AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her heart pounded harder, her body caught between bravery and terror as they just stared at each other.
This was the moment. The one she’d pictured. Time to find out if she was brave enough to see if she could get to the things she’d pictured happening after this one.
Now or never.
Damn.
She shouldn’t have left that champagne back there. She could use another hit right now. She swallowed. “Yes. Yes, there is. This.” And she leaned toward him. Closed those last few vital inches. Such a small distance. And such a huge one at the same time.
And then she kissed him.
She heard his half-surprised noise, felt the shock of it to run through his body even though the only thing touching was their lips. For a moment his mouth stayed still beneath hers, not responding. But then he kissed her back.
Chapter Fourteen
“Earth to Leah?” Zach said, watching Leah as she stood, staring down at the picnic basket, her expression oddly … well, he wasn’t exactly sure.
“What?” she blinked at him, clearly miles away.
He gestured at the blanket he’d spread. “Dinner is about to be served.” He knelt and started pulling food out of the basket. With a party to go to afterward, he hadn’t wanted too much. But he hadn’t wanted Leah to get suspicious either, so there was plenty. Plus a birthday cake, just big enough for two, courtesy of Stella. She’d made a bigger one for the party, but this was just for him and Leah.
“Leah?” he said. “Food?”
She blew out a breath. “Food. Right.” She focused on him, eyes catching his. Was he imagining things or were her cheeks pinker than they had been?
He’d chosen the lighthouse because it was the best view of the ocean. He hadn’t thought about the memories that came with it. Leah. In that green dress.
She was wearing green again tonight. A sundress or whatever women called it. Cotton. Straps. Not much to it. It skimmed around her body leaving plenty of tanned skin on display. Legs, arms, collarbones. All calling to him. If he had his way he’d take it off. But that wouldn’t get them to the party. Though it might make it easier to keep his hands off her once they were there.
He patted the blanket. “Come here.”
“You trying to get friendly, Harper?” she said as she sank to her knees with a smile that told him she wouldn’t be against the idea.
“How about we refuel, then we can think about that part?” he said, grinning back.
Leah nodded and reached for a plate. They ate mostly in silence until Zach rolled onto his back, staring up at the just darkening sky. “This is the life,” he said.
“It’s hard to beat Lansing in summer,” Leah agreed. She put her plate aside and eased down beside him.
“You never wanted to leave?” he asked, curious. After all, she’d gone away to college. But she’d come back. And stayed.
“Like you said, hard to beat. I love my job, my family’s here. I’ve traveled when I wanted to. Why would I want to leave?”
He waved a hand toward the horizon. “See what’s out beyond that?”
“Lots of ocean, Hawaii, and then Australia,” she said. “Seen those.”
“Where’s your spirit of adventure?”
“Outnumbered by my spirits of contented and happy.” She rolled onto her stomach, propping herself up on her elbows so she was looking at him.
“You could work anywhere,” he said. “You’re talented, you’ve got a solid rep as an engineer. When this album comes out, hopefully you’ll have an even bigger one as a producer. Do you really want to stay here?”
“Artists travel to work with producers all the time. Not hard to coax people to come work on an island, after all.”
“I guess.” He probably shouldn’t push. After all, it wasn’t as though he was asking her to come with him. She wanted temporary after all. He just wasn’t sure why that was getting harder to swallow.
But he didn’t want to ruin the mood, so he pushed himself up and went back to the picnic basket for the birthday cake. “Right. Cake—then I have a surprise.” He passed the box to Leah.
