She felt his lips on her cheek as the crisp winter breeze stole what little heat she had left.
“Stay here and find out what it feels like. Stay forever. Stay with me,” he said.
She turned her face towards his lips and felt the warmth of them through to her toes. He stroked his fingers down her cheek.
“I know where I want to be and I know what I want,” he told her softly. “I don’t want to scare you off with my saying it out loud. But you have a place here, Rainbow, a permanent home. Here. With me.”
Rainne wrapped her arms around him and lost herself in his kiss. She wanted to believe him. To believe every word, but he was so young. And if she didn’t know what she really wanted out of life at twenty-six, how could he know at twenty? Still, his words bounced around inside of her, setting off little bursts of excitement. A home. And Alastair. Forever. Could she do it?
“Let’s forget fishing for today,” Alastair told her as he rested his forehead on hers.
“Good idea. I think my toes are falling off.”
He chuckled as he put his hand in hers and led her towards the shore.
“Let’s get a vegetable curry and watch Star Trek DVDs.”
“You are such a nerd,” she told him.
“A sexy nerd, Rainbow, never forget the sexy part,” he said as he waggled his eyebrows at her.
Rainne took a dee
p, shuddering breath as she followed him onto land. How could she ever forget the sexy part?
CHAPTER TWELVE
Lake rang Kirsty’s doorbell at seven o’clock on the dot. He’d come empty handed because he wasn’t exactly sure what he was attending. Dinner for rivals? A date? A meeting about the fashion show? It seemed a bit presumptuous to turn up with flowers, or a bottle of wine, when there was that much confusion. He thought he’d been pretty clear. He wanted Kirsty, and if she was going to invite him over, then she had to know that. The problem was he wasn’t sure she knew what she wanted. He heard footsteps on the stairs and the door opened.
“You came,” she said a little breathlessly.
He liked her breathless. He’d like to see her a lot more breathless than that.
“You invited me,” he said.
“So I did.” She threw open the door and motioned for him to come in.
As he stepped past her, she peered anxiously into the street and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end.
“Are you worried about that loser ex of yours?”
He sure as hell was. So far his research into Brandon—what kind of sissy name was that, anyway?—was setting off more alarm bells than he’d wanted.
“No.” She waved away the notion, which made him feel slightly relieved. “Food,” she said, and pointed at the stairs.
“After you.”
She climbed the stairs in front of him. Which meant he got to watch her hips sway all the way up to the top. And they swayed beautifully in that figure-hugging green dress she wore.
“Welcome to my home,” Kirsty said as they went into the living room.
Lake took off his denim jacket and handed it to her. She opened a closet and hung it up, every movement infused with nerves. He’d never seen her so jumpy. Even the day she’d posed in the street she’d been calmer than this, and that was saying a lot.
Lake decided to take matters into his own hands. Watching Kirsty bumble through, trying to make him feel welcome, was painful. Before she could stop him, he stepped towards her, cupped the back of her head and pressed his mouth to those plump, juicy lips of hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck instantly and relaxed against him. Lake ran the tip of his tongue over her bottom lip, seeking access, and almost went weak at the knees when she opened her mouth without hesitation. He stepped closer to her, wrapping his arms around her and holding her tight against him as he kissed her thoroughly.
“Now you don’t need to worry about when I’m going to kiss you,” he said when he reluctantly stepped away from her.
“Maybe you should have been worried about if I was going to kiss you,” she said.