He shifted and his back brushed her fingers. She should pull her hand away, but she didn’t. And he didn’t sit forward again. He didn’t pull away from the feel of her hand, but he also didn’t relax his weight against the chair, which must have been a conscious choice on his part.
Such a silly thing, she told herself, but the subtle contact was enough to have her craving more of it.
“Right, Dad?”
Ian’s body twitched slightly and when he moved, she pulled her hand away. “What? Sorry, I was thinking about something else.”
The way the back of his neck turned a light shade of pink made Nola wonder if he’d been thinking about the same thing she’d been thinking about. And she hadn’t heard what his daughter said, either.
Maddie rolled her eyes. “I was saying it would be worth bruised knuckles if we can steal the recipe for this chicken.”
Nola chuckled. “You wouldn’t be the first person to try.”
“Theyarethe best chicken tenders I’ve ever had,” Ian said.
Even though Rosie was the one who’d cooked the chicken, Nola felt a rush of pleasure at the compliment. “I’ll tell her you said so.”
“What’s in it?”
“Nice try,” she said, and then she went to slap him on the shoulder, but it was too slow a motion, so her hand came to rest there for a few seconds. The heat of his skin through his shirt distracted her and it wasn’t until his neck turned pink again that she returned to her senses and lifted her hand.
“I’ll leave you to it,” she said, since it was time to force herself to walk away. “I happen to know Rosie made a fresh batch of sugar cookies tonight, so make sure you leave some room.”
As she walked away, Nola glanced in Rosie’s direction and saw the woman watching her with a speculative look in her eyes before her mouth curved into a slight smile.
The last thing she needed was Rosie Miller playing matchmaker, so Nola just looked away and went back to the bar. She was going to ignore Rosie, and try to ignore the strong pull she felt toward Ian. He was there for a week. One too-short week, and then he’d be gone, so there was no sense in starting something that couldn’t be finished.
“I’m going to bed,”Maddie declared, pushing herself up from the only armchair in the room. “You guys are boring and I had to get up at the butt-crack of dawn today.”
Ian was tempted to point out that he’d also been up since the butt-crack of dawn and had driven the five hours to get to the lodge, but he knew that would only launch one or both of them into another reminder he could let them drive.
“You’re the boring one,” Jacob responded, even though he was the one who’d been lost in his phone since they returned to the room. Ian should have stuck to that lodge he’d found that had no cell service or wi-fi, but he’d wanted the kids to relax and enjoy themselves. Totally disconnecting them from the world wasn’t going to relax them at all, but right now he had a few regrets.
“Where are we riding tomorrow?” Maddie asked as she unplugged the charger she’d brought into their room with her.
“I haven’t figured that out yet,” Ian said. “I figure we’ll hit some of the more popular trails and destinations during the week, when there’s less traffic, but I haven’t decided on which ones.”
“I guess it doesn’t matter, since I’m just following you.” She walked over to where he was sitting on the bed and kissed his cheek. “Goodnight, Dad.”
“Goodnight. I’ll text you when we’re up and about.”
“Sounds good. ‘Night, Jacob.” When her brother grunted, she rolled her eyes and left for her room, closing the door behind her.
Jacob didn’t seem interested in filling the conversational void his sister leaving had left, so Ian stood and tried to organize some of the clutter they’d already managed to strew around the room. He should be tired, but he was pretty sure if he lay down and closed his eyes, he wouldn’t fall asleep. He’d be too busy remembering the feel of Nola’s hand on his shoulder.
It was ridiculous, he told himself. He was far too old to get all tingly and fuzzy-brained because of a woman’s touch—through the fabric of his shirt, no less—and yet here he was. His skin tingling at the memory of her touch. His brain fuzzy from wanting more.
He needed a distraction, like mapping out a direction for them to take in the morning. That’s what he should be doing.
Or he could go see if Nola was still around.
He grabbed the folded map of the snowmobile trails out of his bag and stuck it in his pocket. If he was going to sit and figure out which direction they were going to set off on in the morning, he might as well do it in the bar while he had a drink. Seeing Nola again wasn’t going to help him get any sleep tonight, but apparently he’d left his self-discipline at home because he couldn’t talk himself out of it.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” he told Jacob, who gave a slight nod of his head to indicate that he’d heard but didn’t care enough to ask where he was going.
As he walked down the hall, he did his best to give himself a stern pep talk. Yes, he was more attracted to Nola than he’d been to any woman for a long time. Yes, he’d enjoyed the casual way she’d touched him during dinner and he’d very much like for her to touch him in a less casual way. But, no, he wasn’t going to do a damn thing about it.
He was here on vacation—with his kids—for a week. It was a very temporary break from his life in Connecticut and it wouldn’t be fair to either of them to start something that had a built-in expiration date—that would essentially have a shorter shelf-life than a gallon of milk.
