“You don’t want to tell me?”
“Not yet,” she said, giving him her best mysterious smile. “Some things are better discovered than discussed.”
“Sounds intriguing.”
She continued to smile as she shrugged. “I guess we’ll see.”
“So where does this leave us?”
“I believe it leaves us wanting to give this thing between us a chance. Am I right about that?”
He leaned in closer to her, his intention clear. “You are.”
Amanda placed her hand on his face, running her thumb over the stubble on his jaw, and leaned in to meet him halfway. “As long as we understand that I’m looking to shake things up, and I have no idea what that’s going to entail.”
“I understand, and I fully support your desire to step outside your comfort zone.” He surprised her with a sweet, chaste kiss. “A lot happened tonight. You want to sleep on it and see what’s what tomorrow?”
His suggestion was actually a relief. A lot had happened, and she did need time to process it all, but she hadn’t realized that until he said the words.
“Yes, but under one condition.”
“What’s that?”
“Your bed is huge. There’s no need for you to sleep out here when you could be sleeping in your own bed.”
“With you?”
She gave him a coy look. “Unless you’d rather not…”
Laughing, he said, “I’d much rather be with you.”
“All right, then.”
“All right, then.”
Neither of them moved for a long time, awareness crackling between them like a live wire. The moment ended when Amanda blinked as she realized she was staring at him. “I, uh, do you want the bathroom?”
“You can go first.”
“I’ll be quick.”
He helped her up and waited until she was steady on her feet to let go of her hand. “Take your time. I’m going out for some more wood.”
“Okay.” Amanda ducked into the bathroom, closed the door and leaned back against it, taking a deep breath to calm herself after the intense discussion. Her mind whirled as she tried to process everything she’d learned about him over the course of this evening and to reconcile it with what she already knew.
One thing was for certain—the more time she spent with him, the more intrigued and attracted she became.
Chapter Nine
“Have patience with all things,
but first of all, with yourself.”
— Saint Francis de Sales
Landon went outside without a coat, needing to cool off before he got into a bed with Amanda. When she’d invited him to join her, his libido had surged from simmer to boil in a hot second.
He wasn’t sure what it was about her that made her so different from other women he’d known. Maybe it was because she didn’t throw herself at him and hadn’t shown her entire hand at the get-go. She’d maintained an aura of mystery, which meant he’d had to work at getting to know her. The conversation he’d had with her just now was deeper than anything he’d ever shared with anyone. They’d both suffered traumas in the past that had helped to shape them into the people they were now, and it made Landon feel less alone with the painful memories of Naomi after sharing her with Amanda.
He took a series of deep breaths as he looked up at the clear sky full of stars and tried to prepare himself to platonically sleep in a bed with the sexiest woman he’d ever met.
“Yeah, sure, you can do this.” He filled his arms with wood he didn’t need because he’d gotten some earlier and took it inside. “It’s no big deal. It’s just sleeping.”
After their heated kisses earlier, he’d assumed things between them would move to the next level fairly quickly.
But then Chrissy and Jessica had happened, which had led to the conversation about the child she’d given up and what he’d been through with Naomi, and suddenly, everything had turned serious. He had whiplash from the series of events that’d transpired since he came home with flowers earlier. On the plus side, he’d wanted to move things forward with Amanda, and he’d succeeded in doing that. But nothing had gone according to plan.
Back inside, Landon built up the fire that would keep them warm throughout the night and made sure both doors were locked. He didn’t usually worry about locking his doors when it was just him, but the first night she’d stayed with him, Amanda had asked if he’d locked the doors. Since it made her feel safe, he’d done it every night since.
The bathroom door was open and the light on in the bedroom. “Knock, knock. Is it safe to come in?”
“All good. Come on in.”
He stepped into his bedroom and found her in his bed, propped up on pillows, her hair down around her shoulders. Landon leaned against the doorframe and feasted his eyes on the sight of her in his bed.
“What?”
“I like how you look in my bed.”
“You’ve seen me in your bed before.”
“I liked how you looked then, too.”
“Are you going to stand there and stare all night, or are you going to join me?”
“Definitely going to join you, but not until I stare for a little bit longer.”
“Landon,” she said on a nervous laugh. “Stop.”
“You don’t like when I stare at you?”
“You’re flustering me.”
“You’re pretty when you’re flustered—and when you’re not.” Landon laughed when she lifted the covers up and over her head. “You can run, but you cannot hide.”
“Good to know.”
He grabbed pajama bottoms and went into the bathroom to change and brush his teeth. When he returned to the bedroom, she was still in hiding deep under the covers. He got into bed and went looking for her.
She jolted when his cold hand found her warm shoulder.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” he said in a singsong voice that had her giggling.
“I didn’t realize I was inviting the Big Bad Wolf to join me in bed.”
“Sure, you did. You knew exactly who you were getting.” He tunneled through the covers until he was nose to nose with her. “Hi there.”
Smiling, she said, “Hi.”
“Thanks for inviting me to your sleepover.”
“It is your bed, after all.”
He nuzzled her neck, making her shiver as her hands curved tentatively around his shoulders. “My bed is much nicer with you in it.”
“I’m not sure if I can handle being in bed with shirtless Landon.”
“I’ll bet you can handle it just fine.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“How about we give it a try?” He shifted so he was hovering above her, propped up on his arms and fighting to maintain control as she ran her hands all over him.
“So many muscles,” she said softly as her touch electrified him. “How do you have so many muscles?”
She expected him to actually talk when he was hardly breathing? “Ah, rock-climbing, skiing, fire department training, among other things.”