“It’s opening day, that’s what!”
“So you only want me when it’s convenient to you?” I let my mouth drop in mock indignation.
“Are you saying that if I choose to forgo opening day, you’ll take me to bed?” Her eyes danced with pure mischief.
“No.”
“Ugh!” She shoved at my shoulders again, and I let her up, laughing as she sent me to the floor.
I landed on my back, thank God, so the part of me that definitely didn’t want to go to opening day wasn’t massacred.
Willow slid off the couch and straddled me. “You have the self-control of a saint,” she muttered as she reached past my shoulder to grab her shirt, which put those glorious breasts right in my face. Pale-lavender lace and creamy skin filled my vision.
“Don’t be so sure about that.” My mouth watered, and that praised and cursed control snapped. The skin of her back was softer than satin as my hands splayed to hold her in place. Then I took her nipple between my lips and sucked her through the lace of her bra.
She whimpered, and the sound drove me right to the edge. I scraped her with my teeth and groaned when she rocked her hips against me in response. The denim between us did nothing to mask the friction or the heat.
My hands moved from her back to the rounded curve of her ass. Screw opening day. I was staying right here. There were plenty of ways to satisfy her without—
“We really have to go,” she outright whined and sat up, taking her breasts with her. “I swear, Cam, if I couldn’t feel how much you want me right now, I’d seriously think I don’t do it for you.” She tugged her shirt on and pulled her hair free of the neckline.
“Trust me,” I told her, switching my grip to her hips. “You do it for me. You more than do it for me. You’re it for me.”
“Don’t even think about getting all sweet with me, Camden Daniels. You have me wound tighter than a freaking…” Her forehead wrinkled. “I don’t even know. Pick something that gets wound up.”
I couldn’t contain the laughter that sputtered from my lips, and her eyes narrowed as she climbed off me.
“It’s a good thing I love you,” she mumbled as she grabbed her shoes and put them on. The words sank a little deeper into me, just like they did every time she said them. If I wasn’t careful, one day I’d start depending on them—on her. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
I rose and stretched, noting with more than a little satisfaction that her eyes went straight to the strip of skin I’d exposed while doing so. “Two reasons, really,” I explained, walking to her hall closet to grab her jacket.
“Which would be?” She followed me.
I ignored the screaming protest in my dick that I was once again choosing not to take what she was offering and pulled her jacket from its hanger. Then I turned to face an equally frustrated Willow.
“First, I’ve never been with someone who I could kiss and laugh with in the same thirty seconds. I like it.”
Her expression softened, and a ghost of a smile lifted the corners of her lips.
“And second—” I handed Willow her jacket. “Your shirt is on inside out.”
She looked down and let loose an exasperated sigh before turning away and walking down the hall.
“Where are you going?”
“To my bedroom. Show’s over for you, buddy.”
That only got me laughing again as I let my head bang back against the closet door.
Fifteen minutes later, I parked the Jeep in the owners-only lot just above Main Street.
“There must be a thousand people,” Willow said as she jumped down from the Jeep.
“Let’s hope. It’s one of the three busiest weekends, right?” At least if nothing had changed in the decade I’d been gone. The dirt road that served as Alba’s main source of income was a kaleidoscope of colors as tourists wandered.
“Yep. Mother’s Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day. Just like clockwork.” She held out her hand, and I took it. “You ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.” We walked through the parking lot, then took the flight of steps down to Main Street. I was never a big fan of opening day—or the season, really. Not that I didn’t understand the purpose. Alba only existed because people thought our ghost town was worth visiting.
I’d just never quite gotten what was so interesting about relics from our past when we could be building the future. Alba was in desperate need of updates.
“What are you thinking?” Willow asked as we reached the bottom step, coming out behind the surveyor’s office.
“That I should talk to John Royal about installing micro-hydroelectric intakes along the creek. They’re small and ridiculously effective, especially since the creek never freezes entirely. It would be a hell of a lot more dependable in the winter months than the ancient system we have going right now. I’ve thought about putting one up at my place, but it makes more sense to start in town.”
She paused, looking at me with something a lot like wonder.
“What?” I asked, stilling.
“What else?” Her forehead puckered. “What would you change in the town? And no, I didn’t open the door for you to go off on the gossip habits. You know what I mean. What would you modernize?”
“The bridge,” I answered without a second thought. “It needs to be reinforced or completely rebuilt. Not this year but soon, with the influx of traffic we’ll be expecting when the mine opens.” I shrugged.
“And?” she prompted, tucking her hair behind her ears.
“We need greenhouses. There’s at least a month up here when some people can’t get down the pass. Mount Princeton has a ton of greenhouses, and they’re only a thousand feet beneath us. I don’t see why we couldn’t have a little self-sustainability. I actually started one yesterday at my place.”
Her smile was shy, like she knew a secret I didn’t.
“What are you thinking?” I asked. “It’s only fair, since I answered.”
“That you said we. You’re settling in, and it’s pretty incredible to watch, especially for someone who hated growing up here.” She squeezed my hand.
I quickly bent and brushed a kiss across her forehead. “I didn’t hate everything about growing up here.”
“I love you,” she whispered.
My hands cupped her face, and I swallowed the words that seemed to live on the tip of my tongue. “I have no clue why, but I’m incredibly thankful.”