“There’s a bed. What more do we need?”
I ran one of my hands up her back to her neck, my fingers gently clutching at her hair in order to pull her face up. I kissed her, softly at first, then harder. By the time I felt the edge of the bed hit my back, our kiss was ferocious, the two of us desperate for each other.
“Nothing, I need nothing,” I said as Emily hugged me tightly. “Nothing at all.”
I leaned against the bed, pulling her into my lap. She dug her hands into my back, underneath the fabric of my shirt, while my hands slid over her hips.
“I want you to make love to me.” The breathless, lustful plea was the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard.
I chuckled, my voice soft and low, “Did you forget what it felt like to be together?”
She bit my upper lip, her eyes heavy-lidded and mischievous.
“I could never forget what perfect felt like.”
I kissed her, long, hard, and lingering as my hands clutched at her bottom, and my insides coiled within me, desperate for more.
I pulled away and smiled. “How about I remind you daily?”
“Promise?”
“That can be arranged. Better make it worth my while, though, Flanagan.”
She widened her eyes in mock outrage. “Excuse me?”
And there it was,—that phrase that had so infuriated me upon first meeting Emily Flanagan, but that now sounded beautiful leaving her lush lips.
“I love you, you know,” I said, matter-of-factly.
Emily raised an eyebrow. “You do, do you?”
I kissed her neck, pressing my teeth in enough to hear her gasp.
“Do you not want to know if I love you, too?” she asked, her voice breathless.
“You said so when you asked me to make love to you, which I will do as soon as I get you to my bed.”
She entangled her fingers in my hair and pulled my mouth back to hers.
“I guess I did.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Emily
Early April in Frazier Falls was beautiful. The warm spring sunshine coaxed the flowers and trees to bud and bloom. Everything was green and blue and yellow, with no snow or rain in sight.
It was a world away from the hellish winter that had battered the town into March. There wasn’t a single person in Frazier Falls who would wish that winter upon anyone. It had been too severe to comprehend fully. The damage it dealt to people’s houses, and the parks, and trees, and roads, as well as people’s health, had been extensive. It would take a long time to recover from it all.
However, Cooper Construction was doing a damn fine job of whittling away at the first two problems on their own.
Nearly all on their own.
“Flanagan, come over here for a moment.”
“Hold your horses, Owen,” I called back, putting down the plans I’d been looking at.
He waved me over to a scale-model house based on my mother’s floor plan.
“How do you think this looks?” he asked. “If we go in right underneath the porch, we won’t have to dig up too much of the foundation. It’ll probably take longer to install the underground heating system this way, but it will minimize the nuisance to your mother while we do it.”
I smiled. “It looks great. What about the solar panels? Ma’s house isn’t south-facing, and it’s got some pretty large trees around it.”
“Already sorted. We’re going to put them on rotational platforms, so they’ll move to catch the sun.”
“Oh, like a sunflower?”
He smiled. “That was the inspiration. Might take your mom a while to get used to them sticking out of her roof like an alien antenna, but she will.”
I had one final question. “What about the—”
“Yes, we’ll put in a backup generator while we work on the new heating system. Don’t worry, Emily.”
“Can’t exactly blame me.”
He chuckled. “I guess not. How is the park design going? Do you have all the specs I need, yet?”
“Nearly,” I replied. “I’m trying to integrate a small kitchen into the building plan if I can.”
Owen raised an eyebrow. “A kitchen?”
“Yes, in case anyone gets caught in bad weather, or a kid gets lost. They could make a cup of tea or get some juice and snacks while they wait to be picked up.”
“And how do we prevent people from simply going in and stealing all the food?”
I shrugged. “An honesty system?” It didn’t seem like a stretch in a small town like Frazier Falls, where everyone looked after each other. Or I should say, the Cooper brothers looked after everyone.
“Keep working on it, and I’ll figure out how to implement it. It’s not a huge space, after all. Maybe running water and a microwave?”
Eli leaned against the doorway of Owen’s office, watching the two of us with amusement. “Can I have my girlfriend back? I swear you spend more time with her than I do.”
“I agree,” came Carla’s voice from behind him.
It was true, ever since Owen brought me on as an Urban planning consultant, the amount of work had doubled. Big cities were afraid to take the plunge, but with me on board to answer questions, it wasn’t as risky.
“Owen,” Carla said. “We have a meeting with the caterer, remember?”
Owen’s eyes widened immediately as he rushed out of his seat. “I absolutely didn’t forget. Let’s go, and we can grab an early dinner afterward?”
They left, leaving Eli and me inside Owen’s office. He walked over and kissed me lightly.
“I don’t spend more time with Owen on purpose, but it’s natural that I spend a lot of time with him at work, since, you know, we’re working together.”
He laughed as he took my hand, leading me out of the office and back over to the desk that had become mine. The desk that sat right next to Eli’s.
“I know,” he admitted. “I wish I had a clue what the two of you were discussing so I could join in, but it’s above my pay grade.”
“Or your intelligence,” Pax called out.
Eli gave him the finger while I giggled behind his back.
“On that note, I need to get back to work,” I said. “Don wanted an update on the progress I’ve made so far.” Since I’d moved to Colorado, Pete had increased his interest in the Green House Project, which meant Don and I were working together again, but in a different capacity. I still worked for him, but that was because he was a client. Los Angeles fully intended to put the Green House Project to work in its new urban renewal plan.
“But I asked you yesterday to take this afternoon off.”
I quirked an eyebrow. “I didn’t think you were serious.”
“And what part of my request wasn’t serious?”
“I figured you weren’t thinking clearly,” I leaned in and whispered, “since we were pretty naked at the time of the request and—”
“Naked?”
“Oh God, don’t give Pax any more cannon fodder,” Eli shivered. “He’s bad enough as it is, but I did actually want to take you somewhere.”
“Okay, you have my interest. Where do you want to take me?”