Tom braced himself on a hand and she wrapped her arm around his shoulders, holding on, fighting the gravity that wanted to pull her on to the flat part of the rock and away from the strong breadth of his chest. As the kiss tempered and their mouths parted, he pulled away the slightest bit. “You really mean it, don’t you?” he asked.
“Of course I mean it, you silly man.” She slid her fingers over his shoulder. “I’ve been in love with you for a long time. Long before I was ready for it.”
“Me, too,” he admitted. “I think since the night I brought you home from Jess’s and walked you to the door.”
“Go on,” she chided playfully, running her fingers down his arm. “You said that kiss was a mistake.”
He grinned, that teasing, dangerous flash that had captivated her from the beginning and had scared her to death with its potency. “I lied,” he said. Then his smile faded and his expression turned serious. “I love you, Abby, and God help me, it scares me to death.”
She offered the best reassurance she could at the moment—she leaned forward and kissed him again, deliberately and tenderly. This time when they broke apart their breathing was accelerated and there was a new light in his eyes.
“Stay with me tonight,” she invited. “Let’s go home, Tom. I want to be with you…” Her heart pounded with anticipation and nerves. “I want to really be with you. And then I want to wake up with you in the morning in my big four-poster bed and look at you across the table while I have my morning coffee.”
Right now Abby wanted Tom with an urgency that far outstripped any lingering hesitation. She reached out and toyed with the button at the top of his shirt. “Love me,” she said softly.
He didn’t answer, but helped her up off the rock. They held hands as they descended the mountain in the wash of a summer sunset. And yet they didn’t hurry, as if they were basking in every single moment of this night, making it last.
When they reached the front door, Tom swept her off her feet, making her stomach flip with excitement.
Then he closed the door with his foot, sheltering them away from the world.
CHAPTER 23
The first thing Tom noticed on his drive up the lane was that the FOR SALE sign was gone. It gave him a feeling of satisfaction seeing it off the front lawn. The house belonged to Abby. It always had, and he was glad she was keeping it. He’d put in the offer, but he had never quite figured out how he was going to live in it when her memory would be in every room.
She was in town this morning. He knew that because Jess had called yesterday asking her if she wanted to take a candle workshop. She’d be gone until at least noon, giving him lots of time to set up his surprise. He’d finally finished the entertainment unit and had stained it a rich walnut to match the other furniture in the library. It was her favorite room in the house. The room she’d first fallen in love with, the one she spent the most time in.
Rick followed behind in his own truck, here to help move it inside. Tom had hesitated when Rick had offered, but Rick had been adamant. “I’m fine if we use straps,” he insisted. “I can still use my arm.” Tom couldn’t argue. Rick had struggled enough dealing with his disability. Far be it from Tom to tell Rick he couldn’t do something, especially when the guy finally seemed to be getting his crap together.
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Tom used his key to get inside, and he and Rick shuffled furniture around until the inside corner of the room had sufficient space for the cabinet. Together they wrapped straps around the unit and then eased it through the front door, down the hall, and finessed it around the corner and into the library. It nearly didn’t fit through the doorway, but once it made it through they both let out their breath and put it in its place, angled in the corner, before standing back and looking at the piece, wiping sweat off their foreheads.
“It’s perfect,” Rick said, shaking his head. “I don’t know why you do contracting when you do such beautiful furniture work.”
Tom shrugged. “It’s like a treat. I’m afraid I wouldn’t love it as much if I had to do it as a job.”
Rick put his good hand in his pocket. “I think I understand that,” he said quietly. “Sometimes you need a place to put all the things you don’t want anyone else to see.”
Tom wondered if Rick was referring to himself, but the only thing he’d seen Rick indulge in was too much drink. Not so much lately, though. Maybe things were turning around for the ex-Marine.
“How’s the new job going?” he asked.
“Eh, it’s going,” Rick said with a shrug. “It gets me out. And I’m still off enough to help now that Mom’s doing treatment.”
Tom frowned. It was no secret that Roberta Sullivan wasn’t doing so well. “Yeah. So what do you think, should we bring in the rest?”
“There’s more?
Tom nodded. “It’s kind of empty, don’t you think? There’s a TV in the backseat of my truck, and a DVD player. Enough to get her started until she gets cable hooked up. She might want to shop for speakers and stuff, too.”
Rick pierced him with an assessing look. “You’re really hung up on this girl, aren’t you?”
Tom thought about waking with Abby the morning after the garden party. She’d looked so beautiful, soft and peaceful, as she slept on. He’d known in that moment that today was coming. Nothing had prepared him for the kind of love he’d felt holding her in his arms, making love to her in the folds of the soft duvet. It had knocked him off his feet with its awesomeness. With its rightness. There’d been no fear, no holding back. Just giving to each other in ways he hadn’t known existed.
“I’m in love with her,” Tom admitted.
“I’m glad,” Rick answered. “It’s time you moved on and let yourself be happy. Your cousin too, though I expect it might take him a little longer.”