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The offer hung in the air. He kept his eyes on the road, veering left to take the route that wound north, but he felt her regarding him. He could practically hear the thoughts forming in her head. Shane Maguire, notorious fuckup, now regularly interacted with city officials. The mayor had him on speed dial. He worked on the right side of the line nowadays, and he got shit done.
“No worries,” she finally replied and looked out the window at the trees zipping past. “I filed the application a couple weeks ago, just missing the deadline to get on the agenda for this month’s meeting. There could be some back-and-forth with the plans. I doubt you’ll be around long enough to see them through the entire review process.”
Probably not. His calendar showed him in Seattle as soon as he finished here, and then on to the next client, and the next. Travel was an integral part of his job, and he liked it that way.
He didn’t, however, like dismissals, and he recognized one when he heard it. His pride fought back. “What makes you assume I’m not still thinking about sticking around?” Technically, it wasn’t a lie. He was thinking about it. Rejecting the thought, but still…
She continued staring straight ahead but pulled her mouth into an off-center frown. An immediate desire to sink his teeth into her upper lip shot through him. He could almost hear her little moan of pleasure. Almost feel her mouth go soft and seeking under his.
Could be he was thinking too loud, because she turned and caught him looking. Pink seeped into her cheeks. She dipped her head, and even with her eyes shielded by the glasses, he knew her gaze landed in his lap. His hard-on surged as if she’d actually touched him, and now his own groan threatened to fill the car.
“You’re not sticking around,” she said under her breath, then crossed her legs tight enough to hook her instep around her calf, and resumed staring out the window.
He turned his attention to the road, which grew windier as it climbed. A few seconds later, a hissing breath came from beside him. Sinclair shoved the glasses up and whipped her head around. Blue eyes narrowed on him. “Where are we going?”
“Tomochichi Lookout.”
Her back went up. “I’m not going to the Lookout with you.”
He reached across the console to gently pinch her arm, and then pointed to the welcome to tomochichi lookout sign coming up on her side of the road. “I don’t know. Kinda seems like you are.”
“I mean,” she ground out in a tone fueled by exasperation, “I didn’t agree to go to the Lookout with you.”
He’d expected her objections, and prepared for them. “You agreed to six tours of my choice. What’s the issue, Sinclair? You always loved this place.” True enough. A decade ago, they’d put in quality time at the Lookout. Many hours spent barely noticing the legendary view. They’d been too busy focusing on each other—on the duel of tongues, the slide of skin against skin, her breathless little whimpers when he kissed the right spot, and his ragged curses when she used her curious and oh-so-daring mouth on him.
“You told me you wanted to see the new developments. The Lookout has been here since…I don’t know…the last ice age.” She folded her arms and glared at him as he slowed the Rover to a stop. The windshield framed a postcard-worthy panorama of the sun hanging low over the valley. “There’s no reason for us to be here.”
“I told you I wanted to get the lay of the land.” So saying, he unlatched his seat belt and tipped his head toward the view. “Can’t think of a better way than from here.” He deliberately waited a beat. “Unless you’d rather stay in the car?”
She got out, slamming the door hard enough to scatter a couple of squirrels and send them to the shelter of a high-limbed pine. He approached the low stone wall protecting the drop-off and kept tabs on her from the corner of his eye. She wrapped her arms around herself and focused on the view.
Hard not to. The endless, cloud-streaked sky tinged orange by the setting sun commanded attention, as did the expansive green valley cradling their town. After a few moments, she took a few steps closer, until she stood even with him. Well, more or less even. She left a foot of buffer between them.
“I haven’t been here in ages. I’d forgotten how much you can see,” she said, her voice hushed even though they were the only people around. “Those two subdivisions are new.” She pointed to the tidy square parcels that would have been woods last time they’d shared this view. “And the community college. Oh, there’s the Whitehall Plantation.”
He nodded and mentally overlaid the resort plans on the landscape. The developers intended to incorporate the historic main house into the hotel. An additional building would be constructed for the obligatory full-service spa, as well as an indoor pool. The outdoor pool would overlook a world-class golf course—thirty-six holes strategically planted on gently rolling former cotton fields bisected by the Tomochichi Creek.
His eyes followed the line of the creek where it cut across the property, and a thought struck. More to himself, he murmured, “That’s a flood fringe.”
“What? For the creek?” She stepped closer and peered down at the area in question. “The creek’s never flooded, as far as I can remember.”
“I’m sure it swells from time to time, but right now there’s a natural overflow basin of unperturbed land, so no harm, no foul. If they install the golf course as planned, they’re going to want to build up the creek banks rather than chance flooding their five-million-dollar investment every time it rains.”
She arched a brow at him. “Is fortifying the banks a problem?”
He shrugged. “A little more engineering. Time and money. Nothing major.”
They stared at their town for another long moment, watching lavender shadows blanket the valley as the glowing fringes of daylight disappeared behind the foggy blue peaks in the distance. Dry leaves crackled softly underfoot as she turned to him and sighed.
“Be honest, city boy. Do you really see anything here that captures your interest?”
He looked at her—straight into her eyes—just long enough to give her an answer, and let her back away if that’s what she wanted to do.
She didn’t back away, thank God. Wide eyes locked on him as he trespassed into her personal space. And then he was pulling her into his arms, and she was lifting up onto her toes, and their lips collided.
Ten years disappeared in one blinding instant. The feel of her, the taste—so sweetly familiar it nearly fractured his heart, but also intoxicatingly different. Stronger. Deeper. Hotter.
A needy sound came from the back of her throat. He pulled her closer, so she couldn’t miss the fact that the need was mutual. Hands flattened against his chest, but she didn’t push him away. She leaned in, opening her lips to allow his tongue access to every part of her mouth.
