Her Naughty Holiday(20)

“You told Ruthie.”

He raised his hands in surrender.

“I didn’t. I swear. She knew, anyway. I said you and I went out and that’s all I said and then it was like she read my mind or something. I think she can do that.”

Clover laughed. “It’s okay. She’s done that to me, too. I’ll say one meaningless harmless thing like ‘I feel like I haven’t had a day off in a year’ and two minutes later she’ll have figured out that I haven’t been on a date in forever and that I’m scared of dating because the last guy I went out with was such a jerk. She’s told me many times I have to honor the gifts Mother Nature gave to me and that’s the only way to overcome my feelings of failure.”

“Do you actually understand any of what she’s saying?”

“About half of it. But that half is pretty profound. She says I’m so contented and happy at work because Mother Nature made me one of Her handmaidens, and that by bringing plants into the world and tending them, I’m caring for Her children like a second mother. I am a midwife to Mother Nature. Sounds pretty impressive, right?”

“It really does. Much more impressive than what I am. She said if Mother Nature was the queen bee, I’m a drone, but I should be pleased with my role, however seemingly meaningless it is, in the cycle of life.”

“That seems to imply your only reason for existing was to mate and have Ruthie.”

“She would probably agree with that.”

“I hope she wasn’t too hard on you about, you know, you and me.”

“She said I probably disappointed you because you’re too nice to ask for what you want.”

“I remember asking for what I wanted last night, and getting it. You remember that part?” she asked.

“I remember that part. My parts remember that part...” He put his hands on her waist. She had on jeans and a T-shirt, not a turtleneck, just a T-shirt, and it was nice to have her neck exposed so Erick could kiss it.

Which he did. Right there on the stairs he kissed her neck and her throat.

“I won’t ever forget that part,” she said, tilting her head to the side so he could kiss her under her ear in case he wanted to. Apparently he wanted to. “I didn’t tell you because I wanted it to happen naturally without a lot of second-guessing and I didn’t want you to worry about me and I really didn’t want me to worry about you worrying about me. That’s what I wanted. That’s what I got. I didn’t think it would happen so soon, but I also didn’t realize how incredibly sexy you were until I got you into bed. So no, you didn’t disappoint me. The opposite, in fact.”

“Good,” he said, pausing to nip her neck with his teeth. “That’s what I needed to hear. But...”

“But?” She pulled back to meet his eyes.

“I do think Ruthie might be right and you may have a little bit of trouble asking for what you want. That you haven’t asked your family to back the hell off and leave you alone is a good sign that maybe, just maybe, the kid is right about that.”

Clover rocked her head from side to side, considered what he said and then nodded.

“She might be right about that.”

“So...from now on, please be open with me. You’re not going to hurt my feelings if you ask me to do something that I’m not doing or you tell me to stop doing something I am doing that you’re not into. We’re going to have a lot more fun together if we’re both honest with each other, in and out of bed. Cool?”

“Cool.”

“Is there anything you want to tell me before we leave? Anything you want us to do the next couple of days? Any other firsts we need to take care of?”

“Well... I’ve never given a blow job to completion. I feel like maybe that’s something I should learn how to do. Do you think you could teach me?”

“No, that’s not something I’m interested in.”

She raised an eyebrow at him in suspicion.

“You’re telling me you aren’t into blow jobs?”

“Not my thing, no. Sorry.”

“You’re lying right now, aren’t you?” she asked.

“Through my teeth.” He nodded. “Now I know how Pinocchio felt.”

“Your nose getting longer?”

“Something’s getting longer. Now please go pack before we end up having staircase sex, which I had once and it was not good for anyone involved. Hurry. Go. Please.”

She kissed him on the mouth because she could, because she wanted to, and she was thoroughly enjoying giving herself permission to do what she wanted to do.

“Going.”

Erick slapped her ass when she turned around and a laugh of pure pleasure burst from her. Being in a relationship, even a fake one, with a man like Erick was seriously fun. She should have done this years ago. Then again, she didn’t know Erick years ago and she couldn’t have picked a better man to be her training boyfriend. He was definitely worth the wait, she decided as she opened up her closet and pulled out her suitcase. Into it she threw a couple pairs of her favorite jeans, warm wool socks, hiking boots, a couple favorite long-sleeved shirts and sweaters. She spied a pink-and-black bag in the corner of her closet, a pink-and-black bag that had been in that corner of her closet for several years. She took out the tissue paper and examined the contents. It should all still fit. And if Erick kept his promise, it wouldn’t matter, anyway. Anything she put on tonight would end up on the floor in minutes.

She finished packing and went back downstairs. Erick had a bag in his hand and she saw he’d filled it with food from her cabinets and fridge.

“I don’t know what you like to eat,” he said. “I put some of your stuff in here so you’ll have it.”

“That’s very thoughtful.”

“You really eat pumpkin spice yogurt?”

“Who doesn’t?”

“I’ll tell you a few names once I’m done throwing up in my mouth.”

“Oh, hush. It’s good. Are you ready?”

“I am. Where’s your phone?”

“In the bathroom upstairs.”

“You promise?”

“I promise. I don’t want that thing around any more than you do.”

“Then let’s go. Our palace awaits.”

She locked the doors and turned off most of the lights and in minutes they were in Erick’s truck heading to the rental, all of five miles from her own house. She did feel a little silly about spending two nights in a cabin that was so close to her own place. Like everyone else, she lived in the woods—sort of. There were trees everywhere, anyway. And she was within walking distance of the river. Could this little Lost Lake cabin be that much different from her own place? No big deal if it wasn’t. She didn’t care about the cabin. All that mattered to her was that Erick wanted to stay there and he wanted to stay there with her, just her, for two entire days. She would have stayed in a creepy motel with him if he’d asked. They could have creepy-motel sex, which was surely on the list of types of sex that could be had. Cabin sex sounded much better, but then again, as good as Erick looked right now in his khaki cargo pants and his long-sleeved navy T-shirt stretched tight over his broad chest, she wouldn’t say no to creepy-motel sex right about now. Or any sex. At all. Anywhere. As long as it was with him.

“Here we are,” he said. “Not bad, right?”

Clover didn’t reply. She couldn’t reply. Her jaw was on the ground and she hadn’t picked it up yet.

Erick hopped out of his truck and walked to her door, opening it for her.

“I thought you said this was a cabin,” she breathed.

“It is a cabin. A big fucking cabin and a big cabin for fucking. Nice, right?”

“Nice, yes. That’s the word we’ll use.”

It wasn’t nice. It was stunning. Perched at the edge of Lost Lake was a two-story mountain cabin with a glass chandelier inside hanging from the lofted ceiling. She knew that because Erick had left the light on so she could see it through the wall of windows. The entire east wall was nothing but glass. Although the sun had set, she could see that the cabin had been painted an elegant blue-gray and that a deck extended over the water. They walked side by side to the front door and as Erick pulled the key from his pocket Clover stepped out onto the deck. She set her bag down by the steps and walked to the railing.

She looked up and saw the outline of the clouds. The moon must be behind them, lighting them up from behind. If she squinted she could see the outline of the snowcapped peak of Mount Hood.

“It’ll be incredible in the morning,” Erick said. “That wall faces right into sunrise.”

“It’s incredible right now,” she said. “I love the sound of wind on water. There’s nothing quite like it. Always sounds like it’s trying to tell you something. That sounds stupid. I don’t know why I said that.”

“It doesn’t sound stupid,” he said, standing behind her with each hand on either side of her so that she stood in the triangle of his arms and the deck railing. “It sounds like something Mother Nature’s handmaiden would say.”

Smiling, she leaned back against his chest. The night air was cool but not cold, not at the moment. No need to rush inside quite yet. A perfect moment to simply be. The pine trees rustled as the wind shook them. Crows cawed and owls hooted. Maybe she was Mother Nature’s handmaiden, and maybe Mother Nature was saying thank you for all the hard work she’d done over the years. Maybe Mother Nature had sent her Erick, too. Any man as good with wood as he was surely had been blessed by someone. She felt blessed in this perfect moment. Blessed because she was in it. Blessed because Erick was in the moment with her. Blessed because she knew it was perfect.