Pepper jumped onto the passenger seat and cocked his head, watching them with his big, dark eyes.
“Leanna, I want you so badly.” He tangled his hands in her hair and tilted her head back, then teased her the same way she’d teased him, sensually sucking on her neck until she climbed right onto his lap and began working his zipper.
Pepper barked.
They both stilled, then laughed.
Pepper climbed across the console and licked Leanna’s arm.
“Home.” Kurt lifted Leanna back onto the passenger seat.
He’d never driven so fast in his life.
THEY RAN UP the steps to the cottage like two teenagers stealing away. Leanna was hot, and she wanted Kurt so badly that her insides ached. They’d forgotten to leave the porch light on, and Kurt fumbled with the keys, cursing under his breath.
She slid between him and the door and lifted his shirt, kissing and groping his hard muscles and warm skin. He pressed his hips into her and the door pushed open. Leanna stumbled backward, her arms flailing. Kurt caught her with one strong arm. They kissed and groped their way to the couch, kicking off their shoes. Kurt dropped the keys and Pepper’s leash; then he lifted her shirt over her head and tossed it away and did the same with his own. He wrapped his strong hands around her ribs and laid her on the couch.
“You’re impossibly beautiful,” he said in a husky voice.
Her body went white hot, and he kissed her again, a little harder, but she could feel his restraint. She didn’t want loving—she wanted hot, dirty, fun sex—the kind of sex she’d read about and her friends talked about, and she wanted it now. She pressed her palms to his cheeks and looked into his eyes with what she hoped was a serious stare.
“Take me,” she whispered.
His eyes narrowed, and she recognized his hesitation. Kurt was kind, generous, loving, everything a woman could want, but she knew he had more to give. His tight muscles told her he was still holding back.
“I want more of you,” she assured him.
In the next second, his eyes went almost black. When his lips found hers, the intensity of everything changed. It was a rougher, harder, scratch-her-face-with-his-stubble kiss that made her tingle all the way to her toes. She’d never felt so alive.
“Open your eyes,” he whispered.
“Can’t,” she said in one long breath.
He kissed her closed eyelids. “Try.”
She did, and the love in his eyes seared a path to her heart.
Chapter Twenty
THE NEXT MORNING Kurt drove Leanna home before going for his run so she could prepare for her day at the flea market, and when they got there, he didn’t want to leave. Actually, he never wanted to be apart from her.
Leanna flitted from room to room, packing up what she’d need for the sunny afternoon. Sunscreen, paper towels, bottles of water. She stopped in the middle of the kitchen floor, looking cute as a button in her shorts and tank and tapping her lips with her finger as if it might bring forth whatever she was looking for.
Kurt folded her into his arms. “Have you thought any more about how much time you want to commit to your business or where you might want to set up shop?”
She ran her index finger down the center of his chin to his chest. “Mm-hm.”
“And?” His heart raced. He didn’t want to put added pressure on her, but heck if he didn’t feel like he’d go crazy if they weren’t together.
She looked up at him, and he saw the answer in her hazel eyes. “I think I want to keep the business as a summer business. That’s when fruits are freshest, and I can specialize in gift baskets or something similar and equally as fun, the rest of the year. And…” She lifted up on her tiptoes and kissed his chin. “I want to be near you.”
Near me. Kurt could hardly believe it. He filled the silence with an embrace.
“Near me. You’re sure?”
She nodded.
“I live just outside of New York City. Is that someplace you would really consider moving to?”
“If that’s where you’ll be, then I want to be there, too. Unless you don’t want me to. I’d totally understand if you didn’t, I mean, we haven’t known each other that long, and I can be noisy, and you like quiet, and I can be a little messy, and you’re neat, and—”
He pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “I want you there with me. In my house. By my side. Talking while I try to write and making messes that I have to clean up.”
He felt her heart beating fast and hard against his chest.
“You want me to move in with you?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t have to feel pressure or anything. I can find an apartment nearby.” Her voice shook. “I have some money saved from my real jobs, so I can manage for a while without dipping into my trust fund.”
The love in her eyes betrayed her offer. “Leanna, I feel it in my crazy heart. I love you.”
Her cheeks flushed pink, and her finger made quick work of tracing the edge of his tricep. “You heard that?”
He kissed her. “I love you, and you love me. It’s fast, but I trust my instincts. When you’re not with me, I’m looking for you.”
Pepper pawed at his leg.
Kurt glanced at Pepper. “Yes, you, too, Pep.”
Her eyes welled with tears.
“Is this too fast? I’m sorry. I’m a pretty focused guy, but if it’s too fast—”
“No.” She gripped his waist. “No. I want to be with you more than anything in the world.”
“Then what is it?”
A tear slipped down her cheek. “It’s just…” She buried her face in his chest. “You fill my empty spots.”
He loved her so much that his heart ached. He wiped the tear with the pad of his thumb and held her close. “You fill mine, too. Even the ones I never knew I had.” They hugged until Leanna pushed him playfully away.
“You need to go for your run or I’ll steal your writing and your running time, and then you’ll rethink my moving in with you.”
“I’ll probably need to write pretty late tonight. Want me to come over after I’m done, or would you like a break from me for a night?”
“Break? No way. I’m working with the girls on organizing the brochures and stuff. Just come over when you’re done.”
“It might be pretty late.”
“I’ll leave the door unlocked.” She kissed him and patted his butt on the way out the door.
“Careful or I’ll miss my run and you’ll miss the flea market.”
On the way back to his cottage, Kurt’s pulse raced. He’d never felt so aware of everything around him or so alive. The trees looked more interesting, the wildflowers on the side of the road more vibrant, the grass greener; the air even smelled clearer. His mind ran in a hundred different directions, and every one of them circled back to the studio. Leanna. Forever.
He called Savannah’s brother, Treat, on the way back to his cottage. Treat owned luxury resorts all over the world.
“You realize it’s seven in the morning, right?” Treat asked.
“Yeah. I’m sorry to bother you so early. You’ve got a contractor friend who works in New England, right?”