“Yes.”
“You don’t even know what you’ve agreed to, do you?” she asked on a laugh.
“Whatever it is, if you’re recommending it, I trust it will be damned good.”
She turned to kiss him, before saying, “Only good?”
He nipped at her bottom lip, turning her insides to liquid all over again. “Amazing.” Another nip, this time at her earlobe. “Fantastic.” His teeth gently raked her collarbone. “Stupendous.”
It was all she could do to keep breathing, let alone think straight. Still, she somehow managed to say, “Okay, then have you agreed to let your new employee step into your role in your company so that you can focus on your talent and passion for cartography?”
He smiled down at her. “Twenty-four hours ago, I couldn’t have imagined I’d be saying yes to that. But now?” He brushed the pad of his thumb across her cheek. “Now I can’t imagine saying no.”
She’d been so sure that her heart was safe from a fairytale, whirlwind romance. She was ecstatic about being proven wrong.
Lola threw her arms around Duncan, holding him tight, her heart feeling like it was going to explode with joy. She pressed her lips to his, wanting to kiss him forever. She felt warm and pleasured all over, her skin heated everywhere he touched her. And her heart? It felt so full. So happy.
Impulsively, the words fell from her lips. “I love you.” After all these years of not being able to trust her heart, it felt so right to tell Duncan she loved him. But at the same time, she felt compelled to add, “I know maybe it’s too soon—”
He stopped her from saying more with a kiss. A kiss that made her feel like she was the answer to every one of his prayers. “It’s not too soon. I love you too.” His mouth found hers again. “I think I fell in love with you the first moment I saw you smile. I fell even harder when you laughed.” He traced her lower lip with one fingertip. “And then when I realized just how big your heart is…I knew I was a total goner.”
Lola’s heart had never felt so full. “I started falling when you didn’t so much as blink when my matchmaking mother asked if it was difficult to leave your wife and children at home.” They both laughed, and then she told him, “Every moment we’ve spent together since has only made me fall faster, and deeper.”
He kissed her again, a kiss so passionate and full of emotion that she was surprised to see him frown when they drew apart. A muscle jumped in his jaw.
“Lola, there’s something—”
The alarm on his cell phone went off, loud and jarring. They’d left the kitchen window open so that they would hear it.
Her heart sank. “I can’t believe it’s already time for you to leave.”
He looked just as upset as she did. “I don’t want to go.”
They shared one more kiss. And then another. And one more still.
Lola savored every moment of pressing close to Duncan as they lingered over each other for as long as they possibly could. But too soon, he had no choice but to head to the airport, or else he would miss another flight.
Lola was sorely tempted to persuade him to stay, but the sooner he went back to Boston and convinced his new hire to take over for him in the office, the sooner he’d be back in Bar Harbor with her.
For good.
They kissed once more, and then they pushed off the blankets and stood up so that he could go inside and shut off the darned alarm.
Before she knew it, he was giving her one final, sinfully sweet kiss…and then he was gone.
CHAPTER NINE
Lola wrapped her arms around herself as she stood in her front garden and watched Duncan drive away, wishing it was already Friday when he’d be back in Bar Harbor for dinner with her family. When he was near, her whole body responded to his presence. And now that he was gone, her normally full world felt a little bit emptier.
Her phone buzzed, and the text message brought a smile back to her face. I miss you already. And I love you. So damned much.
She didn’t want to distract him from driving, so she would wait until he was safely at the airport to send him a message saying she missed him and loved him too.
No one had ever put her needs, her desires, her emotions first, the way Duncan had last night. Just thinking about the way he’d loved every inch of her, without taking anything for himself, made sensual shivers run through her, head to toe. Come Friday night after dinner with her family, she couldn’t wait to make him feel just as good.
As she went to take a shower, she thought about how at the end of the previous week, she had been struggling to come up with new ideas for next season’s designs. It wasn’t that she’d lost her mojo, more that it seemed to have slowed down a bit. Now, however, she was bursting with energy, new ideas, and excitement. And most of all, with the urge to shout from the rooftops that she’d fallen head over heels in love.
Instead of shouting, however, she sang Ed Sheeran’s Perfect at the top of her lungs in the shower.
Once she was out of the shower, she sent a group text to Cassie and Ashley. Meet at my studio in 30 minutes? I’ll bring coffee and donuts.
Her sisters sent messages affirming they would be there, and then a text appeared from Turner.
Is that guy you were with last night still there?
Lola texted back a video of herself rolling her eyes. Turner had no business even asking that question, let alone getting an answer.
A half hour later, she had done her hair and makeup, put on a yellow dress, a cropped chartreuse cardigan, and bright red lipstick—plus heels that incorporated the same colors—and was heading into the local coffee shop.
Jonah, the owner, greeted her by name when she walked in. “You’ve got a special glow today, if you don’t mind me saying.” Lola had known Jonah, who was in his sixties and one of the friendliest people in town, her entire life. He was always sweet and had never made a pass at her, which earned him even more points in her book. “Good weekend?”
“The best.”
She wanted to tell him everything, wanted to turn and say to everyone in the café, I’m in love! I’ve met the most wonderful man, and I know we’re going to have an incredible life together! But she wanted to tell her sisters first, so she simply ordered three coffees and a bag of the best doughnuts on the East Coast, then headed for her studio, feeling like she was walking on air rather than four-inch heels.
Cassie and Ashley had let themselves in and were sprawled on the couch in Lola’s studio when she arrived. But instead of falling on the coffee and doughnuts the way they normally would, both gave her long, knowing looks, obviously spotting her bright glow, just as Jonah had.
“You’ve met someone,” Ashley proclaimed, a statement rather than a question.
Lola’s youngest sister had been badly burned in high school by a boyfriend. After she got pregnant he did a runner, only to return a few years ago to insist on being a part-time parent on his terms. As a result, Ashley was hugely suspicious of romantic relationships. Thankfully, both Zara and Flynn had managed to win Ashley over when they fell in love with Rory and Cassie, respectively.
Lola wasn’t particularly worried about making her case for Duncan to Ashley, though. Not when Lola knew he would pass with flying colors.