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He broke from the kiss, loving how her lips were puffy and red and her eyes said give me more. Resting his forehead against hers, he said, “Let’s get this dagger somewhere safe and us somewhere private.” He carefully slid the dagger into the largest pocket on his cargo shorts.
She nodded, took the hand he reached out to her, and patted her thigh. “C’mon, Blaze.”
The dog darted around them and took the lead, his nose to the ground and his tail wagging.
“I think he might be looking for more stuff,” Isabel said. “You should make Blaze your official partner.”
“Done.” Jackson squeezed her hand. “This hike was an excellent idea.”
“Finding treasures and kissing make hiking better.”
They exited the woods, but Isabel didn’t lead him to her grandfather’s cottage. “I thought we were finding a safe place for this.” He patted his pocket, his gaze surveying the area, but no one else was out and about. Chances were good no one would venture into the woods before he had a chance to return to the spot they’d marked.
“I am. The safe is in the office in that cottage over there.” She pointed to a cottage closer to the main gates.
He followed her and in ten minutes they had the dagger securely wrapped in a towel and stowed in a pretty decent safe. Jackson had confidence the find would be protected.
“We can ask Grandpa about you digging in the woods next,” Isabel said after she pulled on the handle of the safe to check it was locked.
“I told you that can wait,” Jackson said as he pinned her up against the wall in her grandfather’s office. “This can’t.” He pressed his lips to hers.
She jumped right on board and he was starving for this woman. Absolutely fucking starving.
“C’mon,” he whispered when their mouths finally parted. “My cottage.”
Nodding, she followed him out of the office and they practically ran to his cottage, Blaze getting there first. “Can we fill a bowl with water for Blaze?” she asked. “Hiking always makes him thirsty.”
“Of course.” Jackson headed for the kitchen. “Hiking makes me thirsty too.” He wiggled his eyebrows.
“Consider me a tall glass of water.” She posed with one hand on her hip and dammit if he didn’t want to drink every ounce of that.
He nearly spilled the full bowl of water he set down on the kitchen floor for Blaze. He wanted to get to Isabel so badly, but he had to take a moment to pet that wonderful dog. Blaze had been the reason he’d reconnected with Isabel in the first place. Now the pup had potentially turned him on to an archaeological discovery right here in the Vermont woods.
“You are such a good boy, Blaze,” he whispered before standing and finding Isabel leaning against the back of the couch, eyeing him as if she wanted to unwrap him.
Green light on that.
He stalked over to her, loving the way her gaze tracked his movements. It had been a long time since a woman had looked at him like that. A woman he actually cared about anyway. A woman he had a history with. A woman he never should have let get away.
Jackson fully intended to make up for lost time.
“Do you remember the last time we saw each other?” she asked as she ran her hands up his abs and pressed them to his chest.
“The day before I left for college,” he said, his fingers fiddling with the ends of her hair resting on her shoulder. “You and Charlie were coming out of the water at Brenton Lake.”
“I wasn’t sure you saw me.”
He traced a fingertip along her cheek and down to her jaw. “I saw you.”
“You were with Christian.”
Jackson nodded. “My brother had insisted we go to the lake one last time before I ‘deserted the Henley clan’ as he put it.”
“They didn’t want you to go?”
“They wanted me to go to school and follow my dreams, but I was the only Henley to actually leave Maplehaven. My parents understood because they’d been planning to move to Ireland once they retired, but my brothers didn’t get why I’d want to go beyond Vermont’s borders.”
“Grandpa was a little like that when I got the job in Pennsylvania. I think he expected me to stay here forever.”
