Page 61 of First Bride to Fall
His eyebrows rose.
“Applying frozen vegetables to injuries.”
He laughed. “Yeah, there’s that.”
She squeezed his hand and said wistfully, “Kids get into lots of things.”
“Don’t I know it.”
“Like burying game pieces in their backyard.”
“Hey!” He poked her in the ribs, and she giggled. “Still hurts my feelings that you had the audacity to beat me with my own board at my own cabin.”
She playfully rolled her eyes. “Does not. You enjoyed the fierceness of our game.”
He chuckled. “You’re right. I’m over it.”
“Good to know you don’t hold grudges, then.”
“Not generally, no. Guess I’m like my mom.”
“Noted.” She sighed and laid her head against his shoulder, and his heart pounded in a steady rhythm. Everything about this felt right. Him and Nell together.
A hush fell over the room, and flames flickered in the woodstove.
He brought his hand to her cheek and turned toward her, gazing into her pretty gold-and-brown eyes. “I feel like something’s happening here.”
She reached up and touched his hand, pressing it against her soft skin. “I feel it, too.”
He’d been drawn to her before, but this time there was no fighting this tide. Her pull was stronger than the tug of the ocean, and he was a man lost at sea.
He grew nearer, dipping his chin toward hers. “Nell, can I kiss you?”
Her voice was breathy when she answered. “I think I’ll die if you don’t.”
His lips brushed over hers, and they were satiny smooth and inviting. She sighed, and he kissed her again, firmly planting his mouth against hers.
She turned toward him on the sofa, and he took her in his arms. Something thudded onto the floor—probably the bag of frozen vegetables—but he didn’t care.
He tightened his embrace, and she molded into him, kissing him sweetly at first and then with more passion as they became swept up in each other. And then they were off to an oasis of their own, just the two of them with emotions crashing down on them in wave after tumbling wave.
“Oh wow,” she murmured breathlessly. “You kiss like a waterfall.”
“Oh yeah?” That was absolutely the best compliment any woman had ever given him. “Then, honey,” he rasped. “Let’s dive back in.”
Her pale cheeks grew rosy beneath her faint freckles, and her pretty eyes sparkled in the firelight. He gazed into her eyes, amazingly lost—and found—there. His heart warmed when his mouth met hers. Then it heated up some more, and then another notch, threatening to burst into flames. If he was going down, then he was taking her with him.
He pulled her closer, threading his fingers through her long and silky hair, kissing her like there was no tomorrow. Because in his mind there wasn’t.
There was only this moment and tonight.
Chapter Twelve
Grant woke up the next morning on the sofa, his whole body humming from the fiery kisses he and Nell had shared last night. This was fantastic. This was wild. He was happier than he’d ever been. And it was all because of her.
He cradled his head in his hands, recalling every sweet moment. From the second he’d first seen her dressed inso much pink…to the panicked look in her eyes on that summit…to when she’d landed on him in the rain and he’d had to carry her down that mountain. And then she’d been here, lighting up his cabin like an ocean sunrise.
He sat up with a jolt.
