AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He had no business thinking about kissing her. Willow Eldridge and her curious little boy and her precious little girl were complications he didn’t need.
She glanced at her watch. “I’d better be going. I need to pick up Drew and Emma from art lessons soon. Want help carrying these darlings back to their mama, or is it still playtime?”
“I should probably get back to my workbench.”
Willow cooed and cuddled three of the pups, leaving the other three for him, and headed back toward his shop. As she passed the santa’s workshop sign that had lured Drew to trespass back in February, she jerked her head toward it. “Puppies and dollhouses. I’m not so certain that’s not a legit sign.”
Noah gave her a guarded glance.
“That is what you call those fire-demonstration things you build, right?” Willow asked.
“Yeah.”
One of the puppies managed to wriggle its way onto her shoulder, and she laughed. “Hey, you. Get back here.”
Noah plucked the puppy off her and carried the little boy by the scruff of his neck back to his mama. Soon, all six pups were nuzzling around Marigold for an after-playtime snack, and Noah was walking Willow to her car.
“I meant what I said about the puppies. Two of them. Or one. Bring the kids. Let them choose.”
“Oh, Noah.”
“It would make Drew and Emma so happy. You know it would.”
She sighed. “All right. I’ll think about it.”
“Promise?”
She gave an exasperated roll of her eyes, but a grin flirted on her lips as she said, “Yes, I promise.”
It was the grin that did it.
Willow was happiness, brightness, and warmth, and Noah’s resistance melted away, ice sliding toward the sun. Lifting his hand, he tenderly cupped her cheek.
His voice was low and a little gruff as he suggested, “How about we seal it with a kiss?”
Her tongue slipped from her mouth and moistened her lips.
Noah lowered his head, and at the first touch of her soft, sweet lips, heat—blessed heat—blasted through him.
Balance, shmalance. Willow had stepped off a cliff and was in free fall. She hadn’t been kissed like this in ages. Maybe ever. How his lips could be both soft and firm at the same time she didn’t know, but she also didn’t care. They drew her into this swirling, spinning, heady world of sensation. Ofneed.
He tasted sweet… sugary sweet… and she recalled the bowl of gumdrops she’d seen on the desk in his workshop.Candyman.When his tongue stroked her lips, slipped between them, and met hers, it sent the liquid heat of desire zinging through her veins. Her knees melted, and she sagged against him, knowing instinctively that Noah Tannehill would catch her.
They were a perfect fit, her curves slotted to his angles as if custom-made to go together. She breathed in his scent—woodsy, spicy, and just a little sweaty. And sexy. Noah was sexy. The heat from his body seared into her and stoked her own warmth. Her passion.There’s that word again.
It had been so long. So long since a man’s arms had held her. So long since she had felt anything near this level of desire. It was exhilarating. It was frightening.
She was falling faster and faster, and he held her closer, kissing her deeper. This was no simple good-bye kiss. It was tangled sheets and magic hands and shudders and moans. Willow was seconds away from hitting the ground and having her way with him.
Luckily, Noah had more sense than she because he lifted his head and took a backward step. Willow felt bereft as his arms slid away from her.
His voice raspy, Noah said, “Art.”
Willow blinked. “Um, what?”
“Class. Um… art class. You, um, don’t want to be late.
The kids. Don’t you have to pick up the kids?”
