She inhaled deeply and let it out with a whoosh. “I have feelings for you,” she blurted out. “I felt chemistry at your brother’s wedding, and I’ve tried to fight it…”
Knox set his plate down and moved closer to her. “You can’t fight what you feel, darlin’. The heart wants what it wants, and it won’t be satisfied with anything else.”
She looked deeply into his blue eyes. “But…what about our friendship? Is this going to ruin it?”
He tipped up her chin with his knuckles. “I have been doing battle with my own feelings for you. This won’t mess up what we have, but it could make it better.”
She barely had time to moisten her lips before he kissed her—long, deep, and passionately. Evidently, the fake relationship was over, and they were on a new journey, but what would happen when they went their separate ways?
Chapter 17
“Five became ten, and ten is now fifteen, with another five will make twenty when they arrive on Monday of next week since we’re ahead of schedule,” Lottie said that morning as she and Knox had their usual breakfast together.
Knox went inside and brought out the coffeepot and a basket of muffins. “And then the final group will get here, and we’ll be filling in where we’re needed because the framing will be finished.”
She picked up a warm chocolate chip muffin. “Yep, if it doesn’t rain. In that case, we’ll be helping out the other teams before we finish the last framing job. I can do whatever is needed, but that doesn’t mean I like staining cabinets or putting down baseboards. My favorite jobs are when I can get the last house framed and move on to the next site.”
“That’s my favorite, too, but I don’t mind the rest of it. Kind of keeps my skills in those areas from getting rusty, but it looks like we’ll still be finished by Mother’s Day.”
“Kind of like reading a good book. Exciting to open the first page, and by the time the last words are read, you wish there was more. I’m going to miss you when this job is finished and I go to El Paso.”
“Me, or breakfast?” he asked.
She nudged him on the shoulder, and sparks danced all around the plate of bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits sitting between them. “Why can’t it be both?” she asked.
But vibes were all there were—other than breakfast and holding hands a couple of times. Three days had passed since that mind-blowing kiss, and there had not been another one. This business of being in a real relationship was turning out to be a lot less fun than the fake one.
“If you had to pick one?” Knox asked.
She held up a finger, swallowed the bite of the muffin, and took a sip of coffee. “I will miss the food, but also the company each morning and my partner on the job. My mind keeps playing the what-if game.”
“And that is?”
“What if you find someone else? What if the long-distance thing doesn’t work? What if that old saying about being out of sight, out of mind happens?”
“We can make it work, if we have to,” he told her. “And that game only brings worry, so don’t play it.”
“What does ‘if we have to’ mean?” she asked.
“Maybe you won’t be in El Paso. Thomas and our team have been thinking about starting their own business up in Oklahoma. They might talk you into helping them,” he answered. “That’s a lot closer than El Paso, so we could see each other more often.”
The thought of working for anyone other than her Uncle Jack put a lump in Lottie’s throat that she had trouble swallowingeven with a couple sips of coffee. “I should help Walter out for a few months until he gets his owner sea legs under him. Do you really think that we can do the long-distance thing?”
“Depends on how badly we want it.”
“Everything will be different when we leave Swan Song Estates,” she said with a sigh.
“Yes, but we have today,” Knox whispered.
“We are dating for real, aren’t we?”
Knox reached for another biscuit. “I told Tripp that we were, and I’m sure he’s spread it around the family. I hope I wasn’t wrong.”
“One kiss does not make a couple dating.”
“How many does it take?” Knox asked.
“I don’t know for sure, but more than one.”
