so hard she could swear she heard it, she awaited his touch. His nearness warmed her cheek, a precursor to the feathering of his fingers against her skin. His touch, so gentle, so light, melted her inside. Tilting her face up to his with his finger beneath her chin, Lars brushed his lips against hers in the lightest of kisses. It was so tantalizing, so sweet, so inflaming. She leaned into him and returned his gossamer kiss.
He cupped the back of her neck with his big hand as he deepened the kiss. It was tentative, yet sure, as contradictory and intriguing as the man himself.
He broke the kiss and dropped his hand back to his side. Magic seemed to enfold them, join them, in the hallway even after they were no longer touching. She felt suspended in the air, in that moment.
“Let’s get a move on.” A man’s strident voice from downstairs pierced the air. Delphi’s feet were once again firmly on the ground.
She took a step toward her room and Lars moved toward the bathroom.
“I’ll catch you later,” he said.
She knew how he meant it, but it held a ring of warning that what had transpired between them wasn’t finished. It would be revisited...and taken further.
“Not if I can help it,” she said with a breathless, only kind-of-teasing note.
Lars turned, a decidedly wicked grin quirking his lips. “Blondie, make no mistake about it. I will definitely catch you later. But I always practice catch and release.”
“But what if I don’t want to be caught?”
He laughed. “What if you don’t want to be released?”
Arrogant. “I can’t imagine that particular scenario.”
He laughed once again, winked at her and closed the bathroom door.
Delphi turned on her heel and marched to her room, torn between exasperation and infatuation. She closed her bedroom door and leaned against it.
What if she didn’t want to be released? That wink?
Little did he know that she’d returned his kiss to satisfy her curiosity and nothing more. Now her curiosity was satisfied, but was she? She still simply wanted to be left alone. Didn’t she?
* * *
“WOULD YOU LIKE someone to walk you down to the clinic?” Merrilee asked.
“Thanks, but I’d prefer to just go at my own pace and get a feel for the town.” Delphi had dropped her clothes on the bed and hurried downstairs when she heard the water running in the claw-foot tub next door. She’d put her shift away later. She didn’t want to think about Lars stripping down in the next room. She didn’t want to think about him naked...and if she stayed a minute longer, it would be inevitable. Actually, it was already too late—those had been the very thoughts chasing through her head as she’d hurried down the hall and stairs. Her mind had painted a picture of broad shoulders, muscular chest, a sprinkling of hair narrowing as it arrowed over a flat belly to a package that did him proud. Perhaps if she put enough distance between her and him, she could get the image out of her head. She could leave that kiss behind, as well. But she needed a few minutes in the fresh air alone to collect herself. She didn’t want to have to make small talk with anyone right now.
“I understand,” Merrilee said. Delphi sincerely hoped not, but Merrilee had a way of looking at you as if she could see past the facade and know what was really going on. “Out the front door and take a left. You can’t miss it.”
Delphi stepped out into the mild afternoon. Despite the sun, a cool breeze sifted through her hair and against her skin. She started down the sidewalk, noting that most of the vehicles driving by were older-model trucks or SUVs. She only saw one car and it was a station wagon. All of the vehicles bore a dulling coat of dust.
Skye had summed up the town as a place that met simple needs. There was no Starbucks. No dry cleaners. No car dealerships. A single street ran through the center of town, with businesses flanking either side of the unpaved roadway. A sign on the front window across the street caught her eye—Curl’s Taxidermy/Barber Shop/Mortuary. Wow, talk about one-stop shopping.
She passed a shop that billed itself as a video rental/screening room/internet café. Additionally there was a dry goods store, a bank, a shop with a collection of snowmobiles and other machinery with a sign advertising small-engine repair, a hardware store and in the distance a