Strong Enough to Love (Jackson Hole 1.20)

She angled the camera so that he was at the corner of the frame, but still in focus, his own camera raised to his eye and trained on the herd of deer in a faraway field. Even as she clicked, she knew one of these photos would be her new favorite. Brian, and the mountains beyond him, and the first buds of bright green aspen leaves just braving the spring on the tree to his left.

“Okay,” she said, but when he turned toward her, she snapped one last picture.

“Hey!”

She snorted with laughter at the outrage that creased his forehead. She didn’t know even one photographer who liked being in front of the lens.

“Okay, we’re done,” he groused, dropping his camera to glare at her.

“Be nice, or I’ll make you strip down and pose for me the way I really want you to.”

“You wish.” She saw the way pink crept over his cheekbones, and suddenly all she wanted was to be in bed with him, naked and sweaty and tangled in his limbs. She couldn’t believe the way he turned her on with the barest of glances. As painful as that had been two years ago, now it was a wonder.

“You’re so sexy,” she murmured as she moved close to his body.

“I’m beginning to think the beauty of your favorite male model has damaged your corneas. You’re half blind.”

“No.” His arms snuck around her and she looked up at him, brushing her thumb over the line of his jaw. “You’re gorgeous.”

“Eve...”

She leaned up to taste the spot she’d just touched. “I want you all the time,” she whispered. “It’s embarrassing.”

“It’s a miracle,” he responded.

He was right. It was a miracle. Not just the way their bodies fit together, but the way the loose edges of their lives had stitched together perfectly. He was managing the gallery now, and she’d expanded her studio space into a back room she’d been using for storage. She’d never been good at spotting new potential and bringing in outside work. Brian, on the other hand, had a passion for that. He sold her photography better than she could, and no

w the walls were filled with gorgeous work by local artists. Sales were already up, and the busy season hadn’t even started yet.

But none of that mattered as much as the way he looked at her when she touched him. As if she were the miracle. God, he was ridiculous. And so wonderful it hurt.

She kissed him one last time. “Do you want to move in with me?” she asked.

Brian pulled his head back as his eyebrows rose. “Really?”

“Yes.”

He smiled. “God, Eve. This is all moving a little fast.”

She shoved him hard enough that he had to take two steps backward. “You’ve asked me three times already!” she complained. “Always after you’ve made me come, I notice.”

“I know when you’re at your weakest,” he drawled. He reached for her and tugged her close again. “Yes, I want to move in with you. Now. Today. This minute.”

“This minute?” she repeated, sliding her hands behind his neck and into his hair to tug him down for a kiss. She moaned as his tongue slid against hers.

“Well...” he murmured, breaking the kiss to taste her neck. “In thirty minutes, maybe.” He backed her toward his truck, then growled when she dropped to her knees beside it. “Or ten. Ten minutes.”

“I think you’re overestimating your stamina, big guy.”

“I think...you’re right.”

Five minutes later, they were speeding back toward town, windows open to the cold and her laughter chasing away on the breeze. But Brian was still complaining.

“Because,” she answered his latest plea, “I’m pickier than you, and I’d rather come in a cozy bed than in a cold truck.”

“I said I’d turn the heater on.”

“I want to stretch out. I want you to kiss me. Everywhere. For an hour or so.”