I really am. I’d love to come home more often, too.”
“Maybe we should just move here.”
It was way too early in the morning for radical comments like that. Emily tilted back to look at her daughter. “Move here?”
“Yeah. I don’t know. I just really like having so many nice people around. Not one single kid has called me a giraffe, and my friends from back home don’t seem to really notice I’m gone. At first we were texting each other all the time, but that’s sort of, I don’t know. Stopped?”
“But what about Jewel?”
Chloe smiled. “She could come, too.” Then she leaned in for another squeeze, and Emily counted it as a blessing that her twelve-year-old daughter hadn’t decided yet that she was too old for hugs.
“Have yachts of fun at the boat races,” Emily said, tugging Chloe’s braid.
Chloe laughed. “Thanks, Mom. I’ll see you later.”
Emily filled her coffee cup and sat down at the kitchen table to call Jewel. Please have good news. Please have good news.
Jewel’s voice was breathless as she answered. “Hey, sweetie. You just caught me at the end of my workout, but I’m glad you called. I’ve got some good news and some other news that is crazy good news, but you might not think it’s entirely good news. Although it is, it’s just not going to make you totally excited. I mean, I think you will be totally excited on some level, but on another level, well—”
Jewel was never one to get straight to the point, and her breathlessness made it even harder to understand her. “Jewel, I’ve only got sixty-five percent battery on my phone. Could you just spit it out, please? What is it you’re trying to say?”
There was a long pause followed by a couple bigger breaths. “Let me drink my water a second.”
Emily tapped her fingers on Gigi’s kitchen table, listening to Jewel glug her water.
“Okay,” Jewel finally said, “we’ll start with the totally-good good news. We have an offer on the Disaster-ville house. It’s not an awesome offer, but it’s okay. It’s good enough.”