Healed with a Kiss (Bride Mountain 3)

She brushed out her hair to let it fall straight to her shoulders, then made a quick assessment of her appearance when she heard the shower stop. The thin silk clung where it should, draped softly over curves to pool around her feet. Tiny spaghetti straps bared her shoulders and arms, and a bodice of red lace concealed only slightly more than it revealed. She’d bought the gown on impulse a couple months ago. And maybe she’d thought of Logan when she purchased it.

He emerged from the bathroom wearing the white terry-cloth hotel robe that had been hanging on a door hook. He’d towel-dried his hair so that it was still damp, finger-combed back from his freshly shaven face. He stopped short when he saw her standing by the big dresser in her nightgown. She set down her hairbrush, her hand suddenly a bit unsteady in response to the look on his face.

“I was hoping you’d wear that,” he said, his voice deeper, gruffer than usual. “I saw you pack it.”

She smiled faintly. “Is that why you came? To see me in this nightie?”

“No.” He took a step toward her, reaching out for her. “To take it off of you.”

Her breathless laugh was smothered by his hungry kiss.

* * *

It was still dark in the room when the insistent buzz of Logan’s phone on the nightstand startled them both out of deep sleep. Alexis focused blurrily on the clock as he groped for the phone, cursing beneath his breath. Six o’clock. After a deliciously energetic night, she’d rather hoped to sleep in this morning.

“What?” Logan barked into the phone. “Yes, I was. What do you need?...It’s in the storeroom of my garage, third shelf down on the right....Yeah, no problem. But don’t call again unless it’s an emergency, got it? I’m trying to take a vacation.”

He disconnected the call without a goodbye, then dropped the phone onto the nightstand again. “I should just turn the damned thing off.”

“They need to be able to contact you if there is an emergency,” she reminded him as she climbed from the bed, smoothing her tangled nightgown around her while she walked toward the bathroom. “But I’m sure whoever just called got the message that you don’t want to be disturbed unless it’s necessary.”

“It was Curtis. I left him in charge of the grounds. Which means I expect him to handle things without calling me at the crack of dawn,” he growled.

Curtis had no way of knowing, of course, that it was the crack of dawn for his boss, since Logan hadn’t told anyone which time zone he was vacationing in.

She stopped to look outside on the way back to the bed a few minutes later. It was still an hour or so before sunrise, so the streets below were dark. Lights glowed on the waterfront and across the sound in West Seattle and Bainbridge Island. A light rain fell, blurring those lights and splashing against the balcony on the other side of the glass door. She tugged the drapes back into place and turned toward the bed again.

Logan watched her from his pillows. “Sorry about the early call. I hope you can go back to sleep.”

She slipped beneath the covers and snuggled into his bare shoulder. “I’m in no hurry to get out of this bed. It’s ridiculously comfortable, isn’t it?”

Smoothing her hair from her face, he brushed his lips against her forehead. “Mmm.”

She smiled against his warm skin. From her observations, Logan wasn’t one to indulge in pillow talk. Of course, she hadn’t spent that much time in bed with him. He never stayed long after their lovemaking at home. It was a new experience to sleep beside him, to wake with him—and it was nice. They had only two more mornings to wake together in the foreseeable future, and she would savor each moment to mentally replay in her solitary bed at home. Vacations were meant to be enjoyed and appreciated, though they couldn’t last forever.

The room was considerably lighter when they woke again. Still, it took them a while to dress for the day, since Logan informed her gravely that she needed help washing her back in the shower. After a moment’s consideration, she replied that there was, in fact, a spot she had trouble reaching by herself. The nightie hit the floor again when he stepped forward eagerly to offer his assistance.

Finally dressed for the day in clothes comfortable enough for a considerable amount of walking and sightseeing, she opened the curtains again to see if it was still raining. She gasped in pleasure when she gazed out. “Logan, look. The sun’s out. It’s so pretty.”

He stepped up behind her, resting his hands loosely on her shoulders. Though soft gray clouds drifted across the sky, the midmorning sun beamed down on the waterfront and the sound, on the milling tourists and cruising ferries, on the soaring white-topped Olympic Mountains.

“There’s Mount Rainier,” she said, pointing to the horizon. “It’s the first time since I arrived that I’ve been able to see it so clearly. Suddenly it looks so big and so close, but I know it’s a couple hours away by car. Some of the locals at the seminar were talking about how pretty it is to hike up the mountain in the summer. They said the wildflowers are breathtaking.”

“Sounds like a hike we’d like.”

She nodded a bit wistfully. “Yes, it does.”

“Maybe we’ll try it sometime.”

A jolt of nerves had her moving away from him, speaking with a brisk laugh. “Like either of us could slip away for several days during the summer months. We’d be lucky to manage another half-day hike in Virginia.”

He was silent for a moment and she wondered if he regretted his random comment that implied a future between them. She was sure it had simply been a thoughtless contribution to the conversation. She shouldn’t take it to mean anything more, so there was no need for her to be so jittery all of a sudden.

Still, she found herself talking a bit too quickly and too brightly. “I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for breakfast. There’s a great little place around the corner from the hotel where I had breakfast my first morning here. Delicious pastries and omelets. And the coffee— Well, it’s Seattle. Coffee is serious business here.”

Though he studied her face rather intently, he smiled a little when he responded. “Breakfast sounds good, but coffee sounds even better. I’m ready when you are.”

She donned her jacket, grabbed her bag and phone, and moved toward the door, hardly waiting to make sure he was following. She couldn’t have explained why she was suddenly so rattled. Silly, of course. Maybe it was just the whole adjustment to the novelty of sleeping with him, waking up with him, sharing a bathroom—things that took their relationship to an intimate new level, even if only temporarily.