They began talking about his plans and continued inside, heading upstairs where she tentatively offered some ideas, things that he hadn’t considered because a baby and a wife hadn’t been on his radar. He nodded agreement and they finished downstairs where he started a fire and she ate a handful of dry soup crackers while sipping a glass of water.
“What do you think of organic certification?” she asked him.
“The bureaucracy is a pain in the ass, but…” He stood and wiped his hands on the seat of his jeans, then planted his hands on his hips. “I’ve left my options open since you mentioned it. It’s a niche market that’s going mainstream.”
“So you’ll consider it because it has potential financially, not because it’s the better choice, ethically.”
“I’m not a hippie, Meg.”
That made her laugh. She slid sideways against the counter as he came to pour himself a glass of water, still grinning.
“Is that on my account?” she asked, watching his throat work as he swallowed. “Because I put the beer you bought into the fridge. Have one. I don’t expect you to abstain because I am.”
“I’m driving you home later,” he said, then cocked a look at her that was very male and sexy. “Aren’t I?”
She swallowed and set down her glass of water, noting a little tremor in her hand.
“Déjà vu,” she murmured, remembering the last time they’d stood at this counter and…
Oh dear. Their gazes tangled and…
“Is it… Do you think it’s wise if we… Linc,” she finally said, throatily, aching with indecision and longing.
“I can’t think of anything else, Meg,” he admitted with a hiss of exasperation. “You’re all I’ve thought about since the first time you were here and… I’ll give you the truth because I want you to know.” An expression of mild torment flickered over his face. “There haven’t been any other women. I kept thinking I should find someone, get over whatever it was we’d had, but… I kept thinking it’d be better with you and I didn’t want second best.”
Her heart crept into her throat as he spoke, hammering in hopefulness. “You’re not just saying that?”
“I didn’t think I’d see you again. Not this soon. Sure as hell not like this. I wanted to quit thinking about you, but I couldn’t.”
“I kept looking for another email from you, after the one about losing your roof. When you didn’t send anything else, I figured I should try to move on, but…”
“I sent you a picture of the barn. Asked you what color tin I should put on. Is that why you didn’t answer? You didn’t get it?”
“Really? No,” she said, reassured and not only accepting the closeness as he moved in, but pressing herself into him and sliding hands around his waist, anxious to let him know she hadn’t ignored him on purpose. “No, I would have said red. You did good.”
He breathed a sigh of relief against her mouth. They kissed softly and it was apology and greeting and tenderness that moved easily into a more carnal expression. A need for real closeness to cement what was happening between them. She moaned. He shifted a hand to her butt and drew her in, strong and sure.
Her heart leapt and the sexual chemistry caught. They tangled tongues and stroked and rubbed and groaned into each other’s mouths. When he pulled back and looked at her, a question in his eyes, her whole being trembled in anticipation.
She moved past him, catching at his hand to bring him to the bed. They undressed together, natural and oddly comfortable, then he followed her into the rumpled sheets and reached to draw her under him.
With a little gasp and a catch at his hand before he took a firm hold of her breast, she said, “Can you, um, be gentle?”
“Meg.” Horror shadowed the gaze he snapped to hers and he lifted his hand away. “We don’t have to do this—”
“No, I want to Linc, I really do. They’re just swollen and sore…”
“Oh, sweetheart,” he murmured, tracing light fingers against the sensitive swells, stroking her nipples ever so gently with the seam of his lips. “It’s like torture, asking me to go slow when I want you this bad.”
She could feel. He was hard against her thigh, so hard and hot and insistent. Her bones felt weak, her legs needing the stroke and kindle of twining with his.
“You don’t have to wear anything,” she reminded.
“Are you serious?” The green in his eyes intensified to the emerald gleam found in the very hottest fire.